Why do you think Dazai is a bottom
What an excellent question~
I will preface this with the fact that this will mostly be based on Soukoku interactions, especially since Chuuya is who I ship Dazai with.
I will also not be utilizing official artwork, as much of that is intended as fanservice. I will merely use scenes from the show itself.
Keep in mind this is my opinion, and I would not like to see anybody telling me I'm wrong or saying anything rude. I am simply answering a question I was asked. This is what I believe, and those who don't respect my opinion are not welcome on this post.
Dazai is the kind of person who always has control. Every once in awhile, he needs that control taken from him. Who better to take it from him than Chuuya, the being he trusts and understands more than anyone?
Despite what the fandom does, Chuuya is by far one of the most masculine characters in the show. He is extremely strong, utilizes violence and the physical playing field to make his case frequently, and uses masculine pronouns and word choices.
Even on the day that Dazai and Chuuya met, Chuuya had already asserted his dominance over Dazai.
Knocking Dazai into a wall, looming over him, with a foot on his stomach. He had Dazai under his thumbnail. Chuuya had established he was the alpha male upon their first encounter.
Now, let's fast forward a few years.
Dazai is a Port Mafia prisoner. He is chained up to the wall. Chuuya walks down the stairs, and, after not seeing Dazai in four years, decides that these should be the first words he says to him:
It's most likely Chuuya is teasing him by saying this, but if you put things into perspective and think about how he's saying the view that is Dazai chained up to a wall is a view worth more than a masterpiece worth ten billion, that speaks for itself, I'd say.
Following this, after some "banter," Chuuya walks up to Dazai and grabs him by the hair, dragging him very close to his face.
Think about it like this without looking at the image: Dazai is chained up; Chuuya approaches him and pulls on his hair to bring him close to him, later standing in between his legs and holding him by the throat.
Fairly homoerotic subtext.
Plus, Dazai being on the receiving end of it...
But using too much information from the dungeon scene is practically cheating, regardless of argument. So let's move onto a different part of the show.
In Japanese, they have different words that have the same English translation, but are used in different situations. An example of this is pronouns (like the words for I/me). There are several ways to say "I/me", each used in different contexts. Here are several examples:
私, watashi; the more gender-neutral way of saying I/me.
僕, boku; the more masculine way of saying I/me.
俺, ore; the version of saying I/me that creates a rougher image and should only really be used between those who are close.
We take this scene, which is the one I tend to use to prove that Dazai is more androgynous (but that's an argument for another day). We see the English translation right there. In Japanese, the sentence he's saying is:
"Watashi mo Chuuya no subete ga kirai da."
Him using the more gender-neutral pronoun does help my case, albeit slightly. Although I don't see why a guy who wouldn't be on the more submissive side would speak with less masculine pronouns (you wouldn't really see a guy who isn't submissive—or maybe GNC or enby—speaking with effeminate pronouns, but that's also an argument for another day). I also think it's worth noting that Chuuya uses ore.
I could very well use the "I'm familiar with your thrusts" scene as evidence, but that's practically cheating.
And last but not least, Dead Apple.
The infamous scene where Chuuya uses Corruption and saves Dazai.
We observe Dazai below Chuuya, although that is little evidence.
The true support is Dazai's dialogue.
First off, comparing himself to a princess doesn't really say "dominant."
Second, by comparing himself to a princess, he is also nonverbally painting Chuuya as his prince who gallantly came to his rescue.
All of these examples in the show give Dazai vibes that he would be the more submissive one in the relationship. I think it's tragic that so few people believe that, but it's what I believe.
I am not finished quite yet. I have some statements about Chuuya to help support that he is the more dominant one rather than Dazai.
First of all, a man who is renowned the best martial artist in Port Mafia, a man who has a god living inside him, a man who could probably snap anyone he so chooses in half, is not the kind of person who would easily submit to someone. I mean, if a man exceeds this much on the physical playing field, and uses this asset of his very frequently with little to no shame or regret, would he really want to let that go?
Now, I'm sure same case could be made about Dazai, since Dazai is the kind of person who always has control and struggles to relinquish it. But if we observe the way Chuuya has manhandled him many times, we can see he has little opposition to Chuuya doing these things, whereas we do not see Chuuya willingly surrendering his physical superiority to Dazai (we do not count the scene in Dead Apple where he falls asleep in Dazai's lap; he literally could not move).
Like in Port Mafia dungeon. Chuuya was there, pulling Dazai's hair, holding him by the throat, faces not all that far apart, and Dazai is just taking it. Even after four years of being MIA, Dazai seemed to have no problem with letting Chuuya have control like that.
Dazai is also much more feminine than Chuuya. I'm not going to go far enough to say Dazai is full-on feminine, but definitely moreso than Chuuya.
I gave examples above on Dazai's androgyny and Chuuya's masculinity and I see no need to repeat them.
But I will add this, as a flashback to one of my earlier points:
The fandom seems to feminize Chuuya a lot, which I find absurd. So what if he's shorter and has long hair? Chuuya is much more masculine than the majority of the male cast of Bungou Stray Dogs.
There is only one scene where he behaves in a way that opposes that idea.
The scene in which he behaves like a little rich girl.
Chuuya did this only for Dazai's amusement. He was clearly humiliated doing this (the Mayoi card based on this scene is even called "Shame"). He was intentionally being ridiculous, and mostly just to stop Dazai's nagging.
Every other scene with Chuuya is diametrically opposed to the femininity the fandom tends to give him. Hell, his first appearance in the show is beating Dazai up in a dungeon, asserting his dominance over him.
I'm not saying the fandom is not free to do what they please. However, it is tiresome to me that so many people feel the need to feminize Chuuya just to cater to a heteronormative fantasy. And before anyone hops on my case, by saying what I said earlier, I am not being a hypocrite and feminizing Dazai in return although I am guilty for enjoying drawing him crossdressing. I was merely stating facts given to us from the show. And I'm sure there are scenes in the manga/light novels that I have missed.
TL;DR: Chuuya asserts his dominance over Dazai day one. By allowing Chuuya to put him in his place, manhandle him, by using more gender-neutral pronouns, and by comparing himself to a princess, Dazai has established himself as being the more submissive one between the two (as well as the more feminine/gender-nonconforming one), and in Soukoku as a whole.
And this is why I believe Dazai is a bottom. Thank you for coming to my TedTalk ( ꈍᴗꈍ)
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