#soukoku meta

[skk-forever]

kouyou has some complicated feelings towards dazai---on one hand, she pities him: he's a boy who got roped into the mafia too young, an SA survivor who can't stand human touch, and she's not stupid--she suspects she knows why dazai wears those bandages

on the other hand, he's fucking annoying

chuuya lives above kouyou's brothel, and dazai is there constantly. imagine the worst upstairs neighbor you've ever had. multiply it by 30. when they're not beating the shit out of each other and actually shaking the walls of the building, they're just...screaming. kouyou finds out dazai laughs like a screeching hyena when he's around chuuya, his limbs flailing and unrestrained. it's so unlike the performative smiles or derisive snorts she's seen from dazai before, and she's a little relieved that he actually is 15, despite his absurdly high rank.

but it's the 4th time this week that dazai has rushed past a client to get to the front door, causing her girls to drop expensive wine glasses on the ground. kouyou grimaces as they shatter. chuuya, as expected, isn't far behind. he stops to look at the glass.

sorry ane-san, it's his fault, ane-san, i'll pay for the glasses, he says, looking genuinely guilty and well, kouyou could never stay mad at chuuya for long.

(dazai doubles back when he realizes chuuya isn't chasing him, and they snipe at each other as chuuya cleans up the shattered glass)

[azapofinspiration]

Admittedly, something I’ve liked in the past couple of chapters is that even with an occasional barb or complaint thrown in, there’s been a surprising lack of hostility between Dazai and Chuuya.

Like, we’ve had crumbs of this — of them caring for each other and looking after each other — before but it’s been so consistent in the last few chapters and it feels so very in our faces as well, front and center.

Like, Chuuya keeps trying to almost console and reassure Dazai or at least help him figure out what’s wrong. Dazai’s never been as open or expressive, this chapter especially with him practically thinking out loud, that I can recall. Dazai’s showing behaviors that I don’t remember seeing before but fromChuuya’s words they’re habits of his.

They’re not constantly shooting insults or attacking each other (whether with words or physical moves). They’re basically just chilling as the danger is supposedly past (until Dazai got his revelation).

And I think it’s because they’re presumably completely alone for once.

They’re not in the Mafia base. They’re not in enemy territory with unconscious looks and their retrieval target close enough to possibly hear or see them if they wake up. They’re not stuck in a place surrounded by a dangerous ability or where the location of their allies is unknown, but could come across them at any time.

This might be the first time in the main manga where we can get a glimpse of what they’re like simply with each other.

And it’s really not so bad.

[unicornpopcorn14]

Chuuya's reaction to Dazai getting hurt during the Lovecraft fight has always been so interesting to me...

Because it's the kind of worry you'd never expect from a character as gruff as Chuuya, who had displayed nothing but hostility towards Dazai so far. Usually, characters that are labelled as "angry" or "anger issues" (which Chuuya is much more complex than that but you get my point) act more as a tsundere type of way when the one they "don't care about" gets hurt. And show their care in very, very subtle ways (ex. their eyes widen, their mouth parts and closes again, etc) before putting up their front once more.

Chuuya, however, is open, and vocal about it. His worry is clear not only to us, but to Dazai himself, the one he shouldn't be displaying the concern to (as per the cliche). Shouldn't it be some sort of secret that Chuuya does care? Isn't that what skk's dynamic has been shaping up to be until now?

I'm telling you- the way my mind blanked when Chuuya just casually.... showed concern not once, but twice, was a sight to see.

Besides, the context makes it much more confusing, because Dazai isn't some rookie, and Chuuya knows that more than anybody. He was the youngest executive in Port Mafia's history, of course he can handle a hit or two. Of course he'd seen him handle a hit or two, sometimes without batting an eye.

Heck, Chuuya himself was hurling Dazai like a ragdoll in their reunion, which was their last meeting. And you could argue that he was going easy on him, but Dazai has mostly withstood the same damage (as far as I could see), and Chuuya was as bitter as ever.

So that kind of contradicts both what we knew of Chuuya so far, and how their dynamic was shaped to be. I mean, that just makes Chuuya a hypocrite, yeah? What makes him care now, all of a sudden? What makes him care at all?

Well, to me, this backasswards reaction implies one (or more) of the following:

- Dazai rarely got physically hurt during their partnership and thus this is an unexpected thing for him to see (during a mission).

- The four years of separation made Chuuya unsure of how much Dazai can withstand physically now. Also the fact that he isn't in the mafia anymore, aka fighting enemy organizations on the weekly, would naturally make Dazai lose his touch in a way, what prompts Chuuya's reaction.

- Dazai getting taken off guard took him off guard which led to panic. Especially since the situation was (momentarily) out of their depth. Seriously wtf even was Lovecraft?

- During the dungeon scene Dazai was an enemy, while in the Lovecraft fight he was as an ally. The difference might be significant to Chuuya.

- This has always been Chuuya's reaction to Dazai getting hurt regardless of the situation.

- "Only I can hurt him like that" ahh logic

- Asagiri was still experimenting with their dynamic and thus there are some inconsistencies.

This scenario didn't play out again (after their reunion) for me to exactly determine which one is more plausible, but it is 100% canon for Chuuya to shamelessly show his concern and run to Dazai to check on him before properly dealing with their opponent, which I find to be such an appealing layer to their dynamic, and a good spin on the type of character he gets stereotyped as.

Bonus: Dazai also becomes a softy when Chuuya's hurt, especially post corruption. Dead Apple alone displays that multiple times.

All in all, Skk are doing a terrible job at maintaining their 'hostile' and 'antagonistic' relationship post their reunion. Freaks.

[sorcerersandskillusers]

So im still in shock from the new episode but i want to point out that all of the skk angst that came out after 101 and 109 was just destroyed in one go.

all of the art and breakdowns of how much chuuya was suffering having to hurt dazai and it turns out he chose to shoot dazai like 3 extra times (I don't blame him, i love dazai but he does kind of deserve it)

This was 100% not part of the plan and was Chuuya relieving some pent up aggression

[calmlb]

hoshikawa has done such an incredible job of portraying Dazai from Chuuya’s perspective… back before he figured out that Dazai’s demon persona was just that… a persona. an act

before he learned to see through Dazai’s fronts

Dazai made people think he was uncaring & heartless, when this was his intention all along (he does this in Stormbringer & Dead Apple too)

Chuuya sees Dazai manipulating him…

but he doesn’t see that Mori is manipulating Dazai

“I do it all for the organization and the protection of this beloved city.” —Mori

[flowers-of-buffoonery]

imagine having your whole existence revolve around the death and last wish of your dear friend who was a mafioso who refused to kill. imagine being a mentor to an orphan you picked up off the street following that last wish. imagine pairing your protegé up with your ex-protegé (who, by the way, is a mafioso with god knows how many kills to his name) because you know they'll make each other better.

their first mission together is a success. your protegé comes out of it having struck a deal with your ex-protegé, and the deal is to have this self-proclaimed killing machine not kill a single person for six months. this fucking dramatic killing machine, having agreed to it, is now a mafioso who doesn't kill.

I don't think I've ever seen dazai look as at peace as he is in this panel – and no wonder. he's followed his only friend's dying wish, and found himself a boy who, by simply being himself, has managed to bring another person to odasaku's path – the path that dazai found so intriguing, the thing that made it possible for him to have a friend. if there's a single moment he should allow himself to feel some form of satisfaction, this should be it.

[kyoukamybeloved]

”In other words, the suicidal maniac wants to live. Is that it?”

“I’ve come to think it’s worth trying.”

"You used Corruption, believing in me? How beautiful."

skk webweaves: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

//strange gods - Roxane Gay// the portrait of a lady - Henry James// art from @/_mwk19_ on Twitter// say yes to heaven - Lana del Rey// the grudge - Olivia Rodrigo// litany in which certain things are crossed out - Richard Siken// art from @/suya1414 on Twitter// Kyoto - Phoebe Bridgers// we’re in love - boygenius// writings prompts for the broken-hearted - Eden Robinson// anyway - Richard Siken// art from @/AB0to on Twitter// things I never give myself permission to say - Chelsea Dingman// art from @/ssmi_0215 on Twitter// the whetting of teeth - Jamaal May// no light, no light - Florence + the machine// cosmic love - Florence + the machine// letters to Felice - Franz Kafka// art from @/rokkyun1 on Twitter// the sorrow festival - Erin Slaughter// norman fucking rockwell - lana del rey// remember my name - mitski// art by @bananana2217// townie - mitski// misheard lyrics - car seat headrest// you couldn’t just leave - Trista Mateer// art from @/T__rate on Twitter// your love finds it’s way back - Sierra DeMulder// a pearl - mitski// humpty - mitski// art by @yuyonyu// abandon me - Melissa Febos// where did you go - Hishaam Siddiqi// I should hate you - Gracie Abrams// art from @/qmthtdy on Twitter// killer - Phoebe Bridgers// a poem for Haruko 10/29 - June Jordan// crush - Richard Siken// pandemonium - Lauren Oliver// art from @/1110yu_ku_si on Twitter// catalog of unabashed gratitude - Ross Gay// steamboat - Adrianne Lenker//

hey remember when I said last part would be the final one? yeah uh about that, turns out I still have some inspiration yippee. hope you liked it :)

tags:

@dinosaur-mayonnaise @philzokman @amagami-hime @nnavia @homuncvlus @vinylbiohazard @bunglegaydogs @zamxii @ghostsinacoat @slug-behaviour @vivid-vices @atsuwushi @gorotic @pendragonstar @ricelover888 @oatmilkbasic @thou-shalt-cha-cha-real-smooth @the-gayest-sky-kid @lotus-reblogs @whiteapplesandblackblood @dazaiyuri @evermorehypewoman

[kaurwreck]

If you're considering when Dazai noticed Chuuya wasn't a vampire, keep in mind that if Chuuya were a vampire, he wouldn't have killed the guards in Meursault. He would have turned them into more vampires.

Also, if you think that it cheapens the scene in which Dazai drowns Fyodor and Chuuya for Dazai to have known Chuuya was human: it doesn't. Regardless of whether Dazai knew Chuuya would survive (he did; see his explanation of how he would kill Chuuya in Fifteen, the light novel, and further how he approached Verlaine in Storm Bringer):

Imagine how fucking miserable it must have been to do that to someone he loves and trusts. Imagine how difficult for Dazai to lean into and trust Chuuya to be okay, not only after Dazai drowned him, but in such close proximity to Fyodor, whose ability is touch-based. Imagine Dazai recalling that when he was 16, his botched timing meant that Chuuya was tortured. Imagine Dazai reminding himself that Chuuya suffered then because Dazai didn't trust him, didn't let him in on what he was doing, thought only he could pull the strings up until he was too late— and yet Chuuya remained okay anyway. Imagine Dazai considering how time and time again he's received Chuuya's unadulterated trust and choosing to reciprocate with unequivocal faith. Imagine Dazai being unable to express any of this to Chuuya typically, except for in moments when the demands of the circumstances and Chuuya's inability to respond together loosen his inhibitions and his tongue.

Further, usually when Dazai's batshit machinations are exposed, his eyes flatten, his voice slickens into condescension, and he palpably slips into a version of himself that even unnerved Mori. But, in Twilight Goodbye/ep 61, Dazai's eyes were honeyed and light, his voice playful, and his mannerisms bright and animated. Those were not his typical machinations, because rather than attempt to control the variables, which he admitted he couldn't, he responded to what happened as it unfolded, and trusted those he loved to do the same.

He trusted Chuuya, Chuuya trusted him. Because of that, everything was okay. It's not cheap that Chuuya was never a vampire, nor would it be cheap if Dazai knew as soon as Chuuya tore through Meursault that he wasn't really a vampire. Angst is not the source of Bungou Stray Dogs' intensity; hope, faith, and love are, and they're just as heady.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Not to skk post on main but that scene from Dead Apple made me insane for I think a slightly different reason than most...

Ok so. Gonna be honest. When I first watched this, the ah... positioning... did not occur to me at all, other than thinking "that looks really uncomfy :/".

I was too focused on what Dazai's hand does here. He first pushes him. Ok so he was trying to stop him from getting up and losing contact due to the fog. Cool. That serves a practical purpose.

But then Chuuya falls unconscious and Dazai's hand loses that contact for a second before he lowers it back down to rest on his head.

The thing is, there's no need for him to do that. Chuuya is already in contact with Dazai's legs and his ability works through clothes. Moreover, it wasn't just a continuation of pushing him down - there's a slight delay before he sets his hand back on his head.

He sets his hand there just because. And, due to the delay/hesitation, it appears to be a conscious choice to do so as well. Chuuya's out. There's no one around to act for.

I watched that and went holy shit that's genuine, isn't it? It's such a simple gesture of fondness, maybe even a bit of protectiveness, but it means a lot from someone as emotionally closed off as Dazai.

It's... weirdly sweet. He appears to have done it after Chuuya lost all his friends (again...) during DHC in the manga adaptation too, which is... :(

And now, with seeing Dazai immediately start playing with Chuuya's hair in the latest Fifteen adaptation, it also doubles as really funny to me. He saw a chance to touch his hair again and took it. What is wrong with this man.

[uneducated-author]

Because I will never be over this adaptation and how it perfectly used every frame and then elevated them until you actually have a wonderful way of displaying each characters thought process. You see Dazai's expression change, how he moves. Dazai has been silly and disarming all of the arc so far. He dances with Sigma and splits because he wants sugar. He jokes while opening a door, and hosts a happy hour quiz, comparing Sigma to his mentee.

But here. we see him, and see how far he is willing to go. We see him stop smiling. He finds out his partner is his enemy, controlled by vampirism and smirks, even if it's more of a 'damn, Dostoyevsky'. But it's important. Because he has ten minutes to make Sigma willing to die for him. Ten minutes to make Sigma willing to die for the agency. And he has to be powerful enough to make Sigma think. Strong enough to shock him, to make him listen. Now, Sigma watches him control time, and drown Dostoyevsky. He has to show Sigma that survival isn't an offer exclusively from the decay of angels.

But here, he sees his partner, it's broadcast on a screen. He sees Chuuya follow Dostoyevsky's orders, pound at the wall, scream and struggle, and then slowly drown. And he stops smiling. Because he can't lie, not in front of his partner.

Something about how the memories load. Something about how Dazai, whose mind works faster than light, takes a moment, because if he thinks about their past, he knows he'll crack and he won't have the resolve for this.Something about needing time to prepare for the heartbreak he's going to inflict on himself. Something about how he's speaking to someone empty, because Dostoyevsky has scooped out Chuuya's soul and turned him into a stranger, and Dazai could never forgive that rat, but this is beyond unforgivable.

Something about a shadow. Something about Dazai blocking himself from the memories where their heart connect. Something about blocking the light because if he's good, right now, he'll destroy what little soul he has.

Something about opening his eyes, and forcing himself to watch, because this is why he came for Odasaku, this is why he wants a double suicide, because he believes that nobody wants to die alone.

Something about listening to Chuuya and how he drowns. Something about a second of silence except for the other half of his soul fighting to live, as Chuuya always had.

Something about the turtle smile, so clearly fake because Dostoyevsky is there, and if he survives (Dazai has every contingency) there can not be a shred of evidence that Dazai cared for his former partner, and something about how if Chuuya was listening under the echoes of vampirism, he would know that Dazai is lying.

Something about there being no chance of ambiguity. Something about the darkness over his eyes, and the pain he's tried to wipe away. Something about shadows, and how you need light to cast them.

Something and something and something, and how soukoku have always been something more.

[skk-forever]

“As if, you brat.” Dazai sneers. “I only became an executive when I was fifteen, and, well…scaling for the difference in intelligence between us, Chuuya might become an executive in five billion years.”

“Fuck you,” Chuuya snaps. “What ‘difference in intelligence’? You’re as dumb as they come—”

“The entire mafia calls me the Demon Prodigy—”

“And I call you stupid-face, you mackerel-eyed asshole!” Chuuya lifts his hand to his forehead, sticking out his pointer finger and thumb in the shape of an L. He uses his ability to pop up the floorboard under Dazai’s feet, and Dazai stumbles. Chuuya cackles.

Dazai’s eye twitches. “You’re so immature — are you a kindergartner? It’d make sense, seeing as you’re the height of one, no, maybe half of one?”

“You’re a fucking fish!” Chuuya points at him. “All you do is flop around and make stupid idiot sounds!”

“Your insults are utterly juvenile—”

“Blub blub blub, fucker!” Chuuya yells over him. “Go back to the ocean, you finned freak! Oh wait,” Chuuya snorts. “You can’t swim…!”

Chuuya watches Dazai’s face turn red in real time. “I don’t need to know how to swim, I’m not leading the naval units—!”

“You looked like a drenched rat after ‘Evening with Sunlight’!” Chuuya delights in Dazai’s mounting frustration. “If pigeons are rats with wings, you’re a rat with fins—call that the Dazai-pia—”

“That’s not even a good pun, Chuuya, you’re so stupid—” Dazai grumbles. “When I find an animal that can capture how dumb you are, it’s over for you—”

"It's the Port Mafia, not the Desert Mafia—"

"Are you done?!"

yk how like Republicans can't stand being mocked and called 'weird'? yeah that's the kind of stupid shit that works on Dazai

he's a fifteen year old that never gets treated like a fifteen year old and barely gets treated like a human being by the rest of the mafia — he's spent his entire life sneering at the other teenagers that have fun and get annoyed ribbing each other (immature. meaningless.) only to have this red head bitch barrel into his life and hit him with some S-tier preschool-grade bullying and yk what it is annoying and he is gonna stoop down to that level and bully him back with the stupidest pranks, and oh, he's getting frustrated and talking and laughing a lot more than before

(is this what being alive feels like?)

(excerpt from WIP of Ch. 4 of "Forever" (guys im working on it it'll be done soon i promise))

[azapofinspiration]

Chuuya who doesn’t let himself want things because he has to put everyone and everything else first, who feels like his own wants shouldn’t matter because he has power so he needs to be responsible and prioritize those weaker than him.

Dazai who doesn’t let himself want anything because the moment he gains it he will lose it, who can’t handle opening himself up to that kind of pain and vulnerability because he’s been taught that that is a weakness.

Both Dazai and Chuuya whose experiences tell them that the moment they want, everything begins to go wrong and they’ll lose the things they care about.

[lady-tortilla-chip]

I think it’s crazy actually that people think it’s impossible for Chuuya to trick Fyodor without Fyodor having to be dumber for it. Especially when a popular theory was that after the drowning Chuuya had begun faking it, why is it so hard to believe he’d just been faking it the entire time?

This doesn’t even touch on how it’s been SUCH a LOUD point throughout mersault that Fyodor has hugely underestimated Soukoku. So, by obvious extension that would include Chuuya too if not more so than Dazai seeing as he insinuated multiple times that Chuuya was Dazai’s tool rather than equal partner.

[stinkypire]

Skk's Partnership Development (from SB to DHC)

i was thinking the development of skk's partnership. In stormbringer before their partnership was formally established, dazai withheld information for his plan to work even knowing the risks of it, the withholding caused chuuya to be tortured and murase (someone close to chuuya) to be killed. chuuya punishes dazai as a result of the torture (dazai lets him) and murase dying, VIA spinning him onto a pole until he throws up.

In dragon head conflict, dazai provokes chuuya (as a leeway for a code in the future). yada yada, chuuya punches him and calls him out which motivates dazai to stop the conflict which is killing people. dazai disappears after that, the PM members tell chuuya abt a microscope in dazai's room which was used in their conversation earlier (when dazai provokes him by saying chuuya was a human as small as a microscope).

he destroys the microscope, finding out it was a communicator left by dazai and goes off to rescue him (he got captured), saying "what for me shitty dazai". the development of their partnership, they learned to communicate in their own way, instead of dazai withhelding information again.

[calmlb]

hc that Dazai made a point of calling Chuuya small when they met because Dazai was used to being the small one.

like, finally there was someone shorter than him. because let’s be real, Dazai was barely taller than Chuuya in Fifteen.

i think people forget how small Dazai was too— not just in height, but also in weight. He was underweight in Dark Era, but in Fifteen & even at present he's barely within the healthy weight range for his height. he was constantly described as a twig in Fifteen, and almost every time he's introduced in the light novels he's called lanky, slender, etc.

[flowers-of-buffoonery]

there's something to be said about the way soukoku act around each other normally – about the endless childish banter that has been accompanying them from when they were 15 to the present day.

dazai and chuuya met when they were teenagers; they started off on two opposing sides, then chuuya was made to join the mafia, to partner with a boy he detested (and reasonably so). a lot has been said about the fact that soukoku are, for each other, the only way of experiencing the childhood and teenagehood they never got to have – not in the mafia, not in the sheep. they hated each other, were forced to work together by both circumstances and mori, and instead of seriously trying to kill each other they just... started insulting each other. and they never stopped.

here's the thing. 15yo dazai and chuuya, being insufferable to each other, is standard teenager behaviour. we're glad for it. go soukoku!

22yo dazai and chuuya, still being insufferable to each other... now, that's different.

part of it is, of course, that they genuinely find each other irritating – that much has not changed. and for chuuya, who's still in the mafia and has responsibilities and hordes of subordinates, dazai is likely the only person he can behave like that with. that much hasn't changed.

dazai, though. we see him acting like a downright brat with most members of the ADA – chief among them kunikida (much could be said about dazai attempting to replicate the dynamic he had with his ex-partner with his new partner. a post for another time). the reactions he gets range depending on the person. most members act as if nothing is out of the norm or like they're indulging him; atsushi is puzzled but just goes with it; kunikida gets angry and starts lecturing him. but nobody matches him blow for blow – nobody jokes back, nobody trades insults with him as a peer.

chuuya, on the other hand, doesn't just let dazai be his bratty, insufferable self like the ADA does; he actively joins him, rises up to the challenge.

at 22, dazai and chuuya can still act like that exclusively around each other. it can be falling back on old habits. but also – isn't it a choice, at this point?

having someone you don't have to be deferent to, someone that doesn't need to be manipulated – someone you can get mad at without thinking of consequences. isn't it a relief, having someone you can just hate? to dazai and chuuya, their relationship must be the easiest, most uncomplicated one they have.

I know you, and you know me. I don't have to be pleasant with you. let us not care, and be unpleasant together.