Name: gore, tits and Power
Item: Chainsaw Man
Rating: 80
Author: saulgoodman

gore, tits and Power

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

— H. P. Lovecraft

Still thirsting for some dark comedy and unnecessarily bloody gore after rereading Dorohedoro and The Voynich Hotel? (SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Story

Denji, an impoverished, orphaned 16 year-old with only a strange dog-like pet named Pochita to his name, kills monsters called Devils to pay off his late father's debts. Suddenly faced by hordes of zombies controlled by a Devil, a near-dying Denji fuses with Pochita to become ... dun dun ... a Chainsaw Man! Having massacred everyone, Denji is then found by Makima, a Devil Hunter. Offered a new life in exchange for becoming a Devil Hunter, Denji agrees to dip his toes in this absolute bloodbath of a profession, unaware of the painful and extreme consequences that await him.

CSM started off as mostly a simple, honest-to-god gore fest. Denji and the gang were killing off Devils in glorious fashion. I didn't expect much of a deep, intricate story but nonetheless massively enjoyed the bloodiness and stupidity of it all. However, the story slowly weaved in seeds of mystery and complexity, sharply pivoting away from my initial expectations for a turn-off-your-brain, action story.

I think Fujimoto revealed CSM's true colors during the Katana Man arc. Here, we begin to see the plot's complexity building up. For one, regarding Makima.
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
How did Makima survive the train assassination? Just what are her powers? Did she know about the annihilation of her squad beforehand? Just who is Makima?
Character depth also picked up from this arc. The
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
utter massacre of the Special Division
gave us a peek at the cold reality of CSM.
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
Aki mourns for Himeno, who sacrificed herself for him. Himeno herself was scarred by the deaths of her many past work partners and wished to retreat to civilian lines with Aki. Kobeni had a mental breakdown after Hirokazu also sacrifices himself for her. The Katana Man wanted revenge against Denji for murdering his grandfather.
CSM light-heartedly handles death with indifference and immaturity, with its over-the-top, cartoonishly bloody scenes. Denji would snuff out the baddies totally badass-edly and come out dandy! No real harsh consequences, right? But here, something very obvious is laid out to us:

People in CSM aren't immortal and death is a powerful motive for some of them. Nonetheless, Fujimoto continues to write with indifference and rare sentimentality towards death with his constant massive massacres. Important characters are ruthlessly killed off, swarms of people are often killed in less than a page and Denji and Power generally never elicited a strong response towards it (more on that later). Is this a contradiction? I don't think so. I think the absurd deaths set in stone the cruel world of CSM. The constant threat of death, ridiculous ways to die, people dying left and right like GTA NPCs. THIS is the world that Denji and Co. are forced to live in. Being constantly surrounded by Death. And we see how they all react and cope differently in face of it. How they react and cope with this stupidly inhumane amount of death and gore.

While many, myself included, will laugh at and deem the gore unnecessarily extreme, it most certainly is not unnecessary. The flippant portrayal of death, in all its gorey glory, reveals depth in many of CSM's characters, in their thinking, motives and actions.

I probably painted CSM as a melodramatic, intense character study too hard. But it's abundant in its fun, dumb comedy. You got eating a drunk lady's barf, a kick-a-guy's-nuts contest, running over a guy in someone else's car, and Power being Power. What else could you want for comedy? CSM certainly gets a 10/10 in this department.

While I wouldn't call CSM the deepest character study or some groundbreaking genre deconstruction, I also believe it shouldn't be waved off entirely as a meaningless bloodbath action series. It has enjoyable childishly dark humor, a rich mystery chalk-full of "...wait, WHAT?!" moments, wonderful gore and somber sentimentality.

Characters

The highlight of CSM. The not-as-transparent characterization came as a pleasant surprise. The comedic and extreme nature of this series may lead to you think the characters are just the same, but it's far from it. Fujimoto may not throw out characterization and character depth so out in the open, but it's certainly there.

Let's use Denji. The most noticeable, and perhaps seemingly only, thing about him is his thoughtlessness. He doesn't put much thought into most things, including fights. He comes up arbitrary, bizarre answers in times of crisis. Most famously, for example, his life's goal of touching boobs. Contrary to other mainstream shounen protagonists, who often have life-long, close-to-impossible, grandoise dreams, Denji came up with this dream spur of the moment yet 100% serious.

He gives his absolute all for this laughably stupid dream, ripping apart numerous Devils at the constant risk of his life. Denji's life and beliefs are encapsulated by his straightforward, thoughtless personality. Everything about Denji may come off as childish, but that's because he IS childish. Denji lived impoverished, malnourished, overworked and friendless for most of his life. Denji simply wants to savor the things he's never tasted, he wants to know what breasts feel like, he wants to eat good food, he wants to sleep in an actual bed, etc. Denji is certainly not a complex saint, he's undeniably a goofy, simple dumbass. But does that deny him good characterization? Absolutely not.

80 chapters in and Denji has undoubtedly received some development. Especially obvious after

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

his relationship with Reze and him killing the brainwashed Aki

, sentimentality ingrained itself into Denji. While Denji had socialized with many characters, he's never shown an ounce of sadness or mourning towards them after they were killed. It's as if they were wiped from his memory. This much is expected, though, as Denji's only human interaction were with the yakuza debt collectors. Having only Pochita as his friend, it comes as no surprise that Denji felt nothing. However, Denji has slowly built bonds with those who weren't met with quick deaths. Denji has shown sentiment that slowly grows stronger, whether it be attraction, grief, despair, etc. Initially just the "Chainsaw" of his moniker, Denji has developed to gain the "Man".

Apart from Denji, the other main characters shine, as well, in different ways. Power is the penultimate comedic relief, often proving to be even simpler than Denji. Aki's tragic character is a somber sight to behold. And then there's Makima. Oh boy.

Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide

Shrouded in a thick mist of mystery, Makima is one of the most interesting villains I've seen. If I may dare, I'd chalk her right up there with Johan Liebert from Monster. Only seen with her trademark, eerie smile and her hypnotizing eyes, Makima is impossible to decipher. Only through the plot can we find very slowly analyze just who she is. Fujimoto has excellently built up Makima's role. Even when she isn't present, her presence still lingers and makes us question if what something had happened was because of her. Even without her horrific powers, Makima is absolutely terrifying (and hot). To summarize Makima, and perhaps the entire series, let me requote this fitting line:

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

— H. P. Lovecraft

Art

I love the art. I've seen quite a few people slander the artstyle as undetailed and messy, and I won't argue, but I strangely find these "cons" attractive and perfectly complements CSM's story and characters. For instance, I find that the facial expressions are often ... blank, is as best as I can describe it. This is certainly not due to poor art skills. CSM is almost cinematic, it cherishes showing characters in action. Whether it be thinking, drinking, eating, smoking, Fujimoto will show the mundane in its entire sequence. Thus, we often see the "in-between" in the form of facial expressions and I absolutely love it. These blank expressions strangely opens up the characters, we can infer tension, hesitation, confusion, etc. The lack of dialogue and a clear emotional facial expression makes us rely on what we know of the character and the scene in regards to their reaction. Whether it's a pro or con, I leave it up to you.

CSM shines in its detailed, absurd gore. The guts, the blood, the horrified and pained expressions warms my cold, dead soul. Outside of the gore, however, the art is rather simple and dull. I certainly don't blame those who say the series has less-than-desirable art. But the rough style has grown on me.

Enjoyment

Easily my favorite on-going SJ manga and one of my favorite overall on-going manga. I have a massive soft spot for mindless gore and dark comedy so perhaps I'm a bit biased in praising this series so much. But, hey, why else would I write this review at 3am on a weekday?

Final Words

CSM is a fun, amusing action-packed story full of nonstop brutal death. It may seem surface-level upon first glance, but it has an enthralling mystery aspect that'll leave you admitted to an asylum for eager anticipation and addiction. The characters are nothing to scoff at, either. Simply stopping to ponder and reflect, you can peer into the depths of their actions, motives and beliefs. Fujimoto has certainly not intended CSM to just be a mind-numbing bloodbath. CSM offers more than just its magnificent gorefest and I look forward to more!