22-26: Fujimoto Tatsuki Tanpenshuu
Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man: 22-26

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Mod Edit: This review was originally posted for Yogen no Nayuta (98960) and has subsequently been merged into 22-26: Fujimoto Tatsuki Tanpenshuu (141294).


This is my first review. If it sounds wonky- It's because it is.

Seeing that there was an absence of any other reviews on this oneshot, I think it'd be a perfect place for it.

A wicked child and an older brother with a heart of gold make the story somehow warm in the midst of a cold undertone. Though Kenji doesn't understand his sister Nayuta, it brings a light to the oneshot that makes it all worth reading. A bond that is hard to ... understand, both by reader and character, yet simple and clear to show it's unbreakable. A simple trope that Yogen no Nayuta hones in on the entirety of the chapter.

Eerie as it is, it's sweet and plays on a tale that's done quite often in fiction (killing the 'chosen one') but polished by the author to 'Chainsaw Man'. This meaning- it's spooky, ruthless, and stomach churningly sick. Had it been more than it was, I'd assure it would have been darker than it already let off. This is why I particularly liked the tone it was set in. And this is why I wished it was longer than just a chapter.

It's worth a read if you like Chainsaw Man for its bittersweet relationships, and its much more if you're a sucker for a good brother-sister bond in a shonen. I really liked this simple and sweet tale, and will read it again.

the second volume of the stories i didn't like as much forsure, "mermaid rhapsody" was not that great for me & was kinda goofy lol, "woke up as a girl syndrome" was weak with kinda awkward, shitty messaging, & "sisters" i can appreciate a little more after going back & rereading it again after loving "look back", but anything that’s good in it is done insanely better in look back & any nice moment in it is ruined by it just being unnecessarily weird af with the forced sister nudity angle the whole time lmao. natuya though was prob the best crafted story out of ... all of the stories in both anthology volumes though. i feel it just has the most defined, distinguishable character & the most solid situations & developments. there were def sick ass panels in there that were the most big feeling moments out of everything i read in the 2 volumes. even if natuya's dialogue could get a bit cringe & edgy lol, i still def liked the cool presentation of the story & i think its a solid story all around. & that last page was beautiful forsure! def showed some artistic glimmers of what i could imagine future bigger fujimoto works could have at it’s advantage & coming back & rereading with modern foresight i guess i kinda been hearing natuya might've actually be used at this point in chainsaw man? guess we'll have to see one day when i get around to seeing that

anyways the second volume wasn’t as overall hitting as the first besides the natuya story for me, & this is now coming from the future rereading this after reading a lot of fujimoto stuff including fire punch. i say that bc fire punch obviously has a lot of darkness & edginess & i love it still. idk it just comes off actually crazy or even rediculous & funny in something like fire punch but i guess the edginess in this volume of stories to me just feels cringe or forced most of the time. i fault it way less these days bc i know fujimoto can do the edgy shit better in other stories for me. but as a background to fujimoto it def gave me a bit of a look into understanding him before moving onto his bigger & better works. when i first read this mini series back when i was first getting into manga, it def made me understand more in general the concept of a one shot or an anthology, & that was cool!

Mod Edit: This review was originally posted for Me wo Sametara Onnanoko ni Natteita Yamai (109436) and has subsequently been merged into 22-26: Fujimoto Tatsuki Tanpenshuu (141294).


When it comes to the gender bender genre it's quite refreshing to see this one-shot tackle the dire fear one would experience when their social status does a 180 flip. There is a section of this one-shot where the guys in his class want to use the main character (Toshihide) for their sexual desires, thinking that they can do whatever they want to Toshihide now that he's a girl. Many GB stories usually go for the acceptance or prejudice ... route, but it's really interesting to see a story where the character has fear of how their new gender will affect their everyday life, in this case, school.

It's also really interesting that the gender-bent character already had a girlfriend before their transition and there's a scene where they sort of actually talk about their situation. It felt fairly mature.

What made me rate this so low was actually the constant reference and ideology of straight relationships. Toshihide laments the loss of his manhood and says to his girlfriend that now that they're both girls they can't have sex or a relationship anymore. And while I appreciate other characters telling him how stupid he is for thinking like that they lose me again when those same characters tell Toshihide that he should act like a man and that he is a man. It's really frustrating how this story sets up an interesting talk about non-hetero relationships but then goes right back to the binary standard.