u/Expensive-Box1562

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Like there's just so much wrong with Part 2 that 2-6 pages are obviously not gonna be enough to fix the damn thing. So unless those pages have a lot of meaningful content or even an announcement for Part 3, the most I can expect from Fuji is that he would include some author notes and even character illustrations like this that at the very least imply what happened to the rest of the characters in the new timeline.

I'll still be left disappointed obviously as there's just so much potential for this world and these characters, but atleast there would be a little bit more closure. Give me illustrations of Aki and Himeno smoking, Power playing video games with Nayuta, Asa being popular at school, and Denji meeting Reze again godammit.

So I've been really trying to refrain from engaging in a lot of Chainsaw Man discussions recently as a lot have been tiresome and just reeks of bias. But this one that morally chastises Reze's actions particularly irked me as not only is it an obvious hit piece due to shipping purposes, but also because of how it basically goes against everything that makes Chainsaw Man the series that it is.

Like yehh Reze did bad shit, but so did Denji, so did a lot of other characters in this series, as that was always the damn point. No one is a goody two shoes and no one is an irredeemable psychopath; they're just people. Really flawed people that this series chose to focus on as despite all their mistakes and wrongdoings, there still exists a beating heart within them that yearns to be a good person, to have a good life.

In fact that's what makes relationships like Reze and Denji so powerful to me, as it is about these two flawed people that despite being deemed as devils, they still want things such as love, empathy, belongingness, and other things fundamental to the human condition. Giving basic bitch takes such as "I don't like them because they killed people" just shows either ignorance, biased double standards, or even an inability to show empathy which ironically was what this story was all about.

In the words of the great director Martin Scorsese himself about flawed characters:

Why bother telling a story of somebody whose uremarkable. Someone who didn't do anything inspiring. Someone who led a life that wasn't exemplary, that wasn't kind of pretty noble in a way. Not because they wanted to harm any anybody per se but because they had no real model for leading a decent life. That's something that I've always been attracted to and found interesting.

Some people might say "well that type of person, that sort" but I guess what that means is that they try to distance themselves from them. "It's someone else, it's not me". But in actuality I feel it's not someone else, it's us, it's you and me and maybe if we've been born under different circumstances, maybe we would have wound up making the same mistakes and choices.

P.S. For those about to say I'm only writing this because I like Reze and Denji, I'm just gonna let you know my favorite character is Makima so take that for what you will :p

Ngl at this point I wouldn't even be that mad if Fuji just includes character illustrations like this in Volume 24

Just a little rant about certain characters' "morality"