So Chapter 101 happened and everyone is freaking out about Dazai’s decision to not only kill Dostoevsky but also, sacrifice Chuuya in order to do it. Now, the first thing to worry about is whether Chuuya is going to die or not, but I think there’s a more interesting question past that. Why exactly does Dazai consider Chuuya so expendable? Why is he so determined to kill Dostoevsky? This is odd, because the Detective Agency goes for the arrest, not the kill. Killing is how the mafia would do it.
Dazai’s willingness to kill both Chuuya and Dostoevsky, is a reflection of his suicidal nature of a character. I’ll explain more under the cut.
1. Suicide Maniac
Suicide is at the center of Dazai’s character. Not only is he a so-called suicide maniac, who is always attempting suicide as a running gag, everything from his backstory showing up at Mori Ougia’s clinic and asking him to give him a reason to live, and also to the question he asked Oda.
I always lose the things I don’t want to lose the most. That’s why I don’t feel anything anymore. The moment you get your hands on something worth going after, you lose it. That’s just how things are. There is nothing worth pursuing at the cost of prolonging a life of suffering.
Dazai’s character revolves around one idea: what is the point of struggling to live on? Suicide is not only Dazai’s central philosophy though, it’s his greatest flaw.
We don’t know why Dazai wants to die, but the answer to that question isn’t really as important as it seems. What’s more important is the bad way Dazai copes with is wish to die. Of course there are elements of Dazai’s backstory that influence his current day behavior. After all, he went to Mori to find a reason to live, only to be thrown into the mafia and essentially groomed for leadership to make the kind of decisions that would get people killed over. We’ve also already established in both the Beast Au, and the flashback stories, that Mafia Dazai is essentially Dazai’s worst self. Though on the surface he still goofs around like he does in the detective agency, he’s extremely emotionally unwell, volatile like a child, and he lashes out considerably.
Dazai has a clear cut pattern with the kind of people he lashes out against. Even in the hierarchy of the mafia, the way he treats Akutagawa is unnaceptable. We know this because Dazai himself says that his behavior is “not that of a good man.” There is an entire AU devoted to the fact that if Oda became Akutagawa’s mentor, while he’d still have a lack of empathy, and violent tendencies from his extremely rough upbringing in the slums, he’d also be able to grow past that and work at being a better person.
Here is some extremely basic psychology 101. There is a term called Psychological Projection.
The devil is the accuser. Basically projection is a defense mechanism people have, where they’re afraid of some quality in themselves, and so they project it onto others. Remember, Dazai is suicidal, and there are signs he doesn’t particularly hold himself in high regard, he self-harms, or attempts to regularly, he has like no regard for his own well being.
Dazai’s defense mechanism has always been to project onto others. The devil is the accuser. Dazai himself is the devil, but he tends to be extremely harsh on the evils he sees in other people. It’s a pattern that repeats, with Akutagawa, Chuuya, and Dostoevsky.
Dazai repeats Mori’s mistake,Akutagawa showed up in front of Dazai searching for a reason to live, but Dazai didn’t save him. Dazai brought him into the mafia and groomed him instead.
Psychologicall I would say that the difference between the way Dazai treats Atsushi, and the way Dazai treats Akutagawa entirely has to do with projection. He projects his good traits onto Atsushi and sees him as the more redeemable one. He projects his bad traits onto Akutagawa, and then Akutagawa automatically becomes the more expendable one. I don’t think Dazai’s intention was to sacrifice Akutagawa to die on the boat. But Oda’s command was for Dazai to save all of the orphans. Rather than doing his best for Akutagawa, Dazai keeps him on an incredibly short leash, not contacting Akutagawa unless he needs him, because he’s more useful that way.
He essentially does the same wit Chuuya as well. Chuuya has an extremely deep trust in Dazai, because of all the time they’ve worked together. Chuuya is a character focused on relationships, his comrades with the sheep, his loyalty to the mafia.
As for Dazai, we don’t know how serious he is about this statement. Dazai tends to lie, if you haven’t noticed. Dazai is a lying liar who lies. I’m not even sure if he is serious about killing Chuuya. However, it is in character that Dazai would be willing to sacrifice Chuuya, because that’s how Dazai uses people.
Dazai at least believes he has no attachment to Chuuya, beyond the fact that their compatability in combat makes them a good partnership. I would argue the way he views Atsushi and Akutagawa, and the way he treats Chuuya is proof enough of that. He has absolutely no regard for Chuuya’s feelings, he just manuevers him around where he wishes Chuuya to be. He views Shin Soukoku as the same. Dazai wasn’t exactly saving either Akutagawa or Atsushi out of the goodness of their heart, it was because their abilities worked well together and he was playing the long game and he would need them later on.
We’re shown a scene in Beast where outside of Dazai’s influence, if Akutagawa and Atsushi met each other on the street, and sat down and talked they’d get along really well because they have so much in common. Dazai purposefully plays up the rival between them. Heck, he even instigated it by comparing Akutagawa to Atsushi. He pushes them to be rivals and plays them off against each other, because he thinks that will cultivate their abilities to be stronger. Their emotional health and well-being is a second priority to him.
Of course, Dazai realizes this is wrong, it’s probably the reason he is so self-loathing in the first place. He feels guilty like any other human beings, he just views his actions as necessary. Dazai doesn’t work together with others, he manipulates for the greater good.
Anyway, it’s no coincidence that the two people Dazai has already written off as people who can’t be saved, ended up as mindless vampires this arc.
Chuuya and Akutagawa both represent the kind of people that Dazai doesn’t really want to reach out and save, the kind he just gives up on and abandons, and what do you know, they literally died, because Dazai gave them up for dead. Now, in this same arc, as a result of Dazai choosing to let them go. Ie, encouraging Akutagawa to protect Atsushi and never prioritize their own life. Never wanting to work together with Chuuya in the first place only manipulating him. Because of that, they’ve been turned into tools for Dostoevsky and are being used against him. Dazai treated them like mindless pawns, and now they are pawns.
All of this to lead to my final point, why would Dazai want to kill Dostoevsky?
It’s because of the extremely close foiling between the two. Dostoevsky and Dazai share a lot in common, they are both extremely childlike and egocentric geniuses who don’t really regard the feelings of other people. They are both loners by nature. They’re both extremely manipulative. However, I would say the greatest reason their compared is this.
Dazai and Dostoevsky both have a philosophy focused on purging evil and eliminating it, rather than saving others. Dazai might not be as much of a zealot as Dostoevsky is, and he doesn’t believe heart and soul that purging the world of the evil of ability users will create a more perfect world, however, in the end his methodology is a mirror to Dostoevsky.
The first time they meet Dostoevsky immediately goes for the kill, only a few minutes after meeting Dazai. Now, Dazai is prioritizing killing Dostoevsky above all else, he’s even willing to sacrifice Chuuya to do it.
It’s because Dostoevsky reflects the absolute worst qualities of Dazai, his manipulativeness, his unforgiving nature, the toxic ways he treats other people. Sure there is a strategic reason as well with killing Dostoevsky, but Dazai’s personal feelings interfere with his strategies far more than he ever lets on. The same way that Dostoevsky grants evil people the salvation of death. Dazai also, tends to let the people he believes reflect the worst qualities of himself, Akutagawa, Chuuya, and Dostoevsky die.
Therefore, all of that to say it’s perfectly in character for Dazai to be seriously trying to kill Chuuya and Dostoevsky in chapter 101. However, the motivations behind it reflects some of Dazai’s worst failures. Dazai himself believes he is unworthy of living. Therefore, people who share these negative qulaities at him, he doesn’t go out of his way to save. Dazai’s worst tendency is his own self destruction.
