Part 2: Academy Saga



Part 2 of Chainsaw Man, subtitled Academy Saga, is preceded by Public Safety Saga. Asa Mitaka and Yoru are the protagonists and Kiga is the main antagonist.

This part introduces the second Horseman of the Apocalypse, Yoru, the War Devil, and follows Asa Mitaka and her relationship with the War Devil whose ultimate goal is to create an army of human weapons and wage war with Chainsaw Man. In order to find him, they must get closer to him at school.

It began serialization on July 13, 2022, on the Shonen Jump+ app. It was announced following the end of Part 1 in December 2020.

Part 2 is set to receive an official English release in October 2023.

VIZ Media
''Return to the world of Chainsaw Man and meet awkward high school student Asa Mitaka. She may have trouble getting along with her fellow students and the class pet devil chicken, but Asa has something special going for her. And it may lead her right to Chainsaw Man!''

Enter: The War Devil
Asa Mitaka, a high school girl who doesn't fit in, is accidentally killed after angering the Justice Devil. Her life is saved by the likes of the War Devil, who takes over her body in exchange for extending her life. The War Devil's goal is to wage war on the Chainsaw Man and make him puke up nuclear weapons again.

Asa and the War Devil are now in a contract with each other, with the War Devil occupying part of Asa's mind, and is able to control her at will during certain times. The War Devil tells Asa that in order to destroy the Chainsaw Man they have to get close to him first, and the way to do that lies within finding him at the school he attends.

At the school, the two of them meet Hirofumi Yoshida, who just transferred in. He tells them of the rumor that the Chainsaw Man has enrolled in the Devil Hunter's Club, which entices the War Devil to join as well.

At the Devil Hunter's Club, Asa meets a girl named Yuko who is also a social outcast. The two of them become friends, and the War Devil tells Asa to kill her to turn her into a weapon, as the more she cares about something the stronger the weapon will become. Tired of just being called the "War Devil," it tells Asa to begin referring to it as "Yoru."

Later, the two girls are walking when the reborn Bat Devil crashes through the building, but it is ultimately killed before Yuko or Asa could get hurt, as Chainsaw Man is engaged in a battle with the Cockroach Devil already, and it gets caught in the crossfire.

After the dust has settled, a news reporter gathers opinions on the Chainsaw Man from the crowd. Among them is the unassuming Denji, who gives "Chainsaw Man" high praise, and even attempts to give out his phone number before the reporter loses interest. It is then that Yoshida appears next to Denji. Yoshida tells Denji that he cannot let his secret identity get out, as he is part of an organization that wants to keep his life peaceful. Denji is not interested in this, as he actually wants people to find out his identity, that way he can attract the ladies easier.

Denji tries to get Asa's attention by telling her he's the real Chainsaw Man, but she doesn't believe him and calls him a loser. She leaves, and Yoru tries to convince her that he is Chainsaw Man, but she just doesn't buy it. They decide that they should hunt a Devil and bring it to the school to lure the real one out. In the meantime, Asa wants to visit Yuko.

She gets to her house, and they sit with each other telling secrets. It's then revealed that Yuko made a deal with the Justice Devil so she can read her mind, now she knows about Asa and Yoru. She wanted to make the contract so she could get closer to her and decides she's going to "handle" her bullying problem and tells her not to come to school tomorrow.

Asa tries to reason with Yoru, to convince her to talk Yuko out of it, but Yoru steals her body and decides they're going to kill Yuko for their first hunt to get into the Devil Hunter's Club.

Yoru arrives at the school and confronts Yuko, who transforms into the new Justice Devil. They begin their brawl, but the Justice Devil is able to read all of Yoru's movements. Justice kills several students she believes are "bullies," while Yoru is unable to defeat her. Realizing her effort is useless, she takes decides to leave the battle up to Asa as a last-ditch effort. Asa tries to reason with Yuko, but when all else fails, she turns the uniform her mother gave her before she died into a sword and dices the Justice Devil into a million pieces.

Distraught that she killed her only friend, she begs for her to come back to life. That is when a girl with strange eyes appears in the doorway and says she can revive her for her- she'll do anything for her little sister.

Moments later, the Justice Devil's head, now a hundred times its size, crashes through the school walls. Chainsaw Man soon arrives to deal with her, leaving her guts strewn across the floor. Yoru notices him and decides now is her chance to deal with him. She takes off Asa's uniform to turn it into a sword and begins her assault on him, however Denji is whisked away by Yoshida's Octopus Devil arms.

Later that night, Yoru is worried Denji feels that she's too weak to fight, when she hears a knock on the door. It's Yuko, whose face now resembles the Justice Devil. She tells her she's leaving to find her Devil Hunter relative who she thinks can heal her, and only stopped by to say goodbye to Asa, and to warn her that the Justice Devil is still at the school. As a parting gift Asa gives Yuko her shoes, mirroring the kindness she showed to her earlier.

Yuko leaves, and while Denji, Asa, and Yoru's mysterious sister are sleeping, Yuko seems to be killed by someone resembling the Chainsaw Man.

Denji and Asa Get Acquainted
The next day Asa returns to the scene and discovers her weapon destroyed, and wonders who that girl was that made Yuko come back to life. As she questions this, she appears in front of her with the Devil Hunter Club, who's president reveals that he is the Chainsaw Man, which Asa believes.

Asa leaves in order to formulate a plan, to turn a human between cat and criminal into her weapon, and she decides to do it on Denji, and asks him out on a date. The two of them go to an aquarium for their date, and Asa uses her marine facts to try to seduce him, but it flat out doesn't work. Denji is bored by her explanations and tells her all he wants is to see the penguins. When he runs off, Yoru's sister appears from nowhere again and tells her that she will never make Denji her weapon because she is too weak. She introduces herself as Kiga, the Famine Devil, and Yoru's big sister.

Suddenly the two sisters vanish, and Kiga's voice calls out that humans will do anything when they starve, so she has trapped Asa and Denji in this place until she can turn him into a weapon and get out. Denji returns to Asa to tell her that the Eternity Devil is back from Hell.

After walking down the hallway endlessly, eventually Asa and Denji meet up with the Devil Hunter Club and Yoshida, who also happen to have been trapped there with them. Asa tries to reason with herself that she doesn't have to kill Denji if who she thinks the real Chainsaw Man is already here. The group ends up finding a room to relax in, and Asa reveals that she has a cell phone she'd be able to use to call outside. It only has one bar, but while trying to raise it up in the air to get a signal, she falls and breaks the phone. Distraught, she runs outside to sulk. Meanwhile, Denji is walking around the aquarium, not too bothered, since he has previously dealt with this devil before.

Three days pass, and the Devil Hunter Club president reveals he is not actually the Chainsaw Man to Asa. Later, Asa meets up with Denji and she reveals that she could never turn him into a weapon because she doesn't have it in her... Starving and desperate, Denji asks if she'll eat a starfish with him. The two of them debate over how to eat a starfish properly, and Asa decides to use the equipment in the aquarium to cook them and eat the insides.

The two share a moment together, when Asa reminds Denji of Power. Asa suddenly has a realization, and the two of them collect money so that she can "buy" the aquarium. Doing this, she touches the glass tank and calls out to turn the aquarium into a weapon. This causes the aquarium to disappear, to the confusion of the Devil Hunter Club, revealing the Eternity Devil in broad daylight. The Devil screams that this was not part of Famine's deal, as it is killed by Yoru.

Denji walks Asa home, and Yoru admits that she has feelings for Denji, albeit just because she's in Asa's body. Denji asks her out on a second date, but Yoru uses this opportunity to try to turn Denji into a weapon. When her power doesn't work, Denji interprets this as their new way of saying goodbye. Asa goes home, pissed off, and realizes that Denji doesn't reciprocate her feelings for him. Back at home, Asa asks Yoru what the issue is with Kiga, and Yoru says she's bad news. The only reason she didn't recognize her before is because it's been a while.

The next day, Denji suggests that the two of them go to the movies, but Asa would rather not spend the money. They decide to go to Denji's house, but only if Asa will follow the house rules. Nearby, the Devil Hunter Club president listens in. Asa and Denji go on their date and watch their movie, and Denji tells Asa that one of his rules is that they can't make out if his "roommate" sees them. After the movie, Yoru leans in to make out with him, when Nayuta walks in after walking the dogs and stabs Yoru through the head with a chain, calling her a thief.

Nayuta turns Yoru into a dog, but Denji convinces her to return her to normal, however the condition set by Nayuta is that she will not remember the event and think Denji stood her up. Asa wakes up, waiting for Denji to appear, but Yoshida appears instead, asking for her company. He invites her over for coffee, and while Asa thinks he like her, he just tells her to stay away from Denji. Upset that no one likes her, Asa sulks away, only to find a dead man lying on the ground, and several people in the balconies of apartment buildings staring at her.

Chapters not yet in tankōbon format:

 * Chapter 113: I Want to see the Penguins
 * Chapter 114: Endless Aquarium
 * Chapter 115: High Schoolers These Days
 * Chapter 116: Taste of Starfish
 * Chapter 117: Penguin and Weapon
 * Chapter 118: Saying Goodbye
 * Chapter 119: Thief
 * Chapter 120: Triangle
 * Chapter 121: Theory of Happiness
 * Chapter 122: The Prophecies

Cast

 * Asa Mitaka
 * Yoru
 * Denji
 * Nayuta
 * Hirofumi Yoshida
 * Kiga

Trivia

 * Yuko calling Asa "Chainsaw Woman" is subtle foreshadowing that she is aware of Yoru's possession of her, as "Chainsaw" and "War" are pronounced similarly in Japanese, being "Chēnsō" and "Sensō" respectively
 * The title of the first chapter and first volume of Part 2, Bird and War, is reminiscent of the first chapter title of Part 1, Dog and Chainsaw.
 * The title of Chapter 2 may be a reference to the idiom, "killing two birds with one stone." The two birds in this chapter are Mitaka and the War Devil, two minds inside one body, both called "birds" because of the form the War Devil takes in the previous chapter.

Continuity

 * Chapter 101 marks the second time a reincarnated Devil appears in the series, being the Bat Devil, following Nayuta.
 * After the end of the Public Safety Saga, Denji started going to school and began trying to get his secret identity out so he can get girls attention.
 * Since Part 1, Hirofumi Yoshida has been going to the same school as Denji and Asa, trying to make sure that Denji does not get into any trouble.
 * Yoshida mentions if Denji can eat the Death Devil, which not only means that he is aware of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, but he knows of Denji's secret power.
 * The Bat Devil and Eternity Devil, who were both killed by Denji in Part 1, are reincarnated prior to Part 2 starting.
 * Denji tells Asa that he is raising Nayuta, who is smart enough to go to college, and is trying to make money for her so she can have a normal life.