May 18, 2020
This is my first time writing a review for anything on this site so bear with me.
Zanuff the Butcher is a pretty good one-shot and is easily one of the best that I've read. The reasons for this are many but the two primary reasons for me is that it is pretty subversive and inspires a good amount of discussion for what it is, a pretty obscure one-shot.
While I do believe the story, art and characters are certainly above average, My personal enjoyment of the work comes from everything put together.
Story and Character:
Since the story and character both heavily revolve around Zanuff, I'll just
...
fuse these sections together. As the description says, the plot basically revolves around the titular character Zanuff who is a killer, a pretty gruesome one at that. His reasons for killing are purely impulsive and the desire is illogical and the target for his impulsive killings are beautiful women, especially those that he loves. The twist is that the man himself is aware of his impulses and goes to great lengths to combat it. His efforts work, however his willpower is tested when he ends up taking in an abused girl.
Zanuff himself is an extremely well written character given what few pages the one-shot has to establish him. Despite being a convicted murderer who we know still has taboo urges, he is heavily sympathetic as throughout all points in the story, the audience always understands his deepest, darkest feelings in a depressing and intimate fashion. He urges have not only ruined his life once, but even after he has served his punishment, they still continue to plague him and the man himself deeply loathes this aspect of himself. Furthermore he is deeply regretful for his misdeeds and is actually a very kind and caring person with a legitimate, wholesome love for children and their pure nature which he believes helps distract him from his own impure nature. Speaking of children, the other main character of the one-shot is Alice. She is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of character, but that in no way does her any disservice as she is simply a kid and acts as such. Alice's mother is a less important character but I believe what little presence she has also speaks towards the themes of the one-shot but her subtler moments go unnoticed. Don't want to spoil anything but there is a pretty clear scene where she draws some parallels with Zanuff on their questionable natures.
Art:
I'm not really good at analyzing art of all things but I'll try. At the surface level, the one-shot has mostly average art with a few very stunning moments, which while not artistically impressive, sells the scenes and emotions taking place. The art also sells the contrast between Zanuff's positive and negative sides. When living a normal life, Zanuff is incredibly simple and heartwarming whereas the moments when his impulses take control are violent and dark but also incredibly sad, especially with the man himself giving his own input on his hatred for his nature while actively carrying out his impulses. Furthermore, what I like most is that throughout the entire one-shot, Zanuff's inner dialogue is always within these mangled speech bubbles, giving them a pretty depressive vibe. The actual contents of those bubbles are just as depressing. The last thing on this section is Zanuff's facial expressions which I believe captures his different aspects pretty well. The dissonance between his outward behavior/expressions and inner dialogue also say a lot about the character.
If you've reached this far, I suggest you just read the manga and come to this section because there's spoilers here.
On the topic of its divisiveness, specifically in its themes and message:
Zanuff is a very gray character and combined with the fact that he is a serial killer and his methods are also torturous, along with deriving pleasure from said actions, many view him in different lights. Most people, upon seeing the end of the one-shot usually sympathize with Zanuff whereas others demonize him and claim he deserves no sympathy due to his actions. While both sides are valid, the actual one-shot does a good job in portraying his actions and their consequences.
The one-shot makes it clear that Zanuff actively fights against his nature, which makes his eventual succumbing to it both sad and cathartic to the audience and the man himself. When he finally lets go you can see the elation and pure despicable joy on his face but there's also an obvious sadness and madness that the man himself is consciously aware of while in the act. By the end of the one-shot, Zanuff has in several ways repented and been forgiven, and some people take that as an endorsement of his actions yet the refuse to see the obvious consequences of said actions. Immediately after committing the crime he turns himself in and even portrays himself as worse than he actually is as he fully believes that he deserves to be imprisoned and killed for what he is and what he's done. Some have also called him a pedophile which is also wrong. He develops a love for the girl who he shelters but it was more implied to be a familial love rather than sexual. And even if said love was sexual, the man himself recognized that his love was harmful to her and immediately sought to bring her to the police and not act on his desires, which is an admirable thing. The child's mother has some similarities in that he genuinely loves her daughter which can be seen in the joy that she had when she was just born and that she was searching for her daughter in the rain and genuinely worried that her daughter might have been kidnapped by Zanuff. The mother's abuse of her child are painted in a similar light to Zanuff's as she also resents that side of her and is genuinely sorry for beating her child as can be seen when she is verbally apologizing to her beaten child and is distraught over what she's done. The only difference between the mother and Zanuff is that Zanuff is extremely aware of his impulses and tries his best to act against them, whereas the mother knows and is sorry for what she does, but she carries out the abuse anyway. One could argue that Zanuff simply did not have as much temptation to carry out his impulse as he purposely distanced himself from others so that he could not develop intimate relationships, whereas the mother would always be around her daughter which would inevitably result in her succumbing to her nature. The thing is, the moment Zanuff realized he might do something wrong, he immediately tried to rectify the problem and distance himself from the girl, whereas the mother kept her by her side, to the child's detriment. In the end, the only reason Zanuff gives in is because he was pushed to the limit.Finally, both of them get their punishment in some form. In fact I believe that the form of their punishment could also be interpreted as a part of the message of the story, if it exists. Zanuff gets 20 years in prison as 15 for committing his first murder. A long time, but not the cruelest punishment considering that he was acing on impulse at a young age. After he's had a long time to contemplate on his crime, he actively avoids his nature and when he finally does the deed again, he gets no second chances and is put on death row. The mother on the other hand never gets punished because no one knew of the abuse she subjected her child to, until Zanuff found out. Since she never truly managed to suppress that side of her and continued to engage in it, her punishment came in the form of a slow and violent death. Zanuff on the other hand, while on death row, has actively confessed, is aware and extremely aware of his actions and seeks some form of redemption and as a result he only dies once he truly becomes at peace with himself. The message for me is not only that actions have consequences, but that even if those consequences are inescapable, one should always try to redeem themselves, even if the action that they committed is irredeemable.
Ultimately, I still have much to talk about but I believe I've said most of what I've wanted. Zanuff the Butcher is something I love to read every once in a while and I'm apparently pretty passionate about it considering what I've just typed. I hope you give it a shot,read it with a critical mind and form your own opinions. Thanks for reading!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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