#mental illnesses in the characters on BSD

[doctorweebmd]

well if we’re trying to be medically accurate on bungostraydogs.edu, the disease state that actually COULD theoretically fit Akutagawa Ryuunosukes symptoms (chronic cough, hemoptysis, life-limitation, stunted growth, difficulty gaining weight) it could either be cystic fibrosis or primary ciliary dyskinesia.

for metaphorical reasons I like primary ciliary dyskinesia better for him because dextrocardia (your heart being flipped so it’s on the right side instead of the left) is really common, so it could be like… commentary about his heart being in literally the wrong place. Or something

[ahli-stuff]

An Overanalysis of That Bsd 119 Panel

“If God does not exist, everything is permissible.”

—Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

With one of the most intense displays of genuine emotion that we’ve seen from Fyodor paired with the Expression emphatically taking up over half the page, I immediately wondered, what does this tell me about Fyodor?

I’ve seen a lot of interesting analysis floating around already, with the main two being: Fyodor doesn’t think Atsushi represents the “noble” beast of his ability, and/or Atsushi’s attitude reminds Fyodor of his past self.

However, to me, it seems that Fyodor’s reaction is a natural culmination of his obsessive and hypocritical search for perfection.

Part I: Fyodor’s Impossible Idealism

Fyodor has always been a romantic.

Not a romantic as in someone interested in ‘romance,’ but a romantic as defined by Oxford Languages: “[someone or something] characterized by…an idealized view of reality.”

From the beginning, Fyodor’s goals has always been steeped in idealism. “Saving” the world! Though thankfully a departure from the omnicidal maniac trope (I hate it! If you destroy the world, what then, genius), saving the world is as nearly nebulous as destroying the world. What does saving the world mean?

To Fyodor, it has been stated that he means cleansing the world of sin: ability users.

But I would argue that a better way to phrase this would be to cleansing the world of imperfection. Fyodor doesn’t only view ability users as imperfect, he views humanity as a whole as imperfect. I hinge this arguement where upon Dazai meeting Fyodor for the first time and talking with him in prison, Dazai says “people are sinfully stupid,” not ability-users, in opposition to Fyodor’s ideologies.

The second reasoning for this arguement is that while Fyodor hates ability users, he has no problem killing non ability users. You would think for someone who puts so much emphasis on abilities users as “sinful” that he would subsequently view non ability users as pure, right? Yeah, no.

“But Fyodor,” someone asks. “After you erase all the ability users how the fuck are you going to fix the rest of humanity?”

For one, he’d be dead (someone correct me on this if he said he’d kill all ability users but himself). For two, if the former () is the case, then is he just going to… write all of the rest of humans as perfect? Is he going to kill them to a write a version of humanity that is perfect? If that’s the case, then what the hell does ‘perfect’ mean to fyodor?

Another popular theory is that Fyodor is attempting to rewrite the world from the beginning without abilities, but that brings up the same issue in my second point—Fyodor doesn’t exclusively view ability users as imperfect, he views all of humanity as imperfect.

His plan is full of holes when you consider how exactly he defines “perfect.”

Therefore, I’d like to go forward in this analysis with the assumption that Fyodor is attempting to kill all ability users, including himself, through the “salvation” of death to create a “perfect” world despite all logistical fallacies.

So… what was the purpose of this tangent? It’s that I believe Fyodor’s search for perfection is futile, he likely knows it, and his goal is simply the largest unwilling suicide pact the world has ever seen.

Part II: Does Fyodor even believe in God?

Before this section begins, I’d like to define religiousness by the unconditional belief in gods or a god.

Short answer: yes. Slightly longer answer: well, yes, but…

Fyodor embodies of the churchgoing villain trope to a tee—at every possible moment he uses religion as a directive to all his actions. God, to Fyodor, is his patron.

What makes Fyodor’s religious zealousness so interesting to me is that highly intelligent, calculating, and cunning villains are often associated with ideologies ranging from relaxed-religiousness to atheism in media. Dazai is an example of this—he a deist who believes that god exists—but has created a world which runs on inconsistencies and absurdity.

Hell, Raskolnikov, the main character from from Crime and Punishment himself is an example of an intelligent character who is non-religious. While Raskolnikov is not a villain or a necessarily an irredeemable person, he is, as opposed to BSD Fyodor (the character of whom he inspired), an intelligent “bad person” who is notably non-religious. The following is a quote from Raskolnikov, in Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, where he cynically comments about a religious character.

“At first he was afraid that she would worry him about religion, would talk about the gospel and pester him with books.”

Which naturally leads to the next question: why is Fyodor so religious if it clashes against both his literary counterpart and the tropes associated with an “intelligent villain”?

Trick question: I don’t think Fyodor is religious at all.

I believe that Fyodor’s fervent belief in god does not come out of genuine faith, but rather a desperate need to justify his own crimes. After all,

“If God doesn’t exist, everything is permissible.”

That is an adapted quote referenced in BSD 42 from a conversation in another one of Dostoevsky’s books, The Brothers Karamazov. The meaning of the quote is that the presence of god gives moral guidance meaning, and without god, humanity falls into anarchy.

After all, if heaven and hell do not exist, if god does not exist, or if god exists but he doesn’t care, or if god exists but he hates Fyodor, then… there’s no such thing as Fyodor’s idea of perfection. All of his plannning and scheming will be for naught. The slaughter and manipulation he has enacted across centuries will be pointless.

Fyodor must believe in his idealism (his version of god) or else his world views, his idealism, his raison d'etre—crumbles.

So let me ask the question again. Why is a villain who is as intelligent as Fyodor also religious? It’s because he must be, or he’d go insane.

“God is necessary, and therefore must exist... But I know that he does not and cannot exist... Don't you understand that a man with these two thoughts cannot go on living?”

This is a quote from Dostoevsky’s Demons, which perfectly describes what I believe about Fyodor’s motivations. I believe that deep within Fyodor’s fucked up mind, he understands that either god does not exist or that god exists, but hates/doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Fyodor.

However, Fyodor’s idealism has no room for nuance, even though someone of his intelligence must already understand that. Anything that challenges his idea of god, his idea of salvation, his idea of perfection, will challenge his very reason for being alive.

Which is what brings us to:

Part III: My Bad; The Panels this Analysis was Supposed to be About

In the past few years, there has been a recent shift in the fandom’s general perception Fyodor. He is no longer perceived as a character with a god complex, but rather character with a messiah complex(also known informally known as a Jesus complex). This is basically cemented in Fyodor’s last words before ‘death’: “Eli Eli lama sabachthani,” which mirrors Jesus’s words, not god’s.

While both god complexes and messiah complexes arise from the same core insecurities and delusions of superiority, those with messiah complexes are often characterized by their extreme empathy and intense desire to “save” others.

Looking at Fyodor, you wouldn’t think that he is a highly empathetic individual, but it is only because of his advanced emotional intelligence that he understands the human condition intimately enough to manipulate it—and he uses that power to try to “save” humanity the same way he perceives Jesus would.

But… if anything, it’s Atsushi who resembles Jesus.

Atsushi is compassionate; he extended his sympathy and respect to both Kyouka and Akutagawa, two people who attempted to kill him. Atsushi is selfless; from episode 1, he attempted to use his own body to cover a bomb in order to protect the ADA (people who he had barely known at the time!). Atsushi is humble; he denies his power and affability when confronting Lucy’s anguish.

(Arguably, you could say that Atsushi’s selflessness in the beginning was more motivated from self-hatred then true altruism—and you would be right, but once Atsushi learns a sense of confidence, his selflessness does not disappear… it just becomes genuine.)

Compassion, selflessness, and humbleness—all values that Jesus is said to preach.

The prideful Fyodor knelt before Atsushi in hopes a finding a god to his “Jesus,” but all he found was a painfully human boy. Not only that, he found a man who is more of a savior than he will ever be.

To add insult to injury in 119, Fyodor discovers Atsushi is an imperfect being who resides within what he had previously believed to be a perfect being. He is a contradiction—a nuance—and like I said before, Fyodor’s idealism has no room for what-ifs and buts. If he entertains a single contradiction(like Atsushi), his entire world view collapses.

So, Fyodor goes on the defense. In his attempt to rid himself of the so-called pathetic humanity he sees Atsushi demonstrating, he demonstrates some pathetic humanity of his own: For the first time we’ve seen since Fyodor has been introduced, Fyodor forgets his fixed benevolent, lofty, half-amused persona and gets pissed off.

More often than not I believe self-righteous anger comes as a result of insecurity and doubt. I imagine that his inner monologue is going something along the lines of: ‘how could this noble, god-like creature be so stupid, base, human? How could this faux-divine suggest that I am not already saving humanity? How could I have ever believed that he could be the perfect one I’m searching for?’

What I said before, about how Fyodor’s idea of perfection is a zero sum game and he knows it; it is reflected in his interaction with Atsushi. Atsushi’s mere existence and personality is evidence of what Fyodor has been trying to deny this entire time: his ideal of a “perfect world” does not exist.

“Your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing.” —Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

[easywayout69]

[bikupaints]

:D

This week I was just bored and did a survey on my Instagram (these are all the characters, they wanted me to draw them, haha)

My tgc :

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/biku_paint?igsh=Njlyc3U3eGJ4MGZv

[sepiamestus]

It always rubs me the wrong way when people characterize atsushi as too much of a sweetheart. Like he IS a sweetheart but he's also snarky and sarcastic and most importantly he's very very angry. Do not forget this.

[disqualifiedasahuman]

OOC

HELLOOO WHAT THE FLIP

101 FOLLOWERS ALREADY ?? I JUST GOT HERE DUDE..

thank u all so much u guys are so awesome i stalk all your accounts.. i am ur biggest fan !! i hope u guys like dazai hes a bit weird but thats okay LOVE U ALL heart heart but like slow down..

[aroacesigma]

praying to our patron saint of overworking to get me through my external exams

[deeez-n]

hate actually giving a fuck abt side characters😭 "u just want to be different" no person willingly has made up lore abt naomi and the bible dude

[cousticks]

OMYGOSH COU!!!

You can't just drop that idea and gatekeep it!!

make Beastzai's death more gratifying??? H-How?

w-when, where, why, who, what-

AIJDFRIEOGHB

okok yes, if it's bad for your mental health, don't write it

but if you don't mind, can I get the concept at least?

I must see what's happening in the cou misery machine's little brain. 😭🥺

#nopressureasks

Well first I'd like to clarify I'd be making his death more gratifying to ME, not necessarily to anyone else. That man has dealt me horrendous amounts of psychic damage for years now and I believe he should answer for it in blood. Its personal.

That being said. He gets off easy, in the end, by being able to jump off a building and just... disappear. He finishes his plan and removes himself from the equation. Done and dusted. Its almost anticlimactic, its a little unsatisfying, and in the original story I think that's part of why his death works so well. There's no dramatic final battle, not really. He's finished writing the story and he's writing himself out of it.

It's also very, very Dazai. In a world where he forces himself to be more machine than man to keep his goals in line, there's not much left that's actually Dazai, you know? He's subject to the world he's created as much as everyone else is, the only difference is that he knows that. Back in the main timeline, as odd as it is, suicide attempts end up almost a hobby for normal Dazai. That's just... a thing he does. But Beast Dazai doesn't have that identity, not anymore. He doesn't have "hobbies" he doesn't have things he's imbued so much of the book with his will and in turn is so subject to the will of the book that they're one and the same at that point. He's ceased to really be Dazai. So in a way? Beast Dazai offing himself at the end is really like severing his ties to the book and becoming Dazai again before he dies.

For me, personally, in my own acts of retribution against Beast Dazai for the way he charges me rent in my own brain, I'd want to strip him of that one last shard of autonomy. Someone else has to kill him. Preferably me with my own bare hands. The problem is that there's really no one in that world that has a good right or reason to kill him, honestly. As much as Chuuya wants to, as much as he claimed his stake on Dazai's life in that world, he'll never do it. Chuuya will never be the one to kill Dazai. It just... won't happen. Atsushi never would either, for tangential reasons. The most appropriate would be Akutagawa, but the entire point of Beast is, in part, proving that there is a world where Akutagawa can do and be good even without Atushi's influence. Proving that it was already in Akutagawa to start. Having him kill Beastzai would be a backtrack of that progress. The most tragic would be Oda, but Oda is going to write his novel. He's done killing, now. So that doesn't work either. The only one who could have killed Beastzai is himself, unfortunately.

Now, if you let ME into the Beast universe, unlike all these characters with personal motives and layers and thematic character arcs, I'm just some guy with a vendetta and no stakes in the game and I'd personally love to put Beastzai through as much physical pain as possible before offing him just because I know he hates pain and I want to watch his skull bounce. I haven't worked out the details of how I'd kill him if given the chance but let me just say it is not a pleasant way to go and he'd totally for sure hate the entire thing. I'd have to have Beast Chuuya locked up somewhere though because he'd have me dead seven times over before I got the chance.

[liibation]

Saline solution

[valenteal]

Unpopular BSD opinion:

I actually like the Tanizaki siblings. They make me uncomfortable but I find them interesting anyway. They’re a bit of a mystery. Junichiro is only 18 but he and his sister are living alone, and their parents aren’t mentioned at all. They’re clearly a but messed up and codependent. And they seem to work at the agency for the protection it provides rather than because they enjoy the work/feel a calling to help. It’s a job for them like it isn’t for the other members.

Beyond that, incest isn’t exactly uncommon. It’s usually better hidden but it’s not like it doesn’t happen. You have two teenagers close in age, living together, with raging hormones and little executive thinking? Yeah, you bet they sometimes end up exploring a bit. I’ve known people who did. Now, I’m an only child so I don’t really understand what it’s like to have siblings, but this makes logical sense to me. I mean, incest among animals happens all the time. Rich and powerful people throughout history have married relatives. It’s natural.

According to Freud the taboo against incest is one of the hallmarks of human civilization. For unknown reasons almost every human civilization has independently developed this taboo despite how natural and common it was in the past. I mean, when you’re a nomadic tribe of no more then 30 people you don’t have much of a choice. Since the development of civilization, defined by the transition from hunter gatherer to agriculture and domestication and the keeping of surplus food, the population has been steadily increasing, making incest unnecessary for survival. The taboo grew along with the population. But it doesn’t change that teens will be teens. Or pre-teens in some cases.

I’m not advocating for fucking your siblings, or saying that the taboo against it is inherently wrong. It just is what it is and it’s interesting to actually see it portrayed in media. It also continues the story’s trend of making you question everything. The Tanizaki siblings love and support one another. They protect each other and they’re stronger together. They are supporting themselves, without parents or guardians, and they’re doing a great job for a couple of obviously traumatized kids. Is it hurting anyone if they have a relationship slightly outside the norm? As long as they don’t have kids it doesn’t affect anyone but them. It’s their own lives.

Now, moving on from opinions to theories!

1. Junichiro might be trans. Maybe that’s why he and Naomi aren’t with their parents. Junichiro came out, got kicked out, and Naomi left with him. Which negates the issue of inbreeding.

2. Junichiro probably couldn’t control his ability very well before joining the agency, causing him to loose some of his grip on reality and inflicting hallucinations on him and everyone around him.

Actually that’s all I’ve got rn. My head hurts and I haven’t eaten.

[hijinks-n-lowjinks]

I was thinking “yo, Fyodor’s a super interesting/cool villain I can’t wait to see more of him” and then they headshot me with this

[ahli-stuff]

What Symptoms Of NPD Do I Think Fyodor Has?

Did a little research about messiah complexes as defined as an extension of narcissistic personality disorder. I’m rating the symptoms by what I think best exemplifies Fyodor.

Common symptoms of a messiah/savior complex:

The desire to help others 🟢

The desire for better self esteem🟠

Prone to codependency🟡

Prone to EDs🟠

Prone to hoard animals🔴

The believing that an one knows what’s better for others🟢

Crave power over others 🟢

Feel superior to others based on race🟢

Prone to delusional disorder, bipolar disorder, megalomania or other mental disorders🟡

Prone to physical self neglect 🟡

🟢=Fits the character canonically, with concrete evidence.

🟡=Fits the character canonically, with decent evidence.

🟠=Somewhat fits the character canonically, with little evidence.

🔴=does not fit the character canonically, with no evidence.

[expresso4thedeppresso]

Hellooo, I've been here for abit and this is supposed to be an art account, but I've just been so lazy to post, but here is my introduction!

I'm Espresso, I'm 16 and I draw! Usually digital but I also draw traditionally! I use he/she/they pronouns and I'm queer. I'm not very consistent with my schedule, and I can go months without posting at all, so I apologize if I go radio silent. I mostly draw my ocs, but I draw fanart sometimes if I'm motivated.

I'm in need of oomfs who has as much brainrot as me, the fandoms I'm interested in are in my tags ahehwhahwh

My art!! ^^^

[beanghostprincess]

saw your “imagine if life was a prison” post and read through it going “mhm mhm this is actually a really good and relatable depiction of my intrusive thoughts and hard to get rid of unhealthy mental thought patterns and strug- wait no something about an arm. ah this is about that anime Tumblr is obsessed with” so yeah threw me for a loop lol

Honestly, all BSD fans are mentally ill and relate to these things, and every post we make is also to cope with our deteriorating mental health. So you aren't really wrong either.

[reckless-rider]

The bestie is watching one of the shows to me and I like wanna tell them stuff but those are spoilers and they haven't gotten there yet (im very excited for when they do tho <3)