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I am reading Alita Battle Angel, and I came across a sentence that I do understand, but for some reason is conjugated to the negative. Please could someone break the sentence down for me?

(After becoming just your head, you have become rather talkative)

取｛と｝り憑{つ｝く体によって知能レベルがどうも　左右{さゆう}されていかん…

(My intelligence is influenced by the body I possess...)

My understanding is that どうも gives the meaning of 'somewhat, fairly, quite', but I do not know why いかない is not in the plain form. Also, what does it do when the passive form of the main verb is used?

Ubz
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1 Answers1

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いかん in this sentence means "no good", "of no use", "it sucks", etc. It's adding the speaker's feeling about the mentioned fact (左右される). いかん is almost a lexicalized expression, and it is also used like English "oops", "don't do it" or "oh my gosh". It sounds a little pompous or dialectal.

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