Why did Chainsaw Man's Opening look so GOOD?

[@shade0636]

You can tell that they really understand the essence of Fujimoto and Chainsaw Man.

[@toongamer2810]

You mean "insanity" and "wackiness" ?

[@ShadowTheHedgehog003]

@@toongamer2810 yes, but also movie related aspects. Fujimoto is a movie nerd.

[@lightnatsuki7222]

I mean what do you expect when MAPPA ceo reads and likes all works of Fujimoto and hopes it to get animes in future

[@erob9446]

Ofcourse, Fujimoto was involved in the production

[@toongamer2810]

@@ShadowTheHedgehog003 Yeah those too, insanity and wackiness are compliments btw

[@cetycon2613]

HOLY SHIT I’m actually blown away that Kouki Fujimoto’s cuts were purely done by his skill, alone, and no rotoscoping whatsoever 🤯🤯

[@forgottenrelics1197]

he's a madman

[@turbotrup96]

wait, this episode had no rotoscoping??

[@navi7402]

@@turbotrup96 I dont know why when there is a scene with good character acting everyone thinks it's rotoscoping

[@doodlegame8704]

@@navi7402 and then people act like they are allergic to really good 2D animation but hate cgi and complain when the animation is low frame rate, lmfao make up your mind!

[@alan_7390]

He created the animated Effects they use in every chapter with the cursed energy in JJK too.

[@LuizGustavo-sx8zi]

The visuals, the song, the craziness, the future devil little dance. Man everything about this opening is so fricking amazing!

[@tbzombi3950]

Song is mid

[@DominantalleleYT]

@@tbzombi3950 bro they're stupid or meming, this opening was trash asf and the song didn't even stick in my head. 2/10

[@raccoonchild]

@@tbzombi3950 Your taste is mid 😔 get well soon

[@mechajay3358]

You can see from the OP that the staff at MAPPA are really giving it their all for this anime.

[@Kuhekin]

For real, no doubt in my mind when I saw the Future devil dancing

[@blackkurosaki4565]

all for boku no pico to clear

[@t4zun4]

@@blackkurosaki4565 PARDON

[@vadiks20032]

they did give an opening their all, but can they handle the anime schedule?

[@mannyvalerio6822]

If only MAPPA gave it their all in caring for its staff as much as their staff do in their work.

[@Drawingsagespaz]

There’s a difference between a good opening and a great one. A good opening is visually appealing, but A great or even amazing opening Tells a story and fits the theme of The show.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

well put!

[@romeolautarosimoni9674]

well put!

[@araza1926]

Pell wut!

[@iampierce7474]

!tup llew

[@IGOTTHEFEELSFORYOUYEAHYEAH]

Well put!

[@TropicaIJay]

Some in house staff actually worked on the opening. That's impressive

[@navi7402]

which ones?

[@TropicaIJay]

@@navi7402 10+10 and Benjamin faure

[@alan_7390]

Also in Jujutsu Kaisen OP's

[@TropicaIJay]

@@alan_7390 there aren't any in house talent in the jjk op

[@thetrynes]

You mean like the janitor?

[@LeviKanal]

I love the focus on character acting, action scenes are cool and all but well animated characters can really make something feel real and alive

[@forgottenrelics1197]

exactly aye, it's an area that's often obscured unfortunately and really deserves more of a spotlight

[@thechugg4372]

The fights in chainsaw man are the most boring part of the manga tbh, the character interactions are what really made the manga shine.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

@Reaper-kun yeah if the staff obliterated the screen with a million impact frames with cubic debri everywhere, that would've got them going but nah fr tho, imagine having great direction, excellent character art, solid storyboarding, loose character acting throughout, and then being like "nah bruh da fight was cg, mappa bad"

[@LeviKanal]

@@forgottenrelics1197 Imagine people actually doing this.... And then harassing the episode director on twitter... o.O

[@red_dawg5564]

Denji and Power dancing while aki is smoking is literally the most wholesome thing after the ending.

[@rocrod430]

Tam Lu's cut at 7:41 also does one thing absolutely perfectly in my opinion, and that's syncing up with the music. Denji's movement's peak, the close up of his face right before he releases his transformation happens right as the song itself reaches the peak of its line, making for an audio experience that matches with the fantastic animation

[@Gaming_Hub_UK]

I enjoyed the first episode mainly of its action and the gritty and dark world Denji was in including the realistic shots of characters and how each character's movement felt so life-like including their clothing as if it were grass flowing with the wind.

[@Frongo]

I saw this first episode and a few days later (last night) I read all 106 available chapters in about 6 hours

[@RebornRider03]

Good man. That’s dedication. How did u like the manga? It’s my fav manga

[@Frongo]

@@RebornRider03 my fav manga as well

[@philipk101]

jeez six hours..? Bro how do u absorb all the story

[@riardomilos8014]

@@philipk101 he turned his parallel thoughts to process all that emotion in such a short time.

[@elijahpelito4722]

Mustve been quite an emotional rollercoaster of 6 hours.

[@ssshiro]

Glad there are people like you that truly understand what makes a good opening and just how much time is put into something so short. I wish all the hard workers of animators the best

[@saint7016]

dont think you could hide that power shot from us when you talked about how beautiful some of the shots were lol

[@deepanshudhaka9417]

Dude, you are criminally underrated, the amount of work, efforts and quality you put into your work is more than what you have now. I just hope more people get to know about you. As always great work!!

[@Dogflamingo]

0:48 YES, I KNEW the chainsaw man opening had to be by the same director as the JJK opening

[@forgottenrelics1197]

*correction it's Gustav Dorés work at 2:10 and Nakayama not "Nakamura" at 2:22 oh and merch shill Anime Merch Here👔 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ►Chainsaw Man Merch: www.fandomion.com/sale/best-anime-merch-chainsaw-man_63s_37t.html?track=8341& ►Anime Merch: bit.ly/ForgottenRelicsAnimeMerch ►Shop Meme Merch: bit.ly/ForgottenRelicsMemeMerch ►Extra 10% Off Discount Code: Relics

[@Like_A_Dance]

Gustave Doré* and anyone who likes Berserk's artwork, go check out his stuff. Miura took a lot of inspiration from him

[@kyellebantog7720]

Dude this video was only 8 and a half minutes but you got me hooked and taught me so much about both the opening and the anime overall that I did some research after. I didn't know of fujimoto's work before but I just knew none of these shots could be rotoscoped, just a person's raw amazing key animation talent and the talent of everyone involved. Thank you for the new insight!

[@toongamer2810]

The scene where denji is looking up, and it's like an ants eye view is amazing to me. The shading and how smooth it is, it's just so surreal. But my favorite scene will always be Denji and Power dancing lol

[@Maegor_Brightflame]

that one frame of power you left in was pretty good

[@ciccobullet6725]

Great video as always, just want to point out one thing at 2:05. The illustration wasn't made by Botticelli but Gustave Doré, who illustrated the whole Divine Comedy in the late 1800s.

[@thisrandomdude_]

Dude there is nothing else like this on YT, you're _the_ person to go to when it comes to animation breakdowns and the like for anime. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and making it so much more accessible to people like me, who don't know much about animation or drawing in general. It's a really fascinating world.

[@pokejeenios]

Forgot to mention that the movie references aren't only an homage to the authors love for western cinema, but they each have a meaning related to the characters depicted and their place in the story, as well as some clever foreshadowing. Very incredible.

[@kailynrudd7937]

I don't actually KNOW all the references the video highlighted, and have been digging around the comments hoping someone listed them. I'm especially interested now that you mention there's meaning behind each one. Do you know where I can read a little more about this?

[@pokejeenios]

@@kailynrudd7937 The meaning of the references are big spoilers. Look up "meti not the bad guy" on KZbin, he has a great video on it.

[@kailynrudd7937]

@@pokejeenios Oooh, thank you. I'll definitely wait and give that a look later. Do you think it'll be safe come the end of the first season, or is it deeper spoilers than that? I know the manga has a lot of chapters.

[@pokejeenios]

@@kailynrudd7937 It goes all the way up until the end of part 1 in the manga, so season 2

[@kailynrudd7937]

@@pokejeenios Thank you!

[@Kodamair]

I seriously can’t get over how good it is. I’ve had it on repeat off and on throughout the past day or two because the song is just so d*mn GOOD!!

[@Prometheus_Williams]

Great review and breakdown. Thank you. Hey at 2:08 the artist is Gustav Dori. He was amazing. I have a bunch of his art books. Yamashita’s is on another level.

[@forgottenrelics1197]

Thanks and I just realised what work Botticelli did, I saw his name credited with Dante's work and just assumed it was him who drew it, cheers for letting me know 😅

[@seya_2]

I was arguing with a guy who had no Idea about animation about the Power and Denji dancing cut. He said it was Roto'd obviously I got offended

[@forgottenrelics1197]

i swear just about every cut fujimoto did people think is rotoscoped haha

[@notlightbeam4889]

The power and denji dancing scene was the mickey dance and nobody can tell me otherwise

[@ok-yv9dd]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the kinetic flow (note: i don't knotw what the actual term is, but i mean the way your eyes follow the action and how that's used to carry momentum between scenes). It's so beautifully done, especially in the fight scene, only breaking when denji is attacked out of nowhere, then picking up again as the ball rolls (left to right), denii jumps (down-left to upper-right), attacks downwards (upper left to down-right), and then that same vector being used with denji cracking the egg... then stopping. It really feels like you snapped out of a dream.

[@joyurizzzz]

the main thing i was worried abt w this anime was that mappa wouldn’t totally understand the concept of chainsaw man. it’s wacky, funky, gritty, but still manages to be serious and tackles themes like trauma and depression pretty well. but judging by the opening, it seems like they know exactly what they’re doing

[@Soosss]

Shingo is a genius man, all the OPs he works on are bangers. He did the urusei yatsura opening this season and it’s also really well done. His directing is so amazing, an inspiration.

[@mizukane7247]

I think the opening really shows everything it needs to to prepare you for chainsaw man. It all blends together so well and really translates the feel of the manga into an anime almost perfectly and god is it a feast for the eyes. I'm glad you brought up Tam Lu's cut because it probably stood out the most to me on the first watch. Its so stylistic I love it.

[@tbxvividos]

aaahhh i hadn't noticed those background characters in the bowling cut! that's crazy how detailed their animations are. thanks for showing me that =o

[@sigurdlndorf3699]

this is honestly just a really well made video, which enjoyed a lot, so thank you! :)

[@trumputin8235]

It all makes sense now... all of the recent openings that absolutely blew me away were directed by this guy.

[@orewing]

I knew the first time I saw this OP that it was Yamashita's work, but I couldn't put into words _how_ I knew until I watched this video, so thank you! And thank you for teaching me more about the team responsible-it's nice to see individual animators being highlighted for the specific cuts they worked on. I'm sharing this video with as many of my friends as possible. Great work!

[@ShocoMilk]

I really love Tam lu’s part in the opening because it looks so clean

[@fredericabernkastel8354]

Having read the manga before, you can really tell how well the core themes are integrated into the opening. All the artists involved did an amazing job. I love seeing the opening every week over and over again. it's like eating my favorite candy.

[@slashmanfan]

Lmao the sanji and zoro art spliced in there was golden

[@exyl_sounds]

wat. At 2:33 the scene with the pistol looks nearly identical down to the pattern of rocks and the couches. Where's the line between a reference and plagiarism

[@BAO-ve9pd]

Kouki Fujimoto is slowly becoming one of my favorite new-gen animators. He, and the other animation talent have done an excellent job with this episode.

[@Rille922]

Thank god this got recommended to me, you really broke it down well and gave a lot of insight

[@tametalks6102]

That wasn't rotoscoped, im blown away by the genuine talent here

[@R3DSPYD3R]

The series director is actually Ryu Nakayama, not Nakamura. Minor typo but important distinction

[@superexplosion12]

One thing that makes it good: all the refferences in this opening can be related to the characters in some way.

[@isaacdayton4962]

Not to mention the excellent foreshadowing of the biggest plot twist is an unbelievably bold move, obviously not going to say more than that because i don’t want to spoil it

[@deloller2452]

You mean the zombie snail?

[@isaacdayton4962]

@@deloller2452 more than just that.

[@Penguinman2.0]

I’ve been half spoiled elsewhere… I’m sad😢

[@Penguinman2.0]

I’ve been half spoiled elsewhere… I’m sad😢

[@roronikkozoro]

I randomly ran into this channel. The last 3 consecutive videos posted (csm, mp100, jjk) are my top 3 anime. Instant sub.

[@Sei_Less]

I couldn't understand anything from the video but I thrust this man

[@virgilthemob1242]

I wasn't a huge fan of all the soft transitions and fade ins and fade outs at first, but the way they crammed so many references into it was absolutely brilliant.

[@kittycatREAL]

bro tried sneaking in an image at 6:19

[@Matt-cn7kp]

Speaking about Tam Lu, Castlevania could make for some interesting content, just saying, other than that thank you for the amazing video

[@forgottenrelics1197]

no problem :)

[@Matt-cn7kp]

@@forgottenrelics1197 I looking forward to it

[@MegaJoshX]

I'm grateful someone is breaking this situation down, because this ish is amazing. I never even gave a toot about Chainsaw Man, but the opening alone has secured my interest, and I am absolutely stupid excited for more of the story

[@tomatosauce5775]

For both the OP and what has been shown of the show so far, the only way that I can describe it is that it almost looks like it was shot instead of animated. To me, animation and live action have very different feels in their cinematography, so we've ended up with an anime that looks like it was filmed

[@dvillines26]

people are saying that it doesn't look like the manga, but the manga artwork was Fujimoto's attempt to replicate the striking compositions in film in a manga layout. In actual animation, you can just straight up mimic film, so you don't need Fujimoto's workarounds. Also, inherently, you can't get away with white or low-detail backgrounds, so what do you do? You make it as cinematic as possible. Chainsaw Man is an anime functioning in the mode of cinema rather than simply staying in its lane, and it's fascinating to watch. When the action really gets crazy we'll see how well they're able to keep that up. the fight against the Zombie Devil was, by necessity, dimly lit and grimy, so it's going to take a daytime fight to really see what this team is capable of doing.

[@rohannborah9025]

Helping out for the algorithm, you're doing great work.

[@lady_deaths_head]

The cinematography, the angles, the FUCKING LIGHTING, even what the characters are doing, is perfect. Perfect, perfect, just perfect.

[@ClydeYouTuber]

Amazing video

[@miwara7636]

Thank you so much for this content. I love this opening and I was watching it over and over. Now I can appreciate it even more.

[@jannespollet4830]

Skee mask in the background, I like it!

[@ienjoy8130]

Im glad for Tam Lu being recognized not only to his music but also to his passion in animation, dude is really talented.

[@k2unzgj]

bruh just thinking how creative are these guys just gave me chills

[@thamrew676]

I think Aki used Kon to eat the cameraman.

[@FL_MENTALITY]

Dancing Future Devil was the highlight of the OP

[@Karin029_]

5:27 It makes it look more anime illustrations rather than anime which is often simplified to save time.

[@kinko143]

Botticelli's artwork is also found on the infamous Denji's birthday scene. Good callback.

[@b1iink249]

Surprising to see Tam Lu in this video. he used to create and post guitar arrangements on anime songs here in KZbin.

[@carlabecer5431]

I really love the art style and animation on where Denji is trying to escape that big ball.

[@nuclearbomb9483]

Every second of animation = 1 mappa animator not seeing his kids for a full day. At least it looks cool af

[@MouthMuffler]

i was so addicted to watching this video i watched a 9 minute video so i could listen to another person praise it for me.

[@hime1946]

very good video, explained it very thoroughly, thank you

[@rosevalety3408]

can we please talk about the Time Devil just enjoyably shaking on the music ? I nneed to talk about how goofy this looks like, it's amazing.

[@projectfear22]

Underrated channel. Subbed.

[@botbot3698]

Chainsaw Man cinematography is gorgeous. As a live-action filmmaker I love looking at anime for inspiration & Chainsaw Man so far has fed my hunger for cool visuals so much

[@nobletakamura2072]

The one scene I especially love is the future devil just gettin jiggy with it lol

[@RenaudBAI]

Greaaaat opening (the music helps a lot too). But the last part of the opening was quite confusing, I think the focus on the golden ball isn't really clear, and it goes so fast that I had to watch that part 2 or 3 times before understanding that the ball was not behind Denji, but in front of him. And that the shot after was him thinking of bowling idea to beat the demon etc... But I loooove the animation in this anyway, especially the cinema shot with everyone, and the Goodbye Eri shot followed by numerous great and expressive shots of several characters. (and that dancing demon is perfect lol)

[@SamuraiGekko]

The first episode looked good too

[@jkomodo]

that Animation by Tam Lu was my fave. What a coincidence that was the same animator as castlevania. S+ work

[@jackfarley055]

I really love the part where power is walking away from an explosion. It looks soo good.

[@tibers17]

their is also foreshadowing like alot in the intro which will later explain alot of the plot later on. People that just start watching the anime and knows nothing in the manga will be surprised about the characters in the intro because the intro doesnt spoil much or shows what role those characters will have in the future.

[@brighttooth3436]

6:19 power just flashes up for a few frames after you said "as beautiful as these images are in isolation, ..." was this on purpose lol

[@wolfochungo]

2:05 this is Dore not Botticelli. Both did work related to dante's inferno so I see where the confusion came from

[@kaizze8777]

class assignment: make an opening inspired by your favourite films Chainsawman: hold my pochita

[@tartoflan]

So it was Tam Lu's work that I noticed in castlevania. I love his animation style

[@toreole]

in conclusion: a lot of extremely skilled people did their absolute best to make it look that good

[@justyouraveragehumanbeing7411]

Keiichiro Watanabe's part really reminds me a lot of dorohedoro in terms of the trippy colors on top of the future devil's goofy dance

[@possssp3069]

The music on top in insane

[@sweetrelease3565]

the composting is mind blowing

[@vigilanterorschach2600]

I didn't think we would get anything close to the level of Jujutsu Kaisen's animation but not much time later, here we are, gathering to praise MAPPA, Fujimoto, all the freelancers, animators and everyone else who worked on this amazing piece of art. On a side note, MAPPA do be the highest profile studio in recent years, it seems like they can't miss.

[@misterwiggles8771]

you're right, I do want to go watch Chainsaw Man OP again. Great work, thank you!

[@micheal4007]

I watched the 3 episodes available. went on to binge the entire series in a night, and now I'm depressed.

[@AttacMage]

the divine comedy also shows up in background of the office in episode 2

[@captainglad4966]

I want to think that the movie references are themselves as a whole a reference to Fire Punch and the cinema thematic that's so prevalent to it.

[@mab7727]

Didn't even know there were references, haha mad lad!

[@mariust100]

Thank you for this video 😢

[@metro187]

bro sounds like a reporter to a crime scene

[@coolbrotherf127]

Something about the Chainsaw Man anime project has seemed to just attract the best the brightest artist in Japan all together to produce one of the greatest masterpieces of animation ever.

[@ColinDenny02]

I thought you were gonna talk about how GODDAMN FUNKY the intro is I was wrong

[@chrisumali9841]

Yup you nailed it

[@poketdoom]

theres a few things you left out, a big thing (spoilers btw) is that makima and denji had a conversation on whether bad movies should exist or not which plays to all the movie references

[@tangroro]

Simple: the anime is funded by Sony, which is using this anime as promotion for their music talents, that's why every episode will have a different op and ed

[@doremiancleff1508]

I didn't even knew he brought us the infamous Pain vs Naruto sequence. No complaining about it tho, the way he animated is really REALLY dynamic and i would always take it over a conventional "good" animation, but seeing same dynamics and not going outside character sheets is a feat.

[@Rendydany]

This is probably my most paused opening ever. I don't even know the guy behind it yet this opening blew my mind

[@steeezzyy801]

LOL for some reason the future devil's dancing captivated me 😂😂😂

[@1BKA2]

6:00 well the light coming from exactly the opposite direction...