This felt like it was going off the rails a little bit. Too many high level assassins introduced, too many devils too many plots and sub plots and side plots. Poor Denji.

Chainsaw Man is such an addictive manga series. I'm so excited for the anime series to come out but as always THE MANGA IS BETTER THAN THE ANIME.

This installment in the Chainsaw Man series further delves into Denji's world as well as introduces new characters. Fujimoto continues to raise the stakes, and this volume left me wanting more (in a good way). I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Chainsaw Man Volume Seven ups the ante for Denji by putting him into the worst danger he’s been in up to this point in the series.

Chainsaw Man Volume 7
Written by: Tatsuki Fujimoto
Publisher: Shueisha Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: October 5, 2021

The volume opens with Denji having a nightmare and being reminded of Reze when he has some coffee. He thinks that with Reze gone, he’ll never feel joy or sadness ever again… but this doesn’t last long. Shortly after, Makima shows up and asks Denji, Power, and Aki if they would like to accompany her on a trip to Enoshima. Of course, Denji finds happiness right away after she asks. I knew Denji’s emotional slump wasn’t going to last for long.

Unfortunately, his happiness doesn’t last long, either, because a group of Public Safety Devil Hunters shows up and shares a news report about Denji after he had transformed into Chainsaw Man. Makima realizes that Reze’s goal had been to make sure the whole world knows about Denji’s existence, since the Public Safety Devil Hunters had been trying to use media blackouts to hide his existence. As Makima explains, Denji (who isn’t either a devil or a fiend) is very valuable, and just about every country is going to want him. With this development, the trip to Enoshima is postponed, because Denji will need to be looked after by bodyguards all the time. Makima knows that assassins are going to be sent to kill Denji, and she tells him to consider himself without freedom for the foreseeable future.

This then leads into introducing several new characters, all of whom are assassins from other countries. First, we’re introduced to three brothers from America who believe they’re immortal because of the times they survived after encountering a devil. They also have an interesting ability, which we see one of them use later in the chapter. We’re also introduced to Tolka and his master, who hail from the Soviet Union, and are also coming after Denji. We see the start of their plan in this volume, but they don’t quite finish it before the end of it. I suspect this could be a plot point in Volume Eight. Quanxi is a female assassin from China, who surrounds herself with a bunch of odd and unusual women. There’s also an older man from Germany who goes by the name of “Santa Claus”… but the name doesn’t fit him because he comes across as rather repulsive.

The volume also introduces some new characters who serve as Denji’s bodyguards. Kusakabe, Tamaki, and Yoshida all come from Public Safety Devil Extermination Division 2. They, along with Angel and Aki, are Denji’s bodyguards. There’s supposed to be three more, but the American assassins kill the three of them. One of the brothers takes on the face of one of the killed bodyguards and tries to slip in. Power does something quite by accident that ends up revealing his true face. But the true new bodyguards that we meet (especially Kusakabe and Tamaki) reveal they have impressive powers near the end of the volume when they’re protecting Denji from an attack perpetrated by Santa Claus and his minions.

While most of the focus of the volume is on Denji, we get a scene of Aki having a flashback to a conversation he had with the Angel Devil, and it gives a little background about Devils and how they have an endless cycle of death and rebirth. If this wasn’t fascinating enough, the Angel Devil mentions the last sound a devil hears before dying in hell…and let’s just say that the sound that is described is… intriguing.

A lot of new characters are introduced in Volume Seven, and Denji finds himself in some rough situations after the various assassins arrive in Japan. And once all these new characters arrive, a lot starts happening in the story. I admit that there were times I had a hard time keeping up with what was happening because so much was taking place. The volume ends with a cliffhanger, and it makes the reader want to read the next volume in order to find out what happens next. Even with all of the new characters and some of the confusion that arises while reading this volume of Chainsaw Man, I would still recommend it to readers who have been reading and following the series up to this point.

I’ve enjoyed the previous volumes. They’re action packed, and full of cool battle and fun characters, but it’s a bit inconsistent at times.

I find it has moments where I am hooked, but then i lose my interest soon afterwards and I feel myself losing interest now. We’re spending more time on characters I don’t really care for, and it pushes Denji and Power to the background, which is a shame since they are the most interesting characters

I will probably read the next volume, but I feel my interest waning with every volume.

If "What is Love" by Haddaway is the song I had stuck in my head during vol. 6 of Chainsaw Man, for Vol. 7 it's Albert King's "Born Under a Bad Sign". The fallout from Reze was bad enough, but poor lad Denji is also losing some of his privacy, or at least his demon form is, and now he's got the US, China, and Germany after his demon powers. We meet some truly interesting new characters in this volume, one of which will really make you rethink the spirit of Christmas, but mostly, Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Be prepared, for this volume ends on a cliffhanger. (I received a free ARC from the publisher via Netgalley.)