#bsd 5

[ledouche-lamperouge]

Season 5 of bsd was such a time to be alive. Manga readers being a little wary of the anime release since it seems too close to the current manga arc. As more episodes are released, the fans grow more and more concerned as to how the season will continue while running out of manga content. But no, everyone calmed down for a second because the skk gunshot scene was released after season 5 started airing and inevitably after the episodes were completely prepared, so there's no way we'll see it in animation now. Now we're like, shit, will the anime just make up some filler to finish the season? Or could they possibly switch to a light novel at some point? As we contemplate this, the skk gunshot scene is actually animated, and now everyone has lost their goddamn mind and we're all confused as hell because the anime has weirdly caught up to the manga in an arc where, mind you, the world is quite literally ending and war is starting and 90% of the cast is dead dying or missing. And it all comes down to a finale that has united both manga readers and anime watchers in terms of having no knowledge as to what the fuck is going to happen next. It didn't matter where you were in the fandom—everyone was freaking out. It was glorious. It was peak human experience. It is one for the history books.

[denkies]

[dazaaaai]

You can't kill me.

[princessbutler1316]

Fukichi: *dead*

Fukuzawa: Great, now I'm single again

Mori: *doing the most Dramatic Entrance ever* HERE I AM ONCE AGAIN!

[aarthurdyes]

"Do we need someone else?"

[feros-bitch]

Art collab with this person https://t.me/tajimamori

[hayami1122]

[m-i-r-p]

So is anyone going to tell me why the bsd tagis bisexual or is it the natural continuation of the episode?

[raddestrose]

I tuned in for tragedy and tragedy was there. How dare you.

[chaotic-space-art]

I'm currently in my soukoku obsession era

So i made my first ever anime edit

[soupthatistohot]

BSD: An Absurdist Analysis - Chapter 5

Atsushi and Fatalism

[Masterpost]

This chapter is an interesting one, partially because a school of philosophy is literally included in the title: “Sorrow of a Fatalist.”

Atsushi wakes up from his altercation with Akutagawa, during which the latter had claimed that Atsushi brings calamity upon those around him simply by living. At the beginning of this chapter, Kunikida is anxious about the Port Mafia coming for them and even tells Atsushi that it is basically his fault. Then, Atsushi sees the fallout of an attack by the mafia’s Black Lizard and decides to leave the agency so as to not drag them into his mess.

Atsushi is very much falling into a self-pitying spiral at this point. Although I presented him as our absurdist protagonist up until now, this is one of his weaker moments where he does not fill this role, and as the chapter title suggests, his behavior aligns with the idea of fatalism. This school of thought claims that no matter what one does, the outcome will be the same because life is predetermined. Here, Atsushi leaves the agency because he believes that he’s fated to always be alone, that there’s nowhere that he belongs.

Despite this, the Black Lizard still attacks the agency, and we’re given somewhat of a parallel to what happened in the prior chapter, albeit a bit different.

In chapter 4, Atsushi should have not succeeded in his fight against Akutagawa, who was set up as an incredibly dangerous force, but he does. Similarly, the Black Lizard are presented as this strong elite group of mafiosos, and the audience and Atsushi are made to think that the agency doesn’t have a chance, and yet… 

… the agency is totally fine. 

They’re so fine, in fact, that it’s played for comedy. The underdog has succeeded once more. 

I think this is less dramatic than Atsushi’s success, though, because its meant to show that the agency is a much stronger force than they appear to be, that even the most intimidating enemies presented in the story so far aren’t any match for them, whereas Atsushi’s fight was a lot less sure. Regardless, its clear that the audience is supposed to think its funny and a bit absurd that the agency took down the Black Lizard so easily considering they appear to be a ragtag group of detectives, some of whom are literally minors. Kunikida tells Atsushi that they’re pretty much used to raids like these and even scolds him a bit for not helping out with work that much. To some, this may appear harsh, but I think this was Kunikida’s way of getting the message across to Atsushi that the agency is his home now and he doesn’t need to leave to protect them, that they’ll protect him. This is why I think he starts crying — this is the first time in his life he feels wanted.

I think this also allows him to break from his fatalist perspective for a moment, because he previously believed that he did nothing but bring pain to the people around him, and this is proved false since the agency treats the mafia raid as a slight inconvenience at most. 

I hadn’t considered before this point the idea of Atsushi as a fatalist and only did so because of the chapter title. From here on out, I’d be curious to see if this mindset surfaces again in moments when his self-esteem is low. I think the chapter where he faces Kyu would be another instance of this, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there!

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[soukoku-love]

CHUUYA WAS NEVER A VAPIRE?! FUKUCHI WAS NEVER ACTUALLY THE VILLAIN?! AND WTF WERE THOSE LAST TEN SECONDS OHMYFCKINGGODQFAGABAHAVACGANAVA

[denkies]

He reached for Atsushi.... I can't do this anymore

[dazaaaai]

the situation is dire besties

[hemlockdrunk]

what if i killed myself

[aarthurdyes]

He never was to begin with.

They always come to rescue each other.