Although I’ve been keeping up to date with Chainsaw Man‘s second arc via the Shonen Jump app, I’ve also been making sure to keep my Chainsaw Man shelf growing with each new physical release. Still, it wasn’t until last night that I decided to sit down and re-read those volumes in that form. I’d been meaning to, knowing from my time with She-Hulk that following any comic/manga issue by issue is an entirely different experience, and for me usually one that drags down the material in some shape or form. This second arc hadn’t been connecting with me in the same way the first had, and I chalked it up to the writing itself, especially since popular opinion was that Fujimoto had lost some of the wind out of his sails now. But, having binged these three volumes in one sitting, I feel like I can safely say that a large swath of his current detractors would probably change their tune drastically if they went back to reading the series how they undoubtedly read the first arc, volume by volume, oftentimes with multiple volumes at once. Like with Breaking Bad, the pace of things registers so much differently when you are consuming it in small, delayed chunks. People today oftentimes cannot handle a slow burn, or even waiting, so when they have to wait a week, or maybe even two weeks, for another chapter, that results in outsized expectations bred by impatience. Or, worse, jokes at the expense of the author, like how the two week wait will probably not be to give him time for something big, but rather will swerve readers with another “filler” chapter. Following the discussions on the Chainsaw Man subreddit, it’s gotten pretty toxic. And, like I said, you saw similar attitudes with some towards Breaking Bad after its initial surge of popularity. Once people were caught up after that initial binge and had to settle into the intended slow-burn, it only angered them. It’s not for everybody, and the negative effects of it are only multiplied when it’s something that comes out as piece-meal as Chainsaw Man. I’ve stuck with it and found plenty to love, but the inconsistent release schedule, and never knowing when a chapter is going to be a big climax and when it’ll be a nothing-burger in comparison, does make things a bit of an annoying rollercoaster ride, if I’m being honest. I don’t want to levy any complaints against Fujimoto for this, mind you, since the man has a life he has to live; he can’t just be tied up in a basement and live, eat, and breathe Chainsaw Man, especially not when he’s already mentioned multiple times that he’s entertained the thought of handing the reigns over to somebody else because he doesn’t feel he can quite cut it (if I remember correctly). I just want to make clear that I don’t think it’s an entirely unfounded frustration, merely an outsized one.
That all being said, reading the chapters collected like this, without all the one/two week breaks between, allowed me to connect with these characters just like I did with the ones in the first arc. These people, before this re-read, felt distant to me, like I never really knew them. They all sort of blended together, if I’m being quite honest. Maybe it’s my shit memory, but I think I just didn’t remember enough about what had come before each time I sat down for the next chapter. With an episode of a TV show, like the aforementioned Breaking Bad, you get the equivalent of a volume of a manga; with a chapter of a manga, though, it might as well be a commercial break and, like a commercial, unless you manage to be memorable, I could just as easily forget crucial details. Two weeks is a decent amount of time to go without seeing a person in real life, so it’s even worse when it’s a fictional person you’re just getting to know. Maybe that’s just me and my shitty memory. Who knows? Regardless, it’s infinitely better to be able to sit with these characters for a while and really take them in. Asa is a complicated character who is more like Denji/Chainsaw Man than she’d care to admit, wanting to believe herself to be a good person, but mostly wanting to give off the air of one, willing to do bad things if the moment calls for it and nobody will find out. Re-reading this has me angry that she’s been practically absent in recent chapters. Likewise, whereas the overarching plot felt a little hard to follow when only checking in on it weekly, or bi-weekly, it comes together so much better when getting to read it like this. I just wish the physical English releases weren’t so far behind; the next volume isn’t due out until May. Having read everything so far, I can say these 3 volumes are merely the groundwork for this arc, so it’s a shame people still can’t get into the real meat of the story without going the Shonen Jump route and inevitably running into the same problems I and others have once they catch back up. I guess I’ll just end this by recommending you stick to the physical volumes of Chainsaw Man if you can stand to wait and don’t feel you are at any risk of being spoiled. To me, it just feels like it’s how this arc, and this series, should be read.