Highlights
- Anime and manga frequently pay homage to Osamu Dazai, a troubled Japanese literary figure with a unique life story and dark themes.
- Dazai’s works, like “No Longer Human,” reflect personal struggles with mental health, suicide, and identity in a post-war Japan setting.
- The upcoming anime “Isekai Shikkaku” reimagines Dazai in a fantasy world, exploring his complex character through humor and unconventional storytelling.
The following contains numerous references and descriptions of elements concerning mental health, suicide, addiction, neglect and various other themes which may be distressing to some readers. Please proceed with caution.One of the most influential Japanese authors of the 20th century, Osamu Dazai (1909-1948) is someone who has long fascinated people because of his immensely privileged, but ultimately troubled life. Anime fans have encountered Dazai’s story at various points because he is one of several recurring figures from Japanese history that are constantly being remembered in anime and manga.
One of the most famous cases of this is the character of Osamu Dazai in Bungo Stray Dogs, which features an entire cast of characters inspired by literary figures, and now this Summer, one anime title takes the author into a brand-new setting: isekai. So, that brings up an interesting question: what’s up with anime’s obsession with Osamu Dazai?
Who Was Osamu Dazai?
A Troubled Japanese Literary Legend
Osamu Dazai was born Shūji Tsushima (19 June 1909 – 13 June 1948), the second-last born of eleven siblings born to a landowner and politician in Kanagi Prefecture. As part of a family that was one of the four richest landowners in the prefecture, Dazai’s father got heavily involved in politics. He attended Hirosaki University’s literature department in 1927, a tough year for Dazai as that was the year his idol, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, passed away by suicide. He neglected his studies and blew his allowance on alcohol, clothes and prostitutes, developing an interest in Marxism, which was outlawed and suppressed by the Japanese government at the time. Dazai attempted suicide several times in his life.
|
Osamu Dazai Suicide Attempt Log |
|
|
Year |
Method |
|
1929 |
Hanging |
|
1930 |
Drowning (Cliff-Jump) |
|
1935 |
Hanging |
|
1936 |
Overdose (Sleeping Pills) |
|
1948 |
Drowning (River) |
Dazai enrolled into Tokyo Imperial University, but dropped out to elope with a geisha named Hatsuyo Oyama in October 1930, which led to him being disowned and expelled. Nine days later, he was involved in a double-suicide at a beach in Kamakura with 19-year-old Shimeko Tanabe, which he survived. He married Oyama in November 1930 and became associated with the Japanese Communist Party; however, Dazai was ordered to hide his communist sympathies and focus on his studies. The 1930s became productive for the author as he wrote under the pen name “Dazai Osamu” for the first time with his 1933 novel, “Ressha” (Train), which is known as the first instance of the personal-fiction style for which he became known.
Dazai’s Declining Health
The Waning Years
Weeks after trying to hang himself in March 1935, Dazai developed acute appendicitis, was hospitalized, became addicted to morphine and went through a rough period of rehabilitation after fighting the addiction for a year. During treatment, his wife had an affair with his best friend, Zenshirō Kodate, after which Dazai tried to commit a double-suicide with her, but neither died. They divorced, and he soon got married to a middle school teacher named Michiko Ishihara. Dazai was not drafted for World War II because he came down with a severe case of TB. He reached the height of his popularity after the war, and published “Shayо̄” (The Setting Sun), based on the diary of Dazai admirer Shizuko Ōta, which made him a celebrity. He fathered a child with her in 1947 and by this point, Dazai was a raging alcoholic with rapidly deteriorating health. He met a widow named Tomie Yamazaki, for whom he abandoned his family and, in 1948, wrote No Longer Human, a quasi-autobiographical novel about a self-destructive young man, which went on to be considered a Japanese classic. Dazai and Yamazaki committed double-suicide by drowning that same year.
The Impact of Dazai
A Cultural Giant
Dazai’s literary contributions are extensive despite his short and interrupted life, and by the post-war period, he was considered the literary voice of the time for being able to capture the confusion of a time when tradition was rejected for a Westernized modernity. He’s often credited for his dark, sardonic tone, but he was also capable of evoking sidesplitting humour. What set him apart as a writer, beyond the wide scope of topics he’d approach in his writing, was his use of possessive pronouns in narration saw him take charge of a story but also connect to readers. A large portion of Dazai’s work is written in a way that incorporates his life experiences, perspective, and of course, his despair.
In his storytelling, the writer does not work with a conventional approach that ties him strictly to a world of fiction. He effectively borrows from his personal life and experiences to develop his stories.
–Wuxiao Fei
Thematically, Dazai’s work has had dark overtones as a result of the author’s recurring personal difficulties as well as the rapidly changing cultural, political and economic landscape of post-war Japan. Many of his stories, especially after his first marriage, had a hopeful tone and were concerned with the achievement of happiness, fulfillment, the meaning of life and were heavily built on the pursuit of identity. Mental health was an important facet of Dazai’s literature, but following the betrayal by his wife and best friend, fidelity and the importance of happiness over familial duties also became a significant theme. Dazai’s highly individualistic and self-expressive approach to life and work made him a controversial figure, a proponent of ideas and modes too far ahead of his time.
Dazai In Anime and Manga
A Recurring Figure
For anyone trying to learn a little about Dazai and even experience some of his works, the 2009 Aoi Bungaku (Blue Literature) series celebrates Japanese literature by adapting the works of various influential authors, including Dazai, Akutagawa, Sо̄seki Natsume and Ango Sakaguchi. No Longer Human, which is heavily based on Dazai’s own life, is told from the perspective of a character named Ōba Yōzō, and runs from episode 1 to 4. Various character designers were involved, including Death Note illustrator Takeshi Obata, BLEACH author Tite Kubo and Prince of Tennis author Takeshi Konomi. Aoi Bungaku is an anthology featuring an outright adaptation of Dazai’s works.
However, before that, the 2007 slice of life comedy Sayonara Zetsubо̄ Sensei, produced by SHAFT, featured a character named Nozomu Itoshiki, who was constantly attempting suicide as a solution to the slightest inconvenience. The highly suicidal nature of the character, and the title, which features the word “Sayonara” could be a nod to Dazai’s unfinished, decidedly-final novel, “Goodbye”. As it turns out, Nozomu’s background parallels that of Dazai’s, not to mention the fact that the character’s favourite book happens to be No Longer Human. Bungo Stray Dogs‘ interpretation of Dazai; thrown into a world where characters have names and supernatural abilities inspired by literature, remains the most well-known of the various homages made to the author in anime and manga. However, the Summer 2024 title Isekai Shikkaku, might just become another famous rendition.
Summer 2024: Isekai Shikkaku
How Does This New Anime Reimagine Dazai?
Isekai Shikkaku (No Longer Allowed in Another World) is a series that features the 20th century author, Osamu Dazai, in a fantasy world. He is sent there, hilariously, by the so-called “Truck-kun”, who is in this series, an entity that goes around selecting people to be spirited away. After an emotionally charged intro in which Dazai and a woman named Sacchan decide to commit double-suicide, the truck appears out of nowhere. Dazai awakens in a cathedral, where Annette, an elf priestess, tries to run through the standard “Hero’s Welcome”; however, Dazai, who boasts only 1 HP, is the weakest Otherworlder she has ever seen. The series breaks the 4th wall and upends many popular isekai tropes. For one, Dazai is weak and Annette is jaded by the sheer number of Otherworlders she has summoned, who turn out to be arrogant because of their familiarity with the entire set up.
Dazai piques her interest for the first time in a long time, and his insertion into an isekai story is not incompatible with the author, who was known for using fiction to work through real-life issues. For something that seems so overdone, Dazai becomes a wildcard. What really brings out his character is Hiroshi Kamiya’s voice acting, who was also the voice actor of Nozomu from Sayonara Zetsubо̄ Sensei. Every last one of Dazai’s suicide attempts is featured in the first episode of Isekai Shikkaku, from the double-suicide with “Sacchan”; the protagonist of his 1947 novel, “Villon no Tsuma” (Villon’s Wife), to his failed hangings and overdose. It is likely that Sacchan is a representation of Tomie Yamazaki, with whom Dazai drowned on his birthday in 1948. In essence, the reason for anime’s obsession with Dazai is a mixture of morbid curiosity with his constant desire for the sweet release of death, his contrasting vivacious commitment to his craft, his compellingly imperfect life, and the huge body of work he left behind.
Source: Dazai Osamu’s Literary Works, Wuxiao, F., DOI 10.2991/978-2-38476-004-6_97
Leave a Reply