#BSD S4 spoilers

[wrenkos]

I despise Yokomizo. It’s not possible that I don’t.

[petitesmafia]

BUNGO STRAY DOGS EPISODE 7: DOGS HUNT DOGS

[hyperanthropia]

the first thing i noticed about young odasaku was that his fighting style is the same as dazai’s and now i can’t stop crying

[beans-beneath-moonlight]

I feel like the anime didn't explore it as much as the light novel (since they left out pretty much all the backstory about Ranpo's parents and why he was raised the way he was plus a few important panels from his call with Mushitaro), but Ranpo basically spent the first 14 years of his life thinking he was stupid and that there was something wrong with him because everyone always got angry and he never understood why, so surely it must be his fault, right?

Fukuzawa may have helped him see the truth, but Ranpo's switch between "why can't I understand, there's something wrong with me" and "everyone else is the problem, I'm the best" is pretty much instant but to me it feels like the one he's really trying to convince is himself. Finally figuring out what's going on doesn't just instantly erase fourteen years of self-esteem issues and feeling like everyone hates you.

I think that's why he's so desperate for praise, because he hardly ever got any and needs that confirmation that he's doing something right, and why he's so scared of not being good enough for the Agency, to the point where he frequently puts himself in dangerous situations if he thinks it will be helpful. Because after his parents died, everyone, even Fukuzawa at first, wanted nothing to do with him once they got to know him, and it wasn't until he started to use his talent to help people that that changed. To him, being useful is what made people finally start to like him, and he's afraid that if he's not useful enough, he'll go back to being hated again.

[realroastedeel]

my hand slipped

ok ill be honest akutagawa's death was when i stopped reading the manga the first time. i read it and my silly baby highschooler brain said fuck this shit

guys i was listening to this song in preps to make my silly comic and now i can't stop listening to frank sinatra and frank sinatra adjacent music

[chuuyadelune]

one thing that struck me about today’s BSD season 4 episode (aside from the world-turning-to colour moment, which was super dope!), was the use of levels and positioning. in particular, i’m referring to ranpo’s scene here, where he makes his address to the audience.

first of all, the imagery of him being on a throne directly calls to his self-proclaimed new status as the “world’s greatest detective”. but what’s also interesting is just how high up he is.

it’s not so clear in those first screenshots, but here, you get this very clear view of how high up he is. he’s on the tallest level of the stage, above murakami, the policemen, and the audience.

this whole sequence takes place after fukuzawa hands him those infamous glasses, and tells him that he’s gifted. ranpo believes he’s an ability user, and so, this separates him from the masses in his mind, who are visually represented here by the audience on the ground (including fukuzawa, who hasn’t discovered his ability yet at this stage). and this not only separates him from them — it elevates him. putting him on, not only the stage, but the highest part, emphasises the difference in his self-perception. he is different from the regular ‘monsters’ because he is an ability user: a rarity, an urban legend of sorts.

even here, when the police officer (who is definitely not suspicious at all) comes over to compliment ranpo and fukuzawa, the concept of levels is at play. this police officer is, to our current knowledge, a regular, non-gifted human. he even expresses shock and awe at the fact that he’s in the mere presence of an ability user. ranpo is at the top of the stairs, again, emphasising his position as a gifted ability-user, someone beyond the skills of a regular human.

and ranpo’s (literal) elevation, especially in the stage scene, is also linked to the themes of the play itself, i’d argue. and like, full disclosure that i’m long overdue for a reread of untold origins since my memory is very blurry at best, so i’m just going to be basing this off what the anime does with the play (since, after all, this is a post analysing the relevance of positioning and layers/height/elevation in the anime).

at the start, it’s stated that angels are ‘gifted’ beings — and the word used here is, to my knowledge, the same as the word for ability user (please correct me if i’m wrong!). so the association is immediately established: gifteds — ability users — are strong, beyond human comprehension, and powerful enough to strike a fallen angel down. so that is to say, stronger than the normal, status quo.

there’s religious (largely christian) imagery written all over the stage. at the start, one of the fallen angels in the play is ‘murdered’, and the imagery behind is undoubtedly a nod towards the crucifixion of jesus. and this position and framing here very much reminds me of an altar. especially with murakami’s ‘corpse’ under the (white!) cloth.

ranpo’s position, above everyone, being deliberately above the cross, the centre of the spotlight — it’s almost as if he is some higher being. something there to cast judgement above all. something like… an angel. who are gifted beings, according the play, as he himself believes he is, since he’s been dubbed an ability user by fukuzawa.

indeed, the murder and the play are deeply connected — but so’s the symbolism of ranpo rising above everyone else and the concept of ‘gifteds’/‘ability users’ and the concepts laid out in the play. at least, in my view.

positioning has always been used in the BSD anime to display power dynamics and relations, and it’s a similar concept here. the subtle details make all the difference to the way we view the anime, i think. and that’s the power of visual storytelling!

[note-boom]

Things I have learned from the Untold Origins Arc (anime version)

The ADA is so very literally the founding of a family

Seriously, Asagiri, don't be shy. Give us more on the special abilities lore. What was it with that play and the angel symbolism and also the mystery abilities are surrounded with in the decade before the whole Dark Era thing?

Odasaku really should have lived till at least the DoA arc cause my man predicted like half of its themes and plot at age 15. And I thought he could only see a few seconds into the future?

What it means to punch someone's face in because that's exactly what Fukuzawa did to that nameless soldier

Cows: Ranpo 🤝 Kenji

How old is Fyodor Dostoyevsky?!?!

Natsume Soseki is absolutely a combination of Mori and Fukuzawa in that he's a mysterious, competent loner-type mentor figure but that he's also kind of a creepy middle aged dude lurking in the shadows and watching everyone

ANYWAY. Congrats Fukuzawa. You are now a dad.

[hugoypo]

R.i.p this scene I guess

[soupthatistohot]

why it's called Meursault and why that's the correct spelling

(plus other related thoughts because I'm a nerd)

BSD s4 spoilers ahead!

With s4 of BSD airing, we've finally arrived to the point where Dazai has been arrested and is imprisoned with Fyodor in Meursault. With this, I noticed that depending on the streaming service people are using, in the subtitles, Meursault is spelled differently (Mersault vs Meursault).

There is a correct spelling. It's Meursault. I know this because (surprise, surprise!), this name is a literary reference!

The Stranger is a story by French-Algerian author Albert Camus (1913-1960), and one of his most well-known works, the main character of which is named Monsieur Meursault (hence the spelling). I don't think there would be any spelling discrepancy with this name because it's French in origin, meaning that it's spelled using the roman alphabet. There would be no reason to eliminate that extra "u".

Other names that are translated from languages that use different alphabets having multiple spellings are more understandable. For example, Chuuya's name in Japanese hiragana (one of multiple alphabets the Japanese use) looks like this: ちゅうや. I don't know much about etymology or anything, but I assume the fact that because Chuuya's name doesn't originally come from the roman alphabet is why it has multiple spellings in English (Chuuya vs Chūya). This would not be the case for Meursault, though, because there's no discrepancy there. French and English use the same alphabet.

Okay and now I wanna be a literary nerd for a second — spoiler warning for The Stranger in the next paragraph, if you care about that.

At the conclusion of the story, Monsieur Meursault is arrested for murder and goes to prison, where he accepts his death as inevitable and is at peace. I suspect that the fact that in the BSD universe Meursault is a French prison has to do with the character's fate, but I wonder if the part about accepting death will somehow play into it? I don't know how much Asagiri is letting the inspiration for the prison's name influence his storytelling....

And on that note, I also think it makes so much sense that Asagiri would have an interest in Camus' work! Albert Camus was an author, yes, but also notably a philosopher who believed strongly in absurdism — the idea that life is meaningless, essentially.

This point of view isn't quite as dark as it seems, because for some absurdists, it just meant that it was up to the individual to create meaning within their own life. One of my favorite quotes from Camus is "The literal meaning of life is whatever you're doing that prevents you from killing yourself.”

Part of the reason I think this makes sense for Asagiri is because BSD is very much about its characters searching for a meaning of life. Dazai is searching for a reason to stay alive by helping people as Oda told him to, Atsushi is slowly overcoming the idea that his meaning of life is solely to help others, Akutagawa is slowly overcoming the idea that Dazai is his reason to live, etc. etc..

It also makes sense because Kafka Asagiri is a pseudonym. The given name Kafka is taken from another famous absurdist author, Franz Kafka (1883-1924). He wasn't a philosopher like Camus, and actually, he wasn't really even known in his lifetime for his writing. He worked a day job as a banker, which he hated, and at night he wrote. His stories often touched on the absurdity of bureaucracy, and were far less realistic and more ridiculous than Camus' work (ever read The Metamorphosis?). But they were similar in that they called out hypocrisy and the innate absurdity of life.

So basically, that's why it didn't surprise me at all that Asagiri was also familiar with Camus' work, and liked it enough to include a reference to it in BSD.

I was also just genuinely delighted to learn this as someone who is really interested in Camus! I read one of this other works, The Plague, in high school and this past summer I read The Stranger. His work is really cool to me, and though it's dense at times, I like that it's thought-provoking. It was also interesting to see the parallels between The Plague and the Covid pandemic... it's quite spooky how not much really changes.

Anyway! Thanks for reading my nerdy little ramble! I hope you got something out of it and please share your own thoughts if you have any, I'd love to hear them :)

[wrenkos]

mushitaro is a good influence who excuses murder & breaking-and-entering but not theft, apparently

[petitesmafia]

Chuuya helicopter scene where he’s delivering the absolute zinger he crafted up on his way to pick up ADA except it doesn’t even matter bc they couldn’t hear shit. the sound of the helicopter drowned him out completely

(a visual representation)

[blue-thief]

ARE THESE SUPPOSED TO BE THE SAME SCENE???

[livqpvil]

• | It seems like this will never end.....

(⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

[fedyaplushie]

boyfriends

[timeskip]

BSD is so insane it’s like. The stupidest and yet most observant characters you’ve ever met are battling to the death and doing insane leaps through the air and using magic power and going “all according to keikaku” but also it’s about wanting to find reasons to keeping living and the worth of human life. And also, as of season 4 episode 1, Fukuzawa being a dad.

[kunikiiida-kuuun]

BSD Anime vs. Manga

S4 Episode 7 & Chapters 59-61

This is mostly going to be a compilation of the ADA moments, focused on Kunikida in particular, since Bones seems to freely pluck out parts from his characterization that takes away a lot from his personal arc. They have done it before, but in this arc, where each detail sensitive to his entire arc, I find it is quite a shame they were excluded.

Here are some moments that didn't make it to the anime, or simply didn't translate well into the episode because of a number of reasons.

A short disclaimer: I've never written any kind of analysis posts or even theories so I'd say this is more of my personal thoughts rather than a very objective comparison, since I hold Kunikida and the ADA very close to my heart. Buckle up for a really long post because oh boy, I have a lot of thoughts.

1. First signs of despair

(BSD Chapter 59)

Quite contrary to how Kunikida is perceived as emotionless, among all the characters in the room, we get a close up into his mind and thoughts first. They have been just declared as national criminals, and Ranpo, the most vital pillar of their agency was just shot and presumably out of commission. The all-knowing Ranpo who has gotten them out of trouble numerous times has been cut off. They sit there in shock as the realisation sinks in. They have no way out. Kunikida looks at his notebook, pondering out loud, "Is this where...my ideals come to an end?"

2. Kunikida retaliates back

(BSD Chapter 59)

This is one of the sides of Kunikida we may rarely get to see. While he is a character with a strong moral compass compared to the other BSD characters, there are moments when he prioritizes to protect himself and would go to any lengths to to prevent harm to his comrades, sometimes at the cost of his own well being. He wouldn't kill anyone, but should the circumstances call for it, he wouldn't hesitate to remove that obstacle. This is similar to how he shoots a little kid who was firing at him and Atsushi in the cannibalism arc. However the circumstances are entirely different in both scenarios. At that time, his inner conflict was more evident, since the children had been lied to, and instructed to shoot and didn't know any better. He had to protect himself and Atsushi. Over here, he is more or less wrongly being accused, which would explain his actions.

Before this, there's also a gentle look that passes over his eyes, as he reminisces about working along with them, and the fact that they see him as an enemy now.

I do however, appreciate that in the anime, his voice is softer, and not rude or mean to the soldiers they just defeated.

3. Remorse

(BSD Chapter 60)

Just as they are able to escape and catch their breaths, Kunikida is immediately filled with remorse for his actions. There is the special emphasis on the "light in the eyes" that Kunikida refers to, something which is very important to a character in Harukawa sensei's art style. He struck down a person, who was someone just like him, someone who was simply holding up his own ideals for the "good" of the nation, something Kunikida himself resonates with. He questions the justness of his own actions, and is in an inner dilemma about everything he stands for. Despite his "tough" exterior, Kunikida is inherently a person who is deeply vulnerable. He puts up his walls, but these walls even seem to break too easily, caused by his own self doubt.

This internal conflict is completely missing in the anime, and while it may seem inconsequential to the overall plot, it takes away a lot of impact that comes ahead. There is a lack of a dramatic pause that this scene gives, as the horror sinks in not just for us, but our characters as well.

4. Ray of hope

(BSD Chapter 60)

Before everyone, especially Kunikida sinks into complete despair, Kenji speaks up, starting on a completely unrelated and seemingly pointless note. He offers everyone some rice balls, surprising everyone.

(BSD Chapter 60)

Kenji is just such a precious boy. Kenji's logic is eating = happiness so by offering the rice balls, he's literally saying "please don't feel dejected!! I want you all to stay healthy and be happy!!"

Kunikida tries to reason, initially feeling that Kenji was making light of the situation. But Kenji is clearly having none of it and stops him immediately. We unfortunately missed this absolutely hilarious scene of Kenji shutting up Kunikida by shoving a rice ball into his mouth LMAO.

In hindsight, as I rewatch the anime, Kenji's speech is a nice optimistic boost in very Kenji fashion, but it comes across as a touch too happy go lucky in the anime and you can't deny how much more impactful it is when instead of just a random speech, he's purposefully uplifting everyone's spirits.

He isn't just being optimistic and is aware of the grim situation. He understands that he would need to use his ability for the obstacles they may face ahead and forgoes eating the rice balls (as Kenji cannot use his skill if his stomach is full). That's when even Kunikida realises that he is being serious. He understands how everyone feels, and reassures them, essentially saying that the agency will get through, rebuild, and continue on their path no matter how many difficulties come their way.

I have to say, this moment here is even more touching with his backstory that was recently revealed a few chapters ago. Kenji actually comes across as very mature for his age with his outlook on life and his kind and humble nature.

There is an immediate change in Kunikida's demeanor after this. He acknowledges Kenji's words and bites into the rice ball, accepting his 'unique' way of encouraging them with gratitude. And hereforth emerges the leader within Kunikida. I'm working on another post related to Kunikida and his role as the future ADA leader, but Kunikida is truly a people's leader. He spurs into action when he has the trust and support of his comrades and is the most confident when backed and reassured by the ones near him.

Unfortunately I find that this moment completely fell flat in the anime. They included Tanizaki's line about being criminals and it's in response to that that Kenji gives his speech which isn't bad per se....but doesn't give the same impact as the manga. They added some sparkles ✨ as he was speaking which made it a tad bit animated whereas in the manga it seems like the sun is shining on him...which makes me wonder how the anime would've looked if they actually showed a progression of time instead of just sticking to twilight hues...

5. Just your friendly neighborhood terrorist gang...

(BSD manga chapter 61)

And here is the most iconic and probably the greatest scene of all times, which was only partly animated. I'll let this one slide, but imagine how much funnier it would have been if they did include the first part. The fact that they are being pursued right now as the most wanted criminals, and how every second is extremely precious to them if they want to escape safely, and yet, Kunikida would steal someone's vehicle only after confirming they have an insurance for it (and letting them go if they don't).

Even him choosing to take a private vehicle rather than public transport to avoid jeopardizing other's lives...Kunikida is just so good. I love him so much you don't understand 🥹💕

6. Comprehensive personality analysis by Jouno Saigiku (Kunikida edition)

Okay sorry this is just me being salty but like....did they seriously give us an extended fish eye cut for this entire scene??!! I was so shocked I couldn't even focus on the weight and symbolism of the dialogue. I get the fish eye potential of this scene but like why....just why.

It's such a pivotal revelation about Kunikida, not just to us, the audience, but even to Kunikida himself, his deepest and innermost thoughts and fears laid out in the open like that. Jouno tears him down effectively, making him question himself and his ideals.

This part makes me crazy emotional in the manga, because the whole thing about Kunikida's ideals is that it actually weighs so heavily on him that he doesn't really realise that he is crumbling under the pressure of it. Deep inside, he is aware about the futility of pursuing them, as seen from how he admits it himself in Chapter 40 to Katsura, but instead of letting go, he keeps pushing himself. His ideals are not for others to follow, but something he demands of himself, in order to create a better world. And if the people whom he wants to protect are taken away, his ideals would come to an end, hence he'll be "free" from the heavy burden of his ideals.

Reducing all of this into a mere fish eye moment....bones I will remember this 😭😤

However, I do appreciate that they added a scene of Kunikida shielding Yosano from Tecchou, a nice parallel to when Yosano takes a bullet for Kunikida. It was just very heart warming to see all of them protect each other. There's also a small panel that was not animated, one where Jouno kicks Kenji out of the moving car and asks Kunikida and the others to go ahead, and there's a look of uncertainty and despair that passes on Kunikida's face, another instance of his internal conflict not included.

(also what is with all of Kunikida's enemies reading up on him and studying him?? Like I'm no different from these guys tbh I get it, I'm obsessed with him too but back off will ya...🙄)

I'm only considering this fan-made video by cocoa as the true anime scene because wth were they thinking 😭

Additional thoughts Episode 8

Kunikida's final answer

I would recommend going and reading the full manga for better reading experience, but in case you're feeling too lazy, I included the screenshots. I'm mostly satisfied with how this part was animated, but here are some of my thoughts about it anyways. Looking back to this chapter in the manga, it's definitely much more dramatic than its counterpart.

There's a panel where they just show him with his back hunched all alone as he ponders over what Jouno said which is really neat. The look of horror that passes over his face as he sees Kenji being stabbed is much more dramatic. In the anime, Kenji being stabbed was even more horrifying, and obviously more realistic of a reaction than him just going "huh?" as if it was nothing much.

There's even a panel of Kunikida gritting his teeth, until he realises what he needs to do. I loved the way he swung off the helicopter in the anime, it kinda lives rent free in my brain ngl. When Kunikida jumps off and kicks Tecchou, there's a close up of his face, full of determination and light in his eyes... it's just so beautiful because he's no longer hindered by self doubt. This light in his eyes remains the brightest in all the three panels.

While originally I was under the impression that this would be a very sad scene, the anime and the choice of music made it seem more of a heroic moment instead, which the more I think about, the more I feel was a good choice. After a series of unfortunate events and near death situations, Kunikida is faced with the choice to either give up or save everyone. His choice to sacrifice himself was one stemming from his role as a leader and also, most importantly to protect anyone else from getting hurt. This is also his firm answer back to Jouno's words, that he would continue striving for his ideals, even when sacrificing his own life.

And also, spoilers alert: he doesn't exactly die, so I think it was alright if they didn't make it too dramatic or melancholic. Still made me cry buckets nevertheless lol.

I'm not very good at character analyses so I would recommend reading this one over here. It's one of the best character breakdown I've ever seen for Kunikida and they have covered this part of the manga as well!

Of course, another amazing explanation of this scene is by Asagiri-sensei themselves, which you can find here.

Yet another deleted scene...

Kyouka decides to go save Atsushi

(BSD Chapter 63)

If you're curious about when Kyouka decided to go and save Atsushi instead and how they concealed themselves so well in that hole, here's an extended explanation in a flashback that was skipped in the anime. It's no surprise this was deleted, and I was pretty much expecting it as it's not that important of a detail. The most significant part of this scene of course would be the sheer determination in Kyouka's eyes to save Atsushi. I think it is a neat parallel to Atsushi back in s1 who insisted on saving Kyouka, even after Kunikida told him not to. In both instances, Kunikida tries to protest, but eventually relents and acknowledges their will and determination, lending them his aid. The anime also kinda missed giving us a cool render of that page in which Kyouka stands heroically before the military when she comes to save Atsushi (unfortunately I'm unable to add the image because of Tumblr's ten image limit...sigh).

Final thoughts

I've said this before, but I understand that anime has time constraints and other production matters that I'm unaware about, but the number of details that were removed while not surprising, was surely disappointing. My major problem was mostly with episode 7 with how rushed it was. By removing the build up, there's a certain lack of emotional depth in a number of scenes. There are many who did not find the episodes fast paced and rather consider it quite alright considering the theme of the arc, which is totally valid. However it's natural for manga readers to go into the anime with preconceived ideas about how they think the scene will go down. I'm personally just a little sad because firstly, Kunikida is my favourite character and secondly, I think he's one of the best written characters in all of BSD. He is one of the core characters in BSD, so I'm obviously disappointed that many of his parts just get removed since he's not one of the greater "fan favourites".

Of course, I have to give the anime credit where it's due. The animation is amazing this season and the voice acting is simply phenomenal. The OST is also pretty good and I desperately want that track they played for the hunting dogs introduction. They've truly given their heart and soul for this season, and I couldn't be happier as a BSD fan!! I'm super excited for the upcoming episodes!

Welp that's all from me! Thank you for coming to my ted talk! This was initially going to be just a simple compilation, until I started talking and couldn't shut up. I'm really grateful for anyone who reads this. Thank you very much!! If you've come this far, please do drop a comment because I'd love to hear your thoughts!!

Lastly, please go read the manga if you haven't already! Who knows, maybe you'll find some other missing detail of your favourite character!