#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.

[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).