ThatAnimeSnob

1) THE DRAMABAIT

The story begins with an attempt to make you care about the protagonist. It’s not a bad thing for a story to create sympathy with the main character by victimizing him right away, but when it’s so half-assed it works against it. It’s typical emotional manipulation that expects from you to root for someone who suffered a lot, lost everything, and risks his life for peanuts. He also fixes all that in less than a single episode and you are supposed to think he deserves it because he suffered, and not if he is worthy of it. Spoiler, he doesn’t, he is an immature kid. Yet you are supposed to continue rooting for him even when he gets fully healed, gains magical superpowers, and becomes overpowered in less than an episode later.

In case it wasn’t obvious, the show is a silly power fantasy. The reason the dramatization is half-assed is because you are not watching a serious social drama. You are supposed to ignore obvious things such as nobody coming to help a child. You know, a relative, a teacher, the police, public service, a neighbor, or anyone in general. It’s like watching Elfen Lied all over again, where nobody does anything for the sake of overblown drama. Oh, hey, another dozen people were killed around that house. What’s for dinner?

You get the usual rule of cool and plot armor you find in any other similar show, meaning Chainsawman does nothing out of the ordinary. It just throws in a kid suffering and you are supposed to assume nobody wants to mess with the mafia thus they don’t help him. You can only make up headcanons to excuse the dramabait because that is all you can do. We never saw that, the mangaka didn’t bother to show it, and the animators didn’t bother to include it. Chainsawman is badly written and you only have to replace commiseration with admiration at the flip of a switch when he attains magical abilities and ascends to an unparalleled level of power.

2) THE BETRAYAL

The protagonist’s idiocy is frequently attributed to his lack of a proper upbringing. Manipulated and exploited over the years, he is portrayed as naive and trusting, ill-equipped to discern the intentions of others. Thus when he gets betrayed by the devil he was working for all this time the viewers are supposed to attribute his gullibility to his sheltered past. Just like before you are supposed to ignore the obvious and make up headcanons, since the writing is simply that incompetent. You are not supposed to wonder how the heck he was fooled by a devil despite fighting the devilkind for a decade. We constantly see how manipulative they are and we are told he was killing them for a decade. How did he manage to do that without knowing they are manipulative? It’s as if after so many years of fighting he had learned nothing. It’s impossible to have survived for so long without being somewhat cunning. The show does not expect from you to think about it, which is also why it never shows us him fighting any devils while he was a regular human.

Also, no, assuming he was dealing with very weak devils all this time is once again a headcanon, and it’s not like he does not get constantly betrayed by devils such as Power and Makima. He never learned and remained the same horny retard throughout the season. If the writing was competent and he wasn’t constantly plot armored by his powers, he would be dead before the second episode is over. Also, you are supposed to forgive betrayal no matter how severe it is. This includes even secondary characters such as Power when she gets a silly dramatic flashback about her cat. A monster betrays her and the audience is supposed to forgive this exploitive bitch for what she did to the simp protagonist, as well as ignore the hundreds of innocent people she murdered for not much of a reason. But hey, she is hot and has a sad flashback, let’s absolve her transgressions and simp for her. What is the point of creating drama out of betrayal when you always ignore the outcome?

3) THE PLOT ARMOR

I will answer the previous question. Because the writing is incompetent. The protagonist (and Power to a lesser degree) should have died because of his stupidity. Not once but a hundred times. But that never happens because he is given a power that makes him immortal no matter how much he gets injured. He can be chopped to little pieces and he will still be fine in the next scene. The show does not even attempt to hide his plot armor, making every fight to lack tension since you know he’s going to be fine no matter how many times he gets fooled by a devil and then gets butchered to little pieces. The reason he (and Power) doesn’t learn from the constant betrayals is because he doesn’t have to. There is no penalty for his mistakes.

4) THE ZERO STAKES

Remember when the first episode wanted you to feel sorry for the protagonist because he lost body parts? It’s extra annoying to see every other human in the show sacrificing parts of their bodies when they make a contract with a spirit, while the protagonist doesn’t pay any price. In fact, not only he got super strong and gained immortality thanks to the devil, but also got back every organ he had lost in the beginning of the story. This extends to the other devil users as well. They are also immortal no matter what happens to them. Power gets munched and swallowed by a monster, she gets boiled in gastric acid, and she pops out of the belly perfectly fine. Not even the mundane cat she was holding was hurt. Not even the monster getting butchered to little pieces with a chainsaw so she and her cat can come out seemed to have hurt them. Then assassins shoot Makima in the head. She’s fine a few minutes later. What exactly is the viewer supposed to feel here? There is nothing to lose, nothing is at stake, and nothing will come out of anything that happens to them, making the whole show vapid.

5) THE CGI GOREFEST

The action is mostly ugly CGI gorefests. Many are fine with the CGI, but just compare this monstrosity with Army of Darkness, a far superior piece of peak fiction about a guy with a chainsaw and lots of gore, and tell me what looks better. That aside, there is nothing to care about the action. The protagonist is just swinging his chainsaws until the CGI monster is dead. There are no tactics, no choreography, or even stakes since he’s immortal and can never lose. Moreover, the antagonists are just one-dimensional evil devils that exist to kill and be killed without ever being given any depth.

6) THE SIMPING

The protagonist is the definition of a simp, someone who acts like a playful dog whenever a manipulative woman commands him to do something, in hopes of getting a sexual reward at the end. He gets a bit of a reward, but also gets betrayed a lot in return. He also doesn’t care nor does he learn from it, because he’s immortal and there is no consequence from using his power. He is not even listening to what they advice him, such as being told sex is better if it’s with a person you know of. A few minutes later he forgets that and runs like a dog when a woman promises him a kiss.

I am baffled by how many people found that to be a positive trait of his character and call him the most relatable character there is. Since when is being a simp a good thing? When you ask them they will claim that’s how real men behave in real life. You are supposed to believe real men are simps who just want food and women to exploit them, while men who strive to achieve greatness and not be controlled by the pussy are fake. What kind of sick projection is this that perpetuates an unrealistic and demeaning portrayal of masculinity? Shame on them! Laugh! Point at them and laugh!

7) THE GROOMING

Also there is no way to overlook the fact that Denji is a minor (and a baby in terms of mental age) who is being groomed by older women into their sex toy. This goes beyond the comedic dynamic between Shinji and Misato in Neon Genesis, it’s plain nasty and immoral yet many prefer to ignore it because the waifus are hot. Calling it ‘fiction so it’s okay’ also negates the claims of the show being realistic since it’s like real life. Are real men also supposed to be groomed into sex toys? What is wrong with these people?

8) THE WRITING

Despite being heralded as peak fiction by enthusiasts, implying its writing is impeccable, it is anything but that. Storytelling fundamentals like foreshadowing, establishment, and build up don’t exist or matter, because it’s a dumb power fantasy. There’s a second devil that pops out of nowhere when the bat devil dies and she is supposed to be his wife. Then a devil hunter appears out of nowhere and kills her with an ability that also popped out of nowhere. Then Makima knows the names of everyone who attacked her out of nowhere. Then she uses a power that makes them explode from afar without ever establishing such a thing being possible before it was needed in the plot. Then she threatens some crooks with their families which she knows where they are without explaining how. It’s all random nonsense, yet the fans insist that is what sophisticated storytelling is all about.

9) THE GROSS COMEDY

A lot of jokes are gross and thus impossible to be enjoyed by anyone who doesn’t get a boner out of scat and puke. As much as the fans say it’s an acquired taste, those jokes are universally unpalatable. Also, having stuff like refusing to flush the toilet and puking inside peoples’ mouths further proves this anime is anything but mature.

10) THE ORIGINALITY

The fanboys will tell you there is no other story quite like Chainsawman. Only there is and it’s called No More Heroes. It’s the exact same thing and on top of that you get to be part of the action. How about playing those games and throwing this anime to the trash bin where it belongs?

11) THE SALES

As a final nail to the coffin, I will mention the abysmal Blu ray sales. Despite fervent anticipation surrounding its release, nobody bought this anime. So much for being the most relatable show for real men. So much for redefining art as we know it. So much for being the new Attack on Titan. In contrast, a modestly budgeted series devoid of prior hype had aired around the same time. It was a typical cute girls show that nobody cared about at first, which ended up selling ten times as much. So much for hyping Chainsawman. Nobody liked it, hahaha!