Chainsaw Man finally confirms the greatest drawback of Pochita's powers

The latest installment of Chainsaw Man brought about significant developments to the story, but one of them stands as incredibly intriguing. For starters, Yoru received a massive power-up when she remembered nuclear weapons and made quick work of the Falling Devil. Her powers are now likely at a dizzying new high while Denji has come face to face with the Death Devil.

But the revelation in question is Yoru claiming that America reinvented nuclear weapons from scratch. Putting two and two together, that is what caused her remember it. However, it has also brough to notice another important point - a possibly major drawback to Pochita's Erasure Ability. The power feared by Devils alike may just have a great flaw which could work against it.

Disclaimer: This article is a speculative theory and reflects the writer's opinion.

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Chainsaw Man: Pochita's power may have a major imperfection

America reinvents nuclear weapons (Image via Viz Media)

Chainsaw Man chapter 210 saw Yoru rise to a whole new level of power when she remembered nuclear wepons. The Falling Devil was no match for her as the world witnessed the twisted glory of seemingly standing at the brink nuclear warfare. Intially, even the War Devil herself was surprised, given as far as previous memory served, Chainsaw Man had Erased nuclear weapons by consuming the Devil for it.

But this is where the mentioned flaw in Pochita's ability is visible. As it stands, erasing or wiping out a concept by consuming its Devil doesn't necessarily do away with the components of that concept. To elaborate, while nuclear weapons as a concept was deleted, the elements used to create these weapons remained. Thus, as Yoru states, "...America reinvented nuclear weapons from scratch".

So, America did infact forget that such a concept existed and the Devil was indeed wiped out. But as shown, the country had and followed through with its capacity to build nuclear weapons again. A development like this brings about a concern as to what extent this drawback affects Pochita's powers - erasing a concept doesn't entirely do away with it and under certain circumstances, it can return.

Pochita (Image via MAPPA)

To elaborate, consider a concept like diseases or even the plague. Pochita consuming the Devil/s born of the fear of this concept erases it from existence. As per Chainsaw Man, the public forgets what it is and its physical being is wiped out. But that doesn't necessarily mean that the virus/bacteria which cause the disease are also deleted.

Akin to nuclear weapons being reinvented given the existence of the components, the virus/bacteria could spread once more and bring back the disease. Again, in case of erasure, the vaccines/medicines used to treat such illnesses will likely become foreign items to humans, as they would forget what their use. Hence, it is possible that his weakness extends beyond basic and man-made concepts.

When considering a trigger and a result (nuclear weapons for instance), wiping out the result doesn't seem to erase the trigger. In all likelihood, the trigger becomes obscure until reactivated to thus feed into (or recreate) the result that was erased. For example, Chainsaw Man erased the AIDS Devil, but there is no clarity if the AIDs-causing lentiviruses human immunodeficiency viruses types 1 and 2.

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Final Thoughts

Pochita unleashed (Image via Viz Media)

Chainsaw Man chapter 210 has just seemingly revealed a major weakness in Pochita’s erasure ability - a concept can be erased, but it looks like its foundational elements may not be. This limitation is further exemplified given Yoru remembering nuclear weapons as a result of America reinventing them from scratch. Here, despite Pochita previously erasing the Nuclear Weapons Devil, the elements essential to construct these weapons remained.

With that, the concerned party was able to do it all over again. Thus as it stands, Pochita’s power only wipes societal fear and memory of a concept, not its potential for resurgence. This logic can be taken a step further and applied to concepts like diseases. So, the disease/s-causing pathogens may yet exist even if the disease/s are erased. In a sense, Pochita's Erasure ability is not absolute and leaves room for re-emergence.

Thus, Chainsaw Man has reframed an ability that was once thought to be fearsome and with no counter. From here, the stakes have risen back up, given that erased concepts are only temporarily gone and could return if the appropriate triggers are touched again.

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Related links:

• Chainsaw Man chapter 210 highlights
• Denji might be in Limbo in Chainsaw Man chapter 210 (and his meeting with Death Devil proves it)
• After Jujutsu Kaisen and Kaiju no.8, should Chainsaw Man fans dread a rushed ending?

Edited by Casey Mendez