Coming off a brief, week-long hiatus, Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man still refuses to give Denji a break at all. The Tokyo Devil Detention arc was an action-packed ride as Asa and Fami teamed up to rescue Denji from the clutches of Public Safety. Now that they've achieved their goal, though, things may only get worse for Denji. CSM Chapter 163, "Dream Balls", is a slice-of-life moment that's -- in many ways -- even more chaotic than Chainsaw Man's most gruesome battles.
Chapter 163 opens after the group finally escapes from the Tokyo Devil Detention Center with the help of Quanxi in Chapter 162, "Fearsome". Denji finally wakes up after spending the entire previous arc in a coma, only to find his reality is even more terrifying than any nightmare. While the action dies down considerably from the intensity of previous chapters, the dialogue between characters is interesting enough to carry this chapter through. Fans who read Chainsaw Man for its status as a shonen battle manga will likely find this chapter less interesting than others, but those willing to look below the surface will find a wealth of surprisingly prescient wisdom.
How CSM Chapter 163 Solves Political Tensions
Chapter 163 opens with an interesting and extremely relevant commentary on the public perception of mainstream media made by an unexpected character: Iseumi. The chapter starts with Nobana watching a news interview with a girl who is hoping to clear the name of her favorite Idol, Koma Komagawa. The report sheds light on the fact that pictures of Komagawa out on the town with a married man were actually edited, and therefore the allegations that she is a "home-wrecker" are unfounded. It's the kind of report anyone who has watched celebrity news has seen millions of times, but the true issue is pointed out by Iseumi.
As Iseumi explains, "Even though there are still people randomly turning into monsters… and several wars have broken out… a celebrity cheating scandal is the only thing on the news." This comes off as a particularly relevant statement as people on both sides of the political spectrum have come to question whether the News truly reports on what's most important or even true, especially in times when people need relevant information the most. While someone like Nobana escapes from the day-to-day fears he experiences by watching news about celebrities, someone like Iseumi finds it utterly deplorable that anyone can focus on comparatively less important things while there is war going on.
By placing both characters side-by-side and never allowing them to reach a concrete conclusion, Fujimoto brilliantly shows how neither may be entirely correct, but they both must coexist regardless. Through their short banter, Nobana and Iseumi reach a sort of middle-ground, where Nobana understands that what he's watching is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things while Iseumi also acknlowdges Nobana's feelings when he prefaces his statement with "I'm not being sarcastic. It’s just…" It's a nuanced dialogue that exemplifies why Chainsaw Man is far more than just a shonen battle manga.
Opening with this scene was also powerful since, even though fans don't know who Komagawa is, the entire report is enough to drag readers in – just as any good news report would. It plays out like a psychological thought-experiment that uses the reader as the test subject, making any introspective reader question why they cared so much about Komagawa despite what’s really going on in the world of Chainsaw Man.
Denji's New Companions Are Also His Sworn Enemies
Yoru and Katana Man Only Joined Forces With The Hopes of Killing Chainsaw Man
As Asa and Fami's rescue mission got underway in previous chapters, their group grew increasingly larger with unlikely allies. First, it was the Public Safety Devil Hunter Club who were all deathly terrified of Fami. Next, it was Katana Man and the Nail Fiend who only joined Asa because of their shared goals of killing Chainsaw Man. A high point of witnessing that ragtag bunch in action was the ridiculous way their personalities conflicted, and that’s only gotten worse now that Denji has finally woken up.
From nearly the second Denji opens his eyes, he is kicked in the balls by Samurai Sword. Samurai does this as a way of getting revenge on Denji for the infamous scene at the end of the Katana Man arc, when Denji and Aki team up to have a "nut-shot contest", with Samurai on the receiving end. It’s not just Samurai Sword who gets his shots in on Denji, though. Shortly afterward, Yoru joins in, kicking Denji in much the same fashion. Just as Aki and Denji bonded over torturing Katana Man, Yoru and Katana Man have their own bonding experience by unloading on Denji. It’s far from as emotionally charged as Aki and Denji's moment, but it’s a fun parallel to a now iconic scene in the CSM anime's season 1 finale.
The Importance of Dreaming in CSM Chapter 163
A reoccurring theme in CSM Chapter 163 is "dreaming", though it's not used in any superficial sense as in "achieving a person's dreams". Instead, the concept of being in a dream that's explored in Chapter 163 has to do with the idea of a person's life not feeling like it could be real. It's a sense of almost disillusionment, where things seem so unbelievable that it almost sounds like something that would happen in a dream.
The first mention of "dreaming" in Chapter 163 is Iseumi's musing that "it doesn't feel real. Like I must be dreaming." He says this in response to the media's refusal to run stories about more important events like "people randomly turning into monsters", in favor of a "celebrity cheating scandal." This entire sentiment is turned on its head by Asa, who makes the next mention of "dreaming" when she notes "no one remembers me anymore and I lost an arm. I feel like I must be dreaming." This puts a much more superficial spin on the idea of dreaming, but Asa later gets back to the point when she states "Denji is Chainsaw Man. That doesn’t feel real either."
The idea of life feeling dream-like takes on a more intense form for Denji upon waking up, where his inquiry of "Am I dreaming?" is answered with an immediate kick to his groin by Katana Man. Despite the comedic timing, the sentiment is still there: Denji wakes up to a situation that seems just as shocking as the dreams he experienced in the coma he has been in for days. Chainsaw Man has always been great at presenting the feelings of its characters in realistic and relatable ways, and this notion of reality being like a dream is yet another example of that.
Can Asa Get Her Arm Back?
Asa's True Nature as a Devil Hybrid is Made Clearer in Chapter 163
One of the biggest surprises upon Asa's initial reveal as Chainsaw Man's savior in Chapter 157, "College Fund", (aside from the fact that she was working with Fami), was the fact that her arm was still missing after it being cut off by Yoshida in a previous chapter. Fans speculated that perhaps she was simply saving her arm to use for later as a weapon, or that she simply couldn't regenerate it as other Hybrids can because of her nature as a unique kind of Devil different. This latter aspect of her Devil nature seems to have been confirmed in Chapter 163, as Asa muses that she "lost an arm", implying that she can't get it back.
The difference between Asa and Devil Hybrids likely had to do with the more symbiotic nature of Yoru as opposed to others like Denji. Yoru needs Asa just as much as Asa needs Yoru to survive, but they're still fundamentally disconnected in some ways. This differs from Denji, whose literal heart is made up entirely of Pochita. For Asa, only half of her brain is taken over by Yoru, and this gives Yoru the ability to take over her body at innopurtune moments. It may be due to the fact that Yoru hasn't completely taken over Asa's brain that her powers as the War Devil don't allow her to regenerate.
Notably, the arm missing is also on the side opposite to the scar on her face when she is taken over by Yoru. This could also be an intentional decision by Fujimoto to show that perhaps Yoru can only apply her powers to half Asa's body because she only had half of her brain. These kinds of mysteries are exactly what keep Chainsaw Man readers coming back every week, in hopes of learning more about the intriguing world Tatsuki Fujimoto has built.
CSM Chapter 163 Calls Denji -- and Readers -- to Wake Up to Reality
In the final page of Chapter 163, Yoru whispers to Denji, "I don't need your human form. Wake up already Chainsaw Man." This sets up a very real possibility for conflict, but it also has another function. As Yoru gets surprisingly close to Denji's face, there's a definite air of sexual tension, which makes sense considering how Chapter 162 left off with Yoru's noticeable conflict at learning how fearsome of a fighter Chainsaw Man is.
As 'romantic' as this moment may be for Devils, though, the human characters see it differently. Iseumi and Nobana are noticably terrified when witnessing the chaos created upon Denji's awakening. In context with how Fujimoto used Iseumi and Nobana earlier in this chapter, their expressing the fact that they "don't feel safe with these people!" but "where else are we supposed to go?" takes on an almost allegorical status. As Devils attack everyone left and right, Nobana and Iseumi represent two separate sides of the social spectrum who have been forced to come together in their shared experience.
Just as people in real life are divided by political and cultural issues, people will have no choice but to come together in the face of real devils After a short break, Chapter 163 is Tatsuki Fujimoto's way of bringing Chainsaw Man fans together again, and it's a great sign of things to come. The lack of intense action or big story beats would normally be a bad thing, but this chapter shows why sometimes it's important to take a break from all that and focus on the little things. CSM Chapter 163 makes a number of important statements that are just as impactful -- if slightly less violent -- as a kick to the nuts.
