I can’t quite explain this. Every week, I watch Chainsaw Man and enjoy it. I think it looks good while I’m watching it. Maybe not my favourite visuals but there is definitely a flair to the production. Then the episode ends and I start sorting through the screencaps that were taken automatically. Without fail, every single week I am surprised and impressed by the screencaps. It’s like I can only truly appreciate the visual design of this show once it’s frozen in place.
The only reason I can come up with is that I get too wrapped up in the storyline to pay proper attention to the visuals. Or maybe it’s black magic. Both work.
The whiny time-warp demon was calling Denji “Chainsaw” and seemed to need confirmation that he was alive. So is “Chainsaw” Pochita? And was Pochita a powerful devil? He was mighty cute for a creature supposed to strike fear in the hearts of men. Of course “Chainsaw” could just be Denji as he is now. bet there are all sorts of rumors going around in the Devil world. Still, something sounded a bit off in the devil’s speech. I think they may be hiding something from us, guys!
Himeno’s memories are all sad. I guess that’s bound to happen if you live long enough as a devil hunter. I wonder where the scarred man is now. My first instinct would be to think that his sanity caught up with him and he’s also taken the ultimate retirement but his face is familiar. I think we might have caught some glimpses of him in the first episode.
Maybe that’s just wishful thinking. Sometimes, it really looks like Himeno desperately needs a friend, and Aki’s just no cutting it, you know. He’s too wrapped up in his own problems.
What’s with the Nobel prize bit? Power and Denji really do deserve each other.
Wasn’t that fight really fun to look at? Not necessarily the animation. I mean the animation was good. As impressive as can be for close-quarter fighting in an enclosed space. But for me, it was the lighting. The way that shadows danced along the characters, deepening and dissolving along with the movement. Defining rather than showing each gruesome feature. I particularly like how it glints off the more metallic bits of Denji’s devil form.
Himeno is a pretty tragic character. I don’t need to know her backstory to know that it was rough. If she’s after the Gun Devil as well, it’s safe to think she has no family left and it seems as if she’s sacrificed quite a few friends for her goal and no longer thinks it’s worth it. So having someone like Denji around is hope. It makes all the losses mean something.
Right now, Himeno is probably the character with the most inner turmoil, which makes her a good candidate for causing some outer conflict. Even more, than she already has!
There’s a reason why I,m dividing my screencaps this way. But unfortunately, this little guy is stuck by himself.
And so everyone made it out of the hotel. Were you worried? I knew how it was going to play out and I was worried. The show does a decent job of sustaining tension, even though I still think the manga is way heavier and more suspenseful. By contrast, I think the anime is more fun. So it’s not like there’s a winner here.
It’s impressive those two rookies didn’t hand in their resignations right then and there. I certainly would have. Maybe they were just a bit too shell-shocked in the moment. They’ll come to their senses later.
This scene looked like one of Himeno’s flashbacks. Very cold-toned and full of dutch angles. My screencaps didn’t capture much of the angles but both in the flashback and in this scene, the camera was just swinging around. It seems ominous that they would show the moments where Himeno and Aki are alone together, using the same cinematic language as the flashbacks of dead people.
At one point Himeno asks Aki “What do you think Denji is?”. It’s right there in the screencap with a close-up of Himeno’s remaining eye. I get what she means but the way is worded is quite specific. The conversation goes on, or should I say monologue and Aki never answers the question. He doesn’t even say a word for the rest of the scene as Himeno goes on basically thinking out loud.
But with the question phrased as it was: “What do you think Denji is?”, how did Aki not immediately answer: “an idiot”. ‘Cmon, that is 100% what Aki would have answered, right? I’m sure he thought it!
It’s too bad we didn’t get the chance to meet the fiend that makes Power look enviably well-behaved. Would someone like that even be useful as a hunter? They would be way too uncontrollable.
We also found out here that Denji is 16. And I think the audience probably had a clue. He certainly has the hormones of a 16-year-old. Does that change what you think of him? Or maybe it just explains a few things.
Amazingly, the two rookies still haven’t quit. Maybe they were just trying to get a free dinner before they go!
I wonder if the pub owner is happy to be a designated bar for public safety devil hunters. It seems like their office parties get pretty wild… and messy.
I know it’s a bit late in the game to bring this up but aren’t Makima’s eyes weird. She always had these very unusual eyes. And now that the screencaps are smaller and one next to the other, don’t her eyes look a lot like Power’s? They’re not exactly the same but definitely similar. I just tried to imagine Makima acting like Power and my brain melted a little.
Deji’s flashbacks are different than Himeno’s. Even when they’re sad, the colour palette is always a lot warmer and the camera work is way more straightforward. Denji’s always been a glass-half-full sort of kid and you can see it.
I don’t have a lot to say about the whole gross-out sequence here. If you are a sympathetic gagger, then it might have been hard to watch. it was for me.
However, I will say that I like how Chainsaw Man mixes in this really juvenile humour with the decidedly heavy and more complex tone. This might be lost a bit in the anime as the overall tone is much lighter making the contrast less intense but I think the idea is still there. It lets us experience this dingy and hard world through the eyes of a goofy and unserious character. This is why I always say that Denji makes the series work.
I Isolated these images from outside the bar because I really love the mood they set up. Maybe it’s just me but they give me specific vibes. Like these are either scenes of old friends having a drink together before they all go their separate ways or it’s the calm before the storm. Can’t you just feel that something’s about to go down just by looking at them?
Speaking of storms. So Himeno’s in her 20’s right? Her mid-twenties at least. She’s been a hunter long enough to bury multiple partners before Aki even started. And Aki’s about 20. I’m just saying, despite what some may say online this isn’t overly legal in Japan… Although I’m making assumptions, maybe everything will be perfectly chaste. It wouldn’t be far-fetched for both of them to pass out before things go any further and considering Denji’s luck with the ladies, it would seem in line with what we’ve seen so far!
Previous Posts
- Chainsaw Man ep1 – A Normal Life
- Chainsaw Man ep2 – The Power
- Chainsaw Man ep3 – Motivations
- Chainsaw Man ep4 – Little Dreams
- Chainsaw Man ep5 – House of Mirrors
- Chainsaw Man ep6 – Power for President
Not sure if I wanna hug Himeno or punch her in the gut
Sounds like a good character
There are some parallels between Himeno and some of the darker aspects of Misato Katsuragi’s personality, I think. It really feels as though Himeno’s trying to (unhealthily) sublimate her own isolation/loneliness … and perhaps motivate Denji, too?
More broadly, Denji gets used a lot. It’s both fascinating and disturbing. It’s also the most compelling part of the show so far.
Denji is a good obedient boy. He did fuse with Pochita who is essentially a puppy chainsaw devil
With all this talk about contracts this episode… I’ve been wondering if Makima’s maybe contracted to the Gun Demon, and is trying to retrieve the pieces of flesh (“bullets”?) so it can shoot again?
Interesting. Power is a fiend so maybe Makima is a fiend as well. A gun fiend