reading bsd be like
Dark era vs Beast
"This story is a tragedy because it didn't have to end this way."
vs
"This story is a tragedy because it was always going to end this way."
Was in Barnes and Noble today, and I found a collection of Dazai's works titled "The Real Osamu Dazai." And this was on the back:
Like....why. How. I understand if you just see edits and stuff you'd think he's the main character, but like, watch one episode, read one chapter, and anyone with basic media literacy could tell that he isn't the main character. Even google could tell you that. Why does this keep happening??? My boy Atsushi deserves more than this.
I would say that bsd gets so many people into classic literature but to be fair I think it attracts the type of people who would get into it anyway and just needed an excuse.
Hc that when Chuuya grabbed Dazai's face during their first interaction it was because he wanted to get a better look at it because he's never seen the other half uncovered before.
FOUND FAMILY COMMITING WAR CRIMES FOR EACH OTHER.
Seriously, how are there people who don't see them as a found family? They're literally the most wholesome part of the series. They better be reunited soon, and I want an entire episode dedicated to the afterparty.
"Kunikida is alive. If he died, there's no way I wouldn't have sensed it. Not just Kunikida either. As long as at least one agency member remains alive... They will never stop resisting. This battle will be won by my team."
I just learned about the Untold Origins getting a manga, and while I'm not complaining, I just have to ask like...how. How in the world does Asagiri have so many people making manga of his works like????? I have no idea how mainstream bsd considered in Japan, but what is this, manga number seven? Eight? Every day it gets harder and harder to introduce new people into this fandom.
I cannot put into words how much this line from the fifteen light novel means to me.
One hundred matches. They played close to a hundred games against each other. Because they're both just fifteen year old boys. Fifteen year old boys who were forced to grow up way too fast in a world that only dealt them trashy cards. Two boys who claim to hate each other...who found an equal in each other. Someone else they could be a child with. And in middle of a dangerous mission, a mission that involves Chuuya believing he's a god of destruction, a mission that involves Dazai searching for the old boss because he was forced to false-witness his murder, in middle of all of this, they played a hundred games at an arcade. Because they were just kids.
Thinking about how Dazai was the first person not to use Chuuya for his power. Thinking about how when they first met, Dazai kept telling Chuuya that he's just a kid. Thinking about how he was the only one who believed all along that Chuuya was a human. Thinking about how he's the one who stops Chuuya's power from corrupting him whole.
Thinking about Chuuya trusting Dazai, even after four years apart. Thinking about him turning to him and asking for the plan, even though they hadn't fought together in years. Thinking about him being willing to sacrifice himself on the sole belief that Dazai was alive, despite all evidence suggesting otherwise. Thinking about-
"Akutagawa is Atsushi's foil" yeah but you know who else is?
Dazai.
Atsushi and Dazai are really good parallels in a way that doesn't ever get talked about. Atsushi saved Dazai from dying in the moment that he decided he was going to live. Everything Atsushi does, everything that drives him, is his utter desire to live. Sure, sometimes he may doubt his own right to do so, but to him, life is the most beautiful thing he wants to be worthy of.
Dazai, on the other hand, is driven by his desire to die. He searches for a way out, even if he never goes through with it. He doesn't see the value of life, not in him and not in most others.
That's one of the things that attracted Odasaku to him, and now Atsushi. Because as much as Dazai never valued life, he values people who value life. Chuuya, Odasaku, Atsushi, even Ango he chose to befriend when learning that he was writing the names of all the dead. That's why Atsushi is so precious—it's someone he could learn from, maybe to find his own will to live.
The boy who desires life while his mentor desires death. And their relationship is somehow one of the most wholesome in the whole series.
I think having the Agency members being accused as terrorists really adds a lot to their character and just how far they're willing to go in that type of situation.
Like Kunikida stealing a car (that had auto-theft insurance)
Like Fukuzawa making a deal with Mori, even willing to trade a member to the Mafia if it meant their safety.
Like Atsushi willing to make a deal with Fitzgerald if it was to get back his friends and save the Agecy.
And then there's Ranpo...
"We're terrorists now? Cool, that means I get to blow stuff up!"