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Mar 14, 2021
It seems rather arbitrary to write a review on a series as presently popular as Chainsaw Man, after all, everyone has already formulated there opinion on it. Including seemingly myself, you might question why there would be any reason to read the review from a user at the time of this review, sporting an avatar of the main character. "Obviously you love it T-Hawk, you're just going to be a biased review" but now I retort and ask that you turn your eyes to this reviews' overall score and realize that whilst I did enjoy Chainsaw Man immensely, I will neither be ever-praising nor
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all condemning which seems to be the two extremes that the reception for Chainsaw Man lays upon.
Chainsaw Man is from young Mangaka Tatsuki Fujimoto. His second full series as well as the first actually reaching the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump, as to my knowledge, his prior surprise hit, Fire Punch, was apart of Jump+, the less popular online equivalent. Chainsaw Man became a big new hit for Jump in a time when they needed it but after a mere two years and 97 chapters Fujimoto called our story to a temporary close, announcing an act 2 in the unknown future and adding yet another blow to Jump's gut as it joined the catalogue of big sellers that ended in 2020. In it's fan reception there is an exceptional divide between those that despise and love this manga. Those that parade it as some vastly misunderstood genius work with so many underlying themes that David Lynch would be jealous and then there are those that spit their hatred for the manga with such vitriol that you'd believe them if they told you that Fujimoto kicked their dog and pushed their mom down ten flights of stairs. I personally, adding my voice to this endless see of noise, don't believe that Chainsaw Man is on either side of this spectrum.
Lets get this out of the way, Chainsaw Man is stupid. Exceptionally stupid. Denji, our protagonist, is a young man with a half chainsaw, half dog plushie pet and he hunts morbid creatures known as Devils and his motivations are that he wants to touch boobs and eat burgers. It's not a revelation to bask in by any means, Chainsaw Man wears this stupidity so strongly on it's sleeve that it cannot be anything but charming. I believe Fujimoto has come to the same understanding that many other shounen mangakas have come to realize in recent years (especially Gege Akutami of Jujutsu Kaisen with this manga shares a lot of tone with) and that is your shounen manga doesn't need to be boundary pushing, it doesn't need to invent new ideas or rely on some crazy, wacky hook in order to captivate. It just needs to be fun.
Our storyline follows a pretty formulaic "monster of the week" arc loop that you'll see in many other shounen manga. With a underlying story that of course is the one that we conclude on. The twists and turns to come are mostly predictable and can be seen forming with the first few dozen chapters of Chainsaw Man but what pulls us along this mostly straight line are the characters within. Denji, Power, Aki, Makima and everyone are so consistently engaging that they can take you through any of the series' arcs with ease, there is a littany of fantastically designed characters here and although many aren't fully realized due to short time spent with them, they do have enough personality that they can each be enjoyed in entirely different ways. A lot of people note that Fujimoto's ruthlessness with the mortality of his characters is something to be praised but I personally think that it's a commonly used device in modern shounen and therefore whilst it is something to keep readers on their toes, side characters being offed isn't anything special.
What is fairly special however is the art of Chainsaw Man, whilst not as technically impressive as the best of the bunch amongst modern mangaka, Fujimoto shares a table with Eiichiro Oda of One Piece in that he understands expression and motion so fantastically that he can convey action and emotions like very few others can. Denji and friends are partially so lovable because of their incredible array of faces and reactions, the many fights of Chainsaw Man are filled with life by Fujimoto's perfect conveyance of speed and movement. His panelling as well is to be admired. There are many frames of Chainsaw Man that one could easily pick out and well, frame. This includes a lot of blatant religious imagery and traditional art callbacks which are partially what lead to the aforementioned claims of "deeper meaning" within Chainsaw Man but I do believe they're just they're because they look cool. Another stand out is a previously mentioned one, the designs of our characters. There are many heroes in Chainsaw Man, there are many villains in Chainsaw Man and each one remarkably has a completely unique persona before they even utter a word due to their fantastically unique designs. Whether it's Makima and her mysterious yet enthralling beauty that set the internet on fire for a while or Kishibe, who's many decades of Devil hunting is written on every part of him from his face to his stance and clothing. Tsukasa Fujimoto is a mangaka to be respected merely on his artistic acumen.
Chainsaw Man is perhaps most comendable for one thing. It's awesome. It's the most awesome fun that I and many others have had with a new shounen manga for years. I find myself constantly comparing it to other media like the movie Mad Max Fury Road or the video game franchise Devil May Cry that within their respective mediums, they aren't overly analyzed, they aren't trying to force some narrative or complex thoughts upon you, they aren't pushing boundaries. They're just reinforcing the old ones. Chainsaw Man is a manga you may have read a dozen times but it's most likely the best executed out of all of them.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 13, 2021
Depression is a horrific thing. One that many of the most prior and coming generations will experience in large. Always apart of the human condition, it's something that bites so fiercely with nary a way to really bite back. Shounen no Abyss is a manga that aims to summarise and encapture that darkness that so much of the youth struggles through these days. It is not alone in it's attempt, so much media comes from pain and so much media tries to understand it, despite how impossible it may be to capture a feeling shared by so many but unique in it's vices to everyone
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it affects. Much manga, anime and other media in the past have tried their hand at recreating it and only the most elite amongst them have ever belonged to that club of higher media. Our manga in question is by no means a member of that club, although it may just have a toe in the door.
Shounen no Abyss is a Coming of Age, Psychological Drama Manga by Minenami Ryou, most famous for Himegoto: Juukyuusai no Seifuku, a drama of similar genre but wildly different thematics. In Abyss, Ryou attempts his darkest story to date with our protagonist Reiji Kurose and his suicidal tendencies suffering from an overbearing life, dysfunctional family and uncertain future. If you have read other Manga of this genre then this tiny synopsis will probably familiarlize you due to an abundance in the medium that have also tackled the strife of youth indifference, most famously Oyasumi Punpun. Shounen no Abyss makes genuine waves to stand on the same wavelength of the classic by giving very legitimate structure and reason to the nature of the manga and Reiji Kurose's issues. There is legitimate thematic weight to not only Kurose but the abundance of supporting characters, each with their own unique pain and reasons to their own problems.
However, sadly this Manga seems to suffer from it's affiliation with Young Jump and thusly it's purpose as a Seinen. Now, my speculation here is not to be taken for verbatim. However, there is little else that could explain the bizarre sexualization and characterization inside the series. Minenami Ryou has dabbled in ecchi in the past but to place nudity within Shounen no Abyss to the point where it dabbles on the line of ecchi/fan-service is a bizarre choice to say the least. Now, sex and romance (or lack thereof) is most certainly apart of Coming of Age and a massive causation of depression worldwide and of course most importantly, within Japan. Though, in no good mind can I find the reason for the female characters to be one minute rendering their soul apart in double page spreads of pure outbursts of sorrow, anguish and rage to the next issue be throwing themselves on our main character as if he was lathered in aphrodisiac. In order to justify these rapid moodswings and sudden appearances of intense thirst, Minenami Ryou has to apply rather tired character archetypes in order to placate the Young Jump crowd and editorial staff. Particuarly of note is the disillussionment of the teacher character, one that as previously noted, has a legitimate reason to be involved with Reiji Kurose and has a genuine feeling of sadness about them but is then degraded to having a far too familiar trope seemingly forced onto them in order to remain prominent in the series and satisfy some weird neccessity that far too much Seinen seems determined to have.
As for the other aspects of the manga, the art retains the familiarlity of the rest of Minenami Ryou's work, not exceptional but acceptable, except for some occurrences where there are mild flexes that show impressive talent. It can also be said that the character designs are unique to the point of everyone being instantly identifiable whilst still maintaining utter believability. Not easy by any means. The pacing of the manga is generally quite good and leads to an overall easy read (darkly humorous considering the subject matter isn't meant to be digestable), this could be consumed in one afternoon quite comfortably and the little plot hooks laid towards the end of chapters are firm enough to drag "just one more issue" out of you.
Overall, Shounen no Abyss seems to definitely have the wherewithal to achieve more and be better than the sum of it's parts. However, it's holding back and falling into safe zones that means it will please the small crowd it gains and probably fall into obscurity in a few years or under the radar to be later discussed as a "hidden gem". Ironically a theme of the manga is causing yourself pain to endlessly please those who don't really care for you, settling for mediocrity as it's best for those that have expectations. Shounen no Abyss will never escape the abyss of other endless average to good Seinen Drama if it does not forget that it doesn't need to be like any of the rest. It just needs to be itself.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Dec 21, 2018
"Look how they massacred my boy" - Vito Corleone, The Godfather & T-Hawk, Reading this series every week.
Shokugeki No Souma has been a staple of Weekly Shonen Jump for over 6 years now and at times it sat near the top of the mountain as one of the most unique ongoing shonen series out there that took your typical battle manga and flipped it on it's head. It seems however that the best days of this manga have long gone by and what we are left with is something that is a shell of it's former self, begging to just be put out of it's
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misery.
The problem's arising here is not one isolated to this series but in fact often shared with many other series under the same publication and within the industry. Just like in the fall of Bleach or the consistent escalation of villains and power in Dragon Ball and just about 80% of battle manga. The problem with Shokugeki No Souma is that it keeps on going on and on. To be able to consistently write a consistently entertaining series for years all the while under the pressure of the weekly demands of Shonen Jump is extremely difficult to do and it's not surprising to see author Yuto Tsukuda fall into the pitfalls so many before him have done.
So just how has this once new titan of Weekly Shonen Jump fallen?
- STORY -
The story of Yukihira Souma was once quite simple. Our protagonist Yukihira Souma runs a diner with his father of which he has near daily has cooking battles with to determine who is the better chef. Souma has never once defeated his father in these cooking battles and due to his father is worried that Souma will never grow as a chef. So in order for our protagonist to grow to the level where he might some day defeat his father and be worthy of running his own diner, he is enlisted to become a student at the most elite culinary school in Japan where quite similar battles take place, titled "Shokugekis".
That was it and of course during the story our protagonist meets friend and foe alike. Now this may seem very generic and boring minus the cooking part but that's because Shokugeki No Souma seemingly purposefully followed the generic trends of your average battle manga and flipped them on it's head with it's battle system. The "Shokugeki" is a genius concept because cooking is not a life or death subject so that means that a lot (but not all) battles in this battle manga don't have physical connotations but instead emotional ones. Pride, hopes, dreams are what is often at stake here, there are times where there are things such as expulsion from the school on the line but those are far less interesting then simply having our protagonist and side characters revealing their motivations and ideals through non-lethal clashes, which means whether they win or fail, we still get to see how they are affected by the results of these clashes.
But here lies the problems with the manga in it's current state, more specifically the last few arcs. There was only so many times that Tsukuda could write the same characters in the same battles with the same motivations and same ideals. So in come the introduction of newer characters with abilities that surpass our protagonist simply because we need someone new for our protagonist to eventually beat. These new characters are very hit or miss but whether we love them or not is regardless but when they're beaten they often seem to disappear off the face or the earth or become just another side character. All the while our protagonist's ability seems to reach levels of a god despite not having even finished his first year in the academy yet. Side characters, once with their own dreams are reduced to commentary, villains turn good just because we have a new villain who is somehow worse and all of the sudden people go from actual cooking techniques to using "spice chainsaws" and that last one isn't a joke.
- ART -
This is where Shokugeki no Souma has shined and continued to do so in spite of the decreasing quality of everything else within the series. Shun Saeki has done excellent with the series and has brought exceptional amounts of life into nigh every panel. One should prepare for a watering mouth at the sight of a singular panel of the food in Shokugeki no Souma, as it's often more appealing than the real thing.
Character designs are so entrancing and unique that despite the character's often short shelf life of appearances within the manga they are always immediately recognizable upon any reappearance and has lead to a cast that is extremely lovable based on the individuality of their design alone and the motions of their often ridiculous actions whilst taking part in shokugeki are illustrated to perfection and usual hilarity.
It can however be said that Shokugeki No Souma perhaps on occasion a little too far into the ecchi portion of the series and illustrations leave little to the imagination. However on the flip side of that, it is not just the girls of Shokugeki No Souma that receive such treatment so the paradoxical nature of the series towards your average Shonen manga is still left intact.
- CHARACTER -
This will be kept brief as it's very similar to the story section of this review but Shokugeki No Souma suffers once more from the same problems most shonen manga does if it runs for any extended period of time. We are introduced to characters that are fleshed out with their own ambitions, backstory, etc. Then they are shoved to the backline in favor of our protagonist and his love interests. People that once were intrigued the reader to wanting more appearances now offer little more than running commentary as they haven't been awarded the same astronomical power boosts that our protagonist has.
Another thing to note about the characters of the series are the villains. Understandable and interesting when they were fellow students who resorted to cheap tactics to advance their culinary skills and therefore contradicting the ideals of Yukihira Souma, however by advancing Souma to a point beyond the academy so quickly, we are left with Tsukuda introducing villains simply for them to be beaten because Souma has already surpassed anyone remotely interesting. Villain comes in, has no motivation other than going against our protag, uses some ridiculous new cooking technique that Souma has never seen before, Souma wins and will use their technique in the future, repeat. Congrats villain, either disappear or join the commentary booth.
- ENJOYMENT -
As you can probably tell with the tone of this review, their was love for this series in my heart at one point and a genuine excitement for every chapter. That love has been lost to say the least and any interest to be found in the series, it's story or characters have waned. The initial arcs are worth reading and for the most part fun, engaging and interesting. However it would be unwise to invest yourself in a new series if when you catch up with it you are only left with disappointment and a bitter taste in your mouth.
Shokugeki No Souma was great. Shokugeki No Souma was enjoyable. Shokugeki No Souma IS average. Shokugeki No Souma IS tedious.
- CONCLUSION -
Looking at Shokugeki No Souma and all I can see is an author who is struggling under the break neck format of Weekly Shonen Jump, desperate to just get this story over with as quickly as possible. It has been a long time since a chapter that could be deemed undoubtedly satisfying and if it wasn't for the efforts of artist Shun Sakei, their would be little to no merit at continuing with this series. This series is a sick dog, reflected in it's sales and decline in the ranks of Shonen Jump.
I'm just waiting for the day where Weekly Shonen Jump tells us all that this sick dog can't be saved.
- SCORE -
Story - 3/10
Art - 9/10
Character - 3/10
Enjoyment - 3/10
Overall - 5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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