#BSD critical

[fandomrouletteburrito]

You know what? Im going to vent about how annoyed I am abt bsd atm and put it in the tags bcuz I also want to debate it. I enjoy bsd but I am struggling to understand what exactly Asagiri is trying to do here esp when this arc is so long that the arc itself has mini arcs in it.

If anyone reads this I would love, LOVE to discuss this because I am yanking my hair in frusteration

I am putting it under a cut so that ppl who dont want to see criticism abt bsd dont have to see it

Am i being an asshole? Yes

Am i going to warn ppl before hand and remind them that they can curate their internet experience by simply not reading something that is going to criticize something they love? And the block button exists for a reason???????Also yes

That being said i dont often go off about things i dont like about media i enjoy because well i understand everything i like has pros and cons

Also i still read bsd bcuz there r other things i DO like about it

Anywayssss

The thing that is bothering me about bsd is that I dont think I can tell what any character is doing EVER. Perhaps thats just my taste and I like having some idea of whats going to happen.

The characters arcs are excellent, their actions make sense for the personalities that they have yes.

The problem i do have w bsd is that the characters are apparently constantly always somehow predicting whats going on

How in the goddamn world do you expect me to believe that Fyodor let Dazai see him kill someone through touch so that Dazai would come up w a plan like Mersault? Fyodor didn’t expect Dazai to catch him at the end of the whole virus thing so like how is that enough time for him to find a way to kill that guard by just touching his hand? Why do that unless you planned the Mersault fake death from the start?

I forget but didn’t the Hunting Dogs get Mushitaro to bring up Dazai’s crimes to get Dazai into Mersault? Was this all to get Dazai away from the agency? Extremely likely but that tells me Fyodor planned to fake his death from the star(again) WHICH IN TURN MEANS HE HAD TO HAVE FKING KNOWN SO MUCH AHEAD OF TIME which only makes sense if he had access to some type of future telling ability because some characters actions WERE random eg: below

If Gogol randomly decided to break Fyodor out of Mersault with his race against death game, how can Fyodor expect to be killed by a vampire to become Bram??? How does this make sense if he did not know that Gogol would plan this at all?

There is the panel of Fyodor fallin through the Mersault room correctly as he says its time to escape so maybe he knew Gogol would that? HOW if Gogol just came up with that plan without any of Fyodor’s input?? Alright then maybe he was acting so Dazai won’t catch on but even then how was he expecting to die so that he can become Bram?? What was his alternate plan?

Alright maybe he simply predicted Gogol to do that which I think is a bit sad for Gogol since I think his whole character arc is about how he doesn’t want to be shackled by anything and I would argue being manipulated by someone is a shackle

Criticism 2: the fact absolutely no one of importance has died in bsd manga except for in the light novels(i am including Odasaku in this) please PLEASE correct me if I missed a death

Im not counting Fukuchi as dead because jury’s still out on that given the whole thing w God!Fukuchi/Amenogozen

Esp as we have Dead Apple where whats his names ability outlived him and i think also in 55 minutes

Because well, how do you expect me to take any of the stakes in this manga seriously if no one of name dies ever, I would not have this issue if death wasnt faked out as many times as it has

Maybe Bram will actually stay dead but I doubt it

The fact Kunikida was killed this chapter just tells me that yet again, death is not a serious consequence in this manga. Esp as the book has not been used yet. Even fking HP Lovecraft is alive ffs.

If Kunikida stays dead I will HAPPILY eat my words and state that Asagiri is a master writer for fooling my reading of bsd that well.( i am obviously not saying only my interpretation of bsd is correct so pls dont come at me)

Criticism 3: why didn’t Dazai literally just kill off Fyodor w Chuuya once they got Sigma to get the info from Fyodor

I understand thats a much more author did that because thats what the writing needed and characters are only as intelligent as the story needs so … fineeeee thats on me

Criticism 4: the whole Amenogozen thing about how the war isn’t real

How can Fyodor fake the sign on the wall unless he knew what sign meant world ending to Fukuchi???

Not sure if this is a criticism but if Chuuya was sent by Mori…how did Fyodor expect him to show up? Unless Fyodor and Mori discussed that earlier together in which case Mori is doing an excellent job at pretending like he’s not inleague with Fyodor

This plan of Fyodor’s to become Bram is just so batshit insane and so reliant on people doing random things at the right time eg: Gogol and the death game, Chuuya not being used to kill Fyodor in any form, Sigma not waking up in time to warn the agency, Dazai not fking shooting Fyodor w a gun

Imagine if Gogol’s poison succeeded then well ig Fyodor would just stay in his body since he injected the poison in his own veins which hey doesn’t that mean there was no risk of Fyodor dying in that game? I am likely wrong but it is kinda funny

Unrelated but wow tumblr does NOT want to make writing this on mobile easy bruh

I think the reason I’m so frusterated with this is that bsd is so unpredictable that for me it feels like its going beyond the suspension of disbelief i have

Its breaking the intelligence scale that they set with Fyodor, Dazai and Ranpo that it feels too much to believe

My other issue is I dont know what the whole long term thing w BSD is, and I am a bit tired of that. That might be my personal taste where I like to know what kind of ending or long term things I hope to see in a series but this is a bit too absured for me which might be the point

If anyone reads this entire nonsensical essay you have my respect

[snowyleopardess]

To be honest we desperately need SOMETHING resolved/to come to fruition or whatever in bsd already, the wait is killing me. We can't have literally every chapter end on a cliffhanger for the years and years to come. Like literally everyone in the manga is in danger right now and has been for years. (I know that's what you get by liking a monthly updated manga, but still).

I'm getting cliffie fatigue because no chapters have had a solid resolution/payoff. Not to mention all the different POV switches. I still love bsd, but this is getting very frustrating.

[none-shall-caricature-me]

Why are many characters' canonical weights in BSD so fucked up (imo). Especially many / most female characters' (yes even Yosano because apparently Japan, including Asagiri, is too chicken to make combat - trained women muscular. You can't have a BMI of like 19 and always be able to take on grown hunks in close combat, it's just a fact for you delusional 'yass queen slayy' fans).

Like, personally it's iffy to me.

Edit - Yeah I worded my previous post too aggressively, I'm not saying that it's wrong for people to be thin or that BMI is a very accurate measure of non - extreme health conditions. It's just that I find it kinda annoying when even characters who should be hefty enough to take on built - up gangsters are made mismatched.

Idk man. If someone better - informed can clarify this topic to me, please do, my knowledge is not adequate either.

[bandtrees]

its not like i dont agree with all those posts about how bsd season 5 finale is bad and stupid and was a big let-down and everything. cuz i do - but also... i'm not really upset with it in the way a lot of people are, tbh.

cuz if you're only now realizing bsd isn't a good mystery series and it has a lot of cheap shock value and forgoes interesting character development in favor of showing off how smart dazai or fyodor are... uh, welcome to the club? the season 5 finale is not really unique in this regard.

bsd, to me, though it has moments of compelling writing, and overall compelling characters (people Like its characters so much for a reason!), etc, has always been a low-expectations watch. it's always been the "oh what's kafka asagiri doing to his weird ocs now" show - from the start, it's done this. so much of season 1 reeks of the same "random out of nowhere twist to make the writing feel clever", and it's something the show's had a problem with, and continues to have a problem with. forever. to the point where to enjoy the series you just kinda have to meet it halfway and have fun with it.

when i first got into bsd in, like, 2017 or so, i hated dazai a lot. both because of personal reasons and because i just didn't like smug genius types who know everything. with him being such a major character, this led to a shallow perception of the show, as you'd expect. then, i rewatched it this year, and i went in with those same feelings - but i wanted to like bsd, and dazai by extension, so i just kinda... got used to him, because you can't fully appreciate this series and not. (that and i'd just matured as a person since 2017 and could look at him with more nuance lol)

like, i get being upset this season didn't end the way you anticipated. i loved the meursault arc, and season 5 episode 10 was one of my favorite episodes of the entire series i was genuinely excited to see a follow-up on. but also, if you know bsd does deathfaking and stupid silly plot twists that weren't telegraphed in the least, and you're genuinely mad every time they're pulled, then... maybe you should just watch a different show, yknow?

i don't say this to excuse the shitty writing, but rather, it's not really new, and buckling in for the absurd ride is part of the bsd experience, that it goes from a genuinely thrilling and gritty episode 10 to a completely batshit episode 11 that has the main antagonist quote jesus christ before dying in a helicopter explosion, is, like, really fucking funny. i can't even be mad. that episode is some of the most entertained i've been by this show, not even in its contents but laughing as i try to explain it to people and scream incredulously with my friend - it's a series where the good is good and the bad is, if nothing else, never boring. it's the series with the giant moby dick whale mech. it's the series that now has vampires in it for some reason. i think if you're looking for top tier character development and stimulating mysteries and peak fiction... you're looking in the wrong place, imo.

[rubywolf0201]

Since you got some asks about Dazai earlier, anon just had a realization about why fandom's approach to bullying is so bizarre: it's because somehow, fandoms became convinced that "child abuse victims" and "bullies" belong to the "same category", and therefore should be "treated exactly the same." THAT'S why whenever we criticize bullies, fans react just as defensively as if we were criticizing child abuse victims instead (even though in reality, most child abuse victims are not bullies).

I know that certain folks within the BSD fandom would get mad at me but I’ll have to say this:

Just because Dazai was abused by Mori (or possibly by his own family if we ever get to see them in the near possible future) doesn’t mean that he’s free to treat people like pawns or objects for his amusement. Especially if it’s his colleagues.

Nor does it excuse the fact that he made Akutagawa's life a living hell then it is back when the sickly brunette was living in the slums and set up an unhealthy rivalry between the former and Atsushi.

[flyolai-brainrot]

He's my favorite girlypop

[booksandpaperss]

dead apple is Such a movie bc like the first time you watch it you come out of it confused delirious and only remembering the insane skk sex. but then when u watch it again w a clearer head you realize it’s an extremely atsushi centric movie with character development that is critical to remember going into the rest of the series. so why in gods name did asagiri think it would be a smart idea to include skk fairytale roleplay insane enough to rot ur brain of all other info

[evilkaeya]

"Speak english please" you are Japanese

[starlightshadowsworld]

Atsushi: Do you want me to go get the ladder?

Kunikida: Oh we don’t have a ladder.

Atsushi: What?

Kunikida: You know studies have shown that having a ladder in your office is more dangerous than a loaded gun. That’s why we own 10 guns, in case some maniac tries to break in with a ladder.

Atsushi: …Has anyone tried to?

Kunikida: Not yet, but when the day comes, I’ll be ready.

[musicalmoritz]

I was skimming through my old Soukoku fics and LMAO Chuuya chill out

[blobwithapencil]

Late April Fools' comic of the ADA's celebrations!

Yeah Dazai got his ass beat after this lmao

[kyouka-supremacy]

At the very end, I really don't care whether Fukuchi's plan makes sense or not. He directly caused Akutagawa giving his life for Atsushi / one of the most homoromantic scenes in manga history, makes sense or not I'll never stop being grateful to Fukuchi for it.

[shibusawaz]

bungo sray dogs fans will be like "this is my favorite character" nd then it will not even be a dog

[petitesmafia]

hc every time Chuuya is asked for a movie rec it’s either the Boy and the Puppy or he starts listing off Lippmann’s entire filmography

“isn’t the Boy and Puppy like a kids’ mov—” [gunshots] no it’s not it’s a CINEMATIC MASTERPIECE

[caffeiiine]

i love medias taht affect me to no end so much so that there’s no real way to get the pre-media ‘me’ back

[rubywolf0201]

Got another BSD!Dazai stan attacking me for my personal opinion regarding BSD!Dazai….

Proves to me that Dazai stans just can’t handle criticism regarding their beloved husbando or other people disliking him too.