#bsdtheory

Hear me out.

(Warning: bsd manga spoiler thingy)

So Fyodor’s ability is “Crime and Punishment”.

I don't know if someone has said something similar- if they have, please let me know! I'll add links to their post on the bottom.

Possible spoilers for the beginning of BSD!

Anyway, I'm sure you've heard talk in the BSD fandom about how Dazai's ability should cancel itself out. It's literally a paradox. But No Longer Human cancels only abilities- so what about it being a non-ability?

For context, non-abilities do exist in BSD- it's when someone has a supernatural power, but it isn't defined as an ability because ability-affecting abilities don't work on it. The only example of a non-ability we have so far is Lovecraft, who's basically an eldritch monster- zero explanation as to why. Dazai wasn't able to cancel him out, but it's clearly still something someone else couldn't do.

Why is it possible No Longer Human is a non-ability? Like I said before, it creates a paradox if it really is an ability, so it can't exist. I'm not saying it's impossible narrative-wise to work around that or build off it, but it would be a bit awkward. Asagiri is a really talented author, more talented than me for sure, so if he did decide No Longer Human was an ability and then fit it into the story somehow, I wouldn't be totally surprised. But it still, logically, makes more sense for it to be a non-ability because it wouldn't totally break everybody's brains, mine included.

There's also the fact that Lovecraft's non-ability not being...well... an ability, is kind of random narrative-wise except for making that one fight harder than usual. But it would still make sense if including Lovecraft would build up to the existence of more non-abilities in other places in the narrative- it's too cool of a concept to just be left in the dust

One argument against this I came up with while thinking about it is- wait, then why has it been introduced to us as an ability? Ultra Deduction was introduced as an ability, and I'm pretty sure Great Old Ones (Lovecraft's non-ability) was too, until Dazai proved that wrong (correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't read that part of the manga in a while). It's possible nobody is even aware this is a non-ability, since I'm pretty sure no one else introduced yet has an ability that can affect other abilities, which could prove No Longer Human is a non-ability.

Ok, I am not an expert in theorising, but I DO know a biiiiiit about real Dostoyevski.

Seeing this gif of him and his ability, I suddnely remembered something. --->

In his short story “The Doppelganger” r!Dostojevski explains the siuation of a man named Goljatkin who is constantly terrorised by a man who looks completely the same as him, but is vile, confident and violent. In the story, Goljatkin ultimatly slips into madness and hus doppelganger takes complete control of his life, leaving Goljatkin institutionalised and “properly taken care of (physically) even tho he doesn’t deserve it.”

This makes me think of parallels between bsd!Dostojevski and the r!Dostojavski’s works. Namely, “Crime and Punishment” and “The Doppleganger”.

See, in the Dead Apple movie, the scene above made it seem like Dostojevski doesn’t have his ability under his control, instead, it seems like he is able to reason with it, as if it is a person of its own.

What I’m trying to say is… I wouldn’t be surprised if bsd!Dostojevski has gone insane by using his ability.

But what is that ability? Most likely forcing despair on people, since the main theme in “Crime and Punishment” is the punishment factor which Raskoljnikov brings upon himself with his unconscious guilt and, not so unconscious, fear of getting caught- making him miserable and disappointed with the world and himself.

Bsd!Dostojevski’s ability was probably subtly invasive and he didn’t even know he wasn’t controlling it (like Goljtakin wasn’t aware if his doppelganger at first) until it was too late and he became his own victim, making his twisted ideology he is currently fighting for. The demonic ability took over his mind and is now able to have its “master” as a puppet.