Now that Chainsaw Man season 1 is over, fans of the anime will be looking to consume more Chainsaw Man content. That being said, anime-only fans won't immediately want to jump into the manga because of the heavy spoilers. On the other hand, manga readers are well past the first part of the series.
Fortunately, the series has a light novel of its own, Chainsaw Man: Buddy Stories, which both anime and manga fans can enjoy. However, some may be wondering if the light novel is safe for fans who want to avoid spoilers.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers from the Chainsaw Man manga.
Does Chainsaw Man: Buddy Stories have canon material?
Chainsaw Man: Buddy Stories is a compilation of four side stories that let fans get closer to the characters by observing them in a more intimate setting. The light novel is written by Sakaku Hishikawa and illustrated by Mangaka Tatsuki Fujimoto.
It has three stories based on three pairs of buddies, in addition to which there is an additional story, featuring Denji, Power, and Aki.
Here's the official synopsis for the same:
"Power lives out her favorite anime by becoming a genius detective—or so she wants her "audience" to believe! Denji is along for the ride as her assistant for an investigation into disappearances at a mountain hotel. Other stories center on Quanxi and Kishibe's relationship nine years after they met, Himeno and Aki's first assignment together, and Denji, Power, and Aki's dream trip to Enoshima."It's evident from the synopsis that the light novel is entirely filled with slice-of-life content, which is something the manga does not have much of. Thus, Tatsuki Fujimoto must have included these stories to give fans something to look forward to after reading the manga.
Thus, it can be said that the three buddy stories are canon, but they're not particularly integral to the plot. In fact, they're quite similar to how the stories in the My Hero Academia movies relate to its anime or manga.
This is because the three buddy stories are set in realistic settings.
Chapter 1: Master Detective Power and Her Assistant Denji featuring Power and Denji could see the two Devil Hunters cause havoc as detectives on one of their off-days.
Chapter 2: The Taste of a Nine-year Old features Quanxi and Kishibe as it details their relationship nine years after they first met.
Chapter 3: The Day We Became Buddies features Aki and Himeno's first mission together. It does not affect the manga's story.
Thus, all three buddy stories could be considered slice-of-life canon side stories.
However, that is not the case for the fourth story in the light novel, Chapter 4: Dream of Enoshima, which features the trio of Denji, Power, and Aki going to Enoshima.
In the manga, the trio was set to go on this trip with Makima. However, their trip got canceled after Power was left scarred following the incident surrounding the Darkness Devil.
Thus, Dream of Enoshima cannot be considered canon as the three Devil Hunters did not get a chance to go on this trip, given that the story immediately continued to the Gun Devil Arc. Due to the events that followed, the three couldn't possibly have gone on the trip.
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