Bunker's Stuff

Let me start with this: I feel very strongly that the Fujimoto who wrote part 1 would not have ended it this way. I don’t think the guy who put out Look Back would have expected himself to cut his flagship series short and pump themes into us, or functionally abandon Asa and her character exploration in favor of wrapping everything up to move on.

I am significantly less optimistic about there being a Part 3, I think the cracks of creative burnout and general displeasure with being saddled with a long-running series are very obvious, and most damningly of all I think the ending is far too easy and dull to even feel like Chainsaw Man. I don’t think this ‘happy ending’ shtick is something Fujimoto would necessarily want to put out, but I think the biggest reason for this ending and the burnout is this:

Chainsaw Man is Fujimoto’s most commercial work, and a lot of Part Two is ABOUT commercialism, celebrity, and the expectations put upon celebrities who are working in commercial mediums. To that end, Pochita is no longer a plot device or a motivator or anything like that - instead, he’s the other half of the Fujimoto self-insert, explaining to the audience why he’s so unhappy and why it has to end for his own personal happiness and comfort.

To that end? It’s not a terrible ending. We finally get to see Power and Nayuta and everyone back together, Asa seems to fit in finally with no CSM battle to get her mom killed, the world does genuinely seem better off with War and the cult gone. In Fujimoto’s life, not being beholden to an insane cult of CSM manga fans probably feels good as fuuuuuuuuck.

But as a narrative? It’s better than actually giving up but this is as “Themes and Such” of an ending as it could be. Denji losing came out of nowhere, Pochita sacrificing himself didn’t feel earned, I don’t know if there’s even anything to say about Asa, Yoru, and their relationship because we just kind of stopped watching them interact.

But… Eh. It’s not that bad. It could be on Attack on Titan’s level instead, so maybe we dodged a bullet. I can be relatively satisfied with this ending even if I find Asa’s plotline to be messy and not really insightful into her character or the themes Fujimoto was exploring, I can forgive him for wanting to be done with a long-running series since he clearly doesn’t have One Piece length ambitions by any means, and I am, as always, excited to see what he does next.

………………………………………..