fujimoto: Is Chainsaw Man a Seinen manga? Explained

Is Chainsaw Man a Seinen manga? Explained

Modified Jun 16, 2024 17:16 GMT

Following its anime adaptation, Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto saw an immense rise in popularity. With a successful Season 1, thanks to MAPPA's stellar animation talents, fans have flocked to continue the story through the ongoing manga.

168 chapters in, the story seems to be showcasing a more human, teenage side of Denji and Asa Mitaka. The heroes have to now come up with a way to take down the great incoming evil in the form of the Death Devil. Things are expected to heat up from this point forward.

Given the themes used, many have wondered what kind of manga it might be— Shonen or Seinen. The simple answer is that Fujimoto's piece is a Shonen manga with darker themes.

Chainsaw Man — A darker Shonen series

Before delving in, it is useful to understand the difference between a Shonen and a Seinen series. A Shonen series/manga is an editorial category of Japanese comics typically targeting an audience of adolescent boys. Meanwhile, the Seinen series/manga targets young adults and adult men.

While many will contend that the series, with its respective elements, surely falls in the Seinen category, the demographic labeling of the manga says otherwise. Thus, Tatsuki Fujimoto's series is a Shonen manga with several Seinen elements sprinkled over it.

Consisting mainly of gory themes, the series follows the tale of Denji who lives in a Devil-infested world. Worse than poor and in heavy debt, a series of unfortunate events leads to him being left on the verge of death. However, his closest friend and companion, a tiny Devil named Pochita, becomes Denji's heart and thus Chainsaw Man is born.

As the manga progresses, the story retains its gory theme, featuring considerable violence and carnage while introducing others like power, corruption, tragedy, trauma, and more. Overall, it makes for an action-packed yet twisted and somewhat edgy watch/read.

Each character is unique and is used by Fujimoto to represent something important. For instance, Yoru and Asa are contrasting, and reflect Day and Night (their names translate to the same). These themes are prevalent throughout, symbolizing that one cannot exist without the other.

Another strong theme from part 1 of the story is Control. Public Safety Devil Hunter Makima is the embodiment of this, portraying the Control Devil. Upon realizing what Denji is, she does unimaginable things to achieve her goal— bringing Chainsaw Man under her control to use its abilities to create an ideal world devoid of fear, death, and “bad” movies.

In conclusion

The manga cover of Tatsuki Fujimoto's series (Image via Tatsuki Fujimoto, Shueisha)

To reiterate, Tatsuki Fujimoto's series is a Shonen manga. Many might debate that its themes place it in the Seinen category, but as labeled officially, it stands as Shonen. But even so, Shonen and Seinen are just categories under which manga are marketed.

Though they are meant to target a particular audience, they seem to eventually reach a wide range of readers. Chainsaw Man's thrilling story coupled with its bold themes prove why it has been performing so well and continues to do so, rising above other top-rated modern-day manga.