Put This Sad Wet Mafia Cat In A Bath

super duper quick messy doodle but omg ! harukawa has been cooking i am so in loveee

maybe i’m too much of a staunch “atsushi is kind of a dick” purist but i actually don’t think him witnessing dazai’s abuse will actually change all that much in terms of the direct relationships between these characters and how they act towards each other.

part of it is i think sskk’s ultimate arc is moving past the spectre of dazai haunting them, and part of it is like. akutagawa is (was..?) an abuser too. it would make no sense for atsushi to flip on dazai for akutagawa because it’s either he believes redemption is real and dazai has changed (which like, he objectively has, regardless of whether he handled his relationship with akutagawa well) and akutagawa can change too, or abuse forever tarnishes your moral character and then atsushi must hate both these guys (which he clearly doesn’t).

ultimately bsd has a complex relationship with abuse that’s often uncomfortable to acknowledge, like the fact that akutagawa has abused two women on screen and hasn’t actually made proper amends either, and the fact that bsd both acknowledges that the mafia is a cruel organisation based in child abuse and exploitation that largely operates by grooming children into violence, and also posits that the mafia is kind of a necessary entity for the safety of the city. child abuse in bsd is interpersonal, yes, but it’s also a larger system of exploitation of ability users, largely for combat, and practically every character participates in that system to a degree.

even the agency has child members, and while for some it can be argued that the agency saved them from bad situations, kenji, for example, seemingly lived a normal peaceful life until he was recruited to be a child soldier.

ultimately i don’t think the wish fulfilment scene where atsushi explicitly rags on dazai for treating akutagawa badly will ever happen, especially considering this isn’t news for him and atsushi hasn’t been sympathetic to akutagawa about it before. i’m not saying it’s not going to be called out, but i don’t think the #dazaiisoverparty is happening guys hold your horses

if i had to choose him or the sun i'd be one nocturnal son of a gun

Bsd Chapter 121:

Dazai (hallucination) to Atsushi.

Dazai to Atsushi: Do you need things like “courage” or “hope” to overcome fear? No. You haven’t had those things from the start.

Dazai: You haven’t needed them. What you need to crush your fear, is a fear even greater.

Bsd Beast Chapter 4:

Beast Dazai to Beast Atsushi.

Beast Dazai: I do think you’re correct in saying that you’re a coward. Your former self was a fearful boy who would search for an escape route right in front of the enemy.

Beast Dazai: But ever since that day you’ve changed. Do you understand why that is?

Beast Dazai: It turns out that the best way to drown out your fear is with more fear.

older sibling bonding

perhaps controversial but i think fukuzawa could save everyone if he gave amenogozen a little kiss. it's fukuchi's body. surely the home of a god is not immune to worship it once knew?

And just when I thought the parallels between Loki and Luffy would stop...

this is so important actually. the image and voice of dazai, one of the smartest people atsushi knows, manifested by atsushi's mind telling him that he knows something dazai doesn't. he can do what dazai can't. he's smart enough to save everyone, despite his doubts about himself. and he knows it, even if he needs a voice that isn't his own to say it to him.

literally though the fundamental misunderstanding that characterizing chuuya as someone who is too extroverted, or cant help getting attached, is. because he could actually! very easily!!! he already has trust issues! & it’s such a huge thing that for him, the fact that he has not yet become verlaine or become dazai is a choice, an effort, often at the expense of himself