Osamu Dazai (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Osamu Dazai
Bungo Stray Dogs character
First appearance	Bungo Stray Dogs (2012)
Created by	Kafka Asagiri, Sango Harukawa

Osamu Dazai (Japanese: 太宰 治, Hepburn: Dazai Osamu) is a fictional character featured in the manga series Bungo Stray Dogs by Kafka Asagiri and Sango Harukawa. Dazai is a man who takes the orphan Atsushi Nakajima to the Armed Detective Agency where they often solve mystery cases often aiding the police. While cheerful and childish, Dazai used to belong to the Port Mafia where he often killed people. Dazai is also present in the light novels that feature his life in the Port Mafia as a teenager as well as the animated adaptations of Bungo Stray Dogs including the feature film Bungo Stray Dogs Dead Apple (2018). Outside the Bungo Stray Dogs series, Dazai has also made a cameo in the anime Eureka Seven: Hi - Evolution.

Dazai was created by writer Kafka Asagiri and illustrator Sango Harukawa. His design and personality were made to contrast Atsushi while his name was taken from the late real writer life Osamu Dazai. The fictional Dazai has been popular in Japan often appearing in polls and awards from different magazines. Critical reception to his portrayal in the anime and manga has been mostly positive due to his interactions with his partner Doppo Kunikida, his personality as well as background that highly elaborated his character traits. Nevertheless, the character's often attempts to commite suicide were criticized as for being too dark as humor.

Creation and design

Named after the real Japanese author Osamu Dazai (1909 – 1948), Kafka Asagiri created the fictional character to contrast the protagonist Atsushi Nakajima. His main traits designed was his slender figure and humorous personality while also being hated for wanting to try suicide. Harukawa covered his body in bandages alongside other items when conceptualizing his design. The bandages are meant to represent his love for suicide. Asagiri was surprised by Harukawa's designs in the making of the protagonists. Another contrast between the main characters was the idea of balancing their colors with Dazai's black hair contrasting Atsushi's white hair. When first reading the manga, anime director Yasuomi Umetsu was impressed by the relationship Dazai had with Atsushi, and Akutagawa. This brought the staff ideas for the making of symbolic sequences in the opening and ending videos scenes of the anime series where these three characters are featured. The staff noted Dazai had a mentor-like relationship with these two which resulted in scenes where he is seen trying to pat their heads. For the film Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple Asagiri suggested studio Bones to change Dazai's hairstyle for a change.

Voice actor Mamoru Miyano found the younger Dazai more challenging to voice than the regular one due to his darker personality as he did not care for others, resulting in having to make a duller tone. This stage of the character gave him deep impression. Miyano further noted that that Dazai managed to become a better person thanks to his friendship with Odasaku and Ango. In retrospetctive, Miyano felt that this darker era of Dazai gave him a further understanding of his character due to how the character changed across the story. English voice actor Kaiji Tang expressed joy in voicing Dazai for the English dub based on his comical attitude which attracted him to keep working more with him in the series.

Appearances

A member of the Armed Detective Agency who takes Atsushi under his wing and is known for being a "suicide maniac" due to his wish to commit suicide and die comfortably one day, preferably with a beautiful woman. Under his carefree and relaxed demeanour though, Dazai is extremely cunning, intelligent, skilled and brutal, once being a feared executive of Port Mafia. His ability, No Longer Human (人間失格, Ningen Shikkaku), lets him completely nullify any supernatural ability by touch.

The light novels follow Dazai's backstory. Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era involves Dazai's relationship with Ango Sakaguchi and Ango Sakaguchi four years before the events of the manga. Dazai, Chūya, Fifteen Years Old follows Dazai's life as a member of the mafia Port Dazai, under the careful eye of Ōgai Mori, receives his first mission to investigate the a ghost. Ōgai Mori met Osamu Dazai at 14 years old when he took him in as a patient who had recently attempted suicide. On the same night, Mori murdered the dying former Boss of the Port Mafia whose only aim at that time was more death and destruction with a young Dazai as his only witness. He then told Dazai the cover story: that the Boss died of a serious illness and that his dying wish was for Mori to succeed him. He and Chūya used to be partners during his days in the Mafia, and together—after they had decimated the entirety of an enemy organization in one night—they became notoriously dubbed as the "Criminal Underworld's Worst Enemy", earning the title Twin Dark (双黒, Sōkoku). At the age of 20, he joined the Armed Detective Company under recommendation from Chief Taneda of the Ministry of Internal Affair's Special Ability Department, and—as a newbie—was entrusted by Fukuzawa Yukichi to Doppo Kunikida, along with administering his entrance exam. Shortly after, they were both assigned to work on the Serial Disappearance of Yokohama's Visitors Case, which Kunikida decided to be Dazai's entrance exam. The investigation leads him to Chūya Nakahara, the infamous "King of the Sheep", a rival group of juveniles. Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam involves how Dazai joined the Detective Agency while meeting his future partners.

Outside the novels and manga, Dazai appears in the 2018 film Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple as a member of the Detective Agency. At a request from Ango Sakaguchi, the Armed Detective Agency head out to investigate Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, a power user who calls himself "collector," and a man suspected of being tied to the incident involving multiple suicides.

Reception

Upon his introduction the site Manga.Tokyo welcomed Dazai due to his appealing interactions with Doppo Kunikida while also enjoying Mamoru Miyano's performance as his voice actor. The Fandom Post agreed in regards to his interactions with Kunikida while also acknowleding how his character comes across as intelligent despite his childish personality. His interactions with Atsushi were also given positive responses. Though not satisfied with introduction, The Fandom Post regarded Dazai as a "fun character" as well as "probably the strongest part of the series thus far, with Mamoru Miyano's acting range helping his versatile characterization immensely." Anime News Network was more critical due to the black comedy of his often trying to committe suicide, something that referenced the real life Dazai who often tried doing this while the reviewer also hinted his bandages might have implied there are more cases failed suicides in his past. Nevertheless, his personality and interactions with others were noted to have made the story comical despite its dark tone. The character's attempt to kill himself again but with a woman working for Port Mafia was also regarded as a reference to the real Dazai.

Manga.Tokyo highly praised the relationship between Dazai and Odasaku since it shows the impact the latter made in the former's characterization and growth as a person which made some contrasts with his regular personality. The same site once again enjoyed Miyano's performance in another review due to the different personality Dazai had in his past and thus Miyano changed the tone. Reel Run Down enjoyed Dazai to point of regarding him as one of the most enjoyable characters in the entire series due to his cheerful personality which is also given further depth when the second season explores his dark past. The reviewer found Kaiji Tang's work found as Dazai enjoyable due to the joy he brings. In a review of Dead Apple Movie, the site regarded Dazai as one of the most complex characters in the storyline due to how he understands the new character. Anime News Network felt that his role in the movie for teaming up with Tatsuhiko Shibusawa and Fyodor D, mainly to betray Shibusawa and destroy his enormous collection of Gifted skills, "seems incredibly flimsy given the stakes".

The character has also been highly popular in Japan. In 2017, Dazai was voted as the fifth best male character in the Newtype magazine for his role in the anime series. In the Newtype Anime Awards 2017-2018, Dazai took the third place for his role in the movie. He also made a cameo in Eureka Seven: Hi - Evolution. In a Otaku Hit Ranking 2017 poll, Dazai took the tenth place in the category of " Which one of these 2D characters do you think has been the most popular this year?"