#bsd ramblings

[lazyflower48]

Dazai and Ranpo: The Two Geniuses of the ADA

The thought about making a post about Dazai and Ranpo's teamwork has been plaguing my mind for a while now, and so I finally found some time and decided to go through with it.

So let's talk about one of my favourite underrated duos for a moment. The two geniuses of the ADA- Dazai and Ranpo. Two people who make a wonderful team and are actually, in my opinion, the backbone of the agency.

What I find interesting is that (though I believe that Dazai respects and admires all members of the ADA) Dazai openly admires Ranpo A LOT. He's always quick to praise Ranpo (basically fanboying over him and it's quite adorable to see Dazai gush over someone like that other than Oda) and in 'Dazai's Entrance Exam' we see him being surprised over the fact that Ranpo's ability is not actually an ability and we see him further praise Ranpo's intellect after finding that out.

Despite the fact that Dazai is a huge mystery, even to the people around him, Ranpo figured out that there was something up with Dazai in just a single glance (in 'Dazai's entrance exam'). And despite knowing that Dazai was probably hiding a sinister past, he didn't press him any further for details (probably in order to respect his privacy or his wish to not disclose his past OR maybe due to the the fact that knowing Dazai, he most likely wouldn't answer truthfully even if questioned about it)

What I also love is that even though both of them are extremely intelligent, their intellect differs in such a way that Ranpo is a master of deduction and Dazai is a master of manipulation (as stated by Kunikida in 'The Daily Routine of the Detective Agency'). However, one thing both of them share in common is that they both felt isolated due to their nature.

They may have limited interactions but their interactions are always my favourite, for instance-

1. Dazai's entrance exam - Dazai's admiration and respect towards Ranpo

2. Season 1 - Murder on D-Street - Dazai showing a good understanding of Ranpo's deduction process and acknowledging that Ranpo caught onto more details than him

3. Season 2 - "Mountains or sea?" " Sea. "

Showing their unspoken communication. They can read each other's minds at this point lol.

4. Season 3 - Ranpo basically acknowledging that Dazai would be a tough opponent to go up against by comparing Fyodor to him (sort of praising his intellect in a way)

5. Season 5 - The Strongest Man in the Agency- Ranpo

Dazai keeping an eye on Fyodor while leaving the rest to Ranpo

Dazai relying on his allies- trusting Ranpo to negotiate with Bram in order to undo the vampire curse.

6. Dead Apple - Ranpo seeing through Dazai's plan beforehand.

7. 55 minutes - Seeing through upcoming events beforehand, one thing Dazai made sure was to inform Ranpo about the whole fiasco on Standard Island in order to save the Agency in the end.

Also, sidenote: I found out that the Dazai and Ranpo duo is named Souheki, which translates to double jade. Now, I'm not sure if this information is fanon or canon (feels more like fanon tbh but I really like it because it's a pretty name)

Anyway, one thing we can say for sure is that as long as the two geniuses of the Agency- Souheki work together, the ADA will most likely remain undefeated cause no one really does it like them

Lastly, just some food for thought. I've always wondered how Dazai would react if he found out that Ranpo met Oda TWICE and the second time he met him was right before Oda went on to his certain death.

Honestly, I would LOVE to see more fleshed out and direct interactions between these two.

[2383-lines-of-code]

ranpo trusting fukuzawa instead of using his deduction skills got ranpo into this current kamui/fukuchi mess, I wonder if this will impact his ability to trust others, create a rift between him and fukuzawa for the first time, and/or make him more cold-hearted or manipulative. I so desperately want ranpo to emotionally shut down and stoop to fyodor’s level, becoming effectively unrecognizable to those close to him. Imagine a flashback to when he told oda “if you go there you’ll die” and then current ranpo thinking abt how he knows there’s no going back from whatever cruel thing he’s abt to do/done for the sake of the agency. (gotta throw in some parallels ofc). but also that would make me cry so maybe not-

[calmlb]

“Chuuya wasn’t in Dark Era, why is he in this art??”

wdym, he’s right here 🤨

[whathorselegs]

Dazai through other people's eyes

Inspired by @originalaccountname's post about Atsushi's vision of Dazai being warped.

These are all panels where Dazai either appears as a memory or hallucination for different people. Probably not all of them, but a small collection I literally just gathered in the last hour.

----

Atsushi

I think it's interesting just how lifeless this hallucinated version of Dazai is. He doesn't smile, he doesn't joke. It really does just feel like Dazai's face placed over Atsushi's conscience to guide him forward.

Akutagawa

Scraggly little guy. There's mystery behind his eyes, he knows something you don't. Has never seen a hair brush in his life. Akutagawa's vision of Dazai always looks like he's the one in control and he knows it. But also, he looks so young.

Chuuya

This ones admittedly a little different because the 1st panel is from the fifteen manga BUT I'm counting it because I love the visual and it makes an interesting contrast to how Chuuya saw Dazai when they were both teens, to how he remembers him now. One a mastermind demon, the other a lost looking boy surrounded by demons.

Ango

Bratty, criminal child. Someone who needed to be saved. The handcuff representing Dazai as someone trapped by his past and Ango trying to pay penance by saving him from it. He envisions the boy he was, because his betrayal meant he never got to know the man Dazai became.

Ranpo

Happiest little guy out there! Considering how much Dazai says he admires Ranpo, it's not surprising that when Ranpo envisions the agency he sees Dazai smiling at him. This is the Dazai Ranpo wanted to protect, the smile and joy he never wanted to lose.

[cosmickoshi]

This is canonically the most murderous member of the ADA by the way.

[suru-sketches]

happy birthday, mackerel

they're at the aquarium to celebrate his birthday with his own kind (aka fish, coz mackerels are fish? lol)

[archerinthewoods]

someone PLEASE draw over this with stormbringer chuuya im begging

[tunamayuuu]

knowing what we know currently about teruko, this official art just hurts to think about

like you mean to tell me that her older reflection WAS NOT a hint to her true form? that that older form in the MIRROR is meant to represent how she's constantly put up the image of a much more mature soul than how young she truly is?

that the teruko on the right was always who she is and we were all misled to thinking she couldn't possibly be as young as she looks???? that older teruko's face is hidden by the mirror's reflcted light because teruko has never truly naturally grown to that stage in her life yet?????

ASAGIRI WHEN I CATCH YOU.

[merriclo]

something something, the fact that Dazai despises dogs and yet is so insistent on Chuuya being one.

he isn’t wrong: of all the animals out there, Chuuya has the traits so stereotypical of a mutt. he was always one, i think, from the moment he was experimented on. and if he wasn’t under Dr. N’s rancid hands, then he surely was once the Sheep got a hold of him. sure, he was called the King of the Sheep, but what is that other than their herding dog? a shepherd so loyal to his flock, that even when a blade got buried in his abdomen he still cared for them. in the manga, it’s implied that his choker is the Sheep’s signature bracelet repurposed. he moved it from one pulse point to another, changed it from the sign of belonging to a crowd to the sign of defending one with a bloody maw. it’s a collar now, strung tight.

it’s explicitly stated that Chuuya will forever care about others, no matter how much they have hurt him. in his heart, there will always be a place for those who have done nothing but mutilate his life. a kicked dog whose tail still wags.

and. Dazai hates dogs.

genuinely, he’s disgusted by them. he takes every chance to mock or insult them. yet, he immediately became so fixated on calling Chuuya his dog, framing him as this portrait of unending loyalty, littered with wounds and stained with viscera. Chuuya becomes the one Dazai trusts the most in his current world, so much so that four years apart doesn’t change a thing. they’re back at each other’s side, lives immediately in the other’s hands; one soul, two bodies. the ends of a dichotomy that hides an endless spectrum within.

within hours of meeting, Dazai had decided that Chuuya was a dog, a mutt. he has yet to be proven wrong, and he has yet to truly hate him. something something

[lazyflower48]

I love how despite the show being called Bungou Stray Dogs, most of the characters are either cat coded or canonically cat people OR they just dislike dogs.

And as a cat person myself, I absolutely adore this little detail (I love dogs too ofc, just prefer cats a little more)

The protagonist is literally a cat. (Okay yes, he's a tiger. Close enough lol)

Dazai was referred to as "a burnt black cat" by Oda. And he's also a cat person with a very obvious dislike for dogs.

The strongest gifted is LITERALLY A CAT.

Then of course there's Fukuzawa- the biggest cat person in the series. And Ranpo is also one of the most cat coded characters in the show (he's just as lazy as a cat)

Kyouka being the most adorable cat person

And then there's Haruno and her obsession with cats, specifically, Mii-chan (Natsume). Also, love how cat girl is just a...CAT girl. (We don't even know her name)

There's Akutagawa with his dislike for dogs (imo, he's also very cat coded. According to a CD drama, he hates baths. If that isn't very cat like, then I don't know what is)

Lastly, Chuuya being one of the few dog people in the show is so funny to me.

Maybe Chuuya is the true Bungou Stray Dog amidst all the stray cats.

[calmlb]

something about Dazai being comfortable enough around Chuuya to be vulnerable and let him see his genuine reactions (especially his genuine shock) as he processes out loud is SO SO IMPORTANT TO ME

plus Chuuya not being shocked to see the genius at work tells us this isn’t the first time he’s seen Dazai actively figuring things out in real time…

the way Chuuya knows Dazai's nervous habits— noticing that Dazai is worried, and subtly checking on him. the way Dazai drops his facade in favor of putting all of his focus into the mental game at hand is such an obvious sign of trust & closeness for someone like Dazai, whose facade is his main form of defense

how they interact with each other in the downtimes when there’s nobody watching…

all i can think is, look how far they’ve come since they were 16 when Dazai couldn’t trust anyone with his plans. how even now, Dazai is always putting up his “all according to plan” front, even with the agency. how Chuuya is the one person we’ve seen him truly drop the mask around, and Chuuya doesn’t bat an eye. even their banter is ongoing, but subdued.

soukoku and their subtle displays of intimacy will be the death of me 💔

[iwantmochisoup]

fem!beast skk - thanks to twin @saltedbiscuiit for starting all this beast brainrot <3

[whathorselegs]

There's just something about the rubble only being visible in Fyodor's shadow in this panel.

Something about how he destroys everything he touches, about how misery and ruin is all he's capable of creating, about how everything that's happening, has happened, all comes back to him.

Shadows usually obscure things from view, but darkness is all Fyodor is, that's where he's revealed.

[askchuuyanakahara]

dazai you should tell chuuya what happened to odasaku. he would understand. he lost the flags remember?

but u might wanna be careful when u tell him about mori- he may want to murder him-

Chuuya: "Boss told me about it the night I found out you'd left. I so.. understand why you left."

Chuuya: "I know I was abroad but I wish you'd at least said something. And the bomb in my car did not count."

Chuuya: "But you have to be honest. If I had to be honest, so do you."

Dazai: ".. Not exactly."

[cosmickoshi]

Hi yes I'm still thinking about these two pages and about how Nakajima Atsushi really is the protagonist of all time.

Nothing could ever justify the orphanage director's treatment of Atsushi. Nothing could ever justify the pain and abuse Atsushi faced at the director's hand. But it is undeniable that the director has played a significant part in shaping who Atsushi is presently and has also aided him in times of need. It ties into BSD's recurring theme of how your past does not define you, but you also cannot flee from those memories because they have fundamentally influenced so many facets of your life — and acknowledging said memories is the first step to healing from them.

The director has been haunting Atsushi all this time and Atsushi so desperately wants to purge his voice from his mind, but he's also never lived a life where the director's presence doesn't plague him. What would he do once the person whose actions have shaped who he is today is finally gone? The director died and Atsushi cried because people tend to cry when their fathers die and now Atsushi is verbalising all of his loathing for his abuser in a way he couldn't for so long and yet he’s horrified by the prospect of being rid of his influence.

And the way Atsushi’s eyes are concealed from the reader until the director tells him that he’ll be gone “as early as today, even”, and there’s so little light in Atsushi's eyes when they’re finally revealed to us. The way they reflect these conflicting emotions within Atsushi surrounding the director's declaration — he'll finally be free of the very person responsible for so much of his pain and trauma, and yet that person has been such a significant part of his life that a world in which his abuser won't haunt him is unfamiliar and terrifying to him.

And I just. God. I can’t.

[thewickedjazzy]

remember when the craziest plot twist back in the day was just tachihara being a hunting dog? yeahhh now i need a phd in euclidean space just to figure out what that russian geek is rambling about.