It’s harder to stay invested in favorite characters when they keep dropping like flies.
The new wave of shonen anime is distinctly different from its predecessors. The dark mood and high tension in the series like Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen are maintained by scaling up on the violence front and killing off popular characters without hesitation. The more mature tone of these series is not necessarily what makes them good, but it does point to the direction that modern shonen action is going.
It’s not to say that classic anime like Dragon Ball, One Piece, or Narutoshy away from adult themes or scenes of violence, but they do make it clear who the target audience is: teenagers. The shows are more comical, fun, and at times even goofy, with a tendency to regenerate fan-favorite characters. One Piece in particular is the worst offender here.
While gruesome deaths are not new to shonen, the current popular manga series take them to another level. The new generation of action shonen is more realistic than ever in terms of its approach to battlefield deaths: the protagonists are no longer protected by the plot armor. Moreover, in recent years, censors have started to go easy on anime studios both in terms of the quantity and quality of violence, with Chainsaw Man being the best example. The violent scenes in the show are extremely graphic, and the use of gore and body horror is off the charts.
The mangakas are essentially in the “damned if you, do damned if you don’t” position here: whether they end up killing more characters than your average shonen or not, they will be criticized for it.
If you don’t kill any of the good guys, this creates the impression of invincibility to the protagonists and lowers the stakes in the story. We already know who’s going to win, so what’s the point of reading? On the other hand, killing too many characters lessens the impact of their deaths and lowers the level of engagement from fans. If no one is safe, readers are less likely to willingly get emotionally invested in the characters.
The truth is, the insane popularity of the new shonen mangas speaks to the fact that a lot of readers find catharsis in sudden, cruel deaths. After all, this is how it works in real life. Not everyone gets to die a noble death for the sake of good after giving an impassioned speech. A battle is a battle, and plenty of people in it die quietly and without fanfare.
Ultimately, this is a matter of taste. While the increase in deaths among protagonists in shonen is not enough to make most fans completely lose interest, it might prevent some readers from engaging with the story as much. Besides, there’s a good chance that this newly established trend to create more adult-friendly manga will eventually die down, and we’ll go back to our “wholesome” shonen.
It’s harder to stay invested in favorite characters when they keep dropping like flies.
The new wave of shonen anime is distinctly different from its predecessors. The dark mood and high tension in the series like Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen are maintained by scaling up on the violence front and killing off popular characters without hesitation. The more mature tone of these series is not necessarily what makes them good, but it does point to the direction that modern shonen action is going.
It’s not to say that classic anime like Dragon Ball, One Piece, or Narutoshy away from adult themes or scenes of violence, but they do make it clear who the target audience is: teenagers. The shows are more comical, fun, and at times even goofy, with a tendency to regenerate fan-favorite characters. One Piece in particular is the worst offender here.
While gruesome deaths are not new to shonen, the current popular manga series take them to another level. The new generation of action shonen is more realistic than ever in terms of its approach to battlefield deaths: the protagonists are no longer protected by the plot armor. Moreover, in recent years, censors have started to go easy on anime studios both in terms of the quantity and quality of violence, with Chainsaw Man being the best example. The violent scenes in the show are extremely graphic, and the use of gore and body horror is off the charts.
The mangakas are essentially in the “damned if you, do damned if you don’t” position here: whether they end up killing more characters than your average shonen or not, they will be criticized for it.
If you don’t kill any of the good guys, this creates the impression of invincibility to the protagonists and lowers the stakes in the story. We already know who’s going to win, so what’s the point of reading? On the other hand, killing too many characters lessens the impact of their deaths and lowers the level of engagement from fans. If no one is safe, readers are less likely to willingly get emotionally invested in the characters.
The truth is, the insane popularity of the new shonen mangas speaks to the fact that a lot of readers find catharsis in sudden, cruel deaths. After all, this is how it works in real life. Not everyone gets to die a noble death for the sake of good after giving an impassioned speech. A battle is a battle, and plenty of people in it die quietly and without fanfare.
Ultimately, this is a matter of taste. While the increase in deaths among protagonists in shonen is not enough to make most fans completely lose interest, it might prevent some readers from engaging with the story as much. Besides, there’s a good chance that this newly established trend to create more adult-friendly manga will eventually die down, and we’ll go back to our “wholesome” shonen.
