Aoi Bungaku Series

Synopsis

The episode adapts the Japanese novel, No Longer Human (人間失格) by Osamu Dazai.

The episode begins with a photograph with the focus being on the young boy in the middle surrounded by a group of women. Cut to a scene of a mysterious human-like figure with a man narrating about how his "life was shameful."

Showa Era, 4th year, Summer. A woman rushes off a bus and into a bar. She apologizes to the owners for being late and they question if she was looking for her husband again. She admits she was and quickly goes to change into her uniform. The narrator reveals the woman to be Tsuneko, stage name: Mayumi, and she is a prostitute. The narrator, Oba Yozo, claims, "people called me the murderer of this woman."

In the streets, a group of people surround a man advocating about unemployment and the rise of prostitution. Oba Yozo stands up in the crowd and reveals his middle school-aged sister was sold to pay for family debts. The man encourages Oba, and the rest of the crowd, to help him destroy the government. The crowd gets motivated and begins giving them donations. In a bathroom it's revealed the two men were actors trying to con people into giving their money away for their fake cause; Oba even comes from a wealthy family.

In a flashback, Oba meets with his father's servant. The servant tells him about how his father is disappointed in Oba and warns him that if he continues going to art school, his father will cut off his living expenses. The servant hands him an envelope and hopes it's not the last.

Back in the bathroom, a commotion is going on outside. The Tokko (political control police) are arresting all the scam artists. The two men escape through the window and split up. Oba runs into the bar to escape from a Tokko. Tsuneko is there being harassed by a customer, when she sees Oba, she quickly runs to him to get away from the annoying customer. The Tokko officer enters the bar and approaches Tsuneko, who quickly hid Oba under her dress. The officer is suspicious, but soon leaves. Later, Oba and Tsuneko walk around town pretending to be a couple. They bump into the officer and Tsuneko holds him back telling Oba to run. When Oba comes back, he finds Tsuneko beaten up. In the moment, he kisses her and then has sex with her.

The photograph in the beginning is explained. The boy is Oba, and as a child, he was sexually abused by the his father's female servants. This causes him to "don't understand women."

Oba and Tsuneko decide that they will do a double suicide as they both hate living. They travel to a cliff and Tsuneko asks Oba to push her off and to come join her soon. The next day, a man finds Oba alive washed up on shore having survived the jump.