Chainsaw Man Manga: The Complete Guide to Reading, Volumes, and Where to Start in 2026

My first encounter with the chainsaw man manga was at the absolute worst possible time. A friend sent me a scan of a single page from volume 4 with zero context — just a scene so chaotic and visually overwhelming that I genuinely had no idea what I was looking at. I asked what it was from. He said “just start from volume 1, trust me.” I did. I finished Part 1 in two sittings and then sat quietly for about ten minutes processing what I had just experienced.

That reaction is not unusual for people who read the chainsaw man manga for the first time. It is one of those comics that genuinely does not resemble anything else on the shelf. The art style is raw in a way that feels intentional rather than unpolished. The storytelling breaks rules that most manga treats as laws. The characters behave in ways that constantly subvert your expectations about what type of story you are reading.

This guide covers everything you need to know about the chainsaw man manga — where to start, how the volumes are structured, the difference between Part 1 and chainsaw man part 2, where to read chainsaw man online legally, and what makes this particular manga worth the time of someone who has never read it before.

What Is the Chainsaw Man Manga and Why Is It Different

The chainsaw man manga is written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto and published in Weekly Shonen Jump and later Jump Plus. Part 1 ran from December 2018 to December 2020. Chainsaw man part 2 began in July 2022 and is currently ongoing in Jump Plus.

The story follows Denji, a teenager drowning in debt inherited from his dead father, who makes a living hunting Devils — supernatural beings born from human fears — alongside his Devil companion Pochita, who is a small chainsaw dog. After being betrayed and killed, Denji merges with Pochita and is reborn as the Chainsaw Man: a hybrid who can manifest chainsaws from his body.

He gets recruited into a government division that hunts Devils. What follows across the chainsaw man manga is one of the most unpredictable, emotionally raw, and formally unconventional mainstream manga runs in recent Shonen Jump history.

Tatsuki Fujimoto before chainsaw man was already known in manga circles for his one-shots and the series Fire Punch — dark, experimental work that showed a creator willing to go to uncomfortable places in service of what he was trying to say. The chainsaw man manga is where that approach collided with mainstream serialisation and somehow produced something that became a global phenomenon.

Chainsaw Man Manga Part 1 Complete Volume Guide

The chainsaw man manga Part 1 spans eleven volumes in the English edition published by VIZ Media. Here is what each volume covers and what makes it significant.

Chainsaw Man Part 2: What It Is and How It Differs From Part 1

Chainsaw man part 2 is a direct continuation of the chainsaw man manga set after the events of Part 1. It serialises in Jump Plus rather than Weekly Shonen Jump, which gives it a different release schedule — chapters drop weekly online rather than in a weekly print magazine.

Chainsaw man part 2 follows a new protagonist — Asa Mitaka — who becomes the host of the War Devil. Denji returns as a figure in the story but the perspective has shifted and the chainsaw man manga uses that shift to approach its themes from a completely different angle.

The reaction to chainsaw man part 2 online, including on communities like r/chainsawman on Reddit, has been divided in interesting ways. Readers who came to the chainsaw man manga primarily for Denji have found the adjustment to a new lead difficult. Readers who came for Fujimoto’s storytelling approach have generally found chainsaw man part 2 to be as strong as — and in some arcs stronger than — Part 1.

My honest take after reading chainsaw man part 2 from the beginning: give it twenty chapters before forming a judgement. The new lead takes time to understand and the chainsaw man manga part 2 is building toward something whose full shape is not yet visible.

Where to Read Chainsaw Man Manga Online Legally

There are several legitimate options for reading the chainsaw man manga online and in print. Here is the complete breakdown.

Chainsaw Man Manga Volumes: Physical vs Digital — Which Is Better

This is a question I see come up constantly in the chainsaw man manga community and I have a clear opinion having read it both ways.

The chainsaw man manga in physical form is genuinely the better reading experience. Fujimoto’s artwork has a texture and density to it that benefits from a larger page. The splash pages in chainsaw man volume 4 and the Darkness Devil sequence in chainsaw man 9 in particular lose something on a small digital screen that they retain in print.

That said, chainsaw man manga volumes are not always immediately available everywhere and digital access through the VIZ or Manga Plus platforms is instant. If you want to start reading chainsaw man online right now, the digital options are perfectly good — especially for a first read. I would then recommend buying the physical chainsaw man volumes for the arcs you want to reread, because the reread experience in print is noticeably richer.

For chainsaw man part 2 specifically, digital through Manga Plus is currently the only realistic option for staying current with chainsaw man new chapter releases in English.

Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man: What to Read Next

One of the best things about getting into the chainsaw man manga is that it opens up a creator whose other work is equally worth your time. Tatsuki Fujimoto before chainsaw man produced several pieces that are available and readable after you finish the main series.

Fire Punch is Fujimoto’s previous serialised manga and it is available through VIZ. Darker and less accessible than the chainsaw man manga but with the same willingness to break narrative rules and the same rawness in the artwork. Essential reading for anyone who finishes the chainsaw man manga and wants more Fujimoto.

Look Back is a one-shot about two girls who bond over their shared love of drawing manga. It is completely unlike the chainsaw man manga in tone — quiet, emotionally devastating, extraordinarily beautiful. It is available free on Manga Plus and it is one of the best single-chapter manga ever published.

Goodbye, Eri is another one-shot, longer than Look Back, playing with film and memory and grief. Again completely different from the chainsaw man manga in subject matter but showing the same formal intelligence. Also available on Manga Plus.

Reading tatsuki fujimoto before chainsaw man work after finishing the chainsaw man manga changes how you understand what he was doing in CSM. The one-shots in particular reveal concerns — about art, about creation, about how people process loss — that were running through the chainsaw man manga the whole time.

Common Mistakes People Make When Reading Chainsaw Man Manga

Mistake 1: Reading chainsaw man manga out of order. Some people encounter the chainsaw man manga through the anime adaptation and then jump directly to chainsaw man part 2 online without reading Part 1 in full. Chainsaw man part 2 makes significantly more sense — emotionally and thematically — if you have read the complete Part 1 first. Start with chainsaw man manga vol 1 and go in order.

Mistake 2: Treating it like a standard Shonen action manga. The chainsaw man manga uses Shonen structures but does not follow Shonen rules. Characters die. Power levels are not the point. Emotional logic overrides battle logic repeatedly. If you read the chainsaw man manga expecting it to behave like standard Shonen Jump fare you will find it confusing and maybe frustrating. Accept early that Fujimoto is doing something different and let the manga show you what that is.

Mistake 3: Reading chainsaw man manga free from unlicensed sources. Low-quality scanlations of the chainsaw man manga with inconsistent translation are still circulating online. The chainsaw man manga english translation through VIZ is genuinely excellent — it captures Fujimoto’s voice in a way that cheaper alternatives do not. Read chainsaw man viz for the real experience, not a rushed scanlation. Manga Plus offers legitimate free access to new chapters.

Mistake 4: Dismissing chainsaw man part 2 too early. The transition to chainsaw man part 2 is jarring if you loved Part 1’s version of Denji. Give chainsaw man part 2 online a proper run before deciding it is not working for you. The chainsawman reddit community is full of readers who initially disliked the transition and changed their opinion significantly by the time later arcs developed.

Mistake 5: Not going back and rereading after finishing Part 1. The chainsaw man manga rewards rereading significantly. Details in early chapters of chainsaw man manga vol 1 through volume 3 that seemed incidental become meaningful in retrospect. The reread of chainsaw man volume 3 through chainsaw man volume 4 in particular is a completely different experience after you know how Part 1 ends.

How to Build Your Complete Chainsaw Man Manga Reading Experience

Step 1: Start with chainsaw man manga vol 1 through the official VIZ platform or Manga Plus. Read chainsaw man viz for the best English translation quality. If you want to try before buying physical volumes, read chainsaw man online free through the Manga Plus first chapter option to confirm it hooks you — it will.

Step 2: Read Part 1 straight through without breaks between volumes if you can. The chainsaw man manga Part 1 is thirteen volumes and it reads as one continuous story. The momentum builds across the whole run and stopping between volumes means losing some of that accumulation. If you are reading chainsaw man manga online digitally this is easier to manage.

Step 3: Buy physical chainsaw man volumes for your favourite arcs. After your first digital read-through, identify which arcs hit hardest — for most readers that includes chainsaw man volume 4, chainsaw man 9, and chainsaw man volume 13 — and buy those physical chainsaw man volumes. The Darkness Devil sequence in print specifically is worth owning.

Step 4: Start chainsaw man part 2 after a short break. Give yourself a day or two between finishing Part 1 and starting chainsaw man part 2 online. The tonal shift lands better with a small gap. Access chainsaw man part 2 through Manga Plus for current chapters or through VIZ for collected volumes as they release.

Step 5: Catch up on chainsaw man new chapter releases through Manga Plus. Once you are current with the chainsaw man manga, Manga Plus drops new chapters simultaneously with Japanese publication every week. This is the legitimate free option for staying current with the csm manga as it develops.

Step 6: Watch the anime adaptation. The MAPPA-produced chainsaw man anime is available to stream and covers Part 1. It is an excellent adaptation with extraordinary production values. 9anime-tv.pro offers free anime streaming — watch the Chainsaw Man anime free on 9anime-tv.pro alongside your manga reading for the full experience.

Chainsaw Man Manga and the Broader Landscape of Essential Manga Reading

The chainsaw man manga sits in interesting company as a Shonen Jump title that became a global cultural moment while doing things that mainstream manga rarely attempts. It belongs on any list of essential manga alongside Berserk, Vagabond, and Akira — not because it resembles those series but because it operates with the same seriousness about what the medium can do.

If the chainsaw man manga’s approach to ensemble storytelling and found-family dynamics interests you, the Super Crooks guide at 9anime-tv.pro covers a series with a similar commitment to ensemble character writing in a superhero context — both stories are fundamentally about unlikely groups of broken people protecting each other.

And if the emotional texture of the chainsaw man manga — the way it handles longing, connection, and characters whose desires are painfully human — resonates with you, the guide to Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru covers a series that approaches those same themes from a completely different genre angle.

For more in-depth reading guides across manga and anime, the guides section at 9anime-tv.pro has detailed breakdowns covering series across every genre worth reading seriously.

Why the Chainsaw Man Manga Is Worth Every Chapter

I have recommended the chainsaw man manga to people who only read fantasy novels. To people who think manga is for teenagers. To people who bounced off every other manga they tried. The hit rate is remarkably high.

What Fujimoto does in the chainsaw man manga that earns those conversions is simple to describe and hard to execute: he writes characters whose desires are completely legible. Denji wants a warm bed, enough food, and someone to hold. Those are not superhero ambitions. They are the ambitions of someone who has had nothing and who cannot quite believe that having something is possible for a person like him.

Everything the chainsaw man manga puts that character through — every Devil, every betrayal, every arc from chainsaw man manga vol 1 through chainsaw man volume 13 — is in service of testing what that fundamental desire costs. The answer Fujimoto gives is not a comfortable one. It is honest in a way that sticks with you long after you have finished reading.

That is what separates the chainsaw man manga from most action manga. Not the chainsaws. Not the blood. The honesty about what people actually want and what they are actually willing to pay for it.

Start with chainsaw man manga vol 1. Read chainsaw man online through Manga Plus or VIZ. Buy the physical chainsaw man volumes for the arcs that hit you hardest. And if you want to watch the anime adaptation for free while you read, 9anime-tv.pro has you covered with free anime streaming and a full guides section for everything worth watching alongside the manga.