Oct 12, 2023
As someone who has read this entire maniacal escapade, I feel I can't recommend it to anyone. You're either blinded by some revelation later in the story or you downright spoil what happens, and I don't want to be either of those. Retrospect can be a double-edged sword; it either ruins the story for someone or leads them to false expectations. Writing this helps me reflect on what it is, and I think that's a good thing for me. This is a critical analysis of an anime I have long sung my praises for since the manga came out, so I'll keep the admiration to
...
a minimum-- you can see my bias in my score. I want to delve into the art of adapting a manga and how Chainsaw Man stepped up the challenge, so don't take this as a negative critique.
In complete retrospect, the Chainsaw Man anime is satisfyingly defiant of shounen cliches, but those deviations do not suffice in introducing what story is being told. The introduction doesn't have to be explicit but must establish what will unfold with enough substance to support it. The show by no means misinterprets the story. Chainsaw Man is riddled with complex dialogue, nuanced characters, and clever foreshadowing, but I think the show is too obsessed with its cinematography and animation to pay attention to what made the manga so good. I read the first 38 chapters of the manga in an instant, with the rapid pacing emphasizing the bleakness and brutality of the world. The anime on the other hand wants to take time to look at Aki getting up in the morning. Bleakness can be conveyed in numerous ways, but I think in Chainsaw Man's case, rapid pacing is what made it so thrilling and dark for me and many others. I get the cinematography is great, but is it used correctly?
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
