Chainsaw Man

Denji is robbed of a normal teenage life, left with nothing but his deadbeat father's overwhelming debt. His only companion is his pet, the chainsaw devil Pochita, with whom he slays devils for money that inevitably ends up in the yakuza's pockets. All Denji can do is dream of a good, simple life: one with delicious food and a beautiful girlfriend by his side. But an act of greedy betrayal by the yakuza leads to Denji's brutal, untimely death, crushing all hope of him ever achieving happiness.

Remarkably, an old contract allows Pochita to merge with the deceased Denji and bestow devil powers on him, changing him into a hybrid able to transform his body parts into chainsaws. Because Denji's new abilities pose a significant risk to society, the Public Safety Bureau's elite devil hunter Makima takes him in, letting him live as long as he obeys her command. Guided by the promise of a content life alongside an attractive woman, Denji devotes everything and fights with all his might to make his naive dreams a reality.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Chainsaw Man was released in four volumes on Blu-ray and DVD from January 27, 2023 to April 28, 2023.

Episode Videos

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Adaptation:	Chainsaw Man
Other:	Zanki, In the Back Room, Jouzai, Dainouteki na Rendezvous, Fight Song

Tsuda, Kenjirou
Japanese

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Staff

Seshimo, Keisuke

Producer

Nakai, Yuusuke

Assistant Producer

Nakayama, Ryuu

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation

Koizumi, Kisuke

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"KICK BACK" by 米津玄師

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Ending Theme

	"CHAINSAW BLOOD" by Vaundy (eps 1)
	"残機" by ZUTTOMAYO (eps 2)
	"刃渡り2億センチ" by マキシマムザホルモン (eps 3)
	"錠剤" by TOOBOE (eps 4)
	"インザバックルーム" by Syudou (eps 5)
	"大脳的なランデブー" by Kanaria (eps 6)
	"ちゅ、多様性。" by ano (eps 7)
	"first death" by TK from 凛として時雨 (eps 8)
	"Deep down" by Aimer (eps 9)
	"DOGLAND" by PEOPLE 1 (eps 10)
	"バイオレンス" by QUEEN BEE (eps 11)
	"ファイトソング" by Eve (eps 12)

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Reviews

Dec 27, 2022

Gween_Gween

Not Recommended

Imagine this. You are about to watch a series sold as a hectic action with unexpected twists and chaotic energy. You are about to watch a series that has been declared revolutionary in its genre, a series that manipulated tropes to create something unique and distinguishable. Captivating, emotional, intelligent, entertaining, juvenile. Then, when you are about to watch the show, you see a fraudulent cinematic attempt with a disgusting production, a derivative storyline, and pathetic comedic timing. Yes, this happened. Yes, this is Chainsaw Man.

Chainsoy Man is a story about a guy who comes from poverty and needs to learn how to adapt to the ... luxuries he starts to experience, his new toys, and his new pleasures. The peculiar characters around him are the stimulus he keeps learning from, and he should realize the differences between desires and lifelong goals. He needs to adapt to complex and foreign socialization and grow as a person. Honestly, I expected differently. I agree with the concept, but it is simply nothing special without proper differentiation, and that inventiveness is not in this anime. Unless you have seen zero shows outside battle shonen, this concept has been exploited for eternity. Self-determination, dreams, frustrations. A manipulative girl that overpowers the main character and who is glorified by him. A girl with drug issues decides to use the main character because she struggles with love. Nothing of this is new. Where is the unexpected? The anime survives by aesthetical decisions that are just superfluous and vapid. Where is the twist?

Well, the twist is that things happen out of nowhere, which isn't a new turn. Dark shonens have been exploiting these shock elements forever, and somehow it keeps working. Yes, disposable characters die on screen. Yes, your main characters only die once their character arc finishes. Wow! So unexpected! Such a ride! The fact that the pace is horrible doesn't add anything to it. You get horrendous long scenes where nothing occurs because that is cinematic, and the snail rhythm spoils these supposed unexpected developments. One entire minute watching people walk with its atrocious animation, two minutes watching people talk at slowpoke speed about obvious stuff, and a character being quirky to coronate the entire investment.

Oh, so deep. Oh, so profound. The storyline is not just derivative, but the dialogues are horrific. They explain directly to the viewer each character's emotional state and motivation set in every moment. The script doesn't make sense. Why would you do that when you are also trying to portray emotions through character acting? Example.

How do I tell the audience that I want to touch boobs? Easy, say, "I want to touch boobs." Is this supposed to be comedic?
How do I tell the audience that I don't feel sad? Easy, say, "I don't feel sad." Can't the audience tell with something less straight?
How do you foreshadow Aki's participation in Denji's game against Katanaman? A cigarette that says easy revenge. Symbolism?

Maybe it is not that easy to portray feelings through non-verbal actions, but holy shit, at least have some respect. The anime reinforces dramatic backgrounds to explain the characters because why would we care about people having normal experiences? Oh, this kid is emo and sad because his entire family died, so he wants revenge. Just the 1000 times that this concept has been done. Oh, this girl doesn't want to work here, so she is a scaredy cat that can't be self-determined and would sabotage the entire mission. Wow, so human. Again, where is the twist? This is the typical exploitable background that every single shonen uses. Why can't people be weird because they are simply weird? Why can't people have simple experiences that extrapolate into their actions? Are we robots programmed to be subjects of our circumstances?

The fact that the voice actors are making soulless lifeless attempts to emulate seriousness makes this even worse. I'm not too fond of dub anime, and the dub voice actors make me feel more than these guys. Who thought saying Denji lines with a straight face was a good decision? Who thought that giving Makima an archetypal evil soothing voice was a good decision? Well, this all goes in one direction; all the fingers point there.

The cinematic attempt of this anime is dishonest. You have an anime this season that attempts it successfully (Arknights), you have an anime this season that ditches it and goes full creativity (Bocchi), and you also have a ton of entries from the past that thinks outside the box and create authentic experiences like Monogatari or FLCL (I name this two because this anime OBVIOUSLY has been inspired by them). This cinematic attempt is pretentious garbage; if you like it, you should feel ashamed. It breaks the pace. It breaks the comedic timing. It makes the action feel out of place. It simply doesn't work. It strains an already fucked production because they try to use creative camera movements that don't even work. It isn't good.

And I can go on and on about it, collaging every single out-of-place moment. The color palette is fucking boring to watch, depressing, and looks like a worse version of Modern Warfare 3. Yes, the Call of Duty game. The CGI is atrocious and only forgivable because the industry keeps sucking at making them good. The movements of the characters are incredibly choppy. The characters change their facial shapes constantly (Aki and his ten chins, Kobeni and her deformed head). The anime doesn't even know how to animate people walking. The backgrounds don't fit. The characters are stiff. It is just a robotic mess. It is the opposite of what the animation medium offers: freedom. Freedom to do whatever you want. The animation is just a chaotic production where the animators felt an increasing burden by fucking dumb requirements that constrain expression.

Yes. Attacking the production is not attacking the animators. If you have never worked a day in your life, then I can explain it to you. People don't agree with all the decisions. Workplace politics exists, and we are talking about Japan. The people in charge of that ugly ass walking that defies the law of perspective and makes the doors size change constantly? They probably thought that the idea was ridiculous in the schedule that they had. It is not their fault. Whoever decided this disaster pretended they could pull off something they couldn't. Simple and to the bone, it was a dumb decision. You are not attacking animators. The animators know when they fuck up and when their technical abilities go to waste. That is why you don't praise this shit because positive reinforcement over this scum is the last thing the medium needs. Dumb.

I could go on, but I will stop at the most fraudulent part of anything, the marketing. This anime started with MAPPA saying that they would be the production committee because they wanted to avoid getting external pressure. They make a bland and uninspired adaptation that doesn't elevate a single inch of the original medium, ruining what is special about the manga. They said that Fujimoto was heavily involved, which is just false. The anime then uses an opening with one hundred movie references, so people talk about it. These movie references are just fluff. They exist for NPCs to not talk about the bland first episode but the opening references and how this is authentic cinema because of Tarantino reference. Then they decide to create 12 endings, one for each episode. The tunes just exist to get funding from Sony and keep the discussion going. The songs are forgettable and skippable. They exist to consume and dispatch, fitting for the quality of this adaptation. There is no emotional attachment at all. Compare this to how Monogatari, Bocchi, or K-On use their songs, night and day.

The sound design is cool, and the OST is forgettable but adds some tension. One point for that.

This anime is just unmemorable. It is nothing. It is dust. It lacks any ounce of touch with the intangibles of its original manga. It is entertainment for people who consider smoking, sex, and violence synonymous with quality. The only thing that made me feel was Himeno sleeping with Denji, and that was because it was horny, and I like horny stuff. Chainsaw Man did nothing that any other lame dark anime hasn't done before during all these years. Will it get better? The plot could, but the other elements probably won't. If the next season is the same, then the dialogues will keep being corny, the voice actors' delivery undesirable, and the animation will still be ugly. Not subjectively ugly, objectively ugly. Like this adaptation. So let's pray for common sense to win here.

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Dec 27, 2022

TheNinthRequiem

Recommended

Chainsaw Man is not overhyped, not in the slightest. I’ll repeat it again for the people in the back. Chainsaw Man deserves the hype and is every bit as good as it’s made out to be. Maybe it doesn’t have as many universally appealing ideas as Demon Slayer or Jujutsu Kaisen. And its much more prickly exterior might serve as a barrier to entry for fans that have grown accustomed to the generic shounen-type stories that are regurgitated every season like that once-cute now-tiresome Christmas ornament that your family brings out every year. But I believe that it is exactly that prickly exterior derived from ...

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Dec 27, 2022

rrakku

Recommended

Why Chainsaw Man would even have a tad of bad reputation is baffling to me: it is close to being a perfect Shounen. While there are still definitely flaws, I can say with confidence that there are no deal-breakers in the series, as long as you are an anime fan.

But before I praise Chainsaw Man into high heavens, let’s get the caveats out of the way. If you watch Chainsaw Man for eye candy, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Although the designs and cinematography are to be commended, the action animation itself sails just above decent in a post Demon Slayer world. With the exception of ... the fight just aired in episode 12 (honestly it wasn't even that impressive), much of the fights are at best slightly above average fight sequences. The subpar animation is masked with clever use of framing that makes the fights less coherent and more awkward to watch, but delivers better action and makes the 3D animation more palatable.

That in my eyes, however, is a tiny flaw and easily overlooked on the mountain of great things Chainsaw Man brings to the table. Its fights do still work even with its limited animation all thanks to its amazing tone/atmosphere that the script and cinematography has crafted. The generous use of silence and occasional awkward dialogue, counter-intuitively, works to the show’s advantage. It creates an unsettling and eerie tone that’s matched when the push comes to shove and the fights begin. Each fight is genuinely terrifying and holds incredible stakes that make them feel important, which can’t be said for much of Shounen nowadays.

To avoid getting the show from being too heavy, Chainsaw Man contrasts its dark setting with Power and Denji, two of the most apathetic and stupid characters out there. Denji especially, as our point of view character, would be unworkable as the protagonist in any other environment. His cluelessness of his surroundings and, for lack of a better phrase, devilish stoicism would render him utterly unlikable if not for the show’s setting. Instead, in Chainsaw Man, it juxtaposes the serious and borderline hopeless situations our characters are routinely put in. Sometimes it diffuses tension and creates humour, sometimes it’s vital to the plot and it would simply not proceed if not for his character. My point is that Denji is impeccably designed with the whole story in mind. He didn’t just rely on the Excalibur in the stone to become a hero, he needed to be who he is to be the one.

Part of the appeal of Denji, and to an extent Power and Makima’s character can be attributed to the fact that humour surrounding the anime and manga subculture has become very ironic, self-aware, and self-deprecating. You’ve probably seen Tik Toks of people barking to Makima cosplays or Power fondling her chest. This ties into why you need to be an anime fan to truly enjoy Chainsaw Man, because this would just be cringe otherwise. But I digress.

The cast of Chainsaw Man, while not huge, have great chemistry. Denji and Power play off each other very well, and Aki provides the much needed straight man character to contain their stupidity. Makima on the other hand, we know barely anything about other than that she’s really powerful. But the sublime delivery of Tomori Kusunoki compliments this and she is in fact the main mystery of the series. We’ve also yet to see much from Kishibe and Kobeni and that’s intentional. If Makima is the main mystery then Kishibe and Kobeni are the side ones. People that criticise any one of them lacking depth to their characters are simply missing the point.

That’s because a majority of this season of Chainsaw Man functions as an introduction to the actual story, but what it did show is immensely promising. The voice acting, pacing of the dialogue, and momentary editing and framing has created an eerie tone, but what came of it? Well, without getting into spoilers, the actual story starts in episode 8, and what happened resolves the dissonance between the tone and the actual story. The tone foreshadowed the event not specifically, but you know something is up and due. This sort of atmospheric foreshadowing is rare in Shounen, and the result is one of the most cohesive, consistent, engaging, yet subtle introductions in anime ever. The plot then progresses naturally building up to the hype confrontation in episode 12. Much of the mystery in Chainsaw Man is still left unsolved though. I haven’t read the manga so I can’t make any guarantees for the plot later, but from what I’ve heard and seen this season, I really look forward to season two.

The last thing I’d want to mention is the banger opening and endings. Kick Back is truly one of the songs of all time. And I find each and every ending gorgeously drawn, although I can’t say the same for the music, some of them are just not fitting to my taste. Some might say Chainsaw Man would be better off giving some of the ED budget to the animation, but that’s beyond the scope of this review.

In the end, those that said this show did not live up to the hype are either manga readers that had unrealistic expectations, or just antis magnifying what little flaws Chainsaw Man has to hang on to their unfounded beliefs. Or maybe it’s because I came in blind and pleasantly surprised, you be the judge.

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'Chainsaw Man' Announces Supporting Cast

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When is Season 2 airing? Kenfaeru - May 29	41 replies	by urlocaloser »» 2 hours ago
Poll: Chainsaw Man Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) anime-prime - Dec 27, 2022	861 replies	by DazeFire »» Yesterday, 10:23 PM
This is getting cancelled, isn't it? 4Channer - May 21	28 replies	by _syedmuhammad__ »» Yesterday, 8:57 AM
Seriously, What was bad with this anime ( 1 2 3 ) Nmasih8193 - May 25	135 replies	by 0sn »» Yesterday, 8:16 AM
Poll: Chainsaw Man Episode 5 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) anime-prime - Nov 8, 2022	607 replies	by RiaSoGlory »» Yesterday, 6:35 AM

Chainsaw Man

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Makima

Power

Denji

Hayakawa, Aki

Reze

Higashiyama, Kobeni

Pochita

Himeno

Angel Devil

Kishibe

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Chainsaw Man

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Episode Videos

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