Chainsaw Man episode 12 recap & review: Katana vs. Chainsaw

‘Chainsaw Man’ episode 12 sees Denji face off against Katana Man in an epic rematch while the rest of Division 4 contends with other enemies at their base of operations.

Recap

Aki is on the ground on all fours, choked out and heaving after the Ghost Devil grabbed him by his throat. However, the Ghost Devil stays still, extending a fist to Aki, before opening it to reveal Himeno’s cigarette from a flashback.

Aki is rid of all fear and in a moment of clarity and focus, he moves like a breeze and uses his lack of fear to decapitate Ghost Devil. Before a terrified Akane can summon the Snake Devil, Kobeni sneaks from behind, putting a knife to a clueless Akane’s throat.

Aki stops Kobeni from killing Akane, following which she’s detained by them. Meanwhile, Power lunges at the zombies, and while she slashes apart the undead, Denji moves on to the final boss — Katana Man.

The Katana Man doesn’t believe when Denji says his grandfather and his men were zombies when he killed them, putting forward an offer wherein Denji kills himself and begs for the dead grandpa’s forgiveness.

Denji can’t care less for the spiel and wants to throw hands as soon as possible. Katana Man obliges, and the two engage in an explosive rematch.

Like their previous battle, Katana Man is the superior fighter, dominating Denji with ease, although the latter has improved much since the last fight. However, the Katana Man slashes away Denji’s arms with ease.

Unfortunately for the hasty villain, Denji can fight without his hands just as vigorously as ever. With their last moves, Katana Man presumes victory after having broken Denji’s chainsaw protruding from his noggin.

In a classic single-stroke battle trope, the oblivious Katana Man relishes his victory, only to realise in extreme agony, that he’s been sliced into two vertical halves. When he regains consciousnesses, having healed up as Denji does, he finds himself chained up.

Meanwhile, the rest of the villainy is taken care of by the rest of the Division 4 members. Aki and Denji take turns kicking the Katana Man’s testicles.

Makima briefs a higher-up about all that has transpired of late. It’s revealed that Akane died before revealing why they wanted Denji’s heart, presumably as per her deal with the Gun Devil.

‘Chainsaw Man’ episode 12 ends with Denji meeting Pochita in a weird, cryptic dream that he claims he always has but forgets later on.

Pochita is locked inside a locker in an abandoned alley. Denji goes to get him out so he can pet him, but Pochita warns him never to do that.

Later on, a girl’s voice narrates a gliding POV shot that comes out of an alley into the sunlight, as the girl muses if Denji would be a “country mouse or a city mouse.”

Review

• ‘Chainsaw Man’ episode 12 marks the finale of the anime’s first season with a solid entry, delivering satisfactorily on the inertial impact of the action scenes that fans expect of the anime.
• Aki’s peace with Himeno’s passing is a great closure for the character and a moment of refuge from the constant sense of dread and doom, bested only by a sense of vengeance.
• For how hype the Katana-Chainsaw battle is, the trope-y finish seems a bit of a dud, and a more gritty, gory, and punchy conclusion would have been way more cathartic.
• ‘Chainsaw Man’ episode 12 also leaves way for some interesting and unexplainable bits of new threads at the end, what with the cryptic Pochita dream and the cryptic woman narrating at the very end.
• What’s even more of a great anticipatory buildup, is the inevitable battle with the Gun Devil, who Division 4 is currently trailing, thanks to the proper amount of his magnetic flesh they’ve gathered up all this time.

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Also Read: What is a Fiend in Chainsaw Man?