short thread about why I think CSM's first chapter is more substantial than I originally gave it credit for. I think it goes beyond just being "raw" and is actually something that gets kinda philosophical- in a super interesting way.

so the surface-level core of the story's introduction is that Denji is exceedingly broke, and exerts the most amount of willpower simply to get by. He has this innate desire to live despite not really living for himself. Everything he does is under the motive of financial gain-

of course, he has all these mundane desires too (wants to hang out with friends, date a girl, etc) and he's a slave to his fathers debt, but ultimate it does seem like the story is kind of saying that he is a slave to his desire to continue existing right.

We can assume the Yakuza dudes in ch 1 are fairly well off, and despite this, they desire even more than they already have. This leads to their downfall and I think this is important in the context of the chapter because it sort of makes up the second half of the thematic message

that I feel the chapter conveys. We are all slaves to some kind of desire, and these desires, ambitions will corrupt us, ruin us, yet its those same simple drives we have that keep us going in life. Keep us bettering ourselves, wanting more for ourselves.

It's a paradoxical kind of existence, and there's a fine line between balancing ambition as something that betters us, and something that ruins us. The Yakuza meet their ends, while Denji lives another day.

The theme is also kind of gothic too which is dope.