Is Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man: 17-21 Worth Reading? Review

Overview

Before Chainsaw Man and Fire Punch made Tatsuki Fujimoto one of manga's most talked-about creators, he was a teenager submitting short stories to contests, and this collection gathers four of them, written between ages 17 and 21: "A Couple Clucking Chickens Were Still Kickin' in the Schoolyard," "Sasaki Stopped a Bullet," "Love is Blind," and "Shikaku." Reading them in order is less like discovering lost classics and more like watching an artist's rough drafts -- which is exactly what they are, and the collection makes no pretense otherwise.

It's a book squarely aimed at people already invested in Fujimoto's later work, curious to see where his specific sensibility -- the sudden tonal whiplash, the structural swings, the interest in sincerity undercut by chaos -- actually came from.

What it does well

The artistic growth across just four stories and four years is genuinely visible, and that trajectory is the collection's real hook. "Shikaku," the latest of the four, has fully-formed, confident art that already looks like the Fujimoto readers recognize from his professional work, a clear leap from the rougher, more restless compositions of the earliest story in the book.

"Love is Blind" is the strongest piece on its own terms -- its sudden comedic escalation mirrors the specific chaos of teenage emotional overwhelm in a way that feels purposeful rather than undisciplined, and it's the clearest preview of the tonal control Fujimoto would later bring to his professional work. "Sasaki Stopped a Bullet," for all its discomfort, also shows an early version of Fujimoto's interest in sincerity and belief colliding with absurd, high-stakes circumstances -- a seed of ideas he'd return to with much more control later.

Where it falls short

These are, by design, the work of a developing artist, and the book doesn't hide the rough edges that come with that. The earliest story telegraphs its twist rather than building to it, with inconsistent designs and restless panel work that hasn't found its footing yet. "Sasaki Stopped a Bullet" centers on a middle schooler's one-sided crush on his idealized, worshipped teacher -- the relationship is never reciprocated or sexualized, but the story's uncritical "she is God" framing of the dynamic reads as uncomfortable rather than charming by design, and one reviewer specifically flags it as reflecting an immature view of its female lead. "Love is Blind" and "Shikaku" carry similar issues -- female characters defined mostly by their relationship to the male leads rather than by their own interiority, with "Shikaku" in particular ending on a note that reads as a punchline rather than a resolution.

This is also a book that rewards curiosity about Fujimoto's development more than it rewards reading for pure enjoyment -- newcomers with no attachment to his later work are likely to find less here to hold onto.

Verdict

Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man: 17-21 is an genuinely interesting artifact of a major creator's development, not a hidden gem standing on its own. The growth across four years is real and visible, and "Love is Blind" in particular is worth reading on its own merits, but the collection's rough edges -- in craft and in how it handles its female characters -- are part of the package, not incidental to it. Worth it specifically for Fujimoto fans curious where his sensibility started; skippable if you're looking for polished, standalone short fiction.