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asofspades · 5 months

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I've seen a lot of people trying to get into the BSD light Novels and quite frankly you can read them in order but I do have a recommendation about the order I think makes more sense chronologically regarding the story.

So:

1. LN 3. The Untold Origins of the Armed Detective Agency.

2. LN 1. Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam.

These two take place prior to the beginning of the main timeline and are actually a great way of understanding Ranpo and the partnership between Dazai and Kunikida (also recommend LN 1 to anime only watchers because they mixed the first chapters of the manga with Dazai's entrance exam which takes place 2 years prior to the manga and they royally screwed up on Kunikida's characterisation by doing that)

3. LN 7. Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen

(the manga was good but I feel like you might understand Dazai and Chūya's dynamic and the difference of their relationship to both Mori and the Mafia once you read this)

4. LN 8. Stormbringer

(you might actually understand Chūya as a character after you read this one, dives a bit deeper into his relationship with Dazai, explains who Verlaine actually is and talks about stuff that's mentioned afterwards in the manga, like singularities)

5. LN 9. The Day I Picked up Dazai side A

(this happens at some point between LN 7 and LN 2, and helps you understand Dazai and Oda's relationship prior to reading LN 2, how Oda ended up in the Mafia and also a bit more dive into Dazai's character)

6. LN 2. Osamu Dazai and The Dark Era

(better than shown in the anime, allows you to see how Oda sees Dazai since it's written from his pov, a good dive into Dazai's character while in the mafia and why he actually left )

Once you finish The Guild arc

7. LN 4. 55 Minutes

8. LN 5. Dead Apple

(so, the first one is a bit crazy but actually dives a lot into Atsushi's character, explains weird phenomena in BSD regarding singularities and how Dazai isn't affected by certain abilities even without touch, how Yosano can actually use her ability on Dazai and I find it quite interesting, HG Wells is an interesting character as well)

(Dead Apple is entertaining and dives once again into characters and their abilities but also explains weird singularities again, also the bond between Dazai and Chūya, it also gets a bit weird towards the end in regards to things happening that might be hard to understand but the rest is easier to understand than in the movie adaptation)

9. LN 9. The Day I Picked up Dazai side B

(it's set in the alternate universe of LN 6. Beast and a great point to understand Dazai's actions and motivations in said light novel)

10. LN 6. Beast

(it should come with a warning that it's going to ruin your mental health for a while, an alternate universe of BSD, brings in the Book so you might one to read this during/after the cannibalism arc because it kind of explains a bit what the book does or how it kind of works, definitely needs a bit more explaining but it is good info before starting with the vampirism arc and all that stuff, the book is important and there's talk about singularities again. It's also cool to see how the same characters adapt to a different lifestyle, Akutagawa in the ADA, Atsushi in the PM, kyouka in the PM but with Atsushi, Dazai if he stayed in the PM, the ending will fully rip your heart out if the rest of the novel hasn't done it before that and I really recommend the manga adaptation of it because the art style is *chef's kiss* and heart wrenching)

Done with my rant now, you can still read them in their publishing order this is just my recommendation. Also, LN 9 is not out on paper yet and I think we only have fan translations online but it is definitely worth it, @popopretty has a really good translation of it.

And LN 7 is getting a manga adaptation which is also looking really good so you can check it out.

LN 5 has a manga adaptation as well as being a film and this one is not written by Asagiri but is still canon so you have that.

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pandasmagorica · 15 days

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4 Minutes pre-ep 8 (Mon 9 Sept) musing on sad endings

I'm among those anticipating a sad ending to 4 Minutes. But what exactly is a sad ending in Eastern culture? This is a thoroughly Western take, so please feel free to correct me if I get it wrong.

This post contains spoilers for

Bungee Jumping of Their Own (Korea),

He's Coming to Me (Thailand),

Eternal Yesterday (Japan),

Until We Meet Again (Thailand),

Century of Love (Thailand),

To Sir With Love (Thailand),

55:15 Never Too Late (Thailand),

The Miracle of Teddy Bear (Thailand),

Something in My Room (Thailand),

Once Again (Korea),

and, of course, episodes 1 through 7 of 4 Minutes.

Mention in this paragraph or post does not necessarily mean the show has a sad ending - although there's a good chance of it - so this paragraph is not in itself a spoiler.

This is a long post.

I want to discuss three works that treat reincarnation as an important theme in the work: Bungee Jumping of Their Own, Until We Meet Again, and He's Coming to Me.

Here is the question: In cultures or individuals that believe in reincarnation, does death count as a sad ending?

The first time I had to ask myself this was many years ago after seeing the Korean queer-themed film Bungee Jumping of Their Own at the San Francisco Frameline Film Festival, one of the largest queer film fests on the planet. In this film, a man and a woman in love are engaged to be married. The woman is killed in a vehicle collision. The man remains single and becomes a teacher.

Sixteen and some years later, he becomes convinced that one of his male students, who is 16 at the time, is the reincarnation of the woman he loves. This ultimately turns out to be the case, and they begin a relationship which is roundly (and understandably) criticized by the people around them. At the end of the film, they commit suicide together by sabotaging a bungee jump. But we don't see them die, we see their spirits in conversation about what the possibilities would be for their reincarnation and reuniting, and that they will plan to be together as a same-aged couple, whether straight or gay.

So is this a sad ending on not? It's sad that they couldn't find a way to live in 2001 Korea - really, one solution would have been to wait until the student was an adult - but if it's clear they would likely be reborn and find each other once more, then it's merely bittersweet.

By the way it's a good movie if you can find it.

I understand Dew the Movie (Thailand) is a remake which starts with the gay couple who then get reincarnated as a straight couple, but I haven't seen it and can't comment on it.

Until We Meet Again (Thailand) is a sad beginning, opening with a double suicide of a gay couple sometime around the late 1980s. They get reincarnated, sort of, perhaps 13-15 years later, and ultimately find each other and instantly recognize their connection, even if they're not sure how or why. A better way to describe it is that their spirits kind of hitchhike with their new personas, as it ultimately turns out that they are both combined and separate from the new couple, who have their own personalities. But the spirits of the original couple are ultimately at peace and the successor couple are on their way to forging their own unique and happy relationship. So happy ending for a sad story.

He's Coming to Me (Thailand) is also a sad beginning. Med dies, and is somehow being prevented from being reborn, so is stuck as a ghost. He befriends a young man, Thun, who can see ghosts. Thun solves the blockers that are keeping Med from reincarnating, but in the meantime they've fallen in love, so Thun is heartbroken that he's going to lose Med. Sad ending for Thun, bittersweet ending for Med. But surprise, it's not Med's time to die yet, so they are reunited at least for now. Happy ending!

Century of Love (Thailand) is more of a comedy all the way through once we've gotten past the sad beginning of the female romantic interest dying to save the life of the male lead. The male lead makes a deal with the goddess to live 100 years more so he can try to find the reincarnation of his love and break the spell or else die trying. When the 100 years is about to expire, he thinks he has found her in the guise of a morally gray young man. He has to work through his internalized homophobia and falls in love with the man. But then a woman shows up who might be the reincarnation. Ultimately, we never know for sure if either of them or both are the reincarnation of the male lead's original loved one, but it takes both the young man and the new woman to break the curse. Happy ending!

Again, I am commenting as someone who grew up in Western Judeo-Christian culture, so am at risk of overestimating how important a belief in reincarnation is to Eastern culture. But it does seem to play a big part. I'll acknowledge that Western culture has reincarnation stories as well, but I don't think they have the emotional hit that the Eastern stories I've seen do.

Moving away from reincarnation:

Eternal Yesterday (Japan) has a high school queer couple separated by a fatal traffic accident aka the white truck of death. Except that the impactee gets up and smiles and moves around. But he's still dead. This is the opposite of a scary ghost or zombie flick: he's kindly and they are still in love which each other and doing their best to cope with this change in events. But ultimately it becomes clear that the survivor is keeping the dead one alive, and it's too hard on the dead one to keep going. There was no way this could have had a happy ending, but it's incredibly life affirming. I'm moved to tears just thinking about this series, and would watch it again and again, already have rewatched it once. Don't fear sad endings. (Okay, it's your choice, but I don't fear them.)

To Sir With Love (Thailand) has the least mystical relationship with death, but there is a lot of it in the series. The ending is bittersweet. The queer couple is together, but the mother committed suicide to save them from the bad guy by tricking him into taking poison.

55:15 Never Too Late (Thailand) provides the redo by transforming the five 55 year old mains into their 15 year old bodies. On their way back to being 55, one of them dies, and the others face an uncertain future with the opportunity to try again. Bittersweet.

The Miracle of Teddy Bear (Thailand) gives a teddy bear life and love, but ultimately the bear relinquishes his life so that the human who gave him life could be reunited with the teddy bear's owner. But the owner could still show him love as a teddy bear. Bittersweet.

Something in My Room (Thailand) has a living human and a ghost fall in love with each other. They are ultimately separated, but reunited many years later when the human dies of a terminal illness. So they're together (happy) but the human is now dead (sad). Bittersweet.

Once Again (Korea) sends a young man back in time to meet the man who died saving him from a child abductor as a kid. They fall in love, and the time traveler tries to prevent his savior's death but the guy dies saving him again anyway and the time traveler is thrust back into the present. The savior sends a note through a friend to the time traveler telling him let's do this again every 7 years that some people have taken as being a time loop but which I take as just the savior trying to make the time traveler feel better about not being able to change the past. On the sad side of bittersweet.

Now lets get back to episodes 1 through 7 of 4 Minutes, and look at what beliefs might go into a happy, sad, or bittersweet ending to episode 8.

In the redo timeline, Great's father makes a reference to the three realms, Heaven, Earth, and Hell. Unlike Western culture where Heaven is eternal reward and Hell, at least in Christian culture specifically, is eternal punishment, in Thai culture they are waystops. Again, Thais please feel free to correct me if I'm off. But we don't know if redo Great's father is speaking from belief or experience.

We've also paid a visit to the 4:00 room where people go to - what? - be in limbo? wait to find out if they live or die? move on to the next life?

There's a bed in that room. Will Great and Tyme use it for sex? To nap together?

It would not be surprising for Great to live and Tyme to die, based on the circumstances of their respective entries into 4 minutes territory. Tyme has asked for Great's forgiveness - he would not now expect Great to give up his life just to be with Tyme. This would be sad or bittersweet. How far along that scale it would be would depend on what Great does with his life going forward, which would possibly be shown briefly with a time jump.

We don't know what role if any reincarnation plays in this series. It hasn't been mentioned but is related to the three realms belief. So, they could both die and be reincarnated in the next life, leading to a happy ending a la Until We Meet Again. Obviously with only one episode remaining, we would not get much of a picture of this, but remember Bungee Jumping of Their Own ended with the mains clearly in an unreal space and assumption of further reincarnation awaiting them. It could still be part of the ending. And it would be bittersweet - that they can't be together now but would have a chance to be together in the next life.

We probably are not going to get an unambiguously happy ending. Even if they were both to survive, the police chief would still be out to get Tyme and possibly Great.

Actually that would be a question if just Great survives.

I eagerly await Friday (Saturday for you folks who are ahead of me on the International Date Line) and the conclusion of this series.

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