Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge

Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge is a romance, action, comedy manga that tells a deep story revolving around the lives of Yamamoto Yousuke and Yukisaki Eri.

The story is short, filling only 8 chapters, each about 45 pages long. However, despite this, it manages to tell a deep, emotional tale about two high school students. 2nd year Yamamoto is seemingly a slacker who is bored with life, but in fact, faces deep mental troubles, caused by his friend's death and his low self-esteem. 1st year Yukisaki at first appears to be an outgoing girl, but much is hidden beneath the surface. As the story progresses, each character struggles with his or her own problems, while at the same time, faces each other and the mysterious Chainsaw Man who appears every day at night.

The story imparts many deep, serious themes through the thoughts of Yamamoto and as he interacts with Yukisaki. Most revolve around the idea of an ephemeral and short life. But no fear, Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge won't leave you going emo about how your life will end in a few decades. It also shows the bright side of living as well.

Despite the general seriousness, many small comedy scenes left me laughing, so there wasn't any heavy atmosphere as I was reading Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge. Such scenes include Yamamoto's ecchi, visualized thoughts and Yukisada's well aimed kicks at Yamamoto when she's irritated.

The art was drawn very well in defined lines; there isn't any type of smearing, except for some parts in the background. What's noticeable is the way the mangaka draw the male characters when they are surprised: they open their mouth wide, their faces elongate, and you can see each of their teeth individually. It made the characters look somewhat ugly, but you gotta admire the mangaka's detailed attention to teeth :P

Overall, Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge is highly recommended. The story was serious and touching, yet well-placed comedy scenes prevent the mood from being too heavy. A nice epilogue would be nice, but don't get me wrong, the ending's very conclusive and satisfying.

I generally go out of my way to find psychological manga and anime. I just love how thought provoking and mysterious they are. Unfortunately for Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge, that is about the only thing this manga did right. Hard to follow action scenes, strange facial expressions for the guys, unnecessary fanservice, and one of the worst male protagonists I have ever seen all work together to take away from the dramatic and thought provoking plot of this short manga.

Story - 6/10

This is actually the best part of the manga (at least later on). The story begins as our main protagonist, Yousuke, is walking through the streets late at night in the middle of winter. He comes across a girl (named Eri) wearing a school uniform and freezing. After pondering what to do, he tries to help her get out of the cold, but she refuses. She says she is waiting for someone. That someone happens to be the Chainsaw Man, a mysterious, tall man with a chainsaw who is the Eri's rival. Yousuke tries to help Eri fight the Chainsaw Man but ends up just getting in the way. After the fight ends and no one wins, Yousuke decides he wants to help Eri fight the Chainsaw Man because he has never felt more alive in his boring life. So Yousuke keeps coming to Eri every day and ends up forcing himself on her as her driver to wherever the Chainsaw Man will appear. From there, they slowly begin to grow closer despite Yousuke's uselessness, terrible attitiude, and the fact that Eri often roundhouse kicks him for being a moron who speaks before he thinks.

Art - 5/10

The art of Eri is actually amazing, but that's kind of to be expected in ecchi manga. Still, the fanservice is a little stupid at times, namely the fact that despite it being the middle of winter, usually snowing, and they are fighting late at night, Eri. Always. Wears. A. Skirt. Aside from the fanserivce, the art also suffers whenever the men in the manga are drawn with awkwardly wide-open mouths. It just makes them look stupid even when they are talking normally. The action scenes are also a little hard to follow, but Eri is drawn really well in them almost all the time.

Character - 2/10

Definitely the worst part of this manga. Yousuke is just painful to watch. He's socially awkward (but thinks he isn't), insults Eri for crying, tripping, etc, and really is only trying to help Eri for himself at first even though 95% of the time he just gets in the way and makes things worse. I'll admit he does improve a little over the course of the eight chapters, but I still don't like him even in the end.

Eri isn't as bad, but she suffers from being generic. She's your badass fighter-girl who wears a skimpy outfit and freaks out a lot when Yousuke gets too close. She has better development than Yousuke, but again, it doesn't help enough.

The few minor characters (Noto and Watanabe) are kind of strange and barely have any relevance in the story. Noto especially gets one very awkwardly placed backstory which makes him seem like a brazen idiot when he was originally portrayed as a depressed friend who may or may not have committed suicide.

Enjoyment - 4/10

The main thing I really hated about this manga was Yousuke. Despite having a fairly good ending, I just could not come to like him at all. There are plenty of ecchi, action, and psychological manga that are much better than this one, and there are a lot (like Sundome for ecchi and psychological) which have a poor protagonist at first but through character development turn them into a likeable character. I would recommend skipping this one.

Complexity comes in many forms. Simplicity comes in maybe more.

Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge is a manga that hinges on an extremely thin thread to drive the story forward. The protagonist – the bored Yamamoto – borders on being so plain that forgetting his face in the next chapter can be a normal occurrence. However, he one day meets a large man with a chainsaw in the middle of battling a cute girl complete with a school uniform that has an extremely short skirt with no battle armour whatsoever. And she’s winning. Since Yamamoto is so bored with his life not knowing what to do, he decides to investigate the matter further and tries to talk to this fearless girl called Eri. And with this simple premise the story takes off.

Though the manga tries to portray Yamamoto as a bored young man without direction in his life, it also tries to deepen his personality by having him think about his life in an existential way. He does not know what to do. He does not know who he is. He wants to spice things up by having a goal – any goal – so that he has something to look forward to. And while this could be a chance to make Yamamoto truly excel as a sympathetic character, the story decides to take another turn by having him be involved in a fight between two dubious character that have nothing to do with him. It seems so random but in a way, it works.

The true driving force of this manga is Eri. Like in any relationship between two people meeting each other on a cold night while fighting a guy with a chainsaw, she starts off dismissive towards Yamamoto, not wanting him involved in her situation. But since Yamamoto is so bored, he refuses to walk away because of the adrenaline he felt during the sight of that battle, despite Eri kicking him in the nuts multiple times. In some way or another, Eri and Yamamoto develop a relationship where Eri does the fighting and Yamamoto does the encouraging even though she does not need it. In this strange manner, they grow closer and closer, fulfilling Yamamoto’s need for adrenaline and giving him a purpose to wake up every day and help Eri.

Everything happening from then on seems random and without explanation, and even then the story works. It works because of the strange relationship the two ''fighters'' share, complementing each other. The great thing is that you actually get to see that it develops. Yamamoto ended up in this because of his boredom and even though there seems to be nothing in it on the surface for Eri having Yamamoto meet up with her every day, it becomes slowly apparent that their relationship works because they complement each other so well. It’s just too bad to see that the story takes up so much time setting the context (more than half of the manga) that the real character development happens later on.

See, the writer of this manga decided to just randomly think up of a situation where two strangers meet in a weird way and end up together because their human needs are not so random. Nobody ever heard of a black-robed chain saw man battling a cute girl in the middle of the night. Nobody ever heard of a boy without direction in life deciding to risk that very life of his by accompanying this girl. But even though these situations are so far from reality, the important thing to note is that the context of the story does not matter. It is the elements of character dynamics that make the absurd story work so well in such a way that it’s believable. It is therefore a missed opportunity that the story never goes too deep in the minds of the characters to develop their personalities even further since there is so much potential to do just that.

In terms of art, the drawings are of a decent quality. You will notice the occasional quirk such as weird placement of the eyes on the face or the extremely wide mouths accentuated by thick lips for comical highlighting. But the funny thing is that these are only noticeable when the characters are drawn standing still. When the characters give the impressions of movement, the drawings are very dynamic with action being shouted all over the page. In fact, there are more little details in the drawing of the characters in motion than when they are standing still, where they would need it more. The fan service of the fighting beauty Eri is something that comes up often in the story with panty shots all over the place in the heat of the fight. It could be conceived as a sight worth seeing but ultimately distracts you from the fighting scenes and story while the drawing style isn’t well suited for ecchi anyway (though it gets better later on).

Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge is a manga worth reading if you are into random scenes without explanations all over the place. The premise of the story is simple but can be horribly confusing when trying to make sense of everything because there is no sense to be found in the first place. Despite this, the story slowly comes together towards the end of the manga when character development is at its peak showing a great character dynamic between two strangers of two different worlds. Though there are missed opportunities here and there with the character development being later on in the story and not going further with it than is possible, it is a fun manga with decent art and somewhere deep down a message about direction in life.

This manga suffers from a disease called, "B.T.S" (Bad Title Syndrome) or as it's more commonly known, "I can't come up with anything so I use random words in the manga as it's title," syndrome. To be fair not only manga do this, but it was just fitting in this case.
Random title aside, this one proved to be a very nice read topped with a great ending.

A boy, a girl, and a guy trying to kill her...nothing calls for romance more than imminent death.

Yousuke Yamamoto’s life is boring. Nothing is the same after his friend dies in a motorcycle accident. He goes to school, studies, and his routine leaves him with an emptiness nothing seems to fill. He needs a purpose. Going home one cold winter day he sees a girl in a school uniform sitting on the floor, literally freezing her ass off. When he tries to make conversation with her, she starts talking like a crazy person about him running away before he dies. Seconds later, a man with a chainsaw appears, and Yousuke watches mesmerized as the beautiful girl fights the man until he disappears.

As he watches her fight, mesmerized, he knows-this is what he needs in his life, this will make it worthwhile. Her. If she’s in his life, it’ll no longer seem boring or meaningless. He’ll help her fight him.
Her name is Eri Yukisaki and as luck would have it, she doesn’t want his help.

Without giving spoilers:
The story line is actually very simple to understand, it's as easy as it is complex. The life that both of them are living is an easy one to relate to. Unfortunately, we've all experienced the mind dulling that is monotony. Their decisions and actions as the story unfolds give hints as to what angle the manga is going. When it gets there it is done effortlessly and smoothly.
Even if the summary doesn’t dwell on the mystery surrounding the "evil chainsaw man", or even this review, the manga is about life and all the bad things that happen that we can’t control but wish we could.

I can understand what made Yousuke cling to Eri. At first, his role reminded me a little of Takaki (5 Centimeters Per Second), he went through life with a sort of longing and a defeated way about him. As if the vacuum that life can be sucked all the happiness or hope away from him, with no plan to return it anytime soon. And although Eri didn’t always show it, since the story is told in Yousuke’s perspective, she is easy to understand and her pain was almost palpable through the story.

The characters are few; four main ones to the story actually. But it doesn’t need any more than that. Even though some people might say that this manga should or could have been longer, I don’t agree.
Why extend a good thing when it served its purpose with it’s current length?

Yousuke Yamamoto (whose name I keep saying as a robot in my head, I don't know why) and Eri, separately, wouldn’t be as dynamic as together. They both add to each others lives. Yousuke is your typical high school boy. If typical includes bad grades in school and getting sporadic fantasies about Eri. All in all he’s a pretty lonely guy. He lives with his friend, and until he met Eri, his life went by in a blur.

Eri is pretty mysterious until the last half of the manga. All we know is: her skirt needs to be longer- because she keeps flashing the chainsaw man and Yousuke, and that she can fight better than most guys. Or at least better than the lead guy of this story. She’s not annoying at all and actually has a serious demeanor.

The art was average. Although I compare the character to other manga, the art is by no way similar. It had its cringing pages: where the characters don’t look appealing, and more on the ugly side. But that effect is not lasting and it’s overall good. Even the chainsaw man was drawn to look like fear and death and it was not sloppy. The panty shots did get old, seeing that it was almost in every four pages. Fan service is everywhere, so can’t really knock it. Well, actually I can, but I understand why the mangaka felt the need to draw her panties on fighting scenes, since no skirt stays in place throughout a battle against a chainsaw wielding man(like I would know), but in other scenes, really unnecessary (not including Yousuke’s fantasies, those are ok).

The story could have actually done without the romance side--I can’t believe I just said that O_o.
It was just such a sweet take on life and feelings that even without the "love" factor it would have still kept it's kick. The romance felt a little pushed on Eri, and even though I know how they felt, it was never really explained throughout that they both saw each other that way. Meaning at the beginning, part of me felt that it was her tsundere side not showing affection.
That being said, the romance isn't forced by any means and there is no gushiness. It has action (chainsaw man) and also some mystery.

It’s short but it does the job.. Ha! I’m sure that’s a pickup line somewhere.

At the end it left me wondering, "If your sadness were to take human form, which form would it take?"

Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge, a very odd name for a brilliant manga. This is an action/romance story with some occasional comic relief. You may notice it is only 8 chapters, but don't let that turn you off - it ends just right.

Story - 10
This was a very quick ride at only 8 chapters but it played out perfectly. The story is, at heart, a teen romance with a sudden girl appearance (oh boy original! - I know). The twist on this one though, is that the girl fights some chainsaw-wielding maniac every night. The hero meets the heroine fighting the evil chainsaw man one night and is mystified by the experience and decides to follow her. The story's premise starts out pretty... 'not-so-unique' I guess?, but it quickly develops into an engrossing tale before everything comes full circle in the end.

Characters - 9
Theres 3 main characters and a couple side characters that are mostly limited to the hero's friends.
-Yousuke Yamamoto ~ your typical depressed teen who runs into the main heroine by chance. His depression stems from a recent death of someone close to him and so now he is searching for a reason to live. He initially follows Eri around on the pretense that "the situation is really cool and I have nothing better to do", but he quickly grows attached to Eri.
-Eri Yukisaki ~ the main heroine who fights the evil chainsaw man every night for the sake of justice! As she reveals more about herself, the story really gets interesting, but I cant really explain much without spoilers! (sorry, its only 8 chapters - most of it is revealing the characters)
-Evil Chainsaw Man ~ appears to be some chainsaw-wielding maniac at first, but as the story develops, even he holds a secret.

Art - 8
Well the art is nothing particularly outstanding, but it is well drawn. I'm not rating it a 10 simply because ive seen more attractive manga art.

Enjoyment - 10
The manga starts out as rather... "typical" as i said before, but it quickly ramps up as Eri and Yousuke grow closer to each other and you learn more about them and their darker pasts. Theres some fantastic comedic moments thrown in the middle as well to break up the drama once in a while. The only thing I didn't particularly like was why Yousuke initially follows around Eri, but the rest makes up for it.

Overall - 10
Highly recommend if you enjoy romance/action. An outstanding gem in my book. One of the highlights here is that its only 8 chapters, so even if it didnt end up suiting your tastes, the time investment is very low. Check it out! =)

**Side-note, I think this deserves an OVA release and honestly I'm surprised it hasn't gotten one considering the popularity of Welcome to the NHK! (same author).

Let me preface by saying that I am a huge fan of Welcome to the NHK, written by the same author. NHK was a story of human struggle, and not in a fantastical or hyper dramatic way. It was merely about people trying to overcome their inner-demons, life, and anxieties. Why is this important? Because when I had seen he also wrote a story called "Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge," I figured that he had lost his marbles and wrote something completely unlike NHK. While true that it isn't a 1 for 1 copy of NHK, there's a similar spirit inside of NHCE (shortened for the rest of the review) that appealed to me in every way.

STORY:

What seemed to be a story about a loser wanting to be a "cool" hero that fought bad guys along side a cute anime girl, ended up being a story of overcoming the darkness in one's own heart, particularly sadness. While the premise isn't anything incredible, the way the story focuses on the parallel between the fight with "the chainsaw man" and the emotional dilemmas of the main characters was nothing short of great. What I like so much about this story is how it's not directly about the chainsaw man, nor the fight against him, it's about an internal fight against depression. This lack of knowing what to do in life, utter loneliness, and a sadness too hard to cope with, is all too familiar. Maybe we don't all fight chainsaw wielding sacks of depression, but most of us struggle to cope with the hardships of life at one point or another. To me, that's what's so great about the story of NHCE.
(8/10)

CHARACTERS:

I'll be honest, the main reason I liked the manga so much was for the themes, not the characters. However! I do like the characters a lot, considering the short amount of time we have with them. What makes them work is not detailed characterization, but rather the relationship behind them. I don't mean to say that they have a particularly deep relationship, but I love how it ties into the themes mentioned earlier. Not only is it about overcoming personal issues, but being there to support the ones you care about. Yousuke doesn't really help in the fights with chainsaw man for quite awhile, what's important is that he cheers on Eri and to protect her if she ever needs it. What seems like a shallow relationship, is actually the bridge between the parallel I mentioned before, the chainsaw man and the internal struggle he represents. These characters, and their relationship, are nothing groundbreaking. Still, I can't help but feel they were written perfectly for the themes that are channeled through them.
(8/10)

ART:

While nothing too impressive, the art still holds up. Within the first few pages, I noticed how similar the art is to the NHK manga, despite being drawn by an unrelated artist. I figure this means the author has a specific taste in art and this falls right in place. Again, it's nothing that will blow your mind, but the main highlight is the humorous expressions. I had to change my profile picture (on Discord) to one of Yousuke's faces just because they cracked me up that much, but that might just be me. Anywho, it get's the job done well enough.
(7/10)

ENJOYMENT:

Honestly, I fell in love with NHCE within the first chapter because it remind me of NHK in a weird way. I didn't know what it was at first, but it slowly became for apparent as I continued reading page after page. It was the heart and core of the manga. It's the idea that, no matter how bad life gets, we can overcome our personal inner demons. Even if we need a little support sometimes, fighting is better than giving up and dying. That's a message I deeply loved in NHK, and NHCE reminded me just how important it is. Perhaps I could complain about the short length, sitting at two volumes, but I felt that everything was said that was needed to be. For that, I enjoyed it a lot.
(9/10)

OVERALL:

What can I say? I think this is an underrated gem that more people should check out, especially if you're a fan of NHK. While not perfect and a little on the short side, Negative Happy Chainsaw Edge is certainly a great manga.
(8/10)

I found this series through the writer of "Welcome to the NHK", Takimoto, Tatsuhiko, who wrote this series as well.

This series, with only eight chapter, within two volumes, is a quick and easy read.

I would not categorize this series a a heavy action series, as it will rely more on the interactions between characters, and the monologues of the main protagonist, this does not make the series bad in any sense.

I do feel as though this series could have been written to fill around twelve chapters, towards the end of the series i just felt as though the back story of the protagonist, or other characters could have been fleshed out a little more, leaving me wanting more.

The art in this series is fantastic, I have not read that many manga, but this is definitely one of the finer ones I have read in terms of art.

As far as the story goes for this series, I felt it was definitely the peak of this series, if not the art, than the story is going to leave a lasting impression on you. This story may have a touch of fiction, in terms of the "Chainsaw man", but this does not stop the story, and feeling of the series feel any more real.

If you go into this series wanting an action manga, than you may feel yourself a little empty reading this manga, although if you go into this series looking for a psychological, romance/slice of life, then you will most likely find something quite interesting and intriguing about this series.

Negative happy chainsaw edge. Truly an enjoyable experience. Its one of those manga where it starts out decently but then runs through to a climactic scene following a typical sad day.

The art quality was very good. Ive scene better(comparing to tony taka) but then again I have scene much much worse. The quality is quite good. There is one panel in particular which stood out detail-wise. Its a scene where the villain jumps down from a building and every brick is drawn out. There is also another scene showing the city or at least a part of it in great detail.

The characters were good. I can relate to the main character in that I find each day relatively boring and find myself wishing that something new and exciting "like in an anime" would occur. I can also relate to a love of battle. Somewhat :P

I completely enjoyed this series, short though it was. I would reread this again and Probably will later when it starts to fade. If I could find this in stores, it would be in my collection.

Overall, a great book. I didn't mean to use a phrase that has been already beaten to death but "this is a must read"... kinda.