A Thousand Miles

Chainsaw Man

****

Chainsaw man is a 2019 action horror manga created by Tatsuki Fujimoto. It was serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shounen Jump in between December 2018 and December 2020, spawning 11 volumes. Presently, 3 volumes have been localized in the west by Viz media. It’s been received well enough to have an anime adaptation by MAPPA on the way.

Cover Appeal

Tatsuki Fujimoto – Fujimoto is a name I don’t recognize (I’m bad with names), but I’ll be damned if that shot of Denji doesn’t feel familiar for some reason. Reagardless, Tatsuki Fujimoto is know for Fire Punch, their previous 8 volume work, as well as a slew of one shots such as “Love is Blind” and “Sasaki Has Stopped The Bullet”, which won them Honorable Mentions and Jury Special Awards at the Shueisha Crowns Newcomers Awards in November and July 2013 respectively

A Dip in the (blood)Bath – My brain works in weird ways but, at a glance, the cover looks like Denji is standing (climbing, really) on a bunch of rocks with a wave breaking against them – almost like an actionized version of Ariel on the rocks. Of course, if you look closer, it’s Denji standing on the freshly butchered corpses of what may be zombies and covered in whatever passes for their blood (demon goo?). It’s a good look at Denji in all his fighting glory – a mix of man and machine; of savage violence and business like control.

The Gist

Denji’s got it rough. The boy loses his father to suicide, but before he even has the chance to bury the guy (much less grieve ), Yakuza show up to demand the rest of the old man’s debt from him instead. While doing odd jobs for cash, Denji saves and befriends a little chainsaw devil. The two take up devil hunting to supplement his efforts. The two find themselves in dire straits as a devil gets the best of them one night and the two are brutally murdered. Not a pair to have their stories end so abruptly, the duo fuse and are reborn. Now having the power they need, they defeat their attackers but are promptly confronted by the Public Safety Devil Hunting agency. Fortunately, Denji isn’t immediately taken out, but given a chance to work with them as an official devil hunter.

The Cast

Denji – Our rough, if not lovable, protagonist. Loses his father and starts the volume doing odd jobs for the Yakuza. Together with his dog, becomes the eponymous Chainsaw Man. I wonder if his name is a pun

Poochita – A little chainsaw devil dog that Denji befriends. Denji patches the little guy up and they work together as devil hunters, largely because of his chainsaw body

Makima – Public Safety Devil Hunter that finds Denji shortly after he emerges as Chainsaw Man. She elects to bring him on the team as opposed to killing him outright. She’s able to detect devil possession by smell. As a result, Denji has taken a liking to her

Aki Hayakawa – Denji’s senior in the agency. The two don’t like each other very much, even coming to blows on their first day. He thinks Denji isn’t cut out for the job since he likes Makima and isn’t as aggressively anti-devil as he wants him to be.

Power – A devil that Makima brings on the team later on. She’s sporadic and impatient. A big ball of energy. Probably gonna get arrested for the crime of lying and defamery or whatever.

The Rub

Chainsaw Man is messy and crude, but you can’t say it doesn’t have heart. Denji is a well meaning, though down on his luck, guy just trying to do the right thing. He’s eager to earn money, but isn’t a complete idiot or easy mark. When he gets in with the demon hunter agency, his desires are transparently simple, but they’re innocent enough – dare say, human.

The undercurrent of Chainsaw man is that, no matter who (or what) you are, you should strive to be kind. Need should be met with kindness and aggression met with the like.

All things considered, it would’ve been so easy for a story like this to focus on something as trite as revenge. Though said theme DOES rear it’s head a couple times, Chainsaw Man doesn’t seem to give it much room. Instead, it focuses more on the cycle of kindness. Poochita receives Denji’s kindness when he is hurt. The two spend their days being kind to each other and, when Denji is the one in need, Poochita returns the favor in kind. Makima, extends kindess to Denji, folding him into the agency instead of killing him outright and we see Denji extend kindness (in a way) to Power in the end of the volume.

However, Denji is no stranger to violence, dealing death with a swiftness multiple times in the volume. The zombie mafia, themselves a ghoulish foil to Denji and Poochita, are brutally torn apart by our protagonist. A couple other lower themed demons looking to possess common citizens meet their demise by Denji’s hands as well. Hell, even his senior Aki Hayakawa, gets his ass handed to him when he decides to push Denji around.

Denji is kind, Denji is strong. The two temper and compliment each other. To quote MangaD “I’m a pacifist. If I fuck you up, then you asked for this”. Denji’s kindness never feels naive because we know he has no qualms about meting out violence to those who deserve it and his violence never feels excessive because we know he’s more than willing to extend kindness to those who appreciate and honor it.

And if Denji isn’t naive, then maybe his willingness to befriend devils (and the better world this implies) may not be so naive either…

In Conclusion

Chainsaw Man is a an odd one. I don’t mean that in a bad way. Denji’s is a world where the likes of devils and demons, something we’d consider supernatural, is common place. It does low key remind me of Magical Girl Spec Ops with how these devils aren’t secret or legends, but rather a everyday occupational hazard with their own government agency devoted to dealing with them.

His is a rough world, messy and bloody, but home to honest joy much like our own. And much like our own, it’s host to cast of characters all their own. I noticed that each of the main characters have some contrasting characteristics such as Power and Denji’s raw strength/lack of life experience, Aki’s professional demanor/hostile attitude or Makima’s caring demeanor/manipulative nature and I’m interested in seeing more of what informed these characteristics and how they pan out.