Chainsaw Man Review

Chainsaw Man has become the talk of the town for anime lovers all around the world, and for excellent reasons. The long-awaited adaptation is finally airing, and fans can’t help but dissect every aspect of the anime and put it under the microscope. With many fans admiring the dark, gore-filled, brutal visualization of the human world, some can’t help but criticize the use of CGI to make it happen. 

But then again, if we look at the staggering number of views the trailers for this anime have received so far, you can tell it’s easily the most anticipated anime of this year! And while it’s only been a few weeks since Chainsaw Man started airing, I have already made some early impressions of the series. 

It’s DARK but Realistic 

In the anime world, some of the most popular anime series happen to revolve around the old-school concept of good and evil, light and darkness; you know how it goes. But my first impressions of Chainsaw Man tell me this will be somewhat different. Of course, I haven’t gone through the Manga (which only makes the whole thing much more exciting), but I can tell this anime isn’t about the protagonist fighting for the good side against the evil.

Chainsaw Man exposes viewers to a much darker view of the world where human fears transform into real demons who freely roam around and threaten the existence of humanity. But that doesn’t seem to concern Denji, the series’s protagonist and an orphan (like 99% of all the protagonists in a Shonen anime). But that’s not it; Denji has also inherited a massive debt from his dead father that he now has to pay off.

However, things are not all bad for him, as he has a demon dog with a chainsaw on its head for a friend, who also makes pretty cute noises. But that’s about all the cuteness I’ve seen in Chainsaw Man so far; the rest of the world is as bleak and unforgiving as it gets. So much so that Denji even has to sell one of his testicles for food. 

So, unlike any other anime protagonist whose motivation is to train hard and become the leader of a small village or fight for the survival of humanity, Denji here only has one purpose: to get through the day with some food on his plate. If he gets to touch Makima’s… books (you know what I mean), that’d be the cherry on top for him. That brings us to Makima, the leader of the group of Demon Hunters, who persuades Denji to join them after he massacres the members of the Yakuza family for their betrayal.

…With a LOT of Blood

Now, one of the reasons why everyone was so excited about this anime was its brutal and gore-filled fight scenes featuring gruesome executions, which hit the spot in its first couple of episodes. The animations were fluid, as they should be, but the only thing that I and a lot of fans couldn’t resist pointing out was the inclusion of CGI. This isn’t something new. I have seen many anime do this for scenes that would otherwise take a lot of time to animate in 2D.

And to be honest, I don’t think anything is wrong with this approach, as long as the CGI blends perfectly with the rest of the animated scene… which is the case here in Chainsaw Man. There’s no denying that the CGI is noticeable in most scenes, but it doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb. MAPPA has done a great job blending it with the rest of the scene. So, I am not complaining since you get used to the whole CGI thing after watching an episode or two. 

After all, this is where I see modern anime heading in the near future. So, it has to start from somewhere, and so far, the CGI that many fans are furious about isn’t even half as bad as they make it out to be. Instead, they add to the melancholy vibes of this evil-infested world that sparks up as soon as the first drop of blood starts spewing up. So, as far as the use of CGI is concerned, I think Chainsaw Man makes excellent use of it without letting it distract you too much.

A Longggg Way to go…

As I said earlier, Chainsaw Man is still in its infancy, with only a handful of episodes out for the world to see. And while it does give us enough to develop our first impressions of the series, there’s still a long way to go. A lot of people think that it was overhyped, and I agree. I’ve never seen an anime premier get so much attention. For comparison, Chainsaw Man’s trailers got just as many views as season four of the legendary Attack on Titan without having released any other season before; that’s just unbelievable. 

So, it was overhyped, but the result has been satisfying for me, to say the least. Chainsaw Man doesn’t disappoint. It takes the tried and tested elements of popular shonen like My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen, and One Piece and gives it a much darker and bleak touch. And it seems to be working wonders for the series so far!