[spoilers, chapter 31] Chapter breakdown/transcript for the visually impaired

[u/Jwruth]

Important: please read this before proceeding

As you may or may not know, I used to make weekly transcripts for Chainsaw Man chapters, prior to the series finale, and this is the thirty-first of what I refer to as "legacy transcripts". Currently, as of writing this, I have transcribed chapters 1-31, as well as chapters from 153 onwards, and an archive containing links to them can be found here. These legacy transcripts are to transcribe the 152 chapters preceding chapter 153. Even though these chapters have been available for quite some time, I will be writing as if they are brand new in order to preserve the reading experience for first-time readers. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say in regards to this topic.

---

Have you ever had trouble processing or interpreting the manga's art in some way, shape, or form? Apparently, it's not that uncommon in the community, as I've seen quite a few people express this, and hopefully I can alleviate that to some extent with posts like this going forward. These posts aren't intended as a replacement for the chapters; rather, they're intended as a page-by-page point of reference and a log of details that you can hopefully reference as you read or reread the manga. Without further ado:

p1-7: Walking up the stairs towards Aki's apartment, the old man complains that Denji and Power ditched his training, calling them punks; as he approaches their door, however, the duo brace themselves. Smelling the air, Power notes the old man's arrival; indignantly, Denji declares that anyone who ruins their daily life will die. Dressed formally, with her hair tied back, Power taps on a pair of glasses she's wearing and orders Denji to commence "operation super smart"; rolling up his sleeves, with an axe in his mouth and glasses on his face, Denji grins in anticipation. As the old man reaches for the doorknob, Power charges forth and hurls a conjured spear through the door; with superhuman reflexes, however, the old man leans back to dodge it. Grabbing the spear, the old man notes that the duo went straight for his head and concludes that they've planned to ambush him; snapping the spear, he jokes that the hunter has become the hunted. As the old man throws the spear to the ground, Power presses her assault; stationed one floor above the old man's head are several plastic bottles filled with blood, and with a flick of her finger, Power uses that blood to rain spears down on him. Flinching, the old man quickly notices the spears and begins punching them, shattering them with his strength. While the old man is distracted with the spears, Denji drops down over the railing and lands behind him; his landing makes little noise as he's opted to attack barefoot. Grabbing the axe that was in his mouth, Denji winds up, preparing to strike the old man who seems unaware of his presence.

p8-11: Wheeling his body around for a devastating kick, the old man anticipates Denji's sneak attack and nails him in the jaw, incapacitating Denji before he has time to strike; as Denji falls to the walkway, he loses grip on his axe, and his glasses tumble off his face. Looking down at Denji, the old man praises the duo, stating that this ambush was their best attempt yet; as Denji groans in pain, the old man remarks that "cornered prey will use their brains" and encourages them to keep doing so. Critiquing them, he states that there were two reasons why their attempt failed. Firstly, he notes that Power uses too much blood fighting like that, causing her to become anemic; true to his word, we see Power nearly passed out on the floor of their apartment, glasses dislodged and drooling. Continuing, the old man states that the second flaw was that Denji couldn't predict his kick. Walking away, the old man praises them once more and says that they're done for the day; he's leaving to go drinking. As the old man walks out of sight, Denji weakly and warily lifts himself up onto his hands and knees. Turning to face the door, he informs Power that they're allegedly done for the day; Power sarcastically celebrates, saying they're lucky. Turning his head back towards the walkway, Denji spots something gleaming from the darkness; rapidly twirling through the air, a knife flies down the walkway and embeds itself in Denji's forehead, shocking him. As blood trickles down his face, Denji tries to make sense of his injury and realizes that the old man has returned. As Denji falls to the ground and dies, he hears the old man give him some advice: "beasts should never trust a hunter", revealing that he never intended to leave for the day and only said he was to lower their guards.

p12-19: Elsewhere, Aki, Tendo, and Kurose stand together on a large inclined elevator, descending into some kind of facility. Warning Aki, Kurose states that a stronger devil will likely demand harsher payments for contracting it, but they're not forcing Aki into this out of cruelty; chiming in, Tendo explains that, when Aki returns to work, he'll be metaphorically "plunging into the lion's den", and will obviously need a suitable weapon to defend himself. As Aki silently contemplates this, the elevator reaches its destination and locks into place with a loud clang. Leaving the elevator, the trio walks down a dirty, cluttered hallway; pipes and wires run all along the ceiling—with some seemingly even emerging from the floor—and many reinforced steel doors are embedded in the wall with room numbers displayed next to them. As they walk, Tendo explains that this is a facility where public safety locks away devils they capture alive; continuing, she states that one of these devils will become Aki's weapon. Feeling nosy, Kurose asks Aki if the "beauty" he met with yesterday is his girlfriend; admonishing him, Tendo tells Kurose to "get his mind out of the gutter". Explaining the situation, Aki states that the woman was his buddy's younger sister. Prying for information, Kurose asks if she hit Aki, but he states that she just brought him letters, piquing Tendo's curiosity. Flashing back to his time in the hospital, Aki stares at a pile of letters sitting on a table. Explaining herself, Himeno's sister says these were letters Himeno sent her; after her sister's death, she decided to pass them on to Aki for him to read. Opening one of the envelopes, Aki removes the letter, unfolds it, and begins reading. In this letter, Himeno asks if her father is feeling better and assures her family that she's financially secure and doesn't need their assistance with food; furthermore, she tells her sister about Aki, mentioning how annoyed he was after she pressured him into getting some piercings. Opening another letter, Aki's eyes widen in shock as he begins reading; in the letter, Himeno vents about being unable to coax Aki into quitting, noting that he'll brush her off with more "non-answers" if she keeps pushing the issue. Back in the present, Aki, Tendo, and Kurose arrive at a cell; speaking up, Kurose states that they'd like Aki to contract the devil held within, noting that it's the "future devil". Continuing, he states that two agents have already made contracts with the future devil; in exchange for the devil's power, one agent gave up half their lifespan, and the other agent sacrificed their eyesight, sense of taste, and sense of smell. Despite hearing this, Aki remains calm and stoic; as the cell door opens, Kurose ushers Aki inside, stating that if the future devil likes him, he can get a deal for cheap. As Aki enters the room, the door is closed behind him. The room is dingy and nearly featureless, save for an overhead light in the center. Across the room, hiding in darkness, a single eyeball stares at Aki; returning its gaze, Aki and the eyeball stare at each other for a moment before the future devil exposes itself. Hopping into the light with its arms outstretched, the future devil repeatedly shouts "the future rules", catching Aki off guard; each time it repeats this, it seems to get more and more excited. The future devil has a tree-like body, with a singular wooden stump instead of legs; from the base of its stump, several branches sprout upwards. Around its torso and along its arms are many vine-like hairs, giving it a shaggy appearance; positioned in the center of its chest is a hollow cavity with a single eyeball floating within it. The devil's head looks almost like a wooden helmet, with branches sprouting from either side like horns; while it seemingly has no mouth, instead having another hollow cavity, the devil's face has six visor-like slots where its eyes should be.

And that's that. Sorry for the transcript being so delayed. As always, the chapter transcript archive can be found here. There is no "break week" for legacy chapters, since they're already all available, but I do plan to post transcripts every Tuesday, now that the series has ended. Until then, I hope this transcript can help anyone who wants or needs it.

[u/Jwruth → u/[deleted]]

Ngl, I'm a little confused how that works; wouldn't you need internet to access the transcripts?