Chainsaw Man

James Beckett of Anime News Network gave the first volume of the manga a grade of "B+". Beckett described the series as "goofy, kinky, dark, and bizarre". He praised the series for its compelling world-building and character development, calling the story "a mishmash of raunchy teen sex comedies, Hellboy, and The Evil Dead". Beckett, however, stated that its reveling in crude humor and violence could be off-putting to some readers. Hannah Collins of Comic Book Resources gave the series a positive review. She commended Fujimoto's penmanship and stated that the gory scenes, instead of being gratuitous, just make the story feel "refreshingly unfiltered". Collins added: "Chainsaw Man bears all the hallmarks of a standard supernatural action series, but its quieter moments are where its dark heart beats fastest". Adi Tantimedh of Bleeding Cool gave the first volume a score of 7/10. Tantimedh commented that Chainsaw Man distinguishes itself with its slapstick comedy, and a "deadly earnest" tone might have made the series unreadable. He depicted the characters as "sad, broken people who live outside the norms of society and haven't learned basic social skills", and commented that the series' subtext is about "people getting abused, degraded, dehumanized, objectified, literally becoming objects". Tantimedh concluded: "Society is to blame for degrading people into tools and objects; these mangas seem to be saying, though they never outright blame Capitalism or the alienating repressiveness of Japanese society. The result is one of the more unique manga out there".