Chainsaw Man Episode 2 Review: An Interesting Episode Of Presentation Of The New Characters
Cast: Kikunosuke Toya (voice), Shiori Izawa (voice), Tomori Kusunoki (voice)
Director: Ryu Nakayama
Streaming Platform: Crunchyroll
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
After a first release that caused a miracle to be screamed, Chainsaw Man returns to Crunchyroll with an episode still from the introductory setting, presenting us with some secondary characters who seem to equal the protagonist in terms of healthy madness. A transition episode with a staid pace but that flies away, almost completely devoid of action and marked by the development and the first characterization of the unusual new faces, devoted to the narration of the introspection of a Denji more and more at ease in his role as a devil hunter and elated with all that goes with it. Before continuing, we remind you that you can retrieve our review of Chainsaw Man Episode 1.
Chainsaw Man Episode 2 Review: The Story
The episode opens with Denji and the woman from Public Security who rushed to the scene of the carnage at the end of the first episode. The devil hunter reveals her name is Makima, tells Denji to become her pet (yes, she wants him to behave like her dog), and tells him that Pochita lives inside him and that theirs is a case that never happened in precedence. In Tokyo, Makima takes Denji to the devil hunter headquarters and introduces him to the hunter he will have to work with: Aki Hayakawa.
The first meeting between the two becomes turbulent and ends in a fight that reveals Aki’s intentions towards Denji: the devil hunter with three years of experience will do everything to make the chainsaw man desist from his desire to stay between the ranks of devil hunters, annoyed by Denji’s futile motives (a shallow crush on Makima). Denji responds in kind (and kicks) proving driven by the deepest desire to live a life that can be considered normal. However, the tense relations between the two seem destined to intensify, as Makima forces them to share the house. After completing the first assignment with ease with Aki, and learning about the Majin, the Hayakawa team is enriched with a new element, Power is immediately sent on a mission together with Denji and in action in the closing scene of the episode.
Studio MAPPA’s anime lowers the tension and calms the water, offering us a relaxed episode in which the lack of the chainsaw man (Denji’s transformation) is an evident symptom of an almost completely absent action, entrusted to the melee between Denji and Aki (which is more an extension of a verbal and ideological confrontation, an almost squalid brawl), to the killing of the Majin during the first assignment (done out by Denji with an ax) and above all, the final scene of the episode, with the insane Power unleashing a huge hammer of blood to annihilate the Cucumber Devil with a single blow.
Chainsaw Man Episode 2 Review and Analysis
The second episode of Chainsaw Man is dedicated almost exclusively to the introduction of Denji to his new life and the interaction with the secondary characters, very effective in the immediate and emblematic staging. In fact, within a few minutes, the anime defines the relationship between the protagonist and the newcomers, establishing hierarchies and feelings, showing us a Denji enslaved to the frightening Makima, childishly grumpy towards Aki, ambiguous towards Power, halfway between sincere annoyance and unstoppable sexual tension. And these are characters still sketchy but already sufficiently characterized in terms of personalities and attitudes, with Aki who presents himself as an atypical and rude mentor with unorthodox manners, with a tragic past linked to devils quite stereotyped but functional to the creation of a character ideologically rather square.
The small time allowed to Power, then, fails to contain the exuberance and overflows with an enthralling and magnetic force that the character manages to dispense by changing the face of an episode that is relaxed before its appearance. Power, a very rare case of Majin (human bodies that have allowed a devil to take over their functions as a last resort for survival; generally involve the domination of the devil’s personality and transformation into zombie-like individuals) that has maintained his rationality, steals the show and arouses curiosity about the decidedly crazy potential of the couple he forms with Denji.
Beyond the first introduction of the new characters with a strong impact (of which Makima is still the most ambiguous and enigmatic one), the second episode is committed to revealing further sides of Denji’s character, providing us with a character that is both childish and reflective, absurd in the actions and intentions but melancholy in thoughts, which confirms the tragicomic nature of the first exploration and appears superficial and profound at the same time. His premature and ephemeral love for Makima, his immature obsession with sex and his compulsive hunger appear demented and arouse laughter, but reveal his desperate condition of having no property, they say a lot about the character and his past, about poverty and loneliness has suffered, on an individual who has never known and received kind treatment from another human being, who has never experienced love even in a fragile semblance of it.
Denji is unaccustomed to life, he even ignores its obviousness, he is detached from the positive side of him, and it is in this sense that his primitive desires allow us to grasp the drama of his situation and end up being bittersweet. The episode is also a welcome one confirmation of the quality of the technical sector of the anime, despite an almost total absence of action, also manifested in practically zero use of the CGI discussed for the pilot of the series. Even the final scene that sees Power jumping from a skyscraper to destroy the Cucumber Devil is devoid of computer graphics and it will be interesting to understand if the use of traditional animation is justified by the brevity of the scene and in which situations it will be implemented (if it concerns only the Chainsaw Devil or it will expand to other creatures that will appear).
The character design of Aki and Power is also convincing, simpler and soberer for the former, peculiar and eye-catching for the latter, generally in line with Fujimoto’s idea. The use of colors is still exquisitely expressive and adheres to the diversity of the narrated moments, with slightly saturated colors that give way to the strong and lively purple, pink and red of the final scene.
Chainsaw Man Episode 2 Review: The Last Words
The second episode of Chainsaw Man is configured as a moment of transition and introduction of the characters who will accompany Denji in his missions as a devil hunter. The formation of the new experimental division composed of Denji, Aki and Power promises fun thanks to the curious alchemy between characters with a decidedly exuberant character and is already a time bomb ready to explode in the next releases. Denji’s characterization proceeds towards the proposal of a figure both absurd and melancholy, providing us with a protagonist with a layered personality.
