Chainsaw Man's USA may have Yoru to thank for its prosperity, and chapter 178 shows how

Modified Sep 28, 2024 05:15 GMT

In the wake of the latest installment of author and illustrator Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man manga series, fans truly feel they’re back to square one in terms of understanding current events. This is especially highlighted by the debut of what is implied to be the Gun Goddess in chapter 178 via the issue’s title, completely reshaping the series’ current power system resultantly.

Likewise, opinions of all shapes and sizes regarding the current happenings in Chainsaw Man are flying, including some asserting that what fans see in chapter 178 is actually the Gun Devil. However, this doesn’t quite make sense when considering what fans have seen of the Gun Devil thus far in the series. Instead, chapter 178’s events likely imply none other than War Devil Yoru playing a significant role in the history of the series version of the USA.

Chainsaw Man’s America likely contracted with Yoru long ago, and chapter 178 is her collecting on payment

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It’s best to first explain why the creature seen atop the Statue of Liberty in Chainsaw Man chapter 178 is likely not the Gun Devil. Firstly, the United States used their 20% of Gun Devil flesh to summon the creature and have it attack Control Devil Makima.

This version of the Gun Devil was then defeated and became the Gun Fiend in Aki Hayakawa’s corpse. Denji then defeated Aki, presumably destroying that portion of the Gun Devil’s flesh resultantly.

There’s also the fact that Yoru summoned presumably what was left of all the Gun Devil flesh in the world by calling it to her and subsequently weaponizing it. Although only two instances of Devil escapes were implicitly shown, Yoru didn’t caveat her calling the Gun Devil with a percentage-like qualifier. This suggests that she summoned all of the Gun Devil to her in order to attain the strongest weapon possible.

With this in mind, America is likely not in possession of any Gun Devil flesh. This would also imply that the United States kept the Gun Devil inside of the Statue of Liberty. While thematically appropriate, this is narratively incongruent with how secure other facilities built for containing Devils be. Thus, it’s more likely than not that chapter 178’s title of “Gun Goddess” is referring to what the creature perched on Lady Liberty.

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The most probable answer likewise is that War Devil Yoru has some sort of contract in place with the country itself before the start of Chainsaw Man’s story. The terms likely saw Yoru lend her favor to the country in war, possibly the American Revolution War specifically as a means of ensuring the nation’s birth. This would also explain why Lady Liberty specifically, who honors this victory symbolically, was turned into or housed the Gun Goddess.

The idea of a contract also explains how Yoru was able to sacrifice the index fingers of the 400 thousand National Pistol Association of America members. Notably, only the United States president in series has been seen having this level of authority as the nation’s leader. The fact that Yoru was able to match this feat further implies that she is significant to the country in some way, whether its citizens are or aren’t aware of this fact.

However, this is still mostly speculative as of this article’s writing, even if the evidence available does strongly suggest this to be the case. Fans can expect to get more answers over the next few weeks as the current arc, which appears to be the climax of the Academy Saga, continues.