You ever meet someone for the first time and their physical appearance/aesthetic has such opposite vibes from their personality that it gives you whiplash?
Twelfth Night AU where Olivia is totally down with marrying Viola after she reveals her identity and isn’t interested in marrying Sebastian, a guy she just met and knows nothing about
That moment when you have a 1600 word post saved in drafts, and you like it and are satisfied with it, and you really wanna post it but can’t because
a) it’s for a fandom that you want absolutely no association with
b) it’s a pretty negative viewpoint on a character who’s very well-liked in that fandom, and after seeing how some people in that fandom are like, you know they get *really* defensive of their characters, and you don’t wanna be torn apart by a mob of angry internet people
no way.... i didnt add it in the tags bc i thought no one would get it...but i literally thought of the same poem! its the one where the safe is in the air right? i had all the shel silverstein books i loved them so much
omg i just looked it up its just how i remembered
:3
YES YES THAT’S LITERALLY IT
I knew there was no way I just hallucinated a whole poem
Listen. I’m gonna go to a friend’s house. Come home. Post the one and only post regarding a certain fandom that I want absolutely no association with. And then pretend I never posted it and don’t know what anyone’s talking about when they inevitably bring it up in my DMs.
Listen. I’m gonna go to a friend’s house. Come home. Post the one and only post regarding a certain fandom that I want absolutely no association with. And then pretend I never posted it and don’t know what anyone’s talking about when they inevitably bring it up in my DMs.
probably the only post I’ll ever make about that one anime called Bungo Stray Dogs
Originally this post was supposed to be a reply via reblog to this post, but it got a bit too sidetracked and I felt bad for hijacking OP’s post like this.
Initially I was just going to say this through the comment section of the original post, but then I realized that I have way too many thoughts to fit into the small word limit of a tumblr comment.
Anyway, that’s why I’m posting a screenshot of the original post rather than just reblogging it. I don’t want to derail OP’s original points or hijack the post and go off topic.
@chaosgranted you’re right and you should say it. I’m just gonna elaborate on this topic a bit. Gonna scream into the Tumblr void with hopes that the void won’t scream back.
<long ((and mostly negative)) rant about Dazai, so. Read at your own discretion>
I know I already commented on OP’s post a hundred times, but this got me thinking about the subject and now I can’t stop. So lemme burden you all with my never ending stream of thoughts on this matter.
Before I get into this rant, I wanna clarify something. I do, in fact, like Dazai as a character. I think he’s very interesting. I enjoy when he shows up on screen. This isn’t something I’d say for most other characters, who I’m more neutral about.
That being said. Pretty much everything about how the fandom portrays him and views him annoys me so, so much.
As OP states here, what he does (leaves Chuuya unconscious and vulnerable in the field after promising to bring him back) isn’t just harmful or mean, it’s borderline cruel. And if it was done by any character who the audience wasn’t obsessed with, that character would be burned at the stake.
Think about Shirase (who I love, but that’s its own thing). Some people like him, a bunch of people hate him, a bunch of people have no opinion on him because he’s not a major character in the anime. Regardless of his Light Novel counterpart, Anime Shirase is justified enough in his own right. Let’s be real, the Sheep (including Shirase) were acting in self defense when they betrayed and stabbed Chuuya. They genuinely believed that he was an immediate threat to their safety. They genuinely believed that if they didn’t kill him, he’d kill them, or sell their information to the mafia, who’d shortly thereafter kill them.
Unlike Dazai leaving Chuuya behind when he was at his most vulnerable state, the Sheep stabbing and betraying Chuuya is not only justifiable, but understandable— and can anyone truly say that they’d do any different if they were in their shoes? I know I can only speak for myself, but if I truly and genuinely believed that someone was about to kill me or kill my closest friends, I would do what it takes to protect both my friends and myself.
The Sheep are somewhat vilified by the fandom (in the rare moments when the fandom remembers they exist). If Dazai had done the same— if Dazai had tried to kill an innocent person because he truly and genuinely believed that that person was about to kill the ADA, not only would he be forgiven instantly (which he should be, as I previously mentioned that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do), but there wouldn’t be even an ounce of discourse over whether or not he’s justified.
Now, I understand the concept of liking “problematic” characters. (Tbh no character is “problematic”, whether or not the character is a good person is irrelevant, if the character does “problematic” things then that’s literally just how they were written and also intentional and also says something about them as a character. It should be called “good writing”, not “a problematic character”.) I understand the concept of liking the antagonist, heck my whole blog used to be me justifying Edmund from King Lear. Of course I never said he was a good person (because OH MAN HE WASN’T), but I found him very intriguing and so I would rationalize his actions and try to see things from his POV.
The difference between liking or justifying an antagonist and what the bsd fandom does with Dazai is that Dazai isn’t an antagonist.
The closest Dazai comes to filling an antagonistic role is in flashback arcs, which is the only time when his actions aren’t chalked up to “haha Bandage man is doing his thing again!”. When Dazai manipulates the Sheep into betraying and stabbing Chuuya, it acknowledges that Dazai is filling a bit of an antagonistic role there. That scene isn’t played off a a joke— there’s no comedic undertone in how it’s portrayed. As opposed to when he leaves Chuuya in the field and it goes “haha look at Bandage man always being so silly and goofy!”
The same goes for Dazai’s treatment of Akutagawa in The Dark Era arc. When he shoots at him, attempting to kill him with no knowledge that his ability can theoretically stop the bullets, it’s not played off as a joke. However, in the dungeon scene, Dazai says that his new subordinate is “far superior” to him, and the show plays it off as “haha Bandage man made Emo kid angry!”, even though what Dazai meant by “far superior” is that Atsushi got lucky enough to be taught by Present Day Dazai, and so he’s more mentally stable and more sure of himself than Akutagawa, who’s still very clearly getting over the trauma of being literally brainwashed mentored by Mafia Dazai. Ability wise, Atsushi and Akutagawa seem to have equally strong abilities. The only thing that Atsushi has that Akutagawa doesn’t is a semi-healthy mindset. And you know who’s responsible for both of their mindsets….? This statement ( “..far superior..”) is the equivalent of punching someone in the face and then calling them ugly for having a black eye.
But the show keeps playing off Dazai’s outright cruelty to the people around him as a literal joke. And “he’s on the good side now!!”, so, to quote a song we all wish we could forget, How bad can he possibly be?
I think the first real sign of Dazai’s, for lack of better terms, tendencies..,, is in the second episode. That was the point where I was like “Oh. So he’s an asshole.” In that episode, Atsushi states that although he’s grateful for Dazai’s help, he’s not interested in joining the ADA. Dazai tries to pressure him into joining but he politely refuses. Dazai then makes it seem like he’s about to get him an interview for a different job, when suddenly he drags him into a supposed bombing and seemingly forces him to put his life on the line for an organization that he wants nothing to do with.
Atsushi is a kid who can hardly stand up for himself. I’m surprised he even turned Dazai down in the first place, but that just goes to show how badly he wanted nothing to do with the Agency. After discovering that it was all a test set up from the start— a test which he passed, now making him qualified to join the ADA— he still remains unwilling to join. Now what does Dazai, our resident master manipulator, do? He makes sure to give Atsushi a friendly reminder that sure, he doesn’t have to join, but if he doesn’t he’ll surely either die of starvation on the streets or be captured by the cops for his horrible tiger crimes against humanity. At that point of the episode I was like “ah. A manipulative asshole. Lovely. I’d like to see him get punched in the face.” (And thanks to Kunikida he does get punched. Not often enough for my tastes, but whatever.)
If you’ve never watched BSD and are only learning about it from this post, you’re probably thinking “but Edette, this guy is clearly a horrible person. And I understand that people simp for him, but just how delusional do people have to be to pretend none of this ever happened?”
Well there’s a very simple answer to that, my friend.
The whole show plays off his.. ah, let’s call them “silly little shenanigans”.. as just that. Silly. Little. Shenanigans. It shows him being manipulative and using every innocent person he comes alone to advance his own goals in one way or another. But that’s all perfectly fine! Because the show says it’s actually really funny, so it must be, right?
As OP says. Chuuya trusted him. Chuuya listened to him when he told him to activate his ability which nearly kills him. Chuuya was willing to throw his life away, endure pain beyond anything anyone could imagine, all on the hope and trust that this person he shares so much history with will be there for him and protect him when he’s left in his most vulnerable state.
But Dazai uses corruption as a tool. He uses Chuuya as a pawn to win the battle. And if you want to argue that Chuuya’s not a pawn but a knight or queen or some other chess piece then fine. Nice chess analogy. You do realize that’s irrelevant, right? Either way, as he says himself in 15, he’s not a king. He’s not the piece that will be protected at all costs. And no matter what piece he is, he’s just a game piece, just like everyone else Dazai comes across, and Dazai is the player.
And after the battle is over? Well, his pawn is of no use to him anymore. So good job Chuuya, you did it, you won. Soukoku won. But only one half of Soukoku gets to enjoy the victory.
For the record, I do believe that Dazai cares about Chuuya beyond simply being intrigued by him. I do believe that he wouldn’t have folded his coat and left it where he could find it if the person he was fighting alongside was just anyone. But that’s not even close to the bare minimum of what Dazai should have done. This is just a testimony to what sort of person Dazai is. Even with someone who he arguably cares about, he still treats him this horribly.
Everything you said on the b*sd post, yes!!!!!! Feel free to ignore this it you'd rather not get into it any further (understandable lmao) but I couldn't agree more, thank you for putting it into words. The fact that everything downright cruel D*azai does is played off as joke is exactly the point, and honestly it's so disturbing (like seriously, how am I supposed to laugh at that?). Also if I may add, all the ruthless stuff he does during dark era - Akutagawa abuse on top - ends up coming off as way less impactful than it should: that's because at that point the audience is already sympathetic of him for having known him so long as "the good guy", and has already gotten used to gloss over all the brutal stuff he does because “ahah he's just like that™ ”. I don't want to get into this any longer (because man there'd be so much to say) but again thank you for being brave enough to voice your thoughts on him!! I hope Dazai stans won't kill you ahah.
I hope you have a wonderful day / night!! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*.✧
YES EXACTLY
Dazai is the sort of person who literally derives pleasure and enjoyment from causing hardship (anything ranging from mild annoyance to outright extreme suffering) to others.
He ruthlessly and repeatedly ruins people’s days (or lives) for fun.
If bsd would have a laugh track though, it would play every time Dazai does something like that, because “welp that’s what the silly bandaged man does!”
I think if anything, bsd teaches the power of PR and how a public image can be manipulated, because if it wouldn’t advertise Dazai the way it does (ie show his traits in an order and in a way that makes them palatable for the audience), people would see through Dazai’s “silly goofy attitude“.
The only reason people don’t despise Dazai the way they despise characters like Umbridge (from the series that shall not be named) is because Umbridge is an old lady and Dazai is a young dude who many people find attractive. (Even though. Let me just say. He’s probably the most average and normal-looking characters in bsd. So Idk what you’re all seeing but whatever.)
I bet that if anyone would meet someone exactly like Dazai in real life, they wouldn’t find his actions so “silly” and “goofy” anymore.
The fact that there’s any debate on this is astounding. If you joke about someone’s chronic illness at one of the biggest award shows while that person is in the audience, on live television, you should expect to be slapped
“now gods stand up for bastards” is thee banger of an edmund soliloquy and “this is the excellent foppery of the world” is my personal favourite for sexy godless fate defying reasons but there’s a special place in my heart for “to both these sisters have i sworn my love” because it’s the ultimate textual evidence that edmund has absolutely no idea what he’s doing <3
