It is a battle between the best and two dumbasses. It is not hard to see who is going to come out on top, but Chainsaw Man Episode 11 manages to make it fun anyways. Let’s see how it went in this review!
Chainsaw Man Episode 11 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 11 Review does not contain spoilers –
Chainsaw Man Episode 11 Review- The Future Is Awesome
I adore how unique and quirky Chainsaw Man tries to be, even though it does not always succeed. In a time full of more shonen battles than you know what to do with, I am glad that there exists a show such as this which is not afraid to delve into other elements of storytelling as well. The show is nothing if not unique, which it showcases in almost every episode that it puts out. In what other show, pray tell, are you going to get someone puking inside someone else’s mouth in one episode and that same character dying a horrible death in the next?
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We saw the show establish two different and highly intriguing plotlines in the previous episodes, one featuring Denji and Power going up against Kishibe in order to improve their fighting skills and the other involving Aki and the “Future Devil”. Strangely enough, both of these were over by the time the second half of the episode began, which isn’t what you would expect in traditional storytelling. In any different show, I would expect just the battle of words between Aki and the Devil to last almost the full episode, far from what happened here.
Instead, the confrontation between the Devil (who looked like he dropped straight from The Promised Neverland Season 2) and Aki was over before it even started due to Aki’s straightforward nature and willingness to throw his life away. The conclusion reached made you go, “yeah, I guess this makes sense”, and then move on from it just like the show did. I’m not saying I wanted an episode-long conversation between the two, but I was expecting it and was surprised to see there was none. Aki’s death wish has been well-established by this point, and this was a good way to put our focus back on that.
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Regarding Denji and Power’s training, we didn’t see any of it happening in front of our eyes. This was an odd decision as well, seeing as most expected it to be a major part of this episode and not just a throwaway line. What we got instead was more focus on Makima as she tried to take revenge on the people who attacked Squad 4, which was a great showcase for just how creepy she is. Makima isn’t right in the head and has a lot going on in the background that none of us is privy to. The reveal has to be great, or the show will have wasted a great build-up.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, but you wouldn’t know that by watching Chainsaw Man Episode 11. It feels like no time has passed between the attack and this episode, but we are already at the point where the characters are exacting revenge for what happened to them in that attack. More action is always good, of course, but not at the cost of the show’s pacing. Maybe the intention here is to showcase what the Denji-Power duo can do using a real battle, but I’m not sure that will be a fitting enough finale for the series. I’m sure there are a lot of tricks up the writers’ sleeves, however.
Verdict
Chainsaw Man Episode 11 moved the story along in an unexpected yet welcome way. The pacing was off and what happened does not lead to a particularly interesting finale, but it’ll be great watching how the show spins it around.
Click here to read the review of the final episode!