“It was like a prophet”: Chainsaw Man Composer Got the Most Ominous Prediction About His Role in Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Anime
Kensuke Ushio, the composer of Chainsaw Man, isn’t your typical anime soundtrack composer. As the pioneering and acclaimed Japanese composer, he has deconstructed Bach’s compositions, painted sheet music with watercolor, and merged traditional Japanese biwa music with EDM.
It makes complete sense that he was chosen to compose the soundtrack for the anime adaptation of the extremely experimental and refreshing Chainsaw Man. Crunchyroll had the chance to interview Ushio about how he got connected to the production, using AI to create unique sounds, and even cutting up and distorting music to match the violence of a chainsaw.
Kensuke Ushio Got a Premonition About Working On Chainsaw Man
In the interview with Kensuke Ushio, the composer talked about how he got involved with the Chainsaw Man production. Ushio replied by saying that it was a bit complex. He added:
So, in the beginning it was actually the staff that worked on Ping Pong the Animation approached me and told me that a director and producer of a certain anime show was looking for my contact.
I’m on really good terms with the staff of Ping Pong, we are good friends. I said, “yeah, go ahead,” and they gave my information to the person in question and… well, here we are. This was the project they were thinking of!
When he was asked about how he felt when he got the chance to work on Chainsaw Man, Ushio expressed himself by saying that although he had worked on other titles before, they felt more subtle. However, Chainsaw Man was a huge Jump battle title.
The interviewer commented that it was really crazy that he ended up working on the soundtrack, to which Ushio responded:
I saw a YouTube comment on a video upload of one of my previous tracks and the comment said, “this would be perfect for CSM.” So, it was like a prophet, you know?
When asked about his thoughts when reading Chainsaw Man, he found it to be interesting, funny, and completely revolutionary.
Kensuke Ushio Thought That Chainsaw Man Represents a New Generation
The interviewer asked Ushio why Chainsaw Man felt revolutionary compared with other shonen manga, and Ushio responded that generally in Jump, there are three principles: friendship, effort, and victory. However, Chainsaw Man is completely different from the rest.
Although the comic represented friendship, effort, and victory, it was in a different form. But he felt that the comic had original emotion to it and great battle scenes. According to Ushio, Chainsaw Man represents a new generation.
Chainsaw Man follows the story of Denji, an impoverished teenager who makes a contract with his dog-like Devil, Pochita and fuses his body with Pochita, granting him the ability to transform parts of his body into chainsaws.
You can watch Chainsaw Man on Crunchyroll.
