#Artillatalk

[artillatron]

When you ask Falling what course she’s on

[artillatron]

Growing up is still enjoying House but no longer wanting to be like House because you realize he’s a bit of a douchecanoe

[artillatron]

He’s spittin facts so hard he just like me fr fr

[artillatron]

Guy from Chainsaw Man who makes a bunch of cheap contracts with super weak devils not for power, but so he can do party tricks

[artillatron]

After 136, I really appreciate just how realistic Fujimoto's writing is, especially this chapter. Who the girl is might be important or not, but I do know that Denji's reaction is meant to be over the top just like Asa's "EWW" moment, but at the same time, it's so realistic. He doesn't know what's going on, all of the sudden he's just got someone's hand on his junk out of the blue. If that happenes, of course you freak out, you're stunned into silence. And everything Denji thinks he knows means he should like this, right? Only it definitely feels wrong, and he doesn't understand why. That's the kind of thing that fucks you up but you don't even realize it you're like, in your 20's and it smacks you in the face why you might not feel the same way about sex as other people. Not to mention the metric ton of trauma he already has from part 1

[artillatron]

Hey, is that a chupa chups in your pocket, or are you just a deeply traumatized and emotionally stunted boy seeking love through physical intimacy because you’ve never had the opportunity to learn to express your emotions?

[artillatron]

Denji, Power, and Aki kind or remind me of Kirk, Spock, and Bones. You have the pure instinct/emotion from Bones/Power, the cold calculating logicians Spock/Aki, and the balanced one who can sway, but never goes too far in either direction enough to be a detrimental extreme.

[artillatron]

Fearlessness vs. Fearfulness in CSM

I've been watching through the anime, and seeing the scene with Kishibe and Himeno got me thinking about the devil hunters that live and die.

At the end of Part 1, the only devil hunters we know are alive are Denji, Kobeni, Kishibe, and Yoshida.

The dead hunters include Aki, Himeno, Arai, and several other minor characters. Kishibe says only those with a few screws loose can be hunters, because if devils know someone is rational they will use that against them, and if they're not, that even devils fear what they don't understand. It can certainly be said that Denji, Kishibe, and Yoshida are all unhinged enough to not die, but what about Kobeni?

Kobeni is constantly terrified and afraid. The thing about fear, is that it makes people do irrational things, a person experiencing pure terror simply can't think logically. So what if being fearful has the same effect as being completely fearless? Aki and Himeno were both brave, but Aki's love for his family, and his fear of losing his new one in Denji and Power, directly spurred his death. Himeno originally joined public safety to find the Gun Devil, but that goal over time faded and her objective became to protect Aki. During the eternity devil arc, we see her facade drop after Aki protects Denji from being stabbed by Kobeni, and her fear of losing him rises to the surface. Arai is how putting on a brave face at the start of the Eternity Devil arc, but he does eventually break and have a panic attack. They all still have fear, but are stuck in a middle ground, where the fear exists but are able to overcome it for the most part, just not completely.

Fear is a mechanism that humans and animals have for one reason: survival. With devils abound, there is no room for those who are stuck between the 'fight' and 'flight', only those who can fully commit to one side. We see this in action with Kobeni when she fights Sawatari and Katana Man, she is totally calm until the threat is gone, then she breaks down into her usual blubbering mess.

I think it's interesting to consider that complete fear would be just as useful as complete lack of fear, especially considering how Asa and Yoru have to confront Falling now, and presumably even more devils after, assuming she lives (putting this so I don't get Fujimoto'd, don't die Asa)

[artillatron]

Chainsaw Man Thoughts

I have a lot of thoughts about a lot of characters, so I’m putting them here

Denji

I thought it was very interesting how Denji’s motivations are so simple from the start, and how Aki berates him for not having conviction just because his goals aren’t what most would consider noble or lofty. It makes me think about how Denji’s basic, carnal, goals themselves are judged by those around him and used to assume he’s an unserious guy. Which he is, but his commitment to his goals is very real, which we get a real view of when he fights the leech devil, and he clearly isn’t going to win, but he still tries because he really wants to touch some boobs that much. That made me reflect on how we think about other people’s goals. Are we judging them only by our own values? If someone would go that far to achieve a goal, even one you would call base and crude, there is a kind of respect that has to be given. Also, is it not a nice change of pace to have a character who just wants some action, but isn’t rude or pervy about it to the women he likes? I think there’s a certain connection there to how in the current day and age, there is a coexistence that we can find between being a respectful person and still wanting to touch some boobs.

Denji always does what Makima asks because he wants to on his own, not because she directly makes him, like Angel or Aki. She never tells him “that’s an order���, he does it because he really does love her. The person that pulled him out of his old life, fed him better than he had ever eaten before, and was actually nice to him, even if it was all set up. Denji says that he really did love her, and I believe that. Just because Makima tried to kill him, the love that Denji felt is still real. Maybe that’s why Nayuta exists, because Denji loved her too much to actually use Chainsaw Man’s power when he ate her. Maybe it’s because it wasn’t Chainsaw Man who are her, but Denji. There’s such a melancholy intimacy when Denji takes his first bite, because he never did get to kiss Makima; he finally gets to taste her body, which in itself can, through the euphemistic meaning of that phrase, be likened to the sex Denji desires, and he does it with someone he loves. I think Denji’s love being more than “I want to kiss her”, and extending to the extremely difficult “I am going to kill her because I love her” is not something that Denji himself could ever accurately express, but I like that Fujimoto can make that a part of Denji to add to his depth as a character.

Pochita

I assume we’ll learn more of Pochita’s backstory, like why he disappeared suddenly in the battle, and presumably died because he ended up on earth, but not to any of the devils he was fighting? And his ability to eat devils is certainly a threat to others, but how did he become so powerful? Surely the fear of chainsaws isn’t as strong as the fear of say, darkness. 

Power

I don’t think I have many thoughts on Power specifically, because I think her character is fairly well-explained throughout. My only thoughts revolve around why Power would become attached to Meowy specifically and not any other animal. I am curious to see how Denji will find her and if he will find a way to recover her memories, or if she will be reborn like Makima and he will have to befriend her all over again. Will she have a different personality? The other thing of note is the notion of saving a cat, which we have now seen from Denji, Power, and Asa. I have a feeling that indicates some sort of connection between them, or maybe it will end up just being a thematic parallel.

Aki

Aki goes from having one single goal of killing the gun devil, to waht seems like considering Denji and Power family. He wants to avenge his family, but when the time comes to begin the mission to pursue the gun devil, he asks to pull division 4 out, presumably to protect Denji and Power, who he considers worth living for. When Makima makes them go anyway, he’s suddenly back onboard, clearly against his own desires but believing he could help protect them. I wonder if his hallucination while he’s possessed by the gun devil is his own, to deal with the fact that he is now one with the being that killed his family, or if it was somehow put there by Makima, to make him more ruthless in the reality by controlling his perception of the fight. I also wonder if Makima ever used the future devil once he was contracted with her, or if she was so confident that either outcome would be good for her. I do love when he chooses to pay tribute to Himeno by scrambling Katana Man’s family jewels because she doesn’t want him to die, and that’s the kind of insane thing that somone that is going to die would never do.

Himeno

I love Himeno so much she’s beautiful and messed up and fantastic. The fact that she’s so traumatized by the deaths of her former partners that she has no regard for the hazards of smoking or drinking too much, how she clearly loves Aki’s innocence and tries to protect him because she can see that he always has that one bit of sanity in him. She acknowledges him because of the gum, but he’s still on the line between sane enough to die or insane enough to live, and she does everything she can to protect him, and you know that because of the simple “don’t die Aki” she repeats to him and then I simply love her brand of the happy-go-lucky carefree nihilism. Also I like how her night with Denji is like kind of traumatic for him because it helps show that she’s not exactly a saint, but it’s totally in character for her to try something because they could all die anytime and who has time for society’s morals in the face of imminent death? But it also sets up Makima being Denji’s savior by giving him the lollipop and reassuring him so he feels more indebted to her in the long run.

Kobeni

Kobeni is great, she’s just trying her best all the time. It was pretty crazy when she attacked Akane and Katana Man, it was like she was so into the fight that she forgot to be scared, and her fighting abilities were amazing, especially since she didn’t appear to be using her devil power at all. I find it intersting the parallel between her tripping with burger in hand trying to serve Chainsaw Man, and Asa’s apparent penchant for tripping at inopportune times as well.

Quanxi

I think she’s amazing, but how did she get fiendsto fallin love with her, especially as a devil hunter? She’s very outwardly callous, but clearly loves all of them, wanting them to have rights and an education, and trying to trade her own life for theirs. I want to know what’s up with that one with her mouth sewn shut.

Makima

How ironic that someone that views humans as dogs would herself identify others through smell. I think she’s amazing because she genuinely believes what she’s doing will create a better world, when you are the control devil and that’s all you know, of course the only way to solve the chaos and senselessness of the world would to control it yourself. To let things play out would on their own would be to give up control, and Makima could never do that. She immediately uses food to start controlling Denji when she first finds him. It’s very standout how she says there would be “no bad movies”, and I think back to her date with Denji. Two of the three movies that they saw, others laughed and reacted to despite Denji and Makima being nonplussed. The last movie, which they see basically alone, they both cry at. Clearly the movie didn’t interest others, because there was no other audience for the showing. But who is Makima to say that the other movies were bad? Why should the not be allowed to exist because they don’t please one person? There is vast amounts of art in the world, and not all of it will mean something to everyone, but some of it will always mean everything to someone. She’s very clearly using the end to justify the means, but because she doesn’t have complete control over everything, Denji can do something like remove Pochita and use that to sneak up on her. All the power she had, and it was still useless in the end because of the small amount of control over Denji’s actions that she didn’t have.

Asa

I wonder if sacrificing possessions to create weapons is like a metaphor for sacrificing troops’s lives in order to win battles. It also makes me think about how with each weapon she makes, she loses more and more of her possessions, so without taking, she would be basically out of options to fight with. Yoru is the war devil, so I think that was definitely intentional. I don’t have too many impressions of Asa yet, but she almost seems like a foil to Denji (kind devil vs. violent devil, unruly vs. reserved personality) and I predict Nayuta will kill her in much the same way that Makima did Power.

Yoshida

This dude definitely knows more than he’s letting on. Whoever he works for is likely one of the more powerful devils, directly or indirectly, and I would guess he has more than just the octopus devil contracted. Is he actually evil evil or just a creepy looking good guy?

Other Devils

We’ll definitely be seeing more from Fami and Yoru, but what will become of the darkness devil?I have to assumer there will be more threatening devils to come. My predictions for devils to come are the government devil, public speaking devil, the loneliness devil, and the vertigo devil.

Kobeni Car

Kobeni Car

[artillatron]

Started watching The Bear, I was surprised how much it grabbed me from just the first episode. Carmy’s really in the shit, huh

[artillatron]

Imagine a world where we get Tatsuki Fujimoto and Hideo Kojima team up to make a Chainsaw Man game and it’s so good we get a movie directed by Guillermo Del Toro

[artillatron]

FLCL deserves an 8-hour Quinton Reviews type analysis video

[artillatron]

Sometimes I have really good ideas for art, like “Makima goes to Barbieheimer” but I just can’t draw it

[artillatron]

What if instead of just guillotines we had elaborate personally-themed Danganronpa-style executions for the rich

[artillatron]

I think one of the things that has been like, I guess the phrase would be like, morally freeing, from following Chainsaw Man and seeing people love Denji for who he is has been being able to relate to so much of his character. Isolated from the normal kinds of lives of most people around you so you struggle with meeting social norms and trying to navigate learning what love is? I get that. I understand being overlooked by everyone as someone that could be loved, when no one wants your real heart, only what they can take from you.

Being a guy who's one of the largest in the room most of the time. I've always had to be hyper conscious of acting too friendly, because I'm always looked at as ugly, and it feels like that "flirting vs. harassment" image where I could do the same things with the purest intentions, but it won't be received the same way. That combined with trauma that I've never actually talked about to anyone means I feel exactly like he does. I don't want to be rude or an ass, but at the same time it almost feels like I've been shamed into not being able to express my desires because just doing so would be offensive.

Seeing people validate Denji for being horny because that is okay, and that it doesn't have to run counter to being a respectful person I think has done a lot for my mentality, like I know it's not trauma's fault for most of my situation but also being able to put that aside has made me hopeful for the first time in many years that I can be loved, and who cares if it's something so small in the grand scheme of things as a kiss, or touching boobs, or sex, it's not how lofty you judge the goal, it's the conviction with which you approach it.

[artillatron]

X-ray of Denji (REAL)