Fujimoto Tatsuki 17-26

As is wont to do in an anthology collection made up of old one-shots made pre-Chainsaw Man, there are some shorts that are better than others.

I think some sell themselves on style, some have strong enough backbones to carry the show, some do a little of both, some... quite frankly don't really do either and end up flopping.

For what it's worth, I enjoyed the majority of them and would watch a TV show/movie form instead of the one episode if that hypothetically came to fruition.

I wrote down notes after each episode so I'm just gonna paste those here:

Episode 1 - A Couple Clucking Chickens Were ... Still Kickin' in the Schoolyard: Intriguing set-up for a longer series but idk if it had the time to establish the dynamics between any characters to the point that I cared.

The "chickens" part worked for the role in the story it played, I guess, but I was expecting more comedy out of it. They use it as a gag/surprise reveal and then it's quickly done away with so we can keep moving into where the story needs to be.

I guess this is the limitations of a one-shot at play because I'd totally watch a whole season of this but, like, given the 15ish minutes this story gets, I don't think it had the time to get me emotionally invested. It does pretty much exactly enough to establish the 3 main characters, get its point across, and that's it.

You can see the potential already (idk if these are in order from the first one Fujimoto submitted to the last, I presume so considering the first 4 were collected in Fujimoto 17-21 and the latter 4 in 22-26) but I don't think it serves to be as good of a one-shot as it is an intriguing look into Fujimoto's past and what he'd end up making. Still great though.

Score - 8/10

Episode 2 - Sasaki Stopped a Bullet: Wow, this one kinda sucked. It just felt like the direction was... wrong. Even for the 15 minutes they had, it felt like they were stalling for time and speaking super slowly.

It's just some virgin loser talking to another virgin loser (ironically given the plot of the story, someone who could be considered a version of him from a different future) and then he Stops a Bullet

It's not like I want the teacher to be forced to have sex with the shooter but, like, I don't exactly want Sasaki to have sex with her either. He's pretty pathetic and his only redeeming quality is "muh father died".

The plot is solved through contrivances and Joseph Joestar-level bullshittery. That's pretty much what this short could be described as. It's like if Joseph Joestar had a tenth of his charisma and it went on for 15 minutes.

None of the characters were likeable, I guess it had a decent message but boy, do I never want to watch this again

Score - 3/10

Episode 3 - Love Is Blind: I thought E2 was kinda Shaft-pilled but that was probably a coincidence/something that pervades Lapin Track because THIS is Monogatari-pilled (apparently the director for this episode worked under Shinbo and Ikuhara which... yup that sure does track).

The direction (although I'm not surprised the same person [I don't just mean Fujimoto, but the actual scriptwriter] WROTE the script) is really the only notable part of this episode. It's (relatively) significantly shorter and the entire plot is MC-kun is determined on confessing his love to the detriment of everything else which could be fun... if he wasn't also a coward about it.

The dichotomy was frustrating more than funny. The last-minute plot twist was kind of funny though.

It also feels less thematically rich. For everything I thought this did better than Sasaki (more engaging protagonist, better direction [although I think this is the biggest example of vision vs. budget]), I think Sasaki had something to say

Love is Blind was entertaining enough but I think Fujimoto definitely could've gone back to the drawing board to make this better. If I ever watch this again, it'll be solely for the direction.

Score - 6/10

Episode 4 - Shikaku: I think this is easily the best one of the first half/17-21

I was pretty happy with how the story played out. Unlike E1, I didn't think there were really any "wasted" story elements. While it has the shortcomings of being a 15ish minute long one-shot, given the constraints, it's pretty good.

It tells a story with the most engaging characters so far, they must be conserving their budget for the more action-focused ones because it's back to looking pretty decent, it's another one where I'd read a whole series about this.

Fun gore, if nothing else, the difference in aspect ratio makes it stand out, the characters were fun, I liked the plot, good short

Score - 9/10

Episode 5 - Mermaid Rhapsody: Oops, this one is also awesome. Idk if it'd make a good whole series but I'd definitely watch a movie of it.

It's a touching romance, I felt he did more with the "human and thing that eats humans" dynamic here than the first episode.

He manages to set up why the mermaids and humans have a tense dynamic, why the mermaids are more fine with Toshihide, the romance (and fear) between him and Shiju, given the length of a standard anime episode, he did a very admirable job.

That's really all I have to say. I guess E2 and 3 just got the short end of the stick budget-wise because this one also looked fine.

I think I prefer Shikaku a little more based on my personal preferences in the anime I watch but Mermaid Rhapsody is also really good.

Score - 9/10

Episode 6 - Woke-Up-as-a-Girl Syndrome: I think this one had my favorite style. E3 was very Monogatari-esque but as a result, it kind of stuck out and to be honest, the budget wasn't all there.

This one looked gorgeous and like it had its own stamp and style.

It also happens to be the shortest, clocking in at 10-11 minutes.

It tells a simple story of someone... waking up as a girl and his gender identity and struggles as a result.

I'm not trans so it doesn't personally connect with me/hit home but I thought for the time it had, it was a well-told story. It passes the "I'd watch a longer version of this" test.

My biggest complaint is how rape-oriented it was. Nobody ever GETS raped but a not-insignificant portion of the story is dedicated to calling the MC (who shares the same name as the one from Mermaid Rhapsody, which I am not a fan of) a perv or the delinquent bullies trying to get a slice of the freshly minted girl pie or a certain someone else trying to.

Other than that, I think this one is my favorite so far.

Score - 9/10

Episode 7 - Nayuta of the Prophecy: Sorry, this one low-key kinda sucked.

E2 at least had... interesting direction, one of the weaker points of E5 (who has the same director as this episode) is that the direction is just... competent. There's no real style or panache in the same way E3 or E6 had.

This one has a sort of washed-out or grainy style but that's about it.

Honestly, given she's named after a Chainsaw Man character, I was just kinda wishing Ryu Nakayama was doing this episode as a sort of pseudo-redemption

Do you know how godawful and boring this episode had to be to make me go "boy, I sure wish public enemy number 1 Ryu Nakayama was directing this because at least I'd FEEL something"

Nayuta is a total brat. Her way of speaking is QuIrKy and she only speaks in dark dangerous stuff like "chaos lava genocide carnage!" which gets really annoying really fast

I'm sorry and I get that Nayuta might be able to change but honestly, I was rooting for the military to just go "fuck you" and shoot both her and Kenji down.

She is objectively a threat and Kenji's not even sure if she's NOT going to snap and kill everyone.

She does nothing but cause problems for Kenji, I couldn't help but dislike her.

If you compare her to Power or Chainsaw Man Nayuta, you can clearly see how he's grown as a writer because they are much better in similar roles.

Score - 2/10

Episode 8 - Sisters: I'll give it the benefit of the doubt that I watched this whole series in one day, it's off the back of the worst episode in the show, and I'd actually already read this one, but I wasn't a big fan.

Really, it just reads like Look Back but, naturally, if it were worse.

It's got a very pseudo-incestual, kinda gross tint to it since the whole plot is "grrrr, my little sister who has a huge idolization complex around me painted me naked and it's hung up for everyone to see so I'm gonna get her back!"

Like, I get what it's trying to say and this isn't the worst episode in the series but it's also nowhere near the best.

I'd say it's fifth, arguably sixth since I'd rather watch Love is Blind again even if I think that is HARD carried by the director.

Score - 7/10

IMO:
Woke-Up-as-a-Girl Syndrome
Shikaku
Mermaid Rhapsody
A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin' in the Schoolyard
Sisters (that being said, I have no real desire to watch any more of this, this one works fine as a one-shot imo, a movie would've been too much for me)
Love is Blind (this one's kinda weird because I think this one could totally work if it were written a little better, I would totally watch a show with the same plot if it had the same director)
Sasaki Stopped a Bullet
Nayuta of the Prophecy

I think the bottom 2 are really the only ones I don't have any interest in ever seeing again

If you're a fan of Tatsuki Fujimoto, you should definitely check this show out

Even if you aren't, there'll probably be something interesting among the 8 one-shots, this is a show worth checking out

What kind of drug did Mr. Fujimoto eat in his youth, and where can I get a sample?

It’s almost uncanny how this guy squeezed an entire plethora of ideas out of himself when he was still that young, while I can’t even write a better plot twist than “and he wakes up” in my 20s. Did he find a secret vending machine of ideas, or is his brain just a bottomless candy jar?

Tatsuki Fujimoto 17–26 feels like a fever dream you can only get away with when you’re both wildly honest and completely untamed. This anthology doesn’t try to be classy about being weird. It ... barrels in, slaps you with an idea, laughs if you blink, and then moves on. If most anthologies tiptoe around metaphors and overstay their cleverness to look deep, this one is blunt and gloriously “in your face.”

Rather than becoming pretentious or self-satisfied, Fujimoto chooses to be immediate. The anthology format becomes a showcase for his range from sincere to deranged to dumb-funny. He treats each idea like a hot take that either melts your face or makes you grin and shrug.

Some entries land like gut punches—raw, a little gross, and yes, sometimes discomfiting. They can be edgy and off-putting, but the weird thing is they feel earnest. Fujimoto never seems to be playing cynical provocation for its own sake. Even when an episode is wild and uncomfortable, you can sense a straightforwardness behind it that reads as honest intent. That said, a few segments feel like he was just goofing around with the toys in his head and not trying to teach you anything deep. And that’s fine too cause not every piece needs to be a thesis paper.

Visually, every episode looks like someone told the studio to spare no blood, sweat, or money. The animation is eye-catching in different ways across entries—sometimes gritty, sometimes painterly, sometimes bizarrely minimal but always pleasing to watch. You can feel the craft and risk in the visuals, like the animators were given free rein and a fat budget by amazon, and they spent both well.

That said, because this is an anthology, it also suffers the same major downside: quality swings. Some short films are masterpieces that stick with you, others are pleasant distractions that fade fast. If you hate uneven collections, this will frustrate you.

It’s also not universal comfort viewing. Some topics are touchy and might make you uneasy, and the unevenness means not every short will land for you. I personally call it a masterpiece, but I won’t be so eager to recommend it to everyone I know.

If you like something that pushes boundaries, sometimes misses, but never plays it safe this is a must-watch. If you want neat morals and consistent vibes, maybe skip a few entries. For me, it’s a messy, wonderful ride that proves Fujimoto is basically a walking idea machine and I am both terrified and grateful he fucking exists.

If no one else is going to offer actual criticism, I suppose I'll have to do it myself:

Improv storytelling in an anthology of 8 completely unrelated short story animations. (missed opportunity for interconnected depth)

The source material stories feel like rough draft story ideas cranked out when the mangaka couldn't think of anything worthwhile to do with them, sticking them here with no narrative reasoning behind these being collected together, nor their ordering. As it turns out these were all completely separate one-shot publications from much of the author's earliest work starting from when he was a teenager, which were since republished in 2021 compiled together ... in chronological order (not because of their merit but to cash in on the coattails of successful publications by the mangaka). It's no wonder the source material mangas aren't popular: juvenile quantity over quality.

The art/animation is high budget, far in excess of what the stories merit. This is effectively throwing money at the wall for a dual-release ad to cash in next to the Chainsawman movie, both sharing contribution by MAPPA & mangaka. But of course high budget art/animation means: "10/10, I like it when the pretty colors go by."

There are some characters who serve no purpose in the story and would've been better off cut or given an actual role/arc: ep1 "It's not cause I like you or anything!" tsundere cliche, ep4 parents+maid, ep5 father. But the adapters are doubtlessly afraid of exercising any creativity to make obvious improvements on the source material with changes because as you k-no: "different bad".

There are a ton of overly cliched plotlines where it's effectively cringe otaku humor of most (non)comedy (shit-post) anime of just doing the cliched tropes because 'haha cliched trope is funny errytyme': ep1 baka shonen slop, ep2 hentai plot + 'naw, I'd win', ep3 the same shitty romcom (non)joke cliche on repeat, ep4 vampire cliche, ep5 artist's self-insert monster-guro harem VN, ep6 terf hentai plot, ep7 loli demon lord cliche, ep8 artist's anime-girl self-insert lesbian incest hentai plot. (no I will not give you the H numbers)

There's very little depth to any of these stories. What few morals can be gleamed are shitty lessons for bad people: megalomanic wishful-thinking, skip school for toxic romance, sexism, remember to beat your kids, revenge porn of children is totally fine and legal stop complaining to adults, communication is bad an' remember: fambily.

Aside from some mostly derivative pianistry in ep5, the musak was uninteresting and almost exclusively filler noise for the slow credits.

There's not much to be said about something so vapid. It's dumb fun spectacle over substance. Some of the shorts were okay despite their flaws. I'd expect them to be quite hit or miss for most people. For me Mermaid Rhapsody was best: 5>>2>8>4>6=7=1=3.

4/10 (where 5/10 is average)