Somehow, Makima returned.
What They Say:
“FROM KYOTO”
A fierce battle unfolds between Denji and the menacing Samurai Sword. But even after Denji takes one of Samurai Sword’s companions hostage, Samurai Sword slashes through them both until Denji is captured. Meanwhile, after seemingly being killed, Makima turns out to be alive. She sets out to rescue Denji with the help of Public Safety Devil Hunters from Kyoto, Kurose and Tendo.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Has it really only been a week? After the bombshell that last week’s episode dropped, the wait has been an excruciating one. How does the story possibly come back from that point? Much like that episode began with reanimated scenes from the ending of the prior one with new perspectives, this one follows suit with new renditions of Himeno’s beautifully sacrificial climax. The sudden disappearance of the massive snake to reveal the Ghost Devil’s severed head in the air was a much more effective technique, so it was well-utilized when this was truly the heart-pounding spotlight rather than just a reminder of how much we were hurt last week. Whatever happens next, Himeno certainly seems to be gone for good, and any reversal of that would feel extremely cheap at this point.
What a way to start off an episode. I suppose you can’t really follow up last week’s episode with anything less. Not only did it assault us with an onslaught of increasingly traumatic shocks, but it left us off in the middle of chaos, at the lowest point of despair, with one big death to break our hearts as it left us reeling for a week. If anything was certain about the characters’ fates, it was that our protagonist Denji, our titular Chainsaw Man, was not leaving his series in episode 8. Whether others who seemed to die would survive and how was in question, but at least in Denji’s case it’s pretty reasonable to imagine that a Devil human who has died much more gruesomely before would brush this setback off fairly easily. Everything about Himeno’s sendoff was magnificent, and even beyond a slight retread of that and the new material that came with it, Himeno gets to get one last trick in, using the last “breath” of the Ghost Devil to rev up a certain chainsaw to give the enemies another fight.
When the 12 EDs were announced, we were also promised that Maximum the Hormone’s song that would eventually be used as the episode 3 ED would additionally feature as an insert song in the series. We see that come to fruition just before the OP of this episode, kicking off the battle between Chainsaw Man and his most visually symmetrical opponent with exactly the raw, violent energy that I always knew would make Maximum the Hormone a perfect fit for the battle scenes of Chainsaw Man. It’s too bad we don’t get a bit more of the song, as it could’ve been used in full for a truly incredible sequence, but this taste of it is still a nice bonus.
I always talk about how gorgeous the animation in this series is, especially in battle sequences, and it most definitely is. But as I’ve also mentioned here and there, the use of CG, particularly for Chainsaw Man and now his katana counterpart Samurai Sword, is sometimes less than ideal. As this fight consists entirely of the two of them moving around and features extensive CG for both almost the entire time, it may be more noticeable than ever. It’s not bad at all. It’s very similar to the CG used for the Titans in MAPPA’s work on Attack on Titan. But as is the case for that, it’s still jarring enough that it does detract from the overall visual and kinetic presentation, which is only so significant because of how incredibly polished everything else about the series is. It’s a little baffling that the team would choose to cut corners only in this area, so they must think it actually enhances the final product, which is possibly even more surprising given how fine-tuned their sense of aesthetic has been otherwise. It’s a minor nitpick at the end of the day, but when a series takes so much care to perfect things like this, it’s hard to avoid zeroing in on the few aspects that could easily make it even better.
But Denji only gets to swing his chainsaws around for a few minutes. The rest of the episode is all about the ladies. Of course we already covered Himeno, and although last episode was a much more substantial offering for her, beginning with her at her worst and ending with her at her best yet most tragic, the recalling of her final moments adds her indelible mark to this episode’s profile. But there’s another woman whose death was much more questionable. Surely they wouldn’t kill off Makima when she’s clearly such an important character who we’ve learned nearly nothing about. But that looked like the most unambiguous death imaginable, and as far as we know, Makima is just a normal human.
It’s impossible to talk about this episode without acknowledging that Makima is still alive… and it’s in the episode description, so I don’t feel too bad. Makima has always appeared with absolute confidence, hypnotic eyes staring into your soul, and a faint smile. What could showcase how frighteningly infallible Makima seems to be more than her coming back from a bullet to the head with the exact same expression on her face, only to calmly exit the train with her attackers mysteriously but viciously slaughtered? Oh, but it just keeps coming. For her next trick, she just needs 30 convicts imprisoned for life, a shrine on a high elevation, and of course a clean change of clothes.
The antagonists of this arc are set up as obvious villains, so much so that Denji identifies them as such in glee that he can slice them up without any repercussions. Samurai Sword’s human form declares his yakuza grandfather the sweetest guy in the world for only murdering a “handful” of women and children before joining his comrades in pulling out a gun to shoot up our heroes. The girl with him brought him back to finish killing and snuffed out Himeno’s last ray of hope, making her sacrifice almost completely wasted. She seems to be the highest ranking person we’ve met from this group of shooters, and she shares some characteristics with the highest ranking person we’ve really met from the Devil Hunters, Makima. Both are gentle-looking young women surrounded by mystery and possessing inexplicable levels of power. The difference should be that Makima is the hero, right? Even as these textbook villains are dragging around the severed torso of our protagonist, a perfectly tranquil Makima reveals herself as a far more terrifying monster than anything they could imagine.
Exactly how Makima survived while killing her opponents on the train isn’t entirely clear at this point, but actually seeing her powers in action puts her on an even higher level… no pun intended. The antagonist girl rightfully calls these powers “bullshit.” The conditions seem to be fairly specific and could be difficult to achieve in a pinch depending on the limitations, but the power comes across as something of a Death Note, with her victims dying in horrific contortions matching her hand movements that look like some sort of graceful dance, in sharp contrast to the brutal results they create. When they’re crushed, they look a bit like the victims of Nanika’s curse in Hunter x Hunter. This series is never going to skimp on blood, so we get to see the absolute deluge that comes from each of these enemies having their entire bodies explode. There’s a sense of schadenfreude when our villains see their henchmen being torn apart all around them, but one could also empathize with the terror of experiencing this out of nowhere, not knowing if it could be you at any moment. It’s similar to the mass shootings last episode but with a more supernatural twist that might make it even more anxiety-heavy. It’s somewhat satisfying to see the tables turned like that, but it’s also true that Makima is a very scary individual, especially wearing that same smile the whole time.
There’s still one more woman who gets to shine in this episode. Who else is even still alive? Power? Nope, it’s not her this time. Himeno’s definitely gone, but it couldn’t be… Yep, the comically, irritatingly incompetent Kobeni can do more with a kitchen knife than hold onto it with her hands shaking. In fact, she can do a lot more than just use knives. In an episode full of surprises, this may be the biggest of all. Kobeni is somehow, suddenly, a total badass. The animation of her running along the snake is positively sensational, and of all characters, Kobeni manages to steal the show in an action-packed episode of awesome displays with acrobatic moves, unbelievable proficiency with knives and guns alike, and most shockingly the composure to kick ass left and right. After everything we’ve seen of Kobeni before this point, it feels like we’re going to need some real explanation of how she underwent such a dramatic transformation, but it’s magnificent to behold in this moment.
Not to be upstaged, Makima gets the last word to affirm her position as the most fearsome woman in an episode full of them. Of course, she does it in her own, ostensibly passive manner. It’s not even anything she does, just a (now former) colleague informing her of her promotion to oversee many more Devil Hunter squads, followed by an insinuation that she knew all of this was going to happen. Her coy response pokes fun at his recent resignation but in the absence of denial implies a confirmation of his suspicions. I’ve always said that Makima is the most terrifying character because she has far too much confidence, never lets anyone know what she’s thinking, and seems to know everything that’s going on. Each scene of her only reaffirms my thoughts more and more. She may not be pulling out guns and mowing down our lovable and unsuspecting heroes, but if she had some idea that these events would unfold and let them die as pawns in her own plan, that’s worse in a way. But even as one of the main characters, we still know so little about her that it’s hard to know what to think.
While we got episode 3’s ED song from Maximum the Hormone repeated as an insert song early in this episode, its actual ED comes from the artist I was most excited to see included, Aimer. Aimer’s previous anime theme songs include Demon Slayer, Vinland Saga, and Fate/stay night: Heaven’s Feel just to name a few, and she’s easily one of the best performers in the industry. In terms of song alone, hers was pretty much guaranteed to be my favorite of the bunch from this series, so there’s no surprise that I utterly adore it from the first listen. Her voice has so much weight yet so much beauty, a wonderful balance for this episode of powerful women. The visuals aren’t the most incredible of the series, but they pay tribute to some of the starring women of the episode, from the recently deceased to the somehow alive with a sequence of meditatively intricate animation connecting them before ending on a reminder of how harsh Makima’s bite can be.
In Summary:
It was probably impossible to top last week’s episode, on pure impact if nothing else. But while that kind of twist can’t easily be replicated so soon after, the chaotic state of affairs in which it left the series necessitates further developments of significance. We shift from an overwhelming show of force from sudden enemies to more controlled revenge on the part of some strong female characters who get an opportunity to shine following so much death and other defeat. Kobeni may get the highlight of the episode, but we come away most deeply affected by the exceedingly enigmatic Makima and the ever more prevalent sense that she may be more of a monster than most of the enemies. With the exception of some mildly distracting CG, the series remains phenomenally well directed, animated, and scored.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll, Hulu
