| In the same way FLCL is a comedy. It is so crazy and impossible to understand, the only thing you can do is laugh. |
 |
| Saitama Chainsaw Girl is not comedy at all. FLCL was funny; this is not. It's not even all that weird: maybe just poorly-written. And yet it's still rather thrilling. Also, it's not too hard to understand (and neither was FLCL, for that matter); you just have to know how to look at it. The chainsaw massacre is pretty much a Battle in the Center of the Mind between Fumio and the alien that serves as a sort of coming-of-age-tale wherein Fumio finds meaning in her life. Where the "dream" begins and ends is uncertain, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. The bad thing is that the whole aliens-are-after-Takumi plot is not really resolved, which may baffle readers. This omission is possibly intentional, in that the lack of attention given to that plot thread is indicative of how little it matters, meaning that the entire point of the story is the coming-of-age aspect. ... Or it may be the case that the alien really DOES imprison her schoolmates in a closet, and Fumio saves them all by bloodily cutting down dozens of impostors and besting the alien in combat, and then the stress of the task causes her to pass out. Now that I think about it, this actually seems pretty likely, but it doesn't actually change the overall message. Of course, we know this isn't actually the case because everything's cooler with hallucinations! |
ZetaAspectJan 8, 2011 10:23 PM
 Graph provided to verify that I am a CERTIFIED pretentious jerk. |
| ZetaAspect, you're halfway there. I get the same interpretations as you when I take the series seriously, but come on. This manga was CLEARLY intended to be a comedy. Nothing should have been taken seriously from the second chapter onward. Fumio has a friend who claims to have met her in a previous life, and this friend can hear the voice of someone "above." Furthermore, Kaoruko has the most eccentric personality of the manga (just like how every successful shounen series has a loveable weirdo) and her trustworthiness parallels the old Jump virtue of friendship. Not to mention all the images of Fumio cutting down the students were glorified (bright backgrounds with the stereotypical grandiose "tah-dah" lineart), and the battle scenes were very typical of average shounen series. And speaking of the chainsaw, let's not forget her family's background. A Texan grandfather who gave her blue eyes and taught her the way of the chainsaw? Normal shounen series have this aspect to them, certainly, but this was way over the top. Meanwhile, the inner monologue that Fumio narrates are so stereotypically shounen (and sometimes nonsensical in her justifications). The amount of twists--like Kaoruko suddenly ignoring Fumio--and that huge deus ex machina at the end also reflect the absurdities of your average shounen series. So, if you can't see that the manga just plain screams satire (though not quite a genre deconstruction), you should go back to reading To Love-Ru and leave this series to those of us who appreciate it. 9/10 |
 |
More topics from this board
Poll: » Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo Chapter 6 DiscussionPositiveputty - Sep 14, 2009 |
31 |
by IL0VECHAINSAWMAN
»»
Feb 10, 2023 2:17 PM |
|
Poll: » Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo Chapter 5 DiscussionNick4x - Aug 21, 2009 |
4 |
by cythraul
»»
Oct 1, 2019 5:22 AM |
|
Poll: » Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo Chapter 4 DiscussionFaust721 - Aug 4, 2009 |
10 |
by cythraul
»»
Oct 1, 2019 5:15 AM |
|
Poll: » Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo Chapter 3 DiscussionHooHiraiBunny - Nov 11, 2009 |
10 |
by cythraul
»»
Oct 1, 2019 5:06 AM |
|
Poll: » Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo Chapter 2 DiscussionFaust721 - Apr 13, 2009 |
5 |
by cythraul
»»
Oct 1, 2019 4:58 AM |