4 Reasons that Chainsaw Man is EXCELLENT for Japanese Learning
What if you took Evangelion and made it readable for a fifth grader? That's basically what the Chainsaw Man manga is. And it's for this reason that the series stands out as particularly and uniquely valuable for Japanese learners even compared to action stories.
Reading graphic novels in your target language is a fun, motivating, and powerful way to improve your language skills. Here are the special reasons why I give Chainsaw Man (チェンソーマン) an A+ for learnability and why you should consider adding it as a "textbook" in your own language-learning curriculum.
Mature storyline, immature expectations.
Chainsaw Man is an action story that has plenty of dark, psychological, young adult themes, but it's written for what is essentially a childrens' audience! Chainsaw Man has furigana (phonetic transcription) for every word, which is -- despite what you may think -- very rare for manga with darker storylines.
Moreover, the main character Denji is somewhat of an idiot who usually needs complex statements and strategies explained to him twice. This sometimes literally happens on a single page, which is very valuable for adding clarity to some of the strange twists and unexpected mechanics that show up in the Chainsaw Man Universe.
At the time of this writing, Chainsaw Man is one of the only psychological action mangas with full furigana coverage, giving you a lot of "bang for your buck"; it is THE BEST storyline with easy-to-access vocabulary. If you disagree or have other recommendations, let us know in the comments!
High quality, digital color edition.
For beginners, reading low-resolution manga -- both digital and printed -- can lead to huge distractions, where you're constantly focusing on blurry words. This adds an unnecessary delay that can be discouraging and slows down the learning process.
That's why it's great that the First Arc of Chainsaw Man is published in beautiful, digital full color. When you're looking for a language-learning manga, I strongly recommend you pick one that has a digital color edition (usually designated with カラー版, DIGITAL in online stores). This guarantees that you'll be able to see high-resolution images on your phone, so that you can distinguish the individual letters of the furigana, and also get some delightful visual enjoyment.
Short story, no filler.
Most shonen manga fans are very familiar with lengthy stories with endless volumes and plenty of filler. Chainsaw Man has hardly any filler. It's a fairly short and well-contained story, with plenty of ups and downs, emotional rollercoasters, and major story developments in every chapter. This makes it a good resource for people who want to pick up a story and be "finished" with it.
Good humor, memeworthy scenes
Chainsaw Man is extremely funny, and Tatsuki Fujimoto is a great comedian. You will benefit from engaging with the funny body language, crazy scenes, and humorous dialogue while reading this book. The sense of humor serves as an interesting challenge for intermediate learners, but it's not so sophisticated as to completely lose you. It's also a great grammatical reinforcement when, for example, two people blame an accident on each other, or someone is beaten by someone else, forcing you to read through the grammatical particles to understand what's going on.
Challenges in reading Chainsaw Man
Action hero dialect
The biggest challenge in Chainsaw Man is that the protagonist Denji speaks in a shonen action hero dialect, often slurring his words, cursing impolitely at people, or saying something important using hiragana only. This can make it hard to read if you're very unfamiliar with action stories and if your "listening sense" of Japanese is weaker than your "reading sense." Hiragana-only dialogue can also be uniquely challenging for people from a Chinese background. On the other hand, reading through these moments is a great exercise to help you strengthen your reading and listening association; and it's very fun!
The story escalates a lot
Some people complain that the lack of filler in Chainsaw Man causes it to escalate a lot, moving incredibly fast with many shocking events and emotional scenes. This is definitely true, and there are many moments where you might just sit still and not want to read any more for that day because you're still processing what's happened. On the other hand, those points can offer a good opportunity to scan backwards and re-read the scene several times, drilling the words into your mind and processing the story even more. The concentration of emotion in Chainsaw Man makes it quite different from ordinary reading exercises, so you cannot always commit to "read 50 pages a day" without context.
You won't know what to read after it ends
After reading Arc 1, and catching up with Arc 2 in Chainsaw Man, it can be hard to find other reading materials. The same qualities that make Chainsaw Man such a good learning tool also make it sad to finish. I’m currently reading the fantastic series Dandadan ダンダダン (recommended by Tatsuki Fujimoto), but it's not quite the same (it has more lighthearted vibes), and it doesn't even have furigana!
Conclusion
Chainsaw Man is a precious treasure for language learners, who are always hungry for high-quality storylines but struggle with advanced reading. Learning a new language is difficult, but a great story, fantastic art, and funny dialogue gives us a recipe for language learning success. If you're learning Japanese and have any appetite for action stories at all, definitely give Chainsaw Man a try!
