Well, after 4 years of weekly releases and a total of 149 chapters; the Wano arc is officially finished, and so has the penultimate saga in the One Piece story. There was a lot of buildup and deliverance, peaks & valleys; and though it was quite honestly one of the most entertaining arcs in the series history, I still wouldn’t call it my number #1 favorite, that honor would still go to Alabasta.

Still, for all that it’s worth I did enjoy it even if some things from its 3rd act did disappoint me. So long Wano, I hope to see you again sometime in the last remaining years of the series, and thank you for all of the oden and samurai.

Looking forward to the Straw Hats' last batch of adventures in this upcoming final saga.

“To the boy who sought freedom...we bid you farewell” - Attack on Titan Ch. 138

Look at this face. My girl is strugglin’. It really breaks my heart.

One Piece Milestones Covers - Chapter 100/Chapter 1000

Congratulations, Oda-sensei!

Thoughts on the final chapter of Chainsaw Man

You know I’m really glad I spent those two months reading this series, cause I’m not trying to be hyperbolic but this was one of the most entertaining stories I’ve read on Jump in a while.

A few weeks ago, I was pondering on how the series would end considering all of the bleak events that had been happening up until that point in the story, and I was almost certain it was going to end on an extremely depressing note; but to my surprise the manga’s ending managed to flip my expectations in a way that didn’t feel too tacky or out-of-left field. I generally like how Chainsaw Man plays with battle fantasy tropes when creating atmospheric tension in Denji’s final battles.

The cheering and positive reinforcement actually has negative effects towards Denji’s powers and abilities to fight, as Chainsaw Man is a being the derives its power from the fear of others, and I like how Denji in his own way used a similar approach to defeat Makima, a character that embodies the human fear of ‘control’ with ‘love’, a concept that operates as the antithesis to ‘control’ as it’s derived from one’s own feelings for another rather than a direct influence from another party.

That being said I like how Denji’s unconscious and unrequited love for Makima really serves to sum up what the general vibe of the world of Chainsaw Man is. It’s a world filled with terror, death, and destruction, where most humans tend to only look out for themselves for guaranteed survival, all while forsaking basic feelings of empathy and compassion. And in this world you have a character like Denji, a character that has spent most of his life never being able to receive human compassion until he offered kindness and shelter to a demon chainsaw dog named Pochita, Denji’s journey of wanting to be loved while learning to care for others was finally rewarded albeit at a steep price, but in that suffering he finds that offering compassion for his fellow man and demons that he can alleviate both the pain in his heart as well as the hearts of others.

That’s his role as a friend to Pochita, to Power, to the Control Devil, to citizens of his city, that is his role as the hero: Chainsaw Man.

I’m glad that Denji finally decided to pursue an education and continues making good progress in his life, and I look forward to what Fujimoto-sensei as in store for us in Chainsaw Man’s continuation in Shonen Jump+

Once more, rise up for the national anthem: