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DEATH BATTLE! Discussion Thread (All-time Death Battle Spoilers Alert)

You mean Yuji’s cursed blood that causes living things to fall seriously ill because their bodies are rejecting it? Or are we still pretending Denji somehow resists that despite having nothing to imply otherwise?
blood is blood. Denji get's blood, heals the poison away and then heals the rest of his body back to new. Naoya did decent against Choso's blood now let's add a healing factor / regeneration to naoya on top of that sure he feels pain for a moment but luckily he heals away the poison and injuries. Death Battle also might actually use that Denji was in acid feat to argue that Yuji's blood poison isn't a problem for Denji.
 
You mean Yuji’s cursed blood that causes living things to fall seriously ill because their bodies are rejecting it? Or are we still pretending Denji somehow resists that despite having nothing to imply otherwise?
Let's say Denji's blood meter is at 30, Yuji uses Piercing blood and then Denji drinks Yuji's piercing blood. Either Denji's Blood meter fills back up to be more than where it was originally anyway and he uses some blood to heal the poison away or Denji heals the blood away and the poison doesn't cause any blood loss, either way Denji's blood is replenished and more than the 30 i originally mentioned just based on the fact of how his healing factor works if anything.
 
Let's say Denji's blood meter is at 30, Yuji uses Piercing blood and then Denji drinks Yuji's piercing blood. Either Denji's Blood meter fills back up to be more than where it was originally anyway and he uses some blood to heal the poison away or Denji heals the blood away and the poison doesn't cause any blood loss, either way Denji's blood is replenished and more than the 30 i originally mentioned just based on the fact of how his healing factor works if anything.
I don’t really agree with the argument that Denji can just drink Yuji’s Piercing Blood and turn it into a free refill with no downside. That interpretation kind of ignores how both series actually portray these abilities. In Chainsaw Man, Denji’s regeneration is insanely strong, but it’s still resource-based healing tied directly to blood consumption and blood expenditure. The manga never says he can safely metabolize any type of blood regardless of supernatural properties. Regeneration and poison resistance are also two completely different things. A character being able to regrow limbs or survive dismemberment does not automatically mean they’re immune to magical, cursed, or soul-based effects.

And in Jujutsu Kaisen, Blood Manipulation blood is repeatedly treated as uniquely dangerous because of its cursed properties, not just because it’s “sharp blood.” The Cursed Naoya statement is important here. Naoya outright says Blood Manipulation blood is poison to cursed spirits and that his current form is vulnerable to it. The manga is directly framing Blood Manipulation blood as a supernatural poison mechanic tied to cursed energy interaction, not ordinary contaminated blood. Modulo reinforces this too with the Simurian feat, where highly adaptive/regenerative organisms are still negatively affected by Yuji’s blood instead of simply metabolizing it away. The implication is pretty clear: the blood itself remains actively hostile to the target’s system.

So the idea that Denji drinks it and automatically gains more usable blood skips over the actual issue. The source itself is cursed and poisonous. He’d basically be trying to regenerate using the same substance actively harming him. Even if he can heal through part of the damage, that doesn’t mean the poison suddenly stops functioning or converts into a net-positive fuel source. If anything, he’d likely be burning through blood reserves trying to offset the ongoing cursed poisoning.

And the acid feat from Buddy Stories doesn’t really solve this either. Healing from acid is resistance to corrosive chemical damage. Blood Manipulation poison is a supernatural cursed-energy-based effect. Those are fundamentally different resistance categories. Surviving acid doesn’t suddenly grant immunity to cursed toxins, soul attacks, or magical poison mechanics.

On top of that, Yuji’s toolkit specifically makes regeneration less reliable because JJK consistently treats soul damage as harder to heal than ordinary physical damage. Mahito’s entire ability revolves around the fact that damaging or altering the soul bypasses conventional durability and healing. Even Reverse Cursed Technique has explicit limitations regarding the soul unless the user understands the soul’s shape. By the end of the series, Yuji can directly perceive and strike the soul, hit the boundary between souls, and use soul-affecting attacks through his punches and Dismantles. Sukuna himself acknowledges Yuji’s ability to target the soul, which is why Yuji is uniquely effective against incarnated beings and soul-based existence mechanics.

That matters because Denji’s regeneration has never shown resistance to soul-targeting attacks. Most of Denji’s best healing feats are still physical regeneration feats — recovering from mutilation, organ destruction, dismemberment, acid, etc. Impressive, absolutely, but still body-focused healing. Yuji’s attacks target something deeper than just flesh. So if Yuji is landing soul punches, soul Dismantles, and following up with cursed Blood Manipulation attacks, Denji isn’t just trying to repair physical damage anymore. He’s trying to heal while dealing with attacks that directly affect the soul and cursed blood that JJK explicitly treats as supernatural poison.

So under canon logic, especially versus/death battle style analysis, there really isn’t solid evidence that Denji could just drink Piercing Blood and benefit from it with no issue. That requires assuming he has immunity or adaptation to cursed poison and soul-related mechanics that Chainsaw Man never actually shows him possessing.
 
I don’t really agree with the argument that Denji can just drink Yuji’s Piercing Blood and turn it into a free refill with no downside. That interpretation kind of ignores how both series actually portray these abilities. In Chainsaw Man, Denji’s regeneration is insanely strong, but it’s still resource-based healing tied directly to blood consumption and blood expenditure. The manga never says he can safely metabolize any type of blood regardless of supernatural properties. Regeneration and poison resistance are also two completely different things. A character being able to regrow limbs or survive dismemberment does not automatically mean they’re immune to magical, cursed, or soul-based effects.

And in Jujutsu Kaisen, Blood Manipulation blood is repeatedly treated as uniquely dangerous because of its cursed properties, not just because it’s “sharp blood.” The Cursed Naoya statement is important here. Naoya outright says Blood Manipulation blood is poison to cursed spirits and that his current form is vulnerable to it. The manga is directly framing Blood Manipulation blood as a supernatural poison mechanic tied to cursed energy interaction, not ordinary contaminated blood. Modulo reinforces this too with the Simurian feat, where highly adaptive/regenerative organisms are still negatively affected by Yuji’s blood instead of simply metabolizing it away. The implication is pretty clear: the blood itself remains actively hostile to the target’s system.
The Simurian's "feat" isn't even a feat at all, what are you talking about?? Simurians don't have any regenerative feats at all, they don't have any special poison resistance too, so them getting poisoned by Yuji's blood manipulation is just for the same reason that humans get poisoned by it
 
The Simurian's "feat" isn't even a feat at all, what are you talking about?? Simurians don't have any regenerative feats at all, they don't have any special poison resistance too, so them getting poisoned by Yuji's blood manipulation is just for the same reason that normal humans get poisoned by it
Im refereeing to their Alien biology. Which is clearly different from regular humans in JJk, so my argument still stands.
 
Im refereeing to their Alien biology. Which is clearly different from regular humans in JJk, so my argument still stands.
Their biology literally grants them nothing of advantage to humans, so again, what are you even talking about???
They don't have any special resistances, they don't have regeneration at all, they're literally just the exact same as humans in terms of abilities for the most part, blood manipulation working on them literally means nothing because they aren't anything special
 
I don’t really agree with the argument that Denji can just drink Yuji’s Piercing Blood and turn it into a free refill with no downside. That interpretation kind of ignores how both series actually portray these abilities. In Chainsaw Man, Denji’s regeneration is insanely strong, but it’s still resource-based healing tied directly to blood consumption and blood expenditure. The manga never says he can safely metabolize any type of blood regardless of supernatural properties. Regeneration and poison resistance are also two completely different things. A character being able to regrow limbs or survive dismemberment does not automatically mean they’re immune to magical, cursed, or soul-based effects.

And in Jujutsu Kaisen, Blood Manipulation blood is repeatedly treated as uniquely dangerous because of its cursed properties, not just because it’s “sharp blood.” The Cursed Naoya statement is important here. Naoya outright says Blood Manipulation blood is poison to cursed spirits and that his current form is vulnerable to it. The manga is directly framing Blood Manipulation blood as a supernatural poison mechanic tied to cursed energy interaction, not ordinary contaminated blood. Modulo reinforces this too with the Simurian feat, where highly adaptive/regenerative organisms are still negatively affected by Yuji’s blood instead of simply metabolizing it away. The implication is pretty clear: the blood itself remains actively hostile to the target’s system.

So the idea that Denji drinks it and automatically gains more usable blood skips over the actual issue. The source itself is cursed and poisonous. He’d basically be trying to regenerate using the same substance actively harming him. Even if he can heal through part of the damage, that doesn’t mean the poison suddenly stops functioning or converts into a net-positive fuel source. If anything, he’d likely be burning through blood reserves trying to offset the ongoing cursed poisoning.

And the acid feat from Buddy Stories doesn’t really solve this either. Healing from acid is resistance to corrosive chemical damage. Blood Manipulation poison is a supernatural cursed-energy-based effect. Those are fundamentally different resistance categories. Surviving acid doesn’t suddenly grant immunity to cursed toxins, soul attacks, or magical poison mechanics.

On top of that, Yuji’s toolkit specifically makes regeneration less reliable because JJK consistently treats soul damage as harder to heal than ordinary physical damage. Mahito’s entire ability revolves around the fact that damaging or altering the soul bypasses conventional durability and healing. Even Reverse Cursed Technique has explicit limitations regarding the soul unless the user understands the soul’s shape. By the end of the series, Yuji can directly perceive and strike the soul, hit the boundary between souls, and use soul-affecting attacks through his punches and Dismantles. Sukuna himself acknowledges Yuji’s ability to target the soul, which is why Yuji is uniquely effective against incarnated beings and soul-based existence mechanics.

That matters because Denji’s regeneration has never shown resistance to soul-targeting attacks. Most of Denji’s best healing feats are still physical regeneration feats — recovering from mutilation, organ destruction, dismemberment, acid, etc. Impressive, absolutely, but still body-focused healing. Yuji’s attacks target something deeper than just flesh. So if Yuji is landing soul punches, soul Dismantles, and following up with cursed Blood Manipulation attacks, Denji isn’t just trying to repair physical damage anymore. He’s trying to heal while dealing with attacks that directly affect the soul and cursed blood that JJK explicitly treats as supernatural poison.

So under canon logic, especially versus/death battle style analysis, there really isn’t solid evidence that Denji could just drink Piercing Blood and benefit from it with no issue. That requires assuming he has immunity or adaptation to cursed poison and soul-related mechanics that Chainsaw Man never actually shows him possessing.
Well i did not say there would not be any consequence. This is what i said in one of the scenarios "he uses some blood to heal the poison away" Basically i acknowledge that the poison would affect Denji initially but he would heal it away similar to how i would assume he would be able to heal cancer away. The main part of your argument hinges on the "cursed" part of the poison being supernatural in nature.

Aside from that the mahito arguments about the soul is weird because JJK has a weird definition for the soul but for some reason that definition needs to be enforced to other verses who might have different definitions for souls or lack souls (CSM) It is hard to argue that soul attacks would work on CSM humans as at least to me it doesn't seem like humans in CSM actually have souls. I need an argument for why they have souls because all evidence points to them lacking souls.

you mentioned cursed and magical poison in the same sentence. What makes the poison magical other than it being cursed? I guess a good way to interpret this is while the poison is "supernatural" what are the actual effects is the poison doing to Denji's body? If the poison is simply maybe corroding his body, maybe melting organs or any other kind of damage of similar effect then yes Denji absolutely heals from the "supernatural poison" The only thing that would happen is Denji would take initial lingering damage but then his healing factor would out heal the blood damage. Denji doesn't need to resist or adapt to the poison. He simply has to out-heal the poison which i believe he does.

As for the soul attacks CSM's definition of the soul is that they lack souls so it's hard to say if the soul damage aspect would even work realistically. While there's a lot of conceptual stuff in CSM none of that equals explicit soul definition in anyway. Also DB at least would acknowledge Pochita and Denji's metaphysical bond is not soul related at all it's conceptual which doesn't necessarily equal there being souls involved at all contracts are metaphysical or conceptual based. Soul damage cannot be granted being able to affect a contract or metaphysical / conceptual stuff. Naturally it only affects Soul related conceptual stuff and contracts aren't soul based at all.

While Deadpool has a better healing factor I want to use him as an example. Yes Yuji's blood would affect Deadpool but Deadpool would simply out heal the blood, he doesn't need resistances or adaptability to do it even if he has resistances or adaptability. So I agree that Yuji's blood would affect Denji I don't believe it would have any relevant lasting effect on Denji because he would just out-heal the actual effects of the blood in the first place. As for soul based damage CSM has a lot of conceptual stuff in it with the devils and contracts but nowhere inside CSM is a definition or even evidence for a soul of any kind for humans. Devils have reincarnation but i would argue that doesn't confirm a soul instead it is simply a metaphysical / conceptual process of being a devil like how devils are manifested from humans fears their existence is from human thoughts. I don't know if i covered everything but my laptop crashed and windows forced an update on me even though my updates were paused so... I'll try to address any follow ups you might have.
 
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Well i did not say there would not be any consequence. This is what i said in one of the scenarios "he uses some blood to heal the poison away" Basically i acknowledge that the poison would affect Denji initially but he would heal it away similar to how i would assume he would be able to heal cancer away. The main part of your argument hinges on the "cursed" part of the poison being supernatural in nature. Aside from that the mahito arguments about the soul is weird because JJK has a weird definition for the soul but for some reason that definition needs to be enforced to other verses who might have different definitions for souls or lack souls (CSM) It is hard to argue that soul attacks would work on CSM humans as at least to me it doesn't seem like humans in CSM actually have souls. I need an argument for why they have souls because all evidence points to them lacking souls. you mentioned cursed and magical poison in the same sentence. What makes the poison magical other than it being cursed? I guess a good way to interpret this is while the poison is "supernatural" what are the actual effects is the poison doing to Denji's body? If the poison is simply maybe corroding his body, maybe melting organs or any other kind of damage of similar effect then yes Denji absolutely heals from the "supernatural poison" The only thing that would happen is Denji would take initial lingering damage but then his healing factor would out heal the blood damage. Denji doesn't need to resist or adapt to the poison. He simply has to out-heal the poison which i believe he does. As for the soul attacks CSM's definition of the soul is that they lack souls so it's hard to say if the soul damage aspect would even work realistically. While there's a lot of conceptual stuff in CSM none of that equals explicit soul definition in anyway. Also DB at least would acknowledge Pochita and Denji's metaphysical bond is not soul related at all it's conceptual which doesn't necessarily equal there being souls involved at all contracts are metaphysical or conceptual based. Soul damage cannot be granted being able to affect a contract or metaphysical / conceptual stuff. Naturally it only affects Soul related conceptual stuff and contracts aren't soul based at all. While Deadpool has a better healing factor I want to use him as an example. Yes Yuji's blood would affect Deadpool but Deadpool would simply out heal the blood, he doesn't need resistances or adaptability to do it even if he has resistances or adaptability. So I agree that Yuji's blood would affect Denji I don't believe it would have any relevant lasting effect on Denji because he would just out-heal the actual effects of the blood in the first place. As for soul based damage CSM has a lot of conceptual stuff in it with the devils and contracts but nowhere inside CSM is a definition or even evidence for a soul of any kind for humans. Devils have reincarnation but i would argue that doesn't confirm a soul instead it is simply a metaphysical / conceptual process of being a devil like how devils are manifested from humans fears their existence is from human thoughts. I don't know if i covered everything but my laptop crashed and windows forced an update on me even though my updates were paused so... I'll try to address any follow ups you might have.
Please divide this into paragraphs for easier reading

This genuinely hurts the eyes no offense
 
My brother in christ Simurians have three eyes and their equivalent to CE, which is Rolloluca they dont have similar biology to earth humans, lmao Did you read Modulo at all? Im guessing not lmao.
Buddy, rolloluca is just the name that they use for cursed energy, it's literally jus cursed energy, not anything exclusive for them, again, please, tell me how does them being biologically different for humans means in any way that blood manipulation from Yuji affecting them is supposed to be an argument against Denji's regeneration? I never said that they have the same biology as humans, actually read what I say before you start strawmaning me, I say that they have basically the same abilities as humans for the most part, which is true, they literally show for the most part the exact same type of abilities that human's sorcerers had
 
Please divide this into paragraphs for easier reading

This genuinely hurts the eyes no offense
To simplify Denji out-heals the poison even if the poison is cursed and he does not need adaptation or resistance to simply out heal the poison while the poison uses some of denji's blood Denji still just out regenerates the actual physical effects the poisons have.

I basically argued that CSM characters lack souls, Contracts, Devils etc are all conceptual or metaphysical in nature. Soul based attacks should not be allowed to extend to effecting metaphysical contracts for example.
 
Well i did not say there would not be any consequence. This is what i said in one of the scenarios "he uses some blood to heal the poison away" Basically i acknowledge that the poison would affect Denji initially but he would heal it away similar to how i would assume he would be able to heal cancer away. The main part of your argument hinges on the "cursed" part of the poison being supernatural in nature. Aside from that the mahito arguments about the soul is weird because JJK has a weird definition for the soul but for some reason that definition needs to be enforced to other verses who might have different definitions for souls or lack souls (CSM) It is hard to argue that soul attacks would work on CSM humans as at least to me it doesn't seem like humans in CSM actually have souls. I need an argument for why they have souls because all evidence points to them lacking souls. you mentioned cursed and magical poison in the same sentence. What makes the poison magical other than it being cursed? I guess a good way to interpret this is while the poison is "supernatural" what are the actual effects is the poison doing to Denji's body? If the poison is simply maybe corroding his body, maybe melting organs or any other kind of damage of similar effect then yes Denji absolutely heals from the "supernatural poison" The only thing that would happen is Denji would take initial lingering damage but then his healing factor would out heal the blood damage. Denji doesn't need to resist or adapt to the poison. He simply has to out-heal the poison which i believe he does. As for the soul attacks CSM's definition of the soul is that they lack souls so it's hard to say if the soul damage aspect would even work realistically. While there's a lot of conceptual stuff in CSM none of that equals explicit soul definition in anyway. Also DB at least would acknowledge Pochita and Denji's metaphysical bond is not soul related at all it's conceptual which doesn't necessarily equal there being souls involved at all contracts are metaphysical or conceptual based. Soul damage cannot be granted being able to affect a contract or metaphysical / conceptual stuff. Naturally it only affects Soul related conceptual stuff and contracts aren't soul based at all. While Deadpool has a better healing factor I want to use him as an example. Yes Yuji's blood would affect Deadpool but Deadpool would simply out heal the blood, he doesn't need resistances or adaptability to do it even if he has resistances or adaptability. So I agree that Yuji's blood would affect Denji I don't believe it would have any relevant lasting effect on Denji because he would just out-heal the actual effects of the blood in the first place. As for soul based damage CSM has a lot of conceptual stuff in it with the devils and contracts but nowhere inside CSM is a definition or even evidence for a soul of any kind for humans. Devils have reincarnation but i would argue that doesn't confirm a soul instead it is simply a metaphysical / conceptual process of being a devil like how devils are manifested from humans fears their existence is from human thoughts. I don't know if i covered everything but my laptop crashed and windows forced an update on me even though my updates were paused so... I'll try to address any follow ups you might have.
I get where you’re coming from, but I think there’s a couple things being overlooked here.

First, Yuji’s blood manipulation poison is not just “normal biological damage” like cancer, acid, or organ failure. In JJK, the poison aspect comes specifically from cursed energy interacting with the target’s body. Eso and Kechizu’s blood explicitly poisons through cursed techniques, and Choso’s blood retains the same cursed properties because Death Painting blood is inherently tied to cursed energy. That’s why characters with absurd durability still get affected by it. The series treats it as supernatural toxicity, not just chemistry.

And importantly, regeneration in fiction doesn’t automatically negate supernatural poison unless the character has shown resistance to that specific type of effect. Denji can regenerate from physical destruction by consuming blood, absolutely. But we’ve also seen limits and conditions on that healing repeatedly. He still suffers ongoing damage, can be incapacitated, and needs external blood intake to keep going at high levels. Even characters like Deadpool, who you brought up, are regularly affected by poisons, curses, viruses, and supernatural afflictions despite healing from the damage afterward. “Healing through it” and “being immune to it” are two different things.

The bigger issue is that Yuji’s attacks later on are not just poison-based anyway. Once soul-targeting enters the discussion, CSM not explicitly explaining souls does not equal “souls do not exist.” The series literally has:

  • consciousness persistence after death,
  • reincarnation cycles for devils,
  • contracts that bind existence/metaphysical identity,
  • mind/spirit interactions,
  • Hell as an actual metaphysical realm,
  • and beings retaining identity across reincarnation cycles.

That is already enough for crossverse standards like VS Wiki or Death Battle to acknowledge a soul/spiritual framework exists. JJK’s soul mechanics are more explicitly defined, yes, but crossverse debating doesn’t require identical cosmology definitions. Otherwise half of fiction couldn’t interact.

Mahito’s technique is also important here because it directly distinguishes the body from the soul. Yuji being able to damage Mahito means Yuji can interact with souls on some level. Sukuna also explicitly perceives and understands the soul. Later material continues reinforcing Yuji’s soul-targeting capability. So the argument isn’t “contracts = souls,” it’s that CSM clearly has metaphysical existence layers while JJK has explicit soul interaction mechanics.

Also, Denji’s regen has never shown resistance to attacks that specifically target existence on a spiritual/metaphysical level. Meanwhile JJK repeatedly establishes that soul damage bypasses conventional durability and regeneration unless the soul itself can be perceived or repaired. Mahito outright says the shape of the body follows the shape of the soul. That’s why transfigured humans can’t simply regenerate back normally.

So yeah, Denji could absolutely heal some of the physical damage caused by the blood initially. I don’t think anyone denies that. The disagreement is whether he can continuously outheal cursed poison + soul-targeting damage with no demonstrated resistance to either. And based on canon from both series, I don’t think there’s enough evidence to confidently say he can.

Especially in VS debating, “the verse never explicitly says the word soul” usually isn’t enough to argue complete immunity to soul-based interaction when the setting blatantly contains metaphysical identity, afterlife systems, reincarnation, contracts, and spiritual existence.
 
"
  • consciousness persistence after death," - Near death experience or give the example of this happening in CSM.
  • reincarnation cycles for devils - metaphysical / conceptual not necessarily having anything to do with souls Since devils are made from humanity's thoughts.
  • contracts that bind existence/metaphysical identity, - metaphysics is not the same as souls. Souls is a subset of metaphysics but metaphysics does not require souls.
  • mind/spirit interactions, - interesting that you put mind. Which is it? If sprit argue for why it's spirits interactions with an example.
  • Hell as an actual metaphysical realm, - this doesn't mean souls. Humans don't go to hell, devils reincarnate but they are manifested from humanity's thoughts.
  • and beings retaining identity across reincarnation cycles. - which ones and in what way e.g. remembering past memories.
"CSM clearly has metaphysical existence layers while JJK has explicit soul interaction mechanics." - souls are a subset of metaphysical existence layers but metaphysical existence layers do not need souls. This might sound weird but what if I said CSM people are closer to "biological robots" if anything?

"spiritual/metaphysical level" - you can't use spiritual and metaphysical interchangeably, they are not the same thing or even close to being the same thing.
"continuously out-heal cursed poison + soul-targeting damage" - to be a bit charitable to your argument here. let's say that Denji doesn't out-heal this combination and that soul based attacks also work. Then Pochita comes out no?

"usually isn’t enough to argue complete immunity to soul-based interaction when the setting blatantly contains metaphysical identity, afterlife systems, reincarnation, contracts, and spiritual existence." - i agree with "metaphysical identity, afterlife systems, reincarnation, contracts" I don't agree with spiritual existence though because I don't think metaphysical identity or anything else mentioned can expand to spiritual existence being a thing. And to be fair I am not a vs debater at heart. I prefer to argue with logic.
 
"
  • consciousness persistence after death," - Near death experience or give the example of this happening in CSM.
  • reincarnation cycles for devils - metaphysical / conceptual not necessarily having anything to do with souls Since devils are made from humanity's thoughts.
  • contracts that bind existence/metaphysical identity, - metaphysics is not the same as souls. Souls is a subset of metaphysics but metaphysics does not require souls.
  • mind/spirit interactions, - interesting that you put mind. Which is it? If sprit argue for why it's spirits interactions with an example.
  • Hell as an actual metaphysical realm, - this doesn't mean souls. Humans don't go to hell, devils reincarnate but they are manifested from humanity's thoughts.
  • and beings retaining identity across reincarnation cycles. - which ones and in what way e.g. remembering past memories.
"CSM clearly has metaphysical existence layers while JJK has explicit soul interaction mechanics." - souls are a subset of metaphysical existence layers but metaphysical existence layers do not need souls. This might sound weird but what if I said CSM people are closer to "biological robots" if anything?

"spiritual/metaphysical level" - you can't use spiritual and metaphysical interchangeably, they are not the same thing or even close to being the same thing.
"continuously out-heal cursed poison + soul-targeting damage" - to be a bit charitable to your argument here. let's say that Denji doesn't out-heal this combination and that soul based attacks also work. Then Pochita comes out no?

"usually isn’t enough to argue complete immunity to soul-based interaction when the setting blatantly contains metaphysical identity, afterlife systems, reincarnation, contracts, and spiritual existence." - i agree with "metaphysical identity, afterlife systems, reincarnation, contracts" I don't agree with spiritual existence though because I don't think metaphysical identity or anything else mentioned can expand to spiritual existence being a thing. And to be fair I am not a vs debater at heart. I prefer to argue with logic.
I get the distinction you’re making, but I think this is being framed way too narrowly.

I’m not saying “metaphysical = soul” 1:1. Obviously those are not the same thing. The point is that CSM gives us more than enough supernatural identity mechanics that arguing “humans are basically biological robots with no souls” feels like a much bigger assumption than the opposite.

CSM humans clearly are not treated as purely biological machines. Contracts can take lifespan, senses, body parts, memories, and even bind Denji and Pochita on a level beyond normal biology. Denji literally continues existing because Pochita becomes his heart under a contract. That is not just “meat robot science.” It is metaphysical identity/body binding.

Also, devils reincarnating does matter. No, it does not automatically prove “souls” in the exact JJK sense, but it proves CSM has persistent non-physical existence rules. Devils die, reincarnate between Earth and Hell, and some even retain traces like the sound of Chainsaw Man’s engine. Nayuta being the Control Devil after Makima also shows identity can continue through rebirth even if memories/personality reset. So saying CSM has no spiritual/soul-like target at all is not really supported.

And on the “spiritual vs metaphysical” point, fair, they should not be used interchangeably. But Yuji’s soul attacks do not need CSM to use JJK’s exact vocabulary. Crossverse debating usually equalizes comparable inner-self/existence mechanics unless the other verse gives a hard contradiction. CSM does not say “humans have no soul.” It just does not explain souls directly. Lack of explanation is not immunity.

The “biological robots” comparison is honestly way more speculative. Humans in CSM have fear, identity, contracts, lifespan value, memory alteration, and can be bound to devils through supernatural agreements. That is already enough to argue they have some metaphysical self Yuji could interact with.

As for Pochita coming out, that is not a guaranteed answer either. Pochita emerging usually depends on Denji’s contract/state, not just any damage. Even if Pochita does come out, that only changes the fight into Yuji vs Pochita. It does not prove Denji resisted soul damage or poison. It just means Denji got pushed so badly that Pochita had to take over.

So my main issue is this: you’re asking for explicit proof that CSM humans have souls, but the opposite claim, that they completely lack souls and therefore ignore soul-based damage, has even less direct proof. CSM not defining souls does not equal CSM humans being immune to soul interaction, especially when the verse is loaded with contracts, reincarnation, Hell, devils, identity transfer, and non-physical existence mechanics.
 
"Contracts can take lifespan, senses, body parts, memories" - these can be explained biologically if we assume contracts are strictly metaphysical with no soul interpretation left to use then it becomes - "lifespan" - the biological process of human degradation, "senses" - simply signals in the brain the contract targets, "body parts" are targeted by contracts metaphysically souls aren't in the equation. "memories" - brain shenanigans a metaphysical contract targets. "It is metaphysical identity/body binding" - does mind control require a soul? "sound of Chainsaw Man’s engine" - it's strange but that's more like instinctual reactions if anything or conceptual persistence unrelated to souls.

You could have an abstract existence without necessarily needing a soul. "Nayuta being the Control Devil after Makima also shows identity can continue through rebirth even if memories/personality reset." - what identity does nayuta retain from makima?

"CSM does not say “humans have no soul.” It just does not explain souls directly." correct they don't explicitly say it but I feel like it's evident because humans and devil interactions are strictly conceptual. "That is already enough to argue they have some metaphysical self Yuji..." NO actually it is not because when we agree souls and metaphysics / conceptual things are different you then need to actually argue how yuji's soul attacks are broad enough to affect conceptual things outright but if you argue that then Yuji's attacks aren't really soul-based anymore and are just general conceptual hax at that point.

It's hard to explain but the spiritual attacks are one form of haxs that needs to interact with a thing that interacts to the spiritual haxs in the first place when something lacks that then naturally the hax wouldn't work. "It does not prove Denji resisted soul damage or poison" - true I was simply arguing that if Yuji's attacks did work on Denji specifically the soul damage then Pochita would come out. I wasn't arguing that denji "resisted soul damage or poison" in that instance since I was being charitable to your position by granting it completely.

Also no just because souls aren't defined doesn't mean that we can then assume souls exist in CSM. When soul damage starts affecting metaphysical concepts at that point its not soul damage anymore. The best analogy here is think of contracts and everything else as literal laws.
 
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