#bsd chapter 6

[tulipe-rose]

i like it when he does that

weretiger, I choose you!!!

OKAY WHEN DID HE LEARN HOW TO DO THAT ヽ⁠(⁠(⁠◎⁠д⁠◎⁠)⁠)⁠ゝ???? Visual learner Atsushi real not clickbait!!!!???

Look at my son be so badass while still having no idea what he's doing

[soupthatistohot]

BSD: An Absurdist Analysis - Chapter 6

The Absurdity of Ranpo Edogawa

[Masterpost]

This chapter focuses on introducing Ranpo Edogawa to Atsushi and the reader, as our protagonist is forced to accompany this quirky yet mysterious agency member on a mission to solve a murder case. 

Ranpo is presented as blunt and childish, and ridiculously so. He goes around telling everyone about how he’s the greatest detective and is better than them, yet Atsushi has to assist him on a case simply because he doesn’t know how the train system works. 

The only thing I’ll say about the murder case itself is that it’s BSD’s earliest example of governmental and police corruption, a theme that will appear multiple times throughout the manga, especially in the Hunting Dogs arc later on. Corruption of this sort is in of itself an absurdity of life, and a very common one — and an organization like the Armed Detective Agency is a force that pushes back against this absurdity. In this chapter, Ranpo serves as the rebellious force doing so. 

Detective Minoura is very dismissive of Ranpo and the agency, claiming multiple times that Ranpo basically an immature hack who couldn’t possibly solve the case. He’s clearly very frustrated by Ranpo’s presence and is very quick to assume the worst in him just because of his childish demeanor. This is played up for the sake of dramatic irony, but I also think it’s representative of Minoura’s (and the institution of police as a whole’s) tendency to overlook those who don’t hold power over them. 

Dazai joins the gang once he’s pulled from the river, claiming to have been “enjoying the current” and seeking a woman to enact a double suicide with. I do believe this is a front, though, and he just needed an excuse to be a menace and to be involved with the case so he could point out to Atsushi later that Ranpo does not, in fact, have a special ability at all (although this is just a theory of mine). 

The fact that Ranpo doesn’t have an ability but pretends he does is extremely important to his character. While I have not read the Untold Origins light novel, I did watch the adaptation in season 4 of the anime, and although I understand the anime adaptations of the light novels leave a lot out, it did emphasize Ranpo’s struggle to connect with others. He referred to himself as a “monster,” and was unable to relate to the people around him after his parents died. I bring this up because it's the reason he pretends he has an ability, it gives him an excuse for being different from others. 

What absurdists often do in their storytelling is exaggerate something absurd about our reality in order to bring the reader’s attention to said thing, and the presence of abilities in BSD allows for that to happen. Those with abilities are often outcasts of society, and abilities are also the catalyst for conflict in the BSD world. Akutagawa in chapter 3 was a great example of this — because random violence does exist in our real world, but it was exaggerated and made even more horrific because of Rashoumon’s destructive power. 

Ranpo’s non-ability ability is an absurd paradox, then.

Up until the end of the chapter, we’re made to believe that Ranpo is an ability user. While the idea that someone can simply solve a mystery in mere minutes because they have a magical superpower is already absurd, you know what’s even more absurd than that? The person in question just pretending to have a superpower and solving the case solely by use of their intuition.

Ranpo’s masquerade of having an ability is his way of combating an absurd reality because if he’s not an ability user, he’s a freak. But because he gets to pretend to be an ability user, he not only has an excuse for his crazy intellect, but everyone has to at least tolerate his odd personality. It makes him feel less othered. 

Is it convoluted and a bit insane? Perhaps. But that’s kind of the point of embracing the absurd. The ways in which characters often revolt against the absurdity of life is by being somehow even more absurd, by doing something even crazier. 

So why does Dazai make a point of allowing Atsushi to believe Ranpo is an ability-user for the whole case, only to reveal afterward that he is not? He could have told Atsushi from the get-go, or he could’ve not told him at all, so why do what he did?

Apart from the fact that it just makes for more suspenseful storytelling (remember, this is only the sixth chapter, Asagiri is trying to keep the audience engaged right now as he builds his character and world), I think that Dazai is teaching Atsushi to not take everything at face value. Ultimately, he’s training Atsushi to be a detective, and that means that he should be questioning everything, considering every possibility. 

This idea lends itself to absurdism because if you don’t question the supposed truths of reality, you’re essentially giving in and allowing the absurdity to control you rather than pushing back against it. To Dazai, this is a way to train Atsushi to look at the world differently — he presents him with an apparent truth (Ranpo is an ability user) and then forces him to bring that into question, to expose the absurdity (that Ranpo is just ridiculously smart).

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[zaisamoo]

made another skk comic because the other got way more attention than i though it would uhm?!

this was basically chapter 6 of wan but like more skk because where tf did chuuya even come from im cryingg

[caldera1000-7]

In BEAST even Tanizaki thought Akutagawas ability could be used for a protection job, much like he used it to protect his now deceased friends in the slums. There is a lot that can be said about Akutagawa and his ability with the metaphorical sense and analogy of a blade, a shield, having a wielder or a sheath - but whichever tool or weapon it may be or he has become... not a tool or a beast, but a human.

Even a human, just like either tool, could become a weapon of destruction or one that fights for the good of others/those you care about.

But like a bomb for his goal in the mainline manga he goes on a self destructive path - almost like when he was that child who lost all hope and wanted to take all those he swore revenge to with him to hell, as he said.

But in BEAST and the Mainline Manga, he always ended up killing a lot, finding a purpose or needing to find a better way to handle it, to open his eyes to more than what is in front of him or what he has learned.

But at his core? In BSD we don't always get good or evil... But Akutagawa has always been a protector, lead onto a self destructive path and ending up causing damage to much around him before he can realize that the way he does things or thinks can be changed for the better of himself. In both BEAST and the mainline one, this is a part of what he gets to learn and develop as a character...

And it will always be one of the most beautiful parts.

At the end of it all, maybe he'll learn that even if what he has been doing whether the reason is truly selfish or not throughout it all... That he has lived to save himself.

[mercurymaceo]

New Wips and Doodles from February :))

[leftoverbriocheloaf]

Relationships: Edogawa Ranpo/Edgar Allan Poe (Bungou Stray Dogs), Edogawa Ranpo & Edgar Allan Poe (Bungou Stray Dogs), Lucy Maud Montgomery & Edgar Allan Poe (Bungou Stray Dogs), Karl & Edgar Allan Poe (Bungou Stray Dogs), Edogawa Ranpo & Yosano Akiko (Bungou Stray Dogs) Summary:

Poe has never liked the first day of classes. He didn’t like them when he taught back in America, and he's sure he isn't going to like them much more now that he’s in Japan.

And if that criminal justice teacher interrupts his class again, he's ninety percent sure he'll lose it.

[rampo-obsession]

"We summond him here"

SUMMOND?

Chuya is officially a demon y'all

[bungobble-my-balls]

If I had a nickel for everytime one of my crack ships ended up actually meeting in canon and became a legitimate ship I'd have two nickels.

And those nickels are Sigmatsu and Hotwings/Dabihawks

Shoutout to the hotwings fans who were there for the release of chapter 191 that was wild.

[roys-our-boy]

Reading WAN because I need more bsd in my life rn and I’m crying at this panel

[a-weird-being]

109 spoiler?

At least the doughnut comment from Asagiri makes sense now

How are we coping?

[tulipe-rose]

Poor Higuchi was the catalyst to his double suicide dream. Lmao that's gold.

Bug eye Atsushi for the soul

[hesperidia]

late but i read the chapter thoughts incoming in order of importance in tags:

[starr-vivs44]

Chapter 114.5 Rambles

OKAY OKAY, WHAT WAS CHAPTER 114.5!?!?!?!

(spoilers below the cut)

Like omg, what a chapter that was.

We finally find out Dostoevsky's ability, and wow it's op as fuck.

ASAGIRI WHY DID YOU HAVE TO KILL OFF MY BABY BRAM LIKE THAT!?!? 😭 He was literally one of my favs and I was so glad that he was finally getting his time to shine and then he got killed off :((

Also apparently Fukuchi wasn't already dead? Like I get that you wanted him to just bleed out and be in pain but that kinda backfired on y'all...

Everything was going to shit so hard at the end, I guess that's what the 2 hours later bit of the S5 finale was hinting at...

In summary: We finally find out Fyodor's ability, its op as fuck and Bram gets killed off :( Fukuchi apparently hadn't died yet and everything goes to shit. Idk if I can wait till June, Asagiri watch out!!

(I was gonna add some Manga panels but I couldn't get any clear ones and my Tumblr was being annoying)

[dailynikolaigogol]

day 6

chapters released without nikolai

count: 1 (chp 119)

[daz4i]

i feel like my most obsessive quality is the ability to name the exact chapter number for every nikolai frame/quote without even thinking for more than a few seconds. not my normalest behavior i'll admit

[pepper-steam-milkshake]

my word doc has just reached 200k. jesus fucking christ