evange1yne:

evange1yne:

there’s been a few instances where i’ve seen people express interest in chainsaw man but lament what they see as fetishisation of the female cast, and it’s like, on the one hand i think that’s mostly a perception that has to do with the broader shonen fandom’s interactions with the series than anything fujimoto’s consciously doing (reports of makima’s ass and tits have been greatly exaggerated). but also, chainsaw man IS horny, and very explicitly sexual, because it’s a manga primarily about how sex and desire can be wielded to manipulate vulnerable people, how sexuality is an incredibly powerful rhetorical and semiotic tool. denji’s entire arc (at the beginning at least) revolving around him wanting to touch boobs and make out and have sex isn’t there because he’s the Horny Shonen Character archetype, it’s because he’s a person thoroughly deprived of any affection that hasn’t come from his weird fucked up chainsaw dog, who doesn’t know how to relate to women because he’s only ever been exposed to them through porn – and every time he think he’s getting what he wants he finds himself completely alienated and confused, usually because it’s at the expense of his own manipulation and humiliation

and if we’re talking about the female cast specifically it should be noted so many of them are given way more to be than just being the Sultry Succubus Slut Who Teases The Main Boy. like, it is funny to conceptualise power as a sexual character because she is fucking DISGUSTING, just a downright physically revolting person who seems to revel in her own filth, and she is also typically pretty antagonistic towards the very idea of sexuality. and then you have makima, who is typically framed by the fandom as this seductive villainness who makes boys her puppy, but in-text she is extremely dispassionate and utilitarian as a Domme character. and it’s because she isn’t a sexy fanservice character at all, she’s the narrative stand-in for the theme of sexual menace; she is quite literally the culmination of the fear of authority and hierarchy, externalised in the abuse and power imbalance she inflicts on denji, contextualised to him as a Sexual Relationship when it’s anything but