Thoughts on Ango and Dazai
Many a spoiler, up to chapter 95
Did I talk about Ango already today BECAUSE I’M GONNA AGAIN!
Ah, Ango Sakaguchi, Port Mafia’s sad boy (he is, and you can’t prove me wrong), triple agent, informant, and, of course, Dazai's... frenemy? To everyone in the PM, but especially to Dazai, Ango's actions must feel like a double betrayal. Yet, I have a theory that Dazai might have already forgiven Ango, despite what the quite poignant rhetorical question of his would suggest otherwise.
I actually half seriously think (and in the spirit of chapter 95, too), that Ango misses his times at the PM. He misses is friends, and he hates the role he played in Oda’s death. His dedication to his work has been established so early in his life that there isn’t anything that can really replace it for him (no proof just me doing jibber jabber). It doesn’t mean, however, that the consequences of his actions don’t hurt him, or that he doesn’t fell shame and regret.
Maybe since childhood his value has been placed only on academic prowess and not on personal relationships.
I think he learned to prioritize his work and intellectual development above all else. His perception of friendship is that it is, too, a distraction, and his work is more important. Yet his desire to rid himself of the sense of guilt is more than just THAT.
I felt deeply Ango's deal with Chuuya in Dead Apple, when the former basically exchanged his own life for latter's cooperation (even though Chuuya would never collect such a debt, but that's a topic for a diff post). Ango's self-worth, in my opinion, stems from his value to the others around him. The Japanese Gov-t takes precendent, but not without a high cost - Oda's life and Dazai's friendship.
It's no coincidence, too, that it was the three of them, and not just Dazai and Oda. Ango is a balance for the two of them, a grounded medium between the two.
A side-ish note, but the few times when we see Dazai act impulsively or at least following his own emotions is when it comes to his friends. First thing that jumped out to me is that Dazai let Ango go (Dark Era). The whole "Did you really think you would leave here alive?" and then five minutes later "leave before I change my mind". Dazai is conflicted, and for a good reason -Ango, much like Oda, is his friend.
Then the ordeal with the car. It is ~technically~ unclear why there was a car accident, but I think, even basing just on the manga, it is ~relatively~ safe to assume that Dazai had something to do with it. Somebody expressed their opinion earlier by replying to one of my Ango hcs, that Dazai didn't want to kill Ango in that instance. I actually agree with that. I think he still is acting on, if not impulse, but at least emotion, when it comes to his friend. Dazai is manipulative, yes, but there are no bullets in Ango's gun that Dazai grabs. Sakaguchi KNOWS what Dazai will do, or at least try to do... and he gets in the car anyway. Moreover, I think Dazai knows that Ango can predict his moves as well, and that's why we see his terrified face seconds before the accident (ofc, it is also a normal human reaction that I doubt even Dazai would be able to control). Maybe in that instance, Dazai realizes the depth of Ango's shame.
In the later BSD chapters Ango and Dazai are working together again, and as much as it would be out if necessity for Dazai, the chapter 95 demonstrates Ango's devotion to his friend. Not only does he betray the gov-t in order to stop Fukuchi, and potentially detail his career, his future (did he mention death sentence?), Ango doesn't even know if it will work out. "Are you laughing?", he asks Dazai's photo, as if he already knows that he would, at the absurdity of Sakaguchi Ango finally acting not out of sense of duty, but on his emotions too.
