チェンソーマン 11

This is a review of the complete series of Chainsaw Man Part 1.

Fuck.
This series is so interesting. At first you look at it and you think it's probably this absolutely batshit insane, over the top action fun gore madness. And that it is.
But it also breaks your heart with the most simple sentiments and thoughts and gestures by the characters. Denji, the main character is so pure, which normally you wouldn't call a guy who can turn into a chainsaw-headed monster and wants to touch boobs more than anything, enough to have that as his big reason why needs to survive. It's such an honest look at this person, who never had anything in his life.
Many times simple characters are played as resistant to outside influences and they are good because they are simple. But here you know Denji can be pushed around just as much as anyone else and I wanted to hug him so much, because fuck it. The dude is dumb, so very dumb and he deserves more than this bullshit. He doesn't use big words and he isn't out there to change the world.
By the end he is stuck with responsibilities that are much bigger than his intellectual capabilities. Part 2 will be interesting. But I have hope for him, because I don't want to believe he can't be great.

I glanced at the author's other bigger work, Fire Punch. Haven't read it yet, so no comment on the story and such, but looking at the two different series, he is capable of very loose and sketchy art (like here) and neat and precise (like there). That's range and I think it's good he does that. A lot of this one's energy would have been lost with too much precision.
It also has a bunch of great character design, ranging from the normal and subtle for the humans (I love Kishibe's face so much) to the absolute trippy and weird. The author made a great choice with Pochita, though, a weird cutesy mascot is always good for marketing.

There are a bunch of concepts and things left to deal with in Part 2. Denji needs to work on himself more, probably a bunch of the old characters will return in different forms. We still have Kishibe, who is badass and interesting. Kobeni is still anxiety incarnate, girl also needs some help. Those two should team up, the person who gives no fucks and the person who is made entirely of fucks being given. Maybe more exploration of foreign places and people dealing with the supernatural elements of the story? Dunno.