2022.11

1. Chainsaw Man - チェンソーマン

This anime is so thoroughly entertaining
the moment I saw a guy dragging a suitcase on Shijo city street with the chainsaw dog ポチタ"Pochita" 's plush toy of on top of his luggage, my heart jumped in excitement upon recognising that cute thing.

I spent the rest of my trip keeping an lookout for the chainsaw dog plush toy to bring home, 
because I wanted one so much once had I seen the anime's first 4 episodes on Netflix Japan (not available in NZ)
but I never eventually saw one at all.

This anime is pretty much in Tarantino style, but more.
It's a pretty nasty start in the 1st episode - as far as Tarantino often goes,
gory and irrationally cruel,
​and suffocatingly painful - which I don't like, 
but it gets so good at the end of Ep. 1 
it makes you look forward to the next episode so much.

The protagonist Denji's teeth are exaggerated,
but he's supposed to have turned into a half-悪魔 ie 
he's become a 魔人 "manji" after ポチタ merged with his body.

ポチタ was his puppy growing up.

After they both were killed -
Denji got slaughtered to pieces,
and ポチタ was pierced right through his stomach with a katana -
ポチタ woke up after Denji's blood had dripped into his mouth,
awakening and reviving ポチタ.

As Denji's puppy, ポチタ loves Denji so much,
they had both grown up in a shabby place often starving everyday,
malnourished and uncared for by others.
Seeing Denji has died, 
ポチタ decides to give Denji his own life by merging with Denji's body.
Hence, Denji came back alive, 
complete in his body and strong with ポチタ's powers.
This is how Denji turned into a Chainsaw man,
because ポチタ was a puppy with a chainsaw on his cute little head.

I am still going to be on the look-out for ポチタ when I'm back in Japan.
Their story is just so cute despite all the violence and bloodspill.

What I particularly enjoyed throughout my trip this time 
was I kept seeing promotional posters in subways and shopping centres
with the main デビルハンター characters' on the wall,
as if the Bureau is still recruiting for more デビルハンター. 
It was so cool and really fun to spot them around the city. :)

Pochita is sooooo cute,
and Denji is the chainsaw man because of Pochi.
His life was altered and completely renewed.
​
This bond is something that we probably all wish to have with our own puppy.
To live together forever i guess is that romantic notion our heart desires.
I wonder if the creator came up with this idea this way, if they had their own puppy.

2. The Ship - formally titled as 1899 on Netflix

Produced by the same crew as the German series Dark,
this show is as European as it goes.
Multi-lingual with cast from several different countries.
Everybody speaks their own native language,
a subtitle is provided.
This was key to the creators' concept - 
to paint an image of Europe as it should be - 
everybody together, working as one.

There is definitely a lot of historic backdrops that are clearly hinted at but never explicitly pointed out - e.g. the scar on Krester's face in reference to Conversion Therapy back then.

Krester's character is a deeply painful one to watch.
You can almost see pain throughout his being,
and the torturous journey within him.
His mother is a strong force, a religious force to say the least.
This would have made his life extremely difficult,
the scar on his face is as symbolic of his journey as his being.
I think that's why the Spanish counterpart rather cleverly named as Angel 
who is too overly charming and blatant with his desires,
who is so drawn to Krester right from the beginning.
Because of the 2 of them are such polar opposites.

My own favourite character is of course, Olek.
He seems to be the only pure being throughout the story.
He's gentle and kind without fail.
You almost want to approach him for help and support when you need it most.

The mystery of the story unfolds slowly, 1 episode at a time.
The symbology is dramatic and obvious.

​And,
this is definitely a sci-fi despite having a period piece backdrop.