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‘Chainsaw Man’ was so fucking hyped that I – foolishly – assumed it was going to be good. I’ve seen it compared to ‘Attack on Titan’ and ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ and while I’m not the biggest fan of JJK I can ensure you: you will have a better time with it than with this messed called ‘Chainsaw Man’. CSM has neither the carefully crafted storylines of AoT, nor the peak shonen entertainment that JJK brings to the table.

I do like to start of with some credit. CSM is not all bad. I think the premise is kinda silly, but it does peak interest and it certainly ... grabs your attention. CSM is a very, very fast-paced story, what – although I think its biggest downfall – makes it very easy to read. If there’s one thing I can say, it is that the story didn’t leave me bored.

I think some of the side characters – the ones that weren’t just thrown into the story to be killed a few chapters later – are fun. Even though she isn’t the most carefully crafted character in the series, I liked Powers chaotic personality and the little character development she got. I think there was more the mangaka could have done with her to flesh her out, but yeah, fleshing out characters isn’t the mangaka’s strong suit, I feel like.

The best character in the series must be Aki. He has a clear backstory and goal, that drives the plot forward. His character has layers – being annoyed with Denji and seemingly not caring, but also being the first to risk his own live to save him. Aki’s character is in no way original, nor groundbreaking, but the point is: it doesn’t have to be. Aki maybe put together of tropes we’ve already seen, but it is well done – and in the end, that’s all that matters. In many ways, Aki felt more of a main character than Denji ever did.

And that’s were the problems of the manga start: Denji. I’ve seen a lot of people talk about how his character is refreshing and totally revolutionary. I left feeling a bit disappointed. I can see where some people are coming from. Denji isn’t some noble hero with otherworldly goals, he’s just your everyday guy. He’s also the type of everyday guy every sane girl would run away from screaming.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing inherently wrong with Denji. But he also had no respect for himself, nor any of the people around him. His goal is to ‘live a normal life’, which to him translates something like: being a horny as fuck teenager. And I get it, teenagers can be horny, but I have seen stories about adolescent sexuality done better than this.

The problem with Denji’s sexual urges is that it comes before anything else. It is sometimes played off as a joke, but it doesn’t matter much if it is a joke or not. Cause in the end, he really doesn’t have any other goals besides getting laid. It comes before saving his friends, before being a good guy, before anything else… And to me, that just made him very unlikable.

For exemple: at one point in the manga, Denji saved a cat instead of an actual person (a man, bear with me, his gender is relevant). A little before or after that (can’t really remember) it is said that Chainsaw Man only saves girls – something he doesn’t deny. I understand that this is kinda played for laughs, but it sure as hell didn’t make me laugh and it sure as hell didn’t make me like Denji’s character more.

I think the idea of Denji’s character arc (him being emotionally/sexually manipulated by Makima and learning from that) is interesting. But I think that it falls flat for me, because Denji doesn’t really learn. Now, my review is primarily, so it could be that things change further on in the story, but Denji hasn’t yet discovered that there’s more in life than having sex. He hasn’t learned that women are more than their bodies and he sure as hell hasn’t learned that his own worth isn’t defined by the fact that he has a girlfriend. All this terrible shit has happened to Denji over the course of the manga and he is still the same, fucking terrible person.

Another character that I found fucking stupid was Makima. She’s a manipulating bitch. Which is fine, is there was anything more to her character. Her goals, that are revealed much later on, are shallow at best and contradictory at worst. For me, it was never really clear what she wanted. Also, she became kinda a fucking dumb-ass at the end of part one – if you know, you know.

That being said, I don’t actually think the characters are CSM’s biggest problem – and that says a lot. The biggest problem is, without any doubt, the pacing. This story never gets any moment to breath, holy fuck. We are thrown from one fighting scene into the other. And that, without ever really feeling what the previous fight meant.

Cause, that’s what CSM lacks: consequences. We have these fight scenes where people die, but it doesn’t matter, cause no single character – except for Aki, that one time – seems to really care. Even when we see a glimpse of grief – Denji talking to himself about how he should feel bad after his teammate has died, yet he feels nothing – it is brushed aside and never brought up again. Characters die left and right and where it was once shocking, it just starts to feel predictable after a few times. Oh wow, another side character that we have no connection with has died… No, who could have expected D: It is not like it happened 10 times before already.

To compare it with AoT – as so many people like to do: AoT has these little moments of grief. Oftentimes right after a person has passed, but very often also in the future. We have Levi who, even in one of the last chapters, is reminded of all his dead comrades. Even after years and years have passed, he still carries that with him. In no way am I saying that AoT does something amazing here; I think this is basic fucking storytelling that CSM fails to deliver.

I use AoT as a comparison because I think AoT does consequences well. A very small detail might have a big effect in a future chapter. So paying attention to what is happening, is rewarded. CSM doesn’t have any of this. Nothing ever seems to have a bearing on the story, making everything seem so totally meaningless.

I think this is partly because Denji has nothing really at stake. His goal is to have a normal life, something he has after like… a few chapters (in his own worldview at least, although he never really reconsiders his definition of ‘normal life’, so it doesn’t really matter either way). Denji isn’t the one driving the story forward, which is strange, cause he is supposed to. Everything feels just very disconnected.

I think a main character without much at stake can be done well. For example, I really liked Saitama in ‘One Punch Man’. OPM is fundamentally different from CSM, but I do think it is worth bringing up. Saitama really has no stakes. He is a superhero ‘for fun’. He cannot be killed, because he is literally the strongest being in the universe. He has no goal, he isn’t striving to be a better human… He just exists. But OPM manages to capture my attention, while CSM doesn’t. And that is because Saitama is a character with layers. He might be the strongest man to ever live, but he lacks something fundamental. Although he is not consciously running after a very specific goal, he has not find his peace yet. He lacks joy in life, at first, and as a reader you still are invested in the ways he can find happiness. Another thing OPM does to raise the stakes, is to give some character time to shine; characters that do have something at stake, who, for a short (or long) time, become almost like a supplementary main character.

CSM does neither of these things, which just begs the question: If Denji has everything he wants and no other important character can fill the gaping hole in his story, why am I reading this shit?

I think CSM has some other issues. Lack of a clear worldbuilding, boring figh choreography, lack of diversity in character design – to name a few. They are issues woth mentioning, although I do think they are not as fundamental as CSM’s weird pacing and lack of consequences.

CSM is not all bad. I’ve been shitting on this manga a lot, but yeah, it’s pretty average. I think reading CSM made me angry, not because it was worse than most shounen I’ve seen, but because it people told me it was going to be different. And not only different, but better. But honestly, I certainly do not think it is better and I don’t even think it is al that different. What makes it different, really? The fact that the premise is silly? The fact the villain is a manipulating bitch? The fact that Denji is a horny as fuck teenager? None of these things are all that different to me and even if they were, it wouldn’t make the story good.

So yeah, if you want some mindless fighting scenes strung together with a thinly veiled plot, you might find CSM interesting. But to be fair, OPM has better fighting scenes, as does AoT. JJK has better worldbuilding and more likable characters. You are better of reading any of these popular titles, and there are probably plenty of obscure manga that are more exciting than CSM will ever be.

(English is not my first language so I'm sorry for any mistakes made!)

EDIT: It's been a long time since I wrote this review and since then my opinion of the show has kinda improved. I see now that it tried to be a satire, which would explain why it is filled with clichés. However, I think this show was at times a little bit too unaware of itself, that's why at first it didn't really hit me as a satire, more as just another silly little isekai. However, I still stand by most of the things I've writting in this review. Satire is no excuse for shallow characters, sometimes the humor/satire did come across very well, but ... most of the times it didn't really.

First of all, I’m a girl, probably not the audience the makers of this anime had in mind. I found myself annoyed with stuff that I think most boys won’t complain over. Second, the whole ‘game/fantasy world trope’ was never my cup of tea. I watched Re:Zero, officially the worst show I ever watched (in my opinion) and I tried to watch SAO, but never got further than the first episode, because I hated everything about. Still, I thought I would give Konosuba a chance and I actually don’t regret it. I enjoyed the first few episodes quite a bit and at some points, I even cracked a smile.

But… that doesn’t take away that most of the episodes… were shit. The story wasn’t original to begin with. It is seriously the most overused trope in anime history (except for maybe the ‘power of friendship’). I can’t say Konosuba had potential, ‘cause it didn’t. The only thing that was maybe a bit original, was the fact that our main character Kazuma didn’t had a lot of things going for him. Instead of a fancy power, he chose a useless goddess. His fantasy world wasn’t what he dreamt of: he started of as a novice who basically couldn’t do anything. I’m glad that they at least tried to do something different… Sadly it doesn’t make up for the lack of originality in the rest of the story. Besides from that, Konosuba is also filled with a lot and a lot of fanservice, that I just can't stand. I’ve seen a lot of shows with a goddamn lot of fanservice and it always annoys me, but when they make a whole episode just for the fanservice… It broke my heart a little. I can take a little fanservice every now and then… but a whole episode? Not only did it put me off, it also ruined ‘the flow’ of the story.

Next, characters. I hoped that the characters would be better than in most other shounen… but they weren’t. I don’t know why I’m still hoping for a shounen with strong female characters (and I don’t mean strong like Mikasa from AoT, I mean strong like… actually well written). All the girls in this show were just plain stupid. I mean, is it that much of a hassle to make one girl smart? Just one, not all of them… one. Or to give a girl some kind of complex personality? I mean… I can round all of these characters up in just a few words, what means they’re just shallow and didn’t go through any development at all. First, we have Aqua, a arrogant, annoying, screaming, egocentric goddess. Next, we have Megumin, a girl who… loves explosions – that’s really her only personality trait, if you can even call it that. And last, we have Darkness, who is a masochist that wants to protect people, I guess? I don’t get why some people get invested in these characters, they’re just stupid.

We also have Kazuma. Our main hero, who is a guy, so of course he does have a certain amount of intelligence. I mean, why would you give a girl some common sense, how is our hero going to save her if she’s capable of saving herself? So, Kazuma has common sense, constantly complains about the stupid world he ended up in and he is annoyed with all those stupid girls surrounding him. Naturally, somewhere along the way he starts to care for them and they all become bff’s. What I did like about Kazuma, is that he becomes stronger at a slow rate, much more believable than Aqua, who suddenly gets some epic tricks out of nowhere.

And my last comment about the characters (somebody needs to say it): is every man in Konosuba a pervert? I mean, at the final episode, all of the men began to fight… only after they thought of their nights with the succubi? Is that really their only motivation? Even if they’re just side characters… give them some substance please.
I understand that it is meant to be funny and not taken so seriously… but can we maybe have a funny show with some decent characters? They do exist, you know. We have for example My Hero Academia and Magi: they still manage to be funny even with some intelligent and complex female characters in the running.

Now, over to sound… I did not like it, I did not dislike it. The opening was nothing more than mediocre. The ending… except for one time, I always skipped it, so it wasn’t that good either. Sound effects were nothing special. Voice acting did fit the characters most of the time. It just really annoyed me when Aqua started screaming again – and again… and again.

The art is not worth mentioning either…

So... If your looking for something that has been done a thousand time before and you really enjoy watching some stupid girl with tons of fanservice... this is the show for you.

I never expected that I would enjoy this show as much as I did. I came here after ‘My Hero Academia’ and an interest in another superhero story. The first few minutes weren’t that promising, but soon I came to love this show more than most anime I’ve watched.

Where ‘Tiger & Bunny’ really manages to distinguish itself from other shows, is the concept and the characters. This superhero story doesn’t only evolve about people trying to save people. There’s a popularity race involved, and most of the character’s goals aren’t that noble at all. I also like the idea of sponsors for the hero’s, makes ... it even more believable that everything is just one big commercial stunt.

The characters really stand out. Each of them had there own voice and is recognizable. They do things and the things they do, just fit their personality perfectly. There wasn’t a single moment when I thought: damn, isn’t he acting out of character? Each of the characters have their strong and weak points: no (semi) perfect characters are seen here – yes, I really do love flawed characters. The villains had their own motivation, that wasn’t as simple as ‘I’m evil because being evil rocks’. (I do think Jake would have been more interesting if he wasn’t a half madman, since his goal is pretty damn interesting.)

Also, the relationship between the characters is done pretty damn well, especially Barnaby and Kotetsu. They started off as rivals and totally didn’t like each other. But, the more they worked together, the more they learned that they could learn from each other. Still, their friendship isn’t flawless: they still argue, they still have trouble telling each other everything on their mind. And I like this, because it’s believable. No single friendship exist without a fight every now and then.

Though I really enjoyed ‘Tiger & Bunny’, not everything about it is perfect. One of my struggles with this show (although it’s just a detail) was [very minor spoiler] relationship between a certain hero and an android. I get why the android needed to be introduced, but I don’t really get why there had to be this little romantic relationship? It was a subplot developed very poorly, I guess.

Second, the fact that Barnaby’s parents worked with androids did come out of nowhere for me. I think it would be better if they dropped some hints in the first arc about this, because now it seems like the whole parent-android thing was just dropped there to make everything work out. What I’m trying to say: it seemed more like a plot device and therefor it felt kinda forced.

Furthermore I didn’t like the fact that, at a certain point, some characters lost their memories and had false one’s implanted (tough it was executed pretty well). But I personally don’t like this trope, so my judgement could just be based of my personal bias.

I also would have been happier if [spoiler, but not really] a certain character would have stayed dead. I just really despise the ‘I’m dead, WAIT NO, just kidding’ thing. But again, could have been my personal opinion.

And, to round it up, [spoiler] what the hell happened to Lunatic afterwards? Again, this looks like a subplot that was left hanging. He didn’t really win, the hero’s didn’t catch him… there is just no closure to this subplot, unless there was a sequel – but there isn’t.

Besides all that: I liked the animation, though it’s a bit flashy at some points. And I did really enjoy the music and the voice acting in ‘Tiger an Bunny’. Action scenes were pretty nice to look at.

I’m a huge fan of the manga series and I should say that this season might be one of the most faithful adaption we’ve seen so far. Still, I can’t really say I loved Tokyo Ghoul:re, like I loved the first season. This adaption seems to be lacking something, although I find it a bit hard to say what exactly. My best guess is that it just misses the atmosphere that came through so nicely in the manga.

In this season of Tokyo Ghoul, we meet Haise, a ghoul investigator who’s working very hard to keep together his little family. Just like everyone (except Haise) notices, ... he’s the former Kaneki and struggles with his other personality that just isn’t a sweet snowflake like Haise himself. A lot of people say they hate Haise, but I kinda like his sweet, innocent side (I do like Kaneki better though).

The story of Tokyo Ghoul:re follows the manga very closely, but just doesn’t seem to have the same effect. Maybe it’s because the animation is worse than ever before. Maybe it’s because the voice acting ruined some scenes (please stop the Japanese sounding German/French, why would you do that to my ears?) and made them almost hilarious, while that obviously wasn’t the intention. Maybe it’s because the story is rushed. Maybe it’s because there’s a big blank space after Tokyo Ghoul Root A. Maybe it’s because the finale didn’t really feel like something you would call a finale.

Some scenes in the manga made my cry. The same scenes in this anime just leave me gazing at the screen, thinking: what the hell am I even watching? Characters I had no problems with in the manga suddenly became very hollow, not convincing and sometimes even annoying, though I just can’t point out what has caused it.

Anyway, if the anime will continue to follow the manga, this might just be a necessary pain to go on to the better part of the series (and I really hope that it will turn out better than this season did, a girl can hope, can’t she?)

This review might contain some spoilers, but I’ll try to keep it down.

First of all, I can’t say I disliked this show. To be very honest: I bingewatched it and I enjoyed every single second of it (or almost every second). But, sometimes you shouldn’t judge a show by how much you enjoyed it. Sometimes, you have to have a critic view. And in my critic view, this show kinda really sucks.

In the second season of Nanatsu no Taizai, we meet some new villains for or hero's to defeat: The Ten Commandments from the demon clan. This is exactly where I stumble upon the first ... major problem with this second season. The villains are absolutely shallow. There are bad because… well, they’re demon’s, I guess all demons are just evil. They have no motivation whatsoever and their personalities are just… evil. The only villain that manages to go trough a little character development in the season finale, is Fraudrin. (spoiler) He was prepared to wipe away his evil intentions, because he actually loved Griamore, the son of Dreyfus, whom Fraudrin possess for quite some years. For the rest, the villains just get revived and start killing people to be able to reign over the land again – because reigning over a land full of dead bodies is totally fun.

The second thing that really ruins this show (and this actually annoyed me a bit) is very lazy storytelling. If you need to give a character the power to see the ‘power level’ of others… then you’re just being a lazy ass storyteller. You don’t need to show us a number, show us exactly how dangerous these people are BY MAKING THEM FIGHT. The mangaka also made The Ten Commandments fight, so I don’t actually see the point in giving Hawk the gift to see power levels? Well, maybe that’s just me. That’s not the only part where the mangaka falls back into lazy storytelling. Having the character’s explain things, just weakens the plot. (spoiler) Like, for example, when Fraudrin literally says that he is a replacement, or when The Ten Commandments explain their powers… I mean, you don’t need to let the characters tell us that. We have eyes, we can see it.

Another thing about power: why are The Ten Commandments so crazy strong? I know that the MC’s need a challenge and all… But really, the difference in power is a little overboard. The only sins that could do something, were Meliodas (cause, duh, he’s the main character), Merlin (because (spoiler) she could totally not take on Galand, but Greyroad, who is supposed to be stronger, is no problem at all) and Escanor (but only when he’s not useless, like, every night, and (spoiler) off course The Ten Commandments attack at day, because why the hell would they wait ‘till night?). For the rest, all other characters were totally useless and I didn’t really get why they were even there.

Now, let’s go on to the characters. The mangaka probably noticed that Meliodas was not quite a deep character, so (spoiler) he gets some dark power and a shady history as former leader of The Ten Commandments. Elizabeth still has no character at all. I mean, c’mon, we all know the only personality she has, is being nice, helping other people and being high over heels for Meliodas. She has no flaws at all, ‘cause why would a princes need any flaws? The mangaka then decided to (spoiler) make her the reincarnation of a person from Meliodas’ past, while the only thing they have in common, is their hairstyle. (spoiler) Gowther did get some depth, looking for emotion (like that has not been done a thousand times before). And poor Diane (also not the most complex character) (spoiler) lost her memories again. I’m not a fan of memory loss, so when it is done twice, it just breaks my heart. I do think Ban is a nicely developed character though. For the rest, King also only has one characteristic, that being his love for Diane. (spoiler) He maybe did get some development when he saved the fairies, even when they hated them, risking his own life in the process. And Escanor… well, he loves Merlin (because yeah, you can’t have a male and a female character that are not in love with each other).

Another thing with this shounen, just like any other popular shounen, is that the mangaka is just too afraid to let people die. I mean, the moment you become even a little important, there is absolutely zero chance that your life is in danger. You either find a way to win even against an opponent who is ten times stronger, or you come back to life, or you suddenly get some massive power (#Escanor, #Merlin). Or, not to forget, Elizabeth suddenly develops a healing gift. So, basically; no worries, MC’s aren’t going to die here. And even when they do, they just come back like in any other shounen. I don’t even feel sad when a MC ‘dies’ and I sure as hell don’t feel any danger when he/she has ‘a hard time’.

Besides all of that, I can’t say one bad word about the music, sound or the art style of this show. The voice acting of Elizath and Diane annoyed me a bit, but maybe that’s just my opinion.

Conclusion: this anime is perfect if you just wanna sit down and just watch the nicely animated action without thinking too much. If you are looking for something different, of something new, something… let’s say… refreshing… this show isn’t really worth your time.