Chainsaw Man

Manga creator Tatsuki Fujimoto together with studio MAPPA breaks kneecaps with their outrageous animation adaptation of Chainsaw Man, which integrates both 2D animation and CGI visuals to create an aesthetic showpiece of a kind.

We follow the protagonist of this story by the name of Denji, who is robbed of a normal teenage life, left with nothing but his deadbeat father’s overwhelming debt. His only companion is his pet, the chainsaw devil Pochita, with whom he slays devils for money that inevitably ends up in the yakuza’s pockets.

Straight out the bat, we as the audience are shown that in this world of Chainsaw Man, little compassion exists, money rules everything around you and as long as you have something to give, someone, devil or fiend will want to take a piece of you no matter what.

This is further elaborated without exaggeration when a young Denji mentions that he’s had to sell not only his right eye but his left ball and kidneys too, all in the hopes of living another day.

Yet still, the young man and his pet chainsaw devil Pochita continue to live life to the best of their abilities until they are one day betrayed by their debt collector and this is when the story completely flips on its head.

Our protagonist Denji is killed in the very first episode, however, with his dying breath Pochita offers its devil heart to Denji, and thus is how Chainsaw Man is born. Giving Denji a new life and a new body where he can create chainsaw’s from his body and heal any of his wounds by drinking blood.

What makes Chainsaw Man special even for a Shounen animation is that the protagonist isn’t looking for anything sentimental like revenge even though he was betrayed, his not motivated by generic reasoning, such as a better world or commodity of the sorts.

There is a harmonic balance in Chainsaw Man that gives the audience just enough humor that will leave you tearing up in laughter or agony that will you wailing at the sight of losing a lovable character.

Denji is a man, that’s inspired and driven by the fear of not dying a virgin. Everything he does is motivated by the singular thought of laying with Makima, which is an even crazier thought because Makima isn’t your typical devil hunter.

Makima is such a mystery, and I can’t wait to find out more about her. Her voice actor Tomori Kusunoki does a phenomenal rendition of her character, always calm and composed and yet you’re never certain whether it’s a warning or a threat.

As for the other characters, we have Power, who’s a devil that’s taken over a human body and is thus deemed a Fiend because of the horns on her head. She can manipulate blood and shape it into any weapon of her choice but is always saying the most far-fetched things like she’s going to win a noble prize. Can you imagine a Fiend winning a noble prize lol?

However, you can’t help but love her character as she’s energetic, animated, quick to lie to save her behind, and willing to throw anyone under the bus if it means her survival.

There is also Aki Hayakawa who seems to be the main driver behind the first season and his mentor Himeno.

Their relationship was such a bliss to watch on screen as you could tell that Himeno genuinely liked Aki for the person that he was and even tried to get him to leave his pursuit of the gun devil and only stayed in the public sector to be able to be close to him even though that inevitably lead to her death.

Chainsaw Man is not only a story about the main character and his aspirations it’s a story about how everything and everyone including devils are connected in one way or another even after death.

Not everything is black and white, there are different hues as not every devil is out to harm humans just as not every human is out there assisting other humans, some humans are working together with devils and vice versa. It’s a perplexing convoluted story but incredibly interesting and funny.

For this, I give Chainsaw Man 5 out of 5 ratings.

Let me know in the comments section below whether you agree or disagree with my review and let’s get the conversation started.

You can watch Chainsaw Man on multiple streaming sites such as Hulu, Crunchyroll, Disney+, and more. You’ll thank me later.

Thanks for reading another review from, LSR.