text丨EverArsenic
Last year, MAPPA gave up the final words of " Attack on Giant " and fully prepared for the popular comic " Chainsaw Man ".
Over the past year, with the release of PV, CV and style have unveiled a corner of the veil. Various discussions and speculations about animation have finally settled with the launch of the first episode of the new series "Chain Saw Man" in October.
But what caused the biggest topic is not the main movie in the first episode, but the OP. Eighth Master sang in the OP, the subtitles rising in the sound of chainsaw and the ED of MAPPA's episodes, although there are surprises, they are all reasonable.
What is really surprising is that the drama intensively pays tribute to the movies that inspired Fujimoto, the original author of "The Chainsaw Man", in the OP. From these movie scenes that flash like a lantern, you can get a glimpse of this mysterious cartoonist's ability to digest inspiration and integrate.
It can be seen that "The Chainsaw Man" borrows the plot promotion line of Keanu Reeves' elimination of the demon in "Constantine"; pays tribute to the scenes of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" are Dianzi and Bochita, pointing out the source of the character creation; uses the ghost turning point of the unpopular B-level film "Tomato Killer", and the first demon killed by the protagonist Dianzi is the Tomato Demon.
Tribute to "Constantine"
Pav and Dian have the shadow of the chattering killer group of Quentin " Pulp Novel ", the characters encounter sudden death indiscriminately like Coen Brothers " Old Nowhere to Belong to ", and use nonsensical drug-style happiness to dilute sadness, like " Murder Green Toe ", as in "Half of Hollywood", in the climax. The fantasy of the dying fantasy in "The Life of Another World" is likely to be the inspiration for the extremely sad snowball fight that fans talk about when Hayagawa Aki.
However, after the burst OP, unexpectedly, the first episode of the main film was disappointed more than surprises.
After all, the unique authorship of comics like "The Chainsaw Man" is difficult to reproduce. Who said that its author is the free Fujimoto.
Even among the recently launched works of "Young Jump" weekly that are striving to change, "Chain Saw Man" is an outlier. After all, Fujimoto, the author of this comic, was born on the first World Mental Health Day, and was gifted with synaptic talent and was respected as an eternal nerve (sentery disease) by fans who bowed down.
Weekly authors often linger near the deadline. Without enough time to conceive stories and storyboards, it is impossible to polish their works carefully. Under such urgent conditions, Fujimoto still retains his signature movie-like storyboard. This is inseparable from his amazing number of views.
The original comic is like a crazy cult movie, with a sense shock like a disintegrating brain. It combines several comic types, such as plasma spraying, broken limbs flying around, and flashing with the evil taste and nonsense of B-level movies, attracting people to indulge in its unique weird charm.
It always maintains a high-speed rhythm, without any breathing in the plot, cutting off the plot at the speed of a chainsaw turning, roaring to harvest the characters. Relentlessly let the audience's favorite supporting roles receive the lunch box in the most sudden way. The rude scene of the bloody and blood overflowing is so refreshing that it is impossible to stop thinking.
Compared with the first episode, the main film in the first episode is too normal and warm, losing the evil spirit of "Chain Saw Man".
In addition to Uncle Jin who dubbed the shore, the lineup of "Chain Saw Man"'s voice actors is all new generations. Nanmu Lantern 's Machima is a bit sweet, and she feels like a lady becomes a sweet girl, but this is not a flaw.
The problem lies in the narrative rhythm, picture texture and action scenes. As expected, MAPPA's pictures are very particular, with exquisite details and even a little fresh tone, but they lose the messy feeling of thick lines in the comics, which is the rough smell in the original DNA of "The Chainsaw Man".
MAPPA has always been criticized for lacking the first-class original artist . The 2D painting level is not top-notch. The highly anticipated warehouse fighting scenes in the later part of the first chapter are presented in three renderings and two, and it feels that the frame rate is not enough, which makes people suspect that the cost is squandered in publicity and distribution, but there is no time and manpower to remedy the well-known weaknesses of 2D painting.
plus the inner monologue scene that cuts out the story from time to time, the pastoral scenery is full of pastoral scenery, and the first episode of Fujimoto, which is recognized as the best-looking first episode, is slowly and mediocre, like a pool of calm and warm water.
However, the flaws in the first episode are not irreparable. Even if the action scenes cannot escape the rut, MAPPA still has the opportunity to rely on delicate literary dramas to save the situation.
Agni in "Fire Fist" was in pain because he could not stop thinking about the meaning of living, while the telegraph in "The Chainsaw Man" never spent any effort on things other than Machima. No matter how many scenes the characters in "The Chainsaw Man" will die immediately on the spot as long as they show a little attachment to life. However, under the heartless appearance, helplessness and emptiness echo deep in the heart of every demon.
Dingshi was chased by all demons, but the goal of this Demon Killing Carnival that extends the whole book is not Dingshi himself, but the heart of the demon in his body. In fact, for the demons and even for Machima, he is just a shell that carries meaning.
Demon man is a person who has the right to use his body to the demon and sells his body to the demon, or exchanges part of his life. Humans need the ability of demons, and demons need to use their fists and feet. This is not an equivalent transaction. Human beings are just skins, fulfilling the mission of demons in their bodies. As the carrier of demons, any awakening of human nature is the weakness of weakening the power of demons.
Hayakawa Aki who had contracted with the demon tried to extend his time in the world, and became futile in a snowball fight after being confused, just like falling snowflakes disappearing in the hands of fate's indifferent and constant temperature.
People who come into contact with the angel demon will immediately consume their lifespan. As its shell, the person can only watch the person he has touched die. Everyone who mingles with the doll demon master and disciple will turn into a doll in front of their shell. They witnessed the whole process of losing their vitality to the people around them, but they could do nothing. Autumn can see the blink of an eye, but it is too late to deal with it, so it can only accept it with unswerving tragic heroism.
MAPPA, who is good at literary dramas, can just show the subtle emotional disturbances conveyed by Fujimoto in the gaps in the painting grid in the next chapter, the stubborn pursuit behind the jokes, the loneliness behind the noise, and the deep sense of powerlessness behind the apprehension of the chainsaw man, which can also be regarded as grasping the essence of the chainsaw man.
Fujimoto likes to suddenly execute his characters, but this is not entirely the willful super-expanding of the "third freedom" cartoonist, but his unique creative skills. As he mentioned in "Goodbye Eri", death allows him to determine how these characters appear in memories. Boqita, Qiu, Pawa, Ji Ye, Race, Yanbian, Guangxi and Machima all died suddenly after seeing the dawn of turning around in life, which allowed these characters to be remembered more deeply.
And Fujimoto's handling of the deaths of these characters is that it is clean and neat, and he will never use a single drawing to delay time, hold the readers, and never sensationalize. For example, the deep feelings of Dienji for the death of Lesse, he will immediately dissolve it with a sound of "Okay!"
Accumulating the audience's emotions is all on flashbacks that seem to be accidentally inserted before death. This is a creative technique commonly used by Fujimoto.
There is no doubt that this silent sense of weight loss is not easy to implement. Excessive set-up will lose the heartless black atmosphere of the original work, and too unkind will lose the thickness of the original work. And we can only wait and see how the animation version can restore this sense of proportion between the slightest points.
The eternal theme throughout all Fujimoto's works is the love of this fanciful cartoonist for movies.
What brought Agni's vitality in "Flame Fist" is Rigata, the director who is determined to make a star war movie. While teaching the protagonist to act, Rigata himself also caught a glimpse of the meaning of being alive. In "Goodbye Huili", the vampire Huili, who has been around for a long time, teaches the protagonist how to be a director step by step.
The last thing Fujimoto wants to do in his life is to make movies.
The ending of "Flame Fist" is the bad movie filmed by the protagonist Agni watching the director in the comic. He couldn't himself and shed tears. All the absurdity, cruelty, chaos and confusion that had been experienced in the past eight years turned into stars that lit up in the darkness and slipped in the corner of his eyes. This is the most moving moment in the whole comic. The feeling of reading this is like seeing Yin Tianchou coming home in "King of Comedy", tears can't stop flowing, but I can't explain why. The chaotic but abundant energy of the Fujimoto tree suddenly poured out like a collapsed dam, vague but surging, unstoppable.
In "The Chainsaw Man", Machima took time to accompany him to watch the movie for one day. When he saw the scene where Alyosha and his mother met in a hurry in the Soviet movie " Soldier's Song ", the two shed tears at the same time. Alyosha never came back in the film. To say more, this clip supports one-third of Jiang Wen's content in "The Sun Rises As Ordinary". This is probably a resonance that only moviegoers can get.
When I wrote this, I suddenly realized that it was great, and I gradually understood everything:
—Maybe the best Fujimoto work, only Fujimoto himself supervised can be taken. There is no reason for such a Fujimoto tree not to supervise and direct a movie. He is only thirty years old this year.
But then again, "The Chainsaw Man" only released one episode. The shocking Parva and Hayagawa Aki in the PV have not yet appeared. MAPPA, which is good at creating atmosphere and setting off music, is believed to be able to restore the solemn and weird famous scenes before the Hell Demon appeared. In other words, no matter what, I still have to chase this episode, even if it is a new round of critical strikes.
OK, Chen Suoman, it's time to shout those two words -
"Okay!"
