Osamu Dazai

Shūji Tsushima ( 19 June 1909 – 13 June 1948), known by his pen name Osamu Dazai (太宰治), was a Japanese novelist and author. A number of his most popular works, such as The Setting Sun (Shayō) and No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku), are considered modern-day classics. His influences include Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Murasaki Shikibu and Fyodor Dostoevsky. While Dazai continues to be widely celebrated in Japan, he remains relatively unknown elsewhere, with only a handful of his works available in English. His last book, No Longer Human, is his most popular work outside of Japan.

Works

Human Lost

In the year 2036 mankind has revolutionized the medical field. Scientist have conquered death via the use of internal nanomachines and the “Shell System,” however, only the richest can afford to partake. Yozo Oba has been troubled by strange dreams and one day joins his friend’s biker gang. They embark to the “The Inside,” where society’s elite live, however, this begins a terrifying journey of discovery that will change Yozo’s life forever.

Release Date2019-10-22

DepartmentWriting

JobAuthor

Vote Count31

No Longer Human

The story of Osamu Dazai, one of Japan's most celebrated novelists, absorbed in alcohol and love; married and in a relationship with two other lovers.

Release Date2019-09-13

DepartmentWriting

JobAuthor

Vote Count25

Run, Melos!

The movie tells the story of Melos, a Greek country man that gets arrested and accused of conspiracy against the king. He gets three days to travel to his sister's wedding while Selinentius (Selinae), a genius sculptor that Melos just met stays as a hostage.

Release Date1992-07-25

DepartmentWriting

JobOriginal Story

Vote Count10

The Fallen Angel

The story of a young man who has felt since childhood utterly alien from others around him. Since that time he has learned to put on a face to hide his alienation. He feels incapable of belonging to the human society, especially so by society's refusal to take him seriously. He then follows a descent into alcohol, drugs, & suicide ...

Release Date2010-02-19

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Vote Count5

Villon's Wife

This enticing period melodrama depicts a long-suffering woman's relationship with her brilliant but self-destructive writer husband in postwar Tokyo. Based on a semi-autobiographical 1947 novel by Osamu Dazai, the story centers less on the womanizing, heavy-drinking, suicidal hero than on the wife who loves him. Written by Palm Springs International Film Festival

Release Date2009-10-10

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Vote Count11

Run Melos!

Hashire Melos! is the title of two Japanese animated films. The first was directed by Tomoharu Katsumata and released on Japanese television on February 7, 1981. It was either 68 or 87 minutes long, and its official title did not include the exclamation mark on the end. The second, with the exclamation mark, was a 107-minute remake of the first and was released on July 25, 1992. It featured direction and screenplay by Masaaki Osumi, music by Kazumasa Oda, art by Hiroyuki Okiura and Satoshi Kon, and background art by Hiroshi Ohno. Both were produced by Toei Company Ltd. Visual 80, and both were based on the original short story written by Osamu Dazai in 1940.

Release Date1981-02-07

DepartmentWriting

JobOriginal Story

Vote Count7

Kaidan Horror Classics

Four short films based on ghost stories written by award winning modern Japanese writers.

Release Date2010-08-23

DepartmentWriting

JobOriginal Story

Vote Count2

Pandora's Box

After Japan's defeat in WWII, "Pandora no hako" follows a young man named Risuke (Shota Sometani) who has contracted tuberculosis. He travels to the countryside to a unique nursing facility to receive treatment for his disease. At the sanatorium all the patients and nurses go by nicknames and Risuke decides to reinvent himself as Hibari. During his stay, Hibari develops realationships with other patients and nurses. After Hibari's friend Tsuikushi (Yosuke Kubozuka) gets discharged from the nursing facility, Hibari writes to him about his relationships with Dakesang (Mieko Kawakami) the chief nurse and Mabo (Riisa Naka) another nurse that is bright and seems to like him.

Release Date2009-10-10

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Vote Count1

Adventure in Kigan Castle

Osami, a soldier-of-fortune from Japan, joins with priest Ensai in a quest for the ashes of the great Buddha. Their journey takes them to a kingdom in the Middle East, where they find intrigue and romance in the court of an evil king.

Release Date1966-04-28

DepartmentWriting

JobOriginal Story

Vote Count6

New - No Longer Human

Based on the novel by Osamu Dazai and distributed by ATG. The story of a young man who is caught between the breakup of the traditions of a northern Japanese aristocratic family and the impact of Western ideas. In consequence, he feels himself "disqualified from being human" (a literal translation of the Japanese title) and goes down the stairs to self-destruction step by step.

Release Date1978-09-02

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Vote Count1

The Setting Sun

Release Date2022-11-04

DepartmentWriting

JobOriginal Story

Vote Count1

Diary of a Nurse

Ren Yoshimura directed this Daiei melodrama that was based on the novel entitled "Pandora's Box" by Dazai Osamu.

Release Date1947-07-01

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

New Hamlet ~Osamu Dazai takes over Shakespeare!?~

Release Date2023-06-06

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

The White Peaks of Mt. Fuji

Azusa has just been discharged from the hospital and is frolicking on the beach in Jushi, finally getting her freedom. Her older sister, Kozue, looks after her. Her father Shuhei moved from Tokyo to Jushi to provide a peaceful environment for his sick daughter. One day Azusa meets Tomita, a high school student, and falls in love with him at first sight. This is a masterpiece of literary lyrics, about two sisters living with bright and pure love, looking at the approaching shadow of death and giving all their feelings to limited youth.

Release Date1963-11-01

DepartmentWriting

JobOriginal Story

Shayô

After World War II, a small aristocratic family in Japan has lost all of their money.

Release Date2009-06-13

DepartmentWriting

JobAuthor

Ningen Shikkaku: Director's Cut-ban

A theatrical film version of Madhouse's Aoi Bungaku Series anime. The film will re-edit the four episodes based on Osamu Dazai's No Longer Human (Ningen Shikkaku) novel, which have character designs inspired by manga artist and novel illustrator Takeshi Obata. This "director's cut" will include new "navigation" footage which is being created specifically for the film with narrator Masato Sakai.

Release Date2009-12-12

DepartmentWriting

JobOriginal Story

Vote Count34

Onna no ketto

Release Date2023-07-31

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Joseito

A sunny summer's day, the trembling insides of a girl are painted by Dazai Osamu's hidden masterpiece, "School Girl," a "Kaku Nime" production.

Release Date2008-08-01

DepartmentWriting

JobAuthor

Bungo Japanese Literature Cinema

Six riveting short episodes that have been adapted from original literary short novel classics from famed authors.

Release Date2010-02-15

DepartmentCreator

JobCreator

Vote Count1

Kaidan Horror Classics

Four renowned Japanese directors each adapt a supernatural short story by Japanese literary masters for the KAIDAN HORROR CLASSICS omnibus series. In his adaptation of Yasunari Kawabata's THE ARM, Masayuki Ochiai reveals the inner world of fetishists in an eerily unsettling tale of a man who convinces a woman to let him borrow her arm for a night. Meanwhile, Shinya Tsukamoto explores death and unrequited love in Osamu Dazai's THE WHISTLER, about a woman who spies on her dying sister's secret love life after her own romance is dashed by her father. After VILLAIN, Lee Sang-Il looks at social outcasts once again in Ryunosuke Akutagawa's THE NOSE. The story follows a priest with a hideous nose who kills a young local boy in a moment of blinding anger. Meanwhile, Hirokazu Kore-eda creates a gentler ghost tale with Saisei Muro's THE DAYS AFTER, about a married couple who thinks the young boy who visits their house daily may be the ghost of their dead infant son.

Release Date2010-08-23

DepartmentWriting

JobOriginal Story

Episode Count1

Goodbye

Shu Tajimage happens to meet Fumiyo Bessho, a former high school senior, by chance. He is a popular guy with many girlfriends. But he has to end these relationships out of necessity. After hearing his story, Fumiyo unintentionally mutters that this situation is exactly like Osamu Dazai's unfinished novel 'Goodbye'. Shu is moved by the queer coincidence.

Release Date2018-07-14

DepartmentWriting

JobNovel

Episode Count12

Vote Count2

Osamu Dazai Short Story Collection

Release Date2009-10-12

DepartmentWriting

JobOriginal Story

Episode Count10