#bsd meta

It's the age-old essay on Dazai’s morality. I’ve never seen one of those before! While it’s a trite topic, it’s trite for a reason – Dazai is a morally fascinating character; there isn’t much room for argument on that. Nevertheless, there is room for argument when it comes to how, precisely, we define a “good person”. Dazai has many flaws, makes more than a few mistakes, and has a past that’s dyed in black, and despite that, he holds himself accountable for the things he’s done and makes a genuine effort to shift his worldview and make a positive change in himself.

Those who are morally good are those who choose, to the best of their ability, to live that way. A common argument for why Dazai isn’t a good person is that his natural impulse is towards evil. To manipulate, to lie, to deceive – that is, by nature, Dazai’s predisposition, but it doesn’t necessarily define him as an evil or “bad” person.

For the sake of counterargument, let’s take that stance – “people who have ‘bad’ impulses are evil” – and follow it through. Then, someone born with that instinct stands no chance at redemption or a positive life; they’re condemned to a life of misery and sin, stripping them of their fundamental human right to choose and reinvent themselves. This seems to be an unjust and excessively cynical argument, thus, we can only conclude that people must be allowed to reinvent and choose for themselves what kind of person – “kind” or “evil” – they’ll be, regardless of their natural propensity.

“Be on the side that saves people.” What a beautiful line. But what’s more revealing about Dazai’s morality is what comes next: “If both sides are the same, then choose to become a good person”. Oda believes that Dazai can truly change himself and become a good person; he doesn’t suggest that he should “pretend to be kind” or “put on a facade for the time being” – he asks him to “choose to become a good person”, a genuinely good person. (Read more about Odasaku’s last words in the companion piece to this essay, which will be posted here when I’m finished.)

Dazai puts Oda’s ideals into practice, and perhaps the moment that best illustrates his change is when he opposes Dostoevsky’s fatalistic, almost anti-humanistic worldview, positing that, “Humans are sinful and foolish, sure… but what’s so bad about that?” He gives a genuine smile as he makes this remark, and it seems to be one of the few times we can be sure that he’s not lying. Beyond this, there are other examples of him choosing to be kind, altruistic, and making positive changes, but in my opinion, this is just such a beautifully exemplifying line that speaks for itself.

I suppose that this is a relatively bland conclusion; I’m not finishing with some grand statement about whether Dazai is a devil that should be condemned to rot in hell for a million years or an angel who should be absolved of all his sins. He’s just a person. Someone who’s done many things wrong, but even more than that, tries to do many things right. But maybe that’s all we can wish for in this life – not to be angels or devils, but simply people who try, very hard, to become good.

Thanks for reading!!

It seems like sometimes Dazai Osamu picks up these orphans left and right but he always has such a deep and intense, almost hypnotic, effect on them. It seems like Dazai is the ultimate magnet for lost kids.

Here is why:

1. The mirror

Most of the time traumatized, abandoned kids have a radar for people who truly understand what it’s like to be cast out. Atsushi, Akutagawa, and Q were all treated badly either as monsters, tools, or burdens by the world. They grew up surrounded by people who either feared them, abused them or wanted to exploit them.

But when they look at Dazai, they see a profound, familiar emptiness. Because Dazai doesn’t view the world through standard morality, he doesn't flinch at their trauma, their violence, or their "weirdness." And for a child who has spent their life feeling like a freak, someone who can look them dead in the eye with unflinching calmness and zero judgement is veryyyy magnetic.

2. The shield

For kids with "out of control abilities" like Atsushi with the tiger or Q whose curse literally DESTROYS anyone who hurts them, their own superpowers are a source of isolation. Like Q's entire existence is defined by a horrific curse that causes pure suffering.

BUT ehen Dazai is around, his ability nullifies everything with a single touch. And to these kids, Dazai is the only person in the world who can physically strip away the "monster" part of them, leaving just the human underneath. He is the only one who can grant them a moment of peace from their own dangerous natures, making his presence feel like safety in a world of chaos.

3. The purpose in the Dark (and the Light)

I think the theme of BSD is a reason to live, and lost kids are desperate for a reason to exist. And Dazai knows exactly how to give it to them.

When he was a teenager in the Port Mafia his mentorship was toxic and cruel, but it was effective. To Akutagawa, who was starving in the slums, Dazai was a god-like figure who plucked him out of the dirt. Dazai gave him a brutal, singular directive: Earn my approval or you are nothing. ofc it was an asshole thing to do, but to a kid with zero purpose, a toxic purpose is better than drifting in the dark.

Later, after promising Oda Sakunosuke to "be on the side that saves people," Dazai flips this exact trait. He uses that same magnetic pull to guide Atsushi and Kyouka toward the light, offering them a place of belonging in the Armed Detective Agency. He understands Atsushi’s core belief that "people need to be told they're worthy of being alive by someone else or they can't go on" because Dazai himself has spent his whole life searching for that exact validation.

4. The ageless authority

Even at fifteen, Dazai is VERY intellectually mature, always moving three steps ahead of the adults around him. Children who have grown up too fast due to trauma don't usually respect traditional authority figures (wether thats because they have been harmed by adults or simply untrusting of them) but still they respect power, intelligence, and survival. And teenage Dazai possessed all three in spades. And because he was also a teen this made him all the more trusting in their eyes. And thus he was naturally stepping into the role of a chillingly brilliant mentor to kids who were barely younger than he was.

But i think the one thing that ties it all off is that ultimately, Dazai has such a profound effect on lost kids because he is the ultimate lost kid. He just happens to be a genius who knows how to navigate the dark better than anyone else, and the kids instinctively know he can guide them through it. whether it's into the depths of the Mafia, or out into the daylight.

He only looks disloyal if he doesn't happen to be loyal to you.

but!!! after babbling at each other and revisiting canon, @sarahworm and I are fairly sure we've noticed some other details we'd previously missed in some capacity. below, i've jotted down some of our thoughts as summarized -- these are non-comprehensive and only roughly drafted, as we're still chewing on the details.

1. rashomon is space.

fyodor tells shibusawa that the dragon and tiger deserve one another, and that the dragon is the chaos of all skills. greek kháos (χάος) means 'emptiness, vast void, chasm, abyss. but while shibusawa was a dragon (with an void inside of himself; an ennui and boredom), he is not the dragon deserving of atsushi's tiger -- akutagawa is; the name “Ryunosuke” literally means “son of the dragon,” irl!akugatawa was so named because he was born in the hour of the dragon, of the month of the dragon, of the year of the dragon. further, rashomon manifests as a dragon-like beast that can eat anything, including space -- rashomon means gate, akutagawa's ability opens his clothing like the maw of a beast (or like a gate) into a void that consumes anything. his manipulation of matter is limited to this maw and can extend as extension is a characteristic of space. in dead apple, all of the crystals implanted in the skills that the characters must destroy to return their skills to themselves are externally placed except for rashomon's, which is held within his demonic armor -- because either the dragon's head or the space within the manipulated fabric is the manifestation of his skill, not necessarily the matter of the fabric itself.

2. byakko is time.

atsushi describes in 55 minutes that he does not heal his wounds; his wounds are negated, their existence is seemingly reversed. he also describes the tiger as forcing atsushi forward. atsushi's tiger claws can cut through anything, whether skills or, in more recent chapters, time -- which he can also traverse. shibusawa says fyodor described the tiger as the antithesis of all skills -- antitheses are used in writing or speech either as propositions that contrast with or reverse some previously mentioned proposition. fyodor calls atsushi a bookmark -- a bookmark marks a moment in time. you cannot measure time and in quantum physics, taking time into account means that you can measure where a particle was, but not where it is (that can only be estimated). bookmarks are used to mark moments in books, moments in time within those books, but you really can only mark what you have read, otherwise, you wouldn't know where to place the bookmark. this is an expression of byakko's capacity to reverse time to arrive at a previous moment. all of this to say, the reason byakko is so powerful, can cut through time, can reverse the effects of skills used on atsushi (he was bitten and blood was drawn by a vampire, but he didn't become a vampire; he is cut and punctured but he negates those wounds; he grasps akutagawa's rashomon in his fight with akutagawa at the end of the initial port mafia arc, and rashomon becomes limp fabric where his tiger-transformed hand grasps) while having only one skill is because byakko's claws, forward momentum, ability to traverse time and cut to specific moments that have already happened are all elements of time.

3. together, atsushi and akutgawa can create a singularity that is an expression of spacetime.

when byakko and rashomon connect (actually connect; not like in dead apple wherein byakko tackles rashomon's external fabric but not the space within), atsushi and akutagawa create a singularity, one which is an expression of spacetime. they struggled against fukuchi's spacetime sword because their combined attack was not one which adequately used their capabilities as a partnership -- akutagawa wraps the matter of his coat around atsushi to extend atsushi's claws, but byakko and rashomon do not meet or generate the singularity they are capable of unless in their true forms -- as dragon and tiger.

4. ame-no-gozen is a fountain pen.

additionally, fyodor created ame-no-gozen as a tripolar singularity to be the pen he was using to write: fukuchi (he became the body of the pen), shinto amenogozen (the spacetime sword became the ink reservoir -- a dimensional space inside of the pen's body), and the holy sword, which is used to seal skills, became the nib (the sword forged from a skill user turned to metal; the seal through which ink passes). when ame-no-gozen cut through skill users, they seemingly became liquid that he drank -- they became ink that he sealed away in his reservoir, the dimension within himself. ame-no-gozen also has reality bending powers, because it can "write" on the pages of their reality.

We’re all searching for meaning in life; there’s no doubt about that. Whether we’re trying to run from a “despair inherent to life itself” or yearning for a “bright world”, we’re all desperate for a shred of meaning. What if I told you that there’s no point in your search? That “[you] can’t find anything in the end.” Well, that’s exactly what the masterfully crafted character of Osamu Dazai is imploring you to understand.

It’s clear from the beginning that Dazai experiences a profound, existential boredom. He joins the Port Mafia at age 14, thinking that he’ll find his reason to live. And yet, all he does is “force himself into an even darker place.”

Thus, he loses sight of his goal. He starts killing for killing’s sake, pretending he never believed in meaning in the first place, and openly abusing Akutagawa. His nihilism is displayed in a striking manner when he’s confronted with an enemy. He walks up to the enemy and encourages him to shoot him, suggesting with a peaceful smile that he’d like to wake from this “oxidizing world of a dream.” But beneath his extravagantly nihilistic facade, it’s clear that some part of him, deep inside, still yearns for meaning. It’s why he holds so tightly to Oda’s friendship, why he laments that “everything worth having is lost the moment [he] obtains it.”

“Nothing in this world can fill the hole that is your loneliness. You will wander the darkness for eternity.” It seems that Dazai is doomed forever, and that he will never experience happiness or meaning. Except, maybe not. Despite all odds, he chooses to “be on the side that saves people.” And for the first time, he finds a little bit of fulfillment. His cheerful front isn’t just a mask (this isn’t to say that he’s suddenly overcome his depression and loneliness, only that he now chooses a brighter life despite it). And it’s not because he suddenly, fortuitously finds meaning; in fact, he doesn’t – “nothing beyond [his] own expectations” happens. He simply chooses what his meaning is, and that he wants to go after it. For the first time, Dazai doesn’t wait for life to come knocking on his front door. He stands up, gets out that door, and chases after it himself.

In the end, meaning is simply what we define it to be. And Dazai begins to realize that as long as he relies on external circumstance for meaning, he will never find it. Because meaning isn’t found. It’s created. And once Dazai realizes that, he’s taking the first step down a long, arduous, and fiercely rewarding path. So, to you, the reader: what will you do? Will you take that step?

Thanks for reading!

Ranpo- unlikely but you never know. I feel like he'd make Mori regret choosing him cuz he's an absolute drama queen. Rage baits Chuuya defo.

Yosano- 101% no. But she'd hit it off with Chuuya ngl. Might understand and relate to Koyou as she was also a flower in the dark and violence.

Tanizaki- likely, he'd have a condition to keep his sister safe at all costs. And might be victim to Chuuya's rambles about dazai

Kunikida- Not likely, but if yes he'd definitely bond with Chuuya over Dazai hate

Dazai- 50/50 he'd adapt Oda's morals and values, giving Chuuya a stroke.

Kyouka- No.

Kenji- Befriend everyone and Chuuya would be his idol. Elise's elder brother.

Atsushi- 50/50 his view on dazai shifts. Not belief and admiration, just perspective. He'd respect Chuuya.

like let's take a human nuclear weapon and make him a lightweight drunk with self-image issues.

let's take a taciturn charmer that could overthrow the world if he felt like it and make him an annoying bastard around people he's affectionate towards.

let's take a rabid child with a penchant for violence and give him a sister he loves to death.

like I've been thinking about what's so intoxicating about BSD characters, what does Asagiri PUT in them that makes them so fun

and maybe one aspect of it is that they have all these incredible, terrifying traits, but they are also just. People. with likes and dislikes and entire complexes that dictate their behaviors.