#fukuzawa and fukuchi are the emotional core

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Teruko and Yosano should've faced off. I think Yosano should've been posed that question that Atsushi was; that reveal of the "future war" - Teruko went along with Fukuchi out of a mix of indebtedness and being at a loss for what to do. War is all she's known; of course she doesn't know. But Yosano has been to the depths of despair and come back out of it again. She might've faltered at this horrific reminder of her trauma, but when it comes down to it, she saves the lives before her. She fought for a way back to light and life. I just think there could've been a really interesting conflict there. And it would've made Teruko's role much more tragic if she wanted desperately for there to be a third option but just didn't have enough time to sit with it and process what that third option might be before Fyodor made it all go to hell.

Also a fight between them would've been interesting, because Teruko is much physically stronger than Yosano, but Yosano can heal from any physical injury inflicted. However, since we now know Teruko can alter mental age, she could inflict psychological wounds by de-aging her, which would've been a good callback to the horrors of war in her backstory, and also been a nice bit of foreshadowing for Teruko actually being a child.

Teruko eventually allowing Yosano to leave out that door after seeing her resolve would've been a deeply bittersweet and powerful moment, I think, especially in hindsight after her backstory reveal.

[morievna]

BSD season 5 final - why so meh~~

Hello ^_^

So yeah i watched last episode and I have thoughts xD tbh I think manga will follow the same path as plot choices had Asagiri style all over them, maybe some details will only change.

Overall my impression was

It felt very Marvel-esque movie finals – “don’t think too much that some things don’t make sense, just enjoy spectacle” and “look look hints of new future villain” *yawn*

For such big stakes it just feels underwhelming to me how this arc was solved, because it is like that there wasn’t any danger to begin with. Like fortunate strings of events at right time but no that much effort on ADA part – Fukuchi basically planned for Fukuzawa to win (and Teruko made his wish reality) and on the other hand Aya saved the day by returning Bram to full powers, which conveniently happened at right moment so Dazai could outsmart Fyodor.

Btw I am kinda surprised how much unnecessary main protagonist was xD srsly if Atsushi didn’t leave that room after talking to Teruko, nothing would change xD ofc I am happy that Aya had time to shine, but still it is weird how many supposedly main characters (Atsushi, Kyouka, Kunikida) had nothing to do.

Imo Fukuzawa-Fukuchi scenes were strongest part as there was the most emotional weight and meaning in them. I really liked how it was executed – that these two had simply time to talk and finally understand each other thanks to Poe book. Also I really liked Fukuchi’s musings about ‘us vs them’ situation leading to wars – it felt adequate as real life goes like that and how politics use that rhetoric for own gain unfortunately.

On the other side, my biggest disappointment was final of Mersault arc:

I mean I knew that Fyodor will loose and Dazai will win, because in shounen power of friendship always wins xD  but it felt too easy and rushed – as story wanted to get rid of Fyodor without further ado and just hint at introducing new stronger villain.

Even though plot twist was clever, whole outcome of Mersault arc was feeling hollow to me. Just how smoothly things went for Dazai’s favour and therefore felt too convenient and not earned – again that there was no real danger or personal stakes for characters.

Especially framing of Dazai’s win was kinda weird to me. At this point of final it should be connected to his character arc and shown how his resolve differs from Fyodor. It should be about value of human life, that Dazai choose to be on side which is saving people. It is core of Dazai character arc, why he left PM (because Oda’s life was essentially not important to PM). It was never about trust vs control – like even in PM time Dazai trusted Oda or Chuuya plenty xD Obviously Fyodor’s methods are wrong, but still it is rooted that he doesn’t value human life as he views ppl as sinners and only wants complete godlike order. It just feels like framing is missing the point what was previously established by characters - just to go as fast as possible to reach the end.

In addition to that, just leaving Sigma to die… all his scenes with Dazai feels really pointless. Again I thought that saving Sigma is important as Dazai is on side that saves ppl vs Fyodor who seen only Sigma as pawn, but looks like whatever no it doesn’t have any meaning.

Ofc it can be that due to Fyodor’s ability shenanigans or some other healing ability Sigma will live somehow – but still it feels like Sigma was in Mersault just on Asagiri’s whim as comedic relief, not that he had some character development in mind.

Summing it all - to me as reader clever plot twist are cool, but if there is no emotional weigh and meaning backing up story then it just feels meh.  Honestly I feel like dropping BSD after this arc and maybe I will just checkout spoilers from time to time if there is going on anything interesting.

Ofc it can be that I am too negative and manga will handle story better, but that recent Asagiri’s interviews with takes like “Dazai methods of training Akutagawa were right” or “Oda is appealing to fans is because he is dead” or “characters can’t change too much because they will loose fans” are not particularly repelling my worries xD Ofc we will see, just my expectations are rather low xD

Thank you reading <3 and have a nice day <3