But I was talking to a mutual while dying my hair black in mourning (/jk, the mourning part) and maybe the fumes of the dye together with a strong wish to lift their spirits made me come up with this theory:
Fyodor is dead, because his ability couldn’t reach Fukuchi in time before he seppukued himself, right?
But what if his ability didn’t disappear? Hold on.
We know from Dead Apple that Fyodor’s ability is special, it didn’t turn against him, they are basically the same. Crime and Punishment, two sides of the same coin.
We know abilities can “live” independently from their hosts, as we learned in 55 minutes (Gab), Dead Apple (Shibusawa), Stormbringer (Rimbaud somehow). And Fyodor's ability is already very self aware as in the Crime and Punishment scene in Dead Apple.
We all thought Dazai would have to be the one to kill Fyodor because of his nullifying ability and DAZAI DIDN’T KILL FYODOR SO FYODOR'S ABILITY COULD STILL BE ACTIVE! Dazai is an idiot for not realizing that. Or maybe he did, and the double suicide plan involved himself OF COURSE. But had to make do with what was available at the airport.
We could have a rogue ability situation. But there’s someone who is unconscious now who supposedly posseses all of Fyodor’s memories...
What if, what if Sigma was Fyodor’s plan B (or C, or D, or sigma haha…) all this time?
Sigma was created by the Book. Only to be in charge of the Sky Casino?
His ability, then, must also have been created by writing it down in the Book. So his ability must serve a purpose from the start.
And Fyodor allowed Sigma to touch him in Mersault! NO! HE ENCOURAGED HIM!
This could mean Fyodor has a possibility of coming back, through Sigma somehow. Possessing poor Sigma, like the demon he is.
And it could also mean Dazai will really have to be the one to end Fyodor if they want to kill him once and for all!
I’ve never felt higher in my life. Don’t do drugs hair dyes, kids.
This is Fukuchi, leader of the terrorist group The Decay of the Angel, commiting seppuku to kill Fyodor and stop his plans to rid the world of ability users by means of provoking a world war where ability users would be annihilated.
This is Mishima Yukio, author of the book The Decay of the Angel, commiting seppuku as an actor in a short film written and directed by himself (Yuukoku, 1960). He would later commit seppuku in real life after a failed attempt to restore the power to the Emperor. He was a far right nationalist who rejected the new antimilitaristic constitution of post WWII Japan imposed by USA.
I’m of course talking about the boy that appears in Memories (Omoide), the one that gave him a newt one day when they were walking back home from school.
That boy is described to be short (dark and short actually) so many in the Bungou Stray Dogs fandom consider he’s supposed to be Chuuya.
Imagine how surprised I was when I found him in another of Dazai’s works! He appears in Tsugaru, a travel journal he wrote four years before his death where he writes about the geography and history of his homeland, about his youth there, and the people he meets during his travels. When I read he was going to visit and stay with N, his best friend in high school on whom his “friend” in Memories is largely based (his words) I thought oh? real life soukoku? Let’s see!
But I was in for a surprise.
TLDR: it’s Odasaku.
Bear with me if you choose to read more because I fell down a rabbit hole. Coming from a science background, I must collect ALL DATA before settling with a satisfying conclusion and that’s what I did.
First, a few words about Tsugaru and the different editions I used. You can skip this part but if you are interested in the language, or you want to see if what I’m saying makes any sense (newt boy and Odasaku are the same person) I recommend to read it. There were many details to check and I wanted to be sure because translations from Japanese are usually tricky and I didn’t want to be misled by a mistake on the translator’s part.
So, Tsugaru. It’s a delighful and sad work. Please read it if you have the chance. Even if it’s supposed to be a travel guide, Dazai wrote as much about himself and the people he meets as he wrote about the place, or even more. N, as Dazai calls him in the novel (real name is Nakamura Teijirou) appears at the beginning and accompanies Dazai in his trips until halfway the novel, when he leaves him to stay with his family.
Closest friend.
In the translation of Tsugaru I read (Return to Tsugaru, 1985) Dazai calls N his “closest friend” but in the Japanese original that I was reading at the same time (public domain in Aozora bunko) Dazai calls him 唯一の友人YUIITSU NO YUUJIN, meaning sole, unique friend. So I decided to go with Dazai’s own words instead of the translation.
A little later Dazai explains N is the friend that appears in Memories:
I had to check that. What I found is that the only “my friend” that appears in the English version of Memories (at least the one I read) is the newt boy! So the conclusion was straightforward. N must have been the real life inspiration for newt boy. But I couldn’t be sure because it felt strange he would talk about something like that so openly. And I like to complicate things very much so I double checked with the original Japanese of Memories. And things got complicated indeed. Because in Memories he never calls that boy YUUJIN, he only refers to him as classmate in Japanese. Every time the word YUUJIN appears later in the story it’s in its plural form YUUJINTACHI (friends). I had to dig deeper. And I found an essay by N. in which he talks about the times he spent with Dazai. He coincides with the events Dazai tells in Memories and his essay confirms that those friends in plural also refer to N. However, the only people N. mentions were Dazai, Dazai’s brother Reiji, and himself. There’s no way to know if N. was really the “only” friend, or there were more friends who aren’t mentioned.
So, if N doesn’t mention any more friends and Dazai calls him his sole friend during that time I have no reason to doubt both of them.
But there is another hint that makes it even more likely that Dazai was talking about the same person. This is the way Dazai describes in Memories how they walked together from school:
And this is the description in Tsugaru of how him and N would wait for each other to walk together to school and back.
You can reach your own conclusions. It seems obvious to me hat the newt boy and N are the same person, or at least that boy is based in N and the things Dazai used to do with N. Anything else could be made up (feelings included). We will never know. After all, Memories is a work of fiction, and Tsugaru is a travel diary.
Having established that the newt boy and N. are the same person, now how on earth did I come to the conclusion he must be Odasaku? The fun begins.
Let’s start with the text itself. Judge by yourselves. Enters N, as we already know not his closest friend, but his only friend. (I already shared this)
(Unrelated but I think it’s cute. Dazai loves crab and alcohol. It's so canon.)
Talking about N and their past (the complete paragraph now)
When I read the paragraph above I thought oh N is “that friend” so N must be like Chuuya. But the following description really didn’t fit Chuuya much.
It didn’t fit anyone in bsd actually except maybe Atsushi.
Let’s keep reading. Oh they are drinking now.
HE taught Dazai to drink. Sounds familiar. And there’s something about the tone of both characters in the conversation that sounds VERY familiar.
At this point I had to stop and stare at the wall for a long time. HE adopted orphans ha ha…
Yes of course he loved him.
From here on I couldn’t help it anymore, everything felt just like reading bsd Dazai an Oda. Except for that one scene where N. starts singing loudly completely drunk to Dazai’s dismay… Well, also that. The possibilities.
A few more excerpts. By now I didn’t care they were touring Tsugaru, they were sitting at Bar Lupin in my mind.
And this episode with a fish was so in character. Dazai writes himself as a drama queen. N is quite more assertive than Oda though.
Dazai getting carried out by his imagination...
Oh lord.
By the way, these are them.
Anyway! Is it possible that all…this *waves hand* could be just a coincidence? A coincidence of a cosmic scale. It’s up to you to decide if it’s intentional or not. I personally was convinced the moment I read the word orphans.
Now you have a fun little piece of info for the next time anyone brings up the newt boy in a bsd context!
Ok, there's discussion about why would Dazai tell Akutagawa to wear the coat again, and why would Akutagawa obbey and wear it, because it feels somehow like that scene undoes Akutagawa's character growth.
But maybe the key is in the words used. The English translation says climax:
It sounds like a final battle kind of situation. That's what Aku and Atsushi are facing now, as if he will need it for the climax.
But in Japanese it says final touches.
最後の仕上げにこれを忘れるなんて、折檻ものだよ
It sounds more like something to do to wrap up everything. Could it be Akutagawa realized something when he heard that and that's why he was so quick to change?
... Or maybe it was just an excuse to have Akutagawa back in his original outfit and nothing else 🫠 We'll find out next chapters I guess!
i found the piece dazai plays in 123.5!! (SPOILERS)
the piece is ‘pavane pour une infante défunte’ or ‘pavane for a dead princess’. amazing, right??
i was in the shower and was like ‘hmmm you’d need such big hands to play that piece’ and then remembered the hell of trying to learn pavane and had a eureka moment
As many of you already know I’m in a crusade against bad translations. I see this panel going around very often but the translation makes me cringe so bad everytime. I'm sure many people are already aware of the mistranslation but I have never seen it explained anywhere so I decided to do it myself.
Disclaimer, English is not my native language.
Let’s start from the previous panel, because ✨context✨ The order is Japanese -- the fan translation I found -- and the official translation.
I will write down the literal, weird, almost word for word translation for comparison purposes:
判った 答える 答えるから近くに寄らないでくれる？連れだって歩いてると思われたくない
Understood I’ll answer. I’ll answer so, could you not come any closer? I don’t want it to look like we are walking together (I don’t want it be thought we are walking together)
はっ 心配すんな 俺もおもわれたくねえから
Ha, don’t worry. Because I don’t want it either (I also don’t want it be thought)
うふふ 気が合うねえ
ufufu ki ga au nee
Ok first explanation needed. First, the Japanese definition of ki ga au
気が合う -- 考え方や感じ方が通じ合う (kangaekata ya kanjikata ga tsuujiau)
way of thinking and feeling mutually understood.
"Ki" means mind, spirit, "au" means to meet. The English definition in many dictionaries and google is “to get along” and that’s what the fan translation uses (friendly reminder to ALWAYS use a monolingual dictionary once you reach a level high enough), but the "so well" comes from nowhere. The official translation uses "to see eye to eye". IMO it's more accurate in this context than to get along. But the “glad” also comes from nowhere.
Anyway, now you get the feeling of what it means. I think it's more like Dazai commenting how Chuuya shares with him the same feelings about the situation.
“fufu you agree, I see…”
そんな君が大好きだよ
sonna kimi ga daisuki dayo
And we got to the important part.
We have "sonna" that means “such”, “that kind of”. It's a spoken synonym of "sou iu" ("such, like that, that sort of"). As a pre-nominal adjective that goes with kimi, "sonna kimi" it means that you. It has a nuance of surprise when used in sentences like this.
And then "daisukidayo" that of course means I like so much, I love.
What does he loves? "sonna kimi", that is, a specific Chuuya, the Chuuya who is of the same mind that he is about not wanting people to think they were walking together. Or maybe simply the Chuuya that agrees with him, generally speaking.
In both translations the concept is all wrong. It’s presented as if loving Chuuya was the fact and Dazai was explaining the why. But in Japanese, Dazai is singling out the kind of Chuuya he likes/loves if you wish.
Now ask yourselves why specially the official translation chooses to make up the dialogue like that. I'm sure the translators knew enough Japanese to understand it correctly and I don't think it's a matter of cultural adaptation because it never justifies chaging the meaning. The correct answer is fanservice, sales and money 😭
If I had to translate it, I would say “oh I love/like so much that Chuuya!”.
It’s VERY in character for Dazai to say that. And the protest that follows is VERY in character for Chuuya.
うわ……やめろ！気色悪くて死ぬ！
Uwaa… stop it! It’s so disgusting I am going to die!
僕もだ
Me too.
Yes, Dazai sounds crestfallen.
This is getting too long, so my personal non-grammatical opinions under the cut
I have two, even three theories.
First case, Dazai was honest when he said that.
But he didn't register that's not something you go saying around like that, and he was hit with Chuuya's reaction. Because Chuuya had lived with other kids, so he understood social interactions. But Dazai didn't understand.
I've seen infinite analysis about Dazai and ND, mentall illnesses but not even one analyze this scene. So what if he really loved when Chuuya agreed with him, expressed it without any filters and recoiled when he was met with Chuuya's reaction and realized "that was not a normal thing to do". Remember the scene when he shoots the dead soldier? He seemed to be taking notes of what is and isn't normal. This option breaks my heart.
The criticism would be that what Dazai says doesn't sound so honest. This theory would fit better with the English translations but in Japanese he's very clearly informing Chuuya of the kind of Chuuya he likes, which is a twisted thing to say in any language. So maybe Chuuya's reaction is a response to both the nasty observation and the words chosen.
Second option, Dazai knew what he was doing
He used daisuki to provoke Chuuya, to mess with him and make him angry.
That's something 22!Dazai would do easily but I don't know if 15!Dazai was already so good at it. Anyway in this case the surprise would come from the genuine disgust in Chuuya's reaction instead of the expected anger. Chuuya is Chuuya, and he is immune to Dazai's manipulation schemes, except Dazai didn't know it yet. Also once he said it, daisuki was so cringe (and he was 15 😂). Absolutely in character for both of them.
Third option. Dazai said he wanted to make Chuuya his dog.
Dazai was a very messed up kid at that point. The first thing he thinks when he meets another (very powerful) boy his age is to dominate him and make him obbey his orders as his dog. The way he says that to Chuuya can sound very domineering, oh you agree, that's the Chuuya I love. That's a good boy 🐕. And then he felt down when Chuuya rejected that praise with disgust. In the manga it really looks like this option, with a very close and pushing Dazai and an uncomfortable looking Chuuya. I hate that vibe.
Or... possibly it's a bit of all three because after all, nobody knows what's in Dazai's mind 😌
I think the fan translation does much better job than the official in keeping the original meaning! that's why the official translation is sus IMO 😂
I try to stay away from the visuals from either the anime, manga or the stage plays and focus only in the words, but yes Chuuya's disgusted reaction definitely was because of Dazai's choice of words. No matter the exact meaning, that daisuki was totally cringe 🥹
Now I must watch the stage play at once and watch Dazai kicking his feet like a schoolgirl 🤣 I think I like that adaptation of this scene so much better that the tension from the manga.
As many of you already know I’m in a crusade against bad translations. I see this panel going around very often but the translation makes me cringe so bad everytime. I'm sure many people are already aware of the mistranslation but I have never seen it explained anywhere so I decided to do it myself.
Disclaimer, English is not my native language.
Let’s start from the previous panel, because ✨context✨ The order is Japanese -- the fan translation I found -- and the official translation.
I will write down the literal, weird, almost word for word translation for comparison purposes:
判った 答える 答えるから近くに寄らないでくれる？連れだって歩いてると思われたくない
Understood I’ll answer. I’ll answer so, could you not come any closer? I don’t want it to look like we are walking together (I don’t want it be thought we are walking together)
はっ 心配すんな 俺もおもわれたくねえから
Ha, don’t worry. Because I don’t want it either (I also don’t want it be thought)
うふふ 気が合うねえ
ufufu ki ga au nee
Ok first explanation needed. First, the Japanese definition of ki ga au
気が合う -- 考え方や感じ方が通じ合う (kangaekata ya kanjikata ga tsuujiau)
way of thinking and feeling mutually understood.
"Ki" means mind, spirit, "au" means to meet. The English definition in many dictionaries and google is “to get along” and that’s what the fan translation uses (friendly reminder to ALWAYS use a monolingual dictionary once you reach a level high enough), but the "so well" comes from nowhere. The official translation uses "to see eye to eye". IMO it's more accurate in this context than to get along. But the “glad” also comes from nowhere.
Anyway, now you get the feeling of what it means. I think it's more like Dazai commenting how Chuuya shares with him the same feelings about the situation.
“fufu you agree, I see…”
そんな君が大好きだよ
sonna kimi ga daisuki dayo
And we got to the important part.
We have "sonna" that means “such”, “that kind of”. It's a spoken synonym of "sou iu" ("such, like that, that sort of"). As a pre-nominal adjective that goes with kimi, "sonna kimi" it means that you. It has a nuance of surprise when used in sentences like this.
And then "daisukidayo" that of course means I like so much, I love.
What does he loves? "sonna kimi", that is, a specific Chuuya, the Chuuya who is of the same mind that he is about not wanting people to think they were walking together. Or maybe simply the Chuuya that agrees with him, generally speaking.
In both translations the concept is all wrong. It’s presented as if loving Chuuya was the fact and Dazai was explaining the why. But in Japanese, Dazai is singling out the kind of Chuuya he likes/loves if you wish.
Now ask yourselves why specially the official translation chooses to make up the dialogue like that. I'm sure the translators knew enough Japanese to understand it correctly and I don't think it's a matter of cultural adaptation because it never justifies chaging the meaning. The correct answer is fanservice, sales and money 😭
If I had to translate it, I would say “oh I love/like so much that Chuuya!”.
It’s VERY in character for Dazai to say that. And the protest that follows is VERY in character for Chuuya.
うわ……やめろ！気色悪くて死ぬ！
Uwaa… stop it! It’s so disgusting I am going to die!
僕もだ
Me too.
Yes, Dazai sounds crestfallen.
This is getting too long, so my personal non-grammatical opinions under the cut
I have two, even three theories.
First case, Dazai was honest when he said that.
But he didn't register that's not something you go saying around like that, and he was hit with Chuuya's reaction. Because Chuuya had lived with other kids, so he understood social interactions. But Dazai didn't understand.
I've seen infinite analysis about Dazai and ND, mentall illnesses but not even one analyze this scene. So what if he really loved when Chuuya agreed with him, expressed it without any filters and recoiled when he was met with Chuuya's reaction and realized "that was not a normal thing to do". Remember the scene when he shoots the dead soldier? He seemed to be taking notes of what is and isn't normal. This option breaks my heart.
The criticism would be that what Dazai says doesn't sound so honest. This theory would fit better with the English translations but in Japanese he's very clearly informing Chuuya of the kind of Chuuya he likes, which is a twisted thing to say in any language. So maybe Chuuya's reaction is a response to both the nasty observation and the words chosen.
Second option, Dazai knew what he was doing
He used daisuki to provoke Chuuya, to mess with him and make him angry.
That's something 22!Dazai would do easily but I don't know if 15!Dazai was already so good at it. Anyway in this case the surprise would come from the genuine disgust in Chuuya's reaction instead of the expected anger. Chuuya is Chuuya, and he is immune to Dazai's manipulation schemes, except Dazai didn't know it yet. Also once he said it, daisuki was so cringe (and he was 15 😂). Absolutely in character for both of them.
Third option. Dazai said he wanted to make Chuuya his dog.
Dazai was a very messed up kid at that point. The first thing he thinks when he meets another (very powerful) boy his age is to dominate him and make him obbey his orders as his dog. The way he says that to Chuuya can sound very domineering, oh you agree, that's the Chuuya I love. That's a good boy 🐕. And then he felt down when Chuuya rejected that praise with disgust. In the manga it really looks like this option, with a very close and pushing Dazai and an uncomfortable looking Chuuya. I hate that vibe.
Or... possibly it's a bit of all three because after all, nobody knows what's in Dazai's mind 😌
