Sakunosuke Oda

Sakunosuke Oda (織田 作之助,) is a member of the Port Mafia who shows up in the spin off novel Dazai and the Dark Era. His ability name is Flawless.

Appearance
He is a man with milky skin (tanned in the anime), gray eyes, and red blonde hair (dark red in the anime) which is slightly parted so that a small area of his forehead is visible. He also has light stubble similar to Ougai's.

His attire consists of a taupe brown pinstriped (solid in the anime) collared short which is worn loosely, as the collar covers part of a long-sleeved beige brown coat with brown buttons on the cuffs. His pants are pale dark green, whilst his shoes are brown.

Personality
Oda is a man described as kind despite working for the mafia by Dazai during the events of Chapter 34, as he reminisced his friend during a conversation with Kyouka.

He had a nice temper, and so, was one of the few persons in the mafia who almost didn't kill. Nevertheless, when furious, he showed amazing and strong fighting skills that Dazai even warned Akutagawa about.

Dazai called him "a man who has no ulterior motive". Oda means what he says, and sometimes mistakenly assume that about other people - for example, when he gave serious responses to Dazai's joke explanations of how he got his various injuries.

However, he also has an incredibly perceptive side to him that allows him to come the closest to understanding Dazai, who he referred to as "his dear friend, who had grown tired of the world and is simply waiting to die." It is his understanding of Dazai's loneliness, as well as his regret of not being able to do anything about it, that prompted him to leave behind the last words that became the trigger to Dazai deserting the mafia in favor of carving a brighter path for himself, something that Oda wanted to do.

Ability
Flawless (天衣無縫) is an ability that allows Oda to predict the future for 5-6 seconds.

It is an extremely powerful ability that renders most surprise attacks useless as Oda can see them coming 5 seconds before. However, it has its limitations. For example, since Oda can only see 5-6 seconds ahead, if the time between triggering a trap and Oda realizing that he's in danger is longer than 5-6 seconds, then Oda wouldn't be able to use his ability to save himself and 'un-trigger' the trap.

The future that Oda sees with this ability is also limited to his current decision. If he decides to change his actions based on the vision he sees, then he'll see another future play out - one that might reveal another danger that he wasn't able to see before, and it may be too late to avoid it at that point.

Background
As what is shown in the light novel Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era, Oda Sakunosuke is a member of the Port Mafia.

He used to be an assassin for hire and was ruthless in his line of work. However, his meeting with Natsume Souseki in a cafe had changed him. Natsume caught Oda reading the first two volumes (out of three) of a novel he salvaged from one of his recent victims' houses, and commented that the last volume is an atrocious piece of work and Oda should be happy that he only has the first two volumes. Natsume encouraged Oda to write his own conclusion to the novel, and later gave Oda the last volume of the series but with the final pages missing.

"To write novels is to write about humans" - Oda took Natsume's words to heart, and, believing that a murderer has no right to write about human lives, decided to never kill again in hopes of becoming a novelist eventually and writing his own conclusion to the book. He also strived to be a better person in general (an advice that he would later give to Dazai Osamu), adopting five children that were orphaned as a result of a particularly intense conflict between underworld organizations. He became somewhat of an oddball in the mafia, known as 'the mafia member who doesn't kill'.

Plot
Oda Sakunosuke (or Odasaku) appeared as the main protagonist in the Light Novel : Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era.

He was first seen drinking in a bar with Osamu Dazai and Ango Sakaguchi. The three of them converse like old friends, an odd sight considering their respective positions in the mafia - Dazai one of the five great executives, Ango an intelligence member, and him a low ranking member who is only assigned the most trivial of tasks due to his refusal to kill. After some idle chatter, they say goodbye for the night, but not before Dazai takes a photo of the three of them to commemorate their friendship.

He was called out by Ougai Mori a few days later. The leader of port mafia informed him that Ango had gone missing ever since that night, and tasked Oda with tracking the man down. Though confused at Ougai's choice of assigning him that mission, he nonetheless set out to investigate Ango's room. During his investigation, he was assaulted by members of Mimic, an organization that is seeking to wage war against Port Mafia, and discovered an old gun hidden in Ango's room - the same model that identifies Mimic members. Dazai also commented that Ango was lying about what he did on the day the three of them met up at a bar - further increasing Oda's suspicions.

Distraught at the possibility of Ango being a double agent for Mimic, he went to visit the five orphans he adopted. Seeing them happy and well reassured Oda a little, and reaffirmed his decision to leave the mafia as soon as the children were grown enough to support themselves.

Later, he received a call from Dazai. The mafia had discovered new clues about where the Mimic members may be hiding, and Dazai urged Oda to go and watch the location first. However, Oda decided that he wanted to investigate the building before Dazai and his subordinates came, in fear of them finding more damning evidence against Ango. He found Ango in the building, bound to a chair next to a time bomb. Oda hauled Ango out of the building and barely managed to escape the explosion unscathed. At this point Oda had figured out that Ango wasn't a double agent for Mimic - but a double agent for the mafia. He disappeared because his status as a spy was revealed to Mimic. Ango told Oda some information about Mimic's commander - a man named Andre - but soon left with a group of black uniformed men that were neither Mimic nor the mafia (later revealed to be part of the Japanese ministry's supernatural division). Oda was not able to give chase as he triggered a slow acting poison trap that knocked him out.

He woke up in a hospital room, having been recovered by Dazai's subordinates when they reached the building. Dazai informed him that several mafia members (including Ryunosuke Akutagawa) were in open conflict with Mimic members in front of an art museum. Oda was quick to rush to their aid and saved Akutagawa from being killed by Andre - the commander of Mimic who shares Oda's ability of seeing a few seconds into the future.

Delighted to find someone who shared his ability, Andre tried to provoke Oda into fighting and eventually killing him. Andre and his organizations were former soldiers betrayed by their own country, and are now seeking to die in midst of the thrill of battle. However, Oda refused to kill Andre due to his personal beliefs. Andre retreated in fury, but promised to "make Oda understand him".

After the battle, Dazai took Oda to a place where they could find Ango - the bar that the three of them used to frequent. Dazai had correctly deduced Ango was neither a spy for the mafia or Mimic - rather, he was a triple agent sent by the Japanese ministry's supernatural division to keep an eye on port mafia. Ango divulged some intelligence regarding Mimic to Dazai and Oda, sharing one last drink with the two of them while lamenting their lost friendship. With Ango's identity revealed, there was no possibility of the three of them staying friends with the existing conflicts of interest. The atmosphere was sombre as Ango left for good, leaving behind the photo they took the last time they were together.

Afterwards, Dazai tightened the security around Oda, as well as the people close to him, including hiding away his five adopted children in a mafia safe house. However, that was all for naught as the Mimic members managed to kidnap the children and kill them all in an explosion right before Oda's eyes. Pushed over the brink of despair, Oda decided to go back on his principle of not killing and take revenge on Mimic. Later on, this was all revealed to be part of Ougai's plot (he was the one who told Mimic the location of Dazai's safe house) to provoke Oda, the only person who could counter Andre's future sight, into destroying Mimic.

Oda killed for the first time in years, taking down the vast majority of Mimic's remaining forces by himself. He proceeded to engage Andre in a fierce battle that resulted in both of them killing each other, but not before reaching a level of understanding due to their similar abilities. The two of them revealed to each other their pasts and what drove them so far, and though the battle ended up with both of them dying, they earned each other's respect and experienced a sense of satisfaction after the battle.

Dazai, who had at that point figured out Ougai's entire plan, hurried to Mimic's base to save Oda. However, he only made it in time to witness Oda's final moments. With his last words, Oda told Dazai what he had understood of the man - that Dazai will never be able to find anything to bury his loneliness, nor anything that could exceed his expectations. But if neither justice nor evil made a difference to him, Oda wanted Dazai to be on the side that saves people - something that he himself set out to achieve before his life was cut short. Oda died with a smile, knowing that he'll soon see the five children he adopted again.

Trivia

 * In real life, he is often grouped together with Osamu Dazai and Ango Sakaguchi as the Buraiha or Decadent School.
 * Furthermore, in the series this is often alluded, because the three used to meet in a certain bar, as seen in Dazai and the Dark Era and illustrated on the calendar.
 * His name is often shortened as 'Odasaku'.
 * His favourite food was rice curry.