Shin Soukoku: The new generation of Double Black
This is my 3rd Bungou Stray Dogs post in a row, the brainrot is strong in this one.
This isn't necessairly a ship post, it's just dedicated to their dynamic in general! Take this as you wish<3
WARNING: MAJOR BSD MANGA SPOILERS (chapters 83-88) DON'T READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T GOTTEN THERE YET!!
In this post I will be talking about Shin Soukoku because I personally feel that people don't talk about these two enough.
As we all here know, Atsushi and Akutagawa's relationship is one of the most important ones in the series, mirroring Chuuya and Dazai's relationship.
One could argue that although Soukoku and Shin Soukoku are supposed to be parallels, these two dynamics are very different from each other.
I believe that something that ssk lacks is trust. Atsushi does not trust Akutagawa, even when they are teaming up together Atsushi can't help but feel wary around him.
It's the complete opposite of Soukoku since both Dazai and Chuuya have a partnership that is based on pure trust where both of them are capable of leaving each other's life on the other's hand without a second thought.
Trust is very important in a partnership since there will be times were one of them will have to take life-risking choices while having confidence that their partner will save them.
Fukuchi even points out that if Atsushi and Akutagawa had more trust in each other, he would've been defeated.
In the following pannel, Atsushi is reflecting on Fukuchi's words and you can see how he still struggles when it comes to being able to fully trust Akutagawa, which is understanable considering the latter has tried to kill him countless of times.
It is clear that they have a long way to go to be able to perfectly mold into the 2nd "Double Black". One important step towards growth is for them to start trusting one another.
But just because these two lack trust in each other doesn't mean their dynamic hasn't improved.
These manga pannels show us two things:
Atsushi is having a relazation about Akutagawa as a person, he isn't as bad as he paints him up to be. It literally helps Atsushi get a clearer picture of him since Atsushi has always had a very clouded view of Akutagawa.
Akutagawa kept his word and actually took in what Atsushi had said about not killing people. Atsushi's words impacted Akutagawa and affected him in its own positive way.
To give context behind this pannel: Fukuchi was intending to pin both Atsushi and Akutagawa against each other, more specifically, he wanted Akutagawa to get rid of Atsushi.
Akutagawa put up an act, he started acting as if he was going to kill Atsushi when in reality that wasn't his intention at all.
Akutagawa keeps up with his act, he knows that Atsushi won't be able to "fight" him unless he is fuled by something, and in this case it was by compassion. Atsushi's compassion.
The moment Akutagawa mentioned his lung condition and how he wants to fullfill his goal of killing/defeating Atsushi therefore making Dazai proud before dying, Atsushi did not hesitate to stand up and put up a fight.
Obviously, Atsushi was not aware that Akutagawa didn't want to truly kill him and that it was just a part of his plan.
There are major things to unpack here:
Akutagawa has vowed countless of times that he was going to kill Atsushi, and now that he literally had the perfect opportunity to do so, he deviced a plan to do quite the opposite.
Atsushi was willing to comply with Aku's wishes due to the fact that he has come to an understanding of Akutagawa as a person.
Akutagawa knew exactly what to say to fuel Atsushi into "fighting" him.
They both have come to a mutual understanding. That is a significant step for their dynamic to become stronger.
Unlike Chuuya and Dazai, these two lack balance.
When it comes to Soukoku, Dazai is the one who comes up with the plans while Chuuya is more of a fighter.
(That doesn't mean Chuuya doesn't contribute with the plans but its obvious his talent is focused on combat, same could be said for Dazai, he is a pretty good fighter but his talent is centered around strategies.)
Now I believe that Shin Soukoku shares Chuuya's strenght and combat abilities. Both Atsushi and Akutagawa have been able to defeat their enemies by merging their abilities together.
But when it comes to creating strategies... They aren't the best...
Of course it's going to be difficult for them to even be at the same intellect level as Dazai's, so I don't blame them for struggling.
It has been shown that Akutagawa has the skills to become a good strategist, his overbearing emotions are what eventually holds him back.
That's exactly what Atsushi is there for though. If Atsushi was able to influence Akutagawa into making him stop killing people for 6 months, Atsushi will most likely be able to guide Akutagawa into keeping his emotions in cheek during missions.
Sigh...
Dazai, you intelligent bastard.
Of course Akutagawa saved Atsushi.
He cares for him after all.
Atsushi, if only you knew how much meaning Akutagawa's sacrifice truly holds...
I really hope that Akutagawa will be able to survive this one since in my personal opinion there is still a lot of development and progress left for not only Akutagawa's character, but also for his dynamic with Atsushi.
This won't be the end of their dynamic.
Thank you for reading, I am incredibly thankful<3
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