Chainsaw Man

Episode 10

“Bruised & Battered” is a very appropriate title for this episode of Chainsaw Man since it is primarily focused on each of our surviving heroes coping with the bruises and the batterings that they have suffered over the last couple of explosive episodes, not to mention all of the new bruises they have in store for them this week, of both the physical and emotional variety. Of course, Chainsaw Man once again finds a way to give all due attention to the somber and complicated tone that this reckoning requires…while also giving us plenty of opportunities to laugh at Denji and Power's Galaxy-Brained Dumbshit Antics. In other words, CSM continues to rule the goddamned school.

I know that the shock of that declaration might be too much to take for the faint of heart. Feel free to take as much time as you need to recover.

You'd be in good company, after all, because at least one of our surviving Special Division members has also been reduced to a completely shattered shell of himself. However, he doesn't have all that much time to wallow in his (very much justified) grief and misery. The way that this episode takes the time to linger on Aki's sorrow and anger and fear is just another example of what makes Chainsaw Man different from its Shonen Jump contemporaries. Sure, it's got oodles of gore, insanely creative action set-pieces, and top-notch spooky world-building to go along with its remarkably efficient character development, but you could say the exact same thing about Jujutsu Kaisen, or even Demon Slayer. No, what makes Chainsaw Man stand out is its intuitive understanding of cinematic storytelling, which MAPPA's artists and technicians have done their best to translate into the medium of animation. It understands the power of silence, the subconscious magic that can be worked with just one perfectly placed shot or edit, and the necessity of capturing the almost imperceptible movements and reactions that help convince our stupid meat-brains that these rapidly moving collections of two-dimensional drawings are living, breathing people that we should give a damn about. Chainsaw Man didn't invent any of these techniques, obviously, nor is it the first production to crack these various formulas of audio-visual storytelling.

As a work of cinematic synthesis, though? Especially one that is playing out on the small screen? Chainsaw Man continues operating at a level that most other series aren't even attempting to reach. It all comes down to the fact that the show is willing to linger on Aki's stillness and the way his cigarette drops from his lips once his body cannot hold itself together any longer in the face of Himeno's absence. It ensures that, when Aki is asked point blank whether he wishes to quit the Devil Hunting business altogether, you can feel his face and his heart both harden with rage; when he says that these Devils have killed his family, you know that he is speaking of Himeno as much as his parents and his little brother. You understand perfectly why Aki wouldn't dare stray from his path of vengeance, even if he had more than just a couple of years left to live. It is what makes a simple shot of a single lingering eye, all alone in the darkness, so damned terrifying because we can only imagine what kind of dark deals Aki is willing to make with this new Devil if it means channeling all of the pain that is wringing his heart into dust.

That total commitment to a cohesive and masterfully executed visual style is also what prevents “Bruised & Battered” from being unbearably grim since it means that you don't even blink when Chainsaw Man puts on its Goofy Comedy Hat and lets us revel in the abuse that Denji and Power suffer at the hands of their new teacher, Kishibe. Would it be as entertaining to watch this self-proclaimed mystic drunk literally choke the life out of our heroes if it wasn't so meticulously animated? Would it be as hilarious to watch Power beat the sense back into Denji's rebooting brain if it wasn't edited with such precise comic timing? Would it be as satisfying to watch Power and Denji don their Smartiepants Glasses and attempt to outwit Kishibe with a bloody ambush if their inevitable and humiliating defeat wasn't so goddamned cool to watch?

And before anyone jumps in and complains that I'm putting too much emphasis on the production values on display and not giving enough credit to the groundwork laid by Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga, I know that all of this material still plays damned well even when you strip all of the motion, sound effects, and voice acting right out of it. All of the fanciest bells and whistles in the world aren't worth a damn if your story and characters aren't up to snuff. Still, it's worth pointing out that this particular marriage of source material and adapting artists has worked like motherfucking gangbusters. It's too early to declare that this is the definitive version of an already stellar product since we're still only 30-ish chapters into a 100-chapter storyline. Still, if MAPPA can keep this momentum going, I don't see what other conclusion we could come to. I don't know if this is “peak fiction,” but it sure as hell is shaping up to be “Peak Chainsaw Man.”

Rating:

Stray Scraps

• Power's Playlist I dig this week's song by PEOPLE 1, “Dogland,” though the ED for this episode really won me over with its wild mix of heavily-filtered live-action footage and stylized cutout animation. It's funny, creepy, and gross, in equal measure—just asChainsaw Man should be. I know that producing twelve unique little music videos for a season of anime is a huge undertaking, so I can't say that I wish every anime was able to get so experimental and wild with its end credits…but man, it would be cool as hell if more shows were able to do this.

• Kids Say the Denji-est Things! Man, oh man, did Power and Kishibe both have too much fun this week; I had a legitimately had a hard time choosing a single best line of the episode. In the end, I'll have to go with a tie: Kishibe gets it for telling Denji, “…the fact that you're a scrub who gets his ass kicked a lot is a problem.” Power had, like, a dozen contenders, but I'm going to give her half of the crumpled-up Burger King crown that is this award to “Let the highly cerebral warfare begin.” No, this choice has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Power is rocking a messy ponytail/nerd glasses combo when she says it. Shut up.

• I also should mention how effective Denji's reflective monologue after visiting Aki is. His difficulty feeling cathartic or deeply held emotions about his new friends and allies, even in the face of all this death, is perfectly in keeping with how he was raised and all of the hurdles he is going to have to overcome to be a functional adult that is capable of forming meaningful bonds with other people. It's okay that he's still a stunted little trash-gremlin stuck at the "Find Food, Touch Boobs" level of the Hierarchy of Needs. The fact that he's even wondering about his capacity for empathy means that he's on the right track. Power, on the other hand? Well, she's doing her best, too, so we can maybe forgive her for abandoning the team and generally behaving like a feral killing machine with exactly one brain cell to spare for any given situation.

Chainsaw Man is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.