#dazai analysis
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what is with dazai bringing people into the mafia that interest him? like, akutagawa seems similar to me with wanting to find a reason to live. so lets bring him into the mafia because when i wanted to find a reason to live i was brought into the mafia. then with oda, he seems like a genuinely kind person (that I've ever met) that sees me for a child and not a demon prodigy for once, so let's bring him into the mafia. then with chuuya, he seems so fascinatingly human and unpredictable to me and makes me want to try out to living for once in my apathetic teen life so let's bring him into the mafia!
#teen dazai was so unhinged ong#bsd#bungou stray dogs#dazai osamu#nakahara chuuya#akutagawa ryuunosuke#oda sakunosuke#bsd analysis#dazai analysis#chuuya & dazai#dazai & oda#dazai & akutagawa#abuse chain#double black#skk#mafia dazai#fifteen light novel#the day i picked up dazai#bsd season 5#dark era bsd
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A few month ago I did an analysis of two VERY important scenes for Dazai’s development and grief of Oda but also for Dazai and Atsushi’s relationship that is far more important than this fandom seems to realize so I’ll share it with y’all today <3
So the scenes are from Dead Apple, the first one is more than a famous scene but I feel like so many people just miss the real meaning behind it.
In this scene Dazai is at Oda’s grave, like he seems to often do, it’s just a matter of facts, and Atsushi come to see him because Kunikida wanted him to come to the next meeting, anyway.
Atsushi points out the fact that Dazai is « visiting a grave » and it seems to make Dazai tick, and he ends up even pointing it out as a question.
In fact the reason why Dazai asks this seemingly obvious question but shows surprise in his reaction to Atsushi's answer is because to him he isn't visiting a grave in an act of grieving but he is visiting an old friend of his.
At this moment of the story he probably still didn't acknowledge Oda's death and didn't ever properly grieve him during the past four years but Atsushi being very honest and answering so bluntly made him finally realize that yes, Odasaku is now a part of his past and he needs to move on.
To me this scene just show’s how Atsushi’s innocence is more than beneficial to Dazai, he helps him see things under angles he would have never thought of, and Atsushi being just so naturally honest he know he would never lie to him, just like talking to a kid.
Without this simple yet absolutely necessary moment Dazai would have probably never moved on ever from what happened with Odasaku, never truly acknowledging his death and continuing on visiting a friend rather than the grave of a friend.
But then, this scene leads to the second that is even more meaningful, but you can only grasp it if you know what I just explained.
A little later in the movie dazai goes to the Lupin, we all know this bar is deeply linked to the dark era and to Odasaku in general, it was the place they saw each other the most.
He went there seemingly only to drink a whiskey and take the pill that will have its importance later in the movie. But he in fact does it in an act of real grief. He could have taken the pill anywhere else but he decided to go there and it holds such a deep importance for him.
Atsushi opened Dazai’s eyes on the fact that he never grieved Odasaku and so that’s exactly what he does there.
It’s also so terribly meaningful because Dazai knows that he could die during the operation, his survival being only based on his trust for Chuuya, but it’s a talk for another time.
What is important is his acknowledgment of a potential death, he came here knowing that it could be his last. For a moment he reminisces one important memory for him and Odasaku, and even for the movie in itself but this again can be analyzed on its own.
After taking the pill he gets up and finally says one last goodbye to Odasaku, without any doubt the most important of his life, meaning that now he is a part of his past and he is moving on from this moment of his life after sharing one last drink with his memory.
You can also notice that dazai sat at the exact same spot he used to sit on during the dark era and Oda’s glass is also in front of his own sit.
He will later on never come back to the Lupin.
That’s it pookies !! Dazai’s grieving of Odasaku has always been so fascinating to me, the four years of denial before acknowledging the fact thanks to a young boy that didn’t even met grief yet, everything about all this is beautiful to me and certainly not talked about enough.
Thank you for reading and have a nice one !
#bsd#bsd analysis#bsd dazai#dazai osamu#dazaibsd#dazai analysis#odazai#oda sakunosuke#bsd odasaku#odasaku sakunosuke#bungo stray dogs odasaku#bungou gay dogs#dead apple#bsd dead apple#bungo stray dogs dead apple#bungo stray dogs dazai
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Has Dazai ever been emotionally neglectful towards Atsushi?
Short answer: yes.
We will be talking about chapter 25 in the manga.
But, what is emotional neglect? Disregard/invalidate/ignore/failure towards someone’s else emotional needs.
Some people say that Dazai slapped him to comfort Atsushi, when it obviously isn’t for that; he slapped him to get him out of a panic attack, Dazai went with the most logical option that was slap him to get him out of the panic attack as fast as possible, which is a disregard to Atsushi’s emotions, what Atsushi needed at the moment was comfort due to almost killing Naomi and hurting Haruno as self-defense when he already was being a bit more confident with himself, then having PTSD and a panic attack, in what world is slapping someone when having a panic attack comforting? Dazai could have comfort Atsushi, yet he didn’t. Even if he gave Atsushi advice afterwards, can it really be justified with just that? Sure, in his eyes before slapping Atsushi there was a doubt, and at the same time pity I can guess, but even then, that isn’t correct and is neither a good option for “comforting” someone out of a panic attack.
Someone in a comment of a similar post in tiktok about this topic had said that it was how he probably was treated and that he didn't know any better, however does that excuse anything? not to mention that it hasn't been confirmed how he was raised (before the pm), it's not really a good argument, not to mention that the he didn't know any better isn't an argument, does that excuse parents that abuse their kids because they were abused too as a child and didn’t know any better? it doesn't, and going on by that, then how would you explain that Dazai abused Akutagawa because he didn’t know any better yet said that with Oda Akutagawa would be better treated, Dazai learned from what happened with Akutagawa and saying that he didn't know any better is simply sugar coating it.
What Dazai did to Atsushi still can't be considered as abuse contrary to what some people say, but it can be considered as emotional neglect towards Atsushi, because abuse has to be something that is repeated; a pattern, and Dazai doesn’t neglect Atsushi’s emotions repeatedly, Dazai comforted Atsushi when the headmaster died. What Dazai said to Atsushi in chapter 39 of the manga was exactly what he needed to hear. Even though the headmaster had been abusive towards Atsushi, Atsushi still considered him as a father.
Thank you for reading!
#bsd#bsd analysis#bungou stray dogs#bsd dazai#dazai#dazai analysis#dazai osamu#bungou stray dogs dazai#atsushi nakajima#analysis#atsushi analysis#bsd atsushi#akutagawa ryuunosuke#bsd akutagawa#oda sakunosuke
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You guys ever think about how Dazai is really smart and can comprehend complex situations despite constantly consuming alcohol and drugs before the age of 24, which is around the age the pre frontal cortex fully matures, and the development of that part of the brain can be heavily affected negatively by the use of drugs?
The pre frontal cortex is responsable for planning, formulating strategies, taking executive decisions, its important for emotional behaviour, cognitive functions, thinking, sensorial perception, expression of personality(which one?), the making of decisions and complex thoughts.
Such area of the brain can be damaged heavily by the usage of drugs, alcohol, etc. It can impact ones life drastically considering a damaged PFC can lead to irritability, short-term memory loss, lack of empathy, impulsiveness and difficult planning. Many would say that someone with a damaged pre frontal cortex from a young age might have a big chance of ending up a ‘nobody’(my father literally said that 😭).
Though the PFC only gets truly damaged if drugs are taken on a regular basis, once in a LONG while doesn’t quite do anything.
So, Dazai could be(prob is) naturally smart enough to not be affected by a damaged PFC (which is not quite uncommon, since iq tends to not be completely related to the pre frontal cortex all that much), or he recovered from the damage, or I don’t know what I’m doing :)
#dazai osamu#bsd dazai#dazai analysis#bungou stray dogs#bsd#skk#osamu dazai#bsd headcanons#bsd dazai osamu#bsd analysis#shh.. kao is rambling
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Dazai osamu: Evolution
In a lot of ways this is where my Dazai analysis will really start, this is going to be insanely long so be prepared. It also has spoilers of the manga, anime, and most of the light novels.
I’ve talked about how is a mistake to measure Dazai’s character growth in terms of morality, because that has never been the main point of his characterization. Being a “good” or a “Bad” person is not as important as the fandom makes it to be. Dazai is unapologetically a morally grey character and he will always be. However, this doesn’t mean that Dazai hasn’t changed.
He has and it goes far beyond him changing into a boring trench coat and calling himself a detective. He has changed so fundamentally speaking that I’d go and say that right now is the most developed character in this area and the thing that make this even more surprising is that his character growth has not finished yet. He keeps evolving.
To understand this let’s start analyzing him chronologically:
Fifteen year old Dazai is probably the lowest we’ve ever seen Dazai. Starting fifteen, Dazai is showed to us as someone who genuinely wants to die, he is /not/ attempting suicide as a joke, is not a comedic relief. Fifteen year old Dazai wants to die with a desperation that borders on madness. He is so tired of living, so bored of life and the people that surround him, about how predictable they are, about how easy is to manipulate them, there’s not a thing in this world that can surprise him, he is living in this permanent state of numbness. He is completely lonely in a world that will never be able to understand him. And let me make a pause to talk about the fact that it has been /heavily/ implied that Dazai was living in this situation for a long time. People loves to blame Mori for Dazai’s personality but this is simply and canonically speaking not true.
Dazai has already formed most of his worse personality traits by the time Mori found him. Let me remind you that they met when Mori saved Dazai’s life /after/ he attempted suicide at fourteen. Fandom loves to act as Dazai was a perfectly healthy kid that Mori ruined when that’s not true. Mori made it worse, yes. But he wasn’t the cause of it.
“Miscalculation.
You misjudged the situation, he told himself. You failed to pick the optimal solution. You shouldn’t have chosen this child to help you. Dazai is unpredictable. He can be sharp but in a dark, twisted way. He’s observant. He’s cold and calculating with no equivalent even in the mafia, where the most evil reside”- Mori about Dazai, ligh novel fifteen.
I will talk about this more depth in another essay about Soukoku and the mafia but this is important to aknowledge. Dazai was like this even /before/ Mori’s influence, Mori was scared of him even when Dazai was just a child because he saw how deeply disconnected from his humanity he was. How cruel, cold and calculating he could be.
So going back to the main idea, at this point of the story, Dazai is already numb, manipulative, and machiavellian, he doesn’t trust in anyone and his only real connection is with Mori that looks at him like a convenient weapon to wield. But the most important trait of Dazai at this age? Is how deeply apathetic Dazai is to everything. At this stage of life Dazai lives in a pure nihilism, he doesn’t believe in /anything/, he conceives life as completely meaningless, he doesn’t see a point in existing when there’s no a reason for it. It’s so bad that it’s funny. Mori knows about the /raw/ potential in Dazai, about how valuable he can be as a tool but he can’t use him because Dazai is so unmotivated that he simply doesn’t give a damn about anything. He is a genius and he only uses his intellect to try to kill himself. He can’t be bothered with anything else, even breathing is an annoying task and a waste of effort and then…this happens:
I’m not pointing this out as a soukoku shipper because this is not even a soukoku analysis, this is all about Dazai. People will always talk about Fifteen importance for chuuya, but fifteen was also fundamental in Dazai’s arc.
Cold and apathetic Dazai was literally kicked in the face by his biggest narrative foil. Chuuya who is loud, and ridiculously emotional, who can’t for the life of him hide his expressions, who is a terrible liar, impulsive, pathologically loyal to the point of idiocy, and so fucking full of vitality, so hungry for life. And so /unbearable human/. And then Dazai gets annoyed, and surprised, and out of nowhere he is screaming at the top of his lungs, showing /emotion/, he is curious, he is intrigued. He went from saying that breathing is such a hassle to fucking throwing a party and singing happily while he, in person, decorates, he even got a cake for fuck’s sake.
He doesn’t understand chuuya, he is curious about the sheep dynamics and as the story progresses we realize that this is probably the first time that Dazai fucks up, he failed to predict a situation, he didn’t saw it coming.
He wasn’t able to realize that Chuuya was Arahabaki, he didn’t even thought about that possibility. Because since the first moment, he never thought that chuuya could be something else than human. He didn’t saw Rimbaud coming because the idea of a person going that far for someone else? Is ridiculous, it doesn’t make sense, is illogical. It’s not how people are supposed to act.
“-So it’s all for your partner-Dazai said listlessly- Betraying the mafia, spreading rumors about the old boss’s resurrection, this fight we’re in now…it’s kind of hard to believe, to be honest
-Maybe for a slimeball like you it is- Chuuya scoffed. He looked up at Randou- Throwing everything away for your friends is a perfectly respectable reason to risk your life if you ask me”- Dazai and chuuya, fifteen years old. (Pause to scream about how much I love chuuya, help)
So basically every thing that happened in fifteen leads to this:
And this guys, is one of the angular stones in Dazai’s development.
“The boy’s eyes were as clear as the sky on a sunny day; they lacked any shred of trepidation. This was not something earned, for only those determined to live could possess their heavenly blue sparkle”- about Dazai, fifteen.
This is the /only/ moment in the entirety of the series where Dazai not only doesn’t want to die, but that he /actively/ is looking towards life. The only moment in all bsd, Dazai is excited at the perspective of living. Fifteen is so important because this is the first time, Dazai’s view of life is challenged. Dazai was wrong. He made mistakes. People are not as predictable and boring as he thought. Dazai doesn’t suddenly start thinking that life has meaning, but he starts thinking that it /may/ exist, he just hasn’t found it yet.
This scene makes a radical switch in Dazai’s character because his primary goal changed from wanting to die to finding a reason to live.
In fifteen Dazai found hope, and everything that came after is possible because of this.
And it’s logical to an extent. He doesn’t understand life, but maybe if he understands death he can come closer to understand it. People always lie but when they are about to die? People become genuine, pretensions disappear, what do you cling to when you don’t have anything? When you’re dying, why do you keep fighting? If he can understand this, then maybe he can understand the sense in life. Maybe he can connect with his own desires and emotions. Maybe he can find his own reason to exist.
Unfortunately this doesn’t last.
By stormbringer, Dazai falls into despair once again, he goes back to looking for his death.
“Dazai glanced back at him, perhaps amused by this, then he muttered as if he was talking to himself. -I couldn’t find anything in the end’- Dazai osamu, stormbringer
“It seems true that he wants to die. It seems that all the value standards of living reflected in his eyes are just as worthless and ugly as scrap iron”- Oda about Dazai, The day I picked up Dazai osamu side A, translated by poppopretty
For a long time, I thought that was the culmination of Dazai’s development as a character. He went from wanting to die to trying to find a reason to live, he struggles but he is trying.
I was wrong.
Chuuya solves his main conflict in stormbringer, Dazai doesn’t. To understand this, we need to understand that one the main themes in Bungou stray dogs is existentialism.
In simple (extremely simple) words existentialism can be defined as: “ the philosophical belief we are each responsible for creating purpose or meaning in our own lives”. Which means that in a way existentialism also understands that life can be meaningless, that maybe there’s not a big purpose in existence BUT that doesn’t have to mean that it has to stay that way. Existentialism defends that people can find their own purpose and maybe is not something big, it may be not life changing for others, but is something people cling to and that’s enough to give sense to the world. I will be talking more in depth about this in chuuya’s analysis but right now the important thing is to understand that this is not enough for Dazai.
He /needs/ a bigger purpose, a better answer, something objective and logical, something that can’t be debated. Because if it’s not, then Dazai’s genius mind will pick on that and he will once again be drown in desperation. Dazai needs an absolute answer.
Enter oda, the catalyst of Dazai’s next biggest arc as a character. But first let’s understand sixteen year old Dazai’s perspective of live, shall we?
“- you said it is foolish to die, right? So here is my question. If dying is foolish, then why do we have to die?
(…)
-So, you mean life is not something to regret?
-No, it is worse than that. Even though we are all promised death, from the beginning, all human beings were born with a present desire called “I don’t want to die”. This is also one hundred percent true. That is why, that desire will never be fulfilled”- The day I picked up Dazai Osamu, transplanted by poppypretty
So, to summarize Dazai can’t understand what’s the point in living if by the end there’s no real point in it. There’s nothing there, there’s not a reason to suffer so much because that’s what he is doing. He is suffering. He is all alone, feeling like an alien in a world of humans, just using a mask and trying to hide how really inhuman and empty he is behind all of that and for what? The world is senseless. Worse than that, there are not a lot of things he cares about but when he finds something worth preserving, he loses it. Dazai is in a horrible situation because his intelligence alienates him and isolates him from other people but it’s not enough to win against the senseless of life. He lives at edge, trying to predict and control everything to protect himself and the things important to him, he purposefully goes along with the alienation and isolates himself more thus going farther from his humanity, and at the end is worthless. Because it doesn’t matter how intelligent he is, is still not enough, he will never be able to control everything, he will never be able to predict everything with 100% of accuracy because life doesn’t work in that way, is all about chaos. And Dazai can’t deal with that.
Time passes, by eighteen years old, Dazai in a lot of ways gets worse. He is the “Demon prodigy” destructive, cruel, a master in torture and his mental state continues to get worse and worse but funnily enough he is still standing and that’s thanks to two things:
1) the hope he found at fifteen and never let him. Yes, Dazai goes back to wanting to die because life sometimes becomes unbearable but his goal is still to find a reason to live. And that didn’t changed.
2) his friends. Odasaku, Ango and Lupin bar are important things for Dazai. He is still lonely but it’s a little better
Then everything goes to shit.
But I want you to understand this. After Oda decides to die, Dazai tries to stop him and this is what he says:
“-Find something to rely on. Expect good things to happen from here on out. There’s gotta be something…Hey Odasaku, do you know why I joined the mafia? (…) I joined the mafia because of an expectation I had. I thought if I was close to death and violence-close to people giving in to their urges and desires, then I would be able to see the inner nature of humankind up close. I thought if I did that…I would be able to find something-a reason to live”- Dazai Osamu, Dark era.
This is frankly tragic, because just as I said in previous analysis. Dazai’s worse trait, the real cause of all his suffering is his complete lack of self awareness. His main problem is not his lack of understanding of life, is the lack of understanding of himself. He thinks that understanding human at their most basic, desperate state will make him understand better humankind and that ultimately will make him closer to his humanity. But that’s not how it works. He can’t just watch from afar and expect that to be enough. Dazai needs to connect with himself, even the worse parts of himself, even the parts he doesn’t want to see instead of covering them up, he needs to let himself bond with other people, he needs to connect with his own emotions and desires. He needs to leave his overly complex ideas behind, to go down from the high horse he is in, to stop with the omniscient being act that aggravate his isolation and alienation, the things that ultimately make him perceive himself as something inhuman. He needs to accept that at the end of the day he is just human, just like the rest of the world and he is just as powerless as them.
Now let’s go to arguably Dazai’s most important scene as a character: Odasaku’s death
People love to make this scene about soukoku and it’s fucking ridiculous.
People will take this scene and put it as evidence for the “Chuuya’s always the second choice” theory that they came up with (even if the whole theory is fucking ) but specifically this? Dazai leaving the mafia? Has nothing to do with chuuya. It’s part of his /individual/ character development and exactly what it should be.
Let’s start analyzing it
Dazai arrives and Oda is dying, he is desperate to save him even when he know is too late and the Odasaku says something. And this, this guys is what ultimately leads to Dazai’s character growth.
“-you told me if you put yourself in a world of violence and bloodshed, you might be able to find a reason to live (…) you won’t find it-Odasaku said in an almost whisper. Dazai stared at him- You should know that. Whether you’re on the side that takes lives or the side that saves them, nothing beyond your own expectations will happen. Nothing in this world can fill the hole that is your loneliness. You will wander the darkness for eternity”
“ That was when Dazai first realized: Sakunosuke oda understood him much more than he’d ever imagined- right up to his very heart, almost to the center of his mind. Dazai didn’t realize until then that someone had known him so well. For the first time in his life, Dazai wanted from the bottom oh his heart to know something. He asked the man before him:
-Odasaku, What should I do-“- Odasaku and Dazai osamu, Dark era
This is the most important scene for Dazai. He has always been lonely, he has always lived with the knowledge that it doesn’t matter how much he tries, no one will ever able to understand him but then just minutes before oda’s death he realizes he was wrong. To say that he left the mafia for oda is as inexact as saying that he decided to live for chuuya. It’s simply not true. He was heavily influenced by both of them but at the end of the day it was for himself.
“People live to save themselves”
I’ve say it before but this sentence is the core of bsd. If you want to analyze a character in this series, not matter who, you need to start by this quote. Dazai is not the exception to it.
He joined the mafia trying to find his own salvation, to get closer to his humanity, to find his reason for living, to find answers and he left because he realized it was useless. He always knew in a way, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave because this was his only chance, the mafia was his only hope, was the only thing he was clinging to. Even in his worst moments, Dazai still clung to the idea that he would find what he was looking for. But then, while dying oda talks to him and he realizes that there was someone who understood. Someone who knew about his pain, someone who understood his desperation, someone who looked through the mask and realized how utterly broken he was. And thing is, he failed, he tried the logical option and he found nothing but then maybe oda, oda who knows him best, oda who probably understands him better that he understand himself can tell him what to do. That’s why Dazai is so desperate in this scene, asking what to do. Because this is a new chance, there’s new hope. What Oda said might sound horrible but it was exactly what Dazai needed to hear and is the reason I was wrong.
Dazai doesn’t read as a character who went from wanting to die to wanting to find a reason to live.
Because to begin with, what Dazai was looking for was completely unreachable because it doesn’t exist. He can be looking for a reason to live all his life and he won’t find it because there’s not an absolute answer. There is not a bigger motive. The world really is senseless, that’s how it is. And Dazai needed to understand that. That’s why oda tells him to forget all about that silly hope. Because is useless.
“Be on the side that saves people. If both sides are the same, then choose to become a good person. Save the weak, protect the orphaned. You might not see a great difference between right and wrong, but…saving others is something just a bit more wonderful”- Oda Sakunosuke, dark era.
But that doesn’t mean than living is worthless
And this is how we come to Dazai’s real change as character. Dazai goes from nihilism, to a failed attempt of existentialism to absurdism.
Absurdism is the philosophical theory that existence in general is absurd, meaning that the world lacks meaning or a higher purpose. It also refers to the discrepancy between two things such as: the conflict as a colission between a rational man in an irrational world. In simple words, absurdism refers to the struggle of the man to find sense in a senseless world and we can see the mental impact of this struggle in the form of existential crises (yes, just like Dazai) Okay so I swear this made perfect sense in my own language, I’m gonna try as best as I can to explain it in English. Absurdism is different from existentialism because it doesn’t think that you can find a sense in the world, it really defends that not matter what you do, you will never find anything, that it doesn’t matter what you cling to in the great scheme of things it still means nothing, and in a way this need to find a sense in life will lead to more chaos BUT it also defends that you have to keep living despite that, maybe out of pure spite of it. Things doesn’t need to make sense to be worthy.
Absurdism says that there are three options to deal with this problem
Suicide: the pure desperation of trying to reach something that doesn’t exist will lead to the rejection of life. But this is not the correct answer (Cough, young Dazai, cough)
Religion: trying to cope, clinging to the idea that there’s a higher purpose. (Cough, Fyodor, Cough)
Rebellion against the absurd: which is the right answer, the individual needs to learn to accept the absurdity of the world and of his own existence but keep opposing to it. Which means, that the individual keeps living clinging to little things that may not have sense, but that are still worthy and valuable. In even simpler terms, absurdism says “do what you have to do to stop from killing yourself, not matter how stupid that thing is”
Cadmus explained it even better using this example:
You all know about Sisyphus, right? If not is basically this man that was punished by the gods. The punishment consisted of rolling a massive rock up a hill, but it doesn’t matter how hard he tried, at the end of the day, once the rock reached the top it would roll down again. So it was a completely senseless punishment. Not matter how Sisyphus tried he could never win against the absurdity of it. And this also happens with human lives, we do meaningless things all the time, knowing that at the end we will die. Not matter what we do, if we end up as vagabonds or if we find the cure against cancer, the result is still the same, we will all die, so everything we do in life is pointless. BUT Cadmus said that you still can’t give up. Because at the end, sisyphus needs to stop caring about something that he can’t change, the result will always be the same but the important thing is the instant of happiness when he comes close to finishing his job. The moment when the rock reaches the top? seconds before it rolls down, that satisfaction? Is what life is really about. And that’s exactly what Dazai is trying to do right now.
He won’t find sense in life, but being in the ADA is a little more beautiful and that alone is reason enough to be there. Maybe he is not a good person, maybe he doesn’t understand morals but he is with people he has come to appreciate in a better environment doing something that he enjoys more and that’s enough.
There’s this omake in bsd that shows a conversation between Atsushi and Dazai. And Atsushi asks Dazai, why he is in the ADA because someone as intelligent as Dazai can surely find a job with better pay, and Dazai looks at him and tell him that it’s true, but he is fine where he is because he likes to use his brain to help people. That guys, is absurdism right there, Dazai acknowledges that it may not makes sense but he likes what he does and that’s enough.
This change has been gradual and Dazai still struggles with it. He still has problems with the idea of letting things go, he still is a manipulative bastard and that will never change, because at this point is just a part of his personality, he still is trying to control everything but at the same time he also is ready to accept that sometime you just don’t have the answers and that’s part of humanity. This is one of my favorite panels on earth:
Dazai is trying to convince kyouka of living, to choose to do something different from the things she’s good at, if that what makes her happy. This is one of the few scenes Dazai accepts that he is not omniscient, that there are no answers for all the questions, and that we are all a little lost because of it. This is also the first time Dazai is not in desperation while saying it. His growth is not about becoming a good person, he still does horrible things, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t changed. To accept that life is senseless but it still is worthy, to accept that he can’t control everything but the possibilities of it are not necessarily something to be afraid but opportunities? /That’s/ his character growth
This whole arc is a masterpiece because it highlights Dazai’s growth. He is against Fyodor, who in a lot of ways is just like him but at their core they are completely different.
This hands down is my favorite Dazai’s panel because is all about his growth. Because he can see what Fyodor doesn’t. Fyodor see himself as a god, Dazai doesn’t because he knows that it doesn’t matter if they are pulling the strings, they are still isolated and alienated from everything, the people that really is moving the world is the one out there, the people that jumps even when they don’t know if they will be caught. The people that don’t know half of what they know but still are able to move in the middle of the uncertainty. And that’s something that neither Fyodor nor Dazai are able to do. But Dazai is no longer in pain because of that, he now understands the problem and is trying his best to overcome it. Dazai stopped resenting the world for being senseless and illogical and is learning to accept it and just adapt as best as he can to it. To give everything for the people he cares about even when there’s no guarantee that it will end well, but Dazai is trying and that’s what matters.
I really wish I had the time to make a better analysis but I don’t. Even then, I wanted to share my pure love and admiration to this character. Dazai is so beautifully written and by far the most complex character in this whole story, all of his development as a character is simply fascinating and the way Asagiri is writing him right now has me screaming and running in circles.
#bsd#bungou stray dogs#dazai bsd#dazai osamu#soukoku#skk#dazai analysis#bsd spoilers#this is annoyingly long
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Ranpo and Dazai parrelels. In dark era, Dazai had a plan in which he was held at gunpoint, basically put in danger. He talks about how everything when according to his plan, and Oda is unamused at it.
Similarly, in untold orgins, a similar scernio occurs in which Ranpo puts himself in danger knowing Fukuzawa would save him. Instead of being hit with unamused words, he was hit with a slap because of how upset Fukuzawa was with Ranpo putting himself in danger like that.
They both are genuises that had certain planned/use their knowledge to their advantage, but this causes a disconnect with the people around them as they don't consider how the others around them feel about them putting themself in danger. Thus, showing while they are genuises and prodigies, the human mind has shown to be troubling for them and something they fail to understand to a certain extent. Now that I think about it the "a mind of a steel trap" quote Oda said can be applicaple to Ranpo as well. However, Ranpo was not as far into the darkness of the world as Dazai. But what if Fukuzawa never found Ranpo? He already had shown to think as human as monsters due to a not understanding how they felt and the agency was a place made for him that helped him as well. What if someone like Mori found Ranpo instead of Fukuzawa?
But overall, both characters are similar in ways and I wanted to point it out.
#prodigies that are very smart but even so they can be trapped in their own minds#the sharpest detectives in the agency that are smart for their own good#their smartness has been a double edged sword since their childhood#so they compensate by acting children moreso now than anything else#i made this in a whim#bsd meta#bsd analysis#parrelels in bsd#ranpo edogawa#dazai osamu#mostly ranpo analysis ngl#dazai analysis#untold orgins#dark era#the day i picked up dazai#dazai & ranpo#bungou stray dogs#bsd thoughts#oda sakunosuke#fukuzawa yukichi#armed detective agency#mori ougai#oda & dazai#fukuzawa & ranpo#character analysis#bsd ramble#pire rambles#untold orgins light novel#dark era light novel
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I can't help but hate Dazai.
He's so much more than a broken kid, he's a psychopath definitely.
I think they mischaracterize him, saying things like, "He's fragile!" "It all started from Mori's abuse!" He's not fragile. If he's so fragile, why is Mori weary of him? And if my memory serves me right, Dazai was already like this when Mori found him. (I think Mori found him while he finished attempting suicide)
Not defending Mori in any way though.
It's strange to me how I like Mori (obvs not the pedophilia part) but dislike Dazai, who's so similar to Mori that I could look at them both without knowing anything and say, "Yeah, they're related somehow."
Mori is one of the smartest men in the bsd universe. If Dazai had some sort of weak spot, he'd kill it. Ie. Oda.
Mori is not one to be underestimated, Dazai definitely thinks so. He's just so scary.
#bsd#bungou stray dogs#mori bsd#bungou stray dogs mori#mori ougai#mori#bsd rant#dazai bsd#dazai#dazai osamu#bungou stray dogs dazai#port mafia#bsd port mafia#Dazai analysis#?#mischaracterization
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When I say, “Dazai is complicated,” I mean
Dazai objectively had the most autonomy when it came to joining the Port Mafia
His relationship with Mori isn’t straight out abuse so much as it is unhealthy.
Dazai was objectively not a good mentor. He uses Atsushi to psychologically abuse and manipulate Akutagawa
With Dazai’s relationship with both Chuuya and Akutagwa, I see him as a miserable individual collecting people like accessories for cosplay. He literally says that he joined the Port Mafia to come up against the worst of humanity to find a reason to live. A very flawed plan from someone so intelligent and I feel that this is a half-truth. I think he wanted to immerse himself in darkness and evil to see if he could be “good” even if just by comparison. Throw yourself in a dark room, surround yourself with light and good (or chances to be light and good) and see if you have what it takes to be light and good yourself (He did not). Chuuya was a chance at a friend and an example of a vibrant, lively person. Akutagawa was a chance at being a mentor, or older brother. He failed heavily on both counts.
Case in point, I’m not sure if its canon to the manga, but in the anime, before Dazai shoots at Akutagawa (Dark Era flashback) he rants that if Odasaku had found Akutagawa he would have made sure Akutagawa came up right. Dazai states that he is not righteous and is hated by righteousness. Part of me wonders if Dazai adopted Akutagawa as a way to emulate Odasaku and become a better man (or find a reason/sense of worthiness to live) that way and this was him realizing that he’d failed. Again, I think he kept trying to emulate even a trace of light and found himself lacking every time, as he can up against his own horrific actions (and what he suspects to be his nature).
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The urge to deep dive into Dazai's ability. Is. So strong. The only thing keeping me from writing it up, is how long it'd be. I could explain it. I swear I could. Asagari himself would be impressed.
#that last bit is a joke#i dont actually think that#my stuff#screaming into the void#and the void screams back#bungou stray dogs#bsd#bungou gay dogs#soukoku#bsd dazai#dazai osamu#bsd analysis#bsd headcanons#dazai analysis#jester thinks
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i’ve been watching a lot of patricia taxxon video essays and it’s been striking me just how much of analysis is like, completely out of line with the aesthetic experience of the actual piece.
it’s like when someone talks about breaking bad and goes “it’s crazy, the first season is basically comedy!” when it’s like. the entire show is a comedy. it has jokes, like a lot of them, and they’re funny, and clearly meant to be funny. even when shit hits the fan over and over it still is funny. arguably the jokes only stop in the latter half of season 5, i.e. it maintains huge elements of comedy up until the very end of its plot. and it’s not just background gags, either, a ton of plot important events and character work is framed through comedy. it is, very firmly, a tragicomedy. it’s kind of crazy how people overlook that.
and like, this happens with a ton of media! i’ve been getting back into bsd recently and people will provide so many analysis pieces about the characters and the themes etc etc, and yet everyone, in their analysis, fails to talk about the aesthetic experience of bsd. they talk about the plot points, the information provided etc, but they rarely talk about how that information is delivered. because, actually, bsd is camp as shit.
like, for example, people will write pages upon pages about dazai and his tragedy etc etc, but if you only read those you wouldn’t realize that he’s actually a very funny guy. he’s basically the closest bsd has to a comic relief! he provides comedy in most scenes he’s in, and often while other characters are only funny to the audience, like the characters are unaware that a comedic moment is taking place, dazai jokes and is amused in universe! comedy is very, very prevalent in his character.
and you could say “oh it’s just a facade” (a take i wholeheartedly disagree with), but 1. it is still something he does pretty much all the time, half his screen time is dedicated to a level of comedy, so how can you not talk about something that he does constantly in your character analysis and 2. he says multiple times he does it for his own amusement! he says he finds fun in making people think he’s weird, and dismissing that as a “facade” seems highly strange considering how big of a thing this is for his character. even in his more serious scenes, he’s consistently cracking jokes, often in contrast to the sometimes playing along but still serious tone of other characters.
and maybe you could argue people do mention this, by mentioning his detachment or his closed off nature or blah blah blah, but you can’t really address that aspect without mentioning the fact that it’s funny. it is. it just is, so in all those essays upon essays about his depression or whatever they fundamentally fail to mention the framing of the entire thing. bsd, like most media, is not a bullet point list of events, of plot points or disconnected lines. it is not an array of facts or summaries. it is all conveyed through certain lenses at certain parts of the story, and those lenses are the meaning. the medium is the message. it would be missing the forest for the trees to talk about dazai’s, say, attempts on himself without mentioning that most of the time he makes those attempts into a joke. they are comedic within their framing. that doesn’t mean they’re not serious or should be downplayed, mind you, it just means that we cannot just ask “what do these events within the story mean”, we have to consider “what do these events within the story mean by being presented this way”.
this happens a lot with comedy, too, i’ve noticed. people think the sad parts are the “real story” while the comedic scenes are “just meaningless entertainment”. something cannot be both funny and meaningful in some people’s eyes, and i think that’s just a great disservice to art in general! comedy, and things framed through a comedic lens, can be and are meaningful! the comedy doesn’t obfuscate the meaning. the comedy adds to the meaning.
anyway watch “art, furries and god” as well as “the autistic horror of don’t hug me i’m scared” by patricia taxxon
#my hot takes#analysis#art#meta#breaking bad#brba#bsd#bungo stray dogs#< insane sequence of tags right there#dazai#dazai analysis#osamu dazai
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I want the person who gave me an ask about the BSD mitski analysis that I saw it and I'm slaying so close to the sun rn there are too many possibilities and im trying not to make my response a whole ass thesis. I am analysing so hard rn for u anon <3
#bsd#mir speaks#mirs bsd rambling#mirs mitski bsd analysis series#slay#dazai osamu#bungou stray dogs#dazai analysis#bsd analysis#skk#soukoku#mitski#like theres too many songs i associate w Dazai that I could analyse#I could talk for DAYS about mitski lyrics and Dazai#but i am compartmentalising my thoughts into something more readable#but i promise ill have an answer soon#anon ask#q#mirs thoughts
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what people do not understand about skk is the are not as simple as love nor are they as simple as hate. they toss the word hate around, but it's obvious that it is not pure utter hatred. nor is it love that many people believe. i'm not saying at some point it wasn't hatred, because stormbringer literally proves it was pretty similar to hatred (from chuuya's side). but at this current point of time right now, you cannot use the terms hate or love for them. it's complicated and complex through and through. and that's what i love about their dynamic, how nuanced and deep it is.
#i feel like i made no sense but i hope you guys understand#bsd#bungou stray dogs#dazai osamu#nakahara chuuya#skk#double black#bsd analysis#skk analysis#bsd meta#dazai analysis#chuuya analysis#stormbringer
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I’ve been re reading Age 15’s light novel since yesterday and theres something I noticed all throughout the book.
On many occasions the narrator insists on the fact that Dazai is a child, making allusions to how childlike, youthful or innocent he sounds or look. I think it’s actually such a great idea from Asagiri to write this way as a reminder that in this book yes Dazai is still a mere kid.
Dazai is smart, scarily so, especially for his age at that time in the story, but we need to always remember he’s still learning about the world, he’s still developing his worldview and doesn’t have it all figured out at all. There’s many things he doesn’t understand yet, oh so many lessons to learn.
This scene doesn’t even need to be introduced anymore, it has to be one of his most popular. But it’s still so so terribly important for his character. He’s talking about life and death with a « youthful innocence » that can be translated as stupidity. Adult Dazai would surely say that he was stupid to once think and say that so confidently, especially so young.
He was young, he hadn’t yet understood what life and death are all about, he hadn’t went through the experiences and met the people that would open his eyes and allow him to have an actual thought about it.
It was obvious to him that life had no meaning, but it’s a very immature way of thinking, very « innocent » like Asagiri cleverly said. We’re talking about the eyes of a child, not a grown adult that had his fair share of experiences and witnessed a shit tone of things. The reminder is important.
There’s many more exemples all throughout the book but this one in particular made me reflect.
Dazai was only 15 in this book, and Asagiri smartly makes sure you don’t forget it all throughout the story.
#dazaibsd#dazai analysis#bungo stray dogs dazai#bsd dazai#bungou stray dogs dazai#dazai osamu#dazai#bsd analysis#bsd#bungou gay dogs#bsd light novel#dazai chuuya age fifteen#dazai chuuya 15
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Fyodor will live theory
uhhh late theory
Let’s talk first about his resemblance and references to Christianity and Jesus.
This is obviously Fyodor, however the season in which these pics where from was the 4th season, in the episode 2. This was a great parallelism to Jesus before dying, a LOT of people watching and Jesus being on the cross, and with Fyodor it is the SAME, only difference being that 1- it was Fyodor instead of Jesus and 2- Fyodor has clothes (specifically of the prison).
Into the next similarity to Jesus and reference to Christianity
In this scene, he says the same thing Jesus did before dying in Mark 15:34 and Matthew 27:46.
Let’s also talk about how he thinks of himself as a ‘God-sent’ while Jesus is literally God-sent, and both Jesus and Fyodor are shown as somehow cruel or bad because of God (Jesus refused to heal someone, Jesus engaged in a long harangue against the scribes and pharisee and he also used a whip of braided cords and drove merchants and money lenders out of the outer courtyard of the temple. Fyodor does things that in other’s eyes can be considered as cruel or bad but in his eyes everything he does is good and in the name of God.)
Let’s go now to the theory itself why Fyodor is alive,
In this official art, Fyodor has his arm hidden and it’s the SAME arm where he got his hand hurt and the SAME arm that he was took away by Dazai.
Fyodor’s backstory still hasn’t been revealed, and in the chapter 111, he says that Dazai was his most formidable foe since that man, which could mean Fyodor getting a backstory finally.
In this scene, which is in the untold origins of the agency, Fyodor appears crucified in his prison clothes and with the wounds that he got in chapter 111 of the manga and episode 11 of s5, however he doesn’t appear without one of his arms, which was supposedly took away by Dazai.
In this scene, Fyodor’s arm got off a bit too easily, which shouldn’t be like that since even though he got crushed by a rock, it wouldn’t make sense for it to come off that easily.
Let’s also talk about his out of character things.
Fyodor chooses to not take the antidote before going into the helicopter, which is out of character asf because if he is going to die in less than 15 or even 10 minutes the most logical thing to do would be to take the antidote as fast as possible, not to go to the helicopter and take the antidote inside.
Let’s also talk about Chuuya’s acting, because even though Fyodor did look surprised, there is no way he actually fell for it, for this we have to go to the Ace vs Fyodor chapter.
Fyodor led Ace to believe that he had a space/consciousness controller ability, Fyodor memorized the scratches of each single card, which made him won, not to mention, he had seen how Ace was listening to his conversation with Karma, which is why he lied and he himself gave false information to the one who kidnapped him, and what was it all for? To get the secrets of the pm executives and even the boss himself. He even drove Ace to kill himself, which was a pm executive and also a very intelligent man. So, how could Fyodor fall for Chuuya’s act? Let’s go to why he probably didn’t believe Chuuya’s act.
First of all, Chuuya’s skin isn’t the same as the other vampires, let’s compare Chuuya’s skin to Akutagawa’s one.
See the difference? Even though in canon Chuuya is a good actor, there are different things, one being his costume for the act to the act itself, and let’s admit that the act itself wasn’t that great, he grabbed his hat under the water, he putted his hands on his waist when walking and even when not.
When Chuuya was walking Fyodor should have known that it wasn’t a vampire because he was using vampires to communicate to the exterior.
Dazai's reaction is also weird, the expression he has is definitely not one would have after defeating a enemy, his expression is unsure, doubtable, and even going out of his expression, the way he speaks isn't his usual self, and even chuuya notices
Having took all those facts he probably didn’t believe Chuuya’s act despite him supposedly being surprised when he saw Chuuya again, and I say supposedly because it could have been an act considering how he got sigma to believe his act.
Let’s also mention that Fyodor ‘commanded’ Chuuya to kill Dazai when there wasn’t really any need, because Fyodor could have just escaped after letting Sigma unconscious and let Dazai die from either the poison or just bled out, he knew that if Dazai got to touch Chuuya, Chuuya ‘wouldn’t’ be on Fyodor’s side anymore, which can actually mean that he knew Chuuya wasn’t a vampire, not to mention he looks VERY confident that Dazai would be dead.
So, what does this bring us to? Fyodor faked his death, but why and what other proves are there for this conclusion? His arm got off too easily and his ‘corpse’ was never shown AT ALL, Fyodor is a very smart man so there is absolutely NO WAY he is dead when 1- his backstory hasn’t been showed, 2-it would be very abrupt to kill Fyodor and lastly, 3- it wouldn’t make sense.
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this theory
#bsd#bsd analysis#bungou stray dogs#chuuya bsd#chuuya nakahara#chuuya analysis#not really lol#dazai#bsd dazai#bungou stray dogs dazai#dazai analysis#fyodor dostoyevsky analysis#bsd fyodor dostoevsky#fyodor analysis#bsd fyodor#fyodor dostoyevsky bsd#fyodor dostoevsky#fyodor will live#literary stray dogs
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Do you ever think everyone compares Dazai’s lifestyle to theirs? No one can fundamentally understand what goes through Dazai’s head, because it’s so out of bound of what socially accepted. But his deduction & intuition is nearly remarkable, perfected because of insecurities of not being smart. It makes Dazai admired & people desire his attention, whether it be approval or the desire for him to be on their side. This makes Dazai feel worthless & angry. He has no actual desires or morals or desire to live, besides to be a pawn for others’ self-esteems, for other’s goals, to further others’ purpose of life. It makes him hate everyone, himself included. He can’t seem to get out of this damn cycle of inevitable truth of life. Dazai doesn’t know why he can’t be normal. That’s all he wants, normality. But it feels nearly impossible to change those feelings, because how can a beast be a beauty. So he tries to hide it, mask the boring Dazai no one wants to see. If no one is going to care about him, he can, at least, amuse himself.
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So like did anon get mad i got compliments or what /hj
but since this has happened before and it’s kiinda weird, please don’t randomly resolve comments on my dazai analysis slideshow, i use them as feedback and motivation a lot and resolving the comments on My work is just odd. hoping this was an accident but in the case it wasn’t.... yeah
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