My biggest problem - and I think what will turn most people off of this show - is the humor. I've read a lot about how clever and "ironic" it is, and now it "cuts through the tension" by making this generally rather dark show more palatable and less heavy, but to me personally it's by far the worst thing about Chainsaw man and the thing that makes it so different from Dorohedoro.
Dorohedoro, written by a woman, had very little sexual humor or fanservice in it - most of the humor was centered around gore, and how absurdly brutal and relentless the world itself is - the humor was (for the most part) just as dark as the show and its characters. You often felt bad for even laughing at the jokes in Dorohedoro. The humor is chainsaw man - for the most part, revolves around Denji being a horny idiot. And yeah, you can argue that its on theme - its not that weird for a 16 year old blockhead surrounded by beautiful women to be somewhat vulgar: He wants to touch Powers breasts, he wants to finally kiss a woman, he wants to sleep with Makima, everything always seems to revolve around sex or shit like, kicking somebody in the balls.
Don't get me wrong, I am no prude, you are talking to a guy who gave Highschool DxD an 8/10, but I personally find this kind of humor to be incredibly misplaced in this show and negatively affecting the atmosphere: The dark, gritty atmosphere hits like a truck in some episodes, my favorite moments are after a certain characters death, and thats when I personally find the show to be at its best. Sometimes I feel like Chainsaw man couldn't decide whether it wants to be a show for a teenagers or a show for adults. For me, all the "I want to touch boobs hehe" humor just takes away from the rest of the show, and leaving that aside, even taken at face value the jokes aren't any good and fall pretty flat. There are A TON of better shows with well done crude/sexual humor. I will say that I think the first couple of episodes are the worst in this regard, and the second half of the show is significantly stronger; I would recommend people who find the premise interesting but are turned off by the humor to stick with it, it does get better.
When Chainsaw man is at its best, it feels like I am watching a top tier seinen anime; at its worst, it feels like I am watching a very mediocre shounen anime. If it committed entirely to its dark, gritty world and the story, which is about a rather hopeless fight against evil, where the good guys not only need to make sacrifices (like giving up body parts) to gain powers, but also frequently die in the line of duty, it would easily be my anime of the year.
I could write more about other aspects of this show, but I honestly don't have that much to say: The animations (in my eyes) are well done and I honestly don't mind the CGI, the plot is kind of basic, but interesting enough to keep you hooked, the setting is creative and engaging, the character writing is strong (particularly for Aki; you want to see what ends up happening to everybody), and the music (especially that freaking opening) is good. If you don't mind the immature humor this show is absolutely worth watching.
