#after all the whole singularity thing (first referenced in dark era) became important for chuuya's backstory

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Dazai to Odasaku about Akutagawa: "If I'd left him to his own devices, he would've ended up a slave to his own powers until he destroyed himself."

Hey hi what does that mean???

I'm probably way overthinking it but it just reminded me of when I first started my watch of the anime and we get to the opening scene with Akutagawa and Rashoumon (I can't find the exact scene but here's something similar from DA)

He implies he's not attacking with her so much as he's reining her in from devouring everything - and originally I thought, hey, that's a cool premise. It seems like there's something odd about this guy's ability; he's talking about it like it's almost sentient.

But then it didn't really get brought up again so I kind of forgot about it.

And sure maybe all the above line means is that his ability is naturally attuned to violence and he could grow more bloodthirsty, etc - but if that's the case, why bring him into the mafia?

So I started thinking about Dead Apple (which I really need to rewatch...) and how there was this focus on Atsushi as the "antithesis" of special abilities. And I just kind of thought about that because... wouldn't that title go to Dazai...?

But then it's stated that Atsushi's claws can cut through any ability... including Rashoumon (he also has some connection to the Book which absolutely must be related somehow but I'm skipping over that for the purposes of this post). Dazai describes Akutagawa as "a sword without a sheath". Is Atsushi part of the sheath? It would make a degree of sense: after all, we get a sharp reminder in the movie of how imperative it is that Dazai nullifies Chuuya's ability - it is literally needed to keep Corruption in check.

But why such a focus on self-destruction and sheathing... unless there really is something dangerous that needs to be reined in? That needs to be controlled.

I think about the dragon in Dead Apple called the "chaos of all special abilities".

I think about how the tiger and dragon are another representation of yin and yang. I think about how Atsushi and Akutagawa so clearly have that yin-yang dynamic. I think about how Rashoumon very well has the appearance of a hungry snake - or a dragon.

I think about how the focal point of an entire altered timeline was the prevention of Akutagawa from joining the mafia and the taking of his sister. And then I wonder why Akutagawa always seems to factor into Dazai's plans.

I think there's something special about Akutagawa's ability.

I think that something special, whatever it is, is very dangerous - more than we know.

#of course there's not too much evidence for this #but it's just a really weird line to me #like it stands out #and i'm not kidding my first thought on seeing his ability #was 'whoa are we sure that thing is an ability?' #'because it seems alive' #i need to rewatch dead apple #i genuinely believe there are clues in there about the nature of abilities #after all the whole singularity thing (first referenced in dark era) became important for chuuya's backstory #also regardless of whether this is true or not i really believe there is something special about akutagawa #we know people wanted atsushi for the tiger and for the book #dazai is valuable as a negator of abilities #chuuya was literally experimented on and i think it was implied he originally had an amplifying ability? #which would make him and dazai exact opposites #why shouldn't the same be said of atsushi and akutagawa? #it makes sense #*sigh* basically i just want more akutagawa content that's all #i admit as a trauma response rashoumon makes a lot of sense #she's protective violent and hungry #...yeah that checks out #i'm not totally sold on the idea for this post i just think it's neat to think about #anyways #storyrambles #bsd #bsd akutagawa #bsd atsushi #shin soukoku #sskk