Finally I can talk about this. I understand Irene x Faye is a pairing the authors are trying to orchestrate, but for all this talk about escaping cages, I feel like Irene is just moving Faye from one cage (aspiring to be the queen) to another (being Irene's subordinate), which I hope will be addressed in future chapters.
Also while there are obvious parallels between Hesha siccing a drunk guy on Jolene and Irene placing Faye at the mercy of The Creep, I feel like Irene is much more unforgivable (though both are obviously horrible). Hesha paid off a lone guy in the middle of town not too long from where Jolene was just working. Irene abandoned Faye in a foreign country, with a foreign language, to be preyed upon by a powerful man physically backed by multiple other men. And they literally hunted her and chased her down like an animal. You could argue that Irene would have intervened before anything happened given her impeccable timing, but not only did she intervene as late as possible, I feel like the severity of the situation is just too high.
And to be frank, I'm not a huge fan of Irene's characterization so far. Basically every major character (Hesha, Jolene, Kelly, Faye) has displayed at least two sides to their behavior that we've seen, but Irene has basically always been in control and dominant. If I knew anything at all about Chainsaw Man (which I don't) I would say Irene is the Makima of this manga, except in this manga I expect characters to be complex human beings rather than merciless and destructive forces of nature. I also hope this will be addressed in future chapters.
TL;DR: I still like this manga and those closeups of Jolene and Hesha in ch. 50 go so hard
last edited at Mar 26, 2026 7:53PM
.jpg?1643962129)
