Review of Chainsaw Man

This is the only prequel to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. After the highly successful Jujutsu Kaisen, MAPPA is back with another bizarre shonen. MAPPA is not a stranger to CGI animation. Doroheroro and the new Attack on Titan are prime examples. Even though there’s clear usage of CGI, the animation for Chainsaw Man felt different. The action scenes looked significantly smoother and more realistic compared to Dorohedoro. It is like a mixture with hand-drawn animation. One thing I loved about Jujutsu Kaisen is the characters. They all had weird and care-free personalities that made them standout and memorable. Chainsaw Man characters are on a whole newlevel though. Denji, for example, is not your typical shonen protagonist with a righteous moral compass. Instead, he had small, seemingly bizarre yet relatable and practical goals.

Not only were the characters weird, they were also mysterious. Makima is a prime example. There’s still a lot to unpack, but every time she appears, there’s always a sense of uneasiness that radiated from her. Her and the other characters create an uncomfortable atmosphere that I have never seen before in a shonen anime.

Also unconventional was the storytelling. Jujutsu Kaisen and Dorohedoro are both weird anime, but there’s clear senses of directions in their stories. Chainsaw Man though, is almost completely unpredictable. There are parts that came out of nowhere and just left me in utter shock. Prime example is that episode 8 that made me in shell-shock and loss for words. I have never experienced that since The Red Wedding from GOT.

There’s a lot of uniqueness in this anime that I appreciated. However, not everything landed, and I still feel conflicted about some parts of the story. I think that overtime this anime will grow more on me, and I will love it even more. 8.5-9/10