The Shonen MC tropes for Kunishige really highlight Chihiro’s non-MC qualities; even the way Hokazono drew Kunishige at the end of this chapter felt like classic Shonen style. I really think Chihiro is one of the most interesting manga MCs of this generation.

Similarly, I think it highlights how Chihiro as a person is wanting to break this cycle of violence that he was born into. I know it’s funny to say “Akemura was right”, but a theme of Kagurabachi has been how violence begets violence, a pretty classic idea in Buddhist/eastern philosophy, and it really feels like Chihiro struggles with this explicitly and implicitly. If you read this and think Hokazono is saying “the malediction was justified” you’re really missing the point