Chainsaw Man - Ch. 231 - Goodbye, Pochita

[rrrrrr333333]

You just have to wonder, did Fujimoto write this in because he was burned out, or did he have this ending in mind when he started to write part 2? Either way, both options are concerning.

fujimoto "planning" out part 2

 

[dowiet]

Oh hey it's over right since it doesn't exist anymore! This is clearly the stuff the author is capable of

 

[SpencerSDH]

You just have to wonder, did Fujimoto write this in because he was burned out, or did he have this ending in mind when he started to write part 2? Either way, both options are concerning.

I've always felt that part 2 was never meant to happen, and the series was supposed to end with part 1. I was shocked when I found out that the series kept going after part 1 ended. It felt like the series had hit its climax. Fujimoto really isn't that great of a writer when stretched like this, and he can't frame action shots well at all. The last few months has been basically nothing but random nonsense that people hoped would lead somewhere. They shouldn't have hoped. Firepunch should have been a warning. He's really good with one-shots, and that's about it.

 

[Usuario1257]

This is a comment i found, what do you guys think about this?(Sry for long text)

It's time to grow up – The meaning behind chapter 231.

After reading chapter 231, I was very confused on Pochita's behavior. I thought he was being too selfish, choosing Denji's future without his consent. But then, thanks to following the online discussion, I think I understand Pochita's actions.

Denji is someone who has only ever known pain. From the beginning of his life he was trapped in a system he could not control, crushed by guilt and survival itself. Growing up in such environment, the world became something hostile, unpredictable and overwhelming.

Faced with fear everywhere he looked, Denji became the one thing fear itself fears; Chainsawman. A hero to people, an enemy to devils, and a persona powerful enough to push back against a reality that constantly crushed him.

Part 1 felt like the story of a boy learning to confront the world for the first time. Denji met people, formed connections, and slowly discovered what it meant to want things beyond mere survival. But life didn't reward him for that growth. People disappeared from his life, people died. And some manipulated him or used him for their own purposes. The story repeatedly reminded him that connection also means vulnerability. In a sense, Part 1 was the moment Denji stopped being a passive victim of the world and became someone participating in it, even if that participation came with pain.
Part 2 began after that transformation, and Denji didn't actually felt fulfilled. He technically had the things he once dreamed of; a place in society, recognition, the possibility of a normal life. Yet he clearly hated it. Something about it felt empty to him. But everytime he stepped back into the Chainsawman identity, he became the hero everyone talked about, and things momentarily felt meaningful again.

But growing up rarely works that way. As teenagers become adults, the world stops looking like a series of simple dangers and starts becoming something much larger and far more confusing. The nature of fear itself changes.
The devils in Part 1 reflected the kinds of fears that feel immediate and concrete, almost childlike in their simplicity. Fear of guns, fear of darkness, and even a controlling mother figure. They represented threats that were easy to grasp and easy to imagine as monsters.

The devils that appeared through Part 2 felt very different. They represented fears that tend to appear once someone becomes part of society and begins to understand the deeper anxieties that come with adulthood. Justice, falling into despair and suicidal thoughts, aging, plagues, wars, famine, and death. These are not just immediate dangers. They are abstract, systemic fears, the kind that linger in the background of adult life and shape how people see the world.

Within that context, Denji is forced to confront feelings he can’t simply escape by turning into Chainsawman.

Pochita erasing himself may represent the final push Denji needs to face reality. Throughout the story, Chainsawman has functioned as Denji’s armor, a larger-than-life identity that allows him to fight against everything that scares him. But armor can also become a prison. At some point, the persona stops helping and starts preventing growth.
Denji may have reached the moment where he can no longer keep hiding inside that fantasy. Chainsawman cannot carry him forward anymore. If he wants to keep moving, he has to do it as Denji, not as the hero people fear and worship.

Escaping into fantasy can be a natural response to trauma, especially when someone is young. Stories, identities, and imagined versions of ourselves can help us survive things that would otherwise be unbearable. But eventually there comes a point where those fantasies stop protecting us and start holding us back.

And when that moment arrives, the only thing left to do is to grow up.

----------

As an extra, I think Yoru saying she despises Chainsawman but likes Denji, plus Asa's desire to give Denji a normal life, is what made Pochita realize that Chainsawman is no longer a need for Denji, but a burden. Denji needs to be himself and not hide behind Chainsawman in order to fight the challenges that come with adulthood. Including relationships, which are his main goal, after all. Otherwise, he'll never be happy, because he'll be a child living in an adult's world.
Dreaming high and getting disappointed in a neverending cycle. Getting laid was the last dream Denji still didn't achieve, his only reason to move forward. Accomplishing it meant losing his last dream, his last motivation. Pochita had to act before Denji got disappointed for the last time.

 

[d33pbluez]

No sex...
No unlimited kisses...
But at least he finally got a hug.

Denji got a freaking hand massage from asa / yoru

 

[DechAmim]

I see I'm a minority in having enjoyed part 2. It was a similar experience to part 1 to me: wasn't that invested at the early/middle chapters, but once shit hit the fan, I was all in.

Like, it'll be a letdown if this the end-end, but overall I liked the insanity. I'll probably re-read it all in one go once it's over because the weekly pacing and my dogshit memory don't get along that well.

I've said this countless times, but Chainsawman is significantly smoother on a second read. Part 1 felt plenty bumpy reading it week-to-week, but a second full readthrough was incredible.

Also I feel like I'm going crazy, I didn't see "Next Chapter is Final" anywhere on the pages, am I going senile or did they change it?

 

[EmiYusa]

what, why

 

[EmiYusa]

I've said this countless times, but Chainsawman is significantly smoother on a second read. Part 1 felt plenty bumpy reading it week-to-week, but a second full readthrough was incredible.

Also I feel like I'm going crazy, I didn't see "Next Chapter is Final" anywhere on the pages, am I going senile or did they change it?

I remember reading it like crazy in one go when I discovered it, felt strange and all but enjoyed it, but from this fight on following it very confused on what's happening and now that? :0

 

[CatLife]

 

[fight2live]

lol wat

 

[PhallusHydra]

So did fujimoto forget that denji had a heart disease that was going to kill him regardless of being killed by the mob, or is next chapter going to open up with kid denji dead on the floor

Well in a world where Chainsawman doesnt exist Makima doesnt really give af about denji so his life wont be as fucked up. assuming Fujimotor remembers that part of the story or cares at all.

 

[PhallusHydra]

Fire Punch ending wasn't nearly as abrupt as this was and actually had some lead up even if it was still relatively disconnected from what the story up to that point was. Like I'll agree that they have the same swerve of an ending but Fire Punch was more like an aggressive drift to Chainsaw Man's J-turn.

If anything him taking his time on the Firepunch ending made it considerably more unfathomably insane imo

 

[PhallusHydra]

My impression is, that was not actually just the character speaking. Its a pretty deliberate decision to have Pochita transform and speak to Denji like this. Maybe I'm over analyzing here but I really think he's telling us this is it folks, for the series and not just the devil. Its a good time to go love something else for a while. And its not like Fujimoto had answers for the kinds of concepts that he conjures up. He just likes girls and movies, he's not a philosopher. I appreciate what he delivered flaws and all.

 

[TuftyPolecat]

This is a comment i found, what do you guys think about this?(Sry for long text)

It's time to grow up – The meaning behind chapter 231.

After reading chapter 231, I was very confused on Pochita's behavior. I thought he was being too selfish, choosing Denji's future without his consent. But then, thanks to following the online discussion, I think I understand Pochita's actions.

Denji is someone who has only ever known pain. From the beginning of his life he was trapped in a system he could not control, crushed by guilt and survival itself. Growing up in such environment, the world became something hostile, unpredictable and overwhelming.

Faced with fear everywhere he looked, Denji became the one thing fear itself fears; Chainsawman. A hero to people, an enemy to devils, and a persona powerful enough to push back against a reality that constantly crushed him.

Part 1 felt like the story of a boy learning to confront the world for the first time. Denji met people, formed connections, and slowly discovered what it meant to want things beyond mere survival. But life didn't reward him for that growth. People disappeared from his life, people died. And some manipulated him or used him for their own purposes. The story repeatedly reminded him that connection also means vulnerability. In a sense, Part 1 was the moment Denji stopped being a passive victim of the world and became someone participating in it, even if that participation came with pain.
Part 2 began after that transformation, and Denji didn't actually felt fulfilled. He technically had the things he once dreamed of; a place in society, recognition, the possibility of a normal life. Yet he clearly hated it. Something about it felt empty to him. But everytime he stepped back into the Chainsawman identity, he became the hero everyone talked about, and things momentarily felt meaningful again.

But growing up rarely works that way. As teenagers become adults, the world stops looking like a series of simple dangers and starts becoming something much larger and far more confusing. The nature of fear itself changes.
The devils in Part 1 reflected the kinds of fears that feel immediate and concrete, almost childlike in their simplicity. Fear of guns, fear of darkness, and even a controlling mother figure. They represented threats that were easy to grasp and easy to imagine as monsters.

The devils that appeared through Part 2 felt very different. They represented fears that tend to appear once someone becomes part of society and begins to understand the deeper anxieties that come with adulthood. Justice, falling into despair and suicidal thoughts, aging, plagues, wars, famine, and death. These are not just immediate dangers. They are abstract, systemic fears, the kind that linger in the background of adult life and shape how people see the world.

Within that context, Denji is forced to confront feelings he can’t simply escape by turning into Chainsawman.

Pochita erasing himself may represent the final push Denji needs to face reality. Throughout the story, Chainsawman has functioned as Denji’s armor, a larger-than-life identity that allows him to fight against everything that scares him. But armor can also become a prison. At some point, the persona stops helping and starts preventing growth.
Denji may have reached the moment where he can no longer keep hiding inside that fantasy. Chainsawman cannot carry him forward anymore. If he wants to keep moving, he has to do it as Denji, not as the hero people fear and worship.

Escaping into fantasy can be a natural response to trauma, especially when someone is young. Stories, identities, and imagined versions of ourselves can help us survive things that would otherwise be unbearable. But eventually there comes a point where those fantasies stop protecting us and start holding us back.

And when that moment arrives, the only thing left to do is to grow up.

----------

As an extra, I think Yoru saying she despises Chainsawman but likes Denji, plus Asa's desire to give Denji a normal life, is what made Pochita realize that Chainsawman is no longer a need for Denji, but a burden. Denji needs to be himself and not hide behind Chainsawman in order to fight the challenges that come with adulthood. Including relationships, which are his main goal, after all. Otherwise, he'll never be happy, because he'll be a child living in an adult's world.
Dreaming high and getting disappointed in a neverending cycle. Getting laid was the last dream Denji still didn't achieve, his only reason to move forward. Accomplishing it meant losing his last dream, his last motivation. Pochita had to act before Denji got disappointed for the last time.

Absolutely goated interpretation and if it’s true then it might save the series in my heart

 

[Lunkli]

Guess there's going to be a part three??? Because, like, every instance of Chainsaw Man erasing something so far has been a very messy erasure. The thing is erased, everyone forgets what it was, that's it. We literally saw at the end of the last chapter that Death being erased just left an obvious hole in Denji's "catchphrase." It's not filled in with anything, the word is just missing.

Similarly, there have been no restructurings of reality whenever something was erased. When ears were erased, basically all people and cultures and organizations that existed before continued to exist, even though a world that never had ears would have ended up radically different from our own, especially considering how many cultures are propagated by word of mouth.

But even if there was a retroactive alteration of reality, that would mean bringing back everything Pochita ever ate, which includes all the jargon that Fujimoto made up like "look, they've been erased, so even the readers don't know what they are!" A star that drives people insane, blorgisbum, endings to a person's life other than death...

So, like, there's no way this could possibly be any sort of ending, at least not one that can be resolved in a single chapter.

Though I guess it's always possible that Fujimoto literally just quit and scribbled an ending together last minute so he wouldn't have to think about it anymore. Like a "and then the meteor fell and killed them all" ending. I wouldn't even be upset if that were the case; I'd just be impressed that Fujimoto had the guts to do it.

 

[Baddtraxx]

HUH

what

BRUH WHAT THE FUCK??

 

[Sparrowhawk]

Lost Aki, lost Power, lost Nayuta (AND ALL THE ANIMALS 😭), and now Pochita too. I am profoundly upset. I’ll read the last chapter but after “Man” I ain’t gonna read anymore of Fujimoto’s work.

 

[middle-the-nerd]

Oh hey it's over right since it doesn't exist anymore! This is clearly the stuff the author is capable of

I mean... That kind of does sound like some insane bullshit Fujimoto would pull tbh lmao



But really the exact same thing happened with part 1's penultimate chapter without any warning it said "final chapter December xx" just to have it, say, end of part one (I don't remember the exact date lmao) and the fact the english versions for some reason updated the final page to say "to be continued" instead of final chapter and a bunch of other shit a part 3 would make alot of sense lol

 

[jojoka]

I mean I'm happy to provide the flak now, I don't see why you feel vindicated in saying it was bad just because it's ending. I remain pretty convinced that the majority of people who constantly shit on part 2 just can't get over the fact their basic shonen fantasy was killed off with Power and Aki and part 2 didn't bring them back.

No I don't like part 2 because it felt like all it did was regress development of characters from part 1 and didn't do anything too interesting with new characters.
The main thing I liked in Part 2 was Asa and Yoru's relationship being a more interesting version of Denji and Pochita. I think part 2 was at it's strongest when the part 1 characters weren't main characters so if power and aki returned I still would have hated it.
It went from the Asa and Yoru part to the Denji part in the middle of it and with that change it went from having potential to being a lame retread.

 

[Junomano]

Fire Punch's ending was a letdown to people? Man, it's been a hot minute since I finished that series.

it was certainly weird but that world was doomed since the beginning so i was fine with that ending