Chainsaw Man: Assassins Arc has released its second official teaser trailer, providing the most substantial look yet at the anime’s next violent and unpredictable storyline.
The new footage introduces the international assassins who travel to Japan with the same objective: capturing Denji and taking possession of the heart of Chainsaw Man.
Familiar characters including Denji, Power, Aki Hayakawa, Makima, Kobeni, Angel Devil, Beam and Kishibe appear alongside major newcomers such as Quanxi, Santa Claus, Tolka and the three American brothers.
The teaser also briefly enters the surreal and terrifying world associated with the Darkness Devil, signaling that the adaptation is preparing to bring one of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s most visually ambitious manga sequences to animation.
The trailer was unveiled on June 19, 2026, during the MAPPA 15th Anniversary Lineup Reveal. Despite the amount of new footage, the production has not announced a release date or confirmed the exact broadcast format.
Chainsaw Man: Assassins Arc Receives Its Second Teaser
The second teaser moves beyond the abstract imagery used in the original announcement and begins presenting the actual characters, locations and confrontations that will define the next anime installment.
Denji has become internationally known after the events of the first television season and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc. His unusual heart, which contains the Chainsaw Devil Pochita, has attracted the attention of governments, private organizations and some of the most dangerous devil hunters in the world.
Several groups now travel to Japan independently, each hoping to kill, abduct or control him before their rivals can succeed.
The trailer rapidly moves between these assassins and their targets, creating the impression of a chaotic manhunt in which nobody completely understands who is working for whom.
The Public Safety Devil Hunters must protect Denji while also confronting enemies whose powers, identities and alliances are deliberately hidden.
A Release Date Has Not Been Announced
Chainsaw Man: Assassins Arc remains officially in production, but its release schedule has not yet been revealed.
The second teaser does not include a premiere year, season or exact date.
MAPPA has also not publicly confirmed whether the project will be released as a television season, a theatrical movie or another anime format.
- Official title: Chainsaw Man: Assassins Arc
- Original creator: Tatsuki Fujimoto
- Director: Tatsuya Yoshihara
- Screenplay: Hiroshi Seko
- Music: Kensuke Ushio
- Animation production: MAPPA
- Release date: Not yet announced
- Format: Not yet officially specified
Any release window circulating without a direct announcement from MAPPA or the official Chainsaw Man channels should therefore be treated as speculation.
Tatsuya Yoshihara Returns as Director
Tatsuya Yoshihara will direct Chainsaw Man: Assassins Arc.
Yoshihara previously served as action director on the first television season before taking over as director of Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc.
His return gives the new production direct creative continuity with the film, which adapted the story immediately preceding the Assassins Arc.
The Reze Arc placed greater emphasis on expressive character animation, highly physical combat and the contrast between quiet emotional scenes and sudden violence.
Those qualities will be particularly important in the Assassins Arc, where the number of fighters, transformations and simultaneous conflicts increases dramatically.
Yoshihara will also need to guide the production through several scenes that abandon conventional action imagery in favor of surreal horror.
The Story Continues After the Reze Arc
The new anime continues directly after the events adapted in Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc.
Denji believed he had finally found someone who genuinely understood him when he met Reze. Their relationship became another example of his desire for affection being manipulated by people interested in the Chainsaw Devil inside him.
Reze was revealed as an operative sent by the Soviet Union to take Denji’s heart. Her mission led to a destructive battle involving the Bomb Devil, Public Safety and several other devil hunters.
Although Denji survived, the conflict exposed his existence and abilities to a much wider audience.
The Assassins Arc begins after governments around the world learn that Chainsaw Man can potentially alter the international balance of power.
Instead of sending one operative, multiple countries and organizations deploy elite assassins at the same time.
Denji Becomes the Target of the Entire World
Denji has spent much of his life wanting attention, recognition and affection.
Becoming famous as Chainsaw Man appears to offer those things, but the attention he receives is not the admiration he imagined.
Powerful people do not see Denji as an ordinary teenager. They see his heart as a weapon capable of changing the world.
Every assassin entering Japan has a different employer, method and personal objective, but they all reduce Denji to something that can be captured and used.
The situation becomes even more dangerous because Denji does not possess the emotional maturity or life experience needed to recognize every attempt at manipulation.
He may be physically powerful, but affection, promises and sexual attention can still influence his decisions.
The Trailer Introduces Quanxi
Quanxi is one of the most important new characters shown in the teaser.
She is an elite Chinese devil hunter and is regarded as one of the most dangerous combatants participating in the international operation.
Quanxi possesses extraordinary speed, strength and experience. She can eliminate trained opponents before they have time to understand that a fight has begun.
She travels with a group of female fiends who are also her partners, making her team unlike any other group entering Japan.
The trailer presents Quanxi with the calm confidence of someone who has survived many battles and expects most opponents to be far weaker than she is.
Her history with Kishibe also suggests that the conflict will reveal more about the veteran devil hunter’s past.
Quanxi’s Team Includes Several Fiends
Quanxi is accompanied by four fiends with highly distinctive appearances and abilities.
The group includes Cosmo, Long, Pingtsi and Tsugihagi.
Although their behavior can appear playful or strange, they remain dangerous supernatural beings working alongside one of the world’s strongest devil hunters.
Their relationship with Quanxi also differs from the hierarchy normally seen between human hunters and fiends.
They are not simply disposable weapons under her command. The trailer suggests a personal and intimate bond among the members of the group.
Santa Claus Enters the Hunt
Another major assassin featured in the teaser is the mysterious figure known as Santa Claus.
The name does not refer to the familiar holiday character. It is an alias associated with a highly dangerous operative whose true identity and methods are difficult to determine.
Santa Claus approaches assassination through manipulation, contracts and the use of other people as tools.
Unlike an opponent who confronts Denji directly, this assassin can create threats that spread through crowds and transform ordinary civilians into part of a larger attack.
The teaser presents unsettling images associated with dolls, suggesting that the adaptation will preserve the body horror central to this storyline.
Tolka Becomes Part of Santa Claus’ Plan
Tolka appears as a young devil hunter connected to Santa Claus.
He is presented as a student or subordinate who has undergone extensive training and wants to prove himself.
His loyalty becomes an important part of a plan that extends far beyond a conventional assassination mission.
The relationship between Tolka and his mentor demonstrates how experienced devil hunters can manipulate younger people by presenting obedience as personal growth.
His role also connects the human conflict over Denji’s heart to forces far more dangerous than the international assassins themselves.
Three American Brothers Target Denji
The trailer also introduces three brothers sent from the United States.
The siblings possess a contract that allows them to assume the appearances of other people, giving them a major advantage during an operation based on infiltration and deception.
Their confidence is built around the belief that they have survived impossible situations and are protected by extraordinary luck.
However, the world of Chainsaw Man repeatedly punishes characters who mistake survival for invincibility.
The brothers bring a mixture of genuine danger and dark comedy to the arc. Their plans can be intelligent, but unpredictable accidents and misunderstandings quickly complicate their mission.
Kishibe Organizes Denji’s Protection
Kishibe becomes increasingly important after the arrival of the international assassins.
As one of Public Safety’s most experienced devil hunters, he understands that conventional protection will not be enough.
Denji’s enemies include hybrids, fiends, contract users and assassins capable of changing their identities.
Kishibe must organize people he trusts while also considering the possibility that Public Safety itself has been infiltrated.
His history with Quanxi adds another personal dimension to the operation. The two understand each other’s abilities and cannot rely on simple intimidation.
Aki, Power and Denji Remain Together
The teaser includes several scenes featuring Denji, Power and Aki Hayakawa as a dysfunctional but increasingly close household.
Their domestic relationship became one of the emotional foundations of the first season and Reze Arc.
Aki initially viewed Denji and Power as irresponsible burdens. Living together gradually created a bond resembling an unconventional family.
Power became more comfortable depending on the others, while Denji experienced a form of home life he had never possessed.
The Assassins Arc places that fragile stability under enormous pressure.
Every attack on Denji threatens the people who have become closest to him, even when he does not fully understand how important they are to him.
Aki Continues Paying the Price for Revenge
Aki Hayakawa remains committed to killing the Gun Devil, whose attack destroyed his family.
His pursuit of revenge has already cost him years of his life through contracts with devils.
The Future Devil has shown Aki a terrifying prediction about his eventual death, but Aki continues working because abandoning his goal would force him to confront the sacrifices already made.
Protecting Denji during the Assassins Arc further complicates his priorities.
Denji is no longer simply another reckless recruit. Aki has begun treating him as someone whose survival matters personally.
Power Faces Enemies Far Beyond Her Experience
Power remains confident in her own greatness, but the international assassins operate at a level she has rarely confronted.
Her Blood Devil abilities make her dangerous, yet her courage frequently disappears when she recognizes an opponent capable of killing her.
That mixture of arrogance and self-preservation remains an important source of comedy.
The new arc will also test how much Power values Denji and Aki when protecting them requires genuine risk.
Makima Continues Controlling the Situation
Makima remains at the center of Public Safety’s response.
She knows that Denji’s heart has become an international objective and appears prepared to use the arriving assassins for her own purposes.
Makima rarely reveals the complete extent of her information. Even senior devil hunters cannot be certain whether events have surprised her or are unfolding according to a hidden plan.
Her relationship with Denji remains one of the story’s most dangerous forms of manipulation.
Denji interprets her attention as affection, while Makima consistently treats his emotions as something that can be directed and rewarded.
The Trailer Teases the Darkness Devil
The most disturbing section of the teaser is connected to the Darkness Devil.
The Darkness Devil belongs to a category of beings feared even among devils.
It represents a primal fear that humanity has carried since before civilization, making its power fundamentally different from that of ordinary devils.
The teaser includes surreal imagery associated with the sequence, including an environment that does not obey familiar physical or narrative logic.
Rather than presenting the Darkness Devil as a conventional monster waiting for a battle, the story treats its presence as an overwhelming event.
Experienced hunters and powerful fiends become nearly helpless after entering its domain.
The Assassins Are Pulled Into Hell
The International Assassins storyline eventually moves beyond the streets of Japan into Hell, the world where devils are reborn after dying on Earth.
Hell in Chainsaw Man is not represented as a traditional realm of fire and punishment.
It is a surreal, open and deeply unsettling space inhabited by beings connected to humanity’s oldest fears.
The transition removes the characters from the political assassination conflict and places them inside an environment where normal strength becomes almost meaningless.
The teaser’s brief glimpses suggest that MAPPA intends to preserve the manga’s strange compositions and disturbing visual symbolism.
The Astronaut Imagery Is One of the Manga’s Most Famous Sequences
The Darkness Devil’s introduction is associated with one of the most recognizable visual sequences in Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga.
The imagery uses astronauts, darkness and ritualistic composition to create fear without providing a direct explanation.
Its power comes from the feeling that the characters have entered the presence of something older and more incomprehensible than themselves.
Adapting the sequence will require more than reproducing individual manga panels.
Timing, sound, silence, movement and editing will determine whether the anime can preserve the original scene’s disturbing atmosphere.
The Trailer Also Shows Kobeni’s Car
Among the violence and horror, the teaser includes imagery connected to Kobeni Higashiyama and her car.
Kobeni has repeatedly survived situations that killed far more confident devil hunters.
Her extreme anxiety contrasts with moments of remarkable physical ability, making it difficult to determine how she acquired her skills.
The car becomes part of one of the arc’s most memorable darkly comedic sequences.
Its appearance reassures manga readers that the adaptation will preserve the absurd humor that exists beside the storyline’s most horrifying events.
Hirofumi Yoshida Makes His Anime Debut
The new teaser also introduces Hirofumi Yoshida, a private devil hunter hired to help protect Denji.
Yoshida is young, calm and unusually capable for someone operating outside Public Safety’s normal structure.
He has a contract with the Octopus Devil and possesses enough combat ability to confront experienced assassins.
His relaxed behavior hides a professional understanding of how dangerous the operation has become.
Yoshida later becomes increasingly important to the larger Chainsaw Man story, making his anime debut an important moment for the franchise.
The Second Teaser Is Pre-Animated
The newly released video has been described as a pre-animated teaser.
This means the footage was created specifically to promote the upcoming project and may not consist entirely of finished scenes taken directly from completed episodes or a movie.
Individual layouts, animation, coloring and editing may change before the final release.
Even so, the teaser establishes the intended visual direction and confirms which characters and major story elements will appear.
A later full trailer should provide a clearer representation of the finished animation and reveal the official release format.
Hiroshi Seko Returns to Write the Screenplay
Hiroshi Seko returns as screenwriter for Chainsaw Man: Assassins Arc.
Seko previously handled the series composition and scripts for the first television season and worked on the Reze Arc film.
The Assassins Arc presents a difficult adaptation challenge because many characters arrive almost simultaneously with different motivations and hidden identities.
The screenplay must clearly establish the competing groups without reducing the feeling of chaos that defines the storyline.
It must also move naturally from international espionage and dark comedy into the supernatural horror surrounding Hell and the Darkness Devil.
Kazutaka Sugiyama Returns as Character Designer
Kazutaka Sugiyama continues as character designer.
The new arc significantly expands the cast, introducing assassins from multiple countries, several fiends and powerful supernatural beings.
Each character needs a distinct silhouette and personality while remaining faithful to Fujimoto’s deliberately rough and expressive manga designs.
The production also includes several sub-character designers to manage the unusually large number of people appearing throughout the storyline.
Kiyotaka Oshiyama Designs the Devils
Kiyotaka Oshiyama is credited with devil design.
His role is especially important because the arc introduces creatures whose appearances are based more on surreal fear than conventional monster anatomy.
The Darkness Devil must appear fundamentally different from opponents such as the Bat Devil, Eternity Devil or Bomb Devil.
Its design needs to communicate the idea of a primal fear that does not exist according to ordinary biological rules.
Kensuke Ushio Returns to Compose the Music
Kensuke Ushio returns as music composer.
His score for the first season combined electronic sounds, atmospheric tension and aggressive music suited to the physical violence of Chainsaw Man.
The Reze Arc expanded that approach with more emotionally intimate music reflecting Denji’s growing attachment to Reze.
The Assassins Arc will require another shift, moving among espionage, comedy, urban action and cosmic horror.
Music will be particularly important during the scenes in Hell, where conventional action scoring could weaken the strange and overwhelming atmosphere.
Main Production Staff
- Original creator: Tatsuki Fujimoto
- Director: Tatsuya Yoshihara
- Screenplay: Hiroshi Seko
- Character design: Kazutaka Sugiyama
- Sub-character design: Shoichi, Ken Seo, Shun, Hiroyuki Saita and Naoki Chigira
- Devil design: Kiyotaka Oshiyama
- Costume design: Aya Yamamoto and Shichiza Nakamura
- Art directors: Yusuke Takeda and Taku Munemasa
- Color design: Naomi Nakano
- Color script: Chavoom
- 3DCG directors: Satoshi Yamauchi and Masahiro Tamai
- Director of photography: Teppei Ito
- Editor: Masato Yoshitake
- Sound director: Yasushi Nagura
- Music: Kensuke Ushio
- Animation production: MAPPA
The Returning Japanese Voice Cast
A complete cast list for the new characters has not yet been formally detailed through the latest announcement.
The established Japanese performers associated with the returning characters include:
- Kikunosuke Toya as Denji
- Tomori Kusunoki as Makima
- Shogo Sakata as Aki Hayakawa
- Fairouz Ai as Power
- Karin Takahashi as Kobeni Higashiyama
- Kenjiro Tsuda as Kishibe
- Maaya Uchida as Angel Devil
- Natsuki Hanae as Beam
- Yuya Uchida as Violence Fiend
The performers behind Quanxi, Santa Claus, Tolka, Yoshida and the other newcomers are expected to be announced through future promotional updates.
The Arc Adapts Manga Chapters 53 Through 70
The International Assassins Arc occupies Chapters 53 through 70 of the original manga.
It follows directly after the Bomb Girl Arc adapted by the Reze movie and forms one of the major storylines in the Public Safety Saga.
The arc dramatically expands the world by revealing how foreign governments and international devil hunters understand Denji’s power.
It also moves the story closer to the final conflicts of the manga’s first part.
The anime’s official title shortens the familiar English fan designation “International Assassins Arc” to Assassins Arc.
What Is Chainsaw Man About?
Chainsaw Man follows Denji, a teenager forced to hunt devils to repay the enormous debt left by his father.
His only companion is Pochita, a small devil with a chainsaw emerging from its head.
After Denji is betrayed and killed, Pochita sacrifices its own body to replace his heart.
The transformation gives Denji the ability to become Chainsaw Man by pulling a cord from his chest.
Makima recruits him into Public Safety and promises food, shelter and affection in exchange for his service as a devil hunter.
Denji accepts because his life has never allowed him to develop ambitions beyond basic comfort and human intimacy.
His simple desires gradually place him inside a much larger conflict involving governments, devils and people who understand the true significance of Chainsaw Man better than he does.
Based on Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Manga
Chainsaw Man is written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto.
The Public Safety Saga was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from December 2018 until December 2020.
The manga returned with its second part through Shonen Jump+ in July 2022.
Fujimoto’s work is known for combining extreme violence, cinematic composition, absurd humor and emotionally vulnerable characters.
The Assassins Arc is frequently regarded as one of the manga’s defining storylines because it brings those elements together on a much larger scale.
The New Arc Changes the Scale of the Anime
The first season largely focused on Denji learning how Public Safety operates and forming relationships with Aki and Power.
The Reze Arc showed that foreign governments were already interested in Chainsaw Man’s heart.
The Assassins Arc transforms that interest into an international conflict.
Denji is no longer hunted by one enemy with a clear objective. He is surrounded by groups that use disguises, contracts, dolls, hybrids and ordinary civilians as weapons.
The arrival of the Darkness Devil also reveals that even the strongest human assassins remain insignificant beside the oldest supernatural fears.
What Remains Unknown About the Anime?
The production has not announced the premiere date or release window.
The exact format remains unspecified, and the official materials have not confirmed whether Assassins Arc will be a television season or theatrical production.
The number of episodes or runtime has not been revealed.
Opening and ending theme performers also remain unannounced.
The complete cast for the international assassins has not yet been published.
A later trailer is expected to provide completed animation, character voices and more specific release information.
Chainsaw Man Is Also Receiving a Mobile Game
MAPPA’s anniversary presentation included another major announcement for the franchise: development of its first smartphone game.
An opening movie for the game was revealed during the event, accompanied by new music from Maximum the Hormone.
The game project is separate from the Assassins Arc anime and does not provide a release date for the animated continuation.
Additional details about gameplay, platforms and international availability will be announced separately.
What to Expect From Chainsaw Man: Assassins Arc
Viewers can expect the largest cast of killers and devil hunters introduced in the anime so far.
Quanxi and her fiends will challenge Kishibe and the Public Safety team, while Santa Claus uses a plan capable of transforming civilians into extensions of a supernatural attack.
The American brothers will bring disguise-based infiltration and the series’ characteristic dark comedy.
Hirofumi Yoshida will make his anime debut as one of Denji’s protectors, while Makima continues manipulating events from behind the scenes.
The conflict will eventually transport several characters to Hell, where they encounter the Darkness Devil and discover how little their usual power means in the presence of a primal fear.
Final Thoughts
Chainsaw Man: Assassins Arc has released its second teaser trailer, revealing the international operation to capture Denji and steal the heart of Chainsaw Man.
The footage introduces Quanxi, Santa Claus, Tolka, Hirofumi Yoshida, the American brothers and several fiends while bringing back Denji, Power, Aki, Makima, Kishibe and the other Public Safety hunters.
It also provides the first animated preview of the terrifying events involving Hell and the Darkness Devil.
Tatsuya Yoshihara returns as director after leading the Reze Arc movie, with Hiroshi Seko writing the screenplay, Kazutaka Sugiyama designing the characters and Kensuke Ushio composing the music.
MAPPA has not yet announced the release date or confirmed the project’s exact format.
With Denji targeted by assassins from around the world and the story preparing to introduce a fear beyond anything the anime has shown before, Assassins Arc promises to push Chainsaw Man into its most chaotic, surreal and devastating conflict yet.
