Welcome to the time which brings great joy followed by the hollowness of fulfillment and no, I am not talking about Christmas. Another week, another episode of Chainsaw Man and another realization that we need to wait another week to see more. Along with the end of the season to come in just two more weeks where I am not sure where I will give my fix for Chainsaw related entertainment. Well those are worries for the future and considering Aki is meeting the future devil that could enlighten us on a solution to this particular predicament. Everything remains at a pretty high standard with an ending that for some reason reminds me of the music video for Take on Me with its blend of real footage and hand drawn. Prehaps some could do a meme edit inserting the song just to see how well it fits? This may be the last calm before the storm we get this season, so we might as well take it in.
Meet Kishibe, well we met him twice before within Himeno’s flashbacks but here they are introduced to him proper. The Mads Mikkelsen of anime, though I don’t believe it’s been officially confirmed that Mads was a model for the character. That said the resemblance is so uncanny as to be undeniable. Kishibe is a guy in his early fifties in a job where we have seen people not last very long. That’s the biggest sign that this guy is pretty damn strong. Now what Chainsaw Man is doing with this guy is nothing new, we essentially have a training arc with the morally questionable mentor. I can point to Jiraiya from Naruto as a similar trope but I find the point where this diverages is in how he is training them. Normally in a training arc we have the mentor get his student to do some highly dangerous shortcut to power as it’s the only way to get a fledgling able to take on a seasoned pro within a reasonable runtime. Kishibe basically decides to use the two’s degree of immortality to force them into literal life or death situations. Here it isn’t the chance of death in exchange for power but an ultimatum in that these two need to get better or just die over and over again. He makes it sound like some hairbrained drunk thought but when you puzzle out the logic it actually makes sense. Attempting to teach Denji and Power any kind of fighting technique is a hopeless endeavor. Besides the two not having the patience to go through training, it’s that their strength is in their unpredictable feral nature. So the way to get Denji and Power stronger is through training their instincts and giving fighting experience. Alongside getting them to use their brains a bit.
On that last point Denji and Power don glasses to try outsmarting Kishibe but guess they should have bought bifocals cause they get bodied regardless. This episode did showcase their growing friendship though and that pure sibling energy. It’s the little things like Power creating a weapon and tossing it to Denji without him even asking. That was weirdly generious for someone so characteristically selfish. These two are on such a similar wavelength that they really do make perfect partners. The Kishibe fights appear to be the centerpiece of the episode as with Aki things are more depressing. Those fights are short but a brutal reminder as to how this show does not hold back with violence. I would even say Power clutching her throat while she struggles to breath after getting her throat slit was pretty graphic. Though then lighted by having Power beat Denji back to senses after his “Brain broke”. That might be the true ace in the hole when it comes to this series as when things get grim they generally don’t go too grim and the humor is never enough to make the struggles the character face a joke. Chainsaw Man balances a tone that makes you not question just how horrific the world really is while not understating the tragedy of it. I mean we have characters this episode walking into a full underground complex containing monsters of humanity’s greatest fears and talking to Aki like they are preparing him for a job interview. This world is a nightmare yet everything treats it with a similar cavalier of levity as though if they acknowledge just how messed up the world is they might go mad. The absurdity of Chainsaw Man is like a shield that stops anyone from looking at the story with a nihilistic perspective.
Aki is not having a good day. It’s rather suitable that it’s from a hospital bed that the curse devil declares that he has two years to live and the extra punch of him finding out how much Himeno cared for him with her sister delivering Himeno’s letters. Alongside the news that if he wants to continue his revenge then he’s going to have to make another contract with a devil which could cost him even more. Also looks like he’s being bullied by the internet for the weird way of walking at episode’s end…come on guys he’s just out of hospital. Aki’s basically running towards death at this point and it’s no wonder considering how little he has left to lose. It’s interesting to contrast Aki’s and Denji’s reaction to the situation in how Aki cries while Denji begins to question if he’s lost something fundamental as a human. What I find fascinating is that Denji considers that he lost his humanity when he merged with Pochita where I think he lost it quite a bit before that. He says he doesn’t really care about the people that died but I think he wouldn’t have cared even before becoming Chainsaw Man. His upbringing pretty much has conditioned him to not form emotional bonds, after all he’s basically been used and looked down upon his whole life. The only true bond he had was with Pochita who isn’t around anymore.(Well in a true sense, he is still around technically.) In this regard I feel it’s wrong to consider Denji stupid as he does have moments of introspection like this even if this time he tosses the thought away. Almost as though he knew what the thinking would lead to and decided it better left aside. A bit how anyone would react if they start really considering their mortality which in the case of Denji is truly an existential nightmare. I mean in this episode alone Denji has died over twenty times and you get to disturbing territory if you begin to consider if the Denji that revives is even the same Denji or that his capability to revive is evidence that the soul doesn’t actually exist. So yes Denji, it’s best not to think about that.
The dub is up to Gunfire and I do hope that Himeno’s voice actor was given the memo that her role was going to be a short one. A three episode role, well four if you count the replay at the start of episode nine. As short as it is she’s putting her soul into it much like Kobeni’s voice actor who is gunning hard with her role.(I am interested to see how she handles Kobeni’s moment in the next episode) Said it before, say it again, truly no real complaints here. Well I guess to be nitpicky I was a little disappointed that they changed up Himeno’s “Don’t die on me Aki” as the story did make a point to have Himeno say that to Aki. It’s what she said on their first meeting, what she said at the hotel and what she says when she dies. Though the last time she says the rest of the sentence, “So you can cry for me when I die”. It kind of solidifies the stance that Himeno was never afraid to die herself, but was terrified of losing Aki. Really when looking at Himeno’s character she seems so much like her contract, a ghost. Left behind by her partners, living full of regrets, taking on others’ resentment and finally haunting those she knew. With Denji through his first kiss and through cigarettes with Aki. I had a theroy before as to whether devil hunter contracts could act as a kind of peak into the characters psyche but I haven’t seen a hunter who matched their contract as well as Himeno. For new voice actors we have Katana Man and Akane the first of which is a lot more gruffer than his more soft spoken Japanese counterpart. Definitely gives gangster vibes though I admit he’s rather difficult to understand in Katana mode. Akane is one I feel is very close to what you would imagine the Japanese voice actor sounding like if they spoke fluent english. With this we are down to two episodes with Chainsaw Man and will they be able to wrap this season in a nice bow or leave us hanging for a potentially far off second season. My hope is that Mappa is hard at work on a second season already though it could be possible they are using this season as a gauge on whether to continue. If they could cover all of Part 1 of Chainsaw Man I think that could make for a satisfying package which could be hailed as one of the anime greats. But only the future can tell…so Aki any chance you could ask him while you make the contract?
Watching this is my current weekly highlight. This episode even developed the comradeship between Denji and Power to make their chemistry more endearing and fun to watch when it was mainly bantering before.
I think you can tell the mangaka is a cineaste because on paper the story sounds like your standard shounen with some darker tidbits, but watching CSM doesn’t feel like this at all. So far the anime avoids the typical tropes I would expect to happen and expect to annoy me in a shounen, so following this is a blast so far, especially as still unspoiled fan of it.
Despite the bonding Aki’s breakdown was the high point of this episode and the way it was animated certainly helped making this hit the right note.
I also think that Denji is a well written character (which is rare, especially for MCs).
Poor characters aren’t that rare, but their poverty rarely reflects in their current behavior. With Denji it does. All of his thoughts, yearnings and manners are results of his upbringing. The casual existential thoughts don’t contradict this. The opposite actually, they make it better since they complement his usual straightforward attitude. They actually help making him seem like a human who is more than just a stereotype and as you have said yourself, his weak bonds are a direct consequence of the life he has lived so far, not a contradiction to it. He is more attached to food and casual fun for now, because that’s the only thing that brought him joy in the past.
There are plenty of well written MCs beside Denji. Gintoki Sakata for example.
The scene where Denji and Power declared that they were going to use their brains to beat Kishibe when the two have both been shown as anything but smart throughout the show was quite the hilarious one. The actual plan they went through with was better than I thought, although they still got their ass kicked.
Great things can be achieved when a Nobel prize winner and the prime minister put their heads together.
Tbh, this just wasn’t my favorite episode. I think the CG on Aki was noticeably weird, probably for the first time since episode 1. His crying scene should have had a bit more attention to it, since it’s kind of the conclusion to Himeno’s arc.
I do think CSM’s willingness to ask and answer hard questions – particularly would Denji be sad if Makima died – is fantastic.
Denji is a great character. He’s a very flawed person and a product of terrible environments, but what makes a great character to me is how “real” they are – would, given the circumstances, this character act this way? Denji is a resounding yes. The supporting cast is spot on as well – I’m really quite a fan of Power too.
Translation annoyance of the week: they translated that the teacher would make them “badasses”, when what he really said was “the absolute best.” Very strange choices throughout the season.
That’s fair. I see manga readers rather dissatisfied with the Aki crying scene.
I seen that myself though I still think the best version is (Which I think is fan translation?)
“I’ll turn you two into the craziest motherfuckers ever”