What is a young boy who has chainsaws coming out of his body to do but laugh as he slaughters his enemies? This is a cruel and absurd story, but that only reflects the cruel and absurd world the characters live in. Denji is not eager to take on the world, but also desperate not to be swallowed up by its horrors. On paper, Denji doesn't seem much more different than Luffy in terms of his hunger to reach a goal, his eccentric behavior, or his awkward interactions with others, but the reason for them being the way they are could not be more different. That is Chainsaw Man's secret sauce: how it takes tried and tested tropes of shonen anime like One Piece and My Hero Academia, and twists them into something quite cynical. Our young protagonist may fight Devils on the daily, but he doesn't flinch at the sight of them, because his horrors are much more real and present. If you thought Squid Game's portrayal of the horrors of being in debt was bleak, wait until you see what Denji has done to try and ease the burden a bit.
We're talking Attack on Titan level of darkness, and it is not even because of the Devils or the absurdly gory violence, but because of the Dickensian exploration of working-class woes. Other than Pochita being the cutest thing you have ever seen, Chainsaw Man is incredibly bleak. With the help of the chainsaw coming out of Pochita's forehead, Denji works as a Devil hunter for the yakuza, slowly paying off his debt and trying not to starve in the meantime. The premiere introduces us to Denji, a destitute kid working to pay off an absurdly high debt he inherited from his father, and whose only friend in the world is an adorable demon-dog thing named Pochita. These Devils give contracts to people to use their powers, with some using them for evil, and some using them to hunt other Devils. Anything from tomatoes to insects to sharks to guns to darkness devils can take scary shape in this universe. It’s set in a world where human fears take physical form and become Devils who wreak havoc across the Earth. Every trailer released for this show has got viewership numbers on par with the last season of Attack on Titan, despite having not aired a single episode yet, and somehow Studio MAPPA delivers. There is arguably no anime premiere this year that is as eagerly anticipated as Chainsaw Man, the adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga.
Once the titular Chainsaw Man makes an appearance, all hell breaks loose, and MAPPA delivers one of the coolest and bloodiest scenes to be animated in quite a long time, and this is only the beginning.
This is the Chainsaw Man adaptation we've been waiting for! In its premiere, the highly anticipated anime delivers a gnarly, brutal, violent, but also kind of heartwarming episode with some great gallows humor and surprisingly poignant themes.
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