Why Chainsaw Man Needs a Game Adaptation

If you are present in the anime discourse, there’s no doubt you’ve at least heard of Chainsaw Man. It’s a manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto, author of past works such as “Fire Punch” and “Goodbye, Eri.” It’s also one of the most talked-about anime this season. For good reason, too — it’s an action-packed ride through a world plagued by devils, or, manifestations of humanity’s fear.

For example: If someone were scared of … oh, say … Thomas the Tank Engine, there’d probably be a Tank Engine Devil complete with Thomas’ face. In-universe, we’ve seen the Tomato Devil, the Chicken Devil, the Fish Devil, the Future Devil, and the Darkness Devil, among many others. And our protagonist, Denji, is a hybrid human/devil with the abilities of the Chainsaw Devil, who can freely transform into Chainsaw Man.

In the manga, and now anime, we watch as Denji — and the rest of Public Safety Special Division 4 — do battle with a variety of malicious devils. It’s a wild, fast-paced ride that’s captivating countless anime fans. But, in the time since I binged over 100 chapters of the manga, one thought has yet to escape me.

Chainsaw Man should get its own game adaptation. In fact, I would argue it needs a game adaptation.

Why Chainsaw Man Needs a Game Adaptation

One only needs to watch the opening sequence to understand my point. It is screaming to receive an action RPG adaptation by a studio like Platinum Games. I can imagine an adaptation of Chainsaw Man in the same vein as the NieR franchise. You’d obviously play as Denji, but could transform into Chainsaw Man whenever you wanted — within reason, clearly.

I can imagine it’d be a partially open world, and devil-hunting missions could be accepted from Makima. Think Spider-Man (2018), only instead of swinging through the city, you’d have enhanced agility so you could traverse insane distances in mere moments. In terms of action, what if it was reminiscent of a Musou-type / Warriors-type experience? Where you’d be bombarded with enemies? And you had to slice them all up with your chainsaw arms?!

But, one thing I would want them to avoid is falling into the trap that most anime games can’t resist. So many anime-based games suffer in the visual department. And by that, I mean even if they’re modern experiences, they tend to have the visual aesthetic of a game on the PlayStation 2. Obviously there are exceptions, but there are enough games like this to dash the hopes of a Chainsaw Man adaptation that looks like it was developed with the PS5 / Xbox Series X|S in mind.

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In any case, the gauntlet has been thrown. Who will be first in the great Chainsaw Man arms race? Will it be an officially licensed studio like Bandai-Namco, Platinum Games, or … maybe even CD Projekt Red? Or, will it be some superpowered indie developer with the stamina of like … 100 people? Time will tell.