Chained Soldier Season 1 Review — Dark Fantasy and Questionable Taste

Chained Soldier (Japanese title: Mato Seihei no Slave) arrived in January 2024 with a lot of buzz: a bestselling manga by Takahiro (of Akame ga Kill!), a flashy TV adaptation, and a premise built to split audiences — action + monsters + a power system that literally makes a man someone’s “slave.” I watched the whole 12-episode first cour and pulled together an honest, sourced take: what works, what doesn’t, why people argue about it, and whether it’s worth your time.

Short Overview:

Aired: Jan–Mar 2024 (12 episodes, 1 cour).
Studio (S1): Seven Arcs; chief director Junji Nishimura; series composition by Yasuhiro Nakanishi; music by Kohta Yamamoto.
Manga pedigree / popularity: manga serialized on Shōnen Jump+ since 2019; circulation jumped into millions (the franchise has grown quickly since the anime).
Chained Soldier (TV Series 2024) — 6.7 / 10 on IMDb.

The Earth is being invaded by portals called “Mato” that spawn monsters (Shuuki) and a weird power-resource called “Peaches.” Women who eat Peaches gain supernatural powers; they become the world’s fighters. Yuuki Wakura, a regular young man, falls into Mato and is rescued by Kyouka Uzen — a powerful commander who can “enslave” Shuuki and, crucially for the plot, can also bind Yuuki to her as a living weapon. Yuuki agrees (for reasons that are both pragmatic and plot-driven) and becomes Kyouka’s chained partner, meaning he fights as her mount and, in return, must be given “rewards” that veer into sexual territory. The season stitches action set-pieces to the slow reveal of Mato’s mystery and Kyouka’s ambitions. Seven Arcs delivers competent production values: strong character art, bold action composition, and some excellent fight choreography framing. However, you’ll notice inconsistent motion (some fights lean on striking keyframes and motion-blur cuts rather than fluid animation), and some background art choices felt flat in places. Overall, the show looks good for a winter single-cour anime and hits its visual beats when it leans into spectacle. Kohta Yamamoto’s music pumps up the action when it needs to and gives quieter scenes breathing room. The Japanese voice cast sells Kyouka’s authority and the more dramatic emotional beats. The English dub released on HIDIVE also received positive chatter among dub fans when it dropped. At its best, Chained Soldier plays on power, consent, and the social shape of force: a matriarchal world where women hold supernatural authority, and a man who becomes an objectified weapon. There are interesting questions here about agency, reward, and the cost of survival. But the series chooses to explore these ideas through a heavy dose of ecchi (sexualized) content and repeated “reward” scenes that make the ethical framing messy. Some viewers find that complexity — the collision of genuine plot stakes and uncomfortable fan-service — makes for provocative storytelling; others find it tone-deaf.

Watch if:

you enjoy dark-fantasy action with outrageous set pieces, and
you can handle — or critically engage with — the show’s uncomfortable approach to power and sexuality.

Don’t watch it if:

depictions of coercion and sexualized “rewards” make you uncomfortable, or
you expect a clean moral center or a heroic, conventional protagonist.

Bottom line: Season 1 is provocative and watchable, but it’s designed to divide. It’s interesting to talk about even when you dislike it. And because a Season 2 is confirmed and the manga remains popular, the conversation around the series is far from over.

Image Credit Seven Arcs