This Week in Anime
Does Chainsaw Man Live Up to the Hype?
by Monique Thomas & Christopher Farris,
The Chainsaw Man anime is finally here! Does it live up to the manga's sterling reputation? Manga fans Chris and Nicky weigh in on the first six episodes.
This series is streaming on Crunchyroll
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.
Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.
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Well Nicky, this is the big one. The momentous centerpiece of this Fall season we were all looking forward to: The latest role for Shiori Izawa, voice of TWIA favorite, Heybot!
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Once again we stand in the shadow of gremlin-voiced greatness.
Thanks for that reminder. I'll never look at this adorable pupper with saw blades sticking out of its face ever again! While we're being devilish, did you know that everyone's new favorite gremlin waifu was inspired by South Park? I present to you and everyone reading this column, Anime Girl Eric Cartman!
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God help us.
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Hope everyone's got their popcorn ready because This Week, we're taking a sharp look at Chainsaw Man!
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Seriously, Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga was already a bona fide modern classic (can confirm, I read the whole thing!), and the gears turning behind this show were determined to turn it into a mega hit. It can be daunting to even talk about the anime itself, as any discussion at this point feels obligated to address it as an adaptation of Chainsaw Man the manga, alongside its impossibly ambitious promises.
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But six whole episodes in, I think our humble little column can definitively decide if this anime lives up to its hype!
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Not an intentional pun on Denji's missing eye here, one which he sold for money to pay off the massive amount of debt left to him by his deceased abusive father.
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I'm a big fan of Fujimoto's style myself. That loose line art conveys a grungy tone that grounds the story of Chainsaw Man. MAPPA hones in on the "grounded" aspect, going for a filmic feel which you'd think would do the manga artist proud, massive cinephile as he's known for being.
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It's a bold choice, I think, for a series that previously achieved notoriety for coming off wild 'n' wacky. But it paid off in the anime; it has its own distinct vibes compared to other shonen battle-action anime adaptations.
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Small wonder he swears fealty to the first person who shows any affection to him at all.
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Though if my Twitter feed is any indication, he's not alone in that.
His division leader Makima pities his half-human, half-devil status like one pities a stray animal, granting him food, a warm place to sleep—and most importantly, a job.
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But Denji's status as a partial devil means he doesn't really have any choice in her offer. He either proves himself useful to the society or gets killed by it. As we learn that the workforce is largely survivors or other disenfranchised (read: disposable) folk, the sketchiness levels only increase.
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Each episode having a different song and animation to go with it is absolutely another way this adaptation is all-out bonkers. Only the first episode reuses episode footage. None of the song choices miss either.
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The EDs are one of the few places where the anime feels like it's letting itself cut loose with the "crazy" style of the manga, and they are a treat.
Rounding back to that story, though, the recruitment tactics for Public Safety dig into one of the big driving ideas of Chainsaw Man: whether worthwhile genuine connection can come from transactional relationships. Aki up there is a Sasuke-type whose motivation of revenge is such an obvious trope that multiple characters call it out immediately.
But even then, Aki's single-minded goal means he can perceive value in those he's otherwise antagonistic towards, like Denji, and defend them if only as a means to an end.
Is it a path to genuine friendship? That remains to be seen, but the thesis is that all relationships must begin from needing something (emotional support, physical desire, collaborative combat ability), and that doesn't make it a necessarily bad, selfish starting point.
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Denji's not even the only devil on the squad. Power is also one, though different than Denji in that she's not a human and is simply a devil taking over a human's body, known as a fiend.
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And yes, like the rest of the hype she really is an amusing character.
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It says a lot that the anime adaptation pointedly skipped over some of Denji's earlier adventures in Public Safety just so they could introduce her by the second episode.
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Also she's voiced by Ai Fairouz aka Jolyne from Jojo's Part 6, so it's a double-win.
Even more than Aki, Power makes the concept of relationships in these early episodes easy to follow. We can tell she and Denji will grow close eventually—just look at them skanking it up like dorks together in the OP!
But at the start, they are only assigned to work together by Makima, with Power specifically utilizing Denji for her personal goals, while he's motivated to assist her through even... simpler... suggestions of rewards.
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Also, I can't see a train car shot like this without feeling some distinct Eva inspo. Denji and Power definitely seem like a more modern take on characters such as Shinji and Asuka.
Though that aforementioned OP does feature a direct Eva shoutout, so what the hell do I know.
Still, even as they're at the stage of begrudgingly using each other, you already get a great sense for the kind of dopey dynamic that could lead Denji and Power to become genuine friends. His blatant shift into pretending to care about her cat when the promise of boob fondling is on the line is funny enough on its own, but Power's enthused gasps along with him indicate that they may be more on the same wavelength than they're willing to admit.
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It makes it feel that much more appropriate, then, that a turning point in their relationship comes from Denji the horndog actually catching the car he was chasing and realizing it wasn't even remotely what he was hoping for!
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This scene served as a fantastic punch line in the manga, and I am so glad it's a place where the folks at MAPPA got it 100% right.
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Besides, Denji winds up further bonding with Power anyway via clowning on Aki. And dealing with the rest of the squad weirdos as they head out on their first big mission together.
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It's a great scene because it shows that Denji really doesn't have a lot of nuance when it comes to relationships, even though he wants things out of them.
In fairness to Denji, I also gotta take a minute to call myself out here and say that even though I trust Makima as far as I could throw her, I'm not immune to horny propaganda.
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Helps that, yeah, Himeno's pretty great.
Like, what's the positive version of Makima's manipulation? I feel like that's what she's doing here.
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Is that genuine concern for Aki's life, or mostly Himeno not wanting to grapple with the burden of another dead partner? That's the complexity of human relationships, and that's Chainsaw Man, baby!
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Black Lagoon already taught me this was the deepest level of intimacy.
However, if you're inexperienced and don't even got any shit to keep, well then, your name is Kobeni and you're a fucking wreck.
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Theorem that proposes the more unflattering the Chainsaw Man character is depicted, the more you like them.
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Which is a roundabout way of getting to saying: Stick with her, anime viewers, because I already know that the tragedy Katamari that is Kobeni's whole existence only escalates to a more entertaining scale from here.
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And right, that is a key point to Kobeni's portrayal. She was still roped into joining the Public Safety Division, but unlike the extreme anime backstories of the likes of Denji and Aki, in Kobeni's case it was on account of much more mundane capitalistic manipulations. A thoroughly everyday disaster of a person.
I was worried that an anime treatment of Chainsaw Man might tone down what a sweaty, snotty mess Kobeni constantly is, and I never should have doubted them.
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The world may suck and our jobs may suck, but we can forge connections with those weird sad people to mitigate that suckage. Sometimes, any port in a storm is a manipulative government boss lady, but other times it's a fun fiend pal with aspirations of infrastructure reform!
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