What if our fears came to life as monsters? That’s exactly what’s happening in the world of “Chainsaw Man.”
The anime follows Denji (Ryan Levi), an orphaned teenager who inherited his family’s debt to the Yakuza. He kills devils for them with his pet devil, the chainsaw devil named Pochita, after selling off parts of his body. Despite being an asset, the Yakuza decide to kill Denji early in the show after they formed an alliance with the zombie devil. In a stark departure from most anime, Denji legitimately dies, but is brought back to life by Pochita, who replaces his heart and becomes a part of Denji, allowing him to tap into his chainsaw power. This draws the attention of the Public Safety Division — a branch of the Japanese government responsible for overseeing its devil hunters.
Public Safety agents have a grim mortality rate, which prompts Aki (Reagan Murdock), the veteran devil hunter who is charged with looking after Denji, to try to scare him off. In response, Denji kicks him in the testicles repeatedly.
Arguably the strongest element of “Chainsaw Man” is its humor. Denji is an immature protagonist with very simple goals similar to Monkey D. Luffy of “One Piece” — he just wants to be fed everyday, have clean clothes, take a shower and experience sexual intimacy with a woman. He is a teenager, and the last one is probably 90 percent of his character motivation.
It greatly contrasts to the motivation of characters like Aki, who wants to kill the gun devil — the season’s main antagonist — for killing his family. Aki serves as the straight man to Denji’s antics, as well as Power’s (Sarah Wiedenheft) when she is introduced.
Power is the blood fiend — which is a step down from devil — and as such is initially very feral; she enjoys killing and eating people and would be doing so if she wasn’t on such a short leash with Public Safety. She serves as an obnoxious surrogate sister to Denji that the show uses to create comedic scenarios.
There’s also Ms. Makima (Suzie Young), Aki, Denji and Power’s boss, who serves as Denji’s love interest, though it is clear that Makima gives Denji attention to keep him in line and control him. Her moral compass is incredibly murky, as she is not above sacrificing lives if it brings her closer to her goals.
The show is also expectedly gory, but surprisingly not excessively so. The show’s fight scenes feel few and far in between and are remarkably brief — the action in “Vinland Saga” Season 1 is arguably more graphic than this.
Season 1 felt like a good introduction to these characters and this world but its story feels woefully incomplete. Clocking in at 12 episodes, Season 1’s sample size just feels too small to properly gauge the show. Season 2 I think will determine weather or not this show has staying power, or if there’s not much to it beyond the initial shock and surprises of Season 1.
“Chainsaw Man” Season 1 gets a 7.9/10
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