Chainsaw Man

Chainsaw Man suffered under the weight of its own praise. It isn't a bad show by any means, but the desire to defend it or bash it has created a warped reality of this show in discussions that has skewed perspectives towards black and white. The reality of this show is much more middling, MAPPA's production schedule catching up to it and the story of CSM having a seemingly very slow start made this season of the series a let down for the near universal hype it had ahead of release.

MAPPA bit off more than it could chew with this. The definition of "doing too ... much" in terms of direction, CSM had a new ending theme each week, which made none of them memorable like the opening was. Many of the scenes were filled to the brim with movement, which came across as visually jumbled and the animation itself looking just downright odd because it was so smooth. There was an attempt to blend CGI with animation in a way where the transition wouldn't be visually jarring, but the effort to do that was misguided, the anime's style generic and pretty when it needed to be gorier and harder. The style was just non-existent and CGI scenes are just a point where MAPPA remains weak. The sunset, dreamy color palette was a miss, muting the show in a way that seemed to mimic Netflix lighting rather than the dynamic older horror movies CSM pays homage to. I was expecting Hellsing Ultimate or even Dorohedoro, but this just feels like a very corporate and dated approach to animation.

The story and characters are all fine. Right now, nothing seems to reinvent the wheel and big plot beats are rather predictable. If you've seen enough shonen, you've seen this show no matter how off-centered and crazy things get. The most intriguing was Denji's very subtle shift from selfishness to almost self-consciousness, desiring to fit in and perhaps desiring to be loved and known by people around him. He has a lot of room to grow as a person and a character because his start is a very ugly person. I'm curious to see where he goes, but in a 12 episode seasonal, we didn't get that far, we barely got the overarching plot. Just as an FYI, I haven't read the manga.

There is no reason someone shouldn't watch the show and there really isn't a reason someone should either. Perhaps future seasons will change my thoughts on this, but the product as it currently is can best be encapsulated as fine.

Never read the manga so I went into it blind. The show's plot is decent, but for the most part, everything feels empty. The characters don't feel like actual people, Denji seems like he could be a lot funnier/more interesting but he just says dumb stuff. The only episode that was remotely interesting was episode 8 because something actually happened. Every episode leading up to it felt like I was watching filler. The show doesn't really give any of the characters motives or personalities until after episode 8 and even then it feels forced.

Then there's the animation. I don't keep up with anime studios ... and all that so when I learned it was the same place that did AOT I really didn't care. What I did care about was how horrible the frame rates for the cgi were and how a lot of scenes that weren't even action used them. It felt like I was watching a PS2 game cutscene.

Overall the show as okay and I'll probably read the manga to see what all the hype is about, but I definitely wouldn't recommend this unless it's to keep up with popular shows.

I really wanted to like this one. The designs are great, the animation is on point and it’s clearly adapted by talented people — but that won’t save it from having really horrible characters and being way too damn “I’m 14 and edgy”.

I was told to give it eight episodes with promises that it gets better, but there was nothing here to hook me. Denji is not a character whose journey appeals to me.

I haven’t read the manga, but I doubt that the character arc goes further than going from “I want to touch a tiddy” to “I want to actually have sex”. I’ve ... heard arguments that this is a very realistic portrayal of someone who has lived this life — but I’ll go ahead and doubt that.

I’m glad for those who like it, but this ain’t for me.

The amount of hype this work received, with it's trailers and overall community reception before the release was truly outstanding. I've heard it breaks the mold of shonen tropes and delivers something unique. So I've just finished it and to be fair I'm a bit dissapointed.

To start, this season being only 12 episodes, paired with the hype it got was a bit of a problem. In this cour, not much happened really and just felt like a set-up for season 2 where the story truly gets to the good stuff, according to manga readers.

Denji as a MC has potential as his desire to ... be loved and find a place of confort is understandable given the circustances of his childhood. Right now though, he's still very one dimensional but the foundations for his growth have been established so hopefully that's what will happen, idk I'm not a manga reader.
Asides from Denji, Aki was the only character that somewhat captivated me but his personality still remains quite simple, being the reasonable, older brother type of guy that we've seen many times. I think though what sets him apart is that he shares alot of comedic moments with less mature characters and learns with them. It feels natural and I enjoyed seeing those scenes.
Power is fine but it feels like she's being pushed aside in the story the longer it goes unlike Aki but we'll see.

A bad aspect of this season for me was Makima. No offense but it was already thrown in our faces that Makima will be the final antagonist in this story, not even in a subtle way. The only thing that remains unclear is her goals which probably revolves around the relationship between Denji and the Gun Devil. To me, she's bland, her voice is just so boring and predictable every time she talks. Couldn't they figure out something more unique? The only trait that MAPPA made sure to stand out on her are the camera shots pointing at the obvious areas you know about.
It would have been much better if we as the audience were not aware that Makima was such a P.O.S. Maybe build up a relationship with Makima where she makes us trust her and then the impact would have been much more significant. Now I know Makima will pull off some crap that will betray the main cast and there's no element of surprise. Fujimoto could have better executed Makima as a character.

Well, the biggest dissapointement for me though was MAPPA's adaptation. I don't mean from a technical standpoint with the animation, camera shots, etc. They always deliver for the most part in that regard. I mean from a stylistic approach. I went on to read the manga until the chapter where this cour ended and I was pleasantly surprised with Fujimoto's skills. The art just feels so unique and expressive in the manga and it's all lost in this adaptation. The color palette and realistic style just doesn't work for me, it just feels and looks so uninspiring and boring. A lot of the subtle panels just get lost and I get that MAPPA tried to make that up with their own strengths but why not come up with something more creative? A style like Cyberpunk Edgerunners with maybe a color palette of Dorohedoro would elevate this adaptation to a whole new level that feels memorable and doing it's own thing. Not exactly the same but with the same spirit atleast.

Without the core of the story to make up for the weak spirit of the adaptation, I'm giving it a 7. I think I understand the hype but it was not for this season and I'm sure the plot elements introduced are being set up for some crazy stuff down the line.
However, MAPPA's lack of creativity in finding a unique, memorable look, paired with some obvious signs introduced that hurt probably the most important mistery element of the show makes me a bit dissapointed. If you didn't read the manga, you probably won't feel the same but I recommend you read it until the part where the show stopped.

Of course, I still recommend you watch this show and I wanna know what Makima is up to and how Denji and his friends evolve over the course of this story. Ryu Nakayama is very skilled in technical aspects but still needs to evolve his style and artistic expression like Yuichiro Hayashi does with works like Dorohedoro.

Thanks for reading.

As of episode 4:

In my opinion, this series is WAY too overhyped, though as someone who hasn't read the manga or seen what the story is about before watching, I didn't know what to expect beforehand. What I expected was a (gorey) shonen, and yes while it is that at parts, there are more scenes of the protagonist daydreaming about oppai and one or two (very mid) female characters which honestly isn't for me or my sense of humor though I could understand appreciation for the show if someone else were to like that style of character. I will probably continue to watch this though ... it's hard to say if my rating will improve.

Aside from the great visuals...

This anime feels slow, the battle scenes feel a lack of "wow!" or "that's so cool!" energy
and even the scenes where the interactions between the characters like talking to each other feel casual and lack "these characters are so dangerous." , "this conversation must contain very important information." , "the conversation between these characters is very interesting." energy

so.. the point is this anime feels normal, doesn't feel like an action anime and has a lack of elements that make you excited when watching it apart from the battle scenes and of course... Makima or Power

If I may suggest something, then I ... suggest you read the manga version

I'll be the first to admit, I went into chainsaw man with the expectation that I wouldn't be the biggest fan of the show, since, from what I know about shounen, it never really seemed up my alley. BUT! I had heard incredible things about CSM, so I wanted to give it a shot as my first big shounen. There were many places where chainsaw man defied my expectations! But also many, many moments where the show fell flat to me.

**premise**
the premise of chainsaw man actually interested me a lot. Though the concept of "man turns into chainsaw to fight monsters" seems kind of silly ... on the surface, the show really is able to create a world where denji's abilities not only make sense, but aren't absurdly silly. All of the lore about devils, how their power scales, and how the emergence of devils impacted the laws of the world, news, etc. was extremely interesting, and raised a lot of moral questions about censorship of media in a world like this. Unfortunately, I found that a lot of the interesting questions I have about the world were only tangentially touched upon by the show in its 12 episode run time, and left me wanting a little more. It's clear the author thought about these things when designing the world, but im worried these cool aspects of worldbuilding might get lost in the shows need to constantly deliver action. Hopefully these things get touched on a little more in the future, because the world is SUPER COOL and it feels like we're only scratching the surface.

**characters**
the cast honestly felt like a mixed bag for me. Starting with the positives, I'm very impressed with how unique each member of the roster seems comparable to each other, and I loved their interactions in the *second* half of the show. Specifically Denji's relationship with Power (kind of gave me sibling vibes) and Himeno. That said, I find a lot of the character motivations extremely surface level and weak. I understand that it makes sense for denji, but the other characters just didn't sell me on why they were willing to go so far fighting devils. Truth be told, everything feels sort of like a half-baked revenge plot for most of the characters, and I don't really vibe with it. Specifically with Himeno, I really wish they dug a little deeper into her backstory. Everything just kind of felt ...hollow.

though I understand there's only so much time in a season, I was left wanting something a little more strong in terms of character motivation specifically in the 12 episode run. None of the characters really feel complex yet. Im hoping with time I feel differently.

**plot**
This is the weakest part of chainsaw man for me. I think the world is cool. I think the characters have potential, and I think (so far) the plot is, generally speaking, filled way too much with horny/angsty-teen targeted nonsense ...at least for the first 8 episodes. These episodes suffered immensely, in my opinion, from darling in the franxx syndrome, where horniness simply detracted from the show in a major way. Though I understand the themes of Denji discovering long-term goals and fulfillment instead of short-term self-gratification are important, I think there had to be a better way of doing that then sabotaging his relationships with the female cast. I really think that the horniness could have been dialed back a bit in favor of more conversations (like one specific conversation Denji had with Himeno) that gave a little more depth to the characters.

Episodes 9 onwards, however, when the plot was less driven by Denji's lust and more by meaningful character interaction and self-discovery, plus a sick set of villains, were great. Though I'm not going to spoil anything, these episodes brought my enjoyment of the series up a whole point (out of 10) and really started delivering on what I thought I was going to be getting myself into when I started watching. I think that if the show keeps this up going into season 2, it will definitely be worth continuing. I'm super excited to see how they develop the main villain of the series and his motivations, and I really hope his development isn't put on the backburner in future seasons.

**visuals**
The visuals in chainsaw man were, for the most part, incredible. Though I loved the dynamic camera during the action scenes, what stood out to me the most was, weirdly, the scenes of characters going about their day-to-day lives. The depth of field, camera distortion and focus, and attention to detail with the character movements during these scenes were incredible. The camera work felt like I was watching something directed like a live-action show with the attention to detail and deliberateness of an animated one.

My primary complaints with the visuals come primarily from the color pallets used by the show and some of the CGI. Though I think the dark and gritty colors have their place in the show, maybe even for a lot of the run time, I still think the world needed a little more color. In the down time between everything before everything starts to fall apart. Maybe even in scenes with cute character interactions. I needed something a little more vibrant at points so the grittiness of the fights and sad scenes hit a little harder with that sweet visual distinction. As for the CGI, a lot of it was surprisingly good. The character animation was pretty solid when they swapped to CG models. The big problems came from the CG backgrounds used most often in sweeping camera shots. Stuff moved just a bit too smoothly at points compared to the hand-drawn characters and it really took me out of the action. I think, however, this show is definitely proof of slow (very slow) but sure progress toward better CG in shows. Even if it still wasn't great.

**sound**
Though it doesn't have the level of detail in sound design compared to something like weathering with you, none of the sound effects in CSM detracted from the viewing experience or felt out of place. All of the hitsounds, blade swings, clinks, clanks, and even chainsaw sounds felt pretty good, well-mixed, and added solid weight to the fights.

Where CSM excels in sound, however, is in it's ambient OST. The songs that play during the slice of life, downbeat, and emotional moments of the show not only did their job, but stood out to me as exceptional in the same way the OST of Call of the Night did. Though I may be biased due to my music taste/preference, I was really blown away at how well scored these moments were, even if I can't say the same thing about the fight scenes (those weren't badly scored, mind you, just not as well as some of the other moments of the show)

**conclusion!**
the first season of csm had some really solid moments, and delivers a lot of cool action, even if sometimes it's character writing and plot points are a little weak. That said, I think the show has a lot of room to grow into it's cool world and, if the writing continues down the path it did in the last 4 episodes, I'm excited to see more. But that is only if it can get its act together and stop relying on horny characters to push its narrative forward. That's all for future seasons, though.

As just the first 12 episodes, I think CSM deserves a **low 7/10 (good)**

I would probably recommend other 7/10 shows more, but I think CSM still deserves to fit into the 7/10 bracket, mainly because of the last 4 episodes which bumped it up a point.

Is grabbing t*ts grounds for a 10/10?

Ah yes, we are once again graced with another cookie cutter Shonen of the season, and as always, its score is heavily influenced by manga fans, tweens and edge lords who think gory = God tier. But before you go on a rant on me and how I dared diss your 736th 10/10 anime hear me out. It was a decently enjoyable show, infect a fine show, a 7/10 show.

As an anime only, and especially one who started watching the anime right before it ended this season it was astonishing how people went from a hype train to ... calling an all-out hate war over the animators and its adaptation; So naturally I was interested to see how badly they F***ed up. But to my surprise it was just...Fine? Am I missing something or did y'all finally grow up? when I sat down to watch another Shonin anime that follows those same patterns, I got pretty much what I expected so the lesson here is to utterly ignore manga readers.

Now the first few episodes and the worldbuilding in general kept reminding me of Jujutsu Kaisen and I'm not sure if this is a new trend in Shonin set by, I assume Demon Slayer, but the Gore heavy Spirit hunting is slowly becoming the repetitive norm for Shonin Bots. The dark yet not so spooky psychological tone which seems to always tickle SingleH's Dopamine receptors was fine but somehow, I can imagine it being better received in Manga format. As for the story the only thing that really stood out to me was our protagonists goofy oversexualized ambitions, and boy as a dude they are relatable AF, but the rest was too generic and slightly rushed. I'm hinting at that 2-episode training arc which really didn't show character growth or a Sensei Student bond it was just there Cuz it had to follow the tropes.

The animation was spot on and while it wasn't the most beautiful piece of media I had consumed it was a pleasure seeing how well CG tech have evolved over the past few years and how they were used to add a bit more dynamic life to the scenes and objects. As for the Music, I can't really say it was good or bad, but it defiantly was forgettable. There were brief moments where the music really came through, but they were few and far between sullied by generic action music during the fights.

Overall, I'd say it's worth a watch but it's nothing really that special

What if you took Chainsaw Man, and decided to take some of the Manga's influences, *particularly Reservoir Dogs* and just make that.

I'm not sure why I'm supposed to be impressed by an anime that's just stylistically copying an independent American movie from the 90's.

Just like Tarantino's first film it has a cheap & amateurish feel to its shot composition and lighting. The framing is basic and scenes and shots tend to linger long after their point has landed.

If it had been a live action student film, it would've been a little impressive, but in animation it comes across as very limiting, ignoring the freedom ... of animation in an attempt to emulate a very basic style of live action film making.

Props to the director, maybe he can try again after he's finished his second year of film school.

But hey, it's still Chainsaw Man, so it's alright.

One word I can say about my review for Chainsaw Man is straight up confused. I would look forward to watching Chainsaw Man, so there is something the show is doing right for me to want to continue engaging. But there were aspects that made me feel wanting more. Like when you go to a restaurant and have an awesome meal. But you feel like something was missing. I feel like that is Chainsaw Man but... I don't think this show is a masterpiece or amazing, so I don't really understand the hype because of that missing feeling. I think the show is good, not ... bad, and not great all at the same time.

Animation:
I appreciated the action scenes, interesting animation perspectives, and westernized media influence on certain aspects of how characters/opening, etc were created. I thought that aspect of the show made it interesting and made the show unique. However, there were way too many scenes overly done in 3d animation, which made some of the action scenes appear overly slow, weird, and flat. In the beginning scene where Denji is in the car, I did not like how the 3d animation translates in the scene. Maybe its me not being used to watching Anime in 3d, not sure what it could be. That aspect is not my criticism to the story, strictly animation. I judge a story and its animation separate, but animation can affect how a story is told. In addition, I watched the opening, some of the characters look so plain, simple, and weird. Because pedestrians appear walking very slowly, scenes where Denji may fall of a building, just all seam to appear in slow motion.

Story:

What I like about Chainsaw Man:
I liked the basic premise of the story, how humans and devils coincide in society. I like how each devil is unique and share a obligation to a devil in some aspect for the powers they possess. Hayakawa, Aki- this character felt fleshed out to me. They show you how his family died, how he is feeling, and his purpose. So I felt very connected to Aki and liked his story line. I def want to buy Aki merch. I also felt like Himeno was an interesting character, but I didn't really understand how she arrived to working for the organization. You can def feel the westernization influence in some of the scenes for sure, esp the immediate action scenes/conversation amongst characters, I thought this was interesting. I like how they portray characters who came from dysfunctional backgrounds and how the characters self reflected on their ability to connect with others, what life means to them, and what they live for, and why they live to begin with.

What I do not like about Chainsaw Man:
It feels like people in the background exist to exist. You don't really seem to gather any information on how civilization feels about devils. All you see is people running way during violence. Esp this terrorist who kills people and how they have to find the bullets left behind. I know next to nothing how this devil affected society, other then how the devil killed Aki's family. Aki and this devil make sense in the story, but is randomly added in later episodes. We go from Denji to a variation of other character story lines in the first season within a short period. This could be the animation companies fault, not really a story aspect. Because I know some anime animations are on a deadline, so that is why I want to know how this affected society, and why this is important to the characters working in the organization. I have never read the manga, so my review is strictly coming from solely watching the anime alone. People in society feel like NPC's. I never once thought about people living in society. The only information I gathered about people are about the individuals who are part of their various organizations. Whether it be they are working for the government, terrorist organizations, etc. But I think this is where I felt that something is missing feeling. Because some of the characters lack emotion, are obsessed with eating other people, and lack understanding of others, AND STAY THIS WAY CONSISTENTLY. Which I understand in some aspect is part of the story, they are devils. And this does not only apply to But you don't really get a background of each character. You can apply this to Higashiyama, Kobeni. She was a super confusing character, she freaks out every 2 seconds, says se is doing this all for her family. Yet kills people without an issue. That type of character development is confusing and makes no sense to me, I didn't really understand how she fits with the story. However, some of the emotional reactions are awkward between characters, scream a ton, and are obsessed with sex, etc.

Long story short, I think the show deserves a chance, its not bad. But like I said, there are drawbacks, but a show that I would say is worth watching. But feels like any other Actiony anime I have watched.

As somebody that has read the manga before the anime, I was fully expecting this to be a 24-episode "season," but instead we were only given 12 episodes which is a huge bummer because we have to wait months, maybe even a year or two for another 12 episodes...

The animation is good, but there is waaay too much CGI to make it comparable to Jujutsu Kaisen. It almost feels like MAPPA had their A-Team to JJK and their B-Team do Chainsaw Man. It's not completely terrible, but it's also enough to make a lot of people, including myself, become disappointed, since we all know that ... MAPPA can do way better than this.

Denji's VA is new to Voice-Acting I've heard, so with that in mind, I'll cut some slack. However, the overall lines from the VA's, especially Aki's VA is disappointing. I expected much more enthusiasm and character, perhaps. I was surprised at seeing Tsuda Kenjirou in here though - one of my favorite VA's!

I don't think I would suggest this to somebody unless they have NOT read the Manga already, since (again) for Manga readers that read before watching the anime, I feel like we're all unhappy with something with this anime - a lot of things to gripe about.

On that note, I give it a 7/10 for Voice-Acting, Animation, and Transitions (Intro's and Outro's Included). I don't include plot or story, since that is a big part of the near-ending of the show and it's also quite.. weird, but cool! Bahh, what am I saying, the story is a bit weird too.

Chainsaw Man is a very cool anime that strikes you in the moment but will leave your mind in a week or two. (the manga has the same effect).

If you want cool, amazingly animated action scenes with funny, unique characters this anime is for you. If you are looking for something immersive and deep Chainsaw Man won't cut it.

There is something about the way Chainsaw Man's story flows, that you can immediately tell the creator is a lover of Hollywood films. The moments that are really cool are *really* cool but then there just isn't enough time to settle down and get the feel for ... the world of Chainsaw Man. We get so much focus on Denji and the crew in public safety that it barely feels like the devils are any threat to anyone but them (we are constantly told what a threat devils are but the world doesn't really reflect that). I feel like this is the part of the series that really lacks balance for me and its all focused on the characters and not on the world they live in.
My hope was that watching the anime would give me clarity on some things but the pacing of the anime is wild and feels like it just wants to get to cool scenes as quickly as possible.

Despite this, the animation is phenomenal and it is an artistic triumph.
(7/10)

Overall, pretty interesting.
Art style good
A bit too horny for my taste. This guy just wants to touch tits man
the dog is sick though.
All the best.
- Action Bronson

Is the story unique? If it was predictable, did you enjoy it anyway because you like this genre/set-up?
Do you think the art style is fitting for the story?
Were the characters well-rounded? Did they have flaws and strengths, or were they unusually strong/smart/stupid?
... Did the characters react to situations and events in a realistic way?
Do you think others will enjoy/dislike this series, even if you didn't? Why?

The animation: Gorgeous.
The plot: Decent (kind of a similar narrative to "American Gods" or "Fire Force" with its own style and twists.
The music: Fun and engaging
The dialogue: Decent

The downside: A very dumb concept for the main character. You have this theme of demons and magic, yet you decide to make your character have...wait for it...chainsaws. Probably one of the most mundane, mechanical, human-invented creations to try and merge with a biological thing like a person. It makes no sense. It's another disappointing example of a lack of imagination from the writer's standpoint. You could easily create some neat creature/demon with rotating objects and ... invent a system to fit, but instead went with a power tool. It's like they decided it would be a good idea to combine a mecha with a person. If that's the case, why go with demons? It would be good if it were a thoughtful parody like "One Punch Man" or "Spy X Family" but it isn't...it does take itself seriously and wants to be gritty like Demon Slayer or Fire Force, but the concepts are like a 10-year-old thought them up. (Hey guys, what if he had, like, chainsaws on his arms and his head turned into a chainsaw? Wouldn't that be crazy and cool?)

They do a lot of things well in this show, but it's just really hard to get around the silliness of the main character design.

I've never been more disappointed going from a manga to an animated adaptation. It is good it's pretty faithful but I just felt the fight scenes weren't what where promised and what I came to expect from the manga. The voice actors were good, and you can never go wrong with tsuda kenjiro, but just over all I was disappointed due to how much I loved the manga. If I never read the manga I'd say it's an easy 8-9 but I just can't say that with how my favourite scenes where somewhat butchered by still good but not great animation partially due to the ... downsides of cgi. Overall good but just disappointed in this

A decent show marred by its fanbase. I swear if I see one more Makima-stan post about how they want to motorboat their face on her bare chest, I'll commit sudoku all over the morning newspaper. The plotline works well enough but the main character is about as bland as they come. The 3D animation has come a long way in the last few years, but it still has a ways to go before I'd consider it on-par with traditional 2D animation. Still, the animators put some serious work into it and there's been plenty of trash 2D shows recently that make my power point ... presentations look like sakuga. Your mileage may vary, but if you do watch this please avoid getting infested with Makima simp energy.

Great drawings, mediocre production.

hmm...

First of all, I have no view that it is misogynistic, etc. Rather, I do not believe that people who can only accept straightforward arguments are qualified to view animated works.For there is no avoiding the fact that creation and fetishism are inextricably linked.Do you prefer the "less serious" works? That's ridiculous.

In this respect, I don't see any fetishism at all in anime ChainsawMan .The lines themselves, however, are fetish lines taken from the original manga.So the gap here creates a skeptical discomfort with animation itself.

The same is true for Denji's performance. (I am watching the Japanese version)
I don't see more than ... dialogue in all of them. There should have been something in the manga like an emptiness to formal desires or a lack of realism to reality. But Denji in the anime is as decent as Tanjiro in Demon Slayer.

I can't draw any conclusions because I haven't finished all the episodes yet.

However, I don't think the way you take a great deal of time between lines is right for a chainsaw man.
The acting is mediocre, the dialogue and storyline fetishistic, and the direction subdued. The elements of each other are obliterating the best parts of each other.

Instead of creating multiple openings and endings, the main production should have been reworked. A project swallowed by commercialism does not produce good results. It is many times more important to make a good work commercially successful.

The animation technique is 10, and the opening is good.
But as a work of art, it is not good. It is an animation that has mistaken wholesomeness.

LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT

Chainsaw Man is possibly one of the most overhyped anime to ever come up in recent times with fans raving this to be AOTY material before its release. So, after half a season and 5 episodes went by, does it live up to the hype? Absolutely not, in fact, I do not understand the hype behind it.

Don't get me wrong, there is so much to love about Chainsaw Man as a show. Mappa clearly poured all their love and resources into this and it really shows. From its top of the line animation and color grading to its well directed narrative ... and presentation, never once did I felt that the show has dips in quality. While some may hate its 3DCG during moment to moment fight scenes but I wholeheartedly disagree with the statement. 3DCG can be good only if its done correctly (Beastars for example) and this show is no exception. Not to mention, having one ending song per episode for a show is possibly something we never heard of in recent times and I am all for that.

Then where did it fall short? The characters... or more specifically Denji himself as the protagonist. It's ironic, because he truly embodies the prime example of how not to write a main character. I absolutely unable to see any positive traits coming from him even after spending a good chunk of my time. Yes, he can be funny at times but his lack of motivation very much makes him super one dimensional as a character. Truly one of the protagonist of all time. Actually, its not even fair to judge his character when the show itself literally robs it all from him in just one episode! Yes you heard me, in just one episode! I absolutely do not need some convenient plot device to tell me that "Yeap, this is the conclusion. Take it or leave it" and slaps it right into my face. How am I supposed to "relate" this supposing "tragic" character in just one episode? Arguably, Aki for example is a far more interesting and compelling character than Denji ever was and we have yet to see all of him as of this writing. Power on the other hand felt overly exaggerated, which can result in being annoying to some. Makima to me (assuming you are not into getting stepped on), once again just serves as a plot device for the show and I am definitely calling it right now.

"It will get better later" they say

Stop with your copium

Chainsaw Man as a whole while its nowhere near to be a terrible / average show, it absolutely does not mark the criteria of being an excellent show. It's heartbreaking because what could have become was instead all wasted with sub-par characters.

7 / 10

I don't know what expectations I came into this anime with, given the fact that I knew next to nothing about it when I started it, but it was more disappointing than I would have liked to be. For a series as action-packed and full of intensity--please know that this anime does tick a lot of the necessary Shounen boxes for satisfying action anime--as Chainsaw Man was, I found there was a lack of substance to it. Where I'm sure there was meant to be humor and meaning and revelations within this first season, I mostly found it to be mediocre and shallow.

I'll fully acknowledge ... that I'm probably in the minority as far as this goes. There's a lot to love about this series, not the least of which are the characters, which seems like a great blend of characters from many other anime that have developed strong fanbases in the past, such as Durarara!, Bungo Stray Dogs, and Jujutsu Kaisen. As I said, it's very fast-paced, and I'd even say it balanced its action well with the odd periods of calm that pop up every now and then (moments that are quite similar to something like Bakemonogatari, in my opinion). But I just didn't feel connected to any of it. The plot felt unimportant and seemed uninteresting, the characters were mostly entertaining but had no qualities that made me latch onto them, and not enough progression happened throughout this first season to keep me interested in continuing.

For me, this anime wasn't what I had hoped, but I'd definitely recommend this if you've found yourself especially interested in the more recent, sensationalized Shounen anime, like Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer. Does Chainsaw Man stand up to those? In terms of art and seiyuu performance, absolutely. You might find that everything else stands up, too--I just didn't.

If Quentin Tarantino one day said "You know what?!? Fuck it! I want to make an anime now!", this show would definitely be it.

Anime critics and manga readers sure love to rave about this show, and while I will not deny that it's not bad, it's not nearly up to hype of what everyone expected it to be. That being said, its still a fun time, and I still think it could continue to grow on me if it gets another season. Should you choose to embark into this show, don't listen to what the manga readers or anitubers have to say about it, ... because you're going to be disappointed if you listen to them.

Frankly, maybe you should buy into their opinions of just reading the manga first...