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dontletramudadieplease · 5 years ago

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Gentaro & No Longer Human

This is a screenshot from the ヒプノシスマイク Division All Stars「Hoodstar」video and there are two different book titles and a story hidden in it. They are:

Jekyll & Hyde;

No Longer Human;

Hachiko.

It is quite obvious that each of them is related to each of the members of Fling Posse:

Ramuda = Jekyll & Hyde - dual nature;

Dice = Hachiko - the loyal dog;

Gentaro = No Longer Human - kindness & loneliness.

Funny enough, I am also a Bungou Stray Dogs fan and on this fateful day, I noticed how two of my favorite and most relatable characters ever are so similar, even in design - Dazai and Gentaro. So just in case, if you are also a Bungou Stray Dogs fan, I just want to make it clear that when I speak of ‘Dazai Osamu’ in this post, I am referring to the actual writer and not the anime character.

Also, to avoid any confusion:

when I write the names I do it the Japanese way (surname followed by given name);

anything between [ ] is my own comment on it.

Lastly, I would like to add that if you decide to read the book, be warned: it is not a happy book.

And with that said, let’s begin!

Dazai Osamu & Yumeno Gentaro

“No Longer Human” (NLH) was first published in 1958 and could be classified as a fictional autobiography if it wasn’t for the fact that Dazai Osamu was an intelligent creative artist. Everything in his works is planned; there is composition in his work and everything was placed there for a reason. So if it, in fact, a fictional autobiography or just a work of fiction, is arguable. He does include his own life experience in No Longer Human and that similarity between him and Yozo, No Longer Human’s main character, might be what creates confusion.

However, this reminds me of these rumors that Yumeno Gentaro is using someone else’s identity. I don’t know if they are real or not but seeing how Dazai uses a fictional character to write his own story and adding the fact that Gentaro likes to write fictional stories based on real people, this idea that Yumeno Gentaro is not actually “Yumeno Gentaro” is not farfetched. Also, Dazai enjoyed acting out characters - another reason why it is confusing if NLH is just a fiction or not - and we’ve heard Gentaro act out characters in the Drama CDs.

Ramuda: All that aside, you two must be getting along well to show up here together!

Gentaro: I suppose.

Female Gentaro: In our past lives, Dice and I were a princess and a knight fated to be star-crossed lovers. Now that we’ve reunited in this life, isn’t it obvious that we don’t want to be apart from each other?

Ramuda: Is that so?! Dice was a knight! Suuuper cool! ❤️

- source: Eng Hypnosis Mic

Now, you might be thinking “but that is an author characteristic, it is not part of the story”. Well, yes, but that is exactly why I started by explaining that NLH is an autobiography which means, if Gentaro has similarities with Yozo, he has similarities with the writer, Dazai Osamu. So before we jump into the book, I will show you a couple more things in common.

In “Scenario Liar” - Gentaro’s character song - we learned that he was born in a cold day, somewhere distant and snowy and that he was adopted by an old couple that lived a simple life. Dazai was raised in a small and remote town in the north of Japan but unlike Gentaro, his family was rich. [Not everything could be exactly the same, right? Where’s the originality in that? - R] This leads Dazai to explore and experience works of art and media from the West because his family had access to them. Gentaro, living a simple life with a poor family did not have the same luxury. And I believe that is one of the reasons why Gentaro’s outfit is so different from the rest of the characters. One could say, he is not as westernized as the rest of the Hypmic characters. [As someone who loves character design, these details are absolute treats for me <3 - R]

No Longer Human

In this first chapter, we have a sense of what Gentaro’s personality is like. What he actually feels and how he actually thinks behind his act.

It starts by emphasizing an author/book/hypmic character similarity which is the place where they grew up. We know all three of them - Dazai, Yozo, and Gentaro - were raised somewhere in the north of Japan. Then we learn that, much like Dazai, Yozo had a fertile imagination and would often find simple things absolutely wonderful until he found out that they had a simple utilitarian purpose.

Gentaro, much like Dazai, is a writer; a creative character. In the manga, we’ve seen him looking at strangers in the street and creating stories around them. So, he surely portrays the same level of imagination as Yozo which leads me to believe that Gentaro would also lose interest in things after figuring out that they actually just serve a very plain and utilitarian purpose.

Yozo also points out how he “was a sickly child”. Through “Scenario Liar” and the manga, we know that Gentaro has an ill friend. This only fuels the theories that he is using someone else’s name. That or KR simply grabbed that little detail which belongs to one single character in No Longer Human and split it in two.

Then, even though it is explained in a very humble way, we learn that Yozo comes from a wealthy and very traditional family. Well, Gentaro’s adoptive family was not rich but was surely traditional, which is - again - portrayed in his outfit.

Now. In this first chapter of No Longer Human, Dazai describes a few different everyday situations which create a lot of confusion in Yozo’s head. In short, he does not understand basic human nature. And by overanalyzing everything people around him do and which seems “normal” to them but which is not “normal” to him and he cannot understand, he classifies himself as “disqualified to be human”. He sees himself as less than others and unworthy and that is how he developed his “clowning” - the liar’s mask.

Since Gentaro does wear a “clowning” mask, I would assume that underneath it he is this insecure person that doesn’t quite fit in and is afraid of “human beings”. He doesn’t know how to talk to people so he fakes it. He pretends, he acts and he lies to fit in and hide the fact that he is different from the rest.

“I managed to maintain on the surface a smile which never deserted my lips; this was the accommodation I offered to others, a most precarious achievement performed by me only at the cost of excruciating efforts within.”

(…)

“Before anyone realized it, I had become an accomplished clown, a child who never spoke a single truthful word.”

(…)

“I was obsessed with the idea that since I lacked the strength to act in accordance with this truth, I might already have been disqualified from living among human beings. This belief made me incapable of arguments or self-justification. Whenever anyone criticized me I felt certain that I had been living under the most dreadful misapprehension. I always accepted the attack in silence, though inwardly so terrified as almost to be out of my mind.“

- Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human

We have proof of the veracity of this last quote in one of the Drama CDs. When Hifumi points out his unusual sense of fashion, Gentaro does not defend himself. He simply recoils, lowers his head and mumbles, not being able to find words. The same happens when Ramuda was recruiting him. While holding up his mask, he did try to deny everything but once Ramuda “attacked” him by pulling down the mask and throwing in a bunch of facts regarding Gentaro’s life, he just went quiet. Gentaro did not try to defend himself or protest and ends up joining Fling Posse, most likely because of fear and against his will.

This is not only because he sees himself as inferior, unworthy and because of his social anxiety, but as well as his fear of angering “human beings”. There is nothing scarier to Yozo than the beast that humans keep hidden within. And I will defend that Gentaro does have this same fear because, in one of the Drama Tracks, he does communicate his suspicions to Ramuda about his dual natural and calls the scarier version of Ramuda “human”. Why? He sees Ramuda as someone similar to him, a constant liar. However, Ramuda does seem to have a “human” side which Gentaro does not have. [Gentaro considers himself disqualified to be human because what he hides behind the mask is not the angry “beast”. He doesn’t have that. - R]

Gentaro: Yes, of course. I’m aware that Ramuda is a person whose true nature is more difficult to unearth than my own. After close and careful observation, I just can’t help but think so.

Ramuda: Hahaha…Can’t help but think so, you say? What do you mean?

Gentaro: In your life, there are no flaws. Usually people have very “human” moments, but you’ve nothing of the sort. It just feels like a lie, all of it. Consider it a liar’s intuition. There is something up with “Ramuda”.

(…)

Gentaro: Well…that’s fine. To each their own story. As long as I can complete my mission, these things don’t matter. That said, this felt like the first time I’ve ever interacted with a “human” Ramuda.

- source: Eng Hypnosis Mic

In No Longer Human, Yozo says that "As long as I can make them laugh, it doesn’t matter how, I’ll be all right.” (Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human, 1958). This is a little example of how Dazai shows the kindness of the character from such a sad and self-depreciative point of view. Now, we don’t have a concrete example of this but, going back to the scene where Ramuda is recruiting Gentaro to Fling Posse, he does say that Gentaro is not as much of a liar as he is kind. And I think we’ve got enough examples of how Ramuda and Gentaro can see through each other’s bullshit to say for sure that this is a fact: Gentaro is kind. So I believe that that line from the book does apply to him. He will do anything for others, as long as that makes them happy.

In "Scenario Liar” Gentaro talks about his backstory and there’s this part where the old couple that adopted him asks him what he wants. They offered to gift him whatever he wanted, Gentaro just had to name it. However, he said, “There’s nothing that I want”. This is a very straightforward reference to No Longer Human.

“Once, the night before he was to leave for Tokyo, he summoned all the children to the parlor and smilingly asked us what present we would like this time, carefully noting each child’s reply in a little book. It was most unusual for Father to behave so affectionately with the children. “How about you, Yozo?” he asked, but I could only stammer uncertainly. Whenever I was asked what I wanted my first impulse was to answer “Nothing."”

- Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human, 1958

And just as Yozo’s first impulse would be "Nothing”, Gentaro’s answer was “There’s nothing I want” followed by “And thus, the first lie I told had been spoken".

Yozo’s father is not very happy with his son’s silence and insists on one of these masks he saw in a shop. They were of no interest to Yozo but in fear of having to deal with his father’s angry side, he ends up asking for one. Which is a lie, he would much rather prefer a book.

All this detachment from other “humans” inevitably made Yozo feel lonely. He felt the need to confide in someone but he had no one to do so to because no one would understand him or even make the effort to. He realized that people deceived and lied all the time. It is light-hearted and harmless, like the way we greet each other for example:

“Hi! How are you?”

“Hey! Good! And you?”

“Not too bad, thank you”

If you think about it, we don’t really expect anyone to say “not good, this and this happened”. The concerned that is supposedly attached to the question “How are you?” is not actually there. This is why he can’t quite grasp the concept of “righteousness”.

“I find it difficult to understand the kind of human being who lives, or who is sure he can live, purely, happily, serenely while engaged in deceit.”

- Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human, 1958

And this leads us to his relationship with Dice which we will explore further ahead.

[To sum up: Gentaro has an endless imagination and is a humble person. He is also kind and feels immense loneliness which he tries to hide from everyone]

Next, we have references - if we are allowed to call it that - to the relationships between Gentaro and the rest of the Fling Posse.

Dazai explains how by this time, Yozo had perfected his “clowning”. It had become part of him and wasn’t much of an effort anymore; he could deceive anyone. He was confident in his practice. However, there was this other kid in the school that saw right through him.

“Just when I had begun to relax my guard a bit, fairly confident that I had succeeded by now in concealing completely my true identity, I was stabbed in the back, quite unexpectedly. The assailant, like most people who stab in the back, bordered on being a simpleton—the puniest boy in the class, whose scrofulous face and floppy jacket with sleeves too long for him was complemented by a total lack of proficiency in his studies and by such clumsiness in military drill and physical training that he was perpetually designated as an “onlooker."Not surprisingly, I failed to recognize the need to be on my guard against him.

That day Takeichi (that was the boy’s name, as I recall) was as usual "onlooking” during the physical training period while the rest of us drilled on the horizontal bar. Deliberately assuming as solemn a face as I could muster, I lunged overhead at the bar, shouting with the effort. I missed the bar and sailed on as if I were making a broad jump, landing with a thud in the sand on the scat of my pants. This failure was entirely premeditated, but everybody burst out laughing, exactly as I had planned. I got to my feet with a rueful smile and was brushing the Hand from my pants when Takeichi, who had crept up from somewhere behind, poked me in the back. He murmured, “You did it on purpose."”

- Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human, 1958

This will hopefully remind you of Ramuda. [Even the description kind of suits him - R] We witnessed similar situations twice between him and Gentaro. When they first met:

And later on, in the FP & MTR “bonding activities” chapter:

There is a growth in fear from one to the other though. The first time Gentaro experienced this, he seemed to only be suspicious of Ramuda while in the second time this backstab - as Dazai called it - happens, Gentaro looks slightly more worried or scared even.

And just a quick clarification, when Gentaro speaks about the training he is talking about his “clowning”. Much like Yozo, he most likely perfected it over the years and never expected anyone to see right through him like Ramuda did.

Now, here’s where we have room for some speculation. In NLH, after the backstab, Yozo assumes an attitude of “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” towards Takeichi. All because this whole situation stirred real terror within Yozo as well as anxiety. [I’ll quote it below for you to have an idea of what Gentaro probably felt like - R] And what in the beginning was a fake friendship out of fear became an actual strong bond between the two. So I am lead to believe that Ramuda and Gentaro will eventually become good friends.

“I trembled all over. I might have guessed that someone would detect that I had deliberately unused the bar, but that Takeichi should have been the one came as a bolt from the blue. I felt as if I had seen the world before me burst in an instant into the raging flames of hell. It was all I could do to suppress a wild shriek of terror.

The ensuing days were imprinted with my anxiety and dread. I continued on the surface making everybody laugh with my miserable clowning, but now and then painful sighs escaped my lips. Whatever I did Takeichi would see through it, and I was sure he would soon start spreading the word to everyone he saw. At this thought my forehead broke out in a sweat; I stared around me vacantly with the wild eyes of a madman. If it were possible, I felt, I would like to keep a twenty-four hours a day surveillance over Takeichi, never stirring from him, morning, noon or night, to make sure that he did not divulge the secret. I brooded over what I should do: I would devote the hours spent with him to persuading him that my antics were not "on purpose” but the genuine article; if things went well I would like to become his inseparable friend; but if this proved utterly impossible, I had no choice but to pray for his death.”

-Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human, 1958

In this chapter, we also have a brief insight into Yozo’s - not sure we can assume them to be Dazai’s as well - opinion on “being loved”.

“"To fall for,“ "to be fallen for” I feel in these words something unspeakably vulgar, farcical, and at the same time extraordinarily complacent.”

- Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human, 1958

I think the quote speaks for itself, really. Yozo feels uneasy, uncomfortable even, with just the thought of being loved. However, we know - because Ramuda mentions it when they first meet - that Gentaro writes light-hearted novels, and he seems to like the sappy type of romance, I mean, “a princess and a knight fated to be star-crossed lovers”? For these reasons, I am not entirely sure that Gentaro thinks of “being loved” the same way Yozo does. [Even though it would kind of explain why he can’t just explain his feelings to Dice in a way that he understands - R]

So now that we’ve looked into Ramuda’s and Gentaro’s relationship, let’s have a look into Gendice, shall we?

“One day, when we still barely knew each other by sight - we hadn’t as yet exchanged a word - he suddenly said to me, “Can you lend me five yen?” I was so taken aback that I ended up by giving him the money.“

-Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human,1958

I swear that is actually from NLH and not from Gendice fan fiction. The character’s name is Masao Horiki and Yozo had not an ounce of respect for his opinion. He thought he was an idiot but still decided to keep him around because, in a way, Yozo saw him as an equal - they were both “social outcasts”.

“I felt not the least respect for his opinions. I was thinking, “He’s a fool and his paintings are rubbish, but he might be a good person for me to go out with.” For the first time in my life I had met a genuine city good-for-nothing. No less than myself, though in a different way, he was entirely removed from the activities of the human beings of the world. We were of one species if only in that we were both disoriented. At the same time there was a basic difference in us: he operated without being conscious of his farcicality or, for that matter, without giving any recognition to the misery of that farcicality.

I despised him as one fit only for amusement, a man with whom I associated for that sole purpose. At times I even felt ashamed of our friendship. But in the end, as the result of going out with him, even Horiki proved too strong for me.

At first, however, I was convinced that Horiki was a nice fellow, an unusually nice fellow, and despite my habitual dread of human beings I relaxed my guard to the extent of thinking that I had found a fine guide to Tokyo. To tell the truth, when I first came to the city, I was afraid to board a streetcar because of the conductor; I was afraid to enter the Kabuki Theatre for fear of the usherettes standing along the sides of the red-carpeted staircase at the main entrance; I was afraid to go into a restaurant because I was intimidated by the waiters furtively hovering behind me waiting for my plate to be emptied. Most of all I dreaded paying a bill—my awkwardness when I handed over the money after buying something did not arise from any stinginess, but from excessive tension, excessive embarrassment, excessive uneasiness and apprehension. My eyes would swim in my head, and the whole world grow dark before me, so that I felt half out of my mind. There was no question of bargaining—not only did I often forget to pick up my change, but I quite frequently forgot to take home the things I had purchased. It was quite impossible for me to make my way around Tokyo by myself. I had no choice but to spend whole days at a time lolling about the house.“

-Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human, 1958

Translated into Gendice, Gentaro thinks of Dice as a little bit of an idiot [I think I’m being nice, he does call him “baka” in Hoodstar so - R] and yet the same as himself. He sees them both as social outcasts, each for their own individual reasons. And - if doing like Yozo - Gentaro started spending time with Dice only because it was entertaining and a nice change of pace from his lonely and uninteresting life.

With time he comes to realize that Dice is a nice person. If we go back to the end of the previous chapter, I mentioned how Yozo lacks an understanding of the concept of righteousness. If Gentaro also lacks this understanding it is quite clear how he is drawn to Dice. He is a person who lives happily while constantly surrounded by deceit. Ramuda has a dual nature, Gentaro is constantly lying and a big part of gambling is being good at lying and deceiving. So, realizing that Dice is actually a nice person makes Gentaro feels safer and consequently drops down his guard whenever he is with him.

[I’m gonna drop this one here so all the Gendice shippers can go wild - R]

“At any rate, as far as the bill was concerned he never caused me to feel the least anxiety or fear.”

- Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human, 1958

Apart from the money problem - because Horiki was toasting Yozo’s money - Dice is Gentaro’s safest port; his presence takes away his worries and fears and insecurities [and it’s canon and none of you can tell me otherwise - R]

On top of this, Dice doesn’t really care about what other people are thinking, which is something that surely puts Gentaro at ease since he doesn’t have to worry about being judged or having him prying into his thoughts. [Probably also why Dice doesn’t get any of the hints - R] At the end of the day, as long as Dice can gamble, he doesn’t really give a crap about other people.

Gentaro: Are you not curious about what happened, Dice?

Dice: Of course not. I came here for a gamble, not a history lesson.

Gentaro: Heh, that’s just like you to say something like that. However, knowing your enemy is essential for victory.

Dice: Then I’ll leave the complicated stuff to you. I’ll just have fun betting my life against the enemies in front of me.

Gentaro: My goodness. Well, obviously I couldn’t rely on someone as reckless as you. Let’s just play to our strengths and focus on our individual duties.

Dice: I kinda feel like you’re trash talking me, but since you’re taking care of that annoying stuff, I’ll let it slide and leave you to it.

Gentaro: That’s fine. Hm? The ones entering over there…

- source Eng Hypnosis Mic

This bit of the Drama CD does not only show his lack of interest but how much of an idiot he is in Gentaro’s eyes. Now, here’s the part in NLH:

“Another thing which saved me when with Horiki was that he was completely uninterested in what his listener might be thinking, and could pour forth a continuous stream of nonsensical chatter twenty-four hours a day, in whichever direction the eruption of his “passions” led him.”

- Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human, 1958

An honestly nice person, bad at lying, non-judgemental, loyal and, well, a bit of an idiot but could Gentaro want any better than that? [”Loyal” is a trait from the story associated with his character the same way that No Longer Human is associated with Gentaro. I will not explore that here though I can do another post about Dice and Hachiko - R] That’s why he did well in adopting him, I mean:

“If ever I meet someone society has designated as an outcast, I invariably feel affection for him, an emotion which carries me away in melting tenderness.”

-Dazai Osamu, No Longer Human, 1958

Do I really need to explain it? I don’t think I do.

Now. The rest of the book could only relate to Gentaro in plot and I don’t think the Hypmic plot will follow No Longer Human. And I sure hope they don’t decide to have Gentaro kill himself at some point because Yozo died a few years before his 30s, and Dazai did kill himself just as he was going to turn 30, if I am not mistaken.

However, the Epilogue is a chapter written by a different character. It happens 10 years after Yozo’s death and he was ill. He was coughing up blood and he kept getting worse. So the person who shared the notes and published the book was not actually Yozo. This person doesn’t really identify himself, makes it almost seem like it was Dazai himself who got the notes from this lady that knew Yozo. So I can’t help but wonder if No Longer Human inspires not only Gentaro as a character but his sickly friend situation…

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