First of all, I’m a huge fan of Chainsaw Man, and more importantly the manga is my all time favorite. I’ve already done a shitty review on it, but this time it’s about the anime! I’m very bad at expressing myself. I had a hard time reviewing the manga because the story of Chainsaw Man is too crazy and filled with messed up events, as I'm sure you have also experienced it if you are reading this. However, as I already mentioned, this time it’s about the anime adaptation. As someone who has read the manga several times, 7 times to be exact, and watched the anime almost 5 times total, I'm pretty sure I know for certain whether the adaptation turned out well or not. This review contains spoilers from the anime. Rather than reviewing the story and characters, I’ll be comparing the anime and manga, covering the anime original and manga only aspects as well.

The 12 episodes of the adaptation include the introduction arc, the Bat Devil arc, the Eternity Devil arc and the Katana Man arc. What they left out is the story of the little girl and the muscle devil that took place between the Itroduction arc and the Bat Devil arc. In the manga, this was originally Denji's first mission as well as a part where we get to see the strict side of Makima's character. However, the most important Makima’s line, “I don’t need a dog that says no,” was naturally built into a different scene/conversation. For the production side, it was probably the right decision. The story was not something that would be relevant later on, and a few small changes covered it. Everything that happened in the manga was almost completely adapted.

Anime original were the everyday scenes, such as the morning routine of Aki, but also flows that were not really shown in the Manga, e.g. how the criminals were taken to the shrine by bus. But did they have any effects? Yes, they definitely made the story easier to follow. My parents didn’t like the manga of Chainsaw Man, ~~I forced them to read it~~. The reason for that was that they almost didn’t understand anything because everything happened too fast. But once they started watching the anime they were hooked, amazed.

Animation and CGI

Both animation and CGI were well done. The 3D models for Chainsaw Man and Katana Man, which were probably the most complex, were perfectly designed. There were some scenes where the CGI looked a bit awkward, but in most cases, it was pretty well done. The same applies to the animation. MAPPA's animation has always looked realistic, but this time they aimed for even more realism. They were very particular about lights/shadows, put a lot of focus on the characters eyes and worked hard to make the movements look very realistic. The only episode that bothered me a lot was episode 8. As soon as ep 8 aired, a lot of people, especially the anime onlys, went insane. They were amazed by the quality, cinematography and most importantly by the mind blowing appearance of Katana Man. For me ep 8 was more a disappointment. The cheap-looking animation of the Fox Devil, the use of CGI for the Snake Devil and Curse Devil and the battle between Katana Man and Aki with lack of speed. Let me show you what I mean. Maybe others see it differently, but I in any case saw in episode 8 a lot of need for change:

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The Fox Devil in ep 8



Same scene in the first trailer of Chainsaw Man where it definitely looked better



The actual scene in the manga

___First appearance of the Snake Devil, CGI that obviously doesn't look good


___First appearance of the Curse Devil, no animation, only CGI, just showing off their 3D models, Katana Man T-posing



Actual scene in the manga

___Aki vs Katana Man in the anime

▶ Video

Literal fan animation that looks better or let's say "what I expected"



Ok I guess that's enough

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Voice Acting and Soundtracks

These 2 aspects are the main reasons why this adaptation is so enjoyable. The voice cast was mainly chosen by the author Tatsuki Fujimoto himself and many of the voice actors/actresses delivered an excellent job. Denji sounding young and powerful, Power loud and cute, Aki sounding calm and cold, Makima seductive and manipulative, Kobeni hysterical af. Each of the voice actors/actresses fitting the characters so well and making the watch a fun ride. Going on with the soundtracks, Kensuke Ushio making the best OSTs once again. Some tracks creepy, some very emotional and some tracks very powerful. His music is memorable and creates a whole new vibe that makes every anime very special. Not only just that. The 12 Ending Themes and the amazing Opening Theme by Kenshi Yonezu. Each ending song is part of every single episode and leaves a unique impression.

So what makes this adaptation so good ?

Did you know that Chainsaw Man doesn't have a production committee? The anime adaptation of Chainsaw Man is a huge project for MAPPA. Usually there’s a so called anime production committee, a group of companies that invest in the anime, which is also the obvious reason why the rights are always split. The committee makes a lot of various requests for their own benefits. Therefore it’s a common case that anime studios are not really allowed to make/animate scenes the way they want. For example, they have to censor a lot. Not only that. Whether the anime is successful or not, the animators don't make a big profit since the anime studios don’t own the rights. In the case of Chainsaw Man, somehow MAPPA was able to buy all the rights so they can animate it in any way they want. This also means that they make a great profit if it ends successfully, however they could also go bankrupt if it actually fails (which is very unlikely tho). To put it simply, it's the passion put by the production team that makes this adaptation so good. The perfect example is the passion they have put in the opening theme animation. Mother's Basement made an entire 30min long video analyzing the opening. You can see that the people involved in the production have a high understanding of the work.

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Nevertheless, this adaptation is only the first half of Chainsaw Man. Things get even more interesting ~~fucked up~~ in the second half, and since MAPPA managed to adapt the impossible, I have high hopes for the second half as well. Did the adaptation surpass the manga? Well, I don't think so, but it's definitely one of the best adaptations I've seen so far.