Devil Hunter

Tokyo alone is home to well over a thousand Devil Hunters, making the trade a fairly ordinary career. Because Denji works the job in both the freelance and government spheres, hunters sit at the core of Chainsaw Man's narrative. To survive their monstrous quarry, most strike contracts with devils, and they rank among the very few civilians legally cleared to do so, as well as to carry a firearm alongside the police. A typical kill nets roughly 300,000 yen; a feeble devil like the Tomato Devil goes for about 400,000 yen on the black market, while the rarest targets, Denji and his heart chief among them, command bids in the millions of dollars. Revenge drives many into the work after devils murdered their families, a motive that surged following the Gun Devil's massacre thirteen years earlier.

The profession splits into two broad camps. Government hunters, the Public Safety Devil Hunters, were later reorganized under the banner of the Public Safety Commission for National Devil Extermination, and they operate much like a fire brigade or police force, handling the bigger threats. They collect steady pay, extra leave, reinforced suits with identification badges, and superior medical care, including, by Makima's account, a specialist who can reattach severed limbs. Numerous divisions make up their structure, among them one unorthodox unit under Makima staffed by outliers like the once-fused human Denji and the fiend Power. Private Sector hunters instead work freelance for bounties, loyal to no government, paid per devil felled, and usually pointed at lesser dangers. Entry is so easy that even schoolchildren can hunt for cash, and many schools run Devil Hunter Clubs. Tension runs between the camps: should a Public Safety hunter finish a devil another freelancer already claimed, the act counts as obstruction of justice and can land them under arrest.

Across Tokyo's divisions, Special Division 4, raised by Makima and later led by Kishibe, counted Aki Hayakawa, Himeno, Angel, Beam, Power, Kobeni Higashiyama, and Denji. Division 7 deployed Quanxi, Katana Man, Fumiko Mifune, and Hirofumi Yoshida, while a new-timeline branch answers to Nayuta with Power and Denji aboard. Hunters also hail from Kyoto, Miyagi, and beyond, including the angels Virtue, Seraphim, and Dominion. The freelance ranks stretch worldwide: Japan's Asa Mitaka and Akane Sawatari, the Soviet Tolka, China's Quanxi and her companions, and America's Joey and Aldo. School Devil Hunter Clubs, whose members frequently drifted into the Chainsaw Man Church, included Haruka Iseumi, Fami, Asa, Seigi Akoku, and Nobana Higashiyama.