Interview: Chainsaw Man Creator Tatsuki Fujimoto

Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man shocked and delighted audiences with its stylish aesthetic and storytelling. With the conclusion of the manga's first part, we interviewed Fujimoto about the creation of the manga, as well as his thoughts on the upcoming anime.

CHAINSAW MAN © 2018 by Tatsuki Fujimoto/Shueisha, Inc.

How much of the series and story was planned from the beginning? Fans have found a lot of subtle clues in the early chapters that connected to the very last chapter of Part 1 (For example, Makima recognizing people by their scent.)

There are things that I thought of from the start, as well as things that I added later. When I was creating Chainsaw Man, I didn't have specific plans to bring payoff to the meaningful-sounding words and things that felt “off.” There are more things that I left vague in order to make the second part easier to do. Because of that, there are tons of things that I wasn't able to pick up.

Because of its violence and dark humor, Chainsaw Man is often described as a “not Jump-like Jump manga”. How did you initially pitch the series to Jump?

I always wanted to serialize in Jump. So I had the feeling that if I drew a serialization there, there was the risk that my work would get buried if I made a “Jump-like manga.” Because of that, I tried to retain much of my individuality as a creator while making only the structure and characters Jump-like.

Similarly, the structure and release of the series is pretty different from other Jump series, which usually are meant to publish for years on end. While Part 2 has been announced to run in Jump+ it's still unusual to see such a successful series end its run in the magazine after just 2 years. What led to that decision?

It might be the case that I want you to see the upcoming Chainsaw Man Part 2 as a completely different thing from Part 1.

You made numerous mentions of other manga in the Author Comments in the magazine. Were there any manga that inspired your approach to Chainsaw Man?

There are just so many works that I took inspiration from that I wouldn't be able to write them all down here. When I was serializing, I was excruciatingly busy, but I made sure to watch as many new things as I could. And I also have memories of borrowing quite heavily from the things that I saw.

Your previous series, Fire Punch, ran in Jump+ for 2 years. Is there any big difference in working on your manga between the web magazine and in the paper magazine like Weekly Shonen Jump?

There wasn't that much of a difference. There were a few depictions that got stopped during the rough draft stage, but I was allowed to do anything I wanted when it came to the logic of the story. I don't think that there is much difference between Jump and Jump+.

How do you feel about the recently announced anime? What aspects of the art and story are you looking forward to seeing in animation? What parts do you think would be difficult or challenging to animate?

I talked to the people handling the anime. I felt that they were people I could feel comfortable leaving things to, so I don't have any worries whatsoever. I love anime, but I don't have any experience in making it, so I am leaving it all to them.

Do you have a message for your overseas audience?

Put Chainsaw Man in Avengers! Like in an R-18 category!