Chainsaw Man – Season 1 Episode 3 “Meowy’s Whereabouts” Recap & Review

Meowy’s Whereabouts

Episode 3 of Chainsaw Man begins after Power tears the seaweed devil to pieces with her blood powers. Some gentlemen clean up the mess while Power and Denji discuss matters with Makima.

Makima warns them about not murdering a civilian hunter’s devil because Public Safety would be found guilty of obstructing their business. Makima explains Power’s fiend roots to Denji, and she ponders if Power isn’t cut out for this line of work. Startled, Power blames Denji for the situation, and they get into a heated argument. Makima informs them that she only wants them to get along.

Denji and Power visit several drink machines. Denji feels it might be best to drop his fascination with female chests and remarks on his grievances for working with a liar. Power confirms she only hates humans because it feels like a demonic instinct, but she enjoys the company of cats. Her hatred for devils comes from a devil holding her pet cat Meowy hostage.

Power discusses how she fell into Makima’s clutches while trying to recover Meowy. She’s willing to abide by any human rules if it means she’ll get a chance to save her pet. Power makes a deal with Denji. She’ll let him rub her chest if he can help her get Meowy back. Denji accepts and plans to murder the devil responsible for keeping Meowy hostage.

At Public Safety HQ, Power gets permission to head out with Denji. Power informs Denji of the devil’s whereabouts and tells him he’s the only one who can fight it. They discuss pets. Denji brings up Pochita, but Power brings up the fact that he’s dead. Denji worries that he’ll never get along with Power. Meanwhile, Makima is meeting some suited gentlemen who aren’t happy that other nations aren’t pleased with Japan.

They ask Makima how the recruits are doing, and she gives them a vague response. They warn her not to grow attached to them and send her away. Hayakawa and Makima discuss Denji and Makima’s high hopes for him. Makima brings up names and devil possibilities. Hayakawa disagrees because he doesn’t like Denji’s goals and stance on befriending devils.

Power points Denji toward Meowy’s captor’s house, and the two casually walk toward it. Denji doesn’t want to become Chainsaw Man because he doesn’t want to lose blood. Power’s puzzled but thinks Denji’s bluffing about having supernatural abilities.

As they near the devil’s house, Denji stops because he finds the situation suspicious. He catches Power’s lies and tries to attack her, but Power knocks him out. Power praises Denji for his sharp instincts and drags his body into the house.

In the house, they meet the bat devil, Meowy’s captor. The bat devil mocks Power for being late as she complains it took a long time because she needed someone to help her obtain freedom. She reveals that she promised to give the bat devil a human in exchange for Meowy’s freedom. The bat devil informs Denji that he got injured by a devil hunter, which forced him into hiding.

The devil requires human blood to heal himself. He takes in Denji’s blood but finds it tastes disgusting despite it reviving his body parts. The bat devil plans to cleanse his taste buds with some children’s blood in the city. Denji recalls Hayakawa’s confusion about Denji wanting to befriend devils. Power orders the bat devil to release Meowy, but the bat devil refuses her because he didn’t like Denji’s blood.

Power recalls her time with the cat as the bat devil consumes it. One night as Power and Meowy are resting on a roof–the bat devil appears all bloodied and battered. This is when Power and he formed a contract for Meowy’s freedom. Power comes to terms with how Denji feels about losing Pochita as the bat devil consumes her. The bat devil heads for the city to find a child, a virgin, a muscular man, and a pregnant woman.

Somehow Denji managed to grab hold of the bat devil’s foot. Before they tussle, Denji recalls his times with Pochita as a child and relates it to Power’s attachment to Meowy. Denji becomes Chainsaw Man as he and the bat devil crash into a building in the city. Denji and the bat devil take their fight to the streets. Denji notices some pedestrians and warns them to escape.

Denji discovers his chainsaws can retract during their bout. After blasting Denji with a sonic blast, the bat devil thinks he’s won. However, Denji appears from the rubble fired up, scaring the bat devil. The episode concludes with Denji delivering the final blow to the bat devil while strutting a heroic pose.

The Episode Review

This was another fun follow-up to last week’s episode. Viewers learned more about Power’s past reasons for joining the Public Safety group. We also saw Denji become Chainsaw Man, and the fight involving him in this form feels way better than what we received in the first episode. That said, this chapter was a bit predictable.

While the anime was leading up to Power betraying Denji, some fans may have expected her to have an ulterior motive and made up the cat as an excuse to trick him. Nevertheless, it plays out as you’d expect, and this may be disappointing for some. It makes you wonder why Power didn’t attack the bat devil when they first met.

Although her powers wouldn’t affect the bat devil, she could’ve easily found a way to kill it and save Meowy. She may be a liar, but she isn’t a pushover. Some scenes in this episode didn’t feel necessary or were re-treading on similar ideas. Makima’s discussion with her supposed bosses touched upon many fascinating bits about the Japanese government’s worriment of having issues with other nations and more devils.

However, the scene also sheds light on Makima’s fixation with Denji and why she shouldn’t grow attached to her employees. That was an excellent sequence, but it made the whole bit with Hayakawa feel pointless in return. Another aspect that stuck out was Denji’s fight with the bat devil. Denji’s Chainsaw Man model looks slightly better here than in episode one, and the animation feels like it received a similar improvement.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t maintain solid visuals and animation. Sometimes Denji’s model appears stiff, or how he moves on screen feels uncanny and jarring. Some of these instances can take viewers out of the experience. Otherwise, this was an epic fight with enough carnage and fancy footwork to delight action lovers.

Overall, Chainsaw Man continues delivering fun fights, mesmerizing visuals, and hilarity. It gave fans more things to ponder about this world and its characters. With Denji defeating the bat devil, he’s sure to earn Power’s trust. It remains to be seen whether Power will continue to lie after this exchange. As the series continues, hopefully, the animation and story will improve.