Author Tatsuki Fujimoto intrigued manga fans with his hit series Fire Punch, but he didn't become a household name in the manga/anime community until he published his masterwork, the hilarious and brutal shonen series Chainsaw Man. This ongoing action series has helped define an entire generation of subversive and twisted shonen action, earning it a place in the Dark Trio alongside Jujutsu Kaisen and Hell's Paradise.
Chainsaw Man built up some impressive momentum in the early 2020s with its manga's publication, but this series truly took the manga/anime community by storm with its anime's run in the Fall 2022 anime season. Even in that crowded, competitive season with Bleach: Thousand Year Blood War and Spy x Family around, Chainsaw Man was a true standout, and anyone who missed it is encouraged to dive right in and see Tatsuki Fujimoto's powerful imagination at work.
What to Know About Chainsaw Man
The basic plot of Chainsaw Man follows the teenage protagonist known only as Denji, who is introduced as a lonely orphan desperately trying to pay off his late father's debt with the aid of his canine Chainsaw Devil friend, Pochita. Denji's world is set in an alternate timeline during the 1990s, when supernatural devils roam the earth and both prey on and strike bargains with humans, and Denji will soon see many of them up close. Early in Chainsaw Man's story, Denji will fuse with his devil dog Pochita to become Chainsaw Man himself, a human/devil hybrid who can tog on his ripcord to sprout chainsaw blades from his arms and head to fight devils for a living under the watchful eye of Makima, his beautiful but subtly sinister new boss.
New fans must prepare themselves for an unapologetically bizarre and twisted shonen action series that both upholds and subverts almost every shonen trope and cliché there is, from the "half-other" concept to anime protagonist trios to the "monster hunter" paradigm, among many others. Chainsaw Man's story finds creative, meaningful, and often brutal ways to reinvent these familiar tropes to comment on not just its main characters, but the human condition itself, to reveal how flawed, desperate, pitiful, and stubborn human beings can be. Chainsaw Man explores both the best and worst of humanity through characters like Denji, Aki Hayakawa, Himeno, and the dandere Kobeni Higashiyama, challenging Chainsaw Man fans to think about what they would do in a situation like Denji's.
Chainsaw Man's characters sometimes serve as meta-comments on how shonen characters are usually written, and that's part of the appeal of this series. Protagonist Denji may be an action-oriented teenage boy like Izuku Midoriya and Tanjiro Kamado, but unlike them, Denji is written as a highly realistic and therefore deeply flawed yet highly relatable person. Denji is not an ideal, romanticized hero who saves the day for its own sake. Denji is crude, foolish, self-centered, juvenile, and pitiful in many ways, truly showing anime fans what an actual teenage boy would say and do if he had a tough upbringing and suddenly became a half-devil warrior.
Something similar can be said about Power, Denji's fiend partner, a devil in a teenage girl's body. Power is no Ochaco Uraraka or Nobara Kugisaki; she's even more juvenile than Denji is, shredding the traditional femininity playbook while confidently being her own gross yet authentic self. Power is the sort of person who can't be easily trusted with power, contrary to her name, yet devil hunter officials like Makima need Power's strength and must simply put up with her antics. In an exaggerated way, Chainsaw Man uses characters like these to show that no matter how many good deeds a person does or how respected they are, their human flaws are inescapable, a shonen example of "don't meet your heroes."
Who Should Watch & Read Chainsaw Man?
On the face of it, Chainsaw Man's manga and anime will appeal to anyone who loves shonen action series with a "monster hunter" angle, such as Bleach, Fire Force, and Demon Slayer. However, this series' main appeal is actually its commentary on the shonen formula and its brutally honest look at the human condition, making it a more cerebral series than newcomers might expect. With that in mind, Chainsaw Man will appeal greatly to fans of shonen series that actually say something, especially in subversive ways. Chainsaw Man challenges viewers and readers on the topic of humanity and what it really means to be a hero, all while entertaining fans with brutal action sequences and great comedy from beginning to end. Anyone who's tired of conventional shonen action series like Demon Slayer is also encouraged to try Chainsaw Man and its wild twists on the familiar shonen formula
Chainsaw Man may also appeal to fans of horror anime, and something similar could be said about Jujutsu Kaisen and Hell's Paradise, hence these series' shared identity as the Dark Trio. All three series expertly use gory horror elements to augment their action sequences and put the heroes in mortal danger in gruesome ways, so fans of both horror and action will get a lot out of Chainsaw Man. Examples are many, such as the eternity devil's "infinite hallway" trick and the psychological toll that takes on Denji's team, or later on, a trip to Hell itself and the arrival of the horrific darkness devil.
Where to Watch & Read Chainsaw Man
The Chainsaw Man anime's first season is a mere 12 episodes, though even that short runtime may be enough to get new fans hooked on this incredible series and encourage them to dive deeper into the source manga. There will also be an animated Chainsaw Man movie and Season 2 in the future, making the anime a more attractive investment. Fans can check out the first season on Crunchyroll, which offers Chainsaw Man in both English sub and dub, along with several more languages including French, Italian, Spanish, and German. The streaming platform Hulu.com also has all 12 episodes of Chainsaw Man in both English sub and dub.
Interested fans can also collect the Chainsaw Man manga series, available both digitally and in print. Currently, the first 11 volumes are available in the West, with volume 12 slated to release on October 3rd, 2023. Fans can find Chainsaw Man both in print and digitally at Barnes & Noble.com's website, and fans can do the same with Amazon.com's online catalog. Fans can find the print version for sale on Rightstufanime.com's website, too, often for a competitive price.
