my criticisms of dazai (bsd) as a character:
Dazai is surrounded by artificial mystery. I cannot stress this enough with the constant speculation and added flair that Asagiri gives his character. If you want my opinion, Dazai is one of the most boring characters. The dramatization of a veiled past has grown stale. You would think that with so many light novels and content that feature Dazai, we would at least know something. Without the shield of uncertainty, he does not particularly stand out as an engaging character. If anything, I find him dreadfully boring because of this constant artificial mystery shoved down my throat. The "will he or won't he" dynamic is getting old. I think that this is one of the main tenets that holds interest of Dazai as a character, but what happens when this cheap show tactic fails? People crave to learn more about their favorites. That is why characters like Akutagawa hold mass appeal. Artificial mystery is what ruins a character since we grow fatigued at the constant drama and cliffhanger. This is more my personal opinion, but it makes Dazai feel stunted as a character. Gimmicks should not be over utilized; people will eventually tire of the dangling carrot sooner or later.
Dazai does not seem to mirror the characters of the respective author's works. This is more a personal strife I carry, but it frustrates me. I know people always compare Yozo to Dazai, but besides the manifestation of the void and tomfoolery, I do not see much deeper connection. I think this is in part to Dazai's artificiality which while it works with Yozo as we see his thoughts, it fails to add depth to his character. You can see very clearly how other characters, like Fitzgerald or Nathaniel, are attachable to the respective characters, but Dazai seems like a miss. His connection to Yozo seemed superficial or surface level, as if we are only showing the highlights of No Longer Human as opposed to deep interconnection.
Dazai is a plot device more so than an actual character. I will not spend much time here since this has been beaten like a dead horse. From his plans to his charm, it is clear that he is a utility to move the plot forward when the main characters, namely Atsushi, fail to push the narrative properly. At this point, Dazai should be renamed to deus ex machina.
Dazai feels perpetually stuck in his development. I find that there is really not much to the characterization of Dazai. There are fans who do a stellar job analyzing him, but if I look at him in the manga, he feels stuck. He slides back and forth between manipulative shadow and consistent clownery. We never actually stop to flesh out his thoughts or even flush out justifications to his actions. We are basically told to accept that when with Dazai, do as Dazai does. There is no conflict (moral, ethical, emotional, etc) that freezes Dazi and forces him to become human. This makes for a stagnant character. If we only except the minimum with Dazai, how can we grow attached to him beyond the sake of the plot?
There is no catharsis in his overall character. I guess my biggest strife I have with Dazai with a character is that there is nothing to pull my heartstrings, nothing to debate and engage with my mind. We are presented with a supposedly broken man with a mind that none will ever comprehend. However, if we have nothing to beg for, nothing to search for in Dazai and his heart, then how are we ever to enjoy his character? How can I seek kinship or intelligent contact with Dazai if there is not much actually creating the composition of his character? He is in so many light novels, but there is nothing to spur my sympathies or interests in him. If one does not find a longing for wanderlust of a character's mind and heart, they feel incomplete. Asagiri should focus on revealing more of Dazai's mind and heart. Yozo is relatable to many because we see his conflicts, his hopes, his desires, and his beating heart that makes him all too human. I personally do not think this currently exists in Dazai at the moment.
my praises of dazai (bsd) as a character:
Dazai serves his purpose as the personification of the void. I can definitely conclude that as Yozo exhibits the characteristics of a consuming void that Dazai does the same. He consumes the minds of many as they work tirelessly to understand his motives. We see this with Kunikida, Akutagawa, Atsushi, Fyodor, and even Mori (who is a father figure to Dazai, no matter how toxic). Dazai, while allowing interpreations of his being to the fantasy of others, allows the very people obssessed with understanding him to be consumed by his very essence. This mirrors Yozo rather nicely (an example to my mind is how Yozo was very popular in the communist circles he took part of, but he had no real taste for that ideology, or even him acting the clown for his family members). The void has been a haunting concept to us humans for years, and there is no better character to represent that in bsd than Dazai.
Dazai acts as an excellent mirror to people's actions. Aforemetioned, Dazai is an excellent catalyst for other characters trying to understand their minds and hearts in this world. This is so prevalent with Mori (I am going to ignore other obvious characters like Fyodor, Akutagawa, and Atsushi here for now). Despite being Mori's right hand, there is a slight imbalance in Dazai's unpredictability which is what makes Mori so unstable in this aspect of his life. Dazai served Mori, but he also showed Mori his own psychology. In fifteen, if I am not mistaken, Mori admits to Dazai that Dazai reminds him of his younger self. (This is highly problematic morally of Mori as a father figure/psuedo-caretaker, but this is a topic for another day). Mori uses Dazai as a filter to understand his own internal psychology and why he chooses the brutality of excessive rationalism. Honestly, Asagiri excels in portraying this part of Dazai's character.
Dazai brings a deeper, nuanced understanding to the word duality. Despite our search for nuance, we constantly categorize things in a dichotomy of our choosing. The fandom seems to see Dazai almost in two total regards: he is secretly a good person whose actions are excused by his trauma from the resulting environment of the PM or he is an corrupting demon that will never see the light of hope due to his tortuous pasts. (By the way, both are wrong). Dazai's character forces us to reject duality despite our drive to use it consistently. We do not need to elaborate on his crimes, nor his manipulation, but we must elaborate on his kindness. He is a growing man, unleashed from the shackles of shadow, but he is not without fault. Evil or Good are inaccurate descriptors of characters as a whole. Our dicthomies fail to pick up on even the most human traits, ergo, Dazai shatters the false reality that we must see only Good and Evil. Very rarely do they actually exist starkly, normally they are mere shades of grey.
