Fair warning: The article contains major spoilers from Chainsaw Man Part 1. If you haven’t caught up, keep your guard up (not that you’ll be able to avoid what I throw at you, the spoilers will be a sweet curveball, so beware)
A contract is like a mutual agreement between a devil and a human, only that it is binding in nature. Denji is a hybrid. He became into one after forming a contract with Pochita, who gave him his heart.
Considering the bizarreness in the last leg of Chainsaw Man part one, there is ample ambiguity surrounding Denji and Pochita’s contract. Did it break? Did it renew itself? Why did the chainsaw man appear? And what was Makima’s role in all of this?
That sure is a lot of questions.
Well, things aren’t really well explained when it comes to what exactly happened when the chainsaw man appeared, or Makima claimed to have broken Denji’s contract.
But, let’s speculate a bit as to what might have happened and deep dive into the specifics of Denji and Pochita’s contract.
Denji and Pochita’s contract explained:
Denji and Pochita had a contract, true. But when I reread the manga to wrap my head around what was happening, I stumbled upon the fact that Denji and Pochita possibly had two contracts, or, they entered into a contract twice.
Not that I didn’t notice it, it just didn’t register. Both of these contracts and their terms are pretty important to make some sense out of the bizarreness that Fujimoto presents us in chapters 81-90 of Chainsaw man.
The first contract between Denji and Pochita:
The first agreement or a contract between these two was established when Denji encountered a fatally injured Pochita.
Pushed to their limits and with no way out of the bleak situation they found themselves in, Denji and Pochita entered a friendship surrounded by blooming flowers in a field so green that drove away all their fears. This was a friendship that would last ages to come and benefit both of them.
But things weren’t so flowery, nor was it so serene.
Seeing that Pochita was injured, Denji lets him drink his blood. While doing so, he makes the devil realize that his blood, though not the best pick, wouldn’t come for free. He calls for a contract to be formed between them.
The terms were pretty simple. Denji saved Pochita by offering his blood, so he wanted Pochita to save him in return. A sacrifice was made, and terms were offered for the devil to accept!
It was an arrangement revolving around the survival of the two parties. This contract or agreement somehow converted Pochita into Denji’s pet (in a way).
But their relationship seemed to be built on something more than just terms of a contract. While it is hard to know what is going on in Pochita’s mind, for Denji, Pochita was the only ‘person’ he had in the world, sort of.
Now, it’s time for me to go into a speculative rant.
Talking about Pochita, the devil did save Denji from dying at the hands of the zombified Yakuza in chapter 1. But was giving up his heart a move he made out of concern or something that he did because of the terms of the first contract.
In the world of Chainsaw man, contracts are not something that can be broken, even in the pain and agony of death. So it is possible that Pochita’s act of saving Denji was him abiding by the conditions laid down in the agreement.
But, judging from the whole sequence that led up to the second contract that formed between these two, I really do believe that Pochita cares for Denji deeply. If a fiend can have feelings, why can’t a devil?
That brings us to the next section;
Denji and Pochita’s second contract:
As Denji was about to die after being chopped up by the Zombie Yakuza, Pochita forms a new contract with him, which not only saved his life but also made him a hybrid. As per the terms of the contract, Pochita agreed to give Denji his heart and asked him to show his dreams.
BUUTTTTT, things get hazy in the last stretch.
In chapter 82, when Makima reveals her plans to Denji, she mentions that Pochita had given Denji his heart in exchange for him living a normal life.
How Makima came to know about the contract between these two is a different question altogether. What caught my attention was that the phrase “living a normal life” was never mentioned by Pochita.
Revisiting chapter one, we see that Denji is the one who wants Pochita to live a normal life and die a normal death, albeit after making a fiend out of Denji. Note to self: Denji is not a fiend.
I am just gonna go ahead and say that this exchange is very important when it comes to the contract that has been formed between these two.
So, did Makima get the terms of their contract wrong? Or am I not supposed to look at the literal meaning of every word written? But all of this is somehow related to the contract and Pochita’s actions too.
In the flashback, Denji asked Pochita to make his dreams come true if he ever took over his body. This could be why Pochita asked Denji to show him his dreams, so that he could one day fulfil them. Had Pochita already decided that he will one day take control of Denji’s body?
In chapter 83, as the Chainsaw devil took control of Denji’s body and made an appearance, he made sure that he made some of Denji’s dreams come true. Yes. The entire part (funny of course) where he ate the hamburger and went on a bloody date with a girl was Pochita doing this.
It is possible that Pochita only relayed the most important part of the contract to Denji. He probably wanted Denji to live a normal life and all, but never mentioned it explicitly to him. Or, the contract was based on what Denji had told him earlier.
But, the question is, why did the chainsaw man even show up? And what happened to the first contract that was formed between these two when a new one was formed?
A lot of people believe that the reason why Chainsaw man made an appearance in chapter 84 is because Makima successfully ended up breaking the contract between Denji and Pochita.
That brings us to the all important question,
Did Denji and Pochita’s contract break?
No! Denji and Pochita’s contract never broke. It is still intact. If the contract had broken, Pochita shouldn’t have remained Denji’s heart right?
Technically, contracts cannot be broken. We see Himeno confirming this in the Eternity devil arc. Makima’s plan could have been to make Denji soo broken that he could no longer keep up his side of the deal; that is, showing Pochita his dreams or living a normal life.
Denji was catatonic. If it had continued the same way, Denji would have died.
That’s how contracts function. Is it possible that, unlike fiends, devils in a hybrid union can exist even after their hosts die?
However, it seems that the situation took a turn for the worse as Kishibe attacked and Makima had to improvise. Her call for help allowed Pochita to take control of Denji’s body and mitigate the damage that was happening.
I am assuming that when a new contract is formed, it supersedes the previous one. So the one where Pochita stays on as Denji’s heart is still valid. But, it is possible that the first contract these two made is still valid too.
The very reason that Chainsaw devil took control could be because he piggybacked on the terms of their first contract to prevent Denji from dying.
It is possible that Pochita saved Denji again in chapters 89-90 with Power’s help in order to honor its terms (my assumptions, ofcourse). However, I am more inclined to believe that it only happened because Pochita cares deeply for Denji too.
It is not unusual for Devils and fiends to experience emotions after all.
And, since the contract between these two didn’t break, the question about a renewal doesn’t make any sense.
True, a lot of what I have mentioned here is speculative, but unless we get some kind of concrete information from Fujimoto himself, speculating is the only way ahead. Denji and Pochita’s contract is crucial when it comes to a lot of things in the manga. I believe contracts and hybrids will come to play a bigger role in the upcoming part of chainsaw man.
Do you have anything that you want to add when it comes to the contract between these two? Or about the appearance of the Chainsaw man and what it meant? Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments below!