Do be warned that this article contains major spoilers for the entirety of the Chainsaw Man manga, including key moments that have not been shown in the anime as of 2024.
While Chainsaw Man has been meandering for a bit over the past couple months or so, things are finally heating back up. After the attack of the Church of Chainsaw Man, it seemed as though Nayuta had died. This was confirmed again in the sushi restaurant chapters, when Barem served up Nayuta’s head on a plate to Denji.
However, there are a couple of possible signs that may hint that she’s not quite dead yet. For instance, since Nayuta’s disappearance during the attack, we’ve seen that Nayuta’s actually missing a prominent mole on her face, and that suggests that the head we’re seeing might be a fake. This could very well be chalked up to human error and accidental inconsistencies, but the fact that we’ve seen it multiple times lends credence to the theory that this may be purposeful.
In addition to that, the Chainsaw Man volume cover for Aki and Power (after their deaths) shows them walking off into the light while Denji remains in darkness. And on the flipside, Nayuta’s cover has her standing in the shadow. Again, this could also be a stretch, but Chainsaw Man has largely been great at foreshadowing certain things. The fact that we did not actually see Nayuta die also means there’s a good chance she could still be alive.
Of course, this could just be a Nobara Kugisaki copium situation, but there’s still hope for Nayuta yet. Time will tell whether all of this speculation pays off or not, but I’m willing to bet Nayuta’s still out there somewhere.
Chainsaw Man is now streaming on Crunchyroll, and you can read the manga on Mangaplus and Shonen Jump.