And with this, Chainsaw Man's 1st season comes to an end.
What a season I must say.
Talking about the episode itself first, I really liked how it was directed, especially the beginning with Aki remembering one of his 1st moments with Himeno, and how Himeno's 1 hand of the Ghost gave him one last cigarette. This scene was really good. Considering that the Ghost Devil doesn't see people that don't feel fear, and how initially it was seeing Aki, but when he started remembering Himeno, the Ghost Devil stopped seeing him, makes you believe that thinking of Himeno made him feel safe, therefore stopped feeling fear, a detail that is really cute and didn't see people point it out. Thanks to this, Aki was able to escape from the grasp of the Ghost Devil's hands, and ended up killing it without much of a fight.
Then we have Kobeni right at Sawatari's back, ready to kill her if needed, giving Sawatari no other chance than to surrender, after Aki was able to easily defeat the Ghost Devil.
We jump into Power killing some Zombies, which also showed a new side of Power, because it feels like she felt resentful for running away back in episode 8/9, not helping Denji, and wanting to show that she is indeed useful.
Then Denji finally met his opponent. We first get the Katana Man downtalking Denji for killing Zombies, but Denji isn't much about it, because he pretty much knows that while being Zombies those people weren't really alive, and it was only a suffering for them to continue as zombies, which he actually mentioned back in episode 1. I thought Denji would have a mental breakdown, but no, and I'm glad not, because he already had his mind set in episode 1 about these Zombies thing, but it's nice seeing them bringing it back.
Then we have the long awaited battle between Chainsaw Man and Katana Man, and, overall, it was really good. I liked the animations and the direction of the scenes, but I thought the battle lacked a bit of hype, at certain points it felt a bit anti-climatic. This has to be my biggest grip with this episode, I was expecting a really epic episode to end the season, but it was actually one that felt the most anti-climatic from the 12. The battle was good, but I was expecting better. But seeing Denji trick the enemy, and killing him with a new blade on his leg was really interesting.
After this, Denji convinces Aki to kick Katana Man in the balls, to avenge Himeno, and, although intially relunctant about the idea, Aki agrees to the idea. I feel like this scene is important for 2 reasons. One is that Denji shows some sorrow for Himeno, which we see that was a problem for him back in episode 10, which shows that Denji isn't the Devil that Katana Man was implying earlier in the episode, and I also think it's important for Denji's character development, just shows that his regaining his compassion for other people, after being isolated for his whole life. The other reason is that Aki goes against the "rules" here, as a Devil Hunter, and tortures the Katana Man, although it was not necessary for the mission, and we know he's really strict about rules and the right conduct people must have, so this not only reflects how much he cared for Himeno, but also how Denji is changing his perspective on some aspects of life.
Then we get to know that they now have enough Gun Devil's flesh to trace him, according to Makima, and it seems she already knows where it is. She continues mysterious though.
Then we got the final ending of the anime, alongside Denji, Aki and Power having their day to day activites. The song is SUPER good! I already listened to it full, and it's probably the best ending song alongside the 1st ending. Eve already did one of Dororo's endings and I really liked it, glad to see another great release from him. Also, these scenes of the gang just hanging out was really cool in my opinion, because it gave a bit of fresh air to the anime, and reinforced the idea that these 3 are getting closer and closer.
We end the episode with a really cinematic scene with Aki smoking the last cigarette Himeno gave him, Denji dreaming of THE door, that Pochita says it should never be opened (my guess is that if he opens that door to see Pochita, Pochita will take over his whole bofy, but this is just a guess), and with the appearance of a new character, that hints the upcoming Movie's arc.
With this said, I have to say that this particular episode didn't meet my expectations, but it's because they are really high now. However, I need to say that this anime as a whole exceeded a lot my expectations. especially with the direction. It really felt like I was watching a movie (in the best way possible) sometimes, and the animation was, for the most parts, amazing. The story and characters are unique and interesting, and when I ended up an episode, I always wanted to watch the next one right after. We also got one of the best openings and some really good endings with this anime!
I think the best episode of this anime, that really showcases of how much work went into producing this anime would be either episode 1 or episode 8. Those episodes felt like their own movies, and just gave me an amazing experience as a viewer. From the two, I think the best one really is the 1st episode, since it's able to present the main character and the basic story of the anime really well, and make you feel surprised by the amount of things that already happen here, you grow attached to Denji and Pochita right from the get go, and the episode just feels like it goes on the perfect pace.
With all of this said, I'm really thorned about which score should I give this anime. As I pointed in other episodes, and this one too, the anime does have its flaws in the story and sometimes the direction did not meet the high standard of the rest of the anime. This made me really rethink if I should give it a 9 or a 10. The story itself isn't something super out of the box, especially in these 1st arcs. However, I have this feeling this is only the start of a really great plot. Not only that, I already watched the trailer for the upcoming movie, and it seemed to confirm my suspicions: the next arc is going to be even better than this 1st season, especially about Denji's character. I might be wrong, but I do think this plot is only getting better, and this is only the beginning. Also, the cinematic of this anime is just amazing, the way there a lot of scenes, where nothing is really happening, no character is talking, but you can clearly see what they are feeling or thinking, and that's something I appreciate a lot. One example of this is the last scene with Aki this episode, when he was smoking the last cigarettes Himeno gave him. I know this aspect is something that has caused some controversy apparentaly, but for me, it's one of the most interesting aspects about the anime, since this is not common in Shounen animes.
Because of this, after much thought, I'm giving Chainsaw Man a vote of confidence, since I take my scores really seriously, and I don't really like giving different scores for different seasons of the same anime (except when the difference in quality is noticeable). I also want to say that I haven't been watching a lot of anime lately, but this anime is making me want to watch anime more regularly again, so I might be bias due to that, but I really feel like this is a big plus for this anime.
So, I'm giving this anime a score of 10/10, although not a perfect 10, but it's nonetheless a 10, for an anime that really brought a lot of cinematic scenes, and just feels so fresh compared to other animes, and, at the end of the day, I just wanted to watch more and more episodes of it, and I can't wait for the upcoming movie, and really curious about this Reze arc everyone is talking about. |