leonofthelake

[leonofthelake]

"Life has no meaning."

Wow that's so cool! I get to love my friends, and pet my dog, and tan in the sun, and laugh for no other reason than because I'm alive? :0

Amazing if you ask me! :D

[leonofthelake]

Everytime I see something regarding the "Do you think we are friends in every universe?" question I always stop and think which of the two possible answears is more powerful.

"Yes, we are." implies that the friendship is woven in the very fabric of reality and not even a change so radical as being what are effectively completely different people can stop it. When people say they are friends in every universe they mean that they can't imagine a life where the other isn't there, that the mere thought of not having them in their life would mean that the person from the other universe is so far removed from their concept of self that it would be insulting to even consider them variants of the same being. And that's the direction where most post or art inspired by the question goes.

But

"No, we aren't." we are friends only here, there is no grand interdimensional scheme that made the two of us meet, if just one of us made a different choice we would never have even known about the other's existance... but that doesn't make it any less important. Who cares if we only met by chance, isn't it beautiful that between all possible realities we managed to live in the one where we meet, where we are compatible. I don't care about all the other version of me, I don't care about what I could have been if I made a different decision, because my actions lead me to know you, friend. And I wouldn't want it any other way.

[leonofthelake]

So with chapter 193 it's now even more clear how Denji has a compromised view of love and, more in general, affection. He is brought to tears by the mere fact that someone still likes him after all that happened to him even when it's clear that the person who is telling him that (Yoru) isn't being 100% geniuine. She even tells him that her feeling are only a proxy of Asa's ones but Denji doesn't seem able to make that distinction in his mind. He also equals the idea of sex and physical intimacy with love, which shows an even more simplistic view of that emotion. What I wanted to point out is how Fujimoto actually already laid out this concept with a parallel in early part one: Katana Man tells Denji that, since he never experienced different tasting food as a child his palate is both underdeveloped and unable to distinguish complex flavours, which is exactly what happened over and over in the course of the story with his concept of "love". Since he never experienced being cared for when he was a a kid he now takes every little sliver of attention, kidness and romantic interest geared towards him and swallows it (just like he swallowed Himeno's vomit because he had some semblance of nutritional value)