Chainsaw Man (Japanese: チェンソーマン, Hepburn: Chensō Man) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto. It was serialized in Shueisha’s shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2018 to December 2020, with its chapters collected in eleven tankōbon volumes. It follows the story of Denji, an impoverished young man who after making a contract with a dog-like devil named Pochita, he fuses with Denji, granting him the ability to transform parts of his body into chainsaws. Denji eventually joins the Public Safety Devil Hunters, a government agency focused on fighting against devils whenever they become a threat to the world.
A second part of the manga began serialization in Shueisha’s Shōnen Jump+ online magazine starting in July 2022. In North America, the manga is licensed in English by Viz Media, for both print and digital release, and it is also published by Shueisha on the Manga Plus online platform. An anime television series adaptation produced by MAPPA is set to premiere in 2022.
As of June 2022, the manga had over 13 million copies in circulation. In 2021, it won the 66th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōnen category, as well as the Harvey Awards in the Best Manga category. Chainsaw Man has been overall well received by critics, who have commended its storytelling and characters, and have particularly highlighted its violent scenes within the context of the story.
Setting
The story is set in a world where Devils are born from human fears. Devils are usually dangerous and malevolent, their power proportional to the fear they incite. However, humans can form contracts with them to use their power, and there are individuals specializing in hunting and employing them, called Devil Hunters. Devils originate from Hell, and exist in a cycle between Earth and Hell: they migrate to Earth when killed in Hell, and vice-versa.
A Devil may, in certain conditions, inhabit the body of a dead human, gaining some of their memories and personality; such a creature is called a Fiend. Devils who naturally have a humanoid form are said to be benevolent to humans.
The events of the story take place in 1997, in an alternate timeline where the Soviet Union still exists, and many events such as the Holocaust appear to have not occurred.
Plot
spoiler
When his father died, Denji was stuck with a huge debt and no way to pay it back. Thanks to a Devil dog he saved named Pochita, he’s able to survive through odd jobs and killing Devils for the Yakuza. Pochita’s chainsaw powers come in handy against these powerful demons. When the Yakuza betrays him and he’s killed by the Zombie Devil, Pochita sacrifices himself to save his former master. Now Denji has been reborn as some kind of weird Devil-Human hybrid. He is now a Chainsaw Man!
After his transformation, he’s quickly recruited by Makima to join the Public Safety Devil Hunters under threat of extermination now that he’s technically a Devil. Now that he’s living comfortably for the first time in his life, Denji struggles to determine his dreams and form meaningful relationships while killing Devils and working alongside other eccentric Devil Hunters.
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
- ❤️ Come listen to music with your fellow Hexbears in Cy.tube
- 💖 Come talk in the New weekly queer thread
- 🧡 Monthly Neurodiverse Megathread
- 💛 Read about a current topic in the news
- ⭐️ May Movie Schedule ⭐️
reminders:
- 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes struggle sessions over upbears
- 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
- 🌈 If you ever want to make your own megathread, you can go here nerd
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
- 💙Comprehensive list of resources for those in need of an abortion – reddit link
- 💙Resources for Palestine
Theory:
I like the plant-based/vegan food bloggers who also eat meat.
Like, people are just trying to latch on to whatever will get the most website traffic, regardless of whether or not it makes sense.
And, since I’m already on my soapbox at this point: it’s so stupid how lucrative it is to be an “influencer”, but that all still goes back to the larger problem of advertising and how capitalism yields a society where 50% of GDP is, in fact, just attempts to sell actual goods and services. And then a non-insignificant percentage of those “goods and services” are just finance stuff that also doesn’t map to anything real, and probably even other sales and advertising services themselves. Like, seriously, I’d bet 40% or less of all “output” in the US is actual things, let alone things people actually need. Google is on-and-off the most valuable company in the US not because of the actually useful things it creates, but just because of advertising, which makes up almost all of its actual revenue.
The inflation factor is insane for how much of capitalism is just imaginary shit stacked on top of other imaginary shit until you get to actual material goods and services at the bottom.
That’s how you end up with people with like 200k followers on insta, which isn’t even really uncommon, making tons of money. Because advertising pays through the roof. Companies will spend a crazy amount of money to try and get even 10k people to see their ads.
