I think my favorite thing about Barem, is that he’s not some grand evil villain in an anime. That’s what he WANTS to be. He wants to be this arch nemesis, with this great climactic battle. But he’s nobody. He’s a pawn like everybody else.
He tries so hard to endlessly aura farm, and Denji barely cares to play his games. Thats why Denji cutting to the chase this chapter is so satisfying for me.
And this isn’t something solely tied to Barem either. Every other weapon hybrid has this aura of self importance, this belief that they’re all part of something greater. Yet no matter how cool they try and seem, they get cut down by people with little to no interest in their ‘super cool secret motives.’
The only exception being Quanxi and Reze, who are the only other hybrids self aware enough to realize their place in the world. And you can feel the weight they carry with them of feeling like they’re on a doomed fated path, with little to no control.
And unlike the other weapon devils, they’re actually able to aura farm succesfully because of that. Lol.