something that really surprised me when i first read dark era was how intimate oda and gide's last fight was.
(spoiler alert for the dark era light novel)
there were moments when the edges of the two began to blur, and you couldn't quite distinguish reality from reverie. they'd dance and spin on the edge of death with the familiarity of old friends.
i really enjoyed how immersive and emotional asagiri wrote it to be, the adaptation really fell short in that matter.
We didn't actually speak because our skills were predicting what the other would say, and we would think of how we would reply. The moment we came up with an answer, the other would foresee it in a vision and then come up with his own reply.
[...]
It was a brief moment of eternity — a short passage of time that hardly existed. Our visions and reality meshed, creating a world that transcended our world, making it impossible to know how much was real and how much was our skill. It was a world only we could exist in. It was a world we could find only through killing each other.
the way the action scenes played out was really equally as good; the way they spun around with their arms linked, leaning on each other's backs, using each other's shoulders as leverage to take down enemies. wow. really cool.
gide clearly held oda in high regard from the very beginning, but it’s easy to overlook that it was a mutual feeling. in the end, oda fought not only to avenge the children, but also to pay respect for gide's legacy.
With only one pistol each, Gide and I faced off. Showing his teeth in a wide half-moon smile, he laughed. The expression on my face was probably no different.
given how rarely oda actually laughs, seeing him consciously point this out is very meaningful.
gide is one of the only ones (if not the only one!) to call oda by first name alone. gide was also the first person oda told the reason he had stopped killing and about his dream, before even dazai or ango.
We pointed our guns at each other. However, in the world of eternity, we quietly faced each other and talked like friends. Gide looked at me. I could see the sincerity in his gaze.
[...]
There were only two people in that massive hall still alive. Our muzzles each pointed at the other's heart. Gide wasn't wearing wearing bulletproof clothing, and I'd taken mine off moments prior during battle. A shot to the chest would be fatal. The triggers had already been pulled. The bullets began to slide out of the barrels.
However, we just smiled, facing our partners as if we'd come to know everything about each other, like old friends after a long chat.
oda held no grudge against gide nor blamed him for the bitter end; killing him and being killed by him was simply inevitable at that point. he could not let it pass and gide didn't wish so, either.
“A magnificent shot until the very end.” Gide smiled. “I'm going to go see my men. Say hello to the kids.”
The bullets reached our chests. The singularity vanished. The bullets penetrated the skin, cut through our clothes, and exited out our backs. At the same time, in the same fashion, we both fell backward.
such a small detail but it kinda pisses me off that bones made gide fall before oda in the anime. the surreal balance between the two and the fact that they likely died at the exact same time, too, are so important to this chapter. i wonder if gide lay there hearing oda's last words to dazai.
oda smirks satisfied as life slipped from him for he seemed to consider gide “something worth the cost,” according to the light novel itself.
“Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed...”
I immediately drew my pistols and turned around while pointing them in the direction of the voice. He stood before me — the handsome ghost with silver hair and clothes. Pointing my guns at him, I finished his sentence.
the verse they recite is an allegory for how jesus' death yields greater good than if he had lived an ordinary life. a seed that does not break open and lose its original shape (die), bears no fruit.
this directly relates to how oda comes to haunt the narrative and the general ideology of bsd through his own death. he triggers a nice domino effect both chronologically and philosophically.
and there's also this? lmao
Dazai smiled. “Anyway, I feel for you, Odasaku. Not only did you run into the enemy's boss, but he made some serious advances toward you, too. At this rate, you guys will be married by the weekend.”
It did start out as a joke but two new pins are coming out in the following months and I still have to source two more pieces and I don’t know if this tiny bag will be enough
theartofmadeline
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
stormborns
gamechangershow
vaporwave
