#bsd spoilers chapter 57

[afterthelambs]

Mushitaro+Yokomizo's parallels with other character pairings

I noticed a surprising amount of parallels between Mushitaro and his dead friend Yokomizo with the other characters in BSD (fyolai, dazai, ranpoe, sskk). There's even potential foreshadowing for the future of certain characters. Idk if anyone's done this before but I wanted to write something about it since we're meeting them in the anime soon. Just hear me out for a bit, and spoilers for the manga up to current events!

So Yokomizo is a mystery writer and his goal is to create the "Ultimate Mystery" greater than anything else in the genre. He achieved this by having his friend Mushitaro secretly kill him, turning his own death into a real life mystery. Basically, his death at his friend's hands brought him fulfillment.

This is a common theme in BSD characters: Death as an expression of love or death with the person you love bringing fulfillment. Yokomizo turned to Mushitaro to be the "key" to his death because Mushitaro is the only one he trusts. Mushitaro agreed to this plan because he cares about Yokomizo. He wants to "fulfill his friend's final wish" even if it hurts him in the process. This murder represented how much they loved each other. Chapter 56 shows Yokomizo telling Mushitaro "you truly are the only--" while Mushitaro cries:

To me this parallels Fyodor and Nikolai's storyline later on. Chapter 78 is where we find out that Nikolai wants to kill Fyodor because Fyodor is "the only one who gets him" (which sounds a lot like what Yokomizo's last words to Mushitaro were). Since Nikolai's goal is to go against his emotions, that means his actual desire is to keep Fyodor with him. Nikolai's basically saying "You're the one I have to kill because you're the one I love the most." Just like Mushitaro, it's death as an expression of love.

I believe the parallel is intentional since it's through Mushitaro that we first meet Nikolai in chapter 57. Isn't it fitting that the characters with very similar arcs serve as introductions to each other?

This could be more than just a cool parallel. It potentially foreshadows Nikolai's future if he does manage to kill Fyodor (or if he's fooled into thinking Fyodor is dead). We see what happens to Mushitaro after Yokomizo is dead. In chapter 69, he writes to Yokomizo as if he were still alive and cries while doing it. Then he hallucinates Yokomizo giving him advice in his time of need:

In the same chapter he says "I can't drum up much interest in the outside world any longer." While Yokomizo found fulfillment in dying, Mushitaro was left alive and suffering. Maybe this is what awaits Nikolai if he achieves his goal? I've seen people meme on this before, the whole Nikolai-kills-Fyodor-and-instantly-regrets-it but given this parallel, it's actually a possible direction for his character. But this is just a guess/meta/prediction so take it with a grain of salt.

On a lighter note, there's Ranpo and Poe. They also have a dynamic where they're the only ones who get each other, and that's the reason Poe wanted to kill Ranpo initially. The difference is they realized immediately that the other's presence fulfills them more than their death would. (good for Ranpoe for being the most stable pairing in BSD). From chapters 32 and 49:

The next parallel is Dazai and his constant desire for a double suicide. It's not as clear a parallel since there isn't any love here (he begs literal strangers for it). But he does have the same concept of death bringing fulfillment, even if the rest of the BSD cast is (rightfully) horrified/confused by it. Interestingly, he actually does commit suicide in the Beast universe... in the presence of Atsushi and Akutagawa. So like Yokomizo, he still wanted his death to be witnessed by meaningful company.

So is that all? I mean, the main duo of the series is Shin Soukoku but they don't seem to have any parallels with Mushitaro and Yokomizo. They try to kill each other yeah but they hate each other. This is supposed to be about death as an expression of love, or death by someone you love bringing fulfillment. What parallels could they possibly have with them?

Oh wait whats this--

oh. oh.

So Yokomizo had a terminal illness... with one year to live... and he used his friend as a last resort to finding fulfillment...

That sounds familiar...

Yeah... 🥲

Akutagawa desperately wants acknowledgement from Dazai before he dies. He thinks the only way he can achieve that is through his rivalry with Atsushi. Just like Yokomizo needed Mushitaro, Akutagawa needs Atsushi for his fulfillment. The fact that it can only be Atsushi PLUS the fact that Atsushi hallucinates Akutagawa telling him what to do in the recent chapter 105, similar to how Mushitaro hallucinated Yokomizo giving him advice in chapter 69? It shows they do find meaning in the other (even if it's not 'love').

Last bit of angst before this ends: if Yokomizo's illness truly is foreshadowing for Akutagawa's illness, then idk if I like that because it kinda foreshadows that Aku's ultimate fate really is to die even if he somehow manages to come back from being a vampire.

And that's fun. Everyone loves the thought of their favorite character dying :DD

[linklethehistorian]

I posted 117 times in 2022

67 posts created (57%)

50 posts reblogged (43%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@linklethehistorian

@ikiyou

@linkles-art-blog

@asachuu

@popopretty

I tagged 116 of my posts in 2022

Only 1% of my posts had no tags

#linklethehistorian - 114 posts

#thoughts - 101 posts

#my thoughts - 100 posts

#bsd - 69 posts

#bungou stray dogs - 69 posts

#bsd novels - 43 posts

#fifteen - 37 posts

#storm bringer - 35 posts

#stormbringer - 35 posts

#cherish - 32 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#but genuinely one of the things i’m most looking forward to at this point is just when it’s all over and done with and i can finally just

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Hey, um…BSD manga? Yeah, hi…can we talk a minute?

What the fuck is this?

No, seriously. What in the everloving fuck is this?

Is this….a Fifteen anime reference I see? Are you, the canon manga, which exists alongside and works in tandem with the canon light novels, truly acknowledging the events of an anime adaption that utterly butchers one of said canon light novels, and at one of the very worst moments of butchering in it, no less?

Hast thou lost thine mind?

57 notes - Posted May 2, 2022

#4

Giving Paul a normal mouth bc fuck that weird ass turtle mouth shit.

@bsdsocials If you ever wanted to see Bones style Paul but without that mouth lmao

My edit hhhh, if you want to see the original official art click here:

https://linklethehistorian.tumblr.com/post/680260718243823616/signal-boooooost-for-official-anime-style

57 notes - Posted March 31, 2022

#3

“There’s still some of it left in you — the hope that you’ll live.”

“Hope?” Verlaine said, looking back at Dazai with a broken smile, “In me?” He laughed bitterly to himself, half-crying, before heading down the steps into the basement once more. “Have a good evening.”

— Storm Bringer Stage Play, End Scene (written out by me to read like a part of the novel)

63 notes - Posted August 24, 2022

#2

See the full post

106 notes - Posted July 3, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

“The Storm” — A BSD Manga Chapter 95 Theory

Alright, so…this little meta article is probably going to be a lot less professional and more ramble-y than my standard fair, because I’m doing this off-the-cuff and not writing it and re-writing over a matter of days or weeks or months, as I usually do, but nevertheless, I want to talk about it because, although some might find it unlikely, I personally feel there is more than enough merit to the idea to put it out there, even if it later turns out to be wrong.

The rest of this will be under the cut due to spoilers for the manga up to Chapter 95 (and maybe a few chapters after that, just to be safe?) of the BSD manga, along with spoilers for the light novels Fifteen and its sequel, Storm Bringer (and maybe a small bit of 55 Minutes), so yes, bare that in mind before you proceed. 

Since I have no idea where else to start with this, let’s take a little trip back in time; it’s October 10, 2021, Chapter 95 just recently released, and I’m experiencing it pretty much for the first time with @truedge, posting the scans 3 pages at a time in our private Discord server and chatting about it as we read along.  It’s all fun, laughs, and games until the pages talking about the protective ability placed around One Order come up, and he cracks a simple joke:

At first, I laughed, and then —

All at once, it hits me like a ton of bricks. I — the one who should have been the first to recognize his ability in an instant — embarrassingly did not have this click in my head for a solid three minutes until the joke was made. Holy crap, he was right.

I stopped, looked back over the pages, scanned the manga for any information I could, and the evidence kept building and building, and pretty soon I had a solid, bonafide theory on my hands, worthy of showing to the world.

And so, I present to you my theory — a theory which ties the end of Storm Bringer and the main BSD manga together at last: what I like to call “The Storm.”

“But Linkle! Arthur is dead by current time! There’s no way his ability can be involved with guarding One Order!”  …Just…hear me out.

Physical Appearance

First of all, please take a good look at the ability guarding One Order, which we are shown in Chapter 95, and compare it with the canonical light novel interpretation of Arthur’s very unique ability, Illuminations, as shown in Fifteen and Storm Bringer.

Here is the ability guarding One Order:

See the full post

110 notes - Posted July 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[cheezychuuya]

SPOILERS BSD CHAPTER 57

spoilers of chapter 57 of bsd

LOOK AT THE HORROR AND SHAME IN HIS EYES , IT REALLY LOOKS LIKE THERE ARE GODDAMN TEARS IN THIS MAN'S EYES

(btw that is 1075+ crimes)

[edwardcaprifolium]

Thank you to @tempodreams for helping me with the montage!

Image source: Bungou Stray Dogs by Kafka Asagiri and  Sango Harukawa and eponymous anime by studio Bones. And the usual Sponge Bob transition. 

[popopretty]

"Ex mafia executive, Dazai Osamu. 

I hereby arrest you on the charge of 138 conspiracy murders, 312 blackmails and 625 other frauds."

[dancing-dazai]

has this been done yet

[n1kolaiz]

The Six Realms

Okay, so I was pretty close to giving up on writing analyses but I'm back LMFAO plus I see we're close to 100 followers and I just want to thank you guys for being so very supportive <3

Alright, I'm not sure if anyone's ever written about this, but if an analysis like this exists, please do let me know because I'm kind of curious as to what other people think about this, too!

Remember that time Fukuchi spoke about bringing "about the five signs of an angel's death"?

I read a little bit more about it, and as a minor content warning: this analysis will focus on a few religious aspects (Buddhism + Hinduism). So if I get any of the facts wrong, firstly: I do not mean any disrespect to either religion, and secondly: please do correct me if I interpret anything in the wrong way.

Spoilers for BSD chapter 90 onwards + BEAST!AU under the cut!

So I'll start by talking about the Decay of Angels. As we all know, the members include Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Nikolai Gogol, Sigma, and Bram Stoker, and their leader, Fukuchi Ochi. After Fyodor's arrest, the Decay of Angels came into light with Nikolai murdering four government officials in a week. These murders symbolise the Buddhist cycle of existence, or otherwise known as samsara: the cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

"We are the Decay of Angels—hiding here as terrorists, a 'murder association', five people who will announce the demise of the celestial world."

Nikolai Gogol, chapter 57

Samsara is described to be a concept beyond human understanding. According to Hinduism, samsara is the physical world where every being has its soul trapped into a physical vessel. The Hindus believe that everything has a soul, and due to a soul's attachment to desire, it is forced into a deathless cycle of being born, dying, and reincarnating into a different body. In Buddhism, the ultimate way to break free from this cycle is by obtaining nirvana.

Nirvana is a Sanskrit word for the goal of the Buddhist path: enlightenment or awakening. In Pali, the language of some of the earliest Buddhist texts, the word is nibbana; in both languages it means "extinction" (like a lamp or flame) or "cessation." It refers to the extinction of greed, ill will, and delusion in the mind, the three poisons that perpetuate suffering. Nirvana is what the Buddha achieved on the night of his enlightenment: he became completely free from the three poisons. Everything he taught for the rest of his life was aimed at helping others to arrive at that same freedom.

- TRICYCLE'S definition of nirvana

As Fukuchi mentions in the panel above, there are six different realms of existence. These realms represent every possible state of existence, but one cannot live in a specific realm forever. Depending on whether or not one's past actions were morally good or bad, an individual is born into one of these realms. Basically, the controlling factor of which realm a person is born into is dependent on their respective karma. The realms are separated into two categories: the hellish ones and the heavenly ones.

The Deva Realm: where beings are rewarded for the good deeds they have done. This realm is void of anything unpleasant. It is basically paradise— empty of unfulfilled desires, any form of suffering, and fears of every kind. Religious individuals, however, do not seek to be born into this realm since its attitude is more or less carefree.

The Asura Realm: where demigods are admitted. Asuras are driven by greed and envy, and may come in conflict with human beings since they are quite similar. They are powerful beings, but quarrel with each other quite a bit, making this realm quite undesirable to be reborn into.

The Animal Realm: where beings are given the form of an animal (you probably guessed that lol). Individuals here don't actually have good karma to take pride in, but rather, they are born into this realm to work off their bad karma (by being slaughtered, hunted, or forced to work, etc). Being born into this realm forces one to atone for their past sins by living out their life as an animal.

The Hell Realm: where one is punished for their evil actions. The most merciless of realms, where one pays for their transgressions through pure suffering, methods of which include: dismemberment, starvation, and psychological/physical torture. However, once a person's term is fulfilled in this realm, they are presumably promised to be reborn into a higher state.

The Preta Realm: similar to the hell realm, in which beings pay for their past sins (specifically: greed and stinginess) by having to survive through hunger and thirst. This realm is also known as the 'ghost realm,' because some pretas are psychologically tortured by being forced to live in places their past selves have lived in. They are invisible to human beings living at that time, which pushes them to face the depths of despair and loneliness. Your typical horror movie, really.

The Human Realm: the only realm where one's actions determine their future. The status (social ranking, physical wellbeing, and so on) of a human being in this realm is determined by their past actions, but due to the fact that a person has their own conscience to differentiate good morals from bad, the actions they commit in this realm have the power to determine which realm they are sent to next.

Okay, so now that I've got that out of the way, let's shift our focus to the Book. Very little is known about the Book, but the basic fundamentals of how it works is that whatever is written in the book will come into existence only if its contents follow the rules of karma. In addition to that, only a few sentences can be written into a single page of the Book, and it must follow the current narrative of the story.

If I'm not wrong, the first time the Book was mentioned was by Fitzgerald, who wanted it to resurrect his deceased daughter in hopes of restoring his wife's mental health. The next time the Book is brought up is when Fyodor's intentions to possess it are divulged; his goal was to decimate the global population of ability-users. And now, the current arc has the Book as its central focus, with a single page in Fukuchi's possession.

[ BEAST!AU spoilers ]

The Book acts as the central point of multiverses, with each character's lives differing from universe to universe.

Dazai committing suicide in this alternate universe stands in sharp contrast with how he decided to start up a new life in the main universe.

Oda staying alive to act as a mentor to Akutagawa in the ADA differs from how Oda uses his death to prompt Dazai to "be on the side that saves people."

And of course, the way Atsushi and Akutagawa have their positions switched in the two universes depicts how different their lives would be if they were given the chance to be mentored by different people— these are just a few examples of how the Book houses an endless amount of possibilities.

[ end of BEAST!AU spoilers ]

Hypothetically speaking, this kind of reminds me of the differing realms I mentioned before, where suffering is promised in some realms, and better things are granted in the rest, depending on one's karma, or the deeds they've done in their past lives. In this scenario, perhaps one's past life can be understood as one's current life in a different universe. That's just a personal opinion though. Take it as you will.

side note: Keep in mind that the person who is more or less impervious to the Book's effect is Dazai, with his nullification ability. I wouldn't want to propose any theories in this aspect (I don't believe I'm fully fact-checked ;_;), but I could use Dazai as a raw example of how your choices affect your future. If Dazai had decided to stay in the Port Mafia after Oda's death, or if he even decided to go through with his suicidal fixations, life would've been different for him in the root universe (obviously, ryley) I mean, you could basically understand that from how he ended up in the BEAST au, but imagine if he really did slip up in his decision-making in any of the universes.

Many analysts have proposed that he went MIA (early in his life) from the main universe for a while to figure out how the BEAST universe worked, whilst having the Book to his advantage. Perhaps his actions were guided? I'm not saying he's all-knowing, but he's sure as hell smart. I'm not sure if Kafka was trying to highlight the concept of karma when it comes to Dazai, but if he is, then I suppose you could say that Dazai is pretty much unaffected by the rules of karma, existing as the centerpiece of all the multiverses. No Longer Human is the namesake of his ability, but the book talks about disqualification from societal norms and generally, the world. I was talking about it with a friend, and they reminded me that Yozo (the main protagonist) was pretty strong in his views against society. Like he didn't speak out of total defeat, he spoke out of defense. If there was anything Dazai actually lost to, it was his guilt— "Living itself is a source of sin."

Then again, that's my personal interpretation since everyone has their unique perspective of his writings. In terms of the actual adaptation, you could translate the word 'disqualification' to 'insusceptibilty' when if it came to the Book's effects on Dazai? This side note is becoming really long lmao anyways I'll link a few theories which afflicted me with brainrot down below.

Another thing before I wrap up, the name 'Decay of Angels' stemmed from Yukio Mishima's book entitled 'The Decay of An Angel.' This is the final novel to the author's tetralogy: 'The Sea of Fertility.' The main protagonist, Honda, meets a person he believes to be a reincarnation of his friend, Kiyoaki, who takes the form of a young teenage boy named Tōru. The last novel of this series enhances Mishima's dominant themes of the series as a whole:

the decay of courtly tradition in Japan

the essence and value of Buddhist philosophy and aesthetics

Mishima’s apocalyptic vision of the modern era

Again, this could be referred to what Fukuchi goes on to say:

Some people view the concept of samsara optimistically, justifying it by saying that perhaps each individual is given a second (third, fourth, fifth, who knows) chance to refine their actions in order to be birthed into a better realm, with their karma being the independent variable.

On the other hand, other people, specifically the Hindus, view the cycle of existence as some sort of plague. To them, the flow of life and being forced to endure the suffering of mere existence in any form was somewhat frowned down upon. Some Hindus viewed samsara as a trap. Besides, having one's soul being limited to a physical body for the rest of eternity was not very appealing, especially since where they ended up at depended on the karmic value their past actions surmounted.

Even so, particular types of Buddhists don't seek nirvana, but instead, like the Hindus, they make an effort to be good people of society, building up their good deeds to increase the likelihood of being reborn into one of the better realms.

As mentioned before, the Deva Realm was the home of angels, the most carefree, gratified beings to exist. Fukuchi describes these angels as the people who don't get their hands dirty, the people who act as the puppeteers of society: politicians.

In terms of parallels, angels were the most fortunate and powerful, but they didn't have anyone ruling over them. A lack of supervision would lead to the abuse of power, which is what I believe Fukuchi was referring to. Deeming himself the Decay of Angels, he sought to prove himself as the 'sign of death that falls on the nation's greed.'

A few fun facts (okay, not really) about Yukio Mishima: he committed seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowelment) on the day he held a speech to voice out his unpopular political beliefs to the public. Mishima deeply treasured traditions and opposed the modern mindset the nation was advancing forward to adapt eventually. In his last book, The Decay of an Angel, he spoke about the five signs which complete the death of an angel:

Here are the five greater signs: the once-immaculate robes are soiled, the flowers in the flowery crown fade and fall, sweat pours from the armpits, a fetid stench envelops the body, the angel is no longer happy in its proper place.

The Decay of an Angel, p.53

The reviews about this series I've read so far describe Mishima's works to be quite complex; his writings demanded a lot of time to deconstruct and understand. They were highly symbolic, and he was pretty obsessed with death and the 'spiritual barrenness of the modern world.' I think you could attach a few strings from here to the mindsets of the DOA members. Of course, this parallel is completely abstract, but I'll go on rambling anyway:

He should have armed them with the foreknowledge that would keep them from flinging themselves after their destinies, take away their wings, keep them from soaring, make them march in step with the crowd. The world does not approve of flying. Wings are dangerous weapons. They invite self-destruction before they can be used. If he had brought Isao to terms with the fools, then he could have pretended that he knew nothing of wings.

The Decay of an Angel, p.113

I suppose you could resonate Nikolai with that excerpt. As much as Fukuchi takes the lead in this whole murder association, I'd like to believe that each member of the DOA plays an equally interesting part in whatever movement they're trying to execute. Fyodor feels it is his god-sent purpose to cleanse the world of its sins, his motto being, "Let the hand of God guide you." Sigma doesn't know where he belongs, since his origination comes from a page in the Book, and is fueled by the desperation to find a reason to live. Bram holds one of the most powerful abilities which is counted to be one of the "Top Ten Calamities to Destroy the World."

What I mean to say is that the DOA members are incredibly powerful, and they're not your ordinary antagonists (or I'm just biased). It's not just overthrowing authorities, mass genocide, and world domination— you could say that each individual is trying to utilize their purposes to their fullest expenditures, and the way they're trying to assert their plan into action is a little more passive-aggressive (framing the Agency, having a convo with a suicidal dude in jail, etc). They're the gray area between evil and good. As they framed the good guys for their own crimes, they're trying to conquer the bad guys for exploiting the innocent as they please.

This post would definitely age well if all hell breaks loose in the current arc (as if it didn't) and Kafka doesn't give us a happy ending.

That's all I have to say for now I guess! Thank you for reading, and once again, if anyone else something they wanna share, feel free to do so <3

sources (tryna follow Q's example ^_^) :

the six realms

samsara

the decay of angels

beast!au

the book

the sea of fertility

yukio mishima

theory: dazai’s emotional/mental state in beast!au

q’s theory: dazai being the protector of the book

theory: beast!dazai and the book

[itsclowreedsfault]

I was tagged by @xenophonspeaks and @sylmoira. Thanks bbs <3

rules - you must answer these 85 statements and tag 20 (ish) people.

I’m going to tag @takasukis, @bakushous, @tartan-llama, @qr-sa, @bobwrites, @todorokih, @zuura and @kuroosukii. If any of you don’t want to do this feel free to ignore it :)

(putting it under the cut since it’s pretty long)

THE LAST

1. drink: Water 2. phone call: My brother 3. text message: My boyfriend 4. song you listened to: Thunder by Imagine Dragons 5. time you cried: 2 days ago while reading this post 6. dated someone twice: (is this asking yes or no or the last time this happened? anyway I’m answering both) Yes, I dated my boyfriend once a couple of years before he actually became my boyfriend haha 7. kissed someone and regretted it: god I don’t even remember when that was haha years ago 9. lost someone special: Yes, my grandfather a few years ago 10. been depressed: Nothing, like, clinically diagnosed? But I was in pretty bad shape a few years ago 11. gotten drunk and thrown up: Nope. Never got drunk and don’t plan to.

3 favorite colors 12. Blue 13. Purple 14. Black

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU 15. made new friends: Yes <3 16. fallen out of love: No 17. laughed until you cried: Many times :P 18. found out someone was talking about you: No 19. met someone who changed you: Yes, many people actually 20. found out who your friends are: I don’t think so? 21. kissed someone on your Facebook list: Yes

GENERAL 22. how many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Most of them 23. do you have any pets: Three cats <3 24. do you want to change your name: No 25. what did you do for your last birthday: Went out to eat with my bf and family (that’s basically all I do on every birthday lol) 26. what time did you wake up: 7:15am 27. what were you doing at midnight last night: Going to sleep I think 28. name something you can’t wait for: AKAYONA CHAPTER 144 29. when was the last time you saw your mom: A few hours ago 31. what are you listening to right now: Shots by Imagine Dragons 32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: No 33. something that is getting on your nerves: I keep getting Thunder stuck on my head (it’s been like this for 3 days rip) and I can’t write like that 34. most visited website: Tumblr 35. hair colour: Black 36. long or short hair: Long

37. do you have a crush on someone: Does my boyfriend count as a crush lmao 38. what do you like about yourself: My creativity 39. piercings: None 40. blood type: I know it’s O. Don’t ask me if it’s positive or negative though, no idea. 41. nickname: Tha 42. relationship status: Have been in a steady relationship for nearly five years ^^  43. zodiac: Aries 44. pronouns: She/her 45. favourite tv show: (I’m going with anime because that’s all I watch lol) BNHA, AkaYona, YoI, BSD, etc 46. tattoos: None  47. right or left handed: Right 48. surgery: None 49. piercing: Didn’t I answer that already? 50. sport: KEEP IT AWAY FROM ME 51. vacation: Mountains <3 52. pair of trainers: I had to google what trainers are and I’m not sure what I should answer. Like? I wear them sometimes? Is that it? xD

MORE GENERAL 53. eating: Nothing right now. 54. drinking: Same as above. 55. i’m about to: Try writing (again) 56. waiting for: spoilers of the new akayona chapter 57. want: To finish this fic still have a lot to go until that’s done tho 58. get married: Not yet. In the future, though, I want to. 59. career: Who knows? Not me.

WHICH IS BETTER 60. hugs or kisses: Hugs 61. lips or eyes: Eyes 62. shorter or taller: Taller 63. older or younger: Hm, older. 64. nice arms or nice stomach: Arms 65. hook up or relationship: Relationship 66. troublemaker or hesitant: Hesitant

HAVE YOU EVER: 67. kissed a stranger: Yes 68. drank hard liquor: Yes 69. lost glasses/contact lenses: No 70. turned someone down: Yes 71. sex on the first date: No 72. broken someone’s heart: Yes 73. had your heart broken: No 74. been arrested: No 75. cried when someone died: Yes 76. fallen for a friend: Yes

DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 77. yourself: Sometimes 78. miracles: No 79. love at first sight: No 80. santa claus: No 81. kiss on the first date: Yes 82. angels: Never gave it much thought, I guess not?

OTHER: 83. current best friend’s name: I don’t have a best friend 84. eye colour: Dark brown 85. favorite movie: Harry Potter (don’t ask me to pick just one. definitely not order of the phoenix or half-blood prince, though).

[n1kolaiz]

ENTJ + INFJ DYNAMIC

BSD MANGA CHAPTER 54-57 SPOILERS

Chapter 54 introduced Mushitaro Oguri, and his background involving Yokomizo was ever so intriguing to me. So unfortunately, here I am.

Mushitaro and Yokomizo's dynamic:

The 'Commander' meets the 'Idealist.'

Alright, I won't go into the details about the case of Yokomizo's death, because there's no way in hell I can explain it fluently at all. So if you need further reference to what these few chapters are about, popopretty's post would elaborate on the details and whatnot.

Before I start, here's a bit of little introduction to both individual characters:

MUSHITARO OGURI

Mushitaro appears to take a lot of pride in his ability, which contributes to his arrogant complex altogether. He had his own desires and goals, and lived out his days just to fulfil them.

His ability is called the 'Perfect Crime,' which allows him to erase any trail of evidence pertaining to whatever crime he had committed. Hence, he is also known as the 'infallible Detective-killer.'

Until Ranpo proved him wrongヾ(❀╹◡╹)ﾉﾞ

His personality type is most likely 'ENTJ,' the 'Commander.'

- ENTJs are known to have exceptional leadership skills. They are confident in themselves and what they do; basically, they don't have the tendency to second-guess what they are capable of. This explains Mushitaro's ambition to achieve his ends, and his ability goes the extra mile of complimenting his success rate greatly. Whether his motives or the end results were morally good or evil, it didn't matter to Mushitaro— as long as his wishes were fulfilled.

"With tyrants and demons, I'll make deal with a demon. That's in my nature."

- They're also quite outspoken with their opinions. It's a fairly minor detail, but this shows why he wasn't afraid to express the distaste he had for mystery novels to Yokomizo— including the extravagant ideas and serpentine stories his close friend based his life upon and discussed with him.

- The subtle insensitivity mixed in with an ENTJ's preference of logic over emotion highlights one of their core weaknesses: which brings us back to Mushitaro's ability to kill his friend. Say you were to put a person with a deeply compassionate heart, who's also very well in-tact when it comes to identifying emotions and being empathetical to other's feelings: would that person be able to kill a friend they'd known for so long? For the sole reason of making his last mystery novel a deathless enigma? This is very subjective perspective, but I believe that if Mushitaro was more of an emotionalist rather than a strategist, things would have turned out different for Yokomizo's eventual fate.

Side note: His insensitivity did, however, find its limit when he realised how devastating it was to have killed his own friend with his hands. Even though there's a wide scale that measures how insensitive a person can be, they are, in fact, still human beings capable of feeling. Killing someone dear to you is no easy task; there is a breaking point for the hardest of hearts.

SEISHI YOKOMIZO

Yokimozo, also known as Kindaichi, was a mystery writer who was very particular about detail and being exclusive, especially when it came to his works. His last wish he pursued to achieve before a terminal illness took his life was done by formulating a 'mystery that transcended reality.'

"I hate regret. So I've done whatever I've wanted to do. Up until now, it's been a satisfying life. But now… I've been given a time limit…Before then, I have to complete the ultimate mystery."

His personality type is identified as 'INFJ,' also known as the 'Idealist.'

- INFJ's are deeply creative and artistic, but they express it in various different ways. For Yokomizo, he portrayed his brilliant artistic skill through his writings revolving around mysteries and their compelling depths. The fictional character's namesake was also a mystery novel writer. Yokomizo was pretty well-versed with how mysteries worked and how their details ravelled themselves into elegantly, well-established riddles, which only added to his natural flair of writing.

- Generally, INFJs are reserved, but incredibly idealistic. Yokomizo was seen to be very abstract in his idea of thinking, and this is due to the fact that INFJs have a thing for pondering about life and the meaning behind everything.

"Mushi-kun, I bet you're laughing at me for destroying myself for the sake of mystery. But if that's the case, maybe there's no such thing as unshakable values. Maybe it's up to us to decide what to put value in and what to live for. After all, we have the right to turn our own decisions into our entire world. It is, foolishly enough, the greatest luxury afforded to mankind."

- As for their weaknesses, some INFJs are very hard to get to know. They are mysterious at times, which prevents them from being flamboyant with their thoughts and opinions. Yokomizo had a very lighthearted, mystifying nature, which made him a very interesting character altogether. Despite having a high regard for their intimate relationships— INFJs can be quite private. Mushitaro vaguely points out his self-contained, introverted mannerisms in this panel:

Now, I'll get to my point.

ENTJs and INFJs don't ideally match up, but when it comes to general friendships, there are a few details that suggest an accomodating dynamic between the two personality types. These qualities emanate from Mushitaro and Yokomizo's friendship with each other.

Opposites attract in most cases, correct?

Well, in this case, ENTJs and INFJs have a lot of similarities:

intelligent

intuitive in thinking

determined

goal-oriented

But the more numerable contrasting qualities is what really brings out the agreeable traits between Mushitaro and Yokozimo. Think of it as a system where two opposites mutually keep each other in check:

1. Mushitaro bases his life on the gaining his own needs and wants, and is very firm in his sense of realism, while Yokomizo is more focused on the deep, complexities of life itself. This may come off as impractical to ENTJs, but also compliments their coordination with INFJs. Realism limits idealism, but idealists can also expand the boundaries realists place themselves in.

2. INFJs accept people and ideas as they are, not willing to put others down just to prove themselves right. Yokozimo's tolerant behaviour stands in contrast with how authoritative Mushitaro is, especially when it boils down to his arrogance— he isn't afraid to spit his pride right into his opponent's face.

Kneel, detectives! I am the king of crime! No one can force me to sin and repent!

Just for laughs reference^

So it's safe to say that because Yokomizo had an acquired sense of serenity and open-mindedness, he was able to tolerate Mushitaro's extravagant, subtle histrionic characteristics, which were laced with his superior complex.

3. In the manga, Yokomizo speaks and converses with Mushitaro in a way that suggests that he is careful with his words. INFJs are gentle and generally sensitive to the needs of others, so they tend to be careful with what comes out of their mouths. Mushitaro, like most ENTJs, are quite blunt. This points back to how insensitive they come off, even if they don't actually mean it. So when it comes to Yokozimo explaining tales of mystery to Mushitaro, Mushitaro doesn't hesitate to mock Yokozimo; but because of how understanding Yokozimo is, he doesn't take Mushitaro's opinions too seriously to the point of discounting the value of their friendship, because he knew Mushitaro didn't use his words with the intention to harm.

If you were to place a more dominant persona in Yokomizo's position, I doubt that that person would be able to tolerate such behaviours. Then again, this is crucially subjective.

I suppose the main thing I wanted to point out was how ENTJs and INFJs balanced each other out by cancelling out each other's extreme traits, and keeping each other in the middle of the equilibrium altogether. But another thing I'd like to point out to sum up Mushitaro and Yokozimo's relationship was this: the fact that Mushitaro had to kill his own friend to grant his dying wish. Dying for someone or by someone's hands is easier than killing someone, especially if that someone is dear to you, no? I guess that's the part I can't fathom— it was the type of relationship that stood out way more than I had expected. Say, the roles were switched, would Yokomizo actually kill Mushitaro? Or would Mushitaro think of such an incomprehensible way to die in the first place? Or what if these two friends had different, more superior traits that coexisted in conflict all the time, would Yokomizo even depend on Mushitaro with such a task?

The speculations are endless, or maybe it's pretty straightforward. Though, I hope this made sense.

Okay, I'm done rambling for now. Thank you for reading!

[popopretty]

BSD Chapter 57

This chapter is called “Sunday Tragedy”

So apparently everyone is hyped up about a certain someone being in jail lol. But this chapter has many more to it :) As usual, feel free to correct me at any part due to my imperfect English and Japanese :)

                                                SPOILERS AHEAD

- Continuing the story from last chapter, the guy who shot the policeman turns out to be a guy from Fyodor side. His ability is like space manipulation (if you read BNHA, it’s something like Kurogiri’s ability I think). He takes a liking to ask a quiz for everything he says (and answers it himself right away). He calls himself Gogol and his ability name is still unknown (from what I found he’s mostly likely Nikolai Gogol, a Russian writer living around the same time with Fyodor Dostoevsky - Fyodor mentioned Gogol quite a few times in his works).

- He tells Oguri that he’s from a murder association called “Tennin no gosui” (five signs of an angel’s decay) and his job here is to “cleanup” or in other words, eliminate those who are aware of their next plan.

- Oguri grabs the walkie-talkie and shouts out to Ranpo that if the ADA has a big job coming, do not take it because the ADA will be destroyed if he does. Then Ranpo hears some gunshots and loses contact with Oguri.

- The story moves to one month after the Cannibalism event, Fukuzawa is being given an award for the contribution of the ADA to the city’s safety, by an old guy that’s called “Attorney General” (he will appear more later).

- Back to the ADA, Kunikida is back and has started practicing combat skills with Atsushi. The ADA receives a request from the government to investigate the murder cases caused by the “Murder association”. Four people have been gruesomely murdered in different ways, all to recreate the five signs of an angel’s decay in Buddism (TN: You can read more about these five signs HERE). 

- That means one more person will be killed and Fukuzawa is determined to find out who that was. However, Ranpo, remembering Oguri’s words, refuses to take the job. When being asked the reason, he said “My friend’s last words” (TN: Awwww). Ranpo and Fukuzawa then exchanged a few words about honor and responsibility but Fukuzawa also refuses to change his mind so Ranpo gets angry and leaves midway. Kunikida tries to chase after him but stopped by Fukuzawa, who says that the ADA will chase after the criminal and Ranpo himself also understands that he will be chasing after the one who is trying to destroy the ADA.

- Ango calls Atsushi saying he couldn’t contact Dazai (TN: well yeah not surprised) and tells Atsushi that there’s high chance that someone inside the government is involved in this serial murder case. During their conversation Atsushi bumps into the Attorney General, and is asked about the progress of the investigation. He says he was is sitting in a coffee shop when he saw Atsushi stopping by but with his tiger nose, Atsushi realizes that the guy has no smell of coffee on him, so Atsu freaks out and runs away lol. After Atsushi left, the guy reveals that “The fate that ADA will be destroyed today has been decided”.

- Meanwhile, Dazai is watching a horse race while a stranger approaches him and starts a conversation. He tells Dazai he can see Dazai’s future tomorrow and that future is his tomorrow will not come, while suddenly handcuffing him, for committing 138 conspiracy murders, 312 blackmails and 625 other frauds.

- Inside the government office, the Attorney General is having a secret meeting with a few subordinates. He informs the other members that an employee of ADA has been arrested (I assume that it’s Dazai), and that there are a few more suspects inside the ADA, such as Kyouka who killed 35 people and Yosano who was suspected for killing patients in the military. A secretary shows up giving him proof that Fukuzawa used to be an assassin and a list of people that he has killed. The secretary later turns out to be Gogol in disguise and shoots the General, revealing that he will be the fifth victim.

- Meanwhile, Dazai asks the guy who arrested him the reason why he only comes to arrest him now. The guy then said that for some reasons all the proofs have been recovered, including photos, fingerprints, voice recordings, just like the switch that erased the proofs from the very beginning has been turned off. (We are then shown a picture of Oguri beaten up and tied into a chair so yeah that’s what happened :( )

- The chapter ends with the last “quiz” from Gogol, who asked the Attorney General “What’s funny about this plan?”, to which he answers himself “Your life and death will decide the ADA’s fate”.

And that’s allll!! This chapter is really interesting. I hope it will go on for a few more months, not ending so abruptly like the Pushkin arc.  Thank you for reading all the way till the end :)