Today’s the day… of my first kiss

Get get get get on! Get get get get on chu!

HurUUUUUAAAAAGHAGHUUUUUUH

(Sigh. These 3 things are running in my head in a loop! God, Help me!)

Man, this episode was a rollercoaster of emotions. In the end, I could only image the mind of the uninitiated going “eh…. what did I just watch?”

Personally, this was another accurate portrayal from MAPPA. Every week has me going like “Where is Tuesday? Is it here yet?” (Of course, except on… you know… Tuesdays).

I was curiously waiting for this particular episode for exactly the reasons you’d know. But I’m not going to begin this review with that. Instead, I’ll discuss how Himeno falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of normalcy and abnormality.

Throughout the entirety of the series, Kishibe’s assessment of the biggest source of terror for the Devils proves accurate. His student Himeno was right about her not having any screws loose, which was necessary to be a successful candidate for the role of Devil Hunter. And it’s evident from the way she’s been acting.

Only a normal human would tend to avoid danger and think about joining the civilian side, free from the fear of death and insanity.

Because Himeno is so unpretentious and ordinary, she is too shy to kiss Denji in public. She can only pull that off if she’s just a little bit tipsy. It’s obvious that she’s trying to mimic her master’s drinking habits. She was concerned about whether or not Denji, who was too young to legally drink, was intoxicated, which is another indicator that she was not completely insane. This, however, went out the window after she started drinking heavily.

In addition, her team not bullying the juniors and encouraging them to eat more is also “normal”. Maybe that’s why her team members die so quickly…

Episode 7 of Chainsaw Man centered around this aspect along with Himeno’s grief over the loss of her colleagues and her intense concern for Aki’s well-being. It’s evident that she cares deeply about him; in fact, she’s willing to make a career change to make him join the Civilian sector. She knew that Aki wouldn’t survive the encounter with the Gun Devil due to his “normal” characteristics, but the ponytailed Devil Hunter is stubborn.

Some fans may think of Himeno as “wh*re-like” & “careless”, but that’s really just her way to cope up with her losses. What I like about the characters in Chainsaw Man is that you cannot be sufficed with a prima facie perspective. Each of them have complicated and nuanced minds that surface level analysis wouldn’t do justice to them.

Having said that, let’s talk about the other aspect of this episode – the animation.

To be honest, I didn’t begin the episode with having huge expectations from the main action sequence. Episodes 1 & 4 set my bars low due to the constant sluggish movement of the character’s bodies.

However, I was pleasantly surprised that Episode 7 had not only consistent frame rates but also clear cut pristine quality animation, the likes I’ve never seen before from MAPPA.

The Chainsaw Man’s neck twisting as he falls to the ground, for instance, was drawn with great delicacy and precision. To be honest, I didn’t even notice it when I read the manga. Another is the consistent detailing of the Eternity Devil due to the visually stunning facial expressions. The different voice actors for each of the Eternity Devil heads added to the flavor.

Speaking of voice actors, Denji’s VA Kikunosuke Toya continues to give absolutely phenomenal performances. Denji laughing maniacally in the anime just before Himeno runs her flashback scene with her master adds more context to him going bonkers. A thing which the anime did better than the manga, where there’s no such laughter .

Another positive add-on the anime did was Denji seeing Kisu Tempura on the menu. It reminded of Himeno’s promise, which makes more sense than the sudden recollection in the manga.

Regarding the pledge (the kiss), Himeno does not truly kiss Denji with her tongue in the manga, but she does in the anime. When compared to the manga, the kiss scene in the anime is far more vibrant and detailed.

However, there were a few changes which I think were unnecessary.

One of them is the Eternity Devil in the anime saying the Chainsaw Man has grown weaker “NOW”. For the uninitiated, this could mean that it referring to Denji before and after getting into a fight with it, as opposed to the manga clearly suggesting that the Eternity Devil has fought Chainsaw in the past; with the line “you are far weaker than you once were”.

Another small one is when Himeno casually wrapping her arms around Denji on his shoulders, saying “It’ll be fine”. This is a slight downgrade from the manga wherein she smacks Denji on his shoulders, which actually signals her increased immersion into the drunken state in a better fashion.

But the biggest complaint fans have with this episode is censoring the famous “barf” scene, something which I and many have been looking forward to with high expectations. The puke continues to get censored even during the flashback scene when the rats have a go at it.

I get that Japan’s regulations dictate the studio to censor certain parts even for a 16+ age bracketed show, but c’mon. I just hope they don’t censor it in the Blu-Ray edition… (Hey, don’t look at me like that)

While coming towards the climax of Chainsaw Man Episode 7, I think that the cliffhanger was perfect. After Himeno invited Denji to join in on “doing it together,” I couldn’t help but laugh out loud when the ending theme began playing.

Even though I wasn’t reading the manga chapter by chapter at that time, I could still sympathize with the people who did because the manga concluded with that exact scenario in Chapter 21.

And finally, the Ending theme. Sankaku△, being a master of creating retro-styled visuals, handled all aspect of this scene, from compositing, editing to supervising the 3D animation.

The Vintage video game style neon signs along with unique pixelated visual graphics that shimmers with luminosity, with character designs reminiscent of the risqué periodicals popular during the show’s historical period really gave us a new flavor to enjoy amongst the other Endings.

A funny thing about the song is its repeated usage of the words “Get On”. When you say it faster & faster, doesn’t it sounds similar to “Gero”? Gero is vomit in Japanese, which makes the repeated sequence of Denji’s barf kiss taken from different angles even more hilarious. I can’t believe they further built upon Denji’s trauma like that. My God.

The sexy Makima, Power, Kobeni & Himeno shots at the last are paying homage to the first 2 pages of Chapter 43 and a particular kind of recollection by Denji…

If you know, you know.

Chainsaw Man Episode 7 rating: 8.5/10

So what do you think of Chainsaw Man Anime Episode 7? Let me know in the comments below!

CHAINSAW MAN © 2018 by Tatsuki Fujimoto/SHUEISHA Inc.