Chainsaw Man season 1 closed out 2022 with a thrilling conclusion to the Katana Man arc.
Anime fans finally got to see the Public Safety department track down the devil hunters behind the attacks in Tokyo. Denji rises as the courageous hero at the end, going blade to blade with the vengeful Katana Man.
While the first season ends with a successful raid by Makima and her crew, viewers might have missed a few details that are crucial to the story.
To help you understand what transpired, here’s the ending explained of Chainsaw Man season 1.
Ending explained of Chainsaw Man Season 1
How did Aki Hayakawa defeat Akane Sawatari and the Ghost Devil?
The final episode begins with Aki fighting off the Ghost Devil, which used to be in a contract with Himeno, his deceased partner. Enemy devil hunter Akane momentarily controls the Ghost Devil because the Snake Devil had devoured it in the previous fight.
The Ghost Devil relentlessly chokes Aki with its multiple hands, but after a while, it lets him go. Aki is surprised by the sudden change of heart, and notices one of its hands reaching out to him.
The Public Safety member sees that it’s a cigarette with “easy revenge” written on it, and believes it’s from Himeno.
Himeno has limited control over the Ghost Devil after her death. In episode 9, she was able to pull Denji’s cord after offering her entire body to the Ghost Devil. From the looks of it, the same detached hand gave the cigarette to Aki.
After accepting the cigarette, Aki remembers what Himeno said about her own contract. The Ghost Devil has no eyes and can only sense its targets through fear. The swordsman then calmly climbs up the Ghost Devil to behead it.
Before Akane could use the Snake Devil, Kobeni appears from behind and puts a knife to her throat, forcing her to surrender.
Did Akane actually survive the raid?
The fate of Akane is explained by Makima during the final episode’s credits.
Kobeni was supposed to escort her back to their headquarters for interrogation, but as they were walking through a hallway, the Snake Devil killed Akane.
Since Akane had a contract with the Gun Devil, Makima believes that it was an involuntary suicide to keep the Gun Devil’s plans hidden from Public Safety.
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Why does Katana Man want to kill Denji?
While Katana Man enters halfway through the season as a mysterious devil-hybrid, his appearance is connected to events in the first episode.
During Denji’s first transformation into Chainsaw Man, he eradicates a horde of zombies as well as his former debt collector, an old man who is actually the beloved grandfather of Katana Man.
Once the two meet during the raid, Katana Man tries to hash things out in a civil manner, asking Denji to apologize for some closure. He goes on to say that they will surrender if they can execute him for his wrongdoing.
Denji justifies his actions and says that Katana Man’s grandpa and the other goons were already zombies. Katana Man is perplexed by this, and mentions that he struggles to sleep after killing zombies since they were once human.
With Denji showing no remorse, Katana Man believes that Denji has lost his human heart, and attacks him with his blades.
Despite getting his arms cut off, Denji wins the fight by cutting Katana Man in half. Since Katana Man was focused on his head, Denji sneaks in an attack with one of his leg chainsaws.
Following the fight, Denji pulls a blade out of Katana Man’s arm to put him back into one piece, a similar practice that he does with Chainsaw Man.
Aki informs them that the police are coming to detain the devil-hybrid. While Aki is initially hesitant, he and Denji end up kicking Katana Man to honor Himeno and her sacrifice during Katana Man’s first attack.
What’s the point of the final raid?
During the credits, Makima provides more details on why they needed to raid the Gun Agent building.
Earlier, after conversing with a Yakuza boss, Makima had found out that Akane was behind the distribution of guns to other Yakuza factions. She also helped them make contracts with the Gun Devil in exchange for assistance in getting Denji’s heart.
Makima was planning to interrogate Akane on why she needed Denji’s heart, but the devil hunter died before she could find out.
The raid was also correlated to their main mission of tracking down the Gun Devil. The department found 1.4 kilograms of Gun Devil flesh in the hideout and added it to its 5-kilogram collection.
Similar to the flesh used at the start of the Eternity Devil arc, the Public Safety collection is finally moving, and will soon reveal the whereabouts of the Gun Devil.
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