Chainsaw Man Fandom Rallies Behind Bullied Denji Cosplayer

Chainsaw Man is one of the biggest names in anime these days. From its hit manga to its thrilling first season, Chainsaw Man is at the top of its game. This means more than a few fans have channeled Tatsuki Fujimoto’s hit anime for costumes and cosplays as of late. And after one young fan was bullied for their take on Denji, the Chainsaw Man family has come together to show love to the boy.

The story came to light online after James Fuller took to X (Twitter) to share their son’s experience. It turns out their son Dante chose to dress up as Chainsaw Man for Halloween. When he went to school, the boy was bullied for his rather sick costume, and Fuller detailed the upsetting story for netizens.

“Today I was reminded of how awful and cruel kids can be to other kids… Dante was so proud of his costume and wore it to school for the costume contest (that he has won 2 years in a row) and a bunch of kids made fun of him, picked on him, and even ruined his costume and broke it apart while he was wearing it causing him to phone Nikki to come pick him up cause he didn’t want to be there anymore,” the father shared.

“Their reasons were because the character is from an anime and anime is for losers… i am heartbroken for him, he is so upset he doesn’t even want to trick or treat tonight and just wants to hide in the house.”

It did not take long for the post to get love online as the anime fandom stands up for its own. With the medium becoming more popular by the day, the time of anime’s obscurity has long passed. The industry is as mainstream as you can get as brands like Netflix and Disney have invested heavily in anime. So once the anime fandom caught wind of this story, thousands reached out to show Dante love.

Of course, the cast of Chainsaw Man itself was quick to reach out. Over on social media, the English voice actor for Denji shared some words of encouragement with Dante and his family. “Dante is clearly the coolest kid in his school & absolutely should be proud of this beautiful costume! I’m so deeply sorry he had to experience such cruelty from his classmates but clearly he’s as tough & spirited as Denji & WE are all absolutely on his side,” Ryan Colt Levy shared.

In a following update by Fuller, the father did give a bit more context on what happened to his son’s bullies. The group was punished accordingly for harassing Dante and ruining his costume. “Just so everyone knows the school was extremely good about it and dealt with the 3 bullies that ruined my sons costume and suspended them from school and brought in the parents. My son didn’t care about an apology because he knew it would be fake and told the school as much. So it has been dealt with the only way it can be for now,” he shared.

“Thank you everyone for your kind words and support for my son and his love of cosplay and anime. It means the world to him knowing there is so much support and love out there.”

It should really go without saying that bullying is never okay, and it takes a special person to come out of it for the best. Dante seems to be one of those kids, and his father’s support has hopefully shown the kid just how cool his Halloween costume is. And if anyone tells the kid otherwise, well – they can stew in their own self-afflicted inferiority. 

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