so, as usual, harukawa's new piece is chock full of symbolism and interesting dynamics, and I wanted to make a note of a couple of things I think are interesting :)
as I'm sure many people in future will comment, dazai is the only character here crossing the line between the mafia and the ada. chuuya is the second closest, and dazai is looking up at him (he could be looking at the sky, but since the other soukokus are looking at each other...) his gaze is soft and contemplative.
his line of sight could also be traced to akutagawa, and in that way I think dazais position here may reflect EPs 9+10 of the series.
the thing that really struck me is kouyou in this piece. her body is physically turned away from the "light" of the agency, and she searches for kyouka... who is as far as possible from her, at the very edge of the piece, shielded behind atsushi. kouyous hair still covers her eye and casts a dark shadow on her face.
on the other hand kyouka is surrounded by the agency, visually showing how she's protected by them, and has found a home in the agency. she's lunging forward in a fighting pose - but still safe in the heart of the ada.
yosano is opposed to kaiji here, judging by their poses (and the season one show-off). her arm, swing back with the machete, hides her expression - maybe showing how earnestly pissed off she believes in the value of human life. her pose is really powerful and I love how she's drawn here fjskdf
hirotsu is sort of hidden here. kyouka is in a similar position, but unlike her, hirotsu is overlapped by other characters - maybe hinting to his real power and influence in the mafia, which has been teased before in the main series.
thank you for reading! extra fun fact tanizaki and kouyou both had their ginger rights revoked but kenji's hat did not.
