#nlh is such a wild ability

[finalism]

so like, no longer human is kinda weird, right? (very long post below)

by this point i have consumed almost all canon bsd media (the whole manga, anime 6/8 light novels etc) and i have noticed that there are some interesting inconsistencies with how dazai's ability works. now, i know that all abilities are basically mcguffins for plot points in some way or another but i don't think there is an ability used in this capacity as much as no longer human is.

and really, the average reader should just leave it there and enjoy the media for what it is. but i'm crazy and i love overanalyzing the muses i write so i'm going to try and break down no longer human and write out the true succinct rules of this ability.

let's start with the concrete rules we know about no longer human first:

it can nullify any and all abilities, no exceptions

dazai cannot turn off his ability

he nullifies through touch

so the first point is pretty strict but this allows us to glean some information about other characters through this.

when kyouka first appears, she is able to grab dazai and use her ability to capture him. now, we don't know how kyouka took him to the port mafia. she could have simply threatened him with demon snow and he followed along with her (hence how he let himself get captured). but how did kyouka even summon her ability in the first place if she had grabbed onto him? you can explain this by the fact that demon snow was still controlled by the phone and therefore kyouka was not the source of the ability.

guivre became something more than an ability. if he were something like corruption, dazai could have just nullified it and stopping the rampaging gravity godzilla from destroying all of japan. this is definitely one of those moments where the answer is 'because plot' since this was chuuya's story and chuuya had to overcome verlaine on both a physical and emotional level. but realistically, guivre is a big, slow moving monster that dazai has said multiple times in storm bringer could kill him (pages 278, 293).

could it be that singularities affect no longer human differently? it would explain how creating a singularity in beast allows dazai to connect the fragmented worlds in the book. but why can he still nullify corruption? maybe this is because the singularity is contained within a physical body, whereas guivre was a being of pure gravitational force created by verlaine's singularity. these are the only instances in which dazai has come in contact with a singularity so there is nothing yet to refute that no longer human works differently with singularities.

that brings us to the second point. this one has not been broken but i would like to bring up something about this rule that i just love to remind people. dazai is not part of all men are equal because he cannot turn off his ability to allow himself to be connected to it.

now this brings us to the third point where most of the inconsistencies come from. because it is shown that the concept of touch is defined with whatever asagiri feels like at the time.

let me give you some contradicting examples:

in the day i picked up dazai (side a), oda is able to use flawless in order to see when pursuers shoot dazai in the chest in order protect him from the oncoming attack. for now, this is a fan translation so take this with a grain of salt but it does mention how oda sees the blood bloom on dazai's chest from the bullet to confirm that he was using his ability on dazai and not the bullet. okay, that's fine because oda was not touching dazai. however, earlier dazai notes that he wasn't worried about oda cheating in cards because abilities don't work on him even though he wasn't making physical contact with oda then (oda was using his ability on the cards, not on dazai).

he didn't need to touch the number ability user in dazai's entrance exam; it simply did not work on him.

dazai was not affected by draconia / can nullify rashomon simply by coming in contact with the cloth / was not affected by the gun created by the matchless poet. this means that dazai does not need to touch the ability user in order to nullify tangible abilities.

in meursault, chuuya was able to use his ability to stop the elevator dazai was in so he wouldn't fall to his death. in addition, gogol was able to use the overcoat to bust dazai out of prison by surrounding dazai with his ability but not allowing it to touch him. so this means that if there is a material between dazai and the ability, then he cannot nullify it.

however, he could still nullify the grapes of wrath while touching steinbeck on his clothed shoulder.

okay, but here is the kicker and the reason i'm writing this whole thing.

in the dazai, chuuya, age fifteen light novel, the way chuuya is able to defeat rimbaud is by wrapping himself in garland that dazai is holding the other end of. because dazai was touching the garland, that cloth carried his ability to nullify and essentially created armor for chuuya against the onslaught of illuminations. like, HUH??? this flies in the face of everything we know about dazai's ability.

i have a feeling asagiri retconned this, which is why the 15 arc in the anime is so different and we know that asagiri is consulted on the anime. this would also explain why the anime-only hand holding scene is shown in the manga during chapter 101. but what if i don't retcon this? would that break how dazai's ability works irrevocably? i don't think it would.

here are the real rules of no longer human

it can nullify any and all abilities, no exceptions

singularities interact different with no longer human

dazai cannot turn off his ability

all abilities are nullified immediately upon contact with the ability user

touching tangible abilities like rashomon or the matchless poet is enough to nullify it

materials like doors, elevators, etc do not carry his ability through them

cloth carries his ability. this includes clothes and bandages

abilities meant to affect other people do not affect him; abilities meant to affect the user still work on him. this is why flawless works on dazai but something like the number ability does not.

so that's it! these are all the findings i know of where dazai's ability doesn't work precisely how it's described as. but i think with these rules, we have a more cohesive understanding of how no longer human actually works and the rules it follows.

#ooc. #𝐝𝐚𝐳𝐚𝐢 : wake me from this oxidizing world of a dream / character study. #oh buddy this got long #nlh is such a wild ability #and i know it's often used to get out of sticky situations #but since dazai is definitely the most active character spanning across all mediums #it only makes sense that there will be some inconsistencies #full disclaimer this is way over analyzed and just fan rationalization #don't take this as truth #but it will be how i see nlh going forward in my dazai portrayal

[originalartblog]

Do the Minizai's and Dazai's No Longer Human nullify each other?

Might be funny, Chuuya would make Dazai levitate when he's annoying him

I'm not arguing with the funny part (actually Chuuya might be able to pull something like that even with NLH there, depending on how Dazai's ability actually interacts with it), but if they nullified each other they would no longer be nullifying each other. We would have a paradox on our hands. That would mean a singularity... or maybe nothing happens.

Singularities are rare. Most of the time, one ability will win over the other. Sometimes, nothing will happen. Hirotsu's Falling Camellia, to push back anything he touches, can beat Chuuya and Verlaine's abilities. It's not a singularity.

Not all singularities are earth-shattering. Oda and Gide's let them have an entire conversation in a fraction of a second. According to BEAST, Akutgawa and Atsushi's black claws combo is a singularity.

Dazai is living his life every day seemingly free of singularities, unafraid of contact with his own skin. Even if touching another nullifier would indeed create a paradox, my tinies are fantastical little creatures that are a sort of extension of the big ones, so my answer is a big "nothing different happens"

Now, on another note, to keep things fun we also have these:

It's still very possible for Dazai's ability to create a singularity, like anyone else, provided it's put in the right context. With BEAST, it's that their world exists inside of an ability (paradox); in Dead Apple, the abilities were separated from their hosts, so the conditions were special.

For my part, unless I have a plot point centred around said potential singularity, I'm not gonna touch those. Everyone else, go wild. I'm not even sure I've ever read a fanfic that was playing with singularities, that's a still brand new sandbox to play in. And singularities have been a known thing since Dark Era!

Everyone go come up a singularity right now. We have time to make up for.

#6 novels (including DA) mention singularities! that's more than i expected. yes i checked all of them including short stories #bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #tiny skk adventures #bsd light novel #now i have to tag spoilers for what exactly #bsd BEAST #bsd BEAST spoilers #BEAST spoilers #the others are fine i think #ask answered #not art

[whathorselegs]

Hi.... If you don't mind, can I ask your top 5 (or top 3) favorite characters from Bungou Stray Dogs? And why you loved them? And your top 5 favorite moments from the series? Sorry if you've answered this before.....

No need to apologise, I’m happy to answer! :D 

Lets see, fave characters, it’s so hard to narrow it down to just five because I love most of the BSD characters

Surprise to no one, Chuuya. I love my scrunkly boy. For as little as he appears in the main story he steals every scene he’s in, his light novels have so much character to explore. His backstory is wild. There’s so much for me to sink my teeth into in terms of character and so little there’s a lot of room to theorise. He has a fun personality to attempt to write as well. I have a lot of Chuuya posts so I won’t rant too much about him here.

Kunikida was definitely my first favourite character. Strict but caring, follows the rules but they are his own rules, reluctant mentor figure, thrown into a high position at such a young age, really smart but such a dumbass. Dazai’s character in season 1 wouldn’t nearly be so enjoyable if he didn’t have Kunikida to reign him in. I love his dynamic with Atsushi, he doesn’t want to be a mentor, but he doesn’t want this kid to get hurt. So he tries to land somewhere in the middle. He tries to get Atsushi to arrive at the right conclusion himself, he wants him to grow on his own, but will be there for him when he needs it.

Yosano, BSD needs more Yosano content. Again, I loved her dynamic with Atsushi during the train heist. Her and Kaiji’s conflict of beliefs about the value of human life and death was so interesting. Her past with Mori was definitely interesting too, but I am much more interested in seeing more of the present day Yosano. I don’t want her to be forced out into the field, because that’s something she doesn’t want, but I would love to just know more about her role in the agency. Her day to day. More of her beliefs. More exploration of how her trauma affected her ability to heal people. Is she even a real qualified doctor?? Did she actually go to med school??? Because some part of me wouldn't be surprised she didn’t, given her history.

Akutagawa siblings. I’m putting them as one because a lot of what makes Akutagawa interesting to me is his relationship with Gin. I love main timeline Akutagawa and all his complexities but Beast!Aku is golden. I love the Beast movie so much that when I picture Akutagawa I picture the actor, not the cartoon man, haha. They are both little creatures to me, I wish their dynamic was more explored. I wish Gin was explored more in general, pretty sure we see them the least out of all of Black Lizard.

Dazai. Here’s the thing, originally, I wasn’t much of a Dazai fan. I didn’t not like him, but he wasn’t my favourite. BUT then I started reading the real Dazai Osamu’s works and I love his writing. Rewatching BSD and starting the manga, after I had read some of Dazai Osamu’s works, gave me a better appreciation for the BSD character. NLH, Setting Sun, Flowers of Buffoonery and Dazai Osamu’s fairytale retellings, all very much affect how I view Dazai and how I write his character. I have a very love/hate relationship with writing him though because I’m constantly questioning whether or not he would do X actions, but then I remember the characters in the books would, so I write it in anyways, haha.

Honourable mentions: Aya, Kenji, Kyouka, Atsushi, Bram, all of The Flags, Lucy (Okay I’m going to stop before I list them all)

Favourite moments:

It’s got to be Chuuya fighting a literal dragon, right? I’ve rewatched Dead Apple a lot, I never tire of Chuuya throwing a building down a dragon’s throat. And of course Chuuya screaming Dazai’s name in the midst of corruption. Not even in a shippy way, but in the context of Dazai should be dead, as far as anyone else knows he’s dead, but Chuuya believes in his ability to survive. He believes even when it’s supposed to be impossible, if he uses corruption, Dazai will be there to stop it. And if he’s wrong, he accepts dying alongside him. That’s about as ride or die as it gets and I love it.

Atsushi jumps to save Kyouka. He has no reason to, other than despite all he’s been through, he still believes people deserve to live, they deserve to be told that. Kyouka was willing to die to stop hurting people, to pay penance for an ability she had no control over and Atsushi was willing to die trying to save her. I don’t care what people say, Atsushi is a good main character, I don’t care that he cries a lot or that he needs saving and losses fights. I care about how much he cares. I care that he sees good in people like Kyouka and Dazai, he sees the good in Lucy. Moments like this make me love BSD.

Similar vein, Lucy frees Atsushi. Helping Atsushi is a lose/lose scenario in Lucy’s perspective. The guild is all she has, the only place that has ever given her some value. Atsushi is the man that robbed her of that value. But in this confrontation she learns Atsushi is a lot like her, that in this one conversation he has attempted to understand her pain better than anyone else in the guild and so she takes a chance on Atsushi. She chooses to help him and Yokohama despite knowing it will cost her everything she has. And she does it with a smile on her face like it’s nothing. Love Lucy so much.

Ranpo can’t ride public transport by himself. This one is a little silly, but you see I am a neurodivergent adult who also really struggles with public transport. Trains scare the heck out of me, so I don’t go on them alone. Ranpo is just like me for real and it gave me a silly little serotonin to see it.

Okay, I tried not doing two Chuuya scenes but Chuuya showing up to save the agency in a helicopter and throwing bullets at the Hunting Dogs is also one of my faves. Especially as he was sent there to save them and then Kunikida goes and jumps out the thing and blows himself up anyway, it’s just funny. BSD does a good job of balancing action and humour and serious moments very well. This is supposed to be an epic sacrifice for Kunikida, his friends all think he’s dead. But looking at it from Chuuya’s perspective is funny. People say “Oh, why didn’t Chuuya do anything” like Kunikida really gave him a chance to. Maybe he did have a plan and maybe he didn’t get a chance to do anything because Tall, Blond and Explody over there leapt out the door.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #ask #rambling #long post #I went on a big tangent here haha #thank you for the ask! It was fun answering!