#and literally every other chapter it’s just Dazai and Fyodor being like ‘actually I planned it!’ like bitch no you didn’t shut up

[northlight14]

Being a bsd fan is so awkward for me rn cuz I simply stopped believing anyone other than Oda can die in bsd forever ago (hell even Oda I’m looking at with suspicion at this point). So now with everything happening in the manga I’m just watching the entire fandom lose their shit and I’m stood in the corner like “cool😐 I wonder how they’ll come back🤔”

Like, I’ll get upset if the series ends and they’re all actually dead. But until then I’m just not buying it🤷

[head-empty-just-sigma]

so y’all remember this post i made about skk

well i’m gonna expand on it a lil bit because i swear i learn new things every day and one of those things is that Chuuya really deserves a fucking break (…/hj)

okay but seriously, the more i think about all the other skk moments where Dazai makes these big brain plans that ensure that, while it’s most definitely still dangerous, both him and Chuuya will win the fight and walk away from it alive at the very least. but in chapter 101… Dazai made and executed a plan that he thought had a good likelihood of defeating the enemy. but, it also put Chuuya in a situation where he actually could have died. and now Dazai’s in a perilous situation with, as far as we know, no one to help him. and i just wanna explore some new context and expand on a lil theory i came up with as to why this arc is important for skk (plus bonus theory! Dazai really fucked up this time and now he has to find a way to not actually die. i have a few ideas)

🔺spoiler warning for chapters 95, 98, 101, 105.5, 106 and 106.5 and the end of Beast🔻

god this is so long im sorry **i added a tldr under the cut for those of you who just want my rambling ass to get straight to the point 😭

TLDR because this thing is so FREAKING LONG OH MY GAWD

So while Dazai was in the prison, based on his reaction to Chuuya’s arrival being more anger than shock and his instigation of ‘one of them dying’ (talking to Fyodor), there’s reason to believe that Dazai and Ango had set up a plan involving Chuuya somehow breaking Dazai out of the prison on the same day Nikolai arrived. On top of this, Dazai’s character development is finally coming to the forefront in trying to save Sigma and keep him alive, as well as the remorse for trapping Chuuya with Fyodor in the water in order to buy himself time to escape ahead of Fyodor (instead of killing him there, since he knew that wouldn’t be enough to kill Chuuya as Dazai would never do that even if it meant sabotaging his own plans). And at the very end of chapt 106.5, his fall to his death could be prevented by a number of things including Chuuya coming out of vampirism and saving him, but it would also be interesting to see how skk’s relationship changes now that Dazai has to save himself and has so clearly changed from the time when he worked with Chuuya and relied on him to save him from danger (see: Lovecraft fight, Dead Apple & DA prologue). It’s also possible that Sigma will be used as a distraction for Fyodor and Nikolai while skk work their stuff and Dazai 100% still has the potential to win even in the bottom of the elevator shaft so long as he can get the antidote to the poison.

Starting in chapter 95, Dazai was the one who initially mentioned escaping (or dying). It was as if he knew something was going to happen soon that would lead to their eventual conflict to escape or at least some kind of confrontation that would end with one of their deaths. However, he is still caught off guard when Fyodor disappears from his cell first, and then was also surprised when the floor was literally opened up below him by Nikolai. Considering Fyodor didn’t seem to be planning an escape at the same time Dazai had mentioned it, if his reaction to Dazai is anything to go off of anyway, it’s clear that he had not planned for Nikolai to be there to bail him out of jail early. Therefore, it’s more likely that Dazai knew someone was on their way to break them out, and was planting the seed of the idea that one of them was going to die in the process.

It's also further proof that neither Dazai nor Fyodor had planned on Nikolai being there when they take a minute to assess the situation before Nikolai explains his 'Gogol Game', meaning they had to deduce what was happening in the moment instead of relying on a plan they already had laid out. Nikolai pretty much set into motion that one of them will, in fact, be dying at the end of this game if the poison is real and there truly is only one antidote. It doesn't matter who outsmarts who, because even Dazai could win at the bottom of the elevator so long as he can get his hands on the antidote (through Sigma or Chuuya, perhaps?).

Then we have his confession that he listens to the voices in his head him telling Sigma that there’s an “angel” talking to him in chapter 98. We already know that the “angel” is actually Ango, and the reason why I’m bringing it up is because of the context of the situation here.

Sigma and Dazai both hear loud noises coming from the prison floors above them. Dazai deduces that it’s not being caused by Nikolai, and not a result of Nikolai and Sigma breaking in, but before he even makes this analysis he says “It’s an intruder”. I find it odd that he would say this, considering there’s no way for them to know if there is a new intruder or if it’s the prison itself going into some kind of lockdown, or if it is in fact Nikolai causing chaos. Sigma calls this into question as well, asking how Dazai knows this, and the funny man says “an angel told him”. Without knowing Ango is communicating with him from the outside, this could have been taken as a typical Dazai one-off response deflecting the fact that he’s just stupidly smart, but it’s not. It’s referencing Ango giving him information. However, when did Ango communicate the situation to him then if it’s unfolding that very moment?

I think we can tell when if we look at this specific page here:

Right before they hear the loud noise, Dazai is being his usual goofy and mildly insane self, much to Sigma’s dismay, and then he suddenly just stops and turns around. Even for Dazai this behavior is odd, and what’s more, he randomly wants to now go to the employee service room when he literally had no concrete goal in mind just a few seconds ago when he was dancing around with Sigma and saying he wanted to go sightseeing (in hell). There’s even a panel of him looking like he just found something out or realized something, but it barely lasts more than a moment and Sigma doesn’t call attention to it. I believe that one panel signifies Dazai reacting to Ango sending him some last minute information on the situation at the prison, like he does every day, but this time it’s that there is an intruder in the prison. Or perhaps telling him that Chuuya arrived?

Considering they already know Nikolai and Sigma are there, this explains why Dazai would deduce that the commotion is caused by someone other than Nikolai getting bored waiting for the two stupid smart people to start drowning each other. He also says there’s only one possible answer to who that intruder is, which I’ll get to later so just hold on to that thought for now…

Chapter 101 is where it’s revealed that Dazai doesn’t have escape as his top priority right now, it’s actually to kill Fyodor while they’re still in the prison. He also explains how Ango is communicating to him with the time-stopping ability user. So with that information, and the fact that it seems like Dazai can request time to be stopped as well given he uses his advantage of being a walking anti-ability entity to waltz into the central command room and knock out all the guards while time is stopped for them, there’s good reason to believe that he had been planning something already with Ango to get him out of the prison prior to Nikolai's appearance.

Of course, Dazai is confident that they can beat Fyodor even though he has Chuuya under his ‘control’ (which is questionable at best at this point), because he’s been coming up with ways to kill Chuuya for seven years blah blah typical skk stuff… But it’s also interesting that Dazai would say this now, when in just a few minutes when he thinks he’s trapped Chuuya and Fyodor in a room to drown, he acts like he hates what he did. I also think this is why he’s being so overly goofy with Sigma, because it’s his default method of masking how he’s actually feeling. Whenever we see him not goofing off, his expression is usually partially hidden from view, and/or much more serious. Another thing of note is that while, yes he was probably apologizing for 'trapping' Chuuya like this, he was also apologizing because Dazai knew that if he failed to kill Fyodor here, he was going to be the one in a perilous situation. This is what is currently going on in chapter 106.5, as Fyodor sabotaged the elevator to fall and Dazai prioritized saving Sigma over himself not once, but twice in the span of a few pages.

And what is the other consistency we usually see with skk? Chuuya is there to bail Dazai out of these situations. This is what happened during their fight versus Lovecraft, where Dazai got hurt because nullification wouldn't work, and Chuuya had to get them out. This is also what happened in Dead Apple where Dazai was literally dead until Chuuya showed up and risked dying to save him, and even in Dead Apple’s prologue when he had to save Dazai from an enemy organization.

But now, Chuuya isn't there. He isn't there and Dazai is falling to his probable death.

The elevator trap was set up by Fyodor himself, which is why the water set itself on fire in 106... But besides that, it's clear that Dazai tampering with the electronics in the elevator was probably him locating the mechanisms to open the doors, therefore making it so that there are 'no traps', and would explain how he knew where to shoot in chapt 106.5 when he shot the mechanism keeping the door shut.

Fyodor's comment on skk having a shallow bond feels almost out of place for him. He's not usually one to brag, much less about how he can wield someone's boyfriend better than them. I also think his little monologue here was partially payback for Dazai's guy speech back in chapt 101. However, I think Fyodor is wrong to try and say Dazai didn't foresee Chuuya getting out of the situation, because he absolutely would have. I think trapping them in the room like that was less of a play to kill Fyodor and Chuuya together, but to buy time in order to reach the exit. There’s no way Dazai would be willing to actually kill Chuuya just to get rid of Fyodor if he can help it, meaning he’s probably buying time and waiting for the poison to kick in since Chuuya wouldn’t be effected by it. At the end of the day, the one who is going to win will be the one with the antidote from Nikolai, and that could still be Dazai.

This is probably the most serious we’ve ever seen Dazai for a prolonged period of time. And it’s not even because he’s focused on saving his own life in order to escape the prison.

It’s because he’s focused on saving Sigma.

I believe his plan here is to allow Sigma to be reunited with Fyodor and/or Nikolai, but now with the knowledge that they will most likely be planning to kill Sigma by the end of it so no one knows what happened to Dazai. However, the fact of the matter is that the two of them believe Sigma would not try to kill them first, and I don't think he's going to do something like that either. I think Dazai is most likely using Sigma as some kind of distraction for Fyodor and Nikolai while Chuuya comes out of his vampirism. If Chuuya was conscious enough to understand Dazai’s speech in chapt 101, there’s no way he’d sit by while Dazai falls to his death. A lot of people have been pointing out this box in this official art:

Saying that the box looks a lot like the elevator:

Which is a vital component of the prison that Dazai or Fyodor would have to use in order to reach the exit, and the marking on it looks similar to the markings that appear on Chuuya during Corruption. This could be hinting towards Chuuya slowing or stopping the elevator somehow with Dazai inside of it, but I’m not sure how since Dazai would have to not be touching the elevator for that to work, but if the elevator stops while he’s floating in it, it would be no different than him hitting the ground… So I guess we’ll see what happens.

Moving on from the chapters, here’s my thoughts on Dazai’s reaction to Chuuya being at the prison: he’s not shocked, he’s angry. Why? Because he and Ango had probably been planning on how to get him out of the prison for a little while now in order to stop the vampires, and potentially nullify the effects of the page before Fukuchi can write on it a second time. Similar to Dead Apple, Ango probably called on Chuuya in order to do this since he’d be able to get to Meursault the fastest and would have the best chance at protecting himself from the vampires along the way. So then, how did he get infected? Well, we already know how loyal he is to the Mafia, so he could have been protecting Mori from the vampiric Mafia members and eventually got overwhelmed. As far as we know, there isn’t a single human member anymore (besides maybe Mori), meaning Chuuya would have had to fend off potentially hundreds upon hundreds of vampires dead set on biting Mori in order to cripple the Mafia entirely and remove the threat of Mori’s ability and intelligence coming to the aid of the ADA. Meaning instead of going to Meursault of his own will in order to nab Dazai and leave, he was forced to break in and aid Fyodor under the influence of the vampire virus. Another option was he was simply not working and had no idea the Mafia was infected, as he's not wearing his typical executive attire, he's in something similar to his 15 outfit, making me think he was either going to one of the Mafia's bunkers (Verlaine's, perhaps?) on Mori's orders because he is an executive, or he just was on his day off and suddenly found himself surrounded by familiar vampire faces.

This would explain why Dazai said there’s only one option in there being an intruder in the prison, because he was already waiting for Chuuya to arrive that day to initiate his escape. That is why he told Fyodor it’s about time to figure out which one of them is going to die, because it should have been Fyodor, meaning Fyodor would have been taken out of the ‘game’ while Dazai continued playing, but now alongside everyone else back in Japan. But this didn’t happen, and now Dazai has to change his entire plan on the fly just like Fyodor is doing, taking away any upper hand he would have had with Chuuya.

106.5 also isn’t the first time we’ve seen the words ‘I leave the rest to you’. We saw it in Dead Apple, for what it’s worth, coming from Ango when he sent Chuuya to his potential death to save Dazai. The second time we see it is in Beast, just before Dazai replicates the season 1 opening scene, those are his final words to Atsushi and Akutagawa, before he falls to his death. Does this foreshadow Dazai dying or being fatally injured? I don’t know, but I don’t think so. Killing such a major character in this situation would be somewhat out of left field if it’s Dazai, since he seems to be getting some character development with Sigma in the prison. However, he has pretty limited options here:

Chuuya, if he is no longer under the vampire’s influence, could slow the elevator’s fall like a lot have been predicting because of the official art hint, and the trend of Chuuya bailing Dazai out of situations like this. Dazai might also be able to jump out of the elevator if the doors are still open enough and land on a floor like he pushed Sigma on to, or grab the rungs on the wall of the elevator shaft that some have pointed out. Another option, in my opinion, is to stay in the elevator, because as we saw set up at the beginning of the Gogol Game, the elevators only go between two levels, meaning he would only be falling down one level instead of four. Depending on how much space is between levels, he might be able to survive inside the elevator with minor injuries if he braces himself against the floor of the elevator and prays it doesn’t collapse in on him when it hits the bottom of the elevator shaft. I also toyed with the idea that he could shove the elevator using his body weight and tilt it in order to scrape against either side of the shaft and slow the fall, but given he pushes off the wall to save Sigma and it does nothing to the elevator itself, I’m going to assume the elevator is too heavy for him to tilt like that. However, Chuuya could accomplish a similar feat by hitting the outside of the elevator with the help of a little gravity manipulation, so it’s still possible he could save Dazai. However, what I’m more interested in seeing is how the relationship between Dazai and Chuuya changes after these events… With Dazai now really showing how much he’s changed and developed as a character, and what effect those developments will have on skk going forward.

Anyway, those are all of my current thoughts on the matter! Holy crap this post took forever to finish for some reason BUT it’s done now and until we get a new chapter (in like a week) I don’t have to make my brain hurt mulling over how elevator physics works :’)

[growling]

Okay

Bungou Stray Dogs. My beloved, my beloathed and my ex who keeps walking back into my life for a makeout session after I swore I was done with it for the 11th time.

It is- not a good story, structure wise at least. I get raising stakes but also we started s1 with "we're frenemies with our local gang and we occasionally homoeroticly fight eachother" to *gestures vaguely at s5*

And that doesn't bother me too much tbh because I love media that cares about its audience and keeping things silly but also *ducks nuke*

The mangaka keeps having to write reasons for Chuuya to not show up and murder everypony, that's silly

Fyodor has a funny accent and a silly goofy hat and a greasy hairstyle and I guess he sometimes is smart. I guess.

Justice for my boy Karma who showed up in one episode and then Fyodor killed him for some reason, RIP my boy

Idk man I have lots of thoughts

the stakes one is so real because like. they did get higher after season 1 with the whole moby dick crashing event, but like it made sense it was fine also i liked that season. and then we got introduced to demon fyodor who apparently was even worse both described at the s2 finale and in the dead apple movie, so like, dude got hyped up massively. and then he got s3 to himself but actually its not over yet, it was actually a setup for s4-s5 and. I am asking. since fukuchi is over. and they seem to be making fyodor out to be even more threatening (every single villain is more threatening than the last. you know.) than fukuchi, the goddamn man with time travel sword, reality-altering page, vampire goons, trying to (virtually. his motives as well as execution of them are.... Peculiar to me) achieve mind control world domination....... like how do they plan to go worse than that. the problem with trying to have every single villain be more powerful than the last is that one day you just gonna run out of ideas and just write a literal undefeatable god. which is fukuchi and also fyodor but i am legitimately terrified of what they're gonna do with him in the later chapters. i am all caught up and....... its looking very exhausting already

as well as how like, in the earlier seasons we got these episodes that are just purely character driven with way lower stakes that just exist there to establish the cast, and they just. slowly stopped doing that. right now, from like season 4 up to where we are currently there has been literally ZERO breathing room for the plot, every single scene is just stressful high tension main plot main plot main plot fighting the HD/DOA and it actually made me too tense as i was watching like jesus fuck slow down. which is why i cheer and clap so much whenever i see poe also being there sometimes. thank you for your service king. as well as all the other more minor characters that appeared and nikolai getting to jest with people, as well as the Bram & Aya Adventures, regardless on whether it is "important" to the plot . and also sigma's whole introduction in the manga that just established him as an actually really nice guy that the anime just cut out to make room For The Current Main Plot auurrrrhghgh. shut up about fukuchi show me kyouka. hey where the fuck was kyouka for most of this even

like. if they just released chuuya upon all their enemies it would be over. isnt he like, the actual incarnation of arahabaki you know the. literal god. just make them use corruption after you make sure dazai can stop them from eating shit and fucking dying, deploy her at the entire hunting dogs squad and its all over. like..... chuuya could just fix everything that is going on and the writers know it so they keep making up reasons (and sometimes they don't even do that, and just ignore it) as to why actually she's not available currently. you wrote this guy to be the single most powerful genderfuck in the universe please use him . chuuya i am so fucking sorry i could treat you so much better babygirl

fyodor sure is. A Character. that exists. and like, i like him, but also... i realized i'm only ever entertained by him whenever he's being silly, like with the whole mersault ball fyozai two man comedy show, or with his interactions with nikolai (who is one of the lights in the darkness of the current arc.... please keep being entertaining king). but like, i feel like the writer(s) drove themselves into a corner by making him so inhumanly intelligent, same with dazai. like. each of the serious interactions between him and dazai (the only nda member he's allowed to talk with apparently) just feel like two kids roleplaying "i slash u in the chest with my flaming sword and u are die!!!" "but before that I DODGED and hit u with my laser beam!!" "no but I moved out the way at last second and bring out the BOMBS and then i throw them at u and u explode and are dead for real!!!!" "no but then i miraculously survive steal ur flaming sword and set u on fire and u burn and die!!!" "but before i could die i put out the fire with my water bucket and then shoot u 100000 times and-" like. it was funny the first few times it happened but.... I get it. you have high IQ. I don't like this party I wanna leave chuuya can you please pick me up

karma got fucking massacred and for what. society if fyodor instead recruited him into the DOA and sigma got to have a single normal friend and they bonded over their mutual perpetual anguish. they really just introduced a really interesting guy just to kill him off in the same episode. but they. kept fukuchi i guess

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Genuinely don't think I've seen anyone talk about chapter 25 as a pivotal moment for Dazai so I'm gonna put this out here because I think his reactions here kind of negate that whole omnipotent Dazai interpretation which I hate with every fibre of my being.

Firstly, he's like, clearly caught off guard here. And don't try to tell me he wasn't, because this is just one instance of his genuinely horrified reaction to Q's release and when he realized what was actually going on with Atsushi, Naomi and Haruno.

Him being caught off guard carries significance here because you'd never catch him screwing up this bad later in the series - which is exactly my point.

I wrote a post earlier about how I don't think Dazai really is very much like Mori or Fyodor at all, and I stand by that, because their motives are different. Tldr for that post: Mori and Fyodor are ambitious and proactive, while Dazai is empty/numb and reactive.

What this leads me to believe is that Dazai is less a chess master like those two and more of a contingency planner - he's so good at "predicting" because he is uncannily good at thinking like his opponent and then planning for literally any possibility under the sun he can come up with. He's no gambler. Everything and everyone is practically (and unknowingly) micromanaged. It's almost paranoid in a sense, and I definitely think it's a trauma response to something he went through that we don't know about yet - after all, he was more than capable of this before he even met Mori.

...which brings to me to Mori's influence here. It's straight up like Dazai forgot how willing Mori is to gamble huge risks for a good outcome. It's like he forgot the mafia could be a real threat to his best-laid plans.

Going to throw out a wild claim here that I don't think is actually all that baseless - I think it's widely assumed that Dazai molds himself to what he needs to be (true!) but I think this misses the idea that he is also easily influenced by the mindsets of the people around him (see: the difference between Entrance Exam Dazai and early manga Dazai, the whole "the longer he was in the mafia the darker and more incomprehensible he became" thing from Stormbringer, how dark his eyes get in the prison sections with Fyodor, etc.). I could go on, but for the sake of not making this post too much longer, let's assume this is true because it suddenly makes sense as to why he failed to predict Q but predicted other events much later that were inherently more difficult to predict:

He was in the wrong mindset. He was thinking like an Agency member, and dare I say, he even got a little complacent. He started to get used to not having to manipulate every last variable - he was removed from a toxic environment - only for Mori to pretty much instantly fuck that up in one scene.

Let's also not forget what happened the last time he miscalculated Mori's intentions.

The consequences of this blunder could've been a lot worse and he knows it.

In his mind, thinking like an ADA member wasn't good enough to stop a potentially awful outcome - awful outcomes that could bring him pain. So, he goes back to what he knows - think like the demon prodigy. Think like Mori. Later on, think like Dostoyevsky. Because it seems to me that he believes as long as he is still working for the light that it doesn't matter if he uses these horrifically manipulative and inhumane methods of getting there. But he is wrong. Darkness within the context of good intentions is still very much darkness, and it hurts people all the same.

In the very next chapter, Dazai arranges Ango's car accident. And he only gets worse and worse throughout the series as he regresses back into his paranoid darkness that manifests as this omnipotent facade - his safety net that ultimately prevents him from developing in a positive, more human direction.

[misslovasstuff]

Why Dazai is a complex character

We all know how hard it is to get in this man’s mind, right?

First, let’t take a look on what makes a character complex:

- Conflicted or contradictory motives - Change or grow as a result of the story’s actions - Decisions advance the story’s plot - Create conflict in the story’s plot or theme - Learn something about themselves

 It fits Dazai perfectly, right? Now let’s take them one by one.

1. Conflicted or contradictory motives

- to die/to find meaning/to save others/? What the audience is given to realize is that Dazai wants salvation through death. His desire to die comes with a shade of humor to hide how sad and tragic it really is. Other than that, one motive of his is the promise he made to his friend who died on his arms. You see it right? Dazai’s motives are contradictory because he saves people but can’t really save himself. Although Dazai is on the side of ‘good’ which is actually something that doesn’t really exist in BSD world because everything is more like in a gray area, his motives are more focused on others rather than himself. While on the mafia, his focus was on himself, his doom and suffering. That’s what made him so miserable. People aren’t sure whether Dazai has changed, and they question his conflicted motives. But in reality, it’s very simple. Dazai has no hidden motives other than the ones we already know. He’s not the type to aim for power and fortune. Dazai just wants a bit of happiness, he wants to answer questions that are impossible to answer. I’d like to quote a Dostoevsky saying:

“Pain and suffering are always inevitable for a large intelligence and a deep heart. The really great men must, I think, have great sadness on earth.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

2. Change or grow as a result of the story’s actions Dazai’s grow is something people fail to see. I’ve read thoughts on this matter and some claim that Dazai hasn’t changed at all. That is partly true.  Before Oda’s death, Dazai was not open to people (and still isn’t) but the difference stays on how he dealt with it. In the dark era, Dazai drowned himself in misery, seeing only darkness and claiming that this is how it always has been for him. Whilst in the time being, Dazai hides his misery behind a smile and happy facade. Bsck then, he made no attempt to change, nor did he tried to look things differently. Dazai was alone, completely. There were times he was surrounded by people he genuinely cared about, like Oda. Now, the thing is, without Oda, Dazai may have never gotten the development he got. Hardly would the things lead differently if Oda was still alive. With Oda, Dazai felt comfortable, not judges. He felt like he could open up with him because Oda would always listen to Dazai without joking around or judging him. That’s the reason why Odasaku was the only person that came close to understanding Dazai, because he was the only one Dazai opened up to. I believe that is becuase in reality, Dazai trusted Oda. We know how easily he can see through people. Perhaps, he saw in Oda that kindness and goodness that intrigued him. He saw such integrity and selflessness that made him lower his guard.  Their relationship was beautiful. They let aside the ranks and always had each other’s backs. Sometimes, between two people, it just clicks. It feels like you’ve known each other for a long time and you find yourself comfortable, you let yourself be. That’s how Dazai was. Maybe, the only thing that kept him happy, was his friendship with Odasaku and Ango. Because those were two people that accepted him the way he was, people who appreciated life and had dreams and goals, something that Dazai longs to have. When Odasaku died, Dazai’s hope died with him. Although extremely intelligent, Dazai is optimistic. He had hope that he’d find a solution to his problem, but Oda’s words shattered him.

Dazai did not cry. But you can tell that he’s ready to. Look at his face and tell me that that’s not the most devastating Dazai you have ever seen. His lip trembles and his eyes give away how hard it is for him, how hard it has always been. This is the moment that Dazai takes the decision to change, keeping the promise of his friend to become a good man and protect others.

3- Decisions advance the story’s plot Dazai is the one who comes up with brilliant strategies, but that’s not all of it. 

- He took Atsushi under his mentoring and hired him as an agent in the ADA.  Atsushi plays a very important role in almost every mission or situation that ADA is in.  If Atsushi wasn’t in the ADA, things might have gone completely different. - Dazai decided to join the good side. Yet again, if Dazai didn’t join the ADA, there would be no Atsushi, no shin-soukoku and probably the ADA would have already fallen due to the immense power the mafia would have with Dazai in it. More people would die, wars would destroy the city and things may have gotten to be worse. - The creation of shin-soukoku The plot goes around Atushi and Akutagawa as the new generation of the double black, a powerful duo brought together for the good of the city, to defeat the greater evil. Their mentor, who sees the potential in them better than everyone else, has forcefully made them work together, which had successful results. If Dazai didn’t make such decision, Atsushi and Akutagawa may had already killed each other. - Dazai decides almost any plan and strategy there is. He plays his cards well and the way he thinks and acts determine the aftermath.

4- Create conflict in the story’s plot or theme - Dazai’s a problematic character for a lot of reasons. He’s lazy, distracted, unbothered, mysterious and secretive. Sometimes, unwillingly he creates conflicts that sometimes as viewed lightly by the audience. Like the shin-soukoku conflict. A part why Aku hates Atsushi is because he is Dazai’s junior  and that he gets almost everything that he himself once desired. He gets praise and acknowledgment from Dazai. The latter, has not acknowledged Aku that way he wants to, but surely he has acknowledged him on his own way. Dazai made him part of the new double black and puts his trust in him and Atsushi. Dazai too believes in the quote that ‘only a diamond can polish a diamond’. Furthermore, we have the conflict between the mafia and the ADA. You may think that it’s not directly tied to Dazai, but he plays a major role. Having Dazai in the opposite team, makes it harder for the mafia to create successful operations. Not only Dazai’s intelligent and cunning, but he’s an ex-member himself which makes him even more of a threat to the mafia. His suicidal tendencies is the reason why he met Atsushi in the first place. So in a way, Dazai drives the plot of the story.

5- Learn something about themselves I believe that this is the point we are all looking forward to. Although we have already caught a glimpse of Dazai considering his worth as a human being in the Dead apple movie, but also in the manga countless times.

Just look at his expression. How his eyes close so peacefully when Atsushi claims that he does things that let him know that Daza’s a good guy (visiting graves and also in the end of the movie...)

Dazai sees himself rather harshly. He judges himself for his past and puts himself in constant misery. Maybe he doesn’t accept the fact that he’s a ‘good guy’, but he’s desperately trying to be.

Take a look to the following panel (chapter 50)

You can tell how much Dazai wants to help and this warms my heart so much.

“Yosano could heal me and I could help in the search”

 He clenches the sheet because of the frustration of not being able to help; that his ability is holding him back. 

HE’S BLAMING HIMSELF.

Like one would say that he’s injured, or that he was shot, but no. Dazai puts the blame on himself like he always does.

I’d like people to acknowledge Dazai’s growth because our boy is trying so hard. Dazai literally went from hell to salvation. He has already found his salvation but he hasn’t recognized that yet.

In conclusion, Dazai is the complex character we so much love. In the future, maybe we’ll be able to see him a bit more happy. Genuinely happy.

(sorry this was very sloppy but I hope you get the point)

[leonawriter]

Okay so, yesterday Aja on Twitter kindly wrote up some of the differences between the Dead Apple movie and the stage play. Here it is, if you want to read it.

My problem is that despite the script having been written by Asagiri, there’s a strange juxtaposition here - a love of making references to events that happened in the past, or previous books that have been released since Dead Apple first premiered, while at the same time having a certain disregard for characterisation continuity.

I’m not going to copy the images into this post, but assuming you’ve got it in another tab or something-

Starting with the first image, and in the first lines, we have Atsushi not finding Dazai. The graveyard scene doesn’t happen. Personally, I liked having it there, because it emphasises how Atsushi can find Dazai when no one else can, and it has Dazai explaining to Atsushi that if it weren’t for Odasaku, he’d still be “in the mafia, killing people.” The fact that this scene has Atsushi calling Dazai out on being a better person than he thinks he is, is vital for setting the scene for the entire rest of the movie - since Dazai spends most of it among people who are encouraging his manipulative and dark side, we needed the graveyard scene to tell us that Atsushi’s belief in Dazai isn’t just blind. There’s something to it.

The second part here has Atsushi meeting Shibusawa in person, and thinking he’s a “kind person.” This... goes completely against everything in the movie. The entire premise of the movie for Atsushi’s arc is that the very sight of that man’s image on a report triggers PTSD flashbacks. No way in hell would he think Shibusawa is a “kind person.” That’s just so wrong.

The other side of the image now, and we have... okay, Chuuya tasking Akutagawa with tracking Shibusawa makes a certain amount of sense. That’s an executive telling a subordinate what the mission is, and it fits. However, “Dazai attacks Akutagawa and makes him pass out” does not. Dazai is never shown to use this sort of violence since his defection from the mafia, instead using manipulation of other people to achieve the same result. Likewise, this goes in opposition to Dazai’s actions regarding Akutagawa in the main series, where he seems to be wanting to encourage him, which I personally take as Dazai wanting to make right what he did wrong all those years ago, but still not being great at it. This here, would be a step backwards.

Chuuya’s ability not separating from him at this point in the story because Arahabaki is a different kind of ability could potentially make some sort of sense. However, it also would have to fit thematically with the fact that Atsushi’s ability, which is seen as a literal part of Atsushi, does separate from him. And so does Fyodor’s. Why does Chuuya still have his, and the others don’t? Even with the explanations here I’m still confused. Also, Dead Apple - as in, the movie script - was being written around the same time as Asagiri was writing Fifteen, so there’s no reason why he couldn’t have told the scriptwriters to throw that in at the time, if he wanted to.

Following on from that, we have... Chuuya telling Akutagawa to kill Dazai? I’m sorry, but knowing that Chuuya is later going to risk his life in order to save Dazai - never mind that the rest of the city is at stake too! - makes this feel off. But what’s worse, is that we now have what I feel is a reversal of characterisations; here, in the stage play, it’s Akutagawa who’s saying that Dazai now wants peace in Yokohama, when in the movie he was solidly following orders, more reminiscent of the way he threatened Dazai in the dungeon scene. 

But we also have Chuuya saying that he’d known Dazai for seven years, and that “there’s a monster inside of Dazai that no one can understand” which, when considering their entire backstory, doesn’t make sense! Same goes for Akutagawa saying that he does understand Dazai. Chuuya in the past has been shown to understand Dazai’s plans without the need for discussion, and those hearing them talk about plans haven’t been able to understand what they’re saying, because they’re on the same wavelength. Even outside of the line said by someone that “Chuuya [...] understands Dazai’s true motives.”

Aside from all that, we have Akutagawa’s statement being in conflict with canon:

Those are Akutagawa’s own words, by the way.

Still in the same scene, and we have Chuuya taunting Akutagawa and telling him that his constant “Dazai-san, Dazai-san!” (following him like a lost puppy/being a sycophant) is what makes Dazai not approve of him, and if he doesn't deal with the fog he’ll remain weak.

I can understand to a certain extent that the characters are all going to be stressed and that’s going to affect how they talk to one another. But this feels strange compared to how Chuuya is characterised talking to Akutagawa on the same subject in the Port Mafia Onsen drama CD, as well as another audio scene where Chuuya, Akutagawa, and Kajii are having soup. In the stage play, he might be telling the truth, but it’s in a way that hurts; in the audio plays, he acts more as a mentor, and as a mother hen to all of his subordinates. I personally see the latter as the more realistic version, and the only way that I can see the former being a thing is the stress of heightened emotions and the tension of Chuuya wondering if he’s really as safe as he says he is.

Skipping past the parts on the white trio, as I don’t feel that those bits really affect and change things so much, and I get to parts with Akutagawa, Atsushi, and Kyouka. To be honest my main issue here is that Akutagawa is saying way too much. This feels like those three are together and talking more for humour than anything? Atsushi should be able to list off more than just Kyouka’s likes and dislikes from her character profile! 

And to be clear, by “Akutagawa is saying way too much” I mean about letting on secrets. He says things about Kyouka that should be hers to reveal, such as the part about her parents - which in the movie, doesn’t get brought up at all, with Atsushi finding out about the phone being her mother’s and that it controls Demon Snow. As far as I remember, he shouldn’t learn about her parents until the manga chapter that’s revealed in. More importantly, though, he makes a thinly veiled reference to Verlaine; surely, if Verlaine is such a heavily guarded secret that he can’t come out into the light of day due to every authority thinking him dead, Akutagawa should not be mentioning his existence in a way that anyone could casually mention to someone they shouldn’t.

The banter between the three of them then goes back to, uh... bickering? Cheap shots? I dunno, it makes them all seem immature in ways I’m not sure about.

Following on from that, we have Akutagawa talking to Kyouka with a “gentle” voice, which to me feels off, because if this is supposed to be set before the Cannibalism arc, that’s before the first time Akutagawa says “I’m happy for you” which is the first time he seems to treat her with any real kindness. So, uh. Yeah.

Shibusawa killing “Fyodor” right after Dazai feels weird, and given later explanations, needlessly complicated.

Ango asking Chuuya to deal with the dragon feels like it’s handled weirdly - if I remember right, in the movie Chuuya only appears after the dragon has formed.  The movie version, I think, works better due to making it seem as though both Ango and Chuuya are more aware of the pressing danger. That’s my preference, though.

About the ending - the headmaster saying that if Atsushi had known about having killed Shibusawa, it would have crushed him mentally, makes sense. The multiple times the headmaster appeared in the movie were to warn Atsushi not to open the door to his memory of that day. One nice little bit of extra context that works.

However, Dazai reappearing and having the same conversation as in the movie with Atsushi saying that he was the one who saved them, doesn’t work quite as well without the graveyard scene. Instead it just makes me think of how through the play, Dazai has hardly done many things worthy of being called “good,” has he... which makes it feel like Atsushi in the play is placing his blind faith in Dazai more than the Atsushi in the movie.

Ango offering his life for what has happened due to his part in things (small though it was, which Chuuya acknowledges) emphasises the way that he’s dealing with his own self-hatred here. However, I’ll admit that I preferred this conversation taking place on the helicopter, before Chuuya goes to fight the dragon, rather than afterward. Because if it’s before, the feeling of the scene is shifted more toward knowing that Chuuya might not come back at all, and that these could be his last words not just to them, but at all. Having Chuuya’s potential last words include “I don’t actually blame you” was powerful.

Akutagawa not bowing to Chuuya at the ending and being unwilling to help (or so it seems) feels weird compared to how he’s shown being respectful to his superiors in almost all other appearances. I liked Chuuya saying that as far as he’s concerned, Dazai’s already acknowledged him, and he (Chuuya) does at least, though.

The closing scene with Chuuya talking to Mori feels like - I can understand why Mori wouldn’t appear in person, given the situation with his actor, but they could have handled something to emulate the way the scene was in the movie. I think that they attempted to put some of that into the Chuuya-Akutagawa scene (what with them talking about how Dazai included both of them in his plans), but Mori saying that specifically to Chuuya was important, as it’s Mori who Chuuya respects.

On “other points,” it’s stated that Akutagawa is the one to land the final blow in defeating Byakko; this goes against the movie’s statement that the ability user must defeat their own ability.

So... all in all, I feel like there’s a lot here that could have been improved if they’d just stuck closer to the way the movie felt, and what happened there, rather than changing things so much. 

There’s also a lot of references to things in the light novels that don’t always necessarily work - especially when some of those things might be top secret! Or such as when Chuuya talks about his ability, it seems to me that it’s not the sort of thing he’d normally be so open about. It feels as though the play treated such things as free reign to use and reference, rather than adding them in only when it makes sense.

I think the biggest thing though, is that the characterisation continuity doesn’t seem to be there at so many points. There are so many places where I can just grab out the manga (as I did once above) and point out that the stage play goes directly against established canon characterisation. Or drama CDs that have been accepted as good characterisation as they feel as though they’re correct portrayals, yet the stage play shows a different version of the characters than we saw (heard) in those.

This makes it hard to accept, as someone who puts a lot of stock in continuity. Continuity means no plot holes, no “but wait, that doesn’t make sense when you take [x] into consideration” and no “but didn’t they say [x] earlier, they’re contradicting themself.”

There were parts I read about that seemed nice, or decent additions, but the general impression I get is one of extreme frustration.

I saw someone - the OP of the translations, I think - say that they were upset with Chuuya for treating Akutagawa like this, but I can’t help but feel that it isn’t Chuuya I’m upset with, because Chuuya is a character. Perhaps unlike some, I don’t put authors on a pedestal; yes, the series belongs to them, and their word is god in terms of characterisation and so on, but they’re also a human being. And besides, it’s not a bad thing to be able to argue with “god” and say “hey, you said [this] ages ago, but now you’re saying [that], why’s that?” and hope for an answer that makes sense. If Asagiri approved of the content of the drama CDs, WAN, and the movie itself, why are they changing so many things now? I can’t help but wonder.

[gunmaestro]

The (Subjectively) Bad Writing of the Current Arc in Bungou Stray Dogs

I respect Asagiri as a writer, and I love what he’s given us in terms of content and characters. However, with the translation of the newest chapter out I think there are a few of my opinions about this arc I would like to put out there for people to see and consider, regardless of whether or not they agree. To define this arc, I will be talking about all chapters AFTER “The Perfect Murder and Murderer, Part 3″, as I consider the three chapters with focus on Mushitaro to be chapters that link the two consecutive arcs together rather than belonging to either. This post is also being written at a point where the most recent chapter is 77, so keep that in mind if later chapters have been posted that contradict what I’m writing here.

First, let’s start with something not so terrible: the new characters we’ve been introduced to in this arc.

If you know me, you know I’m a fan of the Hunting Dogs. I like them very much and I wish for other people to see that they’re good characters. However, I will do my best not to let this impact what I say in this post. From what we’ve seen of them so far, the Dogs have been very interesting and well-rounded characters. I think up until this most recent chapter (that being 77, at the time I’m writing this), the Dogs have been developed excellently; more on why I believe this chapter set them back completely as characters later in this post.

I’ll give a part of this to Tachihara, because although he isn’t new, we’re seeing a side of him that we’ve never actually seen before, and he feels like a completely new character to me. I may be one of the few people in the fandom who liked the initial twist of him being the fifth hunting dog. And, despite me saying I hate chapter 77, I like the direction they’re taking his character with making him out to be more mafia than hunting dog. I don’t, however, enjoy the way in which they are choosing to show this; again, I will go more into that later.

Gogol and Sigma.. have been interesting. I like what we’ve seen of Gogol so far and I am very happy that they’ve brought him back. I want to know what they have in store for his character! Sigma.. eh. I liked Sigma when he first was introduced, but the plotline that he is a creation of the book diminished my interest in him by a lot. It just didn’t seem to fit with the rest of the things in BSD. The same applies in general to the casino.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, here are some general thoughts about the arc.

I think Asagiri is cramming way too much into one arc. Actually, I would be fine with most of the things I have a problem with if they were more spread out. My problem started with the introduction of the Sky Casino and the ongoing chess game between Fyodor and Dazai. I think the arc should have been about the ADA, the Mafia, and the Dogs. I think they should have gotten the page back by now and Sigma and the Sky Casino should have had absolutely nothing to do with the book or the page, instead being introduced later as a completely separate thing.

I also think that upping the stakes as much as this arc has in such a short amount of time was a big mistake. The tone of the current arc has absolutely no resemblance to the tone of the first few arcs.

Thirdly, and this is a personal issue because I frankly do not enjoy Dazai or Fyodor, there has been WAY too much focus on their chess game. In fact, their chess game is detrimental to EVERY OTHER CHARACTER in the series. Though it advances both of them, I am a firm believer in the fact that the development of one character should not have to rely on setting every single other character back by miles. Not only is the chess game annoying, but it devalues literally every other character as.. independent characters, instead either painting them out to be reliant on Dazai or reliant on Fyodor. At least Fyodor’s comrades are all in on his plans, though. Dazai literally is using the Dogs as chess pieces WITHOUT THEIR KNOWLEDGE.

Fourth and finally, I think the exclusion of several major characters from the majority of the arc and focusing mostly on the newer characters is subtracting from the general quality of the arc, and this is coming from someone who ADORES Gogol and the Dogs. This arc should have included Ranpo, Kunikida, Chuuya, and Akutagawa more than it did, and it should have put less focus on the Decay of Angels. They should have entered the spotlight in the next arc or at least towards the end of it, in my opinion.

Now, the real dealbreaker of the arc: Chapter 77.

I am willing to deal with the Sky Casino, even if it is out of place for the series. I’m also willing to deal with Sigma being a creation of the book, and the Decay of Angels being able to bring people back from the dead. HOWEVER, there has been one thing introduced in 77 that has left a bitter taste in my mouth.

The decision to make it IMPOSSIBLE for any person in authority to believe that the detective agency is innocent is, suffice to say, a terrible choice for the plot and for the characters. This decision was made seemingly to raise the stakes and to further Tachihara’s development. I like the fact that Tachihara is getting development in this direction, but I don’t like that the stakes are being raised EVEN MORE, and that the choice to develop Tachihara using this method sets several other characters way back in terms of ever having the hope of being three dimensional, fully realized characters.

I’ve mentioned that I think the development of one character should not have to hinder any other character’s development, and that holds true here especially. By introducing this plot point---by FORBIDDING certain characters to come to realizations that might otherwise have come to---Asagiri is severely limiting the potential of the Hunting Dogs, and the police characters such as Minoura.

Tetcho and Ochi are two characters who were shown as being kind to the Agency and trying to help them, and from this readers were meant to get the impression that they might start believing in the agency. With the knowledge that they could not possibly come to that realization on their own and that the only hope of them coming to it at all is MAYBE Tachihara, we now know that none of the Hunting Dogs are capable of getting their own arc in the near future. NONE of them will be able to develop as characters enough to have their own thoughts on the matter, unless the unlikely scenario arises that they split from the law.

To conclude:

I’m tired of this arc.