It’s not every show that can give you a fight on a battleground that’s literally made of gore.
Denji’s joy over defeating the Bat Devil and earning a fondling of Power (who, along with her cat, is not dead) is cut short by the arrival of the Bat Devil’s previously unannounced lover, the Leech Devil. Denji is practically out of power, though, only able to manifest a small nub of chainsaw out of his face. He fights well, but is ultimately saved when Hayakawa shows up and utilizes his contract with the Fox Devil to obliterate Leech
In the aftermath, Denji covers for Power and Hayakawa and Makima decide to just sort of accept it and not pry deeper. Power is also added to the apartment, and proves an even worse roommate than Denji was.
The fight with the Leech Devil is pretty good. It fairly establishes that Denji can take an impressive pounding even when not in full Chainsaw mode. It also takes place almost entirely on the blood and guts of the Bat Devil, including having Denji briefly tie up the leech’s legs with intestines. Let no one say this show fails to deliver the viscera.
The later stretch is pretty good at maintaining the human element. Denji is still about as sharp as a bag of hammers, but it’s getting easier to get behind his extremely simplistic motivations.
There is one note that might suggest at a higher plot, as it’s staited that neither the Bat nor Leech devil had “Gun flesh” in their brains, suggesting that there’s probably something to do with the flesh of the Gun Devil. I’m making some guesses, since the “Gun Devil” hasn’t been explicitly mentioned, but that does seem to be a hook for later.
Other than that, I guess this is formally “Power has joined the party” time now, and we’ve met some other extras besides, so that we have more devil hunters to expend or explore in the future.
While arguably not a lot happens, the style and atmosphere help carry the episode. The more I think about it, the more I realize that the opening referencing a load of classic movies might be appropiate, since Chainsaw Man seems to be going for an overall more Hollywood cinematic pace than what you’re used to out of an anime. It’s not a choice I would usually make, but it works in the show’s favor here.