OKAY BUT LISTEN. LISTEN. I WANNA BREAK DOWN SOME OF THE PANELS FROM THIS SCENE CAUSE UH. This is like a powerpoint of the audience realizing the Sheep are not Chuuya's friends.
First off, baby? Baby. Also Chuuya's body language in the art is so, like, embarassed/self-conscious teen, except instead of the problem being hanging out with the wrong people in high school its...Mafia-level stakes. Anyway, Chuuya curling up while hiding from his "friends" immediately gives you a sense he is not the one in control.
Dazai-like expression who? Chuuya is putting on a mask so eerily similar...it gives us some great parallels.
Chuuya unnecessarily apologizing to Shirase? Yeah. Straight from the book.
Insane over Shirase's solid B+ gaslighting. I don't remember if these lines are from the book, but Shirase implying Chuuya's the one "acting like a tyrant" when he literally didn't do anything?? Except ask politely for favors? Throughout the whole conversation he's been the polar opposite. But hey, maybe Shirase's just projecting.
Haha, "somehow".
Nothing to add here except Shirase's body language in this is SO much better than the anime. In the anime he just acted mad and kinda hot-headed. Here he's smiling, acting friendly, giving off those "ofc I'm on your side Chuuya but you make it so hard for these made-up reasons" vibes. Shirase is opportunistic, manipulative, he believes he has control over Chuuya, and therefore his ability.
Of course, Dazai can tell immediately what Shirase is doing. That Shirase has more power over Chuuya than Chuuya does over any of the Sheep (which is once again reinforced by the body language. Shirase's arm over Chuuya's shoulders, swamping him. Being physically taller than Chuuya. Chuuya just kind of standing there, passively.
Also despite what Shirase seems to believe, he and the other Sheep are not one bit smarter than Chuuya. They're eagerly celebrating their victory when Chuuya can clearly tell this is some sort of plan on Dazai's part.
Dazai destroying any leverage they had over Chuuya and yet knowing there's some reason Chuuya is doing this anyway. Offering him a choice.
As I've said before (and it's more obvious than ever in the manga) Shirase's using it to gain Mafia territory by getting some of their members captured. I've stated this before, and we do get a confirmation:
The "self defense rule" is something Chuuya explicitly created. To not strike unless provoked. I have a lot of thoughts on this and why but that's not for this post.
And we have!! Dazai getting pissed off on Chuuya's behalf!! He's scary.
(Spoiler alert: they are not his friends.)
Ahhhh
Ahhhhhhhh
Guys I love this chapter. Because on one hand, Shirase, like the rest of the Sheep, have very legitimate fears. They're literally a bunch of kids that used to be preyed on by other organizations, and if Chuuya is not guaranteed to protect them, then...well...they're in horrible danger, really.
The problem is that Chuuya is ready to protect them. But they don't trust him, and it seems they never have. The whole thing is built on Shirase (and probably the others) holding some kind of emotional and social power over Chuuya, therefore guaranteeing their safety. But when that's not longer the case, well, they don't trust Chuuya to protect them. I'm curious how the manga is going to adapt Dazai's whole "meat" story later on because the issue isn't a selfish conflict of interest. The issue is trust, and the lack of it between Chuuya and the rest of the Sheep.
It's like the Sheep built their gang on high school clique rules, and didn't realize Chuuya's not just operating out of a sense of obligation and need to belong, but genuine care. Anyway, that's all I have to say. The art is beautiful.
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I need amicable exes ShiraChuu and current "its complicated" Soukoku to meet again and for Dazai to go "but he stabbed you!!!" and Chuuya to pointedly say "you're one to talk".
Like Chuuya has consistently questionable taste in men.
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can you imagine when chuuya first realized he could repel bullets with his ability so long as they barely came in contact with him? when he came up with the theory, if he stole a gun off someone, if he held it up to shirase and said "shoot me, i need to learn."
the beginning of the end, because it showcased how powerful he could be. shirase, twelve, holding up a gun in shaking hands, pointing it at his best friend. chuuya, twelve, ready to take on the world starting with this. he can figure it out.
shirase, who fires the gun.
chuuya, who reacts too slow. who gets shot in the arm and shirase has to keep it together while they rush to get him help because he can't believe he fucking pulled the trigger, what an idiot.
chuuya, thirteen. "come on shirase, I can actually do it this time, it's okay."
shirase, who fires the gun.
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Everyone hates my weird son with his cool piercings and his knife tricks and his untreated personality disorder
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