Chainsaw Man, Tome 8

チェンソーマン [Chainsaw Man] #8

by Tatsuki Fujimoto

Alors que la bataille fait rage entre la team de Quanxi et la section spéciale, le mystérieux Père Noël dévoile l'étendue de son pouvoir et, par là-même, son véritable objectif. Un contrat maudit chargé de haine et taché de sang se lie, ouvrant la porte vers un monde de désespoir que même les démons redoutent... Entre effroi et désolation, les voici transportés dans le domaine du démon-ténèbres...

Genres: Manga, Horror, Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Action

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 4, 2020

About the author

Tatsuki Fujimoto 藤本タツキ (Fujimoto Tatsuki) is a Japanese manga author, mostly known for Chainsaw Man.

Awards:
- Shōgakukan Manga Award: Shōnen category for Chainsaw Man (2020)
- Harvey Award: best manga for Chainsaw Man (2021-2022)

Chinese language profiles: 藤本樹 and 藤本树.

Reviews

[laura]

ayo literally what the fuck just happened guys 😃😃😃

[Caahpinotti ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚]

in order to read this you have to pretend you understand whatever the fuck is going on during the trip to hell

[Artemy]

I’ve been a fan of the series up to this point, but this was just a really weak volume. It’s full-on action with barely any story, and the action, while impressively drawn and full of imaginative gore, is near-incomprehensible sequentially, and accompanied by some truly abysmal dialogue (not sure if it’s the author’s fault or some translation miscommunications). I’m sure the series will recover in the following volumes, but this was an unfortunate misfire, which I’m sure will be handled better and with more legibility in the upcoming anime.

Another unfortunate thing about this volume: almost zero Power content, and really no good material for a one-panel screenshot of a review. Oh well.

[Lauren Lanz]

I'm gaslighting myself into believing I understood anything that happened after the 'trip to hell' part of this volume.
We all knew Makima was sus..... but that woman's power is getting more and more worrying with each volume (who is she allied to? What's her motive??? WHY?????)

[literarylesbian]

lesbians :/

[Saraí Elvir]

RIP auto de Kobeni

[aleksandra]

4.75/5

I forgot how much I love this volume. I love Fujimoto’s brain.

─────

This volume was absolutely insane. I didn't understand half of what was going on, but who cares. The Hell chapter, though? Chef's kiss.

[Bianca]

THIS HAS BEEN BY FAR MY FAVORITE VOLUMEEEEE. THIS VOLUME WAS BRUTAL, BLOODY AND WONDERFUL. I REALLY REALLY LOVED IT!

[Štěpán]

Well, the literal Hell with flowers and doors is here. Who the fuck is Makima? Why were there astronauts? Why did everyone lose their arms? Who is the fuckin' Santa Claus? Why Quanxi used swords when she could use her own powers? What the fuck was the Halloween chick? Did Denji really use ​the power of light because he burned himself? What the fuck was this volume!?

This was a great ride and complete chaotic carnage, and I want my answers!

[Shawna Finnigan]

I love that we got explicitly queer representation in this volume with Quanxi acknowledging her feelings for women, but I was a bit surprised that it seems like the wives won’t be in this series much more. I thought their part of the story would be a lot bigger. Quanxi stuff aside, this volume had some decent moments, but I wasn’t a big fan of the Hell segment. I found that section to be a little confusing. I wish it had been explained a bit more.

[Himanshu Karmacharya]

Just when you think this series can't get any crazier, Tatsuki Fujimoto just proves you wrong. Packed with intense action sequences and dwelling deeper into the devil world of Chainsaw Man, Volume 8 of the series is one hell of a ride.

[Urbon Adamsson]

PT Este volume está repleto de ação e continua a mostrar a incrível força da Makima — que é claramente ainda mais poderosa do que inicialmente poderíamos imaginar. O seu interesse obsessivo pelo Chainsaw Man deixa no ar a possibilidade de ele possuir capacidades ou características que o distinguem dos restantes caçadores de demónios, tornando-o uma personagem ainda mais intrigante.

Santa Claus é uma adição completamente inesperada e bastante peculiar à história, trazendo consigo uma dose extra de excentricidade que mantém a narrativa interessante. 😅

A arte continua lindíssima e visualmente impressionante, embora o seu estilo surreal possa tornar algumas sequências um pouco difíceis de acompanhar.

No geral, “Chainsaw Man” continua a surpreender e a manter o ritmo, deixando-me cada vez mais curioso para descobrir o que vem a seguir.

--

EN This volume is packed with action and continues to showcase Makima’s incredible strength — she’s clearly even more powerful than we initially imagined. Her almost obsessive interest in Chainsaw Man hints that he may possess abilities or qualities that set him apart from the other devil hunters, making him an even more intriguing character.

Santa Claus is a completely unexpected and rather unusual addition to the story, bringing an extra layer of eccentricity that keeps things interesting. 😅

The artwork remains stunning and visually striking, although its surreal style can sometimes make certain sequences a little difficult to follow.

Overall, “Chainsaw Man” continues to impress and maintain its momentum, leaving me increasingly curious to see what comes next.

[ananya ྀི]

This is insanity.

You're telling me my girlfriend Quanxi is dead well fuck you Makima.

I'll miss you my lesbian badass queen

[Mizuki]

So this is the power of darkness...it's magnificent.

(1) I wonder why the Doll Devil is so powerful... supposedly the power levels of the devils depends on how much humans are afraid of them...so....so...are there many people out there afraid of dolls?"

(2) Mother fucker! The Darkness Devil is here!!!!!! That's so chilling! I'm deeply impressed by how the author described DARKNESS! That's fucking brilliant!!!

(3) The fight scenes are so good!

(4) I am a bit confused about the Santa Claus (from Germany), is his doll manipulation power allows him to swing bodies with different people?

(5) Makima is so chilling!!!! The ending part...I can't even! Now I also notice Makima managed to evenly match with the Darkness Devil! OMG she really is that powerful!?!?

(6) Not only all of the female characters we have encountered so far have, at one point, used their beauty and their body to get their way, even this cool-looking Chinese assassin and her female companions have also been used as an excuse for the author to draw all-female-harem, all the damn time. *sighs* I guess good old misogynism just never gets old, right? Can creators stop being so backward in the 21st century!?

"I'll tell you the secret to making a sophisticated doll. Take the human you'll turn into a doll.....and add emotions only humans have. Adoration. Worship. Pity. And the secret ingredient: Guilt."

(7) So I guess the real Santa Claus is the dying young woman (the Mentor)---or whatever being is residing inside the body of this woman, because the guy can jump from one body to the next with his/her power, so the Santa Claus also made his trainee Tolka into a doll as well, right?

(8) It's really chilling how a certain someone 'makes' Dolls, that's so fucked up but it's brilliant!!!

(9) Regardless of the author's treatment of female characters, I am still deeply impressed by the insight of human nature: betrayal, cruelty against innocent people and children, lies, all in the name of power. I like it! I actually like his worldview!

(9) I do hope there is more character growth for Denji, because I'm liking the supporting characters' stories more now. I don't want the Devil Puppy to be the only thing going for Denji!

(10) From the example of Makima and Denji and how the Santa Claus treats one of his/her delicate 'Doll', I guess the author has a thing for grooming humans like grooming/training a pet, all sort of emotional manipulation is at work here! Be aware!

(11) I just keep re-reading this volume because it's just so cool!!!! I keep noticing new things and having more questions!

[James DeSantis]

Most of this volume I was just like...what the fuck is happening?

No really, this volume is the most insane shit I've read in awhile. Getting dragged into hell, astronaut spouting out hands, people getting turned into ribbons, it is the weirdest shit ever. I mean I was interested but I couldn't tell you what the hell was happening if you had a gun to my head.

Saying that the visuals get to be amazing since it is so weird. This has some of the most wicked looking monster designs, deaths, and environments the series has to offer so far. The ending to this arc too was brutal as it shows how some characters really have NO remorse.

A 3.5 out of 5. My least favorite arc storywise in awhile but the visuals made it worth it.

[james]

finally, a good volume.
hell, the art, halloween? fantastic. 4.5 stars

[Sol]

This is the first arc that I can't entirely get behind. It started strong with the cancelled vacation and assassins gearing up, and the chaotic combination of all the pieces was funny and action packed. At the same time it undercut itself a lot, and the art was rushed in several places (Prinz's zipper missing in the very scene she used it, and Master's moles missing in places), with some very stiff action (Angel attacking the dolls, Tolka kicking Beam). Plenty of fluid stuff too, but the clunky bits stands out.


Everything was great right up until Master transformed. I don't even mind a primordial devil jobbing to Makima, he was at least managing to hurt her. But Master's transformation, besides looking beyond goofy, was a lot less scary than when she betrayed Tolka. When she looked like a normal woman, she was a creepy manipulator, and like Makima, it wasn't clear what exactly she might be capable of. Once she turns into a big monster, she's just a target for Denji to beat on. Her dying threat that her dolls across the world would pursue Denji relentlessly was infinitely more frighting than anything she actually did after her powerup. She doesn't even manage to kill anyone, which is less than Reze or even Katanaman did.

Problems aside, this arc had a lot of great jokes (Power playing dead, Kobeni's car), good action scenes to make up for the bad, and it introduces a lot of interesting worldbuilding elements. More information on Hell and devils, the suggestion that Quanxi is an ancient devil hunter, Master's implication that Makima has a "dream" (and Kishibe's plot against her), yet more ludicrous powers for Makima.


Beyond raising her power level even higher, I realized as Makima beheaded Quanxi and her harem, she hasn't actually done anything wrong (that we know of). Everyone she's killed attacked either her or her employees, or were on death row. The only even vaguely questionable action she's taken was stealing the eyes of the Yakuza wives, but they're about equally guilty. Despite this, the parallels between Master and Tolka, and Makima and Denji, are obvious. Older women manipulating naive younger men, and Tolka ends up losing everything(this idea also occurred in Fire Punch with Judah and to a lesser extent Togata). The suggestion that Denji might meet a similar or worse fate is clear. With Darkness willing to lend his power to Master in exchange for Pochita's heart, its clear that not just the Gun devil wants it. It seems likely Makima does as well, but she's not willing to use violence (at least against Denji) to keep it. Kishibe's desire to kill Makima adds more complication. The framing of things make it seem like Kishibe is a decent man and that Makima has the potential for great evil, but we know very little about Kishibe, and while Makima is ruthless and disturbing, she hasn't been proven a villain yet.

This volume also adds a few more pieces to the question of her powers. There seem to be two concepts that cover a good deal of them. She seems to be able to "reflect" things against their wielders (blowing holes in the gunmen who shot her, hurting Darkness after he crushed her arm, beheading Quanxi at the speed of light). Ability from a Mirror Devil, or her sense of humour? Two, she twice seems to redirect sacrifices to a devil away from herself and onto others. Her high elevation crusher took the lives of the prisoners who said the names of the targets, and she forces Tolka to sacrifice himself to the Hell Devil. This would explain her scarless appearance and variety of powers - if she can redirect the sacrifices to others and has a supply of prisoners to foist them on, she could make unlimited contracts.

Denji demonstrates more "heart" than he credits himself for when he rushes to Power's aid against the dolls, and forgoes a vacation with just Makima and himself to take care of her after the battle.

Not a perfect arc, but I'm looking forward to what's next.

[Dhia Nouioui]

It's funny how the main character getting his head cut off was the least interesting thing to happen in this volume.

[Victoria | Victoriabooklover]

9/30/22: the reveal…still hit just as hard 🫡


6/27/21……WHAT?!!!

[Marisol]

What is happening.

[Victoria ✮⋆˙]

Ayooooo?? I have no words

[lily]

what.

[Ana]

4 stars *may change
YEAHHHA.... this manga is so strange

[hiba]

this is like a train wreck you can't look away from.

[Lucy (the invisible life of a reader)]

what the fuck is happening

[Sarah ♡ (let’s interact!)]

I don’t quite know what I just read… this series is batshit insane in the best way! 😅 there’s mostly lots of gory imagery and action in this volume, it barely gives you any room to breath as we enter hell! If there’s one thing Chainsaw Man does very well, it’s strong female characters! Itching for more and even though this was so action packed it felt abit like filler to introduce the concept of hell and some new villains, wasn’t too much dialogue overall! So I’m giving it 3.5 Stars!

[Shi2chi]

I'm not sure if this volume was the conclusion of the current arc or not but lots of things got revealed and we got some hints about Makima and some foreshadowing for a group of really strong devils was done
At the end of this volume a few panels are included titled as "Everything about Kishibe" which serve as comic releife.

[library ghost (farheen)]

there's soooo much going on

[Alexandra Elend Wolf]

3.5 stars.

Well, the crazy just got crazier, I guess.

Really, there's never quite telling where this manga will go... even though I can guess at some of the things that it's trying to hint at, it's not like we get any kind of sane answers to anything as to properly guess anything.

This volume, however, was properly creepy and gruesome. I had chills running down my spine at some points because it was just a little too horrifying of a situation to just go about normally.

While we do get some, very few and very scant answers we are left with many more questions.

[Michael Sorbello]

Volume 8 covers chapters 62-70

Things really go to Hell (literally) in this volume.

Volume 8 continues the all-out-war of Denji's crew fighting against the foreign assassin squads and the Devil that turns everything it touches into obedient dolls. While the battle ensues, Makima unleashes the might of her true strength and works from the shadows to pull off her mysterious plan. In the middle of the chaos, alliances are made while others are broken.

The surrealistic horror stuff really went off the rails in this one. It's a bit difficult to keep up with everything that's going on. The first time I read through it I didn't understand a lot of things that were happening. After reading some of these chapters a second time while paying closer attention to the subtle contextual hints given through the vague dialogue and imagery, I began to appreciate the set up of what's happening much more.

Chainsaw Man lures you in as a simplistic action story that gradually gets much more complex, bizarre and surrealistic as it goes on. It's like a Tarantino film on LSD.