#spoilers 155

[nanakorobiyaokii]

CHAPTER 155: 'OATH'

[ichiharasenrii]

sakura's growth and learning to put his trust into someone even when presented with uncertainty and disadvantages.

umemiya's unwavering resolve is so amiable and powerful. the same resolve created a place where sakura can be free and happy.

ʚ(꒦ິ ꒳꒦ີ )ɞ♡♡♡

[kozukihiyori]

Chapter 81 - Makima / Chapter 155 - Nayuta

[sugar-grigri]

Nayuta ? Or Makima ? Neither : Nayuta Hayakawa

What I already find fantastic It's that EVERYTHING, absolutely everything in this chapter has to be interpreted in reverse. If you want to know what it's about, you have to interpret it normally. To find out the answer, in reverse.

How did I come to this conclusion? The first part gives you the key :

An unknown lady comes to Nayuta's defense: she's only a child, don't attack her! Open your eyes! Come back to your senses for a second!

And even though Barem is there to trap her, paradoxically, humanity regains its senses, not by seeing Nayuta as just a child, but precisely by removing her status: she is indeed a threat to them.

You've already interpreted it right side up, so let's continue interpreting it upside down

The fact that she pities Denji and wants his heart doesn't mean that Nayuta is Makima, or that she's becoming Makima again.

Makima has never felt pity - she's never even seen Denji at all - so having pity is already a step in the right direction.

The former control demon was so powerful but also so distant that she couldn't even distinguish between human and CSM odors.

As for the fact that she wants his heart, Nayuta feels it before searching Denji's memory. This doesn't mean that the control demon instinctively wants to capture CSM. When Nayuta wants his heart, it's because she wants to be loved, and it's such a strange sensation that she feels lost.

What's more, when she repeats the plan of her former self, in reality, the equation is not at all the same. Even with the same plan, Makima and Nayuta don't follow the same trajectory. Let me explain: making Denji happy and then drastically taking everything away from him is the basis, but the control demon's position is different.

Makima wasn't enjoying this happiness, she was completely excluded from it. Whereas Nayuta is completely enmeshed in Denji's happiness, to the point of being genuinely happy about it too. This happiness was brutally taken away, and that's what happened, but it wasn't the control demon's fault this time.

What's more, Makima wanted a family even though she had no idea what it was, whereas Nayuta has a family but no idea what she is. That's a different question!

Once again, this chapter should be read through a staggering mirror.

The fact that she sees Denji as empty again shows that Nayuta sees Denji more as a shell than Makima, who was obsessed by the heart, by Pochita.

Moreover, the chapter betrays this way of presenting Nayuta, she's not cold like Makima, she can have fun like a child and does so sincerely, it's not a facade, simply a questioning of her own person.

I know that everything I'm saying may sound strange, especially when, if you pay attention to the staging, Denji and Nayuta are constantly going round in circles, faster and faster.

So this chapter gives the impression that everything is the confirmation of a cycle that's closing: Denji realizes once again that he has no family, while Nayuta reconnects with her old self

But for me, that's a hasty interpretation: don't read this chapter, just enjoy the last drop of it, so let's get on with it!

When Denji tells Nayuta that he's her family, it's not her who tells him that he should be ashamed of uttering such nonsense, it's Denji himself.

Denji finds it ridiculous to talk about family without understanding its meaning, after all, how can a child who has experienced the worst crime of all, parricide, understand what it means to be a family?

It's precisely by wanting to become Chainsaw Man that he understands.

His father, his blood relative, was not a parent, he mistreated his child: a parent doesn't behave like that.

Pochita is Denji's family, and he has a blood link with him; he's even the one who irrigates his veins: he's his heart.

What is Chainsaw Man? Nothing more than an empty shell, a bit of an answer to everything, on whom we pin all our hopes.

Makima did the same thing: this unattainable thing, this hero of the underworld, I'm unhappy because I can't reach him, so mathematically, if I could reach him, I could aspire to happiness.

Nayuta has achieved it, but she still seems to be going through existential crises: this makes sense, because once again, Chainsaw Man is an empty shell.

Denji lost his family, his pets died, so automatically, the response was to aspire to something else, to turn the page immediately by closing my eyes and becoming Chainsaw Man because !!!! Because Denji wanted to become this empty shell

Once again, logically, he became one, because by losing his family, the happiness that filled him, he became an empty shell.

But an empty shell is not to be understood in a purely pejorative sense, for a shell can contain anything: humanity's need for reassurance, the great enemy for demons to slay, the means to fight death, happiness, family... and so on.

When Pochita asks Denji what he plans to do after he achieves his first dream, Denji replies: to be Chainsaw Man.

To be an empty shell, yes, but empty in order to be filled by others, just as someone who is alone would tie up with others, just as the control devil would want CSM so she won't be alone, just as a wounded dog would agree to ally itself with a child who doesn't want to die either…

Having your family destroyed, but still managing to move on while building a new one, being surrounded by so many people that you forget your own pain, surviving better together in a terrible environment - that's the Hayakawa family.

As we've seen, Nayuta talks about a happiness that will then be destroyed. It's a good tactic to follow this plan, because that's what Makima did with the Hayakawa family, but as we've seen, Nayuta is part of this happiness that's doomed to be destroyed, so she's part of this family that constantly dies, burns and then rises from the ashes.

Nayuta doesn't know who she is, but what we do know is that she has a definite attachment to Denji, and above all, she's trying to understand who she really is through this boy she wants to shower with happiness. The fact that both of them are empty shells who are influenced by the other, Nayuta adopts Denji's ways, Denji puts Nayuta above everything else. This action of surviving together, this intertwined suffering and happiness, is precisely what Chainsaw Man is all about.

When Denji loses his family again, his dogs and his cat, he pushes Nayuta away. Denji realises that being him, being Chainsaw Man, will always be accompanied by pain, so he tries to cut the ties with the last person close to him. He does this without even understanding what it means to be a family.

Yet chapter 155 explicitly answers it. The beginning of the chapter opens with Nayuta about to be attacked and ends with Denji lying there, cared for and safe. Denji may never be able to describe what a family is, but it is something that can be felt, the shared suffering and happiness of living together, and it is something that can be seen : being protected.

Denji's cycle is not to kill his parents, it's the cycle of neglect, of lack of protection. Denji's father failed to protect him, leaving him in the hands of the mafia. And what Denji does is fail to understand what it means to belong to a family, to protect others, because he has abandoned his little sister to her fate.

Nayuta also had her answer, she wanted to repeat what her former self had done, what was accomplished by one of her former followers, Barem : lose the happiness you've built up.

And indeed, she understood what she was: someone who belongs to a family, even when that family goes completely off the rails, and her first instinct was to protect Denji and get him to safety. Denji opened the door for Nayuta, who looked at him as an empty shell, and who then saw so much of herself in him that she protected him at the risk of jeopardising her own safety.

This doomed happiness, belonging to a family, sacrificing oneself - that's the Hayakawa. And when she realises that she too has become part of this doomed family, Nayuta paradoxically knows better who she is : Nayuta Hayakawa.

By inundating this empty boy with happiness, she also becomes part of a vicious, ever-accelerating cycle. Her dogs and cat have already paid the price.

Makima and Nayuta are right: happiness under threat is what awakens Chainsaw Man. After all, it was in front of a burnt down house that a new contract was signed with Pochita. And when this new dream came about, it was when a bird was crushed. The bird represents the cycles: Bucky who opens part 2, Asa the new protagonist who lives again thanks to Yoru in the form of an owl. Crushing it represents its end. Being Chainsaw Man means avoiding becoming that empty shell again by preserving the fragile happiness inside.

As Aki learns that he, like Power, will be killed by Chainsaw Man, the cycle of his family's condemnation, Denji is also finally revealed, confronted with his own destiny.

How can we put an end to the cycle of neglect? The broken and unhappy destinies ? How can we turn Chainsaw Man into an instrument of struggle ?

Will Denji remain the product of this cycle of neglect, watching his loved ones die in his arms, condemned like his brother to try to protect them when it's already too late?

Will Denji realise that when he crushed the raven, Nayuta was on his back, and that she needs to be in his arms, protected, to end the cycle? Will Denji finally wake up and try to be a bit less of an idiot?

And realise that to be Chainsaw Man, he needs a foundation: his family.

As his memories of Nayuta flashed past, Denji realised that he had put an end to the cycle, that he had touched with his fingertips a form of happiness despite the loss of his previous siblings. As he realised this fragile happiness, Pochita asked him what he wanted next: to be Chainsaw Man. Not the man who kills his loved ones, not the man you die for. The one who will protect this fragile happiness like a tower of cards.

[numbmontezuma]

This is genuinelly one of the most distressing panels in this manga, right up there with "makima is listening"

[epickiya722]

I knew that outfit reminded me of something!

(Funny, Yuji changed into this outfit 10 chapters after Jin is shown...)

HOLD IT!!!

[raamitsu]

TRYING NOT TO SCREAM MY STOMACH OUT RIGHT NOW BUT LORD I AM FAILING SO HARD

[fanofflames]

Went back through the manga and found these panels mentioning Chisaki’s quirk. It’s interesting that, the quirk, Overhaul is mentioned as the ability to dismantle and restore....

Seems highly plausible that AFO and Garaki used his quirk to make Shigaraki's Decay. If so, Garaki probably performed experiments on Chisaki in the same nature as the ones Chisaki subjected Eri to…

It could explain Chisaki's lack of empathy towards Eri, and his extensive knowledge on quirk research, to the point of being able to create quirk-erasing bullets from Eri’s Rewind.

[elderyautjavegeta]

[pockethep]

Nayuta's goal to find out who she is ended up with her unintentionally starting to fulfill Makima's true dream of forming equal relationships with others and finding happiness.

[transient-winds]

This is later than I usually post but oh well.

Wind Breaker Chapter 155 Spoilers ahead.

Tell me why did the first part made me almost cry? I'm glad we got a glimpse into Takiishi's perspective. I guess it makes me a little happy to see that he does acknowledges (in some capacity) Endo and Umemiya (he said his name!!).

The fact that Takiishi views himself separately from being human? Is this because he himself can't understand or feel human emotions that he completely detaches himself from the word because it doesn't fit him? TELL ME YOUR BACKSTORY, WHAT MADE YOU THINK LIKE THIS OR DID YOU ALWAYS FEEL LIKE THIS TAKIISH???

It's complimentary to the way Endo himself observes & can read emotions and feelings yet lacks the capacity to understand them completely (which leads to his bad judge of character). They're both giving flavors of ASPD (Antisocial Personality Disorder) but I'm not a psych student so I wouldn't know.

Also:

Then, Endo thinking it was over hahaha. Umemiya lives, bitch. (Endo clapping like the fight was a meal-)

SAKURA AND US, WE KNEW HE'D GET UP AGAIN!!

Sakura's confidence in Umemiya, my hearrtt. Look at our future and current Bofurin leader y'all. He's grown so much these past months. I'M IN LOVE WITH THE LAST TWO PANELS. LOOK AT THEY'RE SMILESSS! LET'S GO UMEMIYA, KICK HIS ASS!!

Me:

Godlyy scenes. I'm in awe. Never have I ever wanted to draw scenes in my style as much as I do now wthhh. UMEMIYA'S CONFIDENCE IS OOZING, HE'LL WIN THIS FOR SURE. THAT'S THE UMEMIYA WE KNOW AND LOVE.

–

The visualss, Nii-sensei out done himself once again and ahhhhhh the dialogue 😍 (Jacqueline 🛐🛐). Please go support the official releases over on KManga Kodansha.

[perpetuallyexhaustedlibrarian]

Ume, you perfect man!!

[ddenji]

this is drawing some really interesting parallels between denji and nayuta (and makima). to me it's fair to assume the "nightmare" denji is talking about nayuta, and also makima by extension cuz he's referencing her past. the most crucial part of this is "you threw that all away when you chose chainsaw man" because makima did sacrifice any chance to be happy or have a family in her pursuit of chainsaw man. she thought chainsaw man was her only true equal and her only chance at having those things. however in recent chapters, denji is going through a similar choice & i think it would be fair to say the “nightmare” denji could be talking to present denji here too! he's realized that he can either have a normal life or be chainsaw man, and he's choosing the latter. especially cuz in the past like 2 chapters denji was pushing nayuta away to distance her from chainsaw man. and the dreamself denji seems to be reinforcing that choice, perhaps reminding him of why he doesnt “deserve” a family so csm is all he has. and of course, the chapter title “the old me” kind of strings this all together. the old denji that is the child who killed his father, the old denji that is the one who dreamed of a normal life, the old nayuta that was makima and the old nayuta that wanted to destroy denji. i just feel like this really tied them together again in terms of like their desires & how they get there & what theyre leaving behind <3

[slerixx]

all beaten up and they still both look so good 🔥

[sugar-grigri]

Chainsaw Man is so coherent it's mathematical - I'm going to faint!

[raamitsu]

WIND BREAKER CHAPTER 155 SPOILERS ⭐

panels uploaded by tsubakinoswife on twitter.

I'M OVERFLOWING WITH MIXED FEELINGS OH MY GOD