Chainsaw Man is a celebrated and popular Shonen anime, known for its dark themes. The series underscores blood, violence, and gore. Moreover, it has a unique power system. It straight-up reminds fans of a slasher style, and also outlines a spectrum of relationships. From love to friendships, characters display complexities. However, there’s more to it.
Tatsuki Fujimoto’s idea of love goes beyond absurdity. However, he took it to new extremes. In a post on X, the author shared his plans for a romance horror, which aren’t quite palatable. This is reflected in his works as well. Moreover, love is a far-fetched dream in his series.
Fans on X react to Tatsuki Fujimoto’s plans for a romantic horror manga
Tatsuki Fujimoto is a promising manga artist in the dark fantasy genre known for his notable work Fire Punch. Conversely, he rose to fame with the success of Chainsaw Man. The series is heavily inspired by slasher films. This holds relevance with the use of slasher horror and gore. Although, it is novel in more ways than one. This is evident in its concepts of devils and human hybrids. However, there’s more to it.
The series outlines the themes of survival, lack, and desire. This holds relevance to Denji’s character. His touch-starved nature intermingles with his need for love. However, the author deviates from archetypal romance ideas. Additionally, this is further explored in his writing of love. Romance, thus, is limited to a barter for mere survival in the series. There is more to it though as fans react to the author’s absurd ideas.
An X user @SpyGGhetti shared Fujimoto’s concept of the horror romance series. To say the least, the post garnered an array of reactions.
I dont know about that idea fujimoto
— REDNBLOO THE INSECT LORD OF DARKNESS (@Rednbloo) September 29, 2024
I kind of don’t like that idea, also it seems to revolve around a concept that’s currently being explored better in “Too Many Losing Heroines” and “Love Bullet”. I trust that Fujimoto has other better ideas though.
— Omoly (@SpaceCadetOmoly) September 30, 2024
Does happiness resonate in his mind at all? 💀
— Gambit (@FalseGambit) September 30, 2024
I am already in love. Please Fujimoto go ahead, you have my full approval.
— VowedPrinciple (@VowedPrinciple) September 30, 2024
the ‘do you like it?’ is taking me tf out
— Dheeraj Meena (@Dheerajmeenaa) September 30, 2024
The idea seems thrilling albeit the author’s writing of love. His take on relationships deviates from archetypal representations of relationships. Especially with his writing of female characters and power dynamics in the series.
Chainsaw Man deviates from cliche romantic tropes
Romance and complexities run parallel in Chainsaw Man. Especially with the characters’ betrayals. The series deviates from cliche romantic tropes in its portrayal of relationships. This holds especially true with the power dynamics between characters, and is true with female characters that assert dominance such as Makima. However, there’s more to it than meets the eye.
Fujimoto has a knack for portraying the dominatrix archetype in his series. This is reflected in Makima and Denji’s relationship. In a barter for survival, the latter accepts her conditions. Moreover, Fujimoto’s love for strong women was revealed in an interview. He quoted:
I also like domineering and irrational women. In college, there was a girl who was mean to me, and then one day at school my bicycle had fallen over. I was wondering what happened, when she said “I knocked your bike over, ha ha ha!” I was so happy.
The portrayal of domineering women is a refreshing take. Furthermore, Fujimoto topples the idea of gender roles and powerplay in doing so.
While Fujimoto’s idea seems thrilling, it is equally absurd in its practice. This holds especially true with his take on romance horror. Since viewers love palatable romances his ideas are far too brutal for a horror romance.
Chainsaw Man is available for streaming on Crunchyroll. The manga is available for reading on Viz Media.