"Eroded the core of Port Mafia", a quick look at a possibly deeper meaning in BSD 129.5
Warning; Spoilers for BSD 129.5
The official translation of this page hits harder than the fan one which simply states 'Port Mafia lost a ton of personnel.'
The official translations says: "The vampires had heavily eroded the core of the Port Mafia"
The same scene shows other members such as Mori, Kouyou, Hirotsu and Kaiji, but I think it's deliberate that the framing of the panel focuses on Chuuya. He is arguably seen a driving force and the heart of Port Mafia, highly respected by subordinates.
It could be seen as a metaphor for his own core being worn down.
For Chuuya the Mafia is his family.
They see him as family.
In the stage plays we can see he doubted himself because he was once their enemy and didn't think he was fit to lead. However we know that's not the case. Many could see through that rough exterior and saw someone they felt were a worthy successor, including the Flags.
Many of them might now be dead after the outbreak, never see Chuuya reach that possibility, as Chuuya has to deal with more dead subordinates. It's clear by his expression this is weighing him down.
Death has always been part of Chuuya's life. His 'birth' caused many to die in the explosion that formed Suribachi city.
Chuuya likely saw members of Sheep die. They might possibly be buried with Rimbaud (who Chuuya honored with a resting place as the man didn't have family and was seen as a traitor by Port Mafia) in the small grave site located on the edge of a cliff away from the rest of Yokohama.
Chuuya smells of incense because he visits the resting place of the Flags. He has always been someone that respects the dead.
We've seen across media it doesn't seems to get easier for him
How many funerals has this 22 year old been to?
I dont know if this means anything for the future, but I found the focus on Chuuya for that line instead of Mori, the boss of Port Mafia, to be interesting.
Disclaimer: I haven't actually finished reading the manga yet so all information in this post is taken solely from the light novel and anime.
Spoiler alert: This post contains spoilers from 15, Storm Bringer, Dark Era and the anime of BSD
Warning: This post is about Dazai so naturally it contains mentions of su*cide and death.
This is my first analysis of BSD, so please be kind. That said, any constructive feedback is welcome. If you have any further questions about my perspective, please feel free to ask!
Then without further ado...
Bungo Stray Dogs written by Kafka Asagiri and illustrated by Sango Harukawa is a multimedia series which explores the complex nature of the human mind through its characters. One such character, Dazai Osamu, inspired by the 20th century Japanese novelist of the same name and his well-known work No Longer Human, is a character known for his eccentric behaviour and fascination with suicide. Often times his behaviour may come off as bizarre on first sight and one might think it is purely for comic relief. This essay aims to explain the reason behind his strange reaction to the sight of the murdered woman in episode five season one of the anime, or this scene.
This screenshot was taken from timestamp 6:27 of Season one episode 5 of Bungo Stray Dogs.
This will be done by exploring first Dazai’s reaction to death between the ages of 15 and 18 or during Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen and Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era, second by exploring the fact that Dazai is aware that he is different to other people, and finally by exploring the way he deals with this difference and with strong emotions during the present of Bungo Stray Dogs or at the age of 22.
Dazai’s reaction to death was unusual to say the least when he was the age of 15 and it continue to be so at the age of 18. There are three main instances where the audience watches Dazai react to death at these ages. In consecutive order from Dazai’s perspective—rather than the order they were published—is first, during the seventh light novel, Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen just after the fight before Dazai and Chuuya go to meet Randou. This scene takes place from page 53 to 54 of the English version of the light novel. There are several unusual points during this scene. But first it should be made clear that the audience has no real way of knowing what kind of experiences Dazai had been exposed to in his early life which could have a bearing on why he behaves this way at this age. There are plenty of theories but at the time of writing this Asagiri had not revealed what Dazai’s early life was like. Now, back to the point at hand. First it is unusual that a boy of 15 when faced with a dying man would ask him if he would like him to ‘end your suffering with this gun,’ (p. 53) however this may be disregarded considering that Dazai although not a part of the mafia seems to have been with Mori for some time at this point. What is more strange however is what Dazai says next ‘…But you’re showing me something extremely valuable—your death—so I want to pay you back,’ (p. 53). He then proceeds to repeatedly shoot the dead body while laughing. This could be chalked back to some sort of love for seeing others in pain if it wasn’t for what Dazai said before. He states that he sees the man’s death as valuable. There is no way of knowing how often Dazai had been exposed to death before but the fact that he views it as valuable suggests that at this point perhaps he had not been desensitized to it. Viewing death as valuable though is, decidedly, an unusual perspective for a 15-year-old boy to take.
The second time Dazai experiences death is also in the same light novel when Randou passes away. Those who have read Storm Bringer will know that’s not precisely what happens but at this point there is no evidence to show that Dazai has any idea Randou isn’t really dead and so it will be treated as another experience of death. There is a marked difference in Dazai’s behaviour in this instance compared to the one highlighted above. This scene takes place in Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen on pages 118 and 119 of the English version. Whether this difference in behaviour is to be attributed to the fact that Dazai probably knew Randou to some degree or to the fact that Chuuya had earlier highlighted to him the fact that his behaviour in the earlier scene was abnormal is up to interpretation. However, while his behaviour is more normal than before it is still rather unusual. During this scene Dazai seems more aware of the sensitive nature of what is happening because he asks Randou if he has any last words and continues by saying, ‘…If you have any final wishes, we’ll see what we can do to—’ (p. 118). This shows that he is sensitive to what’s happening and that it requires a certain type of behaviour, but it is still rather unusual given that this man is dying because of Dazai’s doing and the fact that Randou was trying to kill the former and Chuuya a few moments ago. Additionally, after Randou explains about what happened between himself and Verlaine before Verlaine betrayed him Dazai goes off on a tangent about the ‘inevitable destruction’ caused by ‘a fight between two skilled spies’ (p. 118). While Asagiri may have chosen to have Dazai say this in order to make it more clear to the reader why Randou tried to absorb Arahabaki, it is still a strange thing to do at somebody’s death bed. This being said, it is clear that Dazai is a lot more respectful at Randou’s death than he was at the G.S.S. officer’s death in the scene highlighted before as Asagiri states, ‘Both Chuuya and Dazai quietly listened as if there was something in what Randou was saying that they couldn’t allow themselves to miss,’ (p. 119). While it is possible Dazai is simply imitating Chuuya’s behaviour here in order to seem more normal it seems more likely that Dazai knows how to react better to the death of a person he knows and this idea is reinforced by his reaction to Odasaku’s death in Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era, which will be explored shortly. It is clear, however that Dazai is affected by Randou’s death in some way when the novel states ‘Some things, however, would not return to normal: the body of a man who no longer felt cold, and the hearts of the two boys who stood rooted to the spot, staring at him,’ (p. 119). This shows that Dazai is affected by death, but he seems to interpret it and deal with it in unusual ways.
The final example of when Dazai experiences death takes place three years later during the second light novel, Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era, when Dazai is 18 years old. At this point he has been in the mafia for three years, so he has probably experienced death quite a bit between now and when he was 15, however this is the death of the person who is probably the only one who ever understood Dazai—with the exception perhaps of Chuuya—and who cared for him in a way which was arguably like a father. This scene takes place from page 159 to 161 of the English version of the light novel. This scene is arguably the most interesting in terms of Dazai experiencing death for several reasons. One of those reasons is that while the scene deals with Dazai’s emotions, it does not deal with his reaction to Odasaku’s death but rather with his reaction to what Odasaku says, which causes a dramatic shift in his world view and which, as any reader will know, ultimately causes Dazai to leave the mafia and strive to become a better person. While the scene does start by dealing with Dazai’s reaction to Odasaku’s death the majority of the middle of the scene is spent on Dazai’s reaction to what Odasaku says to him before returning to his reaction to his death. The scene begins with Dazai rushing into the room, calling Odasaku’s name. This is pretty normal behaviour for anime and manga characters on seeing someone close to them dying. But Dazai then proceeds to say, ‘You’re such an idiot, Odasaku. The biggest idiot I know,’ (p. 160). That is arguably an unusual thing to tell your friend on his death bed, but compared to other things Dazai has done it’s not that abnormal. The scene continues with Dazai saying that Odasaku didn’t have to die. Which is standard behaviour. Then Odasaku says he wants to tell Dazai something. He proceeds with his statement about Dazai stating that he’s looking for his reason to live in the mafia and telling him that he won’t find it. The scene then proceeds to explore the idea that Dazai has finally realised how well Odasaku knows him. The rest of this scene is spent exploring this idea as well as Odasaku’s advice to Dazai. It only actually returns to Dazai’s reaction to Odasaku’s death at the end. By stating ‘Dropping to his knees by Odasaku’s side, Dazai looked up to the ceiling and closed his eyes. His tightly shut lips faintly trembled. The smoke from the cigarette rose straight up to the top. Nobody said a word,’ (p. 161). The strangest thing about this scene is arguably, that Dazai doesn’t cry. It’s possible that he was holding back tears, based on this description but the fact that it is only implied and left up to the readers interpretation suggests that Asagiri didn’t want to explicitly state that Dazai was crying. In the anime version of this scene as can below there is no hint of Dazai’s eyes being shinier than they usually are when he has lights in his eyes.
This screen shot was taken from time stamp 21:33 of episode 4 of season 2 of Bungo Stray Dogs.
After that the scene zooms out so that Dazai doesn’t have a face as can be seen here.
This screen shot was taken from time stamp 21:38 of episode four of season two of the anime.
This suggests that the decision to not show if Dazai was crying was deliberate. Given how much Odasaku means to Dazai, and that he had just realised how well Odasaku understood him it seems unusual that he would not cry.
The combined evidence of these three scenes suggests that Dazai behaves rather unusually in regard to death but that he seems to process it more normally when the person is closer to him than when it’s a stranger, where his behaviour is decidedly strange. Regardless of his closeness to the person however, evidence would suggest that the way Dazai deals with death is different to other people to a greater or lesser degree.
Now, how does all this have a baring on Dazai’s behaviour many years later in episode 5 season 1 of Bungo Stray Dogs? It has a baring on it if one accepts the fact that Dazai is aware that his behaviour towards death is rather strange to other people. It is never explicitly stated that Dazai is aware of this, however based on his behaviour it is clear that Dazai knows he is different to other people. This is highlighted in a particular instance in the seventh light novel. This scene takes place in Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen on pages 53 to 54 of the English version. In this scene Chuuya stops Dazai from repeatedly shooting the dead body of the G.S.S. soldier. The scene commences with, “‘Quit that, you idiot […] He’s already dead,’ said Chuuya, ‘Quit shooting his corpse,’” (pp. 53-54). However, it is Dazai’s response to Chuuya’s statement which shows that he knows his reaction is unusual. Dazai responds with ‘You’re right. When you’re right, you’re right. That’s the most normal reaction to have,’ (p. 54). Then as he walks away from the body after dropping the pistol he laughs. This is the scene as it’s written, “‘Ha-ha. ‘Normal.’ Ha-ha-ha.’ Dazai’s hollow laughter filled the cluster of trees, vanishing into thin air,” (p. 54). The fact that Dazai reacts by stating that what Chuuya says is normal and the way he laughs about it shows that he knows that he is not normal. If the idea that Dazai knows he is not normal is extrapolated, then it is implied that he also knows that his behaviour towards death is abnormal. If it is taken into account that Dazai realises his behaviour, particularly around death is odd it makes sense that as an adult he would want to hide that.
All of the above scenes took place when Dazai was still a teenager. However, it seems that even as a young adult he doesn’t know how to behave around emotionally charged situations. This is shown in episode one of Bungo Stray Dogs where Atsushi and Dazai are in the warehouse waiting for the tiger to show up. During this scene Atsushi is amazed by Dazai’s confidence and he states ‘You’re really confident, I’m kind of jealous. They called me a good-for-nothing at the orphanage. And now I don’t know where I’ll sleep tonight or whether I’ll be able to earn my keep tomorrow. […] No one’d care if someone like me were to die in a ditch somewhere. Yeah, I may be better off eaten by a tiger…’ this happens at 13:30-13:57 of episode 1 of season 1 of Bungo Stray Dogs. To Atsushi’s statement Dazai does not reply. He is silent for a beat with a neutral expression as shown here.
This screenshot is taken from timestamp 13:58 of episode 1 season 1 of Bungo Stray Dogs.
He then proceeds to state that he thinks the tiger will come soon. This is an unusual reaction given what Atsushi just said, and it would make more sense for him to comfort the boy. But he doesn’t. This is arguably because Dazai doesn’t know how to react in what would be considered a normal way in an emotional situation like this. If he doesn’t know how to react normally here it is unlikely he knows how to react normally to death. Now, it has been made clear above that he recognises his behaviour as abnormal, and it is likely that since his instinctive reaction is abnormal, he is unable to fake a normal reaction as he doesn’t know what this would be. Hence his unusual reaction in episode five season one. He reacts with such melodrama because he knows that his instinctive reaction isn’t normal, but he doesn’t know what a normal reaction would be, and he can’t just not react either thus he opts for this melodramatic reaction which, although isn’t normal still shows a rather dramatised version of sadness at the woman’s death which is perhaps more normal than what his instinctive reaction would be. And although the others at the scene who don’t know him are rather confused at his reaction it attracts less attention than if he were to react in a similar vein to his reaction to the G.S.S. officer’s death.
To conclude Dazai’s melodramatic reaction to the murdered woman in episode 5 season 1 of Bungo Stray Dogs it not just comic relief, there is a deeper meaning behind his eccentricities. He reacts this way because he is self-aware enough to know that his instinctive reaction to death is unusual and in order to not shock other people at his behaviour, he opts for the melodramatic response he gives since while still unusual it is more similar to the way a normal person might react being a rather melodramatic version of it.
Fukuzawa really spent a whole year providing Ranpo with clothes, food, shelter, education, a job, protection, ect before he thought to himself, "Wait... Do I have a kid???"
Fukuzawa: I just don't understand why this kid is so attached to me...
Ranpo: Fukuzawa! Fukuzawa! Look, I solved the case whilst you were talking to yourself, can we get ice cream now?
Fukuzawa: ... Sure.
Ranpo: Yaaaayyy!!!
Fukuzawa: How do I keep getting roped into these things?
what if the reason that dazai has the ability to nullify others' special ability is based on the fact that the irl osamu dazai was super distrusting and saw through the deception of people around him (based on No Longer Human written by him)
so like how irl, people close to him tricking him for their own gain would give them an advantage, which he could "nullify" or see through, in the anime he nullifies people special ability when they get close which would usually give them an advantage as well
lowkey, I'm just going to point out in BSD I HATE when people say Moris a PDF, like, I get its kind of weird that the two people he mentored were kids and have like WAY too much trauma, and in a sense, I Definitely know he was abusive. and that his ability is called vita sexualis, and it's a little girl. first off, I'd like to say BONES STUDIOS DID ELISE dirty. SHES AN ADULT IN THE MANGA 😭. also, its cannon mori always wanted kids but he never had any so Yosano and Dazai were kind of surrogate kids for him.
HE ISNT FREAKY.
but yk, opinions are opinions, you don't got to change yours. BUT ISTG I SEE ANOTHER MORI X DAZAI IM CRASHING OUT.
thinking about how atsushi is going to be after the current arc clears up...
asagiri better show that it affected him in some way or else I'm going to throw hands, because there's no way Atsushi is just going to walk away from that all with no severe trauma 😭
we all see how absolutely hysterical he is at the moment. Those panels of him sobbing and begging (and him screaming after Fyodor ripped the page) break my heart so bad. This is traumatizing shit!!! He just watched five people he cares about die right in front of him and he couldn't do anything to stop it.
Can you even imagine how much guilt he feels? That guilt is going to continue even when the arc is over, because while everyone is back (and i do 100% think everyone who died is coming back somehow), he still failed to save them in the first place.
He already has so much PTSD as it is, and while I do think that his hallucinations are going to clear up after this arc (based off of the latest chapter, it's probably going to be revealed that there's more to them than simple flashbacks), he is by no means going to be okay.
I'm not sure if Asagiri is going to explore the trauma of that very much, but if he does, I'd like to see it leaning one of three ways:
Atsushi becomes clingier with everyone or more dependent out of the fear of losing them again. Increased paranoia. He becomes hypervigilant in an attempt to deal with threats that aren't actually there.
Similar to what happened in s1 after the Black Lizard raid, Atsushi attempts to distance himself from everyone because he sees himself as the reason for their deaths. He has something akin to survivor's guilt even though everyone came back. I don't think he'd try to run away like he did in s1, but he might self-isolate heavily.
Complete shutdown. Atsushi is so emotionally and mentally exhausted from the ordeal that he becomes extremely apathetic. Depression. Lack of motivation. Heavy fatigue. An "invisible sickness".
The ways Atsushi could heal from each of these possible outcomes would be different, though I imagine there would be some similarities since there's a lot of overlap of "symptoms" between those three scenarios.
Now, while I wouldn't be super thrilled with this outcome, it would still be logical for Asagiri to have Atsushi walk away without bad residual trauma. And the reason why this could happen is that what's currently happening in the manga and the fight that it's leading up to is clearly intended to be a big character development for Atsushi. It seems very likely that there's going to be a large moment of clarity for him. In fact, we're probably going to see a big moment next chapter based off what was happening with his Dazai hallucination in the latest one.
I have my own theory for what's happening with these hallucinations, but regardless of what they actually are, Atsushi figuring them out is a big moment! And this battle against Fyodor is going to be another one! Atsushi is going to experience a lot of character development and there is a possibly that this newfound strength in himself will allow him to walk away from this all without serious trauma.
Like I said, I really hope he does get traumatized by this! But I feel like it's more likely that Asagiri is going to have him walk away stronger because of the self-discovery he's going to go through.
anyways, silly little atsushi ramble that's just my thoughts :)
Need to rambles about skk more. I got like 5 different modes for them and let me tell you I am fucking RABBID still istg I've just been getting all anxious nd shit about posting bcs most people around me irl nd stuff have been focusing on other fandoms- anyways!!!!
5 fav modes for skk (and yes i do also mix them sometimes lol-)
Silly!!!! Crack. The stupids. 0 braincells around eachother and yet also somehow both geniuses. Pining. Oblivious. In denial. All in a silly silly way. Bsd wan style bs happening. Absolutely zero angst. Zero seriousness. Giving everyone around them mental breakdowns over how oblivious and inlove they are. So fucling cute and silly. Makes me wanna smash their heads together so they kiss
Established!!! In love. So fucking in love. Married couple domestic ass shit. Fucking waking up together. Sleepy morning cuddles. Early walks to the bakery near Chuuyas house during their Christmas time off. Watching stupid dramas and insulting all the characters before they finally switch to an anime or something. Reminding eachother to take their pills/use mobility aids/ask for help/eat/drink water/relax/etc (depending on the au). Just. Soft and sweet and domestic ass bullshit. Brings fucking tears to my eyes smh
Sad. Sad sad sad sad sad sad sad ass bullshit. Focusing on angst- hurt / comfort, late jights smoking on a rooftop too close to the edge. Chuuya helping Dazai rewrap his bandages. Dazai taking off Chuuyas gloves for him. Sometimes established, a lot more often right before they get together. Hurting. Secrets. Angst pasts. Being unable to let go of Dazais betray- being unable to see himself as worth anything for Chuuya now. A lot of focus on Chuuya for me because I fucking love him- aka the traumatized blorbo. Anyways. Realizing they don't know eachother as well as they used to, except they do. Sad. Angst. Almost alyways ends with hurt/comfort.
Toxic. Oh so toxic. Radioactive shit. Fucking radiation poisoning being near em. And not in the /pos way. Fucking eachother up. Codependency in the bad way. Latched on. Jealous. Angry. Unstable. Much manipulation. Making eachother hurt. Hurting eachother to prove a point. Not being able to let go- of the better past or eachother now. They're fucking eachother up even worse then they'd been before. Only problem is if you separate them then they both can't handle it- it's just not worth it. Radiation ass warnings for how toxic that shit be
AUs. The subtle differences in character that stem from fundamental changes, the way they react differently, the change in circumstances, the way it can go from silly and happy to dangerous and depressing. Together in every universe is impossible but together in as many as possible because there's such a binder between us our soulmate-ism is so strong and visible. Connected.
Anyways. Chomping at the bit to ramble more about skk and Chuuya
