***Spoilers***
Chainsaw Man Vol. I by Tatsuki Fujimoto with an English translation by Amanda Haley is a gore fest of fun-filled with humor and sexual tension to keep you interested all throughout the first volume. Chainsaw Man is about a young human man named Denji that initially has to pay off his deceased father’s debt to the Yakuza which was passed down to him upon his death. Denji goes on devil hunts with his pet devil dog Pochita, who happens to have a chainsaw embedded in his body because that’s where he can earn the most money. With the pull of Pochita’s tail, he turns on just like a chainsaw ready to hack off devils. On one unfortunate night, Denji is brutally killed along with his pet devil dog Pochita. Pochita fuses his body with Denji’s in order to resurrect him. Denji comes back to life and is able to transform into Chainsawman with the pull of Pochita’s pull-rope-like tail now sticking out of Denji’s chest. A group from the Public Safety Devil Hunters stumbles upon Denji in the aftermath of his Chainsawman massacre of devils and bring him into the organization because of his usefulness as both human and a devil. Denji develops a new lifestyle as both human and a devil with the organization while finding a new purpose in life which is to win over the affection of Makima a Public Safety Devil Hunter. Also, Denji finds another goal in life which is to touch some boobs.
Denji’s Chainsawman form turns the manga into a gorey work of art with devils being torn to pieces. The gore artwork tends to be hard to follow since the illustrator chose to add so much detail to the action. Pochita was illustrated as a cute dog and placed in each chapter title to be the comic relief. The only downside to Volume I was that ended too soon on a cliffhanger. Will Denji finally touch some boobs in Vol. II or will he lose the woman he is currently lusting after? The English translation of Chainsaw Man Vol. I is due to be released on October 6, 2020.
Chainsaw Man is a promising series with an equal balance of gore and comedic relief that has much potential to become the next big manga series as well as an anime series for the English-speaking market.
