@crushingon
I think one of the most effective, but cruel ways for a writer to convince the readers that a character is a manipulator is to successfully manipulate the audience into rooting for them.
@greenhydra10
Your regularly scheduled reminder that protagonist does NOT mean hero.
@InsomniaticVampire
The homunculus were never really portrayals of his victims but his own twisted way of viewing them
@cristian-vladutcurca7467
For me is fairly obvious that the protagonist never had an actual power of seeing someone's soul or insecurity, but as a narcissist he mastered his manipulation and non-verbal language recognition for years so that he could peel apart facades. That's why, in my opinion, he saw men with diverse struggles and women with struggles only related to their sexuality given his awful history. Opinions?
@tristanfarmer9031
Not everyone is a good person. The point of view of a terrible person won't always make sense. They usually think they are justified.
@firestorm1088
The shift of Nakoshi from someone you root for at the beginning to the monster we see later is a perfect example of how most monsters are in the real world. They seem like perfectly normal, even likable people, until they don’t. On a more personal note, as someone who has struggled with mental health, I’m quite familiar with people trying to “help” you to feed their own narcissism.
@dylanclark9903
Projection. It’s about projection. And about how we have to address our own shadow or else inflict it on reality.
@SurrealKeenan
I've read this story and I wonder if the point was that he didn't get any supernatural ability. What if he was already observant and just lost a connection between his subconscious and his conscious. When he sees a person, he projects what he assumes to be their insecurities onto them. He sees the short man and assumes that he must have a height complex. He sees a boring guy and assumes he must be a shallow, 2 dimensional person. He sees random women and, being subconsciously sexist, focuses on their sexuality
@jacobwooten977
He makes me think of people that call themselves empaths, the ones that seem to have an addiction to fix everyone around them, but never face their own issues
@babungo6090
In the intro, before you even said what manga you had read, I was thinking to myself "he probably read a gore-filled psychological horror manga. Surely he wouldn't be talking about-" and then you said "homunculus" and my heart stopped.
@Majik-7121
I’ve read so many disturbing manga and still I get a really bad pain in my stomach when I read them
@Aaaaaaaalonika
This type of story is exactly why we shouldn’t censor what you’re allowed to write about. People think that if you write about topics such as these that you approve of them. That, of course, is usually not the case. It’s therapeutic. It’s freeing to write about the scum of humanity and actions so heinous. Because it further demonstrates why we should continue to hold on to our values and abhor these things. This type of story doesn’t aim to normalize anything. It aims to fill us with disgust.
@Snowfoxie1
Woooooow that’s one of the best depictions of predatory narcissism I’ve ever heard of! The projection, the forced altruism, the belief that you know what’s best for everyone, the idea that if it makes ME happy, it must be helping YOU too! Uggghhhh.
@Sarah97359
I think if this story really had been about some guy who went around "fixing" people's traumas somehow, it'd make this story very shallow and disappointing. Trauma isn't something a random encounter with some dude can "fix," and only someone at the height of arrogance, narcissism, presumptuousness, and lack of empathy could believe themselves capable of "fixing" other people, as this manga clearly shows.
@Ballinout30
I think the writer wanted you to know these people exist in the world and not be oblivious to it. Sometimes trying to avoid these realities and pretend the don't exist makes us weaker and easier targets for such individuals.
@fie4426
"Now every homonculous he sees looks exactly like him " that gave me goosebumps
@StreyX
I think the point was that he was never actually a good person all along. There was an early interaction with all the other homeless people where they were just chatting about nonsense and he brought up how society puts value onto everything. As he explained how they could calculate one's worth in monetary value based on jobs, education, assets, and what not; he started adding up the "value" of someone there. Clearly unnerved, the person in question pushed him and yelled at him to stop. This was a very early indicator that the "protagonist" was not quite a good guy.
@Lady_Chalk
Oh I never finished reading that one. I think the "homunculus" that the doctor who performed the surgery on the main character was the most interesting. Also, I was certain that the main character actually had a lot of money, he was just tired of living that life.
@hellenrose9556
One of the points of this story is that trying to 'fix' other peoples problems in the way that YOU THINK is the best for them will usualy just create more of a problems (like my parents trying to 'fix' me in my early teens, which led to... let's just say much worst problems in my life) It is about trying to mold people into what you think they should be, without considerong what THEY actualy want to be. There is much more to be unpacked about this, but this one thing is kinda obvious.
@TheTaleFoundry