They are part of the Mafia, if Dazai did not treat Aku the way he did, then Aku would not have survived even a month in the Mafia.
What I would like to say is that, we are seeing the show from the point of the view of members belonging to a seemingly functional healthy society.
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And who knows.maybe this could also shed some light in Dazai's past life before being in the PM (in No Longer Human, Yozo had a complicated relationship with his father to the point that he didn't know how to talk to him), but this is me theorizing. It's a tongue-in-cheek thought, though, to see Dazai as a father figure to Akutagawa, as he's only two years older than him, so barely a father. Kyouka, the people on the subway, etc.) Obviously, the treatment still traumatized Atsushi, but he also felt conflicted, as the Headmaster was the closest thing to a father figure that Atsushi had, which is why he ends up crying at the end.ĭoes this makes Dazai come off as hypocritical? Yes. But, in Dazai's interpretation of the Headmaster's thought process, because of what the Headmaster went through as a child and onward, he believed that raising Atsushi in a harsh manner would prepare him for an already-harsh world, as Atsushi understood what it was like to feel powerless and pushes himself to help those who are in need (ex. No matter his beliefs, what he did to you was barbaric and unforgivable" (page 62). He says so himself in the manga to Atsushi, "You don't have to forgive. If you haven't, I would recommend reading the chapter for a better picture (Chapter 39: Portrait of a Father).ĭazai wasn't in agreement with what the Headmaster put Atsushi through. Plus, the longer episode would not only have explored more of Atsushi's backstory, but also shed light on the Headmaster's past life.
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It honestly should have gotten one full episode versus half, especially considering the subject matter. With Atsushi, the anime didn't do justice with adapting that chapter in the manga. Anyways, sorry for wasting your time if you read through all of this. We haven't got all of the background on it (I'm not even sure if there is much more to uncover either). I kind of just wrote out random stuff that could have been linked to Dazai and Akutagawa's relationship. Perhaps he saw how much Atsushi suffered and felt some remorse in that second? We never get to know how Dazai feels on it because I'm pretty sure he mostly just points out why the headmaster did so then says "People usually cry when their father dies" then leaves. He abused him and tormented him in hopes of bringing a better person out of the victim.
Some of how Atsushi's headmaster treated Atsushi was in a way similiar to how Dazai treated Akutagawa. He was neutral about it the entire episode. With Atsushi I can't tell if he agreed with how Atsushi's headmaster treated him. Beast is a great example of the fact they may have actually been good friends if it werent for Dazai quite obviously making Akutagawa hate him. Maybe it will in the future it will, or maybe I just havent noticed. Like, why? If he wanted them to work together so badly then telling him that wouldn't make sense. Slightly off topic but he also told Akutagawa right up in his face that Atsushi is much better. He did awful things to Akutagawa and you'd think he's feel bad for it, right? Or do you think he still believes it was justified for Akutagawa's "training". We all know when Dazai was in the PM that was a dark time for him. He never really said "sorry" which I mean, what would someone expect from Dazai? My point is, I don't think he's really showed it throughout the series. Some are questions some are stuff I'd like to hear opinions on. That's a very fine example of how he's doing his best to change.
I know he's a good guy now and he's definitely changing and getting better in his own way which we can see when he says "You've done good" (or something along those lines) at the end of season 2. We've seen in the anime where in the past Dazai has beat him up over the smallest mistakes and even now manipulated him to get his cooperation. I think a lot of us know he's abused Akutagawa. (Anime spoilers are in this in case you haven't completed the anime!) First of all, I know this is a kind of useless question but I couldn't stop thinking about it so I'm putting my thoughts here.