Chainsaw Man Chapter 154 Discussion

StxDii said:
What a chapter, despite being short, we got so much out of it character wise:

Fumiko has shown where her loyalties lie as a government agent. But her line about being a public servant versus a fan is very particular: her literal job was to protect Denji, not Chainsaw Man, now that Denji has broken his promise to Public Safety, Fumiko has no obligation to help despite her support and care for Denji. This could be down to her understanding that the situation is beyond herself, hence why she says she doesn’t want to risk her life for Chainsaw Man - but I feel she knows something is up regarding Chainsaw Man coming back and doesn’t want to involve herself in the repercussions. This isn’t it for her, I reckon.

Barem’s revived himself, despite being shot dead a couple chapters back. He’s completely outplayed Denji and Nayuta to the point where he now has two options, a really stupid one, or a smart one: Stupidly, he could kill Nayuta and relinquish Control’s power to a new host - Public Safety could find the new host pretty easily like they did with Nayuta in China at the end of Part 1; alternatively, and more likely to be the case, Barem incapacitates Nayuta, murders the crowd with the help of the other Hybrids and frames the whole escapade on Chainsaw Man - further solidifying the public’s fear. This would make up for their failed attempt earlier when Quan Xi stopped them at the fairground.

It’s most likely that Barem will keep Nayuta hostage with the remnants of the Church, and Fami will have the opportunity to collude with Nayuta about the Prophecy and what’s happening.

This chapter feels like another spot in which the story will shift away from Denji for a short period. We still are none the wiser about Asa’s condition when fighting Yoshida, and I believe herself and Yoru are going to have a very big impact in the next few chapters. Asa has no one to depend on or work with, so she has no reason to hold back considering Public Safety are gunning to kill her at present. It might even turn out that Yoshida was testing her capabilities and that he needs to know where her loyalties lie with regard to Fami.

TL;DR:

Barem is an entire menace, holding Nayuta at gun point; Fumiko has some ulterior motive in believing she doesn’t need to bother with Denji anymore, despite Quan Xi having stepped in to also protect the group briefly - Fumiko’s ‘job’ is a farce; and Asa has all the opportunity now to really get into the game with fending off Yoshida and Public Safety. In short, shit has well and truly hit the fan now that Denji and Nayuta aren’t together, and it seems the plot has fallen right into Fami and Public Safety’s lap with the public carnage.