And He’s SO Good At Playing The Fool And Making People Smile

Canola is way too good at her job, Poor Felix.

"Moominvalley in November", a summary

Dazai Osamu (BSD): a case study of a nihilist turned absurdist

I've talked a bit before about the themes of absurdism within BSD, and I think this plays heavily into Dazai and the personal journey he's gone on throughout the series (light novels included). From my perspective, his character development has followed a shift in ideology, from nihilism to absurdism.

First, I'd like to define how these two philosophies are similar yet different. Nihilism is the belief that life is intrinsically meaningless, and that there's no value to seeking meaning. Absurdism also believes that life has no intrinsic meaning, but states that revolting against the absurdity of existence is the way to create meaning.

While I don't think Dazai 100% fits either category fully at any given point in his life as we've seen it thus far, I think in his PM days he leans more towards a nihilist perspective, and following Oda's death he leans more towards an absurdist perspective.

Dazai's reasoning for joining the PM was because he thought that perhaps being around violence and raw emotions would help him understand humanity, giving him a reason to live. This doesn't sound quite like nihilism, but honestly, I think he gains a more nihilist point of view as time progresses and he realizes that he can't find meaning in the PM. I'm not even sure he believed that there was meaning to find in the first place, he was just desperate to prove himself wrong, and then failed, which really cemented this nihilistic mindset for him.

Friedrich Nietzsche, often regarded as the founding father of nihilism, claimed that nihilism "not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one shoulder to the plough; one destroys.”

If life doesn't have meaning, then it doesn't matter to Dazai if he destroys. So, he fills a corpse with bullets, he horrifically abuses his subordinate, he actively tries to take his own life.

Nihilism is right in line with his suicidal nature. This isn't to say that all nihilists are inherently suicidal, but when one believes that life has no meaning, it's quite easy to come to the conclusion to kill oneself. I think this mindset really lends to his general depression and suicidal ideation, on top of the fact that he feels generally disconnected from humanity. It's so easy for him to consider himself inhuman because he has this nihilistic point of view that nothing matters and everyone else in society seems so dead set on opposing that worldview.

And then you have Oda. He is the closest thing Dazai gets to finding meaning within the PM. Like Chuuya, this is a person that fascinates Dazai, although his reason for fascination is much different. To Dazai, Oda represents what is good in the world, he thinks that he is a good man, and struggles to reconcile how a good person can come out of an existence so seemingly pointless and horrific.

Then, Oda dies.

It's an absurd occurrence, and to Dazai it only proves that life has no meaning. This is exemplified when Dazai speaks to Fyodor about God in Meursault: "[God] is known for is famous for his coincidences and absurdism, I've seen it countless times," and a flashback to Oda's death is shown. A good man died for seemingly no good reason, and to Dazai, this only proves life's meaningless, because to the universe it didn't matter who Oda was, he died, regardless.

(I quoted the dialogue from the BSD anime English dub because I feel it better suited my argument, but you can see that he's essentially saying the same thing).

This event should have only further cemented Dazai as a hardcore nihilist, but fortunately for him, Oda was able to get a word in before he passed. He told Dazai that as long as he believes the sides of good and bad are the same to him, he should be on the side that helps people. Oda suggests fighting against life's inherent absurdity -- and that's absurdism in a nutshell, revolting against a meaningless universe.

Dazai takes his advice, and within a few years, he's working for the ADA, he's on the side that helps people.

In that same conversation with Fyodor, Dazai speaks further about life's meaning:

"Those who scream within the storm of uncertainty and run with flowing blood." That's absurdism, the rebellion against uncertainty, meaninglessness, absurdity.

While I don't think Dazai is a bona-fide absurdist due to his suicidality (absurdism basically sees suicide as giving into meaninglessness), I think he's on his way there because of moments like this.

I don't think he's totally convinced that life is completely and utterly meaningless anymore. He, at the very least, has a respect for those who forge their own meaning through the act of revolt.

"Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world." - Albert Camus

@theinkymystery @inkymysteryanimatedpilot

Time Travel AU where Michael goes back in time physically instead of just mentally, back before the loss of either of his siblings, and comes across his childhood self. He takes one look at this stupid, cruel, selfish little brat. The same one who let his sister die because he’d rather goof off that watch her. Who murdered his brother in cold blood. Whose terrible behavior put strain on William’s marriage. All of which contributed to William’s deteriorating mental state which ultimately stopped him from getting help with his homicidal urges (or so Mike believes). He takes one look at this kid (who is currently staring up at this moldy stranger thinking ‘why does this dude smell like roadkill’) and immediately wraps his hands around the brat’s throat. Mike strangles his past self to death right there in broad daylight.

Mike’s body is found abandoned at the side of the road. Neither hide nor hair is ever found of the murderer, almost as if he’d vanished into thin air.

Saiki K has this interesting sort of chill atmosphere and monotony about it. It's called "the disastrous life of Saiki K" but the disasters are often like... him not having enough pocket money for something, or having to get through a sports festival. Occasionally the disasters are him having to save the world or his brother being an actual freak, but the show treats these times almost with the same stakes and importance as everything else.

I find this really interesting because what just feels like a "vibe" at first becomes an actual plot-point later on, with Saiki rewinding the Earth every year and repeating the same stage in his life over, and over, and over again... nothing has any real consequences, it's as dull as it is funny, and while it is a comedy I feel like there is this quiet sense of horror underneath it all. The intro with the flower petals falling and then being rewound kind of illustrates this for me - Saiki constantly controls everything around him in an attempt to hold it in some kind of stagnant peace, slowly growing accustomed to the people around them but none of them truly moving forward, like everyone is being held in a dream.

I don't really know where I'm going with this, it's really hard to put into words, but does anyone get what I'm talking about? Is this coherent in any way?

oh he's a little bit fucked up actually

Soldiers, Poets, Kings

Stickers available on my Redbubble shop!

Aaaaand decided to post at least one wip! Maybe I’ll post more. I did this in early spring because there’s nothing like celebrating Snufkin’s arrival to MoominValley like…. Doing moominvalley in November stuff I guess. Lol

also as I was posting this I saw this in one of the frames and adsgddsfsdsd

⚠️ SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 344⚠️

@theinkymystery