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Chainsaw Man takes place in the year 1997 in an alternate timeline. The dates are specified via the timestamps of the Gun Devil’s attacks across the world. Aside from the geopolitical structure of this world being significantly different from ours, several common concepts from this world simply do not exist in the Chainsaw Man universe.
Mangaka Tatsuki Fujimoto has admitted to being influenced by American cinema of the mid-to-late 20th century. The time portrayed in the story of part 1 is primarily around September 1997, while the relevant incidents stretch from 1984 to 1997, mostly surrounding the Gun Devil’s appearances.
Disclaimer: This article contains minor spoilers from the Chainsaw Man manga.
Chainsaw Man timeline and setting, explained
The alternate world
One key concept that Fujimoto makes clear is that it is unknown which historical events took place in the Chainsaw Man universe.
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Due to the existence of the Chainsaw Devil, who can erase the memory of any event or thing by consuming the Devil associated with it, no one is certain of what happened, only what they remember. This is clear from the way the memories of the Holocaust or AIDS are simply gone, even though there is no clear indication that they never happened.
One thing that did not happen was the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which remains as a global power in this universe. That is not to say that the Cold War did not happen, but that its effects were quite different from the ones readers are familiar with.
On the other hand, the United States of America continues to be a superpower in this universe and is primarily responsible for creating and employing the Gun Devil.
The other powers listed in the manga are primarily Japan and China. In the Chainsaw Man universe post the appearance of the Gun Devil, the powers of a state is generally measured with the percentage of the Gun Devil’s body it owns. That is to say, the Soviet Union is considered the biggest power in the universe due to holding 28% of the Gun Devil’s body, followed by America with 20% and China with 11%.
37% of the Gun Devil’s body is in the hand of other Devils, whom the Devil-Hunters kill to retrieve the pieces and add to their country’s collection. The remaining 4 % is owned by various other states, meaning neither Japan nor Germany, two of the key players in the Gun Devil Saga, hold that much power in the Chainsaw Man Universe.
The Gun Devil’s appearances
The main way to keep track of the timeline in Chainsaw Man is via the Gun Devil’s appearance. The date of the story is mentioned only once in the manga, and that is the instance of Gun Devil’s final appearance: 3:18:21 pm JST, September 12, 1997, when the Gun Devil appeared in Nihako City in Akita prefecture for 12 seconds.
The Gun Devil’s first appearance is said to be 13 years prior to the start of the story, which puts the year at 1984. In 1984, the world decided to fight the threat of Devils by using Guns. On November 18, 1984, a terror attack in the United States shook the world and brought out the violent implications of gun warfare.
On the same day, at 10 am JST, the Gun Devil hit Japan for 26 seconds and killed 57912 people. Aki Hayakawa lost his parents and younger brother to this incident, which ignited his need for revenge. The United States lost the most people with 548,012 dead in 124 seconds. Aldo, Joye, and their brother survived this attack.
The Soviet Union was hit the longest, for 210 seconds, but lost 155,302 people due to lower population density. China, on the other hand, lost 316,932 people in only 32 seconds. The Gun Devil killed 8,481 people in 7 seconds in Canada, 29,950 people in 15 seconds in India, 6,088 people in 2 seconds in Mexico, and finally, 780 people in 0.4 seconds in Hawaii.
The timeline
When the Chainsaw Man manga first introduces the readers to Denji, he is 15-16 years old, and it is the early months of 1997. Therefore, he was born sometime between 1981-1982. Fans believe that Denji was 7-8 when he found Pochita, which makes the year 1988-1990. In 1984, when the Gun devil attacked, Aki Hayakawa is seen to be 8-10 years old, implying that he was born in 1974-1976 and was 21-23 years old in 1997.
Considering that he is human, Aki had to be an adult to join the Public Safety division. Assuming he was 18 when he joined the division, it would be between 1992-1994. However, considering his high position, he is likely to have been here for 4-5 years, which makes his age more likely to be 23.
While all that is predominantly speculation, it helps readers create a rough timeline of Chainsaw Man interspersed with concrete facts.
- 1974-76: Aki Hayakawa is born.
- 1981-82: Denji is born
- November 18, 1884: The Gun Devil hits various nations of the world for a combined duration of five minutes and claims 1.2 million lives
- 1988-1990: Denji rescues Pochita and makes a contract with him.
- 1992-1994: Aki Hayakawa joins the Public Safety Division and is put on Himeno’s team.
- Mid-1997: Makima recruits Denji and puts him in Aki’s team along with Power.
- September 12, 1997: the Gun Devil appears once more.
- 1998: Denji starts school and meets Asa Mitaka (approximately).
Final thoughts
Mangaka Tatsuki Fujimoto does not explicitly clarify that part 2 of the Chainsaw Man manga takes place after any sort of time skip.
However, given the time required for subduing and eradicating the Control Devil and the gap between Denji’s final battle and Nayuta’s appearance, it’s safe to say that when Denji enters high school, it’s 1998. The Japanese school year starts in April, so unless Fujimoto has changed that in his story, Denji joins the school in April 1998, and meets Asa a few months later.
