“Chainsaw Man” (2022), a twelve-episode Japanese anime television series, adapts Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga series. Denji (Kikunosuke Toya) gets pulled into the world of devil hunting when his dad commits suicide, and he inherits his father’s debt. With the help of Pochita (Shiori Izawa), a chainsaw devil that resembles a cute, fluffy dog with a chainsaw instead of a button nose, he kills devils until he dies. By becoming his heart, Pochita resurrects Denji, and Denji’s luck begins to turn. The catch? He can never pet Pochita again and must join the Public Safety Division 4’s Devil Hunters or get executed himself. Denji is thrilled, but he becomes the number one target of devils everywhere, especially the big bad, who wants his heart.
Denji is an innately sympathetic, neglected adolescent who is willing to sell body parts and risk his life just to survive. He is drawn with blonde hair and is thin with an athletic build. He is also willing to befriend anyone, devil or human, which alarms his supervisor and roommate, Aki Hayakawa (Shôgo Sakata), a neat, responsible human with a personal reason for joining the team. Aki’s role expands over the course of the series with Denji occasionally taking a back seat. Denji’s lack of discrimination comes in handy when he partners with Power (Ai Farouz), a pink haired Blood Fiend who drinks blood and can shape it to wield it into whatever shape that she wants, usually a weapon. She hates human beings and only likes her cat, Meowy. Because she used to live in the wild and hunted, she has hygiene issues, but presents like a hot girl, which she is aware of.
A lot of Denji’s inner dialogue is devoted to lusting after girls and perving out, which is normal for anime, which is likely trying to attract adolescent teens attracted to girls. If you are not accustomed to this type of narrative and/or have lost the ability to ignore such content, it is a big hurdle to overcome at the beginning of the series when Denji is acclimating to his new surroundings. Even though she is obviously out of his league, Makima (Tomori Kusunoki), the head of Public Safety Division 4, is his ultimate goal. The hardest aspect of this plot point is how eager and willing almost every woman character incentivizes him with the promise of sexual favors, especially when they presumably outrank him, have more experience, are not interested and can do the job themselves. Himeno (Mariya Ise), who trained Aki and prefers him, is down to play spicy games as soon as they meet. It may all be a big bait and switch since Denji ends up deciding that it is better to have a meaningful relationship instead of a purely physical one. Unfortunately, the lesson is a bit late after setting up a bunch of emerging young men to be sexual harassers. Don’t try this at home, boys!
One woman can resist Denji’s charms: Kobeni Higashiyama (Karin Takahashi), a Devil Hunter who is in it for the money to financially support her siblings. She is emotionally fragile and seems psychologically ill suited for this kind of profession. On the other hand, she would not hesitate to kill Denji if she thought that it was better for the team, which does not sound like an asset, but when he transforms into the titular character, he is an unstoppable wild man that other devils seem to fear, which drives the plot.
Once the cast expands, and the missions are more than standalone episodes, the story arc becomes more substantial. “Chainsaw Man” ends up really being about gun violence with the offscreen Gun Devil looming as the big bad that everyone is gunning for. Tip your waiters. It is kind of like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” where there are all these supernatural threats then someone dies of random, unforeseeable natural causes except gun death is anything but. Even characters in anime are not immune to senseless violence. To be fair, the Gun Devil does not always act predictably and is also depicted like a sudden weather storm obliterating everything in its path. It is an impactful story arc that does not feel preachy or heavy handed. No Afterschool Specials here. It is also about the emotion that such acts stir up: the fear, terror, anger, etc. For such a violent show, it is impressive that the good guys’ deaths hit so hard each time though the odds are not in their favor.
Also, even when the good guys make good decisions, the impact could have unforeseen long-term consequences. Denji gets an enemy with a personal vendetta, Samurai Sword (Daiki Hamano). In terms of the story arc, even with this review warning you about him, you will not see him coming. He is a fearsome enemy that gets an undeserved ignoble dispatch. He has a partner that won’t be spoiled here, but in anime, it is important to remember not to let appearances fool you. The most indomitable characters often do not look like it.
With a four-hour forty-eight-minute run time, the series is easy to catch up with before “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” (2025), which is a sequel to the series, before it is released in theaters. You can finish all the episodes in one sitting, and it moves incredibly fast. There is a dub version, but I prefer to have subtitles because the original voice actors are speaking in the characters’ mother tongue and presumably have more understanding of the overall cultural context of the series, their characters and the source material. Even if the most talented English-speaking voice actors share the same experience, it is still going to miss something in translation. I do not speak Japanese, but it is possible to multitask and watch the series. Also, the original voice actors are billed as resuming their roles in the film so if you are looking for a seamless viewing experience, it is better to get acclimated to the characters’ voices and reading subtitles now.
After finishing the series, here is my wish list for what I want to see in the movie. I’d like to know more about Makima because she seems shady and does not really seem to care about preserving human life, which is allegedly her mission statement. It also appears that Kishibe (Kenjiro Tsuda), another hunter trainer, is suspicious of her, and I am curious about how they started working together. Also why is he so strong? While I do not want Aki to die, I am curious about his death since a character teases it in the series. I would like more backstory on Pochito because Pochito seems to be the key to everything. I’m assuming that the Gun Devil will finally make an appearance but cannot predict if it is because the hunters find him or he decides to attack them instead of delegating it to another devil.
