Osamu Dazai (Bungo Stray Dogs)

A member of the Armed Detective Agency who takes Atsushi under his wing, Dazai is known for being a "suicide maniac" because he wishes to commit suicide and die comfortably one day with a beautiful woman. Under his carefree and relaxed demeanor, however, Dazai is extremely cunning, intelligent, and also a funny guy, once being a feared executive for the Port Mafia. His ability, No Longer Human (人間失格, Ningen Shikkaku), lets him completely nullify any supernatural ability by touch.[13] Dazai takes a liking to Atsushi as his underling starts working for the Agency, believing him to be superior to some of the mafia's men. When allowing himself to be kidnapped by the Port Mafia, Dazai tells his former underling Ryūnosuke Akutagawa that Atsushi is superior to him, angering Akutagawa.[14] However, the relationship turns into an alliance between the Agency and the mafia to face a group known as the Guild. During the fight, Dazai joins forces with his former mafia ally, Chuuya Nakahara, to face members of the Guild.[15]

After the Guild's defeat, Dazai meets Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the leader of the Rats in the House of the Dead who has one of his allies wound the leaders of the Agency and Port Mafia to generate chaos between each group to see who will get the cure.[16] Dazai then is shot by one of Dostoyevsky's underlings, and ends up in the hospital. On recovering, Dazai has the Agency's members track Dostoyevsky's underling who has the key to the cure while he and members from the Guild manage to locate Dostoyevsky and have him arrested.[17] However, Dostoyevsky's men threaten the Agency again and Dazai is imprisoned by Saigiku Jōno from the Hunting Dogs military government forces.[18] Despite his imprisonment, Dazai requests help from Ango to give orders to the Agency to fight against Dostoyevsky's Decay of the Angel members and the government, ending in the same prison as Dostoyevsky where both plan their underling's works.[19]

Fyodor's underlings Nikolai Gogol and Sigma rescue the two from the prison but the Decay of Angels member Nikolai gives the prisoner a test to determine who should be allowed to leave alone. He injects both with deadly poison and gives them material to choose; Dazai takes Sigma.[20][21] As Dazai and Sigma prepare to leave the prison, it is revealed the former had worked with Ango to take down Fyodor there and have Sigma use his skill to absorb his knowledge. However, Dazai hurt his leg after helping Sigma and is shot repeatedly into the face by Chuuya is being manipulated by Fyodor.[22] The anime adaptation reveals that Chuuya was pretending to be a vampire to fake Dazai's death and that Dazai was waiting for his colleagues to get rid of Fukuchi's army and kill Fyodor in the process once his allies fail to take him of the prison with a helicopter.

The light novels follow Dazai's backstory. Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam plot describes how Dazai joined the Detective Agency and met his future partners. At the age of 20, he joined the Armed Detective Company on the recommendation of Chief Taneda of the Ministry of Internal Affair's Special Ability Department, and—as a newbie—was entrusted by Fukuzawa Yukichi to Doppo Kunikida. Shortly afterwards, they were both assigned to work on the Serial Disappearance of Yokohama's Visitors Case, which Kunikida decided would be Dazai's entrance exam.[23] Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era involves his relationship with hitman Oda Sakunosuke four years before the events of the manga when he was working for the mafia, culminating with Oda encouraging Dazai to leave the group and find a new way of living which does not involve committing murder.[24] Dazai, Chuuya, Fifteen Years Old follows Dazai's life as a member of the Port Mafia. Dazai, under the watchful eye of Ōgai Mori, receives his first mission to investigate a ghost. He and Chuuya Nakahara used to be partners during his days in the Mafia, and together—after they had decimated an enemy organization in one night—they became notorious and dubbed the "Criminal Underworld's Worst Enemy", earning the title Twin Dark (双黒, Sōkoku).[25]

The character is also present in the light novel BEAST: White Akutagawa, Black Atsushi, in an alternate version of his world, still working for Port Mafia alongside Atsushi and Kyoka Izumi.[26] He also appears in the light novel Bungo Stray Dogs: 55 Minutes where the Agency is given the job of finding a thief.[27]

Dazai appears in the 2018 film Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple as a member of the Detective Agency. At the request of Ango Sakaguchi, the Armed Detective Agency investigates Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, a self-described "collector", tied to an incident involving multiple suicides. Dazai allies himself with Shibusawa to counter his plans, and is stabbed and left to die. Chuya manages to save Dazai, thanks to the latter's planning and prediction of Shibusawa's betrayal.[28] The manga adaptation of the film also includes Dazai.[29][30] Dazai is present in the gag series Wan! where he is depicted in a super deformed form.[31] The 2022 live-action film that adapts Beast had Rui Tabuchi portraying the role of Dazai.[32]

In the mobile phone game Bungo Stray Dogs: Tales of the Lost, Dazai appears as a playable character.[33] He is also a guest character in Yume 100.[34] In the series' play, Dazai was played by Hideya Tawada.[35]

Mamoru Miyano (left) voices Dazai in Japanese, while Kaiji Tang voices him in English

After his introduction the site Manga.Tokyo welcomed Dazai commenting on his appealing interactions with Doppo Kunikida.[36] The Fandom Post agreed with Manga.Tokyo with respect to his interactions with Kunikida, while also acknowledging his character comes across as intelligent despite his childish personality.[37] His interactions with Atsushi also received positive responses.[38] Though not satisfied with his introduction, The Fandom Post regarded Dazai as a "fun character" as well as "probably the strongest part of the series thus far.[39] Both Anime News Network and Anime UK News were more critical because of the black comedy of his frequent suicide attempts, something that referenced the real life Dazai. The reviewer also hinted his bandages might imply there are more failed attempts at suicide in his past. Nevertheless, his personality and interactions with others were noted to have made the story amusing despite its dark tone.[40] Dazai's attempt to kill himself again, but with a woman working for Port Mafia, was also thought to be a reference to the real Dazai, which might come across as offensive.[41][42] Reel Run Down enjoyed Dazai to the point of finding him one of the most enjoyable characters in the entire series because of his cheerful personality, which is given further depth when the second season explores his dark past.[43] Charles Solomon from Animation Magazine compared Dazai with Vash the Stampede from Trigun due to their flirting and comical personalities leading into the series to have notable comic appeal until its change of a more violent tone.[44]

Writers commented on Dazai's past persona from the light novels and its animated adaptation. Manga.Tokyo highly praised the relationship between Dazai and Odasaku since it shows the impact Odasaku had on the Dazai's characterization and growth as a person which contrasted with his regular personality,[45] while UK Anime Network felt it made the cast look more rounded in the general due to the multiple use literal characters based on real life.[46] Dazai's debut in the anime's third season earned praise from Manga.Tokyo for once again exploring his teenage years where his relationship with Chuuya Nakahara is revealed in the form of flashback episodes. The site noted that the debut explores the relationship between Dazai and Mori and how Mori sees himself in Dazai.[47] Anime News Network noted how dark this incarnation of Dazai is as he does not appear to care for other people and instead ponders the idea of killing himself in contrast to his cheerful persona from the regular series. Nevertheless, the site liked his dynamic with Chuuya with the Fandom Post echoing similar comments especially during the Guild arc as the duo can still fighter together despite their distanced relationships.[48][49] The relationship between the two former mafia allies was noted by Soochow University as one of the most famous shipped characters in China which led to the nickname of "DaChu" (太中).[50] Comic Book Resources also noted that Dazai's relationsionship with Atsushi is also popular within the fandom for how the former acts like a mentor to the latter one.[51]

Besides his regular appearances, Fandom post enjoyed the panicking Dazai from the series' spin-off Bungo Stray Dogs Wan due to how nervous he acts when realizing that he went too harsh with his prank on Kunikida.[52] Similarly, Anime News Network enjoyed Dazai's alternate actions in Wan, such as him being a kindergarten teacher, as enjoyable takes on the series.[53] In a review of Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple, the site pointed out that Dazai was one of only two characters who understood Shibusawa Tatsuhiko.[54] Anime News Network felt that his role in the film teaming up with Shibusawa Tatsuhiko and Fyodor to be too difficult to complete based on multiple stakes.[55] Though Chuuya does not interact too much with Dazai in Dead Apple, their only encounters were noted in the book World Cinema On Demand: Global Film Cultures in the Era of Online Distribution to stand out for their homoerotic overtones within Chinsese fans.[56]

Dazai's actors were also well received by the media. Manga.Tokyo enjoyed Mamoru Miyano's performance as Dazai's voice actor ever since his introduction.[36] The Fandom Post said with Mamoru Miyano's "acting range helping his versatile characterization immensely."[39] Dazai was also voted as the second best Miyano character in a poll from AnimeAnime.[57] In another review the site again enjoyed Miyano's performance as he changed his vocal tone to characterize Dazai's personality in the past.[58] UK Anime News further complimented Miyano saying fits the "eccentric personality of Dazai extremely well"[42] Reel Run Down found Kaiji Tang's work as Dazai enjoyable due to the joy he brings to the role.[43]

Osaka Metropolitan University said Dazai's portrayal as a man escaping from the mafia is predicated on the real Dazai who similarly turned from the Communist Party to Japan Romantic School, and then committed suicide in 1948 after several attempts.[59] J. Laturnas from University of British Columbia noticed that Dazai's characterization in Bungo Stray Dogs and Bungō and Alchemist helped to revitalize the original author's works. The Dazai in Bungo Stray Dogs is not a characterification of the author himself but of the author’s star text: an abstract representation of “Dazai” and his literature in popular imagination. Likewise, Dazai's character is heavily inspired by No Longer Human and its protagonist, Ōba Yōzō, with a few references to the historical author's life, personality, and preferences. In regards to his past, he has no desires nor a reason to live and has suffered in solitude for most of his life. Thus, he resorts to playing the role of a clown and hiding his true emotions with suicidal antics. However, Dazai’s character has still made significant progress towards the fulfilment of Oda's wish and uses his inner darkness and past experiences to serve as a guiding light.[60]

The character has been highly popular in Japan. In 2017, Dazai was voted as the fifth best male character in Newtype magazine for his role in the anime series.[61] In the 2017–2018 Newtype Anime Awards, Dazai took third place for his role in the film.[61] In another poll, he took second place.[62] He also had a cameo in the anime film Eureka Seven: Hi-Evolution.[63] In a 2017 Otaku Hit Ranking poll, Dazai took tenth place in the category: Which one of these 2D characters do you think has been the most popular this year?[64] In a Newtype poll, Dazai was voted the fourteenth-most-popular male anime character from the 2010s.[65] Rebecca Silverman referred to Dazai as her favorite character from 2016 despite first appearing in multiple suicide jokes, she felt he shows depths that portray him as a more mature person who influences Atsushi and Akutagawa to become stronger people.[66] In a Charapedia poll from 2016, Dazai was voted the most sexually appealing character in anime by female voters while he took the second place behind Rem from Re:Zero in the aggregate poll.[67] In an Anime!Anime! poll, Dazai and Chuya were voted as one of the best anime rivals turned into allies.[68]

During an interview, Anime News Network regarded Dazai as one of the series' most popular characters, leading to far more appearances in other works besides the manga. Asagiri was also surprised by this trend and he considered that while there are several traits involving him besides Miyano's performance, he believes the reason for the character's popularity could be how interesting is the core aspect behind his suicide attempts which attracts others which he found unique based on his readings of the book No Longer Human written by the real Dazai.[69]