Curse Boy

Excerpt from the Tales of the Dead Apple

page 101.

Dazai’s morality and what makes him different from other “morally gray” characters

Everyone knows that Dazai is morally gray - but I only recently realized how he’s different from other “morally gray” characters we often see in fiction. 

Most of the time, those characters we conveniently label “morally gray” don’t even deserve the title - they’re just good people who had done a few bad things, or bad people who had done a few good things. But Dazai is truly in the middle - he has done too many bad things to be good, but too many good things to be bad.

He’s abusive, manipulative, ruthless, and made life a living hell for Akutagawa. And yet- 

He was Atsushi’s savior - giving him a home when nobody else would accept him. Although this still isn’t enough to forgive him for what he did to Akutagawa, it still proves that he isn’t fully a bad person. 

Now, here’s when things start to get more interesting. Most morally gray characters tend to switch back and forth between two sides, right? Lots of writers depict them doing kind things more often while on the “good side”, and doing cruel actions more often while on the “bad side”.

But that's not the case with Dazai.

Dark Era Dazai was terrifying - he shot innocent people, manipulated his subordinates, abused people, and many more. But he was still good, in his own way. He helped Chuuya cut ties with the Sheep, who were obviously using him for his powerful ability, despite having only met him for a day. He genuinely cared for Odasaku, willing to risk his own life to save his friend. 

In the ADA, he seemed more compassionate. He gave Atsushi a home and cared for all the members of the ADA. But although it’s subtle, he was still evil. It’s more obvious in the manga - since the anime tends to focus on his humor and suicidal tendencies more. Take a look at this manga panel : 

Although it’s implied, it’s clear what he did - he slept with the nurse only to obtain information. He manipulated an innocent woman without hesitation, as if it’s a daily habit. No other ADA member would have the heart to do this, even if it meant saving the world or whatsoever. And let’s not forget this anime moment that made all Aku stans’ blood boil : 

Yes, Dazai didn’t directly abuse Aku anymore after being in the ADA. But if he was truly a good person, he wouldn’t have taken advantage of Aku’s emotions, thinking that he had every right to control him. He would have acknowledged Aku and sincerely apologized for abusing him. 

No matter what your argument is, you can’t deny that Dazai doesn’t have a trace of his PM tendencies left in him even after transferring into the ADA. That’s the depth about Dazai’s gray morality - no matter which side he’s on, he'd always do an equal amount of good and bad things. 

Alright, last point, I promise. I’ve seen lots of people think that Dazai underwent his "redemption arc” in the Dark Era, when Oda died, just because Dark Era and ADA him are opposites. But now that I think of it, his moralities never even changed. He never had a redemption arc. His way of viewing people and the world are still more or less the same. The only reason Dark Era and ADA Dazai are different is because he changed his mannerisms, and obtained more will to live.

“Oh, then why did he join the agency?”  

Because he wanted to honor his best friend’s dying wish. He still doesn’t care about “good” or “bad”. Even Oda knew this - that’s why he said this line to Dazai: 

I’d like to believe that a part of Dazai's kind actions are genuine, but you cannot tell me that this man, who didn’t give a f*ck about shooting innocent people, is unconditionally kind all the time. We can never guess what’s going on in his head, but I’m sure that he sometimes puts up a facade of being kind, in hopes that one day, it’ll become real. 

Now, you’ll notice that most morally gray characters undergo a meaningful redemption arc before joining the good guys - which implies that the writers think only post-redemption them belonged in the good side - that pre-redemption them will never be able to become “good”. 

But Dazai?

He joined the agency without undergoing a redemption arc and still passed the entrance exam. 

You see what this means? 

From the start, Dazai already had the potential of becoming both "good" and "evil". He would have fit in either organizations perfectly. Mori just happened to find him first. It’s just the matter of timing. 

Dazai’s morality is truly in the middle. 

favourite trope: introvert boys and their extrovert girls

levi x hange

aki x himeno

I just adore how Kaoru casually mentioned that he’d like to give all his passion and interest to skateboarding, and Kojiro was suddenly near a skateboard shop. I mean, this guy is so in love — your crush mentions they're into something, and you're already running to dive into it and impress them.

Hunter x hunter theory: chapter 392

I am a little bit surprised there is no conversation about how hisoka's behavior differs from his typical one. Of course he literally DIED. And you know, such things make you reconsider your life priorities. But it's still hard to give up your behavior patterns such as playfulness which hisoka uses as his defence mechanism. In chapter 392 he refuses to answer the opponent's questions and uses physical force without any word games. His bluntness and rudeness, as well as his bored expression, make me think other character appeared before us in this chapter. Many are familiar with the theory Illumi is actually hisoka undercover since the moment “Illumi” joining the Spiders. And this theory has really worthy arguments. Illumi’s behaviour is strange as well as hisoka’s in chapter 392. In chapter 377 Illumi brings people to emotions and deliberately surprises with his actions. It's like he's mocking the spiders when he talks about his “marriage contract” with hisoka. And if hisoka has reasons to behave atypically (death has become a trigger), illumi has none. And most of all, I am hooked by this emptiness and darkness in hisoka’s eyes, the feeling that I have already seen it somewhere…

So, here is my guess: illumi in the previous chapters is actually hisoka, hisoka took the form of illumi with the help of Illumi’s nen. Perhaps they are working together because Illumi wants to bring Kalluto home, and Hisoka's goal is to kill all the spiders.

Bonus: I can imagine Illumi saying "no, hisoka, I won't wear your revealing outfits again" and choosing the most discreet from hisoka's closet.

To celebrate HiatusxHiatus, I did badly drawn comic strips for brother of the year, Illumi. 

Crucifixion Triptych (details, 1445),

Rogier van der Weyden.