After Denji finally woke up from a coma in Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man Chapter 163, "Dream Balls", he then was forced to face the reality of his life without Nayuta in Chapter 164, "Charred Remains". Against that backdrop, CSM Chapter 165, "Everyday Scenery", shows Denji acclimating himself with his new reality, but he isn't the only one who has to deal with a changing world.
When Denji was originally captured, the world was falling apart around him, as riots broke out in the streets. Even Yoru, the War Devil, said that "the world remembers me at last" upon seeing the state that things were in, but fans had no way of knowing how bad things were getting outside Denji's own neighborhood. Chapter 165 shows just how bad things have really gotten, as a world of destruction, pain, and loss have become the new normal, and even Denji is shocked by how bad things have gotten.
How Long Has it Been Since Denji Was Captured by Public Safety?
It Could Have Been Weeks or Even Months Since Denji Was First Taken Prisoner
Chapter 165 starts with Denji at the train station with Asa, Katana Man, Fami, Iseumi and Nobana. The group went to catch the train to get Denji sushi in hopes of cheering him up after his search for Nayuta in the previous chapter turned up no results. While at the station, Denji is surprised to see a dead body lyinin the middle of the station, as people just go on about their business without batting an eyelid. Iseumi assures Denji that "the station attendants will clean it up later", and Asa chimes in "That's just expected at this point".
The fact that ordinary people have such a nonchalant attitude in the face of death raises one of the biggest questions of Chapter 165, which is how long it has been since Denji was put into a coma, cut into pieces, and kept in Public Safety's Tokyo Devil Detention Center. While there's no direct mention of the exact time period, things seemed to happen quickly. Immediately after Denji was taken to the Tokyo Devil Detention Center and cut up, Asa was shown breaking into it with Fami. Then, in the chapter after they escaped, Denji was shown waking up, giving the impression that things were moving quite quickly. However, fans will now know that a lot must have happened in the interval between these events, and things likely took much longer than they seemed.
Looking at the state of the world in Chapter 165, it's clear that things changed a bit too much for it to have been only a couple of days. Granted, Denji lives in a world of Devils who are capable of doing unbelievable amounts of destruction quickly, but there are still other indications that more time passed than anyone realized. Aside from people having nonchalantly accepted death and destruction as their "everyday scenery", there’s also the fact that the girl Nobana was watching on television in Chapter 163 mentioned that "it's like I'm living in a completely different world than last year".
This is by no means confirmation that it's been a year, though. It could simply mean that things got progressively worse than they were a year prior. Additionally, she technically wasn't talking about the world itself, but rather about a pop idol, so this could have just been Fujimoto's way of playing at fan's emotions, but knowing Fujimoto, it wouldn’t be surprising for readers to learn that both things were true at once.
Another possible indication that a good amount of time has passed is the fact that Iseumi confirms in Chapter 163 that "there are still people randomly turning into monsters… and several wars have broken out." This at least seems to indicate that a good amount of time has passed, rather than it just being a matter of days. After all, it would take some time for several wars to break out, and it would be no surprise if people continued to turn into Fake Chainsaw Men for a few days after the initial outbreak.
Denji Learns Truths About Himself While Asa's Truth Remains Hidden
Fami Reveals What She Knows About Denji's Contract While Avoiding Talking About Asa and Yoru's
As the group sits on the train, Fami begins to list off every sushi restaurant in the area, which shouldn't come as a surprise to fans considering she’s the Famine Devil and is constantly eating. Even so, it’s a new-yet-fitting aspect of her character that fans have yet to see. Of course, Denji is not amused by this, and cuts right to the chase, asking Asa "remind me, why are you out to fight me now?" This is important because Denji still has no idea that Asa is the vessel of Yoru, the War Devil.
All the way back when Asa and Denji went on their first date, Yoru took over Asa's body and tried to turn Denji into a weapon by touching Denji's head and chanting "Denji Spinal Cord Sword!". Lucky for Denji, this attempt failed, and lucky for Asa, Denji had no idea what was going on. Denji thought this was just her weird, quirky way of saying goodbye, even going si far as to put his own hand on Asa’s head and shout "Asa Spinal Cord Sword!"
Denji's obliviousness continued to the present day, when Yoru once again took over Asa's body shortly after Denji woke up from his coma. Denji was in the middle of a conversation with Asa when Yoru suddenly took control of her body and kicked Denji in the groin, declaring she wanted to fight Chainsaw Man. It’s a wonder Denji didn't notice the scars on her face at all, especially since she got up-close-and-personal with him at that moment.
If anything, Denji does realize that Asa has multiple personalities, but he's unaware of the mechanism behind what's causing her constant change in demeanor. That's why Denji became noticeably distressed in Chapter 164, telling Asa "first, you randomly kick me in the balls, and now you’re being nice to me?! You make no sense!"
While Asa is still unable to reveal the truth of her relationship to Yoru, she does at least give Denji a valid reason that explains away the issue in Chapter 165. She simply tells Denji "if I can fight you and win, you’ll be saved." Fami then goes on to explain further that the terms of Denji's contract require him to lead a normal life. Theoretically, if they break that contract, Pochita will emerge from Denji's heart, and if they can kill Pochita and transplant a human heart into Denji, he can be a normal person again.
Denji Might Actually Want to Be "Normal"
Denji Wanted to be Chainsaw Man Throughout Part 2, but He May Be Having a Change of Heart
One of the biggest conflicts of CSM Part 2 has been whether Denji can turn into Chainsaw Man again. The powers that be (namely, Public Safety) were adamant about preventing Denji from transforming into Chainsaw Man at all costs, even holding a threat at Nayuta's life over Denji’s head in order to give him some "motivation". Yoshida promised Denji he could live a normal life with Nayuta, as long as he never turned into Chaineaw Man again. However, the Chainsaw Man Chirch wanted nothing more than to bring Chainsaw Man out of Denji, and they ultimately succeeded.
While Denji was constantly in conflict within himself throughout Part 2 because he wanted to become Chainsaw Man, he ultimately regretted becoming Chainsaw Man again in the end. Back in Chapter 164, Denji told Asa that he never wanted to be Chainsaw Man again because "whenever I become Chainsaw Man, everything around me turns terrible." In short, Denji blames himself for Nayuta's disappearance. Given how he feels about turning into Chainsaw Man, Denji is likely more open to becoming a regular person in Chapter 165 than he ever has been before.
There are some problems with that, though. For one, Fami's conception of Denji’s contract with Pochita is a bit off, at least in comparison to what Pochita actually told Denji their contract was in the first chapter of Chainsaw Man. According to Pochita at the time, his offer to Denji was "I'll give you my heart. In exchange… show me your dreams." The reason for Fami stating what the contract was in this way may simply be that she didn't fully understand what Denji and Pochita's contract actually is. The only people who actually know the truth about Denji's contract is him and Pochita, and all Fami can do is presume what Denji's contract was based on how Makima forcibly broke it during Part 1.
At that point, it was presumed that Denji's dream was to live a normal life, and if his chance at a normal life was broken, then his dream was destroyed. However, Denji's contract was actually broken because he gave up on his own dreams, and instead allowed Makima to think for him. All Pochita ever wanted was for Denji to chase his own dream, whether that meant living a normal life, or doing something else entirely.
Katana Man is the One Person That Actually Gets Denji
Katana Man Empathizes With Denji and the Two May Even Emerge as Friends in Coming Chapters
After hearing Fami talk about living a "normal life" Denji asks her what she even means by normal. Asa tells Denji that it means returning to his old life of going to school and having a home to return to, but Denji isn't so sure. For him, his old life was one of abject poverty, having to eat toilet paper from a public park's bathroom to survive. When he tells Asa this, she doesn't quite get it, even asking him not to speak in "vague metaphors".
It's an indication of how different Asa's own upbringing was to Denji's, that she can't even fathom the fact that Denji could be speaking his truth when saying such a thing. While Asa doesn't seem to understand Denji, the one person who may is Katana Man. When he interjects that "kids these days are wusses." Asa takes it offensively, but in context, Katana has other ideas. It may be that Samurai Sword feels indirectly responsible for Denji's tragic backstory, as the only reason Denji lived like that was because of Katana Man's grandfather.
In fact, not even Denji would disagree that he has softened up over the years. The entire reason Denji told Asa the story about eating toilet paper was to emphasize the fact that he couldn't go back to his old life, because he had things too good with Nayuta. For him, life with Nayuta wasn't the only kind of normal he'd lived through, and he never wants to return to the normal that he had before it. In order to cheer Denji up, Katana suggests they take Denji to a brothel, because "nothing cheers you a man faster than boning a woman."
This is an interesting suggestion, especially considering it was once Denji's dream that drove his life throughout a large portion of Part 1. Denji's dream has changed many times since then, though the desire for affection from the opposite sex never faded, even as he matured. Denji is still a teenage boy in high school, after all. A major motivating factor for Denji in considering joining the Chainsaw Man Church during the Academy Saga was the fact that Miri Sugo promised Denji women would be all over him there.
This showed that, even though Denji has changed a lot since the days when his loftiest goal was to touch Power's chest, he's still undeniably motivated by the desire for love, affection, and interpersonal contact. In considering whether to accept Katana's offer or not, Denji will ultimately have to decide whether it's true love he desires, which he could certainly share with Asa, who sits beside him on the train, or just sex. No matter what he chooses or what his next "normal" becomes, as long as Denji has a dream to hold on to, he'll never lose his heart.
