Chainsaw Man First Episode Reaction

I’ve already spoiled myself of the upcoming events from Chainsaw Man’s source material. I was just letting my YouTube recommendation cruise through a playlist of AMVs and the song “Devil in Your Heart” by SiM was used in a fanmade AMV. I got hooked with the art style on top of the music used but it didn’t compel me to check the story out until YouTube being YouTube does its thing by recommending Chainsaw Man related content. It was at this point I fell into the rabbit hole and it’s awesome.

Spoiler Alert: I’m only going to discuss the events during the first episode of the anime. If you aren’t bothered with spoilers, great.

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Summary:

In the world of Chainsaw Man, devils exist and are named by the fear they represent. If there’s a conceptual fear that exists, there’s an equivalent devil incarnate that exists in hell that represents it. Devil hunters are tasked to eliminate such threats to keep the peace and each nation has their own set of devil hunters acting on behalf of their own political agenda too. Devils defeated get sent back to hell as part of the cycle of reincarnation.

Denji, the main protagonist of the show was on his father’s funeral who died of suicide leaving him a ridiculous amount of debt from loan sharks. Denji was still a young boy during this time and was tasked to come up with a ridiculous amount of money the next day or else. It was here he met Pochita, a devil in dog life form with a protruding chainsaw on its forehead.

On its weakened state exhibited by profuse bleeding from bullet holes, Denji offered his blood to heal the devil establishing their contract. Pochita’s chainsaw form became a weapon to slay lesser devils and selling the carcasses to the black market became a livelihood to pay off a debt.

Working with Pochita didn’t make life any easy for Denji as he still has a ridiculous amount of debt to pay back to the point where he sold his eye, kidney, and testicles became an option. This never stopped guy from dreaming of better days living under a rundown shack and a slice of bread with no jam. This was when Denji started coughing out blood and making a remark how his mother died of the a heart disease too.

On one night, his boss asks for his service to slay a devil on to be betrayed. The boss signed up a contract with the Zombie Devil in exchange for power and in turn, the Zombie Devil takes his fury against devil hunters on Denji killing him and fatally wounding Pochita in an ambush. Denji’s body was cut in pieces and tossed into the trash.

Pochita being on the brink of death happens to take a drop out of Denji’s blood and decides to make another contract by turning into Denji’s heart. Denji’s dying wish for the devil was asking Pochita to possess his body as way to give the small devil a fighting chance at life. Pochita will either starve to death or get killed by devil hunters and this was the only regret Denji had if he ever died.

Denji lives a hybrid manifesting the powers of the Chainsaw Devil destroying the Zombie Devil and its minions. In the aftermath, Japan’s devil hunter group Makima arrives at the scene only to find the Zombie Devil killed and a barely conscious Denji on his chainsaw devil form. He was offered a choice to become a hunter or die as a devil.

Bonus Spoiler:

The Chainsaw Devil is regarded as the Hero of Hell given its ability to erase any devil it defeats from existence after consuming it. In the world of Chainsaw Man, nuclear bombs don’t exist as an example because it is presumed that the Chainsaw Devil defeated the nuclear devil thus the fear of nuclear threat ceased to exist.

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The pilot episode on its own does a spectacular job in setting the foundation for Denji as a character. Prior to the formal start of the Denji’s journey as a devil hunter, we already caught a glimpse of his minor hero arc at the scene where he is staring at his father’s grave.

Taken from Joseph Campbell’s the Hero’s Journey, the pilot episode followed the same formula at a smaller scale. The departure stage was when Denji was forced to come into terms with the death of his father by suicide and the debt he has to shoulder leaving his childhood innocence behind. The conclusion of this stage was when he struck a deal with Pochita and transitioned into the Initiation stage where he tries to earn a living and survive the harsh realities he is into. The hero return stage is coming to terms with his lifestyle and reflecting about his journey so far.

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Some elements of the Hero’s journey such as the Helper/Sage archetype can be arguably being seen in the form of the loan shark who guides Denji into menial tasks that could pay off his debt. Despite the loan shark having no good will intentions for Denji, the outcome of putting him on dangerous situations have fortified Denji’s resolve and character before we met him during the first episode. And the Hero’s Journey is a cycle of growth where we could consider the first episode as the Departure Stage of a greater arc.

Picture a kid transitioning towards his teens already not giving a care about his health, willing to sell his kidney, eye and testicles for money that barely makes reduces an overwhelming debt he has no control nor his fault. But here we have a character that is solely motivated by his own to survive and give his best to live.

Chainsaw Man is arguably an alternative to the standard shounen formula where the main character is motivated to do things for others and somehow triumphs over the adversities by sheer will and friendship until the next problem arises. Denji’s motivations are clear, simple, and surprisingly easy to relate to. He just wants to have jam on his slice bread and get laid with a girl. These simple motivations are understandable for the life he is living and what age he’s in. There’s no grand vendetta to make his loan shark pay for his suffering, save the world form devils, and trying to live for others that are common motivations seen in other popular shounen.

Animation and Music

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I’d still prefer the fanmade “Devil in Your Heart” by SiM but the official opening of this show is awesome on its own, with several visuals in reference to pop culture in between. The show used a blend of 2D and 3D which may put off some anime 2D purists as 3D used in anime have often had several examples of being bad than good. I could agree that some scenes of the first episode needed a little more tweaking during the fight scenes but it’s not all bad.

If I never had any prior idea about Chainsaw Man’s world, this intro to the series would have motivated me to search for the source material. It’s off to a good start even for non-manga readers.

If you made it this far reading, thank you for your time.