EVENT: Chainsaw Man Festival Brings the Mayhem to Fans for a Special Stage Event
Image via MAPPA
It’s safe to say that Chainsaw Man is a certified hit around the world, which was all the more obvious walking into the Tokyo Garden Theater in Odaiba for “Chainsaw Man Fes” (from here referred to as “Chainsaw Man Festival”) last month, the biggest event for the series thus far. People were wall-to-wall waiting to head in as lines formed around a photo spot featuring the main visual, as seen above (sadly, without Pochita).
Watch both the afternoon and evening editions of
the Chainsaw Man Festival right here on Crunchyroll!
As the crowd thinned to make their way to their seats in the packed-out 8,000-person auditorium, the lights dimmed and the sound of Denji and Pochita echoed throughout the hall.
Image via MAPPA
The Power of Chainsaw Man
On stage under the spotlight was Kikunosuke Toya (Denji’s voice actor) performing a live reading of the Denji and Pochita from the first episode where their forces collide. The footage filled the screen as memories flooded back in from my first watch of the episode last September. How far we’ve come!
As the scene ends with Denji ripping at his chest, so did Toya, and the lights blacked out with Kenji Yonezu’s voice ringing out through the speakers, the bass thumping through my chest with the creditless version of the opening theme playing on the screens. Though, unlike the rest of the musical parts of the event, Yonezu wasn’t on stage.
The crowd screamed “Chainsaw Man” ahead of the emcee, comedian Seitaro Mukai, and voice actors were brought on stage, building the atmosphere in the theater. As each voice actor walked onto the stage in their staff shirts with a cute accent piece from each character, they all did an adorable entrance pose. Kobeni’s voice actor Karin Takahashi’s pose got the loudest reaction – as expected!
RELATED: EVENT: Chainsaw Man’s World Premiere Was a Bloody Good Time
Following self-introductions – with Makima’s voice actor Tomori Kusunoki having to bow out due to health issues – a digest of the series set to each of the episode’s respective ending songs was shown on the screens above the stage. One of the best edits was the straight cut to the vomit scene in ano’s “ALL KINDS OF KISSES.” The emcee commented on his favorite scenes, including the barf set to the music, as well as Power with her glasses looking cute. Gotta say, the man has great taste.
Chainsaw Man’s Animated Performances
Next up was the first musical performance of the day, via the tune of TOOBE’s ending theme “tablet.” The song was introduced as a “viral Tiktok hit” with the stage lights dimming, then searing red into my eyeballs as the crestless ending then played. TOOBE appeared from behind the rubble giving fans a very Powerful performance.
Toya followed the performance with another live scene reading, this time of the second episode when Makima feeds Denji like a dog, with Toya literally barking on stage like one. Power’s voice actor Fairouz Ai then joined Toya to read the scene from the third episode when Power smooshed a devil with her hammer. While Toya was great by himself, having both the voice actors on stage helped them play off each other and become more animated.
Aki’s voice actor Shogo Sakata joined the duo to read the scene when Power is forced upon the Household. Ai mimicked Power’s personality perfectly on stage while Toya and Sakata looked and acted suitably displeased by her appearance.
The next had Toya alone again reading from the intimate fifth episode of Denji talking to Makima — by taking, I mean getting his thumb bitten and coerced into being Makima’s pet. Funnily enough, even though we’re less than halfway through the show, this is probably the fourth time the audience has seen Denji grabbing boobs.
The Cast of Chainsaw Man Makes Each Other Blush
Next was a talk between the cast and the artists at the event: TOOBEE, syudou and ano (in her pajamas). Ano was able to embarrass Toya by saying that her favorite character was Denji. Toya, on the other hand, said that while Makima was “difficult,” he really liked her as a character.
TOOBOE said he felt a deep connection to Power as a character as he performs her ending theme song and thinks she’s cute in glasses (as we all do). Ai “100 percent” agreed on Power’s cuteness while Takahashi confessed that her favorite character was also Power. TOOBOE also enjoyed the “coolness” of Samurai Sword as a villain while making sure we all knew that his first love was Power.
After the cast talk, syudou performed the ending theme “In the Back Room,” followed by ano’s infamous track (which I’d argue was even more of a viral TikTok hit), “ALL KINDS OF KISSES.”
Syudou put on a mind-bending performance befitting the ending theme song he sang coupled with the animation from the ending in the background, bringing some sort of abstract energy to the stage.
Ano is just as good on stage as she is in her music video. Pink-suited backup dancers (the only singer at the event to have dancers!), followed her around the stage as she performed her now trademark dance with impeccable weird-as-heck perfection. The tune continues to eat up my brain space.
Chainsaw Man Games and Readings
Himeno’s voice actor Mariya Ise then joined the stage alongside Sakata and Toya for a reenaction of Chainsaw Man going wild in the hotel devil featured in the seventh episode of the series. An air of tension then filled the air with the live reading from episode eight as Ise acted out her death scene alongside Samurai Man’s voice actor Daiki Yamashita, Akane Sawatari’s voice actor Yo Taichi and Sakata.
Kobeni finally got her time in the spotlight from episode nine’s scene, as Takahashi, Taichi and Yamashita voiced their fight scene. Watching Takahashi cry on stage as Kobeni while grasping Chainsaw Man’s upper torso was more gripping than watching it in the show; I couldn’t look away from watching the emotion on her face as she was sniveling through the scene.
Taking a break from the live readings was a game where the cast and musicians had to draw different characters and settings. Ai joined the emcee to host the game, oddly making the teams uneven. Nevertheless, it was obvious at the end of each round why they had to kick Ai out – she was just too good of an artist! She’s just too powerful.
Closing Up on the Chainsaw Man Festival
PEOPLE 1 performed the last live performance of the night with their hauntingly beautiful hit “DOGLAND.” The band brought a high school jam session energy where they all looked like they were having the time of their lives on stage while the rest of us were equally enjoying watching them have fun and cheering along in the audience.
The Chainsaw Man Festival wrapped up with the cast members saying their final words. They were all surprised at how many people turned out for the event (though really, it is Chainsaw Man after all!) and they thanked fans for their continual support.
Image via MAPPA
You can watch the full Chainsaw Man Festival event for yourself right here on Crunchyroll, featuring both the afternoon and evening editions. Before or even after then, though, you can rewatch the entire Chainsaw Man anime in both sub and dub version as well!
Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.
