English Dub Review: Chainsaw Man: “Meowy’s Whereabouts”

Overview: Denji (Ryan Colt Levy) helps Power (Sarah Wiedenheft) in getting her cat, Meowy, back from a hungry and sadistic creature known as the Bat Devil.

Our Take: Power immediately hit the ground running in her introduction; she is chock full of crazy bat shit energy as well as juvenile spontaneity. Beyond being an insane little nut, there is a grounded core that centers her in being more than a crazed animal.

Denji wants to fondle some tits and Power wants her cat back, so comes an unlikely partnership in which they can give each other just that. However, there is much more to their agreement than just groping and kitties. 

Power’s cynicism regarding humans in how she criticizes Denji’s sentiment after losing Pochita is a different, cold new side to her. More well-founded though is her anguish with Devils on account of her precious Meowy as she’s called being held captive by the Bat Devil. Power’s connection with her feline friend is sweetly nuanced in it being the one creature to not fear her. It is only until she is betrayed and her friend is eaten that she truly understands with the pain of loss he must feel, making for an emotional breakthrough in her newfound compassion. 

With a half devil situation unprecedented, Makima going to bat for Denji is engaging in the vast potential and humanity he could have. With how greatly skeptical Hayakawa is of Denji, it shows how deeply he misunderstands him and how similar they actually are for stirring dramatic irony. 

Denji’s unyielding kindness, despite being double-crossed, makes him the lewd shining beacon with inspiring character work in how his own previous anxieties regarding Pochita inform his own humanity in helping save a swallowed Power. The Bat Devil is yet another addition to the laundry list of nasty beasts with how horrifyingly unsettling his beefy, anthropomorphic body is to behold, along with his vicious animalistic expressiveness. It makes it all the more satisfying in Denji slicing and deconstructing him like Thanksgiving turkey in another demonic visual feast. Their skyward battle tumbles down to the city level with stellar destruction and debris effects as Denji tries to protect people while getting thrown like a frisbee through buildings. It is a phenomenal battle that will hopefully breed an equally meaningful payoff for Power and Denji in their partnership moving forward.