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So, as we all know, the Shin Soukoku dynamic has been a significant element that had its depth, complexities, and meaning developed from the beginning. The main thing that distinguished these two characters from each other was the stark contrast heavily apparent between them. The contrast was not only found in their personalities, but also in their beliefs, appearances, and their values. However, similarities can also be found, such as the influence their named mentor, Dazai, had on their lives, as well as their backgrounds. And another thing is that makes them a bit different from the classic protagonist and antagonist dynamic is this:

They work pretty damn well together.

Here, I am going to touch on the differences and similarities both Atsushi and Akutagawa have. Moreover, I thought it’d be fun to also analyse their real-life author counterparts, and find out more about who they were really inspired by. Possible spoilers will be highlighted in red :)

PERSONALITY & BELIEFS

To start, we’ll talk about Atsushi. At first, we see him as weak-willed, self-pitiful, and a person who simply wants permission to live. His trauma heavily influenced his personality, with self-pity, helplessness, and a low self-esteem being the by-product of mistreatment and abuse, both physical and verbal. Atsushi is the classic protagonist that you either can’t help but feel sorry for or annoyed at. And of course, there is a grey area where people do actually resonate with him.

Nevertheless, Atsushi was simply trying to find meaning in life ever since the beginning (Which is ironic, considering the fact that the first person he met was Dazai). Aside from these trauma-induced traits, Atsushi is kind, and has always had a sense of selflessness and justice since the beginning. This is shown at his first test preceding his admission into the Armed Detective Agency and how he treated Kyouka. Ever since then, we see more major events displaying this side of him, as his resolve becomes stronger.

Personally, I believe that Dazai’s advice to him to “stop pitying” himself was the key to unlocking his full potential. Self-pity is self-destruction, no matter how traumatic one’s past was. Atsushi’s wake-up call was just that. His quote:

“People need to be told they’re worthy of being alive by someone else or they can’t go on.”

was a crystalline reflection of his personality. He not only needed someone to push him to unlocking his potential but also people that cared about him and vice versa to grow up around. Protecting the people around him essentially became his reason to live, because in the later chapters, where he is presented with imminent defeat by watching the people he loved “die” by Kamui’s sword, he was helpless. This boy had acquired enough to the point that he had a lot to lose. And while that is a dangerous thing to rely the meaning of your life upon, it did spark a great deal of courage, resolve, and sense of justice in Atsushi. I’d like to think that his selflessness is both his blessing and his curse.

Now, let’s talk about his alleged ‘opposite.’ Akutagawa is far more daunting and intimidating than Atsushi at first. But when both their beliefs are presented to us side-by-side, that’s where we find differences, not flaws in one character or the other.

Akutagawa also comes from a background of abuse and poverty, which yields several effects of trauma. Just in a very different way. Akutagawa has had resolve ever since the beginning, but most of it lied in the wrong reason: to acquire the approval of the only person he respected in his entire life: Dazai.

And ever since Atsushi’s alliance with the ADA and Dazai himself, that resolve was heavily impacted by envy, multiplying his raging will to try harder. And although Akutagawa disagreed with Dazai leaving the Port Mafia to join the ADA, the need for his approval never left, as Dazai successfully implemented the idea of him never being good enough into his head.Aside from envy, Akutagawa’s resolve was apparent even before he joined the Mafia.

It was said that he had friends from the slum he had the intent to avenge, but that intention was put to a stop when Dazai offered him and Gin enough money to get out of poverty, or a place in the Mafia. He chose the Mafia, and the resolve to avenge his friends turned into proving himself to Dazai.

That doesn’t discount his loyalty to the Mafia, however. His accomplishments were numerous, but to him? Inadequate until his mentor acknowledged him as ‘good enough.’

In the later chapters is when we see Akutagawa’s character develop slightly away from that direction, as the time to work together with Atsushi came to defeat other higher powers. Yes, as much as he mentioned his intention to kill Atsushi wasn’t gone, his character reached its climax around the time of his sacrifice for Atsushi. I believe that this was the time rivalry and the need for approval was put aside in order to clarify one thing about Akutagawa: he was not as remorseless and apathetic as he presented himself to be. Honestly, he was just trying to find his way through life with the circumstances he was in. He was just trying to do what he thought was right, just like Atsushi.

Both were volatile in nature. Both had willpower, grit, and weaknesses. Both had something to fight for. Both felt inferior. Both had resentment to their mentors. Both carried trauma. Both looked for validation. The difference is that one was valued despite his shortcomings, while the other was not acknowledged despite his achievements.

And what of the actual authors?

Nakajima Atsushi was an accomplished poet, well-versed in areas of Chinese poetry, Japanese history, Western, Egyptian, Greek, and Assyrian literature and philosophies. In his writings, which were highly introspective, his character of nobility, intense curiosity, and compassion was highly evident and appraised. His intelligence was significantly apparent in the way he wrote with dignity and grace. Unlike his peers, her refused to write and publish Japanese propaganda during his time of living. Nakajima died at the age of 33, around the time he was just getting started in his successful career as an author.

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa was known as the Japanese father of short stories, with Rashōmon, The Nose, and The Hell Screen standing as one of his most famous literary works. Akutagawa’s mother went insane after his birth, which he regarded as something he inherited. His works were highly psychological, critically dissecting moral questions and humanity via narratives. He was inspired and encouraged by Natsume Soseki after the publication of Rashōmon. Sickly and intensively emotional by nature, Akutagawa grew to suffer from nervousness and hallucinations, especially after him and his family’s escape from the Kanto earthquake. He took his life at the age of 35. With how esteemed he was in the literature community, this shocked many, including Osamu Dazai, who was heavily inspired by his works. Both their author counterparts’ personas are evident in the fictional characters themselves. Take what you want about their similarities and differences. Essentially, Nakajima Atsushi died too young before pursuing his dream as an accomplished writer, while Akutagawa took his life too young despite his talent and accomplishments.

DAZAI'S INFLUENCE

The discourse/possible controversy about how Akutagawa was treated compared to how Atsushi was is completely justifiable, because obviously one was treated better than the other. But I think the main reason for that was that Dazai was two different people for each of them.

I think the best way to explain the type of psychological state Dazai carried throughout this arc is by first explaining the types of philosophies very much present in the entire BSD universe— nihilism, existentialism, and perhaps a little bit of absurdism. There's also what we know as cynicism, skepticism, and pessimism present in the details, because maybe all these philosophies don't exist solely on their own, but are coexisting with each other constantly. It all comes down to the type of media we see or the kind of individual we are, but I'm digressing right about here.

This source and this source broke down the above-mentioned philosophies quite well, but I'll summarise it here. Before that, there's something I need to define: intrinsic meaning, which is meaning that is not created, but is already existent/present.

Nihilism: the belief that there is no intrinsic meaning in the universe, and that it is pointless to create one for ourselves.

Existentialism: the belief that there is no intrinsic meaning in the universe, but it is up to an individual's willpower and free will to create their own meaning or in other words, their own world.

Absurdism: the belief that there search for meaning is pointless, but rebelling against this fact is important for one can take advantage of whatever life has to offer.

Pessimism: the belief that nothing good will happen, and it only gets worse henceforth.

Skepticism: the belief that nothing is true at face value unless substantial evidence is provided; the practitioners of doubt.

Cynicism: skepticism with an extra step— believing that altruistic organisations or people have a hidden agenda, and that one should act out of their own self-interest and reject social conventions.

So with all that being said, Dazai seemed to be more of a nihilist during the Dark Era arc, don't you think? Now imagine having that as a mentor. Good Lord.

Jokes aside, Dazai's nihilism was present ever since the Fifteen Arc. Remember that scene where Chuuya was freaked the fck out at how Dazai kept shooting a dead guy?

He was lost. I mean, Oda was really all he had if you discount Chuuya. As a nihilist, to consistently believe that there was no meaning to life, and to turn yourself over to to a life of violence and brutality (absurdism) whilst carrying out your duties with strategy and wit at such a young age, you can't expect much of a stable mentor. That would've been intense for Akutagawa, considering that he was younger than him as well.

Still, Akutagawa was yielded into one of the most resilient and ambitious subordinates that Mafia had. He was feared, in fact, and that speaks volumes about how he was raised.

Dazai's abuse was inexcusable. I feel like he played around with Akutagawa's ego and self-esteem a lot. That was wrong, but that also made Akutagawa the way he was. Or at least, contributed significantly to it. However he behaved apart from wanting Dazai's approval and from his envy of Atsushi is evidence that he did undoubtedly grow over time. There was an air of duty to do what was right revolving around him in the later chapters. Call it absurdism or plain existentialism— his character has developed.

And what about how Dazai was when he looked over Atsushi? Well, there are three ways for those that believe there is no intrinsic meaning in the universe:

Philosophy suicide: completely embracing a belief framework (spiritual or religious), because it is unbearable for an individual to go on without one.

Physical suicide: just because life is too mundane, boring, and pointless without intrinsic meaning.

Acceptance: coming to terms with the fact that ultimate meaning is impossible to achieve, but going on with life either ways.

We can obviously tell that Dazai is leaning towards the second way, but at the same time, lives out his life in the third way, too. He just doesn't admit it. There are several panels in the manga and statements in the anime that testify to the fact that Dazai had accepted things as they are. The advice he's given to Atsushi, the small moments where he's shared some of the meanings he gives to specific concepts: it isn't purely/significantly nihilistic and absurdist anymore. It's embracing existentialism, too. His conversations with Fyodor and their similar yet eventually conflicting idealogies also reflect this fact.

If you've read Dazai's No Longer Human, you'll find themes of existentialism in Yozo (the main character) imbued with sentiments of absurdity and nihilism. Yozo is a complex character. His journey to search for meaning in living mimics existentialism. The conclusions he arrives at every observation of humanity points back to nihilism, because Yozo 'finds nothing' behind the reasons of why humans act the way they do and deems their behaviour as mundane and dull. His habits of alcoholism and suicidal thoughts touch on absurdism, as it is the conflict of finding meaning and accepting that there is no meaning. Absurdism, however, is incomplete at this stage— because Yozo eventually commits suicide instead of making use of whatever life had to offer him.

In terms of Dazai's character in BSD, I believe he is mostly an existentialist. He just tries to hide it. Countless suicide attempts, and he's not gotten anywhere. I hope I'm not fucking jinxing this. So again, imagine that as a mentor.

From one person who's been exposed to a very dark side of the world whilst simultaneously living through it in his own head day-to-day, to another boy who was brought up in abuse, mistreatment, and the lack of meaning— I think it's important to bring up Dazai's turning point, which was Oda's last words to him:

“You should know this yourself. No matter whether you’re on the side of killing people or saving people, there will never be anything that can surpass your mind. There is no place in this world that can fill your loneliness. You will linger in the darkness forever."

"Since both sides are the same, become a good person. Save the weak, protect orphans. Regardless of whether it’s justice or evil, to you, there isn’t a big difference between the two… But, doing that would be better.”

Dazai was given purpose, even though his loneliness had no cure. He chose to be on the better side because well, Oda was his mentor after all. He had a role model. He had someone to respect. Dazai's turning point yielded just the mentor Atsushi needed— someone who not only saved him, but so taught him how to save himself. Someone who didn't impart his own trauma onto him, but someone who encouraged him to be the best version of himself.

The contrast on how Dazai treated both of them deeply reflects on his character development. The type of mentees mentors raise is dependent on their own beliefs, ideologies, and philosophies anyway. Of course, it's highly critical as well, considering the fact that Atsushi's caretaker at his orphanage significantly impacted his self-worth while Akutagawa carried a sense of inadequacy all along despite his achievements.

SYMBOLISMS OF AESTHETICS

So this part is more or less a colour analysis section. Let’s talk about their appearances. Atsushi is presented in lighter colours, while Akutagawa is darker in aesthetic. Well, you could make a light correlation with the Chinese Yinyang concept. Yin is the representation of earth, femininity, darkness, and passivity. Yang symbolises heaven, maleness, and light. Yin is represented by the colour azure and the tiger, while yang is represented by the colour orange and the dragon.

Ironically enough, Ryūnosuke was the name given to the actual author as it meant dragon, and he was born in the year of the dragon according to the Chinese zodiac. His ability’s colour is also close to the colour orange— red (yang). And as for Atsushi, well, his ability Beast Beneath the Moonlight turns him into a white tiger. And the aura surrounding his ability? It’s blue (yin). And although the darkness and light aspect contradicts their overall aesthetic and personality, it’s just fun to link this to that. I’m not even sure if this was intended by Asagiri and Harukawa, but I do know that the colours of red and blue carry some amount of significance, especially considering the fact that the original Soukoku duo share the same aesthetics when it comes to their ability. I was planning to an analysis on them next, maybe I’ll go more in depth about this over there :)

So what about the colours of red and blue? According to a source about Reiki energy, red symbolises passion, courage, and intensity. It is often associated with our primal instincts, strong emotions, and sparks ambition. Blue provokes feelings of serenity, calm, and peace, reflecting the colours of the sky. Together, they achieve a balance of harnessing our capabilities to pursue ambitions and nurturing a life with inner peace and stability.

I find the red and blue dynamic always interesting— they contrast in warmth and hue, which is evident in the way characters are associated with them. Both Akutagawa and Chuuya are obviously choleric in nature, but also resilient in whatever they do. On the other hand, Atsushi and Dazai are presented to be in pursuit of tranquility, calm, and peace.

This section’s debrief was just for fun, honestly. I just think the play on colours and aesthetics had some amount of intent put into it :) Whatever philosophy it’s founded upon, it’s nice to think about.

CONCLUDING REMARKS