
Chainsaw Man

 is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto. It was serialized in Shueisha's "Weekly Shōnen Jump" magazine from December 2018 to December 2020, with its chapters collected in eleven "tankōbon" volumes. A second part has been announced and will be serialized in Shueisha's "Shōnen Jump+" online magazine. In North America, the manga is licensed in English by Viz Media, for both print and digital release, and it is also published by Shueisha on the "Manga Plus" online platform.
An anime television series adaptation produced by MAPPA has been announced.
As of March 2021, the manga had over 9.3 million copies in circulation. In 2021, the manga won the 66th Shogakukan Manga Award in the "shōnen" category. "Chainsaw Man" has been overall well received by critics, who have highlighted its storytelling, violent scenes and dark humor.
Plot.
The story is set in a world where devils are born from human fears. While they are usually dangerous and malevolent, humans can form contracts with devils to use a portion of their power. Denji is a young, depressed man, who is attempting to pay back his deceased father's debt to the yakuza by selling several of his organs and working as a devil hunter. Denji also owns a doglike devil named Pochita, which resembles a chainsaw and assists Denji in his work. Denji is tasked by the Yakuza to kill a devil, but discovers that to be a plot by the yakuza to let the devil kill him in return for its aid. Denji is slain and Pochita severely injured, but the two had previously made a deal that allows Pochita to merge with Denji, reviving him as a human-devil hybrid with Pochita's chainsaw ability. Denji kills the devil that killed him and is then approached by a team of governmental devil hunters. As he has now partly become a devil, one of the teams' members, Makima, persuades Denji to become a part of their organization to avoid being hunted by them.
Production.
Despite the series' violence and dark humor, Fujimoto always wanted to serialize in "Weekly Shōnen Jump", but he had the feeling that his work would be "buried" if he had made a "Jump-like manga", so he tried to retain much of his individuality as a creator while making only the structure and characters Jump-like. Fujimoto also said that, despite its success in the magazine, he wanted to write the second part of the series on "Shōnen Jump+" because he wanted to do a completely different series from the first part. According to him, there is no much of a difference in working between "Weekly Shōnen Jump" and "Shōnen Jump+", explaining that there were a few depictions that got stopped during the rough draft stage, but he was allowed to do anything he wanted regarding the logic of the story.
Fujimoto said that he took inspiration from various works. During the serialization of "Chainsaw Man", Fujimoto said that he was too busy, but he watched as many new things as he could and borrowed various elements from what he saw. He has described the series as a "wicked "FLCL"" and "pop "Abara"". Fujimoto had various elements from the series planned from the beginning, while other things where added as it progressed. According to him, he did not have specific plans to bring payoff to the meaningful-sounding words and things that felt "off", adding that he left various things vague in order to make the series' second part easier to do.
Regarding the anime adaptation of the series, Fujimoto said that he talked to the people handling it and he was comfortable leaving things to them. When the anime series was officially announced, Fujimoto commented: ""Chainsaw Man" is like a copycat of "Dorohedoro" and "Jujutsu Kaisen", and the studio of "Dorohedoro" and "Jujutsu Kaisen" will produce its anime!? I have nothing to say! Please do it!!".
Media.
Manga.
"Chainsaw Man" is written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto. The series' first part, , ran in Shueisha's "Weekly Shōnen Jump" magazine from December 3, 2018 to December 14, 2020. Shueisha collected its chapters into eleven individual "tankōbon" volumes, released from March 4, 2019 to March 4, 2021.
In North America, Viz Media published the first three chapters on "Weekly Shonen Jump" digital magazine for its "Jump Start" initiative. The chapters were then published on the "Shonen Jump" digital platform after the cancellation of "Weekly Shonen Jump". Shueisha also simulpublished in English the series on the app and website "Manga Plus" starting in January 2019. In February 2020, Viz Media announced the digital and print release of the manga. Viz Media posted an official trailer for the manga, featuring a high-octane opera vocals as its soundtrack. The first volume was released on October 6, 2020.
The manga is also licensed in France by Kazé, in Italy, Mexico and Brazil by Panini, in Spain by Norma Editorial, in Thailand by Siam Inter Comics, in Poland by Waneko, in Germany by Egmont Manga, in Argentina by Editorial Ivrea and in Taiwan by Tong Li Publishing.
On December 14, 2020, following the series' conclusion in "Weekly Shōnen Jump", a second part was announced to start on Shueisha's "Shōnen Jump+" online magazine. On December 19, 2020, it was announced that the second part, , will feature Denji going to school.
Anime.
On December 14, 2020, it was announced that the manga will receive an anime television series adaptation produced by MAPPA. It had a stage presentation at the Jump Festa '21, as part of the Jump Studio series of stage presentations that were held online on December 19–20, 2020. The first trailer for the anime series will be shown at the "MAPPA Stage 2021 – 10th Anniversary" event, which will be held on June 27, 2021.
Other media.
Good Smile Company will launch Nendoroid figures based on "Chainsaw Man" characters starting in October 2021, including Denji, Pochita and Power.
Reception.
As of August 2020, the manga had over 3 million copies in circulation. As of October 2020, the manga had over 4.2 million copies in circulation. As of December 2020, the manga had over 5 million copies in circulation. As of January 2021, the manga had over 6.4 million copies in circulation. As of March 2021, the manga had over 9.3 million copies in circulation.
In 2019, "Chainsaw Man" was #2 in the 5th Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Awards in the Print category. The series ranked #9 in the 3rd annual Tsutaya Comic Awards in 2019. The series ranked #4 on Takarajimasha's "Kono Manga ga Sugoi!" list of best manga of 2020 for male readers, and topped the 2021 list. On "Freestyle" magazine's "Kono Manga wo Yome!" ranking, the series ranked #12 on the 2020 list of best manga, and ranked #16, along with "", on the 2021 list. In 2020, the manga was nominated for the 13th Manga Taishō and ranked #8 with 40 points. It ranked #2 on "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2020" by the Honya Club online bookstore. In 2020, the series ranked #10 in the "Most Wanted Anime Adaptation" poll conducted by AnimeJapan. The series ranked #45 on the 2021 "Book of the Year" list by "Da Vinci" magazine. "Chainsaw Man" ranked #2, only behind "Jujutsu Kaisen", on Alu's manga community "My Manga Best5" 2020 ranking, in which 46,641 users (via Twitter) participated. On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150.000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, "Chainsaw Man" ranked #58. In 2021, along with "Teasing Master Takagi-san", "Chainsaw Man" won the 66th Shogakukan Manga Award in the "shōnen" category.
James Beckett of "Anime News Network" ranked the first volume as a B+. Beckett described the series as "goofy, kinky, dark, and bizarre". He praised the series for its compelling world building and character development, calling the story "a mishmash of raunchy teen sex comedies, "Hellboy", and "The Evil Dead"". Beckett, however, stated that its reveling in crude humor and violence could be off-putting to some readers. Hannah Collins of "Comic Book Resources" gave the series a positive review. She commended Fujimoto's penmanship and stated that the gory scenes, instead of be gratuitous, just make the story feel "refreshingly unfiltered". Collins added: ""Chainsaw Man" bears all the hallmarks of a standard supernatural action series, but its quieter moments are where its dark heart beats fastest". Adi Tantimedh of "Bleeding Cool" gave the first volume 7 out of 10. Tantimedh commented that "Chainsaw Man" distinguishes itself with its slapstick comedy, and a "deadly earnest" tone might have made the series unreadable. He depicted the characters as "sad, broken people who live outside the norms of society and haven't learned basic social skills", and commented that the series' subtext is about "people getting abused, degraded, dehumanized, objectified, literally becoming objects". Tantimedh concluded: "Society is to blame for degrading people into tools and objects; these mangas seem to be saying, though they never outright blame Capitalism or the alienating repressiveness of Japanese society. The result is one of the more unique manga out there". Ian Wolf of "Anime UK News" gave the first volume 6 out of 10. Wolf wrote that the main feature of the series is the action sequences and that "the ridiculousness of the story helps to add comedy to the whole thing". Wolf concluded ""Chainsaw Man" has some things going for it and hopefully may well build up from a promising start". In her review of the first volume, Danica Davidson of "Otaku USA" called the series "casually gruesome and violent" and that it "sprinkles in quite a bit of humor", which according to her, it mainly revolves around Denji trying to get a girlfriend. She also stated that the emotional part of the story is about the love between Denji and Pochita. Davidson concluded: "It’s kind of hard to say from the first volume where the series will go from here, but it’s revealed itself as a bloody, action-packed shonen with some heart showing through the weirdness, and it’s been very successful in Japan".
Katherine Dacey of "The Manga Critic" enjoyed the series. Dacey wrote that she did not expect moments of "genuine pathos" in the series, referring to the interactions between Denji and Pochita, and stated that its main appeal are the "outrageous displays of gore and violence", adding that Fujimoto "does his utmost to push the boundaries of good taste". Regarding the demons' designs, she wrote that some are "uninspired" and that the most memorable ones are "clearly designed to elicit an appreciative “ewww”". Dacey also wrote that Denji is "a more honest shonen hero than the typical "Jump" lead; he thinks and acts like a real teenage boy, right down to his self-absorption and total objectification of women". Dacey concluded: "I can’t say I ever warmed to Denji as a lead character, but I finished my read-a-thon with a grudging respect for Fujimoto’s excessive, ridiculous creation, which entertained and repelled me in equal measure. Your mileage will vary". Julia Lee of "Polygon" gave the series a positive review. Lee pointed out that the series' gory scenes make it different from other "shōnen" series, adding as well that it has an "interestingly goofy contrast between the characters and what’s going on". Lee stated that Denji's simple mind and "kind-of-horny instincts" can get tiring at times, but it does not make the series bad, and with the introduction of the "extremely interesting side characters", like Power and Makima, the story "takes a turn for the better". Nicholas Dupree of "Anime News Network" wrote that the series' main characteristics are its "irreverent tone and deliciously gory violence" and the "crass, crude, and purposefully lowbrow" humor, but that it also has a "proudly beating heart", which "sympathizes with the struggle to find meaning or solace in a cruel and unpredictable world". He stated that "Chainsaw Man" is a "bombastic, borderline nihilistic maelstrom of gore and dick jokes, but with the larger context it becomes clear that's in part a reaction to the absurd and illogical world it takes place in". Dupree lauded Fujimoto's art style, and wrote that "as the Devil enemies of the story grow more powerful, his imagination for bizarre, abstract, and genuinely unsettling visual storytelling reaches heights I've never seen in a "Jump" series before". Dupree added that the series "managed to take much of the online manga community by storm" in nearly two years, which is rare for a manga series with no anime adaptation, and concluded: "It's a bizarre, unpredictable, and undeniably unique thrill ride, and love it or hate it, there's nothing else quite like it". Reviewing "Chainsaw Man"s 97th and last chapter in "Weekly Shōnen Jump", Reiichi Narima of "Real Sound" stated that the way of showing Denji's growth through loss is a storytelling more related to "seinen" manga than "shōnen" manga, and stated that he was "deeply moved" by the inclusion of these kind of stories in "Weekly Shōnen Jump". Narima ultimately called the series a masterpiece and concluded: "at the core of bloody violence, there was a boy's sad love story".