Okay sooo besides Q- (the best character in bsd that is definitely not dead trust)
Analysis on Dazai and Chuuya’s relationship?
Because it’s interesting :>
Dazai’s and Chuuya’s Relationshup
Words cannot describe how I love Dazai’s and Chuuya’s relationship so this will probably be the longest analysis I have written so far.
Dazai and Chuuya have known each other since they were fifteen, this is nothing new to us, and their bond is INSANELY strong, they’ve been through so many life and death situations that it forces a codependency that you don’t really see represented in media as great as Dazai’s and Chuuya’s is. With these two we can see the amount of trust and sheer dependency, especially after the Prison Arc. But it’s not even their trust, but also the similarities and differences in personality that work so well together.
THERE MIGHT BE SPOILERS AHEAD
Chuuya and Dazai both question their humanity in different formats. With Chuuya it’s a matter of the possibility that he was a clone and was Arahabaki but with Dazai it’s a matter of if his apathy stops him from being human.
Chuuya’s dehumanization is a result of not only being experimented on but could also be related to being “King of The Sheep”, it’s heavily implied that Chuuya was used just for his ability and wasn’t seen as entirely human to the sheep. Instead he was (to them), his ability itself. They didn’t think he was human due to the power he has.
With Dazai, his dehumanization stems from his apathy, his inability to act like a “human”, throughout everything we have seen with Dazai, he seems to be just someone pretending to be human. Being labeled as the Demon Prodigy did not help one bit in this aspect as it made everyone view him worse. Dazai being the Demon Prodigy just made it acceptable for everyone around him to dehumanize him. It’s easier to pretend that someone bad is just a monster rather than recognizing they are an actual person with feelings.
Now, we know that Dazai was fully prepared for Yokohama to burn if it meant Chuuya could prove his humanity to himself, we know that Dazai fully thought of Chuuya to be human from the very beginning, he had no doubt that Chuuya was anything but human— and I think that stems from Dazai implying that Chuuya made him feel alive.
That isn’t a stretch, we can see in the anime itself where it was implied (when fighting Arthur Rimbaud and the Old PM boss) “Really, a suicidal maniac like you wants to live?” “I figured it was worth a shot.” In Dazai’s eyes, his purpose to continue- a goal to keep going towards, is Chuuya himself.
Chuuya seeing Dazai as human stems from the mistakes Dazai makes- his willingness to change- the way he’s calculated and planning. That’s what makes Dazai human to Chuuya.
And, we know that Chuuya would’ve left with Dazai, he would’ve followed out of the PM and Dazai knew that- but he also knew that Chuuya needed to stay there to support Akutagawa and have a friend on the inside of the PM.
Outside of the PM we can still see that their trust runs deep- past the lines of having sides. With Dead Apple, the Prison Arc, and even in Beast where their relationship is so complex and well-developed.
They’re also heavily codependent on each other, that doesn’t mean that Chuuya is weak or Dazai is weak but the codependency does exist in their relationship— Dazai relying on Chuuya as a person, the trust, the power, the relationship, the humanity. And Dazai, vice versa.
Even as an analyzer of BSD, I cannot label the complexity of their relationship. You can play it as romantic or as platonic. There’s no direct way we can know because of the writing. The writing of them purposefully leaves it ambiguous- something to figure out on our own and that what makes it so special to me.
I personally see Dazai and Chuuya as a soul ripped apart- meant to be one but can never be. Play that as romantic or as platonic, up to you. But, I do think that some parts of the fandom who think Dazai and Chuuya are the only “healthy” relationship in BSD is wrong. It’s impossible for a healthy relationship to exist in BSD. That’s just the nature of the show.
