Chainsaw Man is COOKING California Now? Chainsaw Man Chapter 216 Spoilers!

In the previous Chainsaw Man chapter, Yoru and Chainsaw Man fight while Asa and Denji are in a mental realm, heading for the alleyway.

Chainsaw Man Chapter 216 is titled, “Yearning”

This chapter has 15 pages.

The chapter continues where we left off last time when Asa runs across the mental alleyway, stepping on Bucky the Chicken Devil, representing Asa’s sense of guilt.

A simple, weak fear of chickens has now represented a girl’s trauma and constant guilt in life.

Makima Parallels Reinforced

Back to the battle, Yoru’s flying head laughs at this first blow.

Suddenly, Yoru is restored, with her remarking that was probably four or five human lives lost.

Pochita looks puzzled.

Yoru reveals that in exchange for not attacking California, its residents will shoulder the burden of her deaths.

This is still a bad deal, as Yoru is the War Devil fighting Chainsaw Man, meaning that if their battle is prolonged, California will be utterly destroyed anyway.

Yoru’s contact with the governor of California is a smaller-scaled version of Makima’s contact with the Prime Minister of Japan, where the damage is transferred to a random citizen.

However, Makima’s contract is comparatively less damaging.

While for Makima, any fatal damage is converted to injury or illness upon any random Japanese citizen, every time Yoru is killed, that damage kills any random resident of California.

Illness or death. Which would be more suffering?

California has a population of 32 million and we see four people in the same building suddenly collapsing.

From one of the doors of Hell, Yoru summons the Accident Devil, a being with the upper half of a long-haired human and a lower half made of twisted cars, jagged metal fragments, and mechanical wreckage.

She converts the Accident Devil into the Chainsaw Whip, a whip made of spiked tires, which cuts through half of Pochita.

Here is another Makima parallel as we see Yoru use the powers of other Devils.

Throughout Part 1, Makima has been collecting hybrids and the powers of other Devils and Devil Contracts to fight the Gun Devil and Chainsaw Man.

But after regaining her full power in Chapter 210: “Peace”, Yoru simply has command over Hell’s doors and can summon any Devil she pleases to weaponize.

Previously in Chapter 176: “Two Children” during the Aging Devil Arc, Yoru turned her children, Gun and Tank, into replacement arms and they are now essentially permanently fused to her and Asa’s body.

The Falling Devil turned into her clothes and this might be the biggest flex of a non-Primal Devil, that a Horseman that is not a Primal Devil like Death has surpassed them.

The fact Yoru is able to affect a Primal Devil like Falling in that way shows how flipped the power system has become the minute humans rediscovered nukes on their own. Humanity’s state of affairs will always affect the more powerful consequences (devils/fears) they cause.

As Yoru wraps up Pochita, we return to the mental plane where Denji’s chase of Asa ends up leading them to her mother.

The Problem with Asa’s Mother

We see Asa’s mother at the end of the chapter, turning around in a pose similar to her daughter’s in Volume 20.

Considering where Denji and Asa are and what this place represents, an inner hell of repressed fears and traumas, and that Denji’s door hid the fact he killed his abusive father in self-defense, this can only lead to one conclusion: an abusive relationship that developed Asa’s guilt complex.

Perhaps Asa’s family life was also poor, like with Asa’s mother being a single mother or someone who was separated from her spouse, left alone to care for a girl like Asa, who may have had her own issues in the past as well.

Perhaps, like Aki with his younger brother, there is guilt over being a sole survivor or a specific moment that resulted in Asa bringing her mother to the place where she died.

But a lot of circumstances seem to suggest that Asa may have already had a broken past before losing her mother to the Typhoon Devil.

Denji’s father was an abusive man, ridden with debt and possibly recently losing a spouse.

We do not know too much about Denji’s background before that point other than the fact that he had a deadbeat dad.

By being here, where we also see Asa conjure images of Bucky the Chicken Devil, suggests a sense of guilt over what happened to her own mother.

But what if that guilt existed before her death?

Then, there is Yoru’s line after using the Gun Goddess to try to kill Pochita.

“Children are their parents property, no?”

While Yoru is referring to her adopted children, Gun and Tank Devils, it is also possible that this is directed to Asa, her vessel.

Asa and Yoru have a sibling or even parental bond, and it is clear now that Yoru primarily sees Asa as a vessel.

Even as they shared feelings, such as Asa’s love for Denji, their priorities and mindsets are fixed and differentiated.

Asa feels guilt over the casualties her hand causes as Yoru possesses her while Yoru does not care for the suffering she inflicts, only that she has the power to do so.

Part of Yoru does feel some sentiment, such as love for her children and maybe even a desire for an authentic connection with Denji yet how she frames things will always be defined by her nature as a Devil.

Devils do not lie about themselves and as a Horseman, she is face-blind, meaning she does not perceive humans or Devils as distinct or of dignity.

What if the same can be of Asa’s mother, who did love her as much as she could but also took out her frustrations with life on her, like Denji’s father did on his son?

Or like Ken Kaneki’s mother in Tokyo Ghoul?

Ken’s mother is the center of his trauma, first by defining his initial philosophy of being kind at all cost, then the revelation that his mother’s kindness destroyed her life and she took out her frustrations with her sister on a young Ken.

Ultimately, this abuse and his present experiences caused Ken to develop a desire to be needed by others, whether it is to bear the sins of his mother or to help ghouls be free from human oppression.

Could Asa’s mother have a dark past or is there a different story here?

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