cainmachado

[cainmachado]

Playing with Clay

When it comes to BSD, manipulation is a presence we learned to accept. This is a story where some of the main characters go out of their way to obtain something they desire, normally by getting others to do it or by convincing others to give them an information so that they may act upon it. Mind games is something that could be used to describe what is going on in the story, with the two biggest examples of this being Osamu Dazai and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, both are compared to each other very frequently and both have obtained a form of success in manipulating others.

However, we see examples of a much deeper form of manipulation taking place in the shape of manipulating people’s entire personalities and desires. If you consider that a desire is a fundamental part of a person’s life, you could very well say that this is the manipulation of life itself. If you don’t consider that, then this is still a form of major manipulation made by the characters in the story. Ryuunosuke Akutagawa is Dazai’s example of this and Ivan Goncharov is Dostoyevsky’s example of this. We will talk about the latter first, as I feel like I talk about Akutagawa and his manipulation in every single post I make and it is also the shortest given the lack of information.

Ivan mentions that, through a surgery, Fyodor “removed his unhappiness”. How this was done it is never shown and I personally think it won’t ever be shown, but given the actual state of Ivan we can make a few assumptions. It could have been torture, plain and simple. He was in a state of physical pain and mental stress for so long that he broke in a specific way, in which he was no longer unhappy and he became extremely loyal to Fyodor. Could have been the use of an ability, maybe even Fyodor’s own ability harkening back to the torture idea, if Fyodor could have control of his ability to the point where it doesn’t kill instantly, he could have used it to inflict major pain on Ivan. But let’s say it was a mind-altering ability instead and that Fyodor was simply the gateway to it, seems simpler. I believe that not showing this, even as a one panel flashback, was a conscious choice.

Fyodor is a parallel to Dazai, it could have shown the difference between them. In one hand Dazai seems to manipulate even good people, but never fully altering their behavior. Rather it’s by natural human interaction that they change. Fyodor, however, manipulates anyone through a much harsher method. He talked a kid into blowing themself up only to break Kunikida. I don’t think it was willingly that Ivan did this operation, seems really weird for Fyodor to manipulate even the air around him but open one exception to this man in particular. Let me word this better. It was willingly that Ivan walked into this operation, but the freedom that he had on that choice was nothing more than an illusion. Fyodor needed a disposable pawn, he happened to be one with a really powerful ability, so he slowly shaped that man into what he wanted.

So, by showing this surgery or giving more detail to it we could see that Fyodor uses a brutal method of manipulation, one that goes beyond what Dazai did when he was in the Port Mafia. Or well, at least goes beyond what we know of him. Ivan is the what happens when you take manipulation too far, a shell of a person remains shaped to be something completely different than what existed before. By “removing the unhappiness” Fyodor killed an essential part to being a human, and that is where he differs from Dazai. Dazai may be no longer human in his own eyes, but through his relationships he learned to be a human being, he learned what makes a person and he learned to value that. In the past he may have seen no value in living, but now with the ADA he keeps on fighting, he has found his reason to live. I am saying all of this to bring us to the next topic.

Akutagawa. As much as I love him, he is my favorite character, and even with the abuse that he has gone through he is not forgiven from all the crimes he has committed. I feel like I say that every time, but it’s to make sure the point is hammered in. What was Akutagawa like before he met Dazai? Through Beast we can see a bit of that, he grew up in the slums, it is mentioned he used his ability to play around with his friends, but was caught up in the darkness of that world so he was willing to kill without remorse. After his friends were killed, he was taken in by Dazai, we can assume this happened at around the age of fourteen given that he was sixteen during the Dark Era and seemed to be used to being in the mafia, making Dazai sixteen when he took him in.

Why are ages important? Because they give us the means to look into just how much time Dazai spent with Akutagawa, which (and I preface this by stating that I am completely inept at any form of mathematics) would be around two to three years give or take. In two years Dazai managed to make Akutagawa so dependent on his approval that the man regrets dying and not getting acknowledgement from Dazai instead of regretting any other event in his life.

From dialogue we can assume that Dazai was preparing Akutagawa to be the Mafia’s greatest weapon or one of the greatest. The method that he chose was manipulation through training and education, in which praise from him was the ultimate reward, just that feeling of making Dazai proud was more than enough to drive Akutagawa on. Akutagawa is not, as it is often painted, Dazai’s little dog that will do anything for him in offer of praise. He is capable of harming Dazai if he is frustrated enough and while he will listen to what Dazai has to say, more often than not he will do things his own way instead of collaborating completely with the plan. He has a rebellious will that shows up when Dazai belittles him too much, like when he said that Atsushi was a better subordinate than Akutagawa, which threw him in a spiral of wanting to defeat Atsushi no matter the cost to prove his superiority.

By making him believe that he is inferior to Atsushi he also presses down on a major point left by Dark Era Dazai on him: his failures are the fault of his weakness, one that he would be able to surpass if only he adhered to Dazai’s orders more perfectly. We see this in the scene where Dazai shoots Akutagawa, forcing him to use Rashomon to block, he gives praise immediately and reminds him that in the future he would not be so forgiving. A compliment with the threat of a backhand soon afterwards. This keeps Akutagawa on his toes, he has to improve in order to keep Dazai pleased as his initial admiration of Dazai followed by his indoctrination on why he needed to be the so loyal and obedient are what led Akutagawa to believe that he absolutely needs Dazai’s approval and acknowledgement to live. (Quick side note, I find it interesting that Akutagawa is so full of potential and could be one of the Port Mafia’s greatest assets and that Dazai’s first reaction was to make sure that he was completely dependent of his approval. If Dazai stayed in the PM, Akutagawa might have made it to executive, but never he would have been more than Dazai’s subordinate.)

This dependence is something we see often in various types of relationships, from work relationships, to friendships and romantic ones. If a person is fully dependent on you, they will never leave you. On Akutagawa’s case not only does it keep him under Dazai’s control it also ensures that Akutagawa will never grow beyond him. I find it hard to give Dazai praise for changing when he played to this exact card several times when dealing with Akutagawa. And no, giving him praise at one point does not free him. It’s like a drug, Akutagawa just got his fix and he will need more from now on, if all it took was Dazai saying “you’ve grown stronger” for Akutagawa to move past that, it would have been some major bullshit.

After all of that I am here to say that manipulation is something really common on relationships and you have probably fallen to someone else’s manipulation or have manipulated someone yourself. Unlike with Bungou, it where minor things and will not have changed someone’s life completely. I mean… I hope that’s the case. But really, it happens more often than you think, so if you were reading this and at one point thought “man, I think I did something horrible” just remember that you can always fix this, it’s easier than it seems. Just talk to the person in question and you can work something out.

Manipulation also comes in more subtle forms to the point that you will never know if something that is now a core part of your personality came from you or from the influence of someone else. Could have been a friend, your parents, a fictional character, a song that listened so many times, that one time you were shown kindness when you needed it the most. It technically counts as manipulation, despite the weight that this word carries.

When it is done consciously and with the intention on making someone completely dependent on you, just like how Ivan is attached to Fyodor or how Akutagawa is attached to Dazai, it is something to be called out. It has ruined the minds of people and while we can see the difference now between Dazai and Fyodor with the introduction of Atsushi, it is still a crime far too great in my opinion.

Dazai seems to have partially noticed that, like I said before he still touches on buttons that are hardwired onto Akutagawa knowing what kind of reaction, he is going to get from them and, from what we have seen so far, he has shown no remorse to doing such. But, with Atsushi he has learned to used all that knowledge of the human psyche to make a good impact on someone, which is why Atsushi looks at him with such good expectations even knowing of all the evil things he did in the past. Akutagawa is part of Dazai’s past, but is one that is far too convenient for him to let go.

The ends don’t justify the means, people who say that are normally the ones being benefitted from said ends. I think that Dazai has the potential to show both the positives and the negatives of being manipulative towards someone or something. He is the human side of it, while Fyodor is the inhuman.

[cainmachado]

Double Black

As a quick note here that I couldn’t really place anywhere without it being extremely short and breaking the overall flow of thought that I have, I want to say that I really enjoy the dynamic between John Steinbeck and H.P Lovecraft, John plays off of Lovecraft’s weirdness really well and they are a powerful duo. Unluckily for them, they had to face the de facto power duo of the series. Tanizaki and Kunikida.

This covers what I read from chapter 16 all the way into chapter 37, finalizing the arc for the Guild. As I said in my first analysis, I am caught up with the series and will use of knowledge outside of the manga here and there. This was a lot more than last time and should be significantly longer, but I feel like it comes with the series, a story so rich in characters and themes is going to generate long analysis. Also, I like to talk about the things that I like, so yeah. Let’s get on with it.

 Koyou motherly feelings

All these titles are based on what I wrote down as notes for what I felt like talking about, so some of them will be direct like this one, others will sound poetic, other will be a joke. All that aside, let’s talk about how parental figures project their own pains and experiences with life down on the children they are supposed to raise, shall we?

I don’t think I can come here and say that Koyou’s feelings are false or anything like that, I truly believe she has a motherly attachment to Kyouka, however due to her life in the mafia and the dark side of Yokohama she can’t really teach anything other than what she experienced. A man tried to take her away from that life of darkness and she was punished for it, she saw the light but it burnt her. So, from that she gets the idea that people like her will get burnt by the light if they try to live in it, and she sees a lot of herself in Kyouka and she tries to protect her by keeping her in the darkness. She knows it’s a bad thing, but in her eyes it’s the lesser of two evils.

As we all are aware, that is not the case. Why, ever since she came to the Agency Kyouka has felt a lot of affection and overall happiness from being with people that care for her and that see her as more than something to be used. From what we can tell, the only one who showed any affection to Kyouka was Koyou herself. But in Koyou’s mind it’s not a “it happened to me; it might happen to you.” situation. It’s a “It happened to me which is why it will happen to you.” To Koyou Kyouka is walking a line too close to what she experienced, she sees in Atsushi the man that dragged her to the light only to get hurt in the process. You see, it’s not about the former boss punishing her by killing the man, well it kinda is, but I will explain it in a second. It’s about the man dragging her to the light, giving her a glimpse of what could be only to be tragically cut down before anything can be done. Atsushi is that man. So, while she hates the former boss of the Port Mafia for what he did, she cares little as to who will cut down Atsushi, only that he will die and that it will harm Kyouka.

In trying so hard to protect Kyouka, she brings the pain she is trying to prevent with her. She has good intentions, I’m sure, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. In her mind if Kyouka experiences what she experienced she will see the truth of this world, that people like them are not meant for the light. This is proven wrong later on, with Kyouka finally passing on the entrance test for the ADA.

This kind of attitude is not uncommon on parents around the world, it comes from a sense that what we experienced is the undeniable truth and, therefore, will be the truth for their children. You see this in a more controlled and healthy form when parents say “don’t do that, you will hurt yourself.” They have experienced it in the past, so they know that there is a chance the child will get hurt. Then we have examples like Koyou, from who every single bit of traumatic experience becomes the undeniable truth and the child must learn that truth even if it’s non-appliable. Atsushi isn’t going to die, Kyouka isn’t going to get burnt by light by his or the ADA’s actions. She learns this eventually and accepts that it’s the best for Kyouka.

 Akutagawa vs Nathaniel

The desperation for Dazai’s approval

This one is interesting, as Nathaniel himself does a brief analysis of Akutagawa when they first meet, recognizing him as the Devil, to which our edgy boy confirms that he is in fact the Devil. But this changes during the course of the fight, as now Nathaniel sees him as a beast that bares his fangs only towards the weak, stating that he “only fights ability users weaker than him.” Which we could argue about. Up until now his fights have been one brief fight with Kunikida, which ended with Kunikida escaping (this happens in Kunikida’s novel I believe), one with Gide, several with Atsushi of whom has less experience as an ability user and fighter overall, but who can punish Akutagawa’s frail body. So yeah, it’s kinda true. You could argue that all the ADA members have a boost from the president’s ability, but it wouldn’t really matter. With Gide’s case he actually faced a stronger opponent and caught an L, only to be saved by Oda.

Yet Akutagawa is a wild dog, he will throw himself against all kinds of enemies only to prove himself as strong. As for him his strength is never enough, he needs to get to a level where even Dazai is left speechless, and, as we will learn in the future, he is in a hurry to do so as he will die of his lung illness. This put a timer on him and a greater level of desperation, as he feels his entire life will be invalid if he can’t prove to Dazai his strength and overall growth when compared to Atsushi. He had a problem before, but after Dazai mentioned Atsushi, it got to a whole new level.

This is seen in his dialogue as he mentions that he’s always been weak and that defeat and humiliation walk hand in hand with him. Akutagawa has been fated to never be satisfied with his power, no matter how big it is, no matter what enemy he takes down, it will never be enough. This is what Dazai was talking about when talking to Oda about teaching Aku “how to sheathe his blade”. Dazai went with it the wrong way, but he was right in this need to teach him how to control these impulses.

Now onto Mitchell’s sacrifice. This is the part that I wish that she and Nathaniel had more screen time in this arc, because while I could buy that they were comrades I never got the feeling that they were “die for each other” kind of person. But it was sad and will come back in a future point.

 Tanizaki take me to church

This is kinda brief and the title explains what I’m on about, but let’s talk about Jun’ichiro’s dedication to Naomi. Interesting theories aside, let’s consider them as two incestuous siblings for the moment, to see a brother doing everything in his power for his sister is a trope in manga that is common to say the least. But here we have one that clearly states that he worships his sister to the point where even the ADA’s morals and the world as a whole don’t matter.

While I believe that John feels the same way about his family, he probably wouldn’t put it in the same words as Tanizaki did. He is said to like the Holy Scriptures after all, I don’t believe he would go comparing other people to God. Not a problem for Tanizaki however, it comes to him as easy as breathing. And let’s think about his plan for a while because I am sure he didn’t put that much thought into it.

What if the truck hit him or Kunikida? What if the truck was a gasoline truck and exploded, like they often do, upon crashing? Did he care about the wellbeing of Kunikida? I don’t think so. Tanizaki is certainly one of the most interesting characters as far as determination goes, he is willing to walk through hell and pick flowers for a bouquet if it meant keeping Naomi happy.

 Atsushi and the need to protect

From his flashbacks, and from some dialogue from the Beast novel, we are led to understand that Atsushi has a deep need in him to protect other people as it was instilled in him by the director of the orphanage (we will get to this lampshade head bitch on the next one), telling him that if he can’t protect anyone than he is worthless. This is what leads Atsushi to fight with all he’s got for the new people in his life. That is all good. Here is where we see this backfire.

Under Q’s influence he attacks Naomi and Haruno, hitting one in the back of the head and strangling the other all while believing that they were under Q’s influence. On his eyes, to protect them, he had to get them down so he could go for Q, but once he realized this he went into a breakdown, all this power that he had to protect others was used against the very ones he was supposed to protect.

Behold! This is who I am right now! Such is my power! In order to prove the people in his past wrong all it took was a push for him to get himself drunk on power, of course, he wouldn’t do or say those things without Q. But with the right push, there he was, letting his innermost desires run rampant.

This desire to protect, to be strong is what makes him weak in the first place. Think about it, the moment something doesn’t go Atsushi’s way he gets a Naruto flashback to the orphanage for the director to tell him how much he sucks. He is shackled to that place and to those words, the damage inflicted on him was so big that even with the slap and the advice from Dazai he continues to doubt himself. It won’t go away, such is trauma.

His failure to establish his power to protect is what drives him to go after said power. He also seems to dwell on thoughts of him being a calamity to those around him, destined to destroy what he touches. Gotta say, whatever the director’s plan was for Atsushi it sure worked, huh champ? He criticizes Akutagawa for being unable to see his own power, but he fails to do the same thing for himself. Something I will touch later on.

 Francis and the need to protect

This is a bit of a short one, but it was good character development and I don’t want to skip over it. He goes about it the wrong way, what with the “I own you, so it’s my right/duty to protect you.” But at the very least he develops a sense of duty towards the people that fight with him, he wants to avoid them all being defeated by the enemies and end up like Mitchell. For someone who only seemed to care about getting the book and bringing his daughter back to life, he sure went out of his way to guarantee that they would all be protected.

Shame the plan would have killed millions of people according to Wikipedia. But it did show that Fitzgerald was willing to protect the life of others instead of just exploiting them. Something small that came kinda late, on purpose by Asagiri no doubt, but that speaks for his character. Also let me just add that Fitzgerald is one of the most fun villains I’ve seen.

 God exists, but he doesn’t love you

Another short one, but this line was soooooooo good and it did a lot for Q’s character. The whole situation makes you think about how they grew up, how their ability first came into play, how they handled it and how long it took to break them. It’s as simple as Steinbeck’s says, it’s an existence that no god could have wanted, at least not the one he believes in. We get physically hurt by other people very constantly when we are young, be it by playing around, by getting into fights or just doing any team activity in general. Q didn’t have any of that, they were given a burden to bear from such a young age and they are only thirteen.

It’s really no wonder that the kid went insane, anyone else would.

 Soukoku

The most anticipated part for me when reading again through this arc was this part, I remember reading through it the first time and loving every second of this team up, the way they bicker with each other, how they are plain childish around each other, the trust that they share. Their bond is formed by trusting each other with their lives without a second to doubt it, that’s not the kind of thing that just comes to you, it needs to be built.

There really isn’t much I can say that hasn’t already been said, I can say that they are the perfect duo who despite their problems work together perfectly, which has already been said, I can say that they are gay as hell, also been said. So, so many times. But allow me to talk about the building part of this entire process, I will be talking strictly about the manga and what I have seen from the anime. On the process of reading Fifteen and never read Stormbringer, so can’t say much about their interactions there, but reading it, it just radiates of history.

How long where they partners for? Must have been a very long time given how they even have names for operations to do in the middle of battle, how they know they can have time to play around, although that is mostly Dazai. What kind of missions did they go on? We get a glimpse of that in the Dead Apple movie, but I honestly don’t remember much and aren’t going to go off of that alone. Their chemistry is just perfect, it gives the feeling of old friends really well even though they will never call each other friend.

And Tainted. Fucking Tainted. A technique that could only work with Dazai there, something that should never be unleashed without his presence just came into the conversation so naturally. No “I hate to consider this option.” Or “This is our only shot.” Just casually mentioning that they have one option and going for it there’s one page and a half of them talking about it while other mangas would give you the long explanation about the ability before even talking about using it. You know the ones. “We have to use your secret technique. You know, the secret technique you’re never supposed to use, the technique that entails…”

Soukoku is a thing of beauty.

 Poe is gay as hell

That’s it. There is nothing else to add here.

 Shin Soukoku

About this one I have a lot to talk about, because when I first saw it, I hated it. Why team up a perfectly good loner with Atsushi? But reading again (and knowing of future events) made me reconsider this. As I mentioned before Atsushi notices that Akutagawa never notices his own strength, that it’s never enough for him and that the same is valid for him. Well, Akutagawa has his own brand of this.

He says that Atsushi never notices the things he already has, that he was pretty much gifted them, he has Dazai’s approval, has friends that trust and believe in him and… Yeah, Akutagawa, you kinda have that too, but you focus too much on the one thing that’s lacking. He has Higuchi, Gin, the Black Lizards, Mori’s approval, Chuuya’s approval, pretty much the whole Port Mafia recognizes how strong he is and he doesn’t notice it. I won’t go in on how the abuse at the hands of Dazai made him who he is now, I feel like I have already made myself clear with the first one.

But I will say this, both recognize a flaw in the other that they also possess and they both see in the other the one thing that they feel they are lacking. Atsushi sees in Akutagawa the strength that he doesn’t have, Akutagawa’s ability is perfect for a more defensive and supportive role while also being able to deal some damage, which is what Atsushi wants. Notice that he never throws himself in harm’s way, only when he has to protect someone else. Atsushi’s ability is strictly offensive, sure he can block blows from others, but not as well as Akutagawa can.

Akutagawa does a good job showing that he has an offensive power, that’s what Atsushi notices. And Atsushi has received praise and recognition from Dazai himself, Akutagawa heard it with his own two ears. He attributes Atsushi’s happiness not to the other contributing factors, but only to Dazai, because that is what happiness would constitute in Akutagawa’s mind.

At this point in the story, they don’t have much of a dynamic other than “I hate you, but we gotta do this.” Which is fine and works well for what it is shown and it will gain more as time goes on, and we were given Chuuya and Dazai to have a certain idea of how things could work out between them in the future, but for now there is only hatred and maybe a slight touch of respect for the strength that the other holds.

And as Fitzgerald said, they are very similar. I think that is the main point of difference between SSKK and SKK, while Chuuya and Dazai work really well together they have more differences than similarities, both in personality and in beliefs, but you know, opposites attract each other and they work because of that. I feel that in Shin Soukoku’s case it’s different, yeah, they are really different from one another, but they are linked by their past experiences, struggles and desires. In one way or another, both want to hear the words that will set their shackles free, the main difference for Atsushi is that he will never get to hear these words from the director of the orphanage as we find out in a few chapters.

[cainmachado]

The Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia decide to unite and act out Romeo and Juliet for reasons of mystery. When the roles where being given, Dazai discovered that he would be playing the part of Romeo. “And who will be playing Juliet?” he asked, in the middle of a theater they had rented. “I hope she will be willing to commit double suicide with me. Or at least hear me about it” “That’s the problem, Dazai-kun” Mori, head of the Port Mafia, said. “Due to your... tendencies no woman wanted to play the part of Juliet. So we made a few changes. Juliet is now Julian” “No... You haven’t... You couldn’t...” From behind the curtains Chuuya shows up, already dressed for his part. His eyes where pure hatred. A part of Dazai wished he could just disappear that very instant, the other part had hoped that Chuuya would show up in women’s clothes. He could at least have a laugh about it, where that the case. “I’m sure you two will do just fine” Fukuzawa crossed his arms, closing his eyes “Why?” Dazai asked, you could almost see him tearing up There was a cheerful smile on Mori’s face. “Suffer.”. “Shut up. I didn’t want this either, but I was ordered to.” Chuuya wanted to punch something, that’s how he normally felt when he looked at Dazai, but now it was even more intense. “Oh, I know,” exclaimed Dazai, with a smile. “Higuchi and Akutagawa could play the part of Romeo and Juliet and I just get another role!” “Excellent ideia” Higuchi said. “Higuchi. Akutagawa. I forbid you two from accepting this offer.” Mori said vehemently. “The Tanizaki’s?” Dazai tried. “I actually was up for the ideia, but they said they wanted the romance to feel reluctant and, wel... We wouldn’t sell that too well” Jun’ichiro said, looking at the clothes he was given. “Atsushi and Kyouka?” Kouyou gave off a cheerful laugh, before her face turned stone cold. “No.” “Atsushi and Lucy?”  “She isn’t even here. And she would say no anyway.” Kunikida was looking at the lights, making sure everything was in place. “I give up.” Dazai sighed, sitting on the floor. Chuuya approached. “Guess we should just do this, huh?” said the mafia executive. “Why are you so eager to do this? Wait, don’t tell me...” Dazai got up, a shocked expression on his face. Chuuya’s face flashed red. “No, you idiot! We both have our orders, don’t we?” Chuuya retreated a couple of steps. “I haven’t gotten any orders” “Fukuzawa-dono?” Mori called. “Yes, Mori-sensei?” answered the director “Do it to him, for the play.” “Dazai, you are to act as Romeo.” The play went well for the beggining, but when it got to the romance bits the two actors started fighting each other instead of reciting their lines. Everyone of the actors seemed to have a bad time, but it was entertaining for those outside. Specially for Mori, who enjoyed every single second.

[cainmachado]

Two Punches. Five Shots.

Throughout his life, we see Dazai be attributed the role of a mentor twice. One with Akutagawa, one with Atsushi. I don’t need to say that the differences are clear as night and day, but I want to talk about the methods behind Dazai’s mentorship and how this all fits with the way that both Akutagawa and Atsushi developed.

To teach someone in the Port Mafia you can’t be soft and kind, that creates a type of person that is unfit to be in a criminal organization. So Dazai had to be rough with Akutagawa, or at least that is what I believe that he at the time thought if he gave it more than a few minutes of thought to what to do with this sick little boy in front of him.

We tend to reflect our mentors a lot, be it our parents, our siblings, our teachers, our local drug dealers, you know, the people in your life depending on what kind of life you live. We often see Akutagawa making decisions that go against what Dazai would do, clearly acting in an irrational manner when it come to Atsushi, again and again being so dependent on Dazai’s approval that he would risk what should be a priority to him. This comes from the way that Dazai taught/raised Akutagawa.

Learning through abuse was a practice in a lot of places in the world several decades back, speaking solely for Brazil here, my grandmother was born in 1938 and around her time if a student didn’t behave, didn’t do his homework or was just in general what they would deem a bad student they would be forced to put their hands forward so that they would be hit with a paddle. Around my mom’s time, who was born in 1964, that practice had been abolished at least in our area, but she told me how during recess a nun (we all studied in a school run by nuns, my mom became a teacher and taught at said school) would come down and watch over the students. If a student threw a piece of paper at the floor, be it wrapping from candy or from a notebook the nun would proceed to punish the student… by hitting them so they would never do that again. Mom told me how she would have nightmares about getting hit by said nun who, ironically, was quite aggressive, despite being a great student.

However, it has been proven to work. It’s a no brainer, really. If you receive pain every time you do a certain action, you are not going to do that again. You are going to improve to not get hurt again. The reason why this isn’t used in most places in the world anymore is also quite obvious, students who fail to do as told, be it for whatever reason, are often going to end up traumatized, developing a low self-esteem, being constantly insecure, developing other emotional issues, such as anger, overall falling into depression and more often than not will end up repeating what was done to them unto others. Sound familiar?

Akutagawa is the way he is now due to Dazai’s teaching methods and his whole life in the mafia, which we can all agree is not the optimal place for a child to be raised in. Every single thing he does just screams of the abuse he suffered. We are shown one example of this in the Dark Era novel, and in the anime adaptation of this scene as well, Dazai punches Akutagawa for killing a man he was supposed to capture and then shoots him three times, forcing Akutagawa to use Rashomon in a defensive way. He then congratulates Akutagawa in doing so, the reaction that he has is one of confusion and slight pride, he did it. He finally managed to do something that Dazai has been saying he should be able to do and he got a slight praise out of it. After a literal punch in the face and three shots fired towards him, he had a breath of fresh air… to then be reminded again that Dazai is not going to let any other failures slide. Two Punches. Five Shots. Better get good at that defensive thing.

Now with Atsushi it’s different. Dazai has changed, he has learned how to be a better mentor. He teaches through kindness, he gives the correct pushes on Atsushi on how to act in certain situations, on how to be a better person. It is through this kindness that Atsushi is able to navigate through certain situations. Off the top of my head, the only moment that Dazai actually raised his hand to hit Atsushi was during the whole Q situation, and it never repeated itself ever again. You can argue on whether or not it was right to hit him in the middle of a breakdown, but it did serve its purpose. Dark Era Dazai would not have been this kind towards Atsushi.

Remember how we reflect our mentors? Akutagawa is shown taking decisions that Dazai would take, with [SPOILER ALERT FOR THE MOST RECENT EVENTS IN THE MANGA] how he sacrificed himself to save Atsushi, seeing him as the best shot they had at taking down Fukuchi. Or, as I like to see it, out of kindness towards a rival he learned to respect. I feel like Atsushi has to spend some more time with Dazai to start reflecting even more of him, even if he is showing signs even now, and that there will come a moment in the future where he will be shown taking an action that Dazai himself considered.

Now what does this say about Dazai? From what I have talked about until now it seems that he was a terrible mentor that learned, through his own trials and tribulations, to become a better mentor for someone. Despite that being very important I would like to entice you to let your imagination run wild.

Dazai’s past, before the Port Mafia, is one of the biggest mysteries yet. Where did this bandage-loving boy come from? Why was he so fixated with death and suicide at the age of fourteen? How was a fourteen-year-old kid so smart that a 32-year-old Mori saw in him a future enemy? Mind you, being the bastard that he is, Mori is still one of the smartest characters in the manga and still he saw that Dazai would surpass him given due time.

How was Dazai raised?

Did someone teach him all the things he knows? Did he learn those things on his own? What did he go through to see life as meaningless? Did he have a mentor that was to him what he was to Akutagawa? If we were to see Mori as his mentor, things would get complicated as we never have seen Mori outright hit Dazai or abuse him in any other way than outright putting him in the goddamn mafia, and even when he had weapons pointed at him Dazai himself stated that Mori would not shoot him.

What happened to him that he saw what he was doing to Akutagawa as completely acceptable? Does Dazai reflect someone in his life or does he reflect the circumstances in which he was brought up on?

[cainmachado]

A Mess That Was Meant to be an Analysis

First a few disclaimers:

I’m not a professional nor am I used to doing analysis on any kind of work, I just like to enjoy the ride and think about it as I go along, so this is my first time doing anything of the sort. Also, English is no my first language, I’m Brazilian and while I’m fairly confident in my English (and in Microsoft’s Word corrections) there may still be mistakes in this. Also also, this is more a collection of thoughts as I reread Bungou Stray Dogs, I am up to date with the manga but there are a lot of things I forgot about and am constantly reminded by my friend who is nothing short of obsessed. Pretty sure as this goes on, I will be as well. This involves the first sixteen chapters. So, with that out of the way, let’s begin.

1.       The Boy in Tiger Clothes or The Tiger in Boys Clothes.

Atsushi is the first one I wanna talk about, while I personally don’t dislike him, I feel as though he got a slow start. I can sort of see why the anime shoved him in what was supposed to be Kunikida and Dazais arc, there isn’t much to go on about him. He’s an orphan, he was abused in the orphanage he used to be in, although I’m not as confident in this one it looks like money is a huge deal to him, which, yeah. He’s poor, all of us broke bitches can relate. He’s a good boy, even when going against the tiger could put him in harm’s way, he still did it. He likes kids, as shown by his interaction with Kyouka and he is an empath.

And, this is where my personal opinion enters, he’s boring as shit. I like myself a protagonist like him, put the problem is who he is supposed to act out with. I will leave a more detailed look on him for the end, but Dazai by far steals the whole show the moment he shows up. Kunikida offers a fun dynamic with Dazai and shows an interesting point of view. I know Kunikidas ideals, that’s his whole thing. I don’t know much about Atsushi though. He likes good, he doesn’t like evil. And this is why I like him even if I find him boring.

He contradicts himself on a whim. He dislikes Akutagawa for all of his crimes, of which he is absolutely guilty of I am not giving Akutagawa a pass here, but at the same time is willing to work with Dazai even though he is granted the knowledge that Dazai was an Executive. Dazai’s crime records should make Akutagawa blush just by having achieved the position of an Executive. You could argue that it’s because he sees Dazai working on the side of good that he is willing to give him a chance. But that’s some bullshit. Working on the good side does not erase your sins. Again, this is why I like him. Cause like it or not, most people are like this. Not to so big of an extent, sure, but people will still forgive or let it slide when it’s convenient to them.

He is eighteen years old and lived a life of torture, even though I wish to hold him to a certain standard, I know it wouldn’t be fair. He is uncertain, jealous of everyone around him and is only now finding himself on a good enough footing to even allow himself to think about what he believes in. That’s why he is the perfect protagonist to Bungou Stray Dogs. He doubts himself; he is hypocritical to a certain degree, he will fight for the right side with all he has, and he will provide the correct perspective for the reader to see. If a protagonist can’t doubt much, there really isn’t a lot of room for the story to develop (when it depends on the protagonist that is). Dazai doubts himself, but to a much lesser degree. Thus the “true protagonist” to Bungou Stray Dogs is one that could easily carry the story, but couldn’t develop it as well as Atsushi has. Would Akutagawa be taking the steps he has without Atsushi there? As we all know, partnership is a focal point in BSD, Dazai and Chuuya, Dazai and Kunikida, Dazai and Atsushi, Atsushi and Akutagawa (that’s later on though), and a lot more. Probably with Dazai in the mix.

The reason I titled this section “The Boy in Tiger Clothes or The Tiger in Boys Clothes.” is because I believe that what we are seeing is a transition period for Atsushi. He showed up and was perfectly harmless, if you looked to that boy in chapter one could you honestly say “Yup, this kid right here is going to fight a vampire emo looking dude in a ship that’s exploding”. Hardly doubt that. Atsushi started fangless and clawless, he is learning to adapt to his powers as they come to him in times of necessity rather than out of pure control of them, even for the battle on the ship this is true. But as we progress this beast will bare its fangs. I don’t think he will suffer a complete transformation, though. Just enough to put some weight to that oh so precious ability.

Can’t think of much more, though I will surely be talking about him again in future… reviews? Ramblings? Rants? Things, I will be talking more about him in future things. Now let’s move on to the emo.

2.       A Walk Through the Grove (That Is on Fire)

Now I would like to open this by stating that Akutagawa is my favorite. And if you are worried that this will be biased, don’t worry. It will be.

There isn’t much to talk about Akutagawa this early on, he serves as the evil incarnate of the Port Mafia, always dressed in black even in the sun because he is willing to suffer, his ability is one of the most aggressive we have seen this early on and even later on as others show up, he still holds his ground with versatility and damage. To put it simply, Akutagawa is a bastard, a bastard with a lot of power in his hands.

And yet it is impossible, or rather, not-advised to talk about him without mentioning the abuse that he went through both in his youngest years as well as in the hands of Dazai. Let’s address them in order then with the little information that we got from the flashback panels. Akutagawa was raised in the slums; from that we can guess several things. Hunger was a permanent friend, he saw violence on the daily and had to get good at it and he was sick, which means he was a target. Not only that, as we will later learn, he had Gin as well so the two of them had to protect each other at all times.

From that home of poverty, he was taken by Dazai into the mafia. I want to be very careful with how I word this, I don’t want to come off as brushing aside the abuse that Dazai committed but I also don’t want to put this in such a way that it looks like I’m pardoning what Akutagawa has done. So let me say this very clearly: Fuck Dazai. Love him. But fuck him. He doesn’t seem to show any kind of remorse towards what he did to Akutagawa, not a single sorry, not a look of sadness, not a word spoken to try and make amends. All he did was provoke Akutagawa on the subject, knowing very well that it was an open wound for him and a matter that was tormenting him for years since his disappearance.

Akutagawa lives to get the recognition that he never got from Dazai. I wouldn’t be surprised if all of Akutagawa’s actions up until now have been an angrier mirror to how Dazai himself acted while on the mafia. That’s just speculation though. Given that he will kill, manipulate, torture and discard anyone to get what he wants it’s easy to say that Akutagawa is one of the worst criminals as far as Bungou goes. You would also be correct to say that. The way he used Kyouka is beyond sickening and the way he just hits Higuchi like it’s nothing indicates that he has detached himself from everyone that tries to approach him and that Higuchi’s self-given quest is an arduous one.

The reason that I titled this section “A Walk Through the Grove (That Is on Fire)” is both to reference an older short story of Akutagawa the author, as well as to show that to Akutagawa everything around him is burning. He has no stable relationships aside from his sister, he has a cosmic amount of self-doubt, his answer to pretty much anything is violence, even when it seems he is plotting without involving harm to another, like when Kyouka was being used to lower Atsushi’s guard, he still solves it with violence. Let’s be fair, he could have just given a blow to his head to knock him out instead of STABBING HIM THROUGH THE CHEST. Trash boy gotta be trash, can’t do much about it.

If you want to even give a more poetic look to it you could say that Akutagawa’s lung problems are coming from the fumes of all that he burned just to get Dazai’s attention. I also feel the need to add this, since I talked shit about lord and savior back there, IT’S OKAY TO LIKE BAD CHARACTERS. Really. It doesn’t mean that you support all of their actions past or present. Just like I said, I like Akutagawa and he did all of these horrible things I mentioned and will continue to be a bad person moving forward. Sorry if it seemed like I attacked you for liking Dazai or any other character. I didn’t cast a stone, no matter how harsh my words. As a matter of fact, I of all people, can’t really judge people for liking characters that did or do bad things.

My favorites are Akutagawa, Chuuya, Dazai, Fyodor (yes, Fyodor, sucker for anything Russian) and Kunikida, in that order. If all of these people were on a wooden boat, all tied up to weights and the boat was starting to sink, I would save Kunikida and shoot holes on the boat to make it sink faster.

3.       Thirty-Five Count Murderess

All this talk about crimes, ignoring one’s crimes and overall trauma, how could I leave her out? Manipulated from the very second she showed up, Kyouka is one interesting character to look at. She is responsible for the death of thirty-five people, from her own words some of them were innocent families (strikes me as odd that the mafia would attack innocent families for absolutely no reason, but I guess we won’t get any development on this), she obeyed the orders from the phone, specifically Akutagawa, in order to protect her own life until she decided against killing.

An interesting character, as one could point out she always had the choice to not kill those innocent people by refusing to do so. Dying in the process, but avoiding giving those people horrible deaths. To which I have a counter-argument. SHE’S A CHILD. How do you judge someone who isn’t really developed yet? Or even worse, someone who the law isn’t fully prepared to support? Japan’s conviction rate is 99% and while Kyoka is by no definition innocent, she isn’t fully guilty either. In a trial she could confess to being manipulated by Akutagawa, a full grown-ass 20-year-old man, there could be proof after proof that it was the Port Mafia’s doing and that she was a victim. And she would catch the death sentence nonetheless, Japan isn’t very forgiving and stories about innocent people simply confessing to their crimes to get a lighter punishment are more than common.

So how do we handle Kyouka? According to what is said in BSD she would be dead if she got caught and looking at how the Port Mafia can easily manipulate this trial to not have their name involved at all, Kyouka is legally considered a mass-murderer and a self-acting one on top of that. Why am I bringing the law into this? To show that the outcome shown in the manga (up until chapter 16) was more than forgiving and honestly the best we could hope for her. I believe that Kyouka never really had a choice despite being told she had a choice. We all like to pose ourselves as good people… Well, most of us. But honestly, if shit hits the fan? Not all of us would hold on to our morals and beliefs.

That is what makes Kyouka an interesting character for me, she has faced one of the worst situations you can find yourself in, having to choose between you or someone innocent. And frankly? I think she made the choice most people would make. Plus, again, just to stress this out, she’s a child. No matter how smart she looks or acts, she is still a fourteen-year-old.

The reason I named this section “Thirty-Five Count Murderess” is self-explanatory. That’s what she was called, that’s what she did, that’s what she will never be forgiven for and that’s what’s on the mind of a fourteen-year-old. All the lives she took under the orders of someone else.

4.       You Really Aren’t Human

Don’t worry, I will be talking in more general terms about the other characters in the next section. However, it’s time for everyone’s favorite suicidal maniac, Osamu Dazai. I love Dazai and I hate him at the same time, I think that’s a feeling a lot of you can relate to. I have to open this by stating that I have a serious problem with manipulation, not in fiction, just manipulation in general. I will elaborate more on types of manipulation and how BSD presents that when rat-boy shows up. Until then, let’s talk Dazai.

The way he operates is one that could easily tick me off. Not in the “uuugh why are you doing this?” and more in the “why the fuck where you written like this?”. I don’t like characters that know everything. If anything, I love people that are incompetent at the problem that they are facing in the story, the worse the handle it, the better. But Dazai is not like that. Could be his looks winning me over. But I believe that is because of how he does it. Other people have said it before, I would link them, but all that I know from BSD tumblr are screenshots that were sent my way.

Dazai manipulates using trust. Which is what ends up saving him, he trusts that Atsushi will beat Akutagawa and save himself, he trusts that Atsushi’s kindness will win over Kyouka, he trusts everyone in the ADA to do their jobs, even Rampo who is unwilling at first. At the end everything falls into place, maybe not 100% how he wished, but it still works. All part of his plan. See how that could fail?

It’s been a hot minute since I read Bleach, but I remember vividly that after a while every time that things happened in a certain way and “Aizen planned it” I would get more and more bored. Probably from these bad memories that I got this distaste for planners in anime, or in fiction in general. They are not bad by the way, I don’t remember much from Aizen to call him bad, it’s just that for me it gets boring.

Dazai’s manipulation strikes a bad side of me mostly because of Akutagawa. You know that all you need to do is show up, give the man a head pat and say “good job kiddo” and he will start crying then and there. Yet all you do is leave him to get beat up by Atsushi after stating that Atsushi is better than him. To the emo kid with an inferiority complex? Not a good look, sis. Or however the fuck people on twitter talk. If there was even a slight chance of getting Akutagawa on your side or at least to back off, why not use it?

I’m not gonna talk about future events, but it does leave a bad taste in my mouth. It’s as if Dazai is playing a very specific game, one where all his friends, colleagues, rivals and enemies are pieces. And yet he can’t find a way to get the people that he hurt to be happy.

Anyway, love this bitch.

The reason that I named this section “You Really Aren’t Human” is also kinda obvious. Dazai’s ability is No Longer Human, he despite being filled with human characteristics never really feels like one. Always above, with chains of trust linking him to his friends.

5.       Cast of Misfits

God, I had forgotten how Rampo was unbearable on the beginning. I’m not asking him to be ride or die immediately for Atsushi (even though he did get along with Kyouka very quickly), but you would expect him to follow the director’s orders. There is a novel about them, haven’t read it yet, and at this point it doesn’t matter. I think he gets better with time and I personally like him a lot, but he’s such a little shit lol.

The Tanizakis… Yeah. I mean… Yeah. It’s not really on point about them, if they really are brother and sister or are just lovers in disguise. Personally? The reason that I like stories is because they slap me in the face with the unexpected. When I opened up Game of Thrones, I wasn’t expecting an incestuous to push a kid off a tower, almost killing him in the process. That was a slap in the face. When I first read BSD, I didn’t expect to see this dilemma, could be another slap in the face.

Kunikida is just perfect, could there be a man more perfect than him to pair up with Dazai? Their dynamic is what I live for, it’s really good, really fun, just recently read their novel and that was a fun read as well, they just work super well together. Even though Kunikida is one of the types of characters that I don’t personally like, with the strict ideals and all, I really enjoy him and how he acts.

Yosano is a fucking queen. Love this woman. I would also like to say that that man who asked her if she really meant that she would do… things to his thing is a brave, but stupid, man. How the fuck do you look Yosano in the eyes and just go “yep, this is a good idea, totally gonna ask this question”. The train battle was really fun to read and Yosanos personality is really, really fun.

Kenji is a nice guy and the director is also shown very little.

Higuchi and the Black Lizards are fine. We don’t see much of them for now, so I don’t really have anything to comment other than they are a loyal bunch. Chuuya is there as well. I will save him for later.

The Guild shows up, but up to chapter sixteen there’s only the battle with Lucy and other than the bond that she and Atsushi discover that they share, there’s not much else to comment… other than Mori Ougai that is. But I would like to save my comments about him for a thing just about him.

Yeah I don’t know how to end this, no impacting phrase, no snarky comment, drink water.