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neonscandal · 6 months

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Manga With Me: CSM and the Concept of "Want" and "Home"

Completely blocking out the events of the first Chainsaw Man segment after reading it is not a unique experience. I am not alone in this phenomenon but one thing I always think about is the idea of "want" or "desire" and how it's this really messed up impetus for Denji to go on living, at least in the hands of Tatsuki Fujimoto, and the concept of "home". I feel like not enough people are ruminating on this so now I have to.

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: through CSM chapter 97.

First things first, in no way am I insinuating that Denji's reasons to live are not valid nor am I implying that a character with his background is better off dead. I think it's important to mention because we've seen that play out with the likes of Ash Lynx as an example and I hated that.

Tatsuki Fujimoto, the Jackass Genie

When we're introduced to Denji, he's not exactly living the life. Trying to offset the massive debt of his father, he'd sold off several organs including an eye and a testicle and was forced to work off as much as he could by handling the dirty work of the yakuza debt owner. Treated inhumanely and frequently left with barely enough money to feed himself, Denji appears to remain relatively upbeat with his only friend Pochita at his side.

Solely motivated to simply survive the day, hopes beyond that are seemingly out of the realm of possibility for him beneath all of his inherited burdensome debt. It isn't until he gets a seemingly second shot at life that Denji can dare to dream. Mind you, this is after he's discarded like garbage but it just furthers how alone and pitiable he is to be treated in such a way.

Even with this newfound life, his hopes are comparatively low hanging fruit to the average reader and yet, at every turn, Fujimoto takes these innocent asks and twists them into such unpalatable experiences. Most notably being his first kiss.

What's particularly interesting is the space between Denji's idealization and, of course, the subsequent reality of his wishes. For instance, have you ever wanted something so bad for so long that when you finally got it, it could never measure up to what you'd dreamt in your head? Because you'd sunk so many hours into thinking about it and putting it on a pedestal but... as we saw above, Denji really only had time to think about survival for the better part of his life. So the drastic difference between wanting a solid meal, wanting his first kiss, wanting to touch boobs, wanting a girlfriend, etc. They were so relatively short lived before being obtained, and yet, so catastrophically unsatisfying each and every time. It seems like everything Denji gravitates toward is inevitably something that will cause him great displeasure which we see most readily apparent in his attraction to Makima.

For all this suffering, you'd assume Denji would have had to have done something to have earned such karmic punishment but, to the reader, his only sin seemed to be being born to a recklessly selfish father. Especially when a great deal of his origin seems to be kept hidden behind a figurative locked door which is constantly teased and shown to be something Pochita urges him never to open.

You Can't Go Home Again

This, of course, brings us to the crux of why I wanted to talk about this in the first place. We see Denji's door, something he regards with unfamiliarity and trepidation, a few times throughout the story. Not knowing its significance until the very end of the arc but, for the sake of this discussion, we will consider this and his life with Pochita Denji's "home". Denji's wariness, his avoidance, it's not unique to him.

POWER

Now we know Pochita can seemingly read the heart of Denji (being that he is the heart of Denji) but I wonder how much Power the fiend knows of her former human life. From her introduction, she was likely murdered and left naked in the very woods that Power found the body in. Power is shown to be boisterous and very self-serving, her affection for Meowy being a severe aberration, at least at the beginning of her character arc. Again, not exactly living the life, enthralled only by the taste of blood and the act of killing until she finds herself somewhat domesticated through her employment with Public Safety.

What we know of Hell, Devils that die on Earth go to Hell. Devils that die in Hell go to Earth. Power wasn't exactly avoiding "going home" but her return to Hell destabilized her semblance of safety and comfort by way of facing the Darkness Devil. Even of the devils faced on Earth, Power always faced them with the same bravado that she demanded humans to kneel before her with. Either to generally disguise her relative strength or lack thereof (being that she was fighting in a group) or, in retrospect, perhaps her fear, too. With all the confidence, we don't consider what the Blood fiend's experience may have been down in Hell, whether she was top of the food chain or not. Topside, her experience may have been a little different when you have humans and lesser devils in the mix. But the fear she experienced upon her return to Hell caused debilitating PTSD where she had to lean on Denji and Aki a lot more as she was unable to care for herself or be left alone. In this sense, it tempered her connection to Denji, especially. Almost as if the progression from a life of survival to a life of relative comfort is toppled by the harrowing reminder of one's origins.

AKI

Aki is the best literal example of the negative ramifications of "going home". As he packs the kids up for a reluctant trip to Hokkaido to visit his family's graves, Power and Denji remain immature handfuls even on the tail end of the Darkness Devil drama. But as the snow falls and Power sleeps, Aki confesses to Denji:

Every year, when I went to visit their grave, I'd remember nothing but bad things. It was depressing. But this time, you guys were such pests that I didn't have the time to get lost in that.

It's bittersweet, this acknowledgement. Seeing their behavior somewhat changed, his own resolve toward them softening, he questions whether his pursuit of the Gun Devil justifies the possibility of jeopardizing the peace he's cultivated with his found family. A distinct change of heart in light of his previous attitude toward devils and fiends, not just Power and Denji. But moreso an outright defiance of the very thing that has driven his survival thus far. That, of course, being to avenge his family's death by killing the Gun Devil. His decision to pull from the expedition is, of course, manipulated by Makima by using her purview over Power and Denji to solidify his participation. The irony of his found family enabling him to resolve his need for revenge being the bargaining chip to keep him on the hook is dastardly. Moreover, the knowledge that vengeance was never even on the table for him.

The linchpin in this is, of course, the fact that, what precedes Aki's end is not his return to home but the Angel Devil's who he inadvertently and without knowing accompanies. A past Angel Devil had forgotten, courtesy of Makima, precipitates Aki's death and evolution into the Gun Fiend. As the battle wages, the fact that it plays out as the snowball fight with Denji was devastating in light of his previous losses.

DENJI

With Denji's integration into society, his many goals thwarted by the unsatisfying reality of them, and the comfort he establishes with Power and Aki, we see him grow to understand the world a little better. He's still a neglected and immature kid but his emotional intelligence sharpens with his aspirations even if they only go so far as to wish to impress Makima. With all the trauma he'd suffered prior to joining Public Safety and even the trouble he experienced with them, fighting and killing Aki the Gun Fiend proves to be too big of a breaking point for him. It doesn't hit him immediately. But he finds himself unable to enjoy such simple pleasures with the guilt and turmoil of killing someone he hadn't realized meant so much to him and comes to understand the loss and pain so latently. The end of Aki's character arc as punctuated by Denji, even as prophesied, was shattering to watch unfold. Especially juxtaposed with the innocence of the snowball fight in his consciousness.

This altercation, too, was preceded by a door Denji didn't want to open. A door we'd seen many times over. A door that he'd decided was best left closed wayyy back in Hokkaido. 👇🏾

Aki's death yields a significant windfall of money willed to Denji to take care of he and Power. Money, the driving factor in his previous suffering, is no longer a problem for him and he uses it to taste and experience more but they do not quell the unrest within him.

Even though Denji grown to adjust to the world he finds himself in with his rebirth as Chainsaw Man, this loss, in particular, forces a deeper reflection beyond the frivolity of why touching his first boob is unsatisfying. He laments the fact that every choice, every want inevitably goes to crap just as Makima finds him. Ultimately, this extremely low point (not unlike the misery she'd initially found him in), is exactly where we see their relation to one another come full circle: Denji, a dog to Makima's whims.

As Denji submits to Makima, we immediately see the cost of his allegiance. Not only by means of Power's death but the fact that her orders completely conflict with what Pochita has been urging him against this whole time. Never mind the fact that this is the second time where he knew precisely to what end the door he was opening would reveal. Aki. Power. But, even though his expectations have been met at the other side of that door, whether it be Aki's or Makima's, it never prepares him for the big reveal. The worse turning worst case scenario. Denji's shock at Makima making good on her word allows for her full plan to come into focus.

The door opens, the true depth of Denji's backstory is revealed. The irony of Makima, the Control Devil, condemning the actions of a child trying to survive the abuse of his father is something the reader doesn't have time to reconcile it before the next big twist to the story is revealed, the next big fight.

This cycle of violence and revelation without reflection breeds an odd disconnect from the events, probably not unlike Denji's own perceived experience. Perhaps it informs our collective amnesia when it comes to the story, again, not unlike Denji's as he's forced to play the part of Chainsaw Man. A blessing and a curse, born of affection and the belief that Denji should get to lead a normal, fulfilling life. But Pochita's kindness is unexpectedly barbed despite his innocent and unassuming appearance because the Chainsaw Devil is one so feared, one so renowned, it is marked and killed by many devils but he arises again and again.

Almost as if Pochita was avoiding the burden of his own nature like Denji avoided the truth of his past... I don't know, perhaps this rant was a bit self-indulgent but whenever I think about these 3 (to 5 if we count Angel and Pochita) characters floating through the ether of life only to be connected and summarily destroyed by the fact that they finally found something worth living for really just spoils my thoughts for where this story is going, what the grand message is. If there's even a grand message at all.

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neonscandal · 2 years

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Manga with Me: Dark Trio Anime Adaptation Edition

Mappa Animators Are Troll Gods and You Can't Change My Mind

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: covers major plot points through JJK chapter 120 and CSM chapter 79. If you want to hear out the essence of this argument, I put spoilers under this ‼️ symbol below the jump so feel free to read along even if you don't intend to read the manga.

I'm going to immediately address what you're already thinking. Hell yea, this is a little bit of Mappa dickriding. Have you seen the cult classic nods in the CSM OP? HAVE YOU SEEN THE UNIQUE CSM EP'S WITH CLASSIC ART ALLEGORIES PERTAINING TO EACH EPISODIC STORYLINE!? 😘👌🏾 Chef's kiss, we are not worthy and so, we ride!🧎🏾‍♀️

To be fair, this initially started as a lil snippet of an observation, a figurative comment under my breath on the internet but the more I think about it, the more I'm like... I need to say this with my whole chest. Mappa has the reigns on adapting the Dark Trio of shonen manga and they are embracing and taking this responsibility with every intention of inflicting as much emotional damage as possible.

If you're unfamiliar with the Dark Trio, it includes Gege Akutami's Jujutsu Kaisen, Yuji Kaku's Hell's Paradise: Jigokuraku and Tatsuki Fujimoto's Chainsaw Man. Known for their gritty (sometimes teetering on vile) artwork, macabre rich storylines and overlap with the occult, these works make for an unholy trinity. They are similarly unified by the fact that they tend to subvert typical shonen tropes where the power of friendship ✨ can overpower any foe which generally leads to a happy ending for readers.

In a typical shonen, we kick things off with a weak or underpowered MC (parents, where?). They go through a rigorous training montage, sometimes capped by a tournament of sorts as they always want to be the very best hero, fighter, trainer, athlete, what have you. All while cultivating a found family, typically balanced in a trio that finds strength in rivalry and in one another.

While we may see some similarities to the generic shonen formula, expecting either of these series to stay true to the genre is sure to lead to heartbreak as these series are marked by shocking losses. This is where the Mappa supremacy comes in. Captivating animation aside, they are really and truly digging into what makes these series great and unexpected which is sure to sink the hearts of anime only's (or CSM manga readers because we have all collectively blocked out everything we've read thus far).

My first example of this is not a spoiler, provided you've completed the first season of JJK.

JUNPEI CAMEOS DURING OP

I was an anime only before I voraciously inhaled the JJK manga (because how many rewatches would be enough?). With countless scenes illustrated of Junpei interacting with the main trio, when Yuji was finally introduced to him, it felt like another piece of the shonen puzzle falling into place. Sure, he'd gotten mixed up with Mahito, but a sunshine MC typically helps those who lose their way find redemption. So, imagine my surprise, after the two loners find a natural camaraderie, Mahito actually kills Junpei!? BRUHHHH. Now, having read the manga, that's true to the source material. But Mappa really incorporated him into several "romanticizing high school life" scenes to lull viewers into a false sense of security!

This, this could be overlooked. This could be a coincidence. But as anyone who has read and seen JJK 0, it is not. It is a set up and it's one they use over and over. Anime only's beware, spoilers below (beyond JJK 0). You can assume the heartache now or later, your choice ‼️‼️

NANAMI KENTO IS NOT IN JJK 0

Listen. At this point, we all know Mappa blew their animation budget on glossing Gojo's lips and the ungodly care to lengthen his white eyelashes. Mappa knows what side of their bread is buttered. So one might overlook the fact that Nanami Kento's inclusion in JJK 0 was strictly for the gworls. They literally killed off a bunch of nameless children just so Nanami could stride in like a man with medical insurance and a 401k and be the daddy he is father figure mentor who saves the day. Look, that was fan service and no one can change my mind. His butt even got a cameo, come on and the way he tied that tie!? Perverse. I loved it. I guess it also provided context for the four black flashes he's said to have produced in one fight which isn't covered in the manga... 🙄 but this is no accident. This is, once again, setting us up to believe Nanami is a much bigger character in the rest of the series than he is. In actuality, Nanami is more like a burning star, bright but for a short period of time. 💣

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THERE'S NOTHING ROMANTIC ABOUT DECEMBER IN JJK

IF YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW. But aside from the obvious JJK 0 reference, this incredibly beautiful EP (including the translated lyrics) is a standalone masterpiece. The way they capture perspective and movement and lend to the overall observation of how the characters innocently relate to one another? This? THIS? Is peak romanticizing high school life. It even encompasses the quintessential beach episode vibe while still being true to Akutami largely not sexualizing their female characters (at least not the students). The only thing about this is that the math truly ain't mathing on this little adventure. If you've made it through the Shibuya arc which takes place the Halloween that Yuji starts at JJT, you know that some of the characters in this sweet vignette don't necessarily survive to frolic on the beach that winter.

SINISTER AKI FAN SERVICE

If there's one thing fans love, it's a single daddy who works (questionable) two jobs, who loves his (non-biological) kids and never stops, with overly detailed hands and the heart of a fighter. It's just too bad that, for all this focus on the Hayakawa family home life and gratuitous focus on Top Knot himself, Aki is very much not a survivor. But he is voted most likely to steal your girl so why not twist the knife until the moment when that final blow lands because his death is particularly heart shattering and sentimental. Special care seems to be given in highlighting features Aki loses along the way which is actually quite sadistic. So I look forward to whatever Mappa has in store, considering.

At the time of this post, I'm caught up on CSM and JJK, though Hell's Paradise is still in my TBR. Given what I've asserted, I think I might complete the first season before I even touch the manga to test my theory. What do you think?

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