sorcerersandskillusers

[sorcerersandskillusers]

i’m so so tempted to reread the bsd manga from the very beginning because reading one new chapter each month is not enough for me

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Someone give Atsushi a hug or something

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Explanation is not the same as justification, people can have reasons for why they do things but that doesn't change the actions themselves.

it irritates me so bad whenever i see “blame mori” comments on content about dazai abusing akutagawa like holy shit ! people ! are ! responsible ! for ! their ! actions !! dazai was the one who abused akutagawa not mori so it is dazais fault. mori didnt even instruct him to treat akutagawa that way. sure you could place some of the blame on mori just as you could place some of the blame of aku abusing kyouka on dazai but at the end of the day aku and dazai are responsible for their actions.

yes trauma totally went into why they did what they did (hell i dont even think aku comprehends it as abuse “it didnt hurt. dazai gave my life meaning”) but when someone continues the cycle, the whole point of that concept is that they are now becoming an abuser as well and in the eyes of their victims they are just as guilty as their own abuser. we can understand why they did what they did and what went into it but that doesnt change the fact that they are at fault and responsible for their actions.

every defense i see goes like this: “heres why their actions are understandable” like ok great we sympathize with them and stuff but where does that connect to them being blameless??

[sorcerersandskillusers]

Holy shit! This is such an incredibly well put breakdown of an issue that has been driving me crazy for ages. People saying Asagiri "glorifies abuse" are somehow missing that one of the most core principles of BSD is how mutual love and support are always stronger then abuse.

Thats what the ADA as a whole is meant to show, how every member cares about the others so much they would both kill and die for them. How Fukuzawa's care for Ranpo carried over to Ranpo helping Yosano see a future. Oda showing Dazai a path away from abuse leading to Dazai saving Atsushi, leading to Atsushi saving Kyouka.

But BSD also tackles the complexity of abuse, its not always as simple as "evil person hates someone and abuses them". So often abuse comes from trying to help someone. That doesn't make it right, but it is important.

cant stand seeing people take the complexity of atsushis relationship with the headmaster and claim that the author is trying to push that the abusers a good guy. holy oversimplification of an incredibly nuanced topic and portrayal.

atsushi hates the headmaster. he expresses intense anger at him for what he did even in recent chapters but hes also repressing his sadness at his death because that anger is blinding him and its preventing him from being able to complete the grieving process. i think just in general he was struggling to cope with his own emotions at the time. he hated the director and thought that meant he couldnt mourn him. it was much easier to believe the director hated him and that was that but im glad asagiri tackled this topic because it adds so much more humanity to all the characters and is a pretty common aspect of abuse irl.

when he first comprehends the news atsushi is clearly happy but it also feels a bit like hes playing it up. as if he doesnt exactly know how he should act. he reinforces all hes done to him “he abused me horrifically so of course i should be ecstatic” but it doesnt feel entirely genuine. his real feelings are much more complex than that. tanizaki asks him if he wants to know why the director was here looking for him and atsushi says no, insisting the director mustve been here to hurt him. but the way he responds when he learns of the directos true intentions suggests that he mightve been considering this from the start. after all, the director told him to never hate himself as a child but he either blocked it out or didnt pay much attention to it so he mightve already suspected this.

at this age, he already knew the answers to these questions. as a child he believed he was being punished solely because the director hated him (which the director verbally reinforced) and he continued to tell himself that, trying to ignore the bits that suggested otherwise. he told tanizaki the director was probably there to kill him even though he was told that his punishment was a lesson to help him learn to endure pain so he could survive in this world, even after the director told him to take all his hate out on him and to never hate himself, even after the “poison” didnt kill him.

despite all the realizations, he didnt want to accept it. or couldnt for his own wellbeing. at this point, he remembered the directors words about not hating himself, realized he was being punished for going rampant as the tiger and was being fed nutrients, remembered the directors actions that suggested he wasnt doing what he did out of pure malice yet he still couldnt help but try to deny that the director could ever care about him. by now, atsushi knows that its true but he doesnt want it to be

he was unable to cope with the duality of the directors actions and his own feelings so dazai helped him. he told atsushi that multiple things can be true. the headmaster is despicable, he thought he was doing what was best for atsushi, the directors actions are a huge part of what made atsushi who he is today, atsushi doesnt have to forgive him, the director is unforgivable. he told him that he could still hate the headmaster and that he could cry for him as well. he was validating both atsushis pain/anger AND his grief and it was then that atsushi finally allowed himself to mourn.

its also worth mentioning he said “thats what i think” in regard to the orphanage directors actions keeping atsushi alive and teaching him how to live. at the end of the day, it must be said that this is dazais opinion and dazai is someone who has used similar methods. he gave akutagawa a reason to live regardless of how much trauma and pain it led to. he hurt akutagawa for the sake of keeping him alive. the director wanted atsushi to hate him so he wouldnt hate himself, wanted him to feel as if his entire existence is a burden and hes unworthy to live if he doesnt help others so hed save people just as dazai was degrading so that he could give akutagawa something to chase after, a reason to live, and just as he wanted akutagawa to depend his self worth on dazais approval and fear punishment so that he would listen to dazai and wouldnt become a slave to his own ability and destroy himself.

he did it with good intentions in mind but as he said, it isnt justified. although he can most likely somewhat understand the directors line of thinking because of that. so far it doesnt seem like he regrets what hes done because he believes hes getting the results he wanted (atsushi and akutagawa teaming up). he hasnt been shown to account for the pain he inflicted which i assume would be the case with the director as well. they understand their methods are cruel and horrible but they prioritize doing what they believe they need to do to raise aku/atsu right but i digress

and this wasnt the end of things. atsushi is still angry at the director. he didnt let this prevent him from hating him and he didnt start glorifying his abuser. he was finally able to healthily deal with some of his trauma which he still is dealing with to this day and he isnt portrayed as in the wrong for hating him

it is undeniable that he somewhat feels a bond with the headmaster. he looks to him for guidance and even had to cover that up by imagining dazai in his place. the journey is far from over which is another thing i love. him and akutagawa basically fall on opposite ends of the spectrum. both of them look towards their mentors for guidance but atsushis hate overshadows that while akutagawas admiration overshadows his contempt

in the main universe he has supportive people in his life and dazai is able to help him mourn but he doesnt have that support group in beast so when he learns of the headmasters intentions, he latches onto the idea of someone caring about him and glorifies him. it was a trauma response and including it doesnt mean asagiri is saying that the director was a good man. it is far from uncommon for abuse victims to form a trauma bond with their abusers and akutagawa is even shown doing some form of this in the main series. in beast, rather than helping atsushi mourn, dazai uses this situation to control atsushi and he doesnt get the chance to overcome this. at the end of the series, mori is the one offering to help him mourn and it is implied that he is able to heal eventually by letting go of the headmasters gift and finding something else to validate his existence with.

mori expresses he disagrees with dazai and his method of using atsushis trauma to control him as well as the directors cruel methods, insisting he lets him help him overcome his trauma from the headmaster and he is presented as a positive force in atsushis life who is there to help him heal. if asagiri was trying to insist that the director was a good guy, atsushis singular positive influence wouldnt be disapproving of his methods and preventing atsushi from leaving until he can discard of his gift. and he wouldnt continue allowing main universe atsushi to hate him right after dazai explained why he did what he did let alone in the recent chapters

this was longer than i expected it to be so i hope my thought process is coherent and i didnt screw anything up. im always too chicken to post the long stuff but maybe thisll make it out

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The genius writing of Akutagawa and Dazai's relationship.

Dazai and Akutagawa's relatuionship is incredibly interesting and is essential to the story as a whole.

Here I want to talk about how we see Dazai’s careful manipulation of Akutagawa at the start of BSD and what his motivations are for doing it.

In Dazai's entrance exam we see how Akutagawa is still pursuing Dazai even after 2 years. But he is going after him more for revenge, he has clearly become more independent but still desperately wants to find Dazai and hopefully understand why he was left behind.

Akutagawa sternly watches the agent go. “Wait. I’d like to ask you something.” The agent stops in his tracks. “I’m looking for someone. He has the ability to nullify others’ skills upon contact. Know anybody like that?” “Sorry, afraid not.” “Then get out of my sight.” “You got it.” He begins to walk again before disappearing into the darkness of the evening twilight. “…Where did you go? Why did you suddenly disappear?” Akutagawa soliloquizes, alone on the street. “For a moment, I thought you might have been the Azure King, but I was wrong. Where are you? There’s no way you’re dead. You are somewhere here in Yokohama. I just know it.” The winds of the night collect his words and carry them away. “I’ll find my mentor if it’s the last thing I do. I’ll find you, former Port Mafia executive Dazai.”

By the time the manga really starts we see that Akutagawa's attitude towards Dazai has changed a lot.

This is his first time seeing Dazai in years and he is able to keep his cool and brush it off. He is even confident enough to threaten Dazai when we know Akutagawa before this and even later in the series would never.

Dazai taunts Akutagawa here, poking at the old insecurity’s and letting him know Dazai is still not impressed with what he's achieved. you can see from his reaction Aku is affected and shows that even though he's acting tough, he hasn't really escaped his past.

This is where the mind games begin.

Look at Akutagawa's face when he enters ,you can see that he is really nervous about confronting Dazai here, and Dazai pointedly ingoring him like he's nothing when he tries to intimidate him really just emphisises that Dazai doesn't see him as a threat.

Akutagawa tries so hard to be in control here, Dazai is chained up, sententenced to death, has no friends or allies there to help him while Akutagawa has the whole mafia at his back. But still its clear that Dazai is 100% in control of the situation.

Akutagawa hitting Dazai, threatening to kill him, saying how he is no threat, we would never see him do this kind of thing later in the series. Dazai here very carefully brings him right back to the state he was in before he left.

Dazai bringing out every old insecurity, dismissing everything Akutagawa strived to achieve and the strength he uses to justify his existance. We see Akutagawa trying to justify why he doesn't need Dazais approval, how he's a traitor and doomed to die anyway, but Dazai just talks about how disapointing and pathetic Akutagawa was as a student and for Akutagawa who's ability and talent are what he values most thats a deep wound. Akutagawa is trying so hard to control the present but the fact that Dazai's words affect him so much shows that he is still very much trapped by the past.

An important note is that we know for a fact this is Dazai lying. He says multiple times in the Dark Era that he sees huge potential in Akutagawa and that he thinks he could be the strongest ability user in the port mafia. All of this is Dazai deliberately getting under Aku's skin, breaking down the confidence he built in the years after Dazai left.

But what Dazai said that cut the deepest was comparing him to Atsushi.

The fact that Dazai had taken on another pupil after him, and that he said he was better means that Akutagawa was just weak. And we see how after this Akutagawa developes his hatred of Atsushi since to him Atsushi is everything he despises but some he won Dazai's approval.

Akutagawa is brought right back to how Dazai used to train him, the hell he went through to earn Dazai's acceptence, and somehow this random weak coward gets everything he ever wanted dispite everything he did to earn it.

By the Guild arc we see that Akutagawa is now completely motivated by Dazai again. This is also important because he is a lot less cocky here, it's clear that losing to Atsushi really has pushed him to start fighting with everything he has.

On Mobi Dick we see that Akutagawa has completely abandoned the mafias orders and is solely focused on killing Atsushi.

We also see just how much Akutagawa's attitude has changed from when he met Dazai in the prison, here even just the chance to talk to Dazai makes him throw everything else away. He's desprate and confused and needs to know why Dazai would choose Atsushi over him.

Then, Akutagawa learns a bit of Atsushi's past.

This is it, I think that here (even though he would never admit it) Akutagawa kind of realises that him and Atsushi want exactly the same thing, but to Akutagawa approval has to come from Dazai while for Atsushi even he doesn't know how or when it will be enough.

Atsushi thinks his life has no value unless he saves others, Akutagawa thinks his has no value unless he kills others. Both are wrong and both need to learn that from the other.

(Atsushi and Akutagawa's dynamic is also incredibly well done and will probably get an analysis of its own but this one is too long already)

Now I want to talk about why Dazai did this, why he dragged Akutagawa back to this state even after he has seemingly moved on. I don't think it was just to control him (though thats probably part of it), I think it was because he knew that the only person who could save Akutagawa was Atsushi.

Very important point: Dazai was not the one who made Akutagawa think his life had no value, or the reason he was so eager to kill. Both of these are part of Akutagawa long before he meets Dazai. We see in The Heartless Cur that Akutagawa was already very quick to kill and had no will or reason to live.

In the Dark Era Dazai tells Oda that he wants Akutagawa to learn to temper his rage and not always jump to killing.

“That skill user Akutagawa was one of your subordinates, right?” I said, tracing my memory. “I heard he had a rather aggressive skill…but even he’s no match for them?” “Akutagawa—he’s like a sword without a sheath.” Dazai grinned from ear to ear. “He’ll surely become the Mafia’s strongest skill user in the notso-distant future, but for now he needs someone who can teach him how to put that sword away.” I was surprised. I had never heard Dazai openly speak so highly of one of his men like that before. “Is he really that talented?” “When I first saw him over in the slums, I was horrified. His talents are extraordinary, and his skill is extremely destructive. Plus, he’s stubborn. If I’d left him to his own devices, he would’ve ended up a slave to his own powers until he destroyed himself.” Dazai didn’t freely make people work under him, period; much less a boy on the verge of starvation in the slums. But Dazai seemed to have his own reasons for doing it.

Notice how Dazai says he needs "someone" to teach him to sheath his sword, not that "he" can/will teach him.

Dazai seemingly regressing Akutagawa back to being 100% dependent on his approval was because Akutagawa never really escaped it. He was still just an attack dog who killed indescriminatly and whose self worth was tied entirely to his role in the mafia. If Dazai had just left him alone he probably would have ended up destroying himself just like Dazai predicted. But when Dazai met Atsushi he knew he had found a way to save Akutagawa too.

This is not me (or Asagiri) trying to justify Dazai's abuse of Akutagawa. Dazai himself says about Atsushi's headmaster that the methods he used were horrific and unforgivable, but that doesn't mean they didn't shape who Atsushi is now.

In the mafia Dazai wouldn't have cared about how he "saved" akutagawa, he says it to Akutagawa himself.

He immediately pointed the gun at Akutagawa, who was still on the ground. “I have this friend who’s supporting several orphans all on his own, you see,” he continued, his weapon still drawn and aimed at the boy. “Akutagawa, I’m sure Odasaku would’ve been patient enough to give you the guidance you needed had he been the one who’d found you on the brink of starvation in the slums. That would have been the ‘right’ thing to do. But ‘righteousness’ doesn’t take very kindly to me. And there’s only one thing people like me do to useless subordinates.” Dazai mercilessly pulled the trigger the moment he finished his sentence.

We even see this play out in BEAST, Oda and the ADA are able to really help Akutagawa and teach him the value of life both his own and other peoples, what Dazai did wasn't nessacary or justified. But it is what happened and can't be changed.

Obviously Dazai was also struggling with horrific things of his own, but that doesn't change or excuse what he did. Everything he put Akutagawa through left a mark, so to undo that damage and let him move on he needed to make him and Atsushi truly understand eachother by breaking down the walls Akutagawa had put up.

In the end this isn't a moral exploration, good and bad in general have very blurry meanings in bsd (and in real life). I just wanted to deconstruct this since it's such incredible writing that I almost never see talked about. And it's extrememly important for understanding the latest chapters.

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Hey what do you think about the ship of Nathaniel Hawthorn x Kunikida Dopoppo? :)

I didn't know it existed, but if thats what you like then power to you

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I killed 35 people, what about you?

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How have I never seen these???

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"you fought so hard."

new bsd chapter! what the fuck

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I’ve been thinking about how there’s a lot of parallels between this current arc and the Anne’s Room fight.

Two Gozen’s and two Anne’s with one opponent seemingly locked away in an unreachable space.

Atsushi in Anne’s Room threatened Lucy to release her ability. Otherwise he’d trap her inside and she would die in a hell of her own making.

He felt bad about it after but Atsushi was not bluffing. He was beginning to let go of her when she released her ability.

Hell he even thanked Mori for his words of advice back then.

Now we have Atsushi before Akinari who is the one powering this space they and everyone else are trapped in.

Much like Lucy and her ability.

Atsushi might not kill Akinari that remains to be seen. But we’ve already seen the lengths he will go to when his friends are trapped beyond his reach.

[sorcerersandskillusers]

Looking at the discusions about the latest chapter and I just want to say I think there is a very low chance that Atsushi is actually going to kill Ueda.

Not only does bsd almost never kill any character, the set up for it is (at least to me) very clearly leading to a surprise Atsushi was using his tiger claws which can cut through abilities to cut the restraints trapping him to set him free.

Atsushi is probably the ADA member least willing to kill having only cannonically killed one person (Shibusawa) and that was when he was a child, being torutred. Not to mention he wasn't in control when it happened.

I don't think the Atsushi we know will look at a crying person who was imprison and used for their ability against their will and decide to kill them without much hesitaion.

We've seen Atsushi was agaisnt killing the Mori even when everyone else thought it was the only way to save Fukuzawa. We know he didn't want to kill Kyouka or Lucy when they were threatening to kill hiim and his friends. Atsushi would not jump straight to "Ok I guess I have to kill this guy" without first trying every possible other option.

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Rereading The Heartless Cur for a post I'm planning and there is a lot of stuff I'd totally forgotten

Like the fact that Dazai offers to give Akutagawa and Gin enough money to live comfortably and to leave them alone if Akutagawa doesn't want to join the mafia

At first, Akutagawa had pegged him as a demon. That was wrong. This man, this Dazai, was something beyond even that. "Listen. If you turn down my invitation, I won't hate you for it. Even if you refuse it, I'll gladly give your friends a proper burial here, and I'll give you and your sister enough money to eke out a proper existence. And once I do, you will never see me again, I promise you." Though his voice was quiet, it seemed to thunder down the forest road, causing the branches framing it to quiver. "But if you think you have the mettle for it, I will gladly grant you what you seek. The path will not be easy. I have no intention of going soft on you, you understand. What you'll be facing will make your life on the streets look like a trip to the fair. But if you have the mettle for it…" Now Dazai's eyes were close to his. And even at that range, they were unfathomable. They could see all. No god or demon could escape them. And they revealed nothing, not even a hint of what he would say next. "Is there something you want?" he asked.

This is important because It reinforces the fact that to join the mafia was a choice that Akutagawa made, and the next part shows why thats even more heatbreaking

Akutagawa's heart answered the question automatically. What he wanted. What he craved. What he could never, ever obtain in this pit he called home. Akutagawa managed to push the words from his parched throat: "Can you give me…a reason to live?"

"I can." The moment he heard the answer, Akutagawa felt a new emotion running through him. If that hatred from before was the first clear emotion he had ever felt in his life, this was the second. Compared to the hatred, however, this was entirely unexpected, far beyond his wildest imagination. A master. He had a master "Well?" Dazai asked. this young man, this god, this demon. Instead of replying, Akutagawa shouted a scream that pierced the night mist and stabbed at the heavens themselves. It was a missive, a eulogy, for all his friends who had died without obtaining a master of their own, a reason to live. The Silent Mad Dog, the soulless automaton of a boy, screamed with more force at that moment than an ordinary man summoned in his entire life. Dazai smiled. "Glad to hear it." He stood up, removed his overcoat, and draped it over the shoulders of the now bawling Akutagawa. It was the first infant cry from Ryunosuke Akutagawa-a boy who a four scant years later, would become chief of the Port Mafia's vanguard force, a hunting dog doing the dark bidding of the boss himself.

Akutagawa didn't join the mafia because he had no choice, he joined because he wanted to find a reason to live. The exact same reason that Dazai joined.

[sorcerersandskillusers]

Something All Akutagawa Fans Should Read

It's sad how many Akutagawa fans haven't read "The Heartless Cur". If you like his character you should 1000% read it. It's the story of how Akutagawa met Dazai and is probably one of the most important things for understanding his character and relationship to Dazai.

This is a 100% cannon short story Asagiri wrote and included in manga volume 6

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OH MY GOD IT'S BACK!!!

GUYS! I made new animatic, please check this out even if you’re not in bsd fandom!

[sorcerersandskillusers]

wanted to post this for atsushi's bday but i forgot and now im 2 days late but ANYWAYS

this was my first participation on a zine yippe :D

you should definitely check the zine out if you havent! its bsd x ghibli themed :3 (and its free yay)

https://airashi.gumroad.com/l/qtypvu

[sorcerersandskillusers]

i found the piece dazai plays in 123.5!! (SPOILERS)

the piece is ‘pavane pour une infante défunte’ or ‘pavane for a dead princess’. amazing, right??

i was in the shower and was like ‘hmmm you’d need such big hands to play that piece’ and then remembered the hell of trying to learn pavane and had a eureka moment

proof beneath the cut!!

comparisons (using my sheet music):

then,

finally,

TADAAAAA

also fun fact:

this piece is used in bsd wan!’s soundtrack too!

[sorcerersandskillusers]

How BSD flips power fantasy on its head

One of my favourite things about BSD and it's power system is that "stronger" characters are often much worse off than weaker ones.

Abilities aren't some power fantasy that makes their users lives better, in fact those with the strongest abilities tend to suffer the most because of them.

This is a rule baked into the ability power system, we are given a set of "rules" for ability users in the untold origins but the one that sticks out to me most is this:

Skills do not always make the possessor happy.

Think of the bsd characters with the most powerful abilities and how they have affected their lives.

Chuuya: Probably the strongest combat ability user alive right now, but his ability led him to be manipulated and used first by the sheep, then by the mafia. In stormbringer we see how badly Chuuya wishes he had no ability, that he was just a regular kid like the Sheep.

Yosano: Her ability is insanely strong; she is probably one of the most useful ability users on the planet and is a big part of how the ADA can stand a chance against much larger groups. But her ability was exploited, and she was forced into a horrific position where the lives of those near her became cheap.

Q: Incredibly dangerous ability which led to them being imprisoned for years by the Mafia and then put through horrible torture by the Guild.

Fukuchi ability made him the ultimate soldier, which meant he not only had to watch al his comrades die around him, but he was also used as to commit unspeakable evils for the sate of the state which eventually drove him to form the Decay of Angels.

Akutagawa: His skill is incredibly strong, able to cut through anything physical even space itself, but that power lead to him being conditioned by Dazai into a living weapon who had no value unless he killed and whose worth was tied to his usefulness to the mafia.

Lucy, Kyouka, Sigma, Atsushi, Mushitaro… and tons more characters were all exploited for their abilities, either through force or manipulation.

And it’s not just abilities, there is also a running theme of the smartest characters in the series suffering debilitating loneliness because of their inability to connect with other people. Characters like Dazai, Ranpo and Shibusawa are all shown at one point or another to be unable to relate to other people making them feel alone.

Dazai concluded that the problem was in him and that there was no point in continuing to live. Ranpo nearly fell into believing that the whole world hated him and if Fukuzawa had not saved him he might have ended up similar to Fyodor.

Shibusawa decided that normal humans were inferior to him and became obsessed with finding something that could surpass his own mind.

We don’t know what is going on with Fyodor but I’m 100% sure it is far from healthy.

Overall I just find it really interesting that unlike a lot of series where being powerful is normally just better, bsd tackles the isolation that comes with being different and makes being a powerful ability user seem like a nightmare. But thats why the main focus of the series isn't in indavidual power, but in the power gained from support and trust in others.