Review of Chainsaw Man

I had high hopes for chainsaw man due to hearing that the manga was amazing, I was interested and decided to watch the first episode when it released. Little did I know that I would be hyping up every Tuesday afternoon to watch the new episode of chainsaw man for the next 12 weeks. Chainsaw man's stunning first episode is what made me extremely intrigued with the show, the tone of this first episode is slighlt different to most of the show, but fits very well. The shows storytelling is top notch, withholding information whilst grounding you into the Man character’s shoes, this is best usedin episode 1. This tone and storytelling’s effect on the watcher is a muddled one, this is used to get a feeling of confusion and misdirection in the watcher, what to trust?, who to trust? Who is trustworthy? very good questions I kept asking myself throughout the show. This muddling of a dark story and tone are strangely contrasted with moments of comedy and optimism, this highlights the darker moments spectacularly showing the depravities and wickedness of the world of chainsaw man, the effect on the viewer is that they are lulled into a weird state of happiness and calm which is crushed by moments of horror and sadness. This brings me to Characters: the characters of chainsaw man are a very wide spectrum of personalities, goals and beliefs, again the trust question is raised as we question which characters are worth gaining the support of the viewer, all characters hence feel alive and real, most importantly they are realistically unpredictable making the show quite a spectacle. This is also shown when our grounded protagonist is more and more alienated to us due to his naivety and misguided trust towards characters who we don’t. The optimism of Denji in a very pessimistic world makes him seem out of touch, but serves to remind the audience of the horror of reality as many a time, Denji is used as the butt of the joke or used in a comedic way, sometimes this comes in a happy, nice situation, we’re the tone is light, but is also used when the tone is dark and depressing. This highlights Denji’s strangeness as a character but also mocks other anime’s overly optimistic protagonists, Denji’s world is perceived In a much different way than other characters, it’s extremely care-free and simple when the world we(and other characters) perceive is dark and depressing, this comes to light in the later parts of season 1. The contrast of tones is used extremely well to shape your concept of Chainsaw man’s world, is it happy? No it’s brutal, unforgiving, and bleak yet characters such as Denji still find the light in those dark situations even if it’s at the detriment to more depressed, bleak characters, such as Aki. Fights, a big part of this show and chainsaw man nails them, fights feel alive, desperate but also realistic in a way, when a character like Aki fights it’s seems very grounded, rough but accurate, even panicky at times being quite realistic, but when a character like Denji fights, it’s over the top, crazy and has that rather very anime feel to them whilst making them uniquely well choreographed. both fighting styles are well shown and representative of characters and emotion, they both work very well for the show’s tone and story.
Negatives wise, the pacing is quite fast, maybe too fast, but I have a feeling that it’s going to play nicely into the writing and direction the show is taking
This show is not finished (only season 1 is out), review subject to change. (I am willing to give this show a 10 or an 8 after viewing more of the show)