I’m going to assume the deep and subtle character stuff comes later.  Enough reliable sources have made the claim that I give it considerable credence, but I sure don’t see much of that in these first three episodes.  So far Chainsaw Man strikes me as good pulp – very good in fact.  I can sort of see where Fujimoto was going with his “evil FLCL” description, because the artsy cool vibe he’s shooting for here is quite reminiscent (hell, he lifted an iconic shot from it in this chapter).  Of course FLCL actually was deep and subtle, which puts in on another level from where CSM is at this stage, but it’s very early days yet.

Much of the dramatic center cut here went to Power, who I frankly find pretty annoying at this stage of the game.  She’s a pathological liar, though I suppose that’s not unexpected.  She tries to blame Denji when the pair of them get called onto the carpet by Makima for their unauthorized devil slaughter last week.  Mind you I’m pretty sure Makima totally knows that and doesn’t give a fuck besides, but that should have been an early warning to Denji about what was coming.  Makima has her own problems to deal with – she answers to a cabal of suits who look right out of NERV, though as of now she’s officially never looked or acted remotely flustered in any situation.

Makima tells the suits that Denji is “interesting” (referring to he and Power with ippiki, which is the counter for small, cute animals – like cats).  If her theory (or fact, I don’t know) that devils are as powerful as the image in which they were created is scary is correct, as a chainsaw devil Denji certainly would be “interesting” from her perspective.  He’s naive and by all appearances not especially smart, but while that’s certainly gotten him into trouble it hasn’t gotten him killed yet.  That little tidbit is a subtly interesting bit of world building, a hint that the mythology at least could have some interesting layers beneath the surface level the anime has limited itself to thus far.

Denji’s world is a pretty simple one.  basic pleasures like canned drinks are to be savored, but the eyes must literally remain on the prize.  And that, of course, is boobs.  And while Power may be a fiend, she’s got a rack so she’s fair game for Denji’s libido.  Power hates humans (which she still seemingly assumes Denji to be) but loves cats, and decides to indulge both those traits by spinning a tale to Denji about how her cat Nyanko was abducted by a devil.  Denji professes to find this stupid (though he does say it would be different if it were a dog – there’s no accounting for taste).  But when Power offers to let him cop a feel in exchange to liberating Nyanko, Denji becomes a professed ailurophile at the drop of a hat.

It’s pretty obvious that at least some of this is a blatant lie, but Denji is such a soft touch that he happily plays along.  And as it turns out the Nyanko abduction part was true.  What Power leaves out is that she (as the former blood devil) has promised a bat devil a human to feed on in exchange for Nyanko’s life.  Unfortunately for said Bat (voiced by the superb veteran Matsuda Kenichirou) he’s (again, literally) biting off much more than he can chew here.  Not only does Denji’s blood taste terrible but he’s an entirely disobedient amuse-bouche.

I frankly found this whole beeswax about one devil abducting another’s cat as blackmail to be pretty silly, but let’s just call it surrealism and be forgiving because hey, it was the pretext for a hell of a fight.  This is drawn and choreographed really well, and it’s full of cool poster shots (like the FLCL homage).  But the most interesting part to me was Denji’s “You think I’m interested in saving some dude?” moment, because I think it tells us a lot about where his head is at right now.  I’m sure Power (and probably Nyanko too) will be alive (if not well) now that the Bat’s innards are street art – and that I’ll be irritated at how quickly Denji forgives and forgets what she just pulled…

Also, the third ED kicked.  Best so far for sure.

Samu’s Impressions

This is one of those episodes that mostly speaks for itself, which is the case for a good chunk (but not all) of Chainsaw Man when it launches headfirst into the action and is consumed by the blitz. The Bat Devil serves as good early folly for Denji to show off his chainsaw form again and give us a proper display of the gore and blood that comes from that release; it’s the moment of his transformation on his human body that I think the anime has captured the sheer violence of the act so well.

However I’d be lying if I said I was fully satisfied by the showdown itself. As some may know from my podcasting with Enzo, I’m no longer as much an avid follower of anime as I once was (bar a handful of titles a year that stand out to me) and instead much prefer manga these days. So in saying the action didn’t quite meet my expectations might be because my inclination leans to the other medium, but I do feel there wasn’t the level of impact and clear fight choreography I was expecting, even if for the most part it still looked great. It was the chainsaw action that I had no concerns about going into this adaption, and now suddenly I can’t help but wonder how effectively it will deliver on the many, many ‘moments’ to come.

If there’s one thing Demon Slayer was able to do better than many anime adaptation it was elevating those intense moments (episode 19 remains the perfect example, but also the penultimate episode of the second season) with full force that only animation, special effects, music, and bone biting voice acting can achieve. I’ve hyped up what’s to come in hopes those highs could be mirrored again but perhaps I should temper my expectations based on the two major action set pieces we’ve seen so far; both from the flow of the action onscreen itself compared to Fujimoto’s mastery of the panel and page turns as well as my uncertainty with the 3D being so front and centre amidst what is otherwise excellent hand drawn art and animation.