Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man has taken an exciting turn in recent chapters. Not only has Asa make her long awaited reappearance in order to rescue Denji from Public Safety, her ridiculous mishaps in getting there have really cut through the tension in a way that only Chainsaw Man – and maybe Katana Man – is capable of. In CSM Chapter 160, "That For Which the Heart Beats," Fujimoto doubles down on this methodology by doing the unexpected.
Like a beating heart in rhythm, there have been comedic highs and emotional lows all throughout this arc, and Chapter 160 is firmly in the former camp. When Katana Man broke through the wall in Chapter 159, "Attack on Samurai," it seemed quite obvious that Asa was in for a huge battle on her hands. However, instead of breaking down physical walls, Chapter 160 shows that breaking down emotional barriers between people can be even more effective.
Katana Man is an Unexpectedly Welcome Addition to the Team
Chapter 159 left off with Asa, Fami, and the Devil Club running into not one, not two, but three strong Public Safety Devil Hunters at once: Katana Man, the Nail Fiend, and the unnamed Hunter with an eye patch who was tasked with keeping tabs on Chainsaw Man. Chapter 160 turns the tables in a way fans never imagined by making Katana Man and the Nail Fiend join Asa's group. After a brief interaction, Asa convinces Katana Man that she and Yoru are on their way to fight Chainsaw Man instead of saving him, causing Katana to change his mind and join their crusade against Public Safety.
It also helps that Public Safety has been lying to him the entire time, causing him to defend the very building that was housing his mortal enemy. It's an understandable reason for Katana to switch sides, especially since fans have always known him to be obsessed with seeking revenge on Denji from the earliest arcs in the series. Shonen manga fans won't help but get the sense that Katana Man is bound to have a redemption arc as all the best misunderstood shonen villains have. that said, Chainsaw Man has never been one to blindly follow tradition, so fans will just have to wait and see how it pans out. No matter where his alliances land, Katana Man's personality is the real star of the show in Chapter 160.
He has silly and funny moments, like when he explicitally denies being a fan of Asa despite that clearly being the case. There's an almost endearing aspect to his character here that hasn’t really shown before. While Katana Man's desire to kill Denji in order to avenge his Grandpa always seemed deplorable before, his decision to pursue his Grandather's honor over getting the Yakuza up and running once again is almost a respectable choice on his part – even if the underlying truth of his decision is that he wants to kill Denji. There's clear implications that a change of heart and redemption aren't so far away for Katana Man, giving at least one positive aspect to this unlikely team-up in spite of the obvious ways that he adds conflict to Asa’s group.
The Chainsaw Man Search Party is Growing Increasingly Unhinged
Asa's Group is Overflowing With Questionable Characters Who Have Conflicting Motivations
With Katana Man and the Nail Fiend joining the group, Asa and Fami's party dynamic is at a fever pitch of insanity. None of the members have the same intentions or ideological motives. The only reason they have all joined forces is that they share a common goal of finding Chainsaw Man. What makes this such a tense situation is that, while they all want to find Chainsaw Man, things are bound to go terribly wrong when they do eventually find him and realize that none of their motivations align.
Katana Man wants to kill Chainsaw Man to avenge his grandfather's death, while Fami only wants to kill Denji but let the "Black Chainsaw Man" live in order to kill the Death Devil. Of course, Asa wants to save the "Red Chainsaw Man" because he saved her life so many times, but this is again at odds with Katana Man, whose main beef is with Denji. Through all this chaos, Haruka Iseumi of the Devil Hunter Club just wants to meet Chainsaw Man as a fan. This group is clearly a powder keg just waiting to explode and something is bound to go wrong at any moment. Even so, they all need each other for now.
Asa is Showing Why Peace and War Need Each Other
CSM has been diving into interesting ground regarding reluctant but mutually beneficial relationships, and that's especially relevant in the dichotomy of peace and war personified by Asa and Yoru. From the outset, Asa clearly represented a peaceful disposition, while Yoru was obviously the pure embodiment of war. This was shown when Asa chose to save Yuko from the Bat Devil instead of killing her in order to save herself. However, the more that Asa and Yoru have shared a body, the more they have both begun to move less from either extreme and more into a common middle ground.
The idea of war can't exist without the concept of peace, or one is at risk of becoming the other. In Asa, this manifests as her becoming increasingly interconnected with Yoru, to the point that the two may eventually become indistinguishable from one another. A major theme in CSM has always been that when a person's life becomes better, that becomes their new normal, and they'll then seek something even better than they have, ad infinitum.
When this idea is applied to the concept of war, it means that if the world were to succumb to constant war, then a simple fist fight would become peaceful by comparison. In that sense, what’s seen as peace could eventually become indistinguishable from what was once seen as a kind of war. On the inverse side of the spectrum, if the world were in the most extreme state of peace, even something like a verbal argument could feel like genuine war to a person.
As Asa and Yoru grow more accustomed to each other, they actually become more complete as they learn to live with the other. By forcing the War Devil to live in the brain of someone with such a self-righteous belief in peace that they’d give their own life to save someone, the War Devil is becoming comparatively less concerned with war, even as her power grows. Similarly, Asa has begun to stand up and fight for herself, because living with War at all times has changed her perspective of peace.
Chapter 160 shows how Asa and Yoru have begun to rely on one another more than ever. Whereas Yoru would have had no chance at defeating the three Public Safety Devil Hunters at once, she let Asa take over, who eventually won them over through the peaceful means of talking it out. Asa and Yoru are clearly becoming more integrated than ever and working to their individual advantages, to the point that they are far better together than they ever would be individually.
Which Devil Could Public Safety Use Against Asa?
Near the end of Chapter 160, the still unnamed Hunter with an eye patch declares tha, while he's personally not strong enough to defeat Asa’s group alone, he is going to "fetch someone who can kill you all!" Who this will be is uncertain, but there are some possibilities. Public Safety employs a host of different fiends, hybrids and even full blow Devils. Some could genuinely be powerful enough to fight back against a full group of Devils like Asa's. In particular, one strong possibility is Quanxi.
Quanxi is widely seen as one of the strongest Devil Hunters in the world, if not the strongest. She also initially rescued Denji and Nayuta from the Fire Devil's contractors, making her especially relevant in the fight against Fami and the Chainsaw Man Church, of which Asa is seen as a figurehead. Quanxi is one of the few characters who could actually fight Katana Man in-to-hand combat, making her the ideal choice. No matter who the Public Safety Hunter gets to fight Asa, they may already be too late to stop her from finding Chainsaw Man.
Chainsaw Man's Identity Will Soon Be Revealed to Asa
Asa Will Find Chainsaw Man Soon, and His Identity Will Surely Come as a Surprise
With the Public Safety Hunter with an eye patch retreating and even openly accepting defeat by telling Asa "you want to go see Chainsaw Man?! Knock yourselves out!" it's apparent that it’s only a matter of time before they finally reach his location. However, there are some interesting implications Fujimoto leaves fans to discern. One of the most obvious is that Asa will now realize that Denji is Chainsaw Man.
Given the state that Denji was in last time readers saw him in Chapter 156, "Whoop Whoop Whoop Whoop Bzzz Split Split", it's likely he'll be in no shape to turn into Chainsaw Man – allowing Asa to see him for who he really is. Not only that, Katana Man is more than aware than Denji is Chainsaw Man. Even if Denji's human form doesn't give it away, Katana Man provided yet another means for Asa to potentially learn the truth. This sets things up rather interestingly for the coming chapter, as Asa still has conflicted feelings toward Denji after Nayuta changed her memory to make her believe he stood her up on their date.
Chapter 160 Shows Why It's Better to Give Peace a Chance
While fans couldn't help but expect a huge fight to occur in Chapter 160 given how 159 ended, Fujimoto delivers a masterclass in subverting expectations. There's never been a better way of not having a huge fight take place. The previous chapter clearly set up an intense battle to the death between Asa and the three Public Safety Agents only to completely throw fans a curveball. Just as war can be shocking and jarring to witness, Chainsaw Man 160, "That For Which the Heart Beats" shows how peace can sometimes have a similar effect.
Fujimoto's decision to choose peace instead of war in this chapter was the perfect proof-of-concept. Few shonen battle manga would so explicitly avoid the very obviously set-up fight sequence, but Chainsaw Man often raises the question as to whether it should even be seen as a shonen battle manga at all. Chapter 160 is a humorous, if subtle, reminder that Chainsaw Man isn't just about the violence of "chainsaws," it's just as much about "man" in the sense of human relationships.
