Ignore This Post It’s Not Important - Blog Posts

After finishing the second season yesterday and ruminating a bit about it, I can confidently say I agree.

I’m still sad that manga Chishiya will only be a part of manga Chishiya and with that have less of an audience but I can also see the qualities of the LA version.

I think I was and am just sad that a character I adore was never shown in the end. By that I mean we only got a part of manga Chishiyas story. I was looking forward to the Mona Lisa scene and kuzuryu pressing both 0 and 1. I have something to say to Kuzuryu too an actual complaint of the LA.

Perhaps I was bitter- no I am probably bitter about it. I wanted to see those beautiful scenes in another medium. So it makes sense why I was so upset. I do hope it will be animated one day. What id give to heat a lovely soundtrack combined with rain sounds as Chishiya stands in-front of the ♢king entrance. I truly hope it will be made…

I musst seem oddly passionate about this story. I can’t help it though, it’s precious to me. I really am sad it wasn’t told in full- guess that’s just the pain one needs to expect when something gets adapted. Most times they change at least something anyway.

No, the Netflix live action (adaptation) doesn't butcher Chishiya's backstory. The two different backstories are relevant in explaining apathy.

(And as a manga reader who respects the mangaka (edit: and the scriptwriters), I see Live Action Chishiya and Manga Chishiya as two separate yet equally cool characters).

Apathy is rooted from a damaging childhood and a traumatizing adulthood.

This apathy is the reason why both Manga Chishiya and Live Action Chishiya seemed "unbothered", when they were actually almost mentally numb.

For apathy to start (with no neurological causes), one must be either an abused kid, or a traumatized and burned out adult, or both.

The emotional abuse that Manga Chishiya had to endure was killing him on the inside. So much that he chose medicine out of spite (although he said otherwise), and deteriorated.

While we don't know what made Live Action Chishiya chose medicine, the fact remains that he didn't do anything to save his patients from being manslaughtered and let it slide as an everyday decision.

Aren't these two the cases of apathy? Aren't these two backstories enough to explain that both Chishiyas are morally complicated?

No? Then let me explain more.

The post-Borderland consequences of the two different backstories matter in different ways for Chishiya.

Manga Chishiya would have to heal his inner wounded child and make up for his immoral act against his dying patient (the letter throwing), and for disregarding life (his and others). Maybe he would quit medicine as he rediscovers himself. Maybe he would be a better med student and then doctor. Maybe he would cut ties with his family. I don't know.

Meanwhile, Live Action Chishiya would have to come to terms with the fact that he was a gaslit, powerless adult who conspired with criminals in a series of manslaughter. Maybe he'd be a whistleblower. Possibly jailed. Made an outcast. Hated by the public and the patients. Or, he could become an anonymous whistleblower while recovering. Again, I don't know.

And the point is they both matter.

Also, no, the live action doesn't try to "make Chishiya more palatable to the public" as accused by some fellow manga readers, imho.

Because even in real life, complicit whistleblowers are shunned. Let alone a criminal. And what Chishiya did in the live action, no matter how decent a doctor he might've seemed at the start, was immoral and criminal.

So how can you call Live Action Chishiya "more morally palatable", when he did worse things than Manga Chishiya?

Instead of chasing palatability, the live action inserts an ongoing social problem into the character. There's a current debate in the ethics, medical and social research circles (for example in Germany) whether manipulation of organ transplant waitlist is considered manslaughter or organizational deviance. People actually die while waiting for their organ transplants, so when the waitlist is manipulated, isn't that a crime? I'm thankful that the show attached this complicated real time issue to Chishiya.

Child abuse and its long-lasting effects on children (the case of Manga Chishiya) will always be relevant. But so will the moral weight of taking lives (the case of Live Action Chishiya).

Last but not least, at the end of the day, didn't both Manga Chishiya and Live Action Chishiya want to change? Didn't they both save an innocent life? Why must it matter how they started out as long as they both emerged in the light?

Thanking user @kinnsporsche for their post.

Edited for grammatical reasons, clarity and more arguments.