#bsd chapter 98

[smellypire]

umm, bones? I think you forgot something there 😭 why is he smiling?

[diary-ofamadwoman]

the reason for what happened next wasn't chuuya, but the way fyodor looked at the guards ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ♡ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ--------------------

[frickfrackchickenstack]

The urge to write a reprise of a sigzai dance scene.

[rzeckism]

so, I have a theory about what is going on in prison, all bsd spoilers up to chapter 109 + stormbringer, my interpretation on what we have seen this far, source: trust me bro (/hj), call me delusional only when chapter 110 is out

first thing we need to talk about is something mentioned in the stormbringer light novel, as I love to call it: the anti mind control hat, or just: chuuya’s hat, which is the key to understanding the whole situation (or at least my understanding)

This is a fragment of Rimbaud’s journal in the light novel stormbringer (this is a fan translation as it’s the version I just had on hand); “When he puts the hat on the cloth acts as a coil and prevents any interception of his consciousness by instruction from the outside. On the contrary, it’ll be possible to heed to instructions from the inside, AKA he can obey his own will. With this hat, Verlaine can be one step closer to a free willed human.”

And who keeps the hat Rimbaud made for Verlaine, after the events of stormbringer?

You guessed it! Now that we know Chuuya is in possession of an anti-mind-control-hat, let’s get back to the manga and Chuuya’s vampirism; it would be easy to assume that the vampirism is somehow stronger that the ability of Chuuya’s hat, but... Well, why introduce the hat in the first place, when it doesn’t work to his advantage in such a crucial moment of the story?

What I think is that Chuuya was turned into a vampire, yes, that’s why he looks like one, but... the mind control doesn’t work on him. And if the mind control doesn’t work on him... Then Chuuya and Dazai are fooling Fyodor, as we don’t have a reason to believe that Fyodor read Rimbaud’s journal and knows about the hat.

But let’s backtrack and look over the vampire Chuuya panels, from chapter 98 to 109 (and of course we have to remember that he is wearing his hat all the time):

In ch98, we have a full on vampire

In ch101, much less so; in fact Chuuya looks mostly human.

In ch105.5, Chuuya’s face isn’t shown at all, which I found very interesting since the beginning.

Here, in ch109, we have a very vampire-like Chuuya

But the next panel shows us a very human Chuuya, he looks in control, he just wants to punch Dazai

We see less and less of Chuuya’s vampiristic traits with every chapter, but Asagiri reminds us of them in a single panel in 109, which I would interpret as a stylistic choice on Asagiri’s part, one that is supposed to tell us that Chuuya is in control of himself, not really a mindless vampire as all the rest, but lets Fyodor believe that he follows his commands against his will.

Now, why the hell would Chuuya shot Dazai if he is really in control of himself?

Well, this is the part where I go “trust me bro”; Chuuya shots Dazai’s shoulder right before we get to the “killing” bow. We see Chuuya’s gun touch Dazai’s forehead, he holds it there for some time, then the panel where he fires doesn’t show us much, and does so by design:

My best guess on what happened here, if we believe that Dazai and Chuuya are fooling Fyodor: Chuuya’s gun is still hot from the previous real shot when he slams Dazai with it in the forehead: I don’t know exactly what injury you would get when someone hits you with a hot gunpoint and leaves it on your forehead for a little while, But... I think it isn’t unrealistic to think that’s how Dazai gets the injury, not from the “killing bow” (we also don’t see Dazai’s forehead between Chuuya holding it to his forehead and Chuuya “shooting” him in the head). When Chuuya shots Dazai’s head, we don’t see if the gun is still touching Dazai, and if it isn’t... Chuuya has perfect control over his ability: he very much could fire the gun and crush the bullet into dust before it touches Dazai.

And then Chuuya shots Dazai again, just for good measure and we see Dazai dramatically fake his death.

Fooling Fyodor, making him believe that Dazai is dead - which basically means he has won - could be the way Dazai choose to gain the upper hand. It could be Dazai’s plan to finally defeat Fyodor. And, come on, during the whole encounter with Chuuya, Dazai is unfazed - surely in part because this is a part of his persona, but I still think it’s a little bit weird; like he knows something we don’t. Remember, this is a battle again Fyodor, sure Dazai wants to die but considering the circumstances… I don’t think him being this carefree would be the case if he thought Chuuya is going to kill him any second.

And on why would Chuuya go along with Dazai’s play? Because he always does when it matters, when they’re playing on the same team to defend a shared enemy. This is the second coming of Dead Apple.

Now, we also have the random factor of Nikolai, but let’s remember he wants to kill Fyodor by himself.

And of course, Sigma; I’m guessing he isn’t dead either and chapter 110 will be about what’s going on with him - did Fyodor give him so much information that Sigma’s passed out? Dunno on that part, but I really think Asagiri did everything he could this chapter so that he could give us a plot twist after a plot twist

If you have read all that, let me know how delusional I am; but I mean, come on, we’re talking about soukoku, the guys who can read each other’s minds by just looking at the other, one soul in two different bodies etc. And of course Chuuya would shoot Dazai, very gladly in my opinion.

If my theory isn’t correct then let’s just hope Dazai isn’t dead lol

[krispople]

Yall what is happening in the bsd manga anymore

Next chapter there's GOTTA be smthn that turns it all around (ive said since chapter 98)

Spoilers and rambling

THE WAY FYODOR RIPPED UP THE PAGE RIGHT IN FRONT OF ATSUSHI?? THE WAY ATSUSHI SAID "I KNOW WHAT YOU REALLY ARE" IN REFERENCE TO DAZAI?? THERES GOTTA BE SOMETHING IM MISSING

Like is dazai a page or has he had a page this entire time

Like obviously with beast existing he's had to of had a page at some point

Or there's gonna be smthn crazy with Natsume come out

Atp I'm with the people cheering for verlaine to show up out of the basement

[awoogayanderes]

as to when i’m writing again, genuinely depends on my schedule and when i’m free

IM LIKE HALFWAY THROUGH WRITING A NEW CONVERGENCE CHAPTER BUT IDK HOW TO WRITE THE OTHER HALF

also, i lowkey wanna write for haikyuu but idk if it’s worth it…?

BECAUSE MY BRAND IS LITERALLY BSD. 98% of my posts that are liked everyday ARE BSD POSTS.

and if i’m recognized at all, i’d be described as a bsd writer… because that’s all i’ve consistently been posting for the past two years

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Hello! I really like your analyses and you’re kind of making me want to watch trigun now?? I have several other series on the brain rn but I’m tempted to add another… anyways I just think you’re very cool!

Yessss.... YESSSS... join me... *evil laughter* (So, if I get the bsd fans into trigun, and I manage to get trigun fans into bsd... then all that remains is for me to get both of them into hatoful boyfriend... yes... yesssss...my plan is working...)

Lol I'm just kidding. Ehehe I'm not that cool really, just excited to share my excitement about things we enjoy. :)

But seriously, I highly recommend Trigun; it's got a fun, in-depth cast of characters who are astonishingly easy to get attached to, it's got the right mix of comedy and soul-crushing heartbreak, and the thematic elements are really interesting to analyze, since there's frequently no "right" answer.

I assume you're talking about watching the new cgi anime, Trigun Stampede, which is excellent - the animation is absolutely stunning. They're also reworking some plotlines in really interesting ways, so I'm very curious to see where they go with it. There's also the 98 Trigun series, which I haven't seen yet, but I know is beloved for a reason - I think this one started a lot more lighthearted then took a sharp veer into darkness, if I heard right. And lastly, there's the manga, Trigun and Trigun Maximum, which I'm reading right now, which imo has its characters be a bit... messier, I want to say? It's a new heartbreak every volume. There's something interesting to analyze in every chapter. I'm having so much fun. There's a book club ongoing here for it, if you're at all interested btw!

Anyways, it's all this little guy's fault. He's so sweet. He has joined the blorbo collection and I want only happiness for him that the narrative will not allow.

Watch/read Trigun! Love & Peace!!! :D

[creatorbiaze]

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[yurislava]

7. Dividedness

After Dante and Virgil part, Dante watches the procession of the church (Purgatory XXIX - XXXII). It heads towards the Tree of Knowledge. Beatrice presents a vision of a sinful and divided church. Similarly, in chapter 108, Sigma witnesses Fyodor's second nature. Fyodor has already talked about ability users and their connection to sin (and what he says doesn't always add up - that alone can be called the dividedness), but now we see the "good" and the "evil" sides of him. Obviously, we don't know whether he was faking it or being honest, but what's important is that such a situation did happen.

(I think DOA can also be the "church". All of its members have different goals, meaning it's divided).

BONUS:

Dante's journey from the end to finish lasts a week. And for Sigma, it's been 5 days since Mykola saved them. (Dante's 5th day was in Purgatory, so it applies to Sigma's situation too 👀).

bsd chapter 98

I wrote the original post before ch 108 came out so I'm really happy it can be compared to Divine Comedy as well.

Parallels between Bungou Stray Dogs and Divine Comedy

I believe that in the current chapters Asagiri is purposely sneaking in parallels to Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. This post will cover the similarities and possible references between bsd's current arc and that book. At first I thought the Meursault prison corresponds to Hell, but now I believe it's actually Purgatory.

Introduction

Similarities

Final thoughts

Divine Comedy (in which the author - Dante - made himself the main character) talks about one's path to breaking free from sin and their growth as a person. It's divided into three parts: Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. During the first two parts, Dante's guide is Virgil (Beatrice comes at the end of Purgatory). In Hell they're going downwards, to the lower circles; in Purgatory they're going upwards, to the higher terraces.

The difference between those two places is that in Hell the souls are suffering endless tortures for their sins, meanwhile in Purgatory they're atoning for them and will eventually leave that place. Depending on what we think is more similar to what's happening in the Meursault prison, we could either interpret it as Hell or Purgatory.

As I said, I believe that it's Purgatory, as the characters are going up, starting from the lowest floor, and that journey helps them (Sigma and Dazai) to grow as a person.

When it comes to Fyodor, I'm not so sure. His goal is to get rid of the abilities, which he compares to a sin. This point acts more as an argument for the Meursault prison, or even his arc overall, to be Hell (not that it's like Hell for him, but more like that's how he thinks of the current events other characters are going through), as his idea of making the ability users free of the the sin is killing them and that's nothing like Purgatory. One could argue tho, that it is similar to the latter, because he wants to release the people from the sin, his idea how to do it and methods are just different.

His character and ability are based on Crime and Punishment and that's literally what Dante's Hell is - endless punishment for one's sins. Moreover, Fyodor sees himself as the God's subordinate and Divine Comedy talks about the souls' sufferings because of their wrongdoings to God. It also talks about Dante's path to getting closer to God (metaphorically and literally), and Fyodor thinks of himself as someone between God and the people.

This analysis won't focus on him, but I wanted to point out the (important) religious themes in both of the stories.

What's also interesting is that Dazai and Fyodor (as the most dangerous ability users) had their cells located on the lowest level - similarly to Hell, where the worst people, traitors, were at the lowest ring. Although Dazai is a traitor to the PM, I don't think he parallels those from Dante's work, as they were meant to symbolize that betrayal is bad, but Asagiri shows that what Dazai did was good for him. They correspond to them in their "lack" of humanity and various commited crimes.

Now more of the similarities!

1. Briareus

Purgatory, Canto XII; bsd chapter 98

The prison officer's nickname is "Hundred ability Briareus". In Greek mythology Briareus is one of the Hundred-Handers, who helped Zeus and the Olympians to overthrow the Titans.

Quick comparison to bsd: while bsd! Briareus gets killed by a person who's "working" for a prisoner, og Briareus eventually becomes a guard of those he was fighting against.

Briareus is also a character in Divine Comedy. He has two appearances: in Hell he's a giant inhabitating the Ninth Circle; in the first terrace of Purgatory he's one of the giants whose sin was pride. I'll focus on the latter, as it's more similar to the scene from chapter 98.

Dante's Briareus is a sympol of pride and bsd!Briareus says how powerful he is. Moreover, they're both more or less carved into the ground / wall (Dante's Briareus as a form of penance, bsd!Briareus by Chuuya's ability) of the first terrace / floor.

That would mean the Meursault prison is our Purgatory.

(more under the cut)

That scene also reminds me of the beginning of the Fifteen light novel, where Chuuya is really confident in his ability and makes fun of PM for being weak - interesting how he's the one to meet and kill Briareus (in Divine Comedy the meetings help Dante to become free of the sins). Also, the PM member from Fifteen is rather scared of Chuuya and shows him no respect, as opposed to the prison officer.

2. Flames and separation

In Canto XXVII, so almost at the end of Purgatory, Dante has to go through the flames in order to go to Paradise. Virgil can't come with him, as he's not Christian. Instead, he encourages Dante and reminds him of his free will.

In chapter 106.5 Sigma and Dazai also are in a situation involving flames, and even tho none of them actually go through them, they split up - Dazai doesn't leave the lift. Just like Dante and Virgil.

That, and the fact that a big part of Sigma's character is about being used (so not having free will) makes me believe they're paralleling Dante, making Dazai Virgil, their guide through the prison.

Sigma is in the process of finding themselves - similarly to Dante, who with the help of Virgil learns truths about love, good and bad, etc. This heavily reminds me of the conversation from chapter 105.5 about why Dazai chose them and his relationship with ADA.

Here's a comparison of their conversations:

After Dante goes through the flames and leaves Virgil, he sees the march of the Church, and Sigma may find Fyodor in the next chapters. Moreover, Beatrice says the Church is divided and sinful. The people are going into the direction of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the tree that Eve and Adam got their apple from). Fyodor's view on the world really fits that description, take dead apple and the manifestation of his ability as an example.

3. Water

In Canto XXXI (where Beatrice is the guide) Dante goes through the waters of the river Lethe, which makes him forget his past sins. In XXXIII (the last part of Purgatory) Dante dips in Eone and becomes fully purified.

That obviously reminds me of Fyodor and Chuuya, and then Sigma and Dazai, drowning.

Chuuya - he's currently a vampire (who, because of that, might not remember his past for now - Lethe?). Both the transition to a vampire and being dipped in water have metaphorical meanings involving changing as a person. That situation, along with Dazai's words, could have helped him gain consciousness, at least for a second (you know the whole "his eyes were back to normal" thing), and "cleanse" him from the vampirism. Moreover, in his speech Dazai talked about their relationship, and the one who was by Dante's side when he went through Lethe was Beatrice, his lover. She also talked about love (Canto XXX) and Dazai's farewell was really emotional and more authentic than what he usually says. (Of course I'm not saying they're lovers, just pointing out the similarities)

Sigma - before drowning in Meursault, there was a different panel that showed them being in water. Fyodor talked there about Sigma's loneliness in this world - is Sigma's amnesia similar to Dante going through Lethe? (Or: before coming into Purgatory, Dante had to be washed, because he had to leave his worldly life behind. I think that fact corresponds to Sigma's life even more). Then we got the recent chapters where Dazai saves Sigma. I didn't find many "cleansing" themes in that scene, except for that panel, which reminds me of baptism (it cleanses the person from sins and is done with water):

What we can also get from these similarities is that Dazai doesn't necessarily have to correspond to Virgil, but also Beatrice, another guide.

4. Dreams

Throughout his journey, Dante has dreams that help him understand things better in one way or another. In one of them he sees Beatrice, who I already compared to Dazai. Atsushi "hallucinated" as well, in chapter 105. In that vision he sees Dazai who makes / motivates him to move. Atsushi's much like Dante as well - they both are on a journey to become a better version of themselves, but also idealise their mentors.

5. Ango

Just like the spirit, Ango is helping Dazai and Sigma to go through the prison (upwards). Dazai also calls him an 'angel'.

Purgatory, Canto XVII; bsd chapter 101

6. Mykola

The game Fyodor, Dazai and Sigma are playing was made by Mykola. One of the most famous works of the real Mykola Hohol is Dead souls, which some believe that he wanted it to be the Russian Divine Comedy. The book was meant to be a trilogy, but only one volume (that was meant to correspond to Dante's Hell) was created. I even found a reference to it, in which Chichikov (the main character) is compared to Dante:

That point acts more as an argument for the game to be Hell, not Purgatory, but the relatedness to Divine Comedy is there. Or maybe it's more that Mykola wants the game to be like Hell, not Purgatory - either for Fyodor or Dazai, it's supposed to end in death. The other one's experience would be like Purgatory, tho, as he'd successfully leave the prison.

Or maybe, it's his journey that he wants to be like Chichikov and Dante's (since he wants to become free). Either way, that person is supposed to go through Purgatory later.

Also, does it mean the game is going to end before it was supposed to? If it hasn't already.

To sum up, I think one character doesn't have to correspond to just one person from Divine Comedy - and vice versa. Dazai is Virgil, but at the same time Beatrice, another guide, and also has some parts of Dante - he grows and goes through the Purgatory.

We don't have only one Dante - both Sigma and Atsushi share his traits and both go through their own paths to knowing themselves better (with the help of Dazai, too).

Bram and Aya's relationship is the one where, in my opinion, the levels of danteness and virgilness are most equal. Aya is Bram's guide, literally caries him on her back, but also shows him modern technology. Bram also helps Aya and guards her. Not to mention, they're at the highest part of the airport now, which means they have gone upwards.

I argued the Meursault prison is Purgatory, but I also found some similarities to Hell. It can be that it shares both of their traits, maybe depending on a character and what's happening to them.

The question is: is Asagiri writing this arc with so many similarities to Divine Comedy on accident or on purpose? Because if it was just the themes and archetypes that were alike, I wouldn't ask this question, but some of the things I listed are too resembling of Dante's work for me, especially Briareus and what happened in the lift. Not to mention real Hohol's connection to Divine Comedy.

If you have thoughts on this subject, please share! I've spent so much time thinking about this, I don't know anymore if I've gaslighted myself into thinking Asagiri must be doing it on purpose or not (but at the same time!! the similarities!!!). Yes, Dante is way older than every bsd author, but 1) we also have Shakespeare and 2) I believe it's a reference to Divine Comedy as a book, not that he'll be a new character (it'd be so cool tho). But even if it's not Asagiri's conscious doing, the similarities are still very interesting and I enjoyed looking for them.

[dazaistabletop]

Everyone's like 'I hope Chuuya returns, but he better not die or get bitten' and 'oh if Chuuya returns let's hope he's not a vampire' and Asagiri looked at us and said "great f*cking idea"

[simmishi03]

Bsd Manga spoiler

Yas chuuya slay

[beans-beneath-moonlight]

Thinking about how Chuuya used to keep his hands in his pockets because he wanted to feel human but only just started doing it again after he became a vampire

[deadmitochondria]

BSD memes

A new chapter is out so I'm back with a fresh set of trashy memes

This is chuuya's sleep paralysis demon:

The entire fandom reading chapter 98:

Nikolai who's been alone this whole chapter be like:

When he's supposed to be your boss's enemy but he starts gay dancing with your assistant instead:

Nikolai after dazai runs away with his potential boyfriend:

[ranpoesupremacy]

Okay but Fyodor making Chuuya his trump card knowing damn well how powerful he is the most unexpected but most amazing concept. Asagiri put all their brain power for that, they ate that!! I would've never guessed and thought of that. just wow

[sad-emo-dip-dye]

It’s been so long since chapter 98 came out that if chuuya actually ended up dead, I don’t think I would feel anything cause I’ve been telling myself he’s fine for so long I might as well just keep the dream going

[liesweliveby]

a compilation of pissed off dazais in bsd 98: