Chainsaw Man

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(if i had a dollar for everytime I used the world real in this review I would have too many)
Anyone who says this manga is bad is lying actually. masterpiece tbh. Denji is such a great character that feels so real; he feels like a real 16-year-old boy. His reactions to the world around him are so real and so... i don't know... realistic. People complain he's unlikable and yeah I get it, but once you think through his life and how and what has happened to him, I wouldn't expect him to be the most likable person on earth. Plus the character development in ... all the characters are subtle and I really really like it, it feels more real and genuine like how an actual person would change in real life. Also the Villains are written so well its not funny (especially the main villain for Part one ifykwim). People usually complain about the pacimg of the story, but I think its done really well. the fast pacing is utilized so well, utilizing shock factor to cover the overarching message and keeps it a little lighter and not as depressing which is a plus from me honestly.

I love Tatsuki Fujimoto. I would recommend all of his works. he is such an interesting story teller and is honestly so admirable.

(VERY MINOR SPOILER IG IDK)
The unique structure of the story is also very interesting. To put it in simple, I love how the story doesn't revolve around Denji's decisions rather, it revolves around EVERYONE ELSES decisions (usually the characters with more influence in the world WHICH MAKES SENSE - cause this is how our world works. there are things you cant control and I feel chainsaw man shows this well), which helps with the aspect of Denji's hopelessness and desperation theme throughout the entire series.


ANYWAYS 10/10 WOULD RECOMMEND

Part 1 review (completed):

Pros:
Very fun
Cool monster designs
Good humor
Power and Aki
The little Pochita drawings after each chapter are adorable

Cons:
... Too many pedos
Meh art (though it does get better as the series goes on)
Random flashbacks in the middle of action scenes
The final battle of part 1 was anti-climactic

Part 2 review (still reading):
Pros:
Still very fun
Cool monster designs
Good humor
Asa/Yoru's powerset is fairly interesting
The little Pochita drawings are still super cute

Cons:
It makes no sense that any reasonable high school would allow their students to have a club where they straight up risk their lives a ton to fight devils. Now I would get it if the club was about learning about devils and training and occasionally going out to fight, but to get into the club you need to fight a devil. That's an incredibly risky and dangerous thing for a school club to do.
Meh art
Still have random flashbacks in the middle of action scenes

This manga is a true reflection of its era, specifically the 2010s, (this one in 2018) and what do I mean by that? It was a decade where the question of whether something should exist seemed to lose importance, as almost anything thrown into the frey gained traction. This phenomenon was fueled by the era's abundance of free-flowing money, where authors could capitalize on shock value to generate attention and revenue through social media overreactions.

However, as we transition into the 2020s, there's been a market correction. Consumers have grown weary of these superficial stories, realizing their lack of substance and intrinsic value. It's a strange ... era of entertainment that's thankfully fading, as people become desensitized to excessive shock-value content.

One standout example of this trend's demise is "CSM," hyped as the ultimate shonen but ultimately falling short as nothing more than a shock-value story that lacks depth.

Let's dissect its elements starting with the main character. The protagonist isn't a true protagonist but rather a supporting character, the character in every story that is just there and never gets the spotlight or romantic conquest typical of main characters. This is why people say he is not your typical Shonen MC without realizing it because of the simple fact that he is the sidekick to a lead. Would you have watched My Hero Academia is the main character was Mineta? Thats why this one didn't rise to JJK level of popularity.

This narrative choice was not great, and the author believed it was since it hadn't been done before without understanding the reasons why certain character dynamics, like Batman is batman and Robin is robin.

The supporting cast is forgettable, lacking depth or development. The story, plot, and world feel pieced together as if generated by a machine instructed to combine elements from successful manga tropes. In essence, there's a glaring absence of genuine effort, with the narrative relying heavily on borrowed archetypes and characters from other notable IPs. The author's unapologetic admission to this practice further underscores the lack of creativity, mistakenly perceived as ingenuity.

Perhaps this is why corporations are eager to integrate AI into the creative process, as we approach a point where AI could generate similar stories in seconds, bypassing the months of research and development spent by uninspired writers sifting through thesame tiring tropes