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babybatscreationsv2 · 6 months ago

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I watched Deadpool and Wolverine and I have thoughts

Spoiler buffer for people with notifications on

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First of all

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ELEKTRA

I cannot believe I saw my girl Elektra again and yes I would have cried and thrown up if they killed her. If Blade and Gambit are both getting a new movie where's Elektra's?? I say we riot. And I'm only a little bit kidding. Spider-Man needs a new mother figure after all. How about an Elektra/Jessica Drew team up? OMG I'm just realizing they could have put her in the canceled Shang-Chi film. Does the Hand never face off with the Ten Rings? You would think a couple of a martial artist gangs would have a rivalry. We could have been shipping Elektra and Xialing 😭

Okay actual movie thoughts

Yes the car scene was in fact a sex scene and I don't even think that's even debatable. You can't tell me Hugh Jackman threw his head back like that and groaned like he was fucking cumming and it wasn't an analogy for sex and then following it up with a pan away/sunset shot? It was 100% an ode to the many gay writers who hid their desire to penetrate another man through swords, guns, and fangs. Bram Stoker would be proud

Do not watch this movie if you're uncomfortable with inappropriate sexual touching, or language for that matter. Everyone's getting sexually assaulted and it's a joke every time, but at least they call it what it is I guess?

I feel like the amount of graphic sex jokes was to cover for the fact that they were told not to joke too much about drug use. Although choosing to joke about how they can't do coke was possibly my favorite joke, don't ask me why

They sure did let that little people joke in there though... yikes. Disney is really begging people with dwarfism to jump their asses this year

The weakest part of the film was definitely the villain dialog. I guess they didn't want any big plot twisty reveals because man these dudes came out monologing and like who asked? Nobody. Why are they talking so much?

I have a genuine love for Happy becoming the new Stan Lee cameo. I just love that man as a character and it feels right that he has a hand in everything.

I saw someone on here pouting about the photo of Tony and Peter together and how Peter's face was covered BUT ACTUALLY it's a running gag in the comics that Deadpool can't see Spider-Man's face or hear his name. Even if Peter takes his mask off right in front of him the "Marvel censors" hide it from Wade and I hope to god that's why they covered it because it'll be so damn funny if and when they're both in a film together

Speaking of funny, the comedy in this film was so well done. They poured most of the jokes out in the first act and left room for the movie and the characters to be taken seriously. I'm here praying that the other Marvel writers take notes because while I'm a very emotional person who requires comic relief to get through most movies without crying, we all know the humor in Marvel films is getting to be a bit much.

I was holding my breath during the big team up thinking it was going to be Deadpool 2/Suicide Squad all over again, but they actually got to have their hero moment and it was beautiful.

But WTF? Why did Blade and Gambit get a big moment where they show off their skills but Elektra gets half the screen time during the fight and her moment is just her kicking someone? She has magic ninja abilities?? She could have also done something cool?? The martial arts stuff was cool in her stand alone film, it doesn't impress in a crowd of people who know how to fight. At least let her skillfully throw her sais or something, damn.

And how good is Channing Tatum as Gambit? I'm not a Channing Tatum fan or anything, but damn does he nail it.

NICEPOOL I love Nicepool, I have no idea what Deadpool variants exist in the comics because I actually hate multiverse stuff that isn't spiderverse, BUT it's canon that if Deadpool were to stop killing people that he would become pretty again and I love that there's a universe where's he just insanely nice and handsome mostly because I don't think they would ever make a Spider-Man/Deadpool film so at least we acknowledged that this happens, sorta, they don't really talk about why he's pretty and our Deadpool isn't

I love how it was a Deadpool film, but also everyone got their moment. It was barely even about him. He was the vehicle through which Wolverine and Nova and Laura got to tell their stories and it worked really well

I also feel like Wade getting Johnny killed felt weird and mildly out of character. He's an asshole, not a sadist. There's a big difference. If they wanted him dead to get rid of Chris Evans and still have their cameo, it didn't have to be Wade's fault

Wade and Logan recognizing Chris's face as belonging to Steve also sets a precedent for RDJ playing Doom. (It also means that yes people in universe will recognize him and angst will happen, I'm still crossing my fingers that there's multiple Dooms)

I give the whole thing a 4/5 had a good time, few complaints

#deadpool spoilers

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pixelgrotto · 2 months ago

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I Will Survive

The Vampire Survivors DLC Ode to Castlevania ended up as one of my most entertaining gameplay experiences of 2024. This took me by surprise, as I was late to hop on the Vampire Survivors train, and didn't play the game until earlier this year. I'm not sure why I avoided it, considering how much I dig Castlevania (hey, here's a link to an old piece I wrote here about how the series cured my childhood fear of vampires), but it probably has something to do with automatically distrusting anything that gets too popular, and then thinking I am somehow superior for avoiding the mainstream.

That aside, Vampire Survivors is really a great game that's full of Newgrounds-style pluck, and it's precisely the sort of thing that a kid with no money to play real Castlevanias would've devoted their life to back in 2001. I kind of was that kid, considering that I first experienced all of the Castlevania games via emulation, but I digress. The ability to pimp out your character with all manner of add-ons and then stand in the middle of the screen as legions of foes try to get close, only to be bashed backwards by your spinning auras of bullshit, is tremendously entertaining. My fave survivor is Poppea Pecorina, who sings magic energy pillars into existence and apparently has a naughty name in Italian. But nobody in the OG Vampire Survivors roster can compete with the thrill of actually commanding Belmonts and the other associated protagonists of Konami's whip-slinging franchise, and that's what the Ode to Castlevania DLC brings to the fray.

The question of "who's your favorite Castlevania character" is one that renders tribalism equivalent to kids arguing about Batman versus Spider-Man on the playground, or maybe SNES versus Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. But it actually doesn't matter here, because almost all of the Castlevania characters to ever star in a game are on display in this DLC, either from the getgo or as secret unlockables after you "beat" the main map with Richter Belmont. And yes, mainstays like Richter, Trevor, Simon, and Alucard are all present and accounted for, but I'm more intrigued by the lesser-known and underappreciated characters, who have always been my preferred ones. (There I go again, deviating from what's popular.)

For instance, Juste, the Belmont who supposedly starred in the "worst" Game Boy Advance game (eff that noise), is very good, has a rocking remixed theme (all of the remixes here are top notch, to be fair), and boasts a pleasant nod to his role as the premiere Belmont mage thanks to an item called Belnades' Spellbook, which lets him spam magic like a beast. Then there's Sonia, the one female Belmont who starred in a game retconned by Koji Igarashi (also eff that noise), who is finally given the star status that she deserves (as well as a pair of trousers) with an OP skillset that makes her power rise the more meat she consumes. Now that's a Belmont matriarch for you!

However, it is the truly obscure cuts that make me bounce up and down in my seat whenever I'm playing Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania. I'm talking about inclusions like Quincy Morris, who only tangentially holds a connection to 1994's Castlevania: Bloodlines/The New Generation. Bloodlines is a personal favorite of mine as one of the best games on the Genesis, but I also like it as a title that dipped into funky continuity by tying Konami's "Conan versus Dracula" games with Bram Stoker's original Dracula novel. Quincy Morris is supposed to be the same Quincy Morris (spelled Quincey in the book) who showed up in the latter half of Dracula - you know, the part where the novel stops being gothic horror and becomes a rollocking D&D adventure. He's a Texan hanging out in Europe who just happens to have a bigass Bowie knife that he later uses to behead Dracula, and he was only referenced in the instruction manual of Bloodlines/The New Generation. Instead you played as his son John Morris, who would later go on to sire his own offspring named Jonathan Morris in Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin.

All of this lore is well and dandy, but Quincy has technically never appeared in an actual Castlevania game, nor has he had a sprite of his own...until now. Vampire Survivors did it, of all games, and now Quincy has been canonised as a dashing Texas bastard with a black hat and a...shuriken as his default weapon. I still think they should've stuck a Bowie knife into the game, but seeing as how there's already a standard knife, I see why they didn't. And hey, if Quincy can pop up in Europe in the original Dracula book just to fight the undead for the heck of it, who's to say that he can't pop up in Castlevania canon with a ninja star as his go-to projectile? The Morris side of the Belmont family line is clearly a weeaboo lineage!

I mention this attention to detail to outline the good work that poncle, the little company that could, has done with Ode to Castlevania. What started as a project that was intentionally derivative has evolved into something not only officially sanctioned by Konami, but a game that’s making its own contributions to Castlevania lore by ensuring that fallen-in-the-cracks characters like Quincy get their moment. This is especially important in the weird era we live in, where Castlevania is a very hot property thanks to the Netflix show but one that hasn't really had a game since Lords of Shadow 2, which was a decade ago and unfortunately poorly received. A few years ago, I would've said that Konami just doesn't care about their IP any more outside of what they can squeeze from pachinko machines, but seeing as how they published a remake of Silent Hill 2 courtesy of Blooper Team earlier this year, who knows. Maybe they're just waiting for the right studio to farm out the next Castlevania revival to.

If poncle ever wants to make a game beyond Vampire Survivors, I'd say that they'd be the group perfect for the job. As it stands, though, Ode to Castlevania probably wins the title of the best Castlevania game of the last ten years, and even if that's a low bar to clear, what we have here is very, very good and the epitome of fan service. I'm glad I stopped avoiding Vampire Survivors and finally dove in, and now I've got an eye towards checking out that Contra DLC from a few years back too...

#pixel grotto #favorites #vampire survivors #castlevania

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nelegance · 6 months ago

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Chapter 2: Enduring

I’m jumping way ahead. Are you interested in the before? Wouldn’t you rather read how it all ended and get back to your lives? Your beautiful mundane lives. Maybe you’re roasting a chicken for dinner while the children are running up and down the street outside; playing tag in the warm sunlight. Or maybe you’re listening to the radio in your living room while you pet your purring cat, who sits on your lap and doesn’t have a care in the world. What I would give…Oh! I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Madeline. Maddy to my friends. You’re my friend, so I’m Maddy to you. I live in New Orleans with Lestat. Our home is in shambles. It’s wooden, very dark inside and our and decorated in the 1800’s and never brought into the new century. Lestat likes it that way. I do not. It’s so cold. Anyway, onwards.

“I can heal you,” Lestat said, coming up behind me in the bathroom.

I kept the towel against my backside. “Please just go to bed. Your nose is already bleeding.”

Lestat wiped his nose with his hand and looked at it. He shook his head.

“I don’t care. Here,” Lestat bit his finger and held it up to where I had the towel. I sigh and took the towel away. He carefully wiped his bleeding finger against the wounds he created. “There. All better.”

It wasn’t all better though. I had dozens of these “accidents” that happened when Lestat got too excited. My bum, my back, my thighs…He always rushes to heal them. And I let him. I always let him.

Lestat washed his hands and grabbed the towel I was holding. He held it up to his nose. The Bleeds. A vampire must sleep and feed. If they don’t, they bleed from the nose and ears. If they ignore the bleeding, it gets worse and worse until…well—

“Let’s go back to bed. I need to sleep,” Lestat grabbed my hand and roughly led me back to the casket. Since he was bleeding, I said I was going to sleep in the bed. This made him angry.

“Why? I’m fine! Do you not want to sleep with me anymore? I give you everything and all I ask for is for you to sleep with me. I know it’s small in there but I just ask you to endure it until I can find something bigger. Please Madeline.”

His ears were bleeding now. I didn’t want to fight so I nodded and climbed into the casket after he did. I curled my arms underneath me. Lestat was skinny but still had abs. He exercised only to blend in with humans. If he didn’t, he would be waste away and look sickly.

“I love you, Madeline. I hope you know that,” Lestat wrapped his arms around me. “You mean everything to me.”

My blood meant everything to him. I guess you could call me a familiar but that sounds too Bram Stoker. I’m more of a donor with benefits. I give Lestat blood when he needs it and in return he gives me a home and protection. This place has a surprising number vampires and any human is up for grabs. How did I become Lestat’s donor?

Are you sure you want to go down this road with me? This really is a sad story. That roasted chicken sounds like a much better way of spending your time.

I needed a job. I was alone and I hadn’t eaten in three days. This isn’t the place to be young, poor and alone. My old dirty dress seemed to signal that I was looking for a customer, not a job. I walked down the street with my head down.

“Well hello there sweetheart,” a man mumbled as he stumbled along with me.

I could smell the whiskey on his breath. Atherton. I wanted him gone. I was desperate but not that desperate. I quickly turned and entered the first building I could reach. He followed me.

Jovial piano music, and a woman barely dressed in her red show girl like outfit were the first things I noticed. The woman, standing at a wooden podium, snapped her fingers at the man following me and pointed to the door.

“Out!” she exclaimed.

The drunk man waved his hand at her and stumbled back outside. I was going to follow him but what I was seeing had my feet glued to the floor. To my left and to my right were women that were naked, or dressed in fine bejewelled gowns. They either led a gentleman dressed in a suit or were whispering sweet nothings in the ear of a gentleman dressed in a suit. A few woman were serving drinks. Cigarette smoke hung in the air. A pale man with soft reddy blonde hair sat at the piano in the corner of the room, next to the roaring fireplace. He played a song I couldn’t quite recognize. A woman in a green gown was sitting next to him. She leaned her head on his shoulder. He took his drink and sipped it, seemingly not impressed by her flirting.

“Can I help you, honey?” the woman at the podium asked.

I shook my head but I wanted to stay.

“I need a job.” I blurted out.

#interview with the vampire #fanfic #my writing #lestat de lioncourt #louis de pointe du lac #fan fiction #iwtv fanfiction #amc iwtv #iwtv #iwtv fandom

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volturialice · 2 years ago

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Do you have any dark gothic/horror book recs? I’m trying to get out of thrillers at the moment. also looking for some dark classics. any ideas?

I was waiting to answer this until after the Bella's Book Club summer reading reclist went live and now it's live!! and I must say, full of some Choice gothic recs. But I'll list my personal faves here!

Dark™ things from my part of the BBC reclist:

Jamaica Inn (and My Cousin Rachel) by Daphne du Maurier - iirc I described Jamaica Inn as gothic + adventure in my recs, and yep, that's what it is. definitely part of the specific "the book cover shows a woman in a nightgown running from a scary building" gothic heroine tradition. I also gave a brief nod to My Cousin Rachel because it's another of du Maurier's works which I think is underrated (that one's more of a slow-burning gothic mystery featuring a hero of the 'little wet babygirl' variety.)

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno Garcia - Also as I said in my recs, it's very like Jamaica Inn in structure and genre, though of course the writing, the specific characters, and the central mysteries are different. But MG is (of course) Mexican and has more fun Get Out/Ready or Not vibes with its themes of class and ethnicity.

Girls Running from Houses by tanaudel on redbubble

Perfume: the Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind - Villain protagonist villain protagonist! This one I love mostly for its flowery prose and sheer aesthetic commitment. You're telling me this 18th-century French serial killer turns his victims into perfume?? Say more

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey - Seriously the most underrated YA series of all time. Also so gory and terrifying I sometimes cannot believe it's YA. To this day some of the scariest written horror my eyes have beheld, not to mention it's got banger prose. Most people know Rick Yancey from The 5th Wave which is such bland cookiecutter 2010s YA dystopia love triangle nonsense that I just want to shake everyone and go NO, READ THIS BRILLIANCE INSTEAD! ngl the last book in the series is Not Good (you can 100% tell he had switched all his energies to 5th Wave, which is a shame) but the first 3 are absolutely good enough to make up for it.

Other people's reclist recs that I too have read and enjoyed: Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier), We Have Always Lived in the Castle (Shirley Jackson), Dracula (Bram Stoker), Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)

More classics: The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (short and easy read!), The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (a must-read for aesthete gays everywhere. I mean cmon it's Oscar)

Extremely melodramatic "classics:' I loved reading Louisa May Alcott's little known "flops" A Long Fatal Love Chase and Behind a Mask (short story collection.) I might make Book Club read Love Chase at some point because I think we'd have way too much fun with it. We'll see.

My personal favorite that I think everyone should read: The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter (short story collection of gothic fairytale retellings!)

Not exactly what you think of when you hear 'gothic' per se but definitely Dark and it's my OTHER favorite: Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer (I never shut up about this book and it's for a reason. Very different from the movie, which I also love!)

My favorite gothic/horror authors:

Shirley Jackson - I've definitely talked about her before but both The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle are straight bangers (and short, easy reads to boot!) Do NOT think you can watch the Mike Fl*nagan Hill House show of the same name and call it a day—they're completely different stories. (also let the record show I'm censoring his name out of personal dislike he hasn't done anything 'problematic' afaik calm down)

Stephen Graham Jones - Insanely good writing oh my god. I have so far only read the My Heart is a Chainsaw books but his entire oeuvre is on my TBR because he cannot lose. Also he lives in my town and I'm starstruck just knowing this fact. Indigenous (Blackfoot) author who writes about indigenous characters!

Kelly Link - Writer of banger short fiction. I particularly enjoy Pretty Monsters because it's 100% written for the Twilight girlies and clearly made with love and silliness

Grady Hendrix - I didn't loooove Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, but I adored Hörrorstör and especially My Best Friend's Exorcism, which is a total masterpiece IMO. Another writer whose entire oeuvre is on my TBR.

#asks #books #bella's book club

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mongrelmutt · 10 months ago

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Continuing the Jules Verne kick with "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea"

Under a cut because this is longer than the others:

- This is my least favorite of his books so far. I am falling asleep while reading it.

- The professor calling Conseil his "boy" when Conseil is 30 years old, and only 10 years younger than him 😬😬😬

- *Hisses at Captain Nemo* Bad Vibes

- I'm pretty sure physics doesn't work like this, but I don't know enough to argue. Nor do I care enough to look it up. I am just so bored. Please get to more interesting things.

- Also, lol of course the Victorian dudes would be like "WHALE BODIES MUST BE STRONG AND IMMOVEABLE LIKE MANLY IRON TO DIVE SO DEEP AND NOT BE KILLED!" Wrong! they squish and adjust their innards to adapt to the pressure:

- Trying to suss out what (if any) real sea life is being described when no name is given, just fantastic descriptions.

- Sleeping underwater in scuba gear seems... unwise.

- More 19th century anthropology 😬😬😬

- Yes, yes I understand that the water temperature is invariably 4⁰ wherever and whatever time of the year at depth. You've said that like 8 times already. This had better turn out to be relevant. [Note: not particularly]

- I do not like Ned Lands.

- Shark slander 😭

((Why did the myth that sharks have to turn over to bite things last so long? I remember it from "James and the Giant Peach" as well. I would have thought enough people would have at least seen sharks biting bait at the surface by the 1800s for this to be known false?))

- Man, these guys are a bloodthirsty lot. Every new animal they see they're like "Can I kill it?? Please let me kill it! Let's kill it! 😈 Man, wouldn't you jump at the chance to kill sharks like you do bears and lions??" :/

- At the same time they're afraid of everything, assume it's dangerous, and, if not killed instantly, will retaliate violently in revenge, including a freaking *dugong.*

- Wow, some people at least knew industrial commercial whaling was unsustainable and would result in the whales' extinction even in the late 1800s! Wild that it took almost 100 years to get it (mostly) banned!

- *head desk* Nemo is such a hypocrite (I imagine that may be The Point)

- Ugggghhh the whole "predators are evil, vicious monsters, and we need to slaughter them all without mercy to protect the poor innocent prey animals" attitude still so prevalent today.

- ...wait, those are *sperm whales*?? I thought they meant killer whales at first! Sperm whales don't even eat baleen whales... All that brutal slaughter for nothing :'(

- ... Bonus for an even more uncomfortable use of "voluptuous" than Bram Stoker! Seal eyes are described as "voluptuous" 😆

- Of all the sea creatures to declare harmless Verne chose *elephant seals* 🤦🤣

- YAY THE KRAKEN!! At least these covers haven't lied to me!! :D

- aaaw no, the giant squid didn't play nearly as big a part as advertised *le sigh*

- Ah, the classic "crap I've written my characters into a deadly corner, time to knock out the POV character and have them wake up safe in bed later."

- Why did the Professor talk about Lands like he was dead at the beginning? I can see a few reasons from the author's perspective (varying from "deliberate red herring to increase the suspense" to "oops I forgot dude was originally going to die and didn't correct it") but not from the character's? It's not even like he was reflecting on the matter from decades later, when Ned might have died after the story, they're all still chilling together in Norway waiting for a steamer home?

Lands: Stop telling people I died.

Professor Aronnax: Sometimes I can still hear his voice.

- Welp, I did enjoy the sea critters and fun steampunk machines, just not the long rambling bits that seemed to overwhelm the story for me

#my adhd was showing hard with this one #personal #lol #reading #I really need a witty tag for this endeavor

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theproblemcallednight · 1 year ago

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sending you akutagawa and/or bram for character ask game

hii soda!!!

k imma do both cuz im bored :D

ok it got rlly long so it’s under the cut:

akutagawa:

first impressions- tbh i thought he was a weird ass bitch who needed cough drops bc his lil villain cough was making no one but the butterflies scared. like his ability was rlly cool but i didn’t really get him at first. also his name took me ages to pronounce 😭😭

impression now- genuinely one of my fav characters!!! he’s such a guy y’know. a goofy little guy. but i do rlly like his backstory and how he persevered and fought through ever and still was a morally bad person. like i luv seeing characters i adore suffer to hell and back and then finally find some sort of broken peace with themselves. aku allowing himself to value his own wants and needs after fighting atsushi and seeing him grow as a character is just perfect. 10/10 i luv him my blorbo forever <3

favourite moment- anything in wan tbh. i know i just went on a heartfelt rant abt aku but. wan aku is the true star let’s be honest. i mean look at him. just stare into those soulless eyes.

idea for a story- uhhhhh i not very creative gimme a sec… i think him finding himself with a pet would be cool. yknow like he gets attached to some stray cat and then ends up taking it in. and i feel like it would force himself to see that he can be a good person and there is beauty in life. the cat may or may not resemble a certain someone

unpopular opinion- ummm idk rlly? i guess i hc him somewhere or the aro/ace spectrum but i dunno if that’s an u popular opinion

favorite relationship- right so obvi sskk bc i am unoriginal and one with the masses. but. i luv it when chuuya and aku have like a father son relationship. or even when gin and him get to just hang out and chill. i just luv the idea of aku constantly chasing dazais approval and chuuya being like “bitch i fucking raised you the mf left after a year”

fav headcannon- hmmmm prob the hc tha he can’t cook? like he can’t boil water even. i just find it funny that it’s like the one thingy dazai passed down to him. father son duo that can blow up your kitchen in five seconds.

bram:

first impressions- i was so exited when i saw the name bram stoker omg. i haven’t actually read dracula but i’ve heard enough to abt it that ik brams ability would be sick. and god i thought it was so cool. and also the fact that bram was just a shish kebab was sending me and i immediately loved him

impression now- still absolutely in live with him and his character. he’s just like the biggest mood in all of bsd. and his and aya’s relationship is so freaking cute i luv them sm

favourite moment- either when he says he’ll be aya’s knight at the end, or when aya’s like bram what do we do about the apocalypse he’s like “sleep in a hole for a couple centuries.” i would love to sleep in a hole for 200 years every time i had a problem. it would be great.

idea for a story- i think it would be rlly interesting if it was a college and no abilities au and him and mary shelly and adam were besties. like it would be great. they would be the besties fr

unpopular opinion- uh i dunno… i kind of think that he shouldn’t have gotten his body back? at least not when he did? like don’t get me wrong he slayed and saved aya and stuff. but i feel like tbh ere was so much to use with his shish kebab state. i don’t know i think it was underutilized

favourite relationship- oh def bramcraft or lovestoker or whatever it’s called now. bram and lovecraft are ancient yuri and i will die on that hill. they can be eldritch monsters together. and be ancient together. that being said i like kunikifa and bram more platonically. like they become friends through joint custody of aya. and it’s one big happy family

favourite headcannon- oh i don’t know where i saw this but i luv the idea of him using like a cane or mobility aids. for balance probably, but i think it would be so cool for bram to have a cane. he’d look badass with it. best part is he can bonk ppl with it :D

well that got long. but it was rlly fun!!! ty for the ask soda!!!

#i luv rambling about my blorbos #ty for letting me soda :D #bsd #bsd akutagawa #bsd bram #da hw answers

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mytragedyperson · 2 years ago

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OK tumblr apparently hates me because twice now I've wrote out a relatively long slightly ramble post and it's let me click post and then just not posted, and as far as I can see there not in my drafts so, instead of that post, I will be watching all the episodes of bsd 5 tomorrow and just noting down any thoughts I have, probably mostly appreciating Ranpo and making fun of Fukuchi, because that's fun to me. However there are 2 thoughts that won't leave my head and so tumblr gets to have them.

So first of all I've seen manga panels of Dazai getting shot and presumably dying, which I guess is a spoiler but has also been all over tumblr and it looked like it was on twitter too. Quite frankly, I'm not buying it, and not just because I love Dazai and am living in denial. I've already been burned by BSD in this department of being convinced a character is dead and then bringing them back. I am, of course, talking about Margaret. I thought Akutagawa had killed her and then, a season later, she was brought back, albeit in a coma, to further a plot. Also this is Dazai, if anyone could come back from being shot in to head it's him. For all that he's suicidal and has no will to live, hes really bad at dying, which is good for those of us who like Dazai and I won't complain about that. The only people that have died and stayed so far are Oda and his orphans and Rando (I only watch anime). There may be others but I can't remember them. There were a couple characters who appeared in one episode and were killed off in the episode but everyone else has simply said no to death, which I can respect. Honestly they could get his body out of the prison and have a whole like funeral/memorial scene with all of the characters mourning him and I still wouldn't be fully convinced he's dead. So maybe it is slight denial but I stand by what I said.

My second thought was that I still feel sorry for Bram stoker. I dont care what terrible things he's done, he doesn't deserve the fate he's been given. I can just imagine Fukuchi going on and on about his plan, sounding so confident since he always has turn back time as a backup plan, and he just can't escape it. He's stuck forced to listen. That's the true evil right there.

Also I have a lot of thoughts about how Fukuchi is actually not a good villain, as in I'm not intimidated by him and don't truly see him as a threat. Like his sword is a threat, moreso when he weilds it, since he makes it more effective, but the guy himself? He should be more of a threat than he is. I'll address that tomorrow as I rewatch the episodes because its a big part of my mental commentary and making fun of Fukuchi hours. He might actually be one of the worst villains in the show. I'll address that on a later date. Another thought I'll be addressing tomorrow is my theory that Fyodor is the true leader of the Decay of Angels. Like if they had to listen to one of them regarding a plan they'd listen to Fyodor over Fukuchi. They just can't be bothered with Fukuchis attempts to murder or control them with the sword. Also, bing is my search engine and when I looked up who is the leader of the decay of angels? You know to double check it was Fukuchi, it had his name but the picture next to his name was Fyodor so do with that what you will. Anyway no more thoughts head empty.

Also if anyone has asks regarding anything to do with the BSD anime, I'd be happy to answer them because thinking about/discussing BSD is fun and I do have opinions on a lot of things

edit: change of plans. while i do still plan to do this it's gonna take a little longer. I have a blog, not a tumblr one, though, that I basically never use, so I'm gonna use that to note down any thoughts, opinions and just things in general that I feel like noting down. After I've done that, I'll share it here. Again, asks will be open and this will probably take me a while so, if anyone wants to discuss the BSD anime, feel free to send asks or messages or comment or whatever

#bsd #bungou stray dogs s5 #bungou stray dogs #bsd 5 spoilers #bsd manga #bsd manga spoilers #dazai osamu #fukuchi ouchi #bram stoker

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steampunkenglish · 2 years ago

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World Dracula Day, Folk Horror, and Renn Faire After Party

World Dracula Day (bleh bleh)

May 26 is indeed World Dracula Day. For those of you not in the know, this is the publication date (May 26, 1897) of Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula. In the over 100 years since this character's introduction, the Count and vampires in general have been swooping around most of Western society's corporate psyche in one way or another. I'm not sure if Stoker had any idea that his story of supernatural betrayal, invasion, and ultimate heroics would catch on and still be popular after so long, but here we are in 2023 still talking about the character and still writing stories that link back to the world he created.

If you celebrate, as I do, please lift a glass...but not of wine because we do not drink...wine to Stoker and to Count Dracula!

Folk Horror and a Bit of Self-Promotion

Since we're on a bit of a horror bend today, I'm also going to talk a little about a specific niche of horror and do some promotion for a new anthology produced by Pavane Press and edited by Cliff Biggers and Charles Rutledge.

Some of you may be familiar with the above image. It's from the original Wicker Man (1973). If you haven't seen this movie, get thee to your Amazon Prime or Roku Channel and view it henceforth. Do not watch the abomination that is the Nicholas Cage version from 2006 unless you enjoy watching Nicholas Cage screaming in that weird way he does in his horror movies. The 1973 version is an excellent introduction to the folk horror genre, which is having a resurgence in the horror community both for written works and on film. Midsommar is another good example although, like a lot of folk horror films, has mixed reviews (I liked it. It disturbed the hell out of me, but I liked it.).

I enjoy folk horror because my own horror stories brush close to it. Elements of this sub-genre include a sense of isolation, communities with rituals, an outside element coming into the closed community, and an event of some sort. I feel like Southern Gothic horror is a kissing cousin to this sub-genre. I love exploring all of these things because I feel like we experience these things or are only one or two steps away from these elements here in the South, especially if we live on the edges of rural communities (and a lot of us still do).

If you are curious or if you already have a love for this sub-genre, let me recommend the brand new anthology, Lonely Hollows.

Cliff and Charles gathered 15 of some of the best horror authors in the business and asked that we write folk horror stories. Some of these names you may recognize, like James A. Moore, Jeff Strand, Leanna Renee Hieber, and Amanda DeWees. Others of us are newer voices, including me and Darrell Z. Grizzle. The cover art is by Lynne Hansen, whose cover art is well-known and loved in the horror community. My story, "Renewal," involves werewolves, a community cult, and one young man with a very large decision that needs making.

You can get this in paperback, hardback, or on Kindle. I will be at the Crazy Book Lady bookstore on Saturday, June 10 as well. I hope to have paperbacks there, ready to sell and sign! It's an awesome anthology. Renn Faire After Party

We had a fantastic two days at the Georgia Renaissance Festival last weekend despite the fact that it was overcast both days (that seemed to make it better). There were eight authors at three tables, and I think we all did pretty well. I sold nine books, which I consider a complete win. I also got to hang out with a bunch of folks who were just awesome, including Sarah Sover, Sarah Madsen, Milton Davis, Nancy Dunne, Jen Guberman, and Sherrilyn Kenyon (yes, THAT Sherrilyn Kenyon).

I'm hoping we do this again next year because as much as it was work (and it was), I had a blast. Patrons were really excited to see us (especially Sherrilyn) and a lot of them expressed that they wanted to see more books and authors on site.

I also learned how to use TikTok finally and have opened an account. You can find me at @steampunkenglish1883. So that was my weekend! I can't wait until my next event. #writing #writinglife #georgiarenaissancefestival #folkhorror #booktok #lonelyhollows #southerngothichorror #hwaatlantamember #falstaffbooks #fantasy

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sinfulpetgirlrd · 2 years ago

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This was so hard to write :’(

Things get better Odessa, honest!

“Uncle, the flattery is unbecoming of you. You know my hands have been unsteady since the attempt.” Odessa responds with a trembling smile, clutching the sample close.

“Um, would you like some water while I check this? It won’t take but a moment.” She continued before standing, the noise of the needle clattering into the bin ringing through the room before she nodded towards the sink. When he denied her offer with a shake of his head, she walked across the floor, her body drawn to the makeshift workstation she and Jonathan had created.

She stands in silence in front of it, the tension in the atmosphere almost tactile. Walker’s fingers quiver as they near the glass slide that remains unfilled. Without scientific facts, it is easy to deny something. The little nurse could carry on with the charade that all is good, she could deny her and Jonathan’s medical knowledge, her inhuman senses, all of it… She could keep up the façade until she had undeniable scientific proof.

In her state of distress, she numbly placed a single droplet of the watery blood onto the slide, her body going still after she quickly slipped the thing under the microscope’s viewing window.

I know I haven’t talked to you in a long time, but please. Please let me, Jon, and my senses be wrong, please… Not him. As she leans forward, her eye hovering just above the thing’s eyepiece, she stifles a soft, whimpering sob.

“Special infected,” the vampire whispered to herself, her hands leaving slight indentations in the metal tabletop.

“Uncle Sean?” She continues carefully, her teeth teasing against her lip, causing a metallic tang of blood to seep onto her tongue. “I- I have something to tell you.”

“You sound as if I am dieing petal.” He tried to make a joke, a half-hearted smirk on his face, but the moment he looked into her eyes, the expression faded away. Odessa stands, her arms crossed defensively across her chest, her breath coming out in a shuddering sigh.

“Just— I just need you to listen. I beg you, please don’t interrupt me, okay?”

“Odessa, whatever it is I—” Sean says with a huff, finally relenting as her lower lip juts out in a small pout. “Okay, as God as my witness, I won’t say a peep.”

“Thank you, um— I’m not sure how to start. I know you are not one for nonfiction reading but, have you ever heard of or read Bram stoker’s Dracula?… Really? Splendid book, ah, okay, so not-not everything in it is fantasy.” Her sorrowful words hung in the air, wavering and quavering in the room. She studies his face, searching for even the slightest change in his demeanor as she goes on. Taking care to speak with precision, she was determined to not upset or alarm the man.

When she reminisces about that night, her body twists away from him, her fingers lightly tracing the indentations on her neck. A reminder of how she refused to be a victim in her own home, how she fought back as Father showed her. She talked about her awakening… Of Edward, her beloved, gentle Edward, whose name caused her heart to break once more, staining her cheeks with tears.

Odessa let more information out than she had ever thought she would, her hands trembling. She bares all, not just the damned culling, not just the hunters nor the ever present hunger. By the time she finishes, her body has sunk to the ground, her head bowed low, too exhausted to shed any more tears.

Two months, that’s how long it’s been. Two months that felt like an eternity. The little nurse had managed it all without complaint, never allowing her true feelings to show... Although she had no one to share them with.

Dorothea handled Walker’s secret bravely, but the amount of stress, all these added emotions would add to her recently overturned world view— no it was best if Odessa didn’t confine in her. Besides, all she would do is prompt Odessa to look for Charlie, which... It was best to let her think she was still missing or had passed away.

There was Jonathan but he was— well, him. She trusted him; she did— he had taken in her, cared for her… Yet after that night. Every night since then, it was painfully clear he had his own shit to work through.

Edgar was an option, he was friendly and willing to listen, but he was often covered in Jonathan’s scent, so anything shared was sure to eventually be reported back to her unbonded out of a sense of “care”.

Walker had no one she could reasonably confide in… Till now at least, though, for how long?

Sean held true to his word, maintaining his silence as he listened carefully to every word. He didn’t need her to elaborate past “vampires are real”. It was a fact he had already known, hell he suspected she was one. And if not for his illness, if not for the once strong, now broken woman before him, he’d be quite chuffed to know she trusted him enough to share.

And yet, if he had to be honest, the fact that she only told him because she had to hurt. I understand it was an attempt to protect me but still, I can’t fathom why she always chooses to suffer alone.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” Hampton says, carefully hopping off of the exam table. His gait is unsteady, the world seeming to spin, as he approaches the broken woman, extending his hand to draw her in for a much needed hug. “Odessa… My dear sweet Petal. It’s okay, everything is okay.”

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embystarr-blog · 2 years ago

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It's the first day of spring where I live, but it snowed last night and it's cold and rainy today. Lucy's dead, and I'm sad.

Rather than make 12312 posts talking about today's entry, I've decided to ramble in one single post. Keep reading at your own peril!

"The whole estate, real and personal, was left absolutely to Arthur Holmwood. Frankly we did our best to prevent such a testamentary disposition, and pointed out certain contingencies that might leave her daughter either penniless or not so free as she should be to act regarding a matrimonial alliance."

Excuse me? Did Mrs. Westenra leave everything to Arthur before they were even married?? Am I not understanding this paragraph? Or is this about Arthur possibly not getting Lucy's state? I'm at a loss.

"I assure you, my dear sirs, I am rejoiced at the result, perfectly rejoiced."

NOT the time, the place, or the people, bro. A nineteen-year-old girl just died immediately after her mother, IN THE SAME BED. Please.

"even his stalwart manhood seemed to have shrunk somewhat"

Bram Stoker stop using the word manhood challenge.

"In such cases men do not need much expression. A grip of the hand, the tightening of an arm over the shoulder, a sob in unison, are expressions of sympathy dear to a man's heart."

I know this smells of "I'm a masculine manly man", but there's something about the way English people express their feelings that is like a punch in the gut for me. Nothing is too overt, too exaggerated, but it's there. You won't see Elinor Dashwood sobbing her heart out, and her sister (who does these things) is seen as "too dramatic"... but Elinor's pain just shines through, both in the film and in the book. I love that shit, man.

"He fell a-trembling, and finally was shaken with doubt as with an ague. At last, after a long pause, he said to me in a faint whisper:—

"Jack, is she really dead?"

Oh, god this is so sad. He's so shocked, I need to wrap him up in a blanket and let him cry it out.

""No, no, not that, for God's sake! Not yet at any rate. Forgive me, sir: I did not mean to speak offensively; it is only because my loss is so recent."

Arthur, please, you're killing me. :(

""I only used that name because I was in doubt. I must not call you 'Mr.,' and I have grown to love you—yes, my dear boy, to love you—as Arthur."

I think Van Helsing here was thinking that perhaps Arthur had started to hate him somewhat, and he wanted to respect his feelings. Arthur's response is so warm and kind-hearted, poor dude.

#Dracula daily #dracula daily spoilers #lucy westenra #arthur holmwood #van helsing #dracula #count dracula #dr seward

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head-empty-just-sigma · 3 years ago

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so after using my few remaining brain cells to analyze Bram’s ability a bit, i got a little idea in my mind that i absolutely need to theorize about. so here i am.

essentially i just want to ask what kind of effect Dazai’s ability would have on Bram, if any at all. so i’ll be looking at how Dazai’s gift interacts with large-scale abilities that effected multiple people or powerful ability-created weapons. i will also be talking about the sword stuck in Bram as well given what’s revealed in the latest manga chapter (102)

🔺spoilers for the main manga, 55 Minutes, Dead Apple, one scene from chapter 1 of Stormbringer🔻

a tldr is directly under the cut with less spoilers and a short to-the-point theory. also all lowercase is intentional

too long don’t want to read it:

Dazai’s nullification won’t have any effect on Bram himself, it won’t turn him human again, but it’ll make it so he can’t command his infected vampire army. i think Dazai will have to touch each individual vampire in order to nullify the infection, comparing it to how his ability functioned in Shibusawa’s fog. with the sword, i think Dazai wouldn’t have much more effect on it other than removing the engraving on Fukuchi’s hand and allowing Bram to control his ability again while Dazai holds the sword and renders it a piece of metal in his hand.

everything else in this post is talking about evidence for my theory & then my theory about their abilities interacting at the end. i hope you enjoy!

what is Bram’s ability?

Bram Stoker in the bsd universe is a mutated human who’s ability caused them to turn into an immortal/undead vampire. he’s been alive for several centuries without much change in appearance, leading me to believe the concept of age doesn’t apply to Bram anymore after becoming a vampire. not to mention he’s a head on a sword

since his ability isn’t named (although it’s most likely Stoker’s Dracula) i won’t be using that as material in my analysis, i want to focus on how his ability functions in the bsd universe alone.

so far from what we’ve seen, the usage of Bram’s ability requires that Bram or another infected vampire ingests the victim’s blood through biting the victim in order to infect them. infecting them causes them to turn into a vampire that has no will of their own and instead acts on the will of Bram, who gives orders to his brethren. the infected vampires are shown to be aggressive towards any non-infected human in the nature of wanting to bite them to infect them, not outright kill them. every infected vampire is loyal to Bram no matter who they got infected by, making it easy for Bram to build a large army using just his underlings without needing to bite each individual himself. this ability can also bring the dead back to life, which we see Bram do with Akutagawa as his first victim.

in one scene we see Bram use his influence as the so-called Lord of the Undead to scare an infected vampire when Aya gets attacked

we can assume that while he’s incapable of actually issuing commands to the infected because of the sword, he still has authority that can be sensed on an instinctual level by the infected vampires.

that’s pretty much all we know about his ability for now, so i’ll leave Bram’s ability explanation here.

let’s gloss over Dazai’s ability

he nullifies any ability through physical touch. he can either touch the person using the ability or the ability itself for this to work.

nullifying Q’s ability by touching the doll

nullifying Corruption by touching Chuuya’s arm

lol

the only time Dazai’s ability doesn’t work is when it’s not an actual ability, i.e. Lovecraft being a Great Old One (a Lovecraftian god-like being) and not an ability user as well as some other times in the light novels. which i’ll get into right now

55 Minutes

seriously, this man is a piece of trash (affectionate)

so i’m going to ignore the entire plot of 55 Minutes but in case you’re wondering why Dazai is in a trash can well you’re just going to have to read the light novel to find out pffft

there’s a quote early on that i want to bring up considering the context of Dazai’s ability in regards to time-manipulating abilities

“‘Those thieves are nothing but a small part of the catastrophe that’s to come.’ All of a sudden, Dazai wasn’t smiling anymore.”

so the ‘catastrophe’ is a large-scale weapon called Code: Shell or ‘Annihilation’ made from an ability that’s hidden on the floating island that they’re on that’s going to be used to destroy Yokohama. and like half of Japan i think. idk 55 Minutes was a ride

so i have a personal theory that Dazai was originally sent to the island by himself to stop the weapon before it was used but he failed, which is where 55 Minutes begins with the random description of Yokohama being obliterated. then we see the rest of the ADA also being sent to the island because Atsushi needs to save Yokohama (again) because Dazai wasn’t able to do it by himself. he also knows who Wells is already, giving Atsushi a description of her at the beginning of the novel during the trash can conversation. Dazai also blatantly tells Kunikida and Atsushi that he knew they’d be caught up in some trouble, so he snuck into the jail room in order to help them escape. however, H.G. Wells (the ‘terrorist’) had set up that trap to get the ADA off her heels so they could get to the weapon without interference, so Dazai had to send Atsushi after her. Dazai also reveals he was sent there by the government, not Fukuzawa. i personally think that somehow Wells was capable of using her ability on Dazai, like we see Nikolai do when he uses his overcoat to teleport Dazai out of his cell. however, the time stopping ability that the cat lady has doesn’t effect Dazai? so it’s really up in the air here. there’s no solid proof Wells used her ability on Dazai anyway besides him knowing about some of the events that occur on the island, but that could also be left to Dazai being the genius that he is.

anyway so lots of plot happens & Atsushi ends up failing to stop the weapon from being used after finding out Wells wasn’t a terrorist (and getting a scene of her taking off a fake face Twilight style) the weapon starts destroying everything it touches.

Dazai and Kunikida witness this after escaping, with Dazai stating that he knew Code: Shell was an “ability weapon”. keeping that in mind, however, Dazai is still killed by the ‘plasma vapor’ created by the weapon boiling the ocean to the point of evaporating. now, i’d like to take a moment to mention this scene from Stormbringer:

“It was strange, because despite the abnormal gravitational field surrounding them, the figure just leisurely stood there.”

(credits to Chibikko_Chuuya, TsubakiHana2, and hktrsdc on twt for the translation)

so after Chuuya’s ‘gate’ is opened for the first time by Verlaine and the equivalent of a black freaking hole melts the corners off of buildings and some nearby lampposts, Dazai is able to just waltz up to Chuuya, who’s at the epicenter of an irregular gravitational field, and nullify Chuuya’s ability without so much as a scratch on him. he doesn’t even break a sweat despite literal metal lamppost melting just feet away from them. does this mean that Asagiri-sensei is inconsistent in how Dazai is affected by ability-based catastrophes? well, no. Chuuya’s phenomena is just his ability, but Code: Shell is a weapon of mass distraction created by an ability, which is the difference. Code: Shell is also probably much more powerful than Chuuya’s ability, including Corruption.

so i think we can assume that while Dazai’s ability is strong enough to nullify most abilities, it doesn’t work on weapons like Code: Shell even though an ability created them.

moving on

Dead Apple

Shibusawa is a King and i will not be taking arguments at this time thank you. also, the name “Tatsuhiko” uses the same kanji characters as ‘dragon boy’. just thought that was cool

so i’m ignoring the plot again and i just want to focus on how Dazai effects the fog

while Shibusawa’s fog is spread over Yokohama and causes abilities to be separated from their users, Dazai, Dostoy and Shibusawa are in some building that i can’t find the name of ANYWHERE that seems to be above the fog. while that’s well and good, we actually find out that the fog does reach them when Dostoy has his monologue moment with his own ability just outside the Draconia room in the tall building. so we see the first instance of Dazai’s ability not affecting the fog just from him being in it.

the second instance is one of the best soukoku moments when Dazai is putting Chuuya’s face in his crotch to keep him from moving, stating he ‘doesn’t want to have to protect him from his own ability’ while they’re in the fog. so here’s proof that Dazai can’t nullify the fog itself despite being within it, but he can nullify the effects of the fog on whoever he’s touching, stopping their abilities from separating. even when the fog turns red and grows, Dazai’s nullification has no effect on it. therefore, large-scale abilities like the Dragon’s Breath from Draconia (Shibusawa’s ability) can’t be nullified by Dazai as a whole and he instead must touch each individual who’s effected. keep that in mind

so now i’m moving into the theory/speculation part of this so please keep in mind that Asagiri-sensei may prove me completely wrong in a future chapter but this is my personal headcanon/theory for how Dazai’s ability would effect Bram’s ability

so i’m going to ignore the sword sticking out of Bram and pretend like he’s a full-bodied vampire capable of controlling his own ability for a minute. i’ll include what i think about the sword later.

first thing: Bram’s ability caused him to mutate into an undead vampire himself. what happens to him if Dazai touches him?

i personally believe nothing would happen to Bram if Dazai touches him. he won’t die, nor will he turn back into a human. i think using the context that his ability caused him to mutate into a vampire, and he can’t change himself into a human at will or anything, Bram is stuck forever as an undead vampire. also considering that if Bram is powerful enough to be called one of the “Ten Calamities”, Dazai’s ability won’t have an effect on his vampirism. obviously Bram can’t infect Dazai, but Dazai can’t make him human again either. i also think it would be a subtle narrative add-on that Dazai’s ability No Longer Human can’t give someone their humanity back.

next: if Dazai touches Bram, would it un-infect all of the other vampires?

no.

in the same way that Dazai didn’t have an affect on Shibusawa’s fog unless he touched the individual person, he can’t un-infect the other vampires unless he touches each individual infected person. of course, i think Bram (again, without the sword) would be able to deactivate his ability and turn them all back to humans, Dazai has to work way harder to nullify everyone separately. which is what he has to do canonically anyway considering Bram can’t deactivate his own ability.

i think at most it would make it so that Bram can’t command his vampire army while Dazai is touching him. the only one who might be un-infected is maybe Akutagawa considering Bram bit him himself.

next: will the infected vampires remember the events that happened while they were infected?

probably not. considering they have no will of their own and act 100% on Bram’s orders as mindless subordinates, they probably are in a state of unconsciousness while infected. they might have like flashes of memories, but i don’t think they’re fully aware of what they’re doing. they are considered undead after all.

well, then will they die when they’re turned back into humans?

as for dying i think there’s too many important characters who are infected right now for them to all die when their un-infected. i think this includes Akutagawa, he’s a very important character that had been showing major character development in the story and i think he’s going to be fine. plus, there’s no way Asagiri-sensei would create such a complex character for Chuuya and go into detail about his backstory with multiple light novels just to toss him in the trash like that.

i suppose there’s a small possibility that Aku will die after he’s un-infected but i want to believe Asagiri-sensei has other plans for him…..

final part: Dazai’s effect on the sword

so the Holy Sword was made after an ability user died, was turned into gold and silver by a different ability, and then forged into a sword. the dead ability user’s gift was one that fused an ‘ability’ with a ‘body’, creating an ultra-ability that transcends the principles of ability usage that we’re familiar with.

Bram describes the ‘body’ and an ‘ability’ like this: an ‘ability’ is a metaphysical concept, like their soul. and the ‘body’ is the physical vessel that houses it.

therefore, this sword that has the ability to fuse an ‘ability’ with a ‘body’, is currently lodged in Bram and is fused with Fukuchi through an engraved mark on his hand. this is what allows Fukuchi to manipulate Bram’s ability while he’s holding the sword.

now, i think Dazai won’t be able to use the sword obviously, in his hands it’s nothing but a piece of metal, but i think that him nullifying it will remove the engraving on Fukuchi’s hand. i’m not sure if it’ll also make it so the sword can be pulled out of Bram, considering it’s rooted in his brain and is a powerful weaponized ability similar to Code: Shell, so maybe Dazai won’t be able to effect the sword itself really, but he’ll remove the mark on Fukuchi and potentially allow Bram to control his own ability again.

however, i’m not entirely sure if this level of Dazai-ex-machina is something that’ll happen in the story considering he’s in Europe while Bram is in Japan

anyway that’s the end of my theory and personal headcanon until i’m proven otherwise lol. thank you for reading! if you have other ideas or noticed something i missed feel free to put it in the comments!

mini theory: can Chuuya use Corruption even though he’s infected?

my opinion is yes, yes he can. if we go by the context that Corruption can be triggered either intentionally after his chant, or forcefully triggered by emotions or opening his ‘gate’, i think that the distress of Chuuya’s current situation may actually trigger Corruption on its own without Chuuya willing it to. i kind of hope we get like a flashback scene of Chuuya at 7 when he’s still being tested on and stuff (i still need to read all of SB sorry i don’t know everything) but yeah. i think Dazai utterly wrecking Chuuya’s trust in him would be a cool plot moment for the story right now lol i’m sorry

#Bram is like one of my top 3 #love the dude #he’s just a smol bat boi #i technically posted this on time for Dazai’s bday #so happy birthday you waste of bandages #bsd spoilers #bsd analysis #bungou stray dogs #bsd manga #bsd dazai #bsd bram #bram stoker #dazai osamu #screaming into the void #and the void screams back #my stuff

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spacerangersam · 3 years ago

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Ghosts vampire/werewolf au lore??? 👀

I did write a bit about it here, in case you haven’t see it ( https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/spacerangersam/689661464978604032?source=share ) but like, always happy to talk more about my aus asdfgh.

Also, I don’t know if you mean lore about how specifically vampires/werewolves work in this au or just, general info about this au, so I'll give you a bit of both. Sorry in advance for how long this is.

So, for the world itself, I imagine it's one where all humans know that supernatural beings exist, but it's like, generally hard to find them

It's like spotting a wild fox- very cool, but mindblowing. Certainly, no one's bringing out their pitchforks to hunt them down

Well, some people are, but that's a very small minority, and it's universally considered a bit of a dick move

And there are plenty of supernatural beings who live in human cities and whatnot, but it's not common

Especially with vampires

Speaking of: vampires don't turn into bats, they turn into a pile of writhing leeches. I remember someone telling me that was an idea Bram Stoker originally had before the bats, and while I can't find a source for that, I love it so it's vampire canon to me now

Alison is horrified when this first happens

Vampires can be seen in mirrors/photographs, as long as there's no silver lining/or silver in the film.

They can go in the sun with a lot of sunscreen on, but it's still a big risk. it's best to be careful and get a skincare potion from a witch

And with the Buttons specifically - the reason there's only that small handful left is simply that most Buttons, when turned into vampires, immediately leave the manor

Who can blame them? being stuck with your entire family for all of eternity sounds horrible

George did try to kill Stephanie like in canon back when she was still human, but either Humphrey or Kitty found and turned her just in time

Later down the line, she returned the favour to Captain, who was using the house as a base during WW2 but became incredibly ill

But was it a normal illness, or something else? Who knows.

There's no a/b/o stuff with the werewolves, I cannot stress this enough. Packs are either family groups, or like, a group of friends. If there are any leaders, then they're the parents or the most parent-like

Sort of on that note, Pat still does scouting, but his group is pretty much exclusively made up of cubs from the plague pack, named as such because they were all turned during the black plague

Werewolves turn you through scratches, vampires through biting, but it has to be intentional. A werewolf can scratch you, but unless they’re doing it with the aim to turn you, the only thing it will do is hurt

Why? No one knows. It’s magic

Unlike vampires, werewolves can be born. So Pat, Daley, and Robin were all born vampires, whereas Mary, Thomas and Alison were turned

I'd like to think it was Robin who turned Mary. Maybe she tried to help him when he got injured in his wolf form once, so when he saw the witchfinders coming, he ran ahead and offered to turn her to save her

She agreed, and they made their own little two-person pact

Skip ahead a few decades and after Thomas is turned, the Buttons essentially demand that they take him in

Skip ahead a bit further and the trio meet Pat wandering the woods sadly, fresh from his divorce, missing his pack

He joins the group they become a proper pack.

Daley visits, when his mum lets him

Pat and Cap definitely have like, a frenemies to lovers thing going on. Everyone is aware of this except for Pat and Cap

And despite the tension between the Buttons and the Pack, plenty of them are still friends. Julian and Robin still play chest together, Kitty and Marry hang out a lot- it’s mostly Stephanie and Cap causing the tension

Every full moon werewolves are forced to turn into their wolf form, but they don’t lose control. That’s only for red moons and eclipse, and even then, it’s more like…you know in H20 how the girls would get kind of loopy around full moons? It’s like that

But on normal full moons they have a movie night and just like, pile up on each other and cuddle

Kitty and Julian are sometimes invited

The Pack all live together in a house nearby to the Button’s manor, but it’s a lot smaller and in the woods.

Pat bought it because before then they were just sort of, roughing it in the woods. Not because they couldn’t find/afford somewhere, but because they just didn’t think to

You’ve heard of Alison seeing Cap as a father figure, now get ready for her seeing Pat as a father figure

And oh yeah of course he sees her as a daughter. She's a young fatherless person in his pack? No, he's her dad now, end of. And Daley definitely sees her and Mike as his older siblings.

Mike and Daley would definitely get into a lot of hijinks…definitely

Uh, this is getting long so I better stop, but before that, one last point: since Humphrey is connected with his body here, and to make up for the no turning into bats thing, Humphrey has a pet bat called Body. It’s a Salem situation, you know? A bastard that’s been stuck in the form of an animal to pay for his crimes

But the only one who pays is Humphrey

…okay, think I’m done for now

#i love talking about my dumb aus it's so fun #i want a name for this au so i can tag stuff for it... teeth and claws? eh. it'll do #no wait #fangs and claws au #bbc ghosts

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n1kolaiz · 4 years ago

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The Six Realms

Okay, so I was pretty close to giving up on writing analyses but I'm back LMFAO plus I see we're close to 100 followers and I just want to thank you guys for being so very supportive <3

Alright, I'm not sure if anyone's ever written about this, but if an analysis like this exists, please do let me know because I'm kind of curious as to what other people think about this, too!

Remember that time Fukuchi spoke about bringing "about the five signs of an angel's death"?

I read a little bit more about it, and as a minor content warning: this analysis will focus on a few religious aspects (Buddhism + Hinduism). So if I get any of the facts wrong, firstly: I do not mean any disrespect to either religion, and secondly: please do correct me if I interpret anything in the wrong way.

Spoilers for BSD chapter 90 onwards + BEAST!AU under the cut!

So I'll start by talking about the Decay of Angels. As we all know, the members include Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Sigma, and Bram Stoker, and their leader, Fukuchi Ochi. After Fyodor's arrest, the Decay of Angels came into light with Nikolai murdering four government officials in a week. These murders symbolise the Buddhist cycle of existence, or otherwise known as samsara: the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

"We are the Decay of Angels—hiding here as terrorists, a 'murder association', five people who will announce the demise of the celestial world."

Nikolai Gogol, chapter 57

Samsara is described to be a concept beyond human understanding. According to Hinduism, samsara is the physical world where every being has its soul trapped into a physical vessel. The Hindus believe that everything has a soul, and due to a soul's attachment to desire, it is forced into a deathless cycle of being born, dying, and reincarnating into a different body. In Buddhism, the ultimate way to break free from this cycle is by obtaining nirvana.

Nirvana is a Sanskrit word for the goal of the Buddhist path: enlightenment or awakening. In Pali, the language of some of the earliest Buddhist texts, the word is nibbana; in both languages it means "extinction" (like a lamp or flame) or "cessation." It refers to the extinction of greed, ill will, and delusion in the mind, the three poisons that perpetuate suffering. Nirvana is what the Buddha achieved on the night of his enlightenment: he became completely free from the three poisons. Everything he taught for the rest of his life was aimed at helping others to arrive at that same freedom.

- TRICYCLE'S definition of nirvana

As Fukuchi mentions in the panel above, there are six different realms of existence. These realms represent every possible state of existence, but one cannot live in a specific realm forever. Depending on whether or not one's past actions were morally good or bad, an individual is born into one of these realms. Basically, the controlling factor of which realm a person is born into is dependent on their respective karma. The realms are separated into two categories: the hellish ones and the heavenly ones.

The Deva Realm: where beings are rewarded for the good deeds they have done. This realm is void of anything unpleasant. It is basically paradise— empty of unfulfilled desires, any form of suffering, and fears of every kind. Religious individuals, however, do not seek to be born into this realm since its attitude is more or less carefree.

The Asura Realm: where demigods are admitted. Asuras are driven by greed and envy, and may come in conflict with human beings since they are quite similar. They are powerful beings, but quarrel with each other quite a bit, making this realm quite undesirable to be reborn into.

The Animal Realm: where beings are given the form of an animal (you probably guessed that lol). Individuals here don't actually have good karma to take pride in, but rather, they are born into this realm to work off their bad karma (by being slaughtered, hunted, or forced to work, etc). Being born into this realm forces one to atone for their past sins by living out their life as an animal.

The Hell Realm: where one is punished for their evil actions. The most merciless of realms, where one pays for their transgressions through pure suffering, methods of which include: dismemberment, starvation, and psychological/physical torture. However, once a person's term is fulfilled in this realm, they are presumably promised to be reborn into a higher state.

The Preta Realm: similar to the hell realm, in which beings pay for their past sins (specifically: greed and stinginess) by having to survive through hunger and thirst. This realm is also known as the 'ghost realm,' because some pretas are psychologically tortured by being forced to live in places their past selves have lived in. They are invisible to human beings living at that time, which pushes them to face the depths of despair and loneliness. Your typical horror movie, really.

The Human Realm: the only realm where one's actions determine their future. The status (social ranking, physical wellbeing, and so on) of a human being in this realm is determined by their past actions, but due to the fact that a person has their own conscience to differentiate good morals from bad, the actions they commit in this realm have the power to determine which realm they are sent to next.

Okay, so now that I've got that out of the way, let's shift our focus to the Book. Very little is known about the Book, but the basic fundamentals of how it works is that whatever is written in the book will come into existence only if its contents follow the rules of karma. In addition to that, only a few sentences can be written into a single page of the Book, and it must follow the current narrative of the story.

If I'm not wrong, the first time the Book was mentioned was by Fitzgerald, who wanted it to resurrect his deceased daughter in hopes of restoring his wife's mental health. The next time the Book is brought up is when Fyodor's intentions to possess it are divulged; his goal was to decimate the global population of ability-users. And now, the current arc has the Book as its central focus, with a single page in Fukuchi's possession.

[ BEAST!AU spoilers ]

The Book acts as the central point of multiverses, with each character's lives differing from universe to universe.

Dazai committing suicide in this alternate universe stands in sharp contrast with how he decided to start up a new life in the main universe.

Oda staying alive to act as a mentor to Akutagawa in the ADA differs from how Oda uses his death to prompt Dazai to "be on the side that saves people."

And of course, the way Atsushi and Akutagawa have their positions switched in the two universes depicts how different their lives would be if they were given the chance to be mentored by different people— these are just a few examples of how the Book houses an endless amount of possibilities.

[ end of BEAST!AU spoilers ]

Hypothetically speaking, this kind of reminds me of the differing realms I mentioned before, where suffering is promised in some realms, and better things are granted in the rest, depending on one's karma, or the deeds they've done in their past lives. In this scenario, perhaps one's past life can be understood as one's current life in a different universe. That's just a personal opinion though. Take it as you will.

side note: Keep in mind that the person who is more or less impervious to the Book's effect is Dazai, with his nullification ability. I wouldn't want to propose any theories in this aspect (I don't believe I'm fully fact-checked ;_;), but I could use Dazai as a raw example of how your choices affect your future. If Dazai had decided to stay in the Port Mafia after Oda's death, or if he even decided to go through with his suicidal fixations, life would've been different for him in the root universe (obviously, ryley) I mean, you could basically understand that from how he ended up in the BEAST au, but imagine if he really did slip up in his decision-making in any of the universes.

Many analysts have proposed that he went MIA (early in his life) from the main universe for a while to figure out how the BEAST universe worked, whilst having the Book to his advantage. Perhaps his actions were guided? I'm not saying he's all-knowing, but he's sure as hell smart. I'm not sure if Kafka was trying to highlight the concept of karma when it comes to Dazai, but if he is, then I suppose you could say that Dazai is pretty much unaffected by the rules of karma, existing as the centerpiece of all the multiverses. No Longer Human is the namesake of his ability, but the book talks about disqualification from societal norms and generally, the world. I was talking about it with a friend, and they reminded me that Yozo (the main protagonist) was pretty strong in his views against society. Like he didn't speak out of total defeat, he spoke out of defense. If there was anything Dazai actually lost to, it was his guilt— "Living itself is a source of sin."

Then again, that's my personal interpretation since everyone has their unique perspective of his writings. In terms of the actual adaptation, you could translate the word 'disqualification' to 'insusceptibilty' when if it came to the Book's effects on Dazai? This side note is becoming really long lmao anyways I'll link a few theories which afflicted me with brainrot down below.

Another thing before I wrap up, the name 'Decay of Angels' stemmed from Yukio Mishima's book entitled 'The Decay of An Angel.' This is the final novel to the author's tetralogy: 'The Sea of Fertility.' The main protagonist, Honda, meets a person he believes to be a reincarnation of his friend, Kiyoaki, who takes the form of a young teenage boy named Tōru. The last novel of this series enhances Mishima's dominant themes of the series as a whole:

the decay of courtly tradition in Japan

the essence and value of Buddhist philosophy and aesthetics

Mishima’s apocalyptic vision of the modern era

Again, this could be referred to what Fukuchi goes on to say:

Some people view the concept of samsara optimistically, justifying it by saying that perhaps each individual is given a second (third, fourth, fifth, who knows) chance to refine their actions in order to be birthed into a better realm, with their karma being the independent variable.

On the other hand, other people, specifically the Hindus, view the cycle of existence as some sort of plague. To them, the flow of life and being forced to endure the suffering of mere existence in any form was somewhat frowned down upon. Some Hindus viewed samsara as a trap. Besides, having one's soul being limited to a physical body for the rest of eternity was not very appealing, especially since where they ended up at depended on the karmic value their past actions surmounted.

Even so, particular types of Buddhists don't seek nirvana, but instead, like the Hindus, they make an effort to be good people of society, building up their good deeds to increase the likelihood of being reborn into one of the better realms.

As mentioned before, the Deva Realm was the home of angels, the most carefree, gratified beings to exist. Fukuchi describes these angels as the people who don't get their hands dirty, the people who act as the puppeteers of society: politicians.

In terms of parallels, angels were the most fortunate and powerful, but they didn't have anyone ruling over them. A lack of supervision would lead to the abuse of power, which is what I believe Fukuchi was referring to. Deeming himself the Decay of Angels, he sought to prove himself as the 'sign of death that falls on the nation's greed.'

A few fun facts (okay, not really) about Yukio Mishima: he committed seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowelment) on the day he held a speech to voice out his unpopular political beliefs to the public. Mishima deeply treasured traditions and opposed the modern mindset the nation was advancing forward to adapt eventually. In his last book, The Decay of an Angel, he spoke about the five signs which complete the death of an angel:

Here are the five greater signs: the once-immaculate robes are soiled, the flowers in the flowery crown fade and fall, sweat pours from the armpits, a fetid stench envelops the body, the angel is no longer happy in its proper place.

The Decay of an Angel, p.53

The reviews about this series I've read so far describe Mishima's works to be quite complex; his writings demanded a lot of time to deconstruct and understand. They were highly symbolic, and he was pretty obsessed with death and the 'spiritual barrenness of the modern world.' I think you could attach a few strings from here to the mindsets of the DOA members. Of course, this parallel is completely abstract, but I'll go on rambling anyway:

He should have armed them with the foreknowledge that would keep them from flinging themselves after their destinies, take away their wings, keep them from soaring, make them march in step with the crowd. The world does not approve of flying. Wings are dangerous weapons. They invite self-destruction before they can be used. If he had brought Isao to terms with the fools, then he could have pretended that he knew nothing of wings.

The Decay of an Angel, p.113

I suppose you could resonate Nikolai with that excerpt. As much as Fukuchi takes the lead in this whole murder association, I'd like to believe that each member of the DOA plays an equally interesting part in whatever movement they're trying to execute. Fyodor feels it is his god-sent purpose to cleanse the world of its sins, his motto being, "Let the hand of God guide you." Sigma doesn't know where he belongs, since his origination comes from a page in the Book, and is fueled by the desperation to find a reason to live. Bram holds one of the most powerful abilities which is counted to be one of the "Top Ten Calamities to Destroy the World."

What I mean to say is that the DOA members are incredibly powerful, and they're not your ordinary antagonists (or I'm just biased). It's not just overthrowing authorities, mass genocide, and world domination— you could say that each individual is trying to utilize their purposes to their fullest expenditures, and the way they're trying to assert their plan into action is a little more passive-aggressive (framing the Agency, having a convo with a suicidal dude in jail, etc). They're the gray area between evil and good. As they framed the good guys for their own crimes, they're trying to conquer the bad guys for exploiting the innocent as they please.

This post would definitely age well if all hell breaks loose in the current arc (as if it didn't) and Kafka doesn't give us a happy ending.

That's all I have to say for now I guess! Thank you for reading, and once again, if anyone else something they wanna share, feel free to do so <3

sources (tryna follow Q's example ^_^) :

the six realms

samsara

the decay of angels

beast!au

the book

the sea of fertility

yukio mishima

theory: dazai’s emotional/mental state in beast!au

q’s theory: dazai being the protector of the book

theory: beast!dazai and the book

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popopretty · 4 years ago

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BSD Chapter 88

Chapter name is “Like it is tumbling down”.

This chapter is even more shocking than the last one, in a not very good way for me. I’m kinda speechless right now cuz there was no instance that I ever came up with this scenario before. It is a nice twist though, and I’m not sure what to expect at this point any more so hopefully you enjoy this chapter.

(^ This should have been the sweetest scene ever T^T )

Neither English nor Japanese is my native language so I do make mistake here and there. Just me know if there is any part that is unclear or if you spot any mistakes.

SPOILERS AHEAD

- So it is the continuation of the last chapter, where Akutagawa received a fatal blow from Fukuchi. Atsushi freaks but Aku smiles instead and tells him to run away. Fukuchi realizes that Aku is using himself as a decoy for Atsushi to escape. Atsushi got on the submarine and drove it away. Fukuchi wanted to chase after him but suddenly the security guards arrived at the scene (that was the guy whose life Aku spared in like 2 chapters ago). He immediately calls the land to report the situation in front of Fukuchi, which forces Fukuchi to act like he is trying to stop the terrorist. Fukuchi considers cutting into the past and kill the guards to seal their mouths, but stops because they were calling the land on the way before arriving at the scene and killing them at that time can cause the land to notice.

- Fukuchi finds it strange that Atsushi was saved by the “guards who happened to arrive by chance” but then decide that it is okay because there are only 5 days left until his plan happens, and he doesn’t feel the need to hide it anymore. When Fukuchi leaves, the guard looks at Aku’s body and says sorry because what he could do is nothing compared to the favor Aku has given him by sparing his life.

- Atsushi manages to escape and meets with Ango. He doesn’t understand why Aku lets him escape, but he understand that if Aku didn’t keep his promise and kill that person, then he would not be able to escape at all, and all the hopes will be lost. He wonder if it is just a coincidence or is there any important meaning to it. He asks Ango but never gets an answer.

- Back to Aku and Fukuchi, Fukuchi comes back to Aku’s body with a coffin on his back, saying he still has something for Aku to do. He opens the coffin and inside is the last member of The Decay of Angles, the undead Bram Stoker (TN: in case you don’t know he is the author who created Dracula). Bram says he wants to sleep while cursing the irreverent fools, which seems to refer to Fukuchi. Fukuchi replies that it is impossible and grabs Bram’s neck and take him out of the coffin. It is shown that Bram only has his head left, with a sword pierced into it. Fukuchi then explains that Bram used to be a human, a Count, who used his ability to change his body cells and transformed into Dracula. He is weak to the sun and used to be known as one of the ten “plagues of Egypt”. Bram says that he never hears of that nickname until his head was cut off by Fukuchi.

- Fukuchi tells Bram to behave because they are on the same boat anyway, adn that Fukuchi even prepares food for him (he is referring to Aku). Bram looks at Aku’s body and refuses to suck his blood, because ever since he was called a calamity 8 years ago, he has decided not to have any more kins. He says that if Fukuchi wants to burn the world, he should just do it himself. However Fukuchi threatens that he would use the sword that is currently piercing into Bram’s body to burn his brain. Bram cannot go against that, saying it is impossible to curse Fukuchi because Fukuchi is a curse himself. Then he bites Aku.

- A few days later, Higuchi receives a letter. She runs out and find Aku still being alive. She is so happy because they are just preparing for his funeral. She says that she finally understands how much she will regret it if things just end like that without her being able to tell him anything. Then she tries to confess her feelings to him (I supposed) but all of the sudden, Aku turns around, looking completely non-human.

- The scene changes to the Hunting Dog’s base, where Tachihara is reporting the incident. After Higuchi comes back she attacks Gin and Hirotsu, turning them into vampire-like beings. Hirotsu manages to help Tachihara escape but a large number of Mafia members have been infected. The Hunting Dogs discuss on how to stop it but the infection speed is too fast they cannot do anything. The only way is to find the ability user that causes it and kill him. However they don’t know who the source might be. Tecchou is sure that it is ADA’s doing again, as the next step in their terror plan. He says it with such a serious face that Jouno looks very surprised and says he should mark this date on the calendar (lol).

- Teruko says that if it is really caused by ADA then it will be quite troublesome because ever since the live broadcasting incident, there are at least 30% of the police in Yokohama who side with them. Jouno then states that even inside the Hunting Dogs, there is also that “30%” while looking at Tachihara. Tachihara explains that he just feels the need to reinvestigate because the ADA cannot be terrorists. He heard ADA members talk about being set up many times in the Mafia hiding house, but ignored it that time. He says that he made a miscalculation and that the real culprit is somewhere out there. He wants to be given authority to investigate it. All the Hunting Dogs member then look at Fukuchi sitting at the end of the room and ask what he thinks about it.

The chapter ends here. I typed too much again but there are just that many things to talk about in this chapter. Thank you for reading until the end.

The next chapter will be out December 4, 2020.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #spoilers #bsd spoilers #akutagawa ryunosuke #nakajima atsushi #fukuchi ouchi #bram stoker #tachihara michizou #higuchi ichiyo #summary

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