Gun Devil Arc
Chapters 71-79 / Aki Becomes the Gun Fiend
| Arc Overview | |
|---|---|
| Chapters | 71 - 79 |
| Key Characters | Aki, Denji, Gun Devil (20%), Makima |
| Antagonist | Gun Devil (controlled by Makima) |
| Key Event | Aki becomes Gun Fiend, the snowball fight |
| Tone | Devastating tragedy, emotional peak |
| Part | Part 1: Public Safety Saga |
Last updated: 2026-06-03
Arc Summary
The Gun Devil Arc is the emotional climax of Chainsaw Man Part 1. After years of preparation, Aki finally gets his chance to confront the 20% Gun Devil fragment that killed his family. Makima arranges the assault, positioning Aki at the vanguard of a strike team. But this is a trap: Makima intends to use Aki's desire for revenge as the mechanism to destroy him. The Gun Devil's overwhelming power decimates the assault team instantly, and Aki falls in battle, his Curse Devil ritual insufficient against a foe of such magnitude.
In his dying moments, the Gun Devil enters Aki's body and transforms him into the Gun Fiend. Makima, who orchestrated this entire scenario, permits the Gun Fiend to walk free, knowing it will head toward Denji. Inside Aki's consciousness, he experiences a joyful hallucination: playing a snowball fight with Denji in the winter snow, an imagined future that will never come to pass. Outside, the Gun Fiend moves through Tokyo, its gunfire killing civilians with every step.
The Snowball Fight
The snowball fight sequence is one of the most celebrated and emotionally devastating moments in modern manga. Denji confronts the Gun Fiend and, realizing it is Aki, is forced to kill his closest friend. The panels cut between Aki's hallucinated snowball fight (where he is laughing, happy, and alive) and the reality (where Denji is weeping as he tears through the Gun Fiend's body with his chainsaws). The final panel of the sequence, showing Aki's severed body in the snow while Denji sobs, is the definitive image of Chainsaw Man's emotional core.
Makima's Plan Revealed
The arc exposes the full scope of Makima's manipulation. She sent Aki to die specifically so the Gun Devil would possess him, and she allowed the Gun Fiend to reach Denji specifically to break him psychologically. Her goal was never to defeat the Gun Devil; it was to destroy Denji's will to live by forcing him to kill his best friend. This revelation recasts every prior interaction between Makima, Aki, and Denji as calculated cruelty. The Gun Devil itself, the entity Aki spent his entire life hating, was merely a tool in Makima's larger plan to control Chainsaw Man.
