#bsd will never have another villain like fyodor

[ssaraexposs]

Remember when Fyodor led Dazai (and us) to believe Sigma was a very dangerous man? (I'm not saying that Sigma is a poor, innocent man. He's just NOT as much as a threat as Fyodor wanted us to belive)

[calypsocolada]

TILL NEXT TIME | f. dostoevsky

(prequel to 213 days, technically pt. 2, click here for the final part!)

synopsis: you meet a demon for the first time and he surprises you. authors note: sorry it took me so long to make this i am recovering from bsd s5 ep3. anyways, this is a kind of prequel to 213 day. hope you enjoy more soft lovestruck fyodor :) might write one final part to this... cw: blood, gore, violence, fluff, flirting, lovestruck!fyodor, manipulation wc: 2.7k ----------------------------------------

You're phone rang in the darkness of your room. It seeped into your dreams until the harsh ring sent you flying upright in your bed. Your heart thumping wildly in your throat. Your eyes search the dark room until it lands on the clock across the room, the red letters reading 2:13 a.m.

No one ever calls this late unless something is truly wrong.

You fumbled for your phone in the dark, knocking over some things on the nightstand. You cursed as you felt the cold metal of your phone. You pulled it towards you, the bright screen momentarily blinding you. You blinked until you were able to read the name. 

Dazai. 

Your heart dropped from your throat into the pit of your stomach.

You left the agency a few months ago after a particular villain almost killed you. In and out of the hospital for weeks. Nightmares night after night, screaming and waking up the other patients. You were sure the nurses despised you. During those weeks leading up to your close demise you realized that risking your life time and time again was wearing on you heavily. You had found yourself jumping at chances that could get you killed. It was a harsh find, something that left you reeling. Fighting for what was right never felt like a job. With powers like yours it was more of an obligation. But lying in that hospital bed, fightened that the villain, who may or may not have perished, made you finally realize. That even though it hurt, you truly were afraid of dying. You stepped down, amidst your coworkers dismay. The agency was like a family to you and it hurt you but you had an another family, one that had been worrying over you for years.

You let the phone ring. The tone harsh. Something tugged in your chest, you hit the answer button. 

“Dazai?” You murmur sleepily. 

“You almost let me go to voicemail, friend.” There’s amusement in his voice. 

“Almost.” You say and he laughs. 

“Sorry to wake you but we need to talk. Somewhere private.” He says and the amusement in his voice is gone. It has a serious edge to it. It puts you on high alert. 

“Is something wrong?” You ask. 

“I wouldn’t dare interrupt your beauty sleep if there wasn’t.” He says and you can’t help but roll your eyes. 

Dazai was sat in a clearing lit from the moon when you finally found him. He gave you directions to a forest just outside of the city and the entire ride here you wondered if this was all some kind of joke. Or if it wasn’t and you were being lured here to your certain death. The forest was certainly dense enough for something bad to occur. THis clearing was the first shred of light the entire way here. You had to guide your way with your pathetic flashlight on your phone.

But when you saw Dazai alone you relaxed. He was sat cross legged on a boulder, his head propped in his hand. He perked up as you walked closer to him. 

“Finally.” He sighs, sliding off the boulder landing on the forest floor. 

“You couldn’t have picked some nice little coffee shop?” You grumble, flicking leaves from your hair. Dazai leans against the boulder, sliding his hands into his pocket. 

“This is secluded. No one can hear us here.”

“It’s creepy. And the way you said that is even creepier.” You snipe. Dazai just smirks. It reminds you of the good ole days. Of sitting around the agency after a job, resting on your chair, listening to the members bicker or laugh. Something warm filled your chest. “Is everything okay, Dazai?”

“I need your expertise.”

“You need my powers.” You deadpan and he nods his head. 

“The agency is in a bit of a bind. I need you to do a little recon for me.” Dazai said calmly. You crossed your arms over your chest, shaking your head. 

“I’m done with that, Dazai.” 

“I know but- one last mission. A send off.”

“No.” You say a bit more firmly. You already had a send off, it almost cost you your life, you didn't want another one. “You don’t need me, you think circles around me, I’m sure you can find another solution.” 

“You’re my solution. Your powers are extraordinary, you do this for me and I’ll owe you.”

“You already owe me! A ton!” You argue. 

“We need you. Just one last time.” He says, leveling you with a meaningful look. You clench your jaw.

One last time.

The old you wouldn’t have even thought twice. You always jumped head first into a problem. You can’t help but think of how relieved your mom was when you told her you quit, she cried with joy. Your dad smiled at you, hugged you and beamed that he wouldn’t have to worry any longer. You were dissappointing them.

One last time. You'd say that all the way to the grave.

 

You found yourself slinking down a dark hallway, using shadows to your advantage. Been a long time since you held a gun, but it fit comfortably in your hand and felt all too familiar. Dazai gave you the run down. It was a quick in and out. There was a prisoner down here you needed to get a few two answers out of with your powers.

Cell thirteen. 

“Hey! You shouldn’t be down here ma’am!” A voice called out down the hallway. You hid your gun behind your back, not wanting to spook the man into calling for backup.

“I wasn’t here, keep walking.” You command, your powers coating your voice. It washes over the man as his eyes go hazy, his feet carrying him down the hallway. You hear chains rattle beside you, slightly startling you. 

“That was impressive, quite a power you have there.” A voice to your left says, his Russian accent softly coating your ears. You turn to the voice, peering through the bars of a dark cell. A man sat on the edge of a bed, long limbed, black hair hanging in his face. He pulls his head up, eyes as black as night looking into yours. He barely tilts his head, those dark eyes looking you over not once but twice. The corner of his lips quirk slightly. “You’re a beautiful sight for sore eyes, dear.” You glance at the cell number. Thirteen. 

“Fyodor Dostoevsky.” You say, and his eyes light up. Before he closes them, making a face as if he’s savoring something sweet. 

“Yes…” he breaths out. “It sounds so sweet from your lips.” You stare at him. Is this guy for real? 

“I’ve come to ask you some questions.” You say and he opens his eyes back up, sliding them to meet yours. 

“Some questions, hmm? With a power like yours I’m sure you can just force an answer out of me.” He says, leaning his elbows on his knees. You nod your head. 

“Yes.” 

“But what fun would that be?” He asks. 

“I’m not here for fun.” You say and Fyodor pouts his lips. 

“I’ve been imprisoned for quite some time, dear, humor me?” He asks. You stare for a moment. Dazai described this man as highly dangerous and to not let your guard down. 

“No.” You say. “Tell me-“

Suddenly a hand clamps over your mouth, a strong hand that drags you back into an even tougher body. Your gun is wrenched from your hand and easily tossed to the side. You’re held with no hope of escape. You watch Fyodor rise to his feet as he walks to the bars. Slender fingers wrapping around them. This close you see his face better, pale skin, sharp lines. His eyes are soulless, the smirk on his pink lips turning to something colder. One last time, yeah this really would be the last time. 

“Careful with her,” he directs sharply to the man holding you. You struggle but it’s in vain. Whoever is holding you right now was ten times stronger than you. “Come, bring her closer.” Fyodor directs and you’re forced to walk forwards as you kick and squirm, grunting with effort. The man stops. “I’m not going to hurt you, I just wanna see you,” he whispers softly, reaching a hand through the bars. You flinch as his long finger drags softly across your forehead to move your hair from your eyes. You’re too confused by the moment to pull away. It's not often that an enemy takes such an interest in you. “Don’t be angry with me, my love, you must understand why.” He says as you feel the man behind you fish the keys from your pocket. Handing it to Fyodor. Fyodor doesn’t look away from you as he unlocks his cell, stretching.

You slam backwards against the man holding you, hitting him in the jaw. The man grunts in pain, loosening his grip. You stamp your foot down, driving your head up one last time, his grip slackens even more as you’re able to break free. But he catches you by the hair, yanking you back and slamming you against the concrete flooring. You feel your nose bust, blood gushing. Your head screams in pain as you feel a foot stamp hard down on your chest. The breath is swept right out of you as you see the man’s looming figure over you, just as you part your lips to speak there’s a flash and a loud pop. Hot blood sprays across your face as the man’s hold is released and he falls slack on his side slamming into the concrete. Your breath rushed back into you as you cough and gasp, scrambling back. Stood mere feet from you was Fyodor, gun in hand, smoke curling out of the barrel. You stare, dumbfounded as Fyodor bends to his knee as you watch him carefully. He reaches across the space between you two, you flinch as his soft fingers wipe blood from your lips. His fingers linger there and your stuck staring because his eyes aren't black, they're a midnight plum color.

“Are you alright, my love?” He asks his voice a husky whisper. Your throat is dry. His hand is warm against your face, his thumb drags slowly across your cheek. His eyes travel your body as though he searching for any other wounds. He shoots a sharp glare to his dead henchman.

You find your voice. 

“Drop the gun and get in the cell.” You command, that same hazy look settles in his eyes as he stands up straight, hand dragging from your face, turning and walking into the cell. You force yourself off the floor, snatching the keys from his hand, slamming the door behind him, locking it. He stops in the middle of the cell and turns slowly, lips parted in surprise as his eyes meet yours. There’s something you can’t quite place behind it. 

He had saved your life… he could’ve run and never looked back. But he didn’t. Something shifted in your chest. Some feeling you shoved away before it could try and form. Slowly a smile forms on his cruel mouth, it offsets every sharp line in his face, makes it look soft. 

“Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.” He recites, eyes taking on a sort of dreamy quality. 

“Why did you kill him?” You push, avoiding the dead man not three feet from you. 

“He wasn't careful with you,” he waved as though that were obvious. 

“You could’ve fled, what did my life matter to you?” 

“I feel a sort of draw to you, my love, something about you I can’t put my finger on just yet.” He says in thought. Your jaw ticked, you decided not to go down that road with this man, it’s clear he’s not all there. “I knew the agency would send someone but I didn’t expect you.” 

“Y-you knew?” You stuttered. Fyodor’s eyes drag lazily up to yours.

“Of course I did, dear, it was quite obvious.” 

“You knew but couldn’t come up with a better plan to escape?” You dug. His lips turned up in a smirk. 

“I’m not sure I want to just yet.”

“There won’t be a yet.” You growl. His brow raises. 

“Will you stop me, my love?” He asks and you take a threatening step forwards. He was behind bars but still he intimidated you. He was over a head or so taller, looked down at you with dreamy sort of glaze over his eyes. 

“I’ll kill you if I have to.” You say. He slaps a hand over his chest as though you shot him with an arrow. 

“My love you wound me.” 

“Enough!” You snap, hand slipping through the bars grabbing the front of his shirt and slamming him into them. He grunts in pain as you hold him against the bars. “You’re going to tell me what you know then I'm going to leave.” You growl and the look on Fyodor is the complete opposite of what you want. He looks highly entertained. He doesn’t struggle. As though this is what he wants, you being rough with him

“I’ll tell you whatever you like.” He breathes out, this close you can’t hide the way his voice affects you. You feel crazy. You hide it well enough though. 

“How did you know I would be coming?”

“Not you, just someone from the agency. But I feel as though I am truly blessed with your presence.”

“Enough...” You sigh.

“I don’t know how to be silent when my heart is speaking.” You let go of his shirt and take a step back, running a stressed hand through your hair. 

“Do you know who I am?”

“If you’re asking if I remember who caught me then yes, I remember you love, I could never forget a voice like yours.”

Fyodor had the agency backed in a corner months before your accident, with no hope in sight Dazai had one last plan, he got you on the phone to Fyodor and you were able to tell him to sleep, he was arrest moments later. You hadn't known him then. You still don't now.

“I know you want revenge. Maybe you killed that guy because you wanted to kill me yourself." Fyodor tils his head as he thinks about your words for a moment. He walks closer to the bars, reaches for your cheek and holds it. You don’t move. You’re not sure you can. Whatever was happening was something completely out of your own control. 

“One day I will prove it to you. Until then,” His eyes glance at a clock just on the wall behind you. “You must leave.” 

“Why is tha-“ You’re walkee clicks to life as Dazai’s staticy voice comes through. 

“Time to go, got some trouble on the way.” He says and your eyes slide up to him. He still has his hand on you, it slides down your arm to take you by the hand. He brings your knuckles to his mouth and presses a kiss to them. You watch all of this in rapt attention, something flutters in your chest. You pull your hand away and take a step back, shaking your head as though shaking off a trance. He was just as dangerous as Dazai said. Not only did you not ask one question Dazai wanted answered but you almost let a very dangerous man escape. You bend to pick the gun up off the floor, your eyes never leaving Fyodor’s. 

“You have little more than thirty seconds, are there any questions you’d like to ask me? Possibly one’s Dazai supplied you with?” This man knew all too much. 

“Did you have anything to so with the framing of the agency?” The hazy tint takes over. 

“Not directly.” He answers. 

“Did you hire someone else?” 

“No.” He says. There were a few ways to get around your gift, you just had to choose your words carefully, a lie could be the truth with the right words. “You have to go, please.” Fyodor says, there’s a slight edge to his voice, like… worry? 

His eyes flicker to the clock, his lips move to count the seconds.

“Till next time, my love.” You leave without another word. There wouldn't be a next time if you could help it.

Slipping back into the outside, warm air greets you. You spot Dazai parked and walked dejectedly to the car, slipping your hand in your pocket. You stop dead in your tracks. Dread sets in. 

The keys are missing. And you would bet your last dollar you knew where they were.

[maislovebot]

GOOD MORNINGGGG

how do you think the rest of the DOA members would be like vampies? :3

- 🌀

GOOD MORNING!! Sorry that this is so late, my professor assigned some super hard assignments smh🙏 I honestly find it very interesting to think about the bsd characters in some vampire au so ty for this ask:3

I don’t normally write for Fukuchi but because this is just a small blurb I figured why not! Bram is also different from the others, as his doesn’t take place in an au and instead takes place in canon. Everyone else’s takes place in an au where their vampirism has a completely different set of rules from Bram’s!! You won’t become mindless if they bite you ty

I feel like Fukuchi has the most control out of any of them? He doesn’t really bite you often because he feels like it’s immoral. He’s already committing enough immoral crimes that completely go against everything him and his image stand for. He’s a war hero after all, why would he want to hurt more people than he already has to, especially when hurting you isn’t even going to save anyone. The only real exception would be if he was quite literally starving, and if you’re in poor health? Forget it. He’s never biting you. He would never bite you recreationally, it would only be if he was hiding from another organization and hadn’t eaten in multiple days.

If he were to bite you though, it wouldn’t be very different. He is a man with a lot of willpower and control. He’s able to control himself better than anyone else on this list, in all honesty. He’ll drink the amount he needs to be sustained, then he’s finished. No more no less.

He would enjoy eating nice meals, like perfectly cooked steak, or other things similar. He wouldn’t be very fond of roadkill, because he has the funds to eat at 5 star restaurants pretty much every day. Why eat things he sees on the side of the road?

Bram is similar in the sense that he has self control. He’s aware of the fact that if he were to bite you, you’d be subjected to becoming nothing more than a mindless, blood sucking creature. That isn’t what he wants from you. He wants to be with you for the rest of his days, even if he knows it isn’t realistic because you’re merely human. He’ll try to simply come to terms with the fact he won’t have you for very long, but it’ll only take him maybe 4 months after he’s gotten his body back for him to go on the hunt for something that can make him human, or safely turn you into a vampire. He’s aware of the page because of Fukuchi, and it’s his number one goal to get a hold of it now. He’d prefer to get it by teaming up with whoever is in possession of it, but if that doesn’t work out, he isn’t afraid to take a more villainous approach. Anything to keep you.

In terms of biting you, he never has because he knows what will happen. But oh god has he fantasized about it. It’s all he thinks about. You’d look so pretty with his fangs in your neck.

He didn’t really eat much before he got his body, only being fed whenever Fukuchi had someone he wanted turned, but that didn’t happen much until the vampirism outbreak. Now that he’s gotten his body back, he doesn’t bite people as one, he would feel unfaithful to you, even if nothing became of it and it was purely for feeding. He also wants to make a conscious effort to be good for Aya’s sake. He eats food you make for him. He doesn’t really like going out in public often, so he allows you to cook for him. You’ve made plenty of meals with blood in them, like animals, but you’ve also introduced him to other types of food, and even if they serve him no nutritional value, he finds them delicious.

Fyodor would love to bite you. If you’re just another pawn on his comically large chess board, then he’ll drink your blood with no real intent of giving you anything in return. Sure, he’ll toss you a rag, but you have to clean yourself off! He’s so horrible. If he cares about you, however, he is strangely tender. He has a sense of self control, but sometimes he gets so desperate for your blood he can’t help himself! He’ll hold you down and nibble into your shoulder. He likes biting your shoulder a strange amount. He can’t explain it, it’s just a nice, convenient spot to bite. This is why he loves it when you wear tops with thin or no straps. Makes for east access! Also let’s not forget that this man is anemic. He’d like to bite you to help get his iron levels up, so at least him constantly asking for you to let him bite you has some practical use? If you say no to him biting you, he’ll respect it. He cares about you, he wouldn’t do anything against your will. You’re the light of his life, after all. You’re perfection, therefore, what you say goes.

Whenever Fyodor does bite you, he’s quite literally on top of you, straddling you. He likes the power it gives him, even if in your opinion, he looks rather pathetic biting you while literally straddling you and trembling from how good you taste. He also likes to bite you from the back sometimes. He’ll walk up behind you, hugging you and swaying from side to side before grazing his fangs over your shoulder, awaiting your permission. He is capable of pacing himself, but if he begins ti notice you're getting dizzy more frequently, or you're getting woozy while he's biting you, he'll stop and clean up your bite, wordlessly cleaning you up and cuddling you.

He also likes to eat fine dining. Nothing can quite compare to the taste of your blood, but there are some fair substitutes. He will drink your blood whenever the opportunity presents itself, but he'll also take the two of you out to a nice restaurant and let you order whatevee you please, while he'll order something simple and bloody.

Nikolai is certainly the most strange when it comes to his behaviors. When he bites you he’ll take the blood left over and wipe it on your cheek or something weird like that😭 he also likes biting you in weird places because he finds it funny?? Like he’ll nibble on your fingertips and shit just for funzies?? Similarly to Fyodor, he would bite you whenever given permission. He doesn’t try to limit himself, if you give him permission, why stop? He’d treat you like fine dining. You’re sweet and yummy and Nikolai can’t get enough of it! If you were to tell him no, say that you don’t want him to bite you, he’d roll his eyes playfully but agree. He obviously wouldn’t want you to leave him because he bit you without asking! Then he wouldn’t be able to drink your yummy blood anymore. He also does care about what you have to say, even if he doesn’t admit it because he feels like it makes him seem less free.

As I said earlier, he likes biting weird obscure places, like your fingertips. He’ll lean down like a gentleman and kiss the top of your hand, slowly trailing down and kissing your knuckles, then your fingertips, before finally nibbling your finger tips. As he kisses you he places him hands on your stomach to press you down onto the nearest couch or bed, so you’ll be sitting up comfortably while he leans ahead of you. He also likes biting places like your collarbones, arms, etc. as much as he likes biting in weird obscure places, the neck is nice too. It’s simple, but affective.

He pretty much only drinks your blood..he’ll go a few days without eating (luckily vampires can last sufficiently longer without food that normal humans can), so once you’ve rebuilt your energy he can drink your blood again. Rinse and repeat that process over and over again, and you’ve got Nikolai’s eating habits. He’s also a messy eater..there will be blood pretty much dripping from wherever he bit you when he’s done so he can wipe it on your face or body.

We’ve already talked about Sigma a fair amount, but I’m down to cover the basics. He loves to bite you, in fact nothing can quite compare. He’ll bite you and once he’s done he has this appreciative look on his face. He loves that you’re willing to let him bite you, but he also feels bad. He tends to space out when he bites you, and he prefers biting you in places that have more fat so it hurts less. He’s already a thigh guy but he especially loves biting you there.. your neck is also a good spot to bite though. It’s a little more painful for you, though, so he tends to not bite you there often.

When he’s finished biting you he’ll just lick up the blood, and get a towel. If you’re too tired he’ll just set you down and take a bath with you, bandaging up wherever he bit you. If you’re not, he’ll treat you real good to make up for it. He may love biting you, but somehow, seeing how you’re attached to him at the hip, clinging onto him for the rest of the day is even more satisfying. He finds it cute.

He loves eating stuff you make for him and stuff from nice restaurants, and despite the fact nothing can quite compare to you, he knows he can’t realistically drink your blood every day. You’d get sick, and not to mention it would cause a lot of swelling and bruising. He’d rather space it out.

I was tempted to make this sufficiently more nsfw, but I decided to refrain from anything sexual outside of biting as I didn’t wanna deviate from the original prompt too much..

[uneducated-author]

... Okay time for my honest, unbiased view on the bsd s5 ending.

It wasn't amazing.

A lot of it was! The final circumstance, with Fukuzawa utilising the one order and being burdened with the responsibility, that's incredibly well done. So is the way Fydor died (I made a whole post on how it worked thematically and how it perfectly utilised the strengths and disparate worldviews between Dazai and Fyodor) and the ending with Aya and Bram, and how Bram is utilised by Ranpo makes sense in an interesting way. So, the ending, and the new situation we find ourselves in is amazing, but it just... feels a little shallow.

First of all, Fukuchi. 'The great and powerful unbeatable villain is secretly on the good side/let's himself be defeated' isn't inherently a bad trope, but it needs a bit more time and buildup than we got. I feel like, after some of the best fights in the series with Amenogozen, and how clever and tactical his techniques were, the final fight seemed a little like he'd been written into a corner. It's a good fight ideologically, but we've seen Fukuchi win without his sword before (Tachihara) and it just, falls a little flat that he just gives up that fast.

Same with Dostoyevsky! We never even figure out his ability, and he dies by being stabbed by a vampire and blown up? Thematically sound, but just so anticlimactic. And I can't help but wonder, why didn't Chuuya just manipulate a bullet into the back of his head? It would have been much easier.

In fact, the whole prison break arc is now a little less impressive on a rewatch. When you rewatch the Moby Dick arc, you're constantly struck with 'wow, if that hadn't happened, the whole plot would have fallen apart, the strategy was so intricate and layered'. Now, when you watch the prison arc, you're just like 'oh yeah, Chuuya's on Dazai's side. Dostoyevsky never stood a chance'. Chapter 101 or 109 don't have any long term narrative weight because it isn't a genuine emotional moment of vulnerability, it's a performance.

I still love the proof of the bond between Soukoku, and the fundamental truth, that they'll always rely on each other. But it just cheapens Dazai's moments of vulnerability in this arc.

Also! Sigma! Is completely irrelevant to the plot. Unless this kicks into gear in the new arc (which I think it will), Sigma tells Atsushi the page is with Kamui and that the detective agency is to be assassinated. This has no merit, because Fukuchi reveals he has the page of his own accord, and Ranpo negates the assassination plots. Then he's a valuable character during the prison break, proving Dazai's character growth, and his bond with the detective agency, but he doesn't have any plot weight. He's just there for Dazai to explain things to, an audience self insert. Then he gets stabbed by Fyodor, and trades information for a plot that's been wrapped up already, and he's literally forgotten about. (Unless the information he got was actually relevant to an arc that comes into play after Fyodor's death, in which case I shall eat my words happily.)

I think I was just kind of disappointed. A lot of the ending just had no gravity. Everyone is alive, the strategy implemented at the beginning worked, and the villains are defeated by theatre tricks, or because they wanted to die.

I just feel like the story lost scale a little bit. I made another post actually praising BSD's use of scale, how it keeps threats small, contained and personal, but the latest arc stretched too large, without any significant loss.

I really don't want to come across like I thought that the series was bad or anything. The character moments were great, and there were some masterfully wrapped up themes and morals, and I loved the ideological fight between Fukuzawa and Fukuchi and also Dostoyevsky and Dazai. I just... feel like the ending almost corrupts the greater story.

(Of course if anyone thinks otherwise, I'd love to hear from you! Healthy discourse is always a joy!)

[judemoonwagon]

my take on some bsd theories (mainly abt the book) bc i have fallen down the rabbit hole after finally reading beast (btw these are in a very random order (just as i thought of them while writing this) and this post is kinda long so, sorry :) :

1. dazai and the book

dazai is the book

personally i don’t really like this theory for a few reasons but the main one why i don’t think it’ll be true is because it kinda underwhelms the whole point of dazai feeling like he isn’t human which wouldn’t make a lot of sense narratively

dazai has the book

i didn’t realise that this was up to debate. i took the beast information to mean that dazai wrote in the book, and therefore has the book. also, this could explain how the government got a page from the book; maybe dazai gave them a page to experiment with in exchange for completely clearing his record when he left the PM (i mean maybe ango did it, but why would he have that much power)

dazai was made by the book (sorry that this owns bad but i had to rewrite this and i’m gonna make another post about his later)

i think that this makes a lot of sense and would explain why his ability is so different to everyone else’s and could also explain him not thinking he’s human and his suicidal tendencies. also why he’s in almost everyone’s backstory but we don’t really know about his backstory.

2. atsushi’s link to the book

so we all know that he’s the ‘guide’ to the book and i’ve seen a few theories about why.

he was created by the book:

i personally don’t believe this mainly because we’ve seen his backstory and, more importantly, he remembers his backstory (unless something’s going on with unreliable narration but i’m gonna ignore that because then we can’t determine anything from what we’ve seen so far). as we’ve seen from sigma that people created by the book don’t remember their past before being created by the book (i have another theory on this one which i’ll get to later), atsushi remembering his past quite far back makes me think that he wasn’t created by the book.

his ability was created by the book:

i like this one because it could explain why his ability is seen as ‘above’ other abilities (sorry i can’t remember the exact phrasing) and why his gem was so different to the other ones in dead apple. also, it would explain why he never figured out he was the tiger before he was told (which doesn’t make much sense).

3. the entire bsd world was created by the book:

i don’t agree with this theory because in beast, dazai says that if you wrote in the book of a world created by the book then the world is unwritten. and as we’ve seen that people in the bsd universe have written in the book (or at least a page or it), and it hasn’t ceased to exist then it means that it wasn’t a world created by the book.

4. ango is going to be the main villain

i love this theory! it would be an awesome twist, especially as his character has been set up so that we know him so it’s sad but also so that it makes sense for his betraying character to be a traitor. also, the idea that he’s also helping fyodor get information out the same way as dazai and is therefore completely controlling all the information that can be given to both DoA and ADA is just so good plot-wise that even if it isn’t true i kinda wish it was.

5. fyodor was created by the book, to foil dazai

this would be a really cool idea, and would explain why dazai and fyodor are so similar, between both their intellect and even their appearances. it also fits with ango being the main antagonist. also, it helps explain why we know basically nothing about him, and why his ability was very different to all the others in dead apple, even going so far as to refer to himself as one half of his ability, and also why he seems to have to empathy or feel no remorse for his murder and terrorism.

however, as i think that dazai currently has the book, he would’ve had to have been made a while ago, which wouldn’t make a lot of sense if he was made to specifically do his terrorist plan now.

6. mersault was created by the book to trap dazai

this is just fun, and i like the idea that the floating cages are explained the same way as the sky casino. i just think it would be neat to have those two innocuous details be linked. i also saw a really cool analysis about dazai’s motivation to go to mersault, and other small details about mersault that really fit with this theory (sorry i’m not explaining it well and can’t remember who wrote the post i’m referring to). it also fits in with ango being the main villain, as it would put in place the conditions for him to control both sides’ information flow.

once again however, this doesn’t make sense as i think that dazai currently has the book.

7. abilities were created by the book

this could explain why fyodor wants to get rid of abilities, because they’re unnatural and really shouldn’t exist. also why they’re so random, because of the reality made from the book has to make narratively, and the main reason abilities would be so random is to make them interesting in a book, then this could explain why they’re so weird.

btw these are all other peoples theories, the only reason i’m not linking them is bc i can’t remember their names.

[mytragedyperson]

OK tumblr apparently hates me because twice now I've wrote out a relatively long slightly ramble post and it's let me click post and then just not posted, and as far as I can see there not in my drafts so, instead of that post, I will be watching all the episodes of bsd 5 tomorrow and just noting down any thoughts I have, probably mostly appreciating Ranpo and making fun of Fukuchi, because that's fun to me. However there are 2 thoughts that won't leave my head and so tumblr gets to have them.

So first of all I've seen manga panels of Dazai getting shot and presumably dying, which I guess is a spoiler but has also been all over tumblr and it looked like it was on twitter too. Quite frankly, I'm not buying it, and not just because I love Dazai and am living in denial. I've already been burned by BSD in this department of being convinced a character is dead and then bringing them back. I am, of course, talking about Margaret. I thought Akutagawa had killed her and then, a season later, she was brought back, albeit in a coma, to further a plot. Also this is Dazai, if anyone could come back from being shot in to head it's him. For all that he's suicidal and has no will to live, hes really bad at dying, which is good for those of us who like Dazai and I won't complain about that. The only people that have died and stayed so far are Oda and his orphans and Rando (I only watch anime). There may be others but I can't remember them. There were a couple characters who appeared in one episode and were killed off in the episode but everyone else has simply said no to death, which I can respect. Honestly they could get his body out of the prison and have a whole like funeral/memorial scene with all of the characters mourning him and I still wouldn't be fully convinced he's dead. So maybe it is slight denial but I stand by what I said.

My second thought was that I still feel sorry for Bram stoker. I dont care what terrible things he's done, he doesn't deserve the fate he's been given. I can just imagine Fukuchi going on and on about his plan, sounding so confident since he always has turn back time as a backup plan, and he just can't escape it. He's stuck forced to listen. That's the true evil right there.

Also I have a lot of thoughts about how Fukuchi is actually not a good villain, as in I'm not intimidated by him and don't truly see him as a threat. Like his sword is a threat, moreso when he weilds it, since he makes it more effective, but the guy himself? He should be more of a threat than he is. I'll address that tomorrow as I rewatch the episodes because its a big part of my mental commentary and making fun of Fukuchi hours. He might actually be one of the worst villains in the show. I'll address that on a later date. Another thought I'll be addressing tomorrow is my theory that Fyodor is the true leader of the Decay of Angels. Like if they had to listen to one of them regarding a plan they'd listen to Fyodor over Fukuchi. They just can't be bothered with Fukuchis attempts to murder or control them with the sword. Also, bing is my search engine and when I looked up who is the leader of the decay of angels? You know to double check it was Fukuchi, it had his name but the picture next to his name was Fyodor so do with that what you will. Anyway no more thoughts head empty.

Also if anyone has asks regarding anything to do with the BSD anime, I'd be happy to answer them because thinking about/discussing BSD is fun and I do have opinions on a lot of things

edit: change of plans. while i do still plan to do this it's gonna take a little longer. I have a blog, not a tumblr one, though, that I basically never use, so I'm gonna use that to note down any thoughts, opinions and just things in general that I feel like noting down. After I've done that, I'll share it here. Again, asks will be open and this will probably take me a while so, if anyone wants to discuss the BSD anime, feel free to send asks or messages or comment or whatever

[ahkjdkdlksji]

BSD and MHA crossover headcanons:

* Russian Bakugou

* Good Fyodor

* Yokohama is thought to be a city full of criminals and villains because there’s no heroes in Yokohama and a mafia has lots of power in the city

* They don’t know that there’s a government and another group who also has lots of power

* Fyodor found Bakugou on the streets of Russia(idk what city i should let him live in) and took him in

* Fyodor was 18, bakugou was 11

* He raised Bakugou for a few years and then gave him to mitsuki

* Fyodor and mitsuki has a mother-son relationship because she took him in after he killed his mother

* Fyodor has mommy issues

* He killed his mother, his father died beforehand and his mum was abusive

* Fyodor and mitsuki met when she was 22 and fyo was 8 (yes, I made their age difference 14 years)

* Abilities still exists, it’s just rarer than quirks

* Yokohama is blocked away from the world

* There’s a group of people in Yokohama and the small communities of ability users around the world who has control over the interactions between them and the rest of the world

* Fyodor is one of the people who has the most power in that group

* He once threatened the hero commission, saying that he would deprive them of any contact they currently have with the communities of ability users if they don’t stop all might from entering Yokohama

* They complied to his threat

* He’s really smug after that

* (Fyozai/Dazfyo) Dazai finds out and jumps on Fyodor when he gets home and they hug

* Fyodor and Dazai is the main contributors of Mori’s nightmares other than Elise, Yosano might also be a contributor

* Fyodor and Dazai blackmails Mori

* They met when Dazai was 14 and Fyodor was 15

* Fyodor was hacking into the port mafia members’ abilities and their weaknesses to plot how he could use them to his advantage

* Dazai finds out but never tells anyone

* He somehow finds Fyodor’s contact info

* They set up a meeting

* Dazai sees Fyodor’s face and is like, “oh fuck this guy is hot as hell” and just has a bi panic

* They gets along, Dazai tells Fyodor to hack into Mori’s private account and to send him everything that he found

* Fyodor doesn’t question his request and does it

* The things that mori had posted on his account we’re pictures of Elise

* Dazai used them to blackmail mori multiple times

* He once used them to blackmail mori into replacing him with another person for a mission because he hated the mission

* He was supposed to go undercover in ua

* The other person got caught

* The heroes didn’t find out that they were from the port mafia tho

* Fyozai/Dazfyo is real in this au and I do not accept people telling me that my ship is ridiculous, i can ship what I want, you can ship what you want, just respect my ship and I’ll respect yours

* Fyodor teaches Bakugou how to hack and how to blackmail someone

* His first blackmail and hacking victim was mori

* He succeeded

* He blackmailed mori into making Elise cry

* Bakugou was raised by Fyodor for a few years so he got his sharp, intelligent vibe

* But he was also raised by mitsuki, so he also got her aggressiveness and her swearing habit

* Bakudeku is platonic

* They’re best friends

* Bakugou calls deku Izuku

* While deku calls him Katsuki

* Deku actually trains himself

* Bakugou and deku goes to the gym and trains together

* Deku still has the notes but it’s only on heroes’ quirks, strengths, weaknesses

* He asks Bakugou about the information that he wrote in the books to see if he is correct or not

* He and Bakugou has a channel where they analyse random stuff together, it’s like a podcast, kind of

* Deku is still quirkless

* He’s not bullied tho

* It’s because bakugou beat the shit out of a dude who tried to bully him at the start of their friendship and now everyone is scared of him, they also avoids deku

* Bakugou doesn’t encounter the sludge villain but some dude who’s a school bully did

* Deku trusts his own abilities without a quirk so he only asks all might for an autograph and left

* All might still can’t find a successor

* Deku and Bakugou goes to the entrance exam together and they took a picture of ua to analyse it on their channel

* Deku is fighting the robots without a quirk and is only depending on his pure strength from training

* The heroes who were watching are impressed

* They’re like, “Holy shit, this kid is strong, what’s his quirk?”

* And someone reads his file and they see, ‘Quirkless’

* Deku has a bunch of villain points and rescue points

* Deku still saves uraraka

* He just punches the thing that was on uraraka away and carried her on his back

* Because Bakugou is a better person in this au, im giving him rescue points as well

* Izuocha is also platonic

* Bakugou is still 1st and deku is 2nd

* Bakugou and deku gets the letter thing, bakugou is silently happy(something he got from fyo) while deku is fucking excited and happy

* They do all that school stuff

* USJ, deku fights quirkless, bakugou explodes shit, and the others do whatever they did, except uraraka is not blushing from what aoyama said and actually think of what deku would do and did it

* She later tells aoyama that she doesn’t like deku romantically and that they’re just friends

* Sports festival happens

* The first and second thing happens like in the actual mha

* In the individuals battles, deku doesn’t get controlled by Shinso and fights him with the bits of martial arts that he learnt before giving up

* Bakugou is watching him silently, analysing in his head because he doesn’t mumble out loud like deku from mha

* Deku in this au doesn’t mumble luckily

* Inko is very proud of bakugou and deku

* Mitsuki is too

* Fyodor and dazai as well

* Basically anyone who isn’t in his class who knows him well

* At the end, bakugou still won, deku still lost to todoroki, rankings are the same

* Camp thing happens

* Class 1a goes to Yokohama after that

* When they meet the ada, dazai was there

* So bakugou went to greet him, he still swears at him but he has a nicer attitude

* Everyone except deku is shocked

* They then saw fyodor coming over to dazai and bakugou was getting a bit emotional

* They haven’t seen each other in years, why wouldn’t they be

* The only reason that mitsuki let bakugou go on this trip is because she knows that fyodor is there

* Very fluffy

* Bakugou basically runs to fyodor and just hugs him, fyodor hugs back

* Everyone is even more shocked if that was possible

* Bakugou basically hangs around fyodor and dazai for most of the trip

* Aizawa once caught bakugou sleeping with his head on fyodor’s lap while fyodor was reading and dazai was talking to him

* Aizawa thinks that they’re like a family

* They meet mori with dazai and fyodor

* Mori sees Bakugou talking with dazai and fyodor and is like, ”Oh shit, the trio of my nightmares and suffering has united”

* They make him suffer even more in the meeting

* Elise joins them

* Yosano as well

* Mitsuki and Fyodor unites after the trip

* More wholesome moments

These headcanons were made by tired me during a call with my friend while she was on vacation, pls just take them, i tried my best to make them wholesome

Edit: i just realised that mitsuki met fyodor when she was 22, 10 years later, fyodor met bakugou when bakugou was 11, half of 22

AND 22 is also dazai and chuuya’s age as well

…i swear that it’s a coincidence

[c-h-pictures]

I posted 21,601 times in 2022

That's 7,539 more posts than 2021!

1,542 posts created (7%)

20,059 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@cherryblossom-nightscape

@existential-dread-in-the-am

@dramatic-and-damned

@walking-meme

I tagged 2,076 of my posts in 2022

#faves - 373 posts

#bungo stray dogs - 182 posts

#bsd incorrect quotes - 135 posts

#bsd manga spoilers - 97 posts

#band tour chaos - 90 posts

#bsd chuuya - 74 posts

#bsd dazai - 70 posts

#own characters - 42 posts

#incorrect oc quotes - 28 posts

#bsd fyodor - 27 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#learning any language in the english education system is hell when you don't have things that affect your learning and i have a few of those

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Dazai: Maybe the real treasure was the friends we made along the way.

Chuuya: No, I want my fucking gold.

123 notes - Posted March 26, 2022

#4

Ranpo: Wait, Poe’s leaving today?

Fukuzawa: Yes, it’s bec-

Ranpo: I thought it didn’t start for another two weeks!

Fukuzawa: Look at me, Ranpo. If there’s anything you need to tell him, you need to get over to that library and tell him now.

Ranpo: I have to! Thanks! *runs off*

Fukuzawa: The library’s that way.

Ranpo, running the other way: Thanks again!

194 notes - Posted April 19, 2022

#3

Bnha actor au

USJ/Season 1

Everyone has their quirks, so they're used where they work for the camera, i.e., using Kurogiri's warping ability to warp into USJ to make it look as accurate as possible.

Everyone has embarrassing bloopers, no matter what they say.

Interviewer: What's a blooper that no one could get over?

Tenko: I kept falling over when we entered the USJ. There wasn't anything for me to fall over and, on one take, I gave up on staying in character and just yelled "what am I falling over?"

There's pictures of Aizawa in the USJ arc where he looks like he's dying and is just drinking coffee.

The child actors are meant to have their parents on set as well since they're children. The definition of "parent" changes. Izuku has Tenko because Tenko is an adult and related to him. Shoto has Touya there.

Touya spends most of his time saying "go villains! Kill that bitch!"

280 notes - Posted February 27, 2022

#2

Dazai: Chuuya? Wake up.

Chuuya: Five more minutes.

Dazai: Come on, I made breakfast.

Chuuya:

Chuuya: Lies. I don't hear the smoke alarm.

334 notes - Posted April 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Person, jokingly: On Tumblr you can say [made up word, never before used] and [massive number] people will reblog it.

Everyone: Time to make that reality and this person's life torture.

1,873 notes - Posted September 28, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

I'm glad Chuuya got so far on here.

[justsomeboredgirl]

what's fuckin amazing about bungou stray dogs :

the whole plot and the abilities are all amazing and creative! i mean fuckin kajii's ability prevents him from being harmed by any lemon shaped bombs lol

the characters in bsd doesn't necessarily rely on their ability. kyoka can summon demon snow but she's still a trained assassin. yosano could fight even tho her ability is something more 'medical'. mori is fuckin terrifying with his scalpel even tho he has elise. fukuzawa's ability is not combat oriented but damn he could cut you up. dazai rely on his intelligence to fight. and there's so many more characters who is more than their abilities and i really really admire that

ofc there's someone like chuuya or akutagawa or atsushi who rely heavily with their ability but still they used their head in a fight

the amount of intelligence in bsd. like??? fuckin how?? and the thing is, bsd doesn't just say the character is a genius and left it at that, they show it to us so we can judge the intellect of the characters ourselves. they have a plan everytime they fight. not to mention dazai and fyodor flirting talking in their own code

there's fuckin psychological manipulation going on in the shadows. we can never know is the part here is just a coincidence or a plan made up by dazai? or maybe it's fyodor who made the move? or maybe mori? what if it's the guild? no wait a sec, what if it's natsume-sensei's plan all along? we will never know

i love the part where bsd clearly shows that information are superrrr important! the one who wins is the kne with the most reliable information and i just- *claps slowly*

im so sorry but i can't stop rambling about all this geniuses' plan i just live it so much omfg how are they so smart

atsushi as a mc is pretty pathetic. he had a low self esteem and he gave up quickly. BUT THAT'S FUCKIN IT!!! atsushi is abused at the orphanage, it bounds to leave a lifetime scar and bsd shows it. heck, he still hear the Principal's voice at the back of his head, he can still see the Principal's standing behind him and telling him he's worthless and that's so fuckin true. abused people often had the same problem. i can still hear my sister's voice telling me to die everytime i fail even tho it's been years. bsd show atsushi's struggle as a survivor and i love it

the cycle of abuse. i recently saw a fanart with mori and dazai walking beside him, practically drowning in darkness. below it is dazai and akutagawa walking together with the same vibe. and below it is akutagawa and kyouka. i- that fanart is so fuckin powerful and i think it represents some relationships in canon

odasaku's reason for not wanting to kill anyone. he literally stop killing bc he felt a murderer is not worthy to write about humans life. i- so simple yet so fuckin deep...

the backstories of every character. like yosano... yosano is so fuckin awesome

nakahara chuuya

everything didn't just suddenly become rainbows and sunshine. when atsushi said to form an alliance with port mafia, it didn't work out. i was a bit disappointed but it's so fuckin realistic. instead mori just sent chuuya so soukoku can take down the enemy. port mafia, add, the government, they all use one another to reach their goal.

nobody is the villain. there's no good vs evil. i mean like sure fyodor and dazai are demons, port mafia is literally the mafia, and kamui should really die at this point. but they all weren't the typical villains. they all have their own reasons to strive for what they believe in

also nobody is fuckin apologetic about their deeds. (well except a few characters like kyouka who didn't want to kill anymore). dazai turned towards the light but did he really regret everything he had done? both sides are the same to him. will mori ever changes his way? no way. fyodor? unlikely. akutagawa only promises not to kill anyone for 6 months but after that? god i love this manga

anyway, did you all see jono? fukuchi thought he will be a grest member for the decay of angels bc of his cruelty but sykes!!! jono actually thought it was nice helping ppl and he turn the tables!! it was such a plot twist....

no, actually the plot twist in bsd is so fuckin great i still get whiplash from it. like i still cannot move on from ango apparently being a triple spy or gogol being alive or fuckin tachihara omg or fukuchi being the leader heughhh im dizzy

just. bsd in general. read it.

also bsd wan i love you so much

[vampireonastick]

BSD Theory: Fyodor Isn’t the Main Antagonist; Ango is

SPOILERS UP TO CHAPTER 98 OF THE MANGA

I have some theories about Ango and how I believe he has a much bigger role to play in the series.

I have a theory that Ango is the main antagonist and the true mastermind behind the entire narrative of the BSD story, not Fyodor. I also believe he currently has the book, and has had it for quite some time. 

Firstly, Why I Don’t Think Fyodor is the Main Antagonist of the Series

I have no idea how long the author of BSD intends to run the series, but if this series is going to come to a close within the next few years, we will need a final conflict, something big and heart wrenching, and with this conflict, a final ‘villain’.

As much as I love Fyodor as an antagonist, I can’t see him being the main antagonist staying with us until the end of the series, for a couple reasons.

He has been around too long

Fyodor was introduced in chapter 47 of the manga, and we are already on chapter 99. The main story doesn’t seem to be winding down, either. Because Fyodor has been around for so long, we are comfortable with him being the main antagonist, because honestly, who could be worse than Fyodor? But Asagiri loves shocking the audience, and making the story more dramatic. Which is why I don’t think the real main antagonist will be revealed until closer to the end of the series.

       2. He is too much like Dazai

Fyodor is almost the exact same as Dazai, except for their differing goals and Fyodor’s lack of any sense of humanity or empathy. I feel like it would undercut both Dazai and Atsushi’s character if Fyodor really is the main antagonist.

Dazai’s character: since he and Fyodor are so alike, how can we have a satisfying conclusion to the series by defeating an almost perfect copy (Fyodor) of a character so well loved (Dazai)?

Atsushi’s character: Atsushi doesn’t have the intelligence or skill to defeat Fyodor, and he never will. Fyodor’s complete lack of humanity means Atsushi can’t reason with him. The only I can picture Atsushi defeating Fyodor and fulfilling his role in the story as the main character, is to wait for Dazai to corner Fyodor, and then outright murder him. Which would be an odd way to end the story. 

Why I Think Ango is the Best Choice For the Main Antagonist of the Series

The reveal of the main antagonist will have a much greater impact on the audience if it is someone we already know, not just another ‘bad guy’ from an outside organization that is introduced as an antagonist right away in the story. As the manga has been going on for a good 10 years now, that’s why I don’t believe any character introduced this late into the series will be the main antagonist.

So, based on that reasoning, we should already know the name and face of the main antagonist. 

Alright, so why Ango?

Ango was introduced very early on in the series (chapter 26 of the manga and episode 13 of the anime)

We constantly see him around books, and at times, he is even shown to narrate parts of the plot as he writes up reports for the government, such as at the end of the backstory episodes at the beginning of season 3 that recap how Chuuya joined the Port Mafia.

It’s a bit odd how Ango gets focus here, it would be just as easy to have these backstory episodes without randomly drawing attention to Ango's character.

Building off that last point, given how relatively small of a character Ango is to the plot (at least, before the start of the DoA arc) he gets brought into the spotlight quite a lot.

Convincing Chuuya to stop the dragon in the Dead Apple movie. We also learn he was involved in the original dragon head conflict six years prior.

Getting hit by that car when talking to Dazai

Showing up to arrest Herman Millville after the fall of the Moby Dick

But above all these other points, the main reason why I believe it’s Ango, and not any other character, is because one of the biggest traits of Ango’s character that we learn shortly after his introduction and is brought up multiple times throughout the series, is that he is a traitor.

He was a triple agent for the Government, betraying both the Port Mafia, and Mimic

He betrays the government during the DoA arc, helping Atsushi, Kyoka, and Mushitarou escape the bank, plus, carrying out Dazai’s orders while he was in prison

We are constantly flung back and forth between being told we should trust his character, and being told we shouldn’t trust his character

Because we know that Ango is a traitor, and has betrayed multiple different people/organizations multiple times, it would still be a shock to find out he is behind all this, but also won’t feel completely cheap, or like his betrayal came out of nowhere. I don’t think this role could be filled by any other character in Bungo other than Ango.

Possible Motivations:

Ango is a rational person. It is possible he sees the continued existence of ability users to be detrimental to society as a whole. Some abilities are just too powerful, like Chuuya’s, for example. If Chuuya wanted to, he could easily kill every single person in Yokohama. 

So Ango may be attempting to act as a force of ‘greater good’ here, something I believe is a large part of his character.

Ex. sacrificing Chuuya in the Dead Apple movie to save all of Yokohama.

What Relationship I Believe Exists Between Ango And Fyodor

Not only do I believe Ango and Fyodor are working together, but to be even more specific, I believe Fyodor is working for Ango.

Fyodor and How He Communicated With the Outside World While in Prison

We never actually learn how Fyodor had been getting information from the outside world and who he was giving orders to on the outside either. It couldn’t have been Gogol or Sigma, because Gogol himself told Sigma that Fyodor should believe they are both dead. It certainly isn’t Bram (lol). And I don’t think it’s Fukuchi either, because as much as they are trying to push that Fukuchi is the leader of the Decay of Angels, I call bullshit on that. Fyodor is only letting Fukuchi think he is the leader of the Decay of Angels because he wants Fukuchi’s power/influence, but Fyodor is still the main shadow leader. So who has Fyodor been communicating with and how?

Ango. He’s been sending messages to Ango through his heartbeat transcripts. Just like Dazai.

If you think about it, this would be the perfect setup for Ango. He gets both halves of the information, and with that, he can alter how he wants the narrative to go, by picking and choosing which information to send along to the battlefield.

Since Ango is currently with Atsushi and the rest of the agency, he has inside information on what their strategies are and how confident everyone is feeling, since he is the only contact Dazai has to the outside world, the agency is forced to believe the orders he is relaying on Dazai’s behalf are accurate.

Fyodor (Origin)

I was wondering how exactly someone like Ango would be able to control Fyodor, someone who is so clearly only interested in furthering his own goals, and then I had an idea. What if Fyodor is a creation of the book, just like Sigma?

If Ango created him using the book, he could have written in conditions to control Fyodor, like that Fyodor will never wish to kill him or disobey his orders.

If Fyodor was specifically created to be absolutely ruthless, then it would make sense why the guy has absolutely no empathy for others or qualms when it comes to killing them in cold blood.

Other reasons why I think Ango created Fyodor using the book:

Fyodor and Dazai are Too Much Alike

In the anime, there is a definite parallel between Dazai and Fyodor, it is clear they are very similar people. But in the manga, the similarities between the two are even more striking, to where they literally feel like a mirror image of each other. As if they are the same person in different bodies, with the only difference being their opposing goals, and the fact that unlike Dazai, Fyodor seems to lack any form of humanity.

I think that from his time as Dazai’s ‘friend’, Ango can tell that Dazai will be a major obstacle when it comes to achieving his goals, because while Ango is sneaky, I don’t believe his intelligence is anywhere near Dazai’s level. So, I think Ango used the book to create the only person who could possibly defeat Dazai; another Dazai.

Here are some bits of (circumstantial) evidence that would support this theory that Fyodor is literally just a copy of Dazai:

The secret code they made up on the spot in order to communicate with each other in their opposing prison cells without the guards being able to listen in on their conversation

As much as I loved this moment (it was absolutely hilarious) even with Bungou levels of absurdity I don’t see how on earth this could possibly be something the two of them could do. If their thought process is so similar that they could accomplish creating a code to speak in with no prior conversation about it beforehand, then I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say the reason why this is possible, is because Fyodor is just a reflection of Dazai’s own consciousness. 

The way Fyodor and Dazai are portrayed in the manga really makes it clear that these two are just shy away from perfect copies of each other

Their facial expressions are often the same

They are shown side-by-side very often and drawn almost the exact same way

They finish each other's thoughts, and even talk at the same time on occasion (One time in prison they ask how the other is ‘communicating with the outside’ at the same time, which again, would be nearly impossible to do in a CODE they are making up on the spot)

If my theory about how Dazai and Fyodor used the same method to communicate to the outside world is correct (by adjusting their own heart rate), then that further adds another way in which they are the same.

Fyodor’s Motivations

Fyodor states his motivation for tracking down the book to be because he wants to ‘rid the world of sin’ (i.e, all ability users). This is the exact same motivation I explained earlier that I think Ango has. (I understand this point in particular means absolutely nothing, because I am trying to tie a connection between actual cannon information and what I inferred to be a hypothetical motivation based on an analysis of Ango's character. But still, I think it makes sense).

If Ango created Fyodor using the book in order to further his plans, it would make sense to give Fyodor a motive that aligns with (or is exactly the same as) his own motive.

Why Would Ango Create Fyodor?

As a counter to Dazai

Because Ango doesn’t have it in him to commit the horrible atrocities necessary to meet his goal. So he created a monster to do it for him.

Ango does want ability users gone since in his mind, so many lives will be saved in the long run. But also, in order for that to happen, many people will have to die, something he just can’t do on his own. But if he let’s Fyodor make the plans, and he just oversees everything, he can convince himself to not feel guilty.

Why I Believe Ango Has The Book

The Book and it’s Conditions

How do we know what the conditions of the book are?

The idea that the book comes with a full set of specific instructions on how to use it (as if it were a death note) seems highly unlikely, considering just how powerful this book is, and how much damage it can cause if it falls into the wrong hands

Taneda has mentioned a page had been taken out in order to test it, but even still, how can they test something if there are no instructions on what exactly this book is or what it does?

Well Ango’s ability to be able to read the memories in objects may have uncovered this information. If Ango had contact with the book and uncovered this information, which was then tested by using a page, then not only would Ango know where the book is, but also, how the book works. Shortly after the page was tested, he could have stolen the book for himself.

It is unknown where the book originated from. But at least one character must know, from a narrative standpoint, in order for the information of the book's origins to eventually be revealed to us, the reader. Again, the nature of Ango’s ability makes him the perfect person to be the holder of this information. 

If Ango Has the Book, Where Does He Keep it?

Probably on him at all times. If the book has the power to alter people's memories and how they think, then it’s also likely it has the power to divert people’s attention away from it. 

Ango, the Book, and the Distribution of it’s Pages

How exactly did Ango infiltrate Mimic?

Mimic is solely made up of European soldiers, who have bonded through their shared feelings of betrayal from their country, and a wish to meet a worthy end. Why would they ever, ever, trust Ango enough to make him an honorary member? And not only that, but to give him one of their pistols, which I’m sure hold great sentimental value to them.

Even if Ango was the one who invited Mimic to Yokohama on Mori’s behalf, and even if he personally told them that there was a man (Oda) in Yokohama who could help them fulfil their wish, why would they let Ango become a member? Why not just thank him and pay him for the information he gave them?

Well, Gide mentions how they used a page of the book to help fulfil their wish. So what if the reason they let Ango join mimic, was because he was the one who gave them that page? It’s the ultimate gift. The power for Mimic to write their own fairytale ending however they wish it.

Fyodor has likely used multiple pages from the book

When we found out Sigma was actually created from the book, my first thought was ‘who created him?’. Most logical answer: Fyodor. It seems like such a ‘Fyodor’ thing to do to create a man with an ability that would be useful to him, have that man suffer for three years to break him down to nothing but a hollow person desperate for a home, and then finally swoop in and give that man the one thing he’s always wanted. Fyodor gets a loyal subordinate, and with him, an incredibly useful ability.

If this is true, it would mean Fyodor has used at least one side of a page from the book three years before the DoA arc began.

This means Fyodor has a way to obtain pages from the book. Even if the theory about Fyodor creating Sigma is not true, it is still confirmed he controls a page right now in the DoA arc, so he must have gotten that from somewhere

Some Plot Points That Would Make More Sense if Ango is the Main Antagonist

Fyodor is the perfect shield for the main antagonist to hide behind. Idk about you all, but there are countless times when something absurd happens between Fyodor and Dazai and my immediate reaction is to rationalize it, to brush my doubts of ‘how exactly is that possible…’ aside by reminding myself that, ‘oh, well Fyodor and Dazai are both geniuses, so of COURSE they can improvise their own secret code on the spot’. But because we have reason to brush aside the leaps in logic and absurd galaxy brain master plans that Bungou is full of, it tricks us as the viewer to not analyze the story deeper. If we assume every plan goes Fyodor’s way simply because ‘he is a genius’ then we won’t question where he gets his information. 

So here are some plot points that I feel would be explained better by Ango playing a role, rather than accepting Fyodor’s genius.

Why Chuuya was sent to the prison as a vampire to aid Fyodor in the fight against Dazai and Sigma

As a government official, Ango would probably know about the attack on the prison shortly after it happened. If both Fyodor and Dazai are still communicating to Ango once Gogol and Sigma show up, then it would make even more sense that he’d know about the current situation.

Ango was close friends with Dazai, he would likely have known at least a little about the kind of relationship Dazai and Chuuya have, and may have figured that sending in Chuuya would be the best way to get to Dazai. 

When Dazai was arrested, it was because the evidence for his crimes suddenly resurfaced (because Fyodor had Mushitarou stop the effects of his ability for Dazai’s crimes, something Ango had Mushitarou cover up when Dazai left the Port Mafia)

It would make more sense that Ango told Fyodor about this and to have Mushitarou erase his ability, then the idea that Fyodor figured all that out on his own.

When Atsushi fainted from Sigma’s ability in Volume 19, Ango thought Kyoka and Lucy would do anything to protect Atsushi, even if it meant costing the lives of countless civilians, so his first instinct is to… Surprise shoot them in the back of the head?? WHAT?? Like what kind of solution is that Ango??

Also Atsushi just brushes off the fact Ango had a gun pointed at them as if it wasn’t important to him. Isn’t it a little odd that Atsushi didn’t have any kind of reaction? Both Kyoka and Lucy were in danger and he acted as if Ango did nothing wrong.

If Ango control’s the book, perhaps one of the first things he did with it is write that nothing he does will ever be perceived as a threat to a person’s life or physical safety.

Ango’s choice that he makes here to eliminate Kyoka and Lucy in order to prevent more tragedy also ties back into what I mentioned earlier about his character acting in service of the ‘greater good’.

Fyodor VS Ace

If Ango is the Mastermind, and controls Fyodor, then why would Fyodor need to steal those documents from Ace about the Port Mafia and their ability users?

Possible Reasons

As a form of cover/alibi for Ango

If Fyodor hadn’t tried to steal info on the Port Mafia and it was obvious he somehow knew about their abilities, the ADA may have gotten suspicious as to how Fyodor obtained that information.

He didn’t steal info on the Mafia, he actually stole something else and just lied to Karma/the audience

When Ango arrested Herman Millville on the pier after the fall of the Moby Dick, he asked for Herman’s cooperation. We don’t actually know if Herman actually cooperated and told Ango what he wanted to know about the other Guild members. As a former member of the Guild, it is likely that Ace had not only information on Port Mafia members and their abilities, but also on his former Guild members and their abilities. Fyodor’s true mission may have been to obtain these documents, and we were just told as the audience that he had stolen the Port Mafia documents. 

-----------------------------------------------------------

Alright I’ve written WAY too much for this theory and it’s time to stop.

Some disclaimers; I have only seen the anime and read the DoA arc of the manga. I plan on reading all of BSD, but I just caught up with the main story in the manga a few days ago and had this idea of Ango being behind everything. So if there is evidence in other BSD works that Ango is definitely innocent then just disregard everything here lol.

Also this is just a theory!! It’s all for fun. I think the story progressing this way would be super interesting, but I would understand if others hate this theory. I absolutely love this series so much, so I’m sure I’ll be happy with whatever crazy plot twists Asagiri throws our way.

If you’d like to discuss this theory more with me, or some theories of your own, then feel free to!! I’d love to talk about this more.

[requiem626k]

Anime/Game Soundtrack Appreciation (+ little BSD Dead Apple analysis)

Hello everyone! I’m once again back with another music post to make up for my absence, but this time, it’s slightly different.

It’s anime/game soundtrack appreciation time!

We always talk about how good the plot or the characters are, but I find that the beauty of the soundtracks are so little spoken of even though it holds a really great importance for our overall experience in said fictional world.

That’s why I wanted to dedicate this post to my all-time favourite pieces that I encountered in different animes and games.

If you haven’t heard of these animes/games, don’t you worry! There are two types of soundtracks for me: the ones that are beautiful and make sense only with context, and the ones that are mesmerising even without context. I’d like to believe that the ones I chose are all in the second category. Their musical value is just so high for me that I always find myself lost in the music itself instead of thinking of the context of that game or anime; and the fact that they all include classical instruments just reinforces the satisfaction I receive from them as a classical music passionate. My commentaries will have zero relation to their sources and will only be about the music itself (except for the little analysis at the end, which is about our main fandom BSD anyways). I truly hope listening to them will be as enjoyable for you as it is to me.

Let’s go!

🎻 Psycho-Pass - Makishima Shougo

Since the very first time I heard this soundtrack, it’s been nailed in my mind. The mischievous wickedness of that low human voice right in the beginning, the sinister aura of the church organ that starts taking part in the melody after 00.27 (I truly like the church organ touch here, because for some reason, my mind seems to assign very religious vibes to well-built villains such as Fyodor or Makishima that like to play God), the tranquillity of the middle section and the rearrival of the original melody with an even bigger force (01.36).

I’m especially in love with the part starting at 01.56, in the background, you start hearing tick-tocks as if there was a clock, the clock of an about-to-go-off bomb maybe, or a clock that’s merely symbolising the flow of the time- No matter how you interpret it, it keeps you on your toes and stings you with goosebumps.

But what always mainly has me is when the strings start overlapping with the same melody at 02.22. The beautiful build-up until the tension resolves into the last powerful chord… This soundtrack never fails to mesmerise me.

It has a slightly softer version too, which you can find here 👀. Instead of strings, this version concentrates on woodwinds (especially in the overlapping melody section at the end) and French horn, which gives the track a whole different but egally ominous aura, I love it.

🎻 Kuroshitsuji - Si Deus Me Relinquit

This soundtrack’s lyrics are all in Latin, and I honestly adore it. Even though the video already has the lyrics and the translation, I’ll still add it here because it’s just so beautiful to me.

Si deus me relinquit,

Ego deum relinquo.

Solus oppressus nigram clavem habere potest,

Omnias ianuas praecludo

Sic omnias precationes obsigno.

Sed

Qui me defendet?

Ab me terribilissimo ipse.

Translation:

If God has forsaken me,

Then I shall forsake God, too.

Only the oppressed may possess a black key,

I close all doors,

Thus I seal away all prayers.

However,

Who protects me

From myself who is the most terrible?

When the beautifully lonely aura of the beginning is merged with the bittersweetness of what’s said in the lyrics, I always have the desire to smile and tear up at the same time. Imagine the bittersweetness and irony that lies in the action of secluding yourself from everything around you with the thought that “God” has forsaken you, yet still not being able to find any peace because you can’t run away from the most terrible one: yourself. The last three lines hit me so hard when I first read the translation, and the subtle transition into a totally sinister section at 01.34 started making much more sense and sending shivers down my spine. What happens when we truly are alone with the beast that lies within us? More importantly, under what circumstances it reveals itself to us? I wonder.

Anyways, let’s go on with the soundtrack: I love the orchestral middle section. The strings, woodwinds, they all mix so harmoniously and continuously steal the melody from each other. This game goes on until when the soft voice is once again at 04.20. But the part that truly tugs at my heart strings is when the track comes to a soft conclusion at 06.36, and slowly fades away into a big bubble of bittersweetness with the last, very gentle chord, as if it’s tenderly whispering:

“Do not be afraid of what you call the ‘most terrible’. You are not a monster. You are not inhuman. You are merely a hurt soul, that never deserved any of this suffering.”

🎻 Death Note - Low of Solipsism

Ahh, this one is such a classic <3. As a classical music lover, I can’t express enough how much I appreciate the range of instruments used here. The strings, the aggressive woodwinds, the horn, the chorus, everything just blends so beautifully to create such a dark masterpiece. As the first two ones, this one has an unhealthily religious side too, let’s look at the lyrics (sinisterly used Latin strikes once again!) :

Kira, Deus vici canti.

Translation:

Kira, our God will win.

I probably have to talk about the anime to be able to explain what this means (even though I’m sure many of you know this already haha.) So, this anime talks about a young adult who, one day, finds a Death Note and decides to ‘punish’ all the criminals by writing down their names and killing them through it. And he calls himself “Kira, the God of the New World”. The movement that he started finds its voice all around the world, yet of course there’s an extremely intelligent detective who’s trying to find his identity etc., the rest is not too important now.

This soundtrack sweeps me off my feet every. single. time. Like oh my God. Can you look at how beautifully the introduction is written? The ongoing rhythm in the strings’ section keeps me on my toes, and oh the very beautiful entrance of the woodwinds- I could honestly mistake it for a classical piece, I’m not even kidding.

After that, I want to talk about 00.36 where the chorus comes in with “Kira”, if you listen carefully, you’ll hear in the background a French horn (I think, I hope I’m not mistaken) which plays a very halting, even off-putting rhythm, “syncopation” as we call it in music theory, and the impact it does on that section is just mind-blowing to me. I find myself vibing with the French horn and going along with its limping rhythm every time I listen to this and I sway in euphoria, it’s just so intriguing and appealing to me for some reason.

Then things get silent and you hear the church bell (01.32), then something like a prayer out of a religious mass, and my favourite part: the sharp, tense dissonance that starts at 01.50. I always hold my breath and get on the verge of losing my mind while waiting for that tense chord to resolve into 01.56, it’s just- it’s just so perfectly written, I feel the anxiety it gives off in every single fibre of my being and I honestly don’t know what to say further about this masterpiece, every word falls short.

Looking at the first three faves of mine, I’m noticing a pattern of sinisterly religious tracks😶 When this is combined with the literal meaning of my full name (Requiem: Religious Mass for the Dead), it’s just so funny to me because I’m not a spiritual person at all haha. Anyways, enough of that personal talk.

🎻 Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice - A Cornered Heart

Oh my God I love this game so much.

I’m in a very emotional state at the moment so I’m so sorry if the commentary of this piece feels more subjective than the others, but- it’s been at least two years since I last listened to AA’s sountracks and I cried for a few minutes straight when I listened to this just now. I needed 15 minutes to calm my emotion center down, and another 30 to get out of the memory lane and stop wandering among the other tracks of the game, oh my God.

I won’t be rambling about it or this post will become a long novel, but honestly, Ace Attorney is the love of my life. One of the two things that made me totally fall in love with this franchise is its beautiful soundtracks. It has many, many games and not even one of them disappoints in terms of musical quality, I’ve never seen such a constant quality in another franchise, if I’m being frank. And the 6th game… kills it. In a totally good way. There are just so, so many tracks that I want to put from this franchise but I won’t overwhelm this post with those haha. I doubt it but if you’re interested, you can come into my ask box and I can make a separate post for you including only-AA tracks.

Most of AA’s soundtracks are objectively so beautiful yet hit so different in a subjective way after hearing them in context, yet this one… it’s a real masterpiece. It’s one of the peak points in all AA’s OST history. I don’t know what they did to be able to put such refined but heavy emotions in this short track, yet they did and they did it very beautifully.

Even from the very beginning, that low piano A that strongly comes several times tugs at my heartstrings every time. The little piano theme in the background that comes at 00.23 and 00.28 always makes my heart melt. The build-up that starts at 00.43 and resolves into the literally most bittersweet conclusion at 00.48 (in more technical terms, the classic but powerful “dominant-submediant (the one that usually has the listener so soft is this 6th degree)-subdominant-dominant-tonic” progression) makes me sob. Not figuratively, I literally started uncontrollably sobbing at that part just now. I can honestly envision this playing behind a very painful and bittersweet scene in BSD. Instant goosebumps, I can’t anymore.

Just listen to it. I have no other words to hopelessly mutter in attempt to explain how bittersweet this track is making me feel.

🎻 Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple - Dead Apple (or as I like calling it… Fyodor’s theme🤭)

Of course, it wouldn’t be a complete post without including anything from our beloved BSD!

I’m truly in love with this track, it’s been my favourite since the day I watched Dead Apple. I adore how it manages to blend classical music with modern, using strings/piano and electro guitars at the same time and making it sound so majestic and grandiose, and I won’t even mention how good the actual melody is.

It starts off with such a lonely and bittersweet aura with only the strings and piano. Then oh! It picks up pace at 01.12, it’s literally the musical reflection of the emoji “👀” as it increases the curiosity levels of the listener with its quick, steady rhythms. I especially adore the first note we hear from the electro guitar at 01.32, it foreshadows many things about the climax of the piece.

The heartbeat motif that starts at 01.48 always has me so good. It constantly keeps me on my toes and I love it.

At 02.24, the electro guitar has the spotlight, it’s almost like a transition happened. Each of the three parts are still there, classical (strings & piano) and modern (electro guitar), yet it feels like they’re constantly fighting for dominance, just like how the Dead Apple trio did. Strings would symbolise Fyodor, the piano Dazai and electro guitar Shibusawa, in my opinion. I assigned the modernity to Shibusawa because he is a relatively modern author, who passed away only 34 years ago. Harukawa-sensei even visited his wife to receive her approval about Shibusawa’s design.

Parting from this theory, let’s see: Starting from 02.24, the electro guitar talks, it’s Shibusawa who’s bringing them all together around the table and talking about his ‘boredom’. Then, the piano comes in, the guitar is silent for a bit, and when the violin starts with the melody the piano goes silent, it’s a constant fight between them that creates a beautiful build-up until the striking climax at 03.19. That’s the moment where Fyodor and Shibusawa have their talk and Dazai’s lying heavily wounded on the ground.

Now, which of the three instruments is absent during the climax? Exactly. The piano. The guitar and the violin are having a talk, yet the piano comes in much later, at 03.35, as an echo, then fades away once again.

Until the end, the wonderful power dance of these instruments go on, and the strong ending gives me goosebumps every time.

This came out much longer than I had expected and planned… I always get so carried out and type so much when it comes to these things haha. Nonetheless, I sincerely hope you enjoyed my selection and analysis!

Please don’t hesitate to do any type of additional commentary or to add your favourite soundtracks from any anime/game/series/franchise. <3

Tagging the usual music posts people: @pompompurin1028 @jadegreenimmortality @alittlesimp @bsdparadise @greenshirtimagines @rouge476

[yinses]

salvation and redemption   if you could only save one soul in this wretched world fyodor dostoevsky x reader rating: t  a/n: interrupting our normal scheduled programming for this idea i couldn’t get out of my head after going through my 5th rerun of bsd. i’ve always found fyodor to be an interesting character and he remains as an enigma i can’t shake.

“you love me right, kroshka?”

your hand paused at the crown of his head, a lapse in both your thought and judgement. it should have been a practiced answer for you, with how often he asked it. your response should have been expected as well, certainly given how his arms-his hands warmed your body. being with him was like living with a bomb inside your chest, a timer with no limit as he teased your existence by his mere proximity. 

everyone assumed you’d been numbed by experience. no one truly trusted a man like fyodor do. so of course you were simply submissive by defeat. you couldn’t escape if you wanted, so why not be pliant and just enjoy the life you were given until he deemed it time for your retribution. 

but in truth, you never feared fyodor in the way others did. 

you didn’t dread what he was, your trepidation stemmed from the person he once was. a child lost in his own ideals and thrown head first into a task bigger than himself. 

for as long as you could remember, it had always been you telling him not to worry. that it would always work itself out somehow. and in the event it didn’t? you would be there to save the day. 

in your youth, due to your ability, you likened yourself as a hero. not the super kind, with all the strength and posture. no, you were more comfortable behind the scenes, the afterthought once all the glory had dispersed. 

everyone liked to think it all happened in a simple swoop. the champion would defeat the adversary, stop the chaos and life would go on. but only for those unaffected by the utter destruction left behind. crumbling infrastructure and a debilitated economy. 

growing up in moscow was just another city under the predation of evils and conflict. it was easy for such a place to worship the one who could bring forth deliverance. yet in the overwhelming relief of the downfall of the perpetrator, they often forgot about the repentance of the souls and atmosphere that was distributed in the process. 

truly what did grieving do for anyone but bandage cracks when they needed to be filled. 

as a child you had more cracks than porcelain should have allowed, yet the integrity remained if only in name. 

“watch out!”

“wait, fyodor don’t!”

but you were too late. with a sigh, you fell to your knees uncaring of the blood that stained your already soiled socks as you cradled the dead canine. it had been made feral by nature, instead of choice. starved due to the lack of substance in his environment and forced to turn on whatever viable option was left. 

you were just children. fleshy but not overly meaty and certainly not part of its diet. he struck out of his own fears of humans, cruelty baring its vulnerability to the world. in search of your own next meal, you’d stumbled unknowingly into its territory. 

already dirty from the streets, fyodor hadn’t seconded his thoughts when he’d darted for the nearest trash can in hopes of salvaging anything to appease your stomachs. he’d been a moment too late to see the dog hidden in the corner, already thrown back by a lunge before he could dare to evade. it had been instinct for him to strike first, a thoughtless punishment executed out of fright. 

rubbing his freshly scraped palms against his ratty jacket, fyodor spared you a sour look. “yes, kroshka, im fine. thanks for asking.” his dry reply went unacknowledged as he rustled through the garbage. 

in the changing seasons of russia, even the newly dead didn’t take long to scum to the cold. despite the insulation, it’s coat already had a chill as you ran your fingers through it’s fur. 

“you’re not actually going to bring it back are you?”

uncaring of the way it stained your clothing, you drew the dog close to your chest as a dull light m encompasses your body. in that moment, time seemed to stop as if altered by a silent command before it backpedaled backwards without regard for reality. at the first shift of life, you carefully disentangle yourself and put distance between you as the animal slowly comes to terms with its restoration. 

not even a drop of blood was present as evidence of its past demise. shaking it’s coat, it stood on unstable legs, gaze filled with trepidation without cognition. a good deed should bare fruits of gratitude. 

so why were you suffering from the sharp pain of fangs tearing into the flesh of your shoulder? your cry was short lived, however, as fyodor jumped back into action, a quick touch of it palm undoing your works. 

in his haste, he’d carelessly knocked over the metal trash bin causing the crash to echo through the night. coupled with your cry of pain and the wail of repeated death, it was no surprise that your commotion attracted attention. 

“not every life deserves a second chance.” 

you don’t fight it when his fingers close around your wrist and he promptly drags you out of sight. whether the police or less honorable citizens, it wouldn’t be good for the two of you to linger too long. your hand grips the curve of your shoulder where the attack had just missed your throat. a second light show reveals a dingy shirt but one without tatter or blood. the pain from the bite gone with it but the sting of your decision lingers. 

“not every deed should be punished,” you whisper. 

you expect for him to stop you then, overcome with the need to debate but he continues to drag you along, making up for your lack of speed with his strength. 

“this world wouldn’t need either if it wasn’t so cruel. maybe then people like us could be happy for a change.”

for orphans, a strive for happiness was best waited out until you could age enough to properly take it from the world at will. eventually the two of you would be able to contribute to society and earn a decent living. 

it was easier to dream of a house. not too big or small. one that sat comfortably on a plot of land away from the dirt and grime of the city. you’d live off your own crops and grow old by your own ambitions. these for the aspirations that manifested in your heart. leaving only room for emotions like acceptance and expectation. 

but fyodor was already sowing the seeds of condemnation and reformation. tired of the mishandling of the world and the path it was on. as a child he promised you a life without faults. you couldn’t have imagined at that age, how many of his own would manifest in turn. 

yet out of obligation- or perhaps maybe it was affection. you stayed with him. slowly the hero of your story became the villain and your backstage presence was pushed further and further out of your inherent role of retribution. 

what good would punishment be if you unraveled the seams of disciple after all? 

salvation and redemption. 

that’s the name given to your ability. 

the ability to reverse the wrongs of the world, at the price of your own soul. for as black as this reality was becoming, at your rate you would have long been swallowed up had it not been for his intervention. 

gradually your hand picked back up its pace, fingers working their way under dark tresses as you scratched at the scalp. for some many years, you’d only known the body lain against you to be cold, shivering against the bricked walls of abandoned buildings. but because of his actions, his directive- now you were both warm, fed and properly housed. 

no, you didn’t need to be the hero. they only ever perished in the end. 

just his salvation. 

his excuse for redemption while he scoured the world for crime and provided the diligent punishment. 

dropping your head, you pressed your lips against the rise of his cheek.

“until the end, fyodor.” 

[killuwumi]

Christmas with the BSD Cast Pt2!

Manga characters under the cut! Please do not read past if you haven't read the manga!!

a/n! Another part to the mini Christmas series featuring the "villains" and a hunting dog of bsd! Requested by my dear friend Theo, who simps for villains on the daily <3 Two posts in one night I’m proud of myself lol

Christmas with the BSD Cast PT1

Includes; Fyodor, Gogol, Sigma, Tetcho

Fyodor;

-Lucky to be with the rat man himself! Very rare to almost never that he likes to spend time with someone.

-Doesn't get the excitement around the holiday, but is ALWAYS dressed to impress in cold weather.

-Very rarely will let you cuddle up with him in public when not many people are around because his clothes are fuzzy.

-Steal his hat, (a dazai move lol) he'll act angry but somewhere in that cold heart he thinks it looks adorable on you.

-Probably not out too often because he doesn't have that luxury like the others, but if you whine enough he will take you out to do something.

-Much softer at home however, likes to listen to classical music with you and just read. Sometimes even dance and laugh at how clumsy you are. (Or he'll be impressed if you're good at it!!)

-Even though its the holiday, his work doesn't rest, so if you catch him working, sit beside him or hang out in the same room, but for you're own sake don't look at his work.

-In terms of gift giving, he's pretty selfish so it could be something that is for you but caters to his likings. 

Gogol;

-Resident Clown Man™

-Definitely one of the more chaotic christmas celebrators. But he still enjoys spending christmas with you because he feels like himself when you're around.

-Do not let this man near stores unless you are prepared to act like you didn't see anything. He!! will!! steal!! to see the look on your pretty face, he loves the shock.

-He enjoys decorating the tree as much as the next person but honestly? Give him free reign to decorate the rest of the house and he'll have it looking so festive the tree doesn't even matter.

-Let him take you places on a whim, because he loves dragging you out on adventures. If some big christmas event is happening in the city, you bet he's going there no matter what.

-HUGE fan of New Year's Eve, so he is getting drunk and attempting to make moves on you at every turn, and desperately wants to see the New York ball drop with you.

-He is a good gift giver, but only because he can steal it. He'll buy you ONE genuine thing if you're lucky but that's it. Other than that its whatever he thinks you'll like. Probably takes a puppy for you ngl. (or just an animal you like).

Sigma;

-He's baby, don't try and change my mind.

-Adores the christmas season because the sky casino gets a lot of customers at that time. Bored people, lonely people, and open wallets for the holiday cheer.

-You are always in his office, at all times, he doesn't want to lose sight of you in the crowds because he gets separation anxiety. Holds your hand tight if you two have to go into the lobby full of people.

-Since all those people will be in there, decorations play a big part in the atmosphere of the casino! He often wants your opinion on decorations and sometimes the two of you put some up. But really he wants you to relax so he mostly makes someone else do it.

-When the two of you get alone time, he's a big cuddle bug, his job is so stressful and he takes so much pride in learning all the ins and outs of it, its exhausting. He falls asleep really quick if he's laying with you.

-Actually interested in watching cheesy christmas shows and movies with you, he likes the happy endings!

-Makes the both of you look super cute in christmas attire because it looks good, seriously he can't keep his eyes off you.

-He can afford to get you a better present, which his is very grateful for because he thinks you deserve the world. Really wants to get you something that you were lacking, whether that be a reliable car, a place in a better safer neighborhood. Hell, move in with him if you aren’t in a safe place. Oh god please he just worries about you.

Tetcho;

-Since he is the most domestic and tame of the hunting dogs, he probably keeps you as far away from the others as he can for the holidays.

-Likes textbook christmas! So, baking cookies, decorating the tree, watching movies, singing christmas songs in the car, working out constantly.. oh wait you're telling him working out isn't a normal christmas thing?

-Sometimes a chore to make him settle down from training and relax a little. But very effective because once he does, his attention is only on you.

-Loves walking through stores or streets with his hand around your waist and holding your hot chocolate. When the store fronts are all lit up and decorated he isn't even paying attention to them, he's head over heels for the way the light reflects in your beautiful eyes.

-While he enjoys strange food combos, he knows you aren't as interested in eating those, so instead of cooking at home he takes you somewhere nice. So both of you can order what you want!

-That also gives him an excuse to see you dressed up, no matter what fancy outfit you choose to wear, he'll constantly be telling you how incredibly beautiful it looks on you.

-Some of the best snowball fights ever. Even if he has an unfair advantage! Helps build the best snowmen.

-As far as gifts, honestly if the two of you have been dating for awhile I could totally see him proposing to you for christmas, with an amazing custom ring.

[moniwaskaname]

I agree with your last post 10000% but if I may add: Fukuchi is way too overpowered and doesn't have any redeemable qualities. BSD is full of complex characters that make them loveable but Fukuchi... not so much. Fitzgerald was a pretty powerful opponent but his motivation, his back story made me interested in him and hell even love him later on. Fyodor proved to be the next level boss if you will. Had he not been arrested, by himself he proved to be an extreme threat and I would have love to see more of his back story and whatever the hell his ability is but nope. Now we're stuck with mary sue Fukuchi whose just an asshole who doesn't have a solid enough background for me to understand his actions. I love all the other new characters, don't get me wrong, but there was so much potential at the beginning of the arc and now it just seems... bland. Like where's the solid ADA/PM/Guild team up? That would've been so interesting to see and it could've explored the consequences of the Guild more in order to tie up loose ends. What about the rest of the Hunting Dogs? What if they had learned to truth early on and joined the fight? I was super excited for this arc, now I'm frustrated and confused.

I agree with you anon! I do think Fukuchi is overpowered with the whole “can cut through time and space” thingie. I’m not a fan of it tbh D:

And I believe characters don’t need to have these super ultra abilities to be powerful; like Mori. His ability is not exactly strong like Chuuya’s, but he’s a damn powerful character AND a great antagonist. And Fitzgerald... gosh, Fitzgerald was done so beautifully! His ability is strong but it depends on his economical power, meaning it has a weakness and it’s beatable. His motives were so well placed, like, he himself never “justified” himself and we learned about it until the last fight, and it was so beautiful ugh, I love Fitzgerald so much. And Fyodor, tho powerful and smart, it’s a weakling, he pretty much depends on his manipulation than his own strength. Fukuchi lacks what makes Mori, Fitzgerald and Fyodor great antagonists, at least to me. 

While I don’t think strong motives are necessary or a character to be evil and do evil things, Fukuchi lacks flaws and his conviction is not clear enough. And I think Fukuchi came up flat in terms that the arc set him up way too soon. 

I don’t think this arc should have gone farther than the ADA being set up and trying to prove they were innocent to be honest. I don’t think we should have learned that Fukuchi was an actual villain in this arc at all.

I think Fukuchi should have been built more as the Hunting Dog leader, as Fukuzawa’s ex-friend, and such before setting him up as the ultimate boss. It would have made more impact, because with all the new characters and things going on, it wasn’t impressive nor meaningful because we didn’t care about him at all. 

In fact, when the Hunting Dogs were introduced, everybody saw them as antagonist (not villains tho), nobody was really happy to see them, and with how little we still know about them, and how little they are developed (except Tachihara, maybe), it didn’t even feel like a plot twist lol.

I think this arc should have been about ADA searching for a way to prove their innocence and being chased by the Hunting Dogs only. No flying casino, no Fukuchi and Tachihara identities revealed, and no vampires. I would have kept Yosano’s plotline, Kunikida losing his hands, Lucy and Ango helping Atsushi, etc. I would have made the ADA find another solution to prove their innocence besides the page, to develop more ADA characters, to finally awaken Margaret and form an alliance with The Guild specially. I think it would have worked to give more time and depth to some characters AND future plotlines. If this arc had less things happening at the same time and it went slower, like the past arcs tbh, I feel like Fukuchi’s characters wouldn’t be so flat as it’s perceived. 

If Fukuchi had developed as a full character before his reveal, it would have been so much better, in my opinion. If we could actually cared about him before, or know about him or the Hunting Dogs it would have been such an amazing reveal. (i’ll go down with the hunting dog!kunikida ship until i die lol)

I believe Sigma and Bram Stoker could have been so amazing in future arcs instead of cramping them all in a single arc and it would have helped to develop Fukuchi as the powerful villain he’s supposed to be. And I’m convinced that no matter how it gets resolved, or how much it actually gets resolved, I won’t be satisfied because there are just so many things left hanging and unshown.

[theteapotofdoom]

Hello hello! You mentioned in one of your posts you don't like how the geniuses are represented in bungou stray dogs. So i was wondering if you would like to share more on that thought and how do you think that can be improved. Hope you are safe and healthy!!!

Hello! Thank you, I hope you’re safe and healthy too!

Yeah of course! I kind of quickly went over my issues in the post you mentioned, but I can try to explain it better! 

Before we get into it, a disclaimer: Asagiri is a fantastic writer. Bungou Stray Dogs is an amazing story, I absolutely love his writing in the manga and in the few novels I’ve read. His plots and characters are great, complex and full of details. I absolutely love Bungou Stray Dogs, and I’m not trying to give him tips on how to improve his story. It’s just that, as an aspiring writer myself, I like I need to stay critical of my favourite stories and whenever I realise that some elements are frustrating me or rubbing me in the wrong way, I like to try to understand why. I also want to say this is probably more a matter of personnel taste rather than an actual flaw in the story. Dazai is the most popular BSD character, so obviously, the majority of people really love how Asagiri is writing him and that’s absolutely fine. The best I can do here is to try to analyse why I don’t like always it and maybe what would make me like it more.

Also as another disclaimer, I’m not completely up to date with everything the manga and I haven’t read all of the novels, so it’s possible that I’m genuinely just missing some elements to really appreciate the way Asagiri writes Dazai’s genius abilities. But I still think I have a right to discuss it because most of my criticisms are related to the anime and to the movie and to the parts of the manga that I did read.

(I know that the question is about “geniuses” in the story, but I will actually focus on Dazai here because he is the main offender and he is the one I think about whenever I talk about “geniuses” in BSD. Fyodor does some of these things too but not as much. Also, I tend to give Fyodor a pass with most of these things because 1) he hasn’t been in the story for as long as Dazai has, he still feels like a relatively new character to me so I’m not compeltely used to him and I’m still mostly impressed when he does some of his “genius” tricks things 2) he is a villain/antagonist so no matter how much he keeps outsmarting everyone I know that he will (probably) ultimately be defeated one way or another so he is allowed to get more wins.)

Okay, so like I said before, very broadly my main issue is that Dazai never fails and always plans everything to the point where it feels more like plot armour than actual intelligence to me. Right off the bat, this might be more of personal preference, but I rarely like the “all according to keikaku” to trope (there’s a reason it turned into a meme). It can be well done and in a satisfying way, but I often get frustrated when something crazy happens and all hope seems lost and a character says “actually, this was part of my plan all along” because it can often feel like a Deus Ex Machina. Dazai does that a lot, and I think it annoys me twice as much with him because Dazai has a bad history of emotional manipulation with almost everyone he ever met, so whenever it’s revealed that he actually had a plan in motion from the beginning and just didn’t tell anyone about it, I can’t help but think “so ... you literally used everyone like pawns?” It’s not necessarily a bad thing storywise, it could actually be interesting if it was framed as Dazai relapsing in his toxic mafia ways even though he keeps trying to be a better person. I would actually love that! But more often than not, it’s framed as an amazing badass moment with everyone being really impressed and in awe (or at least that’s how I read it). 

It also gives off the bad impression that Dazai can never fail. The first time that this kind of thing happens I’m genuinely impressed, but if it keeps happening again and again and again, I stop worrying about Dazai because I’m just assuming that he has a plan to save the day. And you could make the argument that I should never be worried about Dazai in the first place because he is one of the main characters and so he will probably be okay until the very end of the story, but there are some great stories out there who can make you worry about the protagonist even if you know they’re going to be okay. With Dazai, no matter what happens to him, I never worry because no matter how bad things seem to get, he just never ever fails. And it’s important for characters to fail because that’s often when character growth and development happen. That’s also what makes us appreciate a character’s intelligence.

Like I said in the previous post, I think that the best way to show your reader how smart a character is, is to show how they bounce back and react when things don’t work out for them. That’s something that the first arc of The Promised Neverland does almost perfectly. I use this example because I started watching BSD when the TPN anime began airing and so I watched the two shows almost side by side. The main kids of TNP are all supposed to be some form of geniuses in their own ways, they are way smarter than average and are extremely good at tactics, strategy, chess and all that good stuff. The whole show is about the silent mind games between them and the antagonist who is also a genius in their own right, and we see the kids failing A LOT. Without going in too many details or spoilers, we see them planning some things meticulously for days, weeks, months, and then the whole thing crashes down in a matter of seconds because their adversary was smarter than them. Sometimes it’s just small stepback that pushes them to rethink the entire thing, but sometimes it’s a huge blow that makes them think that everything is lost. And the fun part is to see them react to these defeats, to see how they learn from their mistakes and analyse the problem and come up with a solution. That’s what makes me go “holy shit, these kids are so smart!!!”

I never get that feeling with Dazai, because I never really see Dazai fail. There are a few times where I THINK that he failed, and I get really excited for a minute thinking “Oooh damn!!! He didn’t see this coming, this is so exciting, I wonder how he is going to adapt and bounce back!!! I wonder if he going to have some self-introspection and some growth!!! I wonder if he’s gonna have TO ASK FOR HELP which would be huge for him!!!” But no. Actually, he knew everything that was going to happen and this “failure” was actually part of his plan. So ... I guess that he doesn’t have to learn anything and doesn’t have to face consequences for his actions and I don’t have to worry about him. 

I’m laying it on thick right now to make my point, it’s not always exactly like that. But to give you an example, the biggest offender here is the Dead Apple movie. I have a complicated relationship with Dead Apple because I think that the beginning and the first half are genuinely fantastic, with a very strong premise, wonderful character interactions, an intriguing mystery, and some great action scenes. Brilliant. But ... the second half and the climax are a big mess. Kind of a fun mess at some point I will admit, and the animation is still good and all of the Aku/Atsu/Kyouka character moments are still really strong. But I don’t think I'm the first one to say that climax and resolution are incomprehensible. You could put a gun to my head asking to explain to you Shibuzawa’s motivation, how he did what he did, what he wanted, how come all the abilities turned into a giant dragon, why Fyodor wasn’t affected, how they fixed everything in the end, and would probably take the bullet. Again, still fun, and I’m just glad to see Aku, Atsu and Kyouka kicking ass. But now I’m supposed to believe that DAZAI HAD PLANNED THIS ENTIRE MESS FROM THE VERY BEGINNING? 

This really took me out of the movie. It was especially frustrating for me because I was ecstatic about Dazai getting stabbed only a few minutes before that climax. Don’t worry, I still care about Dazai, it wasn’t because I wanted him to die or anything! But I was so happy to see him fail! I was so happy to see him being outsmarted by two other people! I was so happy to see him surprised and worried and out of his element! I was so happy to see things not go his way for once!!! It made Dazai feel more real, more human, and more vulnerable! It made Fyodor feel more dangerous, like an actual worthy adversary who had played him like a fiddle! I was thinking that MAYBE just maybe, he would need the help of Atsushi, Aku, Kyouka and the ADA to succeed! I was thinking that it was going to be a character moment for him, where he would realise that he can’t do everything on his own and that if he had told the ADA what was going to happen and what was his plan, things would have worked out better! Hahahahaha ... oh what a clown I was ...

Because nope! Turned out that this all part of Dazai’s plan from the very beginning. He knew that Fyodor would betray him, he knew he would get stabbed, he knew everything that Fyodor and Shibuzawa would do after stabbing him, he knew that all the abilities would turn into a huge dragon (somehow????) and he knew how to stop it. Look, I’m sure that things are explained better in the manga or the novel, and I’m sure that many fans could tell me exactly how he knew all that. But to me, it didn’t feel like Dazai being smart, it felt like he was blessed with the author’s clairvoyance. 

This whole post feels a little messy. I hope that managed to explain what I didn’t like about how Dazai’s genius is portrayed in the story. Dazai RARELY fails which means 1) I’m never actually worried about him even when shit hits the fan 2) I’m not impressed with his intelligence because it’s so infallible that it feels more like Asagir knowing his plot than Dazai actually figuring things out before anyone else 3) if he never fails, I never get to see him grow and learn and change, and so it’s ultimately always the same thing over and over again.

As to how I would improve it ... I mean, just have him fail sometimes you know? Have him fail for real, not as part of an even greater plan. I remember getting excited yet again when Fydor shot him in season 3 but I just got bamboozled yet again. Dazai is literally in jail right now, but I can’t bring myself to care because I just know that it’s all part of a bigger plan and that when he’ll go out he will give us the good all “just as I had planned from the beginning”. I mean, maybe not, who knows, I would LOVE to be surprised by Asagiri on this one! But yeah, the “all according to Keikaku” route seems more likely. 

Also, I’m hesitant to bring this up because I genuinely don’t know if I’m supposed to take it seriously or not but ... the scene with Dazai and Fyodor speaking in a made-up language in prison kind of represents everything I dislike about the genius Dazai trope. Again, maybe I’m reading the scene completely wrong, but to me, it really comes off as “Ooooh look these two are SO SUPERIORLY SMART that no one can understand what they’re saying!!!” and that’s my point. Not to go back to TPN, but I’m impressed with the kids because although I could never come up with the plans they come up with, whenever they explain the plans I actually understand them and even think “wow, that makes so much sense” and that’s what makes it impressive and clever to me. But yeah, like I said, with this specific scene I think I might have genuinely missed what Asagiri was actually trying to do, so I don’t want to dwell on it too much.

So yeah, have Dazai fail every once in a while. I know that Asagiri can write Dazai failing because he has done it before. With Oda.

Not to get hyperbolic on main, but the Oda arc/flashback is kind of a masterpiece in my eyes. That’s Asagiri at his best, showing us what an incredibly talented writer he is. There are many reasons why this arc is so good, but one of the main reasons (in my eyes) is that Dazai fails to save Oda. And this is what has prompted the biggest chance in his character so far.

Dazai and Oda’s relationship was incredible because Oda was the (1) person that Dazai couldn’t read or manipulate and that’s kind of why Dazai couldn’t save him. Dazai is a genius, but with all of his cleverness and tactics and schemes, he couldn’t save the person that he loved the most. And that’s good writing, that’s good drama! That’s a good situation to put Dazai in! Oda wasn’t wrapped around Dazai’s little finger unlike so many other characters in the story, it was kind of the other way around. And it wasn’t because Oda was smarter than Dazai, Oda was actually a very simple man, and that’s what made it all so interesting. I easily get frustrated with Dazai these days, but his relationship with Oda is one of the main elements that will always bring me back to him no matter what.

Of course, I’m not saying that we need to see something as massive as this all the time. Dazai’s failure to save Oda should probably stay unique in the story because it’s such a strong catalyser. This is what prompted the biggest (and arguably only) change in Dazai so far, we don’t need to see something as big again before a while. But like ... small little failures you know? Dazai not being able to read somehow as well as he thought. Dazai miscalculating something. Dazai actually needing someone’s help (and not just as a tool in his plan). 

There are small moments like this in the story mind you, I just wish that there were more. One I really like is during the first half of the Azur King arc. Dazai and Kunikida are each fighting different guys across a warehouse, and it becomes apparent that Dazai can’t defeat his adversary who doesn’t have an ability for him to nullify and is more of a fighter (which Dazai is not), while Kunikida can’t defeat the ability user fighting him. They both realise that they can’t win their fight, quickly assess the situation, find each other in the space, realise that they need to switch adversaries if they want to win, and they do it. AND THAT’S IT. Just Dazai realising that he couldn’t defeat this guy on his own, quickly assessing his options, bouncing back immediately with Kunikida’s help, and saving the day just like that. On a micro-scale, this is what I would like to see more of. Like I said, you have a bunch of small moments like this one in the story and I really appreciate them, but I just wish we could have more of that or at least to have these moments when it matters more.

Okay, so I think that’s mostly it? I hope that everything was clear and that my arguments felt reasonable. Like I said, this might all be a matter of personnel preferences and that’s fine with me. I love Bungou Stray Dogs with all my heart, but there a lot of times where Dazai’s capacity to get away with absolutely everything is genuinely harming my enjoyment for the story. And you know, maybe everything that I’m criticizing here is actually on purpose! In this post, I talked a lot about how Dazai never failing meant that he never need to grow, learn, and change his ways, but I can actually accept that Asagiri is doing this on purpose. I know that part of Dazai’s characterisation is that he doesn’t feel like a human, and so maybe Asagiri is purposely trying to portray him as “inhuman” as possible, and maybe that’s why I feel like I never see him grow or change because he is supposed to be this superior, almost otherworldly and constant presence in the story. Or maybe Asagiri is trying to show us that, despite his best efforts, Dazai will never be able to truly change his ways from Port Mafia and will always remain a detached manipulating person. I don’t really like that option, but maybe that’s the case, who knows? That would be interesting. (I actually think that Dazai is still more motivated by the promise that he made to Oda than by any genuine desire to be a good person, but that’s a whole other subject). All of this would arguably explain what I personally see as a lack of growth, but it still doesn’t help me to believe that Dazai is actually all that smart. Like I keep saying, people saying “it was part of my plan” whenever shit hits the fan is not impressive to me, but people quickly adapting to failures and immediately coming up with new solutions based on what they learned is.

But at the end of the day, this is Asagiri’s story and I would never even dream of telling him what to do with his characters. He is a great writer, and no matter how much I complain about Dazai sometimes, I still trust every decision he makes because I believe that he knows where he is going with him and with the story. 

This post was very long and a little messy, I feel like I repeated myself quite a lot, but I hope it was still interesting! 

[afinepricklypear]

Compare and Contrast: K Project vs. Bungou Stray Dogs - Part 3

**Disclaimer: I love both K Project and Bungou Stray Dogs. I highly recommend watching both of them. This series of Compare and Contrast posts I’m doing is merely for my own sake, to get these thoughts out of my head. If you are a fan of one show and not the other, please don’t read, or if you do, save your bashing comments for like-minded antis elsewhere. If you have not seen both, there are a lot of Spoilers ahead, please don’t read. I am heavily critical of both shows, so if you are someone who cannot handle negative things being said (I try not to outright bash and just provide reasonable evidence from the material to back my stances) about your favorite fandom or characters please don’t read. Thank you! ***

Read Part 1, Part 2

Characters

Both Bungo Stray Dogs and K feature ensemble casts, with large numbers of characters. That being said, the shows have vastly different approaches for how they handle those characters and those approaches impact the way they come across for the viewer.

One of the things that K does a hell of a lot better than BSD, is fleshing out and managing of its characters. This may in part be due to the fact, K doesn’t attempt to give all of its characters a starring space in the story. It’s comfortable letting some characters fall into the background, allocating them to the role of side characters. There are only a few members of each of our main clans (Silver, Red, Blue, and later, Green) that are given attention and the rest of the clansmen (Red and Blue are the only clans shown to have notable clans members who regularly show up and are given names and little else outside of our mains) fall to the background. For some people, this may be frustrating, as we don’t learn a whole lot about the rest of Scepter 4 or HOMRA in the anime, but narratively, I’m comfortable with it because I’m not asked by the show to care about those characters, and the characters that I’m meant to care about are given adequate screen time to develop them into someone who’s story I am invested in. That being said, K does have moments that utterly flop. Scepter 4, for me, beyond Fushimi, is an absolute failure in presenting itself as a likeable or, even, relatable organization of individuals (Full disclosure, I hate Munakata, and while Awashima has potential, she’s treated by the series as little more than a miniskirt and bad boob job obsessed with Munakata). They seem to be there only to be obnoxious. I get the sense they were originally intended to be viewed as villains, but they became so popular following the first season, that the creators tried to treat them more as heroes in the movie and second season. However, it was painfully obvious in the final episode of K: Seven Stories – Nameless Circle, as the surviving members of the Green, Red, Silver, and good Colorless clan members (Yukari and Kuroh) enjoyed their final farewells with their fallen clansmen (I dare you not to cry when Mikoto and Totsuka pour Kusanagi a glass and Yata takes Anna’s hand in the background), that Scepter 4 staring up at Munakata’s lost Sword of Damocles was the least humanized of the Clans. They lost nothing, they felt nothing, their presence in Nameless Circle was nearly pointless beyond fan service. Likewise, K heavily drops the ball in Season 1 with its primary antagonist, the Evil Colorless King, who’s back history, motivations, and even his (her?) name remain a mystery to date.

BSD starts out with an already large cast, and while Atsushi and Dazai might arguably be the “main” characters of the show, starring roles in various arcs and episodes are given to the other characters, as well. Most of those episodes, however, can easily be relegated to the “filler” pile. On top of this, BSD continually introduces increasing numbers of characters, it also likes to bump characters up from side character to more main character type roles, which only serves to take limited screen time from the initial cast of characters and ultimately fails to give itself enough space to flesh out the cast. Time constraints, of course, doesn’t always mean a character can’t be adequately developed (see the first ten minutes of Pixar’s Up for how it’s done right), but possibly, because of this limitation, BSD has a tendency to fall back on telling instead of showing. It also feels like many of its characters were not fully developed in the creator’s minds (this appears to have been confirmed in several interviews with the creators) when they started their story, so that when those backgrounds are revealed, especially in those far too often instances where characters that have interacted in past episodes and given no indication of a history between them are newly revealed to have a connections to one another. It feels tacked on and last minute, and consistency of characterizations is lost. As previously discussed in a past post for this Review Series, this may also be due to the fact that K was envisioned as a self-contained story, and BSD seems to have been developed as an ongoing serial without a predetermined ending.

For these next several posts, I want to do more individualized character analyses, but to keep things simple, I will only focus on the characters of K that are given focus in the story and I’ll try to reference only its anime (just to be fair, because I’ve read all of K’s extra materials, and have not for BSD because I lack access in my country). Likewise, I’m only going to talk about BSD’s characters from the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia, as well as, a few key villains like Shibusawa, Fitzgerald, and Fyodor. Once again, I will attempt to keep to only what’s been revealed in the anime.

A reasonable starting point on character analysis for these two shows would be our sort-of main protagonists. Although, BSD and K are both ensemble anime, they do each feature a character that may ostensibly be considered the “main” character, in the sense that they kick off our main events and are positioned as integral to all subsequent storylines. For BSD, that character is Nakajima Atsushi, and for K, that character is Yashiro “Shiro” Isana. Interestingly (maybe), these characters share a similar aesthetic. Both are young males, with white hair and light-colored eyes, they are also both small, waif-like, bishounen that might be better suited to a shojo or even yaoi anime, rather than leads on a seinen series.

At the start of both series, Atsushi and Shiro, respectively, find themselves thrust into a world of supernatural powered people in which they are targeted for reasons to be revealed throughout the story. The greatest similarity between these two, however, is that they are both weak characters. Neither one proves interesting enough to shoulder the responsibilities as main character of the show. You would be hard pressed in either fandom to find someone who would name Atsushi or Shiro as their favorite character. I’m not saying these fans don’t exist, because they do, they are just few and far between.

Shiro spends the first half of the first season trying to avoid being killed by the Red Clan, who believes he killed their Clansman, Tatara Totsuka, at the same time, he is trying to convince his reluctant ally and potential executioner, Kuroh, that he isn’t the Evil Colorless King responsible for Totsuka’s death. Atsushi’s story, on the other hand, begins with him finding out he’s an ability user that shapeshifts into a white tiger, and, subsequently, being rescued and recruited into the Armed Detective Agency by Dazai. Then the Port Mafia begins hunting him because a bounty has been placed on his head, conveniently only after he’s learned that he is the white tiger that he believed had been hunting him his entire life, he’s joined the ADA, and Dazai has the chance to warn him with a picture of Akutagawa “beware of this bad boy” mere hours before Akutagawa attacks him.

The initial drawback with both of these characters is that they are merely victims of the plot and not helping to drive the plot forward in anyway. Shiro only becomes invested in determining why there’s video footage of him murdering Totsuka because Kuroh demands he provide evidence that he’s not the Evil Colorless King or he’ll face justice at the end of Kuroh’s blade. When Atsushi learns about the bounty on his head that Port Mafia is pursuing, rather than show interest in why anyone would want to capture him (alive, to boot), he “nobly” decides to run away, in his naivete believing that it would spare the ADA war with Port Mafia.

Throughout the K story, we do see real change in Shiro’s investment in his own mystery when it’s revealed that his memories, and the memories his classmates have of him, are not real, but fabricated and imposed upon him and those in close proximity by the cat girl that’s obsessed with him, Neko, AKA Official Provider of Fanservice #1.  This provides a further explanation for why he’s so lackluster about pursuing the truth, she’s been bending his reality and his perception of it from the start. It isn’t until her ability and how she’s been using it is revealed, and she runs off in humiliation and panic, that Shiro begins to actively pursue the truth. Even before this, however, Shiro is shown to be a wily and clever character who is quite self-sufficient. In his first meeting with Kuroh, he’s able to escape Kuroh’s justice by lying and manipulating the swordsman. He later throws off the Red Clansmen pursuing him by appearing just as Kuroh is facing off against a very annoyed Yata and calling out to Kuroh as though they are allies. This falls in line nicely with the big reveal of Shiro’s true identity as the Silver King, Adolf K. Weissman. In flashbacks to an unnamed great war (FYI, people speculate this was WWII, which, fun fact, would make Adolf a Nazi, but because this story takes place in an alternate history of the world, it’s equally possible Nazis never existed), we see that Adolf was originally researching the Dresden Slate, a mysterious artifact capable of granting people mysterious powers.

As Adolf, Shiro is shown to be a light-hearted, goofy man with no place in war or battle (consistent with what we’ve already seen in the show). Nothing of his character feels last minute retconned, and no previously unheard of connections are revealed to other existing characters in the show that haven’t been heavily hinted at or already explained. He believes that his research will be helpful in granting people their wishes throughout the world, yet when his sister is killed during an air raid, he runs away, leaving his research and the Slate with his friend, a Japanese military officer who becomes the Gold King and curator of the artifact. This turn of events does grant Shiro greater weight as a main character, and an importance in the plot that doesn’t feel contrived or heavy handed. Hints exist early on that Shiro is not who he thinks he is, starting with his high school classmate, Kukuri noting in introductory scene that she feels like he’ll disappear if she takes her eyes off of him. After all, one of the things that K is often praised for is its mastery of foreshadowing, this comes from having a very clear idea of the entire story its creators hoped to tell and a firm grasp of the connections between all of its characters.

That said, Shiro still remains throughout the story as relatively uninteresting, serving more as a plot device rather than a character. After the Blue Clan, the Silver Clan is the second least relatable and their scenes in Nameless Circle also remain a bit ‘meh’ as the “losses” the Silver Clan experienced throughout the anime were far removed from the actual plot. They didn’t resonate. We see, in Nameless Circle, Adolf’s sister and the younger version of his lost friend, the Gold King, enjoying breakfast with the Silver Clan every morning on repeat. Yet, Adolf’s sister was never developed beyond “here’s a tragic thing that happened in Adolf’s past”, so it’s hard to really feel her loss. She isn’t a person but a plot device, used to reveal more of Adolf/Shiro’s character rather than having anything of her own. As for the Gold King, he suffers the same fate as Adolf’s sister, but also, he lived a long life, and died of old age, so his death isn’t any kind of tragedy in the same sense as Mikoto, Totsuka, or Nagare’s deaths. There’s certainly a melancholy to these scenes, Adolf misses his friends, but it doesn’t pull at the heart strings, quite the way the Red and Green Clans losses do.

The real reason that Atsushi is being pursued at the start of the manga is yet to be resolved. We’re given a loose explanation, a foreign organization known as the Guild put the bounty on his head because allegedly his ability is the key to finding some powerful book that can manipulate reality. When the main antagonist of the Guild, Fitzerald, is defeated, this explanation and Atsushi’s importance becomes all but forgotten in subsequent arcs featuring new villain, Fyodor Dostoevsky. Atsushi himself can best be described as whiny and severely underdeveloped. He continues to be a victim of the plot just dragging him along, but worse, he quickly becomes one note with the constant flashback to his Orphanage’s director telling him he’s useless and doesn’t belong anywhere. There are entire scenes dedicated to this refrain causing him to full-scale breakdown into bouts of self-doubt. All I can say is he was eighteen when he was “kicked out” of the orphanage, he had zero work experience, and when we find him at the start of the story, he’s only been on his own a couple weeks and is already considering turning to assault and thievery to survive. Considering that Dazai and Chuuya were sixteen when they became Executives in the Port Mafia, Kunikida is only twenty-two and has already had a successful career as a teacher before becoming a detective with the ADA, Kenji is fourteen when we find him at the ADA and a former hard-working farmhand, Kyouka is a capable fourteen year old assassin before joining the ADA, Lucy is eighteen and comes from a similar abusive background and is already busting her ass to work for the Guild and then the ADA’s favorite Coffee Shop (jobs she got herself, thank you very much, for spending anytime looking for her like you promised, Atsushi, you jerk), and so on…I’m inclined to side with the orphanage director: Atsushi is useless. It’s a good thing they kicked him out, or he’d probably still be a bum surviving off social welfare the rest of his life.

I also can’t help but agree with Akutagawa, Atsushi has practically had everything handed to him and yet still manages to pull a pity party routine on the regular. It isn’t long after getting kicked out of the orphanage that he’s taken under Dazai’s wing and handed a job with the ADA. This wouldn’t be so terrible if he didn’t constantly squander it, and consistently prove that he doesn’t earn it. It’s hard to like him, especially when the author seems to be bending the story over backwards to give him some semblance of importance in the plot to the point it hurts the narrative. This is best exemplified in Dead Apple. Throughout the entire movie, we see every other character acting to bring the plot forward, meanwhile, Atsushi spends the entire time whining that they need to find Dazai, because Dazai will know what to do. Bitch, Dazai is busy trying to outsmart two super smart bad guys; he doesn’t have time to also prop you up on your own damn feet. It gets so bad that even Kyouka becomes fed up and leaves him. It really says something that the majority of comments for the movie on CrunchyRoll are complaining about how whiny Atsushi is throughout the movie.

While some people are quick to defend Atsushi by pointing to his abusive childhood to excuse his behavior, it is worth noting, he is not the only character that has an abusive past and he is far from being the character who has suffered the most abuse, and that’s including the odd growth on the side of Dead Apple’s plot that is the inexplicable, unnecessary, and might I add, ridiculous connection that was made between him and Shibusawa at the last minute that only raised more questions than answers and created huge plot holes. Atsushi’s travel companions in Dead Apple, Kyouka and Akutagawa, both have their own history of being abused. Just to underline Akutagawa’s complaint that Atsushi has everything and manages to forsake it all, Akutagawa was abused by Dazai, whereas, Atsushi is saved, fawned over, and praised by Dazai seemingly only for the sake of further tormenting Akutagawa. This continues to contribute to making Atsushi a weak character that I find difficult to really like all that much or see as having anything more than a forced relevance to the plot.

Atsushi does have redeemable moments in his interactions with Kyouka and Lucy. With the aforementioned Dead Apple aside, Atsushi is often at his best when he is with Kyouka. She sees him as her savior, and it reflects in the way that he treats her, being seen that way helps to boost him from pitiful status to someone that may actually have potential as a hero. As for Lucy, because she has a similar life history as Atsushi (abused orphan with matching burn marks), he can’t get away with the same woe is me lines that he throws at every one else. She’s got the same kind of past and manages to stand on her own two feet, forcing him to also rise up to meet her. Both of these girls have tragic histories, but seek to lift themselves up from those histories and stand their own ground, which serves to lift Atsushi as well, unlike with other characters that only patronize, validate, or outright feed into his insecurities leaving me playing on my phone hoping his scenes end quickly. More interactions between Atsushi and Kyouka, Atsushi and Lucy, or all three together would be a welcome addition in Season 4. These babies build each other up, and it’s beautiful to see.

At the end of the day, Shiro and Atsushi are prime examples of the “perfectly innocent protagonist whose only flaw is their own self-doubt” and exemplify why this type of a character is always, ultimately a failure.  They’re bright eyed, they’re kind, without internal debate they always make the right choice, everyone is drawn to them because they are light and goodness, I guess, and even when they are clearly the weakest in a fight, they always come out on top without working towards bettering themselves in anyway beyond putting in some old-fashioned good guy gumption. This is so painstakingly evident in Atsushi, who receives zero training upon joining the ADA, and is expected to battle (and is successful) against exceedingly powerful bad guys on the regular. Contrast this against Akutagawa, who we see underwent harsh training from the Port Mafia, yet still manages to always lose in his battles against the untrained Atsushi. Proving yet again, that you don’t need hard work to become the best, when you got the power of good on your side. Self-doubt exhibited by these types of characters never rings true, because we see them always get their way, everything turns out fine for them in the end, they never encounter lasting consequences for their choices (at one point in BSD, Akutagawa mocks Atsushi that everyone around him dies, but we have yet to see anyone he cares about die – the only person’s death that we see him have to deal with is his Orphanage Director that was coming to visit him with flowers and probably apologize for being a jerk, and his struggle there is with whether he’s allowed to still hate the guy or not, I mean, come on), and everyone around them that matters respects and dotes on them even before them being shown to truly do anything that should earn that respect and affection. I still don’t fully understand what compelled Kuroh to swear loyalty to Shiro, if I’m being perfectly honest, when Shiro is a lay-about, coward and liar, that ditches his clan in the end to soul search in his airship. Though, I will note, Shiro does demonstrate this character type a mite less than Atsushi. He’s not often shown to come out on top in battles, he doesn’t actually engage in any physical battle himself (his fight with Nagare at the end of Missing Kings, not withstanding, because he’s really just blocking that whole time waiting for Kuroh to show up and do the heavy lifting), he typically needs to rely on the strength and intelligence of others, and is more often than not shown running away. Also, Shiro is never really put into a position where he needs to make any hard, moral choices which has its own drawbacks for a main character in a show where a lot of hard, gray moral choices are being made around him.

I have seen it commented in defense of these characters’ weaknesses that the main character of a shonen/seinen story are always weak. This is not true, and I will point to one of my all-time favorite characters from any anime, as example: Edward Elric of Fullmetal Alchemist (both versions of the anime). Ed is badass, he earns his name as Fullmetal, and he earns his title as the youngest State Alchemist. We see him earn it as we watch him and his brother, Alphonse’s journey to become stronger, yet he also makes mistakes. It is his own arrogance that kicks off the entire anime when, in the Elric brother’s attempt to bring their mother back to life using forbidden Alchemy, Ed loses his arm and then his leg to save his brother who has lost his entire body. Their journey to find the philosopher stone for Ed is entirely about restoring his brother, he doesn’t care about his own body and, in fact, views his missing limbs as his own deserved punishment for challenging God, and throughout we see how their moral failing in the past effects all of their choices going forward. We know why Ed makes the choices he does; it isn’t merely because he is the “perfectly innocent protagonist that exudes light and good”; it is because he has learned from his mistakes. His naivete is not shown as a benefit, but as something to overcome. Ed is always acting on his own motives, while the plot is being driven forward by other characters around him, he is not merely a victim of the plot or being dragged along by it, his own actions and goals also help to forward the story and eventually brings him in direct conflict with the big bad. He struggles under the weight of the choices he’s made, he bears the burden of those he couldn’t save, he doesn’t leave the heavy lifting of gray moral decisions to the other characters, he’s seen to struggle and even lose in the anime, and in those instances, we watch him work to better himself so that he can come back stronger. We know where his power comes from – he trained and studied for it; it was never handed to him. Throughout the anime he is shown to literally and figuratively grow and develop into a powerful hero that we can believe is capable of overcoming our main antagonist, Father, in the end, but not without losses and struggle. This is a protagonist done right. Compared against Ed, the failings of both Shiro and Atsushi is glaring.

That is all I have to say about those two. Next up will be the Black Dog of the Silver Clan versus the Black Dog of Port Mafia.