When I saw the first trailer for Chainsaw man, I went in mainly because of the seemingly godlike animation that it was promising, but after the first episode I was completely hooked on its story, characters and everything. I had read a few chapters before the anime got announced, so while I was somewhat familiar, I basically went in completely blind as I didn't remember much. This show spawned my love for Chainsaw Man, and Tatsuki Fugimoto as a whole.

Visuals:

I’ve heard criticism about the show's visuals and animation, so I will be upfront and say that I love everything here. To start of this, the more hotly debated aspect of the show, the colour palette, is incredible. I know a lot of people were annoyed at how gray and dull the colours were, but to me, this further amplifies the feeling of the show. Chainsaw man is set in a gritty, violent world, the more realistic, monotone colours reflect this, the world is not bright, it is actively out to hunt and kill you.

The cinematography is also top-notch. I adore the cinematic framing, which not only is a great homage to Fugimoto himself and his love of film, but worked to elevate and enhance the scenes. My absolute favourite of all of this is the masterfully directed sequence in Himeno’s apartment at the start of episode 8. It all just feels so real, the shots of Denji from the ceiling elevate his sense of dizziness, the further placed camera makes the characters look small and fragile, the POV shots further elevate the uncomfortable intimacy between the two characters. It is all A+ stuff.

The animation itself is also incredible. While I must admit some of the CGI does look a bit off, none of it was enough to pull me out of a scene and most of the time it was all great. To talk about Episode 8 more, the fight between Aki and Katana Man was great. Aki’s movements were perfectly imperfect, with him fumbling around, fumbling movements and sheer panic/desperation all reinforced the brutal and real world that this universe is set in. A lot of anime fights go for clean expert movements in order to make the fight look cool, but Chainsaw Man revels in its (mostly) human cast, elevating their fragility. There is more to glaze in the animation department, but I will leave it there.

Soundtrack:

I need to gush about the soundtrack. Kensuke Ushio is one of my favourite composers, up there with Kevin Penkin, and he brought his absolute best to the series. From the quiet and simple drones used in its more somber tracks to the chaotic mash of instrumentation in it more intense and action oriented tracks are all absolutely phenomenal. I’m not a music expert, so that is all I can really say about it, but I urge everyone, even with no interest in the show, to at least listen to it. It is top of its class. A few of my highlights are of course sweet dreams, looking for something, livingroom , that's a dream come true, edge of chainsaw and the list goes on.

Characters:

The characters are a bit difficult to get into, as a lot of why I love certain characters is because of what happens later on in the story, Aki being the main example here, but that does not mean the characters as portrayed in the anime are lacklustre. Denji is an incredible protagonist, to quote Fugimoto himself,

"Observe the current younger generation... They want to live a simple life day by day, that's why I created Denji, whose ambition is extremely low."

Denji is not driven by revenge or the quest to be the strongest, he just wants to live his version of a luxurious life, something that is normal and mediocre to most of us. I think it's a great reflection of our world, where the younger generations just want to be able to live the lives that their parents and grandparents were able to, and that that reality is getting further and further away. I think that's what's made Denji such a favourite character for so many younger people.

Denji is not the only phenomenal character, Aki's determination for revenge is illustrated beautifully. At the start of the show, he is solely focused on killing the Gun Devil, but as the show goes on, we see him slowly appreciate his current life with Denji and Power, and realising that he doesn't want to lose that. Like I said before, his character really comes into his own in the future of the series, so I will stop there. Power is the perfect partner for Denji. A person somehow more depraved and backwards than he is, forcing him to step up and become better for it, while also giving Aki and Denji a moment to bond over their new annoying little sister. I've said before, but I think that the purely platonic friendship between Power and Denji is truly outstanding. So often male shonen protagonists have women around them to be a pure romantic interest and an object for the man to look after. But power is confident, and grows to truly appreciate Denji as a friend. We need more purely platonic male female friendships in media, and this is one done very well. She is also just a fucking nut job and I love that. There are more characters in the series I can mention, but we will be here all day if I talk about them all.

As a final note on the characters, all of the voice actors absolutely killed it. Denji's voice, done by Kikunosuke Toya, makes him seem like a wild animal. Power, done by Fairouz Ai, has a very playful, chaotic feeling to it, with one of the best laughs I've heard. Aki's monotone voice, done by Shougo Sakata, really reflects his emotionless determination, but can really show panic in the more tense scenes. All the extras are done great as well, but again, I don't want to be here all day.

Story:

As I said with the characters, a lot of what's great about Chainsaw Man's plot is in its latter half, and this season is mostly just stetting that up. But the story we do see here is great. While it wears the veneer of a typical shonen story where the half human half other thing young boy protagonist who must kill the big bad, but here, that is secondary to its more personal, character driven stories. It's all weird and intimate, with how characters see each other and the journey of them getting closer being the true plot, which without getting into future season spoilers, gets beautifully twisted upon it's head. The short moments of Denji and Himeno eating breakfast together, Division 4 being trapped together with the eternity devil, Denji and Power visiting Aki in the hospital. Denji spends a lot of this season getting what he wants, only to then find out that it wasn't what he hoped it would be. I'll leave it there to avoid spoilers, but it really comes all together, especially when a second season gets released. That's not to say that there are not action pact plots in the season, but they are less important than the smaller moments the author and director want to explore. I think this is illustrated by the sequence in episode 4 where we see Aki's morning routine, which was completely unique to the anime and really shows how much love and care went into making this show a possibility, even if MAPPA probably didn't feel the same way about its staff.

Conclusion:

Chainsaw man is truly a pinnacle in everything it sets out to do. Its visuals are great, its characters are interesting, and its plot is engaging. It elevated all that was great about the manga and added new scenes to further its message and impact, it is everything an adaptation should be and more. My only criticism that I can bring this show is that it's all the worst parts of the manga, and the masterpiece that the manga is, will only be adapted in season 2. Please Mappa, don’t fuck this one up.