#Chuuya meta

[chuuya-fan-page]

Can u give me some examples of chuuya and Dazai like, helping make each other better?

Glad you asked this question, anon!

Some examples include the scene in fifteen where Dazai goes from the beginning of fifteen, being all apathetic and not cryng about life. Mori trying hard to motivate him, to suddenly wanting live after meeting chuuya. Quite literally saying: "chuuya convinced me to live" and along with here, saying that he's got a new dog so he has to live now.

The gun shooting scene also served helpful for Dazai, he was spiraling and Chuuya, a gangster knocked the gun out of his hand saying "you shouldn't be shooting dead bodies". For a member of a gang to say this, it served as very contridcting to dazai but revealed more about chuuya's character and how what he did was (shooting the dead body) was wrong.

Another example includes in stormbringer, when chuuya is hallicunating dazai and the flags when he's tortured. The hallucination of dazai motivates him to not give up (bc he claims he isn't like him) and pushes him through the experience.

From Dazai's side in stormbringer, his capability to change that has always been there prior to oda is shown when he gives Chuuya a choice. This is a big deal which I see the fandom ignore a lot, but Dazai at this point struggled immensely with empathy, so for him to put himself in Chuuya's shows and give him a choice with the entire city was at risk showed how much he cared about chuuya's feelings, thinking about his humanity before the entire city.

Another instance includes the scene in which Mori says that he would die with Chuuya with the Guivre situation in stormbringer. Dazai goes from being okay with dying/apathetic about the situation to suddenly caring with the idea of dying with Chuuya is brought up. Chuuya constantly is seen to motivate and push Dazai to do things in the mafia at the time.

The Dragon Head Conflict in Dead Apple is a major example. Chuuya once again pushes him to get involved in major conflicts, Dazai is louching around not wanting to get involved until Chuuya says something to him about the situation.

Dazai is acting inhumane by disrespecting someone who died and in anger chuuya punches his face. dazai says "i'm human too" and chuuya says "no one would believe that shit" people misinterpet this scene badly as dehumanization but it's not. it's basically Chuuya giving Dazai a reality check and telling him to stop acting inhumane since he knows he is a human and is capable of acting humane. Stormbringer shows this, he sees dazai giving him a choice, him acting human. So since this is after that, it's basically him telling him no one will believe you're human if you act like this, so start acting like you're a human. Because of Chuuya's words, it motivates him to stop a turf war because of how mad he is.

In mayoi this is seen, with him telling Shibusawa how he was wrong for killing the colonel.

This exchange also shows the extent of their partnership, how despite the words Chuuya says to Dazai prior, he just knows him; by the mention of the microscope earlier he's able to decipher the intention of dazai. Their reading of each other can be shown to be "making each other better" as their trust in e/o as kids raised an abusive enviorment is definetaly interesting.

Chuuya is actively seen steering him to be motivated him who once lacked a clear meaning of life itself was.

-A (hi guys i'm back)

[skkflower]

Thinking about what comes off when Chuuya unleashes Corruption. He willingly takes off his gloves. From Fifteen we see that Chuuya and his hands are how connected he is to his own sense of humanity. He is relinquishing his ties to feeling human and surrendering himself to that loss of control on purpose.

His hat and coat tend to fly off though. His hat has a connection to both Rimbaud and Verlaine. I feel like this could be a callback to how Rimbaud’s dying words to him where a command to live and he’s sort of going against that by putting his life on the line. Verlaine and the hat was more of a callback to the questioning of identity again, so the hat flying off without Chuuya meaning to is Chuuya refusing to accept Verlaine’s definition of humanity. It doesn’t apply to Chuuya and he won’t let it.

The hat is also symbolic of his ties to the port mafia, but I’d argue that the coat is more so. According to @moonlikesanime ‘s coat theory how a character wears a coat in bsd, symbolizes their loyalty to an organization or an idea. Chuuya’s coat coming off during Corruption is less about his ties to the Port Mafia and more about his trust in Dazai.

However, in thinking about what comes off, something that stays on, comes to mind— the choker. The origins of Chuuya’s choker remain mysterious, but there is an obvious connection of Dazai’s dog jokes and a collar type accessory. The connection between Corruption and Dazai’s relationship to Chuuya is being made here. The choker staying on during Corruption is Chuuya’s trust in Dazai to bring him back. It ties together Dazai bringing back to humanity and his safety. In addition, Dazai is the one to find his coat and hat (not sure about the gloves but I’d argue that’s for Chuuya to get back himself because it’s a self image thing). Dazai brings back Chuuya’s connection to a place to call home and his family.

[bsd-fan]

How mentally unwell you think Chuuya is?

Your takes on his character are the best so i will be glad to hear your take on this

PD: thank you for the perfect analysis you do <3

Hey! Thank you so much for your kind words 💖

And I’m really sorry to be answering this so late but life has been crazy this last weeks. I want to say that when I got the notification of this question I was at work so I just read the first part and I was /Convinced/ someone has asked me how mentally unwell I was and I laughed out loud because the answer is a lot but I couldn’t figure out why someone would ask it like that 😭 Then I realized it was about chuuya and everything made more sense lol.

Now going with the actual question (and once again apologizing if something doesn’t make sense because English is not my native language.

Chuuya’s mental state is kind of difficult to talk about. The easy answer is that he is in a really bad mental state but it’s a little more complicated than that. Chuuya’s has gone through so much trauma, basically since the moment he started living everything in his life has been a big traumatic experience after another. It has gotten so bad that there’s a running joke in the fandom about Chuuya’s lack of reaction to fucked up things, because that’s just another Thursday in his life. He is /used/ to this horrible things happening to him. We need to understand that there’s no such a thing as a little trauma. But chuuya’s case? Is outrageous. He was experimented in, treated like a weapon, deshumanized by everyone, constantly fighting with his own feelings of inhumanity, he was used and betrayed by the people he gave everything to protect, he made new friends that loved and appreciate him only for them to also be taken away from him, worse than that, they were killed /because/ they were his friends, he had to see them die, he had to hold his own pain and instead be comforting while he saw something fucking horrible, he was hurt, physically, mentally, he was poisoned, tortured and hit by a literal black hole, he saw more people he loved die, the same year later he once again lost his friends during the dragon’s head conflict and the worse part? Shitty things are /still/ happening to him

So no, no one could go through all of that and be mentally intact, it doesn’t matter how mentally strong they are. The pure amount of trauma that Chuuya went through in three days would break any other person and that’s just a minuscule part of his life. And that’s not even the worse part of it, I said it before but Chuuya’s core is all about humanity and he find his humanity in the people that he loves. That’s the kind of person he is and is devastating to realize that this mentality is the only thing that keeps him standing while at the same time being the thing that is destroying him. He was stripped of almost every decision in his life, he is at the worst place he can be in, forced to go against his whole fucking personality, his belief system and his moral code and he can’t leave because that would go against all his character. So chuuya endures, and endures and endures. He takes every hit, he has renounced to vulnerability, he has renounced to the right of being afraid, he has renounced to the right of stepping back. He has internalized that he is strong so he /needs/ to protect the people that is not. In order to protect his people (and his humanity) he needs to be reliable, he needs to be unwavering, he needs to stand still even when everyone else is already in the floor. He has lost such a basic human right as giving up. He doesn’t now how to do it, he /can’t/ do it because people depend on him. And it’s really a tragic paradox because this is what moves him but is takes so much of him. And all for what? He keeps losing people he loves, at the end there’s no difference. All this autocontradiction is killing him, he chose the mafia because the bonds with the people there, because his bonds with the sheep means something to him. Because his humanity is there, not in the organization but in the people that is part of it. He chose the mafia because that means choosing his humanity but the mafia is the kind of organization that works around deshumanizing people, so what’s the point of all of that. He is surrounded by people, he loves and is loved by people but he still is so unbearably lonely.

Now, what makes chuuya different from other characters? Chuuya’s resilience really is a scary thing. He is brave, he takes everything the world gives him and retaliates just as hard. Even when he has gone through hell and back, he still is full of vitality, he is still so hungry for life, he still enjoys all the little things he can get. Even when he knows that the worlds is a cruel place, even when he knows that there are bad people and that fucked up things happen, he never grew to hate the world because he clings to the good things, no matter how small they are. Because it doesn’t matter if he’s using corruption and bleeding from every hole, or feeling like his bones are being pulverized by gravity, it doesn’t matter that he loses the humanity he so desperately clings to, if by doing that he can protect the people that he loves. Is not that chuuya is mentally well, he is not emotionally intelligent (actually he’s horrible at it, it only seems like he is because most of the time he is being compared with Dazai who is far worse) but he is probably the most resilient character in bsd. Chuuya is strong, he is a fighter. He will fight for his place in this world, he will fight the unfairness of all, he will fight the senseless of life.

I also feel like it’s important to add that chuuya has a lot of interesting copying mechanisms and while most of them are certainly not healthy, it’s also what keeps him moving. Regarding all his trauma, I feel like it’s important to talk about how chuuya just never thinks of certain hurtful stuff. He just put all the pain in a mental box and hides it away. Chuuya doesn’t seem as affected by his trauma as other characters because he is hyper fixated in going ahead, he never looks back. He just keeps going forward BUT it doesn’t matter how much he advances, it doesn’t matter how fast he goes, all that trauma, pain and contradictions will catch up on him one day and it will be a terrible sight. Because my boy doesn’t know when to stop, he doesn’t know when he’s had enough, he thinks that limits are just kind suggestions that he can ignore.

So in summary Chuuya is an accident waiting to happen. He is more less stable at first glance, because he has copying mechanisms and a strong mentality and a otherworldly resilience but he also sucks at dealing with his own trauma, he is self destructive, and a living contradiction and that’s gonna wear him down someday. True to his character, his contradictions are fighting between them to keep some kind of weird balance but that won’t last. So, Chuuya is definitely mentally unwell.

Whoa that was longer than what I expected, sorry for that.

[azapofinspiration]

Admittedly, something I’ve liked in the past couple of chapters is that even with an occasional barb or complaint thrown in, there’s been a surprising lack of hostility between Dazai and Chuuya.

Like, we’ve had crumbs of this — of them caring for each other and looking after each other — before but it’s been so consistent in the last few chapters and it feels so very in our faces as well, front and center.

Like, Chuuya keeps trying to almost console and reassure Dazai or at least help him figure out what’s wrong. Dazai’s never been as open or expressive, this chapter especially with him practically thinking out loud, that I can recall. Dazai’s showing behaviors that I don’t remember seeing before but fromChuuya’s words they’re habits of his.

They’re not constantly shooting insults or attacking each other (whether with words or physical moves). They’re basically just chilling as the danger is supposedly past (until Dazai got his revelation).

And I think it’s because they’re presumably completely alone for once.

They’re not in the Mafia base. They’re not in enemy territory with unconscious looks and their retrieval target close enough to possibly hear or see them if they wake up. They’re not stuck in a place surrounded by a dangerous ability or where the location of their allies is unknown, but could come across them at any time.

This might be the first time in the main manga where we can get a glimpse of what they’re like simply with each other.

And it’s really not so bad.

[unicornpopcorn14]

Chuuya's reaction to Dazai getting hurt during the Lovecraft fight has always been so interesting to me...

Because it's the kind of worry you'd never expect from a character as gruff as Chuuya, who had displayed nothing but hostility towards Dazai so far. Usually, characters that are labelled as "angry" or "anger issues" (which Chuuya is much more complex than that but you get my point) act more as a tsundere type of way when the one they "don't care about" gets hurt. And show their care in very, very subtle ways (ex. their eyes widen, their mouth parts and closes again, etc) before putting up their front once more.

Chuuya, however, is open, and vocal about it. His worry is clear not only to us, but to Dazai himself, the one he shouldn't be displaying the concern to (as per the cliche). Shouldn't it be some sort of secret that Chuuya does care? Isn't that what skk's dynamic has been shaping up to be until now?

I'm telling you- the way my mind blanked when Chuuya just casually.... showed concern not once, but twice, was a sight to see.

Besides, the context makes it much more confusing, because Dazai isn't some rookie, and Chuuya knows that more than anybody. He was the youngest executive in Port Mafia's history, of course he can handle a hit or two. Of course he'd seen him handle a hit or two, sometimes without batting an eye.

Heck, Chuuya himself was hurling Dazai like a ragdoll in their reunion, which was their last meeting. And you could argue that he was going easy on him, but Dazai has mostly withstood the same damage (as far as I could see), and Chuuya was as bitter as ever.

So that kind of contradicts both what we knew of Chuuya so far, and how their dynamic was shaped to be. I mean, that just makes Chuuya a hypocrite, yeah? What makes him care now, all of a sudden? What makes him care at all?

Well, to me, this backasswards reaction implies one (or more) of the following:

- Dazai rarely got physically hurt during their partnership and thus this is an unexpected thing for him to see (during a mission).

- The four years of separation made Chuuya unsure of how much Dazai can withstand physically now. Also the fact that he isn't in the mafia anymore, aka fighting enemy organizations on the weekly, would naturally make Dazai lose his touch in a way, what prompts Chuuya's reaction.

- Dazai getting taken off guard took him off guard which led to panic. Especially since the situation was (momentarily) out of their depth. Seriously wtf even was Lovecraft?

- During the dungeon scene Dazai was an enemy, while in the Lovecraft fight he was as an ally. The difference might be significant to Chuuya.

- This has always been Chuuya's reaction to Dazai getting hurt regardless of the situation.

- "Only I can hurt him like that" ahh logic

- Asagiri was still experimenting with their dynamic and thus there are some inconsistencies.

This scenario didn't play out again (after their reunion) for me to exactly determine which one is more plausible, but it is 100% canon for Chuuya to shamelessly show his concern and run to Dazai to check on him before properly dealing with their opponent, which I find to be such an appealing layer to their dynamic, and a good spin on the type of character he gets stereotyped as.

Bonus: Dazai also becomes a softy when Chuuya's hurt, especially post corruption. Dead Apple alone displays that multiple times.

All in all, Skk are doing a terrible job at maintaining their 'hostile' and 'antagonistic' relationship post their reunion. Freaks.

[sorcerersandskillusers]

So im still in shock from the new episode but i want to point out that all of the skk angst that came out after 101 and 109 was just destroyed in one go.

all of the art and breakdowns of how much chuuya was suffering having to hurt dazai and it turns out he chose to shoot dazai like 3 extra times (I don't blame him, i love dazai but he does kind of deserve it)

This was 100% not part of the plan and was Chuuya relieving some pent up aggression

[originalaccountname]

Chuuya who had an ability that enhanced other people's abilities before undergoing ability experimentation that turned his ability into a permanent singularity and caused the creation of an ability life-form (Arahabaki). A little boy in the middle of a war who developed an ability that would make him able to help others be stronger, safer. A power that was always meant to be used with other people, an ability that was has to be used in a group.

Chuuya being a character that thrives when surrounded by people. Chuuya being a character whose motivations are more often than not for the sake of other people. From a little boy who attacked someone bigger and older than him to defend his family's honour, to a teenager that decided to use his power to defend his peers and avenge his fallen friends, to an adult who steps in to save his organization and his city.

An ability that was meant to support twisted into an ability meant to attack. An ability meant to be used on others forever forced to only work on himself, granting him immeasurable power, but isolating him because of it. An ability that should have surrounded him with friends and teammates to help the most, but instead forced him to stand on his own and take all the responsibility for himself.

[calmlb]

hoshikawa has done such an incredible job of portraying Dazai from Chuuya’s perspective… back before he figured out that Dazai’s demon persona was just that… a persona. an act

before he learned to see through Dazai’s fronts

Dazai made people think he was uncaring & heartless, when this was his intention all along (he does this in Stormbringer & Dead Apple too)

Chuuya sees Dazai manipulating him…

but he doesn’t see that Mori is manipulating Dazai

“I do it all for the organization and the protection of this beloved city.” —Mori

[kyoukamybeloved]

”In other words, the suicidal maniac wants to live. Is that it?”

“I’ve come to think it’s worth trying.”

"You used Corruption, believing in me? How beautiful."

skk webweaves: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

//strange gods - Roxane Gay// the portrait of a lady - Henry James// art from @/_mwk19_ on Twitter// say yes to heaven - Lana del Rey// the grudge - Olivia Rodrigo// litany in which certain things are crossed out - Richard Siken// art from @/suya1414 on Twitter// Kyoto - Phoebe Bridgers// we’re in love - boygenius// writings prompts for the broken-hearted - Eden Robinson// anyway - Richard Siken// art from @/AB0to on Twitter// things I never give myself permission to say - Chelsea Dingman// art from @/ssmi_0215 on Twitter// the whetting of teeth - Jamaal May// no light, no light - Florence + the machine// cosmic love - Florence + the machine// letters to Felice - Franz Kafka// art from @/rokkyun1 on Twitter// the sorrow festival - Erin Slaughter// norman fucking rockwell - lana del rey// remember my name - mitski// art by @bananana2217// townie - mitski// misheard lyrics - car seat headrest// you couldn’t just leave - Trista Mateer// art from @/T__rate on Twitter// your love finds it’s way back - Sierra DeMulder// a pearl - mitski// humpty - mitski// art by @yuyonyu// abandon me - Melissa Febos// where did you go - Hishaam Siddiqi// I should hate you - Gracie Abrams// art from @/qmthtdy on Twitter// killer - Phoebe Bridgers// a poem for Haruko 10/29 - June Jordan// crush - Richard Siken// pandemonium - Lauren Oliver// art from @/1110yu_ku_si on Twitter// catalog of unabashed gratitude - Ross Gay// steamboat - Adrianne Lenker//

hey remember when I said last part would be the final one? yeah uh about that, turns out I still have some inspiration yippee. hope you liked it :)

tags:

@dinosaur-mayonnaise @philzokman @amagami-hime @nnavia @homuncvlus @vinylbiohazard @bunglegaydogs @zamxii @ghostsinacoat @slug-behaviour @vivid-vices @atsuwushi @gorotic @pendragonstar @ricelover888 @oatmilkbasic @thou-shalt-cha-cha-real-smooth @the-gayest-sky-kid @lotus-reblogs @whiteapplesandblackblood @dazaiyuri @evermorehypewoman

[smellypire]

the reason why i want kenji and chuuya to interact so bad is that they are both so selfless that it hurts them, they both try to understand other people, help them, and think so much about other people in their life rather than themselves.

the way that that chuuya embraces anger as a defense mechanism and how kenji uses optimistic behavior as a defense mechanism so it can it can bottle up his anger is so interesting to me. then they're both so strong at a young age and had to persevere through so much like ugh.. the way that chuuya forgave verlaine after what he did to him and the way kenji chose to help tecchou after what he did to him..

and it's like you see them interact in wan and anthlogy. they get along so well there and i feel like they would in main manga too. they're both so understanding and like the parralels between corruption & kenji's unhinged side of his ability like.

they would be such a power duo.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I’m just going to throw down my thoughts now real quick. Someone is obviously going to get taken over by Fyodor. This takeover seems to require blood to activate. Here are the potential options, rated lowest to highest by my own personal interest.

Random character we’ve never met - the easy and boring answer. Fyodor will body snatch one of the vampire guards he was communicating with. Fair amount of likelihood since he could easily have made the transfer of blood at any point, though I’m not sure yet if it needs to be an instantaneous thing or if his blood can lie dormant. Either way I think it’s a bit of an ass-pull with no stakes on our cast so I’m hoping this isn’t the case.

A named character outside Meursault - Probably someone he’s had a lot of contact with, so Fukuchi. This depends on the blood having a latency period and is also insanely contrived. I actually hate it more than the random guard.

The Catgirl thief - I’m assuming this is extremely unlikely since the host needs to be alive. But anyways. Women lovers here’s how we lose even worse.

Having said this now, I think it’s fairly obvious it has to be one of the other Meursault four. This is appropriately thematic and tragic, given that all of them place a lot of value on free will and self-determination, which a takeover by Fyodor would rob them of.

Chuuya - He spent a lot of time around Chuuya to be sure but there’s no blood on him. If there’s a latency period though, it is possible. I’m not feeling this one though, to be honest. I don’t see what narrative purpose it serves - Chuuya hasn’t had enough of a role in the manga for this to mean much, other than royally pissing Dazai off (which to be fair is definitely in character for Fyodor). I think it far more likely that Chuuya is going to be a witness for whatever comes next.

Sigma - High likelihood. He did get stabbed and had the memory transfer. I can’t remember whether Fyodor touched him with his wounded hand. It would be brutal for this to happen to him after he’d just broken free from his manipulation. But honestly I don’t know that Sigma getting taken over is all that interesting. For one, they’re going to need his knowledge (though that may be a reason for Fyodor to off him truthfully), and for another, I just don’t think Sigma’s… done enough as a character. I feel it would kind of render his arc in Meursault pointless to end his story here.

Nikolai - The most likely possibility to me. He is holding Fyodor’s severed hand, which he touched to his face. Fyodor’s ability probably kickstarts after his death, and Nikolai was the first to get his blood on him. Sadly, I suspect that if this is the case, this will be the end for Nikolai. If he gets taken over, I can’t see a reason or method to restore him to himself. What a horribly tragic end this would be to our favourite clown, his freedom snatched away for good by the one person he couldn’t help but get attached to.

Dazai - I dismissed this off-hand at first. Of course I did, Dazai is immune to abilities. I also want to be clear that I seriously doubt Asagiri will off his favourite boy like this. But oh man. What if Fyodor’s ability isn’t an ability, much like in the first skk manga team up? What if them both being there is a call-back to Rimbaud who snatched corpses, and Lovecraft who could hurt Dazai? What if Fyodor really has become no longer human - and this is the proof? I was kind of hoping the Meursault arc would end with Dazai (temporarily!) out of the picture, and this would be a way to do it - Atsushi and Akutagawa would have to step up, Chuuya could be more relevant. We could even have more Kyouka if what I’m starting to wonder is true - that Fyodor was involved in the death of her parents. At the same time, Dazai’s special boy plot armour nullification and mysteriousness gives us a plausible reason to bring him back. And all the while maybe they could continue their mind games, with Dazai being an annoying little pest in the back of Fyodor’s mind.

[kaurwreck]

If you're considering when Dazai noticed Chuuya wasn't a vampire, keep in mind that if Chuuya were a vampire, he wouldn't have killed the guards in Meursault. He would have turned them into more vampires.

Also, if you think that it cheapens the scene in which Dazai drowns Fyodor and Chuuya for Dazai to have known Chuuya was human: it doesn't. Regardless of whether Dazai knew Chuuya would survive (he did; see his explanation of how he would kill Chuuya in Fifteen, the light novel, and further how he approached Verlaine in Storm Bringer):

Imagine how fucking miserable it must have been to do that to someone he loves and trusts. Imagine how difficult for Dazai to lean into and trust Chuuya to be okay, not only after Dazai drowned him, but in such close proximity to Fyodor, whose ability is touch-based. Imagine Dazai recalling that when he was 16, his botched timing meant that Chuuya was tortured. Imagine Dazai reminding himself that Chuuya suffered then because Dazai didn't trust him, didn't let him in on what he was doing, thought only he could pull the strings up until he was too late— and yet Chuuya remained okay anyway. Imagine Dazai considering how time and time again he's received Chuuya's unadulterated trust and choosing to reciprocate with unequivocal faith. Imagine Dazai being unable to express any of this to Chuuya typically, except for in moments when the demands of the circumstances and Chuuya's inability to respond together loosen his inhibitions and his tongue.

Further, usually when Dazai's batshit machinations are exposed, his eyes flatten, his voice slickens into condescension, and he palpably slips into a version of himself that even unnerved Mori. But, in Twilight Goodbye/ep 61, Dazai's eyes were honeyed and light, his voice playful, and his mannerisms bright and animated. Those were not his typical machinations, because rather than attempt to control the variables, which he admitted he couldn't, he responded to what happened as it unfolded, and trusted those he loved to do the same.

He trusted Chuuya, Chuuya trusted him. Because of that, everything was okay. It's not cheap that Chuuya was never a vampire, nor would it be cheap if Dazai knew as soon as Chuuya tore through Meursault that he wasn't really a vampire. Angst is not the source of Bungou Stray Dogs' intensity; hope, faith, and love are, and they're just as heady.

[flowers-of-buffoonery]

there's something to be said about the way soukoku act around each other normally – about the endless childish banter that has been accompanying them from when they were 15 to the present day.

dazai and chuuya met when they were teenagers; they started off on two opposing sides, then chuuya was made to join the mafia, to partner with a boy he detested (and reasonably so). a lot has been said about the fact that soukoku are, for each other, the only way of experiencing the childhood and teenagehood they never got to have – not in the mafia, not in the sheep. they hated each other, were forced to work together by both circumstances and mori, and instead of seriously trying to kill each other they just... started insulting each other. and they never stopped.

here's the thing. 15yo dazai and chuuya, being insufferable to each other, is standard teenager behaviour. we're glad for it. go soukoku!

22yo dazai and chuuya, still being insufferable to each other... now, that's different.

part of it is, of course, that they genuinely find each other irritating – that much has not changed. and for chuuya, who's still in the mafia and has responsibilities and hordes of subordinates, dazai is likely the only person he can behave like that with. that much hasn't changed.

dazai, though. we see him acting like a downright brat with most members of the ADA – chief among them kunikida (much could be said about dazai attempting to replicate the dynamic he had with his ex-partner with his new partner. a post for another time). the reactions he gets range depending on the person. most members act as if nothing is out of the norm or like they're indulging him; atsushi is puzzled but just goes with it; kunikida gets angry and starts lecturing him. but nobody matches him blow for blow – nobody jokes back, nobody trades insults with him as a peer.

chuuya, on the other hand, doesn't just let dazai be his bratty, insufferable self like the ADA does; he actively joins him, rises up to the challenge.

at 22, dazai and chuuya can still act like that exclusively around each other. it can be falling back on old habits. but also – isn't it a choice, at this point?

having someone you don't have to be deferent to, someone that doesn't need to be manipulated – someone you can get mad at without thinking of consequences. isn't it a relief, having someone you can just hate? to dazai and chuuya, their relationship must be the easiest, most uncomplicated one they have.

I know you, and you know me. I don't have to be pleasant with you. let us not care, and be unpleasant together.

[azapofinspiration]

Chuuya who doesn’t let himself want things because he has to put everyone and everything else first, who feels like his own wants shouldn’t matter because he has power so he needs to be responsible and prioritize those weaker than him.

Dazai who doesn’t let himself want anything because the moment he gains it he will lose it, who can’t handle opening himself up to that kind of pain and vulnerability because he’s been taught that that is a weakness.

Both Dazai and Chuuya whose experiences tell them that the moment they want, everything begins to go wrong and they’ll lose the things they care about.

[uneducated-author]

Because I will never be over this adaptation and how it perfectly used every frame and then elevated them until you actually have a wonderful way of displaying each characters thought process. You see Dazai's expression change, how he moves. Dazai has been silly and disarming all of the arc so far. He dances with Sigma and splits because he wants sugar. He jokes while opening a door, and hosts a happy hour quiz, comparing Sigma to his mentee.

But here. we see him, and see how far he is willing to go. We see him stop smiling. He finds out his partner is his enemy, controlled by vampirism and smirks, even if it's more of a 'damn, Dostoyevsky'. But it's important. Because he has ten minutes to make Sigma willing to die for him. Ten minutes to make Sigma willing to die for the agency. And he has to be powerful enough to make Sigma think. Strong enough to shock him, to make him listen. Now, Sigma watches him control time, and drown Dostoyevsky. He has to show Sigma that survival isn't an offer exclusively from the decay of angels.

But here, he sees his partner, it's broadcast on a screen. He sees Chuuya follow Dostoyevsky's orders, pound at the wall, scream and struggle, and then slowly drown. And he stops smiling. Because he can't lie, not in front of his partner.

Something about how the memories load. Something about how Dazai, whose mind works faster than light, takes a moment, because if he thinks about their past, he knows he'll crack and he won't have the resolve for this.Something about needing time to prepare for the heartbreak he's going to inflict on himself. Something about how he's speaking to someone empty, because Dostoyevsky has scooped out Chuuya's soul and turned him into a stranger, and Dazai could never forgive that rat, but this is beyond unforgivable.

Something about a shadow. Something about Dazai blocking himself from the memories where their heart connect. Something about blocking the light because if he's good, right now, he'll destroy what little soul he has.

Something about opening his eyes, and forcing himself to watch, because this is why he came for Odasaku, this is why he wants a double suicide, because he believes that nobody wants to die alone.

Something about listening to Chuuya and how he drowns. Something about a second of silence except for the other half of his soul fighting to live, as Chuuya always had.

Something about the turtle smile, so clearly fake because Dostoyevsky is there, and if he survives (Dazai has every contingency) there can not be a shred of evidence that Dazai cared for his former partner, and something about how if Chuuya was listening under the echoes of vampirism, he would know that Dazai is lying.

Something about there being no chance of ambiguity. Something about the darkness over his eyes, and the pain he's tried to wipe away. Something about shadows, and how you need light to cast them.

Something and something and something, and how soukoku have always been something more.

[lady-tortilla-chip]

I think it’s crazy actually that people think it’s impossible for Chuuya to trick Fyodor without Fyodor having to be dumber for it. Especially when a popular theory was that after the drowning Chuuya had begun faking it, why is it so hard to believe he’d just been faking it the entire time?

This doesn’t even touch on how it’s been SUCH a LOUD point throughout mersault that Fyodor has hugely underestimated Soukoku. So, by obvious extension that would include Chuuya too if not more so than Dazai seeing as he insinuated multiple times that Chuuya was Dazai’s tool rather than equal partner.