some differences i've noticed between the dark era LN and its anime adaptation
another longer post! i had nothing better to do today than rewatching the dark era, and there were a few things that caught my eye in regards to the original LN (which I've also rereading lately), so i thought i could write a little about my observations just like i did with the stageplay!
once again, please keep in mind that these are only a few things that i've noticed while rewatching and not a formal comparison post!! I might do one if I get the change, but for now just take these few annotations!!
prologue/chapter 1 (LN) and chapter 1 (s2)
the famous "to the stray dogs" line is actually an original from the anime, which surprised me on a rewatch because it was such an iconic thing that also gets referenced later on the s3 finale.
similarly, natsume in his cat form is nowhere to be found in the LN, which makes me wonder why they included him in the anime as a prominent background figure, in a sense? i suppose it was to make him a little more connected to everyone else/look like he was always watching over odasaku since their encounter at the café, but still...
this isn't a change from the LN, but still work noting: i can't help but notice that their seating arrangement is always depicted as ango-dazai-odasaku (when looking from outside the counter), and yet odasaku changes places to be in the middle of the picture with the three of them. I'm guessing this is because of this one superstition about the middle one in three-person pictures dying the first?
chapter 2 (LN) and chapter 2 (s2)
the curry restaurant remains unnamed in the LN, but the anime one has a sign with the name "freedom", which I believe is a reference to jiyuken, a curry restaurant irl which the real sakunosuke oda used to frequent — and there's even a picture of him writing there! if you look it up, you can also find the exact same curry odasaku was eating in that scene (thing I only found out just now while double-checking the name)
they cut one of the port mafia members ango was writing reports on for some reason???? the LN mentions four, the stageplay Also mentions four... and yet the anime mentions three, for some reason?? what difference did this make in the grand scheme of things (lol)
when odasaku is lying down on the ground after ango betrays him, he looks back on a conversation the trio had at lupin... which is the excerpt asagiri takes out from the real sakunosuke oda's the literature of possibility, except instead of saying some men use their writing to flirt with women, they adapt it to say that what they use are their powers
chapter 3 (LN) and chapter 3 (s2)
when akutagawa asks odasaku if he's a friend of dazai's, odasaku answers without hesitation in the LN that yes, he's his friend. the anime, however, makes him say something along the lines of "I wouldn't use that word lightly." im guessing this was to make his "because im your friend" line in the anime scene more impactful, since that was not present in the LN...
the chase scene getting cut completely... I understand why this was done and it's still impactful, but the original was more epic, in my opinion
chapter 4/epilogue (LN) and chapter 4 (s2)
ango remarks that the liquor he's having in the bar is the same, yet it tastes more bitter. this was omitted in the anime fsr even though he is shown drinking afaik, unlike in episode 1?
this is another famous one, but the dialogue in odasaku's death is retained word by word from the novel except him telling dazai "because we're friends" and his last allusions to curry and cigarettes, lol. he also doesn't take dazai's bandages away in the novel, which is one thing I actually like from the anime over the original material...
the entire epilogue getting cut out, except for taneda and dazai's scene... this makes me pretty upset, esp on ango's case, because people end up thinking he didn't care about oda and dazai when the betrayal hurt him just as much
all in all, most of odasaku's inner monologue is lost, which was to be expected but still a shame, as he's very insightful and it really puts into perspective how he felt about dazai and ango, as well as their overall relationship as "friends who are friends but also coworkers who won't pry too deep except maybe we should have pried a little more". once again, if you've made it this far, i hope you liked these!
I love that one image in the first ED of Atsushi sitting by the window in the moonlight and I really wanted to draw a version with Akutagawa that mirrors it
(background is taken from the ED, Akutagawa is drawn by me)
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