#user lemon lyman

[dazaaaai]

I just wish artists in BSD fandom could at least spend some time to read the actual works from the actual authors... it would be quite disrespectful if you are fan of someone but refuse to learn anything about their origins

Hmmm this is an interesting ask indeed >:0

I can’t quite tell if you’re referring to canon author characters, original author characters, or both, so I’m going to try my best to address all of them!

Reading about the authors featured in canon certainly does seem like the thing to do! I’ve collected and downloaded some of the authors’ works (a friend has compiled a nifty reading list right here) and worked my way through Osamu Dazai, Akutagawa Ryunosuke, Kaiji Motojirou, and am currently on Francis Scott Fitzgerald planning to move onto John Steinbeck - only ones I won’t be going through are Mark Twain and Poe as I studied both separately a few years back!

However I don’t think everybody has time to do that :Dogra Magra or Flawless anywhere), so I think that makes it hard as well.

That, and just generally watching a few minutes or hours of anime is a lot quicker and more casual than getting deeply invested in at least twenty different books used as abilities! Some people, including me, have a hard time reading or focusing on large blocks of text for too long.

Also, if we’re being honest, the amount of influence the author’s work has on the character varies from extreme - Dazai being the best example of a very close adaptation for how the real Dazai portrays himself in No Longer Human - or very little semblance at all! Anne of Green Gables is a far cry from Lucy’s ability version of it…

So I’m of the opinion that while reading their books does give you some insight on the characters - why Kaiji finds death and lemons fascinating and how they’re related - and fun Easter eggs - I’m thinking of the Eyes of God security cameras, specifically - it’s really not necessary to enjoy the anime or create content for it.

The characters are pretty removed from their sources and when I watched it for the first time it took a while to understand that they’re based on real people!

As for creating original characters… I’ve always thought - or at least, this was the case for my own ability users - that if somebody goes out to create a BSD OC based on an author, they’re probably going to pick an author they’re personally fond of! All of mine are based on my favorite authors and have abilities that are books I’ve actually read.

However, like I said, generally a BSD character is pretty removed from the authors and their books, so by this point I could look up quite a few classic authors, never read their writing in full, and still create a pretty compelling character, and I’ve seen others do this! It’s especially easy with books that are well-known, like Alice in Wonderland or Wizard of Oz, for instance… Everybody knows the basic elements of those stories by this point, and it’d be easy to make a Lewis Carroll or Lyman Frank Baum without reading either!

So all in all I think… If you’re getting super into Bungou Stray Dogs, it’s probably worth your while and a lot of fun to check out the books while you’re at it, but honestly? Not super duper required! All that matters in a fandom is that the artists are having fun :D thank you for making me think, anon-chan!