Chainsaw Man Debuts Denji and His Tragic Story

By Nick Valdez

Chainsaw Man was the most highly anticipated new anime premiere of the Fall 2022 anime season, and the series premiere has debuted the series' tragic hero at the center of it all, Denji! The anime adaptation for Tatsuki Fujimoto's original manga series has not only been the most hyped new release of the Fall, but of the year overall. The manga series has exploded in popularity in the time since the first era of the manga came to an end, and through it all fans have been waiting to see how an anime could bring such a wild hero like Denji to life.

Chainsaw Man's first episode has finally arrived, and it really took over the world as a whole new wave of fans had been introduced to the series. More importantly, it was an introduction to just how brutal and bleak of a devil filled world they are jumping into the series with. The best introduction to this terror filled world is through the eyes of its beaten down hero, Denji, who's only real desire when we meet him is to live a normal life where he can have some jam with his bread and still afford to have a roof over his head. 

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(Photo: MAPPA)

Chainsaw Man's first episode introduces fans to Denji, he's a young boy who's been forced to become a Devil Hunter when his father takes his own life and leaves a huge debt to the yakuza. Denji's then forced to pay off that debt in his father's stead, but he's too young to really do anything. It's here he meets a small, puppy like chainsaw devil, who's been hurt. Feeding this devil his blood in order to heal, the two develop a bond and Denji becomes a devil hunter in order to start paying off his debt. 

It's such a large debt that in the years since, he's still far from paying it down. He's sold off one of his kidneys, his eye, and even one of his testicles, yet nothing can even scratch this debt. All the while, all Denji wants is a filling breakfast and a normal life without having to fight devils. This is all thrown out the window when he's tricked by the Zombie Devil (who formed a pact with the yakuza he had been working for) and becomes the titular Chainsaw Man when he and Pochita are chopped up and killed. 

Now this tragic hero has been put on an even more tragic path that will hopefully lead him to more peace, but also far from the normal life he really wants to lead. How did you feel about meeting Denji in Chainsaw Man's first episode? Are you excited to meet more of him in the rest of the season? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!

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