5 best anime like Chainsaw Man for fans to watch next

Chainsaw Man, the anime adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s action-horror manga a few boy named Denji with the facility to remodel into a person made from chainsaws, concluded its first season in late December 2022. Whereas readers of the manga are already conscious of what transpires following the season’s cliffhanger finale, followers of the anime should wait a bit longer for the reply to simply who that dark-haired younger lady seen within the post-credits of the ultimate episode was.

Whereas I might actually bend your ear and spin you fairly the yarn as to who that lady was and what precisely is her entire deal, I’m not gonna do it — ’trigger hey, spoilers, dude! As a substitute, I’m going to do my half to make the anticipate the announcement of a second season of Chainsaw Man extra tolerable by recommending some anime that’ll scratch that nagging itch for extra gore-heavy hyper-violence, adolescent vulgarity, simmering sexual stress, and crushing existential ennui. Why? As a result of it’s enjoyable, that’s why — anime is enjoyable!

Listed here are 5 of essentially the most overtly fucked-up and unabashedly bizarre anime it’s best to watch when you loved Chainsaw Man.

Kizumonogatari

Picture: Shaft/Aniplex

Style: Fantasy/horror motion
Administrators: Akiyuki Shinbo, Tatsuya Oishi
Run time: 1h 4m (Half 1: Tekketsu); 1h 8m (Half 2: Nekketsu); 1h 23m (Half 3: Reiketsu)

As we’ve identified up to now, Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto has cited the Kizumonogatari trilogy — specifically the finale, Kizumonogatari Half 3: Reiketsu — as an inspiration and affect on the sequence. Likewise, a number of animators on MAPPA’s 2022 anime adaptation of Chainsaw Man beforehand labored on the Kizumonogatari movies, together with key animator Atori Ozawa, episode director Hironori Tanaka, and chief animation director Tsutomu Matsūra.

The premise of Kizumonogatari is simply as batshit as Chainsaw Man’s, if no more. The movies comply with Koyomi Araragi, a highschool scholar who inadvertently stumbles throughout an immortal but mortally wounded vampire by the identify of (*deep breath*) Kiss-Shot Acerola-Orion Coronary heart-Beneath-Blade. After being sired by Kiss-Shot, Koyomi is compelled to battle in opposition to a gaggle of vampire hunters for possession of her misplaced physique components whereas defending his sort-of girlfriend Tsubasa Hanekawa. It’s a hyper-violent, hyper-horny, avant-garde horror-action anime that’s as attractive to take a look at as it’s inscrutable at instances to make sense of. In the event you try solely one of many anime on this checklist, make Kizumonogatari that anime.

The Kizumonogatari trilogy is on the market to lease on Prime Video.

Dorohedoro

Picture: MAPPA/Netflix

Style: Darkish science fantasy/motion
Director: Yuichiro Hayashi
Variety of episodes: 12

In the event you loved Chainsaw Man, you owe it to your self to take a look at Dorohedoro — MAPPA’s different darkish sci-fi motion sequence primarily based on a cult favourite manga. Set within the Gap, a postapocalyptic favela-like human metropolis polluted by magic-wielding sorcerers, the sequence follows Caiman, a person whose head was reworked into that of a reptile with no reminiscence of his previous following an assault by an unknown sorcerer. With the help of Nikaido, the proprietor of a close-by gyoza restaurant who discovered Caiman’s unconscious physique and took him in, Caiman battles in opposition to and kills sorcerers wherever they flip up as he searches for the one chargeable for reworking him in hopes of a treatment. Oh, and did I point out he does this by biting down on their faces, whereby a mysterious entity behind his throat judges whether or not or not the sorcerer in query is the one accountable? Fortunately, it solely will get weirder from there. Dorohedoro is an distinctive adaptation of a much-loved manga and a sequence equal to MAPPA’s Chainsaw Man adaptation as a challenge born out of inventive ardour and unfettered creativeness.

Dorohedoro is on the market to stream on Netflix.

Parasyte: The Maxim

Picture: Madhouse/Sentai Filmworks

Style: Sci-fi/horror
Director: Kenichi Shimizu
Variety of episodes: 24

Primarily based on Hitoshi Iwaaki’s 1988 sci-fi horror manga, this 2014 anime directed by Kenichi Shimizu (who, enjoyable reality, is credited because the animation director for the 1997 Canadian-American kids’s motion sequence Mummies Alive!) and produced by studio Madhouse follows Shinichi Izumi, an strange highschool boy who wakes up one morning to seek out his proper hand has been devoured and changed by a shapeshifting alien parasite referred to as Migi (Japanese for “proper”). After studying humanity is steadily being infiltrated by an extraterrestrial race of shapeshifting parasites, Shinichi and Migi are compelled to strike up a symbiotic relationship of mutual survival whereas preventing off different parasite-infected people who search to kill and devour them. Suppose 2018’s Venom by the use of 1978’s Invasion of the Physique Snatchers. Parasyte: The Maxim is each a becoming adaptation of a novel cult manga traditional and a captivating gross-out motion anime in its personal proper.

Parasyte: The Maxim is on the market to stream on Crunchyroll and Hulu.

No Weapons Life

Picture: Madhouse/Crunchyroll

Style: Cyberpunk/motion
Director: Naoyuki Itō
Variety of episodes: 24

You’ve heard of Chainsaw Man’s Denji, the boy with a chainsaw for a head, and Dorohedoro’s Caiman, the person with a reptilian head, however have you ever heard of No Weapons Life’s Juzo Inui, the person with a gun for a head? Set in a dystopian future metropolis populated by people and cyborgs, the anime follows an amnesiac personal detective with an enormous functioning revolver for a head who prides himself on defending the downtrodden and by no means leaving a case unsolved.

When a mysterious younger boy named Tetsurō arrives on his doorstep, begging for his help, Juzo chooses to assist the boy escape from a cadre of superhuman assassins employed by an unscrupulous megacorporation for some darkish and horrible objective. It’s pretty boilerplate so far as sci-fi noir anime goes, however when you’re on the lookout for a strong motion drama a few weird-looking protagonist with a (figurative) coronary heart of gold and (literal) nerves of metal, No Weapons Life makes for a terrific watch.

No Weapons Life is on the market to stream on Crunchyroll and Hulu.

Gleipnir

Picture: Pine Jam/Crunchyroll

Style: Supernatural thriller/horror-action
Director: Kazuhiro Yoneda
Variety of episodes: 13

You want psychosexual metaphors in your anime? Nicely, you’re gonna get that after which some with Gleipnir, the 2020 anime adaptation of Solar Takeda’s supernatural motion manga directed by Kazuhiro Yoneda (Do It Your self!!). The sequence follows Shūichi Kagaya, a gifted albeit meek teenager with a darkish secret: He has the flexibility to remodel right into a cute anthropomorphic animal creature. It’s mainly one massive apparent analog for puberty à la Naota’s “N.O.” situation in FLCL.

As unhealthy as Naota’s predicament may’ve been, nevertheless, he by no means needed to take care of a bodily abusive, libidinous, and fiery-tempered classmate who actually climbs all up in his guts and pilots him like a gun-toting furry-mecha. Gleipnir faucets into the identical vein of puberty-exacerbated frustration and attendant hyper-violence as Chainsaw Man.

Gleipnir is on the market to stream on Crunchyroll.