And here's part two! As I said, this one contains fics about any of the three combinations possible between Dazai, Oda and Ango, as opposed to the previous one where the focus was more on the Buraiha as a trio.
Keep in mind that, for brevity's sake, I will be grouping platonic and romantic fics under the same categories for brevity's sake, so please keep that in mind! The same goes for SFW and NSFW fics like in Part 1. Still, the distinction will be marked (with a slash for romantic fics and an ampersand for platonic, exactly like AO3 makes the distinction them.)
Dazai, Oda
cathedrals of melancholy crumble by dangerouswoman (Oda & Dazai, Not Rated, ~2,7k words)
There was no hand brushing his shoulder, nor apparition of Odasaku telling Dazai that he was proud of the man he had become. All he had was the warmth in heart, and the lightness of his mind for the first time in a very long time.
Or, Dazai grieves his departed friend, but finds he has room in his heart to love some more.
I've read this many more times than I can count. I like the portrayal of grief, and how the ADA is more than willing to support Dazai. It's not Buraiha-per se, but one of my favourite exchanges here is how Kunikida tells him "Because you never genuinely try [to kill yourself], Dazai. For whatever reason, I think a part of you still wants to be here." Really sums up Dazai.
Ride Or Die by Scarlet_Nin (Oda & Dazai, Not Rated ~3,6k words)
"Odasaku! Don't go!"
But he keeps walking. Farther and farther out of Dazai’s reach. Arm falling back to his side, he watches in a muted kind of horror as his friend walks away, without glancing back. He’s being left behind; he realizes and the thoughts makes his throat tighten. Left behind by his only friend. If Oda leaves now, if he goes, Dazai would have nothing left.
He cannot let that happen.
“If you leave now, I’ll…” He fumbles with his words, trying to think of something that would make Oda stay and reconsider. His panic speaks for him, words rushing out faster than he can think them through. “…I’ll kill myself!”
Oda stops walking.
Simply amazing. By the second half of the fic I was frantically scrolling up again to see if I had missed a "Major Character Death" tag, only to realize it was under "Creator Choose Not To Warn", which only made the ambiguity better. The arguments this fic makes are pretty compelling, and it really impressed me.
d. c. al coda by al_coda (oceanblue) (Oda & Dazai, AU, Rated T, ~13,7k words)
Four years after Dazai—the music industry's favourite prodigy—disappears, Oda bumps into him busking next to a traffic light. And perhaps this is a chance for them to begin again, turning music from something they monetised into something they owned.
A very interesting AU with very little recognition in my opinion! Maybe I'm just biased because I love idol/music settings, but it was very fun to imagine Dazai as an artist, with none other than Odasaku as his writer.
words that can't be said by torasame (Oda/Dazai, Rated T, ~2,8k words)
He regards Oda meekly. There’s movement behind his eyes - words he wishes he could say but can’t quite articulate. His cheeks are sunken, skin pale in the shadows of the evening. His gaze feels like a rubber band that’s been stretched out for so long and it makes Oda wonder how much it hurt when it had snapped. Dazai looks like he wants to tell him - he just can’t.
So instead, Oda tries to fill in the blanks.
I love Hurt/Comfort, if you couldn't tell by all the previous recs... The author did a very good job at portraying how Odasaku cares for Dazai in his own way, which turns out to be just exactly the way Dazai needs to be taken care of.
Read For Me, Scream For Me by YukiSkyes (Dazai/Oda, Rated E, NSFW, ~1,9k words)
Oda was way too distracted by his new book when there were much better things Dazai could offer than ink on paper. He's more than happy to show him.
And lastly, a guilty pleasure fic (lol.) Please do mind the Dazai/Oda ship order, which isn't the usual but it just as good and made me reconsider my own order preferences.
Oda, Ango
This Ink Runs Red by eternal_plague (Oda & Ango, AU, Rated G, ~1,8k words)
Ango is reunited with a friend who helps him realize he’s pushing himself too far for his job, but at what cost?
Set in an AU but still follows the same emotional context as the canon. I simply love the concept of Ango being so tired and exhausted he starts seeing Odasaku, which has been done in various fics before but I feel like this one takes the cake.
a dead writer's pen by Lua (Oda/Ango, Rated G, ~1k words)
It's his birthday but there is nothing out of the ordinary waiting for him.
No party, no friends, no lover.
Not anymore.
I like the (under explored) uses of Ango's ability, and this fic is all about it! All in all very bittersweet but it really drives the feeling home.
deep down i know this never works, but you can lay with me so it doesn't hurt by Anonymous (Oda/Ango, Rated E, NSFW, ~2,5k words)
This was a side of Ango that Oda alone had permission to see. To someone so guarded, so wholly untrusting of the world at large because of how much that world had hurt him—Oda swallowed back a sudden tightness in his throat at the absolute trust that Ango had put in him.
"... What are you staring at?" Ango finally said, voice playing at a soft, mock annoyance. Oda couldn't help smiling before leaning forward to give him a peck on the nose, making his face scrunch up endearingly.
"You."
"You're so corny I can't stand you sometimes," Ango huffed, but his lips turning upwards indicated otherwise.
"Good thing you can most of the time," Oda reached up to brush a piece of hair out of Ango's eyes, watching as he looked to the side bashfully.
He was breathtaking.
Very well written, and the ending and final author's note broke my heart into a million pieces... I haven't been able to stop thinking about it ever since I read it.
one rainy night in yokohama by SerpentineJ (Rated E, NSFW, ~1k words)
Ango shakes in his arms, knees pressing into Oda's side. The light in the room is dim, and the walls muffle the soft sounds of their panted breaths, and, Oda thinks, this must be more than one man can stand.
Another sadder one, following the canon around Ango's betrayal to the Port Mafia. I feel like all I have here is depressing, but hope it's good nonetheless (lol). Also, if you like Soukoku, there's a parallel fic to this one with the two of them which I also enjoyed, but is out of scope for these recommendations.
Ango, Dazai
two and a half glasses by planet_B612 (Ango & Dazai, Rated T, ~1,5k words)
"So you found me," Dazai acknowledges. "And? You'll tell me about your day, I'll tell you about mine, and we'll drink to friendship?
"I'm not so naive," Ango says, shoulders tense.
"No? You thought there might come a day when we could all sit and have a drink together again," Dazai says, soft and gentle and purposefully kind, wondering how far he can dig the blade into Ango's skin. "I suppose you aren't wrong. We're here, aren't we?"
Dazai, Ango, and the fragile threads of friendship.
Set after the battle with the Guild
Boy do I love Dazai being bitter towards Ango yet unable to hate him completely... The dialogue in this one felt straight out of the manga.
sky awash in wanting light by mrityurrichchha (Ango & Dazai, Rated G, ~6,5k words)
The act of ‘going home’ is an eerie one. If you don’t ‘go home,’ you avoid the sadness and regret. If you do, there is no escaping them, even if no mother, wife, or child awaits. Going home means you’ll be haunted by thoughts of what might have been. So, to escape these regrets and the sadness, all you really have to do is not go home. Just keep plowing ahead.
Dazai leaves Yokohama. Ango doesn't.
Neither of them go home.
I love when people try to fill in the details between events in canon, and the time right after Odasaku's death but before Dazai joining the ADA is particularly interesting to me... I also appreciate the reference to IRL Ango Sakaguchi's A Personal View on Japanese Culture, which appears in the summary and in the fic itself.
don't you chase me by nemui (ribbonelle) (Ango & Dazai, Rated G, ~500 words)
No one else would understand this feeling.
I love the tension here... This one is more between the gap of platonic and romantic so thread carefully, but it's tagged with the & so I respected that.
Sadly, I haven't found any romantic Dazai/Ango fic that I like, so if anyone knows any, feel free to send it my way through the askbox or replies. I apologise for not including any here!
And that's a wrap! Whether you've made it here after all the recs or if you're just looking for a specific ship, thank you for reading!
It's finally time! As my blog title indicates, I love the Dark Era and, therefore, the Buraiha trio, and since I've read so many fics of them and haven't seen any other people recommending them, why not make my own post? And here I am!
This first part will have fics that are focused/are tagged with all three characters in the relationship tag, whether platonic or romantic. The second part will have fics tagged with any combination of the three (aka, Dazai-Oda, Oda-Ango or Ango-Dazai). I was originally planning to group it all together, but the post got way too long...
Heads up that SFW and NSFW works are grouped together for brevity's sake, but clearly marked. I also make a distinction between platonic and romantic this time around, but not in Part 2.
This post also has general author recommendations at the very end, which is more of a list of authors I've featured across the two parts because they have way too many wonderful works for me to link!
Buraiha/Lupin Trio (platonic)
wishing for an eternity by planet_B612 (Rated T, ~2k words)
“...Dazai?” Odasaku asked.
Ango felt the same wariness. He tried to peer into Dazai's face. "Are you going to vomit, Dazai-kun?"
Dazai looked first at Odasaku, then at Ango, his face expressionless for a long moment.
Then he grinned.
"'m tired," he announced, and let himself fall.
Three men, a night of drinking, and a harvest moon.
Or: Ango does not even realise that the words out of his mouth were a confession.
One of the first fics I read of the trio as a whole, and it really stuck with me. I like how it applies so many little things (explained in the author's note at the end) to Buraiha and ties them all together with their usual antics.
Let's Ice Skate! by YukiSkyes (Rated G, ~4,6k words)
Thanks to another one of Dazai's whimsies, Ango finds himself at the skating rink with his two drinking buddies. It's not the worst situation he could've wound up in but still...
Very funny and reminded me of my own experience going ice skating with friends: that is to say, it's pretty accurate to how it goes (lol). It really makes me wish we had more lighthearted interactions between the three in the actual canon... The potential...
but we can let the light illuminate these hopeless places by radiashen (Rated G, ~2k)
In this room where the sunlight danced in from the open window, where sea breeze reached from faraway to wrap the air, was a lightness to match their easy smiles.
Another happier fic amidst the sadder ones... I love how supportive they are about Odasaku's writing career (as they should!) and their general closeness. They all deserved that hug at the end.
a neon vacancy sign by Lua (Rated T, ~1,2k words)
The offer of friendship is so tempting that he doesn't know if he can refuse it. As things are, Ango wishes everything was as easy as paying for a night with a stranger.
The line "It is what it is, but what it is is pretty ugly" has not left my mind ever since I read it. It feels very Ango-like, who is always conforming to situations he's not fond of (let's remind ourselves that he has "betrayal" listed under dislikes at his profile...) This is more Ango than it is Buraiha, but they definitely play a key role in his whole introspection.
Dazai/Oda/Ango (romantic)
Scavenger Birds by Metallic_Sweet (Rated M, SFW, ~8k)
Ango Sakaguchi, playing the role of the spy who came in from the cold.
(or, Ango's cover is blown before Mimic arrives in Japan)
Another AU, which still deals with Ango's betrayal albeit under different circumstances. I loved how in depth this goes into Ango's past and all his feelings about it, as well as Odasaku's and Dazai's.
new perspective by cybernekokaito (Rated M, NSFW, ~6,4k words)
In which the Buraiha trio try new things, and Sakaguchi Ango is definitely not jealous.
Definitely one of my favorite fics in this entire post: I didn't know I was into pathetic Ango until I read this (lol). Overall, feels very balanced and well written.
To Ride A Wave by jjAfterHours (Rated E, NSFW, ~10k words)
Ango counted himself an incredibly lucky man. He had good, steady work that he excelled at. The two men he’d fallen head over heels for hadn’t so much as welcomed him into their relationship with open arms as they had bodily dragged him into it. The apartment they shared was just big enough that everyone had space, just small enough it still felt cozy on rainy days and cold nights. While Ango wasn’t so naïve as to say things were perfect, or that there were never hiccups, misunderstandings, or disagreements, most days felt a bit like a dream for how satisfying and pleasant they were.
That was what Ango would blame. He’d been in some kind of trance because of how well things were going, how happy he was, and that was why he’d agreed to this. There was no way he would’ve if he was in his right mind, after all.
“Oda,” he said evenly, “this is a horrible idea and I’m going to drown.”
Or; The lupin trio go on a beach vacation together, though Dazai and Oda have to (rather strongly ;) ) remind Ango to properly relax.
The fic does contain an explicit section/sex scene (hence the NSFW warning), but most of it is a no-powers AU with the three of them going on vacation somewhere along the sea, and every scene feels very fun and in-character for them! I love all the glimpses of their daily life and dynamic we get (as well as the references to the Mayoi cards)
General author recommendations
Lastly, there's a lot more works I would like to link, but the two parts together already make for ~20 fics and I don't know if I'm strong enough to write blurbs for every single one, or liked but don't think I have anything else to add beyond that. So I thought of leaving a few authors whose fics I generally liked as a whole and are usually about any Dazai, Oda and/or Ango! Here they are, in alphabetical order:
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!
andulkaphoto
romaincrisis
origamiaround
2087
gamechangershow
ellievsbear
yousharknotpass
