Alternative Titles
Synonyms: CSM
Japanese: ใใงใณใฝใผใใณ
More titles
Information
Episodes:
12
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Oct 12, 2022 to Dec 28, 2022
Broadcast:
Wednesdays at 00:00 (JST)
Duration:
24 min. per ep.
Rating:
R - 17+ (violence & profanity)
Statistics
Score:
8.431 (scored by 11317411,131,741 users)
Ranked:
#200 2
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#50
Members:
1,946,503
Favorites:
55,450
Available AtResources
Streaming Platforms
May be unavailable in your region.
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Ranked #200Popularity #50Members 1,946,503 Denji is robbed of a normal teenage life, left with nothing but his deadbeat father's overwhelming debt. His only companion is his pet, the chainsaw devil Pochita, with whom he slays devils for money that inevitably ends up in the yakuza's pockets. All Denji can do is dream of a good, simple life: one with delicious food and a beautiful girlfriend by his side. But an act of greedy betrayal by the yakuza leads to Denji's brutal, untimely death, crushing all hope of him ever achieving happiness.
Remarkably, an old contract allows Pochita to merge with the deceased Denji and bestow devil powers on him, changing him into a hybrid able to transform his body parts into chainsaws. Because Denji's new abilities pose a significant risk to society, the Public Safety Bureau's elite devil hunter Makima takes him in, letting him live as long as he obeys her command. Guided by the promise of a content life alongside an attractive woman, Denji devotes everything and fights with all his might to make his naive dreams a reality.
[Written by MAL Rewrite] Chainsaw Man was released in four volumes on Blu-ray and DVD from January 27, 2023, to April 28, 2023. It adapts chapters 1-38 of the original manga. | |
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MALxJapan -More than just anime-
| Characters & Voice Actors
Reviews
Feb 22, 2026
This show might seems like another generic shonen, but it is SO SO SOOOO MUCH MORE THAN THAT
The goodies of a hack and slash awesome shonen is there but the story is actually good. Denji is not by any logical sense, your common Shonen MC. He is weird, quirky, depressed, perverted and very much relatable to real life. What he does and his motivations might seem weird and stupid but if you're in his position, WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU DO?
The way this anime hits you in the feels in so many different ways. The happy moments and truly the sad moments just hits like a
...
pickup truck carrying 2 thousand pieces of concrete brick. I really learned on what it meant to be loving how a character develops just to take it away completley in the next episode.
And visually speakiing, this shit looks fucking great. The 3D parts are still good to my taste, that shit looked fantastic.
Overall, this is so good in all the right ways
Reviewerโs Rating: 10
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Jan 12, 2026
"...that is it?"
Those three words really summarize my feelings towards Chainsaw Man Season 1. After a recent rewatch, I finally felt inspired to write my first review here on MAL and explain why I felt this show so far has been rather disappointing.
One can only get disappointed by going in with expectations, and oh boy did the online anime community hype up this show. Basically, to me it looked like CSM was destined to be the successor of Attack on Titan as the next big subversive or surprising gory Shounen, with its own "Basement moment", an interesting plot and great animation.
The latter, to start
...
with something positive, really did come true in my opinion. Yes, there is CGI, but it never looked jarring to me. If anything, some of the characters and their animations were even a bit too detailed for my taste. Sometimes it felt like the picture was "wobbling" and wavering as too many small pieces and lines were moving at once. It's the Mappa style, I think, but really you can't complain about that. It's fairly cinematic. Animation: 8/10
Now, on to the characters. At first glance, our protagonist Denji is a fresh and new spin on the shounen protagonist. Surely has the typical tragic backstory and even the very common orphan trope. However, unlike most other shounen protags, he has no higher ulterior motive. His goal is purely to be well-fed and get some booba (yes I physically shivered writing that). He's driven by the most primitive, basic instincts a neglected, starved and endlessly horny teenage boy could have. He is also rather simple-minded and stupid. In a way, that is incredibly innocent and almost wholesome. Unfortunately, it doesn't make for a good main character. He doesn't care for others except hot girls, and even then only on a superficial sexual level. He has no morals, no interesting motives, no noticeable character development. And the anime spends, or dare I say wastes, a lot of time on showing Denji lusting after almost every girl he comes across. Most of his interactions with the women are of sexual nature, just verbally or physically. His very primitive nature is also sexualized by introducing the whole dog-owner dynamic with him and Makima. I don't know if this will lead anywhere down the line, but currently it's just played for the kink and to simp for Makima as the dominant woman/mommy.
Every other character is either super bland, one-note or doesn't stick around long enough for any interesting development or for forming any emotional connection to them. Makima is the mysterious super powerful boss and waifu, Power is the loud, egoistic and equally stupid waifu #2, Aki is stoic, overly serious and rule-abiding, with a tragic backstory and a modicum of character dynamic with Makima and Himeno. But mostly, he is rather bland and emotionally not very accessible. And Himeno, well she is, taking the role of the more "sinful, mature woman" who smokes, drinks and has sex. Really, any other character is not worth mentioning cause they don't get enough screen time or focus to earn their own description, and most are very one-note anyway. Characters: 3/10
And finally, the plot. Well, we do have a clearly defined end goal alright. At least for now: collect all the pieces of the gun devil to hunt him down. It's a simple mission. A lot happens over the course of 12 episodes, and yet the main plot moves along erratically at best. We get the introduction to Denji and his background (with the aforementioned issues), a monster of the week format mixed with very sudden and drastic events, then a mini training arc and a rather low note conclusion to the season. As a viewer, we don't really get a grip on the world this takes place in, only a vague idea. Much time is spent on gore and hacking devils to pieces. What little characterization for out protagonists we get during those interactions with the devils is overshadowed by Denji and Power acting stupid, Denji having a horny boy moment or the villains saying their boring irrelevant part. Overall, it felt like the story never really got going and emotional moments or character development didn't have enough room to breathe. Plot/Worldbuilding: 4
So, what else to say? Well, I really like the opening and the endings! They are very unique, and getting 12 different endings is truly a treat! The show is definitely bloody and you will 100% be surprised by at least a few scenes. Whether those moments really have any lasting effect on you or have much impact to begin with is a different story though.
To summarize: Chainsaw man is a rather typical shounen just with the gore dialed up to 11 and mostly bland or unlikable characters. It never gets good momentum and at the end of the season there's not really much anticipation or tension how it's gonna continue. It most certainly will, but so far I don't see anything promising waiting at the horizon. This show is, in my opinion, mostly carried by the great production level. It still can be brainless entertainment if you're into gore and don't mind the horny part that is really prominent and overused.
Final Score: 5 (which might almost look generous after my review, but it was after all still mildly entertaining to watch ^^)
Reviewerโs Rating: 5
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Apr 3, 2026
Naruto wanted to become a Hokage, Luffy wanted to become a pirate king. And the motivation of the main character of this anime is to touch a woman's breast. I'm sorry, but this is degradation. More and more modern anime are similar to each other like a drop of water. Only the setting and their names change. Everything is the same as a carbon copy. The main character of Demon Slayer is human, but also half demon and he hunts demons. The protagonist of Jujutsu Kaisen is human, but he ate a demon's finger and so he is now a demon. You won't believe it!
...
The main character of this anime was human, but he became a demon and now he hunts them too. Devilman was released in 1972, and even there the author revealed the tragedy of the main character, who is torn between good and evil, in a deep and self-sufficient way. More than 50 years have passed, and the protagonist of this anime is still just a pervert? Although the Big Three of anime, One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach, were the most prominent representatives of the shonen genre and shared the same motives, techniques, and motivation, they were still very different. I'm just tired of watching the same stories about demon-hunting organizations. God forbid, My Hero Academy looks better against them. The characters in it are developing, they change and grow up, oscillate between good and evil.
Now the second big problem. There was enough fan service and sexualization in the Academy, but it was in the background. It wasn't thrown right in your face. And here they show one character throwing up in another's mouth? It's just disgusting.
Yes, the graphics are of high quality, the staging of battles and action is bright and exciting, the design of monsters and characters is original. The music is on top. The anime is not afraid to be brutal and cruel. But this is where its advantages end.
Reviewerโs Rating: 6
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50 Entries ยท 28 Restacks
50 Entries ยท 22 Restacks
Poll: Chainsaw Man Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )
anime-prime - Dec 27, 2022 |
1,055 replies | by nikqiv ยปยป
Apr 1, 9:56 AM |
Poll: Chainsaw Man Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )
anime-prime - Dec 20, 2022 |
407 replies | by nikqiv ยปยป
Apr 1, 9:46 AM |
Poll: Chainsaw Man Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )
anime-prime - Dec 13, 2022 |
335 replies | by nikqiv ยปยป
Mar 31, 9:49 PM |
Poll: Chainsaw Man Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )
anime-prime - Dec 6, 2022 |
599 replies | by nikqiv ยปยป
Mar 31, 9:35 PM |
Poll: Chainsaw Man Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page )
anime-prime - Nov 29, 2022 |
1,044 replies | by nikqiv ยปยป
Mar 31, 9:18 PM |
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