Now here’s something you don’t see every day. A character that is obsessed with having a ‘pure, cheerful, and energetic suicide’. It’s still a mystery as to why he would want to go through such lengths to kill himself. But Dazai Osamu is probably the only one who is more than happy to oblige if someone were to tell him to kill himself. Literally. But when he does try to commit suicide, he hates it when people interrupt him, i.e. save him from the brink of death. This was shown in episode 1 when he wasn’t too happy about Nakajima Atsushi saving him from drowning in the river.

This peculiar trait of his is what makes Dazai Osamu a one of a kind character. Who could ever forget the guy that always tries to find new ways to kill himself? But as much as Dazai wants to die, he hates suffering or pain. This was shown in episode 2 when he called Nakajima Atsushi in the morning to help him out of the drum oil he got himself into, claiming that he was suffering without being able to actually die.

So you have a suicidal maniac who dreams of a double-suicide with a beautiful woman. What do you think will happen if you add a strict, ideal-obsessed partner into the equation? The picture above best illustrates the outcome of it. Dazai’s partner, Kunikida Doppo is a living idealist who is obsessed with his ‘ideal’ way of life, thus keeping everything inside his book, like plans and schedules, even with details of the ideal woman he is going to marry and follows them to the T.

Knowing this peculiar habit of Kunikida, Dazai is known to state out random fake facts to trick Kunikida into writing them down on his book before admitting that it wasn’t true. As a result, Kunikida gets irritated and strangle Dazai and both main characters become the series’ comic relief. This was first shown in episode 1, when Dazai tricked Kunikida about a hanging health method that was actually a normal beam that Dazai could hang himself in.

Despite Dazai’s goofy personality, he is a lot more than what people give him credit for. Don’t let his appearance fool you! Dazai Osamu is nevertheless a really smart character than what you might think. You might see him being a nuisance to everybody, often getting complaints about or even flirting with beautiful woman to have a double-suicide with, but he does that to mask his true intentions and motives.

This was shown in episode 3, when Dazai secretly plants a hearing device onto Ichiyou Higuchi, a clean-cut blonde woman who came to the Agency to ask for help, while flirting with her. His suspicion over her was proven right as Higuchi revealed her true identity as a member of the notorious underground organization, Port Mafia, after leading Atsushi, Tanizaki, and his sister, into a trap. This allowed Dazai to intercept the fight at the right time, preventing furthermore fatal casualties. It was at this time that his past of being an ex-Port Mafia member was revealed by Ryunosuke Akutagawa during their encounter.

Now we know about Dazai’s quirky character, but here’s another one of his quirks that makes him one loveable character. Dazai is known to change the subject of the conversation to escape certain situations like being asked to pay the tab that he racked up, or even listening to Kunikida going on and on about the complaints that were filed because of Dazai’s suicidal attempts.

One such case involve him flirting the waitress of Vortex, the Agency’s go-to restaurant, to have a double-suicide with him, but the waitress gleefully rejects the request and asks for his life insurance policy due to his piling 6 months’ worth of restaurant tab. Although it is still unclear regarding Dazai’s personal finance, but you can’t help but wonder how on Earth did he racked up a 6 months’ worth of tab. Dazai then tries to change the subject by continue flirting with her, saying that her ‘vitality is blinding’, unfortunately his tricks didn’t quite work this time.

Being as smart and observant as Dazai is, he is a very cunning coercive person. Making ways to have people paying for his meals, or even doing things that are unpleasant. But beneath all of that Dazai is considered a kind and sympathetic person.

This was shown in episode 2 when Dazai coerced Atsushi into joining the Armed Detective Agency, despite his reluctance towards the hostile and reckless work environment. Even though the word ‘coerced’ was used, nevertheless, Dazai did it with good intentions at heart, taking pity of the abandoned Nakajima Atsushi by giving him a place to stay and feeling ‘belonged’.