Thoughts On Dazai, Fyodor And Manipulation

Thoughts on Dazai, Fyodor and manipulation

In the latest chapter, we get to hear Dazai & Fyodor talk about their methods from their own mouths. They both are masters of manipulation, but their ways of going about it are entirely different.

Fyodor suggested that they had a peaceful “discussion” on the current situation, but it was really just a way for both of them to assess each other’s information while keeping their own to themselves as much as possible. Fyodor acknowledged that being equals in terms of intellect, they were the only two people who were able to understand and keep up with each other, and Dazai agreed, after a moment of suspicion.

Fyodor asked Dazai for “advice” on how to make his subordinates more independent. To me, this sounds like Fyodor was trying to get information on how Dazai’s colleagues operated, and how they knew what to do. Dazai then gave a very Dazai-like response, telling Fyodor that he basically acted like a lazy ass all day, which gave his colleagues a reason to act on their own because no one wanted to rely on a “good-for-nothing”.

Dazai then asked Fyodor for a way to make the cafe waitress fall for him (again, very Dazai-like). This, to me, is Dazai’s way of asking how Fyodor won over his “allies”, such as Hawthorne and Mushitarou. Fyodor promptly replied that he basically got hold of their lifeline, found out their weaknesses, and gave them an “offer” they couldn’t refuse.

And there we have it, the two “demons” revealing how they manage to make people dance around them and do their work. Fyodor lured people in with promises of a better life, or safety of a loved one. At the end of the day, he would just be watching from a safe spot, casually sipping tea. Dazai, while pretending to do nothing, gave people room to act on their own will. Sure, his methods are questionable, and there are times when he cornered people into cooperating with him. The case of Ango, for instance, was Dazai acting selfishly to satisfy his own silent wrath, while achieving his bigger objective at the same time (he was so furious at Ango he even willingly put himself in danger. This angry child and poor Ango need a talk). But most of the time, Dazai’s deals made room for a win-win situation (Kyouka and Kouyou’s case, for instance). He also put Atsushi and Akutagawa in danger without their knowledge, but at the end of the day, they both had the chance to grow thanks to that. Dazai is also ready to step in when things get serious, the most recent example being him getting arrested on purpose to see through Fyodor’s plans.

While Dazai and Fyodor undoubtedly are similar, they differ in the way they see people. They both have people wrapped around their little fingers, but while Fyodor sees them as pawns to be moved around and thrown away once they fulfill their purpose, Dazai sees them as valuable lives, each having their own potential.

Since we got to see a glimpse of what moved Dazai to see the world the way he does, I hope we will one day get to know Fyodor’s story, as well. To me, they are both alienated individuals who chose their own ways to find meaning to their lives. It seems to me that Fyodor, in his own way, is trying to understand people, what moves them, and what causes them to become the “sinfully stupid” creatures he so looks down upon. Perhaps he wants to witness the brilliance of people’s lives at their brightest moments, the same way Dazai was trying his luck in the Mafia. Perhaps he never made any friends, and never had the chance to see himself as part of the sinful mess of human beings, the way Dazai did.

Bsd Masterlist

Main manga (new chapter on 3rd of every month)

Bungo Stray Dogs Wan (new chapter on 16th of every month)

Extra manga content:

Wan Special Chapter

Wan Season 5 Shorts

Wan vol 12 bonus side story (Part 1 / Part 2) and omake

Anthology Chapters Masterlist

Raws of anthology 1-5 if anyone wants to translate

Omake / alt link+ wan special chapter

Bungou Stray Dogs: Chopsticks and a Spoon

Light Novels

Dazai’s Entrance Exam

Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era

The Untold Story of the Founding of the Detective Agency

55 Minutes

Beast

Dazai, Chuuya, Age 15

Stormbringer

Dead Apple

Bungo Stray Dogs Another Story (Gaiden) (Fan translation)

The Day I Picked Up Dazai

there is no official or fan translation because it just came out recently but there are fan translation of booklet so here (it doesn't contain illustrations from light novel and can be a little different, if any changes are made in the light novel)

Side A / Side B

Side A is about how cannon Dazai first met Odasaku and Side B is about how Beast Dazai first met odasaku so I recommend reading Beast light novel before reading Side B.

Side Short Stories:

Kunikida and Katai's Brilliant Days

The Heartless Cur

Manga adapted from light novels

Bungo Stray Dogs Beast

Dazai, Chuuya, Age 15

Stormbringer (New chapter on 26th of every month)

Gaiden

Dead Apple (not all chapters are translated in english)

The Untold Story of the Founding of the Detective Agency (New chapter on 4th of every month)

Live Action

Beast Movie (if it is not available in your country, turn the vpn on and change the region to France)

Stage Plays

Bungo Stray Dogs on Stage

Dark Era (check the tutorial for adding subtitles)

Three Companies Conflict (if it is not available in your country, turn the vpn on and change the region to France)

Untold Origins of the Detective Agency

Dazai's Entrance Exam

Dead Apple

Dazai, Chuuya, Age 15

Stormbringer (if it is not available in your country, turn the vpn on and change the region to France)

Cannibalism Arc

You can find rest of the stage plays in this file but sadly there are no english subs

Other Stuff

CD Dramas

Character Songs

Stage Play Behind the Scenes

Bsd va Radio

Uemura's Detective Agency

You can find almost all of this on BSD-Bibliophile and if anyone has subtitled file of stage plays tell me so that i can add it here

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doyoulikeslimes

1 year ago

How one clip in the new season 3 trailer significantly changes Animaniacs canon

As I was replaying the new Animaniacs trailer for the 100th time in my head, I realized there's one clip that has big ramifications on how I previously viewed Animaniacs canon. How can one clip change canon before the episode's even out? I know it sounds clickbaity, but I think it's warranted. The clip in question is this:

The Warners are thrown into the water tower. The door is open and the interior of the tower is unfurnished and empty. There are about 21 tally marks visible on the wall presumably counting the days the Warners have been captured in the tower.

The Warners sit against a wall of the tower after being thrown in, looking discontent. Prison bar shadows beam down on them.

An image of the tower with the door shut. It is dark inside.

Now, to most fans of Animaniacs, this might not look out of the ordinary at all. After all, this is far from the first time they've seen the tower depicted this way- for decades, in fan fiction and fan art, this is exactly how it's been described and shown when it comes to stories about the Warners being locked in the tower. To my knowledge, though, through all Animaniacs animated media, this is the first time it's ever been officially shown like this.*

*It was shown somewhat close to this in reboot episode 1, but that was after no one had been living in it for 22 years.

What do I mean by "like this"? Previously in the show, whenever we got a look at the interior of the tower, it's always looked something along the lines of this:

An interior shot of the tower from the original Animaniacs, showing it having a fully fledged roller coaster, trees, grass, a mountain, a waterfall, and a lake.

Image from the original series of the Warners sleeping together in bed. Various furnishings are visible in the tower, including a giant cauldron bathtub, a stool, a dresser, and a toybox filled to the brim with toys and knick-knacks.

Image from the reboot of Dot in bed, close-up to the camera and looking out at the rest of the tower. It has a TV, a couch, a beanbag chair, a basketball on the floor, a rocket ship of some kind, and a metallic rollercoaster track is barely visible at the top of the shot.

It's fully furnished, packed to the brim with all the fun activities the Warners could ever need. It has rollercoasters, basketball hoops, a TV, and, importantly, a kitchen, bathroom, and comfy beds. (We'll assume Yakko chooses to sleep in a ball pit.) It's a veritable wonderland that any kid would be overjoyed to play in. I always assumed it was shown this way to soften the blow for kids who thought too much about the Warners' backstory- sure, they were locked in a tower for 60 years, but it couldn't have been that bad. Look at all the fun stuff they have in there!

When reading and writing tower-related angst, where the tower is depicted as a barren prison, I had always done it with the understanding that it wasn't really like that. Sure, we played it up for angst, but in reality, in canon, the Warners were more or less fine in there. They played games, rode roller coasters, had a good time. I was even gonna make an entire analysis post about what the Warners' time in the tower was really like. Anything else would be just a bit too dark, wouldn't it?

But no. It really was like that. According to the clip in the trailer, when the Warners are locked in the tower, they get all their fun stuff taken away. It really does become empty, barren, and dark. There's no rollercoasters. There's no TV. There's not a kitchen, a bathroom, or a warm bed to sleep in. There don't appear to be any windows, except maybe one prison-barred window at the top. It doesn't even look like they get rations of food. When they're locked in the tower, they sit in shadowy darkness, with absolutely nothing to entertain themselves except each other.

For

sixty

years.

And that's canon.