I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: As Part 2 of the Chainsaw Man manga has settled in, Tatsuki Fujimoto’s series keeps unveiling chapters that amount to masterpieces. Week after week, new levels of Fujimoto’s virtuosity over his medium continue to wash over us all. This has gone beyond fandom, now; I’m genuinely in awe. Chainsaw Man keeps topping itself in ways I never expect. And in chapter 137, the manga does something truly incredible: it choreographs an entire fight sequence to a song.
As a Westerner without much knowledge of 2000s Japanese heavy metal / alt-pop / experimental rock / whatever genre you want to call it, when you read chapter 137, the song Denji’s date sings at karaoke might seem spectacularly made up. After all, the translated lyrics are “smooch smooch lovely gropey gropey horny horny / jiggle jiggle boing shlick licky licky.” You may be delighted to learn that it’s a real song. The chapter is even named after it: “ChuChu Lovely MuniMuni MuraMura PrinPrin Boron Nururu ReroRero,” by Maximum the Hormone.
This isn’t the first time Maximum the Hormone has associated themselves with Chainsaw Man. They wrote what I’d argue is the best ending song for the Chainsaw Man anime’s ridiculously stacked first season. Before that, most anime fans knew Maximum the Hormone for writing the excellently manic second opening for Death Note, “What’s up, people?!” In fact, “ChuChu Lovely” actually follows “What’s up, people?!” on Maximum the Hormone’s 2007 album Bu-ikikaesu.
What’s truly astounding about chapter 137 is that the sudden fight Denji finds himself in is perfectly timed to this song. When I first read the chapter, before I heard “ChuChu Lovely,” I was imagining some kind of rap-rock thing happening. That element’s certainly present, but “ChuChu Lovely” is also an ecstatic and confounding mix of high tempo Japanese pop and punk, with a healthy amount of guttural metal screaming. In other words, it’s a Maximum the Hormone song.
How to read chapter 137 along with the song
Chainsaw Man chapter 137 is a delight without knowing the song. But once I heard it, and then listened again while timing the song to a re-read of the chapter, it was like a whole world was unlocked. Truly, I’ve never had an experience like it while reading manga. I cannot recommend it highly enough. But if you don’t speak Japanese, it’s a little tricky.
First, you might be wondering what the hell is happening with the title and translation. One of the most charming features of the Japanese language is the wide usage of onomatopoeia. Japanese uses onomatopoeia in ways and places that English speakers can only dream. The most famous for anime fans is probably dokidoki, which literally translates to “thump-thump” or “pitapat.” Where we’d say in English, “My heart was pounding,” in Japanese you’d say, “Dokidoki shita“—literally, “(My heart was) thump-thumping.”
That’s what is happening in the title and chorus of this song. First, the female voice sings, “Chuchu (kissy kissy) raburabu (lovely) munimuni (gropey gropey) muramura (horny horny).” Then, the male voice shouts back, “Prinprin (jiggle jiggle) boron (boing) nururu (shlick) rerorero (licky licky).” That’s repeated several times to make up the chorus. Is it all very horny nonsense? Absolutely. I’m here for every second of it.
Then, we get to the male verses. The pauses in the voice correspond to the end of the lyrical stanzas, which Chainsaw Man gives one quote bubble apiece. Then comes the shouting. “Sex!” is an easy anchor point if you get lost because it’s in English. Then the woman comes back and you’re at “Bitch you! Get you!” When the singer changes, you’re at “a slender-waisted masterpiece.” (Yes, you’re still at The Mary Sue.) The same one-quote-bubble-per-stanza rule applies, but these mini-sections are slower-paced than before.
Then we’re back at the chorus—and Denji asks his date if she’s going to sing the second verse. It really, truly lines up. It’s such a ridiculous adrenaline rush to read along with the song. And the way the slight slowdown at “bitch you!” lines up with a random, almost slice-of-life adjacent panel depicting the soft drink section characteristic of Japanese karaoke chains is just chef’s kiss. Also, can we acknowledge Denji’s unnamed date’s insane skill for doing all parts of this song?!
So get back in the manga and give it a try! And now you can join me in having this dirty song stuck in your head all day.
(featured image: Tatsuki Fujimoto / Shounen Jump)
