{"id":290447,"date":"2021-07-02T20:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-02T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/feature-will-the-future-rule-making-sense-of-chainsaw-mans-anime-adaptation\/"},"modified":"2021-07-02T20:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-02T17:00:00","slug":"feature-will-the-future-rule-making-sense-of-chainsaw-mans-anime-adaptation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/feature-will-the-future-rule-making-sense-of-chainsaw-mans-anime-adaptation\/","title":{"rendered":"#FEATURE: Will The Future Rule? Making Sense Of Chainsaw Man's Anime Adaptation"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#FEATURE: Will The Future Rule? Making Sense Of Chainsaw Man's Anime<\/a> Adaptation<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Chainsaw<\/strong> Man<\/strong><\/em> is a comic where the hero rides on the back of a shark through a hurricane. It’s also a non-stop series<\/a> of narrative rug-pulls exploring the psyche of a teenage boy struggling to grow up in a world where everything and everyone is expendable. Chainsaw<\/strong> Man<\/strong><\/em> is one of my favorite reading experiences of last year: I laughed, then cried, then yelled at the sheer audacity of what was happ<\/a>ening on the page. A mash-up of Devilman<\/em><\/strong>, FLCL<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a>, and grindhouse schlock, it wormed its way into my heart in a way a comic has not in a while.<\/p>\n

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And I’m not alone: Look online and you will find Chainsaw Man<\/em> animation reels<\/span><\/a><\/strong> and Chainsaw Man<\/em> MADs<\/span><\/a><\/strong>. You’ll find these<\/span><\/a><\/strong> two<\/strong><\/span><\/a> excellent fan-made EDs, and this great (but spoilery!!)  write-up on The Comics Journal<\/span><\/a><\/strong>. You’ll find plenty of fan-art and folks shrieking 24\/7 about Makima, Aki, and Power. As the joke goes, “Why animate Chainsaw<\/strong> Man<\/strong><\/em> when all of Chainsaw<\/strong> Man<\/strong><\/em> is animated already?” Well, joke’s on them. Do you hear that sound in the distance? The shriek of metal against metal? Chainsaw<\/strong> Man<\/strong><\/em> is getting an anime, folks.<\/p>\n

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Adapting Chainsaw<\/strong> Man<\/strong><\/em> is a tricky proposition. At first glance, the comic was practically made for it, with its cinematic layouts and spectacle. But the monster designs are complex, and the balance of tone and content is deceptively easy to spoil. Focus too much on the character drama and you miss the comic’s knowing stupidity. Gloss over Denji’s weakness and the story tips over into insufferable power fantasy — or depending on your tastes, an even more insufferable power fantasy. Adaptation is about interpretation, and about choice; rendering Denji’s story as literally as possible on the screen would be a fool’s errand, especially for a comic that so deeply loves movies. <\/p>\n

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The trailer MAPPA released is pre-animated, but that’s fine! As sakuga fanatic and anime industry expert Kevin Cirugeda has pointed out on Twitter<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, some of the best anime productions of all time started with pre-animated trailers. We don’t know release date details or its final look, but based on what we’ve been given, we can make educated guesses.<\/p>\n

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\"Chainsaw<\/p>\n

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What stood out immedia<\/a>tely to me on the list of staff were two names: Kensuke Ushio and Kiyotaka Oshiyama. Ushio’s a former member of the great rock band LAMA who’s since composed for anime including Ping Pong the Animation<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/strong> and Liz and the Blue Bird<\/em><\/strong>. Oshiyama’s a genius, capable of everything from monster designs to directing and animating whole episodes of anime by himself (plus, he directed FLIP FLAPPERS<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/em>!) When did these two folks last work together? On Masaaki Yuasa’s Devilman<\/strong> Crybaby<\/strong><\/em>, of course! Ushio composed the score, while Oshiyama was put in charge of devil designs and directed an episode as well. Now they’re back in the same positions, with Ushio writing the music and Oshiyama handling the monster designs. <\/p>\n

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The director of the series is Ryu Nakayama. Some might call him “inexperienced,” but this isn’t quite true: looking through Nakayama’s past work reveals some impressive credits ranging from directing and storyboarding an episode of Fate\/Grand Order Absolute Demonic Front: Babylonia<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a> to handling GAMERS!<\/i><\/strong><\/span><\/a>’ entertaining opening sequence. Best of all, Ryu Nakayama collaborated with character designers Mai Yoneyama and 7ZEL to direct “raison d'etre<\/span><\/a>,<\/strong>” an animated music video for singer-songwriter EVE. EVE’s YouTube channel of music videos is shockingly consistent, starring a murderer’s row of talented animators. “raison d’etre” is up there with the best of them, featuring striking color design and an ever-changing oneiric cityscape. I can’t say this early on if Nakayama will succeed in grappling with what is sure to be a challenging production, but the chance to see what one of EVE’s collaborators might make of a series like Chainsaw<\/strong> Man<\/strong><\/em> is a gift.<\/p>\n

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There’s another name on this list that’s just as important as Nakayama’s: Tatsuya Yoshihara, credited as the Action Director. You probably know Yoshihara from his work directing Black Clover<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a>. I know him from Muromi-san<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a>, a series with a truly deranged opening animation that begins with cute dancing mermaids and ends with shrieking heavy metal and the complete extinction of life on Earth<\/strong>. Yoshihara and Nakayama have collaborated in the past, most memorably for me on an episode of Yatterman Night<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a>. Nakayama contributed a significant amount of work to Black<\/strong> Clover<\/strong><\/em>, and now Yoshihara has his back on perhaps the most important project thus far of Nakayama’s career.<\/p>\n

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The remainder of the staff list is similarly loaded. Yusuke Takada is an art director who’s contributed great work to series like The Eccentric Family<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a>, where he worked directly with Chainsaw<\/strong> Man<\/strong><\/em>’s current color designer Naomi Nakano. Hiroshi Seko’s a scriptwriter credited on countless popular action series, such as the best action series of the past decade Mob Psycho 100<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/a> — but also on last year’s weird science<\/a> fiction extravaganza DECA-DENCE<\/em><\/strong>! Technical director Makoto Nakazono acquitted himself well at Trigger on <\/em><\/strong>SSSS.Gridman<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a> and Little Witch Academia<\/strong><\/em>. Yohei Miyahara’s an accomplished photography and CG director. There really isn’t a weak link on this team — the folks producing the series clearly want a hit, and they’ve hired the talent to ensure that is what they will get.<\/p>\n

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\"Chainsaw<\/p>\n

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Will the Chainsaw<\/strong> Man<\/strong><\/em> anime be good? I’m personally very excited! But I don’t know. Anime is hard to make. Too much of it is made too quickly. Producers in the anime industry have been ramping up their efforts to recruit more foreign talent so as to fuel the industry machine<\/span><\/a><\/strong>, and Chainsaw<\/strong><\/em> Man<\/strong><\/em>’s production will likely result in the line between “anime fan” and “animator” becoming even muddier. This isn’t even including the factor of continued COVID-19 prevalence in the world. There are a lot of variables, and any one of them could make life difficult for folks on the Chainsaw<\/strong> Man<\/strong><\/em> team.<\/p>\n

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Here’s what I can say: I’ve watched that Chainsaw<\/strong> Man<\/strong><\/em> trailer an embarrassingly large number of times. I believe that Nakayama and his crew are capable of creating a worthy adaptation. I trust that MAPPA currently sees the series as their golden goose, regardless of where things stand in a year or two. It’s almost certain that this show is going to make or break many, many people’s careers. Until it airs, all I can hope is that those working on the project are given the time and resources they need to do their best work. After all — THE FUTURE RULES!<\/p>\n

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Are you a fan of Chainsaw Man<\/em>? What’s your favorite EVE video? Do you think you could defeat Kobeni in Dance Dance Revolution? Let us know in the comments!<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Adam W is a Features Writer at Crunchyroll. When he is not playing this very challenging video game<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, he sporadically contributes with a loose group of friends to a blog called Isn't it Electrifying?<\/strong><\/span><\/a> <\/b>You can find him on Twitter at @wendeego<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a feature, pitch it<\/strong><\/span><\/a> to Crunchyroll Features!<\/em><\/p>\n