#manga spoilers through 1st part of chainsaw man

[embossross]

this intersects so perfectly with many things that i despise, so i need to rant because i'm seeing these ice cold takes everywhere...

yes, Denji and Makima's relationship is 'toxic and abusive' but just recognizing that without digging any deeper is useless. we need to ask ourselves why fujimoto included an abusive relationship in a manga that isn't an exploration of abuse. what was the point?

answering from my interpretation: csm is about how nothing has meaning beyond that which we ascribe, so how do we determine what to value, how to live, how to engage with others' different values in a world where we are solely responsible for making those decisions for ourselves?

makima represents a very attractive, but ultimately harmful option, which is to cede all that responsibility and existential distress to some authority figure who promises to lead the way for you and ease your burden. makima represents authoritative structures (the government, corporations, the army) far more than an abusive girlfriend or other interpersonal relationship because that's not what the story is primarily about.

reading these tweets though, you wouldn't think this at all. they're so grossly gleeful as they lord the world's most shallow analysis over the heads of the anime watchers who haven't caught on yet. & i don't hate people that can only engage in media analysis as character good or bad, but it's embarrassing to be so smug about your bottom barrel analysis.

speaking of which...why are people so proud of predicting a twist? if it was meant to be explicit, Fujimoto would have made it explicit. he gave enough information to give the reader an idea of what was to come, to make it plausible, but did not make it explicit until midway through the story FOR A REASON. it's not bad reading comprehension to not take for granted something that is kept intentionally ambiguous.

and why leave it ambiguous? because Makima and what she represents (yielding to authority and release of personal responsibility) is meant to be super attractive. we're supposed to see how much peace lies in just listening to makima, to the peaceful life of a pet. denji is seduced not because he is manipulated but because what makima offers him IS seductive.

so, the people who are falling for makima or shipping them are arguably experiencing the story more in line with what Fujimoto intends than the sanctimonious 'you-didn't-fool-me' twitter mob ever could. you should engage emotionally in stories, not just try to solve it like it's a damn puzzle.

and lastly, as a manga reader, manga readers are insufferable! just how much credit do manga readers really want for knowing that the villain is the villain 🙄🙄🙄 i doubt any of these people were 100% confident when they first read it, and now they want to high horse the anime readers?

like, just let people experience the story in full before discussing their interpretation with them. it's a complete work. you don't get brownie points for finishing the test early. let them digest it.

this has been a rant. 😅

JUST KIDDING also - people not getting that denji (and the story by proxy) isn't a shallow objectifying freak for wanting to grope boobs at this point aren't idiots either. shonen has such a long history of characters exactly like this with no further redeeming thematic reasoning (*cough* mineta) that it's not crazy people would write him (csm) off. it's only as the story develops and confidence in fujimoto as a storyteller with something to say grows that it becomes abundantly clear that he's not part of that pattern and actually saying something powerful through denji's boob grabs.