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 has been serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine since December 2018, and collected in seven tankōbon volumes as of June 2020.
Plot
The story is set in a world where Devils cause harm to humans, which makes them a target for extermination. Denji is a young, depressed man who has sold several of his organs and works as a tree cutter and devil hunter to pay back his deceased father's debt to loan sharks (yakuza). Denji owns a dog (that is also a devil) called Pochita, that has the characteristic features of a chainsaw and is used by Denji as such for his work. Humans can make deals (contracts) with devils. After returning home from killing a tomato devil, Denji gets called by the Yakuza to go into a building to kill another devil, However, as it turns out, the Yakuza called Denji to allow a zombie devil to kill Denji, and in return, the zombie devil would give the yakuza more power, which would let them make more money. After Denji is killed and Pochita is severely injured by said devil, Pochita merges with Denji (because of a deal Denji made with Pochita when they first met), and as a result Denji's wounds heal and he gets revived as a half-human, half-devil, acquiring Pochita's chainsaw ability. Denji then uses the ability to kill the zombie devil that initially killed him. After killing the devil, a team of governmental devil hunters arrives on the scene, and after discovering that the devil was already killed by Denji, one of its members persuades Denji to become part of the governmental devil hunting organization the team belongs to.
Publication
Chainsaw Man is written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto. Fujimoto is known for his other manga work Fire Punch. The series started in the first 2019 issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine published on December 3, 2018.[3]
In North America, Viz Media published the first three chapters on Weekly Shonen Jump digital magazine for its "Jump Start" initiative.[1] New chapters are currently published in Shonen Jump digital platform after the cancellation of Weekly Shonen Jump.[4] Shueisha also simulpublish in English the series on the app and website Manga Plus since January 2019.[5] In February 2020, Viz Media announced the digital and print release of the manga.[6]
The series ranked #4 on Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2019 for male readers.[14] In 2019, Chainsaw Man was one of the winners of the 5th Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Award in the Print category.[15] The manga was nominated for the 13th Manga Taishō award in 2020.[16] It ranked #2 on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2020".[17] The series ranked #10 in a poll conducted by AnimeJapan of "Most Wanted Anime Adaptation".[18]