I hope you guys liked this video! Thanks for all your comments and suggestions on my last one! Let me know if I missed anything and what you guys think in the comments 🙂
Music: DJ Quads – Fun Time
-Biden’s AI Voice done with voice.ai
-Editing hearts by alwayskamals on youtube
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0:00 Intro
0:50 Reze
7:16 Quanxi
12:55 Asa
15:51 Makima (Revisited)
17:25 Power (Revisited)
18:40 Himeno (Revisited)
Got something you’d like to see me draw? A question you’d like to ask? Put it down in the comment section below 😀
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I don't have particularly deep thoughts but I did just want to say re: the Quanxi scene, as a lesbian I genuinely find it refreshing to see lesbian sexuality so openly displayed. I understand the fears about it being fetishized or objectified by the men reading it, but I think some of that fear is in part due to an internalized puritanicalism that I've encountered so often in the lesbian community. The idea that open displays of lesbian sexuality can only cater to men ignores the desires and perspectives of openly sexual lesbian women.
Oml when you said Quanxi was just ok my heart dropped LMAO I was so glad you were joking 😭😭
Reze is 20 years old. (edit: i was wrong there is no official age)
also 12:24 antisemitic means hostile to or prejudiced against Jewish people.
also also 12:28 thats not (probably) Fujimoto.
This and your prev video about women in CSM remind me of what a friend says: You know an anime is great when even the female characters are great.
Denji is literally the Doom Slayer in this anime. The guy is just too stubborn to die.
Hmm not that bad.
I can confidently say that Asa is the best female character in csm. Aside from kobeni and power which were in the story mostly(not always) for comedy or dark humor, the many female characters in csm such as makima, guanxi, santa claus, to me..they felt like a geniric stone cold badass,like they don't show any human emotions nor have major flaws in their characters.
Reze is also a dominant force in the story but with an added bonus of showing agency and…
But Asa is relatable (especially for this generation), has flaws and develops even if little in the story and feels … human .
Basically if you wanna write female characters like fujimoto, then make a majority of them the antagonists, make them extremely powerful and a bit quirky-nes and there you go.
I think I need to rewatch the anime cause I didn’t understand a lot of shot. I was still trying to figure out wether makima is a villain or just an unconventional hero. Like it’s something that wouldn’t have been revealed until a later season.
i think lesbian relationships are objectified a lot in media but quanxi and her harem didn't bother me bc the sex scenes were so bonkers that I couldn't take them seriously in a sense? also maybe this is a weird thing to say but I personally didn't think they were supposed to come across as particularly "sexy". they were mostly just gigachad moments to me
edit: also I always thought himeno tried to hook up w/ denji just to make aki jealous which is…. MESSY XD
OMG JUS AB A WEEK AGO U HAD 1000 SUBS NOW U HAVE 200 MORE IM PROUD OF U ILLUMOLINI❤❤
im personally sick of subversive womens…
The thing I love about CSM’s female characters is that they aren’t even just great female characters, they’re great characters in general. Makima is one of the all time best shounen villains ever, and I feel like Fujimoto will probably do an incredible job with the Hunger Devil in part 2 as well.
Hey so i wanna say the youtube algorithm gods recommended me part 1 of your video today. I assume because ive watched chainsaw man essays in the past. I'm a guy who is currently trying to write a story with a female lead in essentially a shonen type setting. it's been a story in my head for a long time, but your part 1 and 2 have given me alot to think about in my writing. In terms of tropes used good and bad towards women. Ive always had sorta hardline rules ive always kinda set for myself as a creator because i teach kids martial arts in general. But you've given me some more things to think about besides a few obvious ones outside of don't have an adult trying to hook up with kids. i'd love to hear more of these types of essays in the shonen genre of more characters who have good or bad development and why from a female perspective. hearing it from a guys perspective isnt what i personally need for my own creative thinking.
I hope we get to see more from Reze. From what we know about hybrids from the Manga, she should still be alive.
I really like story analists and video essay channels. My only gripe with your part 1 video is that the comparisons felt kind of flat, due to either genre or tone not fitting the comparison. Specially chainsaw man being seemingly built out of trope subversions, some of the remarks felt kind of forced by putting characters or situations against elemnts in entirely different genres. For example, Himeno being a playboy was a good point but you missed the chance of comparing to other playboy characters and how her actions would be largely overlooked if she was a male character, instead of framing the respect she gets from other agents as the subversion. That one felt particularly weird, given that the audience meets makima in the first episode, so any character giving a female respect is not anything weird in this world. This part 2 felt much more polished and focused, which makes me glad to have found your channel. Hope you keep at it 🙂
Reze's age is never specified
She's a hybrid so like quanxi and shouldn't age physically. Since she has quite the reputation I'd say she been around for a while and may be in her 20's
I'd also say she had romantic feelings for Denji. My reasoning being, how upset she was when finding out Denji had feelings for someone else and only attacking him then.
Also she knew about Makima and her abilities to track down Denji making running away pointless, but she still went to him.
just gotta point out that your videos are so well articulated and structured!
thank you and i really like your points about csm 🙂
Great video! a note is that Reze's age is unknown, and could be quite a lot older then you think, which for me takes away the issues with her being naked
I love how you pointed the naked part of reze. Because even she pointed out in middle of the fight, that is so much fun. Love reze and quanxi is the goat. The whole joke of kishibe asking her out was the best. And yes Asa is a great character she is funny, lonely, sad but also so relatable on depresion. Definitely my favorite manga
One interesting thing about Reze is the rooftop scene, when she strangles the guy while singing. She has this dead expression on her face, and then it curls into a smile when she begins to sing, as if she's pacifying herself. It's very akin to how soldiers sing to boost their own morale during war, and a subtle hint of her military background.
There's also an interesting contrast between her sense of humor (Such as running and screaming from a guy much weaker than she is, or how she keeps saying "boom" before exploding, or how she was claiming to be running from a devil with a smile on her face), to how bored and dead inside she looks while doing the whole thing. It's like she's trying her hardest to find some fun in a thankless job where there's nothing to enjoy.
As a 30-something gay man, the straight or ace 16yo high school student Asa is one of my favorite characters of all time. She’s just so obscenely relatable. Feels like a lot of the time depressed, anxious, self-conscious, etc. characters get written in a way where their own personality flaws never really create any lasting damage. Asa’s quirks aren’t just throw always… she actually faces consequences for misunderstanding social cues, saying the wrong thing, etc. and it feels so true to life. She does lose hope and is ready to take her own life and it feels like the culmination of her entire arc up to this point.
But then what brings her to the next level is how her own unique perspective on the world is what gives her strength. Just like Denji’s absolute batshit insanity was his weapon and how he was able to take down every main villain, Asa’s perception of how the world works and could work is where she draws her strength from. Not only do her weapons draw their strength from the emotional attachment she’s afraid to allow herself to have, but her unique view on the world is what allows her to create the Aquarium Spear or the Chainsaw Bike.
Seeing her develop as a character is just such a joy.
What i think about Quanxi is that its really great to see her both as a woman and lesbian not really seen as something weird. It only matters where it needs to and is seen as natural from other characters. No one is freaked out or surprised by it, thats just the way Quanxi is.
I'm glad you did part 2 of this stuff! And I'm eager to add more.
Reze… I wonder whether you call the best girl for Denji 'Rizza' as a pun or accidentally. Anyway, she's a femme fatale with much depth. Reze absolutely felt something towards Denji, and only bit off his tongue and attacked him, when she established he's a jerk who won't run away with her! Look at how he responded to the "country mouse vs city mouse" dilemma (Makima mentions it again when she kills Reze), and then, on a hill, Denji openly confirmed he cares more about Makima and the comfortable life this job provides. What made Reze reconsider was the flower – it was not random, it was a charity! That answered the question she had earlier of "whether you have a heart". It's an ultimate tragedy cooked so well by Fujimoto, that I consider some of those my favourite chapters.
Quanxi is a Badass archetype! She should be explicit about her sexuality and horniness, she should dominate every scene she's in and she does. I like that a backstory of her rejecting Kishibe just adds more certainty to who she is now. About her girls: fiends are mistreated and have no human rights, and Quanxi wants to rectify it, giving them a chance in life. She is a hybrid too (Crossbow) but she hides it and is known as human. She's a character that shines bright and burns fast – an absolute Badass, whose gender is not just a prop.
Asa is my favourite character of Part 2, and certainly a more relatable protagonist. Her inner monologue style contrasts Denji so much that they are perceived as opposites. Her insecurities, awkwardness and very human desires for closeness and understanding are absolutely wholesome. Her tragedy, which is her inability to form meaningful relationships with people, is slowly taken care of by developing relationships with literal devils! She is a person first and a female second, and it shows. She cannot be reduced to Denji's romantic interest, and her path of self-discovery and overcoming trauma is not less important than his! Like really, all love to Asa – she deserves a hug even more than Kobeni)
The best thing about the woman in this show that they are not only “good female characters “ but actual good female characters that dominate most male characters the only anime where l genuinely like it’s female characters even more than males lol + makima is the best villain for me i love her sm can’t wait for the anime s2
12:22 Wait, anti-what? Awesome analysis by the way!
I really want a Chainsaw Man prequel with Quanxi as the protagonist and Kishibe as a major character to flesh out his character, Quanxi's past could flesh out the world so much more and her character. Deceased members of Public safety could get more depth as well for characters like Aki, Himeno, Tendo, Kurose, Madoka and who the fiends were as humans. Made by whether Fujimoto himself or a dedicated group of people/fans.
I can’t believe it…
They put WOMEN in manga…
So woke and feminist…
Unrelated to Chainsaw Man but I thought it would be a good discussion to have because it relates to some points about why Quanxi and her fiends make a good, subversive harem. Do you watch/read Demon Slayer and have gotten to the point where Tengen and his wives are introduced? If so, how do you feel about them? I'm a woman and I personally love them. Of course, one man having multiple partners is the much more common thing in anime, but what they did in Demon Slayer feels a lot more like what Quanxi in Chainsaw Man has going on.