Chainsaw Man

Episode 3

Looking back on it, the events covered in “Meowy's Whereabouts” are right about when the Chainsaw Man manga really clicked for me, and I feel like the same is going to be the case for a lot of folks watching this ridiculous and wonderful anime. Don't get me wrong, I was always on board with the core concept of “Chainsaw boy goes vroooom and rips up big devil guts,” but it wasn't until Denji and Power's Bogus Journey that this world and its insane cast of shit-gremlin delinquents began to fully steal my heart. Also, this is where the Chainsaw Boy really gets to go VROOOOM all up in those guts, and it's just as glorious in gorgeous MAPPA animation as it was on the printed page.

Also, I've been sitting on this joke for literally years at this point, and I don't even care that I'm not the first person to make the reference:

I am a married adult man, and I would never stray from my wonderful wife. If I were a single, age-appropriate version of myself that had a completely self-destructive taste for literal trash goblins, though? My heart would almost certainly belong to Power. I am well aware that it would be instantly chewed up and spit out like so much stale gum, and then subsequently drenched in the blood and dumpster water that Power presumably showers in, as I am not a perfect little kitty like Meowy, and thus not worthy of Power's affections. Still, it'd be a hell of a story to tell all of the guys and gals in the afterlife. Totally worth it.

We don't live in that version of reality, though, so I guess I'll have to stick to being a "decent and respectable critic" and just say this: Power is pretty fun, y'all. She's a lying little stinker who beats things to death with blood mallets and loves kitty cats, and if we're all in the business of declaring who is or is not a candidate for anime's Best Girl, I don't know how Power wouldn't be in the running. Sure, she actively attempts to betray and murder Denji after tricking him into rescuing her beloved Meowy with the promise of booby gropage, but to her credit, Denji is really dumb, and Meowy needs to be rescued from the Bat Devil. If you find me one even person that wouldn't have done the exact same thing in Power's position, I'll know right then and there that they deserve to be arrested for the crime of being a fake-ass liar.

Also, the poor girl has only recently even come to understand the most basic concepts of life on Earth, such as “bathing,” “wearing clothes, or “feeling any emotion whatsoever toward another living being that isn't the craven desire to murder them to death with her bare hands.” If I can be serious for just a moment (a crime when discussing Chainsaw Man, I know), I meant it when I said that “Meowy's Whereabouts” is a real turning-point for Chainsaw Man as a whole, because it demonstrates that some of the perfectly paced and executed character writing that we saw with Denji's introduction wasn't a fluke. Power's flashbacks in this episode are another example of Fujimoto taking a very recognizable trope—the inhuman monster learning to love through the power of animal friendship—and just nailing the execution. It explains Power's infantile tendency to lie and deflect blame on everyone else but herself, and it gives the audience the exact amount of emotional attachment they need to forgive her faults, since we see in just this episode that she is capable of growth. This probably would have been my favorite episode of CSM so far if it had just ended with the cliffhanger of Power finally recognizing Denji's own grief for his pet, before being unceremoniously devoured by that creep the Bat Devil.

That isn't where the episode ends, though, and thank Chainsaw Jesus for that, because, holy hell-in-a-handbasket, you can taste every last herb and spice in the five-star bucket of Kentucky Fried Ass-Whoopin' that is the Chainsaw Man V. Bat Devil fight. It isn't like MAPPA was slouching at all in the rest of the episode, which features some of the strongest character animation work we've seen from CSM so far, but goddamn if Denji doesn't get his work done when the lives of his allies and innocent civilianshis tits are on the line.

(I'm joking, again, but it's worth mentioning that lovely little flash to Denji's memory of almost losing Pochita is a good reminder of the fact that Denji is, somewhere deep down, a fundamentally decent and heroic guy. It helps his single-minded obsession with copping a feel go down a lot smoother.)

So, yeah, Chainsaw Man continues to rule the goddamn school, and I imagine that this episode must have converted any fence-sitters who were put off by the lack of action last week. I will never spoil anything from the manga in the main text of these reviews, you have my word, so all I will say for now is this: You guys ain't seen nothing, yet.

Rating:

Stray Scraps

• Power's Playlist: We've got a banger this week, folks! Maximum The Hormone is on deck with the track "Hawatari 2 Oku-senchi," and its grimy, glitchy vibes fit perfectly with the tone of the episode. The first half, especially, gives me real White Zombie vibes, which feels especially appropriate given the time of year. Easily my favorite of the ending themes, so far.

• Kids Say the Denji-est Things! I basically already gave it away, but I don't know if any line is going to beat “You're under arrest for the crime of being a fake-ass liar!”

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.