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| “ | Man fears death and yet, at the same time, man is drawn to death. Death is endlessly consumed by men in cities and in literature. It is a singular event in one's life that none may reverse. That is what I desire. | „ |
| ~ Dazai's desire to die. |
Osamu Dazai is one of the two deuteragonists (alongside Ryūnosuka Akutagawa) of the Bungo Stray Dogs franchise.
a Port Mafia executive and during his time serving the Port Mafia, he was considered the youngest executive in mafia history, with hi former partner Chūya. During his tenure, he was regarded as the youngest executive in mafia history, with his former partner and aranking my of Fyodor Dostoevskyreformed tionalized version of the Japanese author of the same name.
He is voiced by Mamoru Miyano in Japanese and Kaiji Tang in English. His stage play portr andyis Hideya Tawada from 2017-2020 who was then replaced by Rui Tabuchi.
Personality[]
On the surface, Dazai is an irresponsible, insouciant detective. His intelligence is quickly revealed from behind his masquerade of stupidity, however. He is exceptionally intelligent and manipulative. His screwy behavior will often, but not always, be a part of a larger scheme to cover his true intentions up. Often, he enjoys playfully teasing or outright messing with others, such as Chūya and later Kunikida.
Truly, Dazai's closest friend was Sakunosuke Oda, a low-level mafia grunt whom he affectionately referred to as "Odasaku". Oda has come the closest anyone has come to fully understanding Dazai and the darkness that resides inside him. Because of this, Dazai held a deep loyalty to Oda, even after his death.
Dazai is revealed to have an exceptionally negative, potentially nihilistic, view of reality. He feels lonely and in the dark at all times. This gives him a detached side. Dazai will often switch between his playful, offbeat display and his stoic, pragmatic side. He also has no sense and very little interest in the concepts of good and evil. He only "redeemed" himself because of the wishes of his late friend, Oda, who encouraged him to be on the side that saves people.
His most striking characteristic is his maniacal suicidal tendency, which is largely due to his depression and nihilistic view of the world around him. He perceives death as a means of escape from a world in which he feels alienated. He attempts to take his own life in every possible way, to the point where those who know him no longer take him seriously. His dream is to commit double suicide with a beautiful woman.
He also has a very sadistic side, having shot a mobster's body several times even after he had died, while smiling eerily. He also took the lives of several other people and apparently feels no remorse about it. When Kyōka says she killed forty people, he retorts ironically, finding her kill count too low. Dazai can also be very brutal, as demonstrated by his past mentorship of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, where he berated and beat the latter frequently. Indeed, even the head of the Port Mafia, Ōgai Mori, was said to have feared him.
His unique outlook results in him being exceptionally hard to understand. His true motives are almost impossible to figure out in any given situation, and he's generally very mysterious. This unreadability has given him an edge over his enemies in intriguing battles.
Despite all of this, Dazai is often the main source of comic relief in the series. His suicidal tendencies are usually played for comedy as is his clownish behavior.
While Dazai is never stated to be religious, he does appear to believe in God. He lectures Fyodor that God cares nothing for perfection or harmony, but is instead famous for his coincidences and absurdity, leading to tragic events no matter how careful one plans, before leading to Dazai's own philosophy that the only ones who triumph in the world are those who run, fight, and shed blood.
Biography[]
Dazai, for some reason, possibly his hysteria, grew up away from society. He began to make attempts to suicide as far back as age 14, potentially even before that. Mori, being an underground doctor working for the mafia, had taken him in as a patient after one of his suicide attempts. Coincidentally, Mori was planning to kill the current leader of the Port Mafia and take the role himself due to the leader's late-life mental illness that was leading to the mafia to ruin. The same night he took him in, Mori had killed the leader with Dazai as the only witness. Mori told Dazai to cover his murder by saying the leader had died of natural causes and his final wish was for Mori to succeed him. Mori had taken Dazai in as his ward and they developed a casual relationship. Dazai had developed to be much more than Mori had expected, intimidating Mori. He had been much more dangerous than Ougai had thought.
Dazai had worked his way to becoming an executive of the Mafia. During his time, he had become a legend for the mafia. He had the most successful missions out of anyone in the mafia at the time. Mori stated that he wouldn't be surprised if Dazai killed him and took his position with how manipulative Dazai was being. He was also skilled at using torture methods to get information out of anyone.
Dazai had extensive adventures during his reign as an executive. He had become partners with Chūya and they took out an entire enemy organization overnight. He had participated in the locking up of Kyūsaku Yumeno that had resulted in mass casualties for the mafia. He trained Akutagawa extremely harshly, making him an exceptionally powerful executive. He had developed a friendship with Ango Sakaguchi and Oda Sakunosuke through the Port Mafia towards the end of his reign.
In a conflict with an enemy organization known as Mimic, Oda was killed and Ango Sakaguchi had been revealed to be a double agent. Oda's dying wish was that Dazai would become a better person. That's what lead him to join the Armed Detective Agency and eventually redeem himself.
Powers and Abilities[]
- No Longer Human: Dazai's special ability. It allows him to nullify any special ability by touching either the bearer of the ability or the ability itself. This makes him immune to direct ability attacks and useful for cancelling most troubling abilities. This ability relies on physical contact and is constantly active. Unfortunately because of this, Dazai cannot receive help from healing abilities such as Thou Shalt Not Die. Furthermore, on a much rarer basis, it has no effect on powers outside of gifts (non-abilities), such as Ranpo Edogawa’s Super Deduction or Howard Phillips Lovecraft’s The Great Old One.
- Enhanced Physical Characteristics: Dazai has been shown to have exceptional reflexes, durability, speed, and strength.
- Master Manipulator: Dazai can predict his enemies and develop fantastic schemes due to his intelligence.
Trivia[]
- The real life Osamu Dazai's birthname is Shūji Tsushima (津島 修治).
- Dazai resembles his author counterpart as well as the latter's fictional character Yōzō Ōba in terms of behavior, being portrayed as a "clown" which serves to mask the deep despair he feels.
- Dazai's ability, No Longer Human, is named after the book of the same name. It details the story of the aforementioned Ōba from his childhood to his late twenties, portraying his experiences with depression and social alienation. It was written and published shortly after the real Dazai committed suicide by drowning alongside his lover Tomie Yamazaki. The book is widely regarded as a classic in Japanese literature and many people consider it to be Dazai's will.
- In real life, Dazai is often grouped together along with Ango Sakaguchi and Sakunosuke Oda as the Decadent School (無頼派, Buraiha?, lit. "school of irresponsibility and decadence"). This is often alluded to in the series, because the trio's actual counterparts used to meet in the actual Bar Lupin in Ginza.
- Dazai is very bad at driving.
- Dazai seems to be unable to sleep if it is not completely dark.
- The real-life Osamu Dazai did not get along with Chūya Nakahara. This is mirrored by their antagonistic love/hate relationship in the series.
- Ironically though, as opposed to his abusive mentor/pupil relationship with him in the past, the real life Dazai looked up to Ryūnosuke Akutagawa and was shaken by the latter's suicide.
- In total, the known count of his suicide attempts totals to 5 times. Similar to the character in the series, the real-life Osamu Dazai considers the idea of a double-suicide romantic.
External Links[]
- Osamu Dazai on the Bungo Stray Dogs Wiki
- Osamu Dazai on the Heroes Wiki
