Chainsaw Man Episode 8 Discussion

Radical_Orion said:


It's not subjective, this is how it is.

A story is about characters and plot. A story with characters introduced for a couple of pages and getting killed will leave no emotional impact to the audience, it's fact.
Then, the fact that it's done over and over in the manga, makes it even worse, as we don't even get interested in any new character, while the plot is empty.

Enough with new avant-garde "look how different I am" story telling bs. Some writing rules have been there for a longtime and universal for a reason.

Otherwise, just watch some random sakuga fights without knowing the context if you just don't care about story or knowing the characters, because this is basically what the rest of CSM is going to look like. Since the big "scheme" behind all this "story" is hidden to the reader till the end (for such a poor payoff), all the reader has are the characters, and they're void and irrelevant. The manga is just a series of random events we don't care about. No offense.

Softhenic03 said:
Horny power knows no bounds. There was Denji still going-over his post drinking hangover, but the moment he heard the magic word, “SEX”, it felt like as if he never went through the barf trauma to begin with. Though the dude is still a battle shounen protag, so no seggs for the time being.

You know jokes and everything sound funny only if it’s the right time, so given the total one-eighty tonal shift this episode had I almost forgot we were playing tease sex in the first half. The Katana Man arc is upon us, and the super explosive start with an all out attack over Tokyo shaked things down to its very core.

Mappa nailed the Himeno’s segment, and so did the Aki’s. Eighth episode, and the first major death. So long Himeno.

ED from Tk just the thing this episode needed.

Soaress said:
masterpiece this episode

DeFa- said:
I don't know why, but I found this ep underwhelming, even though the source material is great.

EDIT: Okay after re-watch I retract what I said, it's a pretty well done episode. My main gripe with the episode is the beginning when it takes 6 minutes to get into new content but I guess it was done because of what was to come, still not a fan of the choice but oh well.

The ed is also a banger forgot to mention that.

Radical_Orion said:

It's not subjective, this is how it is.

A story is about characters and plot. A story with characters introduced for a couple of pages and getting killed will leave no emotional impact to the audience, it's fact.
Then, the fact that it's done over and over in the manga, makes it even worse, as we don't even get interested in any new character, while the plot is empty.

Enough with new avant-garde "look how different I am" story telling bs. Some writing rules have been there for a longtime and universal for a reason.

Otherwise, just watch some random sakuga fights without knowing the context if you just don't care about story or knowing the characters, because this is basically what the rest of CSM is going to look like. Since the big "scheme" behind all this "story" is hidden to the reader till the end (for such a poor payoff), all the reader has are the characters, and they're void and irrelevant. The manga is just a series of random events we don't care about. No offense.

_MushiRock11_ said:
Damn, that was insane! Definitely one of the best-directed episodes I've seen in a while now, there was this uncanny feeling from the get-go, and that elevated levels in the train scene where Makima was shown to be shot dead.

Himeno-senpai supposedly bites the dust? ED further reinforced to the point where it kind of confirmed it lmao, sadly the Alliance wasn't meant to be for long. And that's how you change things dramatically, yikes.

I appreciate the fact that MAPPA changed the animation style and started being more quirky in this episode, it really added to that mysterious and uncanny feeling that I referred to earlier. And then the fight! Good lord, by the time the snake appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as quickly leaving behind the decapitated ghost, I was already at a loss for words xD. Even though the Ghost had a small stint which could have made for "moment of the episode", the sheer direction and complementary quick pace of this episode were unreal.

Episode of the year for sure! I'll be surprised if this doesn't reach the heights of KnY E19 popularity and trending...

StateofOhayo said:

can someone tell me what KnY is?
i hate the use of acronyms sometimes

Dangerr said:


Kimetsu no Yaiba; i.e., Demon Slayer.

Radical_Orion said:


It's not subjective, this is how it is.

A story is about characters and plot. A story with characters introduced for a couple of pages and getting killed will leave no emotional impact to the audience, it's fact.
Then, the fact that it's done over and over in the manga, makes it even worse, as we don't even get interested in any new character, while the plot is empty.

Enough with new avant-garde "look how different I am" story telling bs. Some writing rules have been there for a longtime and universal for a reason.

Otherwise, just watch some random sakuga fights without knowing the context if you just don't care about story or knowing the characters, because this is basically what the rest of CSM is going to look like. Since the big "scheme" behind all this "story" is hidden to the reader till the end (for such a poor payoff), all the reader has are the characters, and they're void and irrelevant. The manga is just a series of random events we don't care about. No offense.

Dangerr said:


I rarely post on MAL (or any forums for that matter) anymore, but it's posts like these that showcase how mindlessly transactional and vapid popular art has become to create such mindsets. I'm going to make a rare indulgence for what is probably a troll post, but here I go anyway.

1) Art always has been and always will be *subjective*. Art is by its very nature variable and interpretive in its consumption; to state otherwise is laughably absurd. There is no *correct* way to tell a story - conventions exist because they are popular, not because they are correct or at an objective quality standard.

2) A story is those things, but also the sum whole of all the other aspects - themes, aesthetics, tone, etc. There are many revered works of art where a character has a very brief period of exposure in the overall narrative, but leave a powerful emotional impact on the characters and hopefully the audience. I mean, take the Shou Tucker episode(s) from FMA. It basically happens over the span of one episode, but wrings tears out of people like it's nothing. Mushi-shi is a completely episodic anime but has some of the most powerful emotional storytelling I've ever seen. You don't need a long-form, slow-burn narrative to have good emotional impact or investment. I feel stupid for even feeling the need to explain something so obvious.

3) No conventions are universal in storytelling. The closest thing to a popular convention in the cross-cultural sense in how to structure a story would be the hero's journey, but it's hardly the only way to tell a story and very frequently isn't. Breaking convention is hardly a bad thing when you have the chops, though I'm pretty sure you could say CSM largely adheres to the hero formula.

4) This is pure opinion, except for the "series of random events" statement". There's a pretty logical progression of events driven by pretty clear character motivations, especially when considered retroactively when all the reveals have been made. Again, not anything I'd ever respond to normally, but when you present your arguments in this objectivist lens, I feel the need to call it out.