#dazai is literally the most prominant character???

[lnkedmyheart]

Saw someone unironically say Ango, Oda and Mushitaro are carrying bsd. One is dead, one is a minor character and one showed up in season 4. That's not carrying the series. Words mean things people.

[lunarelly]

i don’t think chuuya’s complexity as a character is spoken about enough honestly. one of the recurring themes in bsd is that good people do bad things, and bad people do good things, and morality is complicated and never perfect in any person because it is literally a concept of humanity.

to me, chuuya embodies this the most because while he has taken countless lives and doesn’t hesitate to do so, his most prominent lore centers around him protecting the people he cares about (the sheep in fifteen, his colleagues in storm bringer, the mafia in the cannibalism arc, he even shows concern for Dazai despite their complications).

there is no debate that he has killed and caused devastation with his ability, but he was also a child when he was burdened with the responsibility of protecting the entirety of the sheep, and was still a child when he was recruited into the mafia which would cause anyone’s moral compass to become questionable.

chuuya is loyal to and protective of the people he cares about, and his biggest moral complication is that he will do anything for them.

[akutasoda]

HELLO HELLO 🐊 ANON. IS BACK HERE WITH ANOTHER WEIRD AHH REQUEST OR IDEA WHATEVER :333, soo may i pls pls request bsd men with a fem reader who is literally Krul Tepes from Owari No Seraph :D? Like she is an all mighty vampire queen idk i just saw her wiki but i dont know how to describe her personality 😭😭 i saw the anime a long time ago and i dont remember anything smh😢😢😢 but anyways thats all, could it be crack and fluff? :P the characters would be Fukuzawa (can u tell im a bif fan of this ancient man:3) Bram, Dazai and Mori (ofc if you write for him)

So heres the idea, fem reader like i said is a vampire too like Bram, she is a member of DoA but she didnt joined to 'end wars' she joined to end with humanity, like her wiki said 🤓🤓 she sees humans as mere cattle. But her wiki didnt said anything about her personality 😭😭 so i guess shes bratty and laizy bc she looks like it lol i love her sm.

Anyways thats all i have to say, if u dont want to make the request is fine i have other few ideas too lol, take care of yourself and drink water, thats all ty for reading me <3 also i saw u have a lot to write from other requests, no matter how late you make this one, take your time, the least i want you to be is stressed, byeee 🐊🐊

vampire among livestock

synopsis - how are they with someone like krul tepes

includes - dazai, fukuzawa, mori, bram

warnings - fem!reader, fluff, slight crack, wc - 755

a/n: hello hello anon!!!! i haven't actually watched or read ONS in ages either but we do love fukuzawa here.. take care of yourself aswell <3

osamu dazai ★↷

↪rather amused by the fact that the doa was harbouring two vampires among their ranks. and in honesty, he figured that you were probably just as concerning as bram and you both needed to be kept an eye on.

↪extremely intrigued when he heard that one of them, you, held the title of a 'queen'. he didn't understand why but it was interesting nonetheless and was curious as to how one obtained such a title.

↪mainly you for the fact that you're goals simply didn't stop at 'ending wars', you had a much wider goal of 'ending humanity' as a whole - seeing them as only mere livestock. this reminded him of fyodor a tad but atleast he only went after ability users.

↪your natural pride and temperamental nature definitely gave you an advantage at reaching your goal. dazai also sought a great amount of amusement from hearing your confident talks even when in battle.

↪what was also rayher noticeable was how you took a more natural role of leader even when you really weren't meant to - whether or not the other members would assist your goals or not was still unclear.

yukichi fukuzawa ★↷

↪the doa was already a loooming threat as is, he didn't need to learn that they had gained another member who also possessed vampire traits. it certainly was a concerning factor for the ada.

↪your rather excitable and outgoing personality definitely reminded him of a certain great detective, your slight bratiness didn't get really help either. that same sense of pride was definitely prominent aswell.

↪it was certainly interesting that you didn't share the same goals as your colleagues, not like you had to but it was certainly intriguing. although your goal was certainly more alarming and serious than just 'ending wars'

↪to him, your views on humans were certainly interesting... to say the least. he'd never ever seen someone that viewed humanity in such a derogatory way yet be so insistent on their beliefs.

mori ougai ★↷

↪for the most part, he stayed out of the doa affairs personally - only really sensing his own people to get involved. but he couldn't help bit become intrigued when news of two vampire like people being involved.

↪especially when he learnt that one of them allegedly held a title of 'queen', of what he didn't exactly know but it surely wasn't an everyday title. the same one who also apparently never held back in putting people in their place.

↪your goals, per say, were also extremely intriguing. seeing humans as mere livestock that would do anything for personal gain. he could see where you were coming from.

↪the natural sense of leadership that you carried certainly was challenging to overcome, especially paired with the pride that you carried yourself with. ypu certainly could become an issue, especially when you're desire to achieve your goals clearly wouldn't be stopped so easy.

bram stoker ★↷

↪when he first heard of the new member and then found out they were a fellow vampire like him, he was both relieved and slightly intrigued.

↪relieved, as he felt like you could be the only tolerable member of the doa. he didn't exactly want to be there and the people he was forced to work with weren't exactly the best. so he figured someone like you would be his only hope at getting along with.

↪intrigued, as he'd never met another vampire before - sure there were the one's under the influence of his ability but they were practically brain dead. you would be thw first vampire he met that he could actually talk to, even more intrigued by your title of 'queen'.

↪surprisingly enjoyed listening to you ramble on about how humanity were mere livestock - it was either that, complete silence or listening to fukuchi. bram could see where you were coming from and he could definitely help you if he chose to.

↪im honesty, he thought you were a better leader than fukuchi. you always took on a more authoritive role and he preferred when you did so, even more when you'd shut down fukuchi.

↪your temperamental nature could be a bit much for him sometimes but he adjusted to it when you started talking to him more often.

taglist - @little-miss-chaoss, @vi-chan07

[godeaterazathoth]

Issues I have with ikevamp

That I’m venting here because they won’t leave my skull

*Content warning, we’re talking about men in the past, they did some bad stuff*

Part 1, historical inaccuracies

I’m I history nut so this really gets to me, since I know the deep details of these peoples lives.

The timeline, ok so the game takes place in 18th France, correct me if I’m wrong but I think it is in the second empire (1852-1870) considered there is a noble class, yet you can clearly see the Eiffel Tower which was completed in 1889, there is no mention of the 1889 exposition, so it must be after the tower had become permanent, by then the 3rd republic was around, if we are in the republic the Count wouldn’t be called that by the npcs at all the parties he goes to, no matter which we’re in, NOBODY mentions Napoleon III at, NOT EVAN HIS UNCLE (WHOSE SOMEHOW BECAME CASS CONSCIOUS!)

How does the time travel work, example, Dazai died in 1948, his plan was seemingly to wait until he’s born in 1909 then kill himself as a baby, but then he decides to use the magic door, what are the consequences of 2 Dazais existing at once or him erasing himself from history, he’s a pretty important literary figure, does someone else replace him or does the space time continuum collapse?? Is the future Vlad sees set in stone or can it be changed, just copy someone else’s time travel bit!!!

So straight up these guys aren’t who they say they are, we’ll go through 1 by 1

Napoleon- doesn’t mention he left the love of his life to marry a girl 20 years his junior (like think how interesting it would be if he’s conflicted about love cuz he had to give it up for political reasons) -that scene where MC talks about all the ‘good’ that he did in Europe, like committing war crimes against the Spanish and Portuguese and Eastern Europeans, being a coloniser, killing the slaves he freed when they asked for more rights, killing thousands of men in a meaningless war (ligit H*tler vibes)

Arthur- goofy irl, literally believed in fairies, had 5 children and married twice but he never mentions any of this, he cheated on his first wife while she was dying of TB, he was a liberal unionist (tldr didn’t like Irish people) he was anti-immigration, might have committed fraud. We’ll get to the other issues I have with him.

Leonardo- fruity as hell, vegetarian

Mozart- they got his character completely wrong, the guy was a complete man child, vain, broke, by the end of his life his career fell off (Beethoven better composer), in love with his cousin 🤢, had a s*at fetish 🤢🤢🤢. The hole Salieri thing didn’t happen.

Vincent- they made him too mentally stable, I’m all for him being meek, but the guy had serious issues that they ignore, he ate paint thinner, was rejected by his both crushes, WHY DOES HE HAVE BOTH EARS, DID IT GROW BACK, THEY SHOULD HAVE LEFT HIM WITH ONLY ONE, also he should be ginger smh. Oh yeah and they never mentioned the s*ecide attempt.

Theo- doesn’t mention his wife, or son, WHO HE NAMED AFTER VINCENT, his wife is the person responsible for Vincent’s work not being completely forgotten, was way nicer irl.

Issac- tbh hotter irl, low key ace, maybe a fruit, kinda mean, the only thing they got right was the major virgin vibes.

Jean- WHY MAN!??!! Even if the didn’t want a lesbian route, they could have gone with any other guy from the 100 years war, Edward black prince, idk WHY GENDER BEND ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT WOMEN IN HISTORY, I’m fine with the delusional trans dude lie, but they say that he was a guy all along, THEN WHAT WAS THE POINT OF HIM BEING BURNT AT THE STAKE IF HE WASN’T CROSS DRESSING???!!! was he double cross dressing??? This is the worst of them all, give me the girl boss we deserve (revers fate)

Dazai- not depressed enough imo, he was a leftist, again missing wife, their were two su*ecide attempts, guy lived through fire bombing, had a few children that he is fine to erase from existence.

Shakespeare- probably a fruit, again never mentioned his wife and kids, btw the way he talks is annoying, some people don’t think he’s real.

Faust- NOT A REAL PERSON.

Sanson- too young, this guys is 67, really liked the guillotine, just saw execution as his job didn’t really care, had a wife and kids.

Vlad- Ok is he supposed to be Vlad THE impaler? Cuz he’s not evil enough, or is he a Dracula reference, cuz he can’t dance that dance either, why did they call him Vlad if he isn’t a blood thirsty war criminal.

Count- not enough history to work with.

Part 2, problematic moments

So I ha have seen some posts on the low key misogynistic way the MC is written and treated and there are a lot of issues wit white washing history so another trigger warning ⚠️

Misogyny- the MC of this game is not the best, I know she’s a self insert but she has no backbone at all. She lacks agency I’m most of the routes, like the MC getting kidnapped is a troupe in all these games, but Emma can escape on her own, Kate has ⚽️, even Alice had more depth to her, seems the only thing MC can do is cry and wait to be saved, I swear she gets kidnapped once in every route, I think they could have given her more character to work with. Another thing, but Jean being a man is bad, really bad, she’s a feminist icon but they made her a man, it’s sought of saying that women aren’t capable of this so she had to have actually been a man.

Handling of SA, important one here, I’m ok with the flirty guy, but I really hate Arthur, he doesn’t just flirt with her in chapter 1 he assaults her and acts like he did her a service, and she just forgives him!?! I’m fine with a guy that sleeps around, I like Jin and Nokto fine, but the way Arthur talks about women, always calling them Birds (if they were going for English slang it doesn’t work cuz he doesn’t have a cockney accent) or worse Skirts, it’s dehumanising, and shows that to him women are vehicles for sexual pleasure and aren’t on an equal level of understanding. There are smaller parts to, Leo kisses her without consent, the Count hides the truth from her, idk but Theo calling her a ‘hound’ sounds like he’s calling her something else…

Minor points on classism, I’m not expecting the communist manifesto, but all these games aren’t very good at dealing with class deviation. In Vlad’s route, the orphan boy thinks he can impress the rich girl, this is the 19th century, capitalism is on the rise, but there’s no comment about how it’s impossible. The little school Napoleons runs is strange, considering he was in a position where benefited from poor people existing and staying poor, ( side note, he’s teaching them swordsmanship when ww1 is right around the corner, just saying they won’t need it in the military) called MC out as a social climber, these games sought of depict the past through rosé tinted glasses, there’s only passing reference to how fucked people were in the past, Also all the historical inaccuracies above tie to this.

Anyway love to hear some other opinions, (I started playing this game before my transition and have always thought it it was wired, it’s my personal least favourite just cuz I couldn’t really get into any of the guys, my OC ended up as a Carmilla reference so….)

I have seen a post talking about some of the issues before so that’s what got me to write this out, if you disagree or want to add anything I’m all ears 👂

Thanks for reading 💗💖💖💕💓💝💗🥰🥰🥰❤️✨✨✨✨❤️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[roseypoetsblog]

Hello! You asked for people to send you thought on BSD ships so here I am

Like you, I also lean towards Soukoku the most — I think that there is a certain poetic beauty and tragedy to their dynamic

I often think about they were both kids when they were thrust into a world of violence, and how their abilities are literal reflections of each other’s lives which makes the implication that even Kafka intended for them to be connected by fate (romantically or not) and how Chuuya is not human but is simultaneously the most human person Dazai knows, while Dazai regularly struggles with his own humanity even though he is without a doubt human.

I just think that they have all of these character parallels and that they embody and reflect major characteristics in one another, and I think this is why so many people ship them even though their most prominent scenes haven’t even been drawn or animated. As a pairing, they offer a lot of analyzing potential and as anyone who has ever been involved in fandom knows, we love analyzing lol

Hi! Thank you so much first of all for sharing your thoughts! I do agree there is such a beautiful poetic tragedy to them. I attribute that to the fact they're both so broken and their relationship, although still having that trust, is pretty fractured and painted in violence and tragedy, maybe under different circumstances they would've been able to be together but as of now? No way in hell.

I wonder if Asagiri knew what they were doing when they made their characters such parallels to each other. In every universe we know (which is only two because of Beast) Dazai and Chuuya are somehow connected. In the universe we are most familiar with it's through being partners, in Beast its boss-protector connections. The Port Mafia is bathed in bloodshed, and these two 15 year olds were thrown smack dab in the middle, Chuuya also probably seeing much more bloodshed from the Sheep although as far as I know we never find out what exactly the Sheep did.

The trust we, the viewers/readers, see as the show/manga grow is remarkable. They start out first seeming like divorced couple in my opinions, but through the fight with Lovecraft and the Dead Apple movie/Light Novel we see how much they actually do trust each other. Chuuya trusting Dazai to be alive to cancel out Corruption, and even to just do it anyway. Dazai trusts Chuuya knows his thought process enough to know exactly what to do when he can't be there to explain exactly what to do. Without Chuuya punching him, and without him being alive to cancel out Corruption, they both would've died. They trust each other with the one thing you can't get back when you're gone, your life.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I should clarify I don’t think this is how he’s going to die; bleeding out from Fukuchi’s sword. But if any character is going to die, Fukuzawa is the only one that makes sense.

Fukuchi might die at the end of the arc…? But no antagonist has actually been killed to my recollection except Gide (both him and Odasaku died), Gab (ability who took over from user), and Shibusawa (already dead). BSD antagonists tend to survive in the main manga storyline.

Ranpo will be fine lol I don’t think I even need to say that. He’s had character development in every arc of the story so far. He’s important. It would literally make no sense to kill him off.

Kunikida and Tanizaki are going to be fine. Kunikida has gone through continued challenges to his ideals for the last three arcs, and is set up to take over the Agency. Tanizaki has had zero development yet.

Neither Dazai nor Chuuya are going to die! They’re fine! It makes no sense to kill off Chuuya since he hasn’t really done much in the main manga, has had two books focused on his backstory and is Asagiri’s special little boy who he likes to torture. Dazai, the suicidal character searching for a reason to live, is not going to be killed off in the finding a reason to live story. Come on.

Sigma is fine. If Fyodor wanted him dead, he would be dead. Again, Sigma literally hasn’t done anything yet; let him have his moment! Sigma is also trying to find a home, which is in keeping with the “find the people and place where you can live” story.

We don’t even know Bram yet really. There’s so much left to explore with him.

Same goes for Fyodor, who I’m anticipating will continue to be the major antagonist of the series whole.

Any of the vampirized people - while I hope there will be some consequences - are probably fine too! That’s almost all of the Mafia, plus Jouno! For one thing, we’re still working on that payoff for all the sskk setup we’ve done this arc and the last. Akutagawa is still in there. It would be weird to finish off the main partnership of the series when they’ve been built up as key to defending the city. What’s more, there’s still a lot we have yet to explore with the Mafia, the old boss, and Mori. While I’m hoping for a shake up of the status quo, killing off everyone here would be. Weird.

See, BSD, being a story about finding a reason to live, is going to need a damn good reason to kill off any of its characters. It wouldn’t be done for shock value, or to subvert expectations just because. The only character who has actual reason to be killed off is Fukuzawa, and that is only because we spent the last arc building up Ranpo as the strongest Agency member, Yosano as the one who would do anything to protect it, and Kunikida as the next in command.

If Fukuzawa dies (not from the stab wound but probably in the very last act), it has the effect of shaking up the status quo, just like with the Port Mafia. While the Mafia scrambles with all its people but its leader is most likely safe, the Agency would have all its people but lost its leader. Atsushi can no longer turn to Fukuzawa for guidance. Ranpo is going to receive more character focus and either become his best self or his worst. Yosano might become a more prominent character, as the Agency is important to her. Kyouka potentially loses some of her protection (remember they’re covering for her past as an assassin). Kunikida is forced to step up and take the reins after having his ideals beaten down for the last few arcs. And if Fukuzawa really is a power limiter, then this could segue into (finally) a Tanizaki arc, who perhaps will demonstrate some new sides to him if All Men are Equal stops having an effect.

So. Let me be clear. If Fukuzawa dies I will be so so sad because I actually really like him a lot. But I do think if anyone is going to die… sorry man. (I should note a similar effect could be achieved if he was rendered comatose or something. So he still might not die.)

sorry guys I really do feel like narratively and thematically that Fukuzawa is going to win Asagiri’s favourite character award (death)

[hellonoblesky]

Could you like...explain Bungou Stray Dogs to me? I can't figure out what's going on from your posts but it seems absolutely deranged

(Obviously you don't have to if you don't want to!! I'm just curious!)

YEAH It's deranged and dw abt asking me to explain stuff I LOVE explaining things I like it's like one of my favorite pastimes >>:)

Short explanation: A bunch of characters with superpowers fight and also they're all based on authors.

LONG Explanation:

OH YEAH suicidal ideation and attempt tw and also like. child abuse. and manipulation. and mafia typical crimes

So the basics: All the characters are based on Authors, they all have superpowers, and there's two MAIN groups: The Armed Detective Agency (ADA) which is the main group, and deals with crimes that the local police are out of their depth with, and the Port Mafia, an organization based with skill users at the top and CAUSES most of the crimes the ADA has to solve

So the main character is this kid, Atsushi, and his skill is that he turns into a tiger at night entirely uncontrollably and has no idea. He gets kicked out of the orphanage because he literally turns into an apex predator and starts trying to maul people but his actual personality is very meek and quiet and nervous and he GENUINELY has no idea why people seem to hate him. So he's starving by the side of the river and he's like "I haven't eaten in days I guess I AM going to have to resort to robbing someone... :((" ANd he's all upset about it but he's also starving so he's like "Ok. I'll do it. I'm robbing the next guy to walk by!!!"

The next guy to walk by is not walking. He's on a motorcycle. That guy's also my favorite character I'll get to him later tho (he's also very important to the NEXT guy who comes along)

So Atsushi is like "Yeah that guy was too fast I'll get the next guY!!!"

The next guy comes floating down the river. Just like. Drowning casually. As one does, and Atsuishi, because he is very kind at heart, is like "Fuck shit ok I can't let some guy just drown!!!!!" So he goes and gets the guy out of the water and the guy wakes up and is like

"Dude?? I was trying to kms smh" like that's just a casual thing to say, and to be fair for Him Specifically it is but to Stray Kid He Just Met it is Not

This guy is Dazai Osamu

And Dazai, because he's Dazai, is like "Oh lmfao ur literally starving c'mon let's go get food!!"

So they go to get food. Dazai's coworker Kunikida shows up and bullies the hell out of Dazai because literally Dazai does nothing at the office do not let that man's suicidal tendencies fool you he CAN and WILL do his work he CHOOSES not to, this is not a case of a mental illness hindering his productivity he just Doesn't do his work. He also does this specifically to annoy Kunikida who has a strict schedule every day and plans things RELIGIOUSLY

He makes Kunikida pay for the food and casually chats about this super mysterious tiger that's been spotted prowling the streets by night isn't that super strange and dangerous? That's soooo crazyyyy

This is the first time Atsushi has ever heard of this

Long story short Dazai reveals Atshushi as the Tiger and ALSO hires him at the ADA because surpise Dazai works with the detective agency, he's actually one of their most prominent members, despite going litearlly nothing and having the most complaints out of everyone. He's just a mastermind which is the only way he gains any merrit considering he causes like 90% of the problems?? He's wild

He also forces Atsushi to defuse a false bomb situation as an entrance exam (this is p much never brought up again)

So Atsushi gets sent on his first mission and Kunikida is like "HEY New kid, ok, you see this guy in this picture? If you see him, you RUN. He's an incredibly dangerous criminal, he's in the Port Mafia, and he WILL kill you"

Naturally Atsushi runs into him

His name is Akutagawa

Him and Atsushi are narrative foils

Becuase guess where Dazai used to work before the ADA? The Port Mafia. Guess who he mentored? AKUTAGAWA. The main difference between him and Atsushi besides like organizational differences? Dazai in the Port Mafia was emotionally abusive to Akutagawa who was like???? 15 at the time I have no idea but he was a kid and now he's obsessed with Dazai's approval and has a VERY hard time feeling like he's good enough, MEANWHILE Atsushi gains Dazai's favor with NO work at all and is still insecure about it, they have a rivalry going on

So Akutagawa like cuts Atsushi in half (Atsushi's fine, his tiger skill has a healing aspect), they fight violently, and then Dazai shows up and is like "Aw the kids are fighting!!!! Stop doing that kids you'll hurt each other ^w^!!!"

Btw Dazai's skill is to nullify other skill user's abilities by touching them, so he like literally nullifies the fight

And then Dazai gets kidnapped by the Mafia because he has a PLAN or something

Meanwhile no one at the ADA really notices that he's gone that is how much this guy avoids work they literally just Assume he's slacking off (he's not, he's chained up in a mafia warehouse)

So while the ADA is doing jobs, Akutagawa yells at Dazai for a little bit, Dazai's like "Lmfao fuck you Atsushi is so much cooler than you" and Akutagawa is OBVIOUSLY upset by this because he spent YEARS scrambling for A SHRED of approval from Dazai and ATSUSHI GETS IT IMMEDIATELY???

SO Aktugawa leaves.

And Dazai's former mafia partner comes in.

Remember when I said that guy on the motorcycle was important? THIS is him. His name is Chuuya. Nakahara Chuuya. ANd oh boy is there tension between him and Dazai and OH BOY is it unresolved

So Chuuya and Dazai bicker and fight and throw hands a little bit and tease each other and Chuuya's like "LMAO What if I killed you."

He can't though because Dazai is currently blackmailing the Mafia

So Chuuya helps Dazai escape and make it look like he didn't help him do it, and they're home free!!!

ALso there's a bounty on Atsushi's head, the mafia wants to sell him on the black market, and Akutagawa specifically wants him GONE

So the first arc of the anime is the Port Mafia (It's mainly Akutagawa) trying to get to Atsushi and take down the entire ADA as a whole

They fail

Partially becuase the SECOND arc comes in

And this is where the THIRD group is introduced: The Guild

The Guild is just a bunch of skill-using American capitalists. like their leader's skill is literally just that he gets more Raw Power the more money he spends I can't make this shit up

So The Guild wants to buy the ADA because the ADA has a permit to be an organization operating with skill-users in Yokohama (the city), and they Want That

Obviously they lose

Highlights of this arc: The reveal of Chuuya's raw power. His corruption. The powerstate he can go into where he becomes a creature of pure destruction and demolition (His power is litearlly controlling the gravity of things he touches so you can imagine how chaotic THAT can get) also he only does it when Dazai's around and only because he literally trusts Dazai with his entire life and soul becuase DAZAI'S NULLIFICAITON ABILITY IS THE ONLY THING THAT STOPS CHUUYAS POWER FROM CONSUMING HIM VIOLENTLY IN THAT STATE which I think about a lot

^ Also the battle that that's revealed in, Chuuya and Dazai are fighting Lovecraft. Who turns into A Lovecraftian Creature. That guy's crazzzy in this series at the end of the arc bro just sinks into the ocean and goes to sleep all Cthulu-like

AAND Akutagawa and Atsushi teaming up to beat the shit out of THe Guild's leader. They are the second coming of Dazai and Chuuya power-wise (because fun fact Dazai and Chuuya work in perfect sync and are known as "Soukoku" or "Twin Dark" and they are THE SINGLE MOST Efficient and Destructive duo in the criminal world of Yokohama, put those two on the same side and you have the ultimate winning card. ANd AKUTAGAWA AND ATSUSHI HAVE THE SAME THING GOING ON!!!!!!!!)

SO they beat Capitalism Man and that's the end of thee second arc

The third arc, basically, a skill user puts their Skill on the Mafia leader (Mori) and the ADA's President (Fukuzawa) (it's low-key a spell so I'm jut gonna call it that)

One of them has to die, or both of them will die in like a day

It's a plan to sew violence and war between the ADA and Port Mafia

And it WORKS

The Port Mafia is like frothing at the mouth to defend their boy Mori and the the ADA is ALSO frothing at the mouth to protect their man Fukuzawa. Both sides care deeply for their bosses and are prepared to Kill for that

Meanwhile, Dazai is like "HEY Atsushi yk what would be soooo cool if you went to stop the guy who's behind this!! I beleive in youu!!!! Also Akutagawa is going with you."

Akutagawa and Atsushi, again, Save The Day. LIke true gamers

Meanwhile Dazai himself has tracked down the actual man behind the crime: Fyodor Dostoyevsky

Because he KNEW that Fyodor wouldn't be where the guns were, he knew Fyodor, like him, is a mastermind player. The player with the chess peices in hand, not the rook or pawn or any piece on the field, yet equally important

Fyodor is arrested

And so, the fourth arc begins

The ADA is framed as a terrorist organization

Like by framed I mean literally reality is altered so that everyone is CONVINCED they are terrorists using a Magic Book that has the power to alter reality. The odds are Entirely against the ADA also this is still being orchestrated by Fyodor despite him being litearlly underground in a high security prison with no outside contact but it's finnneeee

SO the ADA begins being hunted by the government special forces group known as the Hunting Dogs. Four insanely powerful skill users, all intent on Killing or Imprisoning the members of the ADA

One of which, is a guy called Tachihara. He's important because previously in the show he's introduced as the third leader of special forces MAFIA GROUP, the Black Lizard. He was an infiltrator. BUt he found himself in the mafia and the Mafia happens to work in tandem with the ADA when it comes to city-threataning things because the Mafia isn't really as criminal as it seems sometimes and the ADA isn't as heoric as it seems sometimes, they're both a little silly like that

Tachihara sees through the shift in reality. It takes him a while, but he does. He defects from the Hunting Dogs to side with his friends and arguably family in the Mafia, because the MAFIA also doesn't really CARE if the ADA are terrorists?? They also don't really believe it because they're just built different like that

Also Dazai gets put in prison with Fyodor

Him and Fyodor are playing mental chess within prison, both figuring out each other's moves and relaying them somehow to the outside world

MEANWHILE AKutagawa and Atsushi are working together again they go against the head of the Hunting Dogs who SURPISE!!! LEads AN ACTAULL TERRORIST GROUP called like the Angels of Death or somehting I don't remember too well because I like barely remember Him specifically?? He's just a little slippery in my brain bro, idk, not as enthralling as Chuuya and Dazai ig

So Akutagawa fucking dies

It's ok though!!! He gets turned into a Vampire so he's Not Dead Anymore, he's just under mind control

Also Vampires are a thing, it's this one guy's Skill

So Akutagawa goes around spreading vampirism to everyone in the Mafia and they spread it and it just keeps Spreading

MEANWHILE Fyodor's bestie, Gogol, is like "UGHHH I'm BORED :((( COme on Sigma let's go kill Dostoy in a silly goofy puzzle way!!!!" (Sigma is another guy, he runs a casino, he's kinda silly also the only guy with a braincell most of the time)

So Gogol and Sigma half break Dazai and Fyodor out of prison

By that I mean they get them out of their cells and take care of Most security guards

Then they propose The Challenge:

Dazai and Fyodor both have to inject poison into them that will brutally kill them in 30 minutes

Dazai and Fyodor have to pick One Tool out of a set of tools

They have 30 minuets to break out of the prison and find the antidote to the poison

Fyodor takes the head security guard's keycard

Dazai takes Sigma. which is allowed because Gogol doesn't give a flying fuck

ANd as the two split, Fyodor reveals the card he has up his sleeve: Chuuya. Not normal Chuuya, who would never side with Fyodor, and would probably choose Dazai over everything, no no no. VAMPIRIZED Chuuya. Chuuya reduced to nothing but a weapon

This is a ploy designed specifically to play with Dazai's feelings, because DAZAI cares very much about Chuuya as well

But Dazai knows Chuuya is out of his control rright now and he can't stop the Vampirism skill by just touching Chuuya, he'd have to touch the skill user

So he fucking drowns Chuuya and Fyodor

ANd he gives a little almost-sappy speech to Chuuya, causing Chuuya to LITEARLLY BREAK FREE FROM THE VAMPIRISM OF HIS OWN FREE WILL BEFORE DROWNING JSUT TO HEAR DAZAI GO "LMFAO Yeah no there totally weren't any times that our hearts touched" (as what I THINK is a ploy to pull Chuuya out of Vampirism because there was a litteral montage of Soukoku Moments before he said that and Dazai is a Known Liar)

And uhhh yeah that's about as far as the story goes so far. It's still in progress :)

There's also various side stories like

Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen: The story of how they met

Dead Apple: The story of the Dragon Head Conflict and the aftermath and also more Dazai Plans

The Untold Origins Of The Armed Detective Agency: Exactly what it says on the box

AND MORE!!! BUT I DONT HAVE TIME FOR ALL OF IT RN AND IM SO sorry about my spelling but I have to go to sleep AHFKJAF

[tecchous-thicc-buttocks]

bsd chapter 95 meltdown

OH MY GOD

BSD CHAPTER 95 SPOILERS BELOW

I HAVE NO CLUE WTF THEY'RE SAYING OR WHAT CHAOS IS HAPPENING BUT HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT

quick recap for those unaware of what's going on:

dazai and fyodor are in a prison for ability users called Meursault, aka the name of a character from Albert Camus' "The Stranger".

nikolai dragged bby sigma into all of this turmoil and that has become a meme

also dazai has no ass so rip that 🅱ussy

NOW THE QUESTION IS, WHO IS THAT PERSON WHO BROKE INTO PRISON??

we know that they 1) have short legs, 2) are deadly, 3) have particular looking shoes

general consensus: it's chuuya

this makes sense, given that he has LITERALLY DISAPPEARED FROM THE MANGA FOR 3989235 YEARS AND US SIMPS WANT HIM BACK

also, the shoes match and he's short he might be coming back for dazai

my issues with this: chuuya may be tiny but HE HAS FKKIN LONG LEGS, AND THE STYLE WITH WHICH EVERYONE WAS INJURED IN THAT PANEL?? NOT CHUUYA STYLE, if it were chuuya, the walls would be bashed in and there would be less blood and more crushed bones. this is too gory to be his work

second theory: akutagawa came back from the dead to save his senpai

my take on it? yall aku simps rly think your love for him can bring him back from being a vampire 😹🙏

third theory: some character we've seen before from the port mafia, like mori, kouyou, paul verlain (from storm bringer). i've checked out the list of pm executives, and there is one dude whose identity hasn't been revealed, they're called "the Colonel" and i'm 99% sure they're dead so no biggie.

fourth: a completely new character. yes i would love more hot ppl to simp over, but that isn't something asagiri would do imo

fifth: AGATHA. AGATHA CHRISTIE COULD VERY WELL BE THIS PERSON BUT WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH INFO ABT HER YET SOO

NOW ALL OF THESE ARE WONDERFUL BUT

BUT

READ THIS

ALEXANDER PUSHKIN ESCAPED FROM THIS FACILITY (referring to the prison)

YALL

PUSHKIN WAS WORKING UNDER FYODOR IN THE RATS IN THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD

i mean ofc he got his shit rocked by fukuzawa and mori but let's put that aside

PUSHKIN WAS ONE OF RUSSIA'S MOST PROMINENT WRITERS AND SOME REGARD HIM AS THE FOUNDER OF MODERN RUSSIAN LITERATURE, I REALLY HOPE HE GETS MORE SCREENTIME

that being said, to add the detail that he escaped from the prison is an odd little detail, and Asagiri isn't the type to leave plotholes

even if only the top brass of the military know about its location, don't you think an escaped convict, who served under fyodor and would probably love to get him out

NOW LOOK AT THIS

no we're not going to be thirsting about dazai's feet, unfortunately

LOOK AT THAT HOLE

while it APPEARS it might be nikolai's ability, he distorts space in a clean cut frame. this is too messy to be his work

YK WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE?

BLOOD

AS IN NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE'S ABILITY

REMEMBER HOW IN CHAPTER IDONTREMEMBER HE GOT CAUGHT BY LUCY IN HER ROOM??

RANPO MIGHT BE HAVING A PLAN B YK

ok maybe i'm reaching but the rats in the house of the dead might not be completely dead

this could also very well be an alliance/ mori forcing pushkin and the other rats in order to help them stop all of this. mori is the only one who is smart enough to look for help in these types of people, and while it COULD be only a single individual, breaking into the prison that held the world's two biggest assholes strongest ability users requires a lot more planning than to simply go it alone

[uraharasandals]

Intellectual Discussion Time

[Edited 3.8.2020: ‘Dominant’ gene to ‘recessive’ gene]

In an attempt to procrastinate on my requests writing, and to pull myself away from college apps, I decided to present to you this issue that have been nagging me for a long time, and something that I felt Asagiri didn’t really address. (Or maybe it’s just me, and feel free to criticise or tell me off in the notes/reblogging)

[note that I haven’t read the light series at all so if there’s something revealed in those do let me know] 

So within the BSD universe we see a lot of worldbuilding that resembles urban fantasy (i.e. a subgenre of fantasy that incorporates ‘supernatural’ elements in an urban setting; other prominent works in this genre include The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare), where there are organisations of ‘gifted’ individuals using Abilities, like the Port Mafia and the ADA. 

But there are significant plotholes within this; 1) how abilities came about, 2) how are abilities ‘shaped’, 3) implications of having abilities and 4) the question of ‘where are the other ability users?’.

1) How Abilities Came About 

The thing is, we don’t really see how abilities emerge? In other works, such as Katekyo Hitman Reborn, we know that their powers come from their rings. Other magical girl anime shows us that their devices/staffs/whatever gave them those special powers. In fact, a main theme in all of these fantasy anime was introducing the reason behind the emergence of powers in the beginning. You often see magical girl animes starting with the protagonist gaining a staff or a charm or whatever, and they learn how to use their powers throughout the entire show.

But here’s the thing in BSD; we don’t know how abilities came about. Whether it is a dominant gene thing, or whether it was from some kind of device or experiment or whatever. While we do know how characters originally without abilities gain them (in Kyouka, whose ability was transferred to her by her mother), it is assumed that all characters in the show are born with them. But then how did this come about? We know that the rest of the society consists of normal human beings without abilities (the clerks at the ADA is a clear example), so it must be an external factor causing the appearance of abilities in the beginning. 

(I think there was something in the manga about Atsushi’s abilities; it revealed that someone injected him with stuff, or was it in Dead Apple? Anyways, if my memory serves me correct, we can say that Atsushi’s abilities came from experiments)

My theory concerning abilities have two strands of reasoning. The first one (spoilers to those who haven’t read the manga) is that it came about as experimenting from the war preceding the series. If you look carefully, a lot of the characters were involved in the war, either directly or indirectly; Yosano, who was an infantry nurse; Mori, who was a physician; Gide, a missionary soldier, to name a few. It is mentioned that abilities was a huge asset in winning the war, and that Japan had been actively recruiting ability users to help them gain victory. There is no explicit mention of this, but seeing as Japan has had a history of experimentation on others, it is possible that scientists have decided to ‘mass-produce’ soldiers with abilities in the war. 

Another theory is the issue of a recessive gene. To put it simply, certain mutations in the human body results in different appearances, such as albinos or blue eyes. Likely this is the same in the BSD universe, except with abilities. This would explain the ‘original’ ability users who were born with their abilities. It is also possible that this gene may be more male-oriented, which would explain the unequal ratio of male to female ability users. (9, excluding Higuchi and including light novel and manga characters; there’s around 40 male ability users). It would also explain the Akutagawa and Tanizaki siblings; both brothers have abilities, yet their younger sisters don’t. [spoilers] It would also explain why both Tachihara and his older brother have abilities, despite him being the younger sibling. 

2) How Are Abilities ‘Shaped’ 

While we know that Asagiri designed each character’s ability in accordance or inspired by the original author (I’ll probably talk about this in another post), the fact remains that within the universe, there is no knowing how these abilities are shaped, or why they are unique to each character. An example of an explanation tackling this would be Bleach; because their zanpakutou (i.e. the source of their powers) are different and responds to each Shinigami’s unique soul, therefore the abilities are shaped in accordance to the soul.

But again, there is no basis for how these abilities are shaped besides the link to their original writers. How are abilities like Dazai’s and Yosano’s considered ‘rare’ if all abilities are unique? And how are abilities classified even? From our own instincts we know that some troupes are overused, like element manipulation or animal transformation (looking at you, Atsushi) but other than that, I would say most, if not all, abilities are pretty unique. The only overlapping of abilities is Gide’s and Odasaku’s, and it is hinted that when two ability users fight each other, there is the occurrence of a ‘singularity’ -- which is again, never mentioned again. 

3) Implications of Having Abilities

This is by far my favourite plothole to discuss. We know that abilities is not common in the BSD society; in fact, it is something that is considered unique. If that is so, how are abilities received by the general public? 

From what we’ve seen in the show, abilities are treated like a skill, and hence could be weld for different purposes, making it resemble a double-edged sword. We see those who use it for evil/own purposes, such as the Decay of Angels and the Rats, but most of them use it for the better good, like the ADA. Some are even incorporated in higher government, like the Hunting Dogs, and the Gifted Special Operations Division. 

But then if abilities are unique, how are they viewed by other normal, non-ability welding characters? I don’t think the universe is as flawless as to have other normal people simply accepting them as a daily fact of life, the continuous exposure of governmental flaws contradicts this. In fact, there are no opinions at all towards ability users during the whole series. There is no indication of fear towards them, and reception of powers differ depends on the organisation the characters belong to.

While there is not much normal people --> ability user reactions, Atsushi’s situation did reveal a glimpse into this plothole. It was mentioned that his parents abandoned him at a trash dump, and that he was constantly bullied and harassed at the orphanage. We don’t know what the reason behind his parents’ actions were, but we do know that he was locked up because of his ability to turn into a tiger. However, in the series this is played off as ‘because he couldn’t control his powers’, instead of actual fear towards the tiger. 

Another example of ability user reactions was the one towards Yosano, though this is somewhat skeptical because of the context and situation. In the war, Yosano was able to heal the soldiers and make them able to fight again. Though it is assumed most of the soldiers were normal people, the situation they were in forced them to appreciate her abilities (imagine consulting a doctor who has to chop you up before they could heal you, would you appreciate thta?), so it doesn’t really reflect what the general society as a whole think of ability users. 

4) ‘Where Are the Other Ability Users?’ 

In the series, we’ve only seen the ability users who have affiliated themselves with a certain organisation; the ADA, Port Mafia, the Guild, the Rats, etc etc. and we assume that this is true. Going by this logic, Asagiri is presenting the idea of ‘teams are stronger and safer’ which, going back to my third point, would likely mean that ability users may have been targeted at the beginning, which resulted in the rise of these organisations. But that is not the case; we have clerks working for the ADA with no abilities. 

Another reasoning about this would be that someone decided ability users working in a team would be able to exploit their abilities to the full and have more freedom and autonomy. This logic, I suspect, is used by the Port Mafia, the Rats and the Guild.

But then there has to be other ability users. Atsushi, for one, was one of those individuals wandering around with no knowledge of abilities. From what was known about Akutagawa and Dazai’s background, it is assumed they are also picked up somewhere and groomed for the Port Mafia.

So then, where are these other ability users? 

In the BSD universe, we are exposed to the knowledge of ability users throughout the globe. In Dead Apple, Kunikida’s briefing shows that there are ability users from Singapore and other places; the Rats, the Guild and Agatha Christie is also proof that ability users are spread all over the globe and that international ability users exist.

However, we aren’t really shown much exposure to these other ability users except in fights and their wars. What bothers me most is that the series made it seem as if the ability users belonging to organisations are the only ability users around, and that there are no others. You could literally depict a scene in which some rogue ability user misuses their ability and the ADA had to step in, yet aside from skirmishes with the Port Mafia and helping the police department, they don’t really show what happens when ability user confronts ability user.

The only time they gave us a hint of what happens when ability user confronts a lone ability user was in the OVA, where Kunikida confronts his old acquaintance. Though he was driven by his own ambitions, I’m guessing the majority of ability users who knew about their powers might be driven to use them for bad purposes and abuse them to their whim, especially when they don’t have organisations to take them in. Zettai Karen Children is an anime that explores the use of ability users in government and as a police force against ability users who misuse their powers; a few parallels could be drawn between these two works as well.

At any rate, there is no doubt BSD is an absolutely fantastic anime that I love to death, but I think these plotholes should be addressed and just,,,these are my two cents to the community :D 

(Also sorry I wrote this at like 2am at night so if this is disorganised or doesn’t make sense,,,you know why) 

[teenitinygod]

Hello, Hello, this is the person who did the last submit. Thank you for the offer but I don’t have a discord account, Idon'thaveanyfriendswhouseittowarrantmakingone.

Although, if you liked my previous submit, I thought you might be interested in hearing me out when it comes to mischaracterization since I didn’t go into detail in my previous submit since that’s a whole rant of its own. I’ll be taking inspiration from neutinya’s haikyuu mischaracterization post but give it a BSD twist. My intention isn’t to call specific people out, I’m simply going off what I’ve seen within the fandom. Which in turn leads to diluting or mischaracterizing a character until they’re nearly unrecognizable or portraying them in a bad light that they don’t deserve. There may be a few tw instances, so you’re free to edit this post as you see fit and add any necessary warnings.

So to begin with. Let’s get the big one out of the way real quick.

- Dazai -

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen Dazai being portrayed as nothing more than a twofaced lying bastard, I wouldn’t have to work anymore. Most of these support it by saying that he doesn’t actually trust the ADA since he didn’t tell them about his past and doesn’t inform them of every little thing. Basically, they portray him as being 100% an act who doesn’t care about anyone. And then berate him by saying that they refuse to take his mental health seriously until he’s shown to have a breakdown.

I believe anyone who has suffered from depression or any other kind of mental health issue has felt the need to act happy all the time when in public and then quiet down when they’re alone. That doesn’t make them a fake. They are under no obligation to tell every single thing going across their mind to their friend and that same logic applies to Dazai.

Moreover, we also have to take into consideration Dazai’s past. He simply can’t afford to make himself vulnerable. There’s literally a list of people out for his head. Additionally, of he were to tell everything to the ADA, he would be potentially dragging his new friends into his own mess and put them in unwarranted danger. Sure, the ADA already deals with a lot of dangerous stuff but I doubt he would purposely put them in harms way because of what he would consider his own selfishness.

Now in the terms of romance. A lot of people just mark him as the one who could never be faithful. I believe a romantic relationship with Dazai would be completely trust based. Ergo, a “love at first sight” scenario would definitely lead to it becoming nothing more than a one-time fling. To go off your last Dazai scenario, I actually do believe that if Dazai felt like he was getting too attached to someone, he might try to push them away out of utter self-loathing that he could never give them what they want. Essentially, fearing a scenario like that in No Longer Human where Yozo got together with Yoshiko and she ended up getting raped because of his involvement with her.

Atsushi isn’t just a crybaby. He’s brave simply because of the fact that he’s willing to do his best despite his fear. Moreover, his initial fear of being seen as a burden to the ADA is completely valid when you take into consideration his past treatment. A lot treat him as dull and boring character and go on about preferring his Beast counterpart. It’s fine to have a preference but I don’t think this is a reason to hate on him since the point of Beast was to elaborate on how alike Atsushi and Akutagawa are by putting them in the other’s shoes. And we see in even Beast, Atsushi is just the ultimate good boy cinnamonroll.

In romance, I keep seeing him being forced to portray the badboy roll and being just terrible to whoever is his partner within the story. Do people really think that he would so much as even consider berating his partner after all he’s been through?

- Kunikida -

He isn’t just some emotionless asshole. He cares. He’s just doesn’t show it in the most conventional way some are used to. Perhaps this is because the anime caused confusion by changing the time setting of the Azure Disciple event— But within the novel you can tell that he cares for and eventually starts to think highly of Dazai as the story progresses. He doesn’t express it since Dazai would tease him to the ends of the earth. But there were moments like in the embassy in which he mentally admired how talented he was. Or how elaborated that his way of knowing when something was wrong with Dazai was when he starts acting “normal”. As the novel put it, basically, weird is normal for Dazai while normal is weird. So when Dazai starts acting “normal” that’s his way of knowing that something is up.

In terms of romance… I swear I want to fight someone. The majority of Kunikida content I find usually involves him be pedophilic by having this thing for schoolgirls or just has whoever is his partner constant cry at him that he doesn’t love them since he doesn’t show his affection the conventional way. Then, the story goes on about how the partner keeps trying to change them. For starters. There is nothing wrong with having the thought of an ideal partner. Most of have twisted the idea of him having an ideal partner as him having this list of physical traits he wants them to have or some crap like that. Do people really think he’s that shallow? Having an ideal partner just means that you know what you want in a partner. Like how they treat you, if they’re neat and polite, etc. Moreover, we’ve seen time and time again that despite what he says, Kunikida is still willing to bend a little. Obviously he will hold his ground if you berate his ideals. But it’s possible to change his mind if you respect his ideals and offer alternatives and are willing to work with him.

- Chuuya -

Look. I don’t care what you ship. But Chuuya is way more than just that one guy who is constantly yelling about Dazai. He has every right to be portrayed as his own character without the need to involve Dazai around the line.

He may be angry when Dazai is involved but he’s the nicest grump you’ll ever see towards everyone else. In the spin-off novel, there’s a scene where he talks to Tsujimura, for example. He still kept this badass aura but spoke to her with the dignity and presence of a respectable mafia executive. Moreover, I noticed this why checking. Kyouko really did make sure he drank his respect-women dose every day since I noticed he never actually curses at female characters. With the Tsujimura scene, for example, he kept his usual rude speech but didn’t start to actually curse until Ango was brought up. With the battle against Yosano, he never pulled the “oh, you’re just a woman” crap when they appeared.

In the terms of romance. I swear I feel the need to break someone’s nico-nico-kneecaps for the outrageous amount of fics I find with Chuuya straight up raping his partner. Like, the man didn’t even want to fight against his sheep friends when they literally and figuratively stabbed in him in the back. It’s hard for me to imagine him as someone who wouldn’t treat his partner with the utmost respect in the world.

- Higuchi -

People seriously need to stop hating on her just ‘cause she’s “getting in the way of ships.” The gal clearly cares about Akutagawa and I don’t think it’s fair to hate on her just because of that. On that note, the whole idea of hating on female characters under the pretext of them getting in the way of ships seriously needs to stop. The fact that a female character cares for a guy, be it romantically or not, isn’t an excuse to antagonize them and treat them as an eyesore. She’s funny, she’s goofy, She’s just an ordinary lady who might be momentarily blinded by affection and get carried away. Which surely must happen to anyone who has experienced some kind of crush.

In the terms of romance. I haven’t read much fics with Higuchi as the main love interest. However, I have seen the AkutawagaxSomeoneElse types who just blatantly portray Higuchi as this terrible and wicked woman who is trying to ruin Akutagawa’s partner’s life. Sure, Higuchi may be heartbroken that she couldn’t be the chosen one but I doubt she would stoop as low as to ruin Akutagawa’s potential happiness. The most she would do is perhaps investigate if they’re a spy who intends to harm or use him.

- Yosano -

She’s a strong independent woman, enough said. I feel like a lot of people interpret her dislike for weak men as her either disliking physically weak men or disliking men altogether. Naturally, a strong woman would want and deserve someone who is equally as badass as them. So what I interpret her saying when she says she dislikes weak men is that she dislikes mentally weak men who bend over backwards easily and men who are so petty that they feel the need to look down on women just because of the fact that they’re a woman. The anime did her dirty by sexualizing her during her first introduction. We all know that one scene where she strips off her shirt before treating Tanizaki. Heck, I remember when I first saw that scene without knowing much about BSD I legit thought her healing ability involved her having sex with the guys. It was only until I read the manga some time later that I realized that wasn’t the case.

In the terms of romance. Again, she has every right to have someone as strong as herself. A badass would want someone who is just as badass standing as their partner. Moreover, I haven’t seen it to the degree as Higuchi’s case but I have seen the occasional hate on her under the pretext that she’s getting in the way of ships. To which I say again: We seriously need to stop antagonizing female characters who so much as exist in the same panel as a male character that’s involved in a popular fandom ship.

——–

Well then. Those were the most prominent ones that came to mind, so I surely left out some characters who have been mischaracterized just as badly.

Thank you for your time.

Ok quickly, our discord (dazai simps) is open to having you. We love new friends and meeting people, so an open invite is available.  i couldn’t agree with you more- i hate how Dazai is portrayed sometimes, his emotions are complex and he’s not as simple as an angsty suicidal flirt. Especially went the reader comes into the picture and it turns into a “love at first sight” thing. They may be fictional characters but i care that the characters i write for are as close to accurate as i can

I’ll go deeper into this later but i agree

Also I love when you send me these, i love reading them and you’re so sweet <3

[ikevampeventarchive]

2019 AGF Theme ～ Ikemen Japonesque ～ Pt. 2

In a city where West and East meet... people of different cultures are separated into four districts, all in conflict with each other.

――The Mirror District where the people have their aim on the world....

――The Flower District that wishes for a fair world with the power of magic....

――The Water District with geniuses that excel in music....

――The Moon District that seeks an eternal time....

You suddenly stumbled into this city and became tangled up in their conflict―!? And there, is where your find your destined encounter. 

“Only you... I won’t let anyone else steal you away.”

Within these tumultuous days, the love he holds for you, along with these beliefs held in his heart, they burn all the fiercer, all the brighter! 

In true IkeVamp fashion, we’ll be introducing to you the five men from the Moon District!

Napoleon: “I’ll put an end to all this fighting. For the sake of our collective futures....”

Mozart: “Don’t come closer. If you think differently, then I’ll accompany you until you understand.”

Leonardo: “Both you, and those guys too, I want to protect your smiles. My wish is simply just that.”

Arthur: “Sorry, but losing isn’t really my thing ―. Even so, do you still want to give it a try?”

Isaac: “I will also fight. Because the people dear to me... I don’t want to see them get hurt.”

Besides being conveniently split into 4 groups for their 4 most prominent games, Cybird has chosen quite a beautiful theme for this year’s AGF! We’ll be discussing the meaning of 鏡花水月 as a metaphor and it how it reflects on the outfit designs presented in the main visual. 

鏡花水月 is a Japanese idiom that literally translates to “mirror flower water moon” and references a subtle and poignant beauty that is both profound and elusive, similar to viewing a flower through a mirror, or the moon upon water’s still surface. Another interpretation can be a beautiful dream or a mirage, usually invoked in describing poetry. 

There is also a Chinese equivalent called  镜中花，水中月, and carries the exact same meaning, though more literally phrased into a sentence instead of a four character compound. 

Thus, the four games each respectively represent an aspect of this phrase, with IkeSen being “mirror,” IkeRev being “flower,” IkeLive being “water,” and IkeVamp being “moon.” It would be interesting to examine why each game was chosen to represent each aspect, but the most prominent feature we’d like to point out is that the promotional outfits that each suitor wears carries motifs of their respective theme, with IkeVamp suitors having moon symbols on their clothing. 

It’s also interesting to see that everyone is dressed in Taisho-era clothing, a period of Japanese history following the Meiji restoration wherein Western elements were being imported into Japan, which is why a common element of Taisho-era clothing (the easiest example being IkeVamp Dazai’s main character design) is collared shirts and boots. It corresponds beautifully with the themes of “West meets East” and “Japonesque” and ties together everything in a compact visual metaphor that prompts you to spend even more! 

[hamliet]

Messy, Perfect Redemption: Dazai

My least favorite trope in fiction is probably redemption via death. It just seldom works for the best possible story and more often than not comes across as an author wanting to take the easy way out with having now made the audience like the character, but not having to deal with the repercussions with their relationships with other characters and actual work of changing. Which honestly is also fair. Writing is hard.

But one of the things I love about Bungou Stray Dogs is how the entire story is basically Dazai’s redemption arc in all its disastrous messy glory. Redemption is hard, becoming a better person is exhausting and it doesn’t happen overnight. Despite an often cavalier attitude towards everyone around him, Dazai never loses sight of Odasaku’s last words to him.

"Listen. You told me that you might find a reason to live if you lived in a world of violence and bloodshed. You won't find it. You must know that already. Whether you're on the side who kills people or the side who saves people, nothing beyond what you would expect will appear. Nothing in this world can fill that lonely hole you have. You will wander the darkness for eternity. (...) Be on the side that saves people. If both sides are the same, become a good man. Save the weak, and protect the orphans. Neither good nor evil means much to you, I know... but that'd make you at least a little bit better. (...) Of course I know. I know better than anyone. Because... I am your friend."

Leaving the mafia and deciding to save people from now on is a good step, but it’s a process, as we see. It’s choosing every day to save orphans, to protect the weak, and even after making the overall choice to become a better man, there are still plenty of struggles along the way. It’s what makes Dazai such a compelling, powerful and ultimately hopeful character for me.

I know Atsushi is often seen as representing Dazai’s second chance after Akutagawa, his redemption in a sense, and that’s not wrong at all. Atsushi is definitely a major, even the main, part of it, but in my opinion it’s not the whole of it. Dazai’s mentoring of Atsushi is a double-edged sword: on the one hand, it absolutely is a part of his redemption. He’s genuinely trying to do his best with Atsushi, and I do think he cares for him--clearly, he cares enough to let himself be captured by the mafia, even.

On the other hand, ignoring a kid you hurt for a kid you didn't is not redemption in and of itself when you could still do something about it. It’s not like Akutagawa has given up on Dazai in any way; he’s pretty desperate for Dazai’s acknowledgement even now.

If saving one requires you to abandon the other, are you really a better person for it ? Like, if you wanna save orphans, you kinda have to include the one who's literally begging you to save him and who is only in this bad place because of you.

If joining the agency would have redeemed Dazai, we wouldn’t have a story, though again I’m not minimizing the importance of this or the resonance of Dazai’s mentoring of Atsushi. But in joining the agency, Dazai left someone behind--more than one someones, actually. Dazai’s redemption is a process that will require him to face the harm he caused in the mafia and as much as possible, fix it. And he can’t fully redeem himself until he integrates with his shadow. Unlike Atsushi whose shadow is directly personified in Akutagawa, though, Dazai’s is in several other people (we could also consider Odasaku and Atsushi part of the anima), including Akutagawa, Chuuya, Dostoyevsky, and Mori.

Even the next time Dazai saves an orphan (Kyouka), we find out that a lot of the cruel ways Akutagawa trained her came from how Dazai trained him.

It’s a consequence coming back to Dazai that his mentee decides to save a child trapped in the mafia whom everyone wants to give up on, a child whose been through the same training he forced Akutagawa into (which I should remind you includes a canonical mock execution). The difficulties of saving Kyouka are probably exactly why Dazai took so long to make baby steps towards Akutagawa. But to his credit, while he’s not exactly compassionate with Kyouka while she’s imprisoned, Dazai does save her. If mentoring a kid on the verge of turning into a criminal is the first step to reconciling with his mafia self, then Dazai’s helping save Kyouka is the next one.

However, he doesn’t fully understand the cruelties of he did to Akutagawa, as shown in how he mocks him after his capture by repeating Akutagawa’s worst fears to him:

I know Dazai’s playing a long game with setting up Atsushi and Akutagawa’s partnership in shin soukoku, but the ends don’t always justify the means and that’s a lesson often shown to us in BSD (it’s in part the reason Dazai left the mafia; he couldn’t buy that Oda’s death was justifiable because it got rid of Mimic and got the Port Mafia their black ticket). This type of triggering really isn’t okay. Like I said here, Dazai is in part the cause of Atsushi and Akutagawa’s struggles to get along, and he should be part of reconciling that schism as well.

I know while some people are annoyed that fans call a person two years older than someone else their father figure, but the manga itself draws this comparison and codes Dazai/Atsushi and Dazai/Akutaqawa as a mentor/mentee relationship which is 99% of the time coded as parental in literature (and it definitely is here). Akutagawa literally draws the comparison himself between his relationship with Dazai and Atsushi’s with his abusive orphanage headmaster. Yes, Akutagawa’s making some logical jumps here (refusing to acknowledge that Dazai is just as much Atsushi’s mentor as his), but the manga wants us to make this comparison.

As Atsushi wasn’t able to reconcile his frustration and hurt towards the orphanage headmaster, he’ll probably do so through Akutagawa and through Dazai, because Atsushi’s view of Dazai is basically that he’s already redeemed and fantastic and justified in his choices--again, I know Atsushi complains about his irresponsibility sometimes, but it’s mostly played as a joke and isn’t a serious critique of just how he treated Akutagawa, despite Atsushi hating Akutagawa for how he treated Kyouka (take that train of thought a little further, Atsushi).

But onto Dazai’s other relationships. It’s telling that Dazai is at his most unrestrained and violent in the mafia when he partners with Chuuya, who despite being very restrained thanks to him being capable of uninhibited destruction that would lead to his own death without said restraint, knows who Dazai is and what he’s capable of from the very beginning (he’s so much as seen Dazai murder the orphans who comprise the Sheep even after promising Chuuya he wouldn't). Kunikida is Chuuya’s foil in that he works most closely with Dazai in the agency and is perpetually ready to strangle him, but Kunikida is also incredibly principled and restrained--yet he is significantly the only member of the agency who, prior to the Guild Arc, did not know Dazai used to be in the mafia.

Kunikida’s ideals including saving everyone if possible. Both Chuuya and Kunikida represent these two extremes of what Dazai is capable of--and yet notably both of them care about saving children and are in many ways more compassionate people than Dazai.

The one time we see Chuuya talk about killing a kid is with Q, who notably is introduced to us as another child with the soukoku partnership team-up.

Q, a child with half-dark hair and half-white hair (gee I wonder what that symbolizes) is a child made to curse the world and hate ever being born. Chuuya and Dazai team up to save him but contemplate killing him.

Dazai’s choice not to kill Q is stated to be to save himself, which is probably is, but it’s also symbolic of how Dazai’s saving other people is saving himself (and also ties back to another quote Odasaku liked to repeat from Natsume: “everyone exists to save themselves”).

But Chuuya’s motivation, as I wrote before, is because he’s grieved over the loss of his comrades. Chuuya really cares about people, including Dazai, and the fact that Dazai is actually going to far as to model Atsushi and Akutagawa’s team-up on his team-up with Chuuya pretty strongly implies Dazai doesn’t hate Chuuya as much as he says he does. To be able to truly leave the mafia, he has to make peace with those relationships there. It’s part of being honest with himself: like Atsushi, acknowledging the darker shadows, and like Akutagawa, acknowledging the better parts of him too.

At present, Dostoyevsky proves a perfect foil for Dazai, as @linkspooky has written here. They’re the same in a lot of ways, but Dostoyevsky has allowed nihilism and a god complex to completely consume him and is not trying to be human, whereas Dazai still tries to save people and was devastated by Oda’s death. Dostoyevsky’s ability, whatever it was, works by touching someone like Dazai’s, but since Dazai’s No Longer Human negates another’s abilities, Dazai is the only person on which Fyodor’s ability will not work, making them the perfect counters for each other.  Dostoyevsky is what Dazai could be if his feelings of alienation from human society (a prominent theme in the real life Dostoyevsky’s works) were taken to their utmost extreme, and so it’d be fitting for him to ultimately defeat Fyodor through the relationships he does have (including Atsushi and Akutagawa). 

To return to Odasaku, Odasaku is also kind of a warning to Dazai as much as he is a man Dazai wants to become like. When Odasaku lost the orphans under his care, he fell into complete despair and knowingly embarked on a suicide mission to do what Mori wanted him to. Still, Dazai tried to save him. He wasn’t able to save his life, but Odasaku’s death saved Dazai. Yet it’s potentially concerning that Mori used Odasaku’s human connections to engineer his downfall, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Mori uses Dazai’s to try to engineer his downfall later on (like, way, way on).

The difference is that Dazai is a good foil to Mori, too, in understanding what makes people tick and always thinking several moves ahead. Mori groomed Dazai from the age of like fourteen (or younger) to be his successor in the mafia, manipulating his suicidal tendencies and hopelessness to get what Mori wanted from him. It’s telling that the earliest we have of Dazai is him with Mori, in that Mori instead of caring for a suicidal patient decided to take him along to murder the mafia’s boss and induct him into the mafia thereby. The thing about Jungian stories is that there are often some Oedipal tendencies to them--like, for example, a character needs to overcome/break away from completely/kill their father.  I can see Dazai at some point having to overcome Mori and his influence to cement his arc, but that’s highly speculative (yet fits with Mori’s build up as a villain), so we’ll see.

[natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk]

Seiyuu Challenge #14 + 15

I feel like I should’ve made this shorter, but I didn’t. I included gifs and up to five-ish characters provided by my top two seiyuu. Also, mini-blurbs on why I like the characters because I like them all. I restricted anime that I have no watched at least a season or a movie of.

14. Your favourite role from your favourite male seiyuu?

Nobuhiko Okamoto:

Katsuki “Kacchan” Bakugou - Boku no Hero Academia

Excuse me, I’m still shook over that Deku vs Kacchan fight. This scene shook me to my core. The amount of acting in the pain and agony in Bakugou’s character... come on, his throat survives this role, and he apparently doesn’t mind it at all. Let’s just take a moment to recognize how hard he works despite being told to give up his dreams.

Karma Akabane - Assassination Classroom

From Shonen Jump character to another, Karma is a slick, smooth, and crazy type of character. Unlike Bakugou, he’s far more refined in his methods, and even though he has his “good looks”, his classmates admit that he’s a bit crazy (except for Okuda who says he’s a nice guy).

Mikoshiba - Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

“LIAR! I KNOW ALL YOUR PLANS!” - Mikorin Honestly, he and Yuzuki are the best part of this anime. He may appear to be the only one without a ship by the end of the series, but don’t worry, he does get someone in the manga. This bisexual disaster is a closet otaku who says what’s on his mind, and Nobu portrays him to a T. 

Obi - Akagami no Shirayuki-hime

Obi was the best part of this anime. He’s the secondary interest because of the lack of eyebrows. Either way, I was thinking while I watched this, “So this is the voice he uses for otome games!” Not a bad choice I must say. He’s quite the trickster, but he’s also quite a gentleman.

Rin Okumura - Blue Exorcist

This was one of his first really prominent leading roles, but it’s also one of his most memorable. He might’ve grown up in a strict Catholic household, but he plays Satan’s son in this anime! He gives Rin the right amount of protagonist edge and purity at the same time.

Yoshimasa Hosoya:

Sentarou - Sakamichi no Apollon AND Nezumi - No. 6

CHOOSING IS HARD, OKAY? THEY’RE BOTH NUMBER ONE!

I even had to exclude Haruhiro, and that role was really good too! For the rest, I had a clear favourite, but this one was too hard and even after rewatching scenes, I couldn’t make up my mind. From the complexity of Nezumi to the tough adolescent emotions of Sentarou, both left an impact on me as a viewer, so I really couldn’t choose.

Haruhiro - Hai to Gensou no Grimgar

This was an unexpectedly good anime, and unlike SAO, it stays true to the plot and derives most of its conflicts through emotional hardships these characters feel making them feel more realistic. This was a runner-up, but I knew that my top two would be the ones above.

Doppo Kunikida - Bungou Stray Dogs

This is mostly because he’s a supporting character, but I found that the OVA did him justice. Dazai never stops messing with people, if anyone’s wondering. Kunikida’s the tough, rigid, idealistic soccer mom who’s coming back for a season three. LET’S GOOOOO!

Fumikage Tokoyami - Boku no Hero Academia

Give my edgy boi some more screen time. His appearance in the “test of courage” mini-arc was honestly one of the highlights for his character and for that arc.

15. Your favourite role from your favourite female seiyuu?

Miyuki Sawashiro:

Bishamon - Noragami

The second season of Noragami gave her exactly what she deserved development-wise, and she continues to play a major part in the series. Her badass abilities and her values are literally of a god, and her arc was literally the best arc.

Celty Sturluson - Durarara

“How is she gonna play a character without a head?” - me when I first read the description She just has a knack for getting badass female roles, doesn’t she? I think that’s what we all like. She is one of the main characters in the series, and both this role and Bishamon’s both star alongside Jun Fukuyama. They make quite the duo, don’t they?

Yuzuki Seo - Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

“WHAT HAPPENED TO OKADA?!” - me even now Seo steals the show even though she wasn’t introduced until a little later into the series. Her presence is so strong, her habits are annoying for the people around her, but I would totally go see a movie with her even though I hate horror.

Maria - Arakawa Under the Bridge

I usually hate characters like her. The “men are unsophisticated pigs” type, but this character is an exception. She made me laugh, and she tore through some of the characters so fast. It was hilarious, she’s a legendary roaster, and she even has her own opening. When Miyuki showed up on a variety show, one of the people asked for her to speak as this character. She said, “Sit and bow like the dog you are” they complied and did so. That’s how much people like this character.

Kana - Parasyte

Okay, maybe she was a bit too nosy, but I liked her better than the main girl. Miyuki portrayed her so well.

Maaya Sakamoto

Haruhi Fujioka - Ouran High School Host Club

Haruhi is the best character in Host Club. She’s down-to-earth, she does things for herself, and she knows what’s up about gender. Her calm state and absolute “I’m done with these rich kids” aura are given life in both dub and sub, and since I watched Ouran subbed, Maaya Sakamoto provided the perfect Haruhi.

Nino - Arakawa Under the Bridge

The space girl from Venus is the best fisherman in the world and has such a cool dude type of personality. Only Maaya can voice Nino in my book. There is no dub. Let’s keep it that way. Nino’s voice is part of her character. She is so laid-back and lax about everything.

Crona - Soul Eater

*constant screaming* Whatever I said about the last one, that doesn’t apply here. Crona is a bit of a mess at first, but that’s because they’re actually enduring abuse and torture. Crona is not the easiest character to play. They’re constantly screaming and getting bullied, but when Crona finally opens up, they become a great person. Also, their gender doesn’t matter. Maaya has played so many androgynous badasses. This one is another one.

Shiki Ryougi - Kara no Kyoukai

From one androgynous character to another, Shiki sometimes refers to herself as “boku” (masculine version of “I”), and she is a badass. She’s probably far more complex than I can understand since I only watched the first three movies, but I’m still putting her on this list.

[avoresmith]

au where anyone other than atsushi is the main character, go

Kyouka

Kyouka is the most obvious option here, as her character arc literally follows Atsushi’s beat by beat and does it better because she gets to be seen having actual flaws and conflict while Atsushi’s point in life is just to Be Very Good. 

She’s an orphan who was beat down badly by the universe and needs to make peace with her Gift and how it’s uncontrolled presence in her life has played a huge part in all of the painful garbage she’s had to deal with. She has to learn to not just value her own life (Atsushi) but learn to believe she is capable of using the same abilities she used to kill to help people and that there is value to that (Dazai). She has a connection to Akutagawa, a better one than Atsushi, who just thinks that guy is a dangerous asshole, as Akutagawa fucked her up by trying to 'help’ her the same way Dazai 'helped’ him (which echoes the fact that Dazai fucked up Akutagawa by trying to teach Akutagawa the way he was taught by Mori). This creates a way more dynamic and interesting victims vs their abusers and cycle of violence story that they were TRYING to do with Atsushi and his abuser that falls completely flat, on account of how that guy wasn’t actually a character and we are just told we’re supposed to sympathize with him because ‘life is complicated’ instead of actually shown the ways in which life is fucking complicated. 

This would also allow for a narrative of victims vs their abusers where ACTUALLY HAVE, A VICTIM, CHALLENGING THEIR ABUSER AND DEMANDING THEY DO BETTER instead of what we currently have which is 1) Dazai flees Mori and hates him (legit) 2) Akutagawa seeks Dazai’s acknowledgement forever (no?? buddy) 3) Atsushi cries when his abuser died trying to maybe be nice to him for once finally =‘( (ohmygod).

Also, while Dazai and Atsushi mean... something?? to each other, it’s practically only relevant in Atsushi’s arc as something to yell at Akutagawa about, and while we can Assume Dazai Has Feelings we basically never see Dazai impacted by Atsushi. However, if it was Dazai who stops Kyouka from killing herself and takes her out of the mafia we have Dazai directly engaging with his perspective on suicide, and saving someone from the mafia in a way he was never saved, and this leads into him Also Engaging With All Of That, which then could be a continuing theme within their relationship.

(And I didn’t Go In This Direction because my central argument is that Kyouka already does everything Atsushi is doing if better and if given more focus could dramatically improve the manga, but also her relationship with Kouyou could also be given more prominence, and then holy shit, we’d have two important ladies instead of just one!)

In this AU Atsushi honestly doesn’t even need to exist. Kyouka could make friends with Kenji instead, and they could have adorable hyjinks where Kenji teaches her how to be polite to people and then they both get way too extra if politeness fails. 

(MORE UNDER THE CUT)

Akutagawa

This would probably have to be a darker manga, or Akutagawa would have to be less garbage, but as one of the only characters with multiple interesting relationships he is kind of a natural point to focus around. He has Gin, Higuchi, Kyouka, (thREE WOMEN) and Dazai as far as relationships that already important, and Chuuya and Mori and Kouyou are all characters that could be explored more if the manga was more mafia focused. While the mafia aren’t actually villains anyway, this change would make them more sympathetic, but Akutagawa would still be a really interesting MC, and this would fix the fact that Atsushi is only interesting around Akutagawa. 

Unlike Atsushi, Akutagawa has clear wants, motivations, and character progression, so Atsushi makes a lot more sense as Akutagawa’s rival character than the reverse. Boy with garbage life collides into the boy his master replaced him with, only to constantly seethe with anger that this asshole was so fucking lucky. Eventually discovers that his rival’s life actually wasn’t that easy but still can’t comprehend why his rival doesn’t appreciate what he has enough, or why this prick is worth more to his master than he was. Cue a compelling dynamic of Akutagawa improving himself relentlessly while not fully understanding what path he is on, but desperate to get out of the trashfire of his life. He thinks this means earning Dazai’s approval but in fact it means learning he doesn’t need to be a terrible human being to survive.

This would make Dazai far LESS sympathetic, but Dazai sucks so that is only fair.

Dazai

Okay, I won’t lie, Dazai would a SUPER CHALLENGING perspective character for a manga. What makes Dazai’s writing so amazing is how deftly he handles the unreliable narrator, which is hard to do when we don’t actually see the world via the MC’s perspective. And while I am happy to rag on BSD all the live long day, I do think one if it’s strengths is that it picked up on what an interesting character Dazai-types would be viewed exclusively from the outside, and has managed to portray that sort of peculiar contradiction of personality traits quite well. 

HOWEVER, despite being the most popular character, we never really get to see Dazai having a character arc. We know he has improved, we know he has wants and is actually probably working very hard to get his life in order, but we only know any of that from the end of the light novel to the start of the manga. We don’t actually get to see Dazai having conflict, confronting his fears, making hard choices, and growing as a person. 

However, while we never really see it in the manga, given what we know about Dazai’s history, we can probably assume that the choices Dazai makes to help Atsushi is something that actually impacts Dazai quite a bit. The last time he put himself in this position the result was Akutagawa; a challenge which Dazai completely failed on many levels, even if the result was technically a very loyal and capable mafioso and thus something Mori would have slated as a win. Dazai engaging with what it means to teach a human without himself knowing how to be a good human, and probably in the process also learning about ‘goodness’ via someone like Atsushi who is naturally inclined toward the heroic, would actually give Atsushi an interesting place the narrative. 

This would make Dazai waaaaaay more sympathetic, as we would also presumably see him struggling to adapt to ADA life, see his masks slip more often, and more signs of the fact that for real these last two years of being around decent human beings from 9 to 5 is probably the first time in his life he’s dealt with such people. We’d also get to see that he’s probably still depressed, drunk, and suicidal, but may be able to chart the ways he gradually becomes less so and what prompts those improvements. 

Kenji

Kenji is also a nice boy who wants to talk it out but then will beat the shit out of you if that attempt fails. What if instead of being a 2D one time gag character he actually had a motivation and a character arc to engage with? He could more or less follow the same story beats Atsushi sets up, just done better and with less redundancy. Kenji would make an interesting foil for Akutagawa since by all appearances his life wasn’t garbage, and his ceaseless tone deaf optimism in the face of Akutagawa’s ceaseless tone deaf fury would be, if nothing else, pretty fucking entertaining. 

Kunikida

wOW ANOTHER HEROIC CHARACTER WHO USES VIOLENCE TO RESOLVE CONFLICT. IT’S LIKE THERE ARE A BUNCH OF THESE. What if Kunikida being Dazai’s partner was at all narratively relevant and they had a dynamic that went deeper than Dazai aggravating Kunikida for the lulz and Kunikida being willing to trust Dazai when the chips are down.

Since Kunikida is slated to be the next leader of the ADA he makes a potentially compelling choice as a protagonist, as it would be an easy way to involve all of the (MANY) under appreciated ADA characters, by having their future boss learn what it means to actually work with and appreciate the backgrounds of his various future underlings. It wouldn’t need to be slated specifically as ‘Kunikida Is The Heir’ but given that it’s a shounen manga it could be effortlessly set up that way, and unlike Atsushi, Kunikida has a LOT of obvious flaws. He is naive, inflexible, emotionally vulnerable, distrustful, impatient, judgmental, and gullible. He also has CLEAR WANTS (Idealism) seeing him struggling for something fundementally unattainable and the ways he learns to update his ideal of idealism, in part by overcoming his individual flaws and in part by realizing that while idealism might be worth seeking it cannot be achieved. He would have a lot to learn from every member of the team, and in doing so could give them more importance to the story.

Yosano

you waNNA KNOW WHO IS GREAT AND DEEPLY UNDER APPRECIATED?? YOSANO. IT’S YOSANO. AU where actually Yosano is the main character. If you need a more compelling argument than that IDK what to say to you.

Tanizaki

What if Tankizaki had a narrative purpose other than gag and deus ex ability.

Mishima

AU where Mishima Yukio is in the manga, he’s an ex-government worker who was fired for being a bit too radical but he deeply respects and is super gay for Fukuzawa’s aesthetic and agrees to join the ADA. Rather than being Dazai’s protege he fancies himself Dazai’s rival and is intent to expose what garbage he is but the joke is on him because everyone knows that including Dazai. 

None the less, Mishima also is a more callous and aloof person who wears a friendly mask and via picking at Dazai he picks at himself. The more fixated he gets on exposing Dazai, the more he has to confront the fact that the world is more complicated than he wants it to be and it frightens him to examine the degree to which he doesn’t feel he actually belongs among society and thus tries very hard to construct a place for himself in it with his radical behavior and exacting standards, whereas Dazai accepts that he just should go in the trash. 

Dazai, in response, really doesn’t like being picked at effectively. Everyone else within the ADA accepts the masks he wears without question, never actually confronting his suicidal ideation or talking to him about where he comes from, even once they know about it. Mishima, in his relentless pursuit of being able to classify and deconstruct Dazai to overcome him, does just this, and frankly it sucks a lot for Dazai because Mishima would be the first person to A) learn the grueling details of his past and B) understand how fucked up that is for someone like Dazai who is only hiding his sensitivity and C) still look him in the eye and tell him to get his shit together. Mishima becomes the first person since Odasaku who actually understands Dazai but this time it is the worst because Mishima is mean. 

Dazai counters by ruining Mishima’s life in the most extraordinarily petty ways as frequently as possible.

Atsushi

ALTERNATIVELY. Atsushi actually is a good protagonist.

HERE IS AN EXERCISE, WHAT DO EACH OF THESE SHOUNEN HEROES WANT AND HOW DO WE KNOW?

Edward Elric: wants the philosopher’s stone, will do basically anything for it, we find this out in chapter 1.

Gon Freaks: Wants to find his dad, chapter 1

Luffy: Wants to find his dad, chapter 1

Allen Walker: wants to save everyone from akuma because dad feels, chapter, idk, like 3

Naruto: Wants the acknowledgement of his village, works tirelessly for it. We find this out in like chapter 1. (yeah I know naruto is bad don’t @ me but look the MC had a clear motivation)

(AV have you read any shounen manga since 2001-- nO)

Atsushi: Wants... uh. To not starve??? This need is met in chapter 1. Wants to... be.. a good employee...? Wants to beat Akutagawa because... he’s bad....??? Wants to... make Dazai proud...?

It’s not impossible to write a story with a MC who isn’t clearly motivated, but it’s a fuckload harder to make it compelling and you prrrroobably need to have some other kind of clear focus to replace the fact that your MC does not. IE if you are specially exploring the story of an unmotivated hero, you frame his actions around the fact that he is really just doing things by route and how this separates him from the people around him who actually have priorities in their life. 

Or, if you want to be like ‘Atsushi’s motivation is that he cares and wants to help!’ LOOK: If they are sO HEROIC that they just nEED TO BE THE HERO ALL THE TIME (Allen Walker) either because they lack self worth (Allen Walker) or are so empathetic that they can’t help but try to save everyone (Allen Walker), you narratively frame the story around them so that it highlights this as both a strength and a weakness of their character. The inability to save everyone vs feeling like your life only has value if you can save everyone is deeply fucked up and should haunt your MC.

The manga starts to slightly course correct Atsushi after waaay too many chapters, which is why he starts having an actually interesting dynamic with Akutagawa. But now he wants to ‘overcome his abuser’, and though this itself is extremely unclear as to what it means. I suspect it means ‘continue to do the exact same shit he’s being doing until he believes in himself’ whichhhhh is boring. It could work if the framing is consistent and Atsushi begins to have actual conflict with his own behavior and the way he treats his life as disposable and his suffering as unimportant. 

He could also use some flaws, which, again, we only see signs off later in the game with his Akutagawa relationship. Atsushi can be forgiven for not realizing that Dazai was horrible to Akutagawa, since neither Dazai nor Akutagawa will ever explain that, but he is still pretty shitty to Akutagawa deliberately! And it’s nice seeing him be a little prick.

If everything that is happening now with Atsushi had happened from the beginning, you know how you are supposed to start a shounen manga with the protagonist actually doing anything interesting or important, the manga would be much less bad. If Atsushi had more than like 1.5 flaws and a .75 motivation now, the manga would also be a lot better.

I don’t actually like this idea as much as all of my other ones, but if he MUST be the MC, what if he was actually good at it at all.