Rei 3 — The Devil Comes To Take Care Of You By Kanai Neco

happy episode 1071 day !!

Scrawny little Snufkin 🌱🌼

Maybe I'll finish this animation, maybe I won't...

Vid is also up on yt

Tsukasa's loneliness…

I've been thinking about Tsukasa's situation. How he is so tired. Tired of waiting for Amane, tired of being alone, tired of staying awake. Even after his death, he remained, he, just like Amane, he didn't go anywhere.

Death should be eternal rest, shouldn't it? But he never dies, no matter how many times he sacrifices himself, he always stays awake, alone. As a boy, he lived isolated in a house cursed with strange creatures who used him as bait, while he missed his brother.

When he returned, he had his life taken and awakened again in a dark and lonely place… the boundary. We can imagine how much he called out for his brother, even though he killed him, but his voice could never be heard, at best, considering that Amane wasn't such a bad brother.

Perhaps, while he was in that cage, he remembered those dark days…. Where he would have to once again try to free himself alone, without strength, without will, and he had already called him so much, that he was now convinced that It wouldn't make a difference, he wouldn't come for him.

Does he regret coming back? Back to Amane… Because in the end he was alone in the same way as the beginning…

Tsukasa is so tired, and now I can understand him a little. He wants to be destroyed, he wants to leave again, because there is no reason for him to stay. Hanako held him close to him in an almost eternal bond, he forced him to stay by his side even though he abandoned him. He is his yorishiro, and the only way to untie himself is to remove the seal, or destroy him…

But why didn't he just ask Nene from the beginning, when she didn't know he was a yorishiro, to take off that seal?

Because he wants to resolve things directly with Amane before leaving again. He wants Amane to do this, because it wouldn't be fair for him to go through all this and for him to simply leave without Amane even showing that he loves him…

That's just what he wants to hear.

He is no longer disappointed, he is not surprised that Amane acts in a negative way. He accepted that Amane hates him, that Amane doesn't miss him, that Amane doesn't want to be with him, that Amane doesn't listen to his voice, that Amane… won't save him.

He expected Hanako to take Nene from his arms and walk away while he fell to the deepest side of that boundary. It was what he expected of him.

Even though little Tsukasa came back, he just became more sure that Amane hated him… Tsukasa with seal asked him, in his first appearance "do you remember me?"

Hanako abandoned him.

And even so, Tsukasa was so happy to see him again, oh, what a melancholic love… To imagine that he followed his entire relationship with Nene, that he saw that every time she called for him, he heard her …

Why couldn't he hear Tsukasa's voice?

Imagine, you love someone so much that they turn their back on you, while you watch that person give their all for someone else. As if he didn't deserve to receive the same as her, not in a romantic way, but as a younger brother.

The one who spent his days trying to fulfill his brother's wishes while he was sick, the one who… left to save the one he loved, who came back to give his older brother one more chance, a chance to show how he feels in truth…

And in the end, being stabbed in the chest, yes, in the heart. How many stabs has he already received from Amane?

To be locked up and left alone for 10, 20 years… He just wants to leave again, but before that, he still intends to fulfill other people's wishes.

What will be Tsukasa's true wish…. I think only Amane can fulfill it….

Dazai Osamu (BSD): a case study of a nihilist turned absurdist

I've talked a bit before about the themes of absurdism within BSD, and I think this plays heavily into Dazai and the personal journey he's gone on throughout the series (light novels included). From my perspective, his character development has followed a shift in ideology, from nihilism to absurdism.

First, I'd like to define how these two philosophies are similar yet different. Nihilism is the belief that life is intrinsically meaningless, and that there's no value to seeking meaning. Absurdism also believes that life has no intrinsic meaning, but states that revolting against the absurdity of existence is the way to create meaning.

While I don't think Dazai 100% fits either category fully at any given point in his life as we've seen it thus far, I think in his PM days he leans more towards a nihilist perspective, and following Oda's death he leans more towards an absurdist perspective.

Dazai's reasoning for joining the PM was because he thought that perhaps being around violence and raw emotions would help him understand humanity, giving him a reason to live. This doesn't sound quite like nihilism, but honestly, I think he gains a more nihilist point of view as time progresses and he realizes that he can't find meaning in the PM. I'm not even sure he believed that there was meaning to find in the first place, he was just desperate to prove himself wrong, and then failed, which really cemented this nihilistic mindset for him.

Friedrich Nietzsche, often regarded as the founding father of nihilism, claimed that nihilism "not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one shoulder to the plough; one destroys.”

If life doesn't have meaning, then it doesn't matter to Dazai if he destroys. So, he fills a corpse with bullets, he horrifically abuses his subordinate, he actively tries to take his own life.

Nihilism is right in line with his suicidal nature. This isn't to say that all nihilists are inherently suicidal, but when one believes that life has no meaning, it's quite easy to come to the conclusion to kill oneself. I think this mindset really lends to his general depression and suicidal ideation, on top of the fact that he feels generally disconnected from humanity. It's so easy for him to consider himself inhuman because he has this nihilistic point of view that nothing matters and everyone else in society seems so dead set on opposing that worldview.

And then you have Oda. He is the closest thing Dazai gets to finding meaning within the PM. Like Chuuya, this is a person that fascinates Dazai, although his reason for fascination is much different. To Dazai, Oda represents what is good in the world, he thinks that he is a good man, and struggles to reconcile how a good person can come out of an existence so seemingly pointless and horrific.

Then, Oda dies.

It's an absurd occurrence, and to Dazai it only proves that life has no meaning. This is exemplified when Dazai speaks to Fyodor about God in Meursault: "[God] is known for is famous for his coincidences and absurdism, I've seen it countless times," and a flashback to Oda's death is shown. A good man died for seemingly no good reason, and to Dazai, this only proves life's meaningless, because to the universe it didn't matter who Oda was, he died, regardless.

(I quoted the dialogue from the BSD anime English dub because I feel it better suited my argument, but you can see that he's essentially saying the same thing).

This event should have only further cemented Dazai as a hardcore nihilist, but fortunately for him, Oda was able to get a word in before he passed. He told Dazai that as long as he believes the sides of good and bad are the same to him, he should be on the side that helps people. Oda suggests fighting against life's inherent absurdity -- and that's absurdism in a nutshell, revolting against a meaningless universe.

Dazai takes his advice, and within a few years, he's working for the ADA, he's on the side that helps people.

In that same conversation with Fyodor, Dazai speaks further about life's meaning:

"Those who scream within the storm of uncertainty and run with flowing blood." That's absurdism, the rebellion against uncertainty, meaninglessness, absurdity.

While I don't think Dazai is a bona-fide absurdist due to his suicidality (absurdism basically sees suicide as giving into meaninglessness), I think he's on his way there because of moments like this.

I don't think he's totally convinced that life is completely and utterly meaningless anymore. He, at the very least, has a respect for those who forge their own meaning through the act of revolt.

"Man stands face to face with the irrational. He feels within him his longing for happiness and for reason. The absurd is born of this confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world." - Albert Camus

compilation of all my animainiacs doodles since the reboot dropped!

🔍

Chuuya has so much angst potential.

I genuily don't know why people ignore that.

They opt for Dazai angst instead.

Which is not bad, but Chuuya has way more complex angst than Dazai, whose problems come from HIMSELF.

Chuuya ends up being like Dazai, but he is like that because life hasn't been kind to him.

I think he is one of the most complex characters and I can understand Dazai's admiration and obsession.

He hides himself behind a mask, barely showing how he feels.

So seeing him break is so satisfying, yet quite painful.

Dazai showed who he is through Oda, Chuuya and other characters, but Chuuya is like a man trapped inside a soldier.

It makes me so sad.

I love skk because of this.

Dazai makes Chuuya be more free.

He can bicker with him, because he wants too, not because he has to.

So even though Chuuya "hates" Dazai, that hatred ends the moment he begins the think the reasons of this hatred.

He is fascinating.

The hero with a fate he cannot scape, but it doesn't define who he is and his character.

It's there, but Chuuya opts for ignorance.

"I don't do what I want, I do what it has to be done."

Consider yourself a pro if you recognize the quote ^^

I found a one shot of Luffy with braids and I absolutely adore the concept, especially when it was described of him having the beads of his crew (I think??) within the braids that circles his head like a crown. I thought it was adorable. It’s A Story in Braids on AO3 by @islenthatur if you haven’t read it go read it ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ

some luffy father figure appreciation

(May 2022) Personally, I really like the theory of gojou losing 6 eyes (in a narrative sense).

Possible foreshadowing hasn't been incredibly subtle either. These are from the 2 openings and the Phantom Parade video (Avant by Eve, which is technically not canon but still a recurring theme). Vivid Vice especially had a bunch of foreshadowing for the Shibuya arc, so I wouldn't be surprised if this was slipped in there too.