#darakuron

“I was a fool.” That’s how Sakaguchi Ango begins his Darakuron (On Decadence).

For him, freedom wasn’t about rules or ideals— it was the endless struggle of questioning yourself. Postwar Japan was in ruins, and Ango’s answer was radical honesty: to live as you are, reckless, romantic, even self-destructive.

💭 “Our true feelings go against the codes. We’re optimistic, we love, we indulge. And maybe, we’re always ready to die.”

Lyrics from Lyric Wikia

Ali Project

Track 5: 堕落論-> Darakuron- On Decadence

My Thoughts on Ango Sakaguchi

I’m always open to requests hehe ;) It might just take me a while to get to them, because, you know, life and all. Plebeian tasks like studying tend to get in the way. Thank you very much for the ask!!

As usual, manga spoilers at the end.

Unlike my impassioned and vitriolic sermon on the numerous flaws of Mori Ougai, I have less strong feelings about Ango. I think he’s an interesting character, certainly. Double and triple agents like him are always quite interesting to look at. I feel like he does his best and would benefit from a vacation--but then, Yokohama might fall apart without him there.

#GiveAngoAVacation2k20

Ango has simple enough motivations: to do his job well. What’s interesting is just how far he’s able to go for his job. When he expresses regret that he, Dazai, and Oda couldn’t have been true friends, he genuinely enjoyed their company. But they’re still secondary to his overall objective of taking Mimic down, and he’s not above using underhanded methods to protect himself. Like, you know, knocking Oda out with contact poison. 

It really did break my heart, that last bar meeting in Dark Era, because Ango was just so damn sad about leaving his friends behind. And it’s really not his fault. 

We don’t actually know that much about Ango, but he seems like a pragmatic guy. He has a job to do and he’ll get it done, damn whoever gets in his way. It’s this ruthlessness that let him survive as a triple agent. Someone like Kunikida, with unbending morals and principles, wouldn’t have been able to successfully work for three organizations without blowing his cover spectacularly. And honestly, major respect. 

Okay, he did get Oda killed, though I see Oda as more of a casualty that Ango hoped to avoid. In my opinion, Mori and Gide were the architects of Odasaku’s destruction, with Ango as a reluctant player. The fact that Dazai is salty enough to sabotage his air bag and land him in the hospital after breaking several of his bones will always made me laugh though, because there’s really not enough of Dazai being a petty bastard. 

I can also hear this quote:

“Naaa, Ango!” 

I do appreciate how Ango’s not an action hero like the other characters in BSD. He says at one point in Dark Era something like “I’m not built for this” after jumping out of a burning building, and dude, I feel you. He gives this impression of being so utterly done with everything that I can relate to. This man had to put up with both Dazai and Oda’s bullshit for years, and now he has to basically make sure Yokohama doesn’t burn down between the ADA and Port Mafia. 

If you don’t want to read further because spoilers, my general opinion of Ango is that he needs a full night of sleep and a vacation, because he really does try his best.

MANGA SPOILERS AHEAD.