𝜗𝜚 the dazai mentality

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new chapters + dark era spoilers !!

no one asked me to do this shit but i need to yap about dazai or else i will set myself on fire

so .. what is the dazai mentality , you may ask . im sure you never heard of it since i just thought of my fav anime kin and decided " oh i should explain his mentality and stuff !! " and legit started talking to myself. holy moly i regretted that sm since i forgot to record and now i forgot half of what i said .

but !!!! the show must go on . if you might not know , dazai osamu is character of bungou stray dogs based on the real life author dazai osamu . hes often described as a funny and easy going detective whos obsessed with suicide and extremely smart . but , under his facade is much more disturbing and complex .

now , im no expert at psychology or anything , but one thing for sure is that im good at relating to people as long as i know a fair amount of knowledge about them . also , i reviewed everything i wrote and made sure they were all canon facts from the animanga . some parts also include my personal interpretations , and youre free to make your own .

without delay , lets discuss about it .

his beliefs in himself ::

in order to understand how someone acts and the way they are is to know their beliefs . what does dazai think about himself ?

dazai is a very complex character that is difficult to understand from a certain distance . hes not so easy to read and comprehend . his backstory isnt fully revealed yet , so all we could make is theories and try to connect lines .

however , what every bsd fan should know about dazai is that he does not feel human and is skeptical that he will ever feel like one . basic as that . but then it goes onto a deeper level .

" emotions are at the center of a person " . but what about dazai ?? what does he feel deep within his heart ?? nothing . its just an empty , hollow hole void of any emotions . he has difficulty expressing emotions and experiencing them like most people would .

what we already know about him is that he was messed up from a young age and had to grow fast . mori had took him in as a patient after a failed suicide attempt and murdered the former boss in front of his eyes , which made his situation even worse . and even up till now , he acts more mature than his age . in the early ages of the manga , you could see him speaking in more ' old ' way , using complex words and fancy idioms .

from a young age , dazai had suicidal tendencies and was finding a way to fill the emptiness inside him . what did he do ?? he used humor to cope and hid everything under a beguiling smile . by doing multiple suicide attempts , he chased the adrenaline feeling that only lasted for a temporary time . what else could he do anyway ?? it may be a short period of time but it was the only thing dazai knew at the time , and we could judge from the way he acted he grew up with — not the best parental figures .

the root of his traumas ::

as i said before , his backstory isnt fully revealed yet so we 're only making theories . but lets try to connect the dots . mori met him after a failed suicide attempt . oda met him on his porch , bleeding and on the verge of death . we can tell that his mind has already been messed up when he was much younger , and thats already heartbreaking .

so without his past lore , lets focus on the more recent events that added on to his trauma .

lets start with dazai 's and oda 's friendship . oda was the only person who actually recognized dazai 's loneliness and his problems and paid attention to them . he treated him like the kid he was supposed to be , instead of forcing him to act mature . and dazai trusted him , considering him as his greatest friend . which is weird as dazai as seen as a guarded person who puts little to no trust in anyone at all .

and like anyone who might have lost their bestfriend , dazai was devasted with oda 's death . no , actually ,  he was CRUSHED. what made it even worse is that he lost his friendship with him and ango due to ango 's betrayal . that unforgettable event must have altered dazai 's brain , although im still figuring out in what way lol . 

and .... most recently , kunikida's death :'(( . im sure dazai hasnt heard it yet . even if theyre at odds most of the time , theyve been partners for 3 years . it would be natural to grieve over someone youve known since the start of your job . im scared for dazai 's reaction .. he already lost oda and somehow ango , what would he do if he knew he lose kunikida ??

his weaknesses ::

we all know everyone has their strengths and weaknesses , despite how much we try to hide or deny it . as for dazai , his confidence leads most to think hes immune to insecurities . wrong , wrong , wrong !! he actually has his own fears , which i want bsd fans to recognize more >_<

he is afraid of losing control . he feels like he always needs to keep the situation in his own hands because he might lose something important to him ( take oda , as an example ) . he doesnt trust anyone to work with him and often fails to tell the ada members what exactly his plan is so they would act favorably ( in his eyes ) and would be easy for him to predict their actions  . 

another problem is his attachment issues . as i stated before , dazai literally trusts no one and has issues with feeling attached to someone . hes scared they wouldnt care , understand , or he would just lose them . and that leads us to his other problem : apathy .

what is apathy ? in simple words , is when you lack of feeling , emotion ,  interest , or concern about something . he isnt comepletely emotionless , but he lacks to feel and relate to other people . because hes scared attach himself to someone , he has to be apathetic in order to avoid his own feelings .

in conclusion ::

dazai is a complex character that people fail to understand most of the time because of his nihilistic views and manipulative persona . he doesnt feel like what a human should feel and masks what he truly feels . 

" emotions are at the center of a person , but not at the center of the world . theres nothing in the center of that . so dont let your feelings control you , akutagawa " ( oda to akutagawa , beast ) .

i hope this blog made you understand and appreciate dazai more !! ik most people just say they hate him for funsies but i honestly get disappointed when they hate him fr . he may be messed up but hes such a well written character with an amazing mind .