Yeah, I’m doing Chainsaw Man. What else could it possibly be with “more teeth” that I teased at the end of the last seasonal writeup? Often times, when picking Seasonal Selection series, I try to pick something… less totally known. Something that I think would be interesting to investigate and shed more light on. This is not one of those times. So far as I’ve seen, Chainsaw Man is not just the most hyped-up show in the season, it’s the most hyped-up show in a long time, at least ignoring later seasons.
Now, part of this may be from fans of the manga, meaning there was a pre-existing base. A manga which, despite enjoying some others that run in a similar sort of conceptual space (Like Dorohedoro or Kaiju No. 8), I am not familiar with. That’s right, I’m doing it blind! My only interface with this series is the press it’s gotten, which pretty much covers what happens in Episode 1 here, and some inevitable encounters with fanart of certain characters, no context given.
So, our first episode opens with our main character, Denji – somewhere around two-thirds of an inexplicably sharp-toothed young man getting buy under a crushing debt to the Yakuza by selling his body parts and hunting down devils with the help of his pug-like chainsaw devil, Pochita.
However, his Yakuza bosses strike a bad deal with a devil themselves, and in so doing bring Denji to be killed, since their new master, the zombie devil (who has turned them all into zombies). They kill Denji and cut him up, and also cut Pochita in half and throw the two of them into a dumpster. However, some of Denji’s spilled blood dribbles into Pochita’s mouth, giving the chainsaw devil the strength to grant Denji its heart and a second chance at life. He gets put back together and emerges, whole and with the new power to turn his hands and head into chainsaws and go to town on all the Yakuza Zombies and their devil master.
After the carnage, the government shows up, forces that were hunting the zombie devil led by an odd, soft-spoken redhead woman. She gives Denji a hug, allowing him to recover his human form (he’s even got both eyes again), and offers him a place in their organization. So that, I suppose, is the plot. It’s also the end of the episode.
One of the things I noticed in this episode is that while this is a hugely gory action show (lots of things get chainsawed to death, with all the blood that entails), it does take a good deal to time to create an atmosphere and explore how our characters feel. We get a good sight of how Denji lives his life (hungry, squalid, and dreaming of petty normalcy like having a girlfriend. Especially having a girlfriend. I’ve got a feeling protagonist status can help with that), and see how he met Pochita, bonded with him, and got involved in Devil Hunting in order to pay his debt.
This makes me feel oddly confident in the show. It’s quite possible to go overly melodramatic with things, but by in large having character development in your show is… good. It’s a good thing, as is having a strong sense of a world. I don’t know much about devils or devil hunters, but the visual designs and general feel of the presentation make me feel like I could understand at least a little of the situation. There’s a palpable sense to the world of some age despite its modernity, and the demons… we’ve really seen three: a tomato demon, a zombie demon, and Pochita. Pochita seems like an outlier, as the other two are… delightfully twisted and insane. These designs hit all the right notes of gribbly and ugly monsters. They’re asymmetrical, somewhat human, somewhat alien, and wholly twisted. If the designs continue to stay so unique and revolting, it’s going to be a good time for horror fans. Denji going to town with his chainsaws, then, is going to be a good time for action fans. The animation in this is, thus far, top notch, with good flow and good direction as well as high detail.
For the drama, I do feel like I need to see more to know where this is going. If it’s a monster of the week affair, it could still be quite good, but I wouldn’t really understand the hype. If it’s got a strong meta-plot, even one that comes around somewhat later, that’s a horse of a different color.