Tatsuki Fujimoto: Before Chainsaw Man 22-26

I was expecting the upward trend in quality represented by the stories presented in the first volume to continue here.  The idea is that Fujimoto was getting better with each new manga he made, right?  “22-26” shows that wasn’t quite the case and the quality of a creator’s work doesn’t follow a straight line.  However, this volume does manage the one thing I like to see in any anthology of short stories:  Saving the best for last.

Mermaid Rhapsody:  Toshihide is a young boy who has only one real interest in his sleepy seaside town.  That would be playing the piano underneath the sea there.  This isn’t nonsense because the piano sounds fine underwater because it was built by mermaids.  Also, Toshihide can hold his breath for much longer than average humans because his mother was a mermaid.  One day he stays down for too long and is about to drown until he’s rescued by a mermaid.  While mermaids are reputed to eat humans, this one enjoys Toshihide’s playing so much that he offers to teach her how to play the piano herself.

Things take a darker turn when the mermaid’s bloodlust is awakened later in the story, but it doesn’t get too dark.  In fact, this is a relatively straightforward story about young love and tolerance that feels like it came right out of the playbook for those kinds of stories.  It’s not bad, but only the mermaid angle gives it any distinction.  Fujimoto notes in his afterword that he wrote it to prove to Jump Square editorial that he could do a normal story.  Mission accomplished, I guess.

Woke Up as a Girl Syndrome:  Toshihide (a different one) wakes up one day to find out that he’s changed into a girl.  This creates problems for the former boy as it’s thrown a huge curveball into his relationship with his girlfriend, Rie.  Worse still is that now all of the boys at school want to have sex with him because he’s now a girl.  Is there any hope for Toshihide to change back into a boy, or is he just going to have to live with being a girl forever now?

This story tries to grapple with the expectations that come with one’s gender in ways that feel outdated.  Particularly when you consider that this was published less than a decade ago.  Even when Toshihide grapples with the idea that he may have become a girl on the inside as well, the story’s climax involves him manning up in a way that men have traditionally done.  If you believe that men should act like men and women should act like women, regardless of what kind of body they’re in, you’ll probably find this story harmless.  Otherwise, I can only guess at the rage you must be feeling as you’re reading my summary here.

The one thing I did like about this story was Rie’s brother.  Dude was so straightforward in all of his actions that it was something to behold.  It’s like he had no self-awareness concerning his actions outside of how they were meant to service the story.  He also gets points for having the best line in the volume as he bluntly states why his sister can’t skip class.

Nayuta of the Prophecy:  In a world where the power of mages has diminished to the point where they can only conjure small knives, there is an ominous prophecy about one.  It says that they will be born with horns that will pierce their mother’s womb, will lack a human heart, shall be cruel and speak unintelligibly, and shall destroy the world.  This description fits Kenji’s little sister to a tee and it’s why he’s had to protect her from cultists who believe the prophecy all of her life.  He’s had to give up a lot to raise her, working part time jobs instead of going to school for a start, but he doesn’t mind because she’s his little sister.  A little sister that he can’t communicate with and who kills small animals without a second thought.  It isn’t until she slaughters a group of cattle and brings them back to their home that Kenji starts to wonder if there’s any hope for the girl at all.

First off, this isn’t the same “Nayuta” as the one who showed up in “Chainsaw Man” – you’re not reading a stealth crossover here.  What this initially looks to be is a story that asks us how dedicated we have to be to our family when we can’t understand or communicate with them.  Literally, in some aspects here.  I figured we were heading for a resolution which implied that family loyalty is what matters above all… except that’s not what happens.  Fujimoto actually pulled out a pretty good swerve that made a lot of sense from a different set of sibling responsibilities.  It elevated the story as a whole even as the resolution ducks out on some of the larger questions the story raised.

Sisters:  The art high school that Mitsuko Ehara attends has a tradition:  That the piece which takes first prize in its annual art contest is hung up at the school’s entrance for a year.  This is a big problem for Mitsuko because the work that won this year was a nude painting of her.  How did this happen when she didn’t pose for it in the first place?  It’s because her little sister, Anzu, drew it based on what she’s observed about her sister over the years.  The two of them weren’t on speaking terms before this happened, and now Mitsuko is determined to find a way to convey the shame and humiliation she now feels onto Anzu.

This is hands-down the best story here.  While it initially comes off like a particularly effective bit of cringe comedy – I wasn’t expecting Mitsuko’s family to be as on board with Anzu’s achievement as they were – that changes the more you get to know the sisters.  It’s easy to understand why Mitsuko feels the way she does, but then she’s asked to interrogate her own feelings about it, and her relationship with Anzu as well.  This leads her to find a solution to this issue that’s as surprising as it is courageous.  Fujimoto mentions that this story was foundational to “Look Back” and that’s backed up by the quality of the storytelling and art on display.

“22-26” ends with an extended afterword from the mangaka where he talks about an instance where he lied to his girlfriend about what happened to their pet fish.  It’s telling that he feels worse about the act of lying than what he actually lied about.  Though his stories may trade in violent or depraved acts, its the emotions he’s able to conjure with these actions that make them truly memorable.  That’s really only true of “Sisters” in this volume as the rest of the stories here mainly show a creator trying to break free of convention and mostly succumbing to it.  I will say that this is worth picking up for established fans of Fujimoto as it’s still interesting to see the (uneven) growth of the creator.