Warning: This reaction will contain spoilers for the manga so if you haven’t read it then don’t read this.
Chainsaw Man is one of my favourite mangas.
Written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto, the story is a constant mix of being endearing, hilarious, horrifying, and emotional.
I’ve reread it twice and I’ve only loved it more each time.
So, obviously, I was very excited for the PV for the upcoming anime from Mappa Studio.
Well, we got the PV recently and its safe to say that the fanbase lost its collective mind over how good it was.
Seriously, I really hope that we don’t get an Attack on Titan Final Season situation where the actual show’s animation doesn’t live up to Mappa’s PV animation.
Not saying that Attack on Titan’s animation was bad but the PV did look better, and this caused a lot of outrage when the actual CGI appeared, which went as far as some stupid people harrassing Mappa’s staff.
Now, was the Chainsaw Man trailer preanimated?
Almost certainly.
However, this doesn’t mean we won’t be getting the same outcome as Attack on Titan because apparently the same people working on this trailer will be working on the anime and also the schedule will probably not be as bad for these animators, hopefully.
As for what happens in the trailer, it has a lot of recognizable and unrecognizable moments interestingly enough.
The PV starts and we see a young Denji standing in a bloody alleyway and a mouse nearby, as the shot pans out to reveal the city outside.
This works as great symbolism, both for what will be revealed about Denji as the story goes on and also the whole country and city mouse discussion that comes about.
From here, the trailer cuts to the Hayakawa household, with Denji, Aki and Power having a nice family meal.
The three of them look excellent and this is seen further with the following shots of Denji, Power and Kobeni at the beach and Aki and Himeno in bed.
Along with these moments leaving a smile on my face because of how well animated they are, they also had me intrigued because these scenes were not in the manga.
It makes me wonder if Mappa will be adding some anime only scenes or if these are just for the trailer.
Will be interesting to see.
However, the fact that the next shots reveals these idyllic settings are happening inside a TV screen means it is likely that these moments are not real and the disturbing stuff that follows is.
These disturbing things include shots of the Eternity Devil, a graveyard for devil hunters, a bloody Gun Devil bullet, Aki’s house exploding, Katana Man and Sawatari walking, Denji’s door, Denji resting with Pochita in an old shack, and Makima herself about to throw down.
Once the horror side of Chainsaw Man has been shown with this, the trailer makes sure to show the action side, with bombastic music set to even more quick shots, this time of Kon, Aki drawing his sword, Kishibe rising up, Power attacking with a sledge hammer, and Denji facing off against the Bat Devil and Leech Devil.
The final shots of the trailer see Denji in his full Chainsaw Man getup, as he cuts down zombies left and right in a gory display.
Now, these last few shots do give more credence to the trailer being preanimated, since Denji is wearing his devil hunting outfit here, when in the manga he was shirtless.
Still, even if it is preanimated, I have hope that the anime can actually make this fight look as good as it does in the PV.
Overall, the PV is excellent.
It does a fantastic job of hyping up fans of the manga and also getting those who will be anime only viewers intrigued.
Also the director has been announced as Ryu Nakayama, who is a first time director but has been a key animator for anime like Kill la Kill and One Punch Man.
As for the composer, they have been announced as Kensuke Ushio, who has composed for A Silent Voice, Devilman Crybaby, and Japan Sinks: 2020.
So, both of these people are promising people to leave Chainsaw Man in the hands of.
I hope that they and Mappa Studio can pull off adapting one of my favourite manga.
THE REVIEW MONSTER 