Scorn is a horror puzzle game/first person shooter type dealie with visuals heavily inspired by the works of HR Giger and Zdzislaw Beksinski. It’s been quite divisive since its release, with a lot of praise going to the visual design and world building but a varied amount of patience with the game’s combat, which is clearly not the focus and suffers as a result. I had a poor start with the game because I misinterpreted the goal of the first puzzle, but once I got through I pushed on and finished the game. Note that while the game is very light on story, I will be spoiling some key elements, so bear that in mind before you read this.
This is the first I had heard of Beksinski, and my only experience of Giger is the Alien films and Prometheus, but I knew the deal here, and if you’ve seen those films you will too. Desolate alien planet, lots of ridges, smooth surfaces made of bone and chitin, biotechnology and faceless humanoid beings with recognisable but slightly different anatomy. There’s also a heaping helping of flesh and meat moss all over the shop, with the biotechnological element rearing its head with things like switches that require you sticking your fingers into slots and your weapon seemingly being alive. You are some poor nameless schmuck who’s existing in this world and clearly wants to be somewhere else, and has to navigate this nightmarish mesh of the animate and inanimate to get there. Biotechnology doesn’t do a lot for me, and I disagreed whenever I saw people heap praise on the visuals and aesthetic, but I can appreciate it, and it’s nice to see a horror game take that path and fully commit to it. One thing I do really like is the game’s central story element of a large parasitic creature attaching itself to you early on and staying there throughout the game. It violently digs its hands into the protag’s abdomen, and at various scripted points it pulls them out and slams them back in again seemingly just to remind you it’s there. As the game goes on it begins to have an increasingly drastic impact on your character’s body and briefly becomes a gameplay mechanic near the end. It also acts as your inventory and you can look down at any time and see one of its hands holding the little fleshy pin cushion thing you keep your health items and ammo in. It’s kind of cute seeing its little hands come up to heal you and help you reload, but then it rearranges your guts again and reminds you of the dire situation you’re in. I won’t spoil the ending but I appreciated it tonally but also visually; the last shot of the game is gorgeous and harrowing.
So then, is the combat really that bad? It’s not good, but I found for the most part I was able to run past enemies. I’ve heard horror stories of the clunky combat and punishing checkpoints conspiring to lock people in no-win scenarios where they need to fight to progress but lack the health to do so, but fortunately that never happened to me. I found the checkpoints to be fine for the most part, and there are plenty of health and ammo refill stations dotted around the place. I did encounter one major speed bump in the form of a boss fight near the end where the clunkiness of the combat really felt noticeable, and was extra annoying because the fight could have easily been avoided, but that was the only real problem I had. Otherwise I just ran past things and shot the ones I couldn’t avoid. The combat isn’t good though, and just because I managed to get away mostly unscathed doesn’t mean I enjoyed it. The puzzles, which are supposedly the core of the game, aren’t anything noteworthy or special. If you’re expecting a fleshy, Giger-esque Portal then you’re going to be disappointed; this is move towards the way to the next area and solve a few puzzles on the level of your average sliding block or fuse puzzle. The majority are the type puzzles where you have to move or rotate objects and it’s made more complicated by them moving in opposite directions and moving two or three at a time, that sort of thing. Personally I find them more frustrating than challenging, but then I’m not a big puzzle fan really.
I’m on a weird middle ground with Scorn. Some people love the aesthetic and atmosphere and can forgive or ignore what doesn’t work. Others can’t look past its faults and write the whole thing off. I think the aesthetic is neat, the parasite is cool, while I don’t enjoy the combat I didn’t have much trouble with it really and I don’t think the puzzles are particularly interesting or frequent enough to make it a puzzle game as such. It’s more of a horror exploration game with some shooting and puzzles breaking it up. I’m glad the game exists and overall I’d call my time with it positive, but I’m not really interested in playing it again.
Been a while since I reviewed a film, huh? I don’t watch many films these days, but there were two that caught my eye this year, and this is the first, one that had me hyped from its first trailer: The Batman. After Batman v Superman stank up the joint, it was a pleasant surprise to see a more stripped back story about a young Batman using detective work to track down a serial killer instead of trying to commit a hate crime while slaughtering groups of goons. This is the kind of Batman film I wanted to see; he is, after all, the world’s greatest detective, and as soon as I saw that shot in the first trailer where he walks onto the crime scene with Jim Gordon, I was hooked. Fast forward to now: I’ve seen it three times, and having tried to find the right words to talk about it, I’m ready to share my thoughts on The Batman.
I put it to you, dear reader, that apart from perhaps a couple of moments at the end, Robert Pattinson does not play Bruce Wayne in this film. Two years into his crime fighting career, Gotham’s favourite son spends basically no time running his company; he’s either out in the Batsuit or doing sneaky undercover stuff and recon in a mask, baseball cap and hoodie. He spends so much time out at night that he has to wear sunglasses during the day. There’s a scene where a man with a bomb attached to his neck who crashes a funeral, and when everyone else ducks at the sudden sound of a ringing phone, “Bruce” remains unflinchingly focused on the source of the noise. He can’t even pretend to be scared; the socialite persona hasn’t been crafted yet, there’s just an angry, vengeful young man, who’s always The Dark Knight regardless of what he’s wearing. His character arc is transforming from a brutally violent menace who strikes fear into the hearts of criminals and goes by the epithet “Vengeance” to a more hopeful figure; stepping out of the shadows to give the people of Gotham someone to believe in in trying times. The manner in which he frightens criminals is unique among the cinematic Batmen; while he’s entirely capable of stealth and suddenly appearing and disappearing, this Bats sometimes lets his opponents know he’s there, building tension by slowly approaching with loud, thudding footsteps. His armoured Batsuit, though offering a great deal of manoeuvrability is entirely bulletproof; he bears down on foes with their bullets bouncing off him; not only is he a mysterious creature of the night, he seemingly can’t be killed.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, what’s this flick about? Well, a mysterious masked killer calling himself The Riddler is murdering high profile members of the police force and justice system, leaving cryptic clues in the form of riddles and codes written in a series of greeting cards. Tied into this are a group of people who frequent the “44 Below” club; its owner and his right hand man Carmine Falcone and “The Penguin” Oswald Cobblepot, bar staff Selena Kyle, and her hostess friend Anika, who was photographed with the Riddler’s first victim. The core of this Batman film is solving a mystery; the young crime fighter and a sympathetic, competent Lieutenant Jim Gordon delving into why the Riddler is killing the people he is and how it’s tied into the greater Gotham underworld held in an iron grip by The Roman, here acting as the only mafia presence in Gotham after rival Salvatore Maroni was arrested prior to the events of the film. This version of the Riddler is a violently unhinged serial killer; brutally murdering people and flying off the handle when things don’t go his way. Rather than just a generic, villainous breakdown however, it’s presented as him being genuinely distraught; knocked off-balance and unable to course correct, howling and yelling like he’s unable to structure his thoughts. His killings mirror Batman’s own path through the seedy underbelly of the city and its knack for corrupting those who should be fighting it. This was actually outlined in a deleted scene where Batman consults an imprisoned Joker and the Clown Prince of Crime suggests Bats believes that the Riddler is actually in the right and doing a far better job than he is, an interesting concept that’s left out of the finished film. The final stage of The Riddler’s plan leads to a refreshing climax for superhero films, and completes Bruce’s arc in a beautiful way that includes one of my favourite shots from any Batman story.
Speaking of which, The Batman also has one of my favourite lines in a Batman film, tied with, and showing an opposite side of the character to, Batman Begins’ “I never said thank you” “And you’ll never have to” exchange. After the opening shows off this intense, frightening new Riddler, there’s an introduction to Batman as he stalks the rainy streets during Halloween, and utters the line “It’s a big city, I can’t be everywhere. But they don’t know WHERE I am” Superb. While I’m on the subject of general things I like about the film; everyone in the cast brings their A-game, even if the film unfortunately doesn’t have much for Andy Serkis to do as Alfred. The stand-out for me is Jeffrey Wright as Jim Gordon, an excellent piece of casting and a version of the character who’s personable and a competent partner to Batman who sticks by him no matter what. I love this version of the Batmobile; a bulletproof muscle car with a jet engine in the back that tears after Penguin in a surprisingly good rain-battered car chase. I love that while Gotham does just look largely like a regular modern city, it’s augmented by the tone; it’s cold, grim and rainy, but often lit up by the sunrise, visualising the transition for both Gotham and its protector to a more hopeful future. I love the main theme, and its remixed re-occurrences throughout the film. I love the narration of Bruce’s diary that bookends the film, accompanied by Nirvana’s “Something in the way”. My one slight worry when the film was first trailed was that it introduced too many characters at once, but having seen it I love that it brings Catwoman in this early and has her and Bruce work together on something that turns out to be deeply, brutally personal for them. They’re linked now, forever, and I’d be surprised if she doesn’t come back in the sequel. Likewise, the Penguin is introduced but isn’t a major player until the end, where it sets up that he’ll be one to watch going forward. Despite the excellent set up for the sequel, it works on its own merits as a stand-alone Batman film. It has a wonderful grasp on the character and his world, and delivers a strong character arc.
The Batman may well be the best Batman film, in my opinion. It’s currently in a three-way tie with Dark Knight and Mask of the Phantasm, but it could well take the crown. Regardless, I think Pattinson is easily the best live action Batman. This film’s Batman, his world, his allies and enemies are all handled masterfully by a director and cast at the top of their respective games. I’ve been crying out for a film where Batman gets to be a detective, and it lived up to my expectations. I want this to be THE live action Batman universe going forward, and I’m so glad it’s getting at least one sequel and a tv series about Cobblepot. Expect me back here when they surface.
I was late to the party with Chainsaw Man, but once I was on board, I was fully on board. I binged the manga in a few days and loved it; it’s funny, heart wrenching, gloriously violent and comes up with all manner of inventive, surprising ideas as it moves along at a pace that can only be described as “Intense”. I’m currently reading Part 2 as it’s released, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves: the anime debuted yesterday and I thought it was just the thing to get back into this particular series I do now and then, so let’s get into it. Halloween! GET HYPE!
Episode 1: Dog & Chainsaw
The series starts with a POV shot heading down an alley towards a closed door, with an harrowing, wailing tone on the soundtrack clearly informing us that this is a bad idea. Remember that door, because it’ll be important a long while from now. We’re introduced to a young man named Denji, who upon his Father’s suicide took on his ludicrous debt, and struggles daily to pay it back, something he has no illusions about ever achieving. He’s sold a kidney, one of his balls, his right eye, and has work chopping down trees and hunting devils. He does this with the help of his best friend and pet Pochita; an adorable, pudgy little dog crossed with a chainsaw; the blade comes out of his face, he has two handles on his body and his tail is the pull cord. His debt is owed to the local Yakuza, and as a result of them bleeding him dry he lives in extreme poverty; sleeping in a little shed in the woods, sharing a piece of bread for dinner every day with Pochita and, out of nowhere, coughs up a load of blood, something his Mum apparently did due to a heart condition. So things are looking pretty grim for our boy, and to make matters worse, his Yakuza captor tricks him into visiting a warehouse in the middle of the night whereupon he’s sold out; the Yakuza have made a deal with the Zombie Devil, which was a daft move because now they’re all mindless zombies, the tits. The zombies brutally murder Denji, cut him up and dump him in a bin, but fortunately some of his blood gets into Pochita’s mouth and heals him just enough to make Denji a deal: he’ll become the young man’s heart and give him his power, and in exchange Denji will use his renewed life to show Pochita his dreams, something he always liked hearing Denji talk about. Denji returns to life, pulls the cord now protruding from his chest and uses the chainsaw blades that pop out of his arms and face to slaughter the Zombie Devil and their minions, manically cackling as he realises that this will finally free him from debt. With the deed done, three black-suited figures appear, with the one leading the charge, a woman, catching Denji in an embrace and offering him a choice: be killed by her as a devil, or be kept by her as a human. He’ll be well fed if he chooses the latter, so the choice for him is an easy one.
Okay so first of all, this looks amazing, both in terms of its art style and when it’s in motion. The whole thing smacks of quality, two things that really caught my eye were the look of Denji’s arm blades in motion; you can see each individual tooth as it’s moving but it’s still moving fast enough to make it look dangerous, and I love the way the mask and blade on his head melt away when the Public Safety Devil Hunter hugs him and he reverts back to his human form. Even small scenes like Denji walking down a mountain road into town, or cuddling Pochita in their shack look gorgeous.
In addition to showing the extreme conditions Denji grew up in and making him sympathetic right off the bat, it also sets up important world building and character traits that are important as the series goes on. Denji is shown to have simple dreams and is likened to a dog, something that becomes a core part of his character for better and worse as it goes on, and at one point eats a cigarette for 100 yen, only to reveal that he secretly only pretended to do so; he’s shrewder than he appears, and is entirely capable of thinking for himself and holding stuff back when it’s to his advantage. It also shows off the series’ USP; the nature of the devils in this universe. Basically, every object and concept in the world has an associated devil thats power is in direct proportion to how afraid people are of that thing. The first one we see is the Tomato Devil, which goes down easily off screen, because people aren’t particularly afraid of tomatoes. The Zombie Devil, by comparison, is a lot bigger and stronger, because people are afraid of zombies. It’s a really cool idea, one that leads to a harrowing, superb encounter with one devil in particular that I’m really looking forward to. It also offers an easy explanation for devils themed around seemingly weird things, because everyone’s afraid of something.
I don’t want to go into a lot of detail about the OP, because it prominently features a lot of characters who haven’t been introduced yet- I thought it’d debut in the next episode, personally. I will say that the montage of film parodies is really neat, they all feel like they could viably happen in this universe, and I love that the OP clearly loves Power. Power is best girl but we’ll get to that when she shows up. That shot of the Devil Hunters in the cinema gets across a big part of her character silently as a gag happening off to the side of the frame. This anime adaptation is amazing and it’s only been one episode.
Excellent start to the series, and while I was never worried, it’s cemented the idea for me that Chainsaw Man is in safe hands and we’re in for an absolute treat. Really looking forward to seeing more.
Episode 2: Arrival in Tokyo
Turns out that mysterious lady who hugged Denji views him as a dog, one who is to respond to her with “Woof” or “Yes”, because she doesn’t need a dog who says no. She gives Denji her coat though, buys him breakfast and is really pretty, so he falls head over heels in love with her. At a nearby rest area, the soft-spoken mystery lady informs Denji that he has the scent of both a human and a devil, and that Pochita literally lives on inside him, which Denji takes well but then passes out due to blood loss, because the chainsaws cut him up as well as all the zombies he slaughtered. Upon waking up he takes mystery woman up on her offer to feed him and even woofs, then finally asks her name: it’s Makima. He asks if there’s a particular type of guy she’s into and she replies “The Denji type”, then they leave without having the fight in the woods Denji has in the manga, where he offers to run away with the person he’s supposed to kill and learns a powerful lesson about being duped. Anyway, over in Tokyo, Makima explains a little about Devil Hunters and the paid holidays offered to those in Public Safety, but Denji’s too busy thinking about eventually progressing their apparent mutual affection to a physical stage down the line. She introduces him to Aki Hayakawa, whom he’ll be shadowing and who clearly has no time for him or his infatuation with their boss. Disgusted by his reasons for taking the job and sensing he won’t last long, Aki puts Denji on his arse and tells him to quit, saying he’ll tell Makima the new recruit ran away scared. Unfortunately for him Denji won’t stay down that easily, and he introduces Aki to his unique fighting style: when he’s fighting a man, he goes for the bollocks. Exclusively. He says he’s willing to die if it means maintaining this life of eating foods he’s never tried and being treated like a human being for once in his life, and that it isn’t just his life anymore, implying that he’s living for Pochita now too. Aki resumes the fight and Denji beats him with another hoof in the knackers, which is Aki’s fault for not defending them because Denji told him what he was going to do, come on now. Back at HQ, Denji tells Makima that Aki was attacked by the Testical Devil, for which I give him points for effort but I think the bollock devil would turn people INTO balls or attacking using them, rather than attacking them. Makima places Denji into Aki’s experimental, thrown-together trouble maker unit, and informs him that if he tries to quit or becomes insubordinate, he’ll be killed. They’ll be living together from now on, and on the walk there Denji asks alternatively if Makima is a good or bad person, with Aki answering assuredly in the former, because she saved his life. Denji says he hopes he’ll get to hug her again, to Aki’s anger and shock. The next day, Denji quickly sets about using all of Aki’s jam on one piece of toast, taking too long in the bath without mentioning, as he does in the manga, the paid days off offered by his union job, falling asleep on the toilet (Which sounds ace to me) and using all the shit tickets and not replacing them. The next next day it’s off to work; confronting a fiend at a crime scene, a fiend being when a devil takes over a human corpse. Denji kills him with an axe instead of his chainsaws, telling Aki that he wanted to make it painless for him and that if there were a devil he could be friends with he would, something Aki finds egregious given that a devil killed his entire family. Turns out Denji was bullshitting though; he just wanted to keep the fiend’s blood of some nearby jazz mags. Denji assures Pochita that he’s living his dream; he gets to eat good food, bathe every day and hang around with a hot chick, but he feels like something’s missing, something that’d really make it perfect…like touching Makima’s boobs! That’s a goal, something to be serious about: BOOBS! …Denji exclaims while back in front of Makima, having apparently spent the entire trip back to HQ thinking about it. There’s no time for that though, because best girl’s here; Denji’s “Buddy” (in the two-person team, buddy system sense) POWER!: a fiend with visible horns protruding from the top of her head, so she and Denji have to patrol via the rooftops. Denji has questions regarding whether or not fiends can be devil hunters, but drops them when he notices she also has boobs. Power is blood-thirsty and battle hungry, and although proudly reflecting that as a powerful devil other weaker specimens are likely to flee at her scent, she sniffs one out and moves in for the kill. Turns out it’s the Sea Cucumber Devil, which she promptly splatters from above with a massive hammer made of blood. She cackles and revels in her kill as Denji looks on, weirded out.
So I won’t go into too much detail because the show will reveal more about her soon, but Power’s the best. For now I’ll focus on the other two main characters introduced here; Makima and Aki. Makima is dually important for being the first human to ever show him kindness and act as a positive motivation for him, one that reframes his worldview at least in the short term, and provides the comedic goal and objective for Denji of “I wanna touch her boobs”, because this story has a strong vein of humour running through it. Personally I much prefer the manga’s more general “I wanna touch some boobs” because I think it’s funnier, suits the character better and Denji’s already expressed an interest in Makima physically, so it seems redundant. I didn’t mind them skipping the fight at the rest stop but I do like that section as it shows Denji ready to immediately betray his new mistress and potentially throw his life away to save someone else, though it does make me intrigued as to what new scenes they may add now that I know they’re willing to stray from the source material. I love the fight with Aki where he seems to think Denji wouldn’t actually exclusively attack his ‘nads and then seems shocked to discover he was telling the truth. Despite their animosity and Aki’s motivation being partly influenced by his interest in Makima, his approach to Denji comes from a well-meaning place, and he’s a positive, grounding influence that will serve Denji well in the coming arcs. The introduction of fiends is cool and sets up further interesting designs and powers going forward, and the dynamic of sensible Aki and his two unruly charges is a good story device. Good follow up to the debut; introduces the main characters and sets up Denji’s goals and motivations going forward. Another good episode, looking forward to seeing more of, and talking more about, Power.
Episode 3: Meowy’s Whereabouts
Turns out the guy in the phonebooth talking about the sea cucumber devil was a civilian devil hunter, and Power kill stealing is an arrestable offence. Power tries to get out of it by blaming Denji, showing off two of her character traits; she talks like she’s in an Arthurian period drama, and she’s a pathological liar. Makima doesn’t care who was at fault though and Power won’t be arrested this time, she just wants the two of them to work well together; words that make Power snap to attention, clearly intimidated. While instantly winning the affection of and being able to hold and stroke a cat, Power confides in Denji that she hates all humans on instinct, and also hates devils because one stole her pet Meowy, and she was unable to rescue them before being captured by Makima. Denji can’t understand putting yourself out for the sake of a cat, but he would do anything to be able to touch some boobs, and he’d possibly understand if it was a dog, rather than a cat. Power offers him the chance to feel her boobs in exchange for rescuing Meowy, and Denji is suddenly fired up; stomping around, teeth bared, swearing to kill that devil for doing something so heinous as kidnapping an innocent cat.
Denji has to sign Power out on leave, as she isn’t allowed out on her own, presumably because she’d go buck wild and kill any devils she could sniff out. She knows where the devil who kidnapped Meowy is, but only Denji can fight him, because said devil will use the cat as a shield if they see Power approaching. Denji confides in Power about Pochita living on his heart, which she dismisses as a self-comforting lie. Denji takes a long look at her chest before begrudgingly agreeing with her. Back at HQ we get some brief world building; the Soviet Union is still around, and its hawks (the war-hungry human kind, not the bird) are worried about an “American situation”. Aki asks what Makima finds so interesting about Denji and she runs down what I did back in episode one; the nature of devils and how they’re as powerful as people are afraid of what that devil represents, giving the examples of a coffee devil and a car devil. Denji can transform into the chainsaw devil, so he must be pretty strong. Aki maintains that Denji’s simple goal and willingness to befriend devils makes him a poor fit for their operation, as Denji and Power reach their destination; a large old house out in the sticks. Denji reminds Power of the fact that the devil will use Meowy as a shield if he sees her, and she reveals her true plan; knock Denji out and trade him for Meowy instead. Meowy’s captor is the bat devil, hiding out after having his arm severed, and blackmailing Power into providing him with a human meal, which both he and Power assume Denji is, the latter brushing off his talk of becoming “A bunch of chainsaws” as a joke. Denji’s blood apparently tastes disgusting, so after hurling his body to one side the Bat devil plans to cleanse his palate with some tasty, tasty children. Power reminds him of his part of the bargain, but in a cruel twist he instead eats Meowy, cage and all, as punishment for how Denji’s blood tasted. A flashback shows how the two met; Power, naked and caked in filth roamed the countryside killing things and ran into a cat she named Meowy. Her intention was to fatten the scrawny little thing up to make them a better meal, but over time she came to care for them, thinking how strange it is to hear a sound that isn’t screaming. Then the bat devil kidnapped Meowy and here we are. With nothing left to live for, she tells Denji she understands how he feels about Pochita, and lets the bat devil swallow her whole. Denji won’t stand for this though, as he clings to the bat’s leg, drinks his blood and growls out a heroic “Gimme my tits back!” He recalls a time when he lost Pochita and ran all over town trying to find him, then when he got home he found his friend crying and waiting for him. He was so relieved he fell asleep holding him, and uses this to empathise with Power, and how she must have felt trying to sleep knowing her beloved Meowy was in the hands of this devil. Then the chainsaws come out and it’s on, baby. A fierce battle ensues as Denji knocks the bat devil around, smashing into things and knocking down some power lines. He tells a young woman and a man with a child to run away, which the bat tries to use to his advantage; throwing a car with a driver in it at Denji to make him catch it. He does, but not on purpose, realising to his surprise that the chainsaws are capable of retracting. Anyway he doesn’t give a shit about some dude, and chucks the car back at the bat, right into his face. Unfortunately he has a super move; sucking in a great deal of air and blasting it back at Denji, knocking him through a building and destroying the surrounding area. That isn’t enough to stop Chainsaw Man goddammit, and now he’s mad, because he’s been as patient as possible throughout all this nonsense and HE STILL HASN’T GOT TO COP A FEEL EVEN ONCE! Spurred on by the power of not getting to touch boobs, Denji slaughters the bat devil; slicing his gut open with his chainsaws and standing triumphant in a shower of blood.
This episode is a good reminder that while he is sympathetic and on the side of good, Denji isn’t a hero. His lack of concern about collateral damage and single-minded motivation of getting to touch some boobs are played for comedy, but they are important character traits all the same. I maintain he is sympathetic though, and I find him likable both in this and the manga. Best girl Power gets to show off some more of her character traits in this episode but we’re just at the tip of the iceberg at this point. Her lying in particular becomes much more prominent, and a source of comedy, as the series goes on. Back when I discussed the OP briefly in episode one and said it got one of her character traits across in silence as a gag off to the side of the screen, this is what I meant. Power stealing Kobeni’s (she’ll be introduced soon) seat in the cinema, then when Kobeni returns to complain Power is clearly telling Kobeni that this is her seat and always was, as she necks Kobeni’s popcorn. Some interesting world building with the mention of the Soviet Union and an “American Situation”, which is very briefly hinted at in the OP and you’ll most likely have noticed if you’ve read the manga. The action scene at the end was really strong; in particular I still can’t get over how good Denji’s chainsaws look in motion, they’re superb. Good episode; Denji and Power starting to understand each other a bit and build some common emotional ground through their love of their respective pets, as well as a look at Power’s headspace in general and what makes her tick.
Episode 4: Rescue
Open on another flashback to Power’s past; roaming the woods ripping the heads off animals and drinking their blood. She wonders why she’s running in a desperate attempt to find a human, when life means so little to her, especially that of a cat, but realises that blood is warm and comforting, referencing her cuddling Meowy at night as they sleep together. Fortunately the bat devil swallowed both her and Meowy whole, so they’re both alive and just fine now that Denji’s sliced said devil into dog food. She asks why Denji saved her given that she attempted to kill him, and he motions to her breasts, which she says he can indeed grope now that Meowy’s safe. Denji celebrates only for one his hands to be blown off out of nowhere by the Leech Devil; Bat’s equally massive girlfriend who somehow managed to sneak up right next to Denji and Power. The latter can’t move, and Denji’s lack of blood means the only transforming he can do is make a tiny bit of chainsaw stick out of his still-human face. Fortunately, much like Raiden losing his limbs is more of an inconvenience than anything else, and he can still zip around the place with a great deal of speed and agility, and clobber the worm with a surprisingly powerful punch. She derides his “Trashy” dream to cop a feel and, remembering all the other times people have done the same, Denji gets fired up and manages to slash the devil’s throat with his head saw. He remarks that everyone keeps shitting on his dream with their oh-so lofty ambitions, but if he manages to kill the leech in a dream battle then that means hers is “weaker than fondling a tit”. He gains the upper hand by darting around her, avoiding all her attacks and tripping her up with the bat’s discarded intestines. After one good slice though, the leech works him over with a flurry of blows that daze him, make one of his eyes bulge out knock him right off balance, though he quickly recovers, cackling maniacally. Leech regains the upper hand and impales Denji on her tongue. She’s about to eat him, when Aki suddenly appears and…”Kon.” the massive head of the Fox Devil appears and bites clean through the leech devil, ending the fight decisively. Fox asks Aki’s permission to swallow leech’s head, and he gives it. Aki’s team make a brief appearance; his eyepatched senpai Himeno as well as Arai and Kobeni, who don’t get to do anything here so I’ll leave off talking about them until they do. Keep an eye on Kobeni though, she’s great. Aki picks Denji up and walks him to an ambulance in a surprisingly benevolent move despite the latter’s screams of pain, and has Meowy sent to a vet for a check up.
In the hospital, Denji’s arm has been reattached thanks to a blood transfusion. He noticed Aki being pretty chummy with the fox devil, but Aki explains that devil hunters form contracts with devils in order to use their power in battle. In exchange for some of his body as food, he gets to summon the fox; she wanted some skin this time. There are a number of elements for Aki to consider in this situation; he knows Power tried to kill Denji, and Denji is clearly covering for her. That would warrant them both being killed. But there were no fatalities, and the people Denji saved want to meet him to give their thanks, so he offers a deal: he’ll let all this slide, and Denji can maintain this lifestyle on the condition that he listens to Aki and does what he says. Denji agrees, and says that although he dreams small and doesn’t share his teammates lofty ambitions, he’s as serious about this as they are. On his way out he takes off Power’s handcuffs, which Himeno thinks is a bad idea, but explains it by saying that she’s useful, and they should put her to work. They’re not friends though, good lord no. Who’d be friends with a devil? Not Aki, that’s for sure. At HQ, Aki prepares to knock on Makima’s door, but stops to straighten his tie and hair first. Once inside, he debriefs her on that day’s events, covering for Power and skipping any bits that make her look bad, and stating that neither bat nor leech’s head contained any “Gun flesh”. Hmm, intriguing. Makima does take issue with Power and Denji being able to travel so far out of their designated patrol route without anyone noticing them, but Aki smooths it over by pointing out that their were no fatalities and two devils were killed, so she lets it slide. She notes that Aki seems more flexible, possibly due to Denji’s influence, but he denies it. Next morning is their day off, but even so Aki’s up early with coffee and cigarettes, with Denji wondering how does it. He does some chores and starts making curry for lunch while Denji eats his apparently now customary breakfast of bread with every type of jam Aki owns when they’re interrupted by a knock at the door. TOO SLOW HUMANS, NOW POWER HAS PUNCHED YOUR PUNY LOCK OUT OF THE DOOR. Makima wants her to live with Aki, feeling that he’ll be a good leash for the two unruly fiends, which he blushingly accepts despite his reservations. She immediately sets about making life hell for Aki and Denji; throwing her vegetables away (which Denji catches and expresses outrage over being wasted. Make careful note of that for a scene that’s coming in a later episode), stating she prefers to only occasionally bathe and occasionally flush her shite, having blocked the toilet with a huge amount of paper. They don’t say so here, but in the manga it’s a deliberate tactic to make humans suffer, because she hates them. That evening, Denji’s struggling to clean the aforementioned shite off the walls of the toilet when Power turns his night around by offering him the chance to fondle her chest. He gets three squeezes: one for saving Meowy, one for killing the bat devil and one for saving Power from Aki. “She’s an angel!” Denji thinks, as the episode ends.
I’d just like to say, once again, that this show looks incredible. Even little things like when Aki goes to splash water on his face in the morning, and there’s a split second shot from his point of view where his face is reflected in the water in his hands. They’ve gone beyond the extra mile here. A sequence where a cute boy makes coffee then drinks it on his balcony and has a ciggy looks better than some entire anime I’ve watched. The fight with the leech devil was awesome, I love seeing Denji going wild in a fight and showing off how fast and nimble he is, and strong without even without the chainsaws. I like how they’re not backing down on his dream of touching boobs; no matter what others think and how often they put him down for it, that’s his dream, dammit. Personally I most enjoyed the ending slice of life stuff, the genre having recent-ish-ly become something I really appreciate. Of course it’s not your standard slice of life what with the devils and whatnot, but I really like Aki, Denji and Power together, and their relationship developing throughout the story. Good episode, looking forward to more character work going forward when Section 4 get more of a look in.
Episode 5: Gun Devil
(Metal Slug announcer voice) FONDLING START! Denji finally gets his hands on some honkers, only to find out that Power is wearing pads to make hers look bigger. Undeterred, he goes in for the remaining two squeezes; Power jumps to her feet and is certain that he had a wonderful time, declaring that because there’s no escaping Makima she’ll help him out with his duties, then goes to bed. Denji is dumbstruck, standing there, arms outstretched in classic creeper grabbing mode, and laments “That’s it?”. Denji has learnt an important lesson: life is one crushing defeat after another until you just wish Flanders was dead.
The next day, Denji is in a stupor, dully moving through every activity in a haze, such is the devastating power of finding that touching boobs isn’t a big deal, actually. Not even an almighty chop to the head from Power can knock him out of it. While blindly dealing with a load of paperwork, Makima asks what’s wrong and Denji posits that, given how disappointing this dream was when he achieved it, what if he goes for something else and finds he was much happier during the chase? When he elaborates and says his problems stem from touching boobs, Makima suddenly turns all seductive; telling Denji that for her, sex is better in proportion to how well you know your partner, starting with small things like details about their hands. She bites his finger so he’ll remember her even if he can’t see, and then puts his hand on her breast, which makes Denji freak out and fall over in his chair. So touching boobs is a big deal, it’s just got to be the boobs of the woman Denji’s in love with. She makes Denji a deal: if he can kill the Gun Devil, she’ll make any wish of his come true. Any wish. Gun Devil. That’s quite a challenge. Speaking of the gun devil, we get a flashback, and the first reference to the story of the city mouse and the country mouse, which comes up later on in the story. Said flashback is to Aki’s childhood: he wants to play catch with his Dad, but his parents are staying inside to look after his younger brother Taiyo, who isn’t feeling well. Taiyo wants to play with his older brother though, so the two go outside into the snow. Aki doesn’t want to play with Taiyo and throws a snowball to try and make him leave, but Taiyo takes it in stride and throws one back, starting a snowball fight. Little brother’s hands are cold though, so a now much friendlier Aki sends him inside to get a catcher’s mitt so they can play together. Smiling and waving at his younger brother, Aki witnesses his house and entire family suddenly wiped off the map, as 1.2 million people are killed in a little under five minutes. That’s the devil that killed Aki’s family. Makima says that gun control was increased in an effort to weaken the gun devil, and news was censored to counteract people’s increased fear of devils in general, but she doesn’t say if it had much of an effect. Denji isn’t worried though; if he pulls out all the stops it’ll be “A peace of cake” (he throws up a peace sign). Before he can kill the gun devil however, they’ve got to find the bloody thing first, but fortunately Makima has a plan. The gun devil is so fast that parts of it are stripped off when it moves; slime covered bullets that stick together, and if ingested by a devil give them a power boost. All they’ve got to do is track down enough extra pieces and make the lump they’ve got big enough to be drawn towards the gun devil itself. Easy, right? A devil’s been reported in a hotel; the civilian devil hunters who went in after it are dead, and it’s believed to have eaten a piece of gun devil, so Aki’s team are up. Denji and Power aren’t being as mannerly as Aki would like, so he bribes them with a stick of gum each, which works a treat. Arai asks how they can possibly trust a fiend and some punk to watch their backs, and Aki assures him that they’ll be taking point, and if they try to run or switch sides they’ll be killed. Power and Denji wonder if perhaps the prank they pulled on Aki that morning went too far, to which Aki declares he could kill them for what they did. Denji, feeling overworked after having killed the bat devil, wants a reward. Himeno “Takes one for the team”; she’ll give whoever kills this devil a kiss on the cheek. Arai is aghast at the idea of a young, unmarried woman being so indecent because he’s a time traveller I think? Denji is initially swayed, but changes his mind because he’s only got eyes for Makima. Himeno makes him an offer he can’t refuse; if he kills the devil, she’ll kiss him with tongue. DEAL ON, INTO THE BREACH! Denji powers ahead, giggling maniacally with Arai trying to slow him down. He’s been trained by Himeno the past six months, so if the alternative is letting some no goodnick like him smooch her, he’ll bravely take that kiss on the cheek. I see you Arai. Himeno gives her thoughts on the two new characters to Aki: Arai makes up for a lack of competence with motivation. Kobeni’s got the moves, but she’s timid. She tells Aki not to die on her, which triggers another flashback. Himeno, freshly made a cyclops and with her arm in a sling, is introduced to her new partner in a graveyard: an apparently rude young man named Aki. She asks him if he’ll be of any use, because he’s her sixth partner and the rest all died because they were useless. “Don’t die on me, Aki”. Back in the present, an enemy presents itself: a head attached directly to a foot and a hand. It launches itself directly at Kobeni, bless her, but Himeno and Power swiftly dispatch it. Himeno reveals, much to Power’s chagrin having thought the monster hovered before her in fear, that she has a contract with the Ghost Devil. In exchange for her right eye, she has access to a strong, invisible right hand, and that’s what the kept the head in place mid-air. Power decides to push her luck by threatening to kill Kobeni to test Himeno’s response, and Himeno just grabs her by the throat with her ghost hand, which proves very effective. The episode ends with the group realising, much to Kobeni’s adorably squeeky horror, that they’re trapped on the eighth floor; travelling up or down the stairs brings them right back to where they started.
Kobeni is adorable, Himeno is really cute and I’d definitely kiss her, I don’t care for Arai and that ghost hand is pretty neat, huh? Interesting to see Aki’s backstory; it’s brutal, his house and family literally being wiped off the map with no trace. Shows just how powerful the gun devil is too; not a bullet in sight and so much devastation. Finally the big bad of Chainsaw Man has a name, and Denji has an ultimate goal to work towards. Makima’s nice too, she clearly likes Denji a lot and wants to make his experiences in life as pleasant as possible. Power’s wonderful as ever; her BMO chop was delightful and I love her. Important wheels begin to turn in this episode and the series gains a new focus, though I won’t say more for spoiler reasons. If you’re an anime only then you’re in for a wild ride. Good episode, very much looking forward to the next one.
Episode 6: Kill Denji
So then, our heroes are stuck on the eighth floor; even the rooms are connected via window to other rooms that loop back around to the eighth floor hallway, and going through the ceiling as the same result. The gun devil piece has become still; that little head thing was bait, and now they’re all trapped but good. Kobeni is taking it well. Wait, no, hold on a sec *checks notes* she’s freaking out and crying. Arai tries to comfort her by reminding her that she became a devil hunter to send her brother to university, but she points out that she was basically forced into it by her parents: her choices were sex worker or devil hunter, and her own desire to go to uni was ignored. Devils love fear, as it turns out, so Power finds this all hysterical. Meanwhile, Aki’s noticed that all the clocks are stuck at 8:18, so time is frozen and no one’s coming to help them. Christ, as if things weren’t bad enough already, now they’ve got THE WORLD to deal with. Denji isn’t phased though; they might be trapped forever, but they might not be, and this bed he’s lying in is really comfy, so he’s just going to sleep until someone else figures out what’s going on. Himeno wakes him sometime later and gives him an update: they found a backpack with food in it that a guest presumably left when they fled. Aki’s been hunting for the devil nonstop, Arai’s having a panic attack and Kobeni tried to drink out of a toilet bowl so Himeno knocked her out. Power’s taking things in stride though; since there’s nothing else to do she’s decided to win the Nobel Prize, then use that as a stepping stone to become Prime Minister and implement a 100% sales tax. Denji reassures Himeno that she’s always like that. In another flashback to her and Aki’s past, we see that the girlfriend of Himeno’s now dead previous partner slapped her, so Aki stuck gum to her clothes as revenge. Himeno thinks he’ll be just fine in this job, because while devils don’t fear hunters who are strong or brave, they do fear ones with a screw loose. After some prodding, she finally convinces Aki to have a cigarette; his “First and last” according to him…cut back to the present and he asks for the one currently in Himeno’s mouth. He’s got bad news: that devil Power killed has turned into a massive, moaning flesh wall full of faces and hands. The flesh wall offers a contract: feed it Denji, and the rest of them can go free. Kobeni, bless her, wastes no time in accepting; wailing and rushing at Denji with a kitchen knife. He puts up his dukes but Aki and Himeno step in to effortlessly subdue her. Aki is unable to call the fox devil, given that they’re currently apart from time and space, but the ghost devil is able to tear a chunk out of the wall. Unfortunately that just makes it advance on the hunters, while telling them that they’re currently trapped in its stomach, away from its heart, and thus unable to do any real damage to it, or escape on their own. Denji reckons it’d just kill them all anyway even if they do acquiesce to its demands, but Himeno corrects him: the word “Contract” was used, so it’s legit. Arai appears and suggests they take the deal, but Himeno and Aki are firmly against it, and they’re the only real voices of reason here. Power, conversely, is on Arai’s side, because if she remains trapped in this hotel void she won’t be able to win the nobel. After being told that, as a fiend, the devil would have no obligation to honour its bargain with her, she gives in, and suggests wrestling to pass the time because she’s adorable. Aki does have one card he can play, but only as a last resort: use the sword on his back, which has consequences so serious that the mere suggestion has Himeno suddenly up in his face insisting he not do so, and saying Denji’ll have to die in that case. Ooh, ominous. We may well be reaching that point though, because Power’s eaten all the food, and Kobeni’s back on her feet, has her knife again and is jumping to wild conclusions about it being Power’s fault they’re trapped here. The flesh wall, identifying itself as the Eternity Devil, suddenly races forward, clawing its way towards Denji, Aki and Himeno with its malformed hands, commanding them to fear it more and more to increase its power as the floor starts to tilt. The hall has become a shaft, with an infinite series of gaping maws at the bottom, hungry for Chainsaw Man meat. Kobeni begs for someone, anyone to kill Denji and Aki goes to use the sword, but is stopped by the ghost devil. Using the sword would get them out, but it shaves a large chunk of Aki’s life off in the process, and Himeno won’t let that happen. Things are looking bleak for our boy as he’s held down by Arai and Kobeni rushes in with her knife…but Aki gets in the way and takes the blade instead. He may be a piece of shit, but he’s got the guts to fight the gun devil, and Aki needs that, so he’s not letting Denji die, no matter what. Remembering her string of dead partners, Himeno is horrified; freaking out and asking Aki what to do. Power stops Aki from bleeding out while Denji takes charge of the situation: the eternity devil is clearly scared of Denji’s chainsaws and hates being in pain, so he’s going to transform, jump into its mouth and slash it up until its in so much pain it kills itself. The episode ends with him doing just that; pulling his cord and gleefully flinging himself into the abyss.
Some really good character stuff this episode. We see the bond between Aki and Himeno, and how after experiencing so much tragedy and sorrow the latter can be carefree, flirty and calm because the former gives her strength, which falls apart when he’s in serious danger. Aki’s willing to take a blade to the side for Denji, despite his clear disdain for him, because he actually does care, and he needs his help. His steadfast insistence on finding another solution to the situation, even at the cost of his own lifespan, is the start of his relationship with Denji starting to develop into a more positive one. Kobeni’s a wailing mess of squeaks and tears; without spoiling anything, there’s something of a running joke throughout the manga where things keep going wrong for her in darkly hilarious fashion, so this whole mess is her story very much starting as it means to go on. I love that Denji and Power are just handling the situation really well because they’re both really stupid and, in Power’s case, also delusional. They’re beautiful morons and I love them. While it’s not as existential as I would like, or indeed expect, from a devil themed around the fear of eternity, a moaning flesh wall is always solid (see the Resident Evil 2 remake for another good, recent example). I also really like that the whole cabin fever, fear of isolation and death angle is happening in fast forward because the only two people affected by it are REALLY affected by it and the others don’t care. They’re too mentally strong or stupid to let the tropes of this kind of horror story run their course. Good episode, there’s a line in the manga version of next week’s events that I’m looking forward to and hope makes it into the anime.
Episode 7: The Taste of a Kiss
We pick up where we ended last time: the series’ awesome third ED “Hawatari 2-oku Centi” kicks in, Denji leaps into the maw of the eternity devil and starts carving it up as Arai, Himeno and Kobeni look on, horrified. Power remains oddly level headed and raises a concern; Denji is losing blood too liberally, and if he gets too low his chainsaws will retract. Case in point: Denji is then ensnared by tentacles sucking his blood, his arm chainsaws are back in and things aren’t looking too good. Fortunately, Denji still has the razor sharp teeth that come with his transformation, so he bites off a big chunk of devil, swallows it and he’s back in business. His sadism and maniacal cackling launch Himeno into another flashback where we meet the man who taught her the “Devils fear devil hunters with a screw loose” philosophy. He goes unnamed here, but for future reference his name is Kishibe; a constantly drinking, ludicrously deadly devil hunter with the voice of Genichiro Ashina who reinforces to Himeno the idea that crazy is the way to go, because even devils fear what they don’t understand, and mad bastards are unpredictable. Kishibe’s awesome and he’ll be back later. He tells Himeno that regularly visiting her dead partners’ graves is the kind of predictable, routine thinking that show she isn’t unhinged enough, and that at the rate he’s going Aki will actually find and confront the gun devil, something that gives her a quiet freak out. Speaking of Aki; it cuts to them in a restaurant where she asks if he’d like to move to the private sector with her. It’s an easier life where they can go out for lunch and see a movie on the way home, but he firmly but politely declines. Himeno laments internally that if they were to fight the gun devil they’d surely lose, because Aki’s too nice and normal a person. This chainsaw *thing* however… he could stand a chance. Denji’s fallen, but Himeno uses her ghost hand to pull his cord once again, and he’s back in it. Our hero realises that he’s stumbled upon an unbeatable strategy: he cuts the devil up, the devil bleeds, he drinks it and heals, and he utters the line I was looking forward to, albeit slightly altered: “I’M A FUCKING PERPETUAL MOTION MACHINE! THAT NOBEL PRIZE IS MINE!” (in the manga it’s “I’ve accidentally completed a perpetual motion machine!”) How does Denji know what a perpetual motion machine is? Who knows, but he is one now, and eternity’s in trouble. Himeno’s never seen anyone so crazy, maybe he can beat the gun devil! Her excitement immediately shifts to exhaustion though, as it seamlessly cuts to three days later: she gets into bed with Aki and cuddles up to him, planning to get some sleep now that it’s over. Three days of non-stop slashing eternity to bits, drinking its blood and healing, with no rest, and Denji’s good to keep going. What he planned comes to be, though; eternity is sick of such agony and offers its heart so Denji can finally put it down. They’re out, and Denji feels great, like he just took a huge shit…and he’s passed out. A once again chipper Himeno hoists him onto her back and says she and Power will take Denji and Aki to hospital, while Arai and Kobeni look they’re, if not fully there, then well on the way to being scarred for life. Don’t worry guys, it’ll get better, I’m sure.
Except they don’t want it to go that far, because they’re planning on quitting. Partly because they’re scared of devils, and partly because they feel guilty about trying to kill Denji. What’s the big deal? Himeno tried to kill Denji too and she feels just fine! Kids these days, honestly. Himeno has a cunning plan though; Division 4 should go out for drinks, where apologising to Denji will be much easier. Aki insists it be this week though, so they can invite Makima. She’s going to Kyoto next week to seek reinforcements due to the recent influx of devils showing up looking to throw down with Denji, like he’s a horny, serrated Goku. Himeno finds it odd that Makima has stayed in Tokyo so much recently whereas previously she often travelled; she probably knows what’s going on with Denji, and is sticking around for him. Cut to a restaurant, where they’re all getting good food and tall beers. Well, not all of them, but there are plenty of beers around. Things kick off in relax, pleasant way: Aki has his first beer in six months, Power lays claim to all the shashimi, and Kobeni turns up in a cute hat. Good stuff. She’s finally got the chance to eat loads of nice food, but Power snatches the entire plate of chicken karaage away from here, so that’s put a dampener on things. Poor Kobeni. Denji asks about his kiss, and he’ll get it later when Himeno’s had more to drink. For now though, it’s time for the rookies to introduce themselves: Denji is sixteen, “if [he] remembers right” (in the manga it was slightly more depressing “I think”) and his hobbies are eating and sleeping. Arai awkwardly yells that HE’S TWENTY TWO, HAS A CONTRACT WITH THE FOX DEVIL AND HIS HOBBY IS WRITING HAIKU! Kobeni is twenty, her contracted devil is a secret, and her hobby is eating tasty foods. She is adorable. Denji is informed that Himeno’s kissed pretty much everyone there, because she gets really friendly when she’s drunk. Which she is now, so Denji’s got this in the bag, a sentiment he expresses out loud and with unfortunate timing, because Makima’s just appeared from nowhere. And for Denji, thus begins a delicate dance, “…a beautiful dance, with a chainsaw” (shout out to anyone who got that reference); making Makima think he isn’t going to kiss anyone tonight, while planning to definitely kiss Himeno tonight. Aki uses Makima’s rare appearance to ask if she knows what’s going with Denji (as he and Himeno discussed earlier), and she says she’ll tell him if he can outdrink her. Game on. Turns out that was a bad idea, because it cuts to Aki down and out and Makima continuing on as if nothing’s happened, like a salaryman with a literal iron liver. Himeno’s absolutely battered at this point, and launches right into her promised kiss with Denji, as Makima gives him one hell of a piercing stare. It’s worth it though, this is pretty good. Her tongue feels nice, although it’s melting in Denji’s mouth for some reason, is that normal? Oh bollocks, that’s not a tongue, it’s what people who’ve read the manga have been waiting for: Himeno’s thrown up in Denji’s mouth. Don’t worry, anime-only fans, it gets much worse: Power points out, laughing all the while, that Denji will swallow anything even remotely nutritious. Flashback to little boy Denji and Pochita eating a burger they found in a bin, and Denji mocking some nearby rats for eating puke, something he’d never do, obviously. Cut back to him throwing up said throw up he ate. Hoo boy. Arai’s looking after him though; he gave him a sure-fire method of making yourself throw up that he learned from looking after his drunk mum, and he’s rubbing Denji’s back and telling him that he’s a great devil hunter that he’s jealous of. Denji can’t for the life of him understand why Arai would be jealous when Denji’s first ever kiss tasted like vomit. The night is over, and Makima paid for everything, much to the subdued delight of Kobeni, who declares, in an adorably soft voice, that nothing tastes better than drinks that someone else has paid for. Kobeni’s really cute, I hope life doesn’t continuously mess with her and make her sad. On a more pressing note, Himeno’s taken a passed out Denji home to her place. Not that she remembers, she’s so pissed. She kisses Denji again, no sick this time, and laments that he and Aki are both so hung up on Makima. The episode ends with her collapsing next to Denji and asking him if he wants to “Do it”.
Much like last episode played with tropes involving cabin fever and people going mad in a terrible situation, this episode took the age old “Oh no, two girls like me!” bit and threw up in its mouth. Denji swallowing the puke, while awful and amusing, makes sense given his childhood. I really like the calm, cute side of Kobeni contrasting with her completely falling to pieces and trying to murder Denji, as well as threatening Power and Arai. Arai too, wins some points by being a nice guy and looking after Denji. Perhaps I misjudged him. Speaking of Denji, him being a sadistic, literally blood thirsty lunatic with motivations and goals most people consider uncouth and frivolous is an interesting contrast to Himeno, whose backstory of mourning her dead partners and carrying their memories with her would make her protagonist material in other stories, but in this world makes her a broken person who covers her psychological issues with humour, flirting and drinking for Japan. Power was almost entirely on the sidelines here but still being great, hoarding all the food and lying about having a 1000 IQ. I also like Aki probing Makima for information rather than just loving taking everything at face value. Good episode, nothing major happened plot wise but it’s interesting to see these characters develop and interact with each other, particularly having read the manga and knowing where they all end up.
Episode 8: Gunfire
We’re treated to a beautifully animated sequence showing how we got to the last episode’s ending: Himeno drunkenly arrives home with Denji, staggering around the place, falling over into chairs, dropping Denji on her bed and falling backwards on top of him. There’s one particularly good shot where she enters her bathroom, takes her shirt off and enters her shower and the events are shown both in frame and behind her in multiple mirrors showing different angles. She cracks open a beer, tries and fails to remember what Makima’s “Deal” is, then hears Denji moaning for water, having forgotten he was there. Events play out as they did last episode, right up to her asking Denji if he wants to “Do it”. She clarifies that she means sex, and though Denji initially wonders if it’s a good idea to let her have his first time after he puked all over his plan for Makima to be his first kiss, he gets over it and lets her start taking his clothes off. Midway through however, she finds an unwrapped lollipop in his pocket, which reminds him: Makima used it the night before to give him an indirect kiss, a concept I’ve only ever really seen in manga/anime and one that doesn’t seem like a big deal to me at all, but never mind that now. She looked after him last night: bought him some anti-nausea medicine and placated his worries about his every subsequent kiss tasting like vomit by saying that he’ll have so many new experiences that he won’t have time to think about puke, and his first indirect kiss tasted like a cola flavoured chupa chup. Which I now want one of. Not because of anything to do with kisses, I just think a cola flavoured lollipop sounds good right about now. Anyway, back in the present Denji is now sleeping on the floor, and apologises to Pochita for not getting to score, but he wants his first time to be with Makima. The next morning over breakfast, Denji confirms that nothing happened between the two of them, much to Himeno’s relief. She proposes a secret alliance: she’ll help him get together with Makima and in return, he has to help her get together with Aki. ’cause she likes his face. I’m not sure how well that’ll go given that Denji only knows how to be direct about these things, but he agrees, and they officially strike up a friendship.
Meanwhile, Makima’s on a train bound for her meeting in Kyoto, and plans to buy lunch at the station in addition to having a lunch meeting booked, because she’s a woman after my own heart. Those lunches will have to wait though, because Makima’s fucking DEAD. Shot in the head from point blank. Bloody hell, the plot’s taken quite the turn there. Back in town, a montage set to music shows Division 4 going about their work day, unaware that their boss has just been slotted, and unfortunately some plain looking assassins have the same in mind for them. An old woman pulls a gun on Kobeni and Arai and pulls the trigger as it cuts to Denji, Aki, Power and Himeno having lunch. Denji wonders what the noise is. Power shows off how knowledgeable she is by incorrectly identifying the sound as a taiko drum, then asks if Himeno and Denji “Truly did not mate last night” to which Himeno responds that Denji is more of a gentleman than you might think. A shady looking dude at another table asks them how they can stand the taste as a segue to talk about his “Necessary evil” Yakuza grandad, who only killed a handful of women and children. Hmm, an old man Yakuza, that sounds familiar, and not because I’m a big RGG fan. A photo confirms it; he’s that piece of shit who hung debt over Denji’s head and sold him out to the zombie devil. BLAM! Denji’s down, headshot. He tags Himeno in the chest but the others are two fast and nimble, and Power’s straight in with a massive uppercut that takes him off his feet. Aki follows up with the fox devil and destroys most of the restaurant, as the fox, irritated, points out that Aki has made her eat something “Outrageous”- neither human nor devil. Sure enough, the man slices his way out of her and reveals that he’s the Katana Fiend, with his weapon of choice sticking out his arms and head like Denji’s chainsaws. Rattled and out of other options, Aki takes the sword from his back and attacks; a huge finger appears to flick the sword, propelling it through Katana’s back as a mysterious pair of lips in a black void utters “Three.” Katana is undeterred and rushes in with a blade combo, so Aki strikes again: “Two.” An immediate follow up: “One.” Aki is knocked down and orders “Curse” to finish him: “Zero”. The soundtrack turns to a harrowing drone as a skeletal creature with multiple heads holds Katana in place and bites into him; cut to him lying on the ground in a pool of blood, seemingly vanquished. Power tried her best to help Himeno, but she needs a doctor. Denji’s still out, and Aki thinks about how hard it should be for someone to pack heat in Japan. Just as I’m thinking this whole thing stinks of the gun devil, a voice in Aki’s head declares “I hear the gun devil’s after your heart”. No time for that now though, because a young woman in a hoodie and short shorts has suddenly appeared and correctly identified Aki’s curse devil, guessing that it’s powers are “Getting hit by that nail (the sword) enough times means you die” She gets Katana back on his feet and he rushes past Aki so fast it looks like teleportation. Blood starts to drip from his head sword and suddenly Aki’s wound is apparent: Katana slashed him open. Himeno asks Power to help, but even the blood fiend couldn’t track their enemy’s movements. Himeno’s ghost devil is too scared of the newcomer to intervene, but our cycloptic heroine makes a deal: everything she’s got for the devil’s full power. The deal is struck, and ghost reveals their full form: a mass of hands propping up a pillar of flowers for a body, and a woman’s head with long hair, stitched closes eyes and a smiling, stitched closed mouth. She looks like something from Silent Hill 4, it’s awesome. Katana sets about slashing at her many arms as she attacks, and in voice over Himeno thinks about how easily Aki cries, how she used to find it funny he did so in private, and how it must be nice to have someone who cares about you enough to cry. Her arm disappears as Ghost gets the upper hand and holds Katana in place. Then the other arm. “Don’t die on me, Aki” she thinks, “So that when I die” (their eyes meet) “You can cry for me). The new girl unveils her contracted devil; the snake, who neutralises Ghost with a single bite. Aki stares in horror, breathing heavy, at Himeno’s now empty clothing, laying on the floor where his friend and mentor once was.
Christ, things have gone up a notch, huh? Makima’s dead, Himeno’s dead, Denji’s dead and needs to be revived, or at the very least he’s in a real bad way, as is Aki, and Arai and Kobeni might also be dead, as well as the rest of Division 4. It was only a matter of time until a more dangerous, antagonist fiend showed up, and here he is, though its his partner, contracted with the snake devil that tipped the scale. I like the episode carrying on with Makima and Himeno’s characterisation despite their impending deaths: Makima’s a caring, stabilising figure in Denji’s life and Himeno’s a new found friend, both of them snuffed out without Denji even being present or conscious. That opening scene in Himeno’s apartment was gorgeous, as I said, and I loved the dread and panic in the montage of assassins preparing to take out Division 4, and the sudden explosion of violence with the main cast, one so drastic Aki finally used the sword at the cost of his lifespan. A pleasant calm before a devastating storm that’s really shaken things up. Good episode, looking forward to seeing the fallout next time.
Episode 9: From Kyoto
We pick up where we left off: Himeno’s body has disappeared, having given her all in exchange for the ghost devil’s full power. Ghost has been consumed by the snake devil, but all is not lost: its hand remains, and in one final act of defiance it pulls the cord on Denji’s chest. Katana and the one contracted with the snake devil are after Denji’s heart for reasons unknown, and Katana vows to cut him in half. These two are bad guys, and Denji loves bad guys because no one gives him any shit when he carves them up. Cackling manically, he leaps at Katana as the OP kicks in. Or kicks back, if you prefer.
Snake lady identifies herself as Sawatari. The fight begins in earnest, with Katana and Denji both clattering their respective weapons against each other and despite Katana having a long range attack in the form of shockwaves, neither of them have the upper hand. Two rando scrubs with handguns pop in to try and even the odds but Denji swiftly neutralises them with a sweet jumping knee for one and an elbow drop to the head for the other, then takes him hostage. This tactic doesn’t work though; Katana reuses his teleportation strike from earlier to cleanly slice Denji and the gangoon in half. Just in time, too; Katana’s taken so much punishment that his powers deactivate, his head gear sloughing off in the same way Denji’s does. Meanwhile, everyone targeted by an assassin last episode is dead, including Arai but seemingly not Kobeni, who is nowhere to be seen. As the guys on the train prepare to move out they’re taken by surprise by a Makima; very much alive and back on her feet. They pull a gun but it abruptly cuts to black, clearly implying that that’s not going to be enough against whatever the hell Makima is. Two new public safety devil hunters; Tendo and Kurose wait on a train platform in Kyoto and are informed that Divisions 1 to 4 have been killed. They’re briefly bummed out by the news until screaming civilians flee the train and a calm, stoic Makima arrives and informs them of the shooting. She claims despite what we saw that she wasn’t shot and that the blood isn’t hers. Either way, her attackers are all dead, with a large hole punched through each one. Makima has a plan to help Denji from Kyoto, one that involves thirty convicts with life sentences or worse, and a nearby temple with a high altitude. The convicts are fed at least, so that’s something. Probably won’t offset whatever’s coming but hey. We also get a beautifully animated scene of Makima tucking in her shirt and putting on a necktie; yet another example of this series making the mundane look fantastic. Back in Tokyo, the goons have nearly got Denji in the car, but one of them feels off. Something’s weird, something he can’t quite-HOLY SHIT HE EXPLODED. He starts rapidly crushing inwards from the head down then explodes in a geyser of blood. Sawatari knows this is Makima but it’s too late; the leader of another, complimentary team explodes in the same way. This is Makima’s plan: using the convicts amassed at the temple as fuel for some manner of attack that makes people explode. The convicts, as well as Tendo and Kurose are forced to wear blindfolds, such is the secret nature of the devils Makima is contracted with. Whatever it is, it’s a level above what everyone else is using. Every remaining goon Katana and Sawatari flee, and they all explode in a shower of blood. The work is done, all convicts are dead, and with a smile that can’t offset her eerie, uncanny face Makima states that this is all she can do from here, and that she needs to get back to Tokyo. Katana and Sawatari move to get the hell out of there while they can, but something stops them in their tracks: Kobeni. She survived her would-be assassination and here she is, knife in hand. Sawatari sends the snake devil’s tail at her and without breaking a sweat Kobeni flips onto it, running along it and dodging bullets with a hitherto unseen agility. In one fluid movement she flips over Katana, slices his arm off and lands on the ground, then shoots him behind her back and grabs Denji’s body to use as cover. She calmly aims the handgun and empties the magazine, but despite her best efforts doesn’t tag either attacker. All of this is happening with a sort of glum expression on her face that belies the dextrous violence she’s enacting, and the dangerous situation she’s in. When Himeno said Kobeni has the moves, she meant it. This girl is stone cold when she has to be. Alone with Denji, Kobeni apologises for trying to kill him back in the hotel, and starts cry-laughing at the absurdity of the situation, which becomes just crying as she recalls swiftly dealing with her would-be assassin by turning her own gun on her after she killed Arai. She blames herself for his death, and decides she’s going to have to tell Himeno she quits before this job drives her mad. That evening, a man named Madoka debriefs Makima: most of divisions 1-4 are dead, and due to a personnel shortage, the first three are being folded into the fourth. Makima is now in charge of Divison 4. Also Madoka quits, because this shit is clearly bad news. As Makima starts to leave Madoka asks her how much of today’s events she anticipated, and she uses the fact that he’s now a civilian to avoid telling him.
I’ve read the manga and I completely forgot about that Kobeni scene. I love the contrast between the character we’re introduced to; a timid, scared young woman forced into the job by her shitheel parents and a side of that same character that causes serious trouble for two opponents who decimated Aki, Denji and the ghost devil. I love her expression during the action, too; that glum, slightly put-out frown that’s also focused and sharp. Speaking of expressions; Makima’s cold, blank stare really compliments the reveal that of her power. Of course for all her sweet moments with Denji, her first meeting with him did see her offer him the choice between being her pet and being murdered. I don’t think this is that Makima, or the one Denji fell in love with, this is the real her; an intense being with access to extreme power, whose smile can’t distract from how weird and unnatural she seems. The music in the temple scene really sells the chaos and confusion felt by the goons, and how powerful Makima is. A thumping beat and eerie tones compliment a cold, unblinking Makima wreaking havoc on foes she so thoroughly outmatches. It reminded me of the music that plays when the T-800 closes in on Sarah Connor in Technoir. This is just a taste of what she can do, and it outclasses everyone else seen so far. Elsewhere the brief fight between Denji and katana was cool, Tendo’s really cute (as in she’s attractive) and I like that unease at the end of the episode, as the question is raised about Makima’s true motives and how much she knew about what happened. The contrast between Denji and Power’s character action game-style fights with monsters and the cold, sinister intrigue and emotional heft of the plot happening around them that they don’t care about is interesting, and handled really well. Good stuff.
Episode 10: Bruised and Battered
We open on Aki in a beautifully animated hospital, recovering from getting sliced up by Katana. Denji and Power are there, reading a manga together peacefully until Power loudly and angrily tries to take Denji’s apple, countering his “You ran, so no apples for you” statement with a well thought out like: “I simply became hungry and went home”. Good stuff, Power. They bicker and wrestle a little until Aki asks if anyone from Division 4 survived. Their answer clearly cuts him deep: only Kobeni and that dude with the glasses survived, and he quit. Makima wants to talk to Denji and “Powy” as he cutely calls her now, so they’re off. But they’ll leave Aki one of the apples someone brought him, so that’s nice. They won’t, however, pick up the stools they knocked over, or take their manga with them. Aki picks up the curse devil sword from the floor and inquires about his remaining life span: “Two years”. He tries to light a smoke, but it reminds him of Himeno and he breaks down in tears. Denji, who did come back to reclaim his dropped manga, can hear him from outside the door, and although he has an awkward look on his face, can understand why Aki is upset, having “Lost a bunch of his work buddies” and his partner, Himeno. Speaking of, Denji has a flashback to his brief personal time with Himeno, with whom he very recently became friends, and realises to his surprise that he hasn’t been crying at all. He was sad when Pochita died, but Himeno was the first person who ever wanted to be his friend, and he isn’t sad about her death. He wonders if he’s a shitty person; would he cry if Power died? He doubts it. Aki? Probably not. Makima? Well he’d certainly be down about it, but after three days he’d be back to enjoying stuff. He worries he doesn’t have a heart, but decides to just not worry about it, lest he be a buzzkill. As they leave, Tendo and Kurose enter Aki’s room.
Makima wanted to meet Denji and Power to inform them that they’ll be training to counteract the glut of devils seeking out Denji specifically. Their trainer will be Kishibe, who asks them three questions: how did they feel about their comrades dying? (Denji: “Okay I guess” Power: “I thought ‘They’ve died!'”), you want revenge? (Denji: “Nah, that shit’s depressing.” Power: “Verily.”) and finally humans or devils, which side are you on? (This one gives them pause, but they answer. Denji: “Whichever one will take care of me.” Power: “Whichever one is winning.”) These answers get them full points; they’re a rare breed, and Kishibe loves it. Power is, understandably, frightened. Kishibe introduces himself as a devil hunter from special division 1, who loves drinking, women and killing devils. He loves it when people call him sensei, so Denji and Power are to do that…right after they recover from Kishibe breaking their necks while pretending to hug them. He does so to showcase a point: biologically they’re the same as humans, so breaking their necks will mess them right up, but giving them a bit of blood afterwards will fix them again. His plan is simple: he’s the strongest devil hunter, so any devil who can beat him is automatically the strongest devil. He’s going to kick the shit out of Power and Denji until one day they can finally beat him, and training starts now. They attack with blood hammers made by Power, but Kishibe easily beats them; he’s strong, lightning fast and focused; he stabs and slashes them to near-death no problem. He used to break his toys when he was young because he was too strong; he’s always wanted toys that can take a beating, and he’s going to turn these two toys into the baddest of badasses.
Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Aki can’t summon the fox devil anymore, because she’s mad about what he made her eat last time. Tendo suggests he just pack it up. She shifts gears and, along with Kurose, tells him that if he’s going to stay on board and contribute, he’ll need to make heavy sacrifices and forge a contract with a new, stronger demon. He’s determined as ever, still spurred on by revenge. They leave for now, and a mystery woman arrives to see Aki, much to his shock. Kishibe’s been “training” Denji and Power all day, and leaves after promising to stop by their place tomorrow. All Denji can do is lie on the floor and wail about wanting water, which freaks out Power so she rushes over and starts pounding on his face in an effort to make him snap out of it and heal. It works; she should use those healing fists more often. Depressed and existentially harrowed about being repeatedly killed too many times to count, Denji and Power hoof it back home, but stop when Denji suddenly gets fired up and angry about being treated as a toy. Power has an idea, bless her heart: Kishibe is always drunk, so all they need to do is outsmart him! Best him in a battle of wits! Crush him with their combined intellectual might! They really believe they can do it, too, it’s adorable. I’ve been looking forward to this scene. I love these sweet idiots. Commence operation super smart: donning glasses, because of course, and taking off their shoes for stealth purposes, they launch a two-pronged ambush on Kishibe, with Power launching blood spears at him and Denji dropping down from above to melee him with an axe. It’s their best effort yet according to Kishibe, but that doesn’t stop him destroying all the spears and then incapacitating Denji with a single, brutal kick. Still, because they did so well they’ll call it a day, and he’ll even give them some feedback: using so much blood takes Power out of the game; he didn’t even need to attack her, and Denji didn’t see his attack coming. He leaves, but then suddenly hurls a knife right into Denji’s forehead. Beasts should never trust the words of the hunter. Aki, Tendo and Kurose descend into a vault filled with devils that public security have captured alive, and Aki reveals that the lady from the hospital was Himeno’s sister, who gave him a letter. In it, she laments to her sister that she wanted to quit public safety and take Aki with her, but it didn’t pan out and obviously given the current circumstances, it never will. They arrive at cell 108 and Kurose informs Aki that he’ll be contracting with the Future Devil. Two people in public safety have a deal with them already, and they had to give up half their life span and their eyes, sense of taste and smell respectively. No pressure, eh? The episode ends with Aki entering the cell and being greeted with an eye staring at him from the darkness.
First off, I love Kishibe as this perpetually drunk, unbeatable killing machine. As I said, I’ve been looking forward to Denji and Power trying to outsmart him; there’s a brief shot in the OP of Power with the glasses on and her hair tied back and I made it my profile picture on social media as soon as I saw it (well, after I wrote about episode 1). It makes sense to train them in such a harsh way given how most of the fights have gone so far. I like the idea of Aki potentially having to make an even greater sacrifice to keep pursuing his revenge, I like that Tendo and Kurose are sticking around because Tendo’s really cute, and I’m intrigued by Denji’s consideration of whether he has a heart or not, taking the time to self-reflect after what’s happened. I like when the story reminds you that Denji does have depth, he isn’t just about food, boobs and killing devils. Good stuff. Episode 11: Mission Start
The Future Devil reveals itself; it kind of looks like those norse looking dudes and dudettes in the underground river areas of Elden Ring, but with no face, helmet with six closed eyes on it and the eye seen previously slotted in a big gash in their torso. “The future rules!” they repeatedly exclaim, while dancing and trying to get Aki to join in. He refuses, which takes the winds out of Future’s sails. Aki sticks his head in the gash so Future can see what lies ahead for him and how best to make a deal, and comes up with an ominous deal: they get to live in Aki’s right eye, so Aki can use their powers. That’s it? That doesn’t seem like much. Well, Future is giving such a bargain because they’ve seen Aki’s death in the future, and it’s going to “Fucking rule”. Christ. They offer to tell Aki about it but he isn’t interested; he doesn’t care how he dies as long as he gets to kill his targets. Meanwhile, Denji and Power’s training has progressed to the point where they no longer have to do it every day; once a week is sufficient. Tomorrow will be the real deal: the all-new division 4 is going to take down Katana and Sawatari. Before that however, Kishibe’s got a meeting with Makima. He’s frustrated because despite them being “Toys” he’s grown attached to his two new trainees. Getting soft in his old age. Down to business: Kishibe wants to know if Makima anticipated the attack the other day. He doesn’t care what she has planned, or how many hunters she gets killed, as long as she’s serving humanity’s interests. ONLY in that case. She spins a line about only wanting to help save people from devils, and how succeeding tomorrow will give division 4 greater freedom to do just that. Kishibe calls her a liar, and she smiles.
The next day Katana and Sawatari are holed up in an office with a gang of armed goons, and a horde of zombies below them as a secret weapon. Kurose and Tendo are leaving soon, but they give Aki a lift to work, and Kurose derisively compares Aki to a manga character; someone with an impossible goal who’s clearly not strong enough to succeed. They have beef with the gun devil too, but they know they have no chance against it. Aki doesn’t care; he couldn’t carry on any other way. He may irritate Kurose, but Kurose’s still rooting for him. Makima’s out of town meeting with a yakuza boss, who informs her that the attack was nothing to do with him; Sawatari has been roping some of the younger guys into her scheme; give the gun devil twenty grand in exchange for guns and ammo. What the gun devil wants with money, I don’t know. The boss will comply with Makima’s request for the names of those in bed with Gun, but won’t extend that to people from other families, lest it lead to war. The yakuza are a necessary evil, see? They get up to some bad business, but they’re better than the Chinese and Soviet mobs, who would undoubtedly swoop in were the Japanese to crumble. Makima has something that might change his mind; a bag of eyes taken from the friends, family and partners of everyone in the room. They can be safely returned, but only in exchange for the boss’ cooperation. A goon goes to sock Makima but is stopped in his tracks by her withering stare and his nose starts to bleed. Makima shoots down the boss’ “Necessary evil” notion and insists that for it to truly be the case, said evil must be controlled by the state. Division 4 arrive at Katana’s location: Kishibe is his usual stoic self, Kobeni wants to go home and Denji and Power are all fired up and ready to get to work. Aki asks what the plan is, and Kishibe informs him there is no plan: the whole division’s going in. While that’s happening, Kishibe informs the local police and public safety division 2 of their role in this: be prepared to take on members of division 4 if they slip the leash and go on a rampage. He describes the new members as they set about dealing with all the zombies: there’s the Shark Fiend, who can swim in any surface and transform his head into a much larger, stronger version with a mouth full of teeth. The Violence Fiend; a hand-to-hand beast who’s so strong (makes sense given what he’s the devil of) he has to wear a mask that pumps poison gas in if he turns heel. The Spider Devil, a worried looking young woman with a line down the centre of her face who can switch her regular legs into a mass of huge, sharp spider legs for stomping, jumping and slashing. Finally there’s the Angel Devil, a gorgeous young man who drains people’s life force by touching them, but doesn’t have any real enmity towards humans. He casually picks up a dead zombie head and takes a bite, then walks off cradling it in one arm. Aki’s cleaning up with a new katana (not the nail he summons Curse with), but stops to give Angel a handkerchief when asked; the material breaks the physical contact and stops the life force drain from happening. It’s unclear at this point how Angel attacks, but he does stop bullets with one of his wings. He’s not interested in a attacking anyway; when Aki gives him an order he’s aghast in a calm, monotonous way, but says that he’ll take it over fighting. The new lot are to stay down here and deal with the zombies while Aki, Denji and Power split up and search for their targets. A goon tries to shoot Aki from behind but he dodges it (presumably with the help of the future devil) and takes him out with a big uppercut. Four more appear from the front, only for their noses to start bleeding and they collapse: Makima’s taken them out from afar, having got their names from the boss she went to see. Aki confronts Sawatari, who has Snake spit out the Ghost Devil, to Aki’s shock. Her nose starts to bleed but she shrugs it off and orders Ghost to attack Aki, apparently in control of them. Using Future’s power Aki manages to hold his own for a spell; dodging and slashing at Ghost’s arms. Unfortunately it only lets Aki see a brief way into the future, and whatever he sees, he has to deal with it on his own. It’s kind of like in JoJo when Doppio has to fight Risotto Nero with epitaph but not time skip. The episode ends with the ghost devil grabbing Aki and starting to strangle him to death, the last shot being of his right eye as if to ask “Is this the death Future foresaw?”
So Aki’s going to die; the future devil has seen it. But when, and how? We’ll have to wait and see. I like that extra layer of threat, and coupled with the sheer scope of his seemingly impossible goal to show just how dead inside Aki is; his vengeance is all he has; it’s who he is. Even if he gave up the fight he’d only have two years to live after his interactions with Curse, so he might as well go all-in. I love the new fiends and devils, and I definitely fancy Angel. Interesting that the angel people are scared of is a cold, emotionless humanoid and not one of the ones that’s made of eyeballs and flaming rings. You know, the ones that open every conversation with a human with “BE NOT AFRAID” because they’re terrifying. Violence is cool, I like the idea of him being boiled down into one of the most basic, primal forms of violence in hand-to-hand combat. I’d be interested to see what the Violence Devil is like. Makima continues to be ruthless, cold blooded and creepy; I like that all these things she does happen far away from Denji, and indeed every other main character. It’s a different side to her, but is it her true side? Intriguing. Episode 12 (Season Finale): Katana vs Chainsaw
Just realised that the previous episode was called “Mission Start” and I didn’t make a Metal Slug joke. How embarrassing. Anyway Aki’s being strangled by the ghost devil, and has a flashback to when Himeno gave him his first smoke. This time we see the full scene play out: Aki revealed he was underage, so Himeno took it back and promised to give it back when he was older. Suddenly he’s free from the ghost’s grip, back on the floor, and Ghost gives him that same cigarette, which now has “Easy revenge!” written on it. The sudden cease in attack is explained by Aki: as Himeno once explained to him, the ghost devil sees via fear, because its eyes are sewn shut. Now Aki is no longer afraid he leisurely scales the devil and slices its head off in one clean motion, promising Himeno he’ll be with her soon. He’s no longer afraid because he accepts his imminent death, however and whenever it comes. A shaken Sawatari tries to summon the snake devil, but it’s too late; Kobeni has suddenly appeared behind her and has her at knife point. Aki asks why Kobeni stayed with public safety, which is a pertinent question. Bonuses are coming up soon. Poor, sweet Kobeni. We’re onto another bit I’ve really been looking forward to, though I forgot at what point it happened. Denji and Power are arguing in a lift about the latter eating zombie flesh, not because it’s gross or any kind of moral ramification but because Denji is worried Power will eat Katana when they find him. The doors open to reveal a horde of zombies, and Denji’s plan is to stay quiet so they go unnoticed. Power, being Power, loudly introduces herself then rushes out to fight them, entrusting her back to Denji; she hasn’t fled, she is beautiful, she is proud. Denji must bear witness to this and tell the tale: POWER IS THE GREATEST OF ALL! …Denji just stayed in the lift and let it resume taking him further up. He makes it to Katana, who is willing to turn himself in if Denji atones for killing his dickhead grandad. Denji points out he was a zambambo, which Katana initially insists is a lie but then quickly shifts gears and asks if Denji really doesn’t feel bad about killing zombies that used to be people. He doesn’t. Calling back to his previous concerns about his potential lack of heart, Katana states that even though his heart was replaced with the katana devil, even he feels bad when he accidentally kills a zambambo. Clearly Denji’s just a heartless monster, and if he has any conscience left, he’ll just lay down and die. Denji does consider this for a moment, then gives a cheery “Nah” and the fight is on: ROUND 2. Denji’s training has clearly paid off; he holds his own, though Katana is swift and powerful enough to knock him off a roof and onto a moving train. It’s a fierce battle with the two trading blows and clanging their weapons off each other, that moves inside the train when Katana disappears then attacks from above. Despite his clear strength he’s unable to land a meaningful blow until Denji tries to protect a woman who didn’t flee fast enough and loses an arm in the process. Katana gears up to use his super flash step slash move dealie, which Denji asks if they can ban to no avail, as it claims his other arm. Things are looking bad for Denji, but he still has his head chainsaw…no wait, that’s gone now too. But wait, he levelled up enough to unlock leg chainsaws! He split Katana clean down the middle, good show. A little while later, he’s back together and in his human form again, with his hands bound by one of Denji’s chains; another new skill our hero has. Denji isn’t satisfied with the idea of Katana spending the rest of his life in prison given that he was responsible for Himeno’s death and made the world one hot chick weaker; he needs something more. He and the newly arrived Aki will have a contest: they each taking turns kicking Katana in the bollocks, and whoever makes him scream the loudest is the winner. Aki is against it; it’s not what their job is, and Himeno wouldn’t want this. But then he pulls out the “Easy revenge!” cigarette and his path is clear: those knackers are toast. In Aki’s words, his screams are a requiem for Himeno. He hopes she can hear it up in heaven.
The whole ordeal over, Makima debriefs a superior: Sawatari was a private devil hunter with a contract with the gun devil, and was tasked with stealing Denji’s heart. Unfortunately they can’t find out why, because she’s dead; the snake devil took her head off while she was in custody. It may have been suicide; Makima suspects that it was part of the terms of her contract with the gun devil. Either way, that’s a dead end. Kobeni was with her when she died, because she can’t catch a break. They recovered 1.4KG of gun devil flesh from that building, which combined with the 5KG they already had means the piece is finally moving towards the main body. The credits role and instead of an ED we get a lovely montage of Aki, Denji and Power on their day off; wandering around town, playing in a little playground, visiting a shrine, shopping and then eating a meal together. After all they’ve been through, it’s nice to see them just having a good time, enjoying each other’s company. Aki’s softened on them both, Denji and Power are close, and Power is fitting in as a member of this little found family; presumably flushing her shite on a regular basis. With the other two asleep, Aki goes out on the balcony and smokes the revenge cigarette, having got some manner of closure for his mentor’s death. Denji has the same dream from the very start of the series: dingy alleys leading to an ominous looking door. Pochita tells him not to open it as a horrible blaring tone fills the soundtrack. I’ve read the manga, Denji. You don’t want to open that door. The season ends with an unseen girl asking Denji which he would rather be: the country mouse, or the city mouse, setting up the next season.
First off, I can’t wait for that; that girl and her presence in the story are both awesome. That dream Denji has at the end is ominous and genuinely unpleasant in a good way, and it’s only a minute long. As for the episode itself, it was a good one, and a good finale: showing Denji’s training coming to a head, a seeming comfort with who he is and no longer fretting over whether he’s heartless or not, and bonding with Aki over hoofing Katana in the knackers. Speaking of Aki, after he descended further into apathy and despair due to his own situation and the death of Himeno, it’s nice to see him claw back some happiness in the end, and some closure. That shot in the montage where Denji and Power are putting a load of things in the trolley and, upon seeing them he gives a little smile to himself was great. The short but sweet fight between Denji and Katana was great, that scene where Power fights all the zombies was fantastic and lived up to my expectations. Looking forward to a potential second season.
In Conclusion:
Excellent adaptation of Chainsaw Man. Everything looked great, in particular whenever it spent a load of effort and budget animating quite mundane things, like that montage of Aki’s morning routine back in episode 4; that looked better than some entire seasons of anime I’ve seen. Denji’s chainsaw blades in motion always stuck out as particularly good to me, but everything looked and sounded absolutely quality. As for Chainsaw Man as a story divorced from the quality of this adaptation, it’s nice to relive it with the hindsight of knowing where all these characters end up. I know what’s behind that door, I know what the future devil saw, I know what’s going on with Makima’s powers, I know what the gun devil looks like, and I know why Denji’s heart is so important. It’s a fantastic manga with great characters, filled to the brim with cool ideas that it rattles through at breakneck pace, and it’s a treat to see that animated and voice acted. This anime absolutely lived up to my expectations, and I can’t wait for a potential second season. I want to see those astronauts. If you know, you know.
For multiple reasons, I haven’t played Cyberpunk 2077, and it’s unlikely I ever will. However, Netflix’s original anime based on it and animated by Trigger caught my eye. Well, more accurately the character of Rebecca did, and my interest was strengthened by Geoff Thew’s video detailing the show’s likable characters, extreme violence and staunch anti-capitalist message, so I decided to give it a look.
The show is centred on David Martinez, a street kid attending a posh rich kid school where he sticks out like a sore thumb, but continues to attend because it’s his mum’s dream to see him do well and one day climb the corporate ladder. Unfortunately said mum, whose name is Gloria, is caught in the crossfire of a drive-by, and due to her financial status is left behind by the swift response Trauma Team units, can’t be visited by David while she’s in hospital, and despite being stable after her surgery, dies soon after (it’s implied she didn’t pay enough money to be saved). At least David can have her cremated and take her ashes home…via a fucking vending machine. Gloria got her hands on a military-grade augmentation called a sandevistan before she died and, unable to sell it, David has it implanted into his body so he can deal with an almost cartoonishly evil bully, which draws the attention of a captivating young woman and, unfortunately, a gang of charismatic criminal “Cyberpunks”. See, the sandevistan vastly improves his reflexes so he moves at super speed, and the leader of said Cyberpunks, a.k.a Edgerunners, was its intended recipient, but he was friends with Gloria, so agrees to take David under his wing as a mercenary, their client being a corporate fixer using them to climb the corporate ladder. I won’t go into more story details for spoiler reasons, but I can discuss the themes. David is a heroic, kind young man living in a city where such traits will get him nowhere, and while his chosen career path and new found friends are noble and caring respectively, he has two main things to worry about: firstly, he does live in a capitalist hellscape, and forces beyond his control view him as little more than a guinea pig for advanced technology, and a chess piece in some bullshit corporate war he has no real stake in. He’s not a person to them, just a product, with his humanity in both the physical and metaphorical sense being something pesky to be stripped away. Secondly, there’s the risk of cyber psychosis: those who augment their bodies with machinery risk losing their minds and becoming mindless killing machines, something repeated use of the sandevistan, and later his other cyberware, threatens to enact upon David, even if he does have an unusually high tolerance.
The characters are indeed likable; the gang of Edgerunners who take David in consist of a gruff, smooth, giant of a leader called Maine, his equally huge and tough girlfriend Dorio, eccentric, long armed techie Pilar, cool, aloof hacker Kiwi and occasional muscle in the form of the aforementioned Rebecca, who’s tiny, quick to violence and a dedicated, caring friend to David. She’s the best, I love her. There’s also Lucy, the one who draws David in, who’s a skilled hacker with dreams of escaping the hellish city to the moon. They’re all solid folks in a city that hates them, drawn to further augment their bodies with machinery to get an edge on those who would stop them, at risk of losing themselves and becoming mindless killing machines. Their only other alternative is living the life David and Gloria lived; poor and downtrodden in a capitalist nightmare. Its status as a limited, ten episode series makes the shift a gut punch rather than a slow decline; there’s an air of dread over it all, but it lures you into a false sense of security with its joyous found family story, then hits you over the head with a brick and sows seeds that quickly bare bitter fruit. It’s grim and depressing, but in a way that fits the tone of the world and story.
Trigger didn’t skimp on the animation by any means; it all looks fantastic, in particular whenever David uses the sandevistan. Its use is marked with a series of afterimages as David basically acts like he’s stopped time; he moves so fast he might as well have. The characters are all striking, visually interesting and distinct, and the city shows off the idea that for all the advances in technology, the people on ground level don’t see much of a benefit. Sometimes it’s really bloody and over the top, as if to reinforce the disconnect from humanity afforded to characters by their mechanical augmentations and their killing ability, but it also has more reserved, realistic violence to suit a darker tone when needed. At times it’s a fun action anime, and at times it’s a grim, nihilistic portrayal of inescapable violence at the hands of an intangible, unbeatable foe, and it does both equally well.
I was surprised just how much Cyberpunk: Edgeunners affected me. It sets up its themes early and has them pay off brutally, at times when you’re hoping things will go well. It’s a story of likable rogues trying to make their way in a capitalist dystopia, with the powers that be and the technology they use to gain some ground on said capitalists conspiring to tear them apart. It’s a story of love, heroism and the forsaking of humanity, both by choice, and having others conspire to throw it away for you. It’s grim, depressing, funny, violent, and enthralling. I welled up more than once, and now I’m even less inclined to play the game, because I’m certain it won’t be as good as this.
The Reviewing Floor 