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the ghost of you

One of things I love about Dazai's past is how it forces you to rethink the idea that "X character is irredeemable", because whilst all characters in BSD are morally grey, Dazai is one of the best examples of it.

Everything every "evil" or "bad" character has done in BSD Dazai has probably also done, and if he hasn't, he's fully capable of doing it, if he wanted to. We especially see that in the Beast timeline, but main timeline Dazai isn't above underhanded tactics, manipulation and criminal activities if it serves him and the people he cares about.

Yet, he's one of the "good guys", we root for him because he's in the Agency and fighting for the light.

You can't say Mori or Fyodor, or Ace, or Fukuchi, or Gide, or Verlaine, or Rimbaud, or any other antagonist is irredeemable without also labeling Dazai as irredeemable.

The Dazai we see in the current manga is still the same person who committed all those awful acts in the past. The only reason he's helping people now because it was a dying friend's request and then he realized he likes doing it.

His "redemption" is a completely selfish one and BSD says that's okay. He does it for himself and he didn't actually pay any penance for the crimes he committed.

To accept that Dazai gets to do this, means accepting that every antagonist, every "evil" character has the right to that opportunity too. Like how Mori gets that opportunity in the Beast timeline. The only thing stopping a character's redemption is their own choices.

nakahara chuuya does not dream

redraw of this panel from the sb manga!

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

i lvoe girls!!!!

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?

Okay, so Killingham's power is to put other people to sleep and control them? And Sommers' power would be to bring children's fears to life? Or is that also part of Killingham's ability? Like, his powers bring people's greatest fears to life, and as a result they fall asleep and Killingham can control them, similar to what Sugar's devil fruit did?

For those of you who may not be too familiar with the manga, during ch39: Portrait of a Father, Akutagawa shows up, as Dazai's informant, to give Atsushi documents about who the orphanage headmaster was and what happened to him.

At that moment, Akutagawa shows an uncharacteristic clemency towards Atsushi, saying that "Atsushi's master died today", and compares this to his own relationship with Dazai.

This was a long time ago now, and a lot has happened since. The Cannibalism arc is right after this, where they are very antagonistic towards each other, and includes this scene:

Akutagawa, despite his bitterness towards Atsushi for who he is to Dazai, has seen how similar they are in this sense. Atsushi hasn't, because his gratefulness towards Dazai prevents him from seeing that Akutagawa's experience was completely different with this same person. (he's also not given any time by the narrative to wonder about it)

but then just came along chapter 122!!!

Atsushi gets to see, 1:1, the relationship between Akutagawa and Dazai. For the first time, Akutagawa is relatable to him.

And of course, at the end, Atsushi calls out the illusion as being the headmaster wearing Dazai's face because we are closing this loop! We are forcing Atsushi to see Akutagawa the same way Akutagawa has been seeing him!

Damn, Asagiri must really hate father figures

I adore Gin, she's genuinely cute, so I put her in few different outfits. I'm in genuine belief that she's a shoujo girlie.