Chainsaw Man

Sales[edit]

As of August 2020, the manga had over 3 million copies in circulation.[73][5] As of October 2020, the manga had over 4.2 million copies in circulation.[74] As of December 2020, the manga had over 5 million copies in circulation.[75][57] As of January 2021, the manga had over 6.4 million copies in circulation.[76] As of March 2021, the manga had over 9.3 million copies in circulation.[77] As for June 2021, the manga had 11 million copies in circulation.[78][79] Chainsaw Man was the fifth best-selling manga series in the first half of 2021 (period between November 2020 and May 2021), with over 4 million copies sold.[80]

Critical reception[edit]

James Beckett of Anime News Network ranked the first volume as a B+. Beckett described the series as "goofy, kinky, dark, and bizarre". He praised the series for its compelling world building and character development, calling the story "a mishmash of raunchy teen sex comedies, Hellboy, and The Evil Dead". Beckett, however, stated that its reveling in crude humor and violence could be off-putting to some readers.[81] Hannah Collins of Comic Book Resources gave the series a positive review. She commended Fujimoto's penmanship and stated that the gory scenes, instead of be gratuitous, just make the story feel "refreshingly unfiltered". Collins added: "Chainsaw Man bears all the hallmarks of a standard supernatural action series, but its quieter moments are where its dark heart beats fastest".[82] Adi Tantimedh of Bleeding Cool gave the first volume 7 out of 10. Tantimedh commented that Chainsaw Man distinguishes itself with its slapstick comedy, and a "deadly earnest" tone might have made the series unreadable. He depicted the characters as "sad, broken people who live outside the norms of society and haven't learned basic social skills", and commented that the series' subtext is about "people getting abused, degraded, dehumanized, objectified, literally becoming objects". Tantimedh concluded: "Society is to blame for degrading people into tools and objects; these mangas seem to be saying, though they never outright blame Capitalism or the alienating repressiveness of Japanese society. The result is one of the more unique manga out there".[83]

Ian Wolf of Anime UK News gave the first volume 6 out of 10. Wolf wrote that the main feature of the series is the action sequences and that "the ridiculousness of the story helps to add comedy to the whole thing". Wolf concluded "Chainsaw Man has some things going for it and hopefully may well build up from a promising start".[84] In her review of the first volume, Danica Davidson of Otaku USA called the series "casually gruesome and violent" and that it "sprinkles in quite a bit of humor", which according to her, it mainly revolves around Denji trying to get a girlfriend. She also stated that the emotional part of the story is about the love between Denji and Pochita. Davidson concluded: "It’s kind of hard to say from the first volume where the series will go from here, but it’s revealed itself as a bloody, action-packed shonen with some heart showing through the weirdness, and it’s been very successful in Japan".[85]