Chainsaw Man (Chainsaw Man) Review

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Chainsaw Man (Chainsaw Man) Review

Chainsaw Man
Chainsaw Man (Bandai)If you haven't read or watched Chainsaw Man yet, you really should. It's a fun, gory ride with a well-written story and characters, and it's proven to be incredibly popular. With the announcement and premiere of the anime came plenty of merchandise, including a line of figures under Bandai's S.H. Figuarts label.

The box is somewhat simple in design, but the graphics are fitting considering the license, with a mix of orange and very dark red, along with some yellow and green splatters. There's also plenty of shots of the figure itself, showing off some of the many poses possible. It's also very collector-friendly, as all the contents inside are easy to remove and put back.

Of course, the first release in the line is the main character, Denji, but in his "Chainsaw Man" form. When he pulls the ripcord on his chest, his head turns into that of a fearsome creature whose head resembles a chainsaw, complete with a handle and a long blade coming out the front. While a design with a lot of little details, including a cord-like pattern on the neck and lower head, it's captured well on the figure, and the blade has rather pointy spikes. The paint is very well done too, and in addition to clean lines and a bold orange color, the eyes/lights under little lines in the forehead are added, and the blade gets a couple blood splatters. No doubt a preferred look over a clean blade.

At 5 3/4" tall, Denji is dressed in the usual Public Safety shirt, tie, and pants, but he also has a pair of hi-top sneakers on him. The shoes look great with simple red and white colors, but there are some fuzzy edges and a stray mark here and there. The shirt and pants have a very good sculpt, with a lot of realistic wrinkles and good colors. The arms have big chainsaw blades, going from the elbow to well beyond the hands, and they bear the same pointy details and painted blood splatters as the head blade. It's a great design overall, and we'll be seeing a lot of the same tooling with the upcoming regular Denji.

As with any S.H. Figuarts release, Chainsaw Man is loaded with great articulation. He has a barbell head along with a single ball peg at the base of the neck, and both move well to provide plenty of range. The arms are a little unusual, as the shoulders get three points. There's swivel/hinge joints on the torso to let the arms move up-and-down and in-and-out, then the shoulders are connected to those with ball pegs that also get a bit of up and down hinge, and there's another ball peg going right into the arm. The elbows are swivel/hinge/swivel joints, with the lower part of the sleeves being a separate piece that can turn with it for a more natural look. Other than that unique bit of engineering, there's also a barbell chest, a ball/hinge waist, swivel/hinge hips and ankles, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, ball-jointed calves, and hinged toes. The joints are very well done and sturdy, and you'll have a lot of fun posing this guy time and again.

Chainsaw Man is a character who doesn't really need any accessories, as a guy with three chainsaws on his body is fun enough. Still, Bandai made sure to give him a few extras. For starters, there's an alternate open mouth piece, complete with a ball-jointed tongue. The mouths swap easily, but a consequence of this is that the mouth tends to come off too easily. Three pairs of hands are included - grasping, closed, and relaxed - and because of the arm design, they swap by popping the hand in half then reassembling it though a slot in the arm blade. While I'll probably only use the default hands, having options is nice. Lastly, there's an alternate tie flowing in the wind, and it's great for more dynamic displays.

At first, I had the figma Denji/Chainsaw Man on pre-order, but I ultimately cancelled that in favor of this, and I'm glad I did. He looks and poses great, and the various extra parts give you even more ways to show him off. He's a must-have for fans of the manga/anime, and I look forward to getting all the important characters in this format.

- 11/29/23