For the most part, Fall 2022's Chainsaw Man has done an excellent job of maintaining the feel of the grotesque terrors that litter Tatsuki Fujimoto's dark action manga. However, Episode 9, "From Kyoto" seems to struggle in striking fear into the hearts of viewers in what should be its most unnerving moments.
Episode 9, "From Kyoto," picks up in the midst of the assault on Public Safety's Devil Hunters. Recapping Himeno's final sacrifice, Denji is brought back into the game to have a showdown with Samurai Sword and his ally Sawatari, who is contracted with the Snake Devil. As things progress, the survivors of the ambush move towards a counter-offensive, implementing some overwhelming powers that hint at a dark secret lurking behind the organization's seemingly benevolent face.
Despite being a rehash of sorts, the first few minutes of Chainsaw Man's latest episode are by far its strongest. To get its audience back up to speed on the events of the previous installment, it spends time recapping the final moments of Episode 8. However, while the animators could have easily chosen to reuse footage from the prior episode's ending, Studio MAPPA instead opted to completely reanimate the events, showing things from different angles and with emphasis on previously unseen aspects of the scene. As always, this attention to detail and dedication to delivering a quality product is apparent through every frame of the work, and it leads to some thrilling action sequences to follow.
Taking place in the middle of all-out warfare between the two forces present, Episode 9 features more of the electrifying battle animation that has become one of the series' staples. This can likely be contributed to the consistent work of Tatsuya Yoshihara, named the show's Action Director, as well as the direction and storyboarding for the episode from Takahiro Kaneko and Hironori Tanaka. On top of presenting Denji with more opportunities for rip-roaring brawls, they also provided some other characters with jaw-droppingly fluid animation that illustrate their martial prowess to great effect.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about some of the more nuanced displays of power showcased in the episode. Partway through its runtime, one character, in particular, uses their abilities to turn the tables on the arc's antagonists in a pernicious and gruesome way. Sadly, the scene in which this occurs comes across as more bewildering than actually scary. Though the animated version of this moment is certainly shocking, when compared to the gradual and intimately illustrated manga counterpart, it plays out in a somewhat disorienting way. Studio MAPPA's animation does well enough to keep this particular scene from becoming outrageous, but the suddenness with which it plays out makes it too startling to instill a sense of dread.
Luckily, Chainsaw Man's vocal cast does a great job of inspiring such feelings via the delivery of their lines throughout the episode. In addition to several others who help embody a hidden dark side to their characters, Kikunosuke Toya's portrayal of Denji does well to embody the animalistic nature of the series' protagonist, straddling the line between human and monster beautifully. Rather than simply tapping into the righteous indignation that many other shonen protagonists present, Toya's characterization paints a picture of Denji as a morally gray character who doesn't fit well into the hero archetype.
Episode 9 does a fair job of putting forth the same quality of production seen throughout the rest of the anime up to this point. Still, though its fight animation, voice acting, and sound direction maintain a certain standard, the episode itself feels a touch bloated as it rapidly runs through each scene without giving any of them enough time to settle in a truly haunting fashion. With three episodes remaining in the season's run, these are problems that can be avoided from here on out so that the anime can have room to breathe and finish strong.
Chainsaw Man streams on Crunchyroll weekly, with new episodes airing every Tuesday.