#Ranpo and Dazai are NOT both doing the same thing they are NOT both strategists

[anti-dazai-blog]

I'm hoping that this person Fyodor mentioned in the last episode that challenged him once is someone who can give Dazai a run for his money and put him into a real situation where he doesn’t have all the answers. At this point, I'm starting to worry that's never going to happen.

I don’t remember if Fyodor mentioned the gender of the person when he made his comment, but if he didn’t then I’m gonna hope it’s Agatha Christie.

We’ve already seen her— in fact in the manga she’s already interacted with Fyodor— and the only strategists we’ve seen so far have been guys. I’d kinda like a woman strategist (so long as she’s treated with the same respect the series gave to Dazai/Fyodor/Ranpo in regards to their strategies.)

Technically Louisa could count as a female strategist, but she never goes up against any other strategist, and the only “strategy” she does is tell Francis not to make stupid decisions and (iirc) telling Steinbeck and Lovecraft that Dazai would try to retrieve Q. Neither of which are strategies. It never even goes into how she reaches her conclusions— it basically chalks it up to “she thinks for a really long time until she knows stuff”.

Anyway. Although I personally have never read any of Christie’s works, she’s my cousin’s favorite author, which essentially makes her my blorbo-in-law. So I gotta root for her getting more content.

[sorcerersandskillusers]

I want to talk about one of the most terrifying and interesting bsd characters who almost no fan remembers.

This character nearly tore down the ADA without ever getting involved herself, yet the entire fandom has ignored her because of her terrible anime adaptation.

Who am I talking about?

Nobuko Sasaki

If you haven't read Dazai Osamu's Entrance Exam, then you probably don't even know who this character is, in the anime she is watered down to the lovesick girlfriend of an actual villain, and you probably dismissed her immediately. But in the light novel, we get to see how dangerous and cunning she really is, to the point she nearly gets the better of Dazai and almost causes the ADA to be shut down. (Fukuzawa says he would have closed the agency if they hadn't caught her)

In terms of intelligence I'd put her on the same level as Mori, just slightly below the super human genius characters i.e. Dazai, Fyodor and Ranpo

The Azure Apostle

For those who don't remember, Sasaki was the Azure Apostle, a mysterious figure who challenged the agency with several horrifying cases, which would all lead to mass casualties if the agency failed to stop them. These were; uncovering an underground organ smuggling operation (which the agency failed to stop and which massively hurt their reputation) stopping a bombing of Yokohama port which could have killed hundreds of people, and preventing a commercial aeroplane from crashing into the city (this was not included in the anime)

Each of the people, who committed these crimes, had no Idea they were being manipulated and thought it was their own idea the whole time. There was no evidence that anyone else had been involved at all, and the agency had no way to connect her to any of the crimes. And she even makes the genius move of framing Dazai, the mysterious new member with suspicious knowledge of the underworld and a hidden past, as the true culprit.

In fact, she only made one mistake, challenging Dazai. If Dazai had been basically anyone else, they would have been cornered and arrested, but since Dazai's mind works on a level even master strategists can't imagine, he was able to turn the tables on her.

But even after Dazai sees through her plans, the ADA still has to act exactly the way she wants them too and stop the plane crash. Even when they know they're being manipulated, they still have to do exactly what she wanted.

Finally, after Dazai and Kunikida confront her and get her to admit to being behind all those crimes, even then they are powerless to stop her.

Even after being involved with so many massive crimes, Sasaki herself hadn't done anything illegal, so within the law the ADA is completely powerless to stop her.

They can't arrest her, and if they try then the agency will be put in even more danger as will many innocent lives. She has completely trapped the ADA, and even Dazai in a choice to follow the law and let her go or take justice into their own hands and prove they will stoop as low as she did.

In the end, there she has them in a perfect deadlock, let her continue her mission, or kill her themselves. Both are bad outcomes for the ADA.

In the end, Dazai has her killed by using a third party (Rokuzo) to shoot her, so the agency can't be blamed for her murder, though this ends her plans it deeply scars Kunikida and shakes his resolve in his ideals.

The trauma from this event still haunts Kunikida to this day, we see that when he is affected by Q's curse, Sasaki is who he sees.

So thats the Azure Apostle, a terrifying master mind who nearly brought down the Armed Detective Agency, but now lets look at the other side of this character.

Nobuko Sasaki Herself

We know several things about Sasaki as a character and her history from the light novel. That she was a brilliant criminal psychologist and was internationally recognised despite being so young

,that she was the ex-lover of the Azure King and the real mastermind behind his plans, and that she had very little motivation of her own.

That's not meant to be an insult to the character, she says herself that she never really had much direction in life, even with her incredible intelligence she never really had anything she wanted to achieve.

But the Azure King was the opposite, he had powerful drive and strong ideals, he wanted to punish criminals who couldn't be touched by the law and when he failed to change the law as a bureaucrat, she offered him an alternative.

A very important thing here is that neither of them were manipulating or forcing the other into this path, as far as we see they genuinely loved each other, each providing something the other couldn't, Sasaki her mind and the Azure King his drive.

When the Azure king died, Sasaki had no path of her own to follow, so she simply kept following his, even though she doesn't seem to have really cared about his cause.

All of this creates a very unique character, you can't say she was driven by revenge, because she wasn't really driven at all. It's more like she was running on momentum, she had chosen a path to follow and could not stop even though there was nothing pushing her down it any more.

She's a perfect antithesis of Kunikida and was the best possible villain a light novel about him could have had.

A man who brings his ideals into reality with his own hands against a woman who uses others to enforce ideals that were never hers to begin with.

Anyway, I made this because Sasaki is criminally underrated in this fandom, If you haven't read "Dazai Osamu's Entrance Exam" I highly recommend it, I've only put a tiny fraction of the amazing story here.

[sigmas-split-hair]

Ranking ADA members on how likely I think it is that they'll be the PM transfer

9. Kunikida Doppo

Kunikida is far too driven by his ideals, morals and ideas of righteousness. He certainly doesn't have the most powerful ability in terms of combat and would therefore not be the Port Mafia's first pick either way. If they were to pick him he would probably refuse to collaborate and he'd cause more harm than good to the organisation.

8. Fukuzawa Yukichi

Fukuzawa's low on the list for many of the same reasons as Kunikida.

But I think he'd be more favoured than Kunikida by Mori, because of his combat capabilities and past moral ambiguity. As the president of the agency he's central to their dynamic too and it would shake the agency up, even if Kunikida were to replace him.

7. Miyazawa Kenji

Kenji's one of the strongest fighters in the ADA. But his ability is somewhat unpredictable and Kenji's very naive, which isn't a good thing to be in the criminal underworld. Mori is also probably the least familiar with him out of all the members of the ADA, so I can't really pinpoint a motivation he'd have for choosing Kenji.

6. Tanizaki Juni'chirou

Tanizaki's ability is very useful and would be perfect for crime. We also know very little about Tanizaki's past and backstory, so him becoming more in central in the next couple of arcs would be logical as he's the only member of the ADA that hasn't really been given this kind of attention.

But so far, it's unclear how central the transfer is going to be. For all we know, Tanizaki transferring could lead to less plot relevance for him.

5. Izumi Kyouka

Kyouka has already been in the Mafia, and is an experienced murderer. She also seems more prone to going back to her criminal ways than the other members when protecting the people she loves.

What stops me from putting her higher up on the list is that she fought long and hard to quit the Port Mafia, and would probably continue to do so if she came back. Kouyou and Akutagawa are both also content with her place in the light, and probably wouldn't vouch for her return.

4. Yosano Akiko

I've seen a lot of people theorise that she'll be the transfer, which is seemingly impossible as her not transferring is the one condition of Fukuzawa and Mori's agreement.

However, the only person who knows about this condition is Fukuzawa. If something is to happen to him, which Mori may be relying on, then she'll have no choice to comply. I think that she's almost guaranteed to get picked if Fukuzawa dies, but I find that unlikely as of now

Her ability is extremely powerful in terms of healing, and would be of great use to the Port Mafia. If she were to quit the Armed Detective Agency then the stakes would be a lot higher. In Yosano's own words; almost dead is the same as completely fine in the Armed Detective Agency.

She'd probably be reluctant though, and forcing her to join the PM at all would be tricky since she'd rather die than use her ability the way she used it in the war. That's why I rank Ranpo above her.

3. Ranpo Edogawa

Ranpo's the pillar that upholds the agency. It was started because of him and he's the person who keeps them in business.

We're also unsure of what Mori's motivation for the transfer is. If it's to hurt the agency, then Ranpo would be the best way to do so.

Ranpo is also one of, if not the smartest character in Bungou Stray dogs. He would make an incredible strategist for the Port Mafia, and holds a high amount of power within Yokahoma's law enforcement. Ranpo could probably make innocent people take the blame for crimes committed by the Port Mafia. But he may be too smart for Mori, which would lessen his chance of getting picked.

2. Nakajima Atsushi

Atsushi's the main character of Bungou Stray dogs, which makes him a likely candidate for the transfer. He's also shown to be very self-sacrificial, and would probably offer to go instead of someone else. I could see him for an instance try to give himself up for the sake of Kyouka or Dazai.

Additionally, he's one half of the newest generation of Double Black. Him and Akutagawa are often shown as parallels, and giving their relationship more depth and screentime would be a logical step for the show. He's also one of, if not the most powerful fighter in the ADA and his ability is said to be The Book's guidepost.

If the Port Mafia's after the book then Atsushi is the best choice they can make.

Dazai Osamu

The only way I can honestly see Dazai not transferring to the Port Mafia is if the setup for him doing so is a red herring.

First and foremost, Dazai's blood is "Mafia black" as Higuchi put it. He has a long history in the Port Mafia, and used to be central in it.

When Dazai was fifteen, Mori predicted that he'd take over the throne in seven years. Now he's twenty-two.

Mori's shown to be an intelligent and manipulative man, and it's not impossible for him to have deliberately killed Oda Sakonosuke knowing that it would lead to Dazai going to the light side. Whilst Dazai was certainly useful, he wasn't a good mentor or leader, as shown with the abuse he made Akutagawa endure. Him going over to the light side made him more compassionate towards his mentees, as shown with Atsushi.

There's also been a very clear development with him in the last couple of seasons. Dazai's crimes were leaked, and he may not be able to return to a normal life even if the agency prove their innocence. Even if his old crimes are erased again, he has also committed new ones, like jailbreak. He's also repeatedly shown with his bangs covering his right eye, which parallels the bandages he wore "in the dark".

We see several characters forgetting to count him as a part of the Armed Detective Agency. They may have forgotten it, but it's more likely that they've realised that Dazai's going to be the transfer or that it's foreshadowing.

And whilst he was central to the plot, Dazai was separated from the rest of the Agency in the majority of season five, and could only communicate with Ango. This may have been a demonstration of the Agency's capabilities without him, and they were shown to manage the crisis on their own.

Everyone has their own role in the agency, except for Dazai and Ranpo who share the role of the "brain". If Dazai were removed, then Ranpo could probably cover his bases but Dazai couldn't cover Ranpo's bases.

There's also his partnership with Chuuya. It was focused on a lot during the Meursault arc, and is the focus of a lot of light novels. It would make sense to have Chuuya be a more central character by having him team up with Dazai, the shows secondary main character. Chuuya's character development is clearly not near finished, and reuniting with Dazai would accelerate it greatly.

Lastly, Dazai's a genius and a part of Double Black. His return would not only bring back the Port Mafia's infamous weapon of Corruption, but also their infamous strategist and Demon Prodigy.

These are all of the actual clues, so this last part is just me going off about the Dazai-is-the-book theory and why I think it fits in with this:

Mori knows more about Dazai than the other characters, and he's also the leader of the only organisation not shown to be after The Book. Dazai's life prior to him joining the Port Mafia is a mystery, and might be very central to the plot.

The book is said to be sealed, and Dazai might very much be the seal. If he was created by The Book in order to seal it then that would explain his suicidal tendencies. He's a projection of the page on which the seal was written's wishes, and if the book wants to be destroyed then he wants to destroy it. Alternatively, the seal was forced upon the book, and can only be broken by his death.

If he wasn't created to be the seal, but rather was given the role by someone/thing else then he could be suicidal because:

a) he wants the seal to break and the book to return

b) he wants the book to be destroyed

If this is the case, then Mori would have good reason to want him back into the Port Mafia. It's not unlikely for Dazai to "replace" him upon his return, which Mori is well-aware of.

Isn't that a bit weird? Unless, Mori has more important motivations than the preservation of his own life. Like for an instance getting a hold of the book, or a chance to destroy it.

[charmspoint]

Hi! Not the same anon, but you said in a previous ask that you fell out of love with bsd. I was thinking about starting that series so I'm curious, can you tell me about more about your opinions on bsd?

Oh boy uhhhhh my opinions about bsd. Anon I'm so so sorry for what is about to happen.

Quick and easy advice: Read until the end of the guild arc and then drop it and consider the series done, that would be until end of ch 37, enjoy

Now for the crazy version:

It doesn't IMMIDIETLY go bad Guild arc but after that is where things slowly start to slack and slip and then we end up with what we ended up ye.

I really enjoyed bsd up until the end of the guild arc! I won't say it has NO writing problems, they were always there, but there were a lot less noticeable. The characters are cool and creative and if you are watching the anime the animation is stunning (though I do rec the manga, anime has a bad habit of cutting corners or changing scenes, especially when it comes to soukoku for some reason). Like it's no coincidence that even after I've completely fell out of love with the manga, characters like Chuuya and Ranpo are still ones I think about and consider amongs my favs. BSD had a lot lot lot of potential.

Anyway, Kafka Asagiri can't write for shit.

That's mean I know, but I'm really really tired of this dude like, the way he writes reminds me of the way i wrote when i was like 15 and that is NOT a compliment.

He has a really really unfortunate habit of making characters Just so many characters. Go to bsd fan wiki, go look at how many fucking organizations there are, that's too many organizations. This is why bsd was good until after guild arc. You had Port Mafia you had Detective Agency, they are at war, in comes Guild, they have to unite, simple but effective. And then like 11 other organizations are pulled out of nothing and each of them has at least a couple of names characters and sometimes a few of them will get developed but probably really only one and that is what Kafka does. He's a character designer. He makes shiny new toys and plays with them for a while and then he throws them away because he's bored and he wants a new toy. That's just how everything has started to feel.

Like

I hadn't kept up with the manga for a while. I used to get some info about what was happening from my friend but then she dropped it too, so now i only get what accidentally ends up on my dash. I heard Kenji got a bit of a backstory recently good for him. I honestly dont know where bsd is going rn, is it better, is it worse, is it trudging down the same old track. If anyone who follows me reads it feel free to jump into my ask box to tell me about it, especially if its like 'you are wrong lucy its actually good now' because god knows i want it to be.

But that's just the overall impression I got from kafka's writing. Like, I think he knows somewhat where he is going, maybe the end goal, but he's honestly flying by the seat of his pants. Things happen and you are like 'wait what, is that allowed?', Chuuya is a god now, its a nitpick only im upset about but its my blog, and god, god kafka thinks hes so smart

It was cool at first you know, we had Ranpo and Dazai who were both genius detectives with their own flavors and it was fun. But you know that sherlock video where the guy rants how sherlock just magically knows things and we are just supposed to accept it because sherlock is so smart and special THATS HOW THE WHOLE OF BSD STARTS TO FEEL. Every other villain is a brilliant genius strategist and they do things and know things and battle with dazai who also does things and knows things and none of it is ever explained because well they are geniuses just trust me they would know, dw they can do this, they are geniuses. Kafka just uses them to do whatever the fuck he wants without having to work for it because they are geniuses. It's annoying! The fucking code talking scene will be something ill be mad about on my death bed i stg.

Anon, I'm a character driven person. If i like the characters, I can stand a mediocre plot that's fine. But Kafka displays such massive misuse of all his characters its simply unbearable. I love Chuuya with all my heart and I don't acknowledge more than like 5% of his backstory. I was looking forwarded to his backstory! This never happened to me before, that i find out more about a character n just stand there n go

'well thats stupid as shit, that didn't happen'

And believe me anon I could rant about misuse of Chuuya until next year.

Just. It really really does have that feeling, you know. Like Kafka makes characters and gets bored of them and then just plays around with new characters until hes bored of them too. On and on and on. Instead of deepening the relationships between already pretty big 'core' cast, he keeps throwing new characters at them, that were never mentioned before but are suddenly super important. Only to forget about them too.

It feels pointless to care about characters when you read bsd. Nothing will be done with them, and this goes beyond like 'well this is a side character, they won't get much work' I feel like fucking Atsushi has been half forgotten and he's the mc. Or maybe Dazai is the mc??? But then i heard Kafka started to abandon him too which is just??

Ugh, sorry about huge ass angry rant, bsd is just THAT sort of topic with me, I feel like i said this same thing like 50 different times to a dozen of different people and i still get upset about it every single time.

If i could steal one set of characters and make them my own it would be the original cast of bsd, agency, port mafia, guild. I love those characters, i wish they had a better writer and attention they deserved, it could have been very cool

I said so much but i didnt even talk about how cannibalization arc is completely wasted or anything, I feel like every time i write this it ends up less and less coherent and more just me screaming at the clouds

I hope that helps?

[linkspooky]

Chuuya and Kunikida

For characters who we have not seen interact that much in canon, Kunikida and Chuuya actually have a lot in common besides the fact that they both hate Dazai, (I kid, I kid). 

What’s the similarity between an idealist striving for justice and a career crimminal for the mafia? Read more underneath the cut:

1. Inheriting Two Sides of the Conflict

Chuuya and Kunikida’s first significant interaction comes in the cannibalism arc, where both of them are the main commanding forces on opposite sides of a conflict. When the leaders of the armed detective agency and port mafia are taken out of commission at the same time, we see it is Kunikida and Chuuya who start giving orders in their place.

Both of these characters are also, primarily people you would not assume would take lead of the organization. Dazai was originally being groomed as the next boss to take over after Mori, even becoming an executive at a young age before Chuuya only to desert the mafia.

Kunikida exists in the Armed Detective Agency, which also both has Dazai, and Ranpo who are both tactical and analytical geniuses. The armed detective agency was also created specifically for Ranpo, and his relationship to Fuzukawa is similiar to Mori and Dazai’s (though far more positive, Mori and Dazai’s is almost a negative foil for the two of them). However, leadership falls to Kunikida the same way it did to Chuuya because he has something the two geniuses lack. Dazai moves pieces around on a chessboard, and Ranpo solves mysteries like a fictional detective straight out of detective novels, but first and foremost a leader must lead people. 

The two of them also have opposite reactions to taking charge. Chuuya when presented with the situation, his reaction is to immediately go on the offensive. He attacks the hospital before even considering any other option or trying to align with the armed detective agency. 

Kunikida’s first action was not to go on the offensive or defensive, it was to hesitate because he needed time to think of the best option. In a way it looks like they took opposite paths. Just like the Armed Detective Agency is the guardians of the Daytime and The Port Mafia are the guardians of the night, Chuuya acts quick and dirty in order to achieve results whereas Kunikida hesitates, and then eventually buys time to think of the ideal. 

However while they look as opposite as night and die, both of them had the same motivation at heart. Chuuya tried to levy all the forces of the Port Mafia on the hospital at once to force the ADA into surrendering, thereby minimizing the casualties of the total war. Whereas, the reason Kunikida suddenly felt overwhelmed, and tried to seek a third option eventually is because he also did not want any blood to be shed. Chuuya minimizes casualties, Kunikida seeks the ideal path where the least amount of people will get hurt. The only difference is Kunikida does not consider attacking Mori the same way that Chuuya immediately jumps to attacking Fukuzawa, because while they have the same motivation at heart Kunikida is still an idealist while Chuuya is a fatalist. 

Chuuya and Kunikida are at heart both motivated by the people around them, and wanting to protect those people. That is what makes them the ones most suited to take over leadership of both organizations. They see the human element that most of the other strategists do not. However, they both channel this deeply human urge into two different paths. 

Kunikida is an idealist, he strives for a goal far above reality.

Chuuya however, makes a lot of compromises with the extremely harsh reality that life in the mafia will show you. Notice how when Fyodor describes that even knowing that they are being manipulated, people cannot stop themselves from killing each other it cuts to a panel of Chuuya knowing that they’re trapped and saying he has no choice anyway. 

Chuuya is in a much less healthy environment than Kunikida, also considering that unlike Fuzukawa who has good and just intentions Mori is genuinely a bad and self serving person who uses people as tools exclusively to his benefit and their detriment. It’s a perfect way to describe Chuuya’s relationship with the mafia, paradoxically he’s presented to us as a good, loyal person who is willing to protect his comrades just like Kunikida is but because he is in the mafia he ends up killing people. He’s been manipulated for so long it’s what he’s used to, in situation where he knows he’s being manipulated, he still chooses to take the mafia and kill people in the end because it is his only home. 

Kunikida does not bend, Chuuya compromises, but that does not necessarily mean one of them is better than the other because Chuuya willing to bend and lower himself means he can reach some people in the underworld that Kunikida never could.

Both of them are inheriting a world that is currently in an uneasy peace, but also constantly threatening to go out of balance again. The post-war system set up by Natsume-sensei did manage to bring some kind of peace, but considering the number of orphans in the streets, the slums, and murders that still happen in the city in broad daylight it’s still a heavily flawed system. Kunikida and Chuuya are set to inherit both of these flaws on opposite sides. Kunikida has spent his entire life trying to fight these flaws, whereas Chuuya has spent his life shaped by these flaws as he was practically raised by the mafia. 

They’re also both people who originally belonged to a separate group, but had to go rogue because their original group failed them. The Sheep betrayed Chuuya which led him to question his abilities as a leader, which is why he settled for taking orders in the Port Mafia. Kunikida was a police man, a teacher, before joining a private detective agency to pursue justice that way. They both have strong senses of justice that require them to go radically outside the system in order to achieve what they want, for Chuuya its to be able to lead and protect the people under him, for Kunikida its to strive for his ideals. 

They were both shaped by a broken conflict and eventually the responsibility will fall onto both of them to better both sides of the conflict, rather than maintaining a status queue that still creates many victims. 

2. Relationship to Dazai

Kunikida is Dazai’s current partner, while Chuuya is his ex-partner and member of the famous Soukoku duo. Dazai’s relationships with both of them on the surface read similiarly. He goes out of his way to annoy both of them like it’s his only hobby. 

While they are partners Dazai knows both of them inside and out. There are times that rather than openly trusting them with information he will instead manipulate them to come to the conclusion that he wants them to. He can even claim to know everything about them, or be able to accurately predict all of their actions, and most of the time if the two of them agree on a strategy it will be Dazai’s strategy they are following. 

His behavior of annoying others, purposefully antagonizing them, treating them as enemies even when they are partners, and then trying to control them are all related behaviors for Dazai. Dazai is someone who fundamentally has trouble forming relationships with others, especially when he is required to see them as human beings. If their ability to see humanity in their comrades is their greatest quality, then Dazai’s inability is his worst quality. 

Dazai’s behaviors are all ways of relating to other people without actually having to communicate or let himself be known by them. If he annoys them, and antagonizes them, pressing all their buttons is a good way to figure out all of their boundaries by watching their reactions. In a way he’s playing with them only to observe them, and Kunikida and Chuuya are both so quick tempered they fall for it every time. Another thing despite being a mafia dog, and an idealist, both Kunikida and Chuuya are incredibly true to their emotions in a way Dazai can never be, which on one level makes them easy for him to read and provoke, but on another level makes him jealous.

When dealing with both of them it’s Dazai’s natural tendency to try to take control. Which is why his main method of strategy is to predict their actions. With Kunikida he more trusts Kunikida to follow through on his predictions, whereas he will try to actively manipulate Chuuya into doing what he wants. However, both of these characters are also so true to their own emotions it adds an unknown, illogical, unpredictable element to both of them which is why Dazai cannot truly bring them under his heel. They assert their humanity at every turn, forcing Dazai to deal with that. Kunikida will care for ideals which Dazai sees as meaningless, and Chuuya acts so much on instinct he will go off on his own and take paths that Dazai would avoid because they are illogical. 

They both have something which Dazai lacks. They both value the loyalty that Dazai does not have, because he is not capable of making connections in the same way they are. One of Chuuya’s biggest reasons for hating Dazai leaving the mafia is that he betrayed the Port Mafia that Chuuya himself is loyalty, leaving behind all of their own comrades. He easily walked all over what was everything to Chuuya. It’s because they have these qualities they can become leaders in a way that Dazai is not. Dazai is the demon prodigy who inherited the executive position at eighteen, but you only need to look at how Dazai treated Akutagawa to tell what kind of leader Dazai was. In comparison, Chuuya while not shown to do so in the manga, in spinoff materials is often showing watching Akutagawa, nervously approaching him and trying to pick up the pieces that Dazai left behind, because he values what Dazai doesn’t. 

That is why no matter how much he antagonizes them, Dazai also has a deep respect and trust for both of them. Besides Odasaku, the two of them are the closest that Dazai comes to trusting other people as equals. 

3. Chuuya Longs to Become Human, Kunikida Longs to Become and Ideal 

Chuuya and Kunikida are both individuals deeply invested in protecting the lives of all those around them, especially those in immediate sight like the detective agency and the mafia. For Kunikida this is his ideal, for Chuuya it’s the reason he fights.

Chuuya has been since the days of the sheep, basically allowing himself to be used as a tool by organizations if it means he can protect the comrades around him, and have a place in that organization. 

Chuuya even joined the port mafia - after the sheep betrayed him by sacrificing himself in order to protect the sheep. It’s also the primary flaw in both characters, that they are almost selfless to a fault to a point where their own self esteem plummets. This is what makes Chuuya so interesting as a character, he is generally a good, sefless guy, just... you know, working for the Mafia. Chuuya lets himself be used by the mafia, and both shapes his image and acts like he has a code of honor, like a classic ‘noble mafioso or honor-bound yakuza’ character from fiction. In a way because their own selves are so lesser to them they are both acting out ideals. However, the way they follow ideals only leads to contradictions, for example Chuuya acts like the noble criminals that the Port Mafia make themselves out to be, the lesser of two evils, the ones who fight for the peace of the city at night, however his boss is Mori one of the most unsavory characters in the series. 

Despite being one of the most idealistic characters in the series, we also see Kunikida do the opposite of follow his ideals several times early in the manga. When trying to save Atsushi would be too difficult because they were also handling a high profile case at the same time, Kunikida seriously considers the risk too great to save him. Kunikida advocates against his ideal of saving everyone. 

He also tells Atsushi not to save Kyouka. At which point he elaborates that while he desires to save everyone, he himself already knows that there are people he just cannot save and he’s learned this through his own failures. 

He is also the first to advocate for turning Kyouka into the police, because while admitting she is sympathetic Kunikida also lectures Atsushi that he must become responsible for the person that he saves. 

If Atsushi is a reckless idealist who is driven to save everyone without really thinking of the consequences, then Kunikida is an idealist who clashes with reality over and over again. Note that Dazai saves Atsushi and Kyouka pretty easily and Kunikida is hesitant to help both of them because of the burden that the agency would carry bringing both of them on board. However, this is not because Kunikida does not care, but rather he cares too much. He sees all the possible consequences human and otherwise and fears failure which is why he is reluctant to recklessly charge ahead. It’s easy to just save people like Dazai does when you don’t care, and just pick them up like pieces on a chessboard.

Caring too much isn’t always a heroic quality, it can be a burden on itself. Chuuya and Kunikida take far too much responsibility when things go on around them, which leads them to their biggest flaw they are both far too aware of their own weaknesses. Kunikida and Chuuya struggle with the idea that they are lesser than others, less important. Chuuya himself is less than human due to being Aharabaki and having no history, or place to belong except with the people who use him. He acts loyalty to the mafia, follows the mafia’s rules and ways of living, because he thinks it gave him everything. 

Chuuya’s struggle is a very personal one, and he tends to take everything personal. Dazai left him behind when he left behind the mafia, which is why Chuuya wants to settle it hand to hand with him. Chuuya has close connections to Ane-san, Akutagawa, and those close connections are the ones he fights for. 

Kunikida is a lot more impersonal, as he tends to see ideals over people. That is why despite how competent he can be, he has almost no personal friends, and no girlfriend. His comrades at the agency are probably his entire world at this point because they are literally the only human connections he has, even though Kunikida treats that much more like a work relationship than anything else. 

Kunikida is human in a way that Chuuya is not. He’s deeply emotional. He presumably has a family, and a history, whereas Chuuya was robbed of both of those things when he fused with Aharabaki. However, Kunikida also wants to escape that. To him, his human emotions, his weaknesses always run contrary to his ideals. He wants to be an emotionless machine who does not hesitate and saves everyone. 

Which is why early on in his character arc we see Kunikida advise for taking the more practical routes. Not because he does not want to save those people, but because he knows that reality is going to crush him if he tries. We see exactly what happens when Kunikida fails to save a child that he does not even know, he’s capable of caring this much for complete strangers imagine how much it would affect him if his comrades were killed in front of him. Kunikida acts cold and distant because he fears his humanity will crush him, therefore he tries to suppress that humanity and strive for the ideal instead. He longs for the ideal, and strength, to be a tool that can be useful to others, even though he’s so naturally human. 

Chuuya is the opposite, in fact we see him almost let Dazai kill a child in front of him earlier in the manga. While this was a wrong action on Chuuya’s part, he also had his reasons for doing so. 

For Chuuya his own subordinates and comrades are so important, that he wants to remove Kyusaku to remove the danger from them. Chuuya also, probably does not understand Q’s full situation and therefore all he sees is a walking time bomb that put his men in danger. Chuuya’s view of the world is, if you’re not useful to your comrades then you die, it’s shaped by the Port Mafia who left Akutagawa one of their greatest assets and most loyal members to die after failing just one mission and in critical condition. 

It’s not the right thing to do but it is a comrpomise. Chuuya is able to compromise and adopt a fatalistic view point with reality much easier than Kunikida. Which also, means he can become a tool in a way Kunikida never can. Chuuya himself already has an inhuman quality, and an immense power inside of him that erodes away at his ego and the human parts of him. He can even flip his brain off like a switch and become a being of pure power that is almost unstoppable. He has the power that Kunikida longs for, and also the ability to not get broken by reality because he is not as human as Kunikida is. Chuuya does not trust himself, he considers himself to be the one at fault for the Sheep’s betrayal of him, he thinks he is missing something as a person as a leader which is why he lets himself be used rather than try to act for himself. 

However, the things that Chuuya values the most are not power, or even ideals, but rather his comrades underneath them. In Dead Apple he’s shown to care about those same comrades years after the fact, and is broken by the loss of them. Chuuya will always choose people over ideals, which is why he’s able to form such close personal relationships with others even on the wrong side of the law. 

Chuuya’s path forward is in recognizing himself. The reason he is blind to Mori’s faults is because his self image is so low he believes he needs to follow Mori’s orders. However, Chuuya is the one set up to inherit the Port Mafia, once he realizes not only does he value his comrades but he needs to stand up against Mori if he values them, because he is the better choice to lead them, he will be able to take the Port Mafia on the path of what it is supposed to be, rather than what it acts like under Mori’s self interest. 

They both live in this constant struggle trying to find their own humanity, amongst the people they fight for, and the ideals they represent as they let themselves be used as tools in the conflict. However, Chuuya is much more aware of what to Kunikida is a recent revelation. That he actually cares more about his comrades than his ideals, which is why Chuuya is the one we always see compromising and taking the more fatalist path. Kunikida does not realize how much he would break and the importance of his comrades around him in maintaining his ideals until someone else points it out to him. 

Which if Kunikida’s arc is to continue is something he will have to grapple with and be aware of. As much as he wants to be a selfless idealist and choose ideals over people, the person who Kunikida is naturally cares about people a lot more than his ideals. His ideals are a construction and a way to live his life, but what he lives for ultimately is the people around him. That does not mean his ideals are worthless however, but Kunikida needs to find a way to balance them so he can fight for people and ideals. Otherwise his constant choosing of ideals over people is something that will only distance him from the people he cares about the most. 

Chuuya and Kunikida, on two sides struggling against each other, the same struggle, of human beings, of tools, of ideals, of harsh realities let’s hope both of them come out on top.