Review of Chainsaw Man

Imagine this. You are about to watch a series sold as a hectic action with unexpected twists and chaotic energy. You are about to watch a series that has been declared revolutionary in its genre, a series that manipulated tropes to create something unique and distinguishable. Captivating, emotional, intelligent, entertaining, juvenile. Then, when you are about to watch the show, you see a fraudulent cinematic attempt with a disgusting production, a derivative storyline, and pathetic comedic timing. Yes, this happened. Yes, this is Chainsaw Man. Chainsoy Man is a story about a guy who comes from poverty and needs to learn how to adapt to theluxuries he starts to experience, his new toys, and his new pleasures. The peculiar characters around him are the stimulus he keeps learning from, and he should realize the differences between desires and lifelong goals. He needs to adapt to complex and foreign socialization and grow as a person. Honestly, I expected differently. I agree with the concept, but it is simply nothing special without proper differentiation, and that inventiveness is not in this anime. Unless you have seen zero shows outside battle shonen, this concept has been exploited for eternity. Self-determination, dreams, frustrations. A manipulative girl that overpowers the main character and who is glorified by him. A girl with drug issues decides to use the main character because she struggles with love. Nothing of this is new. Where is the unexpected? The anime survives by aesthetical decisions that are just superfluous and vapid. Where is the twist?

Well, the twist is that things happen out of nowhere, which isn't a new turn. Dark shonens have been exploiting these shock elements forever, and somehow it keeps working. Yes, disposable characters die on screen. Yes, your main characters only die once their character arc finishes. Wow! So unexpected! Such a ride! The fact that the pace is horrible doesn't add anything to it. You get horrendous long scenes where nothing occurs because that is cinematic, and the snail rhythm spoils these supposed unexpected developments. One entire minute watching people walk with its atrocious animation, two minutes watching people talk at slowpoke speed about obvious stuff, and a character being quirky to coronate the entire investment.

Oh, so deep. Oh, so profound. The storyline is not just derivative, but the dialogues are horrific. They explain directly to the viewer each character's emotional state and motivation set in every moment. The script doesn't make sense. Why would you do that when you are also trying to portray emotions through character acting? Example.

How do I tell the audience that I want to touch boobs? Easy, say, "I want to touch boobs." Is this supposed to be comedic?
How do I tell the audience that I don't feel sad? Easy, say, "I don't feel sad." Can't the audience tell with something less straight?
How do you foreshadow Aki's participation in Denji's game against Katanaman? A cigarette that says easy revenge. Symbolism?

Maybe it is not that easy to portray feelings through non-verbal actions, but holy shit, at least have some respect. The anime reinforces dramatic backgrounds to explain the characters because why would we care about people having normal experiences? Oh, this kid is emo and sad because his entire family died, so he wants revenge. Just the 1000 times that this concept has been done. Oh, this girl doesn't want to work here, so she is a scaredy cat that can't be self-determined and would sabotage the entire mission. Wow, so human. Again, where is the twist? This is the typical exploitable background that every single shonen uses. Why can't people be weird because they are simply weird? Why can't people have simple experiences that extrapolate into their actions? Are we robots programmed to be subjects of our circumstances?

The fact that the voice actors are making soulless lifeless attempts to emulate seriousness makes this even worse. I'm not too fond of dub anime, and the dub voice actors make me feel more than these guys. Who thought saying Denji lines with a straight face was a good decision? Who thought that giving Makima an archetypal evil soothing voice was a good decision? Well, this all goes in one direction; all the fingers point there.

The cinematic attempt of this anime is dishonest. You have an anime this season that attempts it successfully (Arknights), you have an anime this season that ditches it and goes full creativity (Bocchi), and you also have a ton of entries from the past that thinks outside the box and create authentic experiences like Monogatari or FLCL (I name this two because this anime OBVIOUSLY has been inspired by them). This cinematic attempt is pretentious garbage; if you like it, you should feel ashamed. It breaks the pace. It breaks the comedic timing. It makes the action feel out of place. It simply doesn't work. It strains an already fucked production because they try to use creative camera movements that don't even work. It isn't good.

And I can go on and on about it, collaging every single out-of-place moment. The color palette is fucking boring to watch, depressing, and looks like a worse version of Modern Warfare 3. Yes, the Call of Duty game. The CGI is atrocious and only forgivable because the industry keeps sucking at making them good. The movements of the characters are incredibly choppy. The characters change their facial shapes constantly (Aki and his ten chins, Kobeni and her deformed head). The anime doesn't even know how to animate people walking. The backgrounds don't fit. The characters are stiff. It is just a robotic mess. It is the opposite of what the animation medium offers: freedom. Freedom to do whatever you want. The animation is just a chaotic production where the animators felt an increasing burden by fucking dumb requirements that constrain expression.

Yes. Attacking the production is not attacking the animators. If you have never worked a day in your life, then I can explain it to you. People don't agree with all the decisions. Workplace politics exists, and we are talking about Japan. The people in charge of that ugly ass walking that defies the law of perspective and makes the doors size change constantly? They probably thought that the idea was ridiculous in the schedule that they had. It is not their fault. Whoever decided this disaster pretended they could pull off something they couldn't. Simple and to the bone, it was a dumb decision. You are not attacking animators. The animators know when they fuck up and when their technical abilities go to waste. That is why you don't praise this shit because positive reinforcement over this scum is the last thing the medium needs. Dumb.

I could go on, but I will stop at the most fraudulent part of anything, the marketing. This anime started with MAPPA saying that they would be the production committee because they wanted to avoid getting external pressure. They make a bland and uninspired adaptation that doesn't elevate a single inch of the original medium, ruining what is special about the manga. They said that Fujimoto was heavily involved, which is just false. The anime then uses an opening with one hundred movie references, so people talk about it. These movie references are just fluff. They exist for NPCs to not talk about the bland first episode but the opening references and how this is authentic cinema because of Tarantino reference. Then they decide to create 12 endings, one for each episode. The tunes just exist to get funding from Sony and keep the discussion going. The songs are forgettable and skippable. They exist to consume and dispatch, fitting for the quality of this adaptation. There is no emotional attachment at all. Compare this to how Monogatari, Bocchi, or K-On use their songs, night and day.

The sound design is cool, and the OST is forgettable but adds some tension. One point for that.

This anime is just unmemorable. It is nothing. It is dust. It lacks any ounce of touch with the intangibles of its original manga. It is entertainment for people who consider smoking, sex, and violence synonymous with quality. The only thing that made me feel was Himeno sleeping with Denji, and that was because it was horny, and I like horny stuff. Chainsaw Man did nothing that any other lame dark anime hasn't done before during all these years. Will it get better? The plot could, but the other elements probably won't. If the next season is the same, then the dialogues will keep being corny, the voice actors' delivery undesirable, and the animation will still be ugly. Not subjectively ugly, objectively ugly. Like this adaptation. So let's pray for common sense to win here.