#implied shin soukoku

[intheticklecloset]

Heya! I saw sentence starters were open, so I figured I'd send something in! No pressure though!^^ Maybe you could do something with ler Ranpo and lee Atsushi with the sentence starter, “You lose, I tickle you. Deal?” ?

I hope you're having a good day!!

Ooh, this is such a cute idea!! I never would have thought of a fic with these two! Thank you for the prompt! ^^

~~~

“If you win, I’ll let you off the hook. But if you lose, I tickle you. Deal?”

Atsushi’s eyes went wide. He hadn’t realized that swiping some of Ranpo’s chocolate as a gift for Akutagawa would bring such consequences, but he was here now, so he had to deal with them.

“O-Okay, deal,” he stammered, already glancing around the office like he was going to have any clue where to begin.

Ranpo grinned and leaned back in his chair lazily, waving a hand at him. “Go on. I’ll even give you a little longer than usual.”

Atsushi turned and bolted out of the office, hurrying down the hall to his coworker’s locker. All he had to do was figure out the code and break in before Ranpo came for him. Or, more specifically, for his chocolate – which Atsushi had stolen. That’s how he’d gotten into this situation in the first place. But it wasn’t his fault! Ranpo’s locker door had been left open, and it wasn’t like he didn’t have a ton of other candy…

Atsushi shook his head. No time for that now. He had work to do.

He tried everything obvious first – Ranpo’s birthday, Poe’s birthday, Fukuzawa’s birthday, the ADA’s founding date – nothing. All of it was wrong. Then he tried the time Ranpo had probably realized his sweets were missing, as well as a couple of other time-related combos. Again, nothing.

He was up against the world’s greatest detective. This was impossible!

The door to the offices opened. Atsushi froze as Ranpo strolled out into the hall, sauntering toward him with a smirk on his face.

“Figure it out?” he asked.

“N-No,” Atsushi replied, shifting into a sitting position. There was no point in trying to run, and really, didn’t he deserve this? He should have just bought the chocolate himself. It probably would have meant more that way…

Ranpo stopped in front of him and crouched, still smirking. “Really? I’m surprised. I figured you’d get it immediately.”

Atsushi frowned. “But…why would you make it obvious if you didn’t want me to get into your stuff in the first place? Which I shouldn’t have, I know, I’m sorry.”

Ranpo grabbed his ankle and dragged him away from the lockers so he was lying in the middle of the hall. Then he straddled him and gently began prodding into his sides. “If I was really mad, I’d be making you buy me twice as much as you stole. You wanna know what the code is, Atsushi?”

The weretiger giggled helplessly, embarrassed but willing to take this punishment for his crime. “W-Whahahahahat?”

“0-3-0-1.”

Atsushi’s eyes went wide. That was… “Ahahahahakutagawa’s bihihihihirthday? You knohohohow that?”

“Of course. He means a lot to you, and you mean a lot to us.” Ranpo’s smirk softened into a smile even as he switched tactics and started scribbling all over Atsushi’s belly instead. “So, you stole about five chocolate bars, right? I think a minute for every bar will do.”

“Buhuhuhuhuhut why wohohohohohould you make thahahahahat your cohohohohohode? And why tehehehehehehell me?”

“Oh, I’ll change it after this, don’t worry,” Ranpo replied, chuckling. “I just wanted to know how obsessed with him you really were is all~”

Atsushi felt himself blushing, and not just from the tickling making him laugh and squeal. “Rahahahahahahanpo…!”

[thornedarrow]

the fool reversed

[kiksniko]

longing

[sskk-manifesto]

The fact that Akutagawa was exactly there when Atsushi needed him is both sweet, and funny. How long has he been tailing Atsushi? Did he watch Atsushi seemingly rob a bank? Did Akutagawa infiltrate the Sky Casino? Was he panicking when Atsushi would disappear to Anne's Room, and he lost him? And most importantly: how did Atsushi “tiger senses make me spot an enemy in a fifty meters radius” not realize? Could it be that the tiger doesn't consider Akutagawa an enemy?

[degenerateshinji]

(read left to right)

Mmore csm sskk!! i enjoy them

[expresso4thedeppresso]

Bro more college au atsushi where he pulls up to class late, disheveled and tired bcs they just had a stake out the night b4 bcs of ability users or smth and he was on the verge of pasing out bcs he had to cram some kind of test or recitation after the mission and he also woke up late and missed the train. His classmates assume stuff *wink wink*

Classmate 1: Atsushi you look like shit

Classmate 2: yea are you okay????

Atsushi looks at them sleepily but trying to act normal: I'm alright! Just had some stuff come up last night, you know?

Classmate 1: What kind of stuff....

Classmate 2 gasps and smirks at atsushi: Atsushi didn't know you were that kind of person~

Atsushi confused: what,,,????

Atsushi:

Atsushi: WAIT NOT LIKE THAT

[shig4dabi]

sskk Yuri on Ice AU ⛸️ !!

[ver w/o words/etc under the cut]

[ilistentogirlinred]

this is an honest question do you think any of the big bsd ships have a chance at being like 100% explicitly canon? like victuuri canon not riza hawkeye and mustang canon.

by the big bsd ships i mean like soukoku and shin soukoku and ranpoe and fyolai

[alien-slushie]

Akutagawa: He's up to something.

Chuuya: He wants to be your friend.

Akutagawa: He's being nice to me, and keeps asking me to lunch.

Chuuya: Because he wants to be friends.

Akutagawa: But I won't fall for it! I'll find out what he wants, and put a stop to it.

Chuuya: Why do I even try?

[lady-tortilla-chip]

Something which will always bother me is the depiction of Soukoku as being on uneven footing (in Fic/Fanart). Either because Chuuya is too stupid for Dazai or Dazai is too weak for Chuuya. Something something that’s literally counter to their entire purpose in the narrative. And to see them as being unbalanced is to completely miss the point of what makes them so effective as a team.

[vampire-wizard-solidarity]

victim // savior

[littlemusic-muse]

For @bsdopoly

Prompt: Bold, Marriage of Convenience, Royalty AU

A Modern Day Lindeworm.

[maroontragedy]

bringing this back before the new chapter (give this boy his goth/vampire/knight wife back)

that's what she said

(I'm sorry, Atsushi, I really am)

[knightpetrichor]

SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 114.5 AHEAD

akutagawa and atsushi are going to be the ones that kill fyodor/the tripolar singularity.

long yap session ahead because Apparently writing theory posts is something i do now

so! tripolar singularities are a thing now. (which, What the Fuck, Asagiri). there are two ways that singularities can form in bsd: 1, when two abilities cancel each other out, and 2, when an ability user uses their ability on themself, multiplying the ability until it forms a singularity.¹ im assuming that the tripolar singularity functions similarly to the latter, like Verlaine and Chuuya, who are both man-made singularities. that would make it extremely powerful™️. in Stormbringer, Verlaine was only defeated because Chuuya used Arahabaki. so we’re able to assume that defeating a tripolar singularity would be even more dangerous. but why would Atsushi and Akutagawa be the ones to defeat it? and how? (<- rhetorical question) well!! glad you asked. they would become a singularity :D

in this essay i will---

The End of BSD Season 5

(^ sorry for quality, just took these off of pinterest)

now we know that the floating fukuchi is the tripolar singularity. (at least that explains the three circles on his mask). and we know that atsushi and akutagawa are going to be fighting him. it wouldn't make sense to animate this scene if it wasn't important in some way. (also, sidenote, but i love how akutagawa is able to use his ability without dazai's coat. he's finally growing outside of dazai's influence 🥲). Yes, this doesn't really prove a lot. but atsushi and akutagawa are like glowing and flying which. im pretty sure they havent done before. so there could be something there? also, "just the two of us?" "do we need anything else?" 😭 AND parallels to the earlier sskk vs fukuchi fight, maybe :D

which, mentioning parallels....

Stormbringer: SKK vs Guivre and its Possible Parallels to SSKK vs the Tripolar Singularity/Fyodor

Disclaimer, i havent read stormbringer in a while so if theres any mistakes in my recollection... sorry.

In Stormbringer, if i remember correctly, Chuuya activates Corruption for the first time to take down Guivre, Verlaine's Singularity, and Dazai nullified the corruption afterward. In Stormbringer, Dazai and Chuuya were still in the earlier stages of their partnership, but Chuuya still trusted Dazai to nullify corruption.

Eventually, the trust between them grew and they became known as Soukoku, or Double Black. Dazai fosters the partnership between Atsushi and Akutagawa in an attempt to turn them into Shin Soukoku, the second Double Black. Because of this, there are many parallels between skk and sskk. Both start off disliking each other, but grow over the course of many fights as partners. Soukoku's fight against Verlaine was a turning point in their relationship that allowed that trust to grow, and trust in each other was necessary to defeat the singularity.

Atsushi and Akutagawa are still in the beginning stages of their partnership with each other, but we can see how their relationship evolves throughout BSD. battling the tripolar singularity together by becoming a singularity themselves, learning to understand and trust one another, would be a large milestone in their relationship as Shin Soukoku.

Dazai's comment in BSD Beast

yet another disclaimer because i am Broke™️ and do not have enough money for these light novels: i have only read up to BSD beast vol. 3, and have not read the light novel yet. i found this quote online. i apologize if i end up misinterpreting it. but this quote definitely implies that Atsushi and Akutagawa forming a singularity is possible. and in order to do that, they have to understand each other.

"...I needed to have you fight. I needed you two to face death to get you to understand each other."

Atsushi and Akutagawa have fought with each other, against each other, many times throughout BSD. Against each other, against Fitzgerald, in the Rats of the House of the Dead base, against that mf from 55 minutes, against fukuchi... and these fights have helped them understand each other, making them work better together. i saw a post a while ago about how skk is a relationship founded on trust but lack of understanding, fyolai is based on understanding but lack of trust, and sskk is becoming a relationship with both full trust and understanding and like. yeah!! they are learning to trust each other and understand each other!! akutagawa and atsushi are both privy to information about the other that even their respective sides don't know, atsushi's hallucinations and akutagawa's lung illness being the two largest ones.

If understanding is the basis of what allows two people to form a singularity, Atsushi and Akutagawa are almost there. It makes sense for their character development and development as a duo to progress there.

anyways !! this was pretty much just me yapping, idk how to write these theory posts or whatever, or if any of this makes sense (i rlly need to reread some of these light novels). but yeah. sskk vs fukuchi final fight ‼️

¹https://bungostraydogs.fandom.com/wiki/Ability#Singularity

[witchcraftandgeekness]

On one hand, it's implied that shin soukoku is more powerful than soukoku, and maybe I'm biased but... How the fuck? I mean, maybe when it comes to a partnership, Atsushi and Akutagawa are better aimed for some missions, but we are talking about a very strong, fast shapeshifter with claws that cut through abilities and physically weak boy (or maybe not so weak with vampirism but yknow what i mean) who nonetheless can have ability-induced armour and have tentacle-like power that can cut through anything vs. a human switch-off for essentially all of the abilities and genius strategist and a physically strong man who controls gravity, punches holes through people's chests and hosts a power of a god in his body.

Like, yes, shin soukoku are very powerful, no questions about that, but it seems to me like soukoku are on different level? I mean, so far we had seen them fighting an eldritch deity, a dragon made out of like hundred abilities (!) and fooling Fyodor (bonus of breaking in and out of the most secured prison in the world, specifically designed for ability users like it was an evening stroll). Soukoku is so overpowered that Asagiri has to come up with convenient reasons for keeping them out of the picture and separated from each other so the conflicts will not dissapear instantly.

Not the main point of this duscussion, but as I see it, Dazai and Chuuya are specifically designed to win in a fight against Fyodor rn because Chuuya is more or less on par with Amenogozen (logically, Chuuya should be weaker than four-dimensional being but at the very least he is the most suitable fighter for this confrontation among the characters that were already presented to us), with Dazai being able to cancel the abilities that Amenogozen is made of (he can nullify Arahabaki, can't see why his nullification won't work on Amenogozen) and being the only person who can kill Fyodor for good (what is Fyodor gonna do, get reborn as a person whose touch vipes away all the abilities? Don't think so.)

Maybe both partnerships can work together in this final fight, and yes I know it was said about Atsushi and bookmark, but we don't know anything about it for now, and I'm mostly talking in general, soukoku was just made too powerful to seriously claim that shin soukoku is their better version. It's hard to work with overpowered characters.

It's just my thoughts, I don't claim to be right about anything, just thinking out loud.

[welivetodream]

BSD and Shipping

Since Valentine's day was coming I was interested in discussing a huge part of the BSD fandom: Shipping

( ⚠️ RANT INCOMING. DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED ABOUT OPINIONS ON SHIPPING. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL TOWARDS OTHER PEOPLE'S OPINIONS IN COMMENTS AND REBLOGS. ⚠️)

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So where to start?

For a long time I have been noticing one specific trend in the BSD subreddit. And that are posts that talk about unpopular opinions/Headcanons/fav or least fav ships etc.

What I find interesting about these posts is that one thing is always in the forefront, and it's the debates about the sexualities of the characters in BSD. While Headcanons can be annoying and some people do push their opinions on others, there is nuance that is lacking in the community when discussing some topics. Finding posts about Mori being a pedo and how Dazai is unlikable or overrated is very easy and the discussions surrounding topics like that are always the same. People would pick sides and end up writing a lot about what their opinion is and while that's valid, it also ends up in fandom wars where it's hard to like or dislike something without your head being in the chopping block.

Now let's go to the original topic: shipping. To examine the environment of shipping culture in BSD fandom we have to start with the headcanons that people have adopted for sexualities of the characters.

1. THE PROBLEM WITH HETRO-NORMATIVITY

Now, the posts about shipping often contain a lot of people writing paragraphs and paragraphs about what ships they like or dislike.

One of the ships that takes the most bullets for its existence and popularity is Soukoku or Shin Soukoku. There are lots of comments about these ships that "remind" us that canonically Dazai, Chuuya, Atsushi and Akutagawa are all straight. They should not be shipped with each other because they are straight.....

Dazai flirts with women and wants to commit a double suicide with a beautiful woman. Atsushi is very clearly set up to end up with Lucy. Akutagawa couldn't care less about romance as we see how dismissive he is with Higuchi. And Chuuya.......wears fashionable outfits and has a slutty waist, but we won't comment on that.

Dazai and Chuuya have a lot of queer subtext that anyone can see. Akutagawa and Atsushi are pointed out to complete each other and complement each other several times. These ships don't exist out of thin air.

Now there is nothing WRONG with anyone having the headcanon of any of these (or any other) characters to be straight, after all we are not given enough information about their sexualities. But by stating "Dazai is straight, he likes women" or "this ship doesn't make sense because they are not gay" not only does it imply that characters can't have other preferences but also that being straight is the default, which it isn't.

This is coming from a straight woman from a very conservative country where we don't have exposure to queer media. It took me a long time to stop being so heteronormative. I think assuming someone is straight until they prove to you or tell you directly is just as bad and as assuming someone is gay. I think we have come far along as a community to understand that it shouldn't be our first instinct to assume everything is heterosexual until we get some sort of proof or stamp of approval from its creator.

Asagiri isn't going to stand up in a stage in front of the world and say "yeah Dazai and Chuuya have gay feelings for eachother" because the manga is from Japan. If there were explicit queer characters then BSD would no longer get the label of being universal because of certain censorship laws. Even if it's getting more acceptable in Japan to show queer characters in manga and anime, BSD isn't a romance or slice of life story. It's a seinen, not a BL/GL. Besides, Asagiri shows little to no interest in romantic relationships in his story.

So by saying "______ character is straight because we don't have any other information proving otherwise " isn't a valid excuse to tell shippers not to ship certain characters, it's making it seem like heterosexuality is the default state of being.

That also doesn't mean you can say "Dazai is gay, don't ship him with women" because that's the same thing. If you think Dazai is gay/bi/pan/etc. then that's your opinion, pushing that on others only worsens the rep of skk shippers especially.

You have the right to like or dislike certain ships or have your own Headcanons. This is why even feminising certain characters also isn't as problematic as people call it. It's just a different take on a character (but that time people were correcting those who called Sigma a "he" instead of "they" was genuinely wrong). Headcanons of some random online stranger doesn't make anything canon. So if you find yourself around annoying people like that, just leave the conversation.

2. WHY SUBTEXT MATTERS

Subtext is really important when discussing media; in case of BSD whether it is the anime, manga, anthologies or LNs. BSD is not new to subtext, even from the start of the story there is a lot of queer subtext that people can figure out easily.

When we are introduced to Dazai and Chuuya's partnership in the first season, it's clear as day to see the dynamic and its underlying tension. We can see how close those two are that their relationship can't be explained just as simple partners turned enemies. Time and time again we get so much queer subtext between Skk's interactions. The entire 15 arc and well as Stormbringer shows us the bond and trust between the two as well as the intense amount of gay scenes. At this point I am sure Hoshikawa is a hardcore skk shipper. All of their official art is also gay (that could be queerbating though). Asagiri must know what the public thinks about Skk and still writes subtext about them. It makes sense why this would be a popular ship; it's not made out of thin air with no context (*ahem* Kousano *ahem*) but has actual roots and the proof to back it up too.

SSKK is a similar story, it's not my favourite but it has been growing on me ever since S5. Similar to skk, we get a lot of subtext and homoerotic moments between Aku and Atsushi. They are yin and yang. They are enemies that sought to kill eachother but still team up to fight together. Atsushi is literally the centre of Akutagawa's life since the beginning. Atsushi and Akutagawa grow together as characters and as different as they appear are similarly looking for one thing: validation and acceptance. Their relationship is so compelling in so many levels that it too makes sense why their ship is as popular as it is (especially regarding recent events in the story)

Ranpoe.....let's be real, those two got married a long time ago. They are the definition of "be gay, solve crimes". They are undeniably a cute ship regardless of whether it's one sided or not. Fyolai as well makes complete sense with the context behind Fyodor and Nikolai's relationship, while I also consider it quite one-sided as it's mostly Nikolai that is fascinated by Fyodor (and wants to kiss kill him) Fukumori isn't my cup of tea but it too has enough subtext to back it up, same with FukuFuku.

While I would love to talk about other ships, I wanted to show the reasoning behind the most popular pairings.

Personally, as a multishipper, it's very fun for me to have so many characters to examine and spend time obsessing over.

Now, there are straight ships that I like too as well as ships I don't ship for myself.

The reason I don't like Yosano and Ranpo together is because I see them in the same position as Kyouka and Atsushi. The scene of Ranpo recruiting Yosano (who worked with Mori) into the ADA parallels Atsushi saving Kyouka (who also worked with Mori). I consider them siblings and like how they are platonic instead of it being the typical "a boy and girl can't be besties". Another ship I love and cherish is AtsuLucy because it's so adorable, Lucy is my fav Guild member and her and Atsushi are "Girlboss and Malewife". I ship Tachihara with Gin, Higuchi and Gin as well as Kunikida with Yosano (surprisingly I don't find the appeal of Kunizai; though I still like that ship from time to time, just don't ship it actively). I prefer not to ship Sigma with anyone (he is still a baby to me)

So it's not that BSD doesn't have straight ships, when you make a majority male cast and have them be rivals or enemies, obviously people will ship m/m more. Especially if there is more subtext and tension behind the male characters and they have little to no interactions with women.

And I might get some heat for saying this:

It is okay for most of the BSD characters to be considered queer because if comp het is so normal in anime/manga then why can't the opposite be the case? We already have enough series with little to no representation, so why can't we have a bunch of queer characters?

3. TOXIC SHIPPERS AND THE FALL OF FANDOM CULTURE

I have been raving for the past two sections and defending the shipping community. But it isn't a conversation with nuance if I don't address the problem of a small group of people that take shipping too seriously. The reason why fandom itself gets a bad rep is because of shipping more often than not. I will admit, it's not all sunshine and rainbows when people argue about their fav ships. And a lot of the aforementioned ships are to a point, toxic. Yes, some shippers are annoying and ruin everyone else's fun. There are ships that don't make sense at all.

But that doesn't mean that a small part of people should represent others who are just having harmless fun and don't even believe their ships to ever become canon. Let's be real it's highly unlikely we will have any couples by the end of the show (the closest could be AtsuLucy). Sometimes people are too intense about ships and that goes for both antis and pros. Both of the extreme are toxic. And instead of shoving down our opinions down other people's throats, we should be celebrating the very story that brought us together in the first place.

Yeah it can be hard for those who don't like shipping at all to enjoy the story and have discussions. But we have to remember the roots of fandom culture start with shipping. It's always been the case and it's always been the most popular way to discuss one's favourite fictional work. From Sherlock to Genshin to boy bands to streamers, everything has been shipped and will always be. There is a reason why AO3 works so well.

4. SO WHAT?

The ships are what brought me to BSD in the first place. I wanted to explore the world of BSD because of its characters and their dynamics. And a lot of other people have gotten into this fandom for the exact same reason. While there are unflattering moments in our fandom, that doesn't mean it's not a place for people to come together and have some fun. Whether you ship or not. Whether you like fanfictions or not. We have to accept that there are a lot of pros to shipping too. It brings our ideas together, makes us feel giddy inside or tears our heart apart, it produces beautiful fanarts and fanfictions, it makes us analyse characters, it makes us look deeper into the story....and it makes us wait for what's next to come.

And I want nothing more than to be able to enjoy shipping without the guilt that comes with it.

Shipping isn't free from its flaws, but it is not defined only by its flaws. It might not be for everyone, but it is someone's everything. So even if you don't like it in particular, let's not spoil other people's fun. One's trash is another's treasure.

~Peace out 🕊️✌️