That's His Trend

Like I said: a lil sass.

Oh and don't even get me started on Dazai. What he did would make way more sense coming straight from the Mafia, letting everyone kill each other. It doesn't feel like something Dazai would have done already being with the Agency for two years, and he's never killed anyone in present (he tried with Fyodor but...yeah. Also it's fyodor it's fair). And then him talking to Kunikida about the dangers of his ideals...it's all things that would make sense happening after he recently met Kunikida, not someone who's been in this organization for two years now.

Having the events of Dazai's entrance exam take place before the start of the series rather than during it really makes Kunikida's character make so much more sense. Specifically why, at the beginning of the series, he was really hesitant to save Atsushi, or have Atsushi save Kyouka. It's not out of rudeness or apathy. He won't let himself care, because he tried before. He tried to bring up a kid that had a bad life, and it only ended in failure. The events of the Azure Messenger arc really shape Kunikida's character into being someone who wishes he was a hero, but isn't. That he can't save everyone. So when Dazai saves Atsushi, at first, Kunikida doesn't want to grow close or allow himself to care because he feels that this too is only going to end in failure. Hence what he tells Atsushi about he and Kyouka both drowning if there isn't enough room on the boat (the metaphor admittedly makes more sense when he said it). It just adds so much in respect to his character if it happened before the events of the series as opposed to during it, because then it just makes Kunikida out to be super uncaring. But he's not. He just doesn't want to get his hopes up until he can truly accept the fact that this time, it might end better.

Every so often Ashihara makes it abundantly obvious that Borders fighting force is purely made up of teenagers and young adults. And I Love It.

They're all so goofy...

The fact that Akutagawa canonically wears glasses when he's not working:

Like....who are you, Clark Kent??? Does he think wearing glasses will disguise him because he's kinda sorta a wanted criminal? Or maybe, is his eyesight actually bad, but he wears contacts on the job because who the heck is going to be intimidated by a Victorian child in glasses.

Either way, I require a light novel's worth of explanation.

Dark era vs Beast

"This story is a tragedy because it didn't have to end this way."

vs

"This story is a tragedy because it was always going to end this way."

Hc that when Chuuya grabbed Dazai's face during their first interaction it was because he wanted to get a better look at it because he's never seen the other half uncovered before.

Me, in real life: I really hope I didn't say anything to offend them I mean I don't think I did but maybe when they looked away they were hurt god I hope I didn't make them feel the least particle of sadness.

Me, as a writer: Is this emotionally damaging enough? I really hope I can completely and utterly wreck this random person, make them ugly sob into their pillow, absolutely ruin their day in as little words as possible.

I know I already made a post about this, but I wanted to expound on it a bit, because I'm still obsessed with the idea of Dazai being a bad person on the good side, and Chuuya being a good person on the bad side.

Because in essence, the fact that Dazai's in the Agency helping people is because he's selfish, and Chuuya stayed with the Mafia because he's selfless. Contrary to what a lot of people say, Dazai didn't leave the Mafia for Odasaku. He never promised him, never said "I'll do it for you," never did it because Odasaku wanted him to be good. He did it for himself. Odasaku tells him that he'll always be alone, something Dazai fears and knows deep down, and asks what he's supposed to do now. Odasaku then gives him advice, tells him that being on the side that saves people will make his world a bit brighter, and so Dazai agrees to leave the Mafia for himself. And once Dazai agreed to this, then Odasaku says "Man lives to save himself..." Further cementing the idea that Dazai is doing this for his sake and his sake alone. He wants his own life to be better, and if helping people will make it a bit brighter, then he's willing to try doing that.

Chuuya, however, would never leave the Port Mafia because he's the opposite. He cares more about other people than he does his own self. From youth, he became the leader of a child gang in order to protect them, because he felt he was fulfilling his duty as someone with power to protect those who took him in. And even after they betray him, Chuuya still joins the Mafia in order to protect them. To protect the kids who just stabbed him in the back because he would never betray those who did good to him. And the Mafia did that. They took him in, gave him a place to live, a job, a purpose, a family. He actively seeks to make connections with those around him, and once they have his loyalty, it never leaves. In Stormbringer, the detective wanted him to betray the Mafia, and he wouldn't do it, yet later, when the detective dies, Chuuya mourns his death and the loss of opportunity for him to leave the Mafia. It shows that he did, in fact, wish to leave, but he never would. Because why would he hurt those around him who've done good to him? It's very obvious that he's selfless and self-sacrificial, as seen in Fifteen, Stormbringer (where he gave up ever knowing if he was human in order to protect the city), and Dead Apple where he risked his own life to protect the city. The fact that he's still with the Port Mafia, still actively being a bad person, is because he never would and never could leave them, and would do anything to protect them, no matter how bad they'd treat him. Because he cares more about others than his own happiness.

And it's because of that their dynamic is the way it is now. Dazai's one of "the good guys" and Chuuya's one of "the bad guys," but the lines become much more blurred when they're together. Who's the better person in the dynamic? Someone who's doing bad for others or doing good for himself? Either way, both are morally gray characters who blur the lines of morality when they're together.

OK I'm probably not the only one who noticed this, but I was watching the epic livestream, and in My Goodbye, Athena goes "one day you'll understand, but not today for after all you're just a man." And you know what? One day, he does understand. When he's no longer a man, but a monster. Only then, when he (believes) he's lost his humanity, only then does he understand what Athena was telling him. But he can't, not while he was a man.

And of course then there's the whole cruel irony of Athena becoming more empathetic but that's a different post.

Anyway, I think Epic is pretty neat

While I'm grateful bsd doesn't do the "As you know..." type of exposition, it's crazy how much worldbuilding there is like. in the shadows of everything. Like, what's up with the Great War? This isn't even so evident if you don't read the light novels, but there was literally a world war that ended less than fifteen years before the start of the main timeline. It's because of the war that there are so many orphans in the universe. It's because of the war that ability users have faded into a myth, and why they have to get special permits to work and usually gravitate towards underground organizations. It's because of the war why world relations are so shaky, why the government strictly monitors all ability users, and yet all of this is sort of like...in the background? Season four is the first time we ever even get a real flashback and actual exposition about it in the anime, even though it's been vaguely referenced as early as season two with Mimic. They literally did experiments on children, hence Chuuya. So much of the world and the violence and the tripartite framework all came into existence because of the war. And until the most recent arc, where it's being brought to the forefront with both Fukuchi and Fyodor's plan to eradicate ability users, it's sort of just in the background.

And don't even get me started on the lore behind the Dragon Head Conflict because like-