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dinosaurtsukki · 3 years ago

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bungou stray dogs + skincare routine headcanons

a/n: literally no one asked for this but i thought it would be fun

armed detective agency:

atsushi: actually quite diligent with washing his face but he tends to use those scrubbing pads that are meant for your body. its why his face is so flushed pink. 'my skin hurts which means it's working!' baby,,, no

kyouka: gently pats her face with a washcloth while watching atsushi in horror when they're about to get ready for bed but makes no comment about it

kunikida: uses a clarisonic wholly because it has a timer but it took him ages to realize that you use it with SOAP. he was really just washing his face with warm water and a clarisonic this entire time

dazai: washes his face every time he showers which is like once a week (y'all really like this guy huh) but never gets blemishes because idk life gave him clear skin to make up for all the psychological trauma

ranpo: the only skincare he does is applying lip balm. at first you were surprised that he even cares about his lips and then you found out that the lip balm was candy flavored and he licks it off throughout the day

yosano: knows a lot about skincare and is v diligent with it except she's so fucking busy that she ends up falling asleep with a sheet mask or dried up clay mask on her face. those hydrogel undereye patch thingies are her best friend

port mafia:

chuuya: learned about skincare from koyou and is also very diligent with his nightly and morning routine. has enough money to afford tatcha and paula's choice and all that but secretly loves using those cookie-dough-watermelon-sugar face mask things

akutagawa: his face and hands are the only things he washes every day with neutrogena face wash that his sister bought for him (and begged him to use). his one redeeming factor is he wears sunscreen

gin: i love her but she kinda just gets the first thing she sees at the drugstore someone please stop her from re-purchasing that st. ives face scrub. her skin tends to get dry from wearing the bandages all day so sometimes she'll spritz herself with face mist

tachihara: surprise surprise the bandage on his nose isn't there because he has a wound or anything he just keeps it there to hide the pimple patches he uses on his nose. has the bad habit of popping zits

koyou: amazing beautiful perfect queen. if you DARE try to call her while she's having her weekly facial expect golden snow to show up right behind you (nobody knows how she manages to do that)

oda: his skin always gets irritated after shaving until he found out that aloe gel is a good way to soothe the irritation. at first, he'd just use those aloe gel packs from the drugstore until he decided 'why not just... raise aloe plants?' and now he has 3 of them on his window

higuchi: has the basics (face wash, toner, moisturizer, sunscreen) in her bathroom but sometimes she accidentally mixes them up when she's not paying attention in the morning. once walked out of the house with condition on her face (she mistook it for sunscreen)

special division for unusual powers:

ango: uses a facial steamer because they're relaxing + fragrant and even keeps one at his desk. doesn't mind when his glasses fog up because he's seen enough

decay of angels:

fyodor: to him it's just unnecessary and a waste of time which could be spent plotting and scheming so you literally have to sit him on the bathroom counter after his shower and rub face wash on his face. now he refuses to do his skin care unless you do it for him

nikolai: constantly wears so much clown make-up that his skincare routine primarily consists of slathering his entire face with cleansing balm. likes using sheet masks because he thinks its the closest he'll get to wearing someone's face as a mask

sigma: best skincare routine in the DOA. buys bougie skincare shit like chuuya and swears by the holy jade roller that he keeps in his little skincare fridge. we love sigma in this household

hunting dogs:

jouno: claims that he doesn't need skincare because he already has ✨perfect skin✨ but i bet on my life that he secretly owns 5 different serums, one for each day of the week except on weekends

tecchou: regularly uses chapstick because his lips gets super dry and chapped (he forgets to drink water). even stitched a little pocket on his uniform for his chapstick. jouno replaced it with a glue stick once

teruko: literally has the flawless skin of a freshly born child (ok i typed that weird) probably rubs at her face with a wash towel like atsushi does. knows about jouno's serum collection and files that under 'blackmail material' in her head

▸ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ┈┈┈┈ 🎕 ◂

taglist (check out my post for details on being part of my taglist): @kiyoobi @atsumusdomain @laure-chan @goodfoodxoxoxo @guardianangelswings @kei-ya @loisuke @whootwhoot @liz-multifandom-hotel @kac-chowsballs @violentfarewll @fyoyacanruinmylifethanks @nightmare-light @miyakiyo0mi @whorefordazai @rirk-ke @cross-crye @alohablue @duhsies @alittlesimp

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caffeinatedseri · 4 years ago

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The Significance of Sunsets

We’re introduced to the significance of twilight during the Cannibalism Arc via the Tripartite Tactic.

The essence of the Tripartite Tactic supports 3 core themes of BSD: moral ambiguity, the cyclical nature of life, and the beauty of humanity.

First, the Tripartite Tactic establishes the moral balance of the BSD universe through the government, PM, and ADA’s interactions with one another to ensure the balance of Yokohama.

Day and night are binary opposites, similar to how the government and mafia operate on opposite sides. That would imply that the government and mafia are always at war with one another, working to bring the other down, but the Tripartite Tactic suggests otherwise.

Both the government and mafia’s survival are necessary to secure the balance of the city, just like how day and night, good and evil have to coexist in a state of balance.

However, there is a middle ground that bridges these opposing concepts together: twilight — as represented with the agency.

As the evening acts the neutral point from day to night, the agency acts as a morally neutral organization between the government and mafia. They don’t necessarily abide by the laws and rules of “justice,” but they still work to establish a semblance of “good” in this world.

We’ve seen the government act in suspicious ways, we’ve seen the mafia act in good natured ways, and we’ve seen the agency do both of the sort. Even though the government and mafia are supposed to represent “good” and “evil”, the fact that they break these molds serves to once again prove the moral ambiguity within the BSD universe.

Twilight also symbolizes another important idea — the cyclical nature of life. As the passing period between day and night, it represents the end of a day, which will always lead to the start of a new day.

This cyclical nature lends itself to a feeling of hope that drives the journey of redemption — the hope that the night will pass and a new day will begin encourages our characters to persevere and hope for something better.

Cycles also show themselves through character interactions throughout the generations.

Mori abused Dazai → Dazai abused Akutagawa → Akutagawa abused Kyouka, In this case, the cycle of abuse is born (although it fortunately stops at Kyouka).

In parallel, Oda helped Dazai → Dazai helped Atsushi → Atsushi helps Kyouka, For this, the cycle of redemption is born.

As twilight is a time for sunsets, sunsets are an inevitable motif for these themes. The arrangement of colors in the sky, characteristic of a sunset, tends to evoke feelings of awe or admiration for the beauty of such sunset. The beauty of a sunset symbolizes an appreciation for the beauty of humanity, aligning with the theme of accepting human nature as is. (think Dazai)

Keeping in mind these 3 aspects: moral ambiguity, the cyclical nature of life, and the beauty of humanity, the significance of every scene with a sunset becomes more prominent.

Sunsets in BSD always appear at important points of the narrative, with my favorite being:

This scene’s significance is primarily Dazai’s transition out of the mafia as represented through the light shining through the window — as if light is being shined on the darkness that had surrounded his life.

This scene happens to be one of my favorites because it touches upon all three themes that the twilight-esque light represents.

Moral ambiguity: Oda knows that Dazai doesn’t care about justice or evil, or defining aspects of morality, so Oda argues Dazai should work for justice. Oda doesn’t try to argue that justice is morally correct, but he simply says it is “better” in an extremely vague way.

The idea of Dazai joining the side of justice with no strong moral conviction opens up the concept of moral ambiguity. Is it important for him to have a moral code if he wants to find the purpose of his life? Can he help others if he doesn’t believe it’s the “right” thing to do? Does it matter?

Most importantly, does saving others whilst not believing in the standards of morality place you within the boundaries of justice or evil? Or are there no such defined boundaries?

Cyclical nature: Oda pushes for Dazai to save people, instead of killing people, mirroring the actions of Natsume-sensei who helped Oda come to that same resolve. This starts the cycle of Dazai helping Atsushi, Atsushi helping Kyouka, and hopefully Atsushi getting to help Akutagawa as well.

This scene also reflects the idea of the “end of the night”, or the start of a new day as Dazai abandons the PM, and starts anew in the Agency.

Beauty of humanity: PM Dazai was arguably the most “inhumane” version of Dazai that we’ve seen, due to his heavily logic driven intellect and distrusting tendencies.

However, in this interaction with Oda, we finally see his humanity shine through. Oda gives no reasonable, straight-forward explanation as to why Dazai should leave the mafia, but Dazai follows his advice regardless because of their trust.

The ability to trust and love, an innate part of human nature, can be seen as foolish from the eyes of the logic-driven, but ultimately that’s what makes being human beautiful.

I admit the last scene may have been a little vague with whether the setting was actually a sunset, but this one is more obvious!

This takes place after SSKK’s fight with Francis, and they regroup with Dazai, Fukuzawa, and Kyouka.

Cyclical nature: As the finale of the Guild Arc, the sunset represents the end of a day and the start of another as they close this chapter of their lives. It also parallels Dazai’s “redemption” scene, as Kyouka finds her redemption in sacrificing herself for others and becoming part of the agency.

Just as Oda was able to help Dazai in the previous scene, Dazai is the one who tells Kyouka exactly what she needed to hear in order for her to survive and find a home in the agency.

Beauty of humanity: Being human means to be compassionate, and I’d argue that Kyouka was uncompassionate in the past, just because no one had shown her what compassion was like. However, Kyouka grows from that — with the help of Atsushi and Dazai showing her empathy and kindness, she’s able to reciprocate that feeling and be willing to give up her life for the sake of others.

Dazai also praises Akutagawa for a short moment in this scene, which is also an act of compassion from Dazai although Akutagawa deserves more than that.

This scene follows the party at the end of the Cannibalism Arc, as Dazai and Atsushi have a nice heart-to-heart.

Dazai’s toast here is technically an anime-only moment, but obviously all of the sunsets are anime-only. Regardless, I’ll be discussing his entire talk with Atsushi here, along with the toast.

Moral ambiguity: Akutagawa’s promise to not kill anyone for 6 months mirrors that of Oda — a mafia member who doesn’t kill. By doing so, he directly challenges the morality involved with being a mafia member (what would be “bad”) and breaks away from the black and white labels of “good” and “evil.”

If we followed the code of justice, presumably the morally “right” way, then it would dictate that Akutagawa would need to be punished for the crimes he committed. However, Atsushi’s decision to form that promise with Akutagawa gives him an opportunity to grow and redeem himself, even if Akutagawa fits with the “evil” label.

Akutagawa and Atsushi are obviously foils — they’re different in almost every way, which you could use to define Atsushi as the hero and Akutagawa as the villain, but it’s undeniable that they also share many similarities. As the line between “good” and “evil” blurs, moral ambiguity is developed.

Cyclical nature: Once again, this scene closes out the Cannibalism Arc, with the sunset symbolizing both the end and beginning.

Atsushi’s promise with Akutagawa parallels that of Oda’s dying wish to Dazai; they’re both founded on the basis of trust, and they push towards a brighter future for Akutagawa and Dazai respectively. Thus, the cycle of redemption repeats itself once more.

Dazai’s “To the stray dogs” statement also parallels his toast with the Buraiha trio (Dazai, Ango, Oda). It could be just a callback to Oda, but it also expresses Dazai passing on the toast to Atsushi, from one stray dog to another. Nevertheless, this still represents a cycle of actions in which the previous generation affects the present.

Beauty of humanity: Dazai toasting to Atsushi with the phrase “stray dogs” offers a sense of compassion and hope. Dazai and Atsushi have undoubtedly grown closer to one another throughout the entire series up to this point, so it makes perfect sense that Dazai shows that he cares by sharing a piece of his past with Atsushi.

Toasting directly to the stray dogs implies a celebration of sorts for these dogs, who are stray but ultimately not alone. The toast is indicative of a hope for a better future whilst also acknowledging how one can feel lost in life (and how that’s okay).

Atsushi’s promise with Akutagawa also serves as an attempt to teach Akutagawa the beauty of humanity, since Atsushi believes that Akutagawa doesn’t see the value of life (which is preventing him from getting Dazai’s approval). I would argue that it should be the other way around, but Atsushi has good intentions here.

After Atsushi discovers the death of the Headmaster of his orphanage, Dazai gives some comforting advice.

Moral ambiguity: Atsushi struggles with his conflicted feelings towards the Headmaster’s death, which is perfectly understandable.

The Headmaster can’t be defined as completely good or completely bad, because he did impact Atsushi’s life in a way that led him to where he is today (once again, no definitive black or white answer as to whether that’s good or not).

Atsushi struggles with the thought that he has to pick whether to feel glad or upset, in order to fit within the neat labels of black and white, happy and sad. In response, Dazai (the definition of a morally ambiguous man) simply says:

Although Dazai says “There’s no one who can fully grasp the deepest feelings of another person,” in the anime, I think the meaning of that is better stated in the manga. Dazai reasons that he can be both glad or upset, his feelings can be mixed, and there is no clear cut answer for how to feel (as Dazai only gives a general piece of advice).

Cyclical nature: Dazai’s statement, “when someone’s father dies, they tend to cry”, could honestly be interpreted in a multitude of ways.

Dazai’s reference to a father figure suggests that this “father” is simply a person who impacted their life greatly and made them who they are today. (since both of their fathers are unknown).

Following this definition, Oda is the father figure to Dazai in the same way that the Headmaster was to Atsushi. Although their methods of “helping” Dazai and Atsushi differ very drastically, the same cycle of this “father” figure impacting the life of their metaphorical son repeats.

Oda giving advice to Dazai, and Dazai giving advice to Atsushi is also another cycle — the cycle of reaching a hand out to someone in need. (which is the more sensical of these two conclusions)

Beauty of humanity: Dazai’s ability to be compassionate truly shines in this scene and shows just how much he’s grown from his time in the PM.

In contrary to PM Dazai’s unfeeling self, Dazai is able to empathize with Atsushi on a personal basis; just as the Headmaster was a integral part of Atsushi’s past, Oda was the same for Dazai.

Dazai’s growing ability to understand others demonstrates his willingness to grow more accustomed to human nature, and love it for what it is.

Atsushi’s confusion in dictating what he should feel also speaks on the nature of humanity; his feelings don’t have to make sense for him to feel them. In fact, the more illogical his emotions are, the more human he is.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd meta #bsd analysis #bsd dazai #bsd atsushi #bsd kyouka #just me gushing over how much i love sunsets #there are many more sunset scenes that i didnt cover hmmm

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kiyokoxd · 3 years ago

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« Hallucinations »

fandom ; bungo stray dogs

content ; angst

includes ; dazai

warnings ; death, odasaku, manga spoilers (1), few ideas taken from No Longer Human – Osamu Dazai, mention of suicide, don't read it i am just warning u here so I don't get the blame later on

note ; well that hurts but thank you! i honestly wondered the same thing too and so I decided to write about it ahaha... | I recommend listening to this song while reading it :) @requiem626k

Osamu Dazai. A former member of the Port Mafia, also known for 138 murders, 312 cases of extortion, and 625 cases of fraud. He joined Port Mafia when he was only 14, a teenager. The age where people enjoy and live the best out of their lives, he was here. Committing these sins. It wasn't forced either, he chose to be here. He thought, perhaps if I spent more time here, I would have found meaning in life. 4 years and nothing happened until his friend, Odasaku told him to leave Port Mafia and save lives.

It was a selfish request but it was alright, though he found respect for other lives. He didn't find a meaning for his, not one bit.

The 2 years he lived undercover was traumatising, but he learned to keep a better and more cheerful facade to fool others. He acted like a clown to make others laugh yet keep his intrusive thoughts within himself, only making jokes about them in order to look more of a clown.

It's not like he wanted to show that suicide is a joke, it wasn't. But he didn't know how to express his emotions, not after the emotionless phase he went through half of his life. Odasaku's death impacted him more than anything and left him confused, not being sure how he could tell others he needed help, he didn't want to look vulnerable either. Weakness couldn't be shown.

Even so, he was just a child. It wasn't a card that could be shown to feel pity for him. But, most teenagers remember what they do and how much fun they have, Dazai remembered it too, only that it wasn't fun.

Their faces, lying on the floor, pools of blood, Odasaku, betrayal, Ango, people begging to be forgiven or given mercy, gunshots, Akutagawa, Q, death and lies everywhere. He didn't listen to the cries, he was known to be cold, he was known to be the demon prodigy, a monster was what he was. Or so he thought.

Even if Atsushi and others believed in him and that now he could redeem himself. That didn't stop his paranoia. He saw similar faces everywhere, looking at him in disgust, disapproval or sadness. The lives that he took screamed at him, still begging him to leave them alone, that they had people to care for, reasons worth living for. Their faces were somehow deformed or covered in blood, the blood that he caused to spill. The lives that he ruined, all by himself, it was a choice.

"It's all your fault," they said, "WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" they screamed.

Dazai took another glass of alcohol to blur the noises in the background.

The other agency members knew it must have been hard, they didn't know the full story. Only that he was quite obsessive when it came towards drinking, it really wasn't healthy.

The voices dulled the more he was around the Agency members. But what if he was alone?

He looked at the mirror to wash his face with cold water, to make him feel calmer. But all he could see was the face of a murderer, whispering at him, "there's really no escape until you die"

He wanted to die. Fighting wasn't worth it, karma would chase him for his lies, always and forever. The blood on his hands scared him to death, no matter how much he wiped it off, it wouldn't go away. Why him? The death of hundreds of people was on his hand and he couldn't do anything to take it away. The feeling of it was sickening, it made him want to puke. He could give up on his life to take this feeling away.

But could he really give up on the people that believed in him? Did he believe in himself? Maybe. He wanted to be a better tutor, a better friend, not the old manipulative and selfish man he was. He wanted to learn how to love, how to not feel worthless and undeserving, self-pity was bad, he knew it, and maybe it was worth it to try, but his life wasn't.

That's how he lived on, confused and conflicted with his feelings, somehow still maintaining his cheerful and playful facade. It was tiresome but he knew a few people cared about him, so maybe another try would be it. Another try for death or life? It truly depended on him.

– ; okay I am sorry :') I really am, it's just that I like writing angst even tho it hurts haha... I am not the only one to blame here this time tho so hAHa

~ ; @missrown , @xmellows , @greenshirtimagines , @alittlesimp , @dazaisusedbandages , @bsdparadise , @explosion-queen , @shadyteacup

anyways! reblogs, comments and likes are appreciated! i hope you all stay safe and take care <3 // writing belongs to me! please do not plagiarize! the reblog button is always there for you to share :)

#dazai #mafia dazai #port mafia #dazai x reader #dazaibsd #bsd dazai #dazai osamu #osamu dazai #bungo stray dogs #bsd #bsd manga #bsd x reader #bsd atsushi #bungo stray dogs dazai #angst

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nikinramblings · 4 years ago

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Thoughts on the everlasting debate of Dazai’s (a)morality

I know the matter of Dazai not changing is controversial but I love that he (mostly) hasn’t.

I have to say, I don’t usually like good characters, always doing the right thing, being in conflict with their own morality whenever they’re pushed to bend the rules a little. I like the twisted crafty ones, they are unpredictable and have more potential for surprising, amusing and spectacular scenes, especially if they’re charismatic. I would hate them in real life but I like to be entertained by fiction; so I know I’m biased about this.

I admit, I was even a bit worried about the reformed bad guy cliché but I was pleasantly surprised. There was a scene where he seemed to care and a second later I was like “yeah, you’re still a little shit, I can see it”.

And it worked even better when his past was revealed.

He didn’t have a sudden change of heart, he was - and still is - only trying to fulfill Oda’s dying wish. Since it’s not something that came from inside him, he has to work on it.

Four years have passed and he’s still trying. He does things for a good purpose but he goes all wrong. That’s because he’s not really a changed person but he wants to do the right thing, so he sets a rightful objective but loses sight of what is right or wrong to reach it.

I do think he cares for the ADA and has started to help and save people because something is stirring in him, but he is a bit dead inside or maybe just apathetic so it doesn’t have that great of a hold on him.

Doing what’s right doesn’t come to him instinctively, so he does it the only way he knows, he tricks and manipulates and is willing to sacrifice those he doesn’t care about or doesn’t deem worthy.

It’s also pretty difficult to gain his interest, he is only ever drawn to those with some outstanding traits. For example:

Oda, the reformed hitman with the power to take over as Mafia boss but is content to work as a low level grunt, doesn’t kill and saves orphans.

Ango, with his unique way of thinking and the way he managed to steal from the Mafia, infiltrated the Mafia, infiltrated Mimic and got back to the Government. If I’m not mistaken, Dazai himself praises him at some point.

Ranpo, smarter than Dazai himself.

Atsushi, stronger than many, with an ability that can cut through other abilities and fits perfectly as half of Shin Soukoku.

I’m stopping here but I could add some. The point is he has to learn how to value a huge amount of people he never even saw.

Not to mention he is bored with life in general, in his own words he doesn’t see any value in the act of living, so he has no respect for it.

These are not things you forget just because you set your mind to it. I’m not even sure he WANTS to be a good person, like deep inside, he just wants to try and do the things a good person would do. Even Oda knew he had no interest in either side when he made the choice for him.

It’s a journey and he regresses too and I think I wouldn’t have enjoyed the story as much as I did (and do) if he had changed already.

I don’t know whether he’ll fail or succeed, we won’t know until the end I suppose. If I had to believe he’s already a good person then I disapprove - at the same time, I don’t think he’s still at starting point either -, but I don’t think that’s the case, I think the jury is still out and he has time to fully redeem himself.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd

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moniwaskaname · 4 years ago

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I agree with your last post 10000% but if I may add: Fukuchi is way too overpowered and doesn't have any redeemable qualities. BSD is full of complex characters that make them loveable but Fukuchi... not so much. Fitzgerald was a pretty powerful opponent but his motivation, his back story made me interested in him and hell even love him later on. Fyodor proved to be the next level boss if you will. Had he not been arrested, by himself he proved to be an extreme threat and I would have love to see more of his back story and whatever the hell his ability is but nope. Now we're stuck with mary sue Fukuchi whose just an asshole who doesn't have a solid enough background for me to understand his actions. I love all the other new characters, don't get me wrong, but there was so much potential at the beginning of the arc and now it just seems... bland. Like where's the solid ADA/PM/Guild team up? That would've been so interesting to see and it could've explored the consequences of the Guild more in order to tie up loose ends. What about the rest of the Hunting Dogs? What if they had learned to truth early on and joined the fight? I was super excited for this arc, now I'm frustrated and confused.

I agree with you anon! I do think Fukuchi is overpowered with the whole “can cut through time and space” thingie. I’m not a fan of it tbh D:

And I believe characters don’t need to have these super ultra abilities to be powerful; like Mori. His ability is not exactly strong like Chuuya’s, but he’s a damn powerful character AND a great antagonist. And Fitzgerald... gosh, Fitzgerald was done so beautifully! His ability is strong but it depends on his economical power, meaning it has a weakness and it’s beatable. His motives were so well placed, like, he himself never “justified” himself and we learned about it until the last fight, and it was so beautiful ugh, I love Fitzgerald so much. And Fyodor, tho powerful and smart, it’s a weakling, he pretty much depends on his manipulation than his own strength. Fukuchi lacks what makes Mori, Fitzgerald and Fyodor great antagonists, at least to me.

While I don’t think strong motives are necessary or a character to be evil and do evil things, Fukuchi lacks flaws and his conviction is not clear enough. And I think Fukuchi came up flat in terms that the arc set him up way too soon.

I don’t think this arc should have gone farther than the ADA being set up and trying to prove they were innocent to be honest. I don’t think we should have learned that Fukuchi was an actual villain in this arc at all.

I think Fukuchi should have been built more as the Hunting Dog leader, as Fukuzawa’s ex-friend, and such before setting him up as the ultimate boss. It would have made more impact, because with all the new characters and things going on, it wasn’t impressive nor meaningful because we didn’t care about him at all.

In fact, when the Hunting Dogs were introduced, everybody saw them as antagonist (not villains tho), nobody was really happy to see them, and with how little we still know about them, and how little they are developed (except Tachihara, maybe), it didn’t even feel like a plot twist lol.

I think this arc should have been about ADA searching for a way to prove their innocence and being chased by the Hunting Dogs only. No flying casino, no Fukuchi and Tachihara identities revealed, and no vampires. I would have kept Yosano’s plotline, Kunikida losing his hands, Lucy and Ango helping Atsushi, etc. I would have made the ADA find another solution to prove their innocence besides the page, to develop more ADA characters, to finally awaken Margaret and form an alliance with The Guild specially. I think it would have worked to give more time and depth to some characters AND future plotlines. If this arc had less things happening at the same time and it went slower, like the past arcs tbh, I feel like Fukuchi’s characters wouldn’t be so flat as it’s perceived.

If Fukuchi had developed as a full character before his reveal, it would have been so much better, in my opinion. If we could actually cared about him before, or know about him or the Hunting Dogs it would have been such an amazing reveal. (i’ll go down with the hunting dog!kunikida ship until i die lol)

I believe Sigma and Bram Stoker could have been so amazing in future arcs instead of cramping them all in a single arc and it would have helped to develop Fukuchi as the powerful villain he’s supposed to be. And I’m convinced that no matter how it gets resolved, or how much it actually gets resolved, I won’t be satisfied because there are just so many things left hanging and unshown.

#anon #ask #bungou stray dogs #bsd spoilers #omg idk i wasn't the only one thinking like this #i felt like people were going to bash me lmao #tbh the only worse solution to this #than the page is dazai knowing it all and having it all resolved since the beggining

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chrismerle · 4 years ago

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what’s up i spent way too long typing up a post about my thoughts on P5S, and it isn’t even all encompassing. i guess if you’re curious about anything i didn’t mention in this trainwreck just ask.

my spoiler-heavy thoughts/pseudo-review below the cut

THINGS I LIKED:

The characterization, broadly speaking. If you, like me, loved the Thieves in P5/P5R then you’ll be pretty happy with them here. There are a couple moments that made me roll my eyes (lookin’ at you, hot springs) but on the whole, the main cast are unchanged.

The new characters. Sophia and Zenkichi are great. Sophia is precious and Zenkichi straddles a very fine line of ‘realistically out of the loop, but gives as good as he gets.’ I don’t even care how silly their costumes were. Sophie looked like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man, though I did like her little emoticon visor, but also she had no pants. Wolf’s mask was badass but the fact that his stupid pointy hat was riveted to the top of his stupid disco high collar killed it and I wanted to see someone grab his hat and pull it back to see it fling back into place like a drinky-drinky bird. Even so, the characters were great, and when I noticed that all the attacks for Sophie’s initial pseudo-Persona had question marks after them (Kouga? Dia?), it made me laugh, and Wolf’s a good all-purpose party member because he hits like a fucking truck and nothing is immune to Almighty. Plus in some of his post-battle dialogue he calls them all ‘kiddos’ and they consistently call him Gramps.

The gameplay. I mean, yeah, it’s VERY different than P5, but you all know that. And hey! The game no longer immediately ends if Joker gets knocked out (unless he’s the only one left in the party, obviously). It ran pretty smoothly, there’s something weirdly charming about the other Thieves showing up perched on cover points, and the only consistent issue I ran into is that in segments where the camera gets forced into a certain angle, it can switch back so abruptly at the end that you accidentally go walking right off a ledge.

I’ve never really played a Dynasty Warriors-type game before, so it took me a Jail or so to get used to it, but then I was just cackling as I mowed down swarms of Jack Frosts like a weed-whacker in a flower field with a knife the size of Joker’s torso. Honestly, it took me the longest to get used to the fact that the circle button became the all-purpose ‘interact’ button than anything else.

Actually, that’s a lie. It took me the longest to get used to the fact that if I left a Jail, I wouldn’t be losing any time. I’m very used to Persona games having the calendar constantly counting down, which wasn’t the case here.

The story, broadly speaking. It had some hiccups and some issues, which I’ll get into, but for the most part, it was fun. I’m...not going to outline every detail of the story here, but it felt very P5-y and I enjoyed it.

THINGS I LIKED BUT THAT NEEDED WORK:

The writing. It was a little inconsistent, beyond just the usual weirdness that I have accepted comes along with Persona games. (//patiently clicks through numerous conversations of the gang going ‘did this super obvious thing that this memory threw in our faces happen? Let’s debate about whether the most likely answer by a huge margin is the answer’ and several conversations of ‘are we sure this person is bad? We saw them playing nice, like literally every other villain we’ve faced’) A lot was great! Like, the bit with the Okinawa locals breaking into the RV while the kids hide in the bushes? Genuinely unsettling! Akane’s Jail and the fake Thieves was fun, and seeing Zenkichi scuttle from hiding place to hiding place without Thief powers was funny, and his Shadow’s glowing eyes watching him before becoming his Persona was both badass and unsettling. The realization that EMMA was actively lying to Konoe was nice. Character interactions were great and I loved that Sophia went with Ichinose at the end. There was a lot that was good. But there were also a lot of missteps.

Like, it kind of felt like the direction for the writing changed partway through. It started out as if each member of the Phantom Thieves was going to get their own time to shine, identifying and empathizing with a Monarch. Ann realized she could have been Alice. Yusuke realized he could have been Ango and also saw redeeming him as sort of like redeeming Madarame by proxy. Mariko was a link to Haru’s childhood and her father. The ghost Jail on Okinawa lured Sophie in and by the end she realized how much she meant to her friends ryuji said fuck. Akane was Zenkichi’s literal daughter. And then it went to Konoe and then EMMA, so Ryuji, Futaba, Morgana, Makoto, and Joker didn’t get a chance to shine in that regard. The switch from ‘a Jail for everyone to identify with’ to ‘whelp here’s the decoy and the end boss’ felt like they came from two separate drafts of the script, and it’s not like they had to watch the time; I got through P5S in about a third the time it took me to get through P5R. It took me about 35 hours. Considering the game kind of relies on you having played P5, they already knew their target audience has a longer attention span than that.

Owada was talked up as kind of a big deal, but he had like two scenes on-screen and otherwise was an entirely off-screen character. There’s a lot of mid-combat dialogue that is very difficult to focus on, which was sort of annoying when some of it was actually relevant. Ichinose’s reveal as a villain is very info-dump-y.

Plus, Joker wasn’t utilized particularly well as a silent protagonist. He’s got more implied personality than basically any other Persona protag. Which means he’s actually pretty expressive throughout the game, but I can probably count his lines of dialogue outside of combat with fingers left over. No one expects Yu Narukami to actually react to anything, so it doesn’t feel odd when he doesn’t. But the combination of Joker being reasonably expressive and having a demonstrated personality means you’re perpetually EXPECTING and WANTING him to say something about the shit going on, and when he doesn’t it feels like mentally missing a stair.

THINGS THAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

The cut corners. Like, a lot of things just seem lazy. There were scenes that really should have been included that weren’t, like how the Thieves escaped from the hotel after the police showed up; it cut from Zenkichi warning them and getting arrested to them arriving at the temporary hideout, so we never even got to see how the Thieves reacted to realizing the cops were outside. Requests to bond with the other Thieves only got a couple of text boxes, when they could have shown a tiny scene of them hanging out like they had all over P5. Rather than having Sae actually on-screen for her brief scene, the camera instead very unnaturally switched to an angle as if it was from her point of view, which was literally the only time the camera did that in the entire game. All of the Sentries look the same from Jail to Jail, instead of being unique to each Jail. Igor is completely absent for the entire game, and other than a throwaway ‘my master can’t be here’ from Lavenza it’s just not really acknowledged.

The missed opportunities. Like, there is no way to look at this except to assume that Joker was a horrible friend to literally everyone in this world state. Like, I can pass off the fact that everyone has their baseline Personae as being because they haven’t had access to their powers for a while, but when you combine it with the fact that NONE of Joker’s other confidants show up or even know he’s back in Tokyo, it leaves little to assume except that in this world, no confidants got maxed out. On top of that, the Personae are all basically pointless. They could be Pokemon or Stands or Digimon or fucking YuGiOh cards, and it wouldn’t make a difference; NOTHING about the game says ‘these entities are integral to this world and important to these characters.’ Also they could have had Akane actually realize who the Thieves were and it would have been hysterical, but that’s just my personal sulk.

The Requests. I liked the Mementos missions in P5/P5R. They felt like they had a point. Requests in P5S are all basically just fetch quests. ‘Go to Location A, fight so many of Enemy B to get so many of Item C. Turn in Request.’ Hell, one of them bugged out on me, I swear. There’s a Request to teach Zenkichi how to cook a simple meal, and Haru gives you a recipe including beef. I had no beef on me at the time, because if you want SP restoratives you gotta cook a fair amount and I used it, and I could find literally no beef in the city I was in at the time so I had to abandon the Request. On top of that, outside of getting food or a few moments where another character specifically asks for Joker’s attention, character-specific Requests mostly replace the ability to bond with the other characters individually.

The restoratives. Or, more specifically, the disparity between HP restoratives and SP restoratives. There’s essentially one cookable recipe to restore SP for every four recipes to restore HP. Even if I stopped at every store and vending machine, I’m pretty sure there were a couple cities where I could find NO SP restoratives for sale, while most stores and vending machines had at least two or three HP restoratives. And while it is true that you can go in and out of a Jail whenever you please to restore SP, that doesn’t help you if you run out during a boss fight you weren’t expecting (mini-boss encounters are virtually identical to regular monster encounters) or during one of the times where you CAN’T leave the Jail for reasons XYZ.

The final boss, and not just because I died and had to start over a few times. As a concept, EMMA could be cool, but in reality she just seemed like the writers threw Yaldabaoth and Maruki in a blender and poured the results into the game. Like Yaldabaoth, she is a false god who seeks to control humanity, claiming it’s what they want. Like Maruki, she seems genuinely deluded into thinking it’s for the best and that she’s not doing anything wrong. Her Jail looked like a slightly sci-fi reskin of the Depths of Mementos. The shtick with the multiple platforms and getting to actually SEE an all-out attack at the end were nice, but for the most part the fight itself was nothing special. Ultimately, EMMA had nothing unique going for her except her name.

Plus, EMMA’s entire rationale was that the majority of humans want someone else to control their lives for them, essentially out of convenience. And she’s presented as being more or less right, but that just being one of the hurdles of being human. It seemed a little dour and far-fetched. Like, the Thieves repeatedly point out that struggling allows people to grow, and they’re right, but in my experience, I’ve never actually met anyone who, upon hitting a roadblock, decided ‘Jesus take the wheel.’ Considering the greed with which her weird tentacle arms snatched up the solidified Desires, the pettiness of the complaints she used as a “gotcha,” and the fact that she just kind of reiterates her ‘people want to be controlled’ point over and over, I think it would have felt a bit more true to life and given her more agency if, instead of presenting her as largely correct, it instead acknowledged that everyone at some time or another hits a wall and wants someone to tell them what to do and had her capitalizing on those individual brief moments to hook people in, despite her having reams of data that for most people, those moments are temporary.

#persona 5 strikers #persona 5 strikers spoilers

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dapper-ships-herself · 5 years ago

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@dokiqx @raudrfox2

The answer changes a bit depending on the s/i, so I'm gonna start with more general and like personal and then go into my s/is.

Dazai and I both, let's say wrestle with certain feelings about life and the world around us. When it feels like you're adrift and very little matters, it helps a great deal to have someone to ground you, and that's Dazai and I for each other. When the world is cruel, we can reach out our hands and feel the warmth, and through that feel safe and real. Neither of us are used to letting ourselves be fully vulnerable to the people around us, we're always masking something, maybe not for entirely the same reasons, but we are. Our relationship is when we both let those walls fall bit by bit, letting go of fear and trepidation. He never even thought he could feel real love before, both of us had thought we weren't worthy of it.

And Dazai is a genius, he's amazing and confident in his abilities, he can see straight through pretty much anyone, so I think why would he even want me, I'm so boring and predictable, I'm not a fan of taking risks and putting myself out there. But Dazai sees all my good qualities, he appreciates my strong empathy and my compassion, he sees how even though I struggle with my own worth I put so much worth into the lives around me, and I have a fun way of thinking about a lot of things, I'm creative bright even when I think I'm not. I become like a fresh, sunny spring day for his soul. And Dazai, his hands are so stained and his mind so jaded, even as he works to redeem himself and be on the side that saves people, he thinks there's too much darkness to ever truly be washed away. But I know that even though he's done a lot of bad, what matters most is what he's doing now; he's trying so hard to be good, to move away from the darkness that only acted as a negative feedback loop for him, that was never good for a boy with a mind like his. He is actively trying to be a good man, and I remind him of that. Neither of us are ever going to be perfect, but that's fine when we're together through our flaws. And through it all, we help each other see the beautiful things to live for.

Okay, now let's go into some specifics for the s/is.

ADA! Gillian has been through some pretty deep trauma with the loss of her little sister when they were kids, and at the time she thought she'd never ever recover from that and stay in the emotionless darkness forever, but with the help of Fukuzawa and Ranpo and the other agency members, she was able to heal. Despite the guilt and trauma that still sticks to her, how easy it would be to write the world off as simply cruel and uncaring, that's not her style. She loves the world, she loves the people in it, she knows that there's darkness but that only means that the rest of them should try their hardest to spread as much love and compassion as they can to balance that out. To Dazai, her unwavering light is strange but so calming. She's so strong in her determination to protect her family and everyone and everything that needs saving, it really touches something in him. She teaches him that it's okay, that they deserve to laugh and love and live, and she helps show him how to actively view the world for it's good parts. Even if someday it's hard, some days she's sad and can't forget the past, some days she tries very hard to push away the anger that festers in her at the unfairness that abounds, she still tries and now they can stand by each other's sides and try together. And he also knows what it's like to suffer and lose the one person who's most important, and he helps her confront the guilt that still clings to her, in fact that's something mutual. And she also, even though she accepts and appreciates her ability for how it lets her help people, it's also an ability that takes away a person's free will and can cause a lot of destruction, and she is afraid of the inherent evilness of it, and though Dazai respects how she's made the concious choice to only use it to help people, he sees her fear and helps her accept it.

Mafia! Gillian and Dazai probably have the most complicated relationship of all. Neither really wanted friends or saw the use of them, but they became each other's first real friend after he joins the mafia. They connect and resonate in a much stronger and more natural way than either were really prepared for; and then they were part of the quartet with Ango and Oda too, and she loved them all. She could be quoted as saying the three of them were probably the only things keeping her sane in the Port Mafia. And then she went away on a mission for a few weeks, no contact with her friends, and suddenly that little slice of joy she had was shattered, Oda was killed, Ango had been a double agent the whole time, and Dazai had abandoned her without so much as a good bye, much less and explanation. It sent her to a dark place for a while. She wanted to hate Dazai, and she certainly felt bitter, but she couldn't bring herself to hate him; how could she, really. She disliked being in the Port Mafia, but not only does she feel she'd have no where else to go, that if she left she'd be leaving her father, Ougai, aka the only person who's ever seen to genuinely want her around and stay that way, but her ability is literally to control darkness and too much light literally causes her pain and discomfort, it's clear to her that she was born to forever stay in the world of darkness and never be able to stand in the light. When she and Dazai eventually meet again four years after he left the mafia, there's a lot of complicated feelings too work through. She's bitter and angry and can't understand why he'd leave her like that if their friendship really meant anything; Dazai thought it was the right move at the time, he justified it to himself by reasoning that he knew she felt chained to the mafia and he had to leave quickly and cleanly in order to successfully rid himself of his dark past, he couldn't risk waiting for her to come back from her mission and having to convince her. But, really, he was afraid. After all, he's convinced that everything he desires will slip through his fingers the moment he obtains it. If he tried to hold on to the happiness she brought him and selfishly took her with him, he'd only bring her ruin some other way, and he wasn't deserving of her. He genuinely does regret it though, and it's not easy for him to admit that he was wrong but he knows that this is one instance where he was so terribly wrong. They have to work through these feelings in order to get anywhere, and she also has to realize that she does have the capability to step into the light, which she does partially with Dazai's help. There's a lot of fighting through the bullshit to finally be together.

Jekyll! Gillian takes the stuff mentioned earlier about always masking some part of ourselves to the extreme. Her ability, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, literally manifests her jaded view of the world into a physical creature of chaos, aka Hyde. And she rejects Hyde hardcore, that's why she's so unstable, destructive, and difficult to control, as well as hates her in return. She puts on the sugariest of sweet faces to try and mask this darkness, but Dazai is able to see it. He recognizes her mask easily, because he's basically doing the exact same thing. Eventually, after a lot of plot haha, they're able to help each other let go of their facades a bit and better accept themselves for who they are. They find this kinship in each other that honestly makes it easier for them to let go of their guards at least a little bit. They both hold a lot of jaded darkness with themselves, and they've both done some pretty terrible things and dirtied their hands, him in the mafia and her in the Order of the Clocktower, and they were both able to break away from that to try and become better people, and that's really nice for them to be able to relate to each other.

Circus! Gillian is, true to the name of her troupe the Circus of the Disillusioned, disillusioned about much of the world. It's dirty and cruel and not on your side. But, the circus always promoted family, the whole reason Voltaire formed the troupe was to attempt to not lay there and accept their wretched fate, that they as humans should try and create at least small pockets of a world more right and colorful. And this ideal stays with her. So yeah, they're both not huge fans of the world, but she has a more innate desire to change that, and she believes it's the duty of humans to fight through and not back away from the world through means like suicide (does that make sense? Trying to word it properly). So she actually is pretty, hm, disgusted is too strong of a word to use, she clashes a lot with Dazai's suicidal jokes. And she's too tsundere and jaded herself to outright be all flowery ~I will help you~, but that sort of discussion is a theme between them early on. Their abilities are foils for each other as well, Dazai is an ability nullifier, she's an ability amplifier, and that sort of reflects their views too.

Guild! Gillian at first seems to have the most innocent view of the world, after all she's rich and spoiled by her father, Francis. And she acts rather carefree too, like someone who's always been secure and never known difficulty. But she has known pain, and there's more than a naive rich girl beneath the surface. She's cunning and knows how to read people, she's been trained in the art of business since she was a child and had it drilled into her that you must never roll over for the world. She's also been taught that she's the daughter of the great Fitzgerald, which means she's meant for greatness too, and she hides it from her father but that's left her with a desperation to prove herself and live up to a great big shadow. But she's genuinely kind too, she loves the world for it's flaws and wants to support the people in it. So yeah, they're ways of thinking clash a bit, but at the same time they work perfectly in other aspects. At first, it's more like he's interested in her for the sort of contradictions she poses, but he starts to genuinely respect her and admire how she chooses to see kindness and work for it, how she takes things in to her own hands to make the world she sees in her mind real. And she respects him for his intellect and eventually for his resolve once she learns of his past. And respect is pretty much the bud that will bloom into love.

There's a lot of fighting to find the light in the dark and acceptance of ourselves.

I hope this was all coherent and not to rambly ha.

#self ship #selfship #self shipping #selfshipping #self insert #dapper answers #dazian #dapper inserts #dapper inserts: ada #dapper inserts: mafia #dapper inserts: jekyll #dapper inserts: circus #dapper inserts: guild

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hamliet · 5 years ago

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Dazai told Atsushi a little bit about Odasaku in Dead Apple. I’m not sure if Dazai will tell Atsushi more about Oda or even talk to anyone else in the Agency about him. The only other person Dazai can really talk about Odasaku with is Ango, and things are…tense between them.

Though Dazai arranged that car accident in order to compel Ango to release Kyouka in exchange for Yosano’s treatment, I can’t help but wonder if Dazai got Ango injured partly out of revenge. (The face Dazai made when Ango asked him about his disabled airbag kind of confirms my suspicions).

He actually also briefly alluded to Oda during his conversation with Kyouka!

Based on this, Dazai’s ongoing struggle to redeem himself,I think he should talk to Akutagawa and/or Chuuya about him, imo! See, Akutagawa literally doesn’t know why Dazai left. Maybe if explaining to him that Oda was to Dazai in many ways what Dazai is to Akutagawa, Akutagawa might understand better. I feel like both Dazai and Akutagawa are alike in that their coping mechanisms involve denying emotions. I also do think he should bring up Oda again with Atsushi, because Atsushi’s admiration of Dazai could use a dose of reality. It ties in to how I expect Akutagawa’s world to slowly lighten and Atsushi’s to darken before meeting in the gray--which includes a breaking down of their opposing idolizations of Dazai.

But also, yes, I’d like to see Dazai and Ango talk about Oda at some point. I hope this current arc lays some groundwork to their eventually getting there.

#ask hamliet #bsd meta #bungou stray dogs #dazai osamu #oda sakunosuke #akutagawa ryunosuke #nakajima atsushi #Anonymous

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lackedflaw · 5 years ago

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overture

odasaku-centric 1,998 w

a.n: yes, this is supposed to be a five-hundred words drabble chronicling odasaku’s stay in koi. no, i don’t know what hit me ;;

he opens his eyes and everything is too bright.

ears ringing, head pounding, eyelids feeling like they weigh a ton each. his first instinct is to raise a hand to obstruct the sunlight from coming into his eyes, blinking the pain away until he’s able to make out the green of the trees and blue of the sky.

then he hears the muffled screams, coming from somewhere in front of him. sakunosuke rises to his feet, struggling to stave off the oncoming wave of nausea by propping both hands on his knees, vision still adjusting as he looks for the source of the noise. it takes him a few seconds to realize that he is standing on a parking lot somewhere, another few to spot a white van parked not far from him as the source of the screams.

sakura? and yuu… and kousuke. what’s going on?

adrenaline takes over before any rational thoughts does; sakunosuke doesn’t even know why he springs straight into action and sprints towards the van at the sight, stumbling on his own foot once or twice in the process. he does know that there's an inexplicable sense of urgency that tells him to run as fast as he can, to not stop until he has all five of them safe in his arms- to tell them that he's there, it's going to be okay, they're going to be——

the explosion that occurs right after sends him flying thirty meters backwards, hot air hitting his face without mercy as he crashes upon the gravel. sakunosuke briefly registers the pain blooming all over his body, ignores the sting of scrapes and cuts on his skin as he stares at the burning car before him, throat burning from the cry of anguish that doesn’t sound anything like his voice.

he thrashes wildly on his bed and his head knocks against the headboard, jolting him awake.

he opens his eyes and darkness is the first thing that greets him.

breathing comes in mouthful of air and painful inhales, memories of the black smoke from his dreams constricting against his lungs. yet the throbbing pain upon his joints feels like a fleeting sensation, almost like a mere ghost, now that he’s back in the comfort of his apartment in koi. for a moment everything is disoriented, mind still hazy from the sudden shift to consciousness.

sakunosuke attempts to sit up straight, hands grasping on the front side of his abdomen only to release a relieved sigh when his fingertips comes in contact with a damp t-shirt. there’s no trace of gravel- only the crumpled surface of his bed sheets and his own perspiration making his shirt cling onto him like a second skin.

nightmare. it’s just a nightmare- an extremely realistic one at that, too.

heaves a sigh, fingers brushing his own bangs off of his forehead. the frequency between one terror-filled night to another is getting shorter and shorter for his liking. sakunosuke steps out of his bed and discards the shirt he's wearing, crumpling it into a ball before throwing the gray cloth into the laundry basket. the fact that it was about his children this time isn’t helping at all. could it be because he's been missing them more lately?

azure shifts to the digital clock on his nightstand, red lines making out the shape of ‘03:56 AM’ jarring amidst the darkness. it’s too early to get up and make coffee, yet too late to fall back to sleep when he has work in three hours. maybe getting fresh air would do him good...

and by fresh air, he meant retrieving a cigarette pack and ashtray that he swore off not to touch a couple of months ago from his socks compartment.

the sky is still a dark shade of blue when he slides open the door to the balcony. sakunosuke leans against the railing as he plucks a cigarette from its container and clamp it between his lips, taking notice of that the streets down under isn’t as quiet as he thought it would be. but then again it’s only natural with the belladonna district only a short walk away.

an idea to grab his coat and walk around the said district crosses his mind. being a member of the port mafia granted him access to a lot of places that most people rarely think of going into in yokohama. he can’t help but wonder if the nightlife district in koi is similar to the ones they have back home.

although he wouldn’t be surprised if they end up kicking him out, now that he’s a detective for the local police force.

taking a drag of his cigarette, he lets his mind wander off to the distance, relishing the pleasant burn that trails down in his throat. the night air is cool, yet not particularly harsh upon the bare skin of his abdomen. he waits for a few seconds to exhale—just to get that little kick before releasing the smoke through his mouth. a little bit of nicotine never fails to soothe his jotting nerves, even after the most horrifying of nightmares or traumatizing event.

ah, right- he forgot to check on his roommate. hopefully he didn’t wake micah up with his little incident from before. he has been nothing but accommodating throughout they time cohabiting together, even with that one awkward first dinner where sakunosuke took the initiative to cook spicy curry for both of them. it was sakunosuke’s first time sharing something so personal as a living space with someone else other than his mentor and micah’s presence feels almost natural around him, although he probably still needs to work on his own conversing skills with the latter.

to think about it… how long has it been since he arrived in koi? sakunosuke had lost track of the time. with the abrupt change happening in his lifestyle, he didn’t have the luxury of sitting around idly on the living room, having to go job hunting and get accustomed to the odd city he finds himself stranded in. it was fortunate that he managed to land a job in a cafe despite not having any prior experience in the hospitality or the restaurant business.

he doesn’t suppress the smile that quirks the corner of his lips when he recalls his former? boss’ words to him after their first encounter in the cafe. ‘it suits you’ chuuya had said when he served his tea to him. those three words—although simple ( and funny, coming from a port mafia executive )—left a lasting impression more than saku think it could. who would’ve known someone like him could also play the role of an ordinary barista? a child groomed since young to be a deadly assassin only to join the mafia afterwards, now playing house by making tea and serving cakes? makes him think that maybe, the black of his blood and gushing red on his hands can really be a thing of his past. that maybe, he can redeem himself completely.

then there’s the girl he met by the river after causing her to drop her crepe. the girl with large round eyes, yet no trace of the innocence most kids her age usually possess. what was her name again… kyouka? kyouka izumi? looking at her almost makes him feel like he’s seeing a reflection of his past self--except more hopeful, and loved. they have only met once but sakunosuke is sincere when he hopes that she could lead a better life than he did.

his eyes drift towards a small potted flower near him as he releases another puff of smoke. it comes as a surprise to him that the begonia flowers he purchased from oichi’s workplace hasn’t wilted yet. sakunosuke has never been a potted flowers type of person before, as he considers them too beautiful- too fragile for someone like him to touch, but he didn’t put much thought into buying it since he wanted to congratulate the oichi for landing a job there. there's just something about her that makes him want to stay close, to make sure that her well-being is taken care of. is this what one would call as platonic affection?

speaking of affection… two brunettes are the first that come to mind.

first is dazai. his friend, who also happens to be one of the port mafia executives—or at least former, according to dazai himself. out of the other familiar faces he had encountered throughout the city, dazai was the one he didn’t see coming at all. it’s almost as if he’s a completely different person now... the way he’s dressed, the way the baby fats are gone and replaced by strong lines and sharp edges, shoulder much broader and nearly a head taller than the last time he had seen him. his gaze is also no longer hollow but melancholic, almost—for the lack of a better word—soft. dazai said it has been years since their last meeting that night in lupin, so sakunosuke supposes that not even a human conundrum like him can escape from time’s grasp.

and ango. ango, ango, ango——

something stings inside his chest at the thought of the bespectacled man. sakunosuke used to think that he is the farthest thing from emotional, knows that rationality should precede any form of sentimental value, and yet he still finds himself upset at ango’s condition when he, from all people should know how disconcerting it is to lose a chunk of one’s memories. the city did it to him- to them. it’s unfair to blame one person for something he cannot help at all.

but that’s what ango has been capable of doing from the start, right? bringing out a side of him that even sakunosuke doesn’t know exist for the better or worse, knowing where to hit and where to stroke gently, his limit and what he’s capable of.

and subsequently spurred saku to take that trust fall years ago.

“i want to take you around the streets of rome."

a shadow of a smile creeps up to his lips as he thumbs the ghost of a kiss upon his knuckle. although koi is not rome, they can make do with what they have now. like they usually do.

the sky has turned into a splash of indigo and coral by the time sakunosuke is done with his third stick. he takes one last drag—the longest one he had that morning—before extinguishing it on the ashtray and disposing the leftovers to the nearest trash bin. it’s a routine that he finds himself still unable to give up, rooting from the guilt of breaking a promise he made years ago with a certain someone. although they aren’t physically there to reprimand him, sakunosuke prefers to think that they’re always with him, in his heart.

gathering the pack and ashtray in his hand, he steps back inside the apartment before closing the sliding door behind him. the sun peeking behind the clouds illuminating the outlines of their apartment with a soft glow, providing sakunosuke with a better lighting to navigate around than an hour before. he quickly slips the two items back in it’s hiding spot and makes a beeline to his bathroom.

but not before something out of place catches his eyes in the full-bodied mirror of the closet door, causing him to retrace his steps back until he sees his full reflection upon it.

a scar that can only be described as coming from a gunshot wound, not bigger than the size of a dime yet prominent on the smooth expanse of his skin, sitting on the lower right side of his chest, dangerously close to his heart. sakunosuke instinctively raise a hand to touch the uneven skin, mirror reflecting his furrowed eyebrows back at him. the scar doesn’t feel new- but not faded enough to come from his assassin days. how come he just noticed this now?

where did this one come from?

#SOLO.#(( go beyond!! PLUS ULTRA!! ))#tw smoking #tw nightmares #tw implied violence

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darkdarkmydesire · 7 years ago

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Dazai/Oda/Ango

Dear creators of Bongou Stray Dogs,

I am writing to inform you over the superficial matter of my heart which has been swiftly and thoroughly razed by the shredding machine you call friendship. The process included:

Step 1: Create a friendship which flourishes despite ranks in the mafia, weird quirks - a suicide maniac, Mr. I won't kill even though I'm a member of port mafia etc.

Step 2: Give them a hang out spot and make them have stupid/low key hilarious conversations.

Step 3: Make sure the audience falls in love with the trio and spend hours finding shooting stars to wish for such friendship.

Step 4: Kill one, reveal the other is a double - no triple agent and leave the third to join the opposing side, hence eradicating any chance of redeeming said friendship.

In light of this evidence, i would like some compensation. Maybe a revival of the ashes that are now my heart, or this friendship converted into tangible form placed in a velvet box. I humbly ask for only these simple objects - reasonable requests really. I hope you will meet my demands.

Patiently waiting for your reply, darkdarkmydesire.

#bongou stray dogs #anime

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lucymont · 8 years ago

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ugh i feel you, i cant make up my mind on how i feel about dazai. at first i loved him, but then i started to hate him. Especially with how he treats people he's not interested in (ango, chuuya, and akutagawa in particular). Now i sort of fall somewhere inbetween. I love that he's a complex character, but he doesn't quite redeem himself enough. Hope we get more insight into him soon, but considering hes in a coma that probably wont happen.

The more we know about his past the more I feel like he is trash lol I think to fully appreciate his character some must accept and understand, that he isn’t morally good, selfless or kind-hearted. I agree with you on him not being fully redeemed. Especially when we see how he treats certain people, like you said. Most people are justifying the things he did, but imo even tho most of his actions are understandable it doesn’t make them right nor justified. When he praised Akutagawa I just wanted to punch him in the face, no kidding. Though Akutagwa is a bit melodramatic (”I’m a remnant of despair bla”) i think people are downplaying his feelings way too much. He craves the affection and love of his abuser with everything he has and then he has to see how “some random guy who literally just gets everything he wants without trying as hard as him”. And then we are supposed to feel happy, that he finally gets praised by Dazai? I personally wasn’t satisfied by this moment as I felt that this scene tried to apologize Dazai’s treatment of Akutagawa somehow. It’s just incredibly unfair

Not to mention they way he acts around Ango. Ango loves Dazai as a friend and feels so much guilt, which is why he keeps up with Dazai’s action, even tho they almost killed him. And I just think it’s hypocritical of Dazai because it was him that told Kyouka, that everyone can go to the side of “Light”. And even though they killed, it doesn’t mean they can’t be redeemed. But he himself doesn’t seem to feel that way when it comes to Ango. I don’t blame him for that though I think it’s quite ironic given how he thinks his intelligence is above anyone else.

With Chuuya that’s quite a different story, because we don’t know much about their childhood and why they hate each other that much. My personal headcanon is that he hates how Chuuya is in the same situation being in the Mafia but is very shallow about it, as he seems to not really care. He did call him simpleton in the manga after all. And let’s be honest, Chuuya is not very deep. Dazai knows he is superior intellectual wise and he gladly shows that off, which is really funny as a reader but also very shitty of him. Especially since Chuuya seems to trust him in certain situations. Just makes Dazai look like he is just using him, which kind of applies to a lot of people he interacts with.

All in all I still Iove how self-aware Dazai is about himself. His character is very explainable but not redeemable - which exactly makes him such a good character imo. He really is my favourite.

And like I said before to fully appreciate and comprehend his character it’s necessary to be aware of his bad points and to not ignore those, which is why I said how can someone love him without hating him at the same time.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #dazai osamu #dazai #monty rambles

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dazais-guardian-angel · 8 years ago

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Bungou Stray Dogs post-anime manga thoughts

By “thoughts” I really just mean “Dana rambles about things everyone already knows and doesn’t need to read again about chapters 38 through 48.5″ lol, but just wanted to throw some stuff out here at random. This is extremely long and half-meta-y, half crying, and if you care to read all of this you deserve a medal and my appreciation lmao.

Chapter 39 is the one I had seen mentioned in a couple places before, but had no idea why it was a standout one. But god damn do I see why now; this is probably one of the best chapters in the entire series in my opinion, and it makes all of the stuff shown so far before this about Atsushi’s treatment at the orphanage look like child’s play. Jfc that was so hard to read; I can only imagine how utterly traumatizing this will be to watch if we eventually get a season 3, oh my GOD Atsushi my poor, poor precious baby, I just want to hug you so so tightly and give you so much love ;____; *cries* But I love how the headmaster came back into play, something I didn’t expect to happen, but it was perfect and a great catalyst for more character development for Atsushi. What I greatly appreciated and respected the most about this though was that they didn’t do what I began to fear they were doing, and that’s that they didn’t try to redeem the guy despite giving him a sad backstory. They gave him depth by giving a reason for his cruelty towards Atsushi in the form of a similar past for him and the fact that Atsushi’s life was saved later down the line because of all the hatred he built up from everything that was done to him, and by making the headmaster want to come to see him to praise him for his efforts in defeating the guild... but despite all this, at the end of the day, Dazai straight-up lets Atsushi know that he has absolutely no obligation to forgive the man for the hell he put him through despite these things he’s just learned, and I’m so so glad. So glad. The second point may be true, but it doesn’t change the fact that what the headmaster did to him also gave him such cripplingly low self-esteem and self-worth issues that plagued him all the way until the end of the guild arc, so yeah. It’s actually kind of similar to the situation with how Dazai trained Akutagawa; it was necessary in his mind, because him enduring that was the only way the latter would survive the mafia, but it was still a very bad way to go about it (not that I blame Dazai completely, cause he was just doing what is natural to him, but yeahhhh). In the end, with this chapter, I can appreciate the headmaster as a character more and understand his reasons, but I cannot forgive him, as Atsushi doesn’t. And okay, then they kind of backtrack on the point they’d just made by having Dazai tell Atsushi that when a person’s father dies, it’s only natural for them to cry... gdi Dazai, Atsushi’s real father isn’t the headmaster; it’s Fukuzawa, or Kunikida, or to be the most accurate, YOUUUUUUUU alksjdffjkldlkdj *sniffs*

On another note, that line from Dazai made me bawl like a baby for an entirely different reason *looks at Dark Era and weeps softly* ...Dazai cried: confirmed

So yes, that chapter was beautiful and perfectly done despite being painful as fuck, and only made me love my precious kitty son more ugh; definitely one of my favorite chapters.

Chapter 40 is the beginning hint to the feels train of hell regarding Kunikida that only gets worse later on. :’) But I’m so glad he saves Aya; she’s friggin adorable and Kunikida’s very serious turning down of her marriage proposal to him made me laugh way more than it probably should have lmao. Also always nice to see more of Dazai pulling shit on Kunikida like in the older chapters/season 1; his faces are priceless looooooooool.

Chapter 41 is what I’d been waiting for; I got spoiled on Gin being Akutagawa’s sister awhile ago somehow, and man did the reveal not disappoint. Haven’t laughed so hard with BSD in quite a long time (actually this is probably the funniest part to date lol); this chapter was just the best LMAOOOOOO. The misunderstandings and miscommunications were off the charts, Higuchi’s actions and assumptions being the best part of the whole thing she totally was crushing on Gin there, let’s be real lol... I really really hope we see more of the Akutagawa siblings interacting eventually; this was the first we’d heard of it, and the implications are really fascinating. Would love to know what Gin thinks about all the stuff that happened prior, like with the Guild and on the boat before that so much angst potential, and just I want to see more of them! It’d be interesting to see her and Atsushi interact, in particular... Other than that, I also expect Katai to come back into play eventually in the current arc; we shall see his ability is the most oddly specific and weirdest I’ve seen yet lol

Kid in the Port Mafia who was A’s subordinate didn’t deserve that. :( RIP nice kid who we didn’t even get the name of; the agency/mafia will avenge you I hope

Love how Kyouka’s parents continue to be brought up, and that we finally get answers about them, and Demon Snow, here. It’s very sweet and sad. :’) Only makes me love Kyouka more. Kouyou has always confounded me about how I should feel about her (also, she has a demon ability too that looks similar to Kyouka’s/her mom’s, but Kouyou can’t be related to her, so...?), but by this point she seems to genuinely support Kyouka being at the agency, and even goes undercover to further help her understand her ability, so I can respect that. The information about Demon Snow also begs the question of what other abilities could be inherited (Akutagawa has Rashomon, but Gin has no ability, so nothing there); maybe we’ll see more of that at some point much later.

And Lucy continues to appear frequently and I am just so, so happy and thankful; bless Asagiri for giving my daughter more screentime (pagetime?) and not leaving me hanging with her after the end of the guild arc... I love her so much alskdjfbfjdklskdjfbg *cries* she’s so awesome and her relationship with Atsushi is just :’’’) <333 definitely one of my favorite characters. the thing with their clothes in this chapter LMAO

also whenever Ango shows up, even if it’s just for three pages to relay some essential exposition and then disappear again, I automatically promptly lay down and die OTL

I LOVE that the guild is being brought back; seriously this makes me so happy. Fitzgerald interested me somewhat in the last arc even though I couldn’t really say why, and now, I actually love what they’re doing with him, like so much. His character in chapter 44 and especially 45 was so much more likeable than anything we’d seen of him yet, and it looks like they’re trying to give him some sort of redemption arc, which makes me thrilled, like oh my goodness. I’m not going to go as far as to say Fitzgerald has completely changed, definitely no; he’s still doing everything he’s doing for the sake of getting the Book, and he still cannot let go of money, which is what inflates his ego, and he won’t be able to change for the better completely until he is able to stop associating having money with having value as an individual. Unfortunately, the nature of his ability has trained him to have this mindset, so it’s not going to be easy. But he’s already making some good, if small, progress; he brought that murderer to justice, which let the doctor be found innocent like he should have been, and then doubled his wages (Fitzgerald says he only did all that because it was the most financially logical plan, but c’mon, don’t try to tell me there wasn’t some ounce of humanity/kindness in his actions). I hope he keeps going down this path to improve as a person. Plus like how can you not love his adorable excitement at doing mundane things now like shopping smartly for things on sale??? and pulling a Phoenix Wright in court and doing the most badass mic drop in history??? He’s such a sinnamon roll now omg; I love him (Fitzgerald/Pots OTP for life >.>) Steinbeck will possibly help give him a push in the right direction; right now he seems angry at and dissatisfied with how Fitzgerald seemed to revert back to before, but if he saw what he did afterwards, I think he’d be interested. Louisa is a good companion for him but she’s too submissive/worshipping of him to tell him what he really needs to hear; Steinbeck could do that. So with this redemption going on, it may be leading to a parallel of last arc where the agency and the mafia had to team up to fight the guild, whereas this time, the guild has to team up with one or both of them (even if just in action and not in words too) to defeat the new and incredibly more dangerous threat, Fyodor. Only time will tell. My friend made an excellent post elaborating on this little side plot with Fitzgerald and further speculation here; she talked about it more eloquently than I have so I recommend it~

And speaking of Louisa earlier, I’m so incredibly happy she’s getting focus??? She was one of my favorite guild members in that arc, but I always thought she’d just be an aesthetic favorite... but no, now she’s actually having a character and I can’t wait to see more of her (the tidbit about her and Lucy being friends of sorts was so sweet ;w;) as well! <3 Seriously, so many minor faves of mine I didn’t expect to come back, some not ever, are getting a lot of care and focus; I’m so blessed ahhhh now if we could just get more Poe appearances and more Oda references/flashbacks, I can die happy asdfggjlk (and also cry a lot at the latter)

Then, finally, there’s the current arc/crisis, whatever you want to call it. It’s been building up vaguely sooner than this in a few other chapters, but now it’s finally getting going and oh god is it awful. It was shown in chapter 42 that Fyodor is a master planner, manipulator, and mass-murderer, and he does it barely doing any heavy lifting on his own. He’s legitimately terrifying, and although I do loathe him with every fiber of my being (and you bet your ass I will even more if this situation ends the way I’m dreading it will end), I can’t deny his ingenuity, and he is a great villain. Mori is too, but this guy is even better (worse) and it’s absolutely sickening. Letting the agency and the mafia destroy each other in under 48 hours by targeting their two leaders, meanwhile taking out their top strategist AND continuing to emotionally manipulate the people involved and sending them in circles until the time runs out is the smartest way for him to work towards getting what he wants, which is... death to all ability wielders, to look for the Book...? Not quite clear on that yet, but Fyodor is anything but straightforward when talking about his motivations so lol.

At the moment, Fukuzawa is dying, Mori is dying, and unless a miracle occurs one or both of them will be dead by the end of this. As much as I would definitely not be adverse to our resident douchey vampire cosplayer pervert being offed, and especially for the sake of the agency’s best grandpa, I loathe to admit that without him the mafia as characters would most likely fall apart... and groans his banter with Elise is stupidly cute and entertaining ignoring the creepy factor that’s always in the back in my head. Character-wise, I wouldn’t cry too hard if he died after all, he killed Oda, the bastard, but realistically and writing-wise I know it’s not really feasible for it to happen. ....But Fukuzawa on the other hand can’t die, okay, h-he just can’t; the very thought of it makes me want to cry. :’’’’’( I know everyone is pointing out the foreshadowing and everything but... the agency would be absolutely wrecked, Kunikida and Ranpo and Dazai especially don’t even get me started on how Dazai might react at having yet another father figure and friend die on him, just don’t... I just don’t see them getting over it for a long, long time. ....just.... please don’t kill the world’s #1 grandpa please *lays down and cries* (also can we just talk about Lucy taking him into Anne’s room and watching over him protectively and worriedly at Atsushi’s request; good lord I love her even more than I already did before :’’’’) <3 )

Dazai is currently out of commission, which is something that has yet to happen in the series until now. It makes for an interesting change-up, since he can’t swoop in with his intellect and knowledge with a master plan this time, which gives the others a chance to shine but also makes me fret more. Then again, it’s implied that he knew the sniper was there and let himself get shot, so who knows, maybe he’ll manage to do something even still. Kinda doubt it though. Either way, I hate seeing my bby hurt; get well soon Dazai. ;w;

My heart breaks for Ranpo; I haven’t read the light novel about him and Fukuzawa yet (I don’t think it’s fully translated yet anyway, and not sure when or if it will be), but I’ve gathered that Ranpo cares a lot about him. :( I’ve always been rather neutral on him, his belittling and ignoring of Atsushi in the beginning chapters/first season annoying the hell out of me, but he’s matured lately I feel like and I can respect and like him more. I hope he doesn’t lose Fukuzawa. ;w;

Tanizaki is a badass; I’m glad to see some solo action from him. His ability is more deadly and advantageous than I even thought; he could be a master assassin if he was in the mafia. 0____0 don’t mess with him; he’ll fuck you up lol

And then finally there’s Kunikida, and good lord I have never loved Kunikida more than I do now. He’s another character I was neutral on for a good long while in the first two seasons; I know Dazai is annoying but it eternally bothered me how Kunikida treats his suicidal habits as a joke and doesn’t think for a second that they may be very much painfully real (then again, none of the agency members take Dazai’s suicide attempts seriously, so I can’t blame just him, but ughhhhh). Episodes 6 and 7 in season one were obviously meant to characterize him, but that arc confused the hell out of me so unfortunately I didn’t get the intended feelings from it. But damn, now I feel like I’m finally seeing what kind of person Kunikida really is, and it hurts. This was being led up to from chapter 40, except there, there was a happy ending... this time, not so. And it was terrible to see. Kunikida is a kind person, someone who wants to do as much good as he can even knowing that sometimes it’s just not possible to save everyone, and it was utterly heartbreaking and sickening to have to see him witness what he did, completely fail to save that child despite how hard he tried to do so, thanks to fucking Fyodor. And now he’s breaking down over it and I just want to hug him so badly??? Someone, hug him, please. Kunikida you don’t deserve this suffering. ;______;

also, I’m so upset about this that I’m not even going to cross it out; Asagiri why do you insist on blowing up children??? why did you have to make THAT IMAGE OF KUNIKIDA GETTING BLOWN BACK BY THE BLAST AND HIS SUBSEQUENT REACTION TO IT LOOK ALMOST EXACTLY LIKE THE OTHER TIME. WHY DO YOU HURT ME IN THIS WAY I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE. *screams and sobs* who wants to place bets on how Dazai might react when he hears Fyodor resorted to killing kids to get what he wants; eyyyyyy actually let’s not imagine that :’) .........slaughter him Dazai.

Atsushi is currently our only hope right now for saving the president! Please do your best, kitty son. And I picked the worst time to catch up with this series because everything is so uncertain right now. :’’’)

Random other things I can think of that we need information on at some point/things I want to see happen:

Q is the main one. He disappeared as far as I know after the Dazai and Chuuya team-up and we’ve yet to learn his whereabouts. His ability is one of the most deadly in the series so he could possibly be used to their advantage here? Who knows, but his absence is suspicious to me and I hope maybe it will be addressed if not in this arc then later.

Hawthorne is currently... possessed or something. Who knows if he’ll get saved and rejoin any of the guild members still lingering around now in the story; I hope he’s saved at least. He wasn’t one of my favorites before, but I feel bad for him. :/

More information on the Book of course, as well as on Fyodor, but that’s a given.

AGATHA. She was introduced as a member of a third organization back when the guild and Fyodor’s group was first introduced; I want to see her again and learn what she does, and what her ability is!!! Agatha Christie is definitely my favorite irl writer out of all the ones in BSD, and the only one I’ve read multiple works from, so I was super excited to see her appear and I can’t wait for her to truly come into play.

Lovecraft is still nearby (sort of lol) and has ties to Steinbeck; he could possibly come back.

This is more in general and has nothing to do with this arc (well, not entirely), but I’d like to see some of the side characters eventually get fleshed out more. Kenji and Chuuya are sorely in need of this, and to a lesser extent Yosano and Tanizaki/Naomi. Kenji is nothing more than a slightly disturbing ever-cheery personality, we haven’t gotten to see any of Chuuya’s inner thoughts and personality outside of Dazai really (which I desperately want, because he’s a fan favorite but I really can’t get that attached to him so far tbh), and I’d like to know the backstory behind Yosano and Mori’s mysterious past connection, as well as where Tanizaki and Naomi came from. The Black Lizard getting more focus would be nice as well. There’s so much else they can do with these characters, and as much as I adore Atsushi, Dazai, and Akutagawa, I hope we eventually see focus put on the others too. That has a chance of happening, and has already been happening sort of, this arc to some degree I think, which is nice. As much as I love this series, my main complaint with it would be that the pacing is kind of all over the place, and some of the filler is sort of redundant or doesn’t contribute much (then again, I attribute this feeling somewhat to how lackluster the first season of the anime felt to me, with its over-the-top slapstick and the Azure Messenger arc which even after a rewatch still confuses me lol, as well as with the very oddly placed episode 11 after the official start of the guild arc. Dark Era was very oddly placed but I appreciate it so much, not only because of how godly it was, but because without it I literally would have been so confused in the guild arc multiple times??? Manga y u assume that readers have definitely read the dark era novel....).

Long-term wish for the story: I want the agency, with Atsushi in particular, to realize that Dazai has a lot of emotional baggage and serious scars and depression from his life in the mafia, and for him to have his own arc where he heals, culminating in him finally being able to let out all of his grief about Oda and everything else and just have a good cry, because damn, Dazai is still a child if we’re being honest here, and he’s suffering so much; he needs a hug and I so desperately want to give it to him ;___; ...and some kind of make up with Ango pls? even if it’s just them no longer being enemies, and even if it’s just one conversation.... I want them to be able to talk at least once about what happened OTL

Other long-term wish: save Akutagawa pls; give the child happiness and comfort ugh and take him to a doctor; I worry about his health so much ffffff

Anyway, I think that’s that. So happy to be involved in this lovely family-feels filled hell now that’s not sarcasm, at least not completely hahah; can’t wait to see what exciting new places the series goes from here. :’) <3

also dazaiscans is awesome for scanlating this wonderful series for us, and for leaving the best comments in the margins that made my reading experience 100 times better and more laugh-filled; kudos to them! <3

#bungou stray dogs #bungou stray dogs spoilers #meta #personal posts #sort of meta lol #I have a lot of feels and a lot of thoughts and a whole lotta worries #*sips wine* further into hell I go

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