uh a lot of people are really angry about this Torso flashback thing, how do you feel about it

floppyamon:

I’m kinda of angry at the fandom’s inability to differentiate between fiction and reality at the moment, but personally I’m glad about Torso’s characterization in this chapter

1. Has Torso presented as a realistic serial killer versus the stereotypical manga serial killer that is bland and incredibly unrealistic. Ishida wrote an incredibly scary and realistic antagonist who actually unsettles people (including myself), that’s great writing
2. Torso’s backstory maintains the idea that ghouls cannot be born evil. Monsters are not born, they are made.
3. Ishida suddenly stopping the use of the above trope and having Torso be “uwu he’s just evil” would make Torso’s longevity in the manga unreasonable. You can’t have a character introduced at the beginning of series be as two-dimensional as a sheet of paper. That’s bad writing
4. Torso’s entire backstory reveal and his portrayal in the manga has made him the quintessence of the idea “his past explains his actions, but does not excuse them.” If you read the last chapter and did not see that message then you aren’t reading the manga right
5. Ishida’s still portraying Tooru’s entire situation in a highly negative light. Tooru sympathizes with Torso (not empathy), which is a result of Stockholm syndrome. But despite Tooru’s Stockholm syndrome, he is still highly intelligent and is scheming to escape with the newly acquired information he got from Torso. Tooru is not finished, he is still fighting, please calm down

Now I know somebody will come charging into my inbox yelling how I’m apparently supporting Torso’s actions, or how I’m supporting transphobia, or some other A+ bullshit like that, but I do have a piece of advice for anybody who is incredibly angry at this chapter:

Please go outside. It isn’t healthy for you to rage this much over a fictional story that dissects nasty morality issues such as kidnapping, sexual assault, human trafficking, genocide, torture, bigotry, abuse responses, and many other ‘taboo’ tropes. TG is a small part of your life, and it isn’t even a narrative directed at Western audiences (us). Just go take a walk and eat some ice cream and come back