Chainsaw Man – Episode 7

Intro:

Remember in my review for episode one when I said that the gore would be a selling point for this series…well…I might have been wrong, in part at least, because this show really drives home one other element to the show and its characters that I will explain in this episode review without spoiling anything truly major.

Plot:

Denji has dropped into the belly of the beast…literally. Activating his chainsaws, Denji lets loose and goes into a bloody frenzy hacking away with hopes of freeing himself and his team from the Eternity-Devil. This encounter allows his allies to witness his true potential as a Devil Hunter and proves why the higher-ups such as Makima are so interested in Denji.

In another scene, we see the Tokyo Devil Hunters enjoying a get-together with drinks and food. This is where some new facts about each team member and strangers are introduced and revealed. It also provides a more light-hearted scene to the episode, as this is where the gore of the previous scene is replaced with laughs and joy…at least until something disgusting happens.

Story:

This episode certainly cashed in on the gore in the first half. What I originally thought was a selling point for the show, the gore provided by Denji’s chainsaw scenes are certainly entertaining if you like bloody action scenes. It is made more entertaining by Denji’s more deranged characteristics being more apparent when he transforms, becoming more shouty and going crazy with sadistic laughter as he slices his opponent to bloody bits.

The more interesting side of this episode, however, was the development of Himeno’s relationship, not only with Aki but now with Denji, now growing stronger as she makes good on her promise to grant him a rather intimate kiss since he defeated the Eternity-Devil as he said he would. However, this doesn’t occur in quite the right situation that Denji had hoped and things only escalate from there.

The show is really starting to drive this idea that there’s something truly special about Denji’s power as a devil, which adds mystery to the story, for both the viewer and the characters in the show. Aki and Himeno know something’s going on but can’t seem to get any answers from Makima when questioning her on the subject.

Overall:

I originally suggested that the biggest selling point of this show would be the gore, but it seems there’s an even bigger selling point to the show, which is intimacy and sexualising characters. This episode really brought that to light, and if others picked up on this earlier that’s no surprise…I’m pretty oblivious myself. However, when I say this episode brings it to light more, I’m not saying I didn’t see how the previous episodes were pushing the sexualisation of its characters, as that seems to be a norm in anime, but this episode really pushes intimacy between characters more and more, whether it’s sharing a bed, kissing, or fondling.

The show gets better and better, and it’ll certainly be interesting to see where it goes, especially now we know Denji is only sixteen years of age, which in reality should really cut down the activities that can be shown in the series, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

Chainsaw Man is available to watch exclusively on Crunchyroll here in the UK. New episodes every Tuesday!