I read Child of God a long time ago, probably when I was 16 years old. It was one of the first few “fucked up” medias I ever checked out when I was still new to those types of genres. It’s really funny now how I recall reading its entirety in one sitting just to write about it on this very website, a long time ago, that I’m worried for my own well-being because I thought, despite the sheer amount of graphic violence, it “wasn’t that bad”. Edgy.
And of course I didn’t get the point of the story. I think, given that there is this rampantly spread notion that Japanese media in general contain “the worst of humanity” or how ever vaguely people say it, along with the idea that it’s all done for “no (higher) reason” than the mere sake of creating something so terrible (perhaps only to jerk off to), it’s normal to expect that the “evil crimes and gore” alone will scare me the most. But I reread it recently and obviously whatever I said back then does not hold up to what I think now.
This manga is beautiful. The surrealist art style reminds me a lot of Hieronymus Bosch and Remedio Varo’s paintings while managing to look like that of a children’s book. It gives the story a “once upon a time” feel that enforces the idea that the following story is an inevitable and recurring narrative: retribution of humanity by the hands of an innocent child it failed to nurture well.
The premise of this manga is really basic and common. A child is born and sees the underlying evil in the so-called beautiful world, which he reflects back onto it, unmasked in its evil glory and it’s fucked up. He commits lots of heinous crimes and cleanly gets away with it since everyone is so caught up in their own little bubbles.
But despite how simple the story is, this manga has a lot to say about human instinct and will.
I really urge you to read it yourself. On this page I’ll only present the playground (the postulate), the toy (the question) and half the fun (half an answer, because I want you to see what I see yourself).
Dehumanization is a key theme here. To be dehumanized, in this case, manifests in being an outcast. It is to be amoral, or to be without a sense of morals, wherein rational thinking is trumped by natural instinct. There is no right or wrong, just want.
There’s an immense focus on what is human instinct in this story. People are alluded to as filthy animals. The Child distances himself from society, as though he is above and that he isn’t the same as them: those who are slaves to their Id, yet are afraid to face that truth.
No matter what he says and does, he is only as human as them. The Child of God is just some kid and he fucking sucks. He isn’t special or above others. He was born different and he may be unlucky, yes, but he isn’t any more or any less human than any human.
The Child of God asks the question, what is the plain state of a human?
The first and only emotion he ever felt, from the beginning until now, was fear.
But was it?
It makes sense to think there is nothing but fear. It is natural to fear. A key component of survival is fear.
But fear cannot exist solely, alone.
Fear manifests in different ways.
So many times, throughout the story, did the Child experience love:
In various forms:
He had love in him too! He would find love, and love would find him all the time.
He had it right in his hands.
He was just too much of a coward.
Love comes naturally to humanity as much as fear does.
back to library