Summary
What started off feeling like a sentimental filler episode took a drastic turn in the second half, making this one of the most surprising and entertaining episodes yet!
We recap the Crunchyroll anime series Chainsaw Man season 1, episode 8, “Gunfire,” which contains spoilers.
Denji (voiced by Kikunosuke Toya) accomplished quite a bit in Chainsaw Man episode 7. From killing the Eternity Devil to snagging his first kiss, it was definitely eventful. Although, after Himeno’s (voiced by Mariya Ise) drunken accident, he might not describe what happened exactly the same way. Last week’s events also brought the gang just a little bit closer to finding the whereabouts of the Gun Devil. Still, before they can tackle that, Denji must immediately tackle his greatest conflict yet – whether or not to lose his virginity to Himeno.
Chainsaw Man season 1, episode 8 recap
The episode starts by showing viewers what happened after Himeno disappeared with Denji. They arrive at her apartment, with him passed out and her deliriously drunk. As Denji sleeps in her bed, Himeno bathes and gets comfortable, even grabbing another beer from the fridge.
Stumbling into the bedroom, she finds Denji mumbling for water. She presses their lips together, transferring beer from her mouth into his and startling him awake. Although she carried him here, she seems too drunk to remember doing so and is confused by his presence. It doesn’t stop her from teasing him about his interest in Makima, lamenting how both he and Aki seem to fawn over her. She then asks Denji if he would like to do it with her.
He’s confused by what she means, so she clarifies, explaining she wants to sleep with him. Before he can answer, Himeno begins removing his shirt. He’s torn on whether or not he should indulge Himeno when he already planned to have his first time with Makima, but is about to go through with it until Himeno finds something in his pocket. It’s a lollipop Makima gave him earlier that night when he vented to her about his disastrous first kiss. She says that while Denji will probably never forget the taste of puke in his mouth, it’s okay because he’s going to experience more than enough new sensations to distract him from that.
In the end, Himeno passes out while Denji stares at the sucker in his hand. He apologizes to Pochita for not scoring just yet, but he’s already promised to save his first time for Makima.
The following day Himeno wakes him up, and the two have breakfast together. She tells him she was blackout drunk the night before and hopes she did not try to take advantage of him. He tells her that he intends for his first time to be with Makima, and while Himeno is relieved by that, she still seems upset by the fact that Denji is also in love with Makima. She wonders if he would still love her if he found out she had a bad personality, but he only doubles down on his affections. Seeing how serious he is, she proposes they form a secret alliance where she helps him get together with Makima if he’ll do the same for her and Aki. Denji agrees.
On a train to Kyoto to meet with the higher-ups, Makima reminisces about the night before. Suddenly after entering a tunnel, the man in front of her turns around, shooting both Makima and her assistant in the forehead. As they collapse, the killer makes a call telling his partners to go.
The scene cuts to various members of the special division four-unit, all out on different missions. At each location, civilians pull out guns, attempting to shoot the devil hunters. At a ramen restaurant, Denji, Power, Himeno, and Aki sit having lunch together. Denji hears faint shots in the distance, but Power confuses them with festival drums, so they remain eating.
At the table next to them, a patron begins to harass Denji, wondering how he can freely eat ramen without it tasting terrible. As he continues, he talks about his grandfather, a yakuza member who he claims was still a good person. When he pulls out a picture of his grandfather, it turns out to be none other than the old man Denji used to work for killing devils. Denji asks what he wants; the patron tells Denji that he’s heard the Gun Devil is after his heart before suddenly shooting Denji in the head.
The patron begins shooting at the others, but Power uppercuts him, allowing Aki to use his Fox Devil to swallow the man whole. As Aki notices that both Himeno and Denji have been shot, the Fox Devil tells him there’s something strange about the person she just ate. He is “neither human nor devil,” she tells him, just before her skull is split open. Out emerges a devil hybrid similar to Denji, but in place of chainsaws are katanas.
Chainsaw Man season 1, episode 8 ending
Aki instructs Power to stop Himeno’s bleeding as he engages with this new Katana Man. He draws his own sword, which is actually a very large nail and begins to attack. Every time he manages to land a blow on Katana Man, another devil counts down from three, then two, then one. At zero, a ghostlike devil appears, finishing off Katana Man for Aki.
Power informs Aki that Himeno likely needs a doctor. He wonders how Katana Man was able to get his hands on a gun in the first place since only police are allowed to have firearms post the Gun Devil terrorist attacks. Before he can come up with anything, a mysterious blonde woman appears, questioning Aki about how he was able to kill Katana Man. Aki asks who she is, but the woman ignores him in favor of resurrecting Katana Man, who assures her he will succeed in killing the others this time. Before anyone can even blink, he has already attacked and wounded Aki gravely.
Himeno asks Power to help Aki, but she is not fast enough to follow Katana Man’s movements. Himeno then asks the ghost devil, offering to give them everything she has in exchange. The Ghost Devil gets the upper hand on Katana Man as Himeno sacrifices her limbs one by one to save Aki. She hopes that he’ll cry for him when she does, as he has so many of his other former subordinates. As he watches in horror, the mysterious girl with Katana Man calls upon a devil of her own. Suddenly the Snake Devil appears, swallowing Himeno’s Ghost Devil whole. When Aki looks up again, all of Himeno has disappeared as well.
This episode confirmed something viewers had already begun to pick up on last week: that Himeno had feelings for Aki. It gives her and Denji something in common, as they both pine over someone just out of arms reach. However, then it took a serious left, taking out almost half of the principal cast members up until this point. If there’s one thing Chainsaw Man is good at, it’s keeping viewers on their toes for sure. It’ll be interesting to see how the remaining members of Division Four handle things now, especially with so many new questions popping up.
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