#bsd mainline manga

[caldera1000-7]

Continuation or more of a clean-up of my previous post, with less imagery.

One possible reason for Akutagawa's actions could be that he has come to see value in a life beyond his own. In Beast, we saw him attempting to teach those who killed his friends the value of life through killing them. However, in doing so, he lost his own way and failed to recognize that he never truly demonstrated the value of his sister’s life—or even his own—due to his recklessness. By the time he realized this, it was too late and took a lot of...well beast's drama to make him realize that, and ultimately the way he thinks and the psychology used in beast is one of the best portrayals of akutagawa as a character.

In the current timeline, of the mainline manga, to do with the above image, the answer may lie in the idea that, after everything, he has come to see value in Atsushi’s life: a life other than his own, someone similar yet fundamentally different—a true counterpart, the other side of the coin.

This could be seen as a way for Akutagawa to, in a sense, save himself or his past self. Unlike when he expressed being glad for Kyouka, this time, it is different. Here, his actions seem to reflect a profound shift, one where he acknowledges the importance of another’s survival beyond his own goals and desires.

Dazai himself stated that he knew why Akutagawa would save Atsushi. Throughout the series, it has been evident how much the two have grown from their dynamic and how their relationship has evolved. Beast provided further insight into how they might function even as friends. Their role as the successful Soukoku is something particularly compelling. Looking at previous partnerships—Mori and Fukuzawa, who stand in stark contrast and could never work together; Dazai and Chuuya, who were forced into collaboration despite their differences but remained reliable comrades when it counted—we see how these pairings reflect their respective dynamics. In contrast, Akutagawa and Atsushi embody the Yin-Yang balance. Their designs alone reinforce this contrast, illustrating how they either complement or challenge each other. While SSKK (Shin-Soukoku) may not be the best term for their unique balance, their development is undeniably profound.

From the very beginning, Akutagawa and Atsushi’s interactions have been charged with conflict, misunderstanding, and eventual growth. Akutagawa was shaped by Dazai’s ruthless mentorship, learning to equate strength with worth and mercilessness with survival. Atsushi, on the other hand, struggled with deep-seated self-loathing instilled by the orphanage director’s abuse, believing he was unworthy of love or existence. Their clashes stemmed from these core beliefs—Akutagawa saw Atsushi as a weakling unfit to be recognized by Dazai, while Atsushi saw Akutagawa as a monster incapable of redemption. However, their battles forced them to confront these misconceptions. Over time, they each began to understand that their value was not defined by Dazai’s recognition, nor by how they were treated in the past. Instead, their growth came from the challenges they faced together.

Many theories surround Akutagawa’s memory loss, but here, he is undeniably fulfilling the role of a protector—mirroring the ideals of Knight Akutagawa. Looking back, he has always had a protective streak, as seen with his deceased friends in the slums. Furthermore, Rashomon is not only an offensive ability but also a defensive one, reflecting his dual nature—capable of shielding both himself and others. This aligns with his evolution as a character, one who has always been a guardian in his own way, even if it wasn’t always apparent. Additionally, Rashomon’s adaptability is a direct parallel to Akutagawa himself; while he initially wielded it purely as a weapon of destruction, as it is shown to be, to devour everything in its way. But it also protects him with its shielding and defensive capabilities, and a knight both fights and defends for others - but besides that and making any connections there I would have to say, we all could already see his ability comes from - his coat, his clothes, his "protection" which he feels to vulnerable without (reason why he doesn't like baths.) And not to mention the moment where Dazai shot him 3 times for failing a mission and Rashomon automatically acted to defend him. His character is built on themes of survival, how the environment shaped him etc. afterall.

Akutagawa’s death had a significant impact on Atsushi, not just from a shipping perspective, but from a purely narrative and analytical standpoint. This moment is one of the most defining in the series. It also makes complete sense that Akutagawa would regain some—or even all—of his memories afterward. He had spent so long fixated on killing Atsushi, with their agreement hinging on his ability to refrain from taking lives for six months before their ultimate confrontation. This duel, if it still occurs, could parallel their fight in Beast in a meaningful way.

This act of self-sacrifice marks a crucial turning point for Akutagawa. His life had been centered on pursuing his wants, achieving his goals—many of which were rooted in selfishness. This mirrors Atsushi in some ways, especially since they both do an action (killing/getting stronger or saving lives) to give their life meaning or for feeling accepted into the world, which are both endless paths which they both need self-growth on to get to a better point (also I believe akutagawa could be going the Odasaku route which I am excited for but lets not get too into that.)

However, for the first time, this was an entirely selfless act. He wasn’t seeking personal validation or a step toward his own ambitions; he was protecting someone. Not just someone, but someone he had deemed worthy of being saved. Someone who deserved to live because he had finally come to understand, at least somewhat after this, the value of others’ lives truly, instead of from a survival kind of "the weak die, die and make way for others" which he grew up with not just in the mafia but in the slums too where it was said his lungs would burn and the people "above" would "look down" on them but never truly acknowledge their existence, its sad to think even after Dazai found him he never really showed akutagawa that he acknowledges his strength or how far he has gone really, but this itself has many theories and arguments over reasons and potentially the plot moving forward with their characters and Dazai's reasonings. Anyways, this is why Akutagawa "woke up" when Atsushi sacrificed himself, repeating the same words Akutagawa once did. It was a moment of profound narrative symmetry, one that encapsulates Akutagawa’s arc.

A notable mention here is 55 Minutes, which further supports the idea of Akutagawa’s memory resilience. Despite dying in flames, after time was reversed, he retained memories of events that theoretically never happened. He remembered the exact time of the disaster and even made a point to check on Higuchi around that same time. This suggests that certain experiences impact him so deeply that they imprint on his consciousness, even when they logically shouldn’t. A similar phenomenon can be observed with Vampire Akutagawa. Despite being under vampiric control, he retained fragments of his consciousness—spared Aya, responded to Atsushi’s words, and, most significantly, kept his promise. Vampirism should have rendered him a mindless tool, yet even then, his core principles remained intact.

This aligns with a recurring theme in Akutagawa’s character: his defiance against being controlled. He has always been a "dog" to the Mafia, yet one that could never be fully tamed. His ability to retain memories and emotions, even under extreme circumstances, reinforces his complexity as a character. This trait plays a pivotal role in his development, ultimately shaping his choices and his final, selfless decision to protect Atsushi. And of course, all of this ties back to Dazai…

Ahem, his eyes. Besides being glorious and magnificent, I've been thinking and spoke to a friend recently on this. It seems his eyes only turn white when he is scared, vulnerable, or determined in the right direction (when he said "understood" to bram there was a light in his eyes.) And we all know Harukawa's genius and interesting way of making eyes go from dark to light showing their development or a change in their views too. The darkness showing how "tainted" they are or "dark" themselves. To which Kyouka used to have dark eyes that turned light (actually kind of grey) and Dazai's is still black. Akutagawa's has also been black/dark a lot of the time, and usually when he is shocked we see his dark/black eyes shrink in surprise unlike this moment where we see the light in it and his pupil for once. So its an important moment, especially since this is where he iss regaining some if not all of his memories. Although we still need clearance on what happened to him which would be shown in the next chapters after the whole S03 4D universe lore is done dropping completely, or possibly after the Amenogozen battle. Thats all for now from The Akutagawa Fan, Charkoala, Caldera whichever name or title works.

[jinxie-117]

Shin Soukoku: Why BSD cannot be told without Atsushi and Akutagawa

How's everyone feeling after chapter 121.5? Pretty great, right? Pretty SSKK-brained, right? Well, I've got good news for you - Atsushi and Akutagawa are absolutely the emotional core of Bungou Stray Dogs.

That's right chat - whether you ship them or not, these two are absolutely fundamental to the entirety of BSD. Take whatever perspective you want on them - as lovers, as friends, as rivals who despise each other fundamentally but learn to trust one another - these two and their relationship cannot be separated from the overarching themes of their tale.

Naturally, I will be using the mainline manga as reference, as I believe it to be the best source for the overall story of BSD as well as information on Akutagawa and Atsushi's characters (since the light novels and spinoff mangas tend to focus predominantly on characters like Dazai and Chuuya, and BEAST doesn't count). Obviously, spoilers for everything. So, with that in mind, let's begin:

What is BSD about?

Many people would agree that one of the main themes of Bungou Stray Dogs is the value of a human life. Numerous characters struggle with issues surrounding their right to even be alive (Atsushi, Dazai, Akutagawa, Kyouka, Yosano, I mean the list goes on), their status as a human being (Dazai, Chuuya, Akutagawa, Sigma, and arguably Fyodor), or the amount of life required to be taken in order for the 'greater good' (most specifically the conflict between Fukuzawa and Fukuchi, but also Fyodor).

Pretty much every character in Bungou Stray Dogs struggles with some sort of suicidality or has assigned themselves a purpose that they must never stray from (Kunikida and his ideals come to mind - he believes he should not live unless he can follow the exact principles that he has composed for himself), causing them to equate the value of their lives to this one purpose.

It makes sense, then, that three of the most major villains we've had so far - Fitzgerald, Fyodor, and Fukuchi - have their own ways of cheating death: Fitzgerald in his quest to use the Book and resurrect his daughter, Fyodor with his ability, and Fukuchi with Shintou Amenogozen. What's more, all of them aim to cause immense loss of life (Fyodor is willing to kill anyone and everyone in pursuit of purging sin, Fitzgerald didn't mind loss of life in pursuit of money, power, and access to the Book, and although Fukuchi is ultimately on a smaller scale, he still aimed to kill a large number of people in order to achieve his ideal of peace). The value of a human life is the most sacred thing in this world, and so being able to cheat your own death while causing many others is naturally the most evil thing to do by this world's rules.

A final thing to note that, despite every character believing in some divine (especially in Fyodor's case) purpose for themselves that will finally give their life value, this purpose tends to cause more harm to themselves and others than they would care to admit. Kunikida's ideals especially (I keep using him as an example, it's because I recently read Dazai's entrance exam lmao) are emphasised as ridiculous and overdone, and his rigidity frequently causes him harm. This self-destruction brought on by purpose will become especially relevant as we move on to discuss our two beautiful boys:

Atsushi Nakajima: Useless Self-Pity

News to the people of the world - Atsushi is my favourite character in all of Bungou Stray Dogs. He is perfect to me and I love him. Many people I encounter on the internet have some sort of quantum beef with this man, which I can only assume is because they see in him that their own self-hatred and pity can cause harm, and get extremely butthurt about the fact that self-flagellating does nothing for them. I, however, have no such qualms, and thus I can see that he is certified peak.

One of Atsushi's major flaws, despite all his kindnesses, is that he cannot fathom a reason why he should be allowed to live, and constantly searches for that reason in other people. For a long time, he based his entire worth around the orphanage headmaster's opinion of him, as he was his only involved guardian - and thus, as a result of his abuse, believed himself worthless. Upon leaving home (or more accurately, being forcibly removed), he no longer had a purpose to live, but his survival instincts kept him alive for long enough to meet Dazai.

Meeting Dazai and joining the detective agency was only a short solace - because Atsushi, who wanted to live but truly believed that he did not deserve to, was now on the hunt for a new reason to live: protecting others.

It makes sense that in a high-stakes environment that Atsushi sees the only value of his life as protecting other people. This is first demonstrated during his entrance exam, in chapter two, when this freak of nature jumps on top of a bomb in order to protect the people around him. This seems to earn him approval from others (which he believes is his reason to live, for people to give him their approval and thus confirm he is allowed to exist), so he begins to participate in more battles and save more people's lives and generally act in defence of other people in order to earn his right to be alive.

There is more to be said here, but maybe I'll make a post only about Atsushi some other time. Moving on, one of the main drawbacks of Atsushi's desperation to live and his belief that he needs to protect others, is that he suffers from his main weakness in times of stress - dwelling on the past. Despite possessing the capability to protect and fulfil his purpose, Atsushi will freeze up and begin to spiral into self-hatred whenever anything goes wrong for him.

This is most obvious in the latest chapters, when witnessing all of his friends in the ADA die at the hands of Ame No Gozen and Dostoevsky. He seems entirely unable to take any action and fight back, believing his foe to be insurmountable, despite Fyodor's confirmation that this may not be the case:

So, we've established Atsushi's weakness as his inaction, passivity, and self-hatred. It makes him often useless in battle, and prevents him from creating a purpose for himself and interacting with the value of his life in a healthy way. Instead of protecting others and maintaining his own self worth, he fails to protect others, demolishes his self worth, and thus attempts increasingly dangerous and reckless ways to prove that his life has value. Most notably uh....

This suicide is demonstrative of Atsushi's terrible self-image. He foolishly believes that his life will have value if he literally kills himself, despite the fact that his life will no longer have value if he cannot do anything with it. Atsushi's belief that self-sacrifice is noble when he should be aiming to preserve as many lives as possible, including his own, is the culmination of every scrap of self-hatred he's been developing over the course of the entire story.

However, this can also be perceived also a good act - for once, Atsushi takes action instead of protecting mindlessly, and I will get into how this relates back to Akutagawa and how he teaches him how to take action instead of dwelling on the past, but that's for a later section. Either way, this act of self-sacrifice is both Atsushi moving onward in his character arc - learning how to take action in times of stress, instead of standing still, but also remaining stagnant - he refuses to preserve his own life, preferring instead to sacrifice it in the name of his purpose.

So, to move things along...

Ryuunosuke Akutagawa: Mindless Self-Servitude

More news to the world - you're never gonna guess which BSD character I relate to the most. This freak. This section will hopefully be a little shorter because this post is really dragging on, but no promises!

Akutagawa was very dissociated for the first years of his life - but he still had a purpose right up until his friends died. Being the strongest in his group of children in the slums, he was their assigned protector, and believed this to be his only purpose. It is the loss of this purpose that managed to break the haze around his emotions and first experience hatred - before it causes him to realise he has no reason to go on.

Immediately, Akutagawa takes up a new purpose - to prove his strenght to Dazai. Dazai personally tailors this purpose himself, ensuring that Akutagawa's entire sense of self-worth is dependent on him, willing to sacrifice any hope or joy that he might have had a chance at feeling. At the same time, however, Akutagawa despises Dazai for his treatment, being at least partially cognisant of his abuse, and wishes to kill him - thus creating a paradox in which he shall always wish to destroy his reason for live, but never be able to out of fear of losing said reason to live.

It is pretty important to note that I do not think Akutagawa wishes to die, unlike Atsushi who wholly believes that he should. Rather, Akutagawa becomes what he sees as a heartless monster when he is without a purpose, and thinks that he shall rot away on his own without one, as he believed that he did as a child in the slums, one day away from death at all times (now no longer being wholly aware that he was a fierce protector and once saw that as his reason to live). As a result, he adopts a philosophy that Dazai introduces him to - that the weak shall die, and the strong shall live, and that he better hope to be strong.

So, Akutagawa's worst weakness is that he despises the weak and will quickly and recklessly cut them down, refusing to sheath his sword, as he believes those strong enough to be worthy of life shall be able to hold their own against him in battle. Rather, instead of diminishing his own life in pursuit of saving others, Akutagawa diminishes others' lives in pursuit of saving his own. He acts recklessly and impulsively, underestimating his foes, the opposite of how Atsushi acts. He is actively called out on this by Pushkin upon encountering him:

To rub salt in the wound, earlier this chapter Atsushi calls him out on it multiple times, and Dazai calls him out on it for about... two years straight. So we can parse that Akutagawa really doesn't know how to slow down or quit, always dealing with the present and the now, believing that mass destruction will be a proof of his strength that he can then demonstrate to Dazai and earn his right to live.

This purpose, however, actively harms Akutagawa - in particular, it removes from him his humanity. He is repeatedly referred to as some kind of dog (see: the heartless cur, the silent mad dog, the black-fanged hellhound, the list goes on), and treated like his only use is to fight - which he genuinely believes, and so exists only to hurt and fight others. This causes a vicious cycle - Akutagawa hurts others recklessly -> gets called out on hurting others recklessly and denounced as a dog that doesn't know how to do anything else -> he internalises this idea of not knowing how to do anything but kill -> he continues to hurt others recklessly.

So, we have Akutagawa who will kill others to prove he is strong and thus allowed to live, and Atsushi who will kill himself to prove that he can protect and thus allowed to live. What a pair! So let's get onto the main event that shouldn't have taken this long.

Shin Soukoku: To me, you've always had a right to live

This post isn't about it, but the amount of panels these two have together where they are perfectly mirroring each other is wholly unsubtle. I've never seen anything like it. It is totally ridiculous.

To create an effective narrative foil, one must first create as many similarities between two characters as they can. So let's begin:

Both studied under Dazai

Both struggle with a flimsy reason to live

Both have all-devouring beasts that can cut through things most people wouldn't be able to as their ability

Both think themselves worthless save for one thing

Both are haunted by pasts of physical abuse that cause violence to be their accepted norm

Both feel their emotions very strongly

There's more but I've been at this post for two hours

These similarities, especially the one surrounding their reason to live, are very accessibly noticed in another human being. Overall, both of these two need to learn how to dispense of their current reasons to live, which tend to hinge on another person and a set of narrow-minded ideas (in Atsushi's case, protecting everybody, and in Akutagawa's, the strong needing to defeat the weak).

As a result of being able to notice these flaws very easily in another (having only subconsciously noticed it in themselves), these two do not get along, and repeatedly call each other out on foolish behaviour, enabling each other to improve. This looks slightly different on either side, so I'll go one-by-one.

Let's begin with Atsushi's side of the deal, because I talked about him first. As we established earlier, what he needs to learn is to take action, stop dwelling on his past, and view his life as something worth holding onto, as all human life has value.

The one thing Akutagawa absolutely despises about Atsushi is his absolute unwillingness to take any action at all.

Akutagawa, who is so used to moving forward and fighting and acting in the now, hates Atsushi for being able to dwell on his past and still have Dazai's approval. It fills him with complete and utter rage, and so he unwittingly motivates Atsushi to learn how to take proper action.

Another example is on the boat, when Atsushi's resolve is failing, and he comes to assist.

Ah, the famous line. Unironically though, it is perfectly demonstrative of Akutagawa's ability to instil self-confidence in Atsushi and motivate him into taking action - which does work later on when Atsushi saves Akutagawa from an inevitable death at the hands of Fukuchi, allowing them both to escape with their lives (for now):

So, good job Akutagawa! You've managed to teach Atsushi the power of not sitting around being dead miserable, not doing anything about the things that are visibly going wrong all around him. You know, I bet this won't have any other consequences for both you and him!

Oh, hey, Akutagawa. Guess what else you taught him:

So. We've already established why this is kind of an... issue. But as we can visibly see, Atsushi is able to take action. For the first time in several chapters, he is motivated by the prospective death of the man who warned against his passivity, into acting, not sitting by and watching everybody he cares for die, acting. Akutagawa, whose recklessness and impulsivity Atsushi once criticised, seems to be the one thing that enables him to take action after a period of extreme self-doubt and passivity.

This is especially special because Atsushi is motivated into this action by hallucination Dazai, who was once the hallucination of the orphanage director - who is now, at least implicitly, revealed to be Byakko, or Atsushi's tiger (if I am proven wrong on this then it's SO joever but whatever my theory still holds up). Throughout the entire story, Byakko is used as a metaphor for Atsushi's self-image (which I will possibly go into in another post because I'll be here all day if I do it now). So, if hallucination Dazai motivates Atsushi into acting, that means that Akutagawa has pressured him enough that he has literally permanently altered his self-concept. Insane.

Another thing that Akutagawa criticises Atsushi for is his belief that other people need to be protected, and that he can destroy himself for the sake of others, and thus earn a right to live. He demonstrates this particularly in chapter 35:

Akutagawa's main philosophy is that he who is the strongest shall come out on top, and that sacrificing anything for others is useless. So, he's (still in the process of) teaching Atsushi how to live for himself and look out for himself, which he is able to do whenever they fight against each other, and also when they fight with others - the combination of their abilities is incredibly powerful, and also represents Akutagawa giving up his defences and giving them to Atsushi, thus teaching him how to look out for himself.

This absolutely comes to fruition when Akutagawa sacrifices himself for Atsushi on the boat against Fukuchi and tells him to get away while he still can - however you slice it, he is unintentionally teaching Atsushi that he has the right to live and that Akutagawa is willing to die for it - that it doesn't matter if he protects or if he doesn't, that no matter what happens, he deserves to live. And these guys hate each other! What the hell???

Another thing to note is that now that Atsushi is presumably dead from Akutagawa's POV, he is very visibly devastated, even being able to recall his memories upon seeing the man who he fought so hard to defend take his own life. Should they reunite, I imagine that Akutagawa will be at least slightly angry with Atsushi for sacrificing himself like that - thus moving his arc of self-preservation forward.

Now, let's move onto Akutagawa's side of the deal, after that incredibly long amount of time spent on Atsushi's end.

Akutagawa believes that he does not have the right to go on unless he can prove his strength, specifically to Dazai, and does this via cutting down anything in his path.

Atsushi cannot shut up about how idiotic Akutagawa's impulsivity is. We see this on several occasions, the usually kind Atsushi devolving into downright bitchiness at points:

These are only two examples, because I didn't want to have to go chapter hopping that many times. Sorry chat.

Regardless, Akutagawa needs to be taught how to take things slow and learn how to preserve life instead of absolutely demolishing it. This comes to fruition via the six-month promise that Atsushi forces him to make, playing upon Akutagawa's principles and forcing him to not kill anyone for several months. Akutagawa begrudgingly follows through, and ends up successfully managing it right up until his death at the hands of Fukuchi. In addition, it could be argued that this same impulse-control Atsushi insists on inspiring in Akutagawa is what allows him to be able to stay hidden through most of the terrorist arc. Had the promise not existed, he likely would have killed to get his way, and ended up mistakenly revealed.

So, similar to how Akutagawa unintentionally motivates Atsushi to take action, Atsushi unintentionally motivates Akutagawa to slow things down and avoid impulsively killing. He is able to ensure Akutagawa's sword is sheathed when necessary, a feat that even Dazai couldn't achieve.

In addition, while I'd say the 'Dazai's approval' conflict is still in murky waters with Akutagawa, as he's only just recalled Atsushi and it's unclear if he's recalled anything else, Atsushi unwittingly motivates Akutagawa into reducing his impulsivity by allowing him to realise that Dazai won't be pleased by it:

While this exchange can be interpreted as Akutagawa resigning himself to Dazai's hatred of him, we do see him later postpone the killing of the two guards, both because this mission is literally made to work against him (if the guards die, a signal is sent out) and because Atsushi is constantly pulling him up on his shit.

In addition to this, Atsushi teaches Akutagawa a very important thing - that the lives of the weak matter. This is such an insane breakthrough for Akutagawa's character, also represented by the six-month promise. Despite how he's operated all this time, he learns to see Atsushi - who he has perceived as weak all this time due to his constant self pity - as a valuable ally and a life that matters, even sacrificing himself for him in the end.

Akutagawa sacrificing himself for Atsushi is such an insane move because he has never conceptualised something close to doing anything like that before, not once in his life. Atsushi, through all they have been through together, has reawakened the protective instinct in him that hasn't been active since he was a child. This is directly after Fukuchi attempts to convince him to work for him, too - right after he promises strength and Dazai's approval and everything Akutagawa has ever wanted.

Indeed, his life is that important. It is directly after this exchange that Akutagawa and Atsushi are able to trust each other to launch the surprise attack on Fukuchi, only stopped by the fact that his sword can literally exist outside of space and time. For the life of a weak man, Akutagawa gives up all he ever wanted. He gives up Dazai's approval, which he says that he fears dying without. He gives up a chance to become stronger. He gives up his life, which he so desperately wants to live. All for a weak man. All for somebody who he doesn't believe should live, if he cannot beat another in battle.

This is especially evident in the fact that despite the fact he's lost all of his memories, Akutagawa still adheres to the promise that he made to Atsushi. He has learned to respect the weak enough that he refuses to take a life, even when he is visibly winning in battle. And even though he was inspired by Bram, I would like to point out that Akutagawa has sworn his sword to protect others now, a promise that he will still likely adhere to despite the fact he now retains his memories - after all, we still see him in his knight getup at the end of S5E11, which is at least partially symbolic of his pledge.

In addition, Akutagawa is a character who is likely foreign with grief now that he's basically removed himself from the memories of what happened to him and to his friends in the slums - he never mentions his past, and is very visibly attempting to distance himself from it by engaging with luxury items such as antiques, and enjoying food such as figs, which can be seen as somewhat luxury depending on the context.

However, when Atsushi seemingly dies, he is absolutely devastated, something that I do not think we've seen him be for anything not related to Dazai (correct me if I'm wrong, but this depth of reaction isn't usually present in him). He, who never feels grief, likely because he believes those who die are weak and thus have it coming, is so shocked by Atsushi's death that he regains his memories and feels utter despair at the idea of losing him.

Conclusion

So, Atsushi and Akutagawa, both characters whose reason to live is deeply intertwined in their outlook on life, are able to balance out and improve each other's characteristics tenfold. I imagine as the manga progresses that both of them will teach each other the value of their own lives simply for existing, something that the overarching story of BSD seems to be trying to communicate.

Shin Soukoku is a perfect microcosm of the overall themes of BSD, representing the one question from which the entire story stems. Without these two, this particular theme would mean nothing, considering there would be literally no relatable plane to experience it on. Sure, we can acknowledge that millions of people dying is bad, and accept that human life is valuable through Fukuchi and Fyodor and Fitzgerald, who all attempt to demonstrate the opposite - but without Akutagawa and Atsushi, it wouldn't nearly mean as much.

I am sorry that this post was so long! If you stuck to the end you are an angel sent from the very heavens. Don't be afraid to reblog or comment your thoughts, this is just my opinion and I would love a discussion. If there are any typos I'm also sorry I've been sitting here for three hours trying to collect sources and write. But actually I'm not sorry cos I'm really based

[lotus-soda]

I think I may have solved the bsd mainline manga timeline

TW FOR MENTIONS OF SUICIDE AND DEATH!

Soooo this took me a week, but so worth it! The link to the google doc where everything is and is explained, is here! I hope you all enjoy! Thanks!

[deimosatellite]

is there like some kind of list somewhere of all the bsd stuff and spinoffs bc i am so confused theres so much LOL. id planned to read the entire mainline manga and then look into spinoffs while ppl i know were watching the anime but the anime like randomly inserts spinoffs? which is considered canon when it comes to the anime going out of order / moving things around in canon? LSKDFJSDDS OTL

[jumpscaregoose]

so I've been thinking about these tags ever since I wrote them and I've been getting Mad so fuck it

let's talk about the Bungo Stray Dogs Problem (and how animating the shaman king sequels is similar)

so bsd has a lot of light novels. a Lot. I looked it up and there are currently nine. bsd also has a main manga series. the light novels often contain very important plot points for the main series. the biggest example of this is how dazai's entire character motive is revealed in the dark era light novel and you're a bit fucked if you don't know about it reading the main manga

and a lot of the people who read the manga have read the novels and have incorporated that knowledge into the bsd canon in their heads

the problem shows up when you're trying to adapt the story into a new medium for a fresh audience (for example, making an anime). you want the audience to experience the whole story, but adapting it exactly as it's written (main story that offshoots into different timelines all over) is basically impossible, because:

if you ignore all the side material you lose a lot of important character moments and backstory, making your story worse

if you fully adapt all the side material the pacing of the main story gets totally bungled , making your story worse

if you adapt all the side material as OVAs/movies your watch order gets totally bungled, and some people are going to miss that important stuff, making your story worse (this happened with the Dr Stone Ryusui OVA this year, which bridged a big yet important period of nothing happening in the manga and would have wrecked the season three pacing if put there)

so you're left with the problem of how to get across all the important bits without interrupting the main story too much. the solution studio bones came up with for bsd was adapting whatever light novel was most important to the current season in three episode bursts at/near the start of every season (excluding season 5 so far). people get way too mad at bones for having to actually adapt the material they're adapting and I think that's dumb and stupid. moving on.

this is the exact same problem any adaptation of the shaman king sequels has. due to magazine curse and other stuff there are at least four manga set in the mainline sequel timeline (flowers, super star, red crimson, and marcos). red crimson and marcos are both self-contained stories that also have important plot stuff (like the bsd novels) or at least red crimson does. so if you want to properly retell the story for the screen you're gonna have to do some fuckshit with what you pull from where. it's a lot easier here than with bsd though

[gold-pavilion]

hi!!! i’m a huge fan of your analysis posts and it really really offers me more insight into such a complex piece of media like bsd. i was wondering if i could hear your thoughts on dazai and chuuya’s relationship? there’s so much to it that i can never really wrap my head around it- especially with the new info that stormbringer has given us. i was also wondering how you might compare dazai’s relationship with chuuya vs his relationship with oda. obviously they’re very different but they’re both people that he was drawn to bc of their “humanity,” and people who knew him very well. thank you!:)

HELLO thank you so much for reading my stuff!!! And so sorry to have taken so long to get to this question. I haven’t yet had the chance to read Stormbringer (obsessed with the mainline manga here, but I take my sweet-ass tiiiiiime with the light novels, it’s just not a type of literature I consume on the regular) and I just know I’ll still be a while.

But dangit, we can sure talk about Dazai’s relationship with Chuuya (+contrast to Odasaku)! So let’s do that, while I get to the new novel lmao.

There’s certainly a lot to that iteration of soukoku, and the concept of “humanity” is closely involved. It seems to be Chuuya’s humanity that fascinated (and annoyed) Dazai from the start, after all, and it’s a factor that continuously determines things in their relationship.

In general, they’ve got their shared themes through which they can view each other, the search for a home and a sense of meaning that ailed them both at first (not for long in Chuuya’s case, but persistently, seemingly forever on, in Dazai’s). They’ve got their complimentary natures and skills that made them work well as a pair. They’ve got Dazai’s dumb possessiveness over Chuuya and Chuuya’s silent attachment to Dazai. Normally this would/should warrant them getting along some more - it’s a fact that they do care for each other a whole lot too - yet then they’ve got not only their contrasting personalities, but also the deeply-rooted oppositions in their moral alignment and level of humanity, and that’s where things get tense and screwy, I think. Humanity is a large part of the mess.

It’s just that thing, where Dazai is the one going to the side of good and Chuuya the one staying on the side of bad, but still, Dazai is the one without limits while Chuuya is all about his own principles. I mentioned it before on this reply to an ask about them, but the way both act (Chuuya having an inclination to care and empathy even though he’s a destructive force, Dazai not having natural empathy or principles when he should) is a motive for frustration towards one another. It already was in the past and it’s all the more post-Dazai’s leave.

So, in that sense, even though Dazai might feel some type of longing, curiosity, admiration or whoknowswhat for that side of Chuuya (his emotions aren’t something we know much about, so it’s anyone’s guess; all I can tell you is that he sees it, because he pokes at it), it’s not something he’s willing to touch upon more closely. You’re very right to say it seems to draw him in. Still, Chuuya doesn’t seem to be someone he wants to take that from, be it for the factors of frustration I said above, or cause it’d be more vulnerability than he wants to have around his partner/”dog”. If any growth or learning is done there, it’s only in the way two stubborn rocks can erode each other if they’re rubbing together long enough.

But he is willing to take it from Oda lmao. He’s not cagey, taunting and an overall dick about the humanity he sees/admires in Oda, that’s the main difference. There’s no frustration or denial there.

Oda, like Chuuya, has emotions Dazai lacks: natural empathy, care, an inclination to kindness. But these are accompanied with a wish to go to the side of good and to cut back on evil actions. It’s an example Dazai can look at and see less contradiction in, something more digestible and understandable that can be taken after as guidance. Indeed, it seems humanity draws Dazai to people, but where Chuuya’s case gets confusing, complex and frustrating, Oda’s is one he can look at with just curiosity and a positive opinion, ultimately as a push for his own change of career.

That’s the thing, as far as I think! Dazai’s a moral mess with an admiring eye for what he lacks. And I may be harsh on pointing out his shortcomings in that sense, but he’s learning, from repetition and reasoning out and imitation, and he’s influenced in one way or another by mere exposition too. Can a moral sense be grown? Let’s see you get it, Dazai.

[the--concertmaster]

WITH THESE 2 VOLUMES I OWN EVERY CURRENTLY TRANSLATED VOLUME OF THE MAINLINE BSD MANGA, THE LITENOVELS AND THE SPINOFFS!

Collection complete! For now!

[lotus-soda]

The bsd mainline manga timeline is now updated!

Hello everybody! I updated it and finally after a month and a half of work the timeline is fixed up! It's still going to be updated even more, but I will not be closing it anymore! Thanks for all you guy's support I hope you enjoy!

[gold-pavilion]

Red-san お疲れさまでした! ♡

Enjoy your days off as much as possible and rest a lot!!

For the ask, I have two things in mind hehe I hope you don't mind! You don't have to super deep analyze it (if you don't want to), it's more like your opinion.

First, I've just finished marathoning bsd manga, anime, spin offs, novels, fics lol, and I'm in a BIG Chuuya mood and as I also know he's your favourite, I was wondering what your fav canon moments of him are! Like, scenes that most caught your attention or something.

Thank you Anne-san!! Oh don't worry, that's perfect!!

This is one of those things where Chuuya being a side character in the grand scheme of the mainline story (not the novels, ofc, where he gets his protagonic time) is actually nice, cause it makes each of his appearances SO significative. Thinking of each time he's appeared in the manga/anime, each of them has a huge significance in regards to his character, so I love all the moments dfgfdhfg.

The first encounter with Dazai, when he's captured by Port Mafia, introduces the character interestingly but ALSO shows a great deal of the back and forth they've got together, Chuuya knowing that Dazai is underhanded and tricky, Dazai preparing plans cause he just adores messing with Chuuya, plus their banter and inside jokes (the 'rich lady Chuuya' bit).

The brief moment at the end of season 1 where all he does it stand there and bow down to Mori as mafia leader, showing that rowdy guy we've just met as humble and respectful before his superior.

That time where he meets the ADA for negotiations during the 3-part conflict with the Guild, where he's just charming as HELL, approaching the others with such confidence and carrying out his negotiation orders to the T cause as much as it's not his intel work, he follows orders phenomenally.

The brief appearance where he's helping protect civilians along with the rest of the mafia while the city is in chaos over the effect of Q.

And at that, the small scene where he's speaking with Mori about fallen mafia comrades and how much that stings for them both to see!

His drink and cheers with Kouyou and Mori at the end of season 2, showing his relaxed demeanor in down time with his coworkers n family.

His moment as interim mafia boss in season 3!! It's such a power moment, as well as heart-warming to see him operate with his beloved organization in Mori's stead, plus how funny his showdown with Ranpo is.

Of course, can't forget about his stellar participation in Dead Apple, from the amazing battle scene to the lil moment with Akutagawa to everything between him and Dazai.

And the yet-to-be-animated helicopter rescue, around when the Hunting Dogs first appear in the manga!! I've pointed that as my favorite manga panel of him, having such a TIME fighting and letting his passionate character shine through.

Every time Chuuya has appeared, his time has been anything but wasted. He's always having amazing character moments, he's utilized carefully and fantastically in that way.

But if I were to pick, I'm going with the entirety of the season 2 Double Black episode and its manga equivalent. That moment of Q's rescue where Chuuya threatens to kill him, testing and mocking Dazai's new morals in the process as well as keeping steadfast on his own, even though the thought of "his comrades in bodybags" tests his patience... followed by the first use of Corruption, it's just unforgettable. Corruption is the peak display of Chuuya's character to me, the abandon and dedication that's so inherent to his nature, the trust in Dazai that can never be buried away and, of course, the amazing visuals of that moment (I'm a sucker for fucked up powers and his slashed pupils and the pattern on his skin drive me nuts HAHA).