Review of Chainsaw Man

What happens when you take the power system of Tokyo Ghoul and combine it with the premise of Jujutsu Kaisen? You get - well, whatever this is. Unfortunately, Chainsaw Man suffers from the same sickness as Demon Slayer: generic, overhyped, and cliche'. A run-of-the-mill modern Shonen anime. All production quality, all flashy fights, and nothing new. This show relies more on shock value than good writing. Oftentimes, you'll see one of the characters do something edgy, sexual, or disgusting. And you'll go, "Whoaaahh, she actually did that?" But that's all it boils down to -- shock value. The dialogue, the writing, and the characters arestill mediocre. This show plays on the innate sexual needs of teenage boys, makes fun of it, then calls itself "mature." It is disgusting and lazy writing. It's nothing more than a desperate attempt to be different from other Shonen but just comes off as cheap shock value and fan-service.

I won't lie, the first episode showed promise. I thought Denji was just this slightly perverted teen who wished for a better life. Turns out, he's 100% perverted and fights just to get laid. That's his whole character. As the show progresses, Denji turns from this impoverished teen struggling to make ends meet -- to an apathetic simp with a shallow personality. I don't get it. Isn't the MC supposed to be likeable? Denji's resolve should be based on Pochita and his tragic circumstances. Unfortunately, he's just this horny apathetic douche who bases all his decisions on boobs and sexual gratification. The moment Denji's life got a little better, he just turns into Power: a quirky apathetic half-demon with no personality, likes to make edgy jokes, and doesn't give a sh-- if her friends die. Garbage MC and garbage character development. Denji had so much potential to be likeable. Unfortunately, the mangaka doesn't know how to write likeable MCs if his life depended on it. Himeno also had potential to be an interesting female lead, but all her dialogue with Aki is just straight-up BORING. I swear everytime Himeno and Aki open their mouth, I just clock out and wait for the next fight scene.

It's just a very cliche' Shonen story that recycles a lot of tropes from JJK, Tokyo Ghoul, and every other anime under the sun. Denji is basically Yuji, Aki is the dark-haired and aloof Megumi, and Makima is Gojo Satoru. The "bullets" in this show are Sukuna's fingers. Fiends are humans that can use demon powers and Demon Hunters are humans who fight demons. The "Demon Hunter Organization" has a special unit comprised entirely of fiends. After Denji absorbs a devil into his body, he can transform into the Chainsaw Demon at will. Afterwards, Denji gets recruited by the same organization to (surprise surprise) fight demons! As it turns out, the main villain of this show scattered all his bullets (fingers) among the smaller devils. And get this, all the bad guys are after Denji because of the demon power inside his body (absolute cinema). Demon Hunters can sign "contracts" with other devils and use them as summoning jutsus. One of the female MCs in this show has the ability manipulate blood and use it as a weapon (like the characters in Frieren, Deadman Wonderland, JJK, etc.) Also, Denji's power relies exclusively on the consumption of blood and flesh, the SAME exact schtick used to fuel RC Cells in Tokyo Ghoul.

Several episodes later, things escalate to the point where Makima just "Domain Expansions" everything. Then you sit there and wonder, "What the f-- was all that for, then?" The first ten episodes felt like this elaborately drawn-out introduction for season two. Words cannot describe how insulting those last four episodes were. It is a massive waste of time. By episode ten, I was just dumbfounded and confused on what this anime is trying to be. It kept introducing quirky characters that had no depth, it kept pushing gooner scenes that had no relevance to the plot, and it kept pushing backstories I wasn't remotely invested in. The training arc didn't start until episode eleven and Kakashi Sensei from Temu didn't exactly leave a good first impression. You can tell they rushed the last two episodes just to set up season two. It felt like a giant middle finger to every Shonen fan with standards.

And don't even get me started on Denji's weird sibling dynamic with Power (even though he groped her tits), or the fact that Aki and Himeno's backstory is literally dogsh-t boring, or the fact that I was confused about the backstories of any of these characters. Like, why didn't she just kill that demon herself to save her pet? Why did that house just explode out of nowhere? Most of the time, Denji just forgives people because of boobs. This show capitalizes too much on mature sex themes that it just treats Denji as this gulliable teen who'll do anything to cop a feel. It feels like all the women in this show were written around Denjis carnal fantasy to touch boobs and get laid. The first episode set up a good premise then it fumbled the rest. The mature sex themes were funny at first; but instead of being substantive to the plot, they just came off as redundant fan-service and constant gooner fuel. In all fairness, the action scenes were hype enough and the entire season was short enough that I wasn't completely bored. The plot and characters, though, are nothing to write home about. This show is really just for the shock-value, the animation, and the violent hack-and-slash.

Out of all the gripes I have about this anime, Denji's character development has to be the biggest middle finger of them all. The boy could have been more than just a gooner. He could have been more than just this apathetic perverted a--hole who does nothing else but eat cigarretes, stick his tongue out, and yell, "BAAAKA." I'm sure Denji's backstory won't be revealed until season two. But this is not how you introduce an MC early into the franchise. In the words of Aki himself, "Denji is disgusting, not interesting."