#bsd fyodor
every fyodor ssr card ranked
6. wizard 0310
- looks like he is mining bitcoin in his gamer chair
- not a dual but triple monitor setup and not a single light up keyboard in sight.
- gay rat natural habitat.
5. bundled up 0554
- this is actually a very good card.
- snowman is hard to take seriously but we can pretend nikolai made it to brighten his fedya’s day.
- the only crime this card committed is having other fyodors look even more spectacular.
4. new year 0223
- best colour scheme.
- excellent gold butterfly motif, especially with the earring.
- he will never be yosano but he gets points for trying.
3. dead apple 0119
- embodies his ability, crime in one hand and punishment in the other.
- card with the best fyodor outfit in bsd canon.
- closely tied with previous card but gets third place for nailing dead apple fyo’s cold and scheming aura.
2. costume party 0345
- mysterious pose. atmospheric background.
- outfit is too cool for fyodor but he pulls it off.
- his vampirism becomes funnier if he really is anemic.
1. chinatown 0461
- absolute masterpiece.
- not just the best fyodor card but the best card in the entire game.
- white clothes to match lotus petals.
- erhu analogous to cello while fur collar is analogous to canon collar.
- hair braided for maximum class and elegance.
- ethereal garden spirit ambience.
- frame this image if you haven’t already.
unironically it is all just whatever it’s time to go back to psychoanalyzing bsd characters and tearing apart bsd’s thematic messages again. anyway does it make anybody else feel crazy that so many of bsd’s character parallels revolve around living in the “real world” versus just living in one’s head and trying to influence the real world from there. Remember when dazai said “we are all just stray dogs trying to find our own place in the world” to atsushi and then proceeded for the next 50 chapters to absolutely refuse to accept the fact that he’s human and has a place in the world next to his friends because he’s afraid of both trusting the world (to be kind) and himself (to be human) and even though he’s trying to teach this exact same message to fyodor he can’t accept that humanity for himself which is why he’s doomed to self-isolation and a feeling of constant inadequacy. Remember that dazai’s ability is called “no longer human” because he doesn’t trust anybody else to understand him and his actions and so he only gives parts of himself to others when he tries to make their lives more “beautiful” but a complete, total understanding and willingness to trust in whoever it is that understands him is what can restore his own sense of humanity
yes! there’s actually two very plausible interpretations of dazai’s character both of which have plenty of textual evidence to support them. the first one which you have outlined where dazai is seen as a tragic figure of sorts. we have witnessed odasaku give parts of himself to others in an attempt to make their lives beautiful and complete without opening himself up to them or truly being vulnerable in their presence. since oda was the one whom dazai modelled his moral compass after leaving the mafia, he could be seen to adopt the same pattern with characters such as atsushi. in this way, he truly is doomed to a life of self-isolation and constant feelings of inadequacy because to some extent, the darkness can never meaningfully be escaped.
alternatively, and this is the interpretation i tend to adopt quite transparently as much as i enjoy both of them, there is a hopeful reading of his character too. one that i believe fits into the broader theme of redemption present throughout bsd quite comfortably. as you stated really well, dazai is afraid of trusting the world (to be kind) and himself (to be human). however, he has witnessed kindness in the world through odasaku and expressed vulnerability in the presence of odasaku, the only human being who truly understood him. in other words, he knows the world has the potential to be kind and he knows he himself has the capacity to display humanity and be treated as a human being.
oda played an impactful yet devastatingly short-lived role in dazai’s life. it’s only natural for dazai to stumble upon entering the world of the light that was introduced to him after oda’s death. it’s only natural for him to model himself based on the only source of kindness the world had granted him. it’s also only natural for doubt to overshadow his belief in oda’s words, to repeat them without acknowledging that they hold true for himself. this is why the connection you pointed out between dazai and fyodor becomes especially important. when dazai is showing fyodor the truth of oda’s words, that human beings (those who are disqualified such as himself included) are deserving of light, he is also reinforcing their truth to himself by extension. he is also convincing himself there is still a place for people like him on the side that protects people rather than pains them.
put differently, when dazai is sharing the last gift he received from oda, the message that everybody has a place in the world of the light regardless of their sinful past, he is doing so not just to save the world or ability users or even fyodor but also in the hope that he can save himself.
i always thought fyodor and hawthorne would get along well because of their obsession with the concept of sin but then fyodor just had to go ahead and brainwash the poor priest. typical.
fyodor is either going to receive some character development or be contrasted with dazai by the end of bungou stray dog’s story line. arguably, this has been done so already. in order to understand exactly how, the best source is none other than the brothers karamazov wherein dostoyevsky’s namesake writes “brothers, have no fear of men’s sin. love a man even in his sin, for that is the semblance of divine love and is the highest love on earth.” and “at some thoughts one stands perplexed, especially at the sight of men’s sin, and wonders whether one should use force or humble love. always decide to use humble love. if you resolve on that once for all, you may subdue the whole world.”
for fyodor, ability users are the very embodiment of the sin he seeks to purge. what he is doing by meeting them with force rather than love or a radical form of acceptance is far from what the author he was based off of suggests he should do. either this means fyodor will come to realise he is at fault and redeem himself which is in line with bsd’s overarching themes about overcoming one’s dark past and atoning for one’s mistakes, or his failure will serve a lesson for the reader.
fyodor worldview can also be contrasted against dazai’s who has come to terms with the bad that he, and by extension the people like him, are capable of committing. this couldn’t be better expressed than with dazai’s own words. after taking a bullet to his chest he says “certainly people are sinfully stupid but what is so wrong about that?” which is a line that cuts to the core of fyodor’s conflict with the world at large. his answer to this question, should he choose to grapple with it at all, is what will ultimately determine his fate.
MAJOR SPOILERS!!
Similarities and differences between their characters.
