My humor is based on pain

One of my favourite things about BSD and it's power system is that "stronger" characters are often much worse off than weaker ones.

Abilities aren't some power fantasy that makes their users lives better, in fact those with the strongest abilities tend to suffer the most because of them.

This is a rule baked into the ability power system, we are given a set of "rules" for ability users in the untold origins but the one that sticks out to me most is this:

Skills do not always make the possessor happy.

Think of the bsd characters with the most powerful abilities and how they have affected their lives.

Chuuya: Probably the strongest combat ability user alive right now, but his ability led him to be manipulated and used first by the sheep, then by the mafia. In stormbringer we see how badly Chuuya wishes he had no ability, that he was just a regular kid like the Sheep.

Yosano: Her ability is insanely strong; she is probably one of the most useful ability users on the planet and is a big part of how the ADA can stand a chance against much larger groups. But her ability was exploited, and she was forced into a horrific position where the lives of those near her became cheap.

Q: Incredibly dangerous ability which led to them being imprisoned for years by the Mafia and then put through horrible torture by the Guild.

Fukuchi ability made him the ultimate soldier, which meant he not only had to watch al his comrades die around him, but he was also used as to commit unspeakable evils for the sate of the state which eventually drove him to form the Decay of Angels.

Akutagawa: His skill is incredibly strong, able to cut through anything physical even space itself, but that power lead to him being conditioned by Dazai into a living weapon who had no value unless he killed and whose worth was tied to his usefulness to the mafia.

Lucy, Kyouka, Sigma, Atsushi, Mushitaro… and tons more characters were all exploited for their abilities, either through force or manipulation.

And it’s not just abilities, there is also a running theme of the smartest characters in the series suffering debilitating loneliness because of their inability to connect with other people. Characters like Dazai, Ranpo and Shibusawa are all shown at one point or another to be unable to relate to other people making them feel alone.

Dazai concluded that the problem was in him and that there was no point in continuing to live. Ranpo nearly fell into believing that the whole world hated him and if Fukuzawa had not saved him he might have ended up similar to Fyodor.

Shibusawa decided that normal humans were inferior to him and became obsessed with finding something that could surpass his own mind.

We don’t know what is going on with Fyodor but I’m 100% sure it is far from healthy.

Uhhhhh here are some of my most used ><

(Also haii)

Never forget how Akutagawa genuinely feared Dazai, saw him as a cruel demon, but also since he wasn't much older, he probably saw a kind of hope for himself to get to such high ranks from being someone so low, from being a nobody in the world always looked down upon with no reason to go forward.

Dazai wanted a strong subordinate, a close sidekick he would be able to choose one, and that one was Akutagawa. He said it won't be easy, but Akutagawa spoke before he could even think of being offered a reason to live, which Dazai gave. He was scared of this man, but also in awe of someone able to go through whatever he went through in order to get there.

Somehow desspite this few times he has called Dazai a master (someone above him who would train him into being also in higher ranks) I find that description oddly fitting too... "A master - this young man, this god, this demon."

And to compare a master or a mentor to a father-figure or just one who raises/trains you, I wonder what even gave him such an idea or comparison so early on.

Rabbit soul staring at developing baby: This is where the fun begins

Baby a few years later: Has weird eyes and scampers