Chainsaw Minute: Chapter 165: Everyday Scenery

[00:00:00] So, you know, fruit is such an interesting term, but I feel there's not enough respect for the fact that actually vegetable has no botanical meaning.

[00:00:06] Oh my god, David! We know, we know this.

[00:00:10] Tomatoes.

[00:00:11] Anyway, man, you have to stop talking about this because it's...

[00:00:14] The Chainsaw Man!

[00:00:38] I'm David and this is your dose of Chainsaw Man. You can join us every Friday where we see what masterpiece Fujimoto put out.

[00:00:43] I'm Jordan and if you're looking for regular Shonen Flop goodness, you can find our next episode, our four year anniversary special.

[00:00:51] What the fuck? Yeah, no, it's our four year anniversary special where we rank everything we read this year on this Monday. Goddamn.

[00:00:59] Right, and just heads up, these recordings are open to everyone, so listen in chat along with us on the Shonen Flop discord every Tuesday at 6pm Eastern when there's a new chapter out.

[00:01:06] Big shout out to everyone who is in the audience. We appreciate it. Just a lot of little bit of fun and seeing those comments while we're recording gives us life.

[00:01:13] Yes!

[00:01:14] You can find a link to it in the show notes or on our site, shonenflop.com.

[00:01:18] And Jordan though, the opposite of our wonderful listeners is the devil baby. So, what was your devil this week?

[00:01:23] Well, real quick David, did we mention this is going to be on a different feed soon?

[00:01:27] Fuck, Jordan's right. So, along with that, just a heads up listeners, we are moving Chainsaw Man off the Shonen Flop feed. It's going to be on its own feed.

[00:01:34] You can find it at csm.lipson.com. You can also still find it on Patreon and YouTube. We did a poll, people said don't move it.

[00:01:41] But we know not everyone listening to Shonen Flop wants to listen about Chainsaw Man, so we're moving it to its own feed.

[00:01:46] So, stay tuned for that. We're going to be tool posting it for a little bit till we've really got things sorted out.

[00:01:50] But after that, we're going to be migrating it and we'll make a big announcement when that happens.

[00:01:53] Absolutely.

[00:01:54] Thank you very much for reminding me, Jordan.

[00:01:55] No problem.

[00:01:56] And now Jordan, what was your devil this week?

[00:01:58] David, this is gross. It was the poop devil. Specifically, the poop devil that my cat had to deal with. My cat, Gaara.

[00:02:06] His name is Gaara because he has natural eyeliner. He suffers from fecal impaction in which...

[00:02:15] This is a recurring problem which Gaara must deal with and it always makes him very uncomfortable.

[00:02:23] It is very sad and also very gross. So that's what I'm dealing with.

[00:02:29] I just got back from Disney, for reference, right before we went to Disney, he had this issue.

[00:02:35] And like, we always get back very late.

[00:02:38] Oh god. Well, you are a trooper.

[00:02:40] Ravioli has a similar issue where sometimes there's just a look on her face and you can tell there's some poop stuck on her butt.

[00:02:46] But Jordan, mine...

[00:02:49] Speaking of health, mine is the physical devil. I have my physical next Monday.

[00:02:52] So now I have to eat really, really good because I'm two pounds over where I was last year.

[00:02:56] And my doctor will be disappointed in me if I've gained weight.

[00:02:59] So if I'm really good this week, I can be exactly where I was last year.

[00:03:03] So that's my goal right now.

[00:03:04] I wish I was only two pounds over where I was last year, David.

[00:03:08] Oh, it's okay, man. We all go through stuff.

[00:03:12] Oh man. Yeah. You gotta eat better so you don't get poop stuck in your butt.

[00:03:15] Yeah. Hey, you got a trainer now, man. That's a great first step.

[00:03:18] Yeah. Anyway.

[00:03:20] Enough about that. Tell us the plot summary for...

[00:03:23] Chapter 165! Everyday Scenery!

[00:03:29] Gilbert Gottfried special.

[00:03:30] It will always peak. I'm sorry. It has to.

[00:03:34] Just like it's peak fiction, Jordan.

[00:03:35] Did I sound like Gilbert Gottfried when I said that?

[00:03:38] Yeah, a little bit.

[00:03:39] Nice. All right. Well, here's the fucking plot summary.

[00:03:42] The group is on the way to bring Denji to a sushi restaurant when they see a dead body.

[00:03:48] The train platform.

[00:03:49] Denji is kind of shocked by this.

[00:03:52] Understandable. I would be too.

[00:03:54] But the rest of the crew's kind of like, whatever.

[00:03:56] Whatever. It's normal now.

[00:03:58] Yeah. They're like, Dennis, you haven't seen a dead body before?

[00:04:00] Yeah. It's like homelessness.

[00:04:02] Yeah. We know it sucks, but like, whatever.

[00:04:04] We're used to it. We don't really do anything about it.

[00:04:07] The best sushi restaurants are out of the question because they were either burned down

[00:04:12] or their chefs just fucking died.

[00:04:14] So they're going to go to a cheap place, which is like one of the only places left.

[00:04:19] Denji then asks Aza, hey, why do you want to fight me?

[00:04:22] And she replies that if she wins, he will be saved.

[00:04:26] Popcorn.

[00:04:27] David.

[00:04:28] Fami elaborates that his contract specifies that Dennis live a normal life.

[00:04:31] If he breaks that contract, then the real chainsaw man will appear.

[00:04:34] And if they defeat him and transplant a human heart into him,

[00:04:36] then he'll be a normal human again and he can return to his old life.

[00:04:39] And that's definitely not a plane that's super convoluted.

[00:04:42] Yeah.

[00:04:43] Dennis says that in his old life, he had to eat whole paper when he was starving.

[00:04:47] So he doesn't want to go back to that.

[00:04:49] Also tries to ignore that and says she'll save him no matter what.

[00:04:52] Meanwhile, Katana man just says they're all being whiny.

[00:04:54] And let's just take Dennis to a brothel.

[00:04:57] Oh, God.

[00:04:59] No, no.

[00:05:00] What world building in this chapter?

[00:05:02] Oh, it was really good.

[00:05:04] But also, I don't understand their plan.

[00:05:07] I mean, we've seen this before.

[00:05:08] So if Dennis breaks, he does turn into a chainsaw man, which happened at the end of part one.

[00:05:12] So I think they're trying to figure out a loophole by doing that.

[00:05:15] What caused him to turn into Pochita at the end of part one again?

[00:05:19] Like, so this is actually something that's been discussed is that

[00:05:23] Denji's contract isn't to live a normal life.

[00:05:25] It's a Denji has to work on fulfilling his dreams.

[00:05:29] And so what happened was Denji just kind of gave up on his dreams after Machima killed

[00:05:32] power.

[00:05:33] Right.

[00:05:33] And so that's really what broke him.

[00:05:35] And it's interesting how everyone's talking about this contract.

[00:05:38] And so Pochita said that was one of his motivations.

[00:05:40] But that's not actually what the contract is.

[00:05:42] So I don't know, though, if it's Fami being sly and knowing that's actually not the contract

[00:05:47] is or she misunderstood or just somewhere in between.

[00:05:50] But it's really interesting where the letter of the contract isn't what Fami said.

[00:05:53] Okay, like, for instance, Denji at the at the start of part two is kind of living a

[00:05:58] superhero life that is not living a normal life.

[00:06:00] But that is living the life that Denji dreams of, which is being famous and aspired and

[00:06:04] loved by everyone.

[00:06:05] And he does that by literally being a superhero, which is not a normal life in the slightest.

[00:06:09] No, that's very true.

[00:06:10] I mean, you know, David, what is a normal life?

[00:06:13] Right.

[00:06:13] What does that mean?

[00:06:14] Taxes.

[00:06:15] Ah, yes.

[00:06:16] I don't think Denji has to worry about.

[00:06:19] I get the sense also that Aza is trying really hard to convince herself that this is the

[00:06:24] right motive, which, you know, makes sense because like, you know, she's like, I'm going

[00:06:28] to save you.

[00:06:29] But really, I mean, it's kind of to save herself because she's got Yoru inside her and this

[00:06:33] is Yoru's idea.

[00:06:35] I also really love this is an interesting chapter from a world building perspective,

[00:06:38] which we haven't really seen, which is normal people interacting where you're like, you

[00:06:41] just see a mom and her kid and she's wearing an eye patch.

[00:06:43] Buildings are destroyed.

[00:06:44] All these silent background like this will be a great chapter animated because it's just

[00:06:48] pure diegetic world building without a ton of exposition.

[00:06:52] Or, you know, it's like just the fact that everybody sees a dead body and they're like,

[00:06:56] whatever.

[00:06:56] Yeah, it also makes me wonder how long Denji was in that coma.

[00:07:00] I think they said it was like a week.

[00:07:02] A week.

[00:07:02] OK, yeah, it's not that long.

[00:07:04] I'm just surprised that why is Denji not as, what's the word, like jaded as the rest?

[00:07:11] I don't know.

[00:07:12] Yeah, I thought that was interesting where he's still like, oh no, a dead body.

[00:07:15] And like, but Denji, Denji's been living in this world for a long time.

[00:07:18] Like, I would think he of all people would have seen dead bodies and not given a shit

[00:07:21] because he used to work for the Yakuza.

[00:07:23] Yeah, and Denji like doesn't really has historically not really cared that much about it.

[00:07:28] Yeah, I also do love how that katana man is just like, let's get our boy laid.

[00:07:32] Let's get him laid!

[00:07:33] More like katana wingman.

[00:07:35] Oh wee!

[00:07:36] I don't really think it's a wingman if you're just like, let's take him to a sex worker.

[00:07:41] I don't think that's really...

[00:07:43] Some people, that's the best they can do.

[00:07:44] I just feel really bad when I see that because like a lot of chainsaw man is Denji trying to

[00:07:52] figure out how to like get some form of agency over his own sexuality.

[00:07:57] And it's constantly people trying to manipulate him and pushing sex on him.

[00:08:02] He wants sex, so it's like he's very easily manipulated by it.

[00:08:06] But we saw with...

[00:08:08] Was it Fumiko?

[00:08:10] Yeah.

[00:08:10] Yeah, we saw with Fumiko where it's like he had that whole like dream kind of where he was like,

[00:08:17] you know what Fumiko?

[00:08:19] No, you can't control me like this.

[00:08:21] I'm not gonna do it.

[00:08:22] But then it turns out that was a dream and he actually...

[00:08:25] Yeah, right.

[00:08:26] So there is like, he's aware that he is manipulative,

[00:08:30] that he is aware that he's controllable like this.

[00:08:33] And he knows that it hurts him.

[00:08:35] Yeah.

[00:08:36] Like that's why he likes Aza because kissing her was the only time that kissing didn't hurt.

[00:08:41] You know, like, you know, like Reise bit off his tongue.

[00:08:45] Oh my God, I'm forgetting her name, the eye patch girl.

[00:08:48] Himiko just threw up in his mouth, you know?

[00:08:52] So it's sad to see.

[00:08:54] Like, I wonder what's gonna happen next chapter like with that.

[00:08:57] Yeah, it's just Denji and his relationship with sexuality is just so weird.

[00:09:01] And it's definitely something that I think in Jump Plus, they can play around with more.

[00:09:05] So I'll be really interested to see.

[00:09:06] I also saw on Reddit, someone talked about how Kobayashi said that her second choice

[00:09:11] over being a devil hunter was being a sex worker.

[00:09:13] And I also imagine the fact that Denji is currently with Kobayashi's brother.

[00:09:17] So this is maybe the funniest thing of all time.

[00:09:21] Fujimoto has the chance to do the funniest thing of all time.

[00:09:24] God, he's let him cook.

[00:09:25] I also think it's interesting how Brobainy kind of passively talks about how poor he is when he

[00:09:29] said he went to a sushi restaurant only got tea.

[00:09:31] I think that was just kind of a way of implying just how poor he and his family is.

[00:09:35] Yeah.

[00:09:35] Also, Denji calls toilet paper poop paper.

[00:09:39] That is, that's relevant.

[00:09:41] Yes, very, very bigly.

[00:09:43] Bigly.

[00:09:44] A really great joke we didn't talk about is how Aza is like, Dennis is hungry.

[00:09:48] Also, his daughter is missing.

[00:09:51] But in that order.

[00:09:52] Yeah.

[00:09:53] It's interesting how Aza actually does still.

[00:09:55] It's interesting how Aza seems to actually care about Denji as a person, which is very

[00:10:00] surprising because I thought she just kind of wants her body back.

[00:10:02] I mean, I'm sure she feels a few ways about it because like, it's kind of been it's been shown

[00:10:09] Aza is like romantically interested in Chainsaw Man.

[00:10:12] Yeah.

[00:10:12] I mean, she had that poem, which is one of my favorite parts of Bardu, where she just like,

[00:10:18] she just has a romantic poem in her head, which apparently her poetry sells now like

[00:10:24] her.

[00:10:24] She's famous for her poetry at this point.

[00:10:27] Really?

[00:10:28] And Katana man's a fan.

[00:10:29] Yeah.

[00:10:30] That is great.

[00:10:31] I mean, Katana man is just such a stealth amazing character.

[00:10:34] I love it.

[00:10:34] Yeah.

[00:10:35] Oh God.

[00:10:36] Um, but yeah, and then Jordan, did you have anything else that you wanted to add?

[00:10:40] Uh, no.

[00:10:42] Okay, well, then Jordan, I want to say thank you so much for all of your hard work on the

[00:10:45] show and being a great co-host.

[00:10:46] Thank you, David, for all the work that you do on the show as well.

[00:10:51] You can find us on Twitter at Shonan Flopcast, Tumblr Shonan-Flop and our website Shonanflop.com

[00:10:55] or on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, wherever else you get your podcast.

[00:10:58] And you can always listen to these episodes early on our Patreon for free.

[00:11:01] That's right, anyone can.

[00:11:03] And just a reminder, as we said at the top of the show, we are migrating to our own channel.

[00:11:07] You can find it at csm.lipson.com or you can still find it on YouTube and Patreon where

[00:11:12] you're already getting it.

[00:11:13] Props to Shannon for the awesome cover.

[00:11:14] Find her online at Illuminati.

[00:11:16] And as a reminder, you can join us recording every Tuesday at 6 p.m. Eastern when there's

[00:11:19] a new chapter out.

[00:11:20] Find a link to it in the show notes or on our site and stay tuned for Monday as we do

[00:11:23] our four year anniversary special where we-

[00:11:25] Oh my God!

[00:11:26] We rank everything we read this year and make a master list.

[00:11:29] Jesus Christ!

[00:11:31] And you know what though?

[00:11:32] It was already someone said I have to say it so we'll contractually have to say, you

[00:11:35] know who's going to be showing up at that brothel at that soap hotel, Jordan?

[00:11:39] It is no one else but our favorite Russian bombshell.

[00:11:43] And here are my top five reasons why I think she's going to be showing up.

[00:11:46] No, David, shut up!

[00:11:47] I'm looking at the clock and it looks like the J-Sol minute is up fast!

[00:11:51] All right, bye.

[00:11:51] Bye.