Happy Birthday

Obsessed with how buggy kept his apprenticeship with Roger a secret. You'd think a guy who calls himself flashy would be as vocal as possible about his captain, the adventures they had, his connection to an emperor. But no, he never talked about it, and it's not just because he's a coward.

Buggy stayed in the same sea where his captain was killed for over a decade, the weakest sea in the world. He sought a lesser treasure no one cared about, terrorized small towns that couldn't fight back, didn't stay in contact with his former crew. These aren't the actions of a man seeking fame and fortune. If anything, he was actively sweeping himself under the rug of history.

Buggy wasn't biding his time in east blue, he was hiding. And now we know he was hiding because he didn't believe he deserved to chase his real dreams when Shanks existed, who had so much potential. So he stayed stagnant and comfortable in his little corner of the world, pretending he was satisfied, until a rubber boy jolted him out of his complacency, wearing a familiar straw hat...

uhh, dazai loses his ability for a day so he can pet the big cat <3

chuuya scene redraw..are you guys annoyed of my rapid posting yet i swear soon ill just start yapping eventually 💔

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NIKOLAAAIII!!

Do you take pride in your hurt? Does it make you seem large and tragic? Maybe you’re playing a part on a great stage with only yourself as the audience. 

↳ 2/27; happy birthday steinbeck!

I feel very conflicted with my opinions on Dazai. He is not my favourite character, he never was. But I feel a weird sympathy for him at times when he is seen as a total villan?

He is not evil. I don't know how people mischaracterize Dazai as evil.

With the recent chapter 122, there are a lot of people who hate Dazai and want him to die for what he did to Akutagawa. For a second, I felt like that too. I can't see children being abused, not that anyone wants to see it, but I feel very emotional whenever I see hurt children. My first instinct was to hate Dazai too.

But Dazai isn't a responsible adult. Dazai himself was a 16 year old, trying to find meaning in life, guiding a 14 year old into the dark side. This isn't an older, experienced, manipulative man who knows what he is doing but a teenager who thinks he knows everything. Dazai himself ran away from home and was suicidal already at the age of 14, just the same lonely child as Akutagawa. But he found "meaning" in the Port Mafia, or at least trying to. When he gave his word to Akutagawa that he'll "certainly" find meaning in life, I don't think it's manipulation, Dazai himself believes in it. An adult putting you in a dangerous climate is very different than when your cousin tells you to smoke because "it's cool, dude"

I am NOT defending Dazai's abuse of Akutagawa, as I said before, I am not some Dazai superfan (which, Dazai being portrayed as completely innocent also irks me!). I want there to be balance in the conversation surrounding it.

Dazai AND Akutagawa were children, they were both trying to find reasons to live. They grew up in the Port Mafia. We have seen how cruel and unhinged Dazai can be during his time in the PM. We have seen Akutagawa, and his constant internal battle with good and evil. These two are not some heartless creatures, both of them are changing for the better. Dazai found proper guidance in Oda, and taking his words, he became a better mentor to Atsushi. Akutagawa was left in the PM alone, so he grew stone cold and ruthless until he saw the light again, because of Atsushi (in recent chapters his eyes are literally lighter)

Does Dazai feel bad for what he did to Akutagawa? No, at least not now or we don't know what he is feeling, I don't trust anything that comes out of his mouth. But he doesn't HAVE to feel bad. That's what morally grey characters are. If Dazai immediately repented for what he did, it won't be realistic or true to his personality. Yes, he is in the ADA, but he is NOT some great person just because he chose to leave PM, even he himself knows that! That's why he felt so shocked when Atsushi called him a good person. Dazai knows he is not a good person and that's why he doesn't repent for what he did to Akutagawa. We don't accept our mistakes easily, not when we thought of them as means to an end. Dazai truly believed what he did to Akutagawa was a pro and not a con. If he will change that perspective now, is more about his own character arc.

Akutagawa was just a kid, influenced by Dazai. He wanted to impress him, like we do to our parents. Like we fight tooth and nails to defend our parents mistakes and sometimes even abuse. He isn't ready to accept what Dazai did to him was wrong. But when he saw how Dazai treats Atsushi, I am pretty sure he felt like dying. Because imagine your parent treating their step children better than you, that's how I see Aku's jealousy to be like. Dazai was his mentor first, why is he praising and coddling this random guy who just came into his life? But Akutagawa doesn't hate Atsushi in particular, he hates the treatment he gets from Dazai. I think considering what's happening in recent chapters, just like how Atsushi overcame his conflicting feelings towards the headmaster, Akutagawa will do the same with Dazai.

Akutagawa carried the cycle of abuse, doing the same thing Dazai did to him to Kyouka, another 14 year old (she trained since she was even younger). But unlike Dazai, when Kyouka is finally free from PM, Akutagawa doesn't want her to come back to him, he stops abusing her, Dazai still is awful and manipulative with Akutagawa at times. He feels happy for Kyouka, because HE wanted someone to rescue him too. Of all the abused children, Akutagawa was the one who never got rescued. Akutagawa was abusive to Kyouka, it can't be erased because of his own tragic past, he also hit Higuchi and seem to answer everything with violence. This is why the cycle of abuse is so painful, Akutagawa was taught to be this way and he CHOSE to stay this way, until he made the bet to stop killing people with Atsushi. I don't think Akutagawa will ever go back to his own ways after this arc is over. You can't undo your past, you have to move on, keep walking, keep living and trying to do better next time.

I want Dazai to get some good old karma! I want him to face the consequences for what he did to Akutagawa. I want Atsushi to have conflicting feelings towards Dazai but I don't want him to hate Dazai. Atsushi understands people on a deeper level, he's going to try and change people no matter of their pasts. Akutagawa and Dazai aren't going to be on good terms ever, that can't happen. I want Dazai to stop treating Akutagawa like shit and I want Akutagawa to stop wanting validation from Dazai.

Now the final verdit from me, is Dazai evil? No. Is Dazai a good person? No. Can Dazai change? Yes. Did Atsushi have a huge impact on both Dazai and Akutagawa? Yes. Is Akutagawa already changing? Yes. Can Dazai be vile? Yes. Can Dazai be soft? Yes. Does Dazai deserve to die? No.

Morally grey characters cannot be good or evil. They are grey. Let them be grey. We shouldn't erase their bad sides and we can't act like they didn't do good. BOTH Dazai and Akutagawa are morally grey characters. They are just different types of grey. Akutagawa is speed running to the light and Dazai is stuck in the middle of the grey. People have the ability to change for the better or worse, no matter who they are.

No matter what Dazai did in the PM, I can't hold a child to the upmost standards. There's a reason why Juveniles have a seperate court. Juveniles shouldn't get death penalty. Dazai committed heinous crimes as a child. But he is NOT the only child who did this. Everyone in PM has committed several crimes. It's a fictional story after all. Because of that I can't HATE Dazai. I believe all children deserve to be saved, to be given a second chance. Dazai went to the ADA and started to use his dark sides for the good. I can't call him evil for his past, when he was a suicidal kid, mentally ill, having a god knows what tragic backstory. Yes Dazai was smarter than an average teenager, but if you have read "The Day I picked up Dazai", you know despite all that; he was just a kid.

A kid abusing another kid cannot be any less tragic. There is not one childhood loss. It's TWO childhoods lost.

(ps: I was scared to post this lol 😭😭😭😭)

Something quite curious that I noticed in this chapter is that every time Gunko appears, her only visible eye is the lightest one. In every panel that she appears, either only half of her face is visible, or her right eye cannot be seen, covered either by her bangs or her hat. There's also a moment where she moves her hat only to lower it further over her eyes, and this is the same moment where she sees Brook for the first time, who seems quite confused by her action. Of course, this may not mean anything, but it is a very interesting detail, because it is obviously intentional. I don't remember her darker eye being so hidden in the other chapters she appears in, and this detail caught my attention because in the first chapters where Gunko was introduced, a lot of people connected her to Imu, because of her arrow powers and Imu's arrow-shaped attack, and I saw some people saying that maybe Gunko's eyes were different colors to symbolize some kind of connection with Imu, I'm not really sure what that connection could be, but it could be something related to her powers (or maybe with that regeneration ability she showed in this chapter, since that ability of the Gorosei seems to have been given to them by Imu), or she could share her vision and senses with Imu as a way for them to gain access to information about the world outside of Pangea Castle, or even some kind of brainwashing/mind control if we're being extreme. Like I said, I'm not sure where Oda is going with, or if he's even going anywhere with this, but I'm really excited to find out either way.

SB!Chuuya vs mafia grunts: spot the differences

Choker (for style)

Gloves (we don't have time to unpack all that)

Rolled up sleeves (for size style)

Open collar (delinquent)

No tie (delinquent)

Unworn sunglasses (in pocket)

It has all the elements of a standard mafia grunt uniform. In the novel, he picks up a shirt, all of which are high-end and well-maintained, "at random" just to get it done. This matches his empty apartment in serving the theme of the story, which is "who is Nakahara Chuuya?"

and YET, we can see his personality come through that basic nobody uniform in the way he chooses to style his bland clothes, the accessories he puts on, and the glasses, which are a mean to anonymise the mafia members, that he does not put on, yet carries with him. He will not be absorbed as just one of the many, and despite his uncertainties, he's clearly himself from the very start.

CHARACTER DESIGN!!!!

(note: the light novel description of his clothes and the character design do not completely agree. Asagiri wanted to have Chuuya wear emerald cuff links. Harukawa rolled up his sleeves. Make of that what you will.)

the kny concept art was better

im gonna know the sacred harley texts by heart in no time