SKINSTEALER SCRAMBLE: Make the Exorcist Fall In Love

SKINSTEALER SCRAMBLE: Make the Exorcist Fall In Love - Printable Version

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SKINSTEALER SCRAMBLE: Make the Exorcist Fall In Love - skinstealer - 12-30-2024

[Image: Make-the-Exorcist-Fall-in-Love-volume-1-cover.jpg]

Make the Exorcist Fall in Love is a relatively new manga written by Aruma Arima and illustrated by Masuku Fukayama, the latter of which has a known presence in the manga and illustration scene that I Must Investigate, and the former, as i can tell, is a complete unknown.

this both bothers me, because i desperately want to know what makes them so fucking good at writing this manga, but also, i think is the best course of action.

this is because that Make the Exorcist Fall In Love is the best portrayal of child exploitation, especially in the sexual sense, and DEEPLY, DEEPLY in the religious sense, that i have seen in recent years. it is also boldly political in every way, and in ways that would make a lot of people very mad- to the point of the manga itself saying so upfront. it is an insanely graphic piece of work that i would consider on the severity level of Berserk, and very clearly pulls from our other favorite manga of all time, Chainsaw Man. Fujimoto's influence can be felt in every crevice of this manga, and i consider that something that is not only a strength but something this story takes and runs with, planning its own course and jumping over Every Single Hurdle i could have fucking imagined it would have.

there were many times where i went, jesus, is this going to actually be anything? this is usually the point where i'd jump ship. this is Usually the point where i go "oh fuck me man i cant do this" in a manga and i have read so much goddamn manga. but Infomantis of manga recommendation fame told me that it was good, REALLY good, and i stuck with it.

every single time, i was proved right for trusting the team behind this work. pretty much every single potential issue i could have had with this one is handled. the literal only thing i can think of after my first read is an off color offhand comment about familiar-fucking cartoon axolotls that you know. i think at this point they may actually address that seriously later. i can't even be surprised if they do at this point, because that has already happened LIKE FOUR TIMES.

that's plenty of preamble though. i just need you to be ready for me to wholeheartedly recommend you a shonen battle manga about teenage priests fighting satan.

[Image: 870c0c4f081dec3978d98168b9bdd426074b60b9.png]

SKINSTEALER SCRAMBLE
[MAKE THE EXORCIST FALL IN LOVE]
by snapshot and parker mortis

i said i was ready for the review but i am sorry there actually are some more points to cover beforehand, just a lot less vague. as i've said, this one is Very Graphic, and about a lot of extremely painful topics- including ones i am deeply familiar with. if you're reading this review there is a high chance you know our work at least a little bit, and know that our whole deal is creating narratives about severe abuse and topics such as disability and queerness entangled within them. just as frequently, religion is involved- and often pulling from our experiences as an Ex-Christian, Sort Of. the more accurate term would be "christian-via-schizophrenic-mother's-religious-delusions", which has lead us to have a lot more strange and secular experiences with the stuff. even so, we gravitate towards media that takes on a lot of Good Ol Christian Values! through different approaches, and explores them in different ways.

our dear husband @comorant is also ex-catholic, and read this with us. he considers it one of the best portrayals of catholic guilt, repression, and most importantly, raw self destruction. i second this statement, from more of the angle of one of the best portrayals of being raised as an Other, forced to do roles and duties for some unseen, holy force- while the peers around you watch as you drive yourself into the ground.

it is a narrative critical of established oppressive structures and THOROUGHLY dissecting them with a laser sharp precision and a pointed stare at its audience. it is also a narrative of what enables those structures to exist on a fundamental level...and the way that OTHER people with different goals and an ever-similar longing for power can use that. this is not just a story about catholicism, of Satan vs God, etc, but about global power structures, reactionary movements, and what that does to oppressed classes. the most obvious route it takes with this is, arguably, the most unifying oppressed class in the entire world, throughout all of known history.

Exorcist is a shonen battle manga about systemic abuse of children.

the premise of Make the Exorcist Fall In Love is fairly straightforward, on the surface. god is real and so is the devil! and they're stuck in a holy war! fuck! the demon lords and witches are going head to head against the church, which has trained BATTLE EXORCISTS! IN FULL PRIEST REGALIA!

AND GOD FORBID THEY'RE TEENAGERS WITH FUNNY QUIRKY DESIGNS THAT'S RIGHT THIS REALLY IS A SHONEN!!!

this manga KNOWS it is a shonen- and it's proud of it. it is silly, it is flirtatious- after all, it is a romance! the title says it all! and that doesn't conflict with what topics it's taking on. if anything, it serves them beautifully. there will be tropes aplenty from shonen throughout the ages...and in ways that make me very, very happy. i am a shonen lover at my core, but the genre has always left me with a lot of scrambled, nasty feelings when it curveballs into sketchy territory. this goes right up to those tropes- SOMETIMES VERY BLUNTLY, and says. yeah no. that does suck. but let's not just bash it- let's talk about Why it is there, and give a good fucking alternative. we'll get into that, but...

onto our boy.

our main character is referred to most accurately as Mr. Priest, based on what i believe is the official translation, but i read this on a super legal manga site so what do i know. he Has a name, but we've never heard it- and no one uses it for him anyway. it's outright stated that he doesn't even want people to use it. the in-universe documents wedged between chapters don't even use it, even when they're official documents of the church itself- or hell, even diary entries of his mentors and the staff that raised him. he is a complete unknown, and even where we are at in the manga as of writing this- 81 chapters- there is still so much left up in the air.

he is, however, very clearly Made For This. he is a super powered mega priest who fuck man i don't even think you can powerscale so please don't try. what kills me about this is that it is established from the first chapter that this was not something he signed up for. this is all he's ever known, he's been groomed into this position and the thought of being anything But an exorcist does not exist in his head. many times throughout the manga, he repeats catholic beliefs so literally and so to the letter- usually while putting himself in harm's way- that even the other priests are disturbed.

i desperately do not want to spoil the majority of this manga, so i will not. not even under a spoiler box, i refuse to spoil this beyond the first chapter and some generalized discussion. let this be a warning though for the rest of this review: i cannot possibly CW for everything in this, but GRAPHIC depictions of children in peril, especially sexual, as well as frank takes on dealing with sexual guilt, are entrenched into the narrative and themes. if this is a lot for you, please turn around now.

in the very first chapter, amidst all of this introduction, we witness Priest be sexually assaulted in great detail by the demon lord of lust, Asmodeus. it is a harrowing scene and one of the most accurate depictions i've seen, at least to my own experiences, with a formative moment in life gone horrifically wrong in ways you cannot understand, and having to carry that. this is never, ever a joke. in fact, remember how i said this shonen takes on tropes and provides thoughtful commentary and alternatives?

common things, tropes, etc i have seen in shonen many, many times that this manga addresses with what i would argue is a fairly masterful stroke:

- male child protagonist being flustered by women in sexual situations
- unknowingly sexual loli trope (YES, REALLY, YOU ALL KNOW I WOULDNT FUCK AROUND IN SAYING THIS AT ALL)
- rape being funny
- rape being sexy (established from like chapter one in explicit, unambiguous detail)
- body horror as a vessel for ableist disgust
- shinji get in the robot
- extreme violence is coooool! (and also still manages to make it look cool amidst the commentary. this is the epitome of having its cake and eating it too.)

[Image: Beelzebub-Gehenna.png]

it also tackles on the following things, if that wasn't enough for you

- the nature of revenge
- the nature of love
- social media's presence in all of this and how it is manipulated, yes they have fucking iphones and twitter is real, this is a modern day manga and you will know it
- what it means to be a part of humanity
- biometric tracking
- the confusing feeling of wondering why a manga about battle priests may be my favorite of the year, both felt by me and you, the reader
- some of the best surrealist imagery and designs ive seen since chainsaw man, like, late stage chainsaw man for fuck's sake
- touys
- mother figures and the specific ableism they can exact
- an extremely nuanced exploration THROUGHOUT the manga of the different ways child predation can occur and what leads the victim into that situation
- the true nature of Sin- and how the seven sins can be used to discuss power structures that have perpetuated for all of known history and Why they've been allowed to perpetuate
- white boy depression
- no really the white boy depression is actually an enormous part of this
- the idea of men being inherent rapists and predators, and women being inherent sex objects and breeding stock (especially vulnerable ones such as children and minorities) (yes this manga takes on bioessentialism already and i can only imagine how the fuck it's going to go in the future)
- a harrowing exploration of how grooming can be exacted upon someone from an isolated world, i cannot spoil this one but jesus fucking christ
- homophobia! big time homophobia and predation both sexually and nonsexually related to it! abuse dynamics too- that's right folks, this is not a clean queer representation this is a NIGHTMARE SCENARIO FOR ALL INVOLVED
- Cuteness ™!
- reactionary movements both globally and in specific cultures (i don't think this mangaka pair likes america much and i cheer every time they write about it, genuinely fantastic analysis shit)
- what forgiveness Really means.

it's also got divine comedy shit, which is a drastic oversimplification but it made Como jump out of his chair and yell to see some really thoughtful use of that story- which, regular readers of our HD works know that that is one of his favorite things in the world.

but: after we set up our good boy Mr. Priest as the protag, and clearly some kind of catholic superhuman weapon...

we meet the conceit of the plot.

priest has been tasked with the protection of Imuri Atsuki, a famous teenage painter...

...who is also a succubus, trying to make him fall in love with her to thwart his impending onslaught on Satan and his demon lords.

what proceeds is one of the sweetest, goofiest, and heartwrenching romances i've read in a manga, with both of these two dumbass teens having to make their way through both the perils of untangling messy feelings, wrangling with disparity between what each person wants and needs, hiding secrets and repressed urges, deliberate lies and witholding and the consequences that come with it-

and it's good! it's really really good! you made me give a shit about teen romance when generally i really do not care for how most shit does it! good fucking job, Exorcist! it is BRUTAL, it is deeply upsetting, but god if i am not standing up and rooting for Mr. Priest to just catch a fucking break already and let himself get a hug without getting triggered and throwing up. i am desperate to watch this absolute nightmare unfold. i am so hooked. jesus fucking christ.

if i had to say something less enthusiastic about this manga...it is that my experience may not be yours. it Not being your thing could very possibly be true on a Large, Dramatic level, and that is because of a couple factors.

there is a shitload of delving into complicated topics of oppression, and every time they introduce a new intersectional vector to that, i'm very, Very pleased! for example, i was not expecting taking on historical depictions of religious ableism being so so deeply prominent in this one, and i love how it's taken on. however...

the things it digs its hands into are messy, complicated pieces of humanity and real world oppressive structures, and some things that may ring true to me, may not for another person- and frankly, that's okay. it feels like the team behind it deeply cares about portraying these things, and it's likely in the future they may express that in a way that isn't in line with my perspectives or experiences.

one thing i can think of off the top of my head is the emphasis on dissecting bioessentialism and natalism, particularly by religious groups- they haven't addressed how heavily this intersects with transphobia and especially transmisogyny- but honestly, i think there's a nonzero chance that they might. at this point in time there's been multiple gay characters (i'll get to that) and an enormous emphasis on characters feeling uneasy with a harshly enforced gender binary and being reduced to what bodies they were born with...i dunno. with how much this piece talks about minority groups both as a natural part of the worldbuild and the emergent political drama, i wouldn't be surprised.

similarly, there have not been many dark-skinned characters at all, with only one shown on screen thus far (and not for long). this is another thing where i have to wonder if they'll get to it, and if my gut feeling there that they Will is correct. i have no guarantees, so let the record state that yeah there is Not much at all in that department. thus far we have been deeply entrenched in stuff relating to italy and japan, and what comes next, i have literally no fucking idea.

onto the gay characters. i will not spoil who they are or what their deal is. that's for your adventure. i cannot guarantee you will like the way they are written, or agree that they are good representation, or whatever the fuck. but they have something to say, and at the very least, for me, i was captured the whole time.

and finally, lastly...

it does show the rape stuff on screen. like, really, really on screen. it shows these teenagers dealing with sexuality way more explicitly than i am usually comfortable with, by a long shot. if you have heard me talk about Evangelion, you understand where my boundaries are on this. personally, i was able to read all of this without getting triggered. there were points where i could barely breathe from the tension, but i did not break down. this is not likely to be a universal experience.

i really like this manga. i love it, even. it's possessing my brain and i am glad to let it. if you feel like you could give it a try, i say to go for it- and if you get to a point where you'd usually quit...maybe gauge whether you're up for hearing it out and seeing what it has to say. i gave it a lot of chances i usually wouldn't- and it more than paid off.