Since theres a wordlimit on this website, yall gonna have to read the full version through the google doc file
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_xB2T79iP4bBkvpApqz8gTLeAdGrYlqNWW6lTx81rbk/edit?usp=sharing
OBEDIENT NARRATIVE
“Your ‘necessary evil’... is just an excuse to justify your own crimes. Those excuses are unnecessary to society. The truly necessary evils are always kept collared and controlled by the state”.
To note, whenever I will be referring to the subversion of the expectation, I will have in mind how the series itself sets-up the conventions of the past in its own series and how it proceeds to criticize or pay homage to them in my mind and knowledge.
Also, the text's purpose is not to highlight
...
how deep the story is, but how much I like just how the story is put together and how it appeals to me beyond being a great galore of cute aggressive women.
Write-up is written before chapter 133 and around Part 1
(Part 2 also kino btw)
SPOILERS AHEAD
For starts, let us establish that we should not see Makima as a grounded person who is supposed to be very relatable to be considered as well-written, but moreso as some sort of a force of nature, that may or may not have personality and emotions beneath the surface, to explore what does she represents in the narrative, first and foremost - which, in case of my write-up, is all about how Chainsaw Man depicts and portrays stately and heavenly entrapment through the presence of Makima and her motherly dominance. The idea is set-up from the get-go by her calling Denji a pet the moment she sees him, juxtaposition of how Yakuza was already treating the boy as a dog, as in, going from one owner to another and not being considered as someone worthy of being human by anyone. Denji, as a point of view, serves his purpose, to lay foundation that Makima antagonizes, in two different manners:
One, both his desires and behavior are relatable for teenagers (as they are the target audience) on top of the empathetic connection he also warrants sympathetic connection given Denji’s situation, since in this day and age all of teenagers have “good” chances to end up in similar circumstances - that said, what makes Denji stand-out is, that he is accustomed to unhappiness in his life to the point of normalcy as he has never really seen ‘light’ in his life given the poverty and abuse even from his father, being the lowest of the low as opposed to Makima who is the higher being in civilization. This pays off by him meeting the hero of hell at legendary figure’s most vulnerable moment in life and instead of seeing it as either from glorified rose tinted goggles or being afraid of it and ultimately being unable to ‘hug’, they form an equal relationship with the informal ‘contract’ (promise) to save one another and thus complement lives of one another - no malice involved and none of them taking anything from another while doing work as both of them genuinely want to realize each other’s dreams through their companionship, establishing an answer to every personal or impersonal conflict arising in the story from hereon. Now how could they form an equal relationship in a perfect world, how else could appreciate what he has instead of taking everything granted in his life, and how else would there be a need to allow himself to dream a lot more of these earthly delights in his life as he experiences the world?
Pochita being this champion figure - Chainsaw Devil or/and the end point of battle shounen protagonist ideal (and I appreciate Fujimoto is not treating it with hostility) - who only really wanted a normal livelihood with just normal hugs and treatments ironically enough resulted in Denji, who already has whatever could Pochita ever want, indirectly inheriting the fate of being the hero and yet, he has to overcome wanting the same as Pochita by realizing that yes, he wants to be - Chainsaw Man - in its all glory. Funnily enough, at the end of the Public Safety Arc, as he shapes the reputation of Chainsaw Man, he starts sharing a predicament similar to Pochita and he fails to make people notice this Denji person beyond the image of the hero of earth - that said, it is not because he will obliterate people via hugging them, but because his approach is wrong.
On top of that, both Pochita and Makima are higher beings in the civilization, yes, but while Makima was in total control, Pochita was not only at its most vulnerable but also a pet - someone lower in the food chain, ironically idolized by Makima, who despises everyone she considers as lower than her in the food chain - , and what transitions us to the second point is how as Denji reaches the same point in his life as dying, reborn as puppy, Pochita, he is metaphorically reborn by Pochita’s sacrifice (someone who has always had more than what it needed) as the realization of ever-growing needs kicks in and he enters the world of adulthood. His rebirth is illustrated by him being completely naked, opened up, bathing in blood and getting embraced by the mother figure that is Makima - as her name suggests, (ma)ki(ma). Except this time his mother is the authority. This is half the meaning of her name, but let us save the later half for later.
*as a bonus, he also learns that eating devils gonna make them stay dead, hence him getting an idea to eat Makima up in the end
And two, as someone who has never seen or felt anything positive from any other person in his life but was just being abused, Denji, naturally, has issues with connection and apathy, and can’t really understand what he is feeling and why. Interestingly, he could be viewed as a misandrist given how averse he is to the idea of interacting with men and how focused he is on women, which may or may not be a foreshadowing of how he was being sexually abused by his dad. We can also see how Denji hardly ever gets seriously angry and resentful and furious to even attempt to murder someone, so it’s interesting what would make such a person to kill his dad of all people (also offering to lick some man’s asshole out of nowhere in the singular moment of his complete powerlessness to help his own family).
Thus, the POV of the reader and Denji has been shaped as one and the same. The very next thing that we witness is how Makima enters the scene - instead of being the subject of abuse, this time he gets to get groomed and the presentation engages in it to throw the readers in that very illusion.This unequal relationship, as opposed to that of one with Pochita, is illustrated beneath Denji’s unreliable narration - on the surface, as a regular person would, Denji of course gets swayed away by the present moment and appetite, if he can eat daily as good as he never ever has eaten before, he is ready to do a job and on top of that, Makima is apparently girl of his dreams, as superficial as it may be, she is the only one who does not care about how he smells. Now, if we dig the subtext, things get a bit complicated. We see Makima, who sense’s people by their smell and never really looks at them for what they are as she does not care and even views them below herself, taking her uniform off and even if that could be seen as her opening up to Denji, as well as getting on equal terms and giving a prospect to romantic relationship, she is still giving him an ultimatum and if that was not questionable enough, she also covers him and his innocence with her suit that reflects her authority and how government is swallowing an individual. Not only that, but Makima is also clearly aware since very early on that Pochita and Chainsaw Devil is what Denji has in his heart thanks to her sense of smell and so, we can interpret her saying ‘someone like Denji’ as wordplay on her being suggestive to Denji, while not lying but having Chainsaw alone in mind. What we have here is the manipulation of the perspective with the visualization of what is actually going on, but there were also a bit of other things established here or have had context enriched by later reveals.
Even within the country itself, we can see even in the first chapter itself that no matter from which organization to which organization goes an individual and how differently they may be treated superficially, they will still be expected to be below the food chain, as dogs. And no matter how they will be dressed up, their lives will still be as (un)fulfilling as ever.
The moment Denji gets out in the world, he immediately starts encountering various different types of people, who are quite weaklings even as demons (at least compared to Denji), but they all share one thing - they are all also similar to Denji. After Yakuza, when he immediately encounters a devil, Makima does not care about it endangering the people around to the point that neither her facial expressions change nor she loses appetite, she does not react at all and prioritizes her food - instead she decides to make use of exhausted Denji by reminding him that otherwise they will get rid of him, thus Denji’s instincts starts focusing on everything besides their faces to realize what is actually going on, albeit too late. Ironically, that devil is the one on the other side of the ultimatum given to Denji and presents Denji’s childhood, by being a victim of abuse and being all alone with her ‘pet’ devil . But the rest of the devils are not as kind as Pochita and he can’t really run away anywhere else, even if his own childhood innocence that he is forced to willingly eradicate on his own. As a result, Denji is on the leash from hereon and contrary to him (as a human) establishing equal and free relationship/companionship with Chainsaw Devil (as a pet), he has neither freedom nor equal authority (as a pet) with Makima (as a human organization) and only death will be able to liberate him.
Next example is from the bureau’s perspective as they introduce how they live and work to Denji - it is mostly highlighting for Denji the benefits of working as he is unaware of the basic decency and how to behave and treat oneself in the house, and also how dedicated people around him are to protect or/and avenge their loved ones and relatives that fell victim to devils and fiends. Now what is not being highlighted is how the population lacks all of these benefits and so in the Bureau they are not even fighting for people that are alive and still need their lives protected. What's even worse, it pities one of a kind, bottom of the barrel parts of the society to one another - the guy with sexy magazines living his life identical to Denji prior and pretty much would have been Denji’s fate if not for Pochita, which creates a really fitting background for him to start contemplating just how is he surrounded by so-called ‘shonen protagonists/heroes’ Makima garnered with their grand objectives and thinking whether he is even supposed to be there without actually wanting anything - realizing that yes, in fact, his dream is to touch some tits and yes, he too has needs and desires. Sure, this may seem shallow if we ignore the environment that is foiling his inner turmoil by saying what kinda life he would be leading without Pochita and how there is no ‘nakama power’ to be found around since he never even had friends, but let us take notice of two very important matters:
Externally - not only you do not really need to have necessarily some big goals for there to be need to attain something since that just highlights how we take such valuable things for granted, but he also just so happens to be the most motivated and charged to achieve his small goals and directly winning over the ones who think they deserve sitting on the high horse just because of their lofty romanticized aims. Not to mention, even in case of him saving Meowy, he clearly regained his spirit immediately after starting to relate to her predicament (hence the pay-off to him meeting people similar to him - particularly, both Power and Denji taken to Bureau being as naked as new born children, almost like siblings). Which leads me to the second point.
(In case not dying by the government's hands was not enough of a motivation)
Internally - as he is also uneducated and not very smart and not really aware of the world, even if he can get tricky and come up with stuff spontaneously in the heat of the battle and instinctually see the general picture it's more of ‘street smarts’ and all he can do is find shallow explanations to understand his inner self and mask what's beneath the surface in actuality. After all, Denji is used to both directly running away when faced with complications (exemplified by the muscle devil encounter) or (un)intentionally distracting his mind (exemplified by melons and various other instances)
But has he lost his heart along Pochita now that his ideal ‘normal’ life is full of apathy? Amusingly, despite the apathy, Denji still has understanding that he is ‘nice’, as in, would do things normally may or may not be feeling to do just because it is a nice thing to do and he would be all nice and happy, hinting at his nurture and of course it is only natural to raise a child by telling them right from wrong. But once it clicks to him that he may as well have lost his human heart (as in, humanity along with it), I assume, he realizes, or rather, remembers that he is guilty and runs away in a blink of an eye, locking the unhappy thoughts behind the magical door. A ‘normal’ person must aim to be ‘kind’, naturally.
A similar situation occurs once he starts harboring feelings for more than one girl and can’t get either one of them out of his mind - he starts imagining one of them (Reze) naked, while another in more casual dress (Makima, without her formal wear). Whatever this could mean is up to interpretation, it may allude to how he loves Reze as a woman and loves Makima more as a maternal figure or that he loves more than one girl and craves to have all sorts of different relationships with them. But it is more than clear that he himself can’t make up his own mind and is more focused on being restrained by the expectations set out by the traditional senses of romance, despite not even dating Makima.
If I were to interpret that, I would call it one of the better examples of Denji’s unconscious disobedience - the arc starts by Denji eating a flower while being in a romantic mood, but meeting Reze makes him immediately cough it out back. The arc ends by Denji eating a whole bouquet of flowers and I think that explains how he views girls around him. In Makima’s case, as it is not an equal relationship and he does not actually know anything about her, it is only a small dose of romance that can be easily influenced (hence coughing the flower back). In Reze’s case, we see it as a reflection of how much Denji’s romantic power levels have increased. That is not to say that he is purely in love and won’t get over her death (or going away) relatively fast, but to highlight how a girl opening up to her and being the same as him made the connection far more understandable and closer rather than Makima only being above and distanced and not feeling any semblance of intimacy on her own while being with Denji - thus his feelings of Reze are just romanticized to the maximum. In Power’s case, he is not romantic at all and would rather eat flowers than give them to her.
Most importantly Denji, despite having a hard time carrying about his surroundings as his relationships all tend to be hollow in the objective oriented society where killing is pretty much a norm, does not seem to be giving into pessimism and as his behavior is humorous and easily approachable, he is anything but an archetypal edgy, brooding sorry excuse of an anti-hero seeking vengeance - he is used to losing and hardships, it has been ingrained in his mind as normal to the point that three days of mourning would always be more than enough and he would immediately restart trying to be happy, whether guilty (un)consciousness allow it or not. If anything, he finds such things blatantly lame and so do I. Conceptually, I do not consider brooding anti-heroes ‘self-criticizing’ and being presented as mere murderers who somehow are unable come up with literally anything else in the face of villainy a compelling answer to battle shounen heroism, so Denji being best of two worlds is more than I could have asked for.
In short, someone who does not have anything is striving to achieve the normal life, unaware of the kind of ‘normal’ life he may be craving for and is destined to be unable to fulfill it due to being magnetic to grander events.
As the being that unintentionally breeds fear in everyone, fate inherited from Pochita, Denji is not destined for normal life, for he has to deal with people treating him as some holy grail rest of his life, as a result of either admiration or fear. How will he be able to overcome loneliness and the lack of (parental) affection and guidance in his life to finally achieve something neither Pochita or Makima could ever attain? Taken to their respective extreme expressions, both masculine dominance (that of Pochita) and feminine dominance (that of Makima) has been deemed as failure in the very genre of might proving right.
Lastly and probably something that is the most crucial, Denji progresses in one way or another after each encounter either with a friend or a foe. What I find appeal and novelty in is how, unlike most of other battle shounen leads, his development is anything BUT power creep. Even if he is not really coming up with anything really smart and even if he is not really doing anything but murdering those who get in his way, he is perpetually learning how to use everything at his disposal, how to improvise and adapt in the heat of the moment that he will also expand on in his future battles, and, of course, get closer and closer to his true self. Of course not everyone is that lucky. Everyone has to be on their toes given how power system (that fortunately has virtually zero exposition and never detracts from momentum) in CSM does not neglect the vulnerability of humanity, anyone can be ambushed anywhere and anytime by literally any type of a person and suffer fatal injuries, sometimes to the point of leaving permanent consequences or just plain old death.
Unlike Makima, who is detaching herself and garners more influence and control after each of his puppets encounter opposing forces instead of her. She also can’t appreciate the beauty of death thanks to her contract with the government, that they most likely gave her since the childhood, allowing her to transfer and transform all of the damage she could ever live through to various illnesses distributed the everymen - as if highlighting how Japanese government is so deep into dodging the responsibilities that they may as well breed the satanic cult of a personality out of children. This can also be seen as an amusing play on the cliche ‘kill the final boss and goons will all disappear’, since nobody can really go against the government because it will simply only result the pain that population as a whole will be sharing and won’t really fix anything, symbolizing the futility of terrorism.
There is the vulnerability of a human being and a devil. Humans are weak and live amongst beings that can easily eradicate them, thus it is easier for them to find shelter in the strong protective figures. Devils, on the other hand, do not really have to fear anything since they can live forever as long as they are being feared, so for their existence there is only reward - so for them to fear an unstoppable killing machine no matter what, is plausible.
Instead of getting rewarded for all of his deed by growing stronger and stronger as he is getting more and more popular alongside befriending everyone and everything, popularity is directly tied to him weakening and as he is getting popular more as a heroic figure (that they are protected by, thus there is nothing to fear) rather than devilish, its his image that is being beloved and not Denji, nobody knows him and all of his friends are dying one by one, some even by his own hands. What increases in parallel to him connecting to people are his needs.
To me, this is also the prime example of how CSM criticizes the power philosophy of violently beating the traits main characters deem as bad out of antagonists and being glorified by doing something so self-destructive by which the genre may be summed up - One of my favorite scenes of characters just having a simple, friendly conversation is somewhere in the International Assassins’ section, when Yoshida and Kishibe are just sitting and sharing their thoughts, while clearly being some of the best devil hunters out there, if not the best, but they do not brag about their capabilities at all and even trying to undermine their own, actively calling themselves third-rate hunters. Kishibe being a retired sadist I guess also highlights their generational contrast (history repeating itself and all that) and how not accepting a cigarette as a minor not only means Yoshida has not given up on his life while still retaining his childish innocence, but that he is also very much aligned to bureau’s twisted mindset and wrongdoings. After all he is killing people and lying just as naturally as he is breathing (him wearing white, as if having the pretense of being innocent, but being dressed in black beneath also reflects his sociopathic nature).
Makima, on the other hand, gets inspired by the parody on the conspiracy theories - birds being replaced by government drones, considering she is able to overhear anything, anywhere as long as creatures who she deems beneath here are around - allowing her to hear almost everything alongside the readers and be one with the narrative. Unfortunately to her, there are things in the world that simply cannot be observed from afar. Such as whatever Denji is learning in combat, whatever he learns by being told from his acquaintance or whatever will be left to him and seized by him every single time a tragedy befalls him. Which gets connected to the metanarrative - of Makima weaponizing the battle shounen conventions - that I will be gradually expanding on. In this case, Makima expecting only the arrival and resurrection of the one true Chainsaw Devil (as in, Denji’s power growing) made Denji’s growth something that she could never anticipate to have relevance - commentary on how writers capitalize on physical prowess and neglect everything else or just put them out as decorations for show. Or maybe it is just reflective of the government neglecting the needs of its population, who knows… layers, layers…
Even if they have certain policies to keep the country in order, also take official measures and even apologize for the damage they cause in the environment and Aki (who is also being manipulated by Makima and thus is not really aware of the higher-up machinations, hence the hierarchy within the hierarchy) is appreciating how nobody gets hurt by Denji’s actions and recognizes people thanking Denji by now holding a respectable distance through power dynamics, One thing is clear, especially after Reze’s appearance, that no matter how the bureau is acting all good and caring, no one really bothers to educate Denji give that leaves a lot of room for exploitation. All of their apologies are but a formality. In retrospect, this goes deeper - clockwork of the bureau is made out of people getting brainwashed in a chain-reacted sense. When Denji is contemplating whether Makima is a bad person or not, the thought that ‘of course she is good, I owe her my life’ is proposed to him to get distracted as he gets confirmation on whether someone who tried to negotiate to him with his life is a good person or not by her reputation and agreement in society (or at the very least at the workplace), that which results in mass indoctrination thanks to people enabling such thoughts in one another unwittingly, as if reaching the belief on their very own - meaning, that ‘one person saving the other must result in being indebted’ is used as the means of binding and enslaving people, and is absurd idea to abide by to say the least. No one owes loyalty to anyone, they owe it all to themselves. Thus we have people being binded both through materialism (Yakuza and money) and spiritualism. And thus we have a system built around heroism as fueling motivation and who does not like indulging in and excusing their actions with greater good? It is all but a ploy - unlike Denji who is able to answer questions as to why he may be into Makima, Aki can only remain silent… Well, I can imagine it being hard to recall memories of what made me like someone and how they saved me when such things have never happened to begin with and sentiments were all made up by Makima. Hypnotic eye checks out.
Now this is an unique, fresh and ambitious narrative shift that changes everything here - Usually in heroic stories and specifically in battle shounens being a paragon of traditional values and merely serving a country is masked and advertised as something heroic that each and every aspiring individual should train and get officially approved - perhaps an ideal world that Makima is trying to perpetuate - this in turn establishes heroism as an average job that only thanks celebrities for engaging in. Such stories do not even present systematic flaws as a narrative point and conflict to resolve - at most, strangely enough, even villains themselves are focused on how they were mistreated by individuals -, but instead put blame on rebellious individuals who are exclusively displayed as the agents of chaos instead of offering natural change towards progression and the only thing that so-called heroes need is to grow stronger to prove their good, moral high-ground. What we have in Chainsaw Man is an aggressive display of misconduct done by the higher ups and no stand-out ‘human individual’ to put the blame and hatred on.
However, from the opposite point of view, that of Makima, matter may be more gray then I put it together above. But before getting straight to the point, let's take notice on how expectations are set into juxtaposition and for what pay-off:
First, Yakuza are a family. Obviously. They are certainly going to have their loved ones and relatives - also obviously. Generally one would expect that the main character having a tragic backstory accompanied by flashbacks would result in them taking their rightful revenge. In case of Chainsaw Man, we have Denji murdering Yakuza (whether zombified or not being non-factor to anyone who cared) in cold-blood as he lost the heart - well who would have thought that someone could come after him, the matter of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ turning into a mere suggestion. Not only after him, but people they are close with as well - you know, the reason why heroes even conceal their identities, the usual.
And so we get Samurai Devil, usually referred to as Katana Man. As his relative dies in the first chapter, he gets prematurely placed as a leader of the organization, a grieving manchild to whom the ways of the (under)world are unknown. Instead of achieving his devil’s trust like Denji did with Pochita, he had the devil and the heart replaced and given to him - which says to me, that his family’s overprotectiveness, strictness and fear and preparation for the impeding responsibilities was what made his life so lacking in terms of affection. And when he gets introduced, the first thing he does is to mock and look down on Denji’s sense of taste and lack of education - which establishes Yakuza’s ungrateful power dynamics towards lower classes, since people lower than them working hard (Denji hunting demons to pay the debt) is the very reason his granddad was able to provide spoils to him. Despite him being conditioned to how refined taste makes people happy, we also never really see him being happy in his forced predicament, unlike Denji who can appreciate everything given and gained to him. Lastly, the way he emphasizes on everybody liking his granddad, I could imagine he was looking up to him and either wanted his revenge and current capabilities to be recognized and validated by him or shape himself similar to his granddad or both.
To be fair, Denji is not exactly a good person, he is selfish and does not even feel guilty or care for his surroundings (at first, at least). On the other hand and Unlike Denji’s father, Katana Devil’s father was not abusive and had happy times spoiling his child while having a pretense of the ruthless Yakuza figure - disposition encompassing of the traditional way of thinking, that is also alluded by Katana Devil’s dressing of Imperial Japan and weapon of choice, meshing very well with his petty, spoiled and stuck in the past personality contrasting Denji’s punk, living in a moment and grasping for each and every bit of happiness, highlighted by their taste in food.
Normally you would expect stuff mentioned above to be used as an argument for heroes to never murder even the vilest villains or if they do, they must be condemning themselves and live the rest of their lives in eternal navel gazing. Fortunately our main characters are far from heroes, despite what role their (un)intentionally built reputation is throwing them and that won’t stop them from killing. Even so, they are not necessarily sadists either. Going a step further, we witness how the cycle of retaliation (or lack of thereof) is getting concluded - instead of going on the path of self-destruction after the tragedy, we have tears turned into happiness through the requiem of kicking balls. This ordeal also continues the recurring motif of suits - at first we had hierarchy established through Makima’s overcoat next to Aki’s normal suit and Denji having a mere tie. Aki at first was beating up and spitting on Denji, but then as the progression started thanks to Denji proving himself against the Bat Devil we saw him accepting this barrier between him and Denji. Now it finally culminated by Aki getting rid of his suit and getting on equal power dynamics with Denji
To me this means the return of his childish innocence and true self, instead of being carried away by either Makima or Himeno. At first Aki was a childish prankster choosing on his own to do things he was not asked to do, instead of just accepting pessimism thrown at him. Later he accepted a cigarette, symbolizing the fatalistic magnetism to aimless self-destruction - or, in its purest form, acceptance of having nothing to live for - and was also willing to sacrifice Denji, becoming THE MOST anti-devil racist (or so it was told to us). But now as he has his own family, he can give up on smoking and also give up on his revenge in exchange for Denji and his family in general to try to be happy with him. And quite literally sacrificed his own life(span) for the sake of the devil, to the point of liberating him and himself from Makima’s hypnosis, albeit at the worst and the most sadistic moment imaginable.
In addition, on top of subverting the brooding vengeful expectations set by Aki, we also have layer of both Aki and Denji gaining control of oneself over their emotions and the system they work under by kicking someone else’s balls to appease their needs and still abide by the laws that otherwise deny the feelings of involved, showcasing their individuality and dissatisfaction. Refusal to murder being the climax and reaffirmation that Denji does possess a human heart alongside the devilish one. Now Yakuza is the one being mocked and now Denji is the one refining his ways of dealing with baddies (contrary to ‘murderizing’ them)
Another interesting nod in this ordeal is how, as we are not meant to owe anything to the dead ones, every impulse attempt to appease the vengeful desires, even from the main characters, gets completely nullified and comes back to them as punishment (case example being Aki using his life span and Katana Man getting revived immediately after - especially when Himeno herself would not accept such measures)
Even so, Makima is the one who Denji wants to be reassured by that he does have a heart. From his ignorant perspective, everything is going just perfectly. Now from another reversed perspective… Makima ironically is the most heartless person in the story who Denji has interacted with. Denji’s question only reminds her that her real objective after all - the moment she starts listening to Denji’s heartbeat is the only time, briefly, she makes any semblance of an intimate expression, as her facade comes down due to her only caring about Pochita. She is doing anything but consulting for Denji.
So, both Denji and Makima only really care about each others’ chest. If Denji is interested in Makima’s chest, Makima is interested in whatever is inside Denji’s chest. And by killing Makima, Denji is essentially outdoing his libido, while Makima is unable to overcome her fanaticism to see through who Pochita actually is (both Makima and Denji meeting Pochita at the graveyard). Of course, he does that thanks to learning a trick of playing dead from Power, a person with whom he achieved equal relationship on his own accord - I hope it requires no explanation that this is an argument in favor of genuine and equal companionship.
Second, what defies the expectation yet again is how this entire classic revenge event was a narrative crafted by Makima herself through the promised differences in-between the government and yakuza - so much so, that, in theory, she herself arranged the delivery of Samurai Devil heart to the Yakuza, assuming she forced their hand by mockingly forcing their hand for them to ‘reignite the past glory’ (considering neither Yakuza nor Sawatari had the heart prior). Seeing Makima being in possession and control of Akane’s body and powers, it is safe to assume that yes, the theory mentioned previously is correct and she was one who made her kill herself upon being captured. Aligns well with Makima’s first appearance of going on the hunt of zombie devil, who was involved with said Yakuza family and how Makima has looked into Denji’s past (plus she controls zombie devil as well, so she may as well have been responsible for yakuza getting involved into devil contracts).
Whether poor (like Denji) or wealthy (like Samurai Devil), they all get their strings pulled by the higher ups all the same. At first one would expect that the conflict between two organizations would naturally lead to the equal opposition or maybe even in favor of the ‘antagonistic’ side since they even start moving by killing Makima, of all people - this is of course just another misdirection to not suspect Makima’s involvement even if she has had several sinister things foreshadowed about her.
Later in that arc Yakuza is justifying themselves as if they were ‘necessary’ for the country and that they were in control of foreigners passing into the country, their destruction thus leading to the country being eaten alive from inside-out by other countries. Everything said here is of course completely turned on their head - in this conversation and in these excuses, Makima has completely taken control not only by bringing eyes of Yakuza family members, but because she is the very reason why countries can’t really make a direct hit on Japan and she can also read their minds perfectly fine.
But Makima’s domination in actuality spreads over the entire arc. Himeno’s premonition that the fish might have been fed the piece of Gun Devil has served as foreshadowing and we got an indirect yet borderline confirmation for this after it is revealed that every country controls a certain amount of ‘Gun Devil’. Her saying that it might have been done by any other country was her just lying and manipulating Aki's entire existence with a straight face. As she is going above, she can allow herself to disclose information that pities the countries to one another. Once again, higher existential beings influence countries on cultural level to rift their connection further.
That said, my favourite example of this is done in the Femme Fatale arc with Reze. At first Reze is introduced as an innocent worker making Denji the luckiest guy ever by miraculously going on a date with him, but shortly after there is a revelation of her being a deadly killer, but what makes this scene beautiful is how Reze starts talking (or rather, singing out of sentimental excitement - since her date with Denji is no longer ruined) in Russian and unknowingly to the readers (Japanese or pretty much any non-Russian speaking readers) it is a clever revelation that she genuinely likes Denji and you need to learn the language to crush the language barrier and understand her true feelings that even Denji could not understand (unless manga translators ruin the scene by translating her Russian song) thanks to how Makima orders Denji’s “loyal” servant to lie to him that Reze is a servant of Gun Devil. Denji still manages to act on her own and save Reze despite her attempts to kill him and still realizes that human relationships and moralities are far more complicated that he ever expected them to be. On top of that, we see Reze introduced with her fake smiles and fake blushes - to the point that she still tries to bait people with her fake blushes in the hostile situations where people simply are not capable to blush (makes sense, since she would be averse of normal behavior and normal life, given her life is the same as Denji’s, a victim of unspecific organization, just from a different country - highlighting the omnipresence of child maltreatment in the world), but once Denji learns to fully dedicate himself to combat and saves Reze, she starts to blush genuinely.
What Makima actually did was creating an image of some Gun Devil cultism (provided guns to them, naturally) that baited every syndicate into revealing their desire to go against the government and engage with with bureau to enhanced the fear further, as well as sacrificing his own squad - it is up to interpretation as to why would she do that, you can interpret it as them learning too much about Makima and taking away from her plans or that she may have gotten too attached to them (as she was ordered to - it being part of the normal procedure also tells us that she was nurtured with the mindset to not get attached to anyone since forever). Hints at this could be found in how she clearly anticipated an attack and did not do anything to stop it, as well as knowing the names of the members of ambushers while they did not know who hired them and it was never revealed. Her saying that her squad would get more freedom after the success was not technically a lie, since she herself did gain it - got promoted officially and otherwise just filled the government with her devil and hybrid puppets, all of them named after the angels and their hierarchy (dominion, (arch)angel, virtue and so on).
There being ‘big bad’ that is a cult of a personality that builds the organization of cultist henchmen off of his charisma alone to antagonize the world order outside from the system is of course a classic narrative well known to Makima and thus we get a subversive reveal that it does not actually exists since government controls everything around and government itself is befitting of an occultic group that is not even built through natural charisma and loyalty in this day and age, but pure control, since world domination is something nobody actually wants.
What they want is affection and to appease their trauma and needs, which is highlighted by a character literally named Angel. Being both an Angel and a Devil, he is quite conflicted by his behavior and makes decisions by preferences and how attached he gets. That conflict mostly arises from the memories that Makima repressed. The first thing we notice is his character being defined by his large appetite, which serves as foreshadowing as to what length’s Makima can go to recruit pawns with much needed skills - he is someone who can’t even touch anyone without ruining them, which makes his issues regarding affection visible, but he also feels the lack of his family, lover and entire village that were supposed to fill the void. And thus all he is capable of doing on his job to cover said gap of emptiness left behind is to use eating a lot as his coping mechanism to the point of becoming numb. Him getting close to Aki and making all within his possibilities to keep Aki distant from Makima makes him regain his memories as he finally recognizes his older self through the deadly premonition of Aki sharing the identical fate as him.
On the grand scheme of things we have government capitalizing on vindictiveness of not only of their people, but people surrounding them to pity people stuck in their lives against people who refuse to move on from the older values, mentality shaping as ‘you are either with us or an enemy’ with the prospect of monopolizing the whole world. So, unlike Yakuza who treat their own well enough to spoil them genuinely, we have a government who treats their own as playthings. And to get back on the point I was supposed to make - there is hierarchy within the very idea of ‘necessary evil’. Both Yakuza and the bureau are full of people doing ‘questionable’ things to say the least, bureau members going as far as to justify their crimes motivated by selfishness on their self-destructive path, failing to notice the real enemy.
First thing that catches the attention is how Makima, even in the hastiest situations, asks for not random innocent civilians but specifies how she wants death sentenced criminals delivered to her to serve as sacrifices, basically the ones that are already dead and their death changes nothing, neither for the state nor for them themselves. (that said, she was perfectly aware of the situation and could have instantly arrived there thanks to Princi, she just prefers detaching herself from conflicts)
Considering Makima was nurtured by the higher-ups (as an anti-christ of some sort, whether intentionally or not) to burden her with their own responsibilities and collar her as the representative of the state, then her words regarding necessary evil not only gains credibility and authenticity, but it also has implications regarding various matters in this conflict. Filial piety exists in-between parents and a child, but serving the state is the ultimate goal of it, so Yakuza going against the government defeats the purpose. They also have children collared for them to do the dirty work. Ultimately the system does what it is supposed to be doing.
As the religious teachings have been a fundamental part of humanity, it only makes sense that the end-point would be to create a peace in the world through control and order, akin to paradise. That said, it is questionable whether government officials themselves would have approved such drastic activities from Makima and given how Kishibe tried to fight Makima off alongside other devil hunters, I can imagine Makima trying to have politicians collared as well. But if we go far back in the manga, we start noticing how Makima is not really telling her bosses anything regarding Chainsaw Devil and what she actually knows when she is obligated to report it in details, thus we can tell that she has been used to disobedience and it makes sense, since she is only fearing the Chainsaw Devil, only creature she sees above enough to her to garner such feelings and turn into excitement in her - as the opposite attracts, it is more than understandable for sheltered, self-controlling person to get magnetized by the total uncontrollability and freedom of Chainsaw, a heroic figure that will liberate her from her predicament. All in all, her being able to control anyone she herself finds in any way to be beneath her and yet her inability to control the source of admiration and never being able to stand on equal footing with him is more than enough of a confirmation that there is an inherent contradiction that won’t ever allow her to achieve her goal. And Makima being mostly motivated by her fangirling over Chainsaw Devil, blurred lines as to what may be considered as the truly evil in the world.
Mutual ‘agreement’ is sort of a requirement for her to gain control, considering power is given to devils that are being feared, resulting in her controlling more. One of the better examples for this could be the character named Power herself and how said ‘Power’ is running away from Makima’s grasp - when we first meet Power, she is childish and also gets scared of Makima and is not really doing anything powerful, which gives her words of saying just how powerful of a devil she once was gain very little credibility. Despite her standing and mannerism that makes her antithesis to the stately ideal that is Makima, there is something in Power that makes Makima unable to take over her - something she longs for. She is the only devil about whom Makima has voiced clear concerns and it did pay off in the end when she injured Makima with Makima’s own blood, making her powerless (no pun intended). I dare say that reasoning goes tad bit deeper - her being unable to control certain individuals, namely Power and Denji, indicates what kind of a people and relationship she hold in high regard and in what kind of a relationship she wants to be (assuming Blood Devil and Chainsaw Devil have interacted previously in hell similarly). Them beings foils is not there for the show but makes a point regarding what kind of a relationship country mouses need to progress through to achieve a genuine bond and their unsanitary and unethical nature used as the means of the development to seal the deal, to appreciate the ‘bad things’ in the world and do not condemn people in judgment from the get-go. After all, Pochita was the one in the garbage bin with Denji and not with Makima, and Power was the one in the garbage bin with Denji and not Makima - once again, freeform reigns supreme against the control.
Rather amusing how Power’s ill-mannered jokes are exactly what Makima is unironically capable of doing. I think the difference in their relationship with pets is also telling. While a stray cat comes to Power out of blue, I think it is telling that dogs have not really come to Makima on their own volition, since these dogs seem rare enough to not be randomly found in the streets, let alone walking there as a pack and so Makima brought them on her own given they are good for ‘warming hands’.
And thus we have jealousy as one of the defining traits of Makima. Aside from hinting how history of Pochita’s relationships keeps repeating itself in front of Makima, we also go down the root of Makima’s jealous along with Power and Kobeni. Now if interacting with Kobeni actually disillusioned Denji on his idea of normal life with a cute girl, prior to that Pochita forcefully tried to make Denji’s wish come true by taking the same exact girl on a ‘date’. After observing it all and seeing how Pochita refused to eat Makima, she started talking about the love she gets from the population as if to compensate for the lack of affection Pochita shows towards her (similarly to how Nayuta keeps telling Denji how if he won’t be loved by girls and won’t have dates with them, he will always have people cheering after him once he transforms into Chainsaw Man) and naturally threw the spear of longinus (so called Spear of Destiny) at Kobeni to showcase her neuroticism. It is also believed that the fear of abandonment is a key motivator of jealousy, so it can serve as further build-up towards the revelation that Nayuta is gonna need a lot of hugs in her life to not turn back into Makima.
(That said, the holy lance being exactly that of Longinus, a person who pierced the side of Jesus makes it a pre-planned passive-aggression - she knew our Jesus figure, a true hero, would tank it al)l
Disillusionment with the changing times can be very well met by the changes in generational narratives regarding the role of a motherly figure. After all Makima is just as much of a ‘big bad’ as much the cliche villains of the older times, such as Gun Devil that is being chased by the ‘kids’ worldwide. Having a big role full of personal agencies is an uncommon achievement for female characters, let alone being the central (antagonistic) figure. After all they more often than not get reduced as borderline background characters - which turned the entire genre and matters of relationship to pretty much just silly twisted ‘it is a genre that caters to boys, of course it is just fanservice’ mindset. Coming with such expectations, we see how Yakuza, the ones following the older values of the world, comes and the first person they kill is Makima and of course we are easily led to believe the event's plausibility and that yes, she is in fact dead. But nowadays, in this day and age, as the roles of women come into the focus, it is interesting that Fujimoto portrays her as the face of the state(ly tool) and it is also interesting how she herself views the heroic conventions and how she weaponizes them - It is rather rich how in this day and age, despite there being a dominant masculine figure, horseman of conquest is still represented by the feminine control. Sort of like giving a sadistic homage to them, making the revelations regarding her even more impressive, ambitious and purposeful shift of expectations.
Once we finally enter Makima’s livelihood, what we have revealed in front of us is that it is quite a normal household, perfectly so - neither hellish nor heavenly. There are paintings, flowers, books, dogs in her house, she has a governmental job, she is busy watching movies in the cinema, shopping, drinking with co-workers. Yet it is all hollow, done all alone, detached with no actual friends or any real connection with people. She is only getting ‘promoted’ and interacts with the world in complete formality. Eyes never catching up to the movements of her mouth while smiling. As if she was living an ideal life by the understanding and expectations of a capitalistic lifestyle, epitome of a country mouse. It is always gained by trapping others beneath her. The most suitable place for disillusionment to culminate, to be sure - that which, naturally, occurs by her own will, her being in control of the narrative.
As well as being supportive, all knowing, always knows how to ease your mind and guide you. It is but an act, an imitation of ‘a life’ and what it is supposed to be around people she got conditioned, as if learned from a movie. Her nature is neither of a town mouse nor a country mouse. She is merely practicing a ritual to keep her hands warm and fit in, she must be used to it. That said, her house still reveals what she is indulging into:
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Jun 28, 2023
Chainsaw Man
(Manga)
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(134/? chp)
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Since theres a wordlimit on this website, yall gonna have to read the full version through the google doc file
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_xB2T79iP4bBkvpApqz8gTLeAdGrYlqNWW6lTx81rbk/edit?usp=sharing OBEDIENT NARRATIVE “Your ‘necessary evil’... is just an excuse to justify your own crimes. Those excuses are unnecessary to society. The truly necessary evils are always kept collared and controlled by the state”. To note, whenever I will be referring to the subversion of the expectation, I will have in mind how the series itself sets-up the conventions of the past in its own series and how it proceeds to criticize or pay homage to them in my mind and knowledge. Also, the text's purpose is not to highlight ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jul 11, 2021 Recommended Funny
I must admit, I got the motivation to write this piece out of spite of the negative reviews that I came across when I took interest in the judgment of other people, after finishing the manga and the anime. So as to say that here I will provide the points and my thought-process of how all of these so-called flaws of this piece of art actually serve as great and purposeful narrative tools that enhance it with barely any drawbacks. Now I do not intend to imply that no criticism is acceptable, as it completely depends on the reasoning and of course I will not
...
take the negative criticism as an example and just let my point of view to speak for itself to highlight the possibility of readers’ subjective judgment clouding the mind that could have appreciated this masterpiece otherwise (which just so happens to be one of the overarching themes of Shigurui in itself) - both of the perspectives may as well be right on their own
This won’t be a talk primarily focused on either philosophy or psychology, but the characters, environment, and how these affect each other on a personal level, because Shigurui is a character-driven drama with full emphasis on impact (naturally, as the slashes themselves focus just how effective they will be with a single swing) and does not waste its time on coming up with unique concepts, but wants to master already existing and well-known ones... feel free to generalize the character arc, though. While talking, I tend to be laconic and that usually leads to miscommunication, so as to avoid that and plus the self-awareness of me not really being good at writing reviews or writing in general, I will try my best to describe my thought process and to not sound preachy at how art should be judged because I am getting less and less interested in rating things and my scoring system turns more and more fluid. When authors choose in which setting, fictional or not, they desire their story to take place in, it is always a hard choice to make, as the depicted environment is not only supposed to be allegorical to the present themes but they also affect every other aspect of story-telling, starting from character mannerism and ending to, and also forces an author to research a lot. First, Shigurui's setting has decent enough novelty to at least attract the ones that are interested in the samurai era and gritty at that, so it is crucial for first look impressions. Second, to showcase the investigation and expand on the cultural details, scenes in Shigurui are built around them specifically, to not feel like mere decorations, have some value/weight behind them and stand out from stories with similar environments and gain more novelties. They do not tend to be described by panels focusing on single items, but the whole page may be distributed to them all together to save the page count, feel more atmospheric, and, at the same time, they get a bit of narration through the few sentences that would normally tick my ‘show-don’t-tell’ senses, but I think they fit within Shigurui very well - first, usually info-dumping takes too much time and breaks the immersion, but the way it is used here did the opposite and enhanced my immersion, as the sentences were dictating the flow, just how much attention and time I should have given to the panels. Second, transferring such cultural differences to other languages for other countrymen to experience the story tends to make it hard to fully comprehend it as it's easy for it to get lost in translation, so the approach to explain things but not its subtleties is the correct way to go for Shigurui, the way I see it. Third, characters’ perspectives differ and are clouded by various things, so to subtly state objective truth and to do so not by a character, I believe is a very serviceable contrast to nail the point. First things first, there is a weird misconception as if Shigurui ended prematurely because we have not seen the rest of the tournament and it is an adaptation of something… it is not really an adaptation in its pure sense, the mangaka just took one chapter from the tournament and built his own story and characters on it, so the rest of the tournament is quite frankly irrelevant as the story starts, focuses and ends by the single rivalry that is Fujiki against Irako. Now to not make a mistake, the world itself, the old japan, is not presented as something childishly depraved, but the violent nature of the characters merely presents allegorically that the characters are narrow-minded (as their views are completely overshadowed by the dojo itself, that feels like a world to them and feels like a character of its own to us, as it affects others and even has its own reputation that out characters value more than the lives of random worthless people - but little do they know that there is more to the world) and is foreshadowed since the first episodes - the very first scene of Shigurui depicts how did the higher-ups (relatives, even) arrange for the depraved “royal” member to get killed, as his deeds were getting out of control as it was shown in the very next scene to what he himself was arranging. Sure, samurai and their masters are as cold-blooded as it gets, but at least the influential ones are competent and mature at controlling themselves and do not go out of their ways to take pleasure in torturing people - and even the brighter, hopeful side came out in this exact scene, when the samurai offered his own very life a symbol of his commitment to the subject matter of valuing the life of the fellow samurai, by killing himself in front of the master just to make a ‘petition’, which was neglected by the depraved master, but still was successful at the end of the day. Depraved lord is an interesting character by himself as well. On the first look, I thought he was just another one-dimensional psycho that superficially criticizes the corruption within the feudal system, which it also just so happens to be a done-to-death idea and frankly believed that throughout the whole of my first read. I was wrong, there was a bit more to him and he substantially contributes to the overarching narrative/themes of the series. First, at the start of the series narrator describes the relationship between the samurai and their masters as something similar to a sadomasochistic relationship - this could freely be the warped point-of-view of the Lord himself, considering his detached upbringing and nothing else to do/observe as a result, thus that is the only way of interaction he is capable of (when his plans got foiled, throwing people out from the several stores was his only way of relieving the stress), no one daring to punish him which yet again reinforces to him that he is correct and should be doing such deeds, hence how his perspective was narrow since day one and in what kind of monster the narrow-minded environment resulted. Giving a reality check and providing him of other perspectives by a katana through his neck was the only way of taming such a monster and even then he died with a sadistic facial expression as if he still died day-dreaming in his lenses of depravity and was unaware of what the actual world was, which originated from the feudal system and they were the ones that took the responsibility of their own faults, and even official concealed it, only the legends remain. Second, fabrication of the history is an addition to the facets of perspective as well, as we should not blindly trust the history as there are always things that were concealed or the writer himself was not aware of and we should not take the messages granted from either historical records or every other text, as the credit does not mean much when we do not know by whom were they written and with what intentions and how much of the truth they actually knew - everything about writing is subjective and thus everything should be observed and questioned. From such a government, that is not really full of paragons of virtue, it is easy to believe that things would be fabricated. Third, he is an extreme contrast and a foil to the main characters (his upbringing was full of groceries and influence and too much care that made him spoiled and allowed to get carried away by the spoils), as he was introduced in the story even before them and tends to showcase just how far away are the protagonists from the highs of the shogunate, even if sometimes they get closer to him, they never get close to him, they never get to touch him and they are always below the Lord, as they won’t ever be in any other role towards him (amusingly enough, Lord himself also won’t ever be above the government as in a mature system, there is no such thing as the domination of a single person). Finally, the morality of his actions from his closeted rooms is questioned on the country level anyway, considering him rewarding vagabonds, for example, to show themselves and make use of their own talent for their own good (maybe even to get rid of the shogunate, who would also be a selfish and cold-blooded person anyway, so there would not be much loss, as he would be replaced by a similar person either way), which would also collect them all together instead of seeking and killing them one-by-one in risky situations, but it also breeds the un-ethical example of open depravity and on top of that, allows these “bandits” to rationalize further Lord’s decision and make use it for their own benefit to commit more crime, which breeds more and more conflict and results in even more bloodshed. Not to mention his tastes in unique things, not even flinching an eye once meeting a hermaphrodite. Thus, his existence is not there to one-dimensionally convey the propaganda that the feudal system is comically evil and you can get rid of it and cure the world just by killing the main boss. From that, we can derive the fact that the system (sometimes) breeds people with exceptionally twisted mindsets - in any step of hierarchy. A distinction should be made clear, that any system may fall victim to this sort of a flaw and just because the story focuses on psychopaths/sociopaths, does not mean that there are not normal people around or as if normal people are the minority, no, the author just chose to not give them much attention, as they do not tend to be as compelling when compared to the ones that dwell in the abyss and would hinder the narrative as a whole, considering it is centered around the type of people that were abandoned and had no sane people to take care of them and what kind of problems it may lead to, without being preachy about it (*cough* JOKER *cough*) and no one really has a pretense of saving the world. Aside from the “no everyone is mentally ill, so the writer is just immature” complain that some may have, there are also people who despise too much violence and deem it as “edgy” (meaning, shallow, I presume) or/and people who can’t relate to characters and somehow are unable to read a story as a result of that. Now I myself am not a fan of the over-the-top violence and general malice in the media that is supposedly excused just because “it is realistic” (as if realism and good writing were the ones and the same) so you have to handle it. No, there is nothing to handle usually in such cases, as the problem is in their portrayal merely being done in poor taste and here I will try to provide an example as to how it should be done in my humble opinion and, at the same time, I will try to explain what makes Shigurui excused to use so much gore. People do not act evil, whatever they do, they deem it as mere normality, which is what dictates the will of doing and accepting things instead of morality, but our main characters will try to prove it wrong by their presence. It is not about ‘it was like this before’, but more about how it is established as normal in the series itself and it is not about ‘its realistic, thus its well-written’ but more how said realism is well-written in itself - main characters are not victimized by monstrosities of the world, but they themselves act viscerally. The story does not make you desensitized to cruelty in a manner of you being tired by the heavy-handedness of it all, but you just get used to how every single action warrants an impending counter-attack by the reality in a grounded form. So I like it because every action adds and forms the grand scheme of things. I can confess and admit in this case as well, on my first read, some gory events did seem as if they had no reason to exist and were just making the characters look cool, but as of now I disagree with that mindset and believe that there are barely any meaningless violent actions taken by the characters and the violence itself is just a matter of taste, as it gives a sense of value to the whole ordeal for me and I can’t really comprehend how can people like action series that are no so merciless, what's the point of a character hitting each other then? Even with a mindset of my first read, I find it unreasonable to delve into characters not being paragons of virtue, which is a frequent complaint I hear around. You yourself are a flawed person, so why are you expecting characters with completely different upbringings to be like you, for you to care about the series? Stories are being told to be experienced and to convey a message/moral/lesson, not to be self-inserted - you can do that by your own imagination. So, while reading the stories, I am not interested in certain psyches of the characters (they are supposed to have all sorts of distinct views and traits, anyway), but the events, what is going on, how, why and so on - as soon as it flows naturally and structure has proper emphasize on emotional ‘manipulation’ (for feelings to not mix in each other, to the point of me being confused as what am I supposed to feel exactly), it is fine. You do not need a walking moral compass in a story, because that's what presentation is for in general, it's what dictates what is right and wrong and etc. Shigurui is definitely edgy, but not when the said term is used to define said work as shallow and even if it does not have characters for me to self-insert (it also should not have, because the culture and period are drastically different from mine), it certainly has many other novelties to be carried by. Sure, the action scenes are over-the-top when compared to other details in the series and it may seem “too cool to be a criticism” for some people, which of course would be fair, but to me, they are not merely exaggerated just like they are in Vagabond for instance, but quite literally impossible to perform anyways, hence why I think it is okay to include, as it literally can’t make anyone repeat similar stuff in real life and so on. On top of that, the limitations of the medium and volume format itself, that number of pages is very limited and you have to make every single page count - so it is quite hard to draw realistic, long scenes of swordsmanship and to compensate on that fact, mangaka should prioritize the impactfulness of the few hits, to which the sword styles in Shigurui fit quite perfectly. Oh and it is quite consistent with it, with no contradictions, so it works perfectly within the set of rules of the work itself, and “b-but it is shonen-like” is not a constructive criticism by no means. Not to mention how they symbolize the theme of weaponizing one’s own shortcomings for something way more profound than merely moping around and doing nothing aside from navel-gazing, as the main characters refuse to accept their unfortunate predicaments, albeit in misguided ways Talk about injuries, I was quite skeptical when I was getting into Shigurui, thinking - what the hell are these disabled people going to do in an arena from the get-go to make me even slightly invested? Answers arrive quite shortly after when the flashbacks begin. Normally, I would have disliked this type of story-telling, considering how flashbacks negate any tension when you are talking right away that the characters will definitely survive, so there is little to care about in an action series, but here is the time when the injuries are coming handy - characters having so many fatal injuries meant that they could have been cut in any presented action sequence, but you would be guessing just when would that happen and be worried about it because such wounds guarantee the alteration of someone’s life in a drastic manner. This exact aspect is chain-reacted to the weight behind the actions of the characters, considering how much importance is being held by the EACH decision and an act that characters make and how every single present detail contributes to the depth (honestly, this analysis feels like a re-telling because of that and plus how subtle it is while doing them), which I find very realistic, because everything you do and say matters a lot in real life and all of them connects to each other at some point. Also, we can count this as an extreme presentation of the “people do not learn if they are not suffering while learning’ theme, which is frequently used in other works as well, but in these works, characters tend to mop a little and announce as if suffering made it worthwhile, meanwhile not holding many consequences from these very suffering - no, in Shigurui people suffer, make each other suffer and grow out of it together, while their fates get further and further chained to each other like a magnet. All in all, what has been done, cannot be undone and what has been lost, can not be retrieved, meaning that whatever you are doing, will also definitely influence whatever you are going to do later, if someone notices them - just like you can't heal a cut leg, there will always be permanent consequences. This very aspect is what makes Shigurui atmospheric to me, as everything reeks of impactfulness. Especially when demented master Kogan is around, as he is the rule itself and you can expect from him to do unexpected in each of his scenes, that will warrant a mark that will forever stay to the storyline. And after talking about the gravities of the action, it will be natural to talk about the side characters and a bit of attention that is given to them to enhance the impact further. Now Shigurui’s plotting is tight, focused, and personal from start to finish, so too much attention to the side-characters would most definitely detract from it all - so instead the side-characters are being used not for them themselves to feel like fully fleshed-out human beings, but for them to provide the weight behind the actions of the main character, because that is what it means to be a side-character and criticizing the work just because its side-characters do not feel like main characters themselves is an inherently flawed mindset, in my opinion, and explains how readers with such pretense ‘rate’ the stories according to what it means to be a perfect story in their minds and are not judging the stories with what said stories are trying to accomplish - tl;dr they think it is a flaw to not be what they want it to be. Now sure, other readers use ‘that’s the point’ to justify everything, but that one comes down to the preference, as to how that point should be depicted/portrayed. These secondary characters always get a bit of characterization once it comes time to deal with them and that may be reasonably counted as lacking in structure, but I think it fits the manga medium. Such moments also help to further foil the main cast - an example being the boy who found himself in the specific, foreign sword as he was being alienated from the samurai culture, but Kogan did not even value the sword as a weapon, but a mere decoration, exactly how he treated said child. The prominent example of a side-character that’s not used in an episodic fashion is Ushimata - soft and forgiving on the surface, but just like everyone else, he has a demon, a wild beast lurking inside him, the ones are defining him and winning against his opposing idealistic views, as the cynical influence he is getting is telling him that they are getting in the way. But that was not the fault of him getting influenced by someone else, that was him deluding himself, thinking that not only some sort of red cord of destiny exists around the bull, but Kogan knew about it as well? He had to cut the ties… which is another failure, as he starts seeing the girl he killed in other women… It was not Kogan that was killing Iku’s fiancees, but none other than Ushimata and he was also one who gave the ‘advice’ to Iku to ‘save’ Irako (turns out, it was an advice just to continue the sadistic abuse - as he probably reported the slutty deeds of Irako to the relatives of the girls)… in the end he was the crucial part of why conflict was going on. Was the forced act of cutting the ties from the past - liberating? No, it was a mere delusion. His impulses remain intact. Well, in the end none of the characters could run from their past and demons. But the person should not be judged by their appearance. The bull should stop judging himself by how he appears to others and should not indulge in it, otherwise the one that is not judging him by his appearance - will also be cleaved by him. Neither demons nor angels are real, so if the politeness of Irako is a facade, so can be said about his aura - demons are also merely theatrics. That comes apparent as the blind Irako refuses to believe in what he cannot observe and thus denies Gonzaemon’s whole superstitious existence. The existence that he himself is responsible for creating and no one else. There are no demons lurking inside him, both his softer and wilder sides make him the person he is. the end of his mind can be interpreted quite simply - he has not killed the kill the girl, but only cut the tree and castrated himself, did as much as it would be just enough for him to lie to himself as if he actually did kill her and the last time we see that girl is the moment she is remembering Ushimata by embracing said tree. In this fight was put on the display Irako Seigen's denial of fairy tales, daydreaming, exaggeration and word-of-mouth (ironically, it empowered his larger-than-life reputation further). Prior to the fight, we saw Irako Seigen cutting the statues of the larder-than-life figures, the development that was, funnily enough, kick-started by what Kogan did to him. And that development culminated and climaxed exactly when Irako Seigen repeated the very words Ushimata told him at their first meeting - dueling ground is no place for theatrics. And the blind man was the only one seeing the reality. And the blind man was the only one not blinded by Ushimata's theatrics. The most infamous examples of side characters at Shigurui are the toad and the hermaphrodite, who is frequently used as the only flaw of this work. To be fair, plot-wise they are loosely connected to the main rivalry, so I could understand the criticism, but I think it still fits - first, it expands on the actions of said rivalry and adds weight, telling us that actions they commit have more than narrow consequences and as the rivalry goes open in the world, they too become lousily, realizing all of these things. Two, they still connect thematically and are being expanded on as the facets - pretty girl soon comes off as hermaphrodite, that disturbs people and thus not knowing how to perceive herself. And the toad that is disturbing to look at, but not only quite talented at swordplay by being innovative, but also keeps perceiving himself as more and more beautiful. Third, initially, I thought their character arcs were left hanging, but that might not be the case - Hermaphrodite later being enslaved to Shogunate as a peculiar plaything. Toad too ends up as the pet for Shogunate and is finally being valued, so as to even get ‘women as food’ Even before the revelations of said complication, female Chika was supposed to replace her male brothers by becoming the only remaining heir and had monstrous strength for a reason. ‘She’ continues to deny her feminine side by indulging in swordsmanship and rebelliousness, but also denies her male body, hence the fear of intimacy. She wants to reap the most benefits but ends up getting one in a reversed manner, valued for being hermaphrodite and serving as a girl. Both of them likely were killed shortly after. Before going into the catalyst of the whole tragedy, let’s first talk about the fundamentals of the tale - Kogan and his Dojo. Kogan, as we know, was one violent and ambitious fellow, but after being tricked into believing the rival of his, his prospects towards his ambition died out for good. As a result he fell into dementia and keeps losing his mind whenever he recalls what could have been. He also formed a dojo that is basically his own ‘kingdom’ - he started ‘recruiting’ these with promising prowess but no livelihood, and started nurturing them, so the place not only reeks of his presence, whether he is sane or not, but also reflects his way of thinking AND is taking care of its reputation in a violent manner, considering how he was wronged in life just once when he decided to hide his own dysfunctionality, so the value is deeply ingrained in the dojo and protected with more care than other people, because such people were who wronged him to begin with - thus, whenever someone challenges the dojo, they get deformed as a result, to show off it to the rest of the world. Of course, it bears its own negative consequences for the Dojo itself, as their way of doing things is not very farsighted and everyone will start to shun them and their legacies once they rot away. Irako Seigen enters the scene. Those who fall in battle, would surely wish for vengeance, and would also hope that their legacy lives on in records. BUT once they get wiped out, what do we see? The only thing that has left from them are the legends that glorify the one who killed them, as if he did the job effortlessly, and the demonization of the dojo members, as if they were merely animals. So the disrespectful interpretation is what is left from them and how they will be perceived in the future, instead of their human complexities. But it was not effortless, both psychological and physical scars were inflicted and they do not plan to go anywhere. Celebration is only for those who were detached from the conflict and its hardships. On the surface, Irako Seigen is a very appealing fellow - He has talent and interesting in arts, as we can see him being respectable at singing and versed at poems. he is compassionate and considerate of everyone, including women that are deemed as objects, coming off as chivalrous in the world of corruption and can construct a relationship with anyone, be it business, inheritance, romance or whatnot. He is a prodigy with a likable demeanor to the point that no matter what he does, his reputation remains intact and everybody wants to fuck him, women and men alike. An amusing example of his facade would be the duel with Fujiki at the arena, once he saw Fujiki suffering and started giggling, but tried to hide it and started calling for help instead. He has everything that a hero should have, but at the same time, he also has everything that a villain should have. He is not really on the level of being Lucifer (or I have yet to catch details about him), which combines the god and the devil in itself, but he is up there. Deep down, everything on the surface is a facade and his personality consists of the opposite traits. Irako Seigen is a beast who is very passive-aggressive, which was deeply and naturally cultivated as his defining personality trait in his nature since the days he was born, starting his life in the lowest depths of social hierarchy, considering how poor his mother was on top of being a prostitute, basically having neither pride nor property, in the end losing every bit of her sanity, not being able to recognize her own son. Fortunately or not, he was born with a feminine allure that makes both men and women magnetic towards him and talent, of being able to learn anything in a short amount of time on his own, that could make him worthy of being called a samurai - to question, what was the standard of being a samurai, how could one transform into one from the lowest of status? Hence was born an ambition of his. But there was a fundamental flaw in his ambition, that stemmed from his ‘corrupted’ talent and allure, as he has never used them for things that normally would be counted as deserved, let alone moral, just, kind, selfless or however you could label it in a ‘light’ and hopeful manner, despite him merely trying to survive in a cold world, which oh so required to be hardened to breathe - so it was quite the opposite, his birth was unnatural for a human being, but more akin to that of a beast. There was no one around to educate him on ethics, after all. Irako also had no one who would come to him and make an heir out of him and delude him into it, which would at least convert him into some immoral being who would at least know his place, where to belong and be ‘civil’ for their standards. But she only had a mother who was incapable of providing him anything material, emotional or whatever any mother fulfills her children’s lives unconditionally. Naturally, Irako is not aware of what unconditional relationship even means, as he lacked the only source and thus everyone would treat him exclusively conditionally. To survive, he started his life with literally stealing others’ properties AND later on had an epiphany that killing is much easier, especially if they are drunk and you both are in the middle of a duel - simultaneously, stealing the way of samurai from that person (from material stealing to… not material). That is an interesting parallel to his arc against Kogan, considering that first he started gradually stealing his identity, whatever was left from the shell of a man named Kogan, what made him Kogan - his art, family, dojo, ultimately all of his properties (including the mistress) and an opportunity towards the future that Kogan has long lost - but after experiencing a miserable failure at every corner of his dojo, Irako also had an epiphany this time… why do not I just kill in a duel all of the members of dojo one-by-one by surprise go towards Kogan as a cherry on a cake, to steal his part of a samurai as well, (un)fortunately. What makes Irako such a formidable and I daresay scary existence is his persistence full of malice. What makes it highly respectable from my point-of-view is the fact no matter how hard he is being hit and no matter what part of himself (both literally and figuratively) he is going to lose, he will not only will stand back up and continue moving forward, but he will also adapt to his shortcomings and even enhance his way of life as a result of it, basically he will always come up with something, that which would result in something, that he would not have even gotten if he has not lost a certain thing to begin with. He may lose and give up on a path, but he will eternally remain vengeful towards those who wronged him and he will never back down from his goal and just find another path, that would help him at achieving both his life-goal and vengeance, which he did and did it in a quite wonderful manner - he reversed the situation completely. First, he made use of losing the eyes by using the empathy from the other famous samurai who was also a blind samurai and shouldered that one samurai’s dream of being a renowned blind samurai who is also on top of power/talent-hierarchy while being blind, just to feel good/proud because of it (he even invited his own son from afar, to make him look at a guy, to make him understand what he wanted his own son to become, but he turned out the complete opposite of the child, considering the completely opposite upbringing, basically foiling Irako’ fate if he was raised in a rich family). Meaning, that Kogan himself allowed Irako to go on a path of raising above, the path that he oh so wanted, but forever lost the chance, that which then sent him into the demented state - considering the song that Irako sang in front of him, he was well aware of that fact and passive-aggressively snarked about it in a planned-out manner, in a way that only the ones aware of Kogan’s life would get it. Second, he snarled at him, while using Kogan’s object (mistress) in front of him, to bait out the deadly attack from Kogan, which would give Irako a perfect excuse to make him bite the dust. Third, NOW it was Irako who wanted to take an act of revenge, who wanted to teach an old man a lesson, who was making him remember his (it was Kogan himself who reminded himself of his pathetic past by using his own technique) and own past mistakes (as Irako also remembered the women that he slept with and did not care beyond it) and now it was Kogan who was indulging himself in a dream that won’t be achieved and did not want to wake up, who also lost his own eye (a bit more too, but oh well) - ironically, reversed or not, both of these cases equally melted Mie’s psyche. Did you dare to blind him and made him forever unable to daydream? He will transcend that as well. By being blind, he won’t perceive reality as well, so thus reality will be in whatever he will believe and only he will have a say in that, no one shall be able to prove him wrong and no one shall be trusted. No more intimidation by a bull. By passive-aggressiveness I did not mean mere snarky remarks, that would be cheap and the concept of having a character whose passive-aggressiveness is conveyed just through them and by being cynical-pessimistic seems insulting to me. To convey this trait subtly, a character needs to be way more deceptive in lashing out the insecurities of theirs and our boy serves as a great example as to how it should be done. The main insecurity, of course, is a coping mechanism from combining both his lowlife status that he won’t ever be able to get rid of, naturally and the prejudice, arrogance and apathy that results in the abuse towards the people of his ‘kind’ from the people that just so happened to be born in the families of the upper steps of the hierarchical system, randomly. Of course this type of backstory does not seem original on its own by any means, as it is easy to recall many characters with a similar archetype - what makes Irako’s case stand out is the effective use of it, through the implementation of nuances, varied character dynamics, development and just how natural it feels compared to his ‘counterparts’. -Irako wants to turn Kohan into a relic of the past. He observes and deduces all of his doings and means and not only is trying to replicate all of them, but also enhance them further - I thought, at first, that he just cut a cat randomly, but he was actually replicating Konga’s delayed slice technique. Then he went towards Kogan’s mistress to master another technique and the relationship with the mistress itself is also an act done in a similar fashion and he did not just randomly decide to help out the woman. Although that one quickly backfires as Kogan sense’s facade and genuinity of Fujiki and Irako by which of his belongings they ‘treat’. -Having a child character is a quite common way to symbolize the ‘future’ of a certain thing(s) and the very first thing we see from a child POV of Kogan’s dojo in the present time is how invested he is to the dojo once he starts looking up to Fujiki, although there are complications - first, he was not recruited in a similar manner, so it was basically set in stone that the future of the dojo would stray away from it present path and would likely become similar to the rest of the average samurai ‘schools’. Two, that’s something unheard of Fujiki, he has no idea why he would be admired and in what it will lead to, as he merely lives in the present time. And three, the most importantly, Irako understands all of this - for his revenge, not only he cuts the head of the child first and foremost and then puts his head in the exact post in which he was first scarred by the dojo, to hint that he remembers and he is coming to end them for good -Fujiki is stoic, sheltering all of his personal impulses, so it gets easier to take advantage of him. Irako is concentrated on people as if he was constantly on the battlefield, surrounded… but Fujiki is always concentrating on himself, to surpass his own limits, improve himself and see oneself - always stuck with his own self in the present time, no care for neither past nor future. Irako hid his petty emotions towards Fujiki and used his observant skills instead, subverting the expectations, by asking him to duel all alone a bit far away, to which Fujiki would agree as he is subconsciously annoyed by Irako’s mere presence and may as well have some superiority-inferiority complex regarding never being able to go above Irako’s talent (and he even confront Fujiki in the previous scene, when they openly admitted malice towards each other by their actions) - but Irako just trolled him, sent a deadly gun to Fujiki and he himself went for Kogan’s head instead, the one who is most precious for Fujiki, but even if Fujiki were to survive, he would be blamed for the misfortune Irako, the samurai who cannot see, is blinded and Fujiki, the samurai who cannot act, loses his hand - Irako, the one who only sees around as a battlefield, has turned his own body as a battlefield and Fujiki, the one who only looks at himself, it taking care of his own body quite well but loses everything around him. For someone who shelters all of his impulses, there is also an interpretation that he is a closeted homosexual, but he has no idea what does it mean in that day and age, so gets confused about it - he gets nosebleeds while looking at Irako, is the only man who is enchanted by the feminine look of Irako and even sees him with the womanly breasts out in his mind, whenever he is trying to imagine Irako without the face (as he sees charming Irako with his pure, puppy eyes, in case he imagines Seigen with the face) Amusingly, Fujiki was also the one who benefited from Irako killing Kogan, which meant that Irako played his part in it and allowed Fujiki to move forward in his life as well, basically doing good for both, him and Kogan’s daughter (confused on her own, as she hated Kogan for how he treated - Irako, at first, did not give much thought to this fact and moved on from his connection to Kogan’s family and a dojo as a whole, but then randomly remembered his interaction with Fujiki in the past, in which there was a very crucial emotional moment of his whole life, considering his upbringing, both in terms of around what kind of people he was being raised and what kind of a human being he was being raised into (as the saying goes, these people who are prejudicial and suspicious of others by viewing them as “evil”, “untrustworthy” and so on, are “evil” and full of malice by themselves and that’s the source of such thoughts - fitting to Irako’s description) meaning that both of these reasons add up to each other to form the thick shell and as a result he is always on guard and never opens up. Hence the importance of this scene, in which Irako got attached to students around, as his empathy kicked in and imagined how their lives must have been similar to his and he let his guard/shell down, as its natural to do for someone who never knew the softness of the life and was starting to get spoiled by it, especially how no one blamed each other and no one held anyone (even him, newcomer) under suspicion, as a result of Fujiki’s almost fatal failure, that was anything but how samurais were acting in Irako’s perspective and the most importantly, they too were victims of samurai mentality themselves as well- Irako did not even kill the rival with the most potential to secure the position, but instead saved his life from a situation that could get rid of him the rival with no consequences to reap - but that was only wishful thinking, as the reality woke him up shortly after, when the students saw a turtle, merely expelling excess salt for its eyes. Students’ lack of information regarding how the world is built and how close-minded they their perspectives are naturally forced out the empathy out of them, because the only thing that could explain what was happening in front of them was - imagination through the personal bias, as they made a parallel of their personal lives to that of a turtle and its children, thus representation as to what clouded their world-view was provided. That was the only thing that made Irako different from them, in his mind, as he did not have his own place to belong to, so he was wandering around the beach, instead of being treated by a parent turtle with kindness. So, what encouraged him to open up and to settle at the dojo as if it was his home to belong to, was the main individual similarity that he noticed in Fujiki - “he is the one that does not speak about his past, so he what if he is also ashamed of his past and the two of us are the one and the same?”. And after revealing what made Irako motivated towards his path… Fujiki does not care? But instead embraces himself as a samurai and looks down on Irako, as he cares more about the house than the attachments he could make with actual living beings?! Irako got ashamed of making the mistake of opening up and then cut both, the attachments that were made naturally (by nature, a wind) as the markings on the beach representing how everything was connected in a place in which he did not belong and he also cut the children of the turtle - that act as a whole representing how Irako refused to immerse himself in the status quo and instead had an urge to obliterate it now, completely denying the empathy towards them. Previously, in that very scene, we saw Fujiki drowning in an old armor of a samurai - representing Fujiki’s shell that he made up in his own mind, meanwhile neglecting his past self (highlight at the start of the duel against Irako, when he ignored his blood relative as if he did not even exist in Fujiki’s world) to the point of not being able to recall it anymore as his own self and got deluded as a result. Of course, the armor belongs to Kogan, meaning that he is narrow-mindedly focused solely on the dojo and not looking beyond it - connecting to Fujiki’s past, when he was saved and manipulated by Kogan (presented as a tiger in the flashback, because everyone views him as someone larger-than-life or/and some sort of a beast) to take the child to him and make a student/servant out of him, maybe even someone worthy enough to inherit his property. That dream-like escalation of events would birth a delusion of grandeur in anyone, let alone a little Fujiki. His past self is drowning while diving deeper and deeper to the point of his past self not being able to free himself as he is chained to the family - Irako being the only one who is able to dive as deep as he is, as they are similarly too deep into their own shells, places the fundament and highlights how he is the only one able to save Fujiki from his own self, but unfortunately that did not happen right now. In short, Irako's shell originated from him being aware of self and surrounding environment, but Fujiki's from the opposite - unawareness of both. He deeply buried that very moment in the memory, to the point of only his emotions remembered it, even when Irako was amidst the lusty woman, he was trying to figure out the puzzle that was his emotions, conveying how hurt Irako left after the dialogue with him and Fujiki - so, Irako did not just help some random student get hands on Kogan’s family properties, but Irako, with his own hands, staged the inevitable destiny for Fujiki, the one student of Kogan who was deluding himself into thinking that he was actually born as a samurai, the same people that were looking down Irako for his whole life and the people that Irako was going against whole-heartedly, meaning that… maybe Fujiki was actually birth as someone inherently superior to him, despite him not being as talented as Irako? Irako Seigen HAD to prove otherwise and correct the superstition with his very hands. On his way out, he even killed a samurai who merely just felt pity towards him, as he now got looked down even more, for what the certain one dojo inflicted on his eyes, casually adding another layer to his annoyance by Fujiki’s existence. He was more than ready to slice Fujiki in half. At the end of the day, Irako was still looked down His dynamic with Lady Iku kickstarted with him wanting to steal something from the head of the family with the tricks that he observed and learned from the head of the family himself - but then it snowballed (pun intended, as he was playing with snowballs before off-in his own mother) into something more meaningful once Seigen lost the eyes and was ‘rebirthed’ and he was now breed by Iku in a symbolic manner, as she gave in to her subconscious motherly bond, that she was trying to deny before, merely wanting to be Irako’s girlfriend - so Irako and Iku started complementing each other’s lives henceforth - Irako not using her as a tool and Iku genuinely trying to be as helpful to him as possible because they do not have anyone else to rely on. Irako probably did not want to recognize her as a mother and started running away, considering that would remind him of his biological mother and how he killed her with his own very hands. In contrast to Mie (who is being a selfish romantic and constantly wants the world to indulge in her escapist fantasies. As if only care in her world for her is to stay pure and there is no need to do anything - but then again, it is not really her fault, she could not really see any other options in that dojo and would have been traumatized by action and reactions of her parents), she is not selfish and does things on her own, helping out Irako unconditionally even when he is afraid of intimacy towards her. Amidst so many delusions of grandeur, we had only Iko who thought low of herself and had grounded desires - was doing everything she could and even to highlight how grounded she is, she was the only one who was looking at Irako’s ground and cleaning it up to not endanger him further. Not to say that Mie would not have been a kind and considerate woman in normal circumstances. But of course, Mie, just like everyone else, is not without her own faults as well - for instance, committing adultery and lying about it. And Mie also has traits that are worth admiring, as she is still trying her best to live, even walking daily for hours to just maybe if she would be able to find someone who would treat her like a normal human being and sell the food, at the very least. But, in the end, both of them still end up killing themselves, as their final straws of hope die out. After all, Mie’s feelings are more complicated than her being a mere romantic - she does not forgive Irako for not caring about her, but her romantic views of him are still nostalgic, melted in her and every time she thinks of Irako, its Irako with loving eyes, that she is trying to run away from, trying to uphold her rationality of wanting to kill the man. On the other hand, her romantic lenses give her hope regarding Fujiki and start genuinely liking him, but emotionally she still remembers how she was treated at the dojo and hates Fujiki because of it, while being self-unaware - blurring the line between the love and hate regarding both Fujiki and Irako, just towards which are these feelings are aimed at: ‘kill him, please’ no one, including herself, knows the aim of these words of her. We even get a glimpse at how the strict nature of Kogan dwells in her and for someone who was treated as a tool, being controlled, we see her urges to compensate on that by being the one who is in control now - according to her escapism she does not want Fujiki (or Irako… any savior will do) to be a puppet... but wants to be the puppeteer by herself After living through so many hardships, Irako found a ‘suitable’ himself to ‘steal’ by achieving the inheritance by his sheer talent and investment of a good amount of time. Needless to say, a man so full of talent easily found his footing at this place and despite the cold and very dangerous welcome, everything started to flow exactly how he wanted his life to escalate and as observant as he is, there was no thing that could get on his way and ruin his path, as he managed to handle every aspect of the dojo well with relative ease (being stronger and more worthy than the other students, being rationally cherishing of the property to please Kogan, having an individuality by not being a puppet to please Kogan’s daughter and generally having a good reputation around the dojo). He got laid-back naturally, as his way to the top was getting patterned, was getting turned into a daily routine and he now had to take care of the only thing take could potentially ruin his image of a samurai and what could hold back him from stealing the identity was - his past, represented by his mother, who was being treated and cherished by Irako for a long time now, as she was incapable of doing so herself. Indicating that he liked her mother and helped her on his own accord, of course and what makes this ordeal melancholic is the fact that not only that his own past (mom) could not recognize what he has become, but him killing her may as well be better for her and negatively affect the psyche of the perpetrator, as he was basically getting rid of the only real attachment and only real identity he has had, which would break any real person - he needed to seek something that would comfort him and as he had no one to do so to him, he started living in a dream, as a means to coping with killing a mother, he needed to know that all was not for nothing. In short, extremely cautious, fake, cold and observant Irako was reduced to a mere softie (a fatal flaw) who was already day-dreaming and prematurely living in a dream, as he put eyes on a snowman, the very eyes that started bleeding instantly after he killed her mother, foreshadowing Irako’s crippling demise (of his eyes, as he himself will be reborn). Little did he know that Fujiki secretly improved himself thanks to the injury that Irako himself inflicted and that Kogan noticed Irako’s mischievous deeds through Iku attempting to kill Kogan and also the aroma from her nipple. He was so deeply immersed in his and what would count as “normal” by the standards of the dojo that he has been inhabiting, that he was unable to wake up from even after Kogan allowed to mutilate his body several times in a row and even after taking a direct loss against Fujiki. He still believed that he was about to learn the “sacred” technique. His eyes had to be cut, for him to step out of his well of the dream - symbolizing that his perception would never be influenced by foolish lenses of imagination ever again. He would be blinded not by the dreams going above in clouds, but by the deep down dwelling emotions alone from here on - as can be seen how he started despising even soulless objects, just because of speck resemblance to the ones that wronged him. That is to say, that he did not massacre the Dojo because he was blinded by his ambitions - after all he was already a samurai, when he started to kill the members so they were not really in his way, although it could be speculated it was one of the requirements from his master. Another thing that could be derived from the flashback of his first kill, that of him killing a drunk samurai, is how Irako seemingly absorbs the fates of the ones he kills, as if he becomes destined to experience that has happened to his opponents in a manner of ‘poetic’ karma. This notion could be connected to the folk-tale along the road, when Irako and Fujiki co-operated for the first time and before going into the battle, they started to pray next to the rock, the area from which that tale has originated - the tale was about a demon who went into a human being and started operating him. The reason they started praying was not for the woman that got killed by a “demon”, but for them to ‘absorb’ demons and transcend humanity, so hence begins their intertwined tragic fate, which also gives as to think about the possibility of acquiring someone else’s curse - I myself would not call it ‘karmic justice”, cause there is barely any justice in the worlds of Shigurui’s characters, but I guess it could be asserted in that way as well. Basically, along with stealing the identities, he was also inheriting their fates. As well as expanding on the 'fairy tale' aspect of its themes, elaborating on how all of these 'occultic' stories out there are actually just to mask the cruelties of human nature, as people stop recognizing such negative tendencies as humans, representing them as inhumane, demon beings, deriving the impulses from the human nature. After the initial fight, manga suddenly manages to somehow up the levels of intensity even higher by transforming into some sort of a thriller/horror… will the fate of Kogan (as he is in Kogan’s role right now, back then when Kogan died) repeat or will Irako be able to reverse the flow (sakanagare) of his destiny further? After the duel of vengeance starts the expansion of the world view of the main characters. In a drama you would expect from a story to start in a light-hearted manner and then descend into darkness from the ground. Shigurui reverses the structure and ascends the character from the darkness to the ground. I personally dislike gloomy series that forcefully end in a hopeful manner, so I had quite a blast. The difference in Shigurui’s case is that even then it does not go on the route of romanticization, it just shows how more polished the world is at corruption. There is more freedom to actually live your life, but at the same time, you might have your heart pierced by a smiling spearman in front of you, for their own agenda that you have no awareness of whatsoever. Fujiki faces reality and admits that he is no match to Irako. That makes complete sense, but at first completely unheard of, considering the expectations the story builds. Despite that, of course, trauma still remains and results in his impulsive behaviour once he hears or sees anything related to Irako Seigen. Irako, on the other hand, keeps going on the path of Kogan and almost ruins his whole career by his own mannerism, just like Kogan did in front of the shogunate. Although Irako still manages to dodge the bullet because of how clever he is with words. And his trauma also remains, but it does not show itself as some destructive impulse, but as the guilt that shows itself in the form of empathy, as Irako Seigen goes out of his way to help out the children who literally have nothing, that remind him of himself and his own mother. It also is a reason he can’t really get close to the people, even with whom he gets intimate and are not even samurai, because even then they won’t approve of his past - just like in the past, before he became samurai. Precisely the reason he would be defeated in the final battle - Irako has no flames burning inside of him aside of aimless ambition, while Fujiki has a path of burning love that is crystal clear. But at least Irako knows that he and everyone else are one and the same, human beings and he is not above others just because of his status. Being informed of Fujiki’s past, he was indirectly brought back to the ground, down-to-earth and emotionally remembered that there was always way more to his life than a mere ambition. Fujiki, too, understood the essence of his arch-enemy, hence the sincere battle to the death can commence, as both of them started to respect one another. Thus both of the main characters are free from the claws of the samurai world before their duel. And another thing that's being established is some sort of a romantic fate of a couple, saying that they will most definitely be united together and the fight will be the one doing it - who these words are aimed at, is still being blurred, because the fight will also unite Irako and Fujiki and so on. But the demons and their swords are still lurking around. Hence the fate that got intertwined by the finger lock, gets freed by the very same technique. Thus Irako has been released from his guilt of killing the mother and might have met her in the after all, as the Fujiki wanted to respect the dead rival, while remembering all of the scenes of Irako’s vulnerability and attempts at connection, that he had never noticed, but alas it was too late… demons had the other plans, as the samurai world keeps stripping the people off of their identities and want to pull the strings behind the puppet that will be Fujiki, thus the demons lurking within Mie stepped back in as well. As Iku killed herself with, there was no transcendence from concerns that were left around, hence the awakening of Fujiki with his long-forgotten identity. Fujiki was not a natural-born samurai after all… but a mere tool in his whole life. He gave in and he has been broken, not being able to muster no more strength than a baby. In the delirium state, there was nothing left for him but to forcefully revert back to his child state, that of delusion, considering he had only left the pledge with the maiden and the future of Kogan’s dojo… but there was no Mie anymore. Nothing left to be loyal to… what would have happened to Fujiki if not to be thrown in the demented state similar to Kogan’s, eternally remembering the pledge? The match that was recorded as just another ‘heroic’ duel in the annals of history and in the legends, was actually full of unspoken complications and anything but heroic, but the struggle to restore the lost dignity of the oppressed On the surface, Shigurui is about the samurai having a feud with each other. Beneath the surface, it is about the people being pitted against each other by the samurai system, for the benefits for the said system - and the final blow is dealt by the shogun, yet again enslaving those beneath the hierarchy, by asking Fujiki to go against himself and strip off the pride of Irako (the only thing that has left of him in the annals of the history of his true self), the one Fujiki learned to respect. At the end realizing that those below them are merely distracted by competing with each other, but… it's too late now, as he himself has nothing left of his true self as well and has become just another tool of feudal japan. Did you get disappointed by not being able to see the rest of the tournament? Well hello, you have missed the point and you too are getting distracted.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Jan 2, 2020
The Ravages of Time
(Manga)
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(528/? chp)
TL;DR version - This is a very well-rounded story, exploring the themes of pretense (with both lying to others and lying to oneself), politics (through deception and schemes), war (through nihilism and manipulation), literature (through the importance of sharing and the fabrication of history) and so on. Story does not center around anyone, instead it is fleshing out every side, who represent different types of opposing ideologies. Characters are exploding with charisma, by showing off their immense strength and knowledge of Art of War (thus being the most complex work in fiction at scheming). It is both very tragic and poetic, with various obscure references
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and detailed artstyle. Everything above, in addition of rich social-commentaries, has a really high chance of becoming your one of the favourite stories in fiction, so don’t miss the chance.
Ravages of Time offers many hardships to its newcomers and they will notice them as soon as they will start reading the story, so here let’s just focus on the rewarding part of it, as it is arguable that Ravages is the highest reward one may achieve, by reading comics. Besides, community is willing to make newcomer's experience much easier and smoother. The first things first - RoT does not have a classic narrative, in a sense, that it is not only will not focus solely on the main squad, but also it will not care if you won't side with protagonists who do not care about heroism and/or do bad things. Now we can start talking about the many reasons of why you may love to read it. The most obvious one are the action scenes. They tend to be highly energetic, with various stunts involved, both down-to-earth and over-the-top, with different number of participants. There is hardly any instance (if at all) of mere slashes that are supposed to create hype in an artificial way. They also are neither meaningless nor repetitive(if it is supposed to be a parallel, for example). What makes these scenes even more charming? Characters often are equal and they tend to praise each other as well as to have a very interesting dialogue (yeah, character interactions are hardly ever shallow, even when they are preparing to punch each other out). Only problem one may have is the skipping of some battle scenes. Said scenes are empowered by very flamboyant artstyle. Starting from various stylish and fashionable character designs (not only for main characters, but also over 500 unnamed background, a subtle addition to its realistic depth of world-building) and their poses, to high-scale set-pieces, to detailed decorations and very memorable and poetic pages. Style is fine from the get-go, but visibility of areas not so much. Eventually, that also gets much better, while style gets more and more mature, as author is coming out of his heavy metal phase. I would say, driving less emotions in the later parts of the story is one of the two weaknesses it has. The second being the lack of sense of space. Another prominent trait are the schemes, which are probably the most complex/convoluted that you have ever seen, as they cover many different things, from morale boosting duels to social rumors, and mixes them together. Then makes them even harder, when such tricks are being used by more than one side, while they are busy covering every possible outcome of their moves and finding common ground. They may change tides, or even schemers themselves may change sides. Even the deceptive moves taken off-screen are more complex than “smart” gimmicks of most of the other stories. (to add something provocative, as extra flavor - LOGH is child's play compared to RoT) From hereon we have to dig deeper, as everything may be a part of in-depth thematic exploration. You will meet various references to Art of War and similar works, which are obscure enough for us to constantly feel fresh. Another great thing about this is that - they are not mere references. They are implemented into the setting to serve as an explanation and social-commentary as well - the world is in a never ending cycle of corruption and it gets more and more cynical as it goes on, while sharing all-new experiences to others leads to even more battles. Some are getting so deceptive, that they use that “sharing all-new experiences” itself for their own deceptions. But it is up to a person how will s/he use the knowledge. Thus, the central theme of this work is “Self-Interest vs. Righteousness”, with a very interesting take - no one is entirely on one side of the spectrum. Yeah, there are people who want to rule the world out of their greedy nature, but they will surely justify themselves by the greater good (for example, corruption of sage, horrors of war’s longevity and etc) and will try to maintain their image. Yeah, some people fight for the sake of righteousness, but their actions will also be really questionable by the standards of morality, they will also face the negative consequences and they also fight to live in a safe house for themselves. Talking about consequences - they will be many, as arcs are made out of their chain reactions (but you can still differentiate them) and they are also many and sometimes too severe. That connects to both the horrors of war and the meaninglessness of people’s struggles (no matter how great they think they are) when they are confronted with the inevitability of history. Author believes that if a man goes to a war, he can’t be a good man. So, this ideology will make sure that such closures (with great poetic flavor to them) won’t ever feel undeserved or/and unsatisfying or/and not dramatic enough (except, of course, if death scene’s point is to not feel dramatic) And if a writer believes in such a thing, that means he has some kind of disdain towards any of the characters which play somewhat important role in story, so you can expect pretty solid balance between conflicted sides. Even better - there are more than two sides and all of them have their own agendas. EVEN BETTER - on one side you will meet several people that have their own agendas and they affect each other (by manipulating their brothers, for example), just like it would have been in real life. Having this is really valuable and that is because it won’t feel like a piece of propaganda at all and you will be able to cheer or dislike any side you prefer (I like them all personally), without having just one moral compass. Well, it does have a good amount of action scenes with unbelievable feats (which serve their own purpose and let’s talk about it later on) and some over-the-top sense of humor in the first arc, but aside of that, it remains one of the most mature works in fiction. For comparison we can take Berserk (which is a seinen, but has high amount of senseless violence just because and even rape may seem as a joke. Being close to the old tales of brother Grimms with its edge) and Kingdom (which is a shounen, but still has more naked breasts in its first arcs, than RoT as a whole (zero)). It does not even have much romance (only one is proper one and amazing at it), despite telling you that lust is in man’s nature (because everyone knows that lust can be used for schemes) and it never romanticizes love. There is also a risk of becoming dry, when story has so much maturity, but RoT is handling that greatly as well, by having one of the most emotional scenes in fiction. Characters never forget that they should have emotions and act like human beings and they even have eccentric poses to them. In the latest arcs, it does get quite dry, but then again, it is still fully self-aware, as it touches about the themes of getting used to tragedy and thinking about the big picture, by trying to not let oneself to lose control because of personal stuff. Now, as promised, we can talk about the feats. Sure, they are unbelievable, but its self-aware, judging by the people who say the same. I think, it is also a deconstruction of Dynasty Warriors (and other similar stories), because, yeah, characters are really powerful, but they are always a tiny part of grander decisions and anything is hardly ever solved by them. The strongest warrior even attracted many enemies out of his inhumanity and at the end, he still managed to become human. It has several more purposes, but I will leave them out for you to think about them by yourself. Who does not like heroic tales, after all? Full focus is on warfare and politics, so it basically never feels like you are reading some boring slice of life where nothing ever happens, so ride is ever-eventful. I would consider this as a very important aspect, because crafting such a rich world requires big amount of focus and that usually will really slow down the story, but RoT manages to have importance in its every arc. Realistic march of time also helps with that - after 500 chapters, it covered around 20 years of its period and it that period of time, for example, characters already have children and not only some of them fight alongside their fathers (Unlike other stories where they milk with next generation, after every major conflict was resolved), but it also explores problematic part of inheritance. History itself is also being explored in a historical manga (which is usually forgotten by other historical stories) and in an unconventional way - by changing details, while being fully self-aware and stating that it is more plausible this way, than actual history (aka fabrication of history), but not changing much of the general picture and major events of actual historical sources. For example, there is a completely fictional character named Yuan Fang and there is also Lu Bu, who was also made smart, to question history - is it really possible for people who are defined by physical prowess alone to have so much influence on a country? Why would people follow them? And so on. It may be also discussed that it is criticizing the original novels. In conclusion, that’s a bit of what may be talked about The Ravages of Time, but hopefully, I wrote enough novelties of it to peak interest in people of this subreddit and to finish my recommendation, I will ask every interested one to visit r/ravagesoftime to get close to our community. Here is an invitation to the Discord server and other useful links are easy to find on subreddit: http://ravagesoftime.info/discord
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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