chainsaw man

yesterday, i read chainsaw man part 2 up to the most recent chapter. i read chainsaw man before it had an anime, though it had already blown up by then.

typically i don't really find myself interested in popular anime, something being popular of course doesn't mean that it's bad or anything, i don't like being a contrarian just to be edgy. but it tends to be pretty shallow and uninteresting? most of what i hear about feels like the same story with a different paint of coat.

with chainsaw man i feel like there is something very genuinely interesting and new-feeling about this author's writing which makes it feel really distinct from other shonen even when it dips into typical tropes, like having a perverted teenage boy for a main character, it's something that is investigated and thought about by the narrative, as is most everything because it's a genuinely thoughtful story, and it's bizarre in a way that i really adore in general in fiction.

honestly i have this problem where i don't like completely silly fiction self-aware stories, but i also hate ultra hyper realism, so my favorite thing tends to be things that are ridiculous yet take themselves quite seriously which i think chainsaw man fits into a lot of the time. this is also probably why i lean so much to like, anime things. just because a majority of western media are those first two things, but obviously there's exceptions

chainsaw man part 2 kind of hits the sweet spot immediately, i was so confused reading the first page. i thought i skipped something, but no. it just starts with this comedic out of place headless chicken devil and a very weird introduction to the protagonist. i love part 1, but i think part 2 actually sells me a lot more on the protagonist here, asa. can't explain it very well.

i want to really talk about it, but i'm sleep deprived so the words aren't coming to me... summary: i'm confused on what direction it's supposed to be going but it's enjoyable