#also also kyouka and akutagawa foil characters real

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Idk if this is going to make any sense, but I always feel like there's something missing when I read thoughts about sskk and it really is the impact Kyouka has on them.

Like, a lot of it is "look at the impact Atsushi and Akutagawa have on each other" and "they are so similar at their cores" which is true! And essential for any bsd partner dynamic! But Kyouka also has commonalities - she has Atsushi's general wonder, simple wants and joys, and desire to be helpful and kind, but also Akutagawa's laser focused objectivity, initial lack of questioning orders, and straightforward ruthlessness when required.

But a lot of the external influence on sskk I see mentioned is Dazai and Chuuya's... which I get, because they're the previous double black, but also Chuuya is very minorly involved by proxy only, and while Dazai undeniably is at the heart of sskk conflict (and it's good to analyze in depth!!!), I feel it's understated how much it was actually Kyouka who kickstarted the development between them - Atsushi was brand-new to the Agency, but saving Kyouka cemented his mindset of proving his worth and also gave him someone to look out for - his position became less fragile from that point on and more permanent. Her mix of kindness and darkness also forces Atsushi in the Guild arc to reassess the idea that people are either "good" or "bad". (He's working on this still, but his judgements are becoming much more nuanced than at the beginning.) And as for Akutagawa... I have a lot of thoughts on their dynamic and how I really don't think there's a whole lot of bad blood there anymore after my all-time favourite scene where they fight in Cannibalism arc - but all I will say is that he legitimately thought what he was doing would make her strong enough to survive, and both Kyouka and Atsushi telling him this is wrong, that people can't live being beaten down like that forces him to reassess his own situation in the Hawthorne and Mitchell fight. (He still has a ways to go, but I seriously hope he eventually realizes that his treatment by Dazai was horribly unnecessary and cruel.)

But what's great is that Atsushi and Akutagawa influence her development too! I don't even need to get into Atsushi's: he believes in her potential and sees her as the young girl she is - not a weapon but a person. She starts off pretty much attached to him and only him, but as time goes on, she starts to adopt a more positive mindset and becomes more confident making decisions as a result of his faith in her. With Akutagawa, she is, like Atsushi, forced to reassess others, especially after he tells her he's glad for her having found that will to live. Kyouka is unable to continue fighting him after that, and I get the sense she saw him as a person there, instead of only the man who harmed her. I also find it really interesting that she has no shame or concern about her mindset aligning much more closely with his, to the point where she'll work with him if necessary.

This is a bit of a mess but really it's one long-winded ramble on how I loved these three working together in Dead Apple and would love to see them working and fighting alongside each other again. I know, I know, this is probably not going to happen because it's supposed to be about sskk as a duo but consider:

They are a trio in my heart.

[kyouka-supremacy]

More thoughts about Kyouka and Akutagawa since I have. A Lot. Most of this was initially rambles that were to go in the tags but got too long to fit

In the end Akutagawa likes Kyouka so much and is fond of her because he subconsciously admires how she found the courage to get out of the environment that was severely hurting her and actually call out her abusive mentor for the pain he inflicted her, whereas Akutagawa is aware that he never was and never will be able to do the same. It's only subconscious, because Akutagawa couldn't ever stand admitting it to himself- because to him that would mean admitting being in pain is his fault too, as well as second guessing every single choice he's ever made. But the admiration is still there. Akutagawa is always complimenting Kyouka, and it's kind of heartwarming‚ kind of heartbreaking when you take in that that's just what he always wanted his own mentor to do to him. Akutagawa's character is so tragic...

Also, in my opinion Kyouka never really feared Akutagawa the way Akutagawa fears Dazai. She feared being hurt as long as she stayed in an hostile enviroment, in great disadvantage and with no chance to get out on her own, but as soon as her chains were broken she really... Doesn't falter in front of Akutagawa. She threatens him with a gun the day after having left the pm- and she doesn't falter, doesn't hesitate; she almost blows him up seconds later; she's not afraid of him as they fight during the cannibalism arc; in Dead Apple, she isn't troubled by the idea of being left alone with him, because she's confident in her abilities and knows she can perfectly stand up for herself. None of this could be said for Akutagawa and Dazai. Partially because Akutagawa was much more vulnerable than Kyouka when Dazai picked him up (despite them being the same age; but Kyouka was raised lovingly and had a perception of what being treated with dignity was like, while Akutagawa lacked that), partially because Dazai is way better at manipulating people than Akutagawa could ever be, who really sucks at it. Akutagawa is terrified of Dazai and still very much subject to him: God, he didn't hesitate one second to throw himself from a balcony just to catch a repetitor for a slight chance to talk to him. He begged him to allow him to prove his power although he was beaten and exhausted and every muscle in his body hurt like hell. He didn't object to being teamed up with the person he hates the most in the whole world just because it was Dazai who asked. After four years after having been abandoned, Dazai called, and Akutagawa immediately ran to him- with that desperate look in his eyes. But the list is so long, I could go on forever; every single thing Akutagawa does (or, almost every single... ), he does for Dazai. Kyouka would never do ANY of this for Akutagawa (thank goodness). Akutagawa fears Dazai, Kyouka doesn't fear Akutagawa.

It's also sorta fun how Kyouka didn't particularly try to hide her dislike for Akutagawa even while she was still in the pm. Seriously, Kyouka is so fearless and brave. I wholly believe her being so blunt about her animosity towards him contributes to Akutagawa having a liking for her, be it self-loathing, be it having the courage to do what he himself could never. (And it's also fun to remember how Akutagawa has it in him to hate Dazai. There's a whole alternative universe where he deeply loathes him from the first to the last page).

Really, Kyouka and Akutagawa are some of my favorite foils and I'll never get tired of them. Both of them are kind of ruthless. Both have a deep bond with their siblings, who bring out the best of them. For both joining their respective organizations is seen as salvation. The way they're both very pragmatic and oftentimes even cynical. The way they were perfectly on the same page in Dead Apple, to the point Kyouka deemed it the best choice in that moment to go with Akutagawa rather than stay with Atushi. The real difference lays in how Kyouka found it in herself to rebel where Akutagawa couldn't. But that's not really a difference by itself as much as it was consequence of the environment they grew up in: Kyouka was raised in early childhood with love and support, and was able to tell that what was being done to her in the pm was wrong. Akutagawa, on the other hand, never knew what love is, so he couldn't perceive the lack of thereof.

[morievna]

BSD ch 106 – my wild theory about Aya’s dad identity

Hello~~

Another short chapter^^’

The most important is that Akutagawa is back T_T it is clearly hinted that he is partially conscious – probably he cannot disobey main orders (like capturing Bram), but some details are up to him and he probably didn’t kill Aya per his promise to Atsushi. Imo it nicely set up next stage – with Bram as bait for ADA, we just have to wait for most likely Atsushi (though Kyouka or Yosano would be nice too) to show up to fight his vampire boyfriend xD and ofc find a way to grant back free will to all vampires.

That ‘refused to consume me’ gave me pause… I wonder if core of vampirism can be taken over by drinking Bram’s blood or something like that.

As for oil at elevator, which caused fire – wow Asagiri really wanted to raise the stakes and keep us on the edge xD My guess is that maybe it is byproduct of Dazai tampering elevator earlier – like some auto-destruction mode for elevator… but frankly possibilities are endless when it comes to Dazai’s plans so it is better to wait and see xD still it was touching that Dazai’s first instinct was to save Sigma by getting him underwater awwww

So let’s go to the main topic and time to wear tin foil hat XD

I must admit that when I first read spoiler summary I was surprised that we got more of Aya’s flashbacks. I don’t want it to be taken wrong way – it is really nice that she got to be more fleshed out and have more detailed backstory (not much of bsd female characters can relate), but still… it kinda puzzled me that we were shown again how much awful person is her father – which feels a bit redundant. Ofc calling out sexism is important - I am not diminishing that. Just I am simply wondering that maybe Asagiri is treating it as build-up for something else.

In addition, it is a bit sus to how Aya’s dad is shown compared to her mother and sister - like he is more hidden visually.

It makes me wonder if Aya’s dad identity is supposed to be mystery and that he will make appearance at some point. Also, it is worth noting that Aya was at airport at his request (ch 92).

So who could he be? His hairstyle and age would fit with certain person:

Yes, nobody else than Tachihara’s brother xD

First off – I know it is very rough and rather unbelievable theory with no real proof. Still somehow it stuck in my mind so I decided to write it down here. It is not that I think is 100% true, but weirdly enough it would fit within story.

Especially there are some mysteries when it comes to Tachihara’s brother:

Tachihara’s brother knew real purpose of Mori and government’s action at Tokoyami island, which were classified information. He was regular soldier, who shouldn’t have access to it. Unless somebody with access could tell him – like Fukuchi

We are specifically told that Fukuchi wanted to go to Tokoyami island because of his missing disciple. Frankly, this information has little value from story perspective unless such disciple is somebody we know.

Yosano claimed that she is totally sure that he died – in most of the stories it means that person is alive XD Nonetheless, Yosano’s arc lacks sorta proper conclusion – reunion with Tachihara’s brother would have nice ring to it imo

Summing all up, my guess is that Fukuchi helped Tachihara’s brother (I hope he will get name finally xD) escape and presented some dead body double in the latter’s stead. Then he provided the latter some fake identity so he could live freely without fear of government wanting to dispose him for knowing classified information.

But even if he possibly lived, he would be broken person with PTSD – who would need therapy first before raising up kids (but therapy is not really option in bsd unfortunately). Still he and Aya would be nice parallel to orphanage headmaster and Atsushi. By this I mean – headmaster used bad methods to try make Atsushi to grow up to be good person – and it could be that Aya’s dad is the same.

At the heart Aya and young Yosano are very similar – both are determined, kind and idealistic girls, which simply want to help and save others (whether by being Ally of Justice or healing). After witnessing how Yosano was traumatized and exploited by government, he would try to prevent his daughter to go through the same and wanting “simple proper woman’s life” for her without dangers. But again just like orphanage headmaster – using wrong methods, which made Aya feel like failure.

Finally, Asagiri loves grey characters – I could see the story going in that direction. But it is not like I am 100% certain and it could easily be the case that I reading too much into everything xD Still it would be interesting if manga goes that way so we will see~~

Thank you for reading and have a nice day <3

[rebeccadumaurier]

my notes on bungo stray dogs season 4

alright now that i've finally watched s4, i can be insane about this show for a bit. spoilers abound below obviously, and also i only watch the show and don't follow the manga (not something i intend to change anytime soon, so pls don't spoil haha <3)

my thoughts

crazy how reading meta on the character and relationship foils in BSD actually significantly improved my media literacy, not to mention increased my respect for asagiri a lot. but speaking of foils i went insane watching this season. the way it BUILDS on so much of the previous seasons is wild

everything about mushitari and yokomizo's relationship is SOOOOO much and we barely know them. the theme of trying to be remembered forever through your writing. the foils to the murakami arc, the way ango is dazai's translator despite their own strained relationship, do i even need to explain how it parallels poe and ranpo's relationship.

not to mention the way the manuscript / evidence destroyer arc is constructed reminds me a lot of how they foiled dazai x chuuya with steinbeck x lovecraft in the double black episode.

speaking of which, ranpo fans (and ranpo/poe fans) really had their time this season! yes i'm getting queerbaited no i don't care i love this this is awesome. i havent been queerbaited like this since i watched double black and it permanently rewired my brain (affectionate)

the book as metacommentary on storytelling and what it means to construct and alter reality and the evils of trying to play God as written by a real-life writer, an inherent role of playing God. im shaking asagiri like a ragdoll for answers

unsure how i feel about the continuous upping of stakes but do respect the overall lack of power creep for our main characters. dazai, yosano etc are exactly as powerful as they were when they first started, and i enjoy that.

the obvious contrast in ranpo as silly emotionally volatile 14-year-old vs grown-up ranpo in present time and how he's developed so much as a character and grown to care for others. the relationship between him and fukuzawa. im going to be sick. i need him to be safe and protected so bad...i just want him to be happy.

the empathetic and thoughtful way BSD approaches the treatment of children really gets to me. the attempt to preserve innocence and the way it is so often destroyed. but also it's worrying how with each flashback going further back in time, the characters depicted are progressively younger - dazai at 18 -> dazai and chuuya at 15 -> ranpo at 14 -> yosano at 11. if we continue in this direction, i think we will probably see akutagawa's childhood and him joining the PM, which i can't imagine will exactly be a happy fun time.

speaking of which, the contrast in this season between the patience and compassion with which fukuzawa treats teenage ranpo vs the cruelty with which mori treats child yosano and then the fact fukuzawa and mori's friendship ended over that treatment. oh my goddd. and i'm sure there will be further examination of the trickledown-effect of how mori's teachings impacted dazai which then impacted akutagawa which then impacted kyouka. the intergenerational trauma of it all

-> the parallel between mori shooting yosano's friend to force her to heal him with her ability vs dazai shooting akutagawa to force him to protect himself with his ability. oh my god!!!!

on the decay of the angels: really confused by how nikolai's character ties in to the real-life gogol (who i don't know super well, but i've read a few of his stories and like his writing). waiting for a mishima character to show up, since well, the decay of the angel is a real-life mishima book. excited for that since real-life mishima was also....quite a character, to say the least

my questions (and further thoughts)

so far, the state of several ADA members remain unknown. we currently only know the whereabouts of dazai, atsushi, kyouka, and fukuzawa, and that's because uh, 2/4 are in prison.

(also the parallel of fukuchi helping fukuzawa find oda in prison vs fukuchi's conversation with fukuzawa in prison. hm.)

speaking of which — i'm curious where mersault really is. it's obviously not a normal prison — there's most likely at least one ability user at work in making it function. (plus i need an albert camus character so bad PLEASE.) the way it's depicted, with the yellow confined spheres, reminds me a lot of the ability of camus's countryman, arthur rimbaud (from the the fifteen arc). hm! anyway, to go over the remaining ADA members:

so, where's yosano? tachihara spared her (unsurprising imo, though there's no doubt a degree of poetry for him in forcing her to heal herself over and over like she did his brother, but he's clearly not the sadistic torturer type).

ranpo is...somewhere. he was able to contact kyouka at some point about the manuscript, and he's obviously not dead. the question i have, although this applies to pretty much all of them, is what is he doing??? presumably he has...plans, of some sort.

tanizaki and kenji - i'll be a little surprised if tanizaki doesn't try to get in touch w/ naomi. the fact we still know very little about kenji, and he remains a fairly static character, makes me nervous considering how fleshed-out the other ADA members are. i dunno, i really feel like he's hiding something. my theory is that he's a spy the way tachihara / ango were spies but i have no good evidence here besides "does not pass vibe check."

kunikida's fate also unknown, besides "alive"

the margaret / hawthorne subplot seems unresolved - both character fates are like, extremely ambiguous. will say though obsessed with lucy casually throwing hawthorne into the void and atsushi just expresses no concern whatsoever.

(obsessed with everything about lucy tbh she was a member of an incredibly powerful gifted organization and then decided to just become a waitress at a cafe, where she bullies atsushi all the time and uses her pocket dimension to store her boss's coffee, and then she quits her job to go on an incredibly risky mission for the ADA. lucy i would do anything for you)

so confused as to what happened w nikolai 😭😭 maybe i should just accept that if you're a major character in this series who exists in the present, there's no such thing as permanent death.

the most notable exclusion from this season to me: where the hell is akutagawa? dude, you can't tell me asagiri just didn't have room for him. i don't believe that. i am nervous for him!!

[hamliet]

Messy, Perfect Redemption: Dazai

My least favorite trope in fiction is probably redemption via death. It just seldom works for the best possible story and more often than not comes across as an author wanting to take the easy way out with having now made the audience like the character, but not having to deal with the repercussions with their relationships with other characters and actual work of changing. Which honestly is also fair. Writing is hard.

But one of the things I love about Bungou Stray Dogs is how the entire story is basically Dazai’s redemption arc in all its disastrous messy glory. Redemption is hard, becoming a better person is exhausting and it doesn’t happen overnight. Despite an often cavalier attitude towards everyone around him, Dazai never loses sight of Odasaku’s last words to him.

"Listen. You told me that you might find a reason to live if you lived in a world of violence and bloodshed. You won't find it. You must know that already. Whether you're on the side who kills people or the side who saves people, nothing beyond what you would expect will appear. Nothing in this world can fill that lonely hole you have. You will wander the darkness for eternity. (...) Be on the side that saves people. If both sides are the same, become a good man. Save the weak, and protect the orphans. Neither good nor evil means much to you, I know... but that'd make you at least a little bit better. (...) Of course I know. I know better than anyone. Because... I am your friend."

Leaving the mafia and deciding to save people from now on is a good step, but it’s a process, as we see. It’s choosing every day to save orphans, to protect the weak, and even after making the overall choice to become a better man, there are still plenty of struggles along the way. It’s what makes Dazai such a compelling, powerful and ultimately hopeful character for me.

I know Atsushi is often seen as representing Dazai’s second chance after Akutagawa, his redemption in a sense, and that’s not wrong at all. Atsushi is definitely a major, even the main, part of it, but in my opinion it’s not the whole of it. Dazai’s mentoring of Atsushi is a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it absolutely is a part of his redemption. He’s genuinely trying to do his best with Atsushi, and I do think he cares for him--clearly, he cares enough to let himself be captured by the mafia, even.

On the other hand, ignoring a kid you hurt for a kid you didn't is not redemption in and of itself when you could still do something about it. It’s not like Akutagawa has given up on Dazai in any way; he’s pretty desperate for Dazai’s acknowledgement even now.

If saving one requires you to abandon the other, are you really a better person for it ? Like, if you wanna save orphans, you kinda have to include the one who's literally begging you to save him and who is only in this bad place because of you.

If joining the agency would have redeemed Dazai, we wouldn’t have a story, though again I’m not minimizing the importance of this or the resonance of Dazai’s mentoring of Atsushi. But in joining the agency, Dazai left someone behind--more than one someones, actually. Dazai’s redemption is a process that will require him to face the harm he caused in the mafia and as much as possible, fix it. And he can’t fully redeem himself until he integrates with his shadow. Unlike Atsushi whose shadow is directly personified in Akutagawa, though, Dazai’s is in several other people (we could also consider Odasaku and Atsushi part of the anima), including Akutagawa, Chuuya, Dostoyevsky, and Mori.

Even the next time Dazai saves an orphan (Kyouka), we find out that a lot of the cruel ways Akutagawa trained her came from how Dazai trained him.

It’s a consequence coming back to Dazai that his mentee decides to save a child trapped in the mafia whom everyone wants to give up on, a child whose been through the same training he forced Akutagawa into (which I should remind you includes a canonical mock execution). The difficulties of saving Kyouka are probably exactly why Dazai took so long to make baby steps towards Akutagawa. But to his credit, while he’s not exactly compassionate with Kyouka while she’s imprisoned, Dazai does save her. If mentoring a kid on the verge of turning into a criminal is the first step to reconciling with his mafia self, then Dazai’s helping save Kyouka is the next one.

However, he doesn’t fully understand the cruelties of he did to Akutagawa, as shown in how he mocks him after his capture by repeating Akutagawa’s worst fears to him:

I know Dazai’s playing a long game with setting up Atsushi and Akutagawa’s partnership in shin soukoku, but the ends don’t always justify the means and that’s a lesson often shown to us in BSD (it’s in part the reason Dazai left the mafia; he couldn’t buy that Oda’s death was justifiable because it got rid of Mimic and got the Port Mafia their black ticket). This type of triggering really isn’t okay. Like I said here, Dazai is in part the cause of Atsushi and Akutagawa’s struggles to get along, and he should be part of reconciling that schism as well.

I know while some people are annoyed that fans call a person two years older than someone else their father figure, but the manga itself draws this comparison and codes Dazai/Atsushi and Dazai/Akutaqawa as a mentor/mentee relationship which is 99% of the time coded as parental in literature (and it definitely is here). Akutagawa literally draws the comparison himself between his relationship with Dazai and Atsushi’s with his abusive orphanage headmaster. Yes, Akutagawa’s making some logical jumps here (refusing to acknowledge that Dazai is just as much Atsushi’s mentor as his), but the manga wants us to make this comparison.

As Atsushi wasn’t able to reconcile his frustration and hurt towards the orphanage headmaster, he’ll probably do so through Akutagawa and through Dazai, because Atsushi’s view of Dazai is basically that he’s already redeemed and fantastic and justified in his choices--again, I know Atsushi complains about his irresponsibility sometimes, but it’s mostly played as a joke and isn’t a serious critique of just how he treated Akutagawa, despite Atsushi hating Akutagawa for how he treated Kyouka (take that train of thought a little further, Atsushi).

But onto Dazai’s other relationships. It’s telling that Dazai is at his most unrestrained and violent in the mafia when he partners with Chuuya, who despite being very restrained thanks to him being capable of uninhibited destruction that would lead to his own death without said restraint, knows who Dazai is and what he’s capable of from the very beginning (he’s so much as seen Dazai murder the orphans who comprise the Sheep even after promising Chuuya he wouldn't). Kunikida is Chuuya’s foil in that he works most closely with Dazai in the agency and is perpetually ready to strangle him, but Kunikida is also incredibly principled and restrained--yet he is significantly the only member of the agency who, prior to the Guild Arc, did not know Dazai used to be in the mafia.

Kunikida’s ideals including saving everyone if possible. Both Chuuya and Kunikida represent these two extremes of what Dazai is capable of--and yet notably both of them care about saving children and are in many ways more compassionate people than Dazai.

The one time we see Chuuya talk about killing a kid is with Q, who notably is introduced to us as another child with the soukoku partnership team-up.

Q, a child with half-dark hair and half-white hair (gee I wonder what that symbolizes) is a child made to curse the world and hate ever being born. Chuuya and Dazai team up to save him but contemplate killing him.

Dazai’s choice not to kill Q is stated to be to save himself, which is probably is, but it’s also symbolic of how Dazai’s saving other people is saving himself (and also ties back to another quote Odasaku liked to repeat from Natsume: “everyone exists to save themselves”).

But Chuuya’s motivation, as I wrote before, is because he’s grieved over the loss of his comrades. Chuuya really cares about people, including Dazai, and the fact that Dazai is actually going to far as to model Atsushi and Akutagawa’s team-up on his team-up with Chuuya pretty strongly implies Dazai doesn’t hate Chuuya as much as he says he does. To be able to truly leave the mafia, he has to make peace with those relationships there. It’s part of being honest with himself: like Atsushi, acknowledging the darker shadows, and like Akutagawa, acknowledging the better parts of him too.

At present, Dostoyevsky proves a perfect foil for Dazai, as @linkspooky has written here. They’re the same in a lot of ways, but Dostoyevsky has allowed nihilism and a god complex to completely consume him and is not trying to be human, whereas Dazai still tries to save people and was devastated by Oda’s death. Dostoyevsky’s ability, whatever it was, works by touching someone like Dazai’s, but since Dazai’s No Longer Human negates another’s abilities, Dazai is the only person on which Fyodor’s ability will not work, making them the perfect counters for each other.  Dostoyevsky is what Dazai could be if his feelings of alienation from human society (a prominent theme in the real life Dostoyevsky’s works) were taken to their utmost extreme, and so it’d be fitting for him to ultimately defeat Fyodor through the relationships he does have (including Atsushi and Akutagawa). 

To return to Odasaku, Odasaku is also kind of a warning to Dazai as much as he is a man Dazai wants to become like. When Odasaku lost the orphans under his care, he fell into complete despair and knowingly embarked on a suicide mission to do what Mori wanted him to. Still, Dazai tried to save him. He wasn’t able to save his life, but Odasaku’s death saved Dazai. Yet it’s potentially concerning that Mori used Odasaku’s human connections to engineer his downfall, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Mori uses Dazai’s to try to engineer his downfall later on (like, way, way on).

The difference is that Dazai is a good foil to Mori, too, in understanding what makes people tick and always thinking several moves ahead. Mori groomed Dazai from the age of like fourteen (or younger) to be his successor in the mafia, manipulating his suicidal tendencies and hopelessness to get what Mori wanted from him. It’s telling that the earliest we have of Dazai is him with Mori, in that Mori instead of caring for a suicidal patient decided to take him along to murder the mafia’s boss and induct him into the mafia thereby. The thing about Jungian stories is that there are often some Oedipal tendencies to them--like, for example, a character needs to overcome/break away from completely/kill their father.  I can see Dazai at some point having to overcome Mori and his influence to cement his arc, but that’s highly speculative (yet fits with Mori’s build up as a villain), so we’ll see.

[avoresmith]

au where anyone other than atsushi is the main character, go

Kyouka

Kyouka is the most obvious option here, as her character arc literally follows Atsushi’s beat by beat and does it better because she gets to be seen having actual flaws and conflict while Atsushi’s point in life is just to Be Very Good. 

She’s an orphan who was beat down badly by the universe and needs to make peace with her Gift and how it’s uncontrolled presence in her life has played a huge part in all of the painful garbage she’s had to deal with. She has to learn to not just value her own life (Atsushi) but learn to believe she is capable of using the same abilities she used to kill to help people and that there is value to that (Dazai). She has a connection to Akutagawa, a better one than Atsushi, who just thinks that guy is a dangerous asshole, as Akutagawa fucked her up by trying to 'help’ her the same way Dazai 'helped’ him (which echoes the fact that Dazai fucked up Akutagawa by trying to teach Akutagawa the way he was taught by Mori). This creates a way more dynamic and interesting victims vs their abusers and cycle of violence story that they were TRYING to do with Atsushi and his abuser that falls completely flat, on account of how that guy wasn’t actually a character and we are just told we’re supposed to sympathize with him because ‘life is complicated’ instead of actually shown the ways in which life is fucking complicated. 

This would also allow for a narrative of victims vs their abusers where ACTUALLY HAVE, A VICTIM, CHALLENGING THEIR ABUSER AND DEMANDING THEY DO BETTER instead of what we currently have which is 1) Dazai flees Mori and hates him (legit) 2) Akutagawa seeks Dazai’s acknowledgement forever (no?? buddy) 3) Atsushi cries when his abuser died trying to maybe be nice to him for once finally =‘( (ohmygod).

Also, while Dazai and Atsushi mean... something?? to each other, it’s practically only relevant in Atsushi’s arc as something to yell at Akutagawa about, and while we can Assume Dazai Has Feelings we basically never see Dazai impacted by Atsushi. However, if it was Dazai who stops Kyouka from killing herself and takes her out of the mafia we have Dazai directly engaging with his perspective on suicide, and saving someone from the mafia in a way he was never saved, and this leads into him Also Engaging With All Of That, which then could be a continuing theme within their relationship.

(And I didn’t Go In This Direction because my central argument is that Kyouka already does everything Atsushi is doing if better and if given more focus could dramatically improve the manga, but also her relationship with Kouyou could also be given more prominence, and then holy shit, we’d have two important ladies instead of just one!)

In this AU Atsushi honestly doesn’t even need to exist. Kyouka could make friends with Kenji instead, and they could have adorable hyjinks where Kenji teaches her how to be polite to people and then they both get way too extra if politeness fails. 

(MORE UNDER THE CUT)

Akutagawa

This would probably have to be a darker manga, or Akutagawa would have to be less garbage, but as one of the only characters with multiple interesting relationships he is kind of a natural point to focus around. He has Gin, Higuchi, Kyouka, (thREE WOMEN) and Dazai as far as relationships that already important, and Chuuya and Mori and Kouyou are all characters that could be explored more if the manga was more mafia focused. While the mafia aren’t actually villains anyway, this change would make them more sympathetic, but Akutagawa would still be a really interesting MC, and this would fix the fact that Atsushi is only interesting around Akutagawa. 

Unlike Atsushi, Akutagawa has clear wants, motivations, and character progression, so Atsushi makes a lot more sense as Akutagawa’s rival character than the reverse. Boy with garbage life collides into the boy his master replaced him with, only to constantly seethe with anger that this asshole was so fucking lucky. Eventually discovers that his rival’s life actually wasn’t that easy but still can’t comprehend why his rival doesn’t appreciate what he has enough, or why this prick is worth more to his master than he was. Cue a compelling dynamic of Akutagawa improving himself relentlessly while not fully understanding what path he is on, but desperate to get out of the trashfire of his life. He thinks this means earning Dazai’s approval but in fact it means learning he doesn’t need to be a terrible human being to survive.

This would make Dazai far LESS sympathetic, but Dazai sucks so that is only fair.

Dazai

Okay, I won’t lie, Dazai would a SUPER CHALLENGING perspective character for a manga. What makes Dazai’s writing so amazing is how deftly he handles the unreliable narrator, which is hard to do when we don’t actually see the world via the MC’s perspective. And while I am happy to rag on BSD all the live long day, I do think one if it’s strengths is that it picked up on what an interesting character Dazai-types would be viewed exclusively from the outside, and has managed to portray that sort of peculiar contradiction of personality traits quite well. 

HOWEVER, despite being the most popular character, we never really get to see Dazai having a character arc. We know he has improved, we know he has wants and is actually probably working very hard to get his life in order, but we only know any of that from the end of the light novel to the start of the manga. We don’t actually get to see Dazai having conflict, confronting his fears, making hard choices, and growing as a person. 

However, while we never really see it in the manga, given what we know about Dazai’s history, we can probably assume that the choices Dazai makes to help Atsushi is something that actually impacts Dazai quite a bit. The last time he put himself in this position the result was Akutagawa; a challenge which Dazai completely failed on many levels, even if the result was technically a very loyal and capable mafioso and thus something Mori would have slated as a win. Dazai engaging with what it means to teach a human without himself knowing how to be a good human, and probably in the process also learning about ‘goodness’ via someone like Atsushi who is naturally inclined toward the heroic, would actually give Atsushi an interesting place the narrative. 

This would make Dazai waaaaaay more sympathetic, as we would also presumably see him struggling to adapt to ADA life, see his masks slip more often, and more signs of the fact that for real these last two years of being around decent human beings from 9 to 5 is probably the first time in his life he’s dealt with such people. We’d also get to see that he’s probably still depressed, drunk, and suicidal, but may be able to chart the ways he gradually becomes less so and what prompts those improvements. 

Kenji

Kenji is also a nice boy who wants to talk it out but then will beat the shit out of you if that attempt fails. What if instead of being a 2D one time gag character he actually had a motivation and a character arc to engage with? He could more or less follow the same story beats Atsushi sets up, just done better and with less redundancy. Kenji would make an interesting foil for Akutagawa since by all appearances his life wasn’t garbage, and his ceaseless tone deaf optimism in the face of Akutagawa’s ceaseless tone deaf fury would be, if nothing else, pretty fucking entertaining. 

Kunikida

wOW ANOTHER HEROIC CHARACTER WHO USES VIOLENCE TO RESOLVE CONFLICT. IT’S LIKE THERE ARE A BUNCH OF THESE. What if Kunikida being Dazai’s partner was at all narratively relevant and they had a dynamic that went deeper than Dazai aggravating Kunikida for the lulz and Kunikida being willing to trust Dazai when the chips are down.

Since Kunikida is slated to be the next leader of the ADA he makes a potentially compelling choice as a protagonist, as it would be an easy way to involve all of the (MANY) under appreciated ADA characters, by having their future boss learn what it means to actually work with and appreciate the backgrounds of his various future underlings. It wouldn’t need to be slated specifically as ‘Kunikida Is The Heir’ but given that it’s a shounen manga it could be effortlessly set up that way, and unlike Atsushi, Kunikida has a LOT of obvious flaws. He is naive, inflexible, emotionally vulnerable, distrustful, impatient, judgmental, and gullible. He also has CLEAR WANTS (Idealism) seeing him struggling for something fundementally unattainable and the ways he learns to update his ideal of idealism, in part by overcoming his individual flaws and in part by realizing that while idealism might be worth seeking it cannot be achieved. He would have a lot to learn from every member of the team, and in doing so could give them more importance to the story.

Yosano

you waNNA KNOW WHO IS GREAT AND DEEPLY UNDER APPRECIATED?? YOSANO. IT’S YOSANO. AU where actually Yosano is the main character. If you need a more compelling argument than that IDK what to say to you.

Tanizaki

What if Tankizaki had a narrative purpose other than gag and deus ex ability.

Mishima

AU where Mishima Yukio is in the manga, he’s an ex-government worker who was fired for being a bit too radical but he deeply respects and is super gay for Fukuzawa’s aesthetic and agrees to join the ADA. Rather than being Dazai’s protege he fancies himself Dazai’s rival and is intent to expose what garbage he is but the joke is on him because everyone knows that including Dazai. 

None the less, Mishima also is a more callous and aloof person who wears a friendly mask and via picking at Dazai he picks at himself. The more fixated he gets on exposing Dazai, the more he has to confront the fact that the world is more complicated than he wants it to be and it frightens him to examine the degree to which he doesn’t feel he actually belongs among society and thus tries very hard to construct a place for himself in it with his radical behavior and exacting standards, whereas Dazai accepts that he just should go in the trash. 

Dazai, in response, really doesn’t like being picked at effectively. Everyone else within the ADA accepts the masks he wears without question, never actually confronting his suicidal ideation or talking to him about where he comes from, even once they know about it. Mishima, in his relentless pursuit of being able to classify and deconstruct Dazai to overcome him, does just this, and frankly it sucks a lot for Dazai because Mishima would be the first person to A) learn the grueling details of his past and B) understand how fucked up that is for someone like Dazai who is only hiding his sensitivity and C) still look him in the eye and tell him to get his shit together. Mishima becomes the first person since Odasaku who actually understands Dazai but this time it is the worst because Mishima is mean. 

Dazai counters by ruining Mishima’s life in the most extraordinarily petty ways as frequently as possible.

Atsushi

ALTERNATIVELY. Atsushi actually is a good protagonist.

HERE IS AN EXERCISE, WHAT DO EACH OF THESE SHOUNEN HEROES WANT AND HOW DO WE KNOW?

Edward Elric: wants the philosopher’s stone, will do basically anything for it, we find this out in chapter 1.

Gon Freaks: Wants to find his dad, chapter 1

Luffy: Wants to find his dad, chapter 1

Allen Walker: wants to save everyone from akuma because dad feels, chapter, idk, like 3

Naruto: Wants the acknowledgement of his village, works tirelessly for it. We find this out in like chapter 1. (yeah I know naruto is bad don’t @ me but look the MC had a clear motivation)

(AV have you read any shounen manga since 2001-- nO)

Atsushi: Wants... uh. To not starve??? This need is met in chapter 1. Wants to... be.. a good employee...? Wants to beat Akutagawa because... he’s bad....??? Wants to... make Dazai proud...?

It’s not impossible to write a story with a MC who isn’t clearly motivated, but it’s a fuckload harder to make it compelling and you prrrroobably need to have some other kind of clear focus to replace the fact that your MC does not. IE if you are specially exploring the story of an unmotivated hero, you frame his actions around the fact that he is really just doing things by route and how this separates him from the people around him who actually have priorities in their life. 

Or, if you want to be like ‘Atsushi’s motivation is that he cares and wants to help!’ LOOK: If they are sO HEROIC that they just nEED TO BE THE HERO ALL THE TIME (Allen Walker) either because they lack self worth (Allen Walker) or are so empathetic that they can’t help but try to save everyone (Allen Walker), you narratively frame the story around them so that it highlights this as both a strength and a weakness of their character. The inability to save everyone vs feeling like your life only has value if you can save everyone is deeply fucked up and should haunt your MC.

The manga starts to slightly course correct Atsushi after waaay too many chapters, which is why he starts having an actually interesting dynamic with Akutagawa. But now he wants to ‘overcome his abuser’, and though this itself is extremely unclear as to what it means. I suspect it means ‘continue to do the exact same shit he’s being doing until he believes in himself’ whichhhhh is boring. It could work if the framing is consistent and Atsushi begins to have actual conflict with his own behavior and the way he treats his life as disposable and his suffering as unimportant. 

He could also use some flaws, which, again, we only see signs off later in the game with his Akutagawa relationship. Atsushi can be forgiven for not realizing that Dazai was horrible to Akutagawa, since neither Dazai nor Akutagawa will ever explain that, but he is still pretty shitty to Akutagawa deliberately! And it’s nice seeing him be a little prick.

If everything that is happening now with Atsushi had happened from the beginning, you know how you are supposed to start a shounen manga with the protagonist actually doing anything interesting or important, the manga would be much less bad. If Atsushi had more than like 1.5 flaws and a .75 motivation now, the manga would also be a lot better.

I don’t actually like this idea as much as all of my other ones, but if he MUST be the MC, what if he was actually good at it at all.

[hamliet]

can you write a kyoka and higuchi I know higuchi has an obvious sempai crush on akutagawa she doesn't really know what goes on in this head this only is in terms of idolization kyoka doesn't share higuchi's idolization shes sees something in akutagawa and atsushi.

I think Higuchi is a very direct parallel to Akutagawa, actually, and a very direct foil to Kyouka. If we see Dazai’s mentorship of Akutagawa and then his different mentorship of Atsushi, we can also see Akutagawa mentoring both Kyouka and Higuchi just like Dazai mentored him–in a violent way. He slaps Higuchi in his first scene with her, and of course, he tells Kyouka she is only worth what she can kill. 

However, we also know that in contrast to what it first seems, Akutagawa is not doing this to be cruel (though it is cruel). He’s acting out how Dazai mentored him because he wants Kyouka to believe she deserves to live, and Higuchi as well. 

We know this for a few reasons. Firstly, notably in that very first scene where he hits Higuchi, he did so after entering into the fight solely to save her life, as Tanizaki was about to kill her. He claims it is because she’s an idiot for risking shooting Atsushi... but if that were the real reason he could have intervened waaaaaay earlier. 

Secondly, Kyouka asked Akutagawa to help her commit suicide. He refused to let her die and tried to help her the only way he knew how–by being abusive in a hope that that would teach her to be useful and that would help her want to live. It didn’t work, but Akutagawa is in deep denial that it doesn’t work. Because keep in mind Kyouka, unlike Akutagawa as far as we know, had parents who deeply loved her and therefore what Akutagawa offered her couldn’t help. However, Akutagawa and Gin had no one from what we know, ever, until Dazai–so Dazai is as close as Akutagawa has ever had to affection. It doesn’t excuse him, because he’s refusing to see it, but it explains it.  

Akutagawa seems like he’s realizing, at the very least, that Kyouka’s understanding of love and purpose in the “light” is better than his, but he doesn’t yet seem to realize that he can live in the light too because literally no one has ever shown it to him yet. 

So Kyouka. I wrote here:

Kyouka’s role is as the ego between Akutagawa’s id and Atsushi’s superego. In psychoanalytic literary theory, the ego mediates between the desire-focused, animalistic id (Akutagawa), and the repressed, rules-oriented moral superego (Atsushi). The thing is that Akutagawa has his own growth towards the light and Atsushi, as shown in Dead Apple and throughout the series, really needs to integrate with his shadow (literally personified in Akutagawa) at the end of his character arc... Kyouka’s role as the ego is emphasized in how she is a bridge between shin soukoku, and honestly a model to both of them. She, like Akutagawa and Atsushi, is a traumatized child with an extremely low sense of self-worth... Kyouka’s right there to show Atsushi the toll that kind of [abusive training] takes, since Dazai has never treated Atsushi that way. And Kyouka is right there to show Akutagawa that it is possible to leave the mafia and find fulfillment, happiness, light, a purpose beyond killing.

I think she will play a role in helping Atsushi understand Akutagawa and thereby reconcile with his shadow, and as part of that, helping Atsushi see who Dazai really is. Dazai is loving towards Atsushi, but he had an abusive mentorship of Akutagawa and Atsushi still needs to acknowledge this. 

Regarding Higuchi, she already made a decision when Mori asked her if this was really the best place for her. He directly states exactly what Akutagawa has said to believe: that people are only useful insofar as them not failing their mafia missions. And then he asks her if this is what she believes.

Her answer was essentially that no, the mafia is not the place for her. Akutagawa is the place for her. It’s a mirror to how with Akutagawa, the mafia and killing is not his reason to live. Dazai is. She expressly rejects not just Mori’s utilitarianism, but Akutagawa’s insistence that he does not need help. She knows he has weaknesses and still saves him.

Basically, what I think is set up for Higuchi is for her to emphasize the need for Akutagawa to change, and to call him out on it at some point. Higuchi wants to leave the mafia. The reason she won’t is because of Akutagawa, but if he leaves--and he should by the end of his arc--she will. So, I don’t think Higuchi is ending this series in the mafia either. 

I think think she will play a role in his realization that he does not have to stay in the mafia; she knows it’s possible to leave. As Akutagawa and Atsushi’s idolization of Dazai (because they both put him on a pedestal) starts to crumble, I think we’ll see Higuchi’s idolization of Akutagawa similarly crumble. That doesn’t mean necessarily that I think she’ll ditch him or that I think either Atsushi or Akutagawa will stop caring about Dazai (I don’t) but I hope she’ll realize she needs to make her own choices as well, that she was worth even without Akutagawa. I would like to see her leave on her own. 

Either way, I’m fairly sure her staying in the mafia even just now will show Akutagawa that this life has consequences (Gin being injured is already one). I’m not saying I think she’ll get hurt (can we not have another girl get injured for a boy’s development) but I do think her unhappiness in the mafia and desires should be more directly made clear to Akutagawa at some point.