It’s crazy how we are already at the end of this season with Chainsaw Man Episode 12, and it barely feels like we have lifted off the ground in this long-haul flight. Let’s see how the showrunners saw fit to end this in this review!
Chainsaw Man Episode 12 Overview
Chainsaw Man is an action, adventure, and supernatural anime put on our screen by Studio MAPPA, a hugely popular studio behind some of the other extremely popular shonen properties right now, such as Attack on Titan and Jujutsu Kaisen. The series is based on a manga of the same name written by Tatsuki Fujimoto. Click here to read the review of the previous episode!
The show is being directed by Tatsuya Ishihara, who has been a part of the productions of Black Clover and Monster Musume. The series was first serialised on Jump+, an online counterpart to the hugely popular Shonen Jump magazine. The manga has sold over thirteen million copies in less than four years of circulation.
–Chainsaw Man Episode 12 Review does not contain spoilers –
Chainsaw Man Episode 12 Review- Is That It?
Oh boy, that really was it. That was all this season if Chainsaw Man was ever going to be, and apparently, the plan for always was, “Let’s wing it; we’ll end it wherever Episode 12 finishes”. Calling this episode anti-climactic would simultaneously perfectly describe it and be an understatement. In a time when all of its other seasonal peers are giving out fantastic endings that round things out, like Bleach and Mob Psycho 100, this episode went over like a wet noodle. I’m sure some people still liked it, but I’m not one of those people.
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We left the previous episode with Aki facing down the Devil responsible for the death of his senior. You would be wrong if you think that the show gave him epic revenge or something close to that. Chainsaw Man Episode 12 was supposed to be the climactic battle between the worshippers of the Gun Devil against Squad 4. Still, everything that happened in this episode had already been done better in this very show throughout its runtime. Thus, we just saw the show do its schtick in a manner that was not fresh or exciting.
A single thread throughout this episode tied it up quite nicely: the death of Himeno, bearing heavily on Aki and Denji’s souls. She has been the only real loss in the show thus far, and despite only knowing her for a little over two episodes, moments like this give more weight to the impact that she made in these characters’ lives. She wasn’t just a character who was killed off; she was Himeno, someone who was Aki’s senior and Denji’s friend, and who died trying to protect and extend Aki’s life. Even if you didn’t care about her when she was alive, you come to appreciate that Aki and Denji did.
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The Chainsaw Man vs Katana Man showdown was very well animated, but it was nothing beyond that. It rehashed almost the same moves as when these guys fought the last time until the end, which made a change to the overall outcome. The soundtrack to this fight, and throughout this entire episode, was phenomenal and the one consistent aspect of this show in the short time that it had in the sun. After a short and sweet revenge, the episode was over, and with it was the entire season. That was it. We just finished the first season of Chainsaw Man.
The show was never going to live up to the insane hype before it even got going, but it could at least try its hardest to be likeable and stand out among the crowd. I don’t believe that the show ended up accomplishing either of those things, and its next run is going to generate much less hype because of this. Chainsaw Man Episode 12 wasn’t a bad episode, and this wasn’t a bad show, but it had way too many faults to be a great one. It is time to say goodbye to the show with a little pat on the back and words of encouragement like “you gave it your best shot, bud”.
Verdict
Chainsaw Man Episode 12 was an underwhelming finale to an underachieving show. It tried its best to stand out and featured some great moments, but they were few and far between to make much of an impact.
Lol garbage review is garbage
Very helpful comment, thanks for leaving it!
All people said this will be next aot lol. In the end it was just a worse jjk with decent cgi. 7/10 cour
This show is better than everything you love and hold dear.
I thought it was apeefect eseason finale to a perfect (for me) show, but to each their own I suppose. Super excited for season 2