kenkamishiro:

Reading No Longer Human and chapter 176 shortly after got me thinking about how Ishida must have written Kaneki’s journey to parallel Yozo’s own journey. The two are quite similar in many ways, and their faults and upbringings cause them to spiral into destruction, hence why the first part of the series ended in tragedy for Kaneki.

But what’s different is that after they were given their second chance at life, instead of giving into Yozo’s same fate, Kaneki fights back and struggles to live. It felt like Ishida was saying fuck you to Dazai and No Longer Human’s fatalism and drop-kicking it to the curb. The world isn’t as hopeless as Dazai (who Furuta was channeling in chapter 176) thinks it is. Even though the world is filled with sorrow, the world is also filled with happiness, and that alone makes it worth living.

If this is why Dazai writes (excerpt from Of Women):

I am writing a tired story for young readers,

not because I want to be different,

or because I am unconcerned with young readers’ tastes.

I write it rather because I know it will please them.

Young readers are tired and old themselves these days,

and my story can bring them no discomfort and no surprises.

It is a story for those who have lost hope.

then Ishida writes for tired young readers to regain the hope they had once lost.