Flawless (天衣無縫, Ten'imuhō?) is the ability of Sakunosuke Oda.[1]
Description[]
Flawless allowed Oda to see a few seconds of the future in his mind, similar to the ability of André Gide. Specifically, the length of each future vision was longer than five seconds but no more than six seconds. As a result, the ability could render most surprise attacks useless, such as a sniper attack, an explosion, and various other movements that he could dodge immediately. Moreover, the future that Oda could see with this ability was limited to his current decision. If he decided to change his actions based on a future vision, he would see another future play out. In this case, it might be a future that would bring another danger that he was unable to see in his vision, and it might be too late to avoid it at that point.
As another downside, his ability could be used against him by laying traps for him. Should he have fallen into a trap by the time he realized the dangers of the future as shown by his ability, there would be no way for him to dodge even if he could predict such predicament. For example, when he once picked up a temari ball laced with poison, the time he spent picking up the ball and realizing that he was in peril (as shown through Flawless) had already exceeded six seconds. Hence, it was too late for him to dodge or de-trigger the effects of the poison.
Oda and Gide in a singularity.
One unique instance Oda experienced in relation to using his ability was when he first encountered André Gide. Due to their similar power, their abilities counteracted each other. For instance, during their first skirmish, Oda saw a future vision of himself dodging to the right from a gunshot, but Gide – who also used his ability – adjusted his aim accordingly. This "second" future then played out in Oda's vision, compelling him to dodge to the opposite direction, and so on, though Gide also saw these future visions with his own ability. Eventually, a resulting singularity emerged between their two abilities, where time went on indefinitely and the two continued to see what the other saw one step ahead of the other. Moreover, not a single second had passed by in the singularity sphere, and the singularity ended only until their deaths.[1]
Appearances[]
Dark Era Arc
- Episode 13 - The Dark Era
- Episode 14 - Nowhere to Return
- Episode 15 - A Room Where We Can Someday See the Ocean
- Episode 16 - Bungo Stray Dogs
Derivation[]
The ability is a reference to Flawless (天衣無縫, Ten'imuhō?), a short story by the real-life Sakunosuke Oda.[2] It tells the story of a female protagonist who has married a company employee through matchmaking and cannot stop complaining about him almost flawlessly and artlessly.[3]
Gallery[]
Animated GIFs[]
Trivia[]
- In the anime, when Osamu Dazai and Ryūrō Hirotsu met after the Guild war, Dazai tells Hirotsu that his friend once told him about the beauty of saving other people, to which Hirotsu remarks if it is "flawless". He specifically uses the term "Ten'imuhō" ("天衣無縫"?), which may be a nod to Oda's ability.[4]
- "Ten'imuhō" may also be translated to "artlessness", "seamlessness", or "perfection" among others. In essence, it is an idiomatic analogy that refers to something completely perfect in and of itself.[5]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bungo Stray Dogs: Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era.
- ↑ Ten'i muho (Japanese Edition). Goodreads.
- ↑ 小説読書感想『天衣無縫 織田作之助』あなたは読んで、笑える? 笑えない? | 狐人日記. Nanatoshi (in Japanese).
- ↑ Bungo Stray Dogs Anime: Episode 24.
- ↑ Translating Oda Sakunosuke. WordPress.