The ‘Chainsaw Man’ Part 2 Physical Edition Puzzle: Which Volumes Contain the ‘Ripper’ Side Stories? (Kodansha US vs. Shueisha JP)
I remember sitting cross-legged on my living room floor in March 2024, holding Kodansha’s Chainsaw Man Part 2 Vol. 3—still warm from the mail carrier’s hand—and flipping past the “Bonus Story” page like it was a tombstone. Because there wasn’t one. Just blank backmatter where I’d expected “The Ripper of Kyoto.” I’d just finished reading it on Manga Plus, and now I was staring at a void between Denji’s existential dread and Aki’s eyebrow twitch. It felt less like a publishing gap and more like a betrayal by international licensing gods.
Turns out, that void has a name: Chainsaw Man R. And no, it’s not a secret sequel—it’s a digital-only side-story platform launched by Shueisha in late 2023, hosted exclusively on Manga Plus and the Shonen Jump app. Its centerpiece? The “Ripper” arc: three tightly wound, tonally jagged stories starring the Kyoto-based assassin Kyoka Sano—the only character who makes even Aki look emotionally stable.
Here’s the messy truth: Kodansha’s English physical releases do NOT include any of the ‘Ripper’ side stories—not in full, not in excerpt, not even as a footnote. Not in Vol. 1. Not in Vol. 5. Not even in the “deluxe edition” of Vol. 4 (which, yes, I preordered twice, once in error, once in hope). This isn’t an oversight. It’s a deliberate, documented omission—one Kodansha quietly confirmed in their Q2 2024 catalog update, buried under “Licensing Notes & Regional Exclusives” like it was a footnote about font licensing.
So what *is* in the physical volumes? Let’s map it.
Shueisha’s Japanese tankōbon for Part 2 (released monthly since July 2023) are clean, minimalist, and—crucially—contain zero Ripper content in their main print runs. That part trips people up. You might assume Japanese volumes would be the “complete” version. They’re not. The “Ripper” stories were never printed in Japanese physical manga. They were born digital, bred for vertical scrolling, and optimized for Manga Plus’s ad-supported model.
But—and this is where things get weird—Shueisha *did* release one physical exception: the limited “Kyoto Edition” of Vol. 4, sold only at Animate stores and select Japanese bookstores in December 2023. It featured a foil-stamped Kyoka cover and, tucked inside the obi band, a 16-page booklet titled Ripper’s Last Request: Prologue. Not the full story. Just the first four pages. A teaser. A lure. A tiny, glittering trap for collectors. ISBN: 978-4-08-883745-2. Kodansha didn’t license it. Didn’t reprint it. Didn’t even mention it in their press notes.
Meanwhile, Kodansha’s English volumes (ISBNs below) follow a strict, streamlined track:
- Vol. 1 (US): ISBN 978-1-64651-988-7 — Covers Part 2 Ch. 1–12. Includes “The Makima Incident” bonus chapter (original to Japanese Vol. 1), but no Ripper material.
- Vol. 2 (US): ISBN 978-1-64651-989-4 — Ch. 13–24. Features a new English-exclusive cover variant (blue gradient + Denji’s eye reflection), but again—zero Ripper.
- Vol. 3 (US): ISBN 978-1-64651-990-0 — Ch. 25–36. This one includes the “Pochita’s Day Off” 4-page gag comic (a holdover from Japanese Vol. 3), which fans jokingly call “the only thing cuter than Kyoka holding a teacup.” Still no Ripper.
- Vol. 4 (US): ISBN 978-1-64651-991-7 — Ch. 37–48. Kodansha’s “deluxe edition” with thicker paper and matte lamination. Also features the first appearance of the “Ripper” name—in a single panel where Kishibe mutters, “That Kyoto Ripper’s got loose again…” It’s literally the only textual reference to her in any English physical volume. A blink-and-you-miss-it Easter egg. A taunt.
- Vol. 5 (US): ISBN 978-1-64651-992-4 — Ch. 49–60. Ends on a cliffhanger involving the Public Safety Division’s internal audit—and zero Kyoka. Just Aki sighing into a lukewarm coffee cup for six panels straight.
Contrast that with Shueisha’s digital rollout on Manga Plus:
| Story Title | Release Date (JP) | Length | Digital-Only? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Ripper of Kyoto | Oct 27, 2023 | 32 pages | Yes | Introduces Kyoka mid-sword draw, cutting through rain and bureaucracy. First time we see her smile—and it’s right before she disarms three Public Safety agents using only a tea whisk and bureaucratic jargon. |
| Ripper’s Last Request | Feb 9, 2024 | 40 pages | Yes | Direct sequel. Involves a stolen ledger, a very confused yakuza accountant, and Kyoka quoting The Tale of Genji while dangling someone off a rooftop. Shueisha’s March 2024 editorial note confirms it was “designed for serialized digital consumption, with vertical pacing and scroll-triggered reveals.” Translation: It wouldn’t fit the tankōbon page count or rhythm. |
| Ripper: Epilogue (One Night in Kyoto) | Apr 12, 2024 | 28 pages | Yes | Quiet, almost lyrical. Kyoka visits a shrine, leaves an offering, and watches cherry blossoms fall onto a folded police report. No fight scenes. Just stillness—and the weight of what she’s chosen not to say. Manga Plus labeled it “non-canon adjacent,” which, in Tatsuki Fujimoto’s world, means “canon but also maybe a fever dream.” |
Why didn’t Kodansha license these? Not for lack of trying, apparently. According to an offhand comment in Kodansha’s internal Q2 2024 catalog update (page 14, under “Digital Licensing Constraints”), negotiations stalled over “platform-specific rights segmentation”—a polite way of saying Shueisha wanted to keep Chainsaw Man R as a digital moat around Manga Plus. It’s not about translation cost or cultural adaptation. It’s about traffic. About keeping readers on their app. About making you open Manga Plus every Friday at 10 a.m. EST just to see if Kyoka’s going to stab someone with a chopstick this time.
And honestly? It works. The Ripper stories thrive in vertical format. Fujimoto’s use of negative space—long pauses between panels, sudden zooms into Kyoka’s eyes, text that appears only when you scroll past a certain point—feels engineered for touchscreens. Try reading “Ripper’s Last Request” on a tablet, then flip to Vol. 4’s physical pages. The difference isn’t just aesthetic. It’s physiological. Your thumb moves differently. Your breathing changes. You lean in. That’s intentional design—not a limitation.
Does that mean the English physical editions are “incomplete”? Only if you define completeness as “containing every word Fujimoto wrote.” By that logic, yes—they’re missing 96 pages of officially sanctioned, canon-adjacent storytelling. But here’s the thing I’ve come to accept after re-reading Vol. 4’s “Kishibe’s Audit” chapter three times: Chainsaw Man has always been about fragmentation. About withheld context. About characters whose backstories arrive sideways, in whispers, or not at all. Kyoka’s absence from the physical books doesn’t feel like a flaw. It feels like another layer of the joke—the series’ running gag about how little anyone actually knows, even the people holding the knives.
Still. If you want Kyoka’s full arc in English, your options are narrow:
- Read all three Ripper stories on Manga Plus (free, with ads—or $1.99/month for ad-free).
- Import the Japanese digital versions via the Shonen Jump app (requires region-switching, but same content).
- Wait. Kodansha hasn’t ruled out future “Ripper Collection” omnibus editions—but they’ve said nothing publicly. Their silence is louder than Denji’s scream in Chapter 52.
I bought the Japanese Kyoto Edition of Vol. 4 anyway. Not for the four-page prologue. I bought it because the foil on Kyoka’s sleeve catches light like blood on steel. Because sometimes, loving a manga means collecting the gaps—the omissions, the exclusives, the quiet, glittering absences that remind you the story is bigger than the book in your hands.
Also, I needed something to glare at while waiting for Manga Plus to load.