DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ActionChainsaw Man
MUSIC ActionZanki
MUSIC DramaJouzai
MUSICIn the Back Room
MUSIC SupernaturalDainouteki na Rendezvous
MUSIC ActionFight Song
MOVIE ActionChainsaw Man: Reze-hen

REVIEWS

• 

  Jebmond

  55/100
  Chainsaw Man is incredibly mediocre and over-hyped

  It is undeniable that Chainsaw Man has gained a significant amount of popularity in recent years, with many hailing it as a masterpiece of the shounen genre. However, upon closer examination, it becomes clear that this praise is largely undeserved, and that Chainsaw Man is, in fact, an incredibly mediocre and over-hyped series.

  One of the primary reasons for this hype is the high production value of the series, which is often cited as a standout aspect of the show. While it is true that the animation and visuals of Chainsaw Man are impressive, with high-quality action sequences and background design, these elements do not completely make up for the numerous awkward-looking scenes and the heavy reliance on CGI. It seems that much of the show's notoriously high budget was poured into the explosive and visually impressive endings as well as hiring twelve different popular artists to make them, rather than the overall quality of the show itself.

  Furthermore, the story and characters of Chainsaw Man are completely bland and generic, lacking any depth or originality. Most characters fall into very common tropes that have been beaten to death, like Aki, who is the shounen genre’s twentieth Sasuke copy. The plot follows the typical shounen formula of a goofy, a semi-charismatic protagonist fighting against increasingly powerful enemies (with poor and incomprehensible power scaling). But the twist for csm is that this mc’s most stand-out feature is being horny instead of being hungry. With shallow and surface-level character development, the characters themselves are one-dimensional and fail to leave a lasting impression, with most of the side characters simply serving as vehicles for the plot and "huge twists" when side character A & B die an inconsequential death to show how strong the antagonist is.

  To further expand on the lackluster character writing, let's break down a few specific characters. First, Makima, the most beloved character in csm. She is commonly touted as a remarkable and incredibly well-written villain, but in reality, the biggest twist she brings to the table is her gender. If an antagonist was exactly like her, and manipulated Denji in a way that wasn't sexual, then the character would just be incredibly average, and nobody would care about them. Makima isn’t the only character carried on the back of horny anime fans, but Kobeni is too. To be frank, she’s just incredibly unlikable. She only cries and screams and proceeds to make the wrong decision at almost every opportunity. She did only one thing right in this entire season, but she was crying while doing it, and did a half-assed job of it too. For the rest of the main cast, Power and Denji are fine, they serve a decent job as comic relief type characters, but they still aren’t that stand-out in that regard either. I will not elaborate further on Aki being a Sasuke clone, that is the plain and simple truth.

  With all the criticism out of the way, none of that is to say that Chainsaw Man is a horrible show, it is just remarkably average. The high-production value and the one-note characters are enough to derive enjoyment from when watching this anime, at least to the point of not being bored, but this series is nowhere near the masterpiece it is claimed to be. It’s as bland as demon slayer but has a little more gore and more mature aspects but they aren’t handled maturely they’re just used in gross excess that detracts all meaning. But the series possessing those aspects is enough for fans to convince themselves that csm is a profound, deep, and mature work.

  In conclusion, while Chainsaw Man may have impressive production values and action sequences, it is ultimately a mediocre and over-hyped series that fails to deliver in terms of storytelling and character development. Its relatively good fight-scenes and twelve unique endings cannot make up for its shallow and generic narrative, making it just an average to slightly enjoyable watch.

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• 

  Magenta

  85/100
  A great adaptation of a chaotically amazing story, even if some things inevitably get lost in transition.

  Preface: This review is primarily a comparison of the anime adaptation of Chainsaw Man and its source material. If you clicked on this review just for an actual review of the first season of Chainsaw Man’s story, only read the introductory paragraph inside of the quote bubble.

  ---

  This review and comparison contains minor spoilers for Chainsaw Man.

  Chainsaw Man’s draw lies in chaos. It may be mentioned in the same breath as other modern shounen, but it is the odd one out. At times, it can feel like it goes out of its way to break norms and conventions. Its main characters are more governed by primal instincts than those of typical heroes. Characters that are more anchored to reality either die or start to become more detached as the world and characters around them. For nearly half of the entire season, its main character’s primary motivation is to fondle a girl’s boobs. This type of chaotic attitude can get out of hand quickly, leading to an incoherent story. However, Chainsaw Man pulls a very important trick. While it poses under the illusion of chaos, under closer inspection, it's supposed chaos starts to become far more orderly. Chainsaw Man examines what constitutes a normal life as a human being. What does it mean to have a normal life? What does it mean to be human? In its more deranged characters, like Denji and Power, these themes manifest themselves by developing them in ways where they are learning how to feel basic emotions of life, like empathy and motivation. By contrast, the one main character that already has actual motivation and drive, like Aki, learns to detach themselves from it in ways that lets them enjoy the pleasures of life. This is the consistent thematic throughline in this story, even if it is intentionally invisible. It is the glue that keeps Chainsaw Man coherent in its chaos. And it is also what makes it click. What makes Chainsaw Man work is in how it imbues its characters, world, and story with seemingly idiosyncratic elements. Even if these elements don’t seem like they fit together at all, when taken in its whole, it forms a beautiful picture. Although its themes surrounding the nature of humanity aren’t fully matured yet, the seeds are planted for a beautiful blossom.

  8.5/10

  However, to leave a review at just that is to be a tad disingenuous. My short write up can easily apply to both the anime and manga versions of this story, since it only touches on story and plot details. This is a by-product of the anime being extremely faithful to its source material storywise. There is very little deviation from the original storyline, not even breaking from the manga’s weaker plot elements. It is a very faithful adaptation in that sense. Plot is always half of the picture though. In the transition of mediums, presentation needs to be taken as much, if not more into account. Here is where the problem with a Chainsaw Man adaptation lies. Chainsaw Man’s manga is a convention-breaker in the plot-sense, and it also is that way in its presentation.

  Compared to most contemporary popular manga, Chainsaw Man is crude. It lacks much consistency when it comes to art quality, with faces commonly being underdrawn and environments being under detailed or blank. But what it lacks in the detail it gains unique in framing and paneling. In comparison to its competitors, Chainsaw Man’s manga possesses a paneling style that is reminiscent of live action cinematography. There is a real feeling of kinetic motion that can be a bit hard to describe in words.

  Here is an example, take the end of the Leech Devil fight when Aki summons the Fox Devil.

  

  It is hard to express manga panels through AniList images without clogging up the review, so it is best to experience this moment through the turn of a page and not through a horizontal image of all four pages laid out. This moment is Chapter 10, Pages 12-15.

  In three of the four pages where the summoning takes place, the point of view remains stationary. This stationary point of view familiarizes ourselves with the space that is established, from Aki’s point of view. When Aki’s hand moves upwards, it goes from the bottom panel of the first page into encompassing the full second page. Although it cuts back to Aki briefly, the fourth panel features the Fox Devil encompassing the full page, eating the Leech Devil. The framing of objects in the moment leads to a feeling as if we are looking at Aki’s point of view, staring down at the Leech Devil. What makes this moment most impressive is that motion is established through the simple turn of a page. Our brains can fill in what happened within the page turn, leading to an illusion of movement. It is like how animation fools our minds with smooth movement despite being a series of moving images, but it is through a medium made up of solely stationary pictures.

  Here is that same moment in the anime:

  The end of the Leech Devil fight in the anime has the animation, it has the higher visual fidelity, it has the sound effects, but it isn’t nearly as special as its manga counterpart. This isn’t due to any changes in the framing of the moment, because it is nearly the same. By complete necessity, the motion of Aki’s hand movement has to be explicitly stated by the animation. However, a sense of motion in a medium where things don’t typically move is different from a sense of motion in a medium where everything moves. It is just that this moment specifically works because it is in a manga format. Although its techniques are replicants of those found in audiovisual mediums, the end product ends up having an impact that only something in a manga might have. Any attempt to transition it into animation would water it down due to the juxtaposition of techniques and mediums being completely gone. In transitioning into an audiovisual medium like animation, much of the appeal of a moving camera being emulated on paper is lost when it no longer becomes emulated. Much of the more clever moments of paneling get dampened in their anime-equivalents just due to them not being in a manga format anymore. Moments where techniques that were adapted into the manga medium were used can’t have nearly the same impact just due to those techniques being used prevalently elsewhere. Other moments where this type of paneling technique that is lost in adaptation happens in moments like when Power kills the Sea Cucumber Devil, the beginning of the Katana Man fight, etc.

  Much of a Chainsaw Man adaptation would be difficult just due to Tatsuki Fujimoto’s idiosyncratic style of art and manga. He is an unconventional mangaka, but he is one that would squeeze the most out of the medium he is working within. Chainsaw Man is great because he can consistently push the medium to its near limit. However, an anime adaptation of Chainsaw Man can’t do that without a direction that is comparable to the manga’s creation of cinematography in a flat space. That is a hard task, and any attempt to create a new direction without a strong idea or foundation could lead it to easily backfire. So the anime adaptation plays things very safe in terms of visual direction for the most part. Although a scene like the Fox Devil summoning is far better in manga format, the anime adaptation of it was probably the safest way to adapt it. The risk of unwatchability of a scene is persistent when not every element of it is in tune.

  At the end of the day, adaptation relies on interpretation. How one would understand Chainsaw Man is key to knowing what they would think about the manga or anime. Is it prestige shounen or is it something else entirely? If you have been reading this review, you may see that I have a very strong preference towards the “something else” angle, but all pieces of media are subject to one’s own interpretation, and to act like there is a correct answer to this question is to be a ridiculous person. Media is made for its medium, and to adapt it into something else will naturally involve infusing one’s interpretation of the work within it. MAPPA’s anime adaptation of Chainsaw Man leans a lot more towards the “prestige shounen” angle, which is a very valid interpretation of what Chainsaw Man as a story is. Even if the visual direction isn’t in the direction that I would like, it is still visually stunning. I know that I have been poo-pooing this entire adaptation for this entire review, but just know that it is because of very subjective factors that are inevitable. Just know one thing,

  ---

  This Adaptation Is Very Very Good

  ---

  Just because Chainsaw Man stands out among prestigious shounen, doesn't mean its anime adaptation loses out on the full love and care that other prestige shounen have in their adaptation. As a matter of fact, saying something is “prestige shounen” is usually far from derogatory when discussing presentation. Like others like it, the visuals and animation is top-class. Obviously, the fight scenes are a feast for the eyes. Sure, the CGI is a bit noticeable at times, but it doesn’t look so bad that I would start an online petition over it. That is the thing that jumps out the most with the visuals, as is with any of the anime’s contemporaries. However, the anime has an absurd amount of detail in its environments. The manga’s underdeveloped backgrounds are now contrasted with the anime’s overdetailed backgrounds.

  

  look at this hallway, it looks so good, i think i am legitimately obsessed with it

  Combined with extraordinary sound design, the Chainsaw Man anime becomes one of the most immersive anime in recent memory. This culminates in the sequence of Aki’s morning routine, a nearly two minute long anime-original sequence at the end of Episode 4. His morning routine is absurdly overdetailed and absurdly well animated.

  ---

  _uh, my computer’s storage is full so i can’t download the video of aki’s routine and put it in my review_ _go watch it on your VERY LEGAL anime streaming service of choice, and if you have already watched it, go watch it again, it is the thing the anime medium has been leading up to for a 100 years_

  ---

  However, if there is one singular blemish on this adaptation, it would have to be the rather dull color palette. Chainsaw Man is a chaotic story, and judging from many of the volume covers, and even the EDs, it should have a very colorful color palette. A chaotic story and a chaotic cast of characters should breed chaotic colors. However, the color palette of the anime remains extremely dull. Compare this moment from the anime and the manga.

  

  The manga lacks any color, but it makes up for it in contrast. That contrast between the light outside and the darkness in the cart car is what sells the moment in the manga. In the anime, there is a little bit of contrast, but it is dampened by everything looking extremely gray. Considering the existence of nearly every piece of Chainsaw Man media and the colorful color palettes of most other prestige shounens, this is a very weird flaw for this show specifically to have.

  ---

  Well that was a bit of a negative note to leave on. I can’t think of a better way to transition into the conclusion though, so yeah.

  ---

  Chainsaw Man’s anime provides a good lesson in adaptation. The change in medium will always lead to a different story being told. Even if all plot beats are completely retained, there will always be a wrench that forces a change to happen. The more entrenched that piece of media is within its source medium, the harder it becomes. Going from manga to anime is comparatively way easier than say, from anime to live action, but it still provides its own challenges. Losing aspects in adaptation is inevitable. To try to adapt everything completely faithfully is to play a fool’s game. If you fail, people will just go and see the source material since it does everything you tried to do but better. The key in adapting faithfully is to build off its own strengths completely unique to it while still retaining the original’s feeling and story.

  Is the Chainsaw Man anime better than its manga? I don’t really think so. The manga provides a far more unique experience that would be hard to find elsewhere. The anime is forced to whittle down many of its more unique elements, and just for that, I think that it is worse. However, there is a very strong argument to be made that it is better. The truncated uniqueness of the story is made up for by having some of the best animation there is to offer in the industry as well as being one of the most immersive. Chainsaw Man’s anime and manga are both very good pieces of media that I would highly recommend. It is just that they are very good in two different directions.

  ---

  Thank you for reading to the end of the review if you did. If you have any criticisms of how this review was made, you are free to message me or reply under this activity to critique what I had to say.

  Also, please don’t like or dislike the review without reading it.

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• 

  Mcsuper

  79/100
  The New Cultural Phenomenon Has Met Most Expectations

  Chainsaw Man was with no doubt the most hyped up anime of this entire year, and I can see why. Not only is it a battle shonen, but it also features a very intriguing cast of characters, and one of the more unique protagonists out there. With its popularity, it’d be near impossible to meet the anime community’s expectations, and from what I’ve heard from people, some love it, and some are just okay with it. As for me, an anime-only for this show, it met my expectations for the most part, as a solid, entertaining show, with some good production and music to boot.

  STORY:

  It’s quite difficult to explain what Chainsaw Man is, because it’s quite chaotic, but the synopsis does a good job of explaining the beginning. What I liked from the premise was how Denji started from rock bottom, but not in your typical shonen fashion where their family or loved ones die, and then a revenge story ensues. Denji’s dreams are simple, it’s not to defeat devils or anything, but just to get a girlfriend and cop a feel in process, probably relatable to some extent to some people out there.

  The story isn’t really anything special, but it works better than your “demon of the week” type of story. While it does have that sort of feeling sometimes, you get a feel for some of the characters too, it’s not just fighting all the time. There’s some slice of life mixed in, as well as some… let’s say… intriguing comedy. Fujimoto always knows how to make an intriguing plot after all.

  ART:

  The animation is generally good, as the production was good throughout. I know some of you might have wanted two consecutive cours (24-26 episodes) for this show, but I guarantee you, it would have looked way worse if that was the case. MAPPA was still likely on an extremely tight schedule, and their employees must have gone through hell and back, but the product we got was still good for the most part. The background shots gave us more of a cinematic approach, which looks great, but doesn’t necessarily fit the grittiness of the manga. The action sequences looked good most of the time, with some janky CGI some of the time, which is to be expected given the production timeline.

  MUSIC:

  They went all out with the music, and Kensuke Ushio did a great job with the soundtrack, capturing the dark atmosphere well. The opening was good, but those endings were definitely the highlight of the entire show. As for my favourite endings, I’d say ED 5 (“In the Back Room” by Syudou), and ED 7 (“Chu, Tayosei” by Ano), were my favourites. Very different genres of music at play here, and I appreciated them a lot.

  CHARACTERS:

  The cast was quite unique to watch for sure, and that’s what makes this show stand out from other shonens. Denji is your relatable teenage guy, and makes quite the comedic moments, along with Power, a loud and extremely funny character. Denji and Power’s interactions were absolutely hilarious. Aki and Himeno were another good duo, and made for some of the more darker and emotional moments in the season. Kobeni was to some people, probably a little annoying, but for me, she’s a fine character, adorable too, and she acts just like if a random passersby were to be thrown in a situation like the devil hunters face every day. Makima is quite the mysterious character, and it seems like she’ll be developed further in the future.

  ENJOYMENT:

  I generally enjoyed most of the episodes, and had some laughs along the way, sometimes even got a little emotional too.

  THEMATIC EXECUTION:

  The themes were executed quite well, with Denji’s theme of just enjoying life being pretty relatable. The atmosphere was quite unique too, and the comedic and dark aspects were balanced well, with the tonal shifts not being much of an issue.

  OVERALL:

  I wouldn’t say this was the best anime this season, but it was definitely a very entertaining one. It felt quite unique for a shonen, and I enjoyed Chainsaw Man more than some other shonens for sure. The music stood out the most to me, especially the endings, which I still listen to a lot. Overall, a fun experience for sure, and one that most anime fans will enjoy to some extent.

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