Chainsaw Man season 1, episode 11 recap – “Mission Start”

We recap the Crunchyroll anime series Chainsaw Man season 1, episode 11, “Mission Start,” which contains spoilers.

The last few episodes of Chainsaw Man have been some of the best of the series, but as we get closer to the end of the first season, the stakes have only gotten higher. Although quite a few characters have already met their untimely demise, it hasn’t stopped Denji (voiced by Kikunosuke Toya) and his friends from continuing their duties as Devil Hunters. If anything, those losses have only made them strive harder to accomplish their goal of finding the Gun Devil. With everyone doing their best to get stronger, the end of episode 10 saw Aki (Shogo Sakata) trying to make a contract with the notoriously difficult Future Devil. Still, no one could’ve predicted how their encounter would turn out this week.

Chainsaw Man season 1, episode 11 recap

The Future Devil emerges from the shadows, a tall, menacing creature made up of a humanoid tree body with an eye located inside a crevice in his torso. He spreads his arms wide, declaring, “the future rules!” multiple times just before the opening credits roll.

The Future Devil begins to dance, encouraging Aki to join him. When Aki doesn’t engage him, he instead has Aki stick his head into his stomach to see his future. What the devil sees will help him determine what sort of contract Aki receives. With a pompous laugh, the Future Devil says all he wants is to live inside Aki’s right eye in exchange for using his power. He asks Aki if he wants to know how he dies, telling him it will rule and getting to experience it is what makes the cost of the contract so low. Aki declines and offers up his eye, as all he is interested in is taking out his targets.

Denji and Power continue to train with Kishibe, and despite struggling, he compliments their improvement. It’s enough to earn them reduced training time, for which they seem grateful. Before leaving, he tells them they’ll be going on a mission as a way to debut this new Division 4. Their mission: to take out Akane and Katana Man. This mission will be a make-it-or-break-it test for the division, and if they fail, Kishibe will get to dispose of Power and Denji personally. Denji jokes that should that happen, he’ll take mercy on Kishibe. Since training together, he’s gotten stronger and will not lose his chance to hook up with Makima now.

That night, Makima and Kishibe meet for dinner. She asks how things are going with Power and Denji. He claims to be annoyed by them, but that is only because he has grown attached to them in a way he wasn’t expecting. He then accuses her of knowing about the attack on Division 4 all along and doing nothing to prevent it. When she deflects, he reveals that he has no intention of stopping her as long as her main goal is human safety. Although when she claims it is, he still accuses her of being a liar.

Somewhere in an office building, Akane, Katana Man, and several henchmen hide out, afraid to attract the attention of Makima. Still, they refuse to back down completely and have already devised a plan to take out the Public Safety Devil Hunters when they finally find them. Underneath the building is a hoard of zombies made up of people who never paid their debts to Katana Man’s mob boss grandfather. Akane warns the henchmen not to get bitten by one, or they will also become zombies.

On the drive back to the office, Yutaro chastises Aki and the fact that he’s arrogant enough to believe he has a chance to kill the Gun Devil. Despite knowing how unrealistic the goal may be, Aki says he wouldn’t be able to continue any other way. On his way out, Yutaro claims he is still rooting for Aki anyway and gives him a piece of advice – to watch himself, as everyone in Division 4 is crazy.

In a large but secluded house, Makima meets with the Yakuza Boss in charge of Katana Man and Akane. He assures her the attacks were not on his orders, giving up Akane immediately. She got them into deals with the Gun Devil, where he gives them guns and ammo in exchange for 20,000 yen. Makima requests the names of everyone he knows to be in a contract with the Gun Devil, to which the Yakuza Boss easily agrees. However, he refuses to give her the names of people not in his family, as it could start a war between opposing families. He begins to explain that The Japanese Yakuza is a “necessary evil” for the country, protecting it from foreign gangs, laughing as he jokes that Makima may not be smart enough to understand how that works.

As his lackeys laugh, Makima pulls a bag out from under the table. The Yakuza boss says he does not take bribes; however, the bag is not filled with money. It is filled with the eyes of the loved ones of every mob member located in the room. If they cooperate, she promises someone will be able to return them. Still, one of the men in the back tries to hit her anyway. Before the swing can land, Makima locks eyes with him, and the man’s nose soon begins to bleed before he falls to his knees.

Ending Explained

The police and Division 4 surround the office building Akane and Katana Man are hiding in, ready to begin their raid. Kishibe tells the group they don’t have much of a set plan but does, however, he goes to warn the police about how to interact with the new Division 4, as most of the unit is made up of non-humans, who also need to be kept in long. Along with the characters we know, Division 4 includes the Shark Fiend, Violence Fiend, Spider Devil, and Angel Devil, all with their unique set of characteristics.

The rest of Division 4 begin taking out zombies along with the new fiends and devils. After being protected by the wings of the Angel Devil, Aki declares his group can leave the zombies to the fiends so they can find Katana Man and Akane. As Aki explores the office building halls, various henchmen run out, attempting to shoot him. He manages to take out one and prepares to take on another group, but then suddenly, their noses begin to bleed, and they all fall to their knees.

Aki finally finds Akane alone, telling her to come along quietly. She instead summons the Snake Devil, who spits out the Ghost Devil. Akane’s nose bleeds slightly as she orders the Ghost Devil to kill Aki, but he manages to evade the attacks from her many arms by using the Future Devils’ foresight powers to predict their movements briefly. Still, her dozens of arms overwhelm Aki as one takes hold of his neck. The episode ends with Aki struggling as Akane commands the Ghost Devil to choke him to death.

These last few episodes have not disappointed as we finally close in on the end of the season. Once again, Chainsaw Man delivered an exciting yet informative episode that brought Katana Man and Akane back to the forefront as the main villains. Even with so much happening, the episodes never feel overwhelming. Everything feels like it’s coming full circle to wrap up the Katana Man arc nicely.

We still have yet to see if and how the training Power and Denji endured will be worth something, but I’m not upset their new skills are being saved for the finale. If it’s half as good as this season’s been as a whole, the conclusion is sure to leave fans more than satisfied.

What did you think of Chainsaw Man season 1, episode 11? Comment below.

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