Thoughts and Rants

I. Introduction

In the BSD fandom, no character gets as much hate as Mori Ougai, the boss of the port mafia. Things the fandom accuse him of include, for example, pedophilia and child abuse, both not explicitly shown in the show. In general, he takes on the role of the fandom’s scapegoat, or ‘favoured villain’.

Those typically appear in every fandom and will face the most hatred; their behaviour is studied in the most unfavourable light, and actions that might be excused for a character with a larger fanbase, are condemning and unforgivable. Additionally, the fandom will both demonize the character even further by holding back the character’s backstory and reasons behind their actions, and often add even more hypothetical terrible actions. Finally, characters such as these will often take the position of villain in fanfiction, going so far as to act completely ooc to advance the plot.

All these phenomena are found in the way the Bungo Stray Dogs fandom treats Mori Ougai. Follows is an analysis of Mori Ougai’s character in canon in contrast to the worst interpretations found in the fandom.

In most fanon interpretations of his character, what gets lost most are his backstory and the reasons behind his actions, and he is often made into a very one-dimensional villain who enjoys the suffering of others and has led the life he lives out of selfishness or greed. This, however, is simply not true. Mostly, the backstory of Mori Ougai is unknown, and only starts in specific flashbacks, starting during the Great War and then post-war Yokohama, about how the Tri-Partite Framework came to be. Often, any backstory that does exist will be overlooked in favour of creating a more negative interpretation of Mori Ougai.

II. Backstory and Common Misrepresentations (Yosano Akiko, Tri-Partite Framework, Dazai Osamu, Sakunosuke Oda, Yumeno Kyuusaku)

In his backstory, two major things are pointed at to make him seem a heartless villain. One is his becoming the boss of the Port Mafia as well as his actions during his reign, and the other is the aforementioned child abuse, specifically of Yosano Akiko, Dazai Osamu and Yumeno Kyuusaku. Accusations range from emotional abuse to heavy physical abuse to sexual abuse. The latter will be discussed below, thus the question is now about the physical/psychological side. Chronologically, Mori Ougai interacts first with a girl named Yosano Akiko, aged eleven, during the Great War.

A note before discussing any of this: this is not trying to excuse any of the abuse. Under no circumstances is this analysis trying to excuse abuse or to say that Mori Ougai should be forgiven. The only thing trying to be done here is to shed light on other, often overlooked, facets of Mori Ougai’s character, and to bring to the forefront his more multi-dimensional sides as a character and villain.

The Great War is a fictional war that happened in the BSD world, approximately fifteen years before the plot picks up. It waged mostly in Europe, amongst powerful ability users and their organisations, like the Order of the Clock Tower and The Transcendents. Mori Ougai was a medical doctor during this war, part of the ‘Defense Force, 356th Infantry Division’. Japan was severely behind on using ability users in war, and this was an extreme threat to them, as there was no chance they would be able to defend against an army backed up by even a few powerful ability users.

Mori Ougai drafted Yosano Akiko from the bakery she was working at in an attempt to show the higher ups of the military that abilities were both useful as well as necessary in battle. During Yosano Akiko’s service, she experienced the heavy traumas of war, worsened by Mori Ougai’s harsh treatment of her and his lack of care for her emotional and mental state as a child.

But contrary to fanon interpretation, this was neither for the fun of the game, nor did it contain any physical abuse. His cruelty (seen in actions such as forcing Yosano to heal despite her wishes to stop) are born of a desperation to keep Japan and its civilians safe, in the typical grey zone of ‘for the greater good’ many villains tread in. This plan failed when Yosano eventually experienced a mental break, attempted to blow up the military ship they were located on, and much later ended up in the Armed Detective Agency.

After the Great War, Japan was in tatters, and many greedy gifted organizations flooded into Yokohama to attempt to take over. The Port Mafia, then still under the control of the old boss, was supportive of the bloodshed and immensely violent, reckless about civilian casualties. A man named Natsume Souseki, better known as Natsume-sensei, organized the so-called ‘Tri-Partite Framework’ to help the city regain order and peace.

Three organizations would work hand-in-hand to maintain a status quo that would reign in and control ability users: the government branch the Special Division for Unusual Powers would reign over the day, the legal and official side, the Armed Detective Agency would reign over the twilight, the dangerous ability-using criminals the police could not handle, and the Port Mafia would reign over the night, the criminal underground of the city.

Mori Ougai, in this situation, was never given much choice in becoming the boss of the Port Mafia: it was either he took over, or he would allow the city he loved to be destroyed by the old boss’s bloodthirst. In the show, he repeats on multiple occasions how much he loves the city, and ‘despises vermin such as [them]’ referring to criminals who had attacked a van of medical supplies. It did not matter if Mori cared for becoming the villain, the nightmare of all children – because it was a sacrifice that had to be made and it was explicitly stated to be a selfless one in BSD canon.

Continuing chronologically, the next child Mori Ougai supposedly abused is Dazai Osamu. Shortly before his ascent to the position of mafia boss, Mori rescued a child from a suicide attempt and treated him. This child was Dazai, aged fourteen. It’s implied that prior to that, Dazai was a street kid, as seen in the fact that the Sheep (a children’s street gang) attempted to recruit him.

Around this time, Mori Ougai needed to become the new boss. For this, he needed to kill the old boss, and needed a – false – witness to the fact that said old boss had made him the heir before passing. Dazai Osamu was reasonably the best choice, because a suicidal child was easy to manipulate, and easier to get rid of if so required. Again, this was not done for funsies, but because the lives of thousands of Yokohaman citizens were at stake. Dazai accepted to be the witness and became Mori’s right hand man during his three years in the mafia.

Now, were there better, morally superior options than Dazai? Possibly. But there is a very good reason that Natsume-sensei chose Mori for his Tri-Partite Framework plan, and that is that Mori’s cold, calculated decisions will always be done in the most efficient way, the way that ensures the plan will work – at any cost. This is especially important because Mori has to take care of the underground: one mistake and he loses the Mafia, loses control over the criminal world, and Natsume Souseki's plan fails and Yokohama is back to a state of war.

But again, while these are explanations, they are not excuses for his actions!

Fanon claims that Dazai was heavily abused by Mori during Dazai’s time in the mafia (ages 15-18), going so far as to have multiple widespread headcanons about how exactly. In canon, there is absolutely no evidence of any form of physical abuse.

In fact, there is more evidence to show for the opposite, as it is repeatedly stated that Mori is afraid of Dazai. Mori Ougai is an extremely rational and intelligent person; it would make no sense to abuse Dazai if it is already certain that Dazai would turn it back around of him a hundredfold, as well as the fact that it would lead Dazai to active hostility towards him. Dazai is his most valuable pawn, the queen on Mori’s board, but all the more volatile for it. This is mere speculation, but it does not make much sense from an outside perspective for Mori to abuse Dazai, especially because PM Dazai does not seem the kind of person to be swayed by violence or pain at all. If anything, pain seems like the worst way to motive teenaged Dazai in his apathy, so for Mori to use violence as a tool? Illogical.

Mori is however guilty of things like neglect, leading Dazai to a cornucopia of crimes, as well as, likely, forms of manipulation such as emotional blackmail, gaslighting, taking away Dazai’s freedom of choice, etc...

Another action that ties both into his role as the boss of the Port Mafia and the ‘abuse’ of Dazai is the death of Sakunosuke Oda, an ex-assassin, Port Mafia grunt, and closest friend of Dazai’s at the time.

During the rise of the Port Mafia under Mori Ougai, something that was heavily required for Natsume-sensei’s plan was a gifted business permit, a legal document that would allow the Port Mafia to use ability users legally in their operations. It was a crucial part of Natsume Souseki’s plan, because it was what would allow the Port Mafia to stand above all other criminal organizations in Yokohama and keep order in the criminal scene. Natsume had procured a gifted permit for the ADA but couldn’t do the same for the Port Mafia. Approximately the only option for Mori was to force the hand of the government.

He ended up doing so by luring Mimic, a disgraced organization from the Great War, into Yokohama, demanding a gifted permit in exchange of destroying them, and pitting them against Sakunosuke Oda. Mimic was made up of suicidal ex-soldiers who wished to die in battle; only, their leader, Gide, had an ability identical to Oda’s – it allowed him to see a few seconds into the future. Thus, Gide deemed Oda the only one capable of killing him.  But the man had sworn off killing, which is why Mori had to turn to drastic measures. He leaked information on orphans, wards of Oda’s, to Mimic, so that when Mimic harmed the children, Oda would take revenge. Eventually, the whole plot unfolded, and Oda went to destroy Mimic while Mori kept Dazai from interfering on his friend’s behalf. Oda and Mimic both perished in the event, and the mafia obtained the gifted permit. This event also led to Dazai’s defection.

In this whole event, the question remains; was there another option? A gifted permit had to be acquired – again, for the ‘greater good’ of Yokohama and its peace. The ongoing thought is that no, there was no other option, or at least not a feasible, canonically possible one, none that would ensure Mori’s success. It was once again a situation where Mori had to be the villain in order to save people per Natsume Souseki’s plan.

The last child he abused is Yumeno Kyuusaku, or just Q, eight years old at first meeting.  There is also no evidence to show for physical abuse from Mori (as opposed to from Dazai, to which Q says ‘Remember how you made me suffer?’). However, Mori had Q locked up for years – because Q willingly murdered multiple people with no regrets, and has little control over his devastating ability in general.

Keeping Q locked up is both for the general safety of the population, a possible weapon for the Port Mafia if it ever came to that, and to keep Q out of the hands of for example the government, who have never shied away from turning children into weapons of mass destruction (see Nakahara Chuuya) or using said weapons of mass destruction (see the Dragon Head Conflict).

III. Pedophilia Allegations

One of the most popular headcanons on Mori Ougai, to the point of being interpreted as simply canon amongst the most avid dissidents of the character, is that he is a pedophile. This originates in a few pieces of canon, most prominently Mori Ougai’s interactions with children in the show, Dazai Osamu and Yosano Akiko, his ability, ‘Vita Sexualis’ and a particular scene in which he claims to ‘prefer the women in his life to be under twelve’.

The latter was in fact a mistranslation, or at least a faulty one. In the scene, Mori Ougai is in a relatively relaxed conversation with Fukuzawa Yukichi, and the sentence is meant as a joke and as a jab towards Fukuzawa Yukichi’s love for cats. In the translation, though, the cultural and linguistic context is lost, and the sentence comes across as much more damning and literal than it was ever intended to. Additionally, this sentence makes a lot of sense in the context of his many child recruits; children are simply easier to manipulate and easier to use and mould to his will.

Mori Ougai’s ability is named ‘Vita Sexualis’ – sexual life. It takes the form of an anthropomorphic non-human entity that Mori Ougai can fully mould to his will, both in personality and appearance, called Elise. In BSD canon (as compared to, for example, BEAST) he keeps her as a blond girl aged about ten years old. This is often taken as proof of his attraction to children, especially because she is sometimes referred to as his ‘wife’. This, again, is based on faulty assumptions. Elise and Mori’s relationship is based on a series called ‘Black Jack’, in which underground doctor Black Jack works with ‘Pinoko’ a non-human who takes the form of a very young girl. Functionally, Pinoko is Black Jack’s daughter, but she insists on being referred to as his wife. Mori and Elise’s relationship is not a carbon copy of theirs, but heavily inspired. In the end, it’s a culture-specific joke and reference to another story as is the entire goal of Bungo Stray Dogs.

Lastly, the name ‘Vita Sexualis’ is based on a book or real-life Mori Ougai’s, a book that explored his own asexuality in a time where it was not something that was recognized or accepted. So no, the name is not trying to imply Elise is a sex doll.

Mori Ougai’s relationship with Dazai Osamu and Yosano Akiko was never shown to be in any way sexual or romantic. He often surrounds himself with children for the sole reason that they are easy to manipulate, and much easier to handle than adults. There is much less risk of betrayal and a heavy dependence on him that doesn’t exist – or in any case, much less – in adults.

IV. Conclusion and Summary

In conclusion to all this, once again, I’m very much not trying to say that he’s a good person. I’m even less trying to say that he didn’t abuse the children. I’m saying he’s a good villain, and a great character. He has reasons behind his actions, maybe even reasons that could excuse some of his actions. Additionally, this was a dig at people who just need a villain and will demonize any character they dislike enough to the point of ruining it completely. You can hate Mori but then don’t go around forgiving characters like Dazai, because he’s done much worse for much less; or, god forbid, Fyodor, who is much more one-dimensional and genocidal. Hate whoever! That’s exactly what fandom spaces are for! But don’t go around telling people that Mori is canonically a pedophile or canonically physically abused children – he did not. That is your own headcanon, your own AU, and to pass it off as canon does a disservice to the story as a whole.

Yeah, summary: hate him appropriately and for the right reasons, don’t make shit up and ruin a great character. He’s already a shit person, you don’t have to go and make him shittier just so you can fawn over poor, poor abused Dazai. If you do need a villain and make him shittier, just keep in mind that that is ooc.

Also, he’s a huge fucking smash, especially during his military days. And he’s funny af in canon. Also also, SKK’s biggest shipper, which is hilarious because even his biggest haters know and acknowledge that about him.

I. Introduction (just reminders of canon, feel free to skip if you don't wanna read quite as much)

Dazai and Akutagawa met in the Port Mafia when Dazai was sixteen and Akutagawa (post-Stormbringer if I’m not wrong) fourteen. Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, along with his sister Akutagawa Gin, grew up in the slums, surviving solely on his strength as an ability user, which was a very meagre defence seeing he has abysmal control over Rashoumon. Dazai encountered the siblings on a mission in the slums when Akutagawa, feeling threatened, managed to kill all of Dazai’s men, brutally and efficiently.

Dazai saw his potential and approached him. During the conversation, Akutagawa asked Dazai whether he could give Akutagawa a reason live, and Dazai gave him a choice. Akutagawa and his sister could either be given enough money for a living, or they could join the Port Mafia and Dazai would give Akutagawa a reason to live. Akutagawa decided on the latter and joined the Port Mafia as Dazai’s student/apprentice/subordinate.

The ‘reason to live’ that Dazai gave Akutagawa was a goal to reach, that goal being Dazai’s approval. Dazai would train the younger however he wished, and Akutagawa would strive to obtain his mentor’s approval, giving him a constant reason to go on. Dazai’s treatment of Akutagawa included heavy physical attacks such as punching and kicking and even shooting him point-black multiple times, as well as verbal mistreatment such as belittling and denigration. This continued until Dazai left the Port Mafia around two years later.

When Dazai was revealed to still be alive to the members of the Port Mafia four years after that, Akutagawa, still heavily emotionally dependent on Dazai, still considering Dazai’s approval his reason to live, develops an odd mix of hatred and subservience towards Dazai, and a complex over Atsushi, Dazai’s new (beloved) student.

II. Fandoms and Abusers

Abuse by a character is, depending on the context, taken very differently by the fandom. Most commonly, abuse of any kind is treated extremely harshly by fans, especially if it’s of a character the fandom likes. Even ‘mild’ abuse (such as a toxic relationship dynamic that does not go beyond ‘unhealthy’), emotional abuse (such as emotional blackmail, gaslighting, manipulation, straight up blackmail), forms of grooming (child soldiers, for ex.) are treated extremely harshly, and for good reason. Although, people do like to make those cases ‘worse’, such adding actual intent to harm in situations where there was none (for example a toxic dynamic with parents who unknowingly became emotionally abusive), adding physical abuse where canonically there was none or even sexual assault. But that is another question entirely.

In other cases, especially cases where the abuser was themselves abused, particularly young or for other external/internal reasons, the reaction can differ greatly from that.

In on its own, this is not problematic at all. In fact, it’s quite normal and even very much natural that a grown adult will not be treated the same on abuse as a child, or a person with severe trauma or mental illnesses compared to a person who has no such underlying reasons. However, sometimes, fandoms take this simply too far or even applies this milder reaction to abusive characters simply because they are well-liked.

If, just as mentioned above, the abuser of this scenario happens to be an extremely well-liked character – often because they have been ‘reformed’ or the abuse was treated as a relatively irrelevant or minor part of the character’s backstory – the judgement of this character and its liability for abuse gets blurred. In those cases, people will find a variety of inane, inappropriate or immoral, or simply incorrect excuses to diminish the character’s fault and criminality. Sometimes people go so far as to completely excuse or ever justify the abuse to defend their favourite character.

It’s generally very hard to judge a canon character appropriately, and there will always be people who will cross lines with the excuse that ‘it is fiction’ or ‘it doesn’t matter’ or because they just don’t care, so that alone is not all that problematic. Sadly, it is also the case that often these situations happen because of a lack of media literacy or a lack of critical analysis of the situation in favour of superficial enjoyment of the content. And when those people begin to claim to have an opinion rooted deeply in canon or to have the moral or intellectual high ground, it begins to become problematic.

III. Applications of This Phenomenon to Akutagawa and Dazai

It just happens to be the case that Dazai is an extremely well-liked character. In fact, his is the undisputed number one favourite character of Bungo Stray Dogs, and the above-mentioned phenomenon does very much apply to him. Specifically, to his dynamic with his former student, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke.

Their dynamic was very much an abusive one. And although many representations or perceptions of it are dissatisfactory, it is uncommon to see anyone truly deny this. It would be quite hard to do so anyway, seeing canon showed many examples of Dazai physically and verbally harming Akutagawa a fashion demonstrating a notable power imbalance in the way typical of abuse. Akutagawa is never showed to have defended himself – in fact, he seems to welcome all Dazai’s acts with a twisted sort of gratitude, because they are directly entangled with his ‘reason to live’.

And there we directly have the first point that is often brought up in defence of Dazai – the fact that he was ‘giving Akutagawa a reason to live’. In an extremely twisted a cruel sort of way, this is even true – Akutagawa did accept this chase for Dazai’s approval as his reason to live, and he did set up on a chase that would cost him much but would drive him forward.

However, this is not and never will be enough to pardon or forgive any of what Dazai did to Akutagawa. And the problem that can be seen in many BSD fandom spaces, is that it excuses nothing, not even a little bit. Not even the tiniest of itty-bittiest bits. It is an empty excuse, a promise that might even have been fulfilled, but does that change anything? No. There is no such thing as a reason that could pardon actions so grave – and the problematic part is, many people attempt to do so anyway, hoping to at least shave at least some blame off the top. But it simply does not. Not in any sort of way. It might make Dazai’s character more tolerable to think that he might have had some sort of good intention with his actions, but even this is neither an excuse, nor does it accurately represent the character.

Dazai is canonically considered a genius, a genius beyond what exists in the real world, a genius bordering on supernatural. This leads one to believe that, even at sixteen (a minor, but legally from the age of sixteen and onward children are generally considered to be entirely capable of understanding the consequences of their actions and thus carry them appropriately), he was fully aware of this. He knew fully well what he was doing was wrong, and he never appeared to show any regret for his mistreatment of Akutagawa. To make-believe that ‘giving Akutagawa a reason to live’ was done out of good faith is a stretch, and for the fans to use this as an excuse to forgive his actions does a disservice to both his character and the dynamic of the abuse between him and Akutagawa.

An additional point that has been made is the choice Dazai gave Akutagawa before the latter joined the Port Mafia. That Akutagawa was ‘prepared’ or ‘willing’ to endure the pain for his own gain – his reason to live.

In criminal law, there is no such thing as giving someone permission to cause one severe bodily harm – under no conditions, neither as a child nor as an adult, never. Also, a child of fourteen, in a desperate situation like Akutagawa was, could never make a decision that could excuse any actions – mild or severe physical, mental, etc… harm. Neither legally (which I hope is obvious to everyone), nor morally. Dazai’s offer of simply helping the siblings does not constitute as any form of alleviation to the actions he committed, especially because of his other offer, to ‘give a reason to live’, which could possibly count as emotional blackmail, or simply no choice at all depending on which philosophy is applied.

The largest and most common excuse of the fandom, which for many seems to be the begin-all, end-all of the dispute, is the concept of the ‘Cycle of Abuse’.

The theory of the ‘Cycle of Abuse’, also alternately referred to as the ‘Web of Abuse’, consists of the idea that someone who was abused will in turn harm and abuse someone else, forming an endless ‘cycle’ of abuse. The theory goes hand in hand with the idea of ‘breaking’ the cycle by refusing to pass on any further harm. It is extremely prevalent in the BSD fandom, typically used to refer to the ‘cycle’ consisting of Mori Ougai à Dazai Osamu à Akutagawa Ryuunosuke à Izumi Kyouka, the cycle being broken at Kyouka when she joins the ADA and enters Atsushi’s care.

It is by far the most common point brought up in defence of Dazai in his actions against Akutagawa, and that to an almost disconcerting degree. In parts, this is understandable. It is also the only point that could hypothetically alleviate Dazai’s fault, his guiltiness, for his actions concerning Akutagawa. Trauma, especially in people – children – who have never known anything else, who might think to know physical harm an appropriate tool to get results, one could argue could constitute as an actual, philosophically and morally justified explanation or even excuse for caused harm.

However, Dazai was never canonically harmed by Mori. Headcanons and AUs may be used at everyone’s discretion, but unless it was said or shown in the original material, it simply isn’t canon, and no one should argue as if it were. And canonically, Mori never physically abused Dazai. It’s actually hard to even pin down what Mori and Dazai’s dynamic looks like at all. Some points that seem obvious but are hard to truly back up with material are grooming (not of the sexual kind, no matter how loud some of the fandom might be about their headcanons) and pushing Dazai to commit criminal actions (his work in the Mafia in general). One could debate certain forms of emotional or psychological abuse, but the material for that is sparse, even though it would fit neatly into canon.

It is important to note that it is relatively irrelevant to the argument being made here whether Dazai was abused prior to joining the Port Mafia, even though that is an interesting aspect to study. This essay will only use canon, and even that is somewhat irrelevant to the current point. The point is, fans will use a multitude of points and arguments and things to attempt to make their beloved character (in this case Dazai) more appealing or less offensive. And one of those talking points, the most notable one even, is that Dazai was abused, which excuses or negates his own fault in the harm he caused Akutagawa, which it simply does not. Dazai is a complex character in his own right, arguably far more complex than Akutagawa even, and to reduce his character with straight-up headcanons, claiming for them to be canon, is both offensive to the way he was written and the representation of abuse shown in BSD.

A second-to-last (minor) argument is that ‘Akutagawa would not have survived the Port Mafia had Dazai not trained him the way he did’. With no knowledge of the mafia this is hard to prove or disprove, but in connection with the argument of the ‘reason to live’, this does not excuse anything. Even if hypothetically it were true (which is dubious), it would constitute an odd and morally refutable argument, especially seeing Dazai was the reason Akutagawa joined the mafia at all.

And finally, there is a last argument that has been made by fans, and that is the retroactive idea that, if Dazai were to give Akutagawa his approval, Akutagawa’s reason to live would fail, leaving him once more to flounder for a purpose. This is used less to excuse Dazai’s initial actions but instead used to trivialize Dazai’s continued belittling and mistreatment during the actual canon timeline of the show (that is, Atsushi’s time). Dazai repeatedly puts Akutagawa down and uses his psychological and emotional hold on Akutagawa to use him for his own purposes.

In this scenario, claiming once more that Dazai is ‘doing it for Akutagawa’s own good’ is a long stretch, albeit less of one now that Dazai has undergone his ‘character development arc’. It is also, again, just an empty excuse and an explanation at best. Neither does it explain why Dazai needs to put Akutagawa down instead of simply not interacting with him or ignoring him.

This last argument however is resolved and falls apart when Dazai finally acknowledged Akutagawa as strong, so the point is moot anyways.

To summarize this section: this essay criticizes almost exclusively people who claim to use canon to explain/justify/trivialize Dazai’s abuse against Akutagawa and completely miss the mark. This can happen in good faith of course, if one simply isn’t certain on canon topics, but very often it comes across as malicious, especially the arguments are used in a way that excuse horrible actions in a morally corrupt way and dismiss the fact that is also very real representation of an emotionally and physically abusive situation where the abuser held the abused in emotional and psychological captivity. Nothing can excuse that and people should not be trying to.

IV. Subjective Analysis of Dazai's Behaviour

It might be of note that something that can rarely be found is a true analysis of Dazai’s stakes in the situation. Why did he make the offer of help in the first place? Why would he want to train Akutagawa at all, when he seems to hold nothing but disdain for him?

The simplest explanation is that Dazai could be doing this for his own gain. It is clear that PM Dazai cares little about morality or other people at all. In general, his outlook on life seems to be very self-centred, something quite typical for child geniuses who deign others to be below them. So the idea that Dazai would be doing all of this out of a true interest in Akutagawa is dubious.

Dazai himself is a child in this scenario, and it is not the biggest leap to make to assume he has suffered in the past (he is, after all, heavily suicidal). This leads to believe that Dazai could very well be using Akutagawa as a way to escape his own nihilism.

On a surface level, Dazai seems to think to himself that this is amusing. A challenge, to himself perhaps, on what he can achieve. On what he can mould Akutagawa into. This could very well be his outlet for what Mori is doing to him – a form of grooming. Where Dazai is competing against Mori to find out who does it best, to prove to himself that he is better than the man he knows is manipulating him, using him, and whom Dazai is letting. One, because he is a child, and no matter how much he may be intellectually aware of what he is happening, he doesn’t have the independence to act on it and two, because his apathy is great enough that he doesn’t care. At least someone has use of him.

So on a superficial level, Dazai is using Akutagawa as a challenge, however much he is aware of the deeper implications this has. But on a much deeper level, one he likely isn’t even aware of, there is a relatively high probability that Dazai is doing this out of much more emotional reasons. Because he hates himself, because he feels small, because he is a child no one ever wanted to love, he wants to hurt someone, someone who makes it as easy as him. Someone he can manipulate, someone he can irredeemably hurt.

Both of these (the superficial and deeper) reasonings would explain why Dazai is doing this ‘training’ the way he is. After all, pure violence and fear have never been the best tools for teaching. Ever. And it can be presumed that Dazai is aware of that; it would make no sense of him to beat Akutagawa down, to destroy him both mentally and physically in the way he is if it was purely out of a desire to make Akutagawa stronger, because that simply does not work like that. Oh, it might to a certain extent. But it never was and never will be the best way to do it.

What he is doing is more akin to punishing Akutagawa for existing. Maybe punishing him for being too similar to Dazai.

One of the more interesting things to look at from this lens of Dazai as an immature child striking out is the lack of ‘giving his approval’. Because Dazai, at that age, would never have been able to approve of anyone or anything. Nothing could ever reach his standards. Not even necessarily because they were so high; no, it’s because if someone were to measure up to them, he would have to face that he doesn’t measure up to them. That he hates himself. That he feels small and abandoned, and that ‘surrounding himself with death’ – which was his reason for joining the Port Mafia in the first place – was never going to change that fact. It was never going to give him a reason to live.

Dazai joined to Port Mafia at the age of fourteen, and no matter that Akutagawa only met him two years after that, because Dazai was never able to emotionally mature. Never could have, in the mafia, because that would imply he’d have to acknowledge them first, which he could never have done, because it would have destroyed him back then. His childish, immature pettiness is what drove so many of his actions, small or great, including his abuse of Akutagawa.

V. Minor Misrepresentations

This section is short, and it’s just to address a few misrepresentations that are quite common in the fandom.

Firstly, is that what Dazai did to Akutagawa was never ‘just mafia training’. It was never standard mafia training, not even close, but that is something that is often heard in BSD fandom spaces for some reason. Akutagawa was the personal mentee of an executive, and his training was specifically tailored by Dazai to ‘make him the strongest’. Dazai was not just following standard procedure, the ‘training’ was specifically designed for Akutagawa, and it was always designed to hurt.

Another small thing is that the scene where Dazai shoots Akutagawa with a firearm is often stated to be ‘training’. It was not; it was a punishment for Akutagawa’s lack for care during a mission, which got multiple men killed.

Finally and most importantly, the very important point of Rashoumon that has no come up at all until this point. It’s a very delicate subject to dissect, but essentially, much of the brutality of the training supposedly came from the fact that Akutagawa had little control over his ability, and that needed to change and stat, otherwise he would not only be useless, but he would become a liability, effectively making him a thorn in the side of the Port Mafia – not exactly the best place to be.

Does this excuse anything? No. Can this even be aptly studied and analysed? Also no, seeing it’s very hard to know anything about supposedly sentient magical powers and how that affects the way they need to be trained. However, it is not to be supposed that this could in any capacity truly excuse any of Dazai’s actions or that it was truly necessary to train Rashoumon through so much pain, so it will remain a footnote to this essay.

VI. Summary

To summarize this essay:

The author is of the opinion that many people misuse canon and make morally corrupt arguments in an attempt to excuse something that just cannot be excused for simple fact of trying to make their favourite character more appealing

A (subjective, possibly wrong) analysis was made of Dazai Osamu and his reasons behind his training and abuse of Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, studying Dazai under the lens of an emotionally immature child, whether he is aware of this or not

A few minor reminders were given on canon and common misrepresentations of it

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Final notes:

Author has not been abused and has not made any research on the subject outside of some law, philosophy and general knowledge

Author has never been in the mafia

Please, please, please, tell me any counterarguments and anything you disagree with in the comments, as you can see I'm quite passionate about this subjet