I hope you enjoy this video essay where I look at the themes of Kengan Ashura.

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I really like the idea of analyzing the ideas and themes of Kengan Ashura since I think the premise of the manga lends itself to this kind of analysis.

Marx detailed his theory of alienation in the economic and philosophical manuscripts of 1844:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx...

If anyone is interested in a more academic explanation of Marx's concept of alienation then please check out this video by Gregory B. Sadler. He is an actual philosophy professor,, but I know more about anime than him (probably):    • World Views and Values: Karl Marx, Es...  

timestamps
0:00 Introduction
2:59 Part One: Alienation from nature and like stuff in general
13:42 Part Two: Alienation from other workers
22:43 Part Three: Alienation from value
30:52 Part Four: Alienation from human nature
36:52 Part Five: Inability to think of oneself as apart from the system
41:44 Part Six: Alienation from labor
48:52 Part Seven: Ruining their minds and mortifying their bodies
53:43 Conclusion