Concept:

can't think of a haha funny caption for this because whenever i think about how they were both kids for more than a quarter of a second i suffer a brain hemorrhage

You know, for as much as bsd has spiraled, I don't think Fyodor's motivations have really changed all that much since we first met him.

He's always hated ability users. A fact which I think a lot of people tend to forget is that most regular people don't know that much about them, except that they were part of the war. They know they exist, but in contexts like the Port Mafia and vaguely aware of the Agency's existence. They're not people who are liked, they have to be watched by the government, and Fyodor's always hated them.

He wants to rid the world of ability users, because he believes they are a sin (despite him being one himself). We don't know why, and I don't want that Tragic Backstory™ because I'm happy hating him as he his now, but that's been the case ever since he tried to have the Agency and Mafia defeat each other. Ever since the movie where he was willing to team up and cause a Gifted Genocide via Gifted Suicide. Also, he's kinda right about Fukuchi's plan being flawed like...yeah, world domination has never worked out well in the past. So him wanting a war against all Gifteds and manipulating Fukuchi to do it actually makes tons of sense, considering what we know about him. He thinks that peace will come as soon as the Gifteds are done with.

atsushi seeing dazai and dazai telling him "i don't know anything, you do" is very important because this is just a clarification of what we already knew: atsushi is intelligent and capable. he holds the answers within himself. at the end of the day, he will be the one to save everyone, and it will be because he was always capable of doing so. even when he himself didn't believe it

the thing is not only akutagawa regaining his memories by having atsushi throw himself to save him like he did, but also that akutagawa's eyes have never been more clear

THEY ARE BACK!! I can't believe my two fav characters of my two fav mangas are back on the same month!! And after so much time!

Color spread redraw!

maybe i’m too much of a staunch “atsushi is kind of a dick” purist but i actually don’t think him witnessing dazai’s abuse will actually change all that much in terms of the direct relationships between these characters and how they act towards each other.

part of it is i think sskk’s ultimate arc is moving past the spectre of dazai haunting them, and part of it is like. akutagawa is (was..?) an abuser too. it would make no sense for atsushi to flip on dazai for akutagawa because it’s either he believes redemption is real and dazai has changed (which like, he objectively has, regardless of whether he handled his relationship with akutagawa well) and akutagawa can change too, or abuse forever tarnishes your moral character and then atsushi must hate both these guys (which he clearly doesn’t).

ultimately bsd has a complex relationship with abuse that’s often uncomfortable to acknowledge, like the fact that akutagawa has abused two women on screen and hasn’t actually made proper amends either, and the fact that bsd both acknowledges that the mafia is a cruel organisation based in child abuse and exploitation that largely operates by grooming children into violence, and also posits that the mafia is kind of a necessary entity for the safety of the city. child abuse in bsd is interpersonal, yes, but it’s also a larger system of exploitation of ability users, largely for combat, and practically every character participates in that system to a degree.

even the agency has child members, and while for some it can be argued that the agency saved them from bad situations, kenji, for example, seemingly lived a normal peaceful life until he was recruited to be a child soldier.

ultimately i don’t think the wish fulfilment scene where atsushi explicitly rags on dazai for treating akutagawa badly will ever happen, especially considering this isn’t news for him and atsushi hasn’t been sympathetic to akutagawa about it before. i’m not saying it’s not going to be called out, but i don’t think the #dazaiisoverparty is happening guys hold your horses

Demon Snow <333 sometimes I remember how much I adore Kyōka

older sibling bonding

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NIKOLAAAIII!!