Review of Chainsaw Man

I don't know what expectations I came into this anime with, given the fact that I knew next to nothing about it when I started it, but it was more disappointing than I would have liked to be. For a series as action-packed and full of intensity--please know that this anime does tick a lot of the necessary Shounen boxes for satisfying action anime--as Chainsaw Man was, I found there was a lack of substance to it. Where I'm sure there was meant to be humor and meaning and revelations within this first season, I mostly found it to be mediocre and shallow. I'll fully acknowledgethat I'm probably in the minority as far as this goes. There's a lot to love about this series, not the least of which are the characters, which seems like a great blend of characters from many other anime that have developed strong fanbases in the past, such as Durarara!, Bungo Stray Dogs, and Jujutsu Kaisen. As I said, it's very fast-paced, and I'd even say it balanced its action well with the odd periods of calm that pop up every now and then (moments that are quite similar to something like Bakemonogatari, in my opinion). But I just didn't feel connected to any of it. The plot felt unimportant and seemed uninteresting, the characters were mostly entertaining but had no qualities that made me latch onto them, and not enough progression happened throughout this first season to keep me interested in continuing.

For me, this anime wasn't what I had hoped, but I'd definitely recommend this if you've found yourself especially interested in the more recent, sensationalized Shounen anime, like Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer. Does Chainsaw Man stand up to those? In terms of art and seiyuu performance, absolutely. You might find that everything else stands up, too--I just didn't.