Urge to binge, rising. Really not only wth the anime but the manga has been torture to wait for as well. Part 2 is ongoing and it’s interesting but a bit tortuous to have chapters supplied piecemeal. I have to end every Tuesday wanting more while also devoting the night to getting this post out.(I really have no idea how I did this on a regular basis) We have a calm episode this week with the focus being the start of a new arc, guns and boobs. Funny how juvenile that sounds out of context despite the events themselves holding an opposite tone. So has Chainsaw Man dropped the ball this week? No, but it’s likely the weakest episode to come out yet though more out of necessity. Things need to be set up and time needs to be devoted to that setup so no action scenes(Outside of a small encounter) and a good amount of exposition. I would say there was a slight downgrade on visuals for some scenes as well though with this content we don’t exactly need sakuga. I got more to say this week though than the past two so that’s something.
I told you that Denji’s quest for boobs wouldn’t be a long one and here we are at the end of it. So after feeling a pair does Denji ascend to heaven by shooting an unrealistic degree of blood from his nostrils? Has he touched teenage zen by reaching second base? The answer is no because he’s entered existential depression. When Denji declared his desire to squeeze boobs many proclaimed him to be the most relatable protagonist and I now say that statement unironically. For that look Denji had when he did it, you know that look. You know the feeling of having something disappoint you to the point of hollowness. Maybe your dream job turned out to not be as great as you imagined. Or a game you were looking forward to just was a boring slog. Or maybe an adaption of your favorite manga was announced only for a trailer to come out with it looking like it was animated in powerpoint with a color gradient from the 2000’s.(Yes I am still bitter over Biscuit hammer. It also has me aghast at fans being dissatisfied with this adaptation. Cause I would kill for Hammer to get this treatment god damn it.) Still I do really like that Fujimoto took a stupid joke and managed to turn it into something anyone could relate to. Some may consider it negated when Makima gives Denji the boob grab he was looking for but honestly I find that nails home a message that is actually rare in the media. If you wonder why there are so many teenagers desperate to lose their virginity I would point to the tv screen. Media, or the main culprit being comedies, hype up sex to massive levels and often put forward that you need to get it at any cost. I can think of ten films and tv shows that do this and come up blank when trying to think of anything that puts the importance of emotional connection forward without it being immediately mocked. You could be with the most beautiful partner in the world and feel nothing if you don’t care about them beyond the superficial. I am not saying that looks don’t matter but more that gunning for just looks will land a hollow experience. It’s a lesson that could be well learned by many, one which Denji hasn’t quite learned as he goes for another easy route with a kiss.
This would be the first episode that I felt the direction was a little…off. There has been lots of criticism on the Japanese side over the more serious tone of the series but I admit that here where that tone could be intrusive. There were lots of light hearted moments and comedy to be had but it did feel somewhat muted. As a manga reader I understand my perspective is coloured by a degree of expectation. I admit that some of what I saw here didn’t quite land as well as I was hoping and one is the introduction of the gun devil. The extended scene with Aki’s childhood was nice though I doubt many managed to guess that it was Aki. Which makes that moment of superimposing the child’s face on to Aki’s a smart move, almost turning it into a kind of twist. Still I felt that in the Manga that attack would be more explosive, like a sonic boom. The big omission was the detail the manga had about the number of deaths in each country from a single gun devil attack. It really sold that the Gun Devil wasn’t just some monster but akin to a worldwide natural disaster. All making Denji’s childish declaration that he could defeat it all the more absurd. But on that, Makima is full on manipulating Denji here without doubt but in a weird way it is kind of what Denji needed. She essentially managed to convince Denji that there are things worth chasing after and then gave him a long term goal. It’s in the gray middleground of white lies where while morally dubious, it’s still kind of the kick Denji required. This scene made me truly wonder, does Makima actually have a degree of feelings for Denji? Though I admit when reading the manga that I wasn’t quite aware of the age gap which, well could be over ten years.(I am reminded of a friend who told me about how a girl he knew ended up marrying her teacher which yes, even with consent just feels wrong and creepy.) Regardless I think the amount of Makima art is going to skyrocket after this scene because boy, they put in the effort.
However on that note if I was to put a primary suspect for this episode feeling different I would place it on visuals. We did have great animation but I dare say the curse of high production values is that when you come to expect that as the norm, it makes the drops more significant. With previous episodes it felt like shots had a degree of purpose or artistic intent but with today’s episode it was the first time I felt that scenes were shown that way to be more conservative. Lots of cutaways to random objects, zoom-ins on eyes, still images and animation strictly to what is required. If you compare the scene with Aki talking to his squad to his morning routine last episode the difference in quality is staggering despite both being mundane scenes. Now don’t shoot the messenger as I find this understandable. Look if production has to drop somewhere then better on an episode like this where the animation is extraneous. But it did cause a bit of a disconnect when I realized just how little movement there was to the character models and how the backgrounds were more noticeably computer generated. Though the second part could be an aspect to highlight the hotel’s eerie special distortion. With that brought up we have the first team fight in the series with what could be considered our main cast. Out of which Himeno has gotten the most development and I do have quite a bit to say on her that will have to wait till later. But hey I liked the cheeky Junji Ito Gyo reference during the gun devil explanation and how Himeno’s eyes differ from the dead eyes when she first met Aki to how colourful her eyes are now. But she and Aki do bring up the very high mortality rate of Devil hunters which indeed, when you fight monsters for a living I wouldn’t expect a lifelong assurance of income. Especially when you consider that there are devils of the power of the gun, where the concept of even fighting it is inconceivable. As with this episode’s end, not all devils boil down to ramming a chainsaw to their face. As a hint to what’s to come I shall say that not all fears are bound to objects or animals.
Meanwhile the English dub has finished with the Bat Devil and I am now sold completely on Powers voice. In English her old time slang comes through a lot more obviously as the Japanese actress is likely using a Japanese equivalent to it. She pulls off her cocky nature well though I would say her voice is less cute though that could be a positive. Also as I have found with other dubs, the comedy works better here. Could be part of how a punchline is more immediate when you don’t have to read subtitles but I think english just has more slang to make it flow. I once seen an opinion about the High School DxD dub where in Japanese you mainly have the word Oppai to refer to breasts and with the main character saying it at every opportunity it can get tiresome. But in English there is a wide variety of ways to refer to female mammaries which gave the dub more comedy just by how many ways they could refer to them. Likewise we have a degree of liberty with the dialogue with Denji cursing a bit more and a little bit of slang thrown in. Likely to account for lip flaps but I have found such touches can give a nice bit of character. I refer to Xenoblade 3’s Eunie as a prime example of how charming a character can become with a little dialogue freedom. The bat devils performance was good as well and I like how the actor made some of his more exposition level lines come out more naturally. A criticism I would have would be that with Makima telling Aki that Denji could turn into a chainsaw devil. It’s said like “Denji is a half devil, who can turn into chainsaws” With the way the line is delivered, Aki reacts to the half devil part when he honestly shouldn’t be surprised by that. I would say as well that she could have had a bit more of an edge to her voice when she told Power and Denji to be quiet. Otherwise much like the rest of the cast I find her voice growing on me. To be perfectly honestly if if was a choice I would be watching the dub over the sub as I do enjoy it more. But do take that as a massive personal preference which I know will be disagreed with. Still I do think that it is high quality and I am glad that Chainsaw Man is getting a top level dub.
Nice article, thank you for sharing.