Chaos;Child Review: A Christian Perspective on the Unsettling Horror Anime

In our Christian Chaos;Child review, we will explore the content from a Christian perspective. We will also review the Chaos;Child visual novel and provide a Chaos;Child parent guide.

Chaos;Child Review: Synopsis

Six years after the horrifying New Generation Madness murders (New Gen murders) of Chaos;Head, a student named Takuru Miyashiro works for his school’s newspaper.

When murders start occurring on the same dates as the original New Gen Murders, Takuru finds himself with a mystery. Nicknamed “The Return of the New Generational Madness” these murders are at least as gruesome as the New Gen murders, and Takuru wants to solve them.

Who is behind these murders, and how is it related to psychics and gigalomaniacs?

Chaos;Child Review: A Christian Perspective on the Anime and Visual Novel

After watching Chaos;Head, for some reason I decided to watch Chaos;Child. I say for some reason because Chaos;Head was a very, very disturbing and dark anime and yet I decided to watch the sequel, which is arguably even more disturbing (Chaos;Head is rated +14 on Crunchyroll and Chaos;Child is rated +16 on Crunchyroll so it makes sense).

Sometimes, I struggle to stop watching a series after I’ve gotten into it, and although I certainly did not love Chaos;Head, I was interested to see what Chaos;Child would be like.

When I first reviewed Chaos;Head, I included a small section on Chaos;Child in the same review—instead of giving it its own review. However, I’ve been updating my blog recently and decided to give Chaos;Child its own review.

It’s been at least a year or two since I’ve watched either anime, so I’m relying quite a bit on research, which includes the Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child fandom sites as well as reviewers like Anime News Network. I am trying to focus mainly on the anime, but some visual novel information will be included as well, especially since my reference sites don’t always specify the difference between the visual novel and the anime.

However, I am doing my best to accurately convey my thoughts and Chaos;Child content concerns to help you make an informed decision on the anime (and visual novel, although I haven’t played it).

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Chaos;Child’s English Dub Cast

In our review, we have to take a minute to discuss the English dub casting. I don’t remember having complaints on the cast, and there are plenty of talented voice actors bringing the characters to life.

Ricco Fajardo (Horimiya, Link Click, Steins;Gate 0) voices Takuru Miyashiro, Alex Moore (Assassination Classroom, Orange, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent) voices Nono Kurusu, and Felecia Angelle (Arte, Assassination Classroom, Yona of the Dawn) voices Serika Onoe.

Todd Haberkorn reprises his role from Chaos;Head, Takumi Nishijo, in Chaos;Child Episode 0. A few other voice actors reprise their roles from Chaos;Head as well, including Carrie Savage as Rimi Sakihita, Monica Rial as Hazuki, Clarine Harp as Sena Aoi, Sonny Strait as Takashina, and Vic Mignogna as The General.

Other notable voice actors include Bryn Apprill (Nina the Starry Bride, Snow White with the Red Hair, SPY × FAMILY), Jill Harris (Frieren, Orange), and Monica Rial (Yona of the Dawn, Steins;Gate 0, Chaos;Head).

For a full list of the Chaos;Child cast, click here.

Please note: which roles I highlight is based on familiarity, blog fit, and connections to other works I’ve covered or enjoyed. These choices are not meant to comment on the voice actor’s talent or performance.

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Chaos;Child: A Sequel to Chaos;Head

Chaos;Child is the sequel to Chaos;Head, another psychological horror anime (and visual novel) in the Science Adventure series. The main character of Chaos;Child, Takuru, finds himself surrounded by a revival of the past New Gen murders—with an unknown perpetrator.

These murders are extremely graphic.

Chaos;Head Versus Chaos;Child

Chaos;Child is just as violent as Chaos;Head, if not more so. I found the content of both highly disturbing, but the murders hit way closer to home in Chaos;Child.

When revisiting my notes on the show, I used the word “terrifying” as a descriptor for the anime on multiple occasions.

The Chaos;Child anime really plays with your psyche and the enemies, including the zombies, are truly disturbing. Plus, there is a significant amount of blood and gore surrounding the murders.

Takumi Nishijo Versus Takuru Miyashiro

Let’s talk about Takumi Nishijo, the main protagonist of Chaos;Head, and compare him to Takuru Miyashiro, the protagonist of Chaos;Child.

Although both respond to the nickname Taku, they couldn’t be more different.

Takumi is very much a womanizer; he’s characterized by his sexual fantasies about women—both real and imaginary—and overall, I didn’t feel like he was an active participant in his story. It felt like things just kept happening to him and, without the help of countless allies, he’d be doomed, in my opinion.

Takuru, in contrast, wants to investigate “The Return of the New Generational Madness” murders and discover who’s behind it. In my opinion, Takuru is more of an active participant in the story because he seeks out the truth. He even works for his school’s newspaper, whereas Takami spent most of his time online playing games or fantasizing about his girlfriend (an animated character).

Chaos;Child Parent Guide: A Terrifyingly Violent and Dark Anime *Spoiler*

The spoiler alert includes all sections from here until the section on Episode 0.

As already stated, the Chaos;Child anime is extremely violent and gory. There are six canonical “Return of the New Generational Madness” murders in the Chaos;Child storyline. Personally, I find the Chaos;Child New Gen Murders even more graphic and horrifyingly violent than the Chaos;Head‘s New Gen Murders because of the more intimate nature of the murders.

The Most Horrifying Chaos;Child Murder (Maybe the Most Horrifying Murder in the Entire Chaos Series)

For example, the murder that stands out to me involves Takuru’s sister, Yui Tachibana, and his best friend, Shinji Itou. Basically, Takuru’s adoptive sister is murdered in a highly graphic, disturbing way. The culprit is Itou, who committed the murders against his will (under the influence of the villain).

Yui is only 13 which just adds to the horrific and heartbreaking nature of her murder.

However, the other murders are also disturbing, and the characters who are behind the murders are both shocking and disgusting.

What Content Flags are in Chaos;Child?

It’s certainly a frightening and intense anime. As already stated, my notes contained the term
frightening” on multiple occasions. And of course, there’s plenty of gore and violence.

Although, in my opinion, there is far less sexual content in the Chaos;Child anime than the Chaos;Head anime, it’s not squeaky clean on this aspect, either. One of Takuru’s sisters gets a sponge bath and when she goes to get dressed, you can see part of her breast). Additionally, a scene takes place in a “love hotel” although I don’t remember much “love” happening there.

I highly recommend visiting IMDB’S parents guide for this show if you want more details; I was a contributor and I find it accurate in the most essential areas.

Spiritual Concerns in Chaos;Child

It wouldn’t be a Renewed Mind Reviews anime review without discussing the spiritual side of Chaos;Child.

Gigalomaniacs, people with various powers that can affect or change reality, were first introduced in Chaos;Head. Of course, considering Chaos;Child’s close connection with Chaos;Head, it makes sense that gigalomaniacs would be a major part of Chaos;Child.

What are gigalomaniacs? “The main ability of Gigalomaniacs is realbooting, the ability to turn delusions into reality.” However, they often have other powers other than realbooting, such as mind reading, shapeshifting, mind control, precognition, pyrokinesis, telekinesis, and many more (source). Many of these powers involve deception and manipulation and even resemble real-world occultism.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (ESV) says:

There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

Biblically, although God sometimes did share the future with His prophets and followers, this is completely different from a fortune teller or diviner, who operate outside of God and His power.

We need to approach such concepts in media carefully, with wisdom and discernment, and seek the truth from God and His Word.

Chaos;Child Episode 0

Let’s talk for a minute about the first episode of Chaos;Child, titled Episode 0. Yep, you heard me right. Episode 0. It may seem a bit confusing to start a series on Episode 0, but this is a special episode. It functions as a recap of the Chaos;Head anime.

A contributor from Anime News Network summarizes it like this:

If you’re confused by the first 20 minutes or so of Chaos;Child, you’re not alone. Don’t worry; it’s a lightning-fast recap of Chaos;HEAd, though it focuses more on the gorier aspects like the previous murders, and less so on the eventual conclusion. (source, slight puncuation alteration)

The recap may seem out of place for some viewers, but it also summarizes the plot for those who haven’t seen the original anime.

Remember how I mentioned that characters from Chaos;Head appear in the Chaos;Child anime? Episode 0, also known as the recap, is the place I’m talking about. This is why cameos from actors like Todd Haberkorn (Takumi Nishijo) make sense.

I will note, however, that one character from Chaos;Head does have more than a cameo in Chaos;Child: Katsuko Momose.

On Crunchyroll, however, the first episode is listed as Episode 1—a 47 minute episode with two parts. The first is titled Chaos;Head and the second is titled “Digital Native.”

Chaos;Child Review: A Cruel Ending to the Main Anime *Major Spoiler Alert

*This major spoiler alert includes all sections contained under “A Cruel Ending to the Main Anime” which includes “The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” “Far from Innocent,” and “Takuru’s Kindness.”

The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

As previously mentioned, the truth of the Return of the New Generational Madness is highly disturbing. The main perpetrator is Wataru Sakuma, a seemingly well-intentioned doctor—and the adoptive father of Takuru, Yui, and their other siblings, Nono and Yuto.

For most of the anime, he masquerades as an innocent philanthropist. He took in multiple orphans (four in fact) which is a huge undertaking for a single man.

However, he’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing: he’s actually one of the main villains and an extremely cruel, evil character.

Fandom perfectly describes Sakuma under his seemingly innocent mask:

Sakuma’s only interest in life is to have fun researching gigalomaniacs and does not care if people and his own family were killed, tortured and betrayed because it adds to the fun. (source)

He’s a father, and yet he doesn’t even care about his family.

His hidden nature is rather psychopathic. However, he’s not the only character with hidden intentions.

Far From Innocent

Serika Onoe, Takuru’s friend, works with Sakuma in his evil plots, and is part of the reason these horrifically evil things happen. She’s another character whose true nature isn’t initially clear.

Fandom also perfectly describes what Serika looks like under the mask:

Serika’s personality and soul were created for one thing: giving Takuru Miyashiro purpose and meaning. To achieve this very general task, she would do everything necessary, possibly hurting Takuru in the process, to keep him entertained. In opposition to her cheerful, naive demeanor, she is very focused, cold, and psychopathic. (source)

Serika, like Sakuma, is a psychopath, committing disgusting, gory murders.

Takuru’s Kindness

Serika, however, doesn’t receive as much blame for the chaos. Whereas Sakuma ends up deceased, Serika gets another chance at life. She was a delusion, a figment of his imagination (he’s a gigalomaniac) and he realizes that this whole time, she was trying to to help him achieve his own goals. He decides to respond in repentance:

In order to atone for his sins, Takuru used up the rest of his gigalomaniac powers to turn Serika into a normal girl with her own will and no memory of her past actions. (source)

Takuru ends up in jail, and although Silent Sky tries to wrap things up nicely (and introduces us to a Serika who doesn’t remember her past choices), it’s not necessarily successful.

Chaos;Child Silent Sky: The Post-Fight Ending to the Anime

Chaos;Child Silent Sky serves as the ending to the Chaos;Child anime.

Silent Sky was a Japanese theatrical release; however, it’s now available as a 2 part ending to Chaos;Child.

When Did the Chaos;Child Anime Release, and When Did Silent Sky Release?

For context, the Chaos;Child anime started releasing on January 11, 2017 and finished on March 29, 2017. The Silent Sky conclusion, however, released on June 17, 2017, more than 2 months after the anime finished airing.

The Silent Sky English Dub Has Many Returning Voice Actors

Plenty of the Chaos;Child English dub cast reprised their roles in Silent Sky. Ricco Fajardo (Horimiya, Link Click, Steins;Gate 0) returns as Takuru Miyashiro, Alex Moore (Assassination Classroom, Orange, The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent) reprises her role as Nono Kurusu, and Felecia Angelle (Arte, Assassination Classroom, Yona of the Dawn) returns as Serika Onoe.

Of course, other voice actors reprise their roles as well. For a full list of the Silent Sky English dub cast, click here.

My Thoughts on Silent Sky

It was a decent conclusion to the series. The tonal shift is somewhat relieving compared to the dark nature of the main series, but I still have questions about the ending.

I know that it would make more sense if I played the visual novel, but considering how graphic it is, that’s not really on the table.

Chaos;Child Visual Novel

Similar to Chaos;Head, Chaos;Child was also a visual novel before it was an anime. The Chaos;Child visual novel released in 2014, three years before the anime and six years after Chaos;Head. The visual novel is considered “a thematic sequel to ChäoS;HEAd NoAH.”

The Content of the Chaos;Child Visual Novel

Steam lists the content of the Chaos;Child visual novel in great detail. To summarize: The Chaos;Child visual novel is very violent and involves “characters threatening people with knives, strangling other characters, and involved in torture.”

It’s also very gory and disturbing, containing “extensive blood-splatter…Corpses…with bloodstains and sometimes mangled fingers, dangling entrails, or exposed brains.” The anime is also very graphic, violent, and gory.

However, I personally felt like the Chaos;Child anime was less sexually concerning than Chaos;Head. For the Chaos;Child visual novel, however, Steam expresses that “The game also contains sexual material, in still images and text; references to sexual fetishes and masturbation. Still images also depict partially exposed breasts and buttocks” which leads me to the conclusion that the visual novel is more sexually concerning than the anime.

I don’t particularly remember the language used in the Chaos;Child anime, but the visual novel contains curse words such as “‘f**k,’ ‘sh*t,’ and ‘a*shole.’” Honestly, I really don’t recommend the anime, and even more so, I recommend skipping the visual novel entirely.

The Chaos;Child visual novel is rated M.

Chaos;Child FAQs

Chaos;Child Review & Christian Perspective: Conclusion

Both Chaos;Head and Chaos;Child are extremely violent anime (and visual novels). Although I find the story interesting, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend either for a Christian audience.

I absolutely wish I could recommend the Chaos series as I enjoy a good psychological mystery, but they’re just too violent.

Better options would be other Science Adventure series installments such as Steins;Gate (one of my favorite anime of all time) or even Robotics;Notes (I have not watched much of this one, but it’s generally considered a much lighter Science Adventure installment and the anime is rated +12 and up by Crunchyroll). In comparison, Chaos;Child is rated +16 and up and Chaos;Head is (surprisingly) rated +14 and up. Maybe that’s why I was willing to give Chaos;Child a chance.

Anyway, I respect your ability to make decisions and I don’t want to fear monger you, but I do want to advise that there are better anime options out there that are more honoring to Christ.

Always use discernment and wisdom when selecting the shows you want to watch.

Cover Photo Credit: Screenshot of Chaos;Child poster from IMDB. Under fair use for review/commentary/education/criticism. All rights retained by respective owners.