It’s been a long time coming but the continuation of Chainsaw Man is here and this is the big arc that really got it noticed amoung the manga community. I would have liked another season of course instead of a movie but I will admit that this arc is perfect for a movie runtime. Really it feels tailor made for the format with its story and pacing. The reason being that the first half is focused on character building before its second half explodes into absolute action and a degree of horror. Indeed the section with the villain assaulting a public safety training facility felt more like a slasher movie than a shonen with how horrifically creative the villain slaughtered those on guard. Though that does bring up a bit of a dilemma regarding this movie in that I don’t know how much I should go into spoilers. There is a particular reveal during this arc which did shock manga readers at the time but due to the nature of marketing, I have doubts that it will have the same effect. But I digress, let’s answer the million dollar question. Is the movie any good? If you had asked me right after finishing the movie I would say that I was satisfied. I felt that maybe my reaction was muted due to being highly familiar with the source material but then afterwards I debated going to see a second showing that same day as I had watched the dub version and was curious about the subtitled version. I relented and instead I went home where I then proceeded to try to find as many reviews and opinions on the movie that I could while listening to the soundtrack. It is currently the next day and I am still thinking about it while staring at my Chainsaw Man manga collection wondering if I should spend the day just binge reading the manga. Currently I really want to rewatch this movie and consume something Chainsaw Man related. Taking all this into account I would say anything that could put me in this state of fascination is truly special indeed.
Should be obvious to anyone with eyes that the movie has undergone a dramatic style change. There are some who claim this to be an upgrade, what Chainsaw Man was “supposed” to be. For me it’s a trade off as we have both negatives and positives to the change. Indeed we get a 2D Chainsaw Man over CGI and better animation. Though we lost the series more detailed art and model consistency. The tone scale has been shifted so that Chainsaw Mans more absurd aspect can be highlighted though we lost is more somber grounded tone. (And well I feel the goofiness of some scenes can be overstated like Denjis reaction to makima which was just one simple panel in the comic. Or the addition of cartoon sound effects during the main confrontation) Ultimately I am conflicted though I understand that the change was needed though not due to the often cited Japanese fan dissatisfaction. Really I think people overstate that and it didn’t really have as drastic an effect as people think. No I think that for as unique as Nakayama’s direction was, it wasn’t really sustainable as his state to keep things grounded and movielike did strain animation production. Being unable to use more fluid animators due to them being unsuited to the style meant the workload was pretty bad, and this is Mappa the workplace slaveshop. Along with how much more insane Chainsaw Man is going to get, the style wouldn’t have worked I think with later arcs. Non the less I can’t help but feel disheartened that something really one of a kind in anime has been changed to become more like everything else.
That said, this is a really good looking movie. I do find it funny though that the centerpiece of the film that will stick in people’s minds isn’t the massive action set piece but instead a pool scene. Really it truly is a marvel that they took a scene that could be considered fanservice and made me feel nostalgic for something I never had. Even after watching this movie all I need to do is put on Kensuke Ushio’s excellent In the pool track to be spellbound once again. It’s a scene that not only improved on the manga but becomes so much more in reflection. That said I feel the action setpiece had moments where it lost me and this is something of a trend that I have come to notice in modern anime. Basically an explosive Sakuga moment that is technically impressive animation wise but a visual mess to decode. In particular during the typhoon fight I had to take several moments just to figure out what exactly I was looking at as it jumped from scene to scene with the camera swinging wildly. There is a scene in which the villain purposefully left a finger cut off and hanging on Denjis head chainsaw and then detonated it and I knew this from having read the manga but the sequence was about 2 or 3 seconds long. I have a feeling if I asked a first time watcher what happened there, then their only response would be “Something went boom”. It is certainly the case that the movie could have taken some time to let scenes breath but they may be aiming to match the manga pacing. The final scene in particular could have used a bit more time to ruminate before cutting to credits. Being too faithful can be a bit of a detriment as I found the little additional details added to the animations to be great such as the small moments of Reze’s hands or the particular eye twitch at the confrontation on the school roof.
This truly is more of a ramble than a review I know, however I wrote this simply because I needed to push my thoughts on to something. Chainsaw Man is a series that I tend to think gets downplayed for its randomness or its raunchy protagonist. Which to me is a shallow reading of the text and is like the series managed to cultivate two separate fanbases with its content. Being those there for the themes and those there for the insanity. Never have I seen a series before where its own readers lack an understanding of the very thing they are a fan of, as within the fandom there is the infamous reading comprehension devil to describe those who have forgotten key plot points. Likely due to speed reading the manga. But this movie to me has layers to it that can leave you pondering for quite a while. Even my first reading of it was quite different before I had the full context of the series. Now don’t take me to say that Fujimoto is a perfect writer and no one should question his genius as certainly part 2 is testing my faith in whether this man truly knows what he’s doing. But even in his weaker works I feel there is something profound in the message. Fujimoto himself has commented “I like it when a romantic partner continues to exist as a kind of curse. For everyone who watched the ‘Reze Arc,’ I’d be glad if the presence of Reze remained in your minds as a lingering curse.” In this regard he is right as even to this day Reze haunts the narrative with many readers, myself included, wishing for her return. She is a memory like a summer fling which perhaps may not be quite as perfect if you can see the rust and ugliness that your memory papers over. But no matter how tragic the end or flawed the people, there was a time when life felt beautiful.
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