Korosensei vs Osamu Dazai

 

"A good teacher is like a candle- it consumes itself to light the way for others."-Mustafa Kemel Atatürk


Korosensei: Assassination Classroom's previous God of Death.

Osamu Dazai: Bungo Stray Dogs's former Port Mafia Executive.

It's no revelation to say that teaching can be a very draining and thankless job at times, but you can argue it's even worse for these two. Behind their eccentricities and permanent smiles lie very, very dark criminal pasts, that lead to the both of them being in rather poor mental health, but also provided immense knowledge and skill. The pivotal question that's asked now is if a person like that really could change from who they used to be, and these two eventually answered it. But with all that character stuff aside, we're seeing who can relapse the hardest, and if Korosensei can find a hitman skilled enough to put him down, or if Dazai will get his death-craving wish granted in a DEATHBATTLE!...blog.


Before We Begin...

In terms of continuity, Korosensei is certainly easier to cover. Through the manga and anime, Assassination Classroom is fairly standard in terms of canon, where we'll be using the source material and its primary adaptations. As for Bungo Stray Dogs, that's where everything gets a bit more "interesting". While Bungo obviously has the manga and its anime to cover, Kafka Asagiri didn't just stop at the original story, creating a multitude of novels for the series as well, with some being turned into manga, and later integrated into the anime. Despite the large amount of extra content, the canon is still shown to be intact, so all of it will similarly be factored in. Also, do keep in mind that while Assassination Classroom has been over for a fairly long time, Bungo Stray Dogs is very much still going, so need that spoilers will be ahead. Finally, the several Shonen Jump crossovers or Bungo Stray Dogs mobile games won't be included, so don't expect Goku to pop up after this section. 


Background 

Korosensei

With his iconic circular face and strange octopus body, from a glance, it's hard to say what exactly he is, is he an alien? A monster? Some weirder third option that was strong enough to permanently crescent the moon? The real answer is none of the above, after all he didn't acquire his philanthropic teaching from dumb luck. Disturbingly enough, Korosensei actually used to be human, and an exceptional one at that. Back in his human days, he earned the title of "Grim Reaper", and other similar epithets due to his absurd talent for murdering people as an assassin. Of course, this didn't come from nowhere, after all, Korosensei was born into quite possibly the vilest slum in the country, being forced into his dangerous lifestyle due to incredibly cruel circumstances. In such an environment, betrayal was far from uncommon, and what ultimately lead to what Koro is now. Being sold out to a testing laboratory by his usurping apprentice, the now former Reaper was subjected to extreme experimentation in order to turn his body into biological antimatter. Surprisingly, this operation wasn't solely bad, because during the process, Koro found and eventually befriended one of the scientists: Aguri Yukimura. Although their relationship ended in a final tragedy by Koro's escape, Aguri instilled a dying message, one to teach the future generations, and remarking what a good teacher he could be. In the modern day, Korosensei stands as the strange target and teacher of Class 3-E, mentoring them to grow as both assasins and as people, fulfilling that dream he's sought out since Aguri's death. 


Dazai
"'A former killer isn't qualified to become a good person.' Do you truly believe that?"

With his lethargy and pentient for annoying just about anybody, it's quite hard to really gauge what sort of occupation Dazai had before the Armed Detective Agency, with his past being so obscured that it's become a wager to see who can guess what he used to do. So, what was it? Chef? Hairdresser? Supermodel? While some people might say the last one is apt for his appearance, what Dazai really was is an executive for the dreaded Port Mafia. Very little is known about how Dazai was before he was found by Mori, but what came after has left the city of Yokohama permanently changed. Being taken under the wing of the Port Mafia's boss, and upon having the depths of his intellect revealed to Mori, Dazai quickly became a potential successor. Throughout his tenure in the Mafia, Dazai's mean streak was remarkable, becoming so revered he and his teammate Chuuya were regarded as some of the best the Mafia had to offer. His talent got to such a point that he became the Port Mafia's executive at merely 16 years old, and even though it may sound like he was on top of the world, there's a reason what follows is called the "Dark Era". The catalyst for Dazai's ultimate split from the group he once held such a sway over is due to a previous friend of his, Oda Sakunosuke, a once low ranking member of the criminal organization, who perished right in front of him. In Oda's final statements, he simply told Dazai to strive to be a better person, and that it's a wonderful thing to do so. Cutting back to the Armed Detective Agency, Dazai acts as one of their most helpful members, in spite of all his odd behavior and death-seeking ideations, keeping Yokohama relatively safe from its own seedy underbelly. 


Experience/Skill

Korosensei

Having lived his life as one of the deadliest men to walk this earth, it shouldn't be any shock Korosensei's a genius when it comes to the art of assassination. He could perfectly match opponents, outsmarting the strong, outmuscling the smart, and using his charms to defeat those who fall under both, succeeding in any request given to him, regardless of how difficult or extreme. His senses are so honed he could recognize a mere toddler had potential to surpass him, which actually turned out to be correct, precise enough to tear through arteries with single grains of sand, and can view the consciousness as a wave, seeing through minute gaps in thought processes. His understanding of the human psyche extends to the point he can easily manipulate and even brainwash people through simple actions, turning them into mindless followers of his ideals. In a straight fight, Koro's battle capability was described as surpassing humanity altogether, casually subduing his protege with one hand, finding several openings to kill while his entire lower body was restrained, and fought on such an advanced level only a supercomputer could understand his thought process, using all resources at his disposal to maximum effect. Aside from the last feat, the rest of these were achieved when he was just a human; in his new antimatter form, he only continued to improve his technique, finding further use in his bizarre state.

But battle isn't all Korosensei is cut out for, as his intellect stretches out to many more branches. Scientifically speaking, he could fully grasp the antimatter experiments he was undergoing, and eventually completely surpassed the calculations of the scientist running it, finding out the flaws or miscalculations in an operation so complex it was described as being several steps ahead of humanity's scientific understanding. Later on, once he realized a student, who was also a sapient AI (Assassination Classroom is weird), couldn't fit in, he modified her to the point she developed a conscience, understanding emotions enough to practically have human cognition. This took a total of 985 upgrades, all handcrafted and installed with a common set of tools. Koro is also versed in space travel, gathering enough data to find solutions for potential issues in a rocket ship's parachute after only a few seconds of observation, as well as giving his students full astronaut training. For more astronomy evidence, Ritsu, the aforementioned Koro programmed AI, could make many intricate calculations for a rocket, factoring in the several hyper-specific variables required for a safe landing. All in all, from his beginning to his end, Korosensei has accumulated a vast sum of knowledge, comprehending a wide range of topics. 


Dazai 

As one of the most intelligent and dangerous characters in his series, Dazai's mind is a powerful weapon. In terms of combat, Dazai undertook Spartan training to develop his skills, which was known for being both relentless, as well as producing very fast results, being described as having endured rigorous martial arts training in the past. He's employed a variety of tactics to get what he wants, killing six armed men by pitting them against one another, or torturing people so effectively no captive has ever withheld information from him. In a fight, although his stature doesn't suggest power, he makes up for it through acrobatic techniques, and an ability to predict the moves of whoever he's fighting, finding out notable details with cursory information. His cunning cannot be understated, rising up to become an executive of an elite criminal organization in his teens, racking up an absurd tally of crimes including but not limited to: 138 counts of conspiracy to murder, 312 counts of extortion, and 625 counts of fraud, only being caught and charged for these by ambush, several years after the fact. He was such a menace that in criminal circles that the saying "the biggest misfortune of Dazai's enemies is to have Dazai as their enemy" became popularized, with the Port Mafia's leader: Ogai Mori, fully believing Dazai could kill and usurp him in less than half a decade.

Outside of his skill as a criminal, Dazai has continued to use his immense brainpower for other vices. He's shown a keen knack for planning, such as when he made himself untouchable through sending letters to the top 5 leaders of the mafia, stating that if his dead body was found, all their secrets would be leaked, and would make it appear as if Chuuya was an accomplice. Keep in mind, all of this was set up ahead of time, just in case he ever was captured. Further examples of his tactical preparation includes when he made a smokescreen in advance to evade bullets, or setting up an elaborate plan to have Kyouka join the agency, and having enough foresight to know the exact location where it'd play out. As the "Agency's sharpest detective", Dazai has also demonstrated high deductive intuition, correctly guessing a random person was the monster he was looking for, and figuring out crimes by just looking at the crime scene. Some of his best intelligence showings are against his rival: Fyodor Dostoevsky, such as creating entirely new languages and codes by remembering all their past conversations, subconsciously playing chess with an imaginary board with one another, and Dazai ultimately tricking Fyodor from the beginning, using a long series of deception to win their convoluted game. Keep in mind, Fyodor is a highly intelligent immortalist who's been alive since at least medieval times. At peak, in the alternate "BEAST" universe, that variant of Dazai, who's intellectually no different from the main version, managed to take in the memories and experiences of his countless iterations across the multiverse (Bungo Stray Dogs is weird).


Equipment 

Korosensei 

Assassin's Tools 

When you're a hitman, it's important to be strapped to the teeth, even for giant antimatter octopi. Although he doesn't use this often in the series, it's said that an assassin should be skilled in all kinds of weapons, and considering the fact he's quite possibly the best assassin in the world, it's logical to say Korosensei can wield them. In the entourage of weapons he can wield, there's fairly obvious picks like knives or firearms, but there's much more to the toolkit than just that. Standouts include smoke bombs, tear gas, tranquilizers, tazers, and full on explosives.

Missile

Due to the government trying to shoot Korosensei down for some time, he's collected a few of the weapons intended to put him down, with the most notable example being the missile. It carries no special properties, but the fact he can chuck a military grade missile at somebody is threatening enough as is. 

Costumes 

Due to basically being a cartoon character in spirit, Korosensei has an arsenal of zany, if not somewhat off-putting outfits he can quick change into. They're not exactly the most convincing disguises, but it's the thought that counts. Standout costumes include a suit of knight's armour tailored to him, a completely waterproof wetsuit that allows him to create whirlpools due to his speed, and one that somewhat resembles Karasuma. 


Dazai

Handgun

Not the flashiest of weapons, but it gets the job done. Modeled after the Beretta M9, this gun has been a trusty tool to end lives, and judging by how many shots Dazai fires with those crazy eyes, it seems to have ammo to spare.

Smokescreen

In order to escape sniping attacks from the air, Dazai activated a smokescreen to keep him and Atsushi covered. Upon activation, the smoke managed to span a distance of a few buildings. 

Cast Bomb

When assigned on a mission with this best frenemy Chuuya, Dazai armed himself with a bomb disguised as a cast. As unorthodox as this might sound, the idea paid off, managing to internally destroy the eldritch abomination that is Lovecraft in one blast. For reference, Lovecraft is tough enough to hold out against Corruption mode Chuuya.

Poison Antidote 

During the events of Dead Apple, Dazai had a special pill prepared for when he was dying of a paralysis poison, being able to mitigate the toxin after using it.


Abillities

Korosensei

Antimatter Physiology 

Due to the violent experimentation he underwent, Korosensei's cells became a fusion of antimatter and biological cells, being adequately dubbed "sensei-cells", this unconventional state of matter  making his students require "anti-sensei" weapons to do any substantial damage. With his warped biological structure came a wide range of new abilities, primary examples being his tentacles and immense speed. In order to make his mach speed travels survivable, his body has adapted a way to nullify all the physical pressure he's faced with. For less major functions, his antimatter composition grants the ability to stick to walls, damage infrastructure by emitting sound waves, secrete acid from his saliva, eating the inedible, and quickly dissolves whatever enters into his body. He also became roughly ten feet tall due to the testing. The biggest downside to his new state of being is the fact that if his cells ever stop dividing, he'd self destruct, and take the entire planet down with him. Luckily for his opponent, as well as the rest of the human race, the chances of this actually happening are less than one percent.

Tentacles

As the section above mentioned, these tentacles are a major asset for handling Koro's hefty workload, as well as an easy target for weird sex jokes. Being controlled by the user's sheer tenacity the tendrils will only answer to those with incredible willpower, responding in accordance to the emotions of the user. Once the volatile power of the tentacles is harnessed, their true versatility makes itself apparent. For starters, Koro can produce several appendages from his body at once, regenerating them when they're damaged. The tentacles are useful for first world problems too, absorbing things like dirt into themselves before burning it away inside his body. The tentacles are described as knowing and seeing everything, providing him with a large sum of information on whatever they touch. His standard tentacles aren't all he has in store either, as he can produce tiny string-like tentacles that are so small they can interact at a molecular scale, vibrating at a frequency that effects cells.

Malleability 

Korosensei has shown the ability to morph his body into all kinds of different shapes. He can turn his limbs into weaponry, grow noticeably smaller, turn into liquid, and is constantly changing the color of his body, which is useful for expressing emotion or missions that require disguise. For weirder bodily functions, he's grown mushrooms from his head, and possesses mucus dense enough to seal off guns or fuse materials together. Gross.

Energy Manipulation 

Like any good anime character, Korosensei can also fire out massive energy beams. This is done through channeling a part of his inner antimatter into his tentacles, before releasing it outwards as large blasts. For less flashy displays of energy control, he can discretely absorb the energy cocoon made by the Absolute Defense form after he exits it. 

Extreme Mobility 

Well before his transformation, the Reaper was already far more spry than any typical human, with lesser assassins being trained in extreme parkour, assessing their surroundings to perfect their physical prowess and secure their targets. In his antimatter body, Korosensei's motion has increased exponentially, with his speed becoming so blistering he creates afterimages as a byproduct of movement, which are actually pretty convenient for multitasking, appearing as if he's duplicating himself. For more distance, he's also shown the ability to litterally fly through all sorts of environments at mach speeds, even space. 

Heightened Perception

From his extensive training and modifications, Koro has honed his senses to the maximum. Ranging from clearly spotting a target on a speeding bullet train, seeing through people like an X-ray, percieving snipers from hundreds of kilometers away, smelling out body odors from massive distances away, and identifying poisons from taste alone. The analysis and foresight he, and most other assassins in the verse have, is essentially supernatural. Holding an acute awareness of his surroundings and attacks aimed at him, he can predict things like bullet trajectories, even when they were shot by an AI making precise calculations on firing, with his prediction becoming so advanced it's become a "sixth sense". To explain in more detail, the sixth sense is a borderline precognitive power he posseses, warning him of threats he had no way to anticipate, as well as giving him the insight to dodge projectiles far faster than he typically is. If that wasn't enough, through people-reading, he can practically read minds, seeing the mind as a colored wavelength to be observed, which is particularly useful for tasks like lie detection. Assassins much less skilled than he is can also run mental simulations and analyze information to inform their decisions in fights.

Adaptive Strength 

When it comes to being a teacher, you have to be flexible, but Korosensei takes that to a much further level. Throughout the series, it's said he gradually becomes faster, more precise, with it being said he becomes stronger the more he teaches, constantly developing from past mistakes in his life. While as a human, he showcased much quicker manipulation of his tentacles than the scientists predicted, adapting almost immediately to his new body. For further power, taking hold of his emotions grants a boost in physical strength well above his average.

Absolute Defense Form 

When really backed into a corner, Korosensei can bust out the Absolute Defense Form. After the generation of a large explosion, he makes use of hyper-crystalized energy to protect himself from any damage he might run into, being described as durable enough to withstand a nuclear bomb's detonation without a scratch. However, this state has a pretty damning weakness, in that once he transforms, he's essentially stuck like that for the next 24 hours. 

Assassination Techniques

Because of his immense talent and experience in the field, it's no shock Korosensei can perform or replicate most of the assassination techniques seen in the series. Starting off on the simpler side, he can debilitate opponents through pressure points, knocking them out cold with a well placed one. An assasin's words can be about as powerful as their bodies, being able to quickly pacify enemies with a simple smile, regardless of any previous threats or aggressions. The ability to manipulate a target can even veer into straight up brainwashing, removing their agency and converting it into the user's own.  On the defensive side, he managed to mitigate the power difference between him and the new Reaper through blocking, deflecting attacks that are far faster and stronger than he is. 

However, most infamous among these skills are "bloodlust" and the stun clap. Starting with bloodlust, when a person in Assassination Classroom is powerful or dangerous enough, they manifest a potent aura, which can not only frighten foes and induce painful hallucinations, but also has legitimate tangible effects at times, seemingly breaking objects nearby. At it's most severe, bloodlust distorts a person's perception of the user drastically, to the point they can replicate intangibility. The second ability is the stun clap, which although typically has a set of prerequisites to perform, the Reaper managed to bypass them entirely, leaving people paralyzed through the sound waves he produces casually. 

4th Wall Awareness 

Bizarrely enough, Assassination Classroom isn't a stranger to occasional prods at the fourth wall. An example of this is when Karma and Nagisa acknowledge that Korosensei's ill spent summer wasn't his own fault, but rather due to panel limitations and the author being busy, with gags like eyes cartoonishly popping out of their sockets being similarly mentioned in universe.


Dazai

Abillities

In the world of Bungo Stray Dogs, a plethora of major characters have highly powerful gifts in the form of "Abillities". These powers manifest themselves at varying intervals, with some developing them at birth, while other achieve Abilities later in life. This meant one of two things: a wide variety of supernatural skills and inevitable military exploitation (seriously, a war broke out like immediately after Abilities were discovered). Despite the incredibly versatility they may bring, some Ability Users consider their powers to be curses upon their lives. On a less grim note, the way an Ability works is that it's tied to the spirit and will of the user, reflecting the person's innermost traits or desires. When the user dies, the Ability will quickly disappear due to lacking that spiritual tether. Although most Skills are intended to have limits, such an exception can be negated through the power of Singularities. When two contradictory Abilities clash, of a stalemate is occuring, they can result in the creation of Singularities, paradoxical forces of incredible power, capable of completely bypassing the restrictions a normal Ability might have. Through this paradox, Singularities are described to have infinite output and infinite reserves, being capable of outliving their user indefinitely.

No Longer Human

Named after the novel of the real life writer Osamu Dazai, No Longer Human is the Ability to completely nullify the powers of whatever it touches. Throughout the series, Dazai has negated a wide variety of Skills, with more tame showings including reverting a person's transformation, canceling out mind control through touching its conduit, and nullifying an Ability such as Rashōmon, despite its ethereal, space-devouring existence. On specific cases where a transformation is neutralized, it's been shown that they'll be temporarily paralyzed, briefly staying suspended where they were. However, if a person's existence is solely qualified as an "Ability", they'll be completely erased, with even a brisk tap from Dazai. More potently, Dazai can nullify Abillities as powerful as time manipulation, or Rimbaud's subspaces, despite the fact they're extra-planar constructs, completely impervious to conventional attacks. The amount of Abillities he's turning off doesn't seem to matter either, as he mitigated a significant portion of Shibusawa's collected Skills, despite the massive amount in his entourage. As shown with how he can nullify the power of Arahabaki, Dazai's Ability affects far more than just conventional Skills in the series. For context, Arahabaki is a living Singularity of immeasurable power, capable of manipulating legitimate gravitational black holes, only being held back by Chuuya's will and artificially constructed soul. At maximum capacity, it's been shown in an alternate timeline, when creating a Singularity, Dazai's power managed to reach beyond the bounds of reality, touching the "real world". On top of all of that, the Ability is entirely passive, even if it's detrimental to Dazai.

Supernatural Analysis 

Due to his high intellect, Dazai frequently shows a level of prediction and analysis far above a normal person's capability. Dazai can recognize patterns in attacks, noticing things like method, timing, and habit, allowing him to read the moves of his opponents. His skill for reading people is downright telepathic, predicting things their thinking, or other important pieces of information by looking at them, despite being placed in a highly tense scenario at the time. This level of clairvoyance is actually lampshaded in the series, as Dazai is said to be capable of reading minds because of it. He describes his ability to predict scenarios as one of his best, setting up seemingly uncontrollable possibilities before having them pan out as he expected, this goes for situations he had no preparation for as well, such as predicting the existence of a concealed sniper. Akutagawa, who's knowledge on combat has been almost entirely honed by Dazai, is similarly capable of predicting the trajectory of gunfire and the moves of his enemies. This skill also gives him a completely unfair advantage in rock paper scissors, as he can gauge exactly what move you'll use through noticing miniscule details and subconscious tells.

Aura

As a once reviled crime lord and also an anime character, Dazai's presence alone has left people shaken, with it being described as akin to getting stabbed in the stomach with an icicle. It's also likely he can sense the auras of other people, considering how other Port Mafia members, or far less experienced criminals, could both detect a person's bloodlust.

Body Control 

While in Merusault, Dazai managed to manipulate his own heartbeat in order to communicate with an outside beneficiary in a silent manner. This intricate knowledge of anatomy could extend to combat as well, as his protege Akutagawa could exploit people's pressure points to knock them out.

4th Wall Awareness 

Yeah, Korosensei isn't the only one who can do it. During an interaction between Fyodor and Nikolai, Dazai turns to the camera and says "Wow", as shown above. In the context of the scene, there's nobody else he could be talking to.


Resistances 

Korosensei 

Information Analysis & Analytical Prediction:  As the Reaper, he would possess Bloodlust that obscures details about himself, rendering him as unpredictable. 

Madness & Mind Manipulation: Korosensei can constantly barely the power of the tentacles, despite the fact they corrupt a person's mind, causing mental and physical degradation; eating away at an average person's mind, driving them mad to the point of death. This process forces whoever is unfortunate enough to be affilicted to become uncontrollable slaves to their own distorted desires.

Aura & Fear Manipulation: His successor, whom got his fortitude and skill from him, was entirely unaffected by Nagisa's bloodlust.

Poison Manipulation: Outside of changing his appearance, poisons have no affect on him.

Electricity Manipulation: When trying to exterminate him, the researchers found that using electricity was a futile effort.

Extreme Temperatures: Survives in typically inhospitable environments with little to no protection, such as space. On the warmer side, he's completely withstood fire with minimal damage. Despite his lab having countermeasures like severe temperatures, Yanigasawa completely failed to stop Korosensei. 

Pain Manipulation: Has been shot, dismembered, and taken massive damage, all the while retaining his typical grin, showing no real signs of actually feeling it.


Dazai

Information Analysis & Analytical Prediction: Less experienced characters have managed to resist his prediction in the past, and despite his ability to anticipate attacks, Akutagawa was regularly stomped by Dazai, failing to land hits or dodge attacks. When against Fyodor, in spite of their intelligence being so matched they could essentially read each other's minds, Dazai still managed to ultimately outwit him, and lead to an unanticipated loss. Dazai is enigmatic to the extent that Ranpo, someone who's primary ability is picking up on tiny pieces of information and quickly figuring out exactly what's happening, still considers Dazai a mystery.

Aura & Fear Manipulation: Considering how he stands as a right hand to Mori, with it being highly possible he could kill him later down the line, it's plausible to say Dazai can resist the Mafia boss's fear inducing bloodlust.

Pain Manipulation: Although he has a clear aversion to pain, Dazai can take it in stride, only seeming discontent after staying in a torturous suicide method or being shot through the stomach.


Feats

Korosensei 

Strength
Speed
Durability 

Dazai

Strength
Speed
Durability 

Scaling

Korosensei 

Class 3-E 

Considering the fact the major conflict of the series is his students being incapable of actually killing him, it's not exactly hard to say Korosensei should upscale his class.
Tadaomi Karasuma

For as strong as Karasuma is, he's still not the match of the former greatest assassin, placing Korosensei rather logically above him.
The Reaper 

As Korosensei's old protege has taken up his Reaper mantel, this new and improved God of Death is the toughest foe Koro's ever faced. Although statistically outmatched, Korosensei could still hold up in both speed and power, despite the disadvantage.

Dazai

Armed Detective Agency

 Although he's a newer recruit, Dazai's made a name for himself in the Armed Detective Agency, going on a variety of challenging missions for them. Due to keeping up with tougher members, like Kunikida, it's safe to say he's comparable to his comrades.
Shin Soukoku
(No, not the ship)

While it can be said both Atsushi and Akutagawa have surpassed their old mentor, considering how Dazai has still managed to dodge, restrain, and take hits from the two, even thrashing Akutagawa every time they fought in the past, it's not hard to say Dazai at least downscales.
Chuuya Nakahara (Kinda)

As Dazai's partner in crime, this dynamic duo frequently butts heads with each other, fighting enemies and each other alike on fairly even ground. Where things get complicated is in Chuuya's Corrupted state. Although nowhere near as powerful, it's been shown Dazai can at least somewhat take hits from comparable foes, such as Lovecraft or characters relative to Shibusawa, not to mention withstanding a casual punch from this form, despite already being on death's door.

Weaknesses 

Korosensei 

For all his strengths, Korosensei isn't exactly infallible. Throughout the series, his students have picked up on a large amount of weaknesses he has, though it should be noted that a majority of these can't actually be applied to standard combat, such as strictness about poolside manners or tone-deafness. On a more serious note, his biggest weakness is his heart, literally and metaphorically. Like most other people, if his heart is destroyed, he will perish immediately after, and due to his strong moral compass, he actually requested his tentacles to weaken him, barring him off from his full destructive potential.


Dazai

As a person, Dazai is undeniably flawed with his lethargy and inability to take most scenarios seriously frequently coming up as a detriment. Although he has a set ideal on how to end his life, his suicidal ideations have also shown he's not exactly opposed to dying, regardless of circumstances. In relation to his Ability, for as powerful as it is, it's still incapable of nullifying things that can't be considered Abilities on a conventional level, such as Lovecraft's nightmarish physiology. 


Before the Verdict 

The "Mach 20" Limit 

Rather early on in the series, Korosensei's speed is said to cap at Mach 20, with this calculation of his speed being mentioned throughout. So the million dollar question is: is this actually consistent? At a glance, this may seem fairly valid, after all it's pretty bluntly stated; but upon further inspection, it's all a bit more complicated than that. Firstly, is the fact that many of Korosensei's feats, such as flying from Brazil to Tokyo or leaving contrails around the world from his speed have been calced at higher than Mach 20 in the past. Much later in the series, Korosensei could somewhat keep pace with the Reaper, a roided up tentacle monster who's said to move at Mach 40, aka double the original limit. Although this may just seem like disparity between feats and writing, there's a possible explanation for this in the series. While observing how he teaches, Nagisa comments on the fact he's continuously getting faster, and is said to statistically improve as he teaches. The idea that Korosensei's speed increases for his students or personal development is actually in line with his higher speed feats, as showings like traveling continents, battling the Reaper, or a variety of others, such as the afterimages he creates, are all performed with his student's benefit in mind. If all this isn't enough of a backing, it's not like Assassination Classroom is particularly special in having contradictory labels applied to its feats, considering how infamous examples of similar concepts, such as the Naoya's "Mach 3" statements or the Flash being called below light speed, are widely considered anti-feats.

Spear of Heaven's Laser

If you've spent any modicum of time in debating Assassination Classroom, the notorious satellite laser feat is pretty much assured to show up sooner or later. Going off the basic mechanics of it all, the government employed a highly powerful satellite laser dubbed the "Spear of Heaven", which is directly said to move at the speed of light. In order to not get obliterated by an orbital superweapon, Korosensei, of course, tries to avoid the laser, and succeeds in doing so. What complicates this all is some more added context; you see, Korosensei used his innate sixth sense in order to dodge the attack. Now, if this were a more conventional precognitive abillity, it'd be pretty easy to chalk this all up as aim dodging with such a level of foresight, but that's not exactly how the sixth sense functions. Going off of other showings of his awareness, he's not seeing into the literal future, but rather holds a keen understanding of his own surroundings, with his body seeming to react in response. For context's sake, he was unaware of the laser being aimed at him, especially taking into account the fact it's silent. In laymen's terms, Korosensei was made aware of an attack coming towards him, but not the logistics nor speed, moving his body to actively dodge. To back this up, it's also shown his tentacles are damaged, suggesting that he dodged while it was fired, rather than reacting before it was shot.

Antimatter Self-Destruction 

In order to scare his students into actually killing him, Korosensei explains how he's the monster that cratered the moon, and aims to destroy the Earth next. This would all be very impressive...if there wasn't some added truth to this story. Our favorite nasty octopus man didn't actually destroy most of the moon, nor can he actually nuke the Earth in one go. Such an explosion is pure a byproduct of physiology, as due to the way matter and antimatter react, it can cause devastating effects. The real perpetrator of the moon's permanent crescent is actually a mouse, who faced a catastrophic miscalculation when undergoing antimatter experimentation, resulting in the damage. Although the mouse quickly exploded, it was proven that Koro actually had a very low probability of detonating, due to his chemical composition. What this all means is that the likelihood of a self-destruction win has a below one percent chance of happening.

Chuuya's Holes

Yes, that's the name we're going with. As crazy as it sounds, the supernatural detective manga has a character that throws around black holes: Chuuya Nakahara, specifically in his Corruption form. His brother Verlaine also managed to use these, without aid of his terrifying gravity monster. While at first it might just seem like projectiles just given the name of black holes, the novel Stormbringer adds more clarity. Despite their red appearance, it's made rather apparent that these black holes are the real deal, merely just miniaturized versions. Surprisingly enough, characters like Lovecraft, Shibusawa, and Chuuya in his base have held out against these black holes, with Chuuya doing so twice. Although contentious, there's legitimate backing behind these characters being on the level of small black holes, and many other verses aren't strangers to having rather contradictory measures of durabillity either, most notably with the "piercing damage" of bullets.

Wells's Ability Activation 

In the light novel 55 Minutes, a newly introduced character of H.G. Wells performs a rather strange feat. Essentially, in order to create an immensely powerful weapon known as the Shell, Wells had to have activated her Ability within a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second, due to her extending the timeframe of a fireball's incredibly brief spark of absurd energy, as defined in the lit match analogy. Due to Atsushi not exactly being the most privy to science, it was simplified to be her activating her Ability in a miniscule amount of time to sustain high energy, with Wells saying he's pretty much correct. The Time Machine (Wells's Ability) is not passive, with her mentioning actively adjusting the camera that presides over the Ability to achieve this. Atsushi and the others scale to this through Gab, as despite him absorbing her power, his perceptiom was blitzed by the White Tiger. The reason this feat is controversial is because of the fact it's absurdly above Bungo's typical showings. For context, it'd get faster than the infamous Flash attosecond feat. Although the feat isn't unfounded, as the feat is why the highly important Shell exists, it heavily lacks the consistency of other higher end feats like the black holes or gravity waves, making it very debatable to apply.

The Book

Across all realities in Bungo Stray Dogs, there exists a highly powerful book that's able to make whatever the user writes into a reality. Within the main series, there isn't much to go off of aside from its reality warping capability, but in the Beast novel, there's a far more thorough explanation. In truth, the Book is the real source of the universe, and the infinite other worlds in the series, containing them as compactified realities within the pages. The worlds within the Book are also shown to be legitimate realities that still hold weight, with it being said that there exists a "real world" outside of the book, which views the rest of the multiverse as stories within the Book. When channeling its power, the old world is rewritten, and a new universe is put in place, which reflects what the user wrote down. So Dazai has a book that can rewrite the universe and contains the entire infinite multiverse, what's the catch? Well, it's not as simple as it seems. To get the first thing out of the way, the Dazai of the reality we follow in the main series doesn't actually have access to it, only Beast's and the "real" Dazai seem to. Even if Dazai did have the Book on hand, it's still rather inapplicable in a fight, due to the fact that what's written must follow a degree of realism and causality to take effect, meaning that in a spontaneous or equal fight, not much mileage could quickly be gained.

Chapter 119

This whole section is one big spoiler for the manga, so if you haven't already read up to it and care about being spoiled, then I implore you to skip this part. Now that that's out of the way, chapter 119 is (as of writing this) the most recent chapter of Bungo Stray Dogs, and it has some large ramifications for the series' scaling at large. Right off the bat, Fyodor describes how the existence of the White Tiger acts as a cosmological bookmark, and has a deep fundamental importance to the Book itself. Even more pressingly however, is the existence of Ame-No-Gozen. The divine tripolar Singularity's enigmatic status has been elaborated on, blatantly being called a 4-dimensional being, in which its physical form is merely a shadow of its higher existence. Due to existing within more angles than our world, Ame-No-Gozen can instantaneously travel through time and space, making it nearly unlockable to anybody...who isn't named Akutagawa. Yeah, Akutagawa inherited the will and power of an ancient vampire named after Bram Stoker, and managed to fight on par with the tripolar Singularity. All of this would entail massive boosts in scaling, the only problem is we don't actually have full context. Where does Bram-tagawa scale? Can he damage Ame-No-Gozen's true form? How fundamental actually is the White Tiger? All of this and more is currently unanswered, so we can't exactly say if anybody, much less Dazai, can scale to this.


Verdict 

Stats

Beginning with the far simpler Korosensei, he performs most of the best feats in the series directly. Although he has lower showings, such as punching through a mountain or being stronger than a tank, due to things like the tornado, which can get from 3.16-146.5 Tons of TNT, generating massive blasts of energy for 240.2 or 296.3 Tons of TNT, and carrying around a massive bean, which gets up to 117.8 Kilotons. With additional scaling from the Reaper, who obliterated a building for a yield of 729.3 Tons of TNT, it's very safe to put Korosensei in a Multi City Block to Town levels of power. If he were to ever lose himself, Koro also demonstrated the capacity to devastate entire cities in a rampage. In comparison, Dazai's standalone showings are far less impressive. Due to feats like knocking people multiple feet away in one punch or surviving a wall getting cracked for 0.64 Megajoules, he's roughly Wall level by himself, which is absurdly blown out of the water by Korosensei. The only reason this isn't a cut and dry stat stomp is because Dazai can scale to a wide number of characters in the series. Although it may sound odd to place him at such a scale, considering his lacking physicality, Dazai has managed to keep up with all kinds of people; most impressively, Chuuya, Atsushi, and Akutagawa. 

To fully explain how this all works, despite being somewhat earlier in the series, Dazai's showings still apply now. See, unlike a lot of other manga, Bungo Stray Dogs doesn't really follow linear power progression. For context, while very little is said on when exactly events take place, judging by Atsushi and Akutagawa's sixth month bet not coming to fruition yet, it's highly possible that the present events of the series have happened in under half a year. While the characters have certainly honed their skills in that span, it's actually very rarely shown that they've increased their over all power levels outside of specific transformations, such as "Beast Beneath the Moonlight-Rashōmon". In fact, a major plot point for some characters is their Abillities being suppressed by Fukuzawa in order to make them usable. Characters have even fought their own Abilities while powerless, surviving such encounters. A notable example of this circular scaling is Akutagawa, who's taken strikes from Atsushi, Shibusawa, and Fukuchi, all while completely unarmored. As such Dazai can scale to feats like the dispersion and initial creation of Shibusawa's fog, getting 116.4 Kilotons and 4.3 Megatons respectively, or the casual feats of Arahabaki, such as cage with brutereating a city destroying crater for 368.1 Kilotons, as well as the black holes which gets to 2.5.-4.5 Yottatons. There are also other, less calculatable feats, such as Gab controlling an entire island and the Shell's wide scale devastation. 

For a comparison, Korosensei's best feat of 117.3 Kilotons is outmatched by lower feats from those Dazai scales to, such as the 368.1 Kilotons or 4.3 Megatons ones, and massively outdone by any higher showings, like the island or the black holes. Even though Korosensei may have city destroying capabilities, this is not only in a state of uncharacteristic berserker rage, but similarly outshined by where Dazai can be placed. Even though Dazai may not be able to exert such an energy with a casual punch, he can at least withstand that level power, and likely give Korosensei some severe injuries with a few good attacks, while Koro would struggle to do any substantial damage through brute force.

In terms of speed, it might as well be Korosensei's middle name, performing all sorts of impressive feats. Ranging from viewing bullets in slow motion, reading massive stacks of manga in a second, and traveling across countries. Most notably is his previously mentioned Mach 20 speeds, and the feats that surpass it. Due to traveling from Brazil to Japan at Mach 36, keeping up with the Mach 40 Reaper, and dodging a light speed laser, Korosensei's speed is at least High Hypersonic, but likely far faster. As for Dazai, it's somewhat similar to the last section, where most of his impressive speed feats come from scaling. Members of the Armed Detective Agency, have outmaneuvered bullets on multiple occasions, with results from Mach 4.3-11.9 all the way to Mach 66.3-133.4, and more impressively, both Chuuya and Atsushi are described to have the speed of lightning, with Chuuya actually dodging lightning from an Ability user with ease. For a higher metric, several characters, Dazai included, have moved in tandem with projectiles directly made of gravity waves, which move at the speed of light, not to mention Chuuya pulling black holes along at speeds possibly even faster than light. Although both can be put at fairly similar levels, Dazai is consistently faster, having more light speed scaling options, as well as higher Mach speeds when using lower ends, which leaves Korosensei as the slower one, ironically enough.

Arsenal/Abillities 

Beginning with their arsenals, neither's are particularly extensive. As large as Korosensei's potential weapons is expensive, he very rarely actually uses them, considering how much more useful options like tentacles or energy blasts are, and for as weird as it sounds, throwing a missile at Dazai wouldn't be all that useful, considering his durability and speed. Oddly enough, his more concealing disguises, such as the knight's armour, may actually end up being more useful in the long run, as will be discussed later. In Dazai's case, his weapons like guns or defense maneuvers like the smokescreen can be easily regenerated from or seen through, and a pill that cures poison isn't all that useful against someone that lacks poison. A pivotal part of Dazai's weaponry is the cast bomb, which would certainly do Korosensei in with how it can damage characters like Lovecraft, the only problem is actually landing it. For all its potency, the cast bomb lacks a lot of particularly special qualities, making it likely for Korosensei to merely dodge the explosion before it fatally damages him.

Where things get more interesting is with their abillities. Starting with powers that aren't all that useful is their shared skills like bloodlust or analysis based powers, due to the collective resistances to both. Dazai's victories against Fyodor also prove he's resilient against things like akin to telepathy, so people-reading won't be of much use. To give Korosensei credit, he actually does have multiple wincons here. With skills like brainwashing or the stun clap, Koro could leave Dazai completely subservient or paralyzed, and due to being strictly biological, No Longer Human couldn't take effect. Speaking of, the question on if No Longer Human can actually work on Korosensei is the most pressing matter here. One counter to No Longer Human being effective is it being unable to nullify Lovecraft's Ability due to it not actually being an Ability at all. This could lead one to believe Korosensei would be similar immune, but it's more complicated than on the surface. You see, the power of tentacles/antimatter actually have some notable similarities, such as following a user's ideals and will, or even dissipating away upon the user's death. It's not like No Longer Human can't work on artificial Abillities either, as despite his soul being completely scientifically strung together, and having his body altered to house Arahabaki, Chuuya's powers have been frequently turned off by No Longer Human. It's not like highly scientific or physics altering powers are immune either, as  several gravity manipulation skills and Rimbaud's subspaces have similarly been canceled out. What this all means is that even a brisk touch from Dazai would likely erase Korosensei from existence, due to his entire body being considered an "Ability". 

This is obviously a massive problem to Korosensei, which poses the question of "How exactly can he counter"? A first choice would be his immense speed and flight, which may assist in getting away from Dazai. There are two problems to this however, because of how the sixth sense isn't legitimately precognition, it's likely Dazai would be resistant to it, because of his aforementioned inability to be predicted, which means a major asset in dodging things as fast as Dazai is gone. The second issue, which happens to coincide with the first, is that Korosensei can't accelerate to his maximum speed when caught off guard, only getting to a rough Mach 2, which is much slower than Dazai. Funnily enough, Korosensei's knight armour would be legitimately helpful...if he actually wore it. At best, Koro would have to move around to find it, leaving him susceptible, or just never pick it up in the first place, like in the series. For as many potential wincons Korosensei may have, it's important to note they're not all that likely, especially with an opponent he has no information on. Brainwashing or the stun clap were primarily used while he was the Reaper, while in his transformed state, he's far more likely to use tentacles to subdue a threat like Dazai, which will provide an easy opening. Dazai is a very deceptive person, who's kept himself an enigma through planning and facades, making it all the more likely he could place himself into a winning position against Koro.

Also, if for whatever reason Korosensei decided to go Absolute Defense the fight is sorta just over by then. Unfortunately both's 4th Wall Awareness also doesn't really change anything in the fight, but it's rather funny to mention.

Tertiary Factors 

Both are incredibly skilled, going through all sorts of difficulties in order to secure their renowned status, but in direct combat, Korosensei has Dazai beat here. As the Reaper, Korosensei solved any problem thrown at him, killing anybody he can get his hands on, and singlehandedly dismantling entire world superpowers. It's no surprise he's considered beyond the capability of humanity with how excellent he is as an assassin. Make no mistake though, Dazai is still a highly dangerous individual, simply just not on the level of the former Reaper. In academic intelligence it's not much of a comparison either. Dazai hasn't showcased many feats of technical expertise, while Korosensei is making fully sentient robots and hyper advanced calculations with ease. On the upside for Dazai, his level of foresight and planning goes well beyond Koro, making seemingly impossible schemes that end up with him on top far more often than not. It should also be noted that Dazai actually has the potential for a cosmic sort of intelligence judging by his Beast counterpart osmosing knowledge on a multiversal scale, but this remains purely hypothetical for right now, as the main universe's version hasn't gained the same level of information yet.


Conclusion 

Korosensei 
"I finally understand how you feel. Let's study together when we're reunited on the other side. We won't make the same mistakes there."

Advantages:
  • Far greater mobility 
  • Regeneration assists in survivability
  • Could outrun the cast bomb's explosion 
  • Brainwashing and stun clap result in a victory
  • Resists bloodlust and prediction
  • Far more skilled and scientifically intelligent 
  • Knight's armour provides much needed coverage...
  • His death devastated the audience for years to come 
Disadvantages:
  • Much weaker and less durable
  • Less reliably fast
  • No Longer Human results in a quick loss on contact 
  • Bloodlust, people-reading, and the sixth sense are all resisted
  • Inferior planner 
  • Direct wincons are out of character off the bat
  • ...but it's unlikely he'll actually use it
  • High-key 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝔂

Dazai
"If you place yourself somewhere close to raw emotions, where you're exposed to violence and death, instinct and desire, you can brush up against man's true nature."

Advantages: 
  • Signficantly stronger and more durable
  • Consistently faster
  • No Longer Human grants an immediate wincon 
  • Resists most of Koro's passive abilities 
  • Overall better strategist 
  • More reliable wincon
  • Cast bomb could do some fatal damage...
  • Didn't actually die
Disadvantages:
  • Conventional arsenal is ineffective 
  • Incapable of flight 
  • Much lower endurance 
  • Many of his passives are resisted as well
  • Less skilled fighter
  • Susceptible to brainwashing or paralysis 
  • ...if it were likely to land 
  • Bungo Stray Dogs fandom 
This match was shockingly close, with the two having many options to win. With his absurd skill and assassination techniques, Korosensei proved himself as a more than worthy adversary, but due to Dazai's stats, Abillity, and some necessary wits, the former God of Death has been led astray. The winner is...

Osamu Dazai

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