Chainsaw Man (Japanese: チェンソーマン, Hepburn: Chensō Man) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto. It was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from December 2018 to December 2020, with its chapters collected in eleven tankōbon volumes. It follows the story of Denji, an impoverished young man who after making a contract with a dog-like devil named Pochita, he fuses with Denji, granting him the ability to transform parts of his body into chainsaws. Denji eventually joins the Public Safety Devil Hunters, a government agency focused on fighting against devils whenever they become a threat to the world.

A second part of the manga began serialization in Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ online magazine starting in July 2022. In North America, the manga is licensed in English by Viz Media, for both print and digital release, and it is also published by Shueisha on the Manga Plus online platform. An anime television series adaptation produced by MAPPA is set to premiere in 2022.

As of June 2022, the manga had over 13 million copies in circulation. In 2021, it won the 66th Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōnen category, as well as the Harvey Awards in the Best Manga category. Chainsaw Man has been overall well received by critics, who have commended its storytelling and characters, and have particularly highlighted its violent scenes within the context of the story.

Setting

The story is set in a world where Devils are born from human fears. Devils are usually dangerous and malevolent, their power proportional to the fear they incite. However, humans can form contracts with them to use their power, and there are individuals specializing in hunting and employing them, called Devil Hunters. Devils originate from Hell, and exist in a cycle between Earth and Hell: they migrate to Earth when killed in Hell, and vice-versa.

A Devil may, in certain conditions, inhabit the body of a dead human, gaining some of their memories and personality; such a creature is called a Fiend. Devils who naturally have a humanoid form are said to be benevolent to humans.

The events of the story take place in 1997, in an alternate timeline where the Soviet Union still exists, and many events such as the Holocaust appear to have not occurred.

Plot

spoiler

When his father died, Denji was stuck with a huge debt and no way to pay it back. Thanks to a Devil dog he saved named Pochita, he's able to survive through odd jobs and killing Devils for the Yakuza. Pochita's chainsaw powers come in handy against these powerful demons. When the Yakuza betrays him and he's killed by the Zombie Devil, Pochita sacrifices himself to save his former master. Now Denji has been reborn as some kind of weird Devil-Human hybrid. He is now a Chainsaw Man!

After his transformation, he's quickly recruited by Makima to join the Public Safety Devil Hunters under threat of extermination now that he's technically a Devil. Now that he's living comfortably for the first time in his life, Denji struggles to determine his dreams and form meaningful relationships while killing Devils and working alongside other eccentric Devil Hunters.

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