When discussing or analyzing Dazai, one thing I hope you will keep in mind when reading anything I write about him is that from my perspective, he is always, always both.
What do I mean by this? Well, I find there tends to be a general split among people who hold the opinion that "he's a manipulator and will always be manipulative" and "he's doing his best to be good and helpful and live up to Oda's last wishes for him", of which, neither is completely right - because he is both. But even among the people who hold to this dual-nature interpretation, I find that his individual actions and motivations still tend to be thought of in a dichotomous manner - is it manipulative, or genuine?
Again, I think it's always both.
Dazai has a very pragmatic view on a lot of things - he is always looking for the usefulness of things and people so that the situation turns out in his favour. He's incredibly adept at this, and his prediction and placement and careful reveals are all manipulation tactics to get his allies and enemies doing exactly what he needs them to. I don't think anyone can contest this since we see it over and over in the series.
But that's not all there is to it. He's not solely manipulative and he does, to some extent, sympathize with others - I think there are several instances of this in the series, but I want to stress that this has been apparent since Chapter 1!
For context, Dazai is recalling what Atsushi said to him a few minutes earlier, but it's very interesting that it should be this specific part of the conversation. He could've flashed back to the part where Atsushi said he had nowhere to go; no money, no food - he is about to trick him into joining, after all, and this is the key piece he uses to basically force Atsushi into the Agency. But instead it's Atsushi's self-deprecation that catches his attention, and it really does, because even during the conversation, he turns to look at him after he says this with an odd expression.
You could say that this makes Atsushi easier to manipulate, if that's your angle, but that can't be solely it, because in the later conversation with Hirotsu, we know Dazai was planning to bring Atsushi into the Agency and set him up as one half of the new Double Black the moment he met him. The panel shown there is the riverbank, set much earlier in the day than this scene. He was already planning to pair him with Akutagawa since he figured out he was the tiger, so what's with this reaction?
Well. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best.
He manipulated Atsushi into joining with the intention of utilizing him in his future plans. He also helped him and gave him a place to belong, and importantly, he likes this kid! It's both.
I think much of it might be that his brain just kinda works way too fast - he's such a natural at crafting these elaborate plots and seeing how things connect and gathering useful people like resources that it's practically automatic - though this is not a great means when you're trying to be a kinder person. There's an omake, I believe, that has him saying "I like using my head for justice", i.e. using these underhanded means to act for the better. Not great, but those are the kind of gifts he has. He's way more suited to exploitation, but is choosing to use these tactics to save people now, which is quite reminiscent of what he tells Kyouka. Kyouka's talents lie in killing people - when what you're good at isn't who you want to be, what do you do? Well, I expect you use what you have, even if it's not ideal.
Now, about the current situation with Sigma - I think he definitely likes him, and is intrigued by him and his situation. We did get a little thought bubble where the guy amusedly compares him to Atsushi, and you can't tell me he doesn't care about Atsushi (listen to the onsen drama cd, or read 55 Minutes if you somehow don't believe me). But also, it's undeniable that Sigma is in a very vulnerable position of being homeless and having had no one be genuinely kind to him before. His trust is very easy to earn, and with the latest chapter, Dazai has now saved his life multiple times. There is, as always, a practical purpose he needs him for. And I have to be somewhat amused because Dazai is quite literally telling Sigma everything he ever wanted and needed to hear. It's a brilliant means of quickly endearing himself to Sigma - but I don't think that's all it is.
Look. The most honest moments we get in this series from Dazai are, interestingly for an expert manipulator, when people are at their most vulnerable. In spite of every pointlessly cruel act he inflicted on Akutagawa, his first meeting with him was open and transparent; much like the orphanage director, it seems he thought this treatment would make him strong and adaptable (he's wrong but that's not the point of this). He cuts Kyouka off in irritation and says "don't give me that" when she implies that she would fail the entrance exam. He tells Atsushi it's normal to cry after losing a father figure and to feel however you feel, even if that person caused you nothing but incredible pain and cannot be forgiven. He refuses to entertain Sigma's assumptions that Dazai sees himself as a superior being to him.
Selective honesty can also be utilized to great effect; Mori does this, and undoubtedly it serves this purpose for Dazai too. But I want to stress that I do sincerely believe this is all still honesty from him. Manipulation, or genuine?
Both. It's both.
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I'm so tired of people treating Kieran like he's manipulating the player or whatever like HE'S A CHILD!!! Also I'm tired of people saying people who don't like how Carmine treated him just hate low empathy people and women like. She gets better! I love the other parts of her character! But you can't deny that she infantilizes Kieran and blames his genuine distress from being wronged on "teen angst" as well as the obvious "at least I didn't hit him" line. You can't deny that her mistreatment of him is what leads him astray. She has every right to be angry and abrasive to tourists, but the way she takes it out on her brother obviously harmed him.
No, Kieran doesn't see Ogerpon as an object - he just clings to those who he believes understand him and wants to feel like he belongs. He's not evil. He's a mentally struggling young teen who clings to any semblance of acceptance in his life and believes he was wronged by the person he trusted.
No, people are not ableist or misogynistic for saying Carmine's actions were harmful and caused emotional pain. No, comparing her hate to the likes of how fans treated Nemona is not fair. Yes they're wrong for narrowing her down to a one-dimensional abuser who can never be redeemed. But it's okay to acknowledge that she's hurting her brother. She's not evil for it. She's a mentally struggling teen/young adult whose struggles seep into how she treats the people she cares about.
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I remember when I was reading DOTC when I was around 10, and ever since Misty died I had been waiting for the moment where Birch and Alder learned about her murder, how everyone in their lives has kept it a secret. And then it just didn't happen.
I also remember obsessively re-reading the part where Quiet Rain blows up at Clear Sky.
Birch and Alder are two characters that are just so...
I WANT to say they were forgotten about, but that word doesn't feel right for how they're constantly showing up on the screen. Clear Sky occasionally feels guilty about how he murdered their mother, but for the vast majority of the time, that's described in passive voice. So you're not reminded of just HOW cruel he was, and still very much is.
It's like they're not allowed to be characters.
Like, how does Alder feel about Clear Sky, who seemed to be acting as an adoptive father until he beat her as a child? How did Birch respond later, when Clear Sky was so busy thrashing his sister that he was threatened by a dog? How do they feel about the man who took their mother away from them?
They keep getting cited as "Good Examples Of Non-Campborn Cats," dodging around the fact they were stolen and raised by Petal. Like a lot of the other "adoptions" in the series, she quietly stops mattering to them. But even this fact... like, they're being OTHERED when they were functionally raised SkyClan.
How do they feel about THAT? That their earliest memory is SkyClan, and yet, they'll never be considered truly, fully "clanborn."
Their whole life taken from them, by Clear Sky's cruelty, their formative years spent in his violent shadow, and the narrative is just not interested in that.
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so i missed rinharu but had no time to rewatch the franchise or final stroke movies.
luckily for my depraved ass, someone compiled all the rinharu scenes from both the final stroke movies and i watched it, only to notice so much shit that i didn't notice the first time i watched the last two movies.
so many of rin's—yes, specifically rin's—lines in the movies point at something brewing deeper than the surface.
him constantly pointing out that his relationship with haru "isn't that simple" when asked about it by ikuya or anyone else,
him fighting with azuma and azuma practically screaming in his face to get his shit together if he really cares about haru that much,
both haru and rin constantly thinking back on how they both needed each other to get to where they are,
all the scenes of rin's reflection in haru's eyes,
haru looking so depressed while sousuke is driving him around in his car (and haru's weak "i hope so" after sousuke tells him he and rin will be fine),
rin being so worried about his relationship with haru and asking asahi if haru really would ask about him if haru knew rin was hurting like this,
rin's monologue where he goes, "that's right. i'm always selfish. i pretend i don't notice how you feel. i took advantage of your strength" as he runs through the city desperately searching for haru (where there's also rinharu-centric flashbacks, in particular that scene from the special ES episode where both the samezuka and iwatobi teams are drying their clothes over a bonfire, rin is laughing and haru looks at him gently, smiling—yes, this confirms that it was rin haru had been looking at; not anyone else like people were insisting)
...and so much more.
what does all of this insinuate? you be the judge.
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