hermesstolemywig

[hermesstolemywig]

Hey did you know I keep a google drive folder with linguistics and language books  that I try to update regularly 

[hermesstolemywig]

I just read about the SKK Light Novel and it seems that Rimbaud and Chuuya are like father-and-son-like before Rimbaud died. I am curious about RL!Rimbaud and RL!Chuuya relationship. I tried searching google but there isnt any specific info and just that Chuuya only met him because of Hideo.

^ Left: Nakahara Chuuya getting married to Ueno Takako in 1933Right: Rimbaud, aged 17, by Étienne Carjat, probably taken in December 1871

I always turn to an actual book for information like this. The internet just doesn’t seem to have much information about it in English, and it takes so long to sort through things to find new information. So here are a few things I found in The Poems of Nakahara Chuuya translated by Paul Mackintosh and Maki Sugiyama that mention Rimbaud:

That autumn [in 1924], [Nakahara] met through one of his teachers the poet Tominaga Tarou (1901-25), who introduced him to the works of Baudelaire, Rimbaud and Verlaine. The example of French Symbolist poetry, at first in translation and later in the original, was to be another formative influence on Nakahara, who began to produce verse of extreme musicality a la Verlaine, featuring Symbolist staples such as pierrots.

(Introduction page x)

…he became acquainted [in 1925] through Tominaga with Kobayashi Hideo (1902-83), at that time still a student at the elite Tokyo University, but soon to make his mark as Japan’s leading literary critic and an original thinker who was, according to the eminent Japanologist Edward Seidensticker, ‘a better writer than most of the novelists who have occupied the translators.’ Kobayashi, who wrote his 1928 graduation thesis on Rimbaud, was clearly congenial company for Nakahara…”

(Introduction page xi)

[Kawakami Tetsutarou], who first met Nakahara in 1927, left a vivid record of his impressions at this time: ‘Nakahara was walking with his hands in his jacket pockets, in an outfit exactly like Rimbaud’s in the portrait that Verlaine drew: black clothes and shirt, and a broad-brimmed hat, with hair hanging over the neck. His behavior was extraordinary. I listened to him, feeling a strange mixture of curiosity, fascination and disgust.’

(Introduction page xiii)

In December 1933 Nakahara married Ueno Takako, a distant relative. In the same month, his volume of translations, Rimbaud: Poems of his School Days was published. Ooka Shouhei later wrote of these translations, ‘Nakahara’s translation may suffer some handicaps linguistically, but it is unparalleled where he captures the unity of the poetry as a whole. What’s more, he translates with care regarding the gaps in the vocabulary caused by Rimbaud’s haste. I would say this is most dramatic translation.’

(Introduction page xvii)

In June 1936 a second volume of translations, Selected Poems of Rimbaud, was published. But in November of that year [Nakahara’s first son] Fumiya died of tubercular meningitis. Nakahara was shattered and suffered a nervous breakdown. The birth of his second son, Yoshimasa, in December did nothing to mitigate his grief. In January 1937 he was incarcerated in the Chiba Temple sanatorium. While in hospital, he wrote a record of his treatment, poems, tanka, essays, and letters. He quickly rallied, and was released in mid-February. Unable to live in the same house with his memories of Fumiya, he decamped with his wife and child to Kamakura, where Kobayashi and Ooka were living. That same month, his Collection of Poems of Rimbaud was published; he received 50 copies, in lieu of payment, which he gave away to family and friends.

(Introduction page xviii)

After that Chuuya went home to Yamaguchi defeated and later that year he fell ill, was hospitalized, and passed away on 22 October 1937 in the hospital from tubercular meningitis. His son died the next January. So there wasn’t anything else that he was able to do as far as translations or works inspired by Rimbaud.

I did find a sketch of Rimbaud by Verlaine where he is wearing his hat:

(image source)

^Nakahara Chuuya, 1925

[hermesstolemywig]

Goggol and Dostoevsky: Joker’s Wild 

The clown and the rat are set up as yet another Yin / Yang or Double Black pairing in Bungou Stray Dogs. Continuing from my previous post on Jouno and Tecchou, the main conflict between these two characters is a conflict between ideals and bonds. More underneath the cut. 

Keep reading

[hermesstolemywig]

Of Dazai and the Old Boss – An Analysis Report

Wordcount: 1.374.

So ever since I started reading the manga, there was always one character I always wondered about; the Old Boss, or the boss that came before Mori. Sure he seemed like an unimportant side character in the way he’s presented, but I have reasons to believe he’s more than that.

First, let’s compile what we know about him.

1.     He was ruthless even when he’s not bedridden and paranoid, as was said by Kouyou whose lover was killed because she tried to escape the Mafia with him.

And again when Tanizaki tried to kill Mori but was stopped by Kouyou, saying that if Mori died, the Mafia would return to its ‘wretched ways’. We can say with complete confidence that Mori’s way is so much ‘kinder’ than the old boss.

2.       He was bedridden with illness that also made him paranoid of attacks. This is not the case before the illness strike because Hirotsu mentioned he become like that after the illness. If Mori hadn’t stopped him by slicing his throat, he would have burnt Yokohama down.

4.       Wait that’s it? Yep. All we knew about him was in that episode and that chapter. But what we know about him was profound.

First let’s look at this scene:

Notice how Hirotsu mentioned Dazai specifically? Here’s the original panel for that scene:

In this, we can confidently say that Hirotsu singled out Dazai about how was the one who should’ve been most not alright with the development. The words used for it ‘Dazai –kun mo rikai suru tokoro de attarou‘  implies this. It hints that Dazai should’ve been resentful to Mori because he killed the Old Boss. But against all odds, he understood why Mori did what he did.

Then there’s this scene.

It really bothered me and when I looked deeper this is what cemented my conclusion of Dazai and the Old Boss’ connection. So as we could see in this scene, Mori killed the Old Boss and had Dazai become the sole witness. Now this premise has many problems.

1. Other than Mori, who was a doctor so obviously he was to take care of the sick, notice that Dazai was the only one in the room. Now this is strange. He was the only one who was by the Old Boss’ side, all alone in the room with the vulnerable, sick man when there’s no doctor to hover on the bedside. This in and of itself is a proof of their bond. If they weren’t well-known to have it, then all the Mafia would be suspicious to the fact that he’s accompanying the boss when he’s the most vulnerable.

On top of that he was entrusted with the Boss’ security as he was in the room with Mori who might or might not harm him (spoiler, he harmed the boss.) so he was supposed to be the one to care the most about the Old Boss’ wellbeing.

2.       As we know from the light novel, Odasaku mentioned that Dazai was considered to become an Executive at 16. In this scene he was only 14 and at that point of time, he had enough sway in the Organization that he can be the sole witness to the boss’ will and everyone just—nods and go along with it, making Mori the new boss despite them should be having Five Executive that would have fought for the seat. Why?

3.       In this case, Dazai cannot be adopted and raised by Mori as the fandom believed. If he was Mori’s and he became the sole witness everyone would call bull on it because he’d be perceived as Mori’s accomplice in taking out the Old Boss. They’d be executed and one of the upper echelon would take the throne themselves.

This would only work if the Port Mafia to believe that he couldn’t harm the boss and wouldn’t let harm come to him.

But what about this picture, you ask? Well, Mori did have a connection with Dazai too seing how Dazai got the coat he wore from before he was 14 to 18 from him. That’s a good 4 years wearing the same thing. I think this was actually the same case with Chuuya not appearing in the Dark Era; the plot has yet to be told to the readers and kept secret.

Summary:  the Organization needs to know Dazai well and for some reason connect him with not only being close enough to the Old Boss for it not be strange for him to be all alone in the room with him and having enough credibility that he can’t possibly lie about the Old Boss’ last will. On top of that, he needs some reason to be the one ‘most not alright with it’ in a personal sense.

So what would make this credible? What could make this work? It would be if by doing so he was giving up his rights to the throne.

Here cometh my conclusion: Dazai was the Old Boss’ son and the rightful heir to the Port Mafia. If he was one, it won’t be strange for him to have credibility as 14-year old kid claiming to be the sole witness to a boss of The Mafia’s biggest bad that made a city doctor its next Boss.  More than that, it would be natural for him to spend time alone in the Boss’ bedside when he was sick and vulnerable.

No, I won’t be dropping Darth Vader’s ‘I am your father’ bomb here, despite it being extremely tempting. How many father and child bound by blood have you seen in BSD? That’s right, none. No reason to break the pattern now.

But what is prevalent? Adopting orphans. Hell, it was dropped by Odasaku in his last moment as one of Dazai’s driving force. In fact, most of the main cast are either adopted orphans or have adopted an orphan. (Fukuzawa & Ranpo, Kunikida & Rokuzo, Akutagawa/Atsushi and Dazai, need I go on?)

Here’s my verdict: Dazai was the heir to the Port Mafia because he was the Old Boss’ adopted. When the Old Boss died, everyone in the Mafia who knew about it, thought that he couldn’t possibly lie because by doing so he’d be defacing the Old Boss and giving away his rights to the throne. This gave him the ultimate credibility and thus allowing Mori to become the next King.

Most of all, this also solve the mystery of Mori’s behavior. Why drive Dazai away when he’s 18, when Mori could’ve killed him or make him go away before? He made the preparation to drive Dazai away two years beforehand when Dazai was 16, a good two years after becoming boss. The answer was because this will reveal his play to his subordinate. In the light novel Odasaku mentioned about Mori’s fearsome reputation for being ruthless and clever as hell. And this is the key; reputation.

If Mori killed Dazai before he got a secure standing in the Mafia, he would be accused to be killing the Old Boss and taking down his heir. Everyone would be on the scent of blood like sharks, especially in a place as cruel as the Mafia. So he got himself a reputation, backed by people loyal to him (Chuuya, Kouyou and, in an extent, Ace who was loyal only to money) and when he was sure that he has shown what he could and would do to the whole Mafia and the world, he cut off Dazai because he was no longer needed and now poses only threat.

By exiling the Prince, he would be able to hog the throne for himself since the older members would not be rallying behind Dazai to retake his rights. Truly a long-running plan befitting of him.

But hey, that’s just a theory. A BSD theory. Aaaand cut.

[hermesstolemywig]

dazai is the book theory

 this started as crack but then i looked closer into it and it’s not that improbable tbh (bcs we know jackshit about dazai b4 he was 14, so here’s my dime to it)

dazai is the book. or at least the phisical manifestation/humansona of the reality altering object we knew nothing about till season 2

first, let’s get the obvious out of the way: dazai is immortal. it seems to be an in universe gag that he can’t die (aku said it, and they were talking about the complete annihilation of yokohoma). but fifteen revealed that he did try and kill himself multiple times and that Mori had done everythign in his power to stop him, so that might be it. but still, eight years in which Dazai couldn’t just kill himself. that seems highly improbable seeing how creative he gets with his attempts. we also saw him getting shot and thrown at walls hard enough to leave a crack, and even if this is anime, there are only a few other people who this happened to and they are:

atsushi: regeneration

aku (? - can’t remember) - rashoumon/rushmore

chuuya: who can control gravity and is a literal eldritch god

yasano: who’s already immortal

it would also explain why he wants to die. if he’s unconciously the book, then he know the other universes and what will happen, which can get a little depressing. after all, why would your life matter if you exist in another universe anyway

second: Dazai’s uncanny ability to bullshit. 

look at it this way: when a character is presented to never be wrong, they are usually shown at some point as being wrong. but no, Dazai’s plans never fail. oda wasn’t a plan, and Dazai was held back, so he didn’t have a way to save him. but dazai? never been wrong, never failed. he might have been surprised by something, but that was about it. now, if he was the book (but didn’t know it) he might have a feeling for the other universes and ways for things to happen, which is why he choses the best plan. he doesnt predict what will happen, he choses the best course of action

you must also consider that it is said that Atsushi will find the book, and atsushi literally pulled dazai out of the river in ep 1

third: his ability. in a world with abilities, the power to turn anyone human feels a bit like evening the odds, don’t you think? especially the name: no longer human. it does imply that he was human at some point. maybe he’s like chuuya and the book took over his body, which is why he isn’t human anymore? who knows, not us, bcs everyone gets a proper backstory but dazai!

he also knows when to go and where to go to save the day properly. always the right place, the right time. he’s the physical embodiment of the inciting incident

it would also explain why Mori wants him back so badly, even if Dazai would be the first to stab him in the back. he wants the book (bcs apparently, everyone wants to book rn)

and before you come and tell me that the book exists as an object, i (kinda) have an explanation for that too:

in beast, they said that if more than two people at the time knew about the book, the world would go to hell or whatever. we can safely assume that those two people were fyodor and fitzy. but now there are more people who know about it, which could have made a rift and released one of the pages

do i believe that this will be real? not really, but they did pull the god of calamity and multiverse on us, so it might be plausible

will i believe it till we’re given a straight answer? hell yes

please tell me what you think of this

[hermesstolemywig]

Akutagawa and the Spider’s Thread

Ryunosuke Akutagawa as early on as chapter four is introduced to us as a brutal dog of the mafia with seemingly no regard for life. His first action is to slaughter an entire police station and then blow up the witnesses without any remorse. He’s the oe responsible for instructing Kyouka to kill 35 people, and tries to prevent her from escaping a life of killing. 

However, as the manga unfolds there is far more to Akutagawa’s character than what meets the eye, and rather than someone who has no value for life and therefore can kill without feeling anything, his views on life and death are far more complex. As contradictory as it is, by stepping over corpses and sinking himself into the blood soaked world of the mafia, Ryunosuke is actually seeking a meaning to life. Rather than seeing life as worth nothing, all of his actions are his own struggle to make life worth something. 

Despite being a cold blooded killer, Akutagawa’s character thematically revolves around life, and saving lives just as Atsushi’s does, as shown in the connection to the real life author’s short stories(Rashomon, The Spider’s Thread) as explained under the cut. This meta will explain that Akutagawa’s path to eventual redemption lies on something as thin and as weak as a Spider’s Thread. 

Keep reading

[hermesstolemywig]

Kaze ga Fuku Machi - Bungo Stray Dogs ED 2 Analysis

The anime adaptation of Bungou Stray Dogs has some striking visual imagery as well as use of colors to try to convey the same visual story telling as the manga for a different medium. This is especially apparent in the first two endings which work as deep dives into the characters featured in them using only images. Under the cut is an analysis of Kaze ga Fuku Machi or Town Where the Wind Blows. 

Keep reading

[hermesstolemywig]

The worse this situation in Ukraine is getting the more i hate the jokes americans make about it. All of those "vladdy look at me this isn't u 🥺" "not me living through ww3" and "i don't wanna get drafted" jokes are just in bad taste to me. If it were my country, i would not want people to joke about it this way.

And i see so many of them go "well we use humor to cope" literally from what? What do you need to cope from? The traumatic event of watching the news and seeing footage of something that's happening hundreds of miles away from you? That's no different from any other war that's been happening over the last two decades though. Wars that America has very much been involved in. So why is this different to you? Because "white" countries are involved now?

Before you joke think about what you're saying. American teens and young adults are probably as far removed from this conflict as can be, which is why you find it so easy to joke about this. I have also seen brits and other west europeans make jokes so ofc americans aren't the only ones, but you are the majority. I have yet to see east europeans make jokes though. Why? Because they realize how serious this situation is and jokes don't help.

Meanwhile Ukrainians have to sit and watch their land be invaded. They are losing their homes. I stand with Ukraine 💙💛

[hermesstolemywig]

Atsushi’s Greatest Weakness

Atsushi is one of the strongest written protagonists encountered in manga. Which means that for as many strengths as he has, he has an equal amount of weaknesses. His biggest weakness is highlighted all the more in his relationship with Akutagawa, and the friction between the two as they bring out the best in each other while also simultaneously seeing the worst in one another. For a deeper analysis of Atsushi and his struggles using his connection to Akutagawa to guide us, read underneath the cut.

Keep reading

[hermesstolemywig]

Akutagawa’s Death

The reveal that Akutagawa has known for a long time that even after escaping from the slums, he still hasn’t escaped the death that perpetually hung over him his entire life due to being born in the slums. Akutagawa’s entire character is written around death. An Akutagawa character analysis under the cut. 

Keep reading

[hermesstolemywig]

Dazai and Chuuya: Ningen Shikkaku

Chuuya and Dazai are one of the most heavily discussed partnerships in the manga. The two of them are clearly set up as foils the same way Atsushi and Akutagawa the main character and the main rival are. However, while Atsushi and Akutagawa are “different, but the same” in a way that makes them come into conflict the partnership between Chuuya and Dazai reads differently to me. Rather than “different, but the same” its “Different, but desires the same” as both Chuuya and Dazai desire to live as human beings but go about achieving that in completely different ways. 

For more analysis on “Double Black” or “Soukoku” and their connection to “Ningen Shikkaku” or “No Longer Human” the author Osamu Dazai’s most famous work, read under the cut. 

Keep reading

[hermesstolemywig]

Synonyms or Antonyms: Dazai and Dostoevsky

From the moment they meet within Bungou Stray Dogs, Dazai and Fyodor are set up as foils. 

Foil Definition. In literature, a foil is a character that shows qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of another character. The objective is to highlight the traits of the other character.

That is to say from the moment they are drawn in panel together, the audience is naturally meant to compare and contrast them. Their entire first scene plays their similarities and differences up. First, Dazai dresses as Fyodor not only as a joke but to draw the eye to how similar they are, both of them dark haired skinny males with pale complexions who wear overcoats. 

Dazai explains he was able to predict where Fyodor would end up, because if he were in the same situation it was what he would do. When he says that, Fyodor shows Dazai the same smile he showed him earlier, like Dazai is looking in a mirror. 

Dazai and Dotsoevsky are able to read each other so well, knowing the other like they know themselves. Which allows both of them to continually one up the other and predict the other’s movements. However their relationship extends far beyond ‘Being the same’, or just the fact that they’re both highly skilled manipulators who are able to pull off complex plans. It’s even much more than Dazai and Fyodor are just smarter than everybody else in a way that isolates them. They are each other’s inverse in almost every way while appearing to be exactly the same. I’ll elaborate in detail beneath the cut.

Keep reading

[hermesstolemywig]

Newsflash: Chuuya cares for Dazai

This can be sort of counted as a part two of my analysis talking about Dazai's care for Chuuya. In this post I will be focusing on Chuuya's feelings and care towards Dazai, hope you enjoy! :)

Chuuya Nakahara is a very expressive character, therefore, it is logical to believe that his feelings towards Dazai are easy to grasp, which is true. But just because we can understand Chuuya's feelings easier does not make them any less complex.

This is going to sound much harsher than I intend it to but Chuuya's hatred towards Dazai is defiently more genuine and prominent than Dazai's "hatred" towards Chuuya. Fellow Soukoku shipper reading this, I know this hurts but bare with me!

Dazai's "hatred" for Chuuya is truly not as strong. Don't get me wrong, there are some aspects that Chuuya has that Dazai finds annoying, but he doesn't truly hate him. Chuuya is one of the first people that Dazai ever actually started to harvest genuine care for. Chuuya was also one of the reasons Dazai wanted to continue living in Fiftheen, not to mention how Chuuya was basically Dazai's drive to continue living and fighting in Stormbringer. I think that Dazai's reasoning to "hate" Chuuya is because of the sole reason that Chuuya was indirectly making Dazai bring out aspects of himself that he has never shown or even knew he had before. I believe that another reason Dazai could "hate" Chuuya is because of how loyal he is to the pm, which could be seen as ironic considering the fact that Chuuya's loyalty was exactly what drew Dazai in back when they were 15.

As much as I hate to admit it, Chuuya does "hate" Dazai. He even resents the idea of being associated with Dazai. The reason for this is simple: he hates what Dazai Osamu represents. Everyone in the port mafia saw Dazai as inhuman, even Dazai himself doesn't see himself as human, and Chuuya desperately wants to be seen as human. So he proyects his own anger and fear of not being human onto Dazai. Another reason Chuuya could hate Dazai is because of how Dazai, a biological human— rejects his own humanity. Something that Chuuya craves so bad.

The reason as to why I say that Chuuya's hate can be considered stronger than Dazai's is because both of these characters strive for one thing: Humanity.

Dazai sees Chuuya as a human. During Stormbringer he doesn't even doubts Chuuya's humanity even after Chuuya's sketchy background and orgins. Dazai even likes to drop small hints to Chuuya that he is human.

This pannel represents their view for each other very well. Dazai says "im human too, you know?" he says the word "too", emphazasing on the fact that he is also calling Chuuya human. And what is Chuuya's response to that? "Nobody would believe that shit." So... Is Chuuya talking about himself or about Dazai here? I would say both, on one side this can be seen as Chuuya insulting Dazai. But if we look at the bigger picture and also Dazai's choice of words, Chuuya is actually saying that its hard to believe that he himself is human. But at the end of the day, he is just proyecting his insecurities and anger towards Dazai like he always does, but this time it was an insult that hurts both of them.

Chuuya "hated" Dazai. Back when both of them were in the pm, Chuuya acted like he didn't give two shits about Dazai. During the times we've seen these two when they were in the pm, Dazai's care for Chuuya was 10x more evident than Chuuya's care for Dazai. Chuuya's behavior towards Dazai is much more crude and vulgar, but that does not mean that Chuuya doesn't care for Dazai, infact Chuuya cares a whole lot for him. Back then, Chuuya did not want to accept it. He did not want to accept that he cared for the person who he wanted to see as "inhuman" so badly.

Even though Chuuya "hated" him when they were in the pm, he felt close to Dazai, he felt so close to him to the point he truly trusts him with corruption and with battle strategies.

Chuuya defiently held a lot of care for Dazai in the pm but he never took the time to think or even realize his care. I would like to say that Chuuya's care was instincitve. Chuuya never hesitates to save Dazai, there was never an ulterior motive to save him, he just dives in without a question.

My favorite example to show when it comes to Chuuya's instinctive care will always be in stormbringer, code 4:

"So that's how it is..." Dazai said as he stared back at the black lump with a stern expression on his face.

Cracks appeared on the ground. Something that looked like the head of a reptile pooked out of the lump.

"Watch out!" Chuuya jumped to the side by manipulating gravity and grabbed Dazai, rolling over to the woods.

Chuuya did not even think twice of pulling Dazai away from harm. Chuuya didn't hesitate at all. The reason for that is simple, he cares. He just doesn't want to accept it nor acknowledge it.

Another perfect example of Chuuya's care when they were back in the pm is the whole microscope situation in the dragon head conflict. Its quite funny how a minute before realizing Dazai's plan, Chuuya told Mori how Dazai is better off dead, but the moment he realize that there was a chance to get Dazai and his own friends out of Shibusawa's mess, he did not overthink it at all and quickly goes over to help Dazai.

So my point is Chuuya was so focused on his own self-proyecting towards Dazai to even realize he cares for him. But that all changes the night Dazai leaves the pm.

The next think I will be discussing about is something that I have talked about on my last previous posts, so if you want a more detailed explanation about this you can go read them. (for some reason I can't link my own posts but they aren't hard to find!)

But anyways, Chuuya has lost so many significant people in his life, he's either been betrayed by them or they die. Dazai has been such a constant person in Chuuya's life and I believe that Chuuya didn't really acknowledge that, maybe he did realize in some sort of subconcious level, hence why he always is instinctively protective over Dazai when he's in real danger.

It was actually Dazai's departure when it hit Chuuya that he indeed does care for Dazai. It was the moment when he realized how wierd it feels to have that one person who stuck with you since you first entered the pm to suddendly disappear.

I think everyone in this fandom can agree that Chuuya was hurt by Dazai leaving without any explanation, even Asagiri confirmed this in the afterwards of stormbringer by saying that Chuuya's feelings towards Dazai leaving the pm haven't been fully revealed yet, and I think its pretty evident by Chuuya's expression when he mentions Dazai's departure, he wasn't happy about it at all.

It was Dazai's departure that wierdly enough strenghtened Soukoku's bond from Chuuya's end. Sure, Chuuya holds a lot of grudge and resentment towards Dazai for leaving, but Dazai has also been the only person in his life who was able to leave and come back, and not only just "come back" but both of them also managed to mantain the same partnership and bond they've shared for years.

When they see each other in the basement, Chuuya chooses to let him go. He could've restrained him to give Dazai a harder time, especially if we consider the fact that Dazai literally "betrayed" the pm– betraying Chuuya to an extension. But Chuuya lets him go, because he doesn't want him to actually die.

Chuuya could've also shown a way stronger resolve when it came to fighting Dazai in the basement, but he doesn't. He lets Dazai "harass" him back. He even goes as far as to humilate himself to make Dazai laugh.

There was literally no reason whatsoever for Chuuya to do this. It was just a sublte bonding moment between the two.

In the lovecraft battle, Chuuya was being so open about his trust for Dazai. These two always have this "actions speaks louder than words" thing going on but I think that Dazai really needed that reassurence, Dazai needed that reassurence that Chuuya still trusts him even after leaving him, he needed that reassurence that Chuuya trusts him.

Back when both were in the pm days, Chuuya would've never said this outloud. Ever. But now that he actually realized how important Dazai is to him so he can't help but say it out loud, to show that vulnerable side of him. Even when he believes that theres a posibility Dazai doesn't care back.

I literally love this "light punch to the chest" gesture, its so subtle yet so sweet. Showing us how although they both are in opossing sides now, they will always find a way to keep their partnership and bond. This little punch screams "I still see you as a partner and that's not changing you idiot" and I love that so much.

And then of course, we can talk about Dead Apple and how much trust Chuuya puts into Dazai and his strategies. We even have Chuuya admiting to trusting his vitality and craftiness. Chuuya trusts Dazai so much to the point he used corruption with the faith that Dazai will nullify it, even when everyone deemed Dazai dead.

These two truly treasure each other and especially their feelings towards each other. It's so intimate, it's so familiar and it's so bittersweet.

[hermesstolemywig]

Newsflash: Dazai cares for Chuuya

Before reading any further, I will be talking about stormbringer, so spoilers ahead!! Translation credits go out to: @popopretty on tumblr, make sure to give this kind human some love and appreciation<3

Also if you want to read the first few chapters of stormbringer: @buraihatranslations is currently translating it, give them much love and appreciation as well, they deserve it!!

Honestly, I have been so obsessed with Soukoku lately and I think the reason behind this is because when it comes to Soukoku, their feelings for each other are not as easy to grasp as love or hate, it is much more profound than that. There is care, hurt, trust, resentment, companionship, bitterness, and consideration...And ironically enough, thats just the tip of the iceberg.

If we break down their individual feelings towards each other, it will be easier to understand their bond.

On Chuuya's end, his feelings are much more clear due to his expressive personality. He wears his emotions on his sleeves, he can try and hide what he feels towards Dazai but his true feelings tend to unravel easily.

He sometimes tries to mask his feelings towards Dazai by throwing insults, but his facial expressions are enough to contradict what he is saying.

Chuuya's feelings towards Dazai can be easier to comprehend. He obviously feels this certain betrayal due to the fact Dazai left the Port Mafia. Not to mention, he and Dazai have always had a rivalry relationship.

In the Soukoku wiki page, it is stated that Chuuya is aware of Dazai not experiencing a proper childhood, therefore allows him to act as childish as he can and lets him tease him relentlessly. I don't know how reliable this source is, but either way I think its worthy enough to add.

In the Dragon head conflict when Dazai was out of sight, Chuuya told Mori to forget about Dazai. That was until Hirotsu mentioned a microscope, Chuuya quickly realizes it was code language because he remembered a previous conversation where Dazai says he needs a microscope to be able to see Chuuya properly.

The moment he figured out it was a tracker, Chuuya did not hesitate to jump in and rescue Dazai. But here is the catch: No one but Chuuya knew about the microscope, if Chuuya really didn't care for Dazai he wouldn't have mentioned the microscope and kept all this under wraps, leaving Dazai in a mess.

Chuuya trusts Dazai with his life. He never hesitates to leave his life on Dazai's hands when it has to come to it. Chuuya and Dazai have known each other for years, for Chuuya to be able to trust Dazai that much is because Dazai also cares for him too, right?

The answer here is yes, Dazai cares for Chuuya. In a superficial level, it doesn't seem like Dazai truly cares, but I can assure you that he does care for him. Weather you like to think of his care in a platonic or romantic manner, the care Dazai has for Chuuya is undeniable and extremely significant for Dazai's character.

I think that stormbringer establishes this idea even further. There is one specific moment in this light novel that shows his genuine concern towards Chuuya's well being:

"There is one problem." Dazai cut off his sentence hesitantly. "It has nothing to do with the sucess rate of the plan. It is a matter we have to overcome in the end but... It may require some time to decide."

"What's with you?" Chuuya raised his eyebrows at Dazai. "Stop dramatizing it. Just hurry up and say it."

"I said earlier about this control spell to open the 'gate' that is used to reset the command inside Chuuya, right?" Dazai spoke with a strangely restrained voice. "If we use that, the logs of the command formula that were written in the past will be erased. That means...even if the memory erasure was used on Chuuya in the past, the traces of that will be erased as well."

"What?"

"I told you before right, the memory erasure command. The only way we can confirm if Chuuya is human or not is to check the history to see if the memory erasure command was ever used. It means..." Dazai looked at Chuuya with eyes that he had never looked at him before. Those eyes were serious. "If we use that control spell, the method to confirm if Chuuya is an artificial personality created by a string of code, or just a normal human being, will be lost. For good."

The time had stopped.

Chuuya opened his eyes and looked towards Dazai but his eyes were not seeing anything. The wind blew between the two of them. Even so, Chuuya did not blink.

"Verlaine became like that because he was tormented by the curse that he was not human. That only is enough of a big problem. The matter of being human or not." Dazai looked at his pocket watch, gave it a glance and continued. "I can delay the time until the plan starts for about two minutes. I will send an order for my men to wait... You can think about it alone for a while. Cuz I guess its hard for you to collect your thoughts with me around."

Having said so, Dazai turned away and walked down the stairs, leaving Chuuya alone.

Dazai fixated in his pocket watch. Two more minutes. Too short for a life decision. But he couldn't afford more than that.

Inside Dazai's head, he was planning a procedure to swith to an alternative plan in case Chuuya refused, at a tremendous speed.

This section in stormbringer is personally one of my favorites, this is a very rare moment between both of them, but especially for Dazai. Like I stated earlier Chuuya wears his emotions on his sleeves, therefore even if he tries to mask his care with insults, its still painfully noticable that he genuienly looks after Dazai. Chuuya also sometimes show a vulnerable side of himself to Dazai, especially after using corruption.

Dazai on the other hand is extremely unreadable. Its hard to understand his true intentions and if he really cares for people or only sees them as a pawn. In this moment though, Dazai was being painfully genuine. Dazai literally prioritized Chuuya over the mission. He was already thinking of coming up with an alternative plan just in case Chuuya refused, obviously the sucess rate of the alternative plan would be lesser than the actual plan Dazai had in mind, he choose Chuuya's wellbeing over a mission.

In this section, Dazai wasn't throwing jokes or witty remarks, he was being serious. Because Dazai knows how desperately Chuuya wants to be human. He knows how important being human is to Chuuya.

Dazai wasn't manipulating Chuuya by giving him the chance to decide, we can see that Dazai was literally showing a lot of hesitation when mentioning this to him, we also get to see what Dazai was thinking, and we can tell he wasn't thinking about manipulative his movements in any way. All of this wasn't coming out of manipulation, it was coming out of pure care.

After six steps, Dazai reached the stair. He stepped on the stair and started walking down. Three steps down the stair, he heard a *clang*, a cool sound of metal echoing behind him. It sounded like the metal was kicked by the sole of someones shoes. The moment Dazai realized what the sound was, Dazai turned around in surprise.

There was already no one at the top.

Dazai was dazed for a moment, then he loosened his lips and laughed.

"Trying to act cool, huh?" Dazai smiled, both annoyed and relieved. Then he turned on his radio and sent out his order. "Chuuya has sallied, everyone get ready for battle."

I personally love this part so much, relief washed over Dazai the moment he noticed that Chuuya was going to go through with the first plan, which proves my point that he wasn't manipulating him and how Dazai was under a lot of stress because he wasn't sure if the alternative plan would be as effective as his original one.

Yet he still was willing to go through the alternative plan if Chuuya refused, because Dazai values him and regards his wellbeing.

Dazai was being surprisingly gentle in this section, he was being honest. There was no ulterior motive behind his actions here, just a boy looking after his partner.

"So i'm going to send an order to my men to prepare for action... Is that okay?"

"Of course it's okay." Chuuya turned to Dazai. "Why are you asking me such a thing?"

Dazai didn't answer right away.

That was an unusual expression. It's like he was trying to say something, but he had to arrange the words in his head to decide where he should start. An expression he rarely shows.

This was right before Dazai drops the bomb to Chuuya about the memory erasure command. He was even asking for Chuuya's opinion on sending his men to get ready, this was the first time Dazai ever showed actual concern without masking it with witty remarks. You can tell that Chuuya isn't used to this.

And when you think about it, when Dazai and Chuuya have missions together, Dazai always uses corruption as a last resort and he always allows Chuuya to make the decision if they will be using it or not.

I personally belive that the main reason Chuuya trusts Dazai with using corruption is because The Sheep used to exploit his powers too much, but Dazai leaves the decision to use corruption up to Chuuya. Dazai understands the physical and mental toll corruption takes on Chuuya and therefore leaves the choice up to him.

Theres another section in stormbringer that I really enjoy, it doesn't necessairly show solicitude but I still think this should still be taken into consideration:

"You seem pretty confident that Chuuya is human, don't you?"

"I am," Dazai laughed with a sigh. "There is no way a man-made code could create such a personality that I detest so much."

Throughout the whole story, Dazai is more than determined that Chuuya is human. The main reason Dazai finds Chuuya so intresting is because of how frighteningly human Chuuya can be, because of the fact that he always wears his emotions on his sleeves, something Dazai rarely does himself. Thats personally a nice sentiment from Dazai's end, even when Chuuya struggles completely when it comes to believing in his own humanity, Dazai still can't help but see him as a human being.

Also I am aware that Dazai literally said he detests Chuuya here but he also sighed and laughed while stating this, showing us that he isn't being serious about hating him.

And its not only in stormbringer were he shows his concern towards Chuuya. In fact, in this following manga pannel Dazai is telling Chuuya that if he is willing to listen him, he will stage his own escape so that Chuuya doesn't get punnished.

Honestly, if Dazai didn't care enough for Chuuya, he wouldn't have mentioned this to him. Chuuya didn't care enough to realize that he literally unwillingly freed Dazai which would get the pm mad at him, so the fact that Dazai is literally helping him out is no doubt out of care for him. If Dazai didn't have any regard for Chuuya he would've not staged his escape or mentioned anything to Chuuya, eventually incriminating him.

There are many misconceptions when it comes to Dazai's feelings towards Chuuya, people think that he doesn't care for him due to the fact that he left the Port Mafia, leaving Chuuya behind. But heres the thing: Dazai's intentions had nothing to do with Chuuya. He left the organization for his own good, he left it to fullfill Oda's wish.

"If Dazai cared for Chuuya then why didn't he take Chuuya with him?" the reason is simple, he knows how much the PM means to Chuuya. In stormbringer it is shown that Chuuya feels as if his humanity is attached to the people he is loyal to, in this case its the port mafia. Verlaine wanted to get rid of the pm because he believed that the pm is what kept Chuuya's humanity, eventually making Chuuya believe that he is only human if he stays loyal to the pm. Dazai knows this. Thats exactly why he didn't take Chuuya with him or even explains to Chuuya why he left, he knows it would be selfish to basically rip Chuuya's sense of humanity apart.

I have a feeling that if Dazai told Chuuya about the real reason he left the Port Mafia, Chuuya will not only feel conflicted about being in the pm, but he would also have an inner conflict with himself as a human.

People also think Dazai may not really care for him because of the fact that after the fight against Lovecraft he actualy deserted him, maybe that part was truly just supposed to be seen as simple humor, but either way I want to talk about it. Chuuya's only request to Dazai was to take him back to base safe, so why did Dazai leave Chuuya behind?

I mean he has carried Chuuya back to saftey before with no problem, for example in stormbringer when Chuuya uses corruption for the first time Dazai carries him back to the billiards bar and not to the mafia’s base so that he could say goodbye to his passing friends.

The reson behind this is because Mori needs to know that unlike Dazai, Chuuya is absolutely loyal to him. Leaving Chuuya the way he did will make Mori believe that these two really are at each others throats and that Dazai is insignificant to Chuuya. Making it seem that for Chuuya, the mafia comes first before anything else.

Therefore Dazai established Chuuya's saftey within the mafia since not only does Mori want these two to be hostile with each other, he doesn't want Chuuya to eventually turn against him if he truly found out more about Dazai's true reason of departure. Then again, this isn't canon but it is a logical assumption.

Not to mention that although Dazai did leave him behind, he folded Chuuya's coat and hat before taking his leave. There is also an an extra chapter where Ozaki Kouyou was talking with Chuuya but when he left he forgot his coat, which made Kouyou came across the coat; where she noticed a badge sewed inside saying "Name: Hatrack", she smiled fondly thinking to herself that some things just never change, in this case, Dazai and Chuuya's bond.

Dazai literally took his time to sew this into his coat just to tease him, it was a simple gesture but it shows us how their dynamic will never change. No matter what these two go through, they will always share a bond that consists on teasing, trust and underlying care.

All of this actually makes that theory of Dazai planting a bomb under Chuuya's car for the sole reason that the PM doesn't find Chuuya as an acomplice who aided Dazai on his escape much more feasable.

For Dazai to just plant a bomb under Chuuya's car with no motive makes no sense because if Dazai's true intentions were to simply mess with Chuuya, he would've most likely made it clear at that time. Dazai always has an underlying motive behind his actions, and in this case it is very likely that he did that for Chuuya's sake.

Don't get me wrong, I am aware that the bomb incident could've just been a comedic moment and I shouldn't look too much into it, but there is still a posibility, right?

These two hold so much trust and care for one another, yet they also hold a lot of bitterness and resentment. In the end the good aspects of their dynamic outweighs the bad.

Either you see these two in a platonic or romantic way, you can't tell me that their bond isn't significant.

Thank you so much for reading!! I wanted to talk about this for a while because I feel like people misinterpret Dazai's feelings towards Chuuya a lot so I hope this clears up things a bit<3

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Hey did you know I keep a google drive folder with linguistics and language books  that I try to update regularly