Chainsaw Man – 12 [Katana vs Chainsaw]

Thus it ends and while I have no complaints about the episode I must admit that I did have some dread for it ending knowing that it could be the end for a while. As of this moment there does not appear to be any news confirming a second season(If anything comes to light I will edit this sentence to highlight it) and my heart sinks. As stated before I believe that a continuation is not a matter of if but rather when. What form could it take though? I have heard people say that the next arc could make for a good movie and it is true that it could fit the format. Episodes have been going at a steady pace of three and a half chapters per episode. The next arc is 14 chapters long which would fit nicely into an hour and a half runtime. The next arc also happens to be a big fan favorite which some could call the best arc and I wouldn’t easily dismiss that statement. After all it does feature a character I hold a lot of fondness for who also happened to be teased at the end of this episode. Still I am not into the idea of mid season movies as it makes following a show from start to finish awkward. You can have a situation where you need knowledge to watch the movie before jumping to season 2 or an awkward thing where they end up chopping up the movie into episodes or in DB supers case, reanimating them but worse. A movie could solve the issue of Chainsaw Mans part 1 not quite fitting into a two cour show with it taking about 16/17 episodes to complete it. If Mappa intend to chase Demon Slayer success then a movie would be likely though that would be bad considering how long it takes for movies to become publicly available.(Do you have any idea how long I waited for those Fate/Heaven’s Feel movies?)

So overall we have a nice wrap up for this cour with Katana Man and Akane being taken down and a nice bit of closure for Himeno. Along with a small tease with Denji’s recurring dream from the first scene of the series and a small question from a glanced at new character. In regards to the ghost devil it’s left up for debate as to what exactly happened with Aki. Did the Ghost devil perhaps stop choking him and gave him the cigarette out of respect for Himeno, or when Himeno gave up everything to the Ghost devil did she literally become a part of it? I subscribe to the second notion as it adds up with the ghost hand pulling Denji’s cord during the ninth episode and that it was only one hand that dropped Aki and gave him the cig. This does open up the possibility that all the hands the ghost devil has are perhaps previous contractors and Aki pretty much mercy killed Himeno for good. Considering as well that ghosts can be considered an accumulation of lingering regrets and grudges this is on theme. On that cig though that’s a pretty obvious reference to the “Never knows Best ” cigarette from Fooly Cooly with there being another reference in the ball kicking requiem which is a nod to HunterxHunter’s Phantom Troupes Requiem. But outside of the references they also show a pretty big change for Aki in him letting go of his professional demeanor to honor Himenos wishes while bonding with Denji. Made all the more ironic when you consider how these two’s first meeting ended with a kick to the balls and now they become closer by kicking someone else in the balls. The ending makes for a good cap to this cour in showing how these three are becoming a small found family for each other. This in turn may tie back to the cigarette which Himeno marked she would give back when Aki was ready to have something to take away his edge. Well he got it, but it wasn’t the cigarette that took away his edge.

I rather like this talk between Katana man and Denji as it’s a bit like a subversion of what a rival villain is supposed to do for the main character. In many other shounen there’s a time where the protagonist goes up against a villain who can call their entire motivation into question. When Goku faced Vegeta he was up against the question of might makes right, where up to this point Goku has always solved through his problems with combat. Vegeta brings it to question that violence was in his very nature and provides an example of what Goku could have been. In Naruto you have it with him facing Neji who brings up the debate of hard work vs natural talent and the ultimatum that destiny decides people’s worth.(The funny thing being that the series more or less proved Neji right, the problem was he mistook who the destined one was.) You can even see it in early small antagonists in many series which can highlight an inconvenient truth for the protagonist. Katana Man appears to be attempting to fulfill this role but the key difference is that he is ignorant and stupid. He generally attempts to belittle Denji and cite his upbringing as a point of pride despite the fact that the reason he had it so good was due to the exploitation of people like Denji. Pure hypocrisy is in everything he’s saying to Denji yet he still attempts to enlighten Denji of all people on the importance of human life. Denji’s upbringing has already taken any sense of morality he once had and attempting to teach him it now is a wasted effort. Much less from someone so utterly compromised that they don’t even register how their previous actions contradict their words. This is the man who killed his own ally to get to Chainsaw Man now talking about respecting human life? Of zombies of all things? So it’s refreshing for a protagonist to look at an argument like this and just brush it off with a “Nah”. It’s not even a new concern for Denji as he’s already given thought to whether he has lost his human heart and this talk likely made it even more of a misplaced concern.

Thus the fight the episode is named after begins and it may surprise you all to know this fight was quite a bit extended from it’s manga counterpart. In the manga they burst out of the building and land straight into the train but Mappa added extra scenes of them duking it out on the rooftops and train roof before jumping into the source content. A wise move I would say as to just have the fight inside the train without the back and forth would be a bit anticlimactic. I have said before that the action scenes in the manga are not the true draw of Chainsaw Man so it’s nice to have the anime flesh them out into bigger bouts. I really like Denji making use of the trick he learned from Kishibe from his training, showing it pays off but not quite in the way people expected. Also showing that once again Katana Man is a hypocrite as he doesn’t care about civilian casualties while Denji is pushed to defend them. The humor is once again on point with Denji’s quips and Power ducking out of the Katana Man fight to just chop up Zombies instead. I do admit that for as loveable Powers antics are, it would be good if she actually had a moment to shine in combat. It’s an unfortunate factor in shounen for female characters to get the shaft when it comes to fights and throughout the season while Power has been shown to be capable, she doesn’t fight anything important. In this last episode Aki and Denji get the important fights while Power just fights some mooks. Take note I am not throwing the sexist card at Chainsaw Man here as compared to other shounen it’s done a far greater job in showing how capable its female cast is. It’s more that seeing as Power is part of the main trio, it would be nice to have her act as something more than comic relief.

So we come to the end and it’s been a lot of fun. I find myself getting pulled out of retirement more times than I would like but this is one of those cases where I am happy to cover something that I just had so much fun watching. I have high hopes for what is to come and Mappa has laid the groundwork for another season with that door and new character tease. I am really hoping that this anime pays off hard for them as this is one of those cases where I feel something truly deserves success. Others may point to Spyxfamily, Bocchi, Bleach or Mob but despite recognising that these series have merit, I still feel Chainsaw Man has something they don’t. Still the anime industry is a fickle thing and it’s a wonder if this series will maintain a fire of the likes of others. I have certainly heard the opinion that it will fade out like any season hype fling but I just can’t imagine that. Or more that I don’t want to accept that something I care this much about could be tossed aside and forgotten like a burnt out cigarette. I had a debate on whether to write a review for this cour as I feel part one of Chainsaw Man is something that only really comes together when you see the full picture. I decided that it would be better to judge the full product. (Plus I spend all my Tuesdays writing these things and I need a break.) Want my opinion on this cour? Great, absolutely exceeded expectations. The direction may be controversial for some but I think it gave the anime it’s own identity while the manga can keep the goofy charm.(Though one can wonder if that could even translate over well.) The use of CGI in the series has also been a point of contention but outside of Studio Orange it’s been the best I have seen in the industry. As for voice acting I love both Dub and Sub, say great performances across the board. Music, I might have a small complaint that Kensuke Ushio may have overused some themes like the sad theme music but other than that it’s being underlying but effective. Finally as an adaption it’s been highly faithful while adding when it needed to. As a Chainsaw Man fan I sit satisfied and hungry for more when the time comes. The only torture is the wait which stings like a kick to the nads.