Review of Chainsaw Man

There’s a story but it’s on in the background. There’s not much patience put into building the world from the ground up, it takes for granted that you have a vague idea of what a demon is, and why the Public Safety Bureau exists, and as a result doesn’t really bother to give an origin point, preferring to focus on the characters. The power-scaling of demons – their power being based on how scary they are – is a clever way to give an immediate indication of how powerful a demon is without having to go into arbitrary definitions. The way demons arehandled as well – the person in control of the demon having to sacrifice a part of themselves – gives a sense of consequence to each fight.

A big deal was made out of mappa making all the slaves working on the show young adults “to give a sense of youth,” Clearly a publicity stunt – clearly it worked. The animation is normal, it’s to a good standard, it definitely improved JJK’s second season, but it’s not like it has a defined style that’s always interesting to look at.

Scenes lack the appropriate weight in Chainsaw Man, making everything that happens feel inconsequential. They aren’t built up properly, shots never seem to last long enough, the music assigned has negligible impact, and you can physically feel the chapter breaks from the manga between certain scene transitions in certain episodes, like when the gang are trapped in the time-loop house, and it suddenly switches to a backstory portion despite the episode already being in the B portion of its runtime (as an aside, the house section is strangely serious and weak as a result). Transitions between scenes in general are too casual, the framing of most shots are impersonal – everything lacks the impact it should have. Power’s introduction, the opening credits, the silence when the ghost offers Aki a cigarette – none of these scenes call the necessary attention to themselves. They just happen.

Which is sort of realistic? The characters are sort of realistic, the dialogue is sort of realistic. You can’t accuse Chainsaw Man of the same hysterical failings as most anime. It doesn’t take itself seriously. It may be cynical in how it depicts human relationships (everyone is motivated purely by self-interest) and cynical in how it writes women (Makima: manipulative, Power: egotistical, Kobeni: weak-willed, Himeno: conniving) and it has a lot of gore, but it’s ultimately light-hearted. Not hard to see why its popular –originality, fun ideas, clever writing. The way it is able to balance all these elements takes talent. No one in their right mind would call it a bad show unless they’re gambling for attention. It’s pleasant to watch and there’s very little effort required by the viewer to pay attention.