#bsd reread

[spliqi]

kyouka before and after passing the agency entrance exam i’m bawling. that’s my daughter

[jellynyann]

I'm just rereading BSD and... Wait wait wait, Atsushi has a FEW black stripes???? Everyone knows he has ONE, but FEW?? He always seems to be portrayed with only one, was I blind or is it an early chapters thing?? I mean, that's so cool tho.

[cynyari]

i literally hate him.

[lotus-pear]

SIGHHHH BSD REREAD…................I MISS THEM SO MUCH :(((

[kokoasci]

kokoasci sigma art in the year 2025???

[amethystroselily]

I never noticed Tanizaki said that before. He’s so funny. If there’s one thing he’s gonna be, it’s pro-murder. Love how open he’s been about that since day one. We can’t even be surprised that the ada let in two ex-mafia members that are actively trying to improve themselves when they have Tanizaki “Please give me just one chance to kill someone” Junichiro on staff.

[originalaccountname]

chapters 63, 78, 105 and 121.

and each time, Atsushi's reaction was to acknowledge Dazai's presence and be motivated by it:

but, now that the veil has been lifted, it's very easy to see that this Dazai hasn't been very nice in his approach at all. Here, let me help you visualise it a little:

Looking back, that Dazai's words were systematically accusatory and harsh, and if at the start his face resembled the man Atsushi knows, recently his expressions have turned dull and cold, much more reminiscent of what we've seen from the orphanage headmaster.

Yes, the headmaster was cruel. Yes, it was unfair. No, Atsushi didn't deserve any of it. He should have been protected, he has every right to despise that man and to feel all the conflicting feelings he has about it. But it happened. It happened, and he was shaped by it, and every step he takes as he makes his way through his new life has the echoes of the way that man raised him. He's making the choice not to let anyone go through what he has to if he can help it, but also makes him prone to self-sacrifice because of his lack of self-esteem.

Atsushi's been struggling hard since the Decay of Angels arc began, and the voice that's been motivating him whenever his determination waned has been the one of the man who raised and abused him hidden behind the mask of the one who brought him to his new home. It's fucked, and it worked.

[doctorforks]

makes me a bit sad when fans are just now realizing how fun bsd is. Every single chapter is amazing, but for some reason people only think it's magnificent when something super crazy happens as though build up doesn't exist in storytelling. And even if it didn't, every chapter contains so much material to discuss, the characters literally use pen and paper to explain more "difficult" concepts for our entertainment. I could never understand those who think bsd is "just now getting exciting"

[degenerateshinji]

oops its been a year

[nyxi-pixie]

stormbringers fucking insane for using rimlaine as a contrast to skk. these two couldnt trust each other fully and rimbaud only believed he could help verlaine feel human, not truly be so, and still considered him Other, however much he believed them to be equals, verlaines humanity only existed in rimbauds eyes because he gave it to him. verlaines inability to accept his own humanity or even really that rimbauds feelings for him were genuine because he, alone, singular, monstrously set apart from humanity, should be incapable of receiving anything resembling affection or genuine understanding, such that it left him betraying his partner. and then they cannot exist as two beings working seamlessly together. rimbaud and verlaine in fact cannot exist as two beings at all, only as one conjoined entity. verlaine kept alive with rimbauds skill, and rimbaud, long dead and refusing that reality until he can find his partner, existing only as an extension of verlaine. while skk who do trust each other blindly, who do see humanity in each other enough to look past when they doubt it in themselves, who see humanity not as a defined be or be not, but as a set of values, as a do or do not. they are able to exist as one act in two parts. interdependent, always, even down to their skills, but still functioning as one unit in two separate cogs made to fit together.

[anticidic]

hc that teen Dazai learned a few tricks when it comes to wound care to patch up his own injuries, so after the first few times Chuuya uses corruption and loses consciousness, Dazai spends a few hours cleaning off the blood and dirt caked on Chuuya's skin and carefully wrapping his wounds in bandages that Dazai himself wears

and the first time this happens is when they're 16 after Chuuya's body gives out from corruption and he falls from the sky before Dazai catches him, and Chuuya wakes up shortly after to see he's covered in the same bandages as Dazai. He breathes out loudly through his nose and mutters to the ceiling that Dazai's a little shit, bemoaning the fact he looks like Dazai now too, but his words hold no bite

[spliqi]

i’m actually distraught over the difference between how dazai talks to akutagawa vs how he talks about him

[blackwaves]

reading into irl ichiyo higuchi and dwelling on the statement that ichiyo was bound by the structure of acceptable writing for female writers at the time — having to recreate a performance of feminity which contradicted and moved around the actual way women spoke, & which notably did not come naturally to her — but managed to make it her own + express assertiveness within it nonetheless.

anyway this is all just to say that i'm so fond of the bsd higuchi-centric chapter which says she's not naturally suited the port mafia, but that she stays and tries anyway. the way she gains respect via throwing herself into a fight she expects to lose from the motivation of her love/loyalty for akutagawa. thinking primarily of ch.77 where tachihara's suitability to the mafia is defined in his recklessness, passion, and bravery— there is something to me there about how she makes those traits her own.

[ettaevie]

I made it the longest time without thinking about Dazai and Akutagawa's relationship but now I am again and it's pissing me all the way off.

"He's a sword without a scabbard" He was a SHIELD! He was a shield until YOU TOLD HIM that he needed to be a sword!

Rashomon was developed on the streets and used by Akutagawa to protect his sister and friends from the hostile environment they were surrounded by. The first time he had the intent to use it with blood lust he doesn't even get the chance to. Because he meets Dazai.

Pretty much the only flashback we get of Dazai training Akutagawa features him breaking past his defenses, beating him down, and telling him that he needs to be more offensive if he wants to survive in the Port Mafia.

Dazai also laments about Akutagawa seemingly not understanding that his ability works best for support and defense...Why didn't you teach him support and defense then??? The flashback is literally the process of Dazai teaching Akutagawa the "stab first, ask questions later" mentality we see with him struggle with in the present day.

You are literally his mentor why do you talk about his shortcomings like you're not the one who is supposed to be helping him overcome them? Like you didn't instill half of them?

I wouldn't have a problem with this except for the fact that the narrative refuses to acknowledge it. They talk about Akutagawa's poor tactical mindset like it's a natural part of him or formed in a vacuum while showing us the opposite. They never acknowledge that the reason Akutagawa needs so much character growth in the first place is because Dazai failed him as a mentor. Akutagawa is Dazai's greatest failure and imo it would make for a much better story if they treated the situation as such. But since Dazai can do no wrong it's framed more like "Akutagawa just doesn't get it. That's why Dazai gave him Atsushi to help him understand the error of his ways!" with no mention of the fact that Dazai is the one who taught Akutagawa those ways.

And if you want to go the direction of putting it all on Akutagawa, that just means Dazai is the worst mentor ever because he never managed to instill even one lesson in Akutagawa in a way that would stick for TWO WHOLE YEARS.

Ok rant over. (Insert Dazai is a good nuanced character disclaimer blah blah blah)

[lotus-pear]

dazai breathlessly watching his partner in an inhuman, corrupted state and still finding him beautiful has to be another kind of love

[xvxblahhhxvx]

I've seen people make comments about Kunikida's bad judgement of character in Dazai's Entrance Exam, but I honestly just think it means that people are missing the point.

It's brought up numerous times that Dazai's lack of background and extensive knowledge about things most citizens wouldn't is incredibly suspicious at best. Kunikida observes, more than once, that he can tell that Dazai's behavior is some sort of an act, that the emotions he's putting on are all for show. He knows his skills go beyond far what an average person who did nothing with their lives should have, and despite not being the Azure Apostle, he avoids questions when asked about his past.

And yet, despite all this, he lets him pass the entrance exam, because of the main point that's being hammered home (I'm about to get hate for this, but) Dazai isn't evil. Fukuzawa told Kunikida to shoot if he detected any wickedness in his heart, and he didn't—because Dazai doesn't have wicked intentions. He's a terrible person, yeah, he's done awful, unforgivable things, but in spite of all that, he wanted to join the detective agency and be part of it. He obviously likes it there and doesn't wish to leave, he likes Kunikida a lot as a partner and trusts him, and Kunikida as well. He realizes there's more going on beneath the surface with Dazai, he's said so multiple times, but allows him to pass the exam despite his...less than ideal office behavior because he knows that Dazai can help a lot of people. And he goes on to do just that. Does he terrorize Kunikida? Absolutely. Does Kunikida want to strangle him for it? Every day. Is he a "good person?" Very questionable.

But Kunikida was right that he was fit to be a member of the detective agency, because despite all the bad he's done, the bad he still continues to do, he has become an amazing detective and has saved an innumerable amount of lives, and despite all the mystery that surrounds him, Kunikida trusts him. Because they're partners.