#bungo stray dogs is a literary masterpiece

[valenteal]

One of the things I adore about Bungo Stray dogs is how it challenges our ideas about what a “main character” is. Atsushi is undeniably the protagonist, the story begins when his hero’s journey begins and follows it. It somehow manages to fit the hero’s journey perfectly and challenge it at the the same time by simply expanding the scope of the audience’s perspective. Atsushi is the protagonist and we watch every part of his hero’s journey unfold, but we also get immense insight into the mentor/shapeshifter’s backstory and plots.

It’s like if the Harry Potter books followed both Harry and Dumbledore from the beginning, with flashbacks to Dumbledore’s past. If that happened Harry would become, in the reader’s eyes, a piece on Dumbledore’s chessboard because we would see all his machinations from the beginning. That’s exactly what happens in BSD with Dazai. Instead of us seeing Atsushi as the main character who everything revolves around we see Dazai as the mastermind who shapes all the events of the story around Atsushi. Instead of seeing Dazai as a mysterious mentor figure with a dark past shrouded in mystery that gives Dazai wisdom of experience we see him as a flawed person with dubious morals who is trying to be good but doesn’t know how, someone who’s been hurt terribly and hurt others even worse. In turn, Atsushi’s character appears more naive and pathetic, his accomplishments and growth don’t seem like his so much as Dazai’s. He behaved exactly as Dazai anticipated because Dazai manipulated him and the situation for that to happen. It makes Atsushi a tool for Dazai, makes his accomplishments Dazai’s. But if the story was told to us omitting all of Dazai’s behind the scenes manipulations Atsushi would feel like any other protagonist. Dazai would feel like Dumbledore, helping from the shadows rather than pulling strings from them.

Anyway, I’m a lit nerd if you can’t tell and I think Asagiri is a genius.

[valenteal]

I like the way my brain works when I’m hyper focused on BSD more than any other fandom. It’s just so well done in a way that gets the audience truly thinking. With like, mha, I’m not thinking deeply trying to analyze what’s there so much as fixing it. Not because the characters deserve better and I want to see them happy but because it’s just badly written. That’s an extreme case though so I digress (although now that I think about it it’s not that unique, I have very similar feelings towards the later seasons of Miraculous Ladybug). Point is Bungo Stray Dogs is a literary masterpiece and I really like how much it makes me think and the person I am and the mindset I get into when I focus on it.