Chainsaw Man has taken the manga industry by storm, and it has already taken hold of the anime fandom well ahead of its release. When fall arrives, fans will be introduced to Denji on the screen, and the hype for season one is high. In fact, it is hard to think of an anime that’s been more anticipated than Chainsaw Man as of late, and we got the chance to talk with its executives about the project.ย
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Studio MAPPA CEO Manabu Otsuka and executive producer Makoto Kimura appeared at Crunchyroll Expo this summer to share a peek at Chainsaw Man with fans. It was there ComicBook got the chance to talk about everything from Tatsuki Fujimoto’s talents to the hidden charm of Chainsaw Man. So if you want to know what the pair had to say, you can read on below:
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Question: Chainsaw Man will be rather unique as it will forego a production committee. This choice is often reserved for classic IPs with built-in fanbases. So to Kimura, I’d like to ask what led Studio MAPPA to opt out of a committee.
Makoto Kimura: We really wanted to give ourselves the freedom to be creative with the show. The studio wanted to kind of take it on ourselves and not put it through a committee. It’s a new challenge for us as an anime studio to take it on since it is an unusual choice. So, I hope the fans are looking forward to the show and the product that we’re going to come out with.
Question: Chainsaw Man has a lot of quiet moments and then a lot of wild scenes that go from 0 to 100. How do you feel season one will translate this pacing and urgency for the screen?
Manabu Otsuka: Obviously, this series is very popular with fans and our staff. To the best of their ability, the team is trying to meet the expectations of their fans. So they’re putting all their work into that, and obviously, in the process, there are some things that they’re having to arrange carefully. Their major focus is to keep the anime as close to that original manga as possible. Within the anime itself, the story will move in its own way, so there will be different pieces that are slightly different. The team hopes people will look forward to seeing it play out in the anime.
Question: There are plenty of reasons fans love Chainsaw Man, but I wanted to ask you both what you consider the series’ biggest charm or draw to fans.
Kimura: It follows these characters that share a lot, and you’re not sure where they’re going. This is a story with a lot of drive, so there’s an appeal and a charm in not knowing, For our team as producers and directors, they are really focusing on that aspect as they put together season one. It helps that our producers are already big fans.
Otsuka:One of the biggest charms is [Tatsuki Fujimoto’s] sense as a writer. It is in how you can see things through his work and that there’s this subculture throughout Chainsaw Man that becomes very important. However, the story is still balanced even with this, and Chainsaw Man has a wide range of readers as such. So to bring all of the charms out in the anime, it was important to find a director and producers and an entire staff who are of a similar generation [to Fujimoto] so they are of the same mind. The staffing of Chainsaw Man was done in that way to help production.
Question: And finally, what is one part of Chainsaw Man that stands out to you the most that fans new or old should revisit?
Otsuka: For me, I believe volume nine really stands out, and I read it over and over again. It gives an interesting look at the relationships between Chainsaw Man’s characters and how they respond to one another. It’s really great to see how the relationships developed, so the whole movement of the series’ character arcs from the beginning and on is great.
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Are you excited to watch Chainsaw Man this fall? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
