Different anime themes played in the large Empire Hall of New York City Comic Con and all of the fans sang along. I couldn’t help but look around the room to just take it all in. I was in the room for the panel I was most excited about at NYCC. If I told the Dan who last attended NYCC over 10 years ago that he would be most excited for an anime premiere, he would have laughed at me. But here I now was, front row as press, for the premiere of Chainsaw Man. It’s the only manga that I sat and read from start to finish in a single sitting. Denji, Power, and the crew have had a stranglehold on me since. So to say my expectations for the anime adaptation were high would be an understatement. But with the teeth of a chainsaw, every one of my dreams came true.
Chainsaw Man follows a dumbass named Denji who’s never eaten cake NOR touched boobs. His life is spent hunting devils for the Yakuza to pay back a debt he was passed from his father. After tragedy strikes again, Denji and his pet devil Pochita are merged to make the Chainsaw Man. From there, he is recruited as a more legit devil hunter.
The show was animated by MAPPA whose other work includes Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, and some of Attack on Titan. They’re one of the heaviest hitters in the animation space for anime so I was excited to see the style they brought to Chainsaw Man. It’s such a crisp representation of the darkness that the series contains while still retaining a very human fluidity to its characters. One of my fears for the adaptation was that it would remove a lot of the horror and gore elements that made the series special to me. With direction from Ryū Nakayama and Makoto Nakazono, none of it is lost but maybe even improved for the show. When you first get to see Chainsaw Man in action, it’s a visceral gory explosion of action and body horror from his arms literally being split by two.
From the show’s opening moments, we get to see a much darker world populated with devils and evil people alike. There is a recurring theme of a door in the manga which is an essential narrative element that is done perfectly in the opening episode. With all that being said, the comedy elements of the series weren’t present in the first episode.
At the premiere, they didn’t show the opening title sequence but now that the first episode is on Crunchyroll, I’ve watched them a few times. From the sequence alone, it’s clear the series is going to get the book’s humor and outright horniness very well. I’m not sure I’d call it fan service because the horniness is built right into the DNA of the series itself with one of the main character’s objectives being simply to touch boobs.
Chainsaw Man rules. Getting to see it on the big screen with so many fans rules at NYCC also ruled. Getting to hear the cast talk about their experience with the series in full costume as their characters rules. If you want a perfect blend of the three essential H’s of GateCrashers (Horror, Horny, and Humor) then you need to check out Chainsaw Man!
You can watch it now on Crunchyroll! It’s currently only subbed but the dub is coming soon on October 25th!
