marty4282

[marty4282]

IM NOT DEAD

I apologize I haven’t uploaded in a bit I’m currently away from my computer so I have not updated in a bit…however I’ll share some progress from a couple of weeks ago from my phone:

This is from 15 btw. Rest assured that I’m still working on my analysis 🫡

Idk when I’ll finish i don’t wanna cause burnout cause of a deadline so it’ll be ready when it’s ready.

[marty4282]

So I was trying to figure out if Dazai truly meant that he loved Chuuya here, because all this time I just assumed he was joking but there's a very real possibility that he wasn't, because of one reason and one reason alone.

Dazai himself doesn't know what love is.

That was like one of the main themes in No Longer Human. The fact that Dazai didn't understand human emotion. We, as the audience, will never know if Dazai was truly in love or not, because Dazai himself doesn't know if he was in love.

Dazai says ‘That’s what makes me love you’ not because he wants to be believed, but because in that moment, he believes it, whatever ‘it’ means to a man who doesn’t know how to live, let alone love.

Yes this came from the fact that I am on this scene in my analysis. I was literally sitting here for an hour or so just jotting down different points that could be evidence for whether or not Dazai was serious here and could not come to a conclusion. So I went back to the root of Dazai's character, No Longer Human, and figured this out. Perhaps he was joking, perhaps he wasn't, we won't ever know, because Dazai doesn't know.

There's never a clear cut answer when it comes to Dazai, that's all I'm saying.

[marty4282]

Did anyone else notice this?

I'm doing the 15 section right now and like did anyone else notice Mori making a shadow of a wolf with his hands?

He was talking about killing the Sheep if Chuuya didn't agree to work with the Port Mafia in investigating the old boss, and I just caught this.

This could either refer to the fact that yknow wolf kill sheep...or refer to Chuuya himself and the fact that he's a sheep in wolf's clothing. Chuuya acts like a monster capable of anything, but deep down he cares about those he holds close. The strong should protect the weak. A sheep in wolf's clothing.

Idk just caught this and was like wait a minute.

[marty4282]

Welp it’s a good thing I have the first draft of my analysis completed because this happened:

Mangadex got hit with multiple DMCAs from many publishing companies, resulting in the BSD manga being taken down, along with BEAST, Dead Apple, 15, WAN, and correct me if I’m wrong but Stormbringer got completely taken down like I can’t find it on the site.

Ok Stormbringer is still ok just found it 👍

Good thing I have 15 downloaded cause I do still need that manga cause I’m redoing the 15 section.

Hopefully translators will post on their own sites? Maybe it’s time to start learning Japanese again

Rip BSD manga 🫡

If anyone has the BEAST manga downloaded could you dm me please with a link (google drive link preferably) I regret not downloading BEAST 😭

[marty4282]

Officially survived finals so I’m back to working on my double black analysis with more time than ever on my hands 🫡

Idk when I’ll be done but I’m close to being done in the prison arc but then I gotta proofread which is gonna be so fun

[marty4282]

WAIT, LOOK AT THE PARALLEL:

Chuuya being Dazai's reason to live while Atsushi being Akutugawa's reason to live.

Because Dazai said that Akutugawa would find a reason to live in the Port Mafia and here it is.

LIKE WOAHWOAHWOAH SOMEONE COOKED HERE

ok that is enough ranting for me

[marty4282]

NEW CHARACTER?????????

GUYS LOOOKKK:

SHE (OR HE) LOOKS SO COOL.

that's all i got.

[marty4282]

Follow up to Dazai returning to the Port Mafia theory

My brain just thought of a follow-up to the theory of Dazai returning to the Port Mafia, so while I have paused progress on my Double Black Analysis due to finals coming up, I would like to share this.

I want to say this first off, this is Mori's decision. I feel like there's people out there arguing that Dazai doesn't want to go back, so he wouldn't go back, but this isn't up to him. It isn't up to Fukuzawa. It's up to Mori.

Mori is known for doing anything to get what he wants. This is shown through the method he used to get the Gifted Business Permit by sacrificing Oda. He's cunning, smart, and twisted. That's why he played his card like this, offering his aid in exchange for the "hundred times interest."

I mention "hundred times interest" because of chapter 30. In chapter 30, Mori mentions a way to get an alliance with the ADA:

"I know what I told the agency…but there is, in fact, a logically sound path to a full alliance. The essence of any alliance…lies in "advance payment." We pay out a loss first, for their sake…and once they pay it back, with a hundred times interest…only then can an alliance free of grudges form."

This is the hundred times interest. Time and time again, Mori has offered his aid to the ADA without a formal alliance, which was his "advance payment." Now, with the deal he has formed with Fukuzawa, the hundred times interest is due, a member of the ADA coming to the Port Mafia. And who better to fulfill that interest than the Demon Prodigy?

Mori also knows what kind of position Dazai is in right now. He can't go back to the ADA unless his crimes are pardoned, which would be difficult to do due to the sheer number of crimes Dazai committed that landed him in Mersault, the highest security prison in the world. I believe Dazai knows this as well.

Going back to Dazai himself, if he gets picked, he can't run like he did last time. If he ran, Mori would go after the ADA. Therefore, even though he wouldn't be part of the ADA anymore, he would still be protecting them. Just like how Chuuya joined the Mafia to protect the Sheep.

It's been seen that Dazai has been slowly distancing himself from the ADA. An example being the fact that Fukuzawa and Ranpo were most likely the only two in the loop about Dazai's plans to be arrested.

Not only that, but Dazai never truly separated himself from the Port Mafia. I mean, yes, he's not officially part of the organization, and he hates Mori's guts, however, he never detached himself from the connections he had in the organization after 4 years. In those 4 years, obviously, he contacted no one from the Mafia. After he made himself known that he was now part of the ADA, it was seen that he still trusted Chuuya, just like Chuuya still trusted him. He was also seen talking to Hirotsu in the art museum. He even entrusted Akutagawa to be his unbiased eyes in the Decay of Angels arc. He still is respected and/or feared by many members of the Port Mafia. Just like when Dazai tortured Kouyou for information, Kouyou realized that the Demon Prodigy never went away; he was simply dormant, waiting for opportunities to come out.

Mori's prediction that Dazai would be boss at 23, the fact that Mori left Dazai's executive seat open after 4 years, and Mori stating this at the end of Dark Era:

"It's become boring..."

All lead to the fact that Dazai is most likely to be chosen to return to the Port Mafia. It's almost like Mori planned for this.

While I'm here, I've also seen that other popular choices are Tanizaki and Atsushi, and I do want to talk about those two, starting with Tanizaki.

Tanizaki's light snow ability does have the potential to make him into an unbeatable assassin, but it's his morals that get in the way. While he does get aggressive when Naomi's life is in danger, he won't kill for the sake of killing, that's against his morals.

Atsushi is argued because he is the main character of the show and because of his tiger ability being quite powerful. While, yes, his tiger ability is powerful and has a lot of potential, Mori already has strength. He needs someone with strategy. That argument is valid for Tanizaki, too.

Mori needs someone cold, calculating, and utterly terrifying to keep his enemies in check, because as stated in chapter 30:

"But if Dazai-kun was still my right-hand man now...the Guild would be a thing of the past."

The Demon Prodigy is cornered — and Mori, patient as ever, is ready to claim what was always his.

Ok, that was a lot. I thought this up when I saw something on Twitter about people arguing who it would be and decided to refine some points from my earlier Dazai returning to the Port Mafia theory, but this time simply sticking to the facts and digging into the person who's actually choosing who would come back, rather than focusing on what Dazai wants.

I feel like a lot of people focus in on what Dazai wants but don't consider the fact that it's up to Mori, at least from what I've been seeing. The last thing Dazai wants to do is return to the Port Mafia, I know that, but Dazai also doesn't have room to negotiate here, considering the position he's in, and Mori knows that very well.

Alright, back to the finals trenches, enjoy these crumbs.

[marty4282]

Next Project Idea?

As I'm getting close (well not that close, but I'm getting there) to the end of my Double Black Analysis, I was thinking about what I should do for my next project.

And I think...I think I want to analyze Dazai, not anime Dazai, though, I mean Dazai.

I've read No Longer Human, Flowers of Buffoonery, and The Setting Sun, and while No Longer Human is the only one here that's semi-autobiographical...I think Dazai projects onto Naoji a lot in The Setting Sun, I've been seeing some similarities between Naoji and Yozo. Flowers of Buffoonery is a precursor to No Longer Human, as it's the first mention of Yozo, but there's a lot of moment's where Dazai himself interrupts the narrative and again Dazai subtly projecting onto Yozo.

I'm probably going to reread The Setting Sun before I start this just to get a better understanding of it before I start any drafting. I just recently reread No Longer Human and the Gospel is helping me recall main events in that book anyway, and Flowers of Buffoonery was my most recent read.

Nothing set in stone yet, I'm just throwing ideas around. I could also connect everything back to anime Dazai, though I'm not 100% sure how I want to do it. We shall see I just think this is an interesting idea.

But another thing...to anyone that's read No Longer Human and Flowers of Buffoonery:

Did anyone else forget Yozo's name like midway through reading No Longer Human? I did, and I feel like this was done on purpose (or maybe my memory is failing me).

But like no seriously think about it for a second. In Flowers of Buffoonery, Dazai would separate Yozo and himself throughout the entire book by constantly switching narratives. It's almost like he would interrupt himself the minute things got too serious for him. It goes from Yozo's story to Dazai's ramblings/complaints/apologies back to Yozo's story.

But in No Longer Human, that wall was gone. Yozo and Dazai bled together, because this was Dazai's final testament. No more hiding, no more masks, no more abrupt interruptions. There were no apologies, because he was no longer sorry. It's almost like Dazai wanted the reader to forget about Yozo, because Dazai was bleeding through.

Literally just trying to get some assignments done and my brains is like hey remember this from No Longer Human, well what if it means this and then I go on a 2 hour scavenger hunt to confirm my thoughts its really funny.

[marty4282]

Dostoevsky's and Dazai's religious ideologies were like complete opposites and I was all for it when working on The Gospel.

I would've totally dug deeper into Dostoevsky but I haven't finished Crime and Punishment yet so everything on Dostoevsky's end is from my research, if any of you have read Crime and Punishment (or any of his works really), let me know if Google was correct.

So I'm thinking the reason why The Gospel is 130 whatever pages is because I'm digging in on an individual level, and then like I'm like also writing this as if someone doesn't know the entire plot of BSD. Well, ok, that was more necessary for like 15, Stormbringer, and the Dragon Head Incident just cause not everyone has read those, but I'm also using the manga for this analysis and I've noticed some differences between the anime and the manga so I'm coming across scenes that like I wasn't even aware of in the Prison Arc.

Also I try to differentiate when I'm talking about the real life author by calling the actual author by their last name out of respect and calling the anime character by their first name. So like with Fyodor I refer to the anime character as Fyodor but the author as Dostoevsky in my analysis. That's kinda hard to do with Dazai though so...you guys are just gonna have to figure out when I'm talking about real life Dazai and anime Dazai...sorry.

Anyway, quick update, enjoy these crumbs because I do have finals coming up so I won't be able to work as much as I want to on this. Progress will be slow and/or come to a complete halt in the next few weeks, but once I am free it is going to be WRITING time lemme tell you.

I'm about done with the Prison Arc, just covered Chuuya killing Dazai yesterday. Literally had to research the impact of bullet wounds in the shoulder thank you Chuuya. Then after that I actually plan on redoing the 15 arc completely just because my writing style really developed over the course of this analysis and I want to match that. Then onto proofreading and finalizing.

[marty4282]

I just thought of something yesterday.

Did Dazai know that Chuuya wasn’t a vampire from the very beginning (since he arrived)?

Because like I can think of two reasons why Dazai could deduce this.

1. It’s Chuuya I mean like the best martial artist in Japan if not the world, no way a vampire got him

2. Chuuya’s hat blocks out anything that tries to intercept his consciousness. The vampirism would fall under this, so Chuuya would be immune.

And since Dazai was the one who possessed Rimbaud’s notes, he was aware of Chuuya’s hat too.

So these two were winging the entirety of the Prison break, counting on each other not to kill each other.

I think Dazai knew that Fyodor wouldn’t be killed based off that one attempt, and by extension Chuuya. Maybe he was immediately trying to set up Chuuya fake-killing him, and Chuuya was able to figure this out and played along.

Those are just my thoughts, I don’t know if they are right 😂

Ok after going back and forth between the chapter where Chuuya was introduced into the prison arc to when Chuuya was revealed to not be a vampire, I came to two conclusions:

1. Dazai had to have known that Chuuya was coming. That also means that he knew that Chuuya wasn’t a vampire from the very beginning.

2. The only “plan” they really had was the part where Chuuya had to fake-kill Dazai. Everything else was them winging it and hoping they don’t kill each other in the process because they very much could have at multiple points.

Lots and lots of bullet points and questions to get to those two conclusions 😭

[marty4282]

So I created this account on a whim, not expecting much.

You guys surpassed my expectations, thank you so much and I hope you guys stick around for more!

[marty4282]

Dazai Feels.

I'm tired of people saying Dazai doesn't feel.

He does, in fact, he might feel more than most characters in the show, but there's a difference between not feeling and hiding those feelings.

He feels painfully. He feels deeply. He feels terribly. That's the whole point.

Let me go into No Longer Human for a second.

Because it's not that Yozo didn't feel at all, it's almost as if those feelings overwhelmed Yozo. They were so overwhelming and distorted that Yozo didn't know what to do with them. He couldn't understand them. He couldn't control them. And that fear and shame drove him deeper into isolation.

That's why he excluded himself as a human being. Not because he didn't feel, but because he couldn't understand those overwhelming feelings.

Tying back to BSD Dazai.

The misconception that Dazai "doesn't feel" mostly comes from his Port Mafia days. Yes, he was the ruthless "Demon Prodigy" who didn't flinch at death and torture, the one who showed no mercy and gave people a reason to fear him.

But that doesn't mean he's hollow and empty. He couldn't wear his emotions like a badge of honor in the Port Mafia, or else no one would fear him.

He learned to build walls. Ones with sharp humor, cold intellect, and perfectly timed deflection. He made himself into someone who couldn't get hurt.

He mourned Odasaku. And he flipped his whole life upside down to honor his dying wish. You don't do that unless you care. Unless it hurts.

Happiness and sadness. Fear and anger. Panic and stress. Amusement and boredom. Bloodlust and ruthlessness. He's shown all of these at some point in his life.

Take, for example, in Mersault. He was constantly under stress to make sure his comrades would get out of this conflict safely. He would be constantly adjusting his pieces on the chessboard, not wanting a repeat of Odasaku. And when those plans fall through, he panics, because he's worried.

He's not some emotionless monster.

He's a human who thinks he isn't human.

So yes, Dazai feels.

[marty4282]

An Official Announcement.

"Their relationship is woven from their own blood, sweat, and suffering, as well as the blood of their enemies. They were never saints, never will be saints, grace be damned. They never needed it. Salvation and Damnation. Love and Hate. Trust and Skepticism. Pain and Truth. Humanity and Inhumanity. One forsaken by god, the other forsaken by man, now walking together, their paths intertwined. One soul in two bodies."

"The Gospel According to the Damned" - A Double Black Analysis.

Now that I am nearing completion of the first draft, I figured I should formally introduce what I've been working on and give it an official title. I wanted something biblical yet chilling. Did it work? I was drafting up ideas, and I came up with that title, along with the formal introduction.

This is my first big project. I wanted to try my hand at formal media analysis, rather than the small rants and theories I would type up on my own time, and I think it's coming along nicely, to the point where when I read it, I get chills, which is what I'm going for to be honest. I want it to be chilling.

There's no release date, and I don't plan on making one. When I get to proofreading and get close to wrapping that up, I'll drop a hint that it's coming out soon. I like working at my own pace and don't want to be rushed by a release date, that's all. So, look forward to that and the crumbs along the way!

[marty4282]

Throwback to Stormbringer really quick before I continue with the Prison Arc. With good reason too.

Referring to real-life Dostoevsky and Dazai.

Dostoevsky believed that suffering elevated, that it was essential for attaining true faith. Dazai feared God. He has only ever been able to believe in God's punishments due to the endless spiral of hopelessness and depression in his life. To him, suffering destroys.

Back to Bungo Stray Dogs.

Dazai made Chuuya suffer so that Chuuya could see that he isn't a monster. That I've known since I've written that portion. However, suffering destroys. He needed to destroy Chuuya's misconception of him not being human, and because to him suffering destroys, he believed Chuuya needed to suffer to break. So, no, Dazai didn't do it for shits and giggles.

[marty4282]

Literally had to learn chess for this part of Dazai vs Fyodor. I don't play chess guys, I tried learning that crap is way too confusing for me. I don't even know if this is all right, the only part that's confirmed is Dazai's queen. I was honestly spit-balling here and brainstorming what could possibly represent the mentioned pieces.

So enjoy me word-vomiting, I actually need to structure all of this now.

Edit: yknow what Ranpo might be Dazai’s king…doesn’t Dazai say something about him being captured and watching Fyodor allows Ranpo to move more freely…and Ranpo being able to actually get the agency out of this, yeah Ranpo might be Dazai’s king. Ok made some adjustments:

Ok NOW I have to structure all of this...keeping Chuuya's portion for later.

[marty4282]

While I am drafting for the Double Black Bible...I started to think here like did Dazai leak his own crimes so he'd be arrested and taken to Mersault?

Because his crimes were erased, there shouldn't be any record of his crimes anywhere. Unless the government still possesses records of his crimes? Ango did state that Dazai was "pardoned" from his crimes, but I thought the reason why Dazai had to stay underground for 2 years was so his crimes could be erased.

He probably didn't leak his own crimes...there might've been some record of them somewhere that the Hunting Dogs had access to, but I like to think he did for shits and giggles. It seems like a very Dazai thing he would do.

Edit: OOOOHHH WAIT It was the dude who can erase the perfect crime I forget his name. Whoops. Still Dazai just releasing his own crimes so he would be arrested just sounds funny as hell to me.