Osamu Dazai

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.