Chainsaw Man was just one of MAPPA’s great releases in the last year, with the story manga readers already loved receiving some of the best animations for all its blood-soaked glory. While the first season showed anime fans that this show isn’t just gory, but violently, sadistically insane, it also introduced the rules everyone plays by in Chainsaw Man’s crazy world, the basics of which are Devil Contracts.
What are Devils?
Devils appear in many forms in the world of Chainsaw Man, at their core just a physical manifestation of humanity’s greatest fears, with the Devils becoming more powerful as they become more feared. This is reinforced by the long-term goal Makima sets for her Public Safety Division- kill the Gun Devil, a being so powerful it annihilated over a million people within five minutes as it rampaged around the earth. While it’s only done this once, odds are it would cause even more carnage if it were to happen again.
Although they can appear in their pure Devil form, some Devils instead become fiends, entering into a deceased human body and taking it over as their own. While it’s unknown who she took over or when, Power is the Blood Devil inhabiting a dead body, making her a fiend and fully capable of using her Devil powers while appearing relatively human.
What’s Needed for a Devil Contract?
Humans found they could co-exist with some Devils, forming contracts in order to take advantage of Devil powers in return for sacrifices or something else in return, usually in the form of taking something from their wielder. Aki mentions this when summoning the Fox Devil to bite down on enemies in exchange for letting her eat some of his skin.
Currently, Denji has his contract with Pochita, though the conditions of it were intended with more joy and peace of mind for Denji than the chaos that ensued, as Pochita’s heart taking over Denji’s body helped him become Chainsaw Man. While he’s not quite a Fiend, it’s a much more involved version of a Devil Contract as he retains his personality and mind without hearing from Pochita much.
Different Types of Devil Contracts
Contracts come in many shapes and forms too, with Makima showing at the end of season one that she could sacrifice prisoners in order to make the hostage takers back in Tokyo spontaneously combust with her Devil Contract, which is still unknown to anime watchers. Even more concerning for most viewers was seeing Makima come back to life after being shot in the head, still managing to show up for work on time.
Near the end of season one, Aki entered into a new Devil Contract after the loss of his Fox Devil after their fight with the Katana and Snake Devils. While he doesn’t realize what he’s getting into at first, the Public Safety Division bring him to some of their captured Devils, much more powerful than the ones they usually face. There, Aki meets the Future Devil, who looks into Aki’s destiny and decides he wants to see it all firsthand. He takes Aki’s contract with the only stipulation being that he’s allowed to live in Aki’s eye and will grant him the power to peek into the future briefly.
The first season of Chainsaw Man is no doubt some of the wildest anime to make its way to television, with nothing that quite rivals the mix of blood, crude comedy, and deep existentialism it offers. Despite everything seen so far, manga fans know that the craziest, bloodiest, and even saddest moments are yet to come as Denji and the Public Safety team continue to fight Devils around the country, while also solving the mystery of Makima’s true goal.
