1bringthesun

[1bringthesun]

it’s a long shot… but!

hi, bsd fans~ for some background information, our dearest author Asagiri Kafka has written a few other stories; one of the manga is completely translated, one is more of a fanfiction story game than literature… but it’s to my knowledge that there’s one series without a complete english translation for either the manga or the light novel.

i myself would be very interested in working on a translation for the novel or manga of gildre—‘guilty children’. i’m not a bad translator, but i lack the rest of the ability to put out a translated manga. i also don’t have the finesse to get my hands on a copy of the original text.

my proposal is this:

if anyone is interested, i will happily work on translating ‘guilty children’ with them, except the only thing i will be able to do is translate; not purchase the raws or make it look all nice and pretty. but yes. i will translate.

like i said, it’s a long shot~ but it can’t hurt putting it out there~

[1bringthesun]

hirotsu’s Falling Camellia is a short story as well! it’s simply not available in english, however, my friend translated part of it from a chinese version she found online (you can read her translation here); if you can find any more, then feel free to send it to her and she’ll gladly keep working on it (however, she can’t speak japanese, and knows chinese, which makes it harder, i’m sure…).

i myself am wildly curious about why sensei chose such a soft and feminine story for the man who’s stood next to the seat of PM head for so long, and why he chose to make the ability repellent. if i myself adapted Falling Camellia, i would’ve probably made it something more like teruko’s ability… well, i guess there’s no use speculating~

this is the only translation of this story i’ve ever managed to find, and i only managed to find it since my friend sent me the link directly, this post can be considered a debut for an excerpt from Falling Camellia in a form accessible by westerners.

give it a read, if you’re interested~ (note that the preface is written by the article author and not hirotsu-sensei—his writing starts after “first part” is written.)

I know the abilities are based off of novels they’ve written (The Grapes of Wrath) but some of them are listed as references on the wiki, such as Atsushi’s ability “Beast Beneath the Moonlight” which is a reference to “The Moon Over the Mountain” or Lucy Maud Montgomery’s “Anne of Abyssal Red” which is a reference to Anne of Green Gables. I’m confused about what that means?? Could you explain please? Thanks!!

I wondered that for a long time too, anon, and the fact that Atsushi’s ability is based on a reference to “The Moon Over the Mountain” rather than the title made it very difficult for me to find the short story at first. I’ll try and go through the abilities names and explain what I can:

Nakajima Atsushi: Beast Beneath the Moonlight, this ability name refers to the short story “The Moon Over the Mountain,” also nicknamed “The Tiger Poet,” and references the scene in the story where a man traveling through a mountain forest at night encounters his old friend who has now turned into a tiger and they talk most of the night about how his friend, an aspiring poet, has turned into a tiger and why he has suffered this fate. So the tiger is the “best beneath the moonlight.”

Dazai Osamu: No Longer Human, book title

Kunikida Doppo: Doppo Poetry, the name of a collection of poems that was considered a landmark of new style poetry.

Tanizakai Junichirou: Light Snow, book title. This book’s title in English has been changed to “The Makioka Sisters.”

Edogawa Ranpo: Super Deduction, a reference to Ranpo’s detective novels and detective-type short stories (e.g. “The Psychological Test” does not feature his detective character Akechi Kogorou but it does have a plot that includes a lot of the detecitve-type analysis to deduce the crime and catch the criminal, though it is told from the criminal’s perspective rather than the detectives). 

Miyazawa Kenji: Undefeated by the Rain, title of a poem.

Yosano Akiko: Thou Shalt Not Die, title of a poem.

Fukuzawa Yukichi: All Men Are Equal, reference to his essay entitled “An Encouragement of Learning” that begins with the statement, “Heaven, it is said, does not create one person above or below another. This signifies that when we are born from Heaven we are all equal and there is no innate distinction between high and low.”

Kyouka Izumi: Demon Snow, reference to the play “Demon Pond”

Akutagawa Ryuunosuke: Rashoumon, short story title.

Nakahara Chuuya: For the Tainted Sorrow, title of a poem. And the words he chants to use Corruption are taken from the poem “Song of the Sheep” second stanza. 

Kajii Motojirou: Lemon, short story title.

Hirotsu Ryuurou: Falling Camellia, I have no idea where this ability name comes from to be honest. I do know that he wrote a novel entitled “The Black Lizard” which is where the name for the assault team comes from in BSD.

Mori Ougai: Vita Sexualis, book title.

Ozaki Kouyou: Golden Demon, play title.

Oda Sakunosuke: Flawless, book title.

Yumeno Kyuusaku (Q): Dogra Magra, book title.

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald: The Great Fitzgerald, reference to the book The Great Gatsby

Lucy Maud Montgomery: Anne of the Abyssal Red: reference to the book Anne of Green Gables where the character Anne says things like, “Red hair is my life long sorrow,” and hates her red hair to the point of trying to dye it black, but it turns a horrid shade of green instead. 

Margaret Mitchell: Gone with the Wind, book title.

Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter, book title.

John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath, book title.

Howard Phillips Lovecraft: The Great Old Ones, a reference to Lovecraft’s invented pantheon of god-like beings. You can look into these beings on the H.P. Lovecraft Wiki here. 

Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, reference to his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 

Louisa May Alcott: Little Women, book title.

Herman Melville: Moby-Dick, book title.

Edgar Allan Poe: The Black Cat in the Rue Morgue, a reference to two of his short stories “The Black Cat” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue”

Ango Sakaguchi: Discourse on Decadence, title of an essay.

Andre Gide: Strait is the Gate, book title.

Fyodor Dostoevsky: Crime and Punishment, book title.

And I think that’s all? If I missed anyone then it was unintentional. I hope this can help clear up any questions about ability names and references, and if anyone knows where Hirotsu’s ability name comes from I would love for you to message me and let me know! It’s been bugging me for the last two years! Thank you for the ask, anon! It was a lot of fun putting this together!

[1bringthesun]

I'm very sorry this part wasn't included in the anime, it's about the best insight of Naomi's character we've got in the whole manga, of how witty and coolheaded and resourceful she is. The “If you had a special skill I bet you'd outclass your brother as a detective” line is so interesting...

[1bringthesun]

so when dazai was in the hospital with that nurse, who’s the right one to blame?

(discussions of s/a, medical unprofessionally, and other bsd-typical things)

asking this question is wrong to begin with. there’s no, “ oh no, but who will we blame for the situation?” are you really still looking for someone to blame in bungou stray dogs, the series of grey morality?

well, i don’t blame you. so im making a post about it!

for convenience, i’m just going to assume they slept together because it makes the most sense, and is also generally what the fandom assumes when they try to point fingers at either two.

to better understand why people think a certain way, let’s break it down and approach this problem from two perspectives!

the nurse was in the wrong:

dazai had just gotten out of surgery for having a bullet wound and is still under the influence of anesthesia. she sees him using his phone and takes it from him. he’s handsome and willing to do things with her, so she sleeps with him, and when they’re done, she’s willing to give it back. not only that, but she has the audacity to ask again if they can do it “just once more.” it’s obvious she has zero care for him as a patient if she’s willing to sleep with someone fresh out of surgery, and also being under the influence, he’s not able to properly consent. regardless, she takes her chance to be with a handsome man, completely neglecting her job to care for his health as a nurse and breaking probably every single aspect of professionalism.

dazai was in the wrong:

an annoying woman is disregarding the gravity of his work and holding him, someone who’s important to the fate of the city, by normal hospital standards, when he’s been shot by a bullet before and knows his own body inhumanly well; another doctor even gave him permission, so who’s she to act like the boss of him? obviously, this bothers him, and he needs his phone, so he decides to take the quickest path to getting it back, and, spoiler alert: it isn’t recovery. he seduces her and puts her job at risk just so he’ll get his phone back, and when she becomes attached to him, he says yeah, sure, they can fool around again… if he feels like it.

they’re both in the wrong:

people blame her of sexually assaulting him, and also blame him of sexually assaulting her. they say he couldn’t have consented, she overly wasn’t interested in the beginning, she was meant to care for her patient, he’s a scumbag and a womanizer, etc.

but don’t you see? the fact that both of them have done awful things in these two panels…

…is the point.

dazai is an asshole for sleeping with a woman he doesn’t give a damn about just so she’ll do what he tells her to, and she’s totally insane for letting a patient who was just in surgery share physical intimacy with her.

she’s an awful nurse, and he’s a bitch! they both suck!!!! why only blame one of them for sucking?

from an outsider’s perspective, the nurse does seem to be more in the wrong. she was meant to be his caretaker for a while and completely neglected that, even going so far as to have relations with a patient still under the effects of drugs.

but… was he? he was speaking completely lucidly, and none of his thoughts or words or actions resembled someone under the influence in the slightest. he made a sour face at her when he realized he couldn’t just do whatever he wanted to do, and her attitude in the beginning was clearly appropriate for the situation. calling dazai a victim in this situation is wrong. he clearly took the initiative to change her position. is that not consent?

he manipulated her for access to a phone, and she used him as means of gratification, and both of that is wrong.

[1bringthesun]

"beastzai is cold and emotionless" wrong. he's a big fucking emotional crybaby and that's his entire problem. he's never coped with a single thing in his entire life and that's why we're in this mess.

[1bringthesun]

it was @rivensdefenseattorney who made the mistake of asking to see any of them, for now i will toss brevity for the side and state my loud opinions! naturally, all applicable questions will be answered about bsd.

1. Mori Ougai, hands down. first there are those who believe he’s a man who lusts for the feeling of having power over others, then those who turn him into a saint who only wishes what’s best for everyone else. people simply can’t admit that he’s morally grey; a good bad character. but in this fandom, honestly, everyone is sorely mischaracterized. Ranpo, Poe, Dazai, and Akutagawa are probably up there as well.

2. Odasaku just wouldn’t be a good top because he’s that sort of guy who always assumes he’s doing something wrong. he’d ask every five seconds if his partner felt ok to the point of which they’d just go “get your ass on the bottom Odasaku, it’ll be better for both of us” and he, being the type of person he is, would do it no questions asked. plus, i think he looks cuter when he’s following instructions, but that may just be me…

3. my phone unfortunately doesn’t have enough storage to take any photos. also there are so many bad ones i wouldn’t be able to choose.

4. (this has nothing to do with bsd, but) when she blamed me for not reaching out first after telling me she wished i’d never been born and said she was leaving me forever, i was like: “okay if that’s how you wanna play it” [blocked]

5. umm…. i’m not in many big servers. i’ve always hated those egirl/edating ones though, where nobody knows each other.

6. burn me at the stake for this if you so please, but i simply cannot tolerate most soukoku fans. some are good. some are great! most are short-sighted children who can’t form opinions apart from the mass’ and harass people for not thinking the same way as them.

7. Chuuya. still recovering from his fandom portrayals. i’ll get to liking him eventually, but they make it hard…

8. that Dazai would ever vent to someone else. i don’t care if you portray him as completely dysfunctional or not, but Dazai is the type of person who always hides his true intentions until someone directly asks him or the situation calls for him to reveal it (Higuchi targeting Atsushi, Azure Apostle event, etc.). he would be the last man to ever give anyone else he knew his own emotional baggage, especially when it reveals his intentions and vulnerabilities. the only time he ever visibly looked distressed in canon was when Odasaku died. you’re telling me this same man cries in Chuuya’s arms and tattles to his shachou that Mori sucks?

9. i don’t like some of the simpler tropes, like the idea of atsukyou or Higuchi’s idolization of her senpai, but i tend to like most of canon.

10. how bigoted so many of the fans are. so many of them won’t even hear out alternative opinions…

11. ah, i actually don’t know how to filter things! but if i did, i’d probably filter pro-shipper/anti arguments. not looking for internet discourse about that sort of stuff; i prefer to just mind my own business

12. Odasaku is my first thought because i like him the most, but he’s actually pretty well-received. so instead i propose that Kajii, Ace, and Kyougoku should be given more attention. Kajii because he’s incredibly nihilistic, almost like fanon Dazai, and says the oddest things. Ace because i love when characters are paranoid and selfish, and he’s incredibly paranoid and selfish (also he said Fyodor would look good in a collar which i vehemently second.). Kyougoku is so charming, he’s like if Dazai decided to be a little evil and liked attention more. beloved, all of them.

13. people who woobify Mori make my skin crawl. he deserves to feel as much pain as my other blorbos but for the love of god stop making him seem like an innocent person when his character is fun specifically because he isn’t.

14. Fukuzawa being a dad to Ranpo. it’s very commonly something minor that’s included in fics. i see it a lot.

15. that kanji-writing blank page background that the bsd anime used in the beginning to introduce characters and whatnot. i really like how some artists include it in their work

16. i really don’t understand what fascination people have with making PM members spit on the name of Mori and join the ADA. Chuuya is interesting to me because he’s carved out a home for himself in the PM, and he’d lose his appeal if he turned his back on all of his comrades to “join the side of the light.” same goes for Akutagawa. in canon as it stands, he doesn’t have what it takes to be a good detective. i don’t enjoy how many people associate ADA with good yay happy morally white when even the canon clearly states that they’re not. Fukuzawa told Kunikida to shoot Dazai if he seemed ill-meaning during his entrench exam. that same man wouldn’t accept mafia members instantly at the batt of an eyelash. also, without the execs, the tripartite framework falls apart and leaves Yokohama vulnerable to attack. the mafia needs power in order for the city to stay safe.

17. where they put characters in immensely uncomfortable and revealing situations and cause them extreme amounts of mental stress. i love it. it’s horrible.

18. Kouyou!!!! she’s always portrayed as just Chuuya’s anesan or that pretty mafia woman Yosano has a crush on. i wish people would develop her character for who she actually is more. she’s like if Kyouka’s story stopped being told, like if Yosano never met Ranpo, or like if Odasaku stayed an assassin. like if someone embraced their dismal fate. so interesting. Kouyou-anesan is so cool.

19. …………………the Kajii and Yosano ship.. i can’t believe i fell for the classic enemies to lovers trope………..i just do love a boyfailure and the woman who beats sense into him….

20. didn’t really enjoy the PM arc in the way beginning. didn’t like the beginning of cannibalism, either, when everyone was just hiding from each other. (when i say i didn’t like it, i mean comparatively. i loved it very much by normal standards)

21. soukoku lap scene in dead apple…

22. Fitzgerald’s return arc. it was written so beautifully, and the way Alcott managed to inspire him really captured my heart. he’s so charismatic that i can feel myself drawn to him even though he’s just in my screen. his confidence is infectious. i understand why his subordinates can act so proud.

23. fyolai. i used to hate it. now i don’t mind it, but i still can’t see it as endgame.

24. Mori: enough said.

25. that Asagiri shouldn’t have made the Tanizaki siblings act the way they did. it’s not like he came up with the idea all by himself; Naomi comes from “A Fool’s Love” wherein Naomi and Jojii really do act that way. it’s much ickier in the novel, to be honest, and Naomi in BSD is so much more likable. i’m glad she was added in. it adds depth to Tanizaki’s character. she’s also a delight.

hope you enjoyed~ do feel free to give your own opinions or argue with me. i’m always interested in broadening my horizons.

🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥

the character everyone gets wrong

a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

worst discord server and why

which ship fans are the most annoying?

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

worst part of canon

worst part of fanon

number of fandom-related words you've filtered

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

worst blorboficiation

that one thing you see in fics all the time

that one thing you see in fanart all the time

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

there should be more of this type of fic/art

it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

part of canon you found tedious or boring

part of canon you think is overhyped

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

ship you've unwillingly come around to

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

[1bringthesun]

i get excited when posts discussing dazaku lead with “hate people who hate dazai becsyse he abused akutagawa” and then just taper off into literal nonsense.

someone said that to me and delved into how it was because mori probably called dazai’s ability useless that dazai called akutagawa’s useless, and i was like ..???????? that’s missing the point even more than people who hate dazai for what he did (which is, notwithstanding, a valid thing to do)

the thing is, mori hasn’t canonically ever physically, verbally, or sexually abused dazai. he abused dazai in the way one abuses an object—by using it in a way it’s not meant to be used (although dazai did flourish professionally in the mafia, it clearly wasn’t good for his mental health). there’s literally no evidence nor even suggestion that dazai treated akutagawa the way mori treated him. if anything, it just speaks to how being in a violent and pressuring environment makes one violent and pressuring.

it’s just so funny how people can believe the same thing for such different reasons.

[1bringthesun]

SOMEONE GIVE ME ASKS. bsd because you already know it is. i have strong opinions and i always want to share them.

🔥 choose violence ask game 🔥

the character everyone gets wrong

a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

what was the last straw that made you finally block that annoying person?

worst discord server and why

which ship fans are the most annoying?

what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

worst part of canon

worst part of fanon

number of fandom-related words you've filtered

the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

worst blorboficiation

that one thing you see in fics all the time

that one thing you see in fanart all the time

you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

there should be more of this type of fic/art

it's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

you're mad/ashamed/horrified you actually kind of like...

part of canon you found tedious or boring

part of canon you think is overhyped

your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

ship you've unwillingly come around to

topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing

[1bringthesun]

it’s her adoptive parents that are Christian if my memory serves me right, and she chooses to go to Hell with her bio parents (and then her adoptive parents follow her)…. i think. it’s been a while.

anyway, i’m thinking more along the lines of roles of authors in stories. there’s Yokomizo who gets to be an author even though he’s less important than Gin, so how come she’s from a novel? generally, that’s something we see in side characters—Minoura, Haruno, etc—so it’s a source of curiosity for me that given Gin’s role in the story, she’s still just a story character and not an author.

it’s definitely fair to assume she was added in as a sort of catalyst for Akutagawa’s character (hell, what else would she have been added for?) but then, why don’t some of the other characters have those sorts of figures? i’m not questioning what Gin has to do with Akutagawa—i’m questioning why it’s Akutagawa and Tanizaki Asagiri chose to ‘humanize’ and ‘demonize’ respectively with the presence of a relative. i realize i left out in my initial post i actually know quite a bit about the details of these authors’ lives, so i definitely know where the inspo came from. Akutagawa IRL took care of his sister after her husband killed himself and stuff. Tanizaki had a sister-in-law named Michiko of whom was the model for Naomi in the novel Naomi, thus the relation of BSD Naomi being Tanizaki’s sister. it’s just an interesting narrative choice for me for those two, a “good bad guy” and a “bad good guy” to both have siblings that bring out the “good” in the bad and the “bad” in the good.

as for the Katai thing, Gin didn’t know who Katai was, and therefore she probably told her brother something like, “Higuchi saw my face outside of work today and a random man confessed to me on the street,” and he accepted that as the whole story. they’re pretty independent even if they do mean a whole lot to each other, as shown by Akutagawa saying “it’s been a while” in that arc when he meets up with Gin. they don’t stay in as regular contact as one would expect from two young siblings.

Akutagawa IRL said something about how he could believe in the devil but not so much God, which i think is interesting given how he said “you can call me Diablo” in the fight with Hawthorne, playing the role of ‘devil’ for someone who had more faith than him. but then Hawthorne recognized Akutagawa’s loyalty towards Dazai as faith as well, which pushes the “devil and not God” idea even more given Dazai was known as the Demon Prodigy, and Akutagawa decided to follow after that devil. actually, a lot of BSD characters (including Odasaku) have read the bible before and referenced it in canon material. i wonder what faith is worth to them.

there are so many allusions to works the authors have made in BSD, and it’s honestly impossible to parse them all if you haven’t read through the author’s works. even things that aren’t references can be compared to each other—that’s part of what makes BSD such a damned fun series to be into.

tldr for my post; i question some of Asagiri’s choices (but in a very very good way).

kinda thinking about Gin again… Naomi’s a whole lot like Naomi from Naomi, but we dunno much about Gin at all. they even took away her cross in the anime. is she christian at all? why’s she so important when she’s surrounded by others who are genuine authors? i’ve seen people say she’s from o-gin from the eng+jp fandoms alike, and it’s more likely than not that she is, but why? why include her? why not add another author instead? if they just wanted someone meaningful to Akutagawa, Kikuchi Kan woulda worked, right? why Gin?????

[1bringthesun]

kinda thinking about Gin again… Naomi’s a whole lot like Naomi from Naomi, but we dunno much about Gin at all. they even took away her cross in the anime. is she christian at all? why’s she so important when she’s surrounded by others who are genuine authors? i’ve seen people say she’s from o-gin from the eng+jp fandoms alike, and it’s more likely than not that she is, but why? why include her? why not add another author instead? if they just wanted someone meaningful to Akutagawa, Kikuchi Kan woulda worked, right? why Gin?????

[1bringthesun]

alright. we’ve reached deranged o’clock. today, i, tai, will be dissecting the garb of Fyodor (bsd). if someone has done this already, oops! let’s begin.

to start, an image of Fyodor for reference.

so i’m kicking us off with his hat, because that’s probably the easiest part. the fandom has collectively agreed that it’s an ushanka, and yeah, i tend to agree. it pretty much looks exactly like this (image pictured below: white ushanka from this link).

so that’s that. to balance it out, i’m doing his cape next, because what the fuck. it looks like a pretty normal cape at first glance. one with fur lining. like this (image pictured below: a black cape with fur lining at the top near the collar from this link.)

but i urge you to go look back at the reference image, because not only does Fyodor’s cape not attach at the top, not only does it have buttons along the edges, but it has a notch lapel (a type of collar lapel; basically those foldy things by the sides at the top of a trench coat). and once again, it doesn’t attach at the damn top.

so that leaves us two options: either it’s an unbuttoned coat with sleeves that don’t show because it’s so dark and a fur lining, or it’s a really weird cape. and please spare me, because i know nothing about fashion. i’m doing this all for fun. so let’s explore each option.

it could definitely be something like this, except with fur added (image pictured below: soviet officer’s naval uniform from this link)

except… you know. it doesn’t have sleeves. but his cape doesn’t have anywhere to clip onto at the top, and it also has that collar lapel, and also buttons, so it barely looks like a cape at all! what are you WEARING, Fyodor??

there’s one last possibility, but it’s not a style of cape so much as it is one specific thing i found that looks like the discolored version of what Fyodor is wearing. because i know i’m going to hit the image limit, i’m just going to tell you to visit this link if you wanna see what it looks like. it’s just a lora piana cape.

in any case, his cape does look like a personally tailored version of something that originally came from the russian military, so there’s some food for thought. moving onto his shirt.

the one clothing item that looks most like what he’s wearing is a qipao/cheongsam top. for all intents and purposes, the style and everything looks quite similar—the buttons and how they’re in the middle, where the purple-colored trim would go on Fyodor’s shirt and how it aligns with the sewing, etc. here is an example.

(image pictured below: a white qipao/cheongsam top that honestly looks a lot like what Fyodor is wearing from this link)

that looks pretty similar, right? right?!?! but damnit Fyodor, you had to make things complicated, didn’t you?! because … because your collar? that is NOT a qipao/cheongsam collar. (image pictured below: official art of Fyodor holding his hat and smiling with no cape on from this link)

the only thing that would explain how this was still a qipao/cheongsam top was if he was wearing a fengxian collar. and even then… it’s not quite right. (image pictured below: woman wearing a red dudou with a fengxian collar from this link.)

…but putting so much effort into styling one single shirt… i mean, i couldn’t find any men’s examples of the fengxian collar because styling your qipao is more of a feminine thing to do. so let’s visit russian fashion again.

ah, but there’s the slight kicker. 19th century russian fashion was, to my knowledge, influenced by asian fashion. for example, the khalat, also known as a russian cape, which— huh, do you think he could be wearing a khalat?

….i finished talking about his cape. and as i was writing about the weird collar on his shirt, i remembered this official art, which i grabbed and saved directly from the manga so i don’t have a link source. (image pictured below: newish official art released in the manga—Dazai and Fyodor standing next to each other with yellow paint(?) severing their heads from their bodies and TV screens with various pictures surrounding them.)

Fyodor’s collar! look, it’s straight! maybe he IS wearing a cheongsam! the cape still has that weird collar lapel (goddamn it) so i can’t really say anything enlightened about that, but… the shirt!!

cool! alright! his pants! so this is really straightforward. idk if it’s pants that come as a pair with the shirt or something, but they just look like normal white linen pants to me. (image pictured below: linen, white pants on a woman from this link)

finally, his shoes. i only have one image left before i hit the image limit, so i hope you’re willing to scroll back to the top, where you’ll see his shoes look very strange, but surprisingly, they’re easy enough to label.

i think it’s likely he’s wearing Renaissance boots, given how they look almost identical to his sans the fact they’re disconnected in the front, but Renaissance boots DO have gaps, it’s just not pictured in the specific image of these specific boots i chose. (image pictured below: Renaissance boots from this link.)

yeah, they’re a little short, and maybe they don’t look EXACTLY right, but you can’t deny it’s the same style. if you think the shoe quarters look a little less attached to the vamps, then i’d just tell you to consider the fact he’s wearing spatterdashes and call it a day. (more about spats here.)

and finally, if you’re interested in 19th century/historical russian fashion, given Fyodor’s outfit seems pretty inspired by that, i advise you check out this link, which goes into some detail about things i didn’t.

of course, i hope you enjoyed my disorganized insanity, and may you have a good sun-out time or moon-out time!

[1bringthesun]

Can I ask about the architect? Is he appear in the novel or game ?

ah, so the architect is exclusively in the game, “tales of the lost.” they have a special card and are in Ayatsuji Yukito’s birthday event (of which the script was written by Asagiri for), but other than that, don’t seem to be in any canon material.

(they may be mentioned in the novel, but since the birthday event takes place two years before gaiden, it could also be unrelated)

[1bringthesun]

Hi!!! It’s me, Gaiden Anon! Alas, a tsukimono didn’t whisper into my ear, I just regularly check the bsd gaiden tag

So. Agatha could be further connected to Gaiden because Ayatsuji Yukito’s debut novel, The Decagon House Murders, is an homage to And Then There Were None. It features a bunch of college kids visiting an island and then getting killed off one by one, and it’s actually really good and the manga adaptation is a masterpiece. But I digress. Decagon House is also the first installment in Ayatsuji’s Mansion Murders series, which I’m pretty sure all follow various murders that occur at weird houses built by the architect Nakamura Seiji (I might be wrong because I’ve only read the first two novels, but those two feature three whole houses built by Nakamura, so it’s possible the others are also Nakamura houses). Nakamura houses all have weird tricks in them, like secret passages and stuff. And who else is an architect? Our beloved Archie from BSD. And random crack theory here, but if he’s based on Nakamura Seiji (a fictional character) and looks so distinctly inhuman, then it’s possible that he is some sort of ability lifeform or also born from the Book

Also I just remembered I owe you a ramble about how tragic Tsujimura is, so I’ll get around to doing that in the near future :)

—Gaiden Anon, your sibling in Gaiden insanity

haha, i feel like i should start calling you gibling (gaiden sibling)… /j

tbh, when i saw architect, my first thought was that he was awfully like Fyodor. that is to say, resorting to drastic means in order to try and make the world a little less “sinful.” that’s why his death was so upsetting to me—he was smart enough to pull something like that, dedicated enough to stick to it, caring enough to try, and naive enough to think it’d work.

honestly, given the new bsd chapter, they remind me even more of each other than before… i just want more architect content (god save us, gibling. us against the world gaiden-unknowing world…./j)

it’d be interesting if he was also from the book. his character design is a little reminiscent to Sigma’s? i like to headcanon them as siblings, sigh..

[1bringthesun]

gaiden anon, i can only fall to my knees and pray that perhaps a monkey-shaped tsukimono whispers in your ear to look at tumblr and read this, but i just had a few more thoughts about how connected canon bsd really is to gaiden:

firstly, Agatha Christie and her ability, “then there were none.” and you might look quizzically at me and think, “what the ever-loving hell does she of all people have to do with a few random japanese ability users?” at which point, i will curl my fist into a point and start madly gesturing at “and then there were none.” tourists on an island. killed one by one by someone there. sound familiar? if not, i’ll enlighten you—that’s exactly the same mystery as the reigo island serial murders case. am i reaching far and assuming they’re connected at all when it could have been a matter of Asagiri borrowing the plot of a mystery novel to fill in details or even a simple coincidence? absolutely. do i care? no. and until proven otherwise, i will believe that Tsujimura and Christie are deeper connected in a way we don’t yet know.

secondly, Kyougoku. more importantly, Kyougoku and his identity as Puzzlemaker, and how before he tarnished his own reputation, he visited the ADA office and was locked in a building with Tanizaki. that feels important. and the architect reminds me a little of Fyodor himself, which i just wanted to add in… but given how Ayatsuji is familiar with the ADA and even met one of their agents (and i think the government knows that too?), it seems a lot more likely that Ango or some other high-up entity would consider Ayatsuji as a weapon during the vampire incident.

i’m crazy but i’m free.

(i’m not free.)

[1bringthesun]

Naomi is such a weird novel … it’s so normal person behavior to call your teenaged wife “my big baby” and for her to call you “papa”

HELP WAIT

aita? i (m31) have been married for 2 years (f18) to my current wife. i found her when she was 15 and started interacting with her because she looked white. i asked her to become my maid because our relationship was too weird to be honest about, but she was too cute and i wanted to marry her. needless to say, she has taken complete control of my life like a plague, and i can’t say no to anything she does now. aita for making her cry when i don’t go in debt for her????

^ that’s basically the novel

[1bringthesun]

they’re so whimsical i love them

Asagiri & Harukawa’s Comment on BSD Volume 23

Trans: @/dazaiarchives

[1bringthesun]

if i remember correctly, it also mentions something like this in the manga (minus Dazai’s mouth-blabbing), and the quote is actually from Nakajima Atsushi’s Light, Wind, and Dreams.

The text below is that quote. it’s interesting how Asagiri brought it up twice, though, and all the commentary about how important books are and encouragement and stuff… hmmm….

[Translation] Bungou Stray Dogs Projection Mapping (in collaboration with Kadokawa Culture Museum)

This is a projection mapping displayed on a huge bookshelf inside the Kadokawa Culture Museum. The projection lasts for about 5 minutes, with a short conversation between Dazai and Atsushi, of which the script was written by Asagiri Kafka specially for this collaboration. Videos and recordings are not allowed inside so I can only share some photos and the translation of the scripts here. Please note that it is based on what I heard and remembered so there might be some mistakes. Also the collaboration started from August 2022 so it might or might not relate to the recent events in the manga, it’s all up to your interpretation.

TRANSLATION AND IMAGES UNDER THE CUT

The projection starts with Atsushi climbing up the bookshelf and falling off it.

Atsushi: Oh no. I have to put them back!

Dazai: Huh? Are you sure it is here? The book that has an impact on Atsushi-kun?

Atsushi: Dazai-san? Yeah, I’m sure it’s a book from this shelf but… I can’t find it now.

Dazai: Without that book, we might not have won that battle against the enemies, right?

Atsushi: Yeah…

“In days gone by I never repented of my acts. I was sorry only for what I didn’t do.” Had it not been for the words from that book, I might have not been able to make the right decision. What is it called again…? I can only remember the title was like, something written by someone…

Dazai: Pft… In other words, you don’t remember anything.

Atsushi: Sorry… You came all the way here with me yet…

Dazai: Nah, if you cannot remember, maybe now’s not the right time to remember it. Books sometimes behave as if they are testing us, that’s why.

Atsushi: Testing us?

Dazai: Have you never experienced that? You happened to come accross a book you didn’t know nor have any interest in. Then you picked it up and what’s written in it stayed unforgotten in your heart till years later. That kind of experience.

Atsushi: Dazai-san, do you read too?

Dazai: Huh? You thought I didn’t? Without reading, there is no intellect. It’s the daily consumption of foods that makes our bodies. But it is the letters and words that builds our souls. When you stand here, you will understand what it means. Look around you.

Atsushi: You’re right. There is something very…

Dazai: Yes, remember this well. Books, at times, behave like intelligent life forms, beyond a mass of paper and ink… If Atsushi-kun hadn’t read that book, we would not have won that battle. We must not take books lightly. Because there are some switches that can only be pressed through reading a book, quietly hidden in the darkness we think we are in.

Atsushi: Ah, I see. That book I read… it would be exaggerating to call it a fated encounter, but I feel like there is an important meaning to it.

Dazai: That’s what I thought. Atsushi-kun, maybe there is a reason you have a special role in there as well.

Atsushi: What kind of reason?

Dazai: It will reveal itself sooner or later... Well, now that I have achieved my goal of showing off as a senior in front of my junior, guess I’ll go back and sleep (yawning)

Atsushi: You didn’t come here to help me search for the book at all, did you…

The projection ends with Trash Candy playing on the background and a very cool presentation of the characters' skills. It is such a shame that I can't share a full videos with everyone, but live photo is a lifesaver this time.

One last thing, even though the BSD collaboration will officially end today, the museum also does regular projection mapping on the same bookshelf and it is just equally cool so if you ever have chance to visit this museum, please give it a try. You will find a lot of BSD goods and related stuff around this area too <3

Thanks for reading till the end :3