Manga 116778 Chainsaw Man Reviews Sort Suggested Filter Check Filter Hide Preliminary On Spoiler Off P 2

Ill try to make this review quick, and on point.
Please note, that its just my subjective point of view.

I gave it 6 just because of art.

Everything is crap except art. Visuals are just amazing and are ONLY thing, that made me read that thing. Everything is extremally gore, fights are well drawn, you just have that feeling, that you are facing those demons arm to arm with the protagonist. And that's the only good thing about that manga.
Rest is just piece of shit, bad characters, that you'll probably forget right after you finish reading, story that just sucks and protagonist with development of hobo's puke. ... I definitely won't recommend that manga.

Certainly not a masterpiece as seemingly everyone says. Poor writing with shitty characters. Severely overhyped.

STORY [3/10]:
The concept of devils (that get stronger the more people fear them) is very interesting and somewhat unique, but the execution was very poor. The worldbuilding was weak, the power scales were inconsistent and the storyline was all over the place. Denji has the strongest plot armor I've ever encountered (I know that he's the MC and has to survive for the story to go on - but come on!) The ending was the worst part of it all. The most important arc/conflict was rushed to no end. After a ... while, it just seemed like the mangaka thought of every possible plot twist, shoved them in the last ten chapters, and just went with it (sometimes it felt like I skipped chapters).

ART [5/10]:
Art is subjective and everyone likes different styles. This wasn't necessarily for me, to be completely honest. The art is average. Some panels were nice and the designs for all the devils were awesome, but most of the human faces looked the same and so most of the characters were just very forgettable.

CHARACTER [2/10]:
Before reading, I heard a lot of good things about the characters; that they feel like real people and that was the main reason why I even picked it up. But they were my biggest issue with this whole manga series.
It has the generic main trio which consists of the (kind of) stupid main protagonist, the female, and the black-haired emo who at first can't stand the MC (and normally I love such a dynamic). But this specific trio just didn't do it for me. At first, Denji seemed like a breath of fresh air but his goals were just too simple and not relatable at all (as many reviews state). Power was the most interesting character at first but just got weaker and weaker as the manga progressed. Aki was by far the best character and I really liked his story from beginning to end (I don't really want to spoil anything).
I don't know why everyone hypes up all the other female characters so much (except maybe because they are all hot). Most of them are really shallow and have very little personality (such as Reze, Kobeni, that Chinese chick). Makima is just an overall unlikeable character. I don't know what everyone sees in her. I don't even think that she's a good antagonist.

ENJOYMENT [3/10]:
It was ok (I didn't drop it completely and read through, so this means something), but I don't really see how this is seen as the next big anime adaptation. I'm not even sure if I'm going to watch it.

UPDATE: Since now it has changed, I felt like I should clarify that this cover just part 1, aka, the first 97 chapters, which at the time were all there was.

I don't have much to say about the manga itself, which is why I was trying to write a blog about it comparing it to other titles, but since that feature requires an anime relation, this ended up here anyway.

The thing is, I don’t get what’s so great about this manga, I kept seeing how praised it was and how revolutionary it felt to a lot of people, but after finishing the first part I ... can only think that only newer people would say that. After you have consumed a lot of stuff this one just isn’t special. I personally think that Fire Punch was better, more intriguing and had more substance.

That’s the thing, unlike that manga, Chainsaw man doesn’t have substance, it’s all about the mindless action and being honest, straightforward, unpretentious and entertaining about it, which I can respect but I still won’t give it a positive rating just for that, I need something else for that.

After reading his two major works I can say that I don’t like Fujimoto’s works, but from what I read about him in the extra chapters, with his ideas about consuming stuff, working on his own projects, trying to incorporate more natural dialogues to his mangas instead of what you’d usually read or listen in another works, I came to like him as an author. He basically likes mostly action and horror, and that’s what he tries to do, in a fun way, with no much more intentions than that. Again, I respect the honesty.

Anyways I was thinking about listing the positives and what people liked about it first then complain about the work later, while bringing superior examples.

THE ARTWORK

First things first, compared to Fire Punch, the overall artwork is a lot better, I was even surprised because Fire Punch ended in the same year Chainsaw man began. I guess the drawings there were a lot more rough because of the far more serious story, while here the intention is to make everything much more spectacular, since it’s a heavy action manga about cool shit and empowerment fantasy. Even so I have to say that the artwork is still not amazing, the character designs feel like rehashes of Fujimoto’s previous works with minor differences, and outside the demons none of them are impressive. The demons are clearly inspired by Hellboy, I like that, but eventually most of them have similar heads and faces and the already little variety and refreshing factor vanishes completely. The artwork also lacks details in the brief cooldown moments and everything looks a lot worse, and there’s a noticeable lack of backgrounds during those moments.

As I was reading the manga, the extra chapters were included, with Fujimoto’s interviews and recommendations, as well as comparisons between the released chapters and the far superior volumes versions, where all that stuff was fixed, so yeah, we can say that all the minuses in the artwork are because of the weekly schedule, and at least Fujimoto bothered to improve on that with more time.

THE STYLE AND TONE

As I said Chainsaw man is just mindless action and doesn’t try to be more than that. Sure, by the end the main villain has a little monologue but it was more about their objectives, they weren’t trying to shove some themes down your throat at the last minute. I have read many saying this thing is mindless trash that doesn’t make any sense but why is that a bad thing? I mean, yes, it is indeed schlock and doesn’t make sense, demons appear around the world, kill lots of people on a daily basis and the world keeps being the same and people go on living their lives as if it was nothing the next day, but it’s a series about a horny immortal guy that turns into a walking chainsaw wasting enemies, chopping them to pieces, occasionaly eating them and then go on to try and get kisses and feels some boobs from his coworkers, why would I expect common sense from something like that? It’s unapologetic action and it’s honest about it, it’s not as if it’s trying to be serious, dramatic or inspirational. One of the more memorable moments in it is literally about referencing Sharknado for three chapters, for God’s sake.

THE ACTION

Ok so for a series like this is has to be good right? Well, it is, if you don’t mind seeing lots of innocent people dying coming off as cool, having an immortal main character which kills the tension considerably, and simple and repetitive battle choreographies for half the duration. It’s only after 40 or 50 chapters where the fights become longer, require more people, stronger enemies appear and forces the main characters to improve on what they do, also the already violent fights become far more gory by then, if you like that. They still lack tension considerably and have simple battle coreographies, but there’s an improvement as the manga goes on. Also as the manga reaches its end, Fujimoto does this things of following every action in a sequence, dedicating even whole chapters with no dialogue to that, like in One Punch Man, for example. With Mappa doing the anime adaptation I’m sure they will be crazier and more impressive there, too bad I won’t watch it since I didn’t like the manga and the only thing I care about in the adaptation is how are they going to show the 1500 victims of the gun demon.

THE PACING

Well, it’s fast, I’ll give it that, something is always happening all the time to keep the reader engaged, and for a fighting shounen the length is fairly short, so no one can feel that it drags on unnecessarily. Even the training arcs are short and have something else happening at the same time. The problem with it is that the manga is so simple and the way the events happen are so repetitive, it becomes tiresome after a while. I mean come on, the whole manga is one long mission arc. Remember when you are watching or reading a fighting shounen and in the first arc there’s this one mission about protecting someone or fighting a minor enemy later revealed to be a minion for the big bad? Chainsaw man is entirely that, it’s all about killing random demons or hunters that go after Denji until the manga reaches the final showdown, which is really not that different. If you don’t mind that, you’ll have a blast with it, me? I read the whole thing in three days because it’s an easy read and because I wanted to get over it.

THE DIALOGUES AND THE WAY THE CHARACTERS REACT

Are they as natural as people say and as the author intended? Surprisingly yes, the characters talk about irrelevant stuff in goofy ways during the relaxing moments, what they like to eat, how much they want to get a boyfriend or girlfriend, stuff like that. Nobody drops a simple, naive, childish, pretentious monologue about ethics or politics or anything like that (looking at you Naruto). It’s all about leaving the moment and appreciating the minor things in life. The problem is that it’s also very simple and childish, filled with juvenile humor. Also, unlike other fighting shounen, the characters don’t react in overly dramatic ways when hundreds of nobodies die, they don’t give a shit, it’s part of the job and it can happen to anyone at any moment, except for the main character because there’s no way he can die. But they also come off as very cold because of that, not overreacting over victims is one thing, being completely unaffected about it makes them look like assholes.

THE SUBVERSIONS

What about the moments when it subverts expectations? There can be a character talking about doing something specific in the future and die almost immediately afterwards, there can be bad guys that seem to be badass and about to do something impressive, and they are killed with extreme ease, occasionaly in absurd and over the top ways, by accident, which would come off as hilarious for some. And it doesn’t happen in the exact same way everytime to become a formula while trying to avoid a formula, nor that often so you see it coming. Also by the end it does becomes more serious and kills important characters in rather unexpected and dramatic ways, with more build up so the deaths don’t come off as random. The famous snowball fight is one of the more memorable moments in the whole manga because of it, it’s really well done, making you understand what it means for the characters and giving you an idea of what’s really happening. At the same time however, I can barely see the actual fight before the outcome, so yeah, I’m no big fan of it either.

THE LACK OF ROMANCE

For a manga about a dumb fuck in his teens that only thinks about food and sex, there are moments when he falls easily for almost every girl he encounters, yet it doesn’t come off as romantic really, because, funnily, most of the women he ecounters want him dead, as if Fujimoto was fully on incel mode when writing it. Despite all that, he actually managed to avoid the generic outcome of the main guy and the main girl in the same team falling for each other, and keeps them as frenemies throughout the whole thing, which is undoubtedly good and refreshing. Even then, Denji and Power both made the other a better person by the end, so I wouldn’t have a problem if they ended up as a couple, is one of those very rare cases where two characters have great chemistry, are not built as a couple, and yet they compliment each other well enough that it would have made sense and be satisfactory if that were to happen.

THE MAIN VILLAIN AND THE TWIST (WITHOUT SPOILERS)

The best part of the manga actually, it’s well done, it’s not really unexpected and surprising, since the main villain remains a mystery throughout the whole manga, and their behavior serves as a subtle hint throughout it, but it’s built upon nicely, with lots of characters coming after them making you think they are the bad guys, only to reveal that the main antagonist was there the whole time fooling everyone and manipulating the protagonist, Aizen and that persona 4 guy would be proud.

And now I’m done with the positives, moving on with my complains and justifications for my low rating, which has to do mostly with me having consumed better titles, starting off with the protagonist himself.

WEAK MAIN CHARACTERS BECAUSE OF WAY TOO OBVIOUS EMPOWERMENT FANTASY

So Denji is compelling at the beginning, they give him a basic but serviceable backdrop story and enough justifaction for how dumb, simple minded and much of a simp he is. The problem is that this is all he has, he doesn’t evolve beyond that, and he can become tiresome repeting the same dialogues about the same things everytime. There are moments when the manga hints that he’s feeling the pressure of what he’s doing, ponders about his identity and is shocked because of the death of other important characters, but they are short and are forgotten in a hurry because the next fight is around the corner. More of his backdrop is revealed later on, but by that point it was too late to flesh out the protagonist, that is something you have to do at the early stages to make me care about his travel, not when we are near his destination. Also, since at some point he becomes a global threat of sorts, the manga could’ve’d some consequences for a change and make him change, but nah, this is all about empowerment fantasy, he even ends up having fangirls around the planet by the end. Despite not having the best execution, Agni in Fire Punch was all about anti empowerment fantasy and having to deal with the consequences of his actions, Denji is unapologetically an empowerment fantasy aimed at his demographic, gaining the ultimate power, becoming immortal, not giving a crap about what he does and how he does it, not facing the consequences of his actions, and becoming a desired chad at the end. Agni was far more compelling when you have passed a certain age.

The other main characters have a bit of a backdrop themselves, but those are just way too simple to care about them and makes the early chapters to come off as boring and tedious, they grow to become closer friends by the end, I’ll give them that, but that’s about it. It’s when the authour realized that he can’t make a compelling character and chose to focus more on the scale of the action and the absurd events that the manga became more enjoyable.

COMPLETELY WASTED SECONDARY CHARACTERS

As for the rest of the cast, who gives a shit? The antagonists are not fleshed out in the least, the main villain remains mysterious for most of the duration and once their objective is revealed, the outcome coud have been whatever, they never cared about it. There are lots of secondary characters and they don’t matter because they are just cannon fodder that appear for a few volumes and die, or remain absent until the end, where they die, or just…don’t do anything.

AWFUL FINALE

Another issue is the outcome, which was extremely underwhelming, it has the protagonist deliberately holding back, lots of briefly and lazily explained asspulls to make a dead character reappear and help and make the mc win, and the mastermind falling for the most stupid trick and being defeated in one hit, wow they really are like Aizen. Plus the finale hints that both characters will return in part two, thus once again negating the results, what a load of crap and pointless fights.

EQUAL OR BETTER TITLES

And now for the comparisons with other products that prevents me from giving Chainsaw man a decent rating despite all of its pros.

Even the titles that are all about mindless action need to at least care a little about substance, or characterization, or good presentation to stand above the mediocrities, and Chainsaw man doesn’t do any of that. There’s absolutely no substance, even Hellsing Ultimate has more of it, with the characters struggling a lot more with rejecting humanity and becoming monsters when trying to survive, get powers, and become immortal, especially Seras Victoria, who is a better character than the whole Chainsaw man cast.

Another title that is mainly about action is Black Lagoon, where, just like in here, a bunch of psychopaths try to kill each other on a daily basis. The main difference there, is that there is a bit more substance and serious moments to interact with each other, some arcs have historical backgrounds, there is far more characterization and even development for the main characters, and the setting is far better stablished. It all happens in a city where everybody is a criminal and enemies can be allies the next day, everyone knows what happens and is involved, and they try not to mess with anyone outside the city so the status quo is maintained. It makes sense for things to be that way in a place like that, unlike open Japan in Chainsaw man.

I dare to rate even Saint Seiya, the fighting shounen with the most repetitive fights of all time, above Chainsaw man, but only the manga version, because it doesn’t has Asgard nor as much plot armor, is not as repetitive since Poseidon is very different in the beginning, and actually lets the Golden Saints be the protagonists during the first part of the Hades arc, while fleshing out the secondary characters more, specially Kanon.

Another one on its level is Akudama Drive, also a mindless action series, with a far catchier setting, an attempt to have more substance and themes, and despite having characters with no names nor background stories, they are more fleshed out than the ones in here, plus the action scenes have more variety and there is a real lack of plot armor.

Heck I think even the beginning of Nanatsu no Taizai (the first season) is as good if not better, because the background stories of the main characters are far more tragic and better, even the secondary characters and antagonists have more to offer than the whole cast of Chainsaw man, and there are far more internal conflicts within the main group. Then the manga and anime continued and everything became way worse.

But what about the natural conversations and dialogues? Those shows lack that. Yes, do you know which titles doesn’t? Tarantino movies, which also flesh out the characters via silly conversations and are not as repetitive about it. They also lack the juvenile humor of Chainsaw man.

But some of those titles suffer from cheesy romances, Chainsaw man doesn’t have that. Ok, I’ll admit that is rare, specially within the medium. The only other example of this that I can think of was outside manganime in Pacific Rim, another simple action thing with more grounded battles.

But all of those are very typical, Chainsaw man has more unexpected outcomes at times. Aside from how unexpected doesn’t necessarily mean good, I have already seen it done far better with a much higher level of trolling in Katanagatari, which also flesh out most characters a lot more before killing them in unexpected ways. Even when a supposed big boss is defeated unexpectedly, it is to build up another and show how his companions are affected by their death. It also has far better dialogues and character development, its value doesn’t come just for the shock factor.

Even as an action series Chainsaw man suffers because it never stops to make you care about its characters and is very repetitive and bombastic, Akudama Drive also suffers from that but I already explained why it surpasses it. Chiansaw man becomes even worse when taken outside its medium and compared with straightforward action films from the eighties, which had far more suspense and characterization, even RoboCop has some interesting themes and identity crisis in it.

But none of those is as batshit crazy as Chainsaw man. Ok then, you know what other weird manga and anime has insane immortal characters fighting each other without juvenile humor, with far better characterization because of far better background stories, and it takes place in a far more creative setting? Dorohedoro.

Now I don’t want to come off as a hypocrite, since I rated almost every JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure above Chainsaw man despite also being random bullshit with asspulled things to beat the bad guys. Over there, however, I care more about the characters, it’s clearly trying to be more absurd and comical about everything, and the big bads are defeated with asspulls, yes, but only after a long battle, usually after lots of battles along the way, all of which are far more creative, tactical and with far more variety than everything you can see here.

As you can see it’s not that I have much issues with Chainsaw man itself, as much as I’ve already seen every possible positive aspect of it done far better elsewhere, or in better shows. I appreciate its positives, and it’s a good thing having all of them together, but that doesn’t make up for its negatives, and the fact that it has far too many better competitors out there. It’s an easy read and fun if all you want is a mindless and honest action series, but that’s it.

I regret ever wasting my time on this. I really don't see why this has such high ratings and popularity. There is no plot. None at all. It is complete nonsense. People don't act like this. If it is some weird artistic metaphor then I don't get it.

The plot aside, the art is fine, the fighting scenes are EXTREMELY boring after the first time, because they are completely repetitive. Imagine if Luffy never fought with anything but a single attack through One Piece. Never got a new power up, just a single type of attack. Over and over and over again. The MC about to ... lose? He gets back up for no reason at all sometimes and still wins. They don't even justify it half the time.

The level of fan service, is insane. I'd say there is far far more fan service then plot. Fighting scene? In skimpy clothes. Flashback for a character? Naked. Oh, and no it is only the woman, not the men. No, the men are always in a suite. Fan service can be handled far better, like say they do in Dandadan. At least there it is half the time for comedy, or to denote action scenes or cool-ness of characters.

Writing horrible things happening to people over and over, trying to top it, is not art, as much as some might claim. It is not an expression of 'humanity is messy', it is just angst and gore for the sake of angst and gore, and fan service, and fighting scenes to cater to male teenagers without ANY depth whatsover. If you want to read something darker, go read Takopi's Original Sin, or something like that. This is just a bunch of violence, smut and nonsense packed together.

So overall: A brainless mess of fan service, with no real plot, no real characters, and the fighting scenes, while cool at first, get real boring once you see them once, since they repeat constantly. The mysteries are NOT worth the read.
-- spoiler below--
It basically rules you in with the promise of a mystery, of what is happening, what the MC's dream is and what his fate will be, of what the hidden mystery behind Makima is... basically it is a mystery theme. Think Death Note, like you'd keep reading to figure out if Light will win, what the thing behind the note is, why death gods are around at all, that kind of feel. But, the psychological elements do not exist, not like in death note, people act crazy, because they do not make sense. We have scenes where they cry, then do some utter nonsense like try to fight some super powerful enemy all the while crying I don't want to do this. Why do it all? None of it makes sense.

And then there is the ending, the real enemy all along was the main female love interest with all the hidden abilities and everything. Of course, how could I not see that coming! (sarcasm) Turns out she is a devil born out of the greatest human fear, the loss of free will. So everything is completely explained via that. Makes sense no? So how do they defeat it? Because the MC is insane, so he thinks cutting her up and eating her is a form of love.

That's right, as a classical Shonen anime, they defeat her with love... by eating her. That about sums up the whole manga, pure nonsense.
-- spoiler end--

Chainsaw Man is a breath of fresh air in the realm of shounen manga, the premise is wonderfully executed with its wonderful story, characters, atmosphere and overall tone. It is such a fun manga to read and experience through as it grasps your attention and keeps you thrilled throughout.

The characters are one of this manga's main attractions, all of them feel like real people with their own personalities, growth and ambitions. The main cast have the seemingly virtuous duty of killing the powerful and dangerous monsters that are devils, but they are never portrayed as the "good guys," like so many other shounen do. ... This also applies to the antagonists of the stories, they all have their own ambitions, and are not shallow plot devices to be bad for the sake of being bad.

The art is unique and charming, it appears to be more on the rough side but fits the story and world so well. There are many panels within the manga with great detail to behold, even more so when Chainsaw Man shows off it's grand and spectacular fights which are honestly some of the best that Jump has had to offer in recent times. They feel badass and exhilarating to read through in all of it's stylish detail.

Chainsaw Man is a manga that certainly deserves the praises it receives, it's managed to stand out in a great way in the midst of the most brutal publisher that is Shounen Jump. It gets a 10 from me and I for sure recommend this manga.

Edit: Chainsaw Man is getting an anime adaptation by studio MAPPA, as it rightfully deserves.

This thrilling manga has come towards it's thrilling conclusion, at least for its first part, as a sequel is soon to be published. If you haven't already then I highly recommend people to pick up this manga, this masterful work is honestly one of the best things that has come out of Shounen Jump in a while, standing above the rest of its competition.

TL;DR Chainsaw Man is a one of a lifetime experience. Even though the story at it's core is very simple, it certainly is not generic nor cliché. The plot may surprise even the veterans, yet it does not feel forced thanks to the world's unique atmosphere. Characters are believable, relatable and first and foremost, human. Artstyle is not objectively good, but the character designs are fresh and simply delicious. Humour is edgy and immature, but in those respective categories the comedy is very well delivered.

The Story - It is a simple one, but it serves astoundingly well as a tool to explore the characters. ... It takes place in a corrupt, pseudo post apocalyptic world. Humans can seem more monstrous than the devils themselves. It is not an exacly new premise, but the series shows it from an angle not yet explored in manga. In this story, a human life is a fragile thing. A mortal threat should not be taken lightly, as the plot armour is scarce.

The Characters - They are the reason this whole thing works. There is barely any exposition, as personalities are conveyed through actions, expressions and behaviours. A character won't act in a way necessary to further the plot. The plot is but a byproduct of actions taken. Thanks to that everyone stays true to themselves and feel like geniune human beings.

The Art - There is a certian degree of bueaty in there, but honestly speaking it is not splendid. Having said that, i am a huge fan of overall designs and creativity oozing from pages. There is a lot of gore, and everything seems dirty and ugly, which works perfectly with the setting.

Author does not hold back his horses, and you as a reader will be taken for a wild ride. I will stand for my point, that this series is created to be the purest, most primal and raw form of entertainment, and should be viewd as such. It works astonishingly well, delivers exactly what is supposed to and even exceeds expectations. So far, it is without a doubt a ten and I sincerely recommend it.

People call this creative but it's the same old reskinned shounen story. Im guessing people find the chainsaw part creative which it is but the concept is just Devil man, aot, boy turns into strong monster ability all over again. The story is just the same old organization of people featuring a bunch of teenagers who fight some sort of race of supernatural monsters except its edgier.

I don't like any of the characters. Denji's little gimmick of touching boobs gets annoying really quick, I also find boob jokes to be unfunny and immature. Denji beats everyone just cause (ah yes, another bullshit power fantasy). ... People claim Denjis character is relatable, I can somewhat see that until you reach the part where Denji would risk his life for some boobs. If you find that relatable and not pathetic, then I hope you have enough money to buy yourself a prostitute. Denji's recklessness over boobs would be fine if the mangaka stop trying to take their series so seriously, you can't do both.

Aki is the billionth, edgy sidekick who hates the MC after barely talking to them until the MC does something cool and earns the edgy sidekick character's respect. Can we please retire the SasukeGrayTodoroki ultra sad back story characters. Power is something a 13 year old boy would come up with, whose personality is killing and blood in an attempt to be edgy. Makima is boring and there's definitely not something up with her. She won't possibly turn out to be some sort of antagonist, no way! I think the mangaka was trying to give her a "Johan" feel (Johan from Monster) except he only used the personality of Johan for Makima and zero depth.

I don't find the comedy to be funny because a lot of the punch lines are haha sex. I guess people can get caught up in the gore and character designs and immediately think this manga is amazing but rarely think about the writing. The pacing is ultra speed so it's hard to get invested to the "story" because shit just happens (yeah, I think that's the best way to sum up chainsaw man, shit happens) you don't feel any connection to the characters or plot whatsoever. The art is okay, (IDK why ya'll are raving about, I'm pretty sure most of ya'll are just confusing liking an art style and actual skill) Power's design is way too similar to zero twos for her own good, the anatomy gets a little iffy (everyone's always stiff af, like they're smiling for the camera. This is especially noticeable in the fight scenes when everyone is just in some generic pose) literally all the characters have the same face (The only differences are the pupils lol) and the paneling/composition can sometimes suck.

I recommend Dorohedoro, it's a lot more creative, has more interesting characters. The art may not be the best but it's great for gore fans since ya'll seem to love that stuff. Damn if I wrote a story and all I had to do was write a gore fest and sex jokes for everyone to think my stuff was amazing, I'd take it. Anyways 3/10.

*spoilers

I heard what all the hype was about last year before the anime trailer came out so I decided to check it out.

I was really turned off by the incelness of Denji, answer me this, if your Protag was only motivated by boobs, how would you rate the series? Don't worry, I got you, ITS A 4.

The only character that I did like was Aki, because he was written NORMALLY, what a shock. Look I can appreciate that the mangaka tried to break all these "normal shounen tropes" that people are used to, but when thats all you have going for you then ... its not gonna be everyone's cup of tea. "I lied, the best character was the one chick's car that kept getting destroyed."

You can't get attached to any character because guess what, its like GoT, people get introduced, 3-10 chapters later they are dead. How can you possibly get attached to any of these characters the mangaka introduces when you know they are going to die and get replaced anyways?

And don't get me started on Makima a.k.a worse Griffith. The only reason people like this character is because she's attractive to them, and she's basically a dominatrix.

Thanks for coming to my neckbearded rant on how I didn't enjoy this manga.

You know what this is.

You know if you want to read it.

I didn't see the appeal, but people where rating it highly so I thought I would enjoy it.

I didn't like it.

Don't make the same mistakes as me. This is a niche series, and if you need to think about reading it, enough to actually read reviews about it, it's probably not your niche.

... -----


Story: 1 - The story is incomprehensible, especially in the later arcs. There's definitely stuff going on, but I genuinely don't remember anything that happened beyond "Chainsaw action". The rules the world operate on are bizarrely inconsistent, and the pacing is so fast I could barely keep up. I don't know why Denji was fighting the main villain. That seems the sort of thing that needs to be more clear.



Art: 6 - The art is meh. Good paneling in some scenes, but the overall visuals could be a lot better. Probably will be when there's an anime.



Characters: 9 - Now, you will notice i gave "Characters' a higher rating than the rest of the series. That's only the ones who live more than five pages. This series has a very, very high body count, but anyone who actually manages to stick around is great. Power especially.


Enjoyment: 5 - I don't see why everyone likes this. I didn't.

!LITTLE SPOILER ON ENDING PART!

Is this manga trash like some elites say? no
Is this manga good like new watchers say? no
and this is definition of this manga

Story(6/10) :
Denji is immature braindead fatherless teenager just like most of the mainstream's MC, who just wants to fuck(why? who doesn't?) , excluding from him, other characters have mediocre story, i mean its not something special but its not cliche so

Art(8/10):
... for a weekly manga it has a good art but sometimes it can be hard to understand what is actually happening

Characters(3/10):
its obviously clear that most people have read this for the characters witch are just bunch of random unlikeable douchebags(not to mention that idiot Violence Fiend)

Ending(?/10):
i guess someone liked Stone Ocean a lot so they wrote the same way for the ending

Enjoyment(3/10):
its sad, at the same its comedy and like i said there are idiot characters with simple story so yeah its boring manga

overall(5/10):
does it worth reading?
if you have free time yes if not no

It has an interesting first chapter, it seems to set a story that is pretty Interesting but it falls off pretty quick. Mainly because the driving motivation for the MC is that he wants to fondle the breasts of another character. Now I have no problem with perverted characters for the most part but that doesn't set the story in the best direction.

If you turn your brain off then the chaotic plot isn't that bad, they being said itbis enjoyable if you are not looking into anything super deep. In the end it's a prefect manga for edgelords or someone who wants something short, action ... packed, and with minimal character/plot development. In addition the ending is pretty rushed, so what was already Mediocre just goes down hill.

With the anime adaption coming up, I think it would be fun to watch, it is just not very fun to read.

Introduction

Chainsaw Man is quite literally the worst manga I've ever read. Apparently this trash heap is supposed to be a subversion of shounen tropes by adding this mature gory theme and horny protagonist to the "Demon MC" premise that we've seen 500 times. Now, this premise is never executed well and gets worse the more it's tried, so a deconstruction of it might've been refreshing and entertaining to an extent - but Chainsaw Man isn't a deconstruction of this genre. It just ends up being the exact same premise with absolutely no nuance other than the fact that the protagonist is horny, and there's somewhat ... gory art. The "comedy" completely falls flat and there is virtually no tension in intense life-or-death moments, because nothing in this manga is meant to be taken seriously anyway. There's a completely unfunny and immersion-killing joke every twelve seconds. But what'd I expect? It's the same garbage about someone becoming a demon, or part-demon, and joining some organization to fight other demons. The side-characters are all completely bland, boring, uninteresting, and one-dimensional, just tropes whose only purpose is comic relief and to be in Denji's harem. By the way, Denji is literally just a reskin of Hyodo Issei. In fact Chainsaw Man in its entirety is a reskin of High School DxD and Blue Exorcist, yet somehow it's worse than both of these. But what about the story of Chainsaw Man? It's again, literally just Blue Exorcist and High School DxD. This guy who's part-demon, joins an organization to fight demons. The story is just him going around fighting demons, with no nuance other than how bad it is. And what about Denji's motivations? Literally just something about him being horny, wanting to feel titties or something. Notice any similarities between this and the aforementioned series? Any and all character interactions here are purposely outlandish and comedic and try to be unpredicatable in some way, but they're all completely pointless and unnecessary, like this manga even existing. Just go watch High School DxD, it's practically the same premise but executed better in every way. The characters are more interesting, memorable, and the story and writing is don't get me wrong, complete garbage, but it's a masterpiece of our times compared to Chainsaw Man. The writer didn't even know what he was trying to do while writing Chainsaw Man. He tried to establish this really mature, gory, intense setting, and incorporated these comedic relief characters who make jokes every two seconds to accompany the setting. As you can see, these two ideas blatantly contradict each other and just make you think, "Am I supposed to be taking this seriously, or am I supposed to be laughing at how retarded the characters are?" And that's most definitely what sums up Chainsaw Man, it doesn't know what it's even doing with itself. Chainsaw Man takes an already terrible premise, and makes it worse than I ever could've imaged it to be.

Problem 1 - The Characters

Denji

One of the biggest problems in Chainsaw Man is the main character, known as Denji. He is absolutely a cookie-cutter, bland, and cliched shounen protagonist other than the one nuance he has which is being horny. This trait of horniness is completely exaggerated because it is quite literally the only thing he has going for him. The writer purely emphasized on the fact that he's horny or something, he has no personality traits other than this. He is also completely overpowered from the start, just an edgelord who's really strong because he merged with a demon or something.

The Side Characters

Another one of the most prevalent problems present here is the supporting cast. They're completely uninteresting, bland, and tropy, yet they're also outlandish and just generally insane. Now, these guys really remind you you're reading a battle shounen, as they can't take anything remotely seriously for more than 4 panels, and ruin any tense tones or writing that are supposed to be serious for them to be true to their trope. There are a few emotionless edgelords, and they feel completely bland and lifeless, just as disposable as the other ones. And I mean, essentially all the characters here just feel like they're from a Cookie Crisp box, with no lifeblood that honestly differentiates them from each other. They're completely forgettable, one-dimensional, and uninteresting.

The Antagonists/Villains

Chainsaw Man features some of the worst antagonists in the history of writing, they're evil just for the sake of being evil, have no interesting or thought-provoking motivations, they're completely overpowered with no explanation as to why or just an extremely vague one, and they're unnecessarily edgy. They feel like they're straight from a western comic book or something. It's just these copy-and-paste (insert word) Devil antagonists.

Problem 2 - The Writing

The General Story

Chainsaw Man features possibly one of the most uninteresting stories which never picks up, generic garbage about an organization who hunts demons. Never is there some thought provoking interaction or theme, it's completely mindless fighting which you'd expect to see in a battle shounen like this. It's edgy for the sake of being edgy and everything which they intended to be tense, deep, or serious is completely ruined by misplaced comedic relief. There's really nothing else to say about it, because you've seen it about 50 times already anyway.

The Characters' Abilites / Power System

The abilities of everyone here are left extremely vague, with no further explanation, because the writer didn't care enough about the trash he was writing to flesh out the logic of the characters' abilities. This includes the supporting cast as well as the antagonists.

Dialogue/Exposition

The dialogue and character interactions are repetitive, boring, and generally uninteresting. This entire manga feels like a time-waste, as nothing remotely meaningful comes out of it. Essentially all of the dialogue just boils down to some unfunny joke, something ab titties, or something edgy. The one thing this manga could have possibly done right is portray creepy images, but again any underlying horrifiying or tense themes are ruined by the constant comedic relief immersion-killing moments.

Pacing Issues

Every interaction and exposition is unnecessarily dragged out, the story is already predictable enough, it only gets worse as it's dragged on more and more. I'm too tired to elaborate on this more, so on to problem 3.

Problem 3 - Lack of Originality

I just want to get this review finished, so what I mean by this is that absolutely nothing Chainsaw Man does is original or thought-provoking in any way. It is effectively a worse version of series that already suck, like Blue Exorcist, Jujutsu Kaisen, Tokyo Ghoul, or High School DxD. Every chapter feels like a copy-and-paste of each other, with practically no nuance throughout the manga.

In conclusion, if you're a degenerate who likes titties and dudes fighting, maybe you could enjoy this. But I'd recommend High School DxD over this in all areas, so go watch that.

5/10
This manga receives very good ratings, but I don't understand what everyone sees in it. I have read 27 chapters so far and see no reason for such enthusiasm. It seems like very average one for me. Poor world building with uninteresting setting, very average art style, some may even say rather poor one, beyond subpar characters including MC (who am I kidding, especially MC) and basically everyone around him with no exception. It just generally feels unexciting with no direction, just random stuff popping out. It has generic plot on top of that, nothing to see here, at least for me.

the show is weird I hated all the characters but denji aki kobeni and beam the pacing is way too fast too many things were left unanswered unessary deaths killed off characters we just met for no reason what soever I hated that like we just saw him they just got introduced what the point of killing them off like What felt like the fights had not meaning behind them and they were just pointless and thoughtless fighting and didn't help the plot. The villains were all trash and came out of nowhere just to get beat in 4 chapters like no only ... villain I kinda liked was quanxi and I hated makima her reveal as a villain was too obvious I knew it was coming from the start then in the end her goal as a villain was medicore like she wants to make denjis life worse ok so gate how she takes the spot light of the show when she's trash and denji is better in every way possible I give it a 6.5 - 7.5/10. Just doesn't compare to other new gene such as doctor stone and mha and bc cause those are gas csm is very ok. The ending was also trash I didn't like how makima got reincarnated and like her and denji would be one of whatever shit it was felt that didn't need to happen. I will give them this I like the power system I also like how denji want to you know its very unique and that's one of the main reasons I want I keep reading. Power was also very annoying and weird.

Wasted potential. Not terrible, but it could have been SO much more.

Credit where credit is due, this has top notch art and character design, a gruesome and dark tone that I find to be lacking in the shounen genre, and some very interesting concepts. This solid base and some of the exciting action moments are the only reasons why I rated this anything more than a 5. If you don't care about plot, this is a fun read with cool moments.

That being said, the story and half-assed characters completely spoil this manga. After the first few plot developments, it nosedives into random events and ass-pulls ... that try so hard to be cool and engaging, but end up jarring and ruining the flow (the first bout in hell with Darkness is a prime example). It's clear now that the story has devolved into endless plot twists, I could hardly bring myself to continue reading. If you have read Dorohedoro to its end, you know what I mean. All of this amounts to a read that feels like a waste of time, as opposed to something rewarding. If the reader puts in any effort to pay attention to the small details and rules of the world, plot holes appear one after another.

The characters are nothing special, and while they have cool designs in terms of looks, they are just your basic one-dimensional shounen tropes. Another MC who's main motivation is to fondle boobs. Nice. The edgy supporting character who saw his family get killed and is now out for revenge. Cool. I would hardly call Makima a character, the author just uses her to move the plot along whenever convenient. To top it off, the lives of the characters are so devalued by random deaths, while others are seemingly immortal. This makes it very difficult to get attached or invested in the characters.

Now that I got that out there, I just want to re-emphasize that the art and character design is REALLY good, and the fight scenes are interesting. However, the story has gotten so bad that I want to believe it's some intelligent satire of the shounen genre, but I know that's just my desire to think I didn't waste my time reading this.

Yeah by the end of this I felt really detached from what was going on, like it was just a bunch of stuff happening on the page and I felt nothing really emotional besides Aki's ending and how Power and Denji were together. I think it didn't help that while I find the style fine enough, I have trouble tracking what is actually going on during fights, and who characters are and what change they've gone through and what it all matters given the status of death for these characters. The battle with the Gun Devil and Makima at the end was like that. When ... Makima really starts to take control and Denji finds out "what's behind the door" I just wasn't feeling it. The core of this manga that at least somewhat kept things together and interesting was Denji's pitiable circumstances that lead him to want only the most basic of things at an id-like level. That made Denji's carefree attitude interesting and held up as an emotional core with him and his relations to Aki, Power, and Makima that informed the rest of the shonen story, but it all just got lost on me.

Ok So CSM is one of the most anticipated anime of 2022. So my friend recommended it to me. Since I was the only one in the friend circle who didn't read it I gave it chance.So this is my first review,go easy on me........JK.....I don't care what you think. I'm gonna be brutal.

🔸Positive Aspect
CSM isnt great but not bad either. It's just another ordinary battle shonen which is just famous cuz of its battles.Its fast-paced action manga which tells it's story at light speed which is a positive point cuz in this busy life we want something fast and entertaining and can no doubt ... aces in entertaining the reader.The Artstyle is pretty messy but the designs and looks of demons are good.Characters are funny(sometimes). I liked how the author gave demons simple name which can tell the abilities of the devil and battles in the manga are good. Now it's the end of all the good aspects for the fans of cam.

🔹Negative Aspects
It's fast af we cant even enjoy the hype around cuz if a character is hyped up then guys it's not a character anymore it's a treat for denji's chainsaw. Literally they get killed after 1 or 2 chap and we can't even feel for them cuz we don't know shit about them.And I didn't like how the fandom just call it a revolutionary manga for shonen.I just wanna ask them how is it?Like it has all the shonen clichés. The training arcs,the overpowered mc, all have goals,protagonist without parents and a goddamn sasuke hungry to revenge his family. How is it a revolution and how is it a different from other shonens.The only thing csm does better is to make gory battles. The character development in this manga is as good as shit. Power become weaker has the plot progresses and denji becomes more horny and cringy. Aki somehow leaves his path of Vengeances but it was too late.There are only three we get to know really well but rest are forgettable.And the last one is the ending. Before chap 80 csm had some flaws but it was good but later it had illogical plot twists,flawed story, unexplained storyline and bunch of plot armors.And still after all the shit we went through mangaka has announced it's sequel to milk the series.
Thus, I conclude my review.I tried to make it as spoiler free as I could. Thank you for reading.Peace✌️

-Disclaimer?
I know opinions are subjective, yet I feel terribly sorry for such a rating just because it's so widely loved I might offend others. So my review tends to contain a lot of unnecessary “It seems”, “personally”, etc. Anyway, since I know people will still be loving it, I’m glad there’s nothing that will mar their love for the manga with someone who doesn't like it writing a complaint. Right, every fandom is like that. I doubt anyone will actually read this, aNywAy. It doesn’t spoil much.

-Overall: 5
Ok, for starters, I will tell ya about my feelings before and after reading it, since I rate ... everything based on my feelings (MAL recommends not writing about feelings cuz people don't care, but I don't care, MAL). I read all 97 chapters in an afternoon. The thought constantly going on in my mind was: “When’s the good part?” The praises got me kinda hyped too. In my imagination, it would be super edgy, thought-provoking, eye-opening, “educational” and emotional; it would tackle issues never mentioned before, or deal with social problems in a creative way, sth, my thought was like that. Reading the last line of chapter 97, I couldn’t help but blurted out: “Wait, hol’ up, that’s ALL? Is this the same Chainsaw Man the masses are reading?” I felt my heart dropped to my stomach: tis' the feeling of utter disappointment.

-Story: 2.
Now’s my thought when I read. One word for that: Confusion. The plot is unfathomable to me. The premise is kind of promising, yet it’s developed in a weird way (at least for me). So there was devils, and the mains go kill devils because they're dangerous. And some other human devil hunters want to kill the MC. That's all I can remember, my memories is bad, so I can't blame the author huh.
I just cannot understand the point of all that the author did, the reason he wrote the plot as it is. There needn't be reasons for shits in this world, I know, but, just, damn, it just bares no effects to me as a reader. I was like “yeah yeah me too I love hugs too but damn do you need an entire series for THIS LINE? Dude, I can give you free hugs, you don’t need to go this far” as I read the last panel. I continuously ask the author in my head: “What do ya mean by this? What are you trying to say?” I can TRY to squeeze out some messages the author wants to say, but that would feel forced for me. Sheese, the development of anything went way too far from my expectation. It was like going bungee jumping for dopamine only to get yourself dropped gradually and meet the ground so softly. Like going downtown from my house with so many turns I went back to my neighbors’ house (not exactly my house, but yeah). Like solving a tied knot by chopping it with an axe. Someone said the world building is weak, idk, just the threat caused by the devils is like, single-handedly carried by that damn gun devil. The citizens seem to be just fine normally; except for the times they happen to witness the devil hunter and the devil fighting. And then here come the gun devil who killed over a million lives in 5 minutes. It confused me so damn hard when I straight out hated the plot, I was not too bored reading it with the good art, and it was fairly memorable that I remember every important event, just not what the character intentions. Wowzers, good job author, you fack my brain so damn hard. I like being lectured by an author with his world values and moral lessons, so this manga does not satify that part of my need.

-Characters: 3; Art: 8
Not last and not least, the characters. One more time, another bunch of confusion for me. It gave me a hard time sympathizing with the characters. Not in their behaviors, they are understandable, but their Circumstances. I asked myself: What's the human's objective? What's dear to them that they must protect? How would they change?

Um, and this is what I found out about them, or at least what I still remember on the time writing the review:
-Denji, the orphan with chainsaw, wants to live. And he wants his waifu. At first he only want to survive and gain boobies but then he makes friends and experience loss of friends and he go fight the evil and save the world!
-Power, I can't remember; she's childish, she eats, she's quite strong, she's not human, she's rude. And she becomes someone resembling Denji's sister, and then she saved him.
-Aki, gritty man, gotta-revenge-for-my-family man, serious man. And what about him again. Ah yes, he's the brother figure in this newly found family where the three of them live together.
As for the three of them: I feel "protective" towards Denji, a dumb teenager that I can relate to somewhat. Power, a monster girl teaming up with him, is also dumb, and I feel a sense of pity to her, idk why. About Aki, the serious one, I just can't sympathize with his revenge reason. I tried so hard to imagine being in his situation (family killed before his eyes), yet I couldn't get myself to feel angry and revengeful for him. Yes, they say he's determined, he's tough (survive so long when others have died out, he goes out of his way to reduce his own longevity and stuff), but really, what, and did he prepare for the revenge? Can't get myself to admire him; he just doesn't exude any strong virtues or charms to be admired. While the art looks quite cool, no scene particularly sticks with me, and at no scene did I look at one of the trio and think, "damn, this person is such a badass".

Ok, let me ask you, the one reading this and had read the manga, did you cry reading it? Maybe yes, so tell me when, exactly? When X died, or Y died? For me, I didn’t, even though I'm quite sensitive and shit. One character dropped dead and I was just: “Hey author, why do you make this character dead? What’s the reason? To develop the story, how? Ah I know, for THAT, huh. Ok, maybe that works somehow.” I just feel a bit sad, like “poor thing, I don’t want you to die, but anyway”. Nothing went sentimental as heck for me like when I read the mangas I like. The characters, except for the protagonist, seem so distant, so shallowly known about, it feels like a colleague you see the faces of but never talked to. Or maybe I'm just a sentimental whiny child who is too used to romance and cannot handle the "hardcore gore and action" in this manga. I just can't explore enough of the characters from what the author gave. To be more extreme, the characters may not feel like sentient beings anymore. As someone said before, I was completlely desensitized by the author rampant killing of any characters he feels like killing (or introducing, it really doesn't matter anymore, they'll be treated as mere roles, or comedic sidekicks or whatever). And therefore, I can't ducking hate the villain for killing people, not because I like the villain, it's just I don't even care if they died. It’s confusing to me that I don't admire or adore any character here. But I have to admit Makima and Reze are quite high in temperature. The art looks good, quite a recognizable style, quite like it.

-Makes me doubt my humanity
However, in the end, the thing that confuses me the most is still why people love it so much that I doubt the humanity in me for not liking it, even though I know opinions are subjective. It feels like they have never read something with blood and boobs and swear words before and rate it 10*, tho I know it's not the case, many seasoned readers like it too like, wut? But then I calm down a little, seeing some lower-rating reviews hold the same view with me. C'mon, don't treat it as if it's the most ground-breaking manga ever, since it's actually more cliched than average to me. It's ironic for me that a "SoL" manga like "Gakkou Gurashi" (a manga I like) is much more bloody, terrifying, heart-breaking and impactful than this one. I don't even want compare this to a magical girl show like PMMM (sob). Or a normal horror manga (I don't read horror tho). Maybe I shouldn't compare different genres like that. For ones that are more familiar to gore and horror stuff, I think they would find this is quite chill and calm. But like, I can't complain, since my taste seems quite bad, and I have this bad habit of giving out 10s rampantly for any series I like. People tastes are just different, and the reason I'm that shocked was because I've never read something so widely recommended to feel this disappointed. It was just my me being naive for thinking if a manga have high ratings, I'll love it.

-Enjoyment: 7
Normally, I come into a seinen manga to get some “advice”. I want to know what the author has to show, to see perspectives of the one who has experiences in life and wants to tell the world about it. It’s totally the reverse here lol. The manga feels so young, so childlike, so naive, so eager in an alien way to me, that I want to pat the author on the head like a father does to his son when he shows him something he draws, to tell him “You did a good job, my boy, you try your best huh” even though he don’t exactly like the picture. It’s like the manga makes me utter my view (say, expressing my confusion here) instead of hearing the author's view. I don’t exactly hate this manga, I can totally reread it for recreation (but, I'm not that eager to reread in the near future). This is such a weird experience, and I can tell that I am not a fan, but somehow I don’t mind reading it.

mostly style over substance. the obsession over certain characters by the fandom and even the characters in chainsaw man is nothing but runaway looks done right. i guess i shouldn't be too critical about it because it is a shōnen after all, and by definition, they are not exactly about character exploration or exploring themes in a deep manner anyway.

i wish the relationship between denji and power was explored further instead of just settling around two goobers being goobers. makima had zero personality from beginning to end, denji didn't grow as a character, he just follows whatever trend was in front of him. the relationship ... between him and pochita was there just for the deus ex machina. most characters besides denji, makima and power were just temporary fillers to fill up space and time.

the only positive thing i can blurt out without an interjection is the overall art of the manga. it's nothing spectacular or unique but it's good from beginning to end. and it's where most of the appeal of chainsaw man is, and the fandom knows it because there are thousands of artwork out there.

6 out of 10
This manga is really stupid. In a good way I guess... There are some panels and scenes that are just so unbelievably dumb that you just can't help but laugh.

Overall I quite enjoyed the few key moments that this manga had to offer, all of which genuinely made me laugh. There's a scene where the main character Denji is literally in a life or death battle but decides it's time to go all out because he's motivated by his reward: getting to touch boobs for the 1st time in his life.

If you're here for a story or plot, you're ... not really going to get one. Chainsaw Man follows a sort of monster of the week format for the majority, with a lot of 'randomness' in the writing (or whatever you decide to call it).

In short, it's not a very compelling piece of storytelling but a great manga to turn your brain off and just enjoy the ride.

The art is pretty overhyped. Scenes are very chaotic, true to the nature of the piece, but very lacking in thought or composition. In between scenes and paneling are very weak or uninspired compared to the action panels.

This is not a manga I would ever give a second read unfortunately, but it is memorable to the point of enjoyment.