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warnings: mentions of suicide
because after the latest episode of Bungou Stray Dogs Wan! i’ve seen people talking about how Dazai is going to die. so today i am going to be examining the themes of the anime in connection to why i believe hope Dazai is going to live. i’m going to mainly discuss the anime because i hadn’t really read the manga yet but i will touch on Chapter 87. I might’ve read it just for this to make a good and compelling argument.
i will be talking about 2 of the main themes of Existentialism; finding a reason to live, Recovery
Existentialism and Recovery
before we begin talking about Dazai, let’s first examine these two themes. throughout the whole anime, through examining the background of the characters. we slowly learn about the dark pasts that most characters have experienced in their lives. most of them have been through so much trauma and some even having suffered from abuse to be able to become who they are today. i mean that’s why we always say that all the Bungou Stray Dogs characters need therapy after all.
yet despite all that they’ve been through, despite being invalidated, emotionally hurt and seeing the horrifying things life can throw at them. all of them are still trying to find a reason for them to live in this world, a reason for why they should be able to continue to live. in spite of what others have told them, in spite of the things they have done, in spite of how utterly agonizing life could be at times. but to do so, i have this belief that they first have to recover from their pasts, face their shadows and their darkest fears to do so.
so where can we see these themes? one of the most straight-forward evidence to this is the aeason 2 op Reason Living:
"why can’t i find the shining light? the reason for me to live my life with my tainted hands desire ignites the will to fight and find the reason that i'm alive it cannot be found within the past i'll write today, a brand new page"
i don’t think i have to explain where existentialism can be seen in the lyrics. but recovery can also be seen here as well, the “tainted hands” in the lyrics here represents their dark pasts and their pain, as it can not only be interpreted as the fact that they have done morally questionable actions, which tainted and corrupted them; we can also see it tainted because of the wounds they have endured and received in the past. this together with the fact that it says, it “cannot be found within the past”, and the need for “a brand new page” clearly showcases that they can’t keep looking at their past, and they have to look forward to find a reason to live. therefore from this we can see, the theme of recovery and existentialism cannot be separated in this anime.
i mean even Dazai once said:
“But your anguish isn’t yours alone. What should we do when what they want to be isn’t what they’re best at? Everyone fights, searching for the correct way to live their lives. What do they seek by fighting? How ought they live? No one can say. All we have is the right to waver. Like Stray Dogs that have hit rock bottom.”
