I Gotta Ask, You Have Any Thoughts On What The Prison Realm Might Be, Or What It Could Do To Gojo? Jogo

I gotta ask, you have any thoughts on what the Prison Realm might be, or what it could do to Gojo? Jogo called it 'that horrible thing', and Getwo said it needed 'time to process Gojo'. I'm just super curious about it, and whether or not Gojo's Infinity barrier will be able to protect him from whatever (terrifying) stuff is inside.

Do I have thoughts? Well, thinking is hard but I will try my best. There’s quite a lot of symbolism I’ve noticed revolving around the box. There are a lot of people who asked why specifically it’s a six-sided die with actual eyeballs attached to it. The first and most obvious, the six-sides are a symbol for Gojo possessing the six eyes. 

As for why it’s a die, this is just a guess but. 

Alea iacta est ("The die has been cast") is a variation of a Latin phrase once uttered by Caesar when he marched his army into Italy -  used to say that a process or course of action has been started and that it cannot be stopped or changed

Once Kamo Sr. threw the die, everything was out of his hands and the world already had changed. 

When the box captures him, it specifically has one eye open stapled open. This once again could be a symbol for Gojo having the six eyes, even if he wears a blindfold he can still see, his eyes are in a way always open. However, the eye is crying tears of blood, it’s being damaged, and Gojo has similiar blood on one side of his face.

Gojo's been associated with one eye before.

He’s often depicted with one eye open, and one eye closed. Especially in pivotal moments such as when he comes back from near death in the fight against Toji. Gojo is typically depicted as someone all-seeing, always able to preceive everything around him, so him losnig an eye is a serious loss. 

When Gojo is eaten by the boss, he’s also reflected in the pupil in a way that completely destroys his face, he’s depicted with the pupil being a hole in his face. This could symbolize many things, the destruction of is identity, that he might come out of the box unrecognizable. 

There are two more pieces of evidence, but these aren’t my finds they’ve been pointed out by the fandom in general. In the opening for season two of Jujutsu Kaisen, there’s a one eyed cat depicted, missing the same eye that Gojo is often depicted as being without.  

And Gojo is similiarly shown with the light shining over only one of his eyes. 

Geto said that the “processing” that took time with the box was because of Gojo’s immense cursed energy. If the Six-Eyes is inevitably part of his technique, maybe part of the processing is taking one of those eyes out? There’s also the mythological parallel. Norse mythology has been referenced before in Mei Mei’s character, who is able to see through the eyes of ravens, like Odin who sent the two ravens Hugin and Munin around as his messengers. Mei Mei is someone who Gojo has paid off with money to be an ally, and if she’s the raven then logically he’s odin. 

Odin's self-sacrifice - He sacrificed his eye in Mimir's well and he threw himself on his spear Gungnir in a kind of symbolic, ritual suicide. He then hanged himself in Yggdrasil, the tree of life, for nine days and nine nights in order to gain knowledge of other worlds and be able to understand the runes.

This story has several things in common with Gojo’s current situation. He is a character who seeks wisdom, as the end result of budhism is “enlightenment”, and Gojo himself because of his six eyes is an enlightened character and associated with the concept. 

His given name is, in my humble opinion, one of the funniest words in the Japanese language. Satoru was originally the Buddhist verb for attaining enlightenment. It means to get rid of all your doubts and all your polluting thoughts (greed, hatred, delusion, etc), and grasp an eternal truth greater than the cycle of reincarnation we live and die in. 

 Nowadays the word still very much retains its original Buddhist meanings, but more commonly used outside of Buddhist contexts, as the verb for having a huge epiphany in a silly or dramatic context. When you remember you left meat off the fridge and realize it’ll get bad before you get back home, you use satoru for that. [x]

The same way that Odin sacrificed himself to hang himself on the tree of yggdrasil, Gojo descendsed to the bottom of the subways all alone to sacrifice himself in the fight against the special grade curses. He also fought against the tree. Gojo being able to see into the infinity is also something equivalent to knowledge of the nine realms that no one else has. 

So there’s a lot of symbolism tied with Gojo going into the box, when he leaves it, he’s probably going to at least lose an eye and come out with his mind effected because Odin had to hang himself on the tree and commit an act of self suicide first before he could attain enlightenment. 

desperately need to see nocturnas reaction to jasons death animated bc

the amnt of love she had for that boy she had't've broken

Heyyy 🥰

Okay okay, a thought: Dazai has a similar mind to Mori's, but the day Oda dies he decides to let his emotions influence his decisicion. Which means he's actually a highly emotional person, right? But what if part from his great suffering comes from him not being able to UNDERSTAND all his emotions. What if he has a sky-high analytical intelligence and is therefore skilled at deciphering other peoples' emotions, but can't seem to understand and hence accept himself?

Summary: Dazai is an highly emotional person? And his intense emotions are what is causing his suffering?

Ooo this is a very interesting thought Jade!!😌

Mori and Dazai are definitely quite similar, they are complex and intelligent characters that are seemingly logic driven with the tendency to look at the whole picture of a situation!

But I actually do highly agree with you that Dazai is actually a highly emotional person🤔 I have always felt that about him. But I don't believe that I have enough evidence to support my claim unfortunately, at least canonical evidence, but I will still talk about my thoughts below cause I’ve been thinking about this a lot. But my belief is actually opposite to yours, I believe that his suffering comes from being too sensitive to his emotions and understanding and feeling them too deeply. But I would love to hear your thoughts as well after reading this!

We can see this with Oda of course, as you’ve said! The fact that Oda's words and his death alone is able to drive him out of the mafia, despite not really knowing about what the future could hold and all the uncertain factors that could happen if he left the mafia, somewhere where he is extremely familiar with to one that is unpredictable kinda shows that he is an emotional person. Because this is definitely not a rational decision, and as you said one driven by emotions.

Another thing that I think might have actually shown that he may actually be, originally, an emotional person is that he numbs himself of emotions. Yes perhaps it may seen paradoxical, but sensitive people are actually more prone to suffering from emotional numbness surprisingly, or so I've read. Because it is in human nature to defend against pain, and with emotional sensitive and intense people, it is extremely easy to be able to feel everything around them. And I personally believe Dazai is actually a sensitive person (I will talk about why I feel this more later), and this coupled with his high intelligence is extremely self destructive to him. 

This is because as you said he has a sky-high analytical intelligence, I mean he is able to at a young age of 15/14 to understand the idea that there is no point in the act of living. He is able to see the deepest truth in life, and a knowledge of the universe beyond our common understanding that some of us are not even able to comprehend in a lifetime, thus showcasing his absolutely high analytical ability. But the understanding of the hopelessness of the world, and the lack of a meaning in living in this life is what is hurting him the most, especially if he is extremely sensitive. This would explain his utter hopelessness and emptiness he feels. Also may explain why his emotions are stunted or seemingly so, as it may actually be his own mind using it as a self-defense mechanism to prevent further sources of pain and suffering. 

This can also be supported by a quote from Dazai-sensei himself in one of the short stories from Blue Bamboo (I believe it is The Samurai and the Mermaid) which says “how I envy those self-satisfied commoners who, seeing nothing and comprehending nothing are convinced they know it all. There are in this world things of such mysteries and awesome beauty that the small minded cannot even imagine them. There are, yet he who discovers them risk falling into a bottomless hell”.

Him being highly emotional could also explain why he is such a good strategist, as we’ve seen throughout the anime. Dazai in his plans doesn’t simply manipulate people to do what he wants them to do, I’m not saying he doesn’t because it can definitely be seen that he does in a few different cases. But in a lot of scenarios especially in his long term plans, we actually also see him predicting how other people will react to different situations presented to them rather than him guiding them like pawns on a chessboard to establish his plans. (Prime example of this is his plan with Chuuya in Dead Apple). 

So the main question you may be asking right now then is probably, where did the assumption that he is emotionally sensitive come from in the first place then? I have this assumption because Dazai-sensei himself is a very emotionally sensitive person, this can also be observed in No Longer Human as well. 

One of the quotes from No Longer Human that could support this is “The weak fear happiness itself. They can harm themselves on cotton wool. Sometimes they are wounded even by happiness”. You can also see it subtly in this quote "For someone like myself in whom the ability to trust others is so cracked and broken that I am wretchedly timid and am forever trying to read the expression on people's faces”. The fact that he is always trying to read the expression on other people’s faces shows that he fears rejection, and is extremely anxious about how other people see him and view him, but also at the same time craves acceptance.

“I have always shook with fright before human beings. Unable as I was to feel the least particle of confidence in my ability to speak and act like a human being, I kept my solitary agonies locked in my breast. I kept my melancholy and my agitation hidden, careful lest any trace should be left exposed. I feigned an innocent optimism; I gradually perfected myself in the role of the farcical eccentric.” Here’s another quote from No Longer Human, once again fearing and is extremely anxious of what others think about him and seems to be sensitive to criticism and being called out as an outsider, and being different, and the mask that he wears is actually a defense mechanism used to protect himself.

Of course No Longer Human is not the only source that shows Dazai-sensei’s sensitivity. Other short stories have also showcases similar themes such as this. His short story 《候鳥》 I wasn't able to find the English equivalent wrote 「太敏感的人會體諒到他人的痛苦，自然就無法輕易做到坦率。所謂的坦率，其實就是暴力。」 It means people who are too sensitive can understand the pain of others, naturally they are unable to be frank. For "frankness" is equivalent to violence.

I also remember somewhere it talked about Dazai-sensei being too anxious to visit someone as well and was pacing outside of their house? I don't remember where I read it though and I can't find it again😭

Therefore from these many examples, I have a few that Dazai is actually a sensitive person judging by how much he is also described as such in other articles; and Yozo as well in academic journals and articles I have read.

And so I believe that he may be able to feel emotions quite deeply, not only that but also understand the world deeply as well. And it is this deep understanding that is the source of his despair, his difference from other humans, because they are not able to understand him on that level. It is actually the fact the he might be too human that he ceased to become human. But the reason why I am still thinking about whether or not this is true is mainly because how he treated Akutagawa, which I feel doesn’t really fit this idea.

Hot take: Oda was wrong.

Oda's dying words to Dazai,

"nothing beyond what you would expect will appear. Nothing in this world can fill that lonely hole you have. You will wander in darkness for eternity.”

are presented to us as an irrevocable truth, because Oda is Dazai's only friend, he claims to be the only one who understands him.

Oda uses this to convince Dazai to become a "good man", and through that, fulfill Oda's dream to not kill anymore; to become a good person.

And as the audience—people who are attached to these characters, and people who've seen Oda purely through Dazai's eyes (as an older brother, father-type mentor; someone who Dazai greatly respects and adores), we believe Oda as well.

We witness the scene that is tainted by Dazai's emotions from the start, we feel his doubt and despair. You put yourself in his shoes to really experience the story to the fullest.

This is also the reason why we lose the ability to think it through.

Yes, Dazai's life looks pretty bad, then.

But he is also depressed and su*cidal, he cannot be expected to get out of it all on his own. Of course he'd hold onto his best friends last words like a lifeline. And not only "to become a good man", but also "you will never find happiness".

So to sum it all up, Oda might have thought he was right—might have been right—but only when it came to PM Dazai.

ADA Dazai has a lot of potential, and could learn to want to live again if only he had more support.

I love Soukoku and attempting to deny their bond and the homoeroticism there would make all of us look stupid. But I kind of hate how their relationship during the Mafia days gets interpreted by most of the fandom. Because that’s not Dazai, and Chuuya already has/has had that with other people.

For example: A friend who barges into his apartment at all hours of the day and night? Canonically Albatross did that.

Chuuya is a person who thrives off of community in a way that Dazai refuses to. That’s why he finds it again and again (the Sheep, the Flags, whoever those friends were that died during the Dragon’s Head Conflict, the PM in general). So, this idea that Chuuya had no one to trust except Dazai is both wrong and displays a fundamental misunderstanding of Chuuya’s character.

Chuuya is a trusting person. He trusts people and he likes to be surrounded by them. He’d never put all his eggs in one basket especially if that basket is Dazai.

Dazai is the opposite. He isolates himself and operates alone most of the time. Other than Oda and Ango, Dazai didn’t have a lot of people around him that he genuinely liked and enjoyed spending time with. He has a very twisted self image (which isn’t helped by Oda’s misunderstanding of Dazai as a person), so he keeps people away as a defense mechanism.

I’m not saying that Chuuya and Dazai weren’t close at all (their inside jokes, code names, etc. all prove they were), or that Chuuya wasn’t affected by Dazai leaving the mafia. But I want everyone to consider who Dazai was while in the mafia. He wasn’t really capable of vulnerability at all. Chuuya was not an exception to that. Fifteen, Storm Bringer, the Dead Apple flashbacks, and allusions Chuuya has made are all evidence of that.

Dazai’s relationship with Chuuya was honestly probably closer to Dazai’s relationship with Akutagawa than anything else. He did care about Chuuya, but he was probably incapable of expressing it in a healthy or affirming way.

I keep seeing headcanons and fanart of Spy x Family with Dazai and Chuuya but y’all are missing the fact that it’s very obviously supposed to be Oda and Ango with a feral little Dazai running around