Osamu Dazai

Biodata

Background / History

Dazai’s childhood is associated with Tsugaru, Aomori. The recordings depict a lifeless household and a beautiful, withdrawn child who already longs for death. An Xinyi encounters him there and argues that death cannot offer salvation. The viewing-room Dazai recognizes the setting but refuses to discuss it; later, he privately contrasts his own childhood with the happy family life shown in Ranpo’s record 2 30.

The viewing-room Dazai joined the Port Mafia to gain access to death and bloodshed, hoping to discover the meaning of life, but found no answer there. Sakunosuke Oda’s words before his death became a lasting guide: Dazai describes his subsequent life as struggling forward by imitating “Odasaku.” By the screening, he belongs to the Armed Detective Agency and works alongside Doppo Kunikida 37 38 44 46.

Distinct Versions

• Viewing-room Dazai watches the records alongside the Armed Detective Agency and other organizations. He initially insists that the Dazai shown on-screen is not himself 1 34.
• The recorded Port Mafia Dazai encounters An Xinyi again after seven or eight years, targets him through his schemes, and receives anonymous birthday gifts from him 3 4.
• The young Dazai in Zero’s history leaves home with An Xinyi, experiences humanity’s struggle against a natural-disaster apocalypse, and ultimately chooses to live 34 39 46.
• An Xinyi has met multiple Dazais across his repeated experiences and considers each a unique individual, even when their appearances, abilities, and personalities are identical 4.

Appearance

• Eyes: Russet or reddish-brown; his childhood counterpart is described as delicate and doll-like, with almost no visible vitality 2 3.
• Hair: Brown or auburn, with bangs that sometimes conceal his expression 34 41 42.
• Viewing-room clothing: A sand-colored trench coat 4.
• Recorded Mafia clothing: A black overcoat and an expensive, tailored suit 4.
• Bandages: The recorded Mafia Dazai has an uncovered left eye; the young apocalypse-era Dazai wears wrist bandages after his suicide attempt 5 37.

Personality

Dazai conceals his feelings behind unreadable expressions, bright smiles, and cutting remarks. He dislikes having his vulnerability exposed, treating the screening of his childhood distress as a public humiliation. His hostility toward An Xinyi initially masks the hope their first encounter gave him and his resentment at apparently being forgotten 3 4 37.

His perceptiveness also makes him unusually susceptible to other people’s suffering. The young Dazai’s despair during the apocalypse comes partly from understanding how unlikely survival is and absorbing the fear around him. Although he can accept his own death, he cannot bear to tell struggling survivors that their efforts are pointless 36 37.

The viewing-room Dazai believes that closeness to him brings misfortune and consequently pushes away people he cares about. An Xinyi becomes an exception: his strength and already immense suffering make Dazai feel secure enough to want him openly. Watching his counterpart encounter human courage gradually replaces Dazai’s dismissive attitude with envy, tenderness, and hope 37 38 45 46.

Abilities & Skills

No Longer Human

Dazai is explicitly identified as the bearer of No Longer Human. An Xinyi insists that his goal of universal immortality includes Dazai, treating him as human despite the ability’s name 1 31.

Perception and Psychological Insight

Dazai reads reactions and motives closely, although the text distinguishes his insight from Ranpo’s extraordinary deductive ability 3.

• Notices the significance of Ranpo’s reaction before receiving a full explanation 3.
• Recognizes Mori’s desire to possess An Xinyi’s extraordinary power and recruit the people connected to him 9 25.
• Explains that repeated death and replacement have taught An Xinyi to treat himself as expendable 17.
• His young counterpart’s sensitivity to fear and despair becomes an emotional liability during the apocalypse 36 37.

Planning and Interrogation

• The recorded Mafia Dazai causes An Xinyi serious trouble through attempts on his life embedded in broader schemes 4.
• Notices that An Xinyi’s repeated escapes indicate something unusual about him 4.
• Mori identifies interrogation as one of Dazai’s former specialties; Dazai says he is out of practice 41.
• His young counterpart suspects that arrests of doomsday cultists have caught only minor followers, leaving the larger threat unresolved 41.

Memory and Technical Problem-Solving

The young Dazai uses his exceptional memory to reconstruct the stabilizer’s original blueprints during Dawn’s emergency 44.

• Recalls plans he had only glanced at a few times 44.
• Leads repair teams seven and eight when the specialist familiar with the machinery is unconscious 44.
• Keeps the teams focused despite insufficient personnel, violent shaking, and lost contact with command 44.

Emergency Communications

As a telephone operator, the young Dazai relays instructions, coordinates with outside workers, and maintains contact with people facing disaster 37 39.

• Listens to final messages, requests concerning families, and accounts of dangerous supply missions 37.
• Encourages callers to keep fighting even while sharing their despair 37.
• Cannot guarantee rescue or prevent deaths, making the work a direct confrontation with the limits of his intelligence 37.

Equipment / Items

• Navy-blue yukata — A simply styled, finely made birthday gift delivered by An Xinyi in a teddy-bear costume. The recorded Mafia Dazai keeps it rather than discarding it 4.
• Safety Rope — Protective equipment used aboard Dawn to prevent occupants from being thrown away during violent movement. The young Dazai unfastens his rope to volunteer for repair work; residents later use their own ropes to form the chain that saves him 41 44 45.

Relationships

• An Xinyi — The central attachment linking Dazai’s different records. Initially resented as a liar who offered hope and disappeared, he becomes the young Dazai’s brother, friend, and emotional anchor. The viewing-room Dazai eventually adopts the affectionate name “Yiyi” and longs for the same closeness 3 36 37.
• Sakunosuke Oda — His dying advice remains a lifelong influence. Dazai compares An Xinyi’s challenge to find value in living with Oda’s earlier words 37 46.
• Doppo Kunikida — His Armed Detective Agency partner. Watching the records makes Kunikida question whether he has paid enough attention to Dazai’s psychological struggles 37 42 44 45.
• Atsushi Nakajima — Dazai reassures him in the viewing room and later encourages him to believe in humanity’s survival. Atsushi notices when Dazai’s happiness becomes unusually genuine 1 41 46.
• Ryunosuke Akutagawa — Intensely devoted to Dazai. He promises birthday gifts after learning about the anonymous presents and becomes jealous when Dazai comforts Atsushi 4 41.
• Chūya Nakahara — Former partner and frequent target of Dazai’s insults. Despite their bickering, Chūya recognizes when Dazai is genuinely moved and refrains from provoking him 1 3 46.
• Mori Ougai — Former guardian whose priorities Dazai rejects. Dazai challenges his belief that an individual’s worth is subordinate to organizational needs, recalling Oda’s abandonment 45.
• Ranpo Edogawa — Recognizes Dazai’s growing attachment to An Xinyi before Dazai admits it. Ranpo regards him as a particularly threatening rival for An Xinyi’s affection 34 36 37.
• Fyodor Dostoevsky — Trades barbs with Dazai over An Xinyi’s attention. Both later suspect the screening is connected to the Book; Fyodor regards Dazai as his greatest enemy 13 49.
• Chen Zhongming — A transport captain who bonds with the young Dazai over the telephone. His dying encouragement gives Dazai a lasting example of adult courage and responsibility 37 44.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Anonymous Benefactor and An Xinyi’s Death

• Dazai is shaken by An Xinyi’s declaration that universal immortality includes him, questioning whether An Xinyi truly considers him human 1.
• A recording reveals that the young Mafia Dazai remembers their childhood encounter and feels betrayed by An Xinyi’s apparent indifference 3.
• Years of anonymous birthday gifts culminate in the teddy-bear delivery of a yukata, revealing An Xinyi’s continued concern 4.
• The recorded Dazai witnesses An Xinyi No. 143 dying beneath a fallen billboard. An Xinyi smiles at him without requesting rescue, leaving Dazai unable to reconcile that death with the promise to save him 5.
• The viewing-room Dazai clenches his fists when the laboratory recording reveals No. 143’s replacement by No. 144 6.

Understanding the Resets

• Dazai interprets An Xinyi’s loneliness through The Little Prince and rejects Mori’s desire to possess the fragment “The Distant Star I Can Never Reach Again” 9.
• Learning that humanity has repeatedly been destroyed forces him to confront the number of deaths An Xinyi may have endured 11.
• He is drawn less to An Xinyi’s power than to his ability to remain emotionally human through repeated catastrophe 31 36.

Zero’s History: Learning to Live

• Zero takes ten-year-old Shūji Tsushima away from home. The child chooses the name Osamu Dazai, and they travel together until an impending apocalypse interrupts their plans 34.
• In China, Dazai helps community workers evacuate residents and encounters ordinary people sacrificing comfort and safety for others 34.
• Mounting casualties overwhelm him, leading to a suicide attempt. An Xinyi subsequently challenges him to make his life valuable and arranges his telephone-operator work 36 37.
• Chen Zhongming’s death and the resolve of transport volunteers overturn Dazai’s assumptions about humanity. He decides to remain alive long enough to witness its fate and accompanies An Xinyi to Dawn 37 39.

Dawn and the Final Judgment

• Dazai identifies the unresolved danger posed by a doomsday cult as Dawn prepares for the disaster 41.
• Inspired by the collective rescue effort, he volunteers to lead stabilizer repairs and adopts Chen Zhongming’s promise to complete his mission 44.
• When the flood arrives early, a repair captain sacrifices himself to give Dazai a chance of survival. Stranded above a fatal drop, Dazai realizes that he wants to live 44 45.
• Ordinary residents form a human chain and pull him to safety. Accepting their help marks his reconciliation with humanity 45.
• Reunited with An Xinyi, he vows to carry love, sorrow, and responsibility forward rather than continue searching for an abstract meaning of life 46.

Aftermath of the Screening

• The viewing-room Dazai openly envies his counterpart’s reconciliation with the world and seriously considers visiting China 46.
• Further revelations about the resets provoke guilt: he wonders whether meeting him caused An Xinyi’s ability to awaken and trapped him in repeated suffering 49.
• He and Fyodor suspect a connection to the Book while Dazai worries that An Xinyi may not exist in his world—or that the viewers may lose their memories upon leaving 49.

Notable Quotes

“Don't get us mixed up. That isn't me.”
— Viewing-room Dazai distancing himself from his recorded counterpart 34

“It would be such a shame not to see how it ends. At the very least, I have to stay alive until then.”
— Young Dazai choosing to witness humanity’s struggle 39

“I'll carry everything from the past—love, sorrow, responsibility—and keep moving forward.”
— Young Dazai after surviving the Final Judgment 46