Let’s Watch is a weekly recap column where I follow an anime for the course of its entire runtime. Expect spoilers!
I didn’t point it out at the time, but last week, Denji’s then-boss described our hero thus; “the good thing about Denji is that he does what he’s told.”
Today, in the first part of its second episode, that point orbits around several times. With Makima, Denji has effectively traded one master he must unconditionally obey for another. One could argue it’s a slight upgrade, since, as we’ll see, Makima treats him materially much better than the old yakuza boss who ordered him around before this point, but his life still isn’t really his own.
He knows this, on some level. A very early scene here sees Makima describe Denji as her dog. This little smidgen of animal symbolism is probably Chainsaw Man‘s single most well-known thematic motif. Dogs, after all, generally do what they’re told as long as you take care of their needs. Denji is briefly angry about being treated like one, but upon Makima promising him a hot meal of whatever he likes, and offering him her coat to wear so he’s not walking around shirtless, his disaffection mostly evaporates. A few scenes later, and he is almost literally eating out of the palm of Makima’s hand.
It’s important to remember that Denji isn’t unique here. Most people will put up with a lot as long as their material needs are being met. Even given the line of work he’s being asked to take up, it is hard to imagine that many people, in his situation, would not do the same. (Some of you will say something like “RIP to him but I’m different” to that statement. We’ll get back to you as the show goes on.)
Not just an everyman, it’s important to remember that Denji is, too, a hormonal teenager. In addition to the obvious food and clothing benefits, Denji goes along with what happens here in part because he thinks Makima is hot. (Hot tip for the younger people who read my blog; you will never get with your boss.) Of course, Makima isn’t even remotely above picking up on and playing to that desire anyway, and it’s pretty obvious that she’s doing so.
Chainsaw Man is very good at subtle facial expressions as silent conveyors of intent. If you’ve already seen this episode and want to look for something neat on a rewatch, I would recommend going back through those early scenes and keeping an eye on Makima’s face specifically. She’s actually quite expressive and there are multiple points where you can almost see the gears turning in her head over various things.
In any case, as much as this episode is about Makima and Denji’s newfound working relationship, Denji doesn’t actually work directly under her. Instead, he’s assigned to one of Public Safety’s many devil hunting units. Specifically, an “experimental” one, lead by a ponytailed chain-smoker named Aki (Shougo Sakata).
King of Spades
Aki’s real introduction is one of the early manga’s most memorably goofy scenes, and for perhaps the first time, Chainsaw Man the anime actually sharpens the bent for crass humor in the original, rather than backing away from it.
The result? Well, Aki takes Denji for a walk, briefly interrogating his motives. What he gets out of this conversation is that Denji is basically only in this line of work to get with Makima. That’s not good enough for Aki, so he takes Denji to an anonymous back alley and slugs him across the face, expecting the ass-kicking to teach the punk a lesson. To hear him tell it, this is his version of kindness; he’s seen people die from getting into the business for weak reasons, and as much as he doesn’t really seem to like Denji, he doesn’t want that to happen to him.
Denji responds to this particularly physical brand of thoughtful consideration by kneeing Aki in the nuts.
Repeatedly.
While a “ding!” sound effect plays every time it happens.
Immature as hell? Yes. Extremely funny? Also yes. Chainsaw Man is rarely afraid to get a little juvenile in order to take the edge off things. Probably a good call, all things considered.
Soon after this, Makima compliments Aki and Denji on “hitting it off” upon hearing what happened (a very dry sense of humor on that one), and then, in the same breath, makes it very clear to Denji that if he is ever no longer useful to Public Safety for any reason, he’ll be killed.
Your last first day.
Denji and Aki’s first mission together, to exterminate a Fiend—a devil possessing a corpse—goes awkwardly. Denji’s able to dispatch the thing very easily, with a single swing of a Public Safety-provided hatchet, but Aki is annoyed at Denji for not using his devil powers, thinking of it as evidence that the younger hunter isn’t taking things seriously. Aki, it’s established, lost his life to a devil attack. So it is pretty understandable that he’d be miffed by Denji seemingly treating the entire thing as a game.
None of that really gets through to Denji though, who begins instead thinking very hard about boobs again.
He’s such a gentleman.
In fact, his entire sequence here plays as a stone-faced parody of the usual shonen-protagonist-hyping-themselves-up internal monologue, albeit an affectionate one. Indeed, in episode two of his series, Denji has truly found his noble calling, the righteous cause he must fight for.
This is, of course, supposed to be silly. But it’s worth again remembering that when you’re this age, one does think of trivial things like “scoring” with a girl (as CR’s subtitles so lovingly render it) as matters of life and death.
In any case, even with this particular goalpost set, Denji’s life gets more complicated one more time in the final few minutes of this episode, when a different girl walks into his life. Introduced by Makima as his “partner” within Aki’s unit.
You probably already know her, but if you don’t, I kind of envy you.
Because getting to meet Power for the first time is fun as hell.
Queen of Clubs
Yes, that wonderful idiot. A fiend, not unlike the man in the apartment that Denji just killed, but one who is—after a fashion—able to be reasoned with, but that doesn’t really make her rational. She’s introduced with a galumphing, ludicrous carnival music backdrop in the soundtrack, and there’s a reason for that.
Ai Farouz, her voice actor, stands out amongst Chainsaw Man’s cast by being a comparative veteran. She hasn’t been in the industry for terribly long—her first role of note was only in 2017—but she’s had a number of prominent roles. (Notable to me personally, she was Cure Summer in Tropical Rouge! Precure last year.) She plays Power perfectly, swinging from a low growl to a smug mid-range conversational tone, to a whooping screech when Power’s really excited. All of CSM’s VAs have been great so far, but Farouz might take first place. Perhaps it’s a case of limited reference pools here, but she really does play the character like a demonic Cure Summer. It works astoundingly well.
Certainly, Power herself steals what remains of the show from the second she appears. We get a small bit of exposition during her and Denji’s first patrol together (and also more of his leering thoughts about titties), but much more important is her catching the scent of devil blood on the wind and sprinting full-force towards the devil in question, fast enough that Denji can’t actually keep up. She literally hammers the target—the Sea Cucumber Devil—to pieces with a massive mallet made out of her own blood. The BGM erupts in an explosion of pulsating techno thump, and as she smashes the thing to smithereens, she positively howls in triumph. On that note, the episode ends.
And normally I’d cut the article here, but I do also want to take a moment to point out that one of my favorite bands, ZUTOMAYO, did the ED for this episode. It’s cool to see them finally getting exposure via an anime.
Until next time, anime fans.
(I haven’t said that in a while, have I? Well, there you go, a nice return to form.)
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