marvelwonderwitch

Latest Posts by marvelwonderwitch

There's a place called Hessian Township

bonus alt. face - i don't intend on actually changing its canon design (the plain mask became too thematically important) but i like to mess around with it for fun sometimes. perhaps a fear gas induced hallucination? or something for later in the timeline?

letting myself be vulnerable for the sake of being honest with myself and others, to be authentic, and learning to let go of the fear of being seen and heard. this is who I am. I care a lot, I feel deeply, and I want people to know that I like them and I want to be there for them. I want to live my little life to the fullest even though my chronic illness often gets in the way and won’t let me do all I want to.

I will be patient with myself and accept that my vulnerability isn’t necessarily a weakness or something that makes me pathetic and that I should hide it. I’m too tired to give a fuck. I want people in my life to know who I am, and I want them to know I care about them, and maybe that will help them feel less afraid of their own vulnerabilities too.

I will be my imperfect self, and I will own it. I am soft, and sensitive, but I am finally letting go of worrying about how people will perceive this. I have found a lot of resilience because I love this world so much, I won’t be anyone else but me, and that’s how I chose to be a part of this place I love.

And it does make me feel a little afraid, but it also makes me feel like I am strong in my own way. It helps me feel I am living life to the fullest.

I care deeply. This is who I am. I am owning up to it. I am alive and one day I will be looking back to this time and I want to know I have lived it to the fullest by being authentic.

"He slipped"

Batman (1940) issue 424

if somebody hasn't already asked: may we please hear about your gotham rogues inferno placements? (sincerely, this sounds awesome)

Thank you! ❤️🥰 So i've been mulling it over in my head all day and here's what I have:

First Circle (Limbo) - Catwoman & Red Hood.

Placing both Selina and Jason in limbo is very representative of their duality in how they straddle the line between hero and villain. Both have a tendency to do the right thing where it counts but that shouldn't wipe out their other sins and the wrong they are willing to do to get ahead in their wants.

Second Circle (Lust) - Harley Quinn & Mad Hatter.

Both characters are driven by their desires. Harley is a victim of her own desires, her need for a strong figure to help shape and guide her actions and that has led her to her relationships with both Joker and Ivy and the carnage each have caused. Hatter is often guided by his delusional lust for an unobtainable ideal, his perfect Alice, and this goal has led to much of his evils.

Third Circle (Gluttony) - Penguin & Killer Croc.

Oswald is a man who values and enjoys the finer things in life. He has tasted hardship and he commits unspeakable acts to ensure that he never has to settle for the very best, be it his wine or his meals. Croc is being put here for his habit of human consumption. While it's not gluttony in the purest sense, I think it fits better than many of the other circles.

Fourth Circle (Greed) - Deadshot & Riddler.

Deadshot is an assassin for hire which makes his crimes a direct result of his greed and so this is most fitting for him. Riddler's greed comes more from his incessant desire to have everything which he feels is due to him. He craves attention, money, power, being the very best in what he does. His greed is relentless.

Fifth Circle (Anger) - Poison Ivy & Scarecrow.

Both Ivy and Crane are creatures fueled by rage. Ivy's rage towards mankind is unmistakable and leads her to cruelty towards her own people. Crane's hatred of mankind is more subtle but just as strong. He hates what the world has taken from him and punishes those who cross his path by forcing them to feel as miserable as he does.

Sixth Circle (Heresy) - Solomun Grundy & Mr Freeze.

The heresy of both men concerns their connections with death. Grundy is a walking zombie, an abomination which straddles the line of life and death with every step. Mr Freeze is a sadder figure but he also actively cheats death by forcing his wife to exist in a state of suspended animation and that's a mortal sin.

Seventh Circle (Violence) - Bane & Victor Zsasz.

Bane thrives in violence but possesses the mental capabilities to know exactly how to wield that violence to create the most devastation and pain to those he deems worthy of it. Zsasz is driven by his needs as a serial killer and he brings nothing to the world which houses him but pain and death.

Eighth Circle (Fraud) - Hugo Strange & Hush.

Hugo Strange is a fraud because he presents himself as a man with good intentions, one who wants to 'help' people but he is only interested in his own selfish gains. Hush is a more straight forward fraud because he claims the identity of another as his own with ill-intent and seeks to destroy it's original owner.

Ninth Circle (Treachery) - Two Face & Joker.

Harvey goes in treachery because his fate was to betray everything which he stood for as a man and as DA of Gotham and a betrayal of that magnitude cannot go unpunished. Joker, in a similar vein, is a traitor of all the good values of men and delights in making choices which cause the most suffering for the widest volume of people.

So the 27th of February marked the two year anniversary of my first character ask, and because I'm sentimental, I decided to do a complete redraw of it. Of course, because I procrastinate like hell, it took forever. Oh well, I still enjoyed it, and now I can finally move back onto the other thing I was working on.

This also coincided surreally with me reaching 800 followers, so thank you all. I didn't think I'd ever end up breaking 100 let alone 800.

*Also, I want to link you back to this post, which helped me immensely with the shading process. Thank you @geek-png !

Okay let me add my five cents to the Zaunite au, where Viktor didn’t make it to the academy and remained in Zaun.

He was trying to invent on his own, but he desperately needed money for his research. And that’s when Silco appeared…

Chai tea bag + lil but of brown sugar + apple cider packet + 16 oz. mug of hot but not quite boiling water

it will not Fix You but like. maybe. maybe.

Need help finding a fic.

The issue is I don’t remember the name or the plot, just one specific scene. Which doesn’t help as I can’t remember if it was a part of the actual plot or if it was some sort of flashback type of deal.

Anyway so the thing I remember is:

Chuuya and Dazai get into a fight after completing a job. Chuuya chooses to go back to HQ in a huff first, leaving Dazai there.

Oda (who was assisting or part of the clean-up?) was there so Dazai wasn’t too bummed out even as if he felt a bit bad about the fight and somewhat unsettled. Oda offers to make sure he gets back to HQ with Dazai being his annoying self to brush it all off.

His misgivings are not misplaced as Chuuya encounters Q when he gets back to HQ who wants to play with him as Dazai refuses to play with him. Q curses Chuuya and that inadvertently triggers Corruption (though they don’t call it that as this is the first time Chuuya shows that side of his power so this part at least is before DHC since I don’t remember if SB is mentioned later).

When Dazai arrives in a hurry, haven given into worry, Chuuya is wrecking everything and clearly not his usual self. Q is crying and hiding beneath a bench. Dazai at first orders him to stop using his ability as he doesn’t see the doll, but Q reveals he did stop using it but Chuuya didn’t stop being weird and destroying stuff.

So Dazai does end up nullifying Chuuya and they’re both left wondering what the hell all that was about (and there’s casualties as well - I think the fic implied that this was the incident that lead to the decision to lock Q up though that also caused more carnage).

Unfortunately, that’s all I remember so if you recognize it and know what this might be from I would be extremely grateful. I’ve been looking for it for days now but not knowing the title, tags, or summary makes it hard to find.

Let's talk a bit about Beast. Dazai fixed everything, right? He saved Odasaku. He gave everyone happiness. He saved the others. He even deleted the thing with the Azure King so Kunikida won't be traumatized anymore. He even made Mori not a pedophile!

But what about Chuuya? I've read the manga 2 times and watched the movie 3 times. But I can't see what he did to give Chuuya a happy ending. In the movie he even made it worse!

He didn't stop the Sheep from betraying him, he didn't stop Chuuya from joining the Mafia. He didn't even make him taller!

But what if Dazai did give Chuuya some happiness in Beast? What if he made sure some certain friends of his don't die? What if he saved the Flags too? If Odasaku can be saved then so can the Flags, right?

Maybe in Beast they didn't die. They continued living, being Mafia's elite.

Pianoman is an executive now. And after Dazai kills himself he's the one to become the boss. He's just the most fitted for it. He was kinda close to Atushi too, trying to help him when Atsushi was feeling down.

Lippmann is still enjoying his acting career, while negotiating for the Mafia. He's the one Dazai sends to negotiations when he knows the ADA will be involved. Ranpo is very found of him, being one of the few people Ranpo considers smart. He can't wait to become an executive. He still asks Chuuya from time to time to drop the mafioso career to join him on the set. He's close to Gin, since both of them are often around Dazai. He thinks she's very intelligent and nice. And he doesn't know who her brother is, but he thinks Akutagawa is stupid for abandoning her.

Albatross is still the annoying upstairs neighbor to Chuuya and his drinking buddy and best friend. He can't take Chuuya on spontaneous adventures anymore, but that won't stop him from showing up at Chuuya's office from time to time to "kidnap" him and take him drinking. He's also close to Atsushi. After all, he had to drive him around a lot since not any driver can take the Withe Reaper to his destination. He knows what Atsushi's going through and he invites him drinking sometimes, telling him he has friends. That there's someone that's there for him, not just Dazai's missions.

Doc is leading the underground doctors and he's a bit disappointed that Mori is no longer the Boss. Every single time Atsushi gets knocked out and his ability doesn't work/takes longer to heal he ends up on Doc's table. Just like Yosano, he finds his ability very interesting. He's fascinated by how Byakko is negates wounds. Doesn't heal them, it negates them.

Iceman's Mafia's best hit man. He's trained Kyouka (Verlaine didn't happen 😊) and he knows how much she hates the Mafia. He's not very good with people, but he's trying his best to help her feel better. He also trained Tachihara, who reminds him of Chuuya for some reason.

And Chuuya has his friends. He knows he can relay on them anytime. He knows they're safe. And he can't explain how, but he knows he's lost them before. So he's happy they're there for him. They all hang out often. He sometimes complains to them about Dazai and his stupid schemes. Sometimes they just fool around. Sometimes Atsushi and Gin join them and have fun together.

And when Dazai dies, Atsushi and Kyouka leave and Gin disappears, Chuuya still has the Flags. They make sure Atsushi and Kyouka are good at the Orphanage, checking up on them and even visiting sometimes. They're worried for Gin, but they know she's capable of taking care of herself.

They hang out less now that Pinaoman is the Boss, but now Albatross can take Chuuya on crazy adventures again. And Lippmann is trying more than ever to make Chuuya become an actor or a photo model.

thinking about when i was small, how my mom told me that pipe cleaners were just a tool until people started idly shaping things with them and it grew so popular that they were marketed as crafting materials. and that story about how the original frisbees were disposable pie plates that students flattened to throw. and how when i was a child i had a wooden mancala set with shiny, colorful stones, but on invention it was played with rocks and grooves dug into the dirt. and middle school, paper football and tic-tac-toe and mash and mad libs, games that just need pen and paper. and before that, games of pretend with pirates and princes and masked marauders. how at slumber parties after lights out, we used to whisper storytelling games, i say one sentence and you say the next. and shadow puppets. and the way all the kids in the neighborhood used to divide into teams and throw fallen pine cones at one another. and the floor is lava game, and the quiet game, and the games i play with my coworkers that are just words and retention. and "put a finger down" on the high school bus. and little girls clapping together, and how the first jump-rope was undoubtedly just a length of rope who knows how long ago, and how natural it is to play, how we seek play at every age and with any resources we have and with whatever time we can squeeze it into in a day. i'm not an anthropologist or a psychologist but i think after food and shelter and water and air what comes next is games and stories and laughter. i think that there is nothing -- not sex or fighting or forming unlikely bonds with animals -- there is nothing more human than to play.

you need to get it out of your mind that psychosomatic illness is just “making up symptoms” when it’s actually much more like your body is being actively poisoned by chemicals released from your brain

Actually my favorite replacement for both 'kill myself' jokes and jokes about reacting violently to things/people that upset me is "I'm going to end up on the news" like it's versatile, it's vague, it's not going to get me in trouble with any censors or websites that take joke threats seriously, it's family friendly while still getting the point across, what's not to love???

So, I have another theory.

What's Asagiri's name? Kafka. Who else is Kafka? Franz Kafka. And who's this Franz? A writer. He's mostly known for the book "The Metamorphosis". Metamorphosis means change, right? And what can THE BOOK do? Change the reality.

So, in the Metamorphosis is told the story if a young man who suddenly transformed into a bug. His family tries to help him come back to normal and even give him food he would like in the new body, like rotten cheese. But after around a year the bug/guy overheard a conversation between his parents and sister. They all said they hated him and that they didn't need him anymore, so the guy/bug died from depression in a day. (This is a very short summary, I skipped over a lot of details)

The idea of the story is that one's change will change the whole world. And that's exactly what the book does. Changes the world.

So, according to my theory, the book is the ability Metamorphosis.

Now, about the author/character. He meets the criteria to be a BSD character. Dead, depressed, daddy issues (this is only half joke), religion trauma (kinda) and so on. He was a fan of Dostoievsky's and Gogol's work. So he could easily be a BSD character.

But this book doesn't exactly seem the kind of ability the good guys have, does it? So I think Kafka is a villain. If you may, the last antagonist they will fight. So I made some research to find ties between him and Atsushi Nakajima, because as mentioned in the Guild arc, Atsushi is the only one who could find the book. Turns out that Nakajima was a fan of Kafka and translated his works in Japanese. And not only that. The story Atsushi's ability is based on is about a guy who transformed into a tiger because he's very frustrated because of his poems that don't seem to work. I haven't read this one, but from what I've seen online it's very similar to the Metamorphosis. And this is why he'll be the only one able to find the book.

As we all noticed, usually the relationship between two characters is the opposite of the author's relationship (e.g: irl Ranpo was a huge fan of irl Poe, BSD Poe is a huge fan of BSD Ranpo, irl Yosano loved irl Mori, BSD Yosano hates BSD Mori). So, based on this, I would say that Kafka will most definitely be a villain.

The thing is, why would Asagiri choose to have the pen name of the ultimate villain?

Because the BSD story is supposed to be a world made by the book and Franz Kafka is Asagiri Kafka.

In conclusion: Franz/Asagiri Kafka will be the last antagonist of the series. His ability, the book, is Metamorphosis. And I'm delusional.

This could be wrong. After all, it's a theory. But let me know what you think, because I'm really curious.

love characters who are like "this is how the world works. this is how it has to be (because if i'm wrong i have to face what i've done // if i'm wrong i have to face whats been done to me) "

Obsessed with dazai chatacter analyses that view him as a constant cry for help especially in his mafia years. His first few years in the mafia or in general after being taken in by mori are just a constant chain of actions taken as a desperate cry for help, to be seen and helped and at the same time he’s pushing everyone away. Then later on when he’s reaching the end of his time in the mafia during his mid-late teens he seems to have taken in the fact that no one’s just gonna go and help him, so his actions are less dramatic in that way. And then Oda. And chuuya. God I have Thoughts on all of this. But general takeaway about dazai in his early teens is that he was just a kid alone in a cold container and alienated by every adult in his life who probably needs a hug.

This said I stand my ground that he is an absolute piece of shit and I hate him more than anything else in the world

Please if anyone has any Yumeno and Dazai sibling fics I will be in your debt forever 🙏😭

Dazai IS a fucking mood

this feels really odd to ask but but what do you think the hunting dogs' thoughts are about death? specifically if they die and how? cause I feel like all of them share a variation of "I will go down guns blazing and with glory"

fukuchi definitely feels it and I feel like jouno as well. they've both had rough and violent lives so I feel like they've always thought death was just right around the corner.

I don't know about the rest of them though. teruko I feel shares the thought but not as intense as the other two, and I dont know about tecchou and tachihara.

anyway. it's a neat thought to me :3

ohhh i’ve been thinking of the best way to answer this for DAYS. this analysis will be long so ill put it under a readmore.

the hunting dogs and death - analysis

overall, it is shown that they can die. i assume due to their abilities and bodily enhancements that they do not die of injuries very easily. it makes me wonder how disease hits them? partially mechanical bodies may not respond to illness as well as natural bodies would? or maybe the opposite and they can heal more so internally? anyways here's my thoughts on how each hunting dog perceives dying!!

fukuchi

i see fukuchi as fairly self-preserving up until the end. he can't die in battle because he needs to make sure the decay of angels plot carries out.

remember that he was warned of this at nine years old. he had to spend his life preparing for this. he likely grew very wary of living recklessly and became great at fighting very fast and young; i assume that's why he went through dojos to fight as a child.

under no circumstances could he die until the world was safe.

i imagine he put on a selfless face and was willing to take serious harm in order to protect the peace, but i highly doubt he was ever willing to sacrifice his life until his plan worked out.

here we see his thought process and how things need to fall into place. his participation was essential because in no other situation would fukuzawa be the one able to get access to the one order. if fukuchi had died beforehand, the war would play out as the amenogozen warning claimed.

he had to leave the world to fukuzawa, the man he could trust most before facing his own demise.

of course, at this point in the series he has been killed since that was the final goal of his plan. a noble death for a fantastic hero.

jouno

im actually a little conflicted on his perception of death. i believe jouno is willing to sacrifice his life if absolutely necessary but is probably more self-preserving than the others. i believe he likely uses his confident and slightly arrogant attitude to hide this self-preserving mindset. someone who comes off as intimidating or nonchalant during battle is more likely to throw off the enemy whereas appearing nervous or angry will make them seem vulnerable. i believe jouno also sees himself as very strategic and able to get out of situations easily if needed. he's a quick thinker from what we've seen thus far.

lets look at when he confronted fukuchi.

he starts off very confidently accepting the offer. we know this is a facade but him immediately trying to throw fukuchi off guard seems so show he's pretty confident in his next move.

but when this doesn't work, he immediately tries to flee. this is fairly unique for a fight in bsd, many characters will often fight until they either get what they wish or they're too injured to move. despite jouno having an ability that could dodge fukuchi's, he still chose to try and escape instead of continuing to fight. this is a very normal human reaction to have but not one you see as often.

and at a disturbance, he begins to panic and needs to ground himself by reassuring himself instead of fighting back. he's not willing to put his life on the line to stop a global terrorism and his own escape is seen as a victory, which i see as him being more self-preserving. this all took place before the sword was set on fire, so it wasn't as if he had that threat to escape yet.

however, there's a chance he just didn't know how to fight the amenogozen; but his ability was definitely one of the best to fight against fukuchi with.

still, he's smart and made sure to plan adequately in case he was injured in the battle against fukuchi. he wants to keep himself safe, but he's still smart enough to take precaution.

i think jouno has probably been through a lot in his life and wants to spend a while living happily, making him more afraid to die than the others. this is even shown when he took teruko being angry as a threat while fukuchi laughed over it.

(as a small note, fukuchi's line in the anime was "haha. it seems our gremlin is angry today" which makes more sense in this context).

so tldr i think jouno would only go down if absolutely necessary and otherwise is fairly self-prioritizing.

tecchou

i believe tecchou would sacrifice himself if it brings justice.

however, he seems to see himself as one responsible for judgement, so i imagine he gives every single fight his all.

regardless of him acting as judgement, it's been shown that tecchou is willing to die if he fails at his work.

here he promises that if he were to fail he would commit seppuku (killing oneself via slicing through your stomach--an honourable death for a samurai fighter (which lines up with irl tetchou coming from samurai lineage)), which is an incredibly agonizing way to die. regardless, he is fully willing to do it if it is for peace. this shows a confidence in death and commitment to his sense of justice to an extreme manner.

and when he found himself in a situation where he was in the wrong, he immediately admitted defeat and asked his opponent to kill him.

he admits defeat, says his wrongs and is willing to accept the consequences.

he even jumps to the harsh conclusion that he isn't worthy of his title as a hunting dog. the stark white in his eyes show that his mind isn't corrupted and that he is doing what he believes is proper justice. incredibly noble.

luckily he was spared-and likely learned a lot about justice not always being as black and white as things appear.

overall, tecchou is a very noble fighter and is willing to put his life on the line for justice. he doesn't seem to fear death and will embrace it if he feels it is earned or deserved.

tachihara

i have less to say about tachihara than the others. i see him as the type that will go down over what's right and that's shown during his fight with fukuchi.

he isn't willing to fear death or beg for forgiveness. he will go down if it is worthy.

we also see that he keeps a argumentative spirit towards the enemy despite the circumstances. he will put down his opponent even in the moment of death, he just has the confidence to.

this panel also shows that he's more willing to die than to be defeated. he doesn't want to harm anyone and be controlled so he tries to kill himself first.

overall, he's a strong fighter who isn't afraid to sacrifice his life for what he believes in. his orders make him who he is, and if the orders are to win he either will or he will die trying.

(of course that last part doesn't really count when he was posing as a mafioso because he couldn't blow his cover by easily surviving everything).

teruko

much like tachihara, teruko seems to be very willing to put herself on the line to keep people safe. this is shown almost immediately in her introduction.

if ordered, she is willing to die. she's incredibly dedicated to her job and would go down if it saves people.

she's willing to go to drastic measures to keep herself alive as well, destroying her eardrum and continuing to try and fight sigma despite being under the directed resonance guns (which were made to destroy people like her). she didn't run, and she did absolutely everything she could have done in order to win.

she seems to also pride herself in fighting and being hurt in battle, likely to show her resilience and ability to do whatever it takes if it saves people.

she even goes on to call the hunting dogs "society's servants" and refers to the enhancement surgeries as "searing order into their own bodies."

this immense dedication makes me strongly believe that she would have no problem sacrificing herself if it is for the best. she killed fukuchi despite really caring for him, so i can see her being willing to put herself into that situation as well.

tysm for the question!!!!! this was super fun to read through the scenes again and try to piece together a logical guess on them all.

Mori and Abuse

I’m making this because the BSD fandom has 2 modes for interpreting Mori and it’s either evil evil child abuser or spineless bastard and I HATE both of them.

Mori is an abuser, yes, but the way he abuses characters is very atypical, and not at all what most people expect. His abuse is almost all psychological, the only character we can say for sure has been physically abused by him is Yosano, and we’re only shown one instance of that.

For simplicity, I’ll be referring to his abuse of Dazai, Chuuya, Koyo and Yosano, but I believe it could be said that Kyuusaku and potentially the Akutagawa’s have suffered because of him.

To understand why Mori has abused certain characters, we must understand a bit about him as a person. This is potentially why Mori’s actions are so wildly skewed by the fandom, because no one wants to observe him too closely (but that’s a whole other post). Simply put, Mori is a military man. He does anything and everything to achieve the “optimal solution”, he has a plan and if he has to get his hands dirty to reach his goal, he will. Emotions and attachments go out the window for him, most of the time at least, because he would sacrifice anything, and anyone, to achieve his goal. Most of the time at least. That’s why he used Yosano, because what’s the life of one girl to the safety of his nation? That’s why he manufactured Oda’s and his orphans deaths, because the prize outweighed the cost.

Mori is logical and reserved, so we must observe all his actions with the lens that he has a reason for what he does, because he (almost) always has a reason.

I’ll start by referring to Mori’s abuse of Dazai, because he’s a bit of a special case and also the one that the fandom overall gets the most wrong. Mori’s abuse of Dazai is usually twisted to be sexual or physical, when there is absolutely no evidence of that. People like to bring up Dazai’s abuse of Akutagawa, or that one throwaway line from The Day I Picked Up Dazai as evidence, but neither of those hold up in my opinion.

Firstly, just because Dazai’s abuse of Akutagawa was partly physical, doesn’t mean he himself underwent physical abuse. Just like Mori, Dazai always has reasons for what he does, and his reason for what he did to Akutagawa was tailored to Akutagawa and his ability, therefore not something that Mori would have done to Dazai. Not to excuse Dazai’s abuse of Akutagawa, of course, but the fact of the matter is that Dazai’s abuse was a test of Akutagawa, and a punishment because Akutagawa didn’t adhere to Dazai’s standards. This abuse is the result of Mori’s own abuse, yes, but it’s not as straightforward as “Mori hit Dazai, ergo Dazai hit Akutagawa”.

The line from TDIPUD is also poor evidence, as all it is is Oda telling Dazai that what he’s doing won’t hurt and Dazai responding that Mori says the same about the needles he gives him. The fact that this is taken as abuse is really weird to me, why is that the assumption here? Mori is a doctor, there are multiple reasons for him to be giving Dazai needles. And the fact that Mori says it’s not going to hurt just sounds like the typical “doctor giving a kid a shot” exchange.

Dazai hates pain, so obviously Mori would lie and say that it isn’t going to hurt. Mori cares for Dazai’s well-being, which is what makes Dazai a bit of an outlier, as Mori shows care for him before he’s found a reason to justify that care. This is evidenced by their exchange in the beginning of Dazai, Chuuya: Fifteen, which is very important as it gives us an insight into Mori’s perspective during that time, where he panics because he hasn’t achieved the “optimal solution” by keeping Dazai alive, but then justifies that action by deciding Dazai is too good an asset to throw away.

And here-in lies the actual abuse that Dazai went through, not being hit or shamed or any of that, but emotional coercion, a slow cultivation of the parts of Dazai that Mori saw as useful, and a creation of the mindset we see Dazai use. This is most prominent with how Mori plants ideas into Dazai’s head. This is referenced in Chapter one of Fifteen as well, establishing that Mori has taken somewhat of an instructor role to Dazai, but that’s something Dazai rebels against.

This exchange is a perfect example of that conditioning, instead of giving Dazai information directly, Mori gets Dazai to deduce his answers using information he already has, something we see Dazai does very often in the current plot. But the main example of this conditioning comes in the form of Dazai’s plan to use the Sheep against Chuuya, a plan that comes DIRECTLY from Mori.

Mori makes sure that Dazai is in the room as he baits Chuuya, uses the weakness of the Sheep against him, and then breaks down EXACTLY what has happened for Dazai. “Just some food for thought” my ass.

Then when discussing his plan with Rimbaud, Dazai brings up a theory taught to him by Mori. 15!Dazai is such a little parrot, it’s all “Mori says, Mori says, Mori says”, just word-vomiting all the thoughts Mori puts in his head, there is a CLEAR influence here.

Just like Mori, Dazai uses the Sheep against Chuuya. Mori shows Dazai how to control people, how to make them listen and how to make them obey. The reason Dazai treats people like pawns, the reason he KNOWS how to manipulate people is because Mori taught him.

Just like so many of the characters, the fandom forgets that when Mori met Dazai, he was a child. He was a broken child who needed a guiding hand and the hand he got was Mori’s. Morí crafted the Dazai that we see, shaped the way that he thinks, THAT was his abuse.

Chuuya as well is a special case. Like Mori, he is a leader, and that is a quality Mori admires in him. In turn, Chuuya looks up to Mori, sees him as an inspiration for what it means to be a leader. This is another example of Mori’s manipulative abuse. To Chuuya, Mori makes himself out to be a saviour, someone who will teach him how to be better, how to protect the people he thinks he has failed. Mori takes Chuuya at his weakest point and gives him a new chance.

And with that, Chuuya is loyal to the mafia and Mori has Soukoku. Never mind that Mori was the brains behind Dazai’s plan that got Chuuya into the mafia in the first place, by getting Dazai to do his dirty work, Mori gets to appear to Chuuya with a halo and wings (I could also talk about Mori’s involvement with Stormbringer and how that locked Chuuya into the mafia, but that’s another tangent).

Mori has done the same with Koyo. She’s loyal to him, but clearly does not LIKE him, so where does that loyalty come from? It is because he has freed her. Koyo suffered under the rule of the Old Boss, she had no freedom, the man who cared for her was executed, she was restrained within the mafia. And then Mori takes over and she ends up an executive. Suddenly she’s got POWER, she can change things, under Mori she’s given the ability to change things and take charge. He sees a girl in chains and loosens them, not enough for her to escape, but enough that she can move. And having been chained up for so long, that feels like freedom. Koyo is loyal to Mori because he’s better than the alternative, because if she can’t be free, at least she can move.

I left Yosano for last, because again, she’s a wild card. Unlike all the other people Mori has coerced, Yosano’s abuse took place during a time where every second was precious. There was no time to do it delicately, the way Mori handled everything else, it was war, win or lose. Mori’s tactics were a lot more brutal, Yosano wants the soldiers to live, so Mori shoots the one she cares about so either she WATCHES her friend die, or she can save him. Unlike with Dazai, with Chuuya, with Koyo, Mori isn’t Yosano’s saviour, he’s her captor, he gives her a choice, but its one where neither option is made to look kind. He makes it clear, she heals them, or they die, whether it’s at his hands, or the hands of the enemy, and he knows she would never let them die.

Mori works through coercion and manipulation, he shapes the way people think of him carefully, moulding his appearance in the eyes of others. To Dazai he’s just an old man that Dazai has under his thumb, who tries and fails to manipulate him. But that’s not the truth. To Chuuya he’s a benevolent leader, someone so gracious as to grant him a place in the mafia. But that’s not the truth. To Koyo he’s the safest option, not someone she wants to follow, but someone she will follow, because at least she’s free. But that’s not the truth. To Yosano he’s evil, cruel and harsh and he takes lives as easily as he breathes with no remorse, he’s the God to her Angel of Death. But thats not the truth. To the audience, he’s a monster, a filthy pervert who is nothing more than a pedophile. Is that the truth?

Mori is like a spider, ensnaring people in his web with carefully constructed lies and appearances, his abuse is not physical or sexual, it’s a psychological coercion, careful at times and brutal at others, his abuse is a targeted attack of an individual’s weaknesses, and a cultivation of the parts he sees as useful.

Every person is his tool, and he likes his blades sharp.

@1seaweedbrain1 for you <3

Mori accused Dazai of wanting to commit double suicide with Chuuya one time and Dazai tried to overcompensate for it ever since.

Dazai and Chuuya would totally be the duo at fifteen and sixteen chasing after one another and dueling with lightsabers and making the lightsaber noises too.

Dazai's the dramatic one when he pretends to die, going full-on villain monologue on Chuuya before he grabs Chuuya's lightsaber, puts it under his arm and plays dead.

Mori has absolutely no idea what he's walking in on when Chuuya's triumphantly standing over Dazai's (fake dead) body, but so long as they aren't actively killing each other, he just smiles and walks away.

https://twitter.com/straydawgz__/status/1771938948450746683/mediaViewer?currentTweet=1771938948450746683&currentTweetUser=straydawgz__

Skk at 17 is so funny cause imagine you’re in the port mafia, about to go on a serious and dangerous mission, and your executives are two insane hormonal teenagers. Yeah one of them can make black holes and the other can inflict terrifying psychological damage on people but then Chuuya is giving a big scary speech and his voice cracks and Dazai fucking loses it.

dazai/yosano character parallels analysis ★

includes: connection/past with Mori, themes of humanity, dehumanization, life/death, change, and Elise(?)

wc: 1.5k

Beginning with the most glaring similarity, they have a mutual connection with Mori as a mentor figure in their past. (I'm not sure if I would assign the “mentor” role to him for Yosano, but for the lack of a better word, that's what he will be called here </3). He represents an important part of their traumatic pasts but in different ways. I want to stress the importance of understanding that the two of them were abused in different ways because of how Mori himself regarded each of the two, and that this is not to say one was worse than the other. I would also like to negate any argument that Dazai was not abused by Mori, this is false. While that is another topic I want to discuss in the future, I just want to get that out there.

Both are victims of Mori's tactics of controlling abuse and were utilized as tools for his plans. Yosano was used for her ability, as she was useful under Mori's immortal soldier regiment, while Dazai was picked up with the intentions to mentor him as a future successor to Mori because of their shared traits (refer to the 15 quote provided, their “common destiny” is being the Port Mafia boss). The reason I say they are abused in different ways is because of the methods Mori enacts on the both of them. While I don't want to say he respects Dazai more as an individual because of that inherent fear he carries of Dazai, however, I'm not really sure what else to word it as. Dazai is able to carry out a lot of his own volition while under Mori in the Port Mafia, and while he was still in a horrible place under this treatment, he did have some level of freedom on his own because of the way Mori viewed him. Mori recognizes that: one, Dazai lacks morals at this point in his life, two, that he is not loyal to Mori and could take him out at any moment (I would argue that he expects it if anything), and three, that Dazai is an extremely intelligent child beyond his years. Since he recognizes all of these aspects, he still controls Dazai to the degree he acts to everyone else, but he also does not push Dazai too extremely. Of course this is not to say his abuse to Dazai was not harsh, I am trying to compare the way Mori treated Yosano vs Dazai, and how this has affected them individually, not by the severity of either. He noticeably treats Yosano harsher, and he does go as far as to lay a hand on her, in the form of grabbing her hair. While he is not a physically abusive person, instead using psychological methods more often, this is an example of the disregard he has for Yosano as an individual herself. She is diminished to her ability in his eyes, and Dazai is almost akin to a mirror in at least Mori's eyes. Both of these lead into my next point, the way both of them experience dehumanization.

Both Dazai and Yosano are, to some degree, seen as inhuman for their abilities and past sins. This can be seen in something as simple as the names they are given by others in their lives. They are the "Angel of Death" and the "Demon Prodigy." Both of these names assigned to them from those around them serve as stark reminders of their past wrongdoings, to which I will expand upon later. Yosano was essentially forced to play God with countless lives until she created her own undead hell, and this burdens her for the rest of her life. As a result of these events, even though it was not something under her control as an eleven year old child, she is viewed in a vicious light for her ability and involvement. Similarly, Dazai's humanity is disregarded by those around him because of his actions and behaviors, but most importantly, his nature. To follow a commonly stated metaphor in BSD, his blood is mafia black. During his time in the Port Mafia, Dazai racked up a laundry list of crimes, and the methods he used were seen as cruel even by Port Mafia standards. Of course, his actions are not justified by the fact that he is a child during this time. Dazai is very much a person guilty of crimes enacted upon others, so he is not absolved from all agency in this, but it is still important to understand that his actions were heavily for survival and his own self destructive pursuit to find something to live for.

Coming back to these two and their pasts as these inhumane figures, both also go through a series of changes as a person to go on a better path. Dazai himself could care less about good vs bad during his Port Mafia days because there was no person who guided him properly on that course, but once Oda's death sets Dazai's path in stone on the good side. Oda's final request to him is to be on the good side, despite the indifference Dazai harbors. Dazai lives out this path up to the current events of the timeline, and he clearly benefits from being in the Agency. He goes to deliberate lengths to hide from his past as well, he avoids any possible association with that and denies similarities between him and those he has harmed during his Port Mafia days, namely those he hurt, like Akutagawa. At the same time, as I pointed out, Dazai is making the conscious choice to change. Yosano follows this similar path of trying with the Agency because of Fukuzawa and Ranpo picking her up from Mori after the isolation facility. The Agency does not require her for her ability, unlike Mori did, she is more than it. She chooses to continue to save lives with her ability because she so heavily values human life.

And this brings me to my next point, their shared connection with life and death, and their attitudes surrounding it. Both Dazai and Yosano greatly value life, as ridiculous as that sounds for a character like Dazai. Yosano is intrinsically connected to the cycle between life and death because of the nature of her ability. She holds life as having more value than death itself, and she expresses this with her drive to save lives. Dazai does not have the ability to control the cycle itself, but he does have a connection to it through his suicidal nature. He stumbles between the line of living and dying due to his inability to find a purpose to live, but he does appreciate life. Dazai appreciates the way other characters such as Oda live their lives, and the humanity Dazai sees in them. He does not believe there is an inherent value to his own life, but he voices his opinions on the human experience and he admires how others do find a reason to live. Dazai and Yosano's frame of mind surrounding life and death is not the same, however, they do share a mutual value for humanity and life in some fashion, even if Dazai seeks out death more than Yosano ever does.

Now, to address Elise. Her as a topic is separate from the rest only because the connection between her, Dazai, and Yosano is speculation on my part. It is not something observable as fact to canon, unlike something as the two's relationships with Mori or their shared themes. It is clear that Elise is at least partially inspired by an eleven year old Yosano. Before the events of the Great War, Elise is shown to follow orders blindly. She is a subservient ability, and her usual liveliness is not present at this time. This changes after Mori loses Yosano, and Elise behaves like an average child at this point, but the specific traits he takes from Yosano are her willpower and opinionated personality. Another notable detail in Elise's design is her hair bow, which does resembles Yosano's hair pin. This can be attributed to Mori's obsession with Yosano at this age, but I don't believe her likeness to Yosano is only because of that. She also shares traits with Dazai. What I'm referring to his her hair and attitude towards Mori himself. Outside of the time when Elise is based upon someone else, she wears her hair up in a bun. Though she is absent from timeliness between the Great War, we do see her after that, and she now has more open, wavy hair. While you can attribute to this design just for the sake of it, I do think it is interesting to point out this similarity between her and Dazai because Yosano has perfectly straight hair. Elise also chastises Mori, something that Yosano does not do, but Dazai does voice his disapproval of Mori and straight points out his faults, which Elise does too. She also exhibits similar behavior to Dazai in negotiating for what they want, neither lies, and I say this is a trait she got from Dazai only because Yosano does not do this. I think that Mori projects traits of these two onto Elise, a manifestation of his desires, both because of the obsession and because Yosano+Dazai symbolize regret from the past.

You’re a member of the Z-team. Your team is who they send in when teams A-Y have failed, but that’s never happened before. But to everyone’s horror, that day just came.

There is something that really intrigues me about Damian Wayne's year by year development. Because every year, he's different from the last. Personality wise, his behaviour and his perspective of life changes irratically.

First there is his 10 year old self. Damian is very proud and arrogant. He doesn't care for any of his siblings or family one bit. Not even Bruce. What he cares about is Batman's mantle. He prides himself on being the son of The Dark Knight and Talia al Ghul. And that's why he wants his father to see his potential, and deem him worthy. He is cold and dismissive. He also doesn't understand emotions really well. Nor does he care for others'. He is unlikable and people tend to steer away from him. Damian Wayne doesn't get bothered by it. He hates stupid people anyways. It doesn't bother him. It doesn't. He is ignorant.

Then there is his 11 year old self. A few months after coming back from the dead. Yet he's still scarred, physically and emotionally. His mother's betrayal simmers inside his heart, throbbing. It's a new feeling for him, hurt. But he tries his best to ignore this feeling. He isn't very succesful. He has spent almost a year with Dick Grayson as his Batman, and took acting classes. He's better at showing his emotions, now. He has pets and he finds himself caring very deeply for them. Although he's still trying to adapt to his father's Batman. Damian feels... dissapointed. Bruce is very different from Dick and it shows clearly. He is anxious.

Damian is 12 years old now, and he has managed to create deep bonds with his family (some of them). He also has new friends now; Colin, Maya and Suren. He learned to have fun and find hobbies for himself. He is still distant with his mother. But he finds that best for himself and others around him. The hurt slowly dissolving, yet still there. He still fights with people and tend to keep away from them. At his last months of 12 years old, Damian gains a best friend. Jonathan Kent. He finds Jon to be a bit much but still enjoys his company deeply. It's weirdly endearing to be his friend. Life is going better than he ever expected. He is, for the first time in his life, happy.

On Damian's 13th birthday, only Alfred remembers. He bakes him a silly colorful cake and makes him wear a stupid party hat. He loves it. He thought he'd be sad or angry when his father, inevitably, forgots about it. He isn't. With each passing year he finds himself getting closer and closer to the old man. Damian finds him comforting. Alfred is always there no matter what. A constant in his life and although he'd never say it out loud, he thinks of Alfred Pennyworth a father figure. Jon and him now go by Supersons. A silly name that makes him smile just a little whenever he thinks about it. He now knows what love is. He loves Alfred Pennyworth, he loves Jonathan Kent, he loves Dick Grayson, he loves Stephanie Brown and he loves Maya Ducard. He sees them as not a family, but a part of himself. People actually start treating him well and seek out for him. It doesn't last long though. Alfred dies, and his family breaks apart. His father blames him, and so he leaves the manor. He now lives in a safehouse, and goes after criminals. He doesn't know what to do from now on, so he waits for the right moment. He is devastated.

A few weeks before his 14th birthday, Damian Wayne leaves Gotham. He no longer wishes to live in this hellhole that harbors the best years of his life. He seeks out his mother in an attempt to reconnect with her and finds more than what he asked for. He doesn't tell anyone of the hallucinations. No one. He is dead. It isn't real. Not anymore. His mother sends him to an island full of people like him. Murderers, psychopaths and assassins. He meets an unexpected old face. And surprisingly, he makes friends. After dying yet again, he finds himself drawn to it. The moment when Flatline ripped his heart out of his chest, he felt terrified. Not of death, but of Hell. That doesn't happen though. He doesn't go to Hell. He doesn't go to anywhere really. The death itself didn't even hurt. He feels... lighter. It might sound sick, but Damian feels better after coming back. Almost like a punishment of his past sins. It cleanses him inside out and he seeks for another. A few days later Hawke breaks his neck and kills him. Again. And Damian finds it hilarious, since it was the same way that Alfred had died. He doesn't care for the death. He finds himself not hurting anymore. Not scared. He makes even more friends. They have so much in common with him... Damian Wayne feels death, and finds it freeing.

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hi!! do you have any ideas about Dazai’s need for control? could be answered possibly in a sexual type way too if you want. when I read stormbringer he phased me as the type to rarely allow things out of his own jurisdiction and chuuyas rivalry to that control, even though he usually falls under it, excites him.

Ahh I do have some thoughts sexual or otherwise.

I think that as a child Dazai always noticed more about the people and the world around him than anyone expected him too, and as a result he came to see people in general as predictable and boring. Add to that how unnerved the adults around him would be, that this child points out things a "normal" child would never be able to grasp (sort of like how Mori saw Dazai between him gaining power and Fifteen), and you have a kid who hasn't been shown much sympathy because he is too intelligent and doesn't know when or how to hide it well.

I think he relied on his intelligence and ability to manipulate people a lot when he was younger, mostly for survival. I think control gives him a source of confort as well as endless frustration cause nothing can scare him, but nothing can exceed his expectations, either.

So when that control is taken away from him, it both excites him and frightens him. Which is part of why he hates Chuuya so much!

The first time Dazai met Chuuya, he had a specific impression he stuck to that we the audience know is false, but Dazai had been confident in up until Chuuya said "I am Arahabaki."

This is one of the few times we see Dazai genuinely caught off guard. It's a shock reflected both in his words on the page and in the illustration. Because Dazai was so sure he got the gist of what Chuuya was about.

What was the gist, you ask? Well.

The first time Dazai meets Chuuya, he calls him an "arrogant brat". He claims that Chuuya relies on his power so much that he fails to be good at anything without it. He sees the way Chuuya interacts with the Sheep, how this powerful, arrogant person acts subservient to them, how much he hates his own position as "King of the Sheep". There's also this bit:

Then, during his talk with Randou, Dazai reveals Mori's theory of "undercooked meat":

And I thought huh, that's weird, if I'd put Chuuya anywhere, it would be the meat everyone's trying to haggle over, not one of the people who steals the meat from others. Cause I, the audience, knew who Chuuya was already. But Dazai didn't. In Dazai's eyes, Chuuya's goals are inherently set apart from the Sheep's. Which isn't true, on a basic level. Chuuya looking jnto the rumors inherently benefits the group, because it affects Chuuya. If someone is looking into Arahabaki, it threatens Chuuya and as a result, threatens the safety of the rest of the Sheep. His goal also isn't a goal which warrants this comment:

What I think Dazai assumed: Chuuya is a powerful ability user that has to put up with the Sheep and their demands despite having goals of his own. He's arrogant, to the point where he keeps his hands in his pockets in the hopes of meeting a true challenge, despite the disadvantage. This is why he wants to find Arahabaki: a powerful destructive diety that is capable of leveling an island, so he can find a true challenge and conquer it.

This is why he thought of Chuuya as one of the people stealing the meat. Because the goal above is arrogant and selfish. But, that's not at all what Chuuya wanted. And when Dazai learned he underestimated not only Chuuya's strength, but his character?

Chuuya going against Dazai's predictions both frightened him, angered him, and excited him, to the point where Dazai found that willingness to live again. I think a lot of his facination with Chuuya stems from that. We see Chuuya getting underestimated twice again by Dazai in Stormbringer. First time when Dazai thinks Verlaine can convince Chuuya to kill N, and the second time, when Dazai assumes Chuuya is dead, but he survives anyway, and doesn't even need Dazai's help lmao (which, y'know, we have Adam to thank for, but still).

Corruption facinates Dazai the same way. It's a force of nature and destruction, unable to be controlled, except Dazai can still nullify it. But what's weird is that every time he does, Dazai is strangely humbled by it? He doesn't really think of it as him "controlling" Chuuya's ability as much as "wow I can't believe I can touch this god-like creature and be able to do this wow".

Insteresting to note how Dazai can't control is own ability. At all. It just happens.

So yeah, I think contolling the situation is a comfort to Dazai, it's a constant in his life. Chuuya both unnerves him and intrigues him cause he keeps pushing against Dazai's control and his expectations.

Idk what you want me to say on the sexy aspect of it I think Dazai wouldn't give up being a dom unless you dragged him away kicking and screaming