Latest Posts by analytical-machine - Page 2

Golden Retriever: ✅ energetic and friendly ✅ good family dog; prone to separation anxiety ✅ also comes in cream color ergo: Fitzgerald is one

bungou stray dogs as dogs (from this post)

Natsume and Dazai in Fifteen

Bungou stray dogs spoilers maybe!

I am rewatching bsd and I have just noticed. We know that Natsume sensei during Dark Era is in Bar Lupin in cat form, hanging around Dazai, Oda and Ango. And now he is Haruno's pet Mii-chan, so he is close to the ADA.

But I haven't seen anybody mention that he appears in the Fifteen arc too! I didn't notice at all the first time I watched it but now I was like WAIT A SECOND!! He even appears during the second epidode opening. I had to check the markings of the cat and yes, I'm pretty sure it's the same cat.

This is just before Dazai meets Chuuya for the first time.

This is just before the final scene with Randou. The "party" was happening in the second floor that the cat is looking at, and later Chuuya and Randou would fall just where Natsume is standing after Chuuya came flying through the window. I'm sure he watched all the fight.

And now I'm wondering if all this was planned by Natsume, and Mori followed. Because it's strange, he was witnessing everything from the beggining. Mori even mentions Natsume's phrase "only a diamond can polish a diamond". It's too much of a coincidence. Maybe he is the one pulling the strings all the time, he could actually be the one that "created" Soukoku. Or it's just a coincidence and he is just watching...

Anyway, it's even more obvious now that Natsume is always keeping a close eye on Dazai and they wanted us sto know it.

My friend just pointed this out when I paused on a certain time stamp in season two of BSD episode 18, and we noticed fuckin' HILTER exists in this series now? Holy shit??? It was when that one staff member was bringing up tabs to hide the fact she was looking at Nastume the calico cat but...I has questions?

An interesting thing to note in regards to the Akutagawa-Tanizaki debate: their viewpoints were likely somewhat influenced by the styles of traditional vs. Western literature. Akutagawa Ryuunosuke tended to be more faithful to the emotional and abstract style of Japanese literature— whereas at the time of this debate, Tanizaki Jun'ichirou was deep in his fascination with the West, which is associated with stories that have more focus on a structured plot by comparison.

The interesting thing about this is that, later in life, Tanizaki-sensei would undergo a "Return from the West", in which his fascination with the West dwindled, and he became more invested in traditional Japanese aesthetics. In a roundabout way, the real life counterparts of Tanizaki and Akutagawa went from being at odds, to ultimately coming to an agreement— though Akutagawa-sensei passed away before he could witness Tanizaki-sensei's change of heart.

In regards to BSD, this could be paralleled with Tanizaki (the bsd character) leaving the Agency, whose members are authors who leaned more towards a Westernized style of writing, and transferring to the Port Mafia, which is composed of authors who were more loyal to the more traditional, abstract/emotional style of literature. But who knows, maybe Asagiri will surprise us.

BSD 112: War and Peace

Now that the manga has finally caught up to the anime, I shall say that I am still pretty convinced Fyodor will pull a Jesus and be fine.

That said, I hella loved this chapter. The themes, man. Essentially Fukuchi is inviting Fukuzawa to become God, though I would NOT be surprised to see a certain new character show up considering this entire chapter is basically Fukuchi and Fukuzawa trading paraphrased quotes from A Certain Novel.

It's a battle of free will vs peace, and how we walk that line as individuals and societies... war is futile and hell, and pointless because what even is a state anyways besides some arbitrary idea we've all agreed to for... reasons, and yet if you remove the ability for war and conflict as a whole, you don't really have humanity but instead mind-controlled slaves.

War is not a polite recreation, but the vilest thing in life, and we ought to realize this and not make a game of it... as it stands now it's the favorite pastime of the idle and frivolous.”

Every action of theirs, that seems to them an act of their own freewill is in the historical sense not free at all but is bound up with the whole course of history and preordained from all eternity... Man lives consciously for himself, but serves as an unconscious instrument for the achievement of historical, universally human goals.

It's true that people are born where they are born, and caught up in the stories that are grander than they are. Everyone likes to imagine what they know and what they experience and what they want and believe is True, but is it? Or is it merely a product of how they've grown? Is it a product of the centuries and millennia of people before us who create wars and conflicts and use us in them?

Yes, humans are used as unconscious instruments. But is that all they are? All they should be? Fukuchi seems to think yes. If they're currently used as instruments of war, then why not use them. as instruments of peace?

Fukuzawa, however, thinks otherwise.

It's an existential question humanity has been wrestling over since human beings have existed, and it won't be answered anytime soon because there is no neat answer. It's the paradox of human nature and human existence.

He had learned that, as there is no situation in the world in which a man can be happy and perfectly free, so there is no situation in which he can be perfectly unhappy and unfree.

Dictatorships are known, obviously, for suppressing free will and free expression.

Now, in War and Peace, Tolstoy's answer is love. And God, who is Love. But love first and foremost since Tolstoy himself wasn't super religious when writing it (later on he was though).

Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing we are interested in here.

Yet, if you remove the ability to choose love or violence, then:

A man having no freedom cannot be conceived of except as deprived of life. 

And it's pretty clear what lesson Fukuchi has to learn:

Life is everything. Life is God. Everything shifts and moves, and this movement is God. And while there is life, there is delight in the self-awareness of the divinity. To love life is to love God. The hardest and most blissful thing is to love this life in one's suffering, in the guiltlessness of suffering.

Life sucks. War is hell. It makes life feel like it's not worth living. But without free will, you are not alive at all.

For if we allow that human life is always guided by reason, we destroy the premise that life is possible at all.

Anyways, even if Leo Tolstoy does not appear as an actual character with the supreme ability of "War and Peace," well, he sure is influencing this arc a lot.

are we going to notice that in the last chap Fukuzawa got hazy eyes as he was assuming direct control over a shitton of people despite his opinions on the matter of people controling others? No? Okay.

Also: isn't it super sus that an island just suddenly appeared AND had enough strategic importance to be a meatgrinder AND conviniently showcased that ability users are Dangerous plus traumatize enough of them to be a longterm risk for society (sprinkle societal stigma about mental illness to taste).

Why Fukuzawa adopting Ranpo and not Natsume: to set up Tripartite Framework, and let's be real - Ranpo (was at the time) a lot of work & incredibly noticable, which would be problematic for a guy who want to enjoy retirement/can turn into a cat for clandestine nonsense.

To add to your point, adopting Ranpo not only eases Fukuzawa into leadership position, but also by being gradual lets him be rather hands-off about it, i.e. gets to do his best to just avoid what he finds most disagreeable about hierarchies/structures (given the context, that would mean: micromanagement from above. One Order goes brrr even harder.)

re: Ranpo being a problem: at this point the safest answer would be 'noone said anything about a boy wonder', because otherwise it begs the question: why not assassinate? He's not with Fukuzawa 24/7.

as for Fukufuku bond: a lot of it might be denial on Fukuzawa's end; does that man look like he has a wide friend network? and in turn, Fukuchi doesn't want to get Fukuzawa's kid murdered so downplays the risk. This in turn carries on with the rest of agency. Fukuchi is tired of all the killing (vs sskk fight), so smoke and mirrors make for a cleaner ending. (we still have drama to do with Teruko and Jouno)

Fo sure he didn't know, since first we learn the end goal is destruction of ALL governments which at best would end up with world government (=unification of databases on all ability users + nowhere to run if they're declared enemies), but now it's just subsuming armies into UN (that aged like fine wine).

as for Bram: he's already pretty cored of ambition, so playing up potential desire for revenge/highlighting all the harm Fukuchi did then going from there should work. Also: Aya could just ask. As for collapsing: keep in mind it's been nonstop data gathering, then multiple Ranpo Ex Machinas (+setup for each), then rolling the dice on the police force, then having full view of how the precious agency is doing (not so hot), THEN getting backstabbed by the only other living person he has (presumably) known as long as Fukuzawa - which also questions Fukuzawa's opinions - THEN being stuck in the sidelines on standby, stressing. (Fallout for Ango should be spicy too. Now i'm wondering - does Yosano occassionally chop him up for side effects heavy amphetamine use?) Hence, textbook adrenaline crash. But being drained of blood would be a really neat add-on, not gonna lie.

Thank you so very much for the idea that lets pretty anime scenes Make Sense.

Rest is quite insightful and full of splendid questions. We're ignoring Natsume too hard.

…in fact. Why capture a monsieur catboy? not for cattyness itself, so for knowledge - or because he's expected to be a threat. re: the latter: it would imply that he used to be (more?) upfront about organizing ability users in Yokohama, which would make divide et impera harder. But then - why not just assassinate? for the knowledge.

The fuck was Natsume doing durning the war? …he was informed well enough to know both Fukuzawa and Mori were about to do something stupid in caniballism; Mori in particular was under watch of his own men but disappeared. Spy network? 'I am a Cat. which cat? all of them' as for what put him on the radar - trying to unscrew the conflict/importance of the island?

Some late night thoughts about DoA's arc

Maybe Fukuchi had a special bond with his comrade that died in his arms, the one who lost his right arm and eyes bandaged. The one who didn't want to die like a fly. But it's a tragedy.

Maybe that was the time he old Fukuchi died, or buried deep inside the new Fukuchi. Come to think of it, the time Fukuchi went to the war was the time Fukuzawa probably started being bodyguard. Then, several months after that, Fukuzawa met Ranpo for the first time.

When the theater case happened, the V organization was already there with Fyodor. So, perhaps, Fukuchi met Fyodor who offered him the world peace and joined the organization, creating Decay of Angels. After the war, Fukuchi's mind was so unstable and full of grief.

And Fyodor has good ability to persuade people, so he easily wormed into Fukuchi's mind, maybe manipulated him into agreeing with him. Then, after the DoA was built, they started with kidnapping Natsume Souseki. (Maybe because he knew world secrets?)

But they failed. In fact, it was Natsume who put himself into the trap (but for what?), maybe Natsume predicted that he could escape if he was in enough danger. I thought Ranpo solving the case and saving Natsume was a coincidence but I guess Natsume kinda planned that too?

So that Natsume could pay Ranpo's father by making Ranpo meet Fukuzawa, so Fukuzawa could take care of the kid (why Natsume didn't take the kid himself? Why Fukuzawa? Because he already saw that Fukuzawa needed a guidance? A lighthouse?)

Also what if Fukuzawa didn't take Ranpo? Would Natsume do that himself?

Then, after a year Ranpo and Fukuzawa having a journey of life, full of enrichment, especially for Fukuzawa, that he could dream again about protecting people, about his code of justice, because, being with Ranpo, Fukuzawa felt like he could be his better self and achieve more. He opened his heart and his mind into accepting people in his life, caring about people, becoming the one who would command people to protect more people.

The thing once he avoided, now he sought out. And still, with the intention so that Ranpo could be the greatest detective and be safe. That's why he would go through the obstacles of being a director, a leader, no matter how he hated having attachments before.

(I rambled lol) so, when Ranpo solved the theater case and failed the DoA's plan to kidnap Natsume (which made Natsume go into more secure hiding place) had they thought about Ranpo being their obstacle? Perhaps, but now Ranpo was with Fukuzawa so that they decided to wait until the right moment? They watched the ADA grow bigger, with Fukuchi being the one who watched over them? And being Fukuzawa's old friend, maybe that's why he tried to maintained the fractured bond? Maybe for Fukuzawa, the bond between them was still the same. But, for Fukuchi, the bond was already fractured. But Fukuchi played along as if nothing happened? That's why Fukuzawa could still trust Fukuchi? While Fukuchi just played along, being the good old friend, but he was watching the main obstacle for DoA? Maybe, Fukuchi knew he was the bad guyAnd the world would eventually know that he's the bad guy? So he decided on his own that there should be a hero in this story. That hero was Fukuzawa.

At their last fight on the airport, Fukuchi went so far hurting people, including his comrades, and put Tanizaki and Kunikida into weird dangerous machines just to ignite Fukuzawa's anger, so Fukuzawa would kill him. It was his plan so that the hero would kill the villain. But Fukuchi didn't actually kill the agency members right in front of Fukuzawa. Why?

Wouldn't it be more dramatic if Fukuchi killed one of them? So Fukuzawa could be angrier? Or, he could just kill Ranpo on the spot to make Fukuzawa instantly kill him. Anyway, Fyodor should have suspected that the ADA was their main obstacle to gain their goals.

Maybe they decided that Fyodor would take care of Dazai, and Fukuchi would take care of Ranpo? But, maybe Fyodor didn't know, that Fukuchi wanted to make Fukuzawa and ADA into the heroes?

Also, I still wonder what kind of negotiations Ranpo had with Bram. One that Ranpo asked of Bram was probably pulling off all the vampires, and killing Fyodor in that helicopter. Maybe Ranpo said that Fyodor was Bram's main obstacle from achieving his freedom.

Anyway, Bram had no other business with the world. Maybe not now, since he was jailed by Fukuchi for a long time, maybe Bram wanted to go home and build his castle again? But then, what Ranpo offered to Bram?

There was a panel where Ranpo collapsed after he woke Atsushi. Why he collapsed? Because he's too tired from going here and there to fix all the mess? Or he offered Bram his blood so Bram could get more power? Idk did Bram really consume human blood? Human, not ability users?

And while I'm sure that the Poe's book of Fukuchi and Fukuzawa's past was stolem from Ranpo, so Ranpo already thought that a book with their past would at least open Fukuchi's eyes and remind him of his past self, his true self. So Fukuchi wouldn't lose himself.

That meant, either Ranpo knew their past and told Poe the story, or Fukuzawa told Poe himself about their past. Either way, it was Ranpo who decided that the book should be about their past, not about a murder case. It was all predicted.

Maybe one thing Ranpo didn't predicted that he had to negotiate with Bram, but he could adapt to that improvisation so that they could still achieve their main goal. But with a price that made Ranpo collapsed.

And one thing he didn't predicted was about the new Fukuchi-like villain in the end of S5? Maybe it was the amenogozen that steal Fukuchi's body?

this also implies it's limited in scope/temporary, as he can't be the first person to get that idea. Alternatively, either elaboration on the whole 'Amenogozen talks' bit or making this a three-way fusion would make this case unique enough to make future uses of this plot device difficult to predict.

As for singularity: if he's holding Amenogozen and using it to control his own behavior (carving marks from the future to the past), doesn't that kind of parallel Bram's ability being controlled/amplified by Mirror Lion, as he's extension of what Fukuchi is wielding?

because "wield yourself directly" is too banal, tho it can be explained as a risky choice, hence happening at this point in time

My new theory is that Fukuchi merged with The Page and it's based on the looks of his god form

I didn't figure out how the singularity of them works yet but I think it might have something to do with the fact of killing him being contradictory to what was written on the Page before

also: if the answer is vampires AND he relies on them so damn much, why isn't entire Meursault turned. ...does it mean that the fact he didn't despite it giving him an advantage (and vampires can hide in the populace) make his control freak tendencies an Informed Ability?

thanks for prompting me to come to that conclusion, i hate it.

which was beside the point; if entire prison is under his control (if it wasn't it means the majority of wardens of the prison for the most dangerous just... failed a spot check. collectively. While moving in a prisoner whose ability they do not fully know) Chuuya offing guards would immediately cue a setup for "now that you have killed your partner Would You Kindly now stay where you are as i initialize (already did) shutdown-drowning sequence (which he already knows Chuuya cannot stop, taking advantage of 101) for that corridor so you can join him.". Since Dostoy does discard everyone after 1 use--

--psyche! topic hijack.

Imagine Dazai's gloating making sense. If different arguments(1) were used all this would grate less and the ending(2) note would be more cohesive. The cohesiveness would disarm our whining somewhat. Fukuchi who trusted media/the government/HD (=other people) getting rekt + Dostoy who trusted Fukuchi getting rekt vs Fukuchi who probably could get Fukuzawa/HD in on it with charisma (and having to prepare for it i.e. refine his political theory) but didn't and thus gets rekt + Dostoy who could rely on his hand-picked manipulated underlings but didn't and thus gets rekt.

1.1) not reusing underlings; to do so would mean expending resources/taking risks to bail them out of various states of capture, but doing so would set up persuading that Dostoy is not a completely terrible boss which would mean MORE investment + trusting them to not fuck up. "laze all day so others with do things for me" is useless on purpose.

1.2) 'underlings are less useful when controlled with fear/when they get something out of it' with Sigma as exhibit A. Dostoy works them presumably for months/weeks/days and Dazai persuades them in under 20mins.

2) option i haven't seen elsewhere: meta-plot twist that it looks like manga is catching up to anime but actually reroutes elsewhere. That aside, between that, plot twist: actually dead, plot untwist: BSD plot armor i'm not feeling ANY of the options, chief. Especially the last one: this would be setup for lining up for F. Dostoevsky's imprisonment and Crime and Punishment. Which would include Dostoy changing his mind while recovering, but given how hydra-like multiple bitching sessions have been so far.....

kind of wild that fyodor expected that dazai would die in meursault when bro has literally cheated death in front of him before. like did dead apple mean nothing to you babygirl?

imagine misplaying SO HARD it flips your entire position

and NPR did a segment on Fritz Faber mentioned in other reblogs. That part alone starts at 28:23, but the entire ep is good

all demographics and time periods and geography taken fully into consideration, some people were just born to lose

;O how deep does the rabbit hole go.

mm, may have overdone with the hyperbole there. In comparison to destroying the town or children's base/symbol of the future? progress? you're sacrificing multiple people who would agree to it, with reasons ranging from solving the trolley problem through fatalism/defeatism to grief/guilt. Nonetheless, it is consensual. IIRC the faction is the one with killers/lawbreakers in it, as well. As for the puppet angle - in this case it's just a story, so not just their sacrifice, but the ending as well loses it's weight. If it's a story, you can just say it takes only a few miserable people (and a few heroic figures) to save the entire town and call it a day. Because the town is fictional even within the game to begin with.

As for 'dealing with death' i have no clue where i heard that idea. Blaming hbomberguy i guess ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but basically, the opening is children having a pretend funeral - before the plot even starts, before the setting is established. Yes, it could just be to establish the mood, but still. Furthermore, the wiki has this:

On the final Day 12, should the healer successfully heal both their Bound and the Bound of the other two healers, they will receive a letter from The Powers That Be - and they're not happy. They will insist that the healer is ruining their game by doing whatever they please. (...) They're playing a morbid game to distract themselves from a recent funeral - and the healers are their dolls.

So some death is desired. (and p sure they do mention Bachelor is usually a villain, but it is ambiguous if in general or they keep redoing the scenario)

SMT is relevant only tangentially in that the neutral ("good") ending takes extra effort, was super secret and then just became par for the course as majority went for neutral endings since

Speaking of Pathologic, couldn't Clara's experiences inform Fyodor in some way? I feel like there's something there, with Fyodor and his Ability. Particularly how it was shown in Dead Apple... It ties into The Double as well, and Crime and Punishment/Ivan's talk with the Devil, to some extent... Hm, I hope this is a good track.

would Jouno scarejumping everyone in a Light Snow car bolster the point? that noone remembers gun children would kind of mean the fluff action is performed properly - enjoyable in the moment only to be forgotten as a mostly irrelevant point.

to salvage the setup: real selective killing would be in the past, and enough fuckups/pressure would have him be progressively more extremist about it. People do make reads on how BSD is absurdist at it's core - which would mean no plans perfectly coming together*. Plus, while he appears to be opportunistic about how genocide is carried out (DA, DoA), the primary plan seems to be the Book - and anyone with the book can retcon everything they did in the past. That said - and wouldn't it be funny if neither of us read Dazai's Entrance Exam - part of it is probably to signal Dostoy is way WAY further gone than that particular obstacle.

the post seems like noticing a novel Franchise Original Sin: sometimes it's character driven drama and sometimes it's just cool shit with abilities, and the bits of Meursault you dislike are an extension of the latter? Death Note jungle gym & dumb nonsense chatter to lower tension for Action Flick Shit elsewhere, if i remember properly?

*would all of this be a problem if Dazai fucked up badly in the main manga? earlier, hopefully?

At what point does a character become so evil that they're just irredeemable? Because I can ignore the Meursault arc by setting my story before it, remove Fyodor from some of the more catastrophic decisions made by the DOA and Guild, which at least bring him back down to some sort of relatability but... how can you redeem a man who manipulated a little girl into blowing herself up? Who put guns in the hands of children? It's so... evil. I can write Fyodor as a previously mostly good person, who took a horribly dark spiral into a delusional genocide mission. It's hard, but I can, so long as he doesn't succeed very far. Even killing Karma, while still an evil action, is questionable, debatable, to the reader. Because you can understand why Fyodor did it: he saw ending Karma's life as the only way to save him from a lifetime of torment and sin. And the reader can question how much they agree with that decision. And that's fine; I like that. But the little girl? It's the same principle, in theory: Fyodor could justify it to himself by saying that he wanted to save her from the sin surrounding her, to send her to God before she had the chance to sin. But that's where it breaks down. Because it becomes such a flimsy excuse, trying to mask such a massive evil.

Maybe I'd take out the kids with guns. That's too much, unless I'm missing something. Have the long walk through the tunnels with Atsushi and Kunikida be tense instead, them peering around every corner, ready for a harrowing fight. Kunikida's gun held tight, Atsushi tensed and ready to tiger out. Both peering through the darkness, only to reach a clearing in which stood a tiny little girl, hands clutched in front of her, scared, with some strange kind of necklace. And then in the next horrifying moment they realise: it's not a necklace, but grenades. Then the scene plays out from there. Not only would this be more impactful as a scene (in my opinion), it'd also characterise Fyodor in a different, much more interesting and nuanced way (in my opinion).

Because in that situation, it's only the little girl he's justifying to himself. And it's a bad justification, clearly paper-thin, but he believes it. And that makes the underlying horror and twist of Fyodor's character all the better--now that you've trimmed the fluff, that one point speaks so much more. You've emphasised that Fyodor's the type of person who's willing to manipulate a little girl into blowing herself up, but you've also shown that he put deliberate thought and care into that decision. It was to break Kunikida, but it was also to save her, to end her life before she fell into sin. And you would remember, because of how impactful the scene would be (whereas I'd bet a lot of people don't even remember Fyodor had gun children).

I think that's a problem the entirety of BSD (or maybe just manga in general) has. There's too much fluff action. It waters down the truly impactful scenes and breaks down the interest in characters like Fyodor. Because when he's killing very selectively, not only can you show how he rationalises those deaths for the sake of his plans and have that not be broken by continuity, but you get so much more out of those deaths. And if nothing else changed, and Fyodor was the only antagonist who didn't kill wantonly, imagine how different that would make him feel. His plans by their very nature would be new, interesting, contrasting. An antagonist who uses precise and measured deaths, just a pinpoint here, to achieve a much bigger effect on the characters than even the destruction of Yokohama by the Guild, would be something both new and far more terrifying.

And it would show how well Fyodor understood the ADA, that with just one death he could shake them so much--and how little they knew him in return would be very worrying. Imagine how much better his conversations with Dazai--the discussion of saving people would have so much meaning if Fyodor wasn't a hypocrite who killed people for no reason. If Dazai says that people are worth saving, and Fyodor agrees, even though they've entirely different meanings behind those words, and the meaning is actually there- imagine the subtext, the intrigue, the actual good writing that could come of that. God, I really wish it was so.

Check for understanding:

What tone does the phrase 'fun fact!' give to the next statement?

Why did crabs-but-better phrase the extra time as 'forbidden'?

How does capitalizing 'Watch Out', as opposed to 'watch out', change the interpretation of these words?

What could have caused amiru-shubfeast to reblog with commentary?

What does the use of exclamation marks imply about their mood and mental state?

What formatting choices did their followup post use? Why?

Discuss with a mutual: what are the short and long term effects of sleep deprivation? Have you experienced any?

@reading-comp-posting

fun fact! did you know that you can gain extra ‘forbidden time’ by staying up late in the night? but Watch Out

they must really have feared fyodor's power

Ever think - most of that last bit in Muersault didn't need to happen? Because if Chuuya is never a vampire and Dazai knows that, then once Chuuya's THERE, the rest is a pantomime. Chuuya had more than enough power to hail bullets into Fyodor the moment Gogol's 'game' began.

So why didn't they?

I think they had to be really afraid of Fyodor's power. All they know is that it works by touch, and it's lethal. Chuuya's power also requires him to touch things to exert control over them. They must've been afraid that the powers would cancel each other out if used directly that way, which would introduce too many unknowns to 'can we kill fyodor now'.

I think that's why they saved the finishing blow for "when we have control of the vampires". Because then, if it was an always-on kind of power like Dazai's, whatever it was would activate when the Random Vampire Mook attacked.

Of course, they couldn't KNOW they'd get control of the vampires, but really, if they didn't they were screwed anyway? So I guess they figured eh, in that event we leave Chuuya around as some kind of secret double agent and wait for the next clear shot. Or something.

Spoilers for the ending of the Mersault arc in Bungou stray dogs season 5.

3

2.

1.

.

Going back and reading the Mersault arc again.

My favourite little detail foreshadowing the twist at the end...is Chuuya's hands.

No I'm not kidding.

Chuuya's outfit has changed from what it usually is.

He's not wearing his gloves.

For most of the arc he's in, his hands remain in his pockets.

When fighting Rimbaud years ago Chuuya said to him:

"Wanna know why I've been keeping both my hands tucked away this whole time? It helps me stay rooted when I'm afraid I'm gonna lose myself."

It's why he takes his gloves off when he activates corruption.

But here Chuuya's hands are tucked away in his pockets, just like they were before he joined the Port Mafia.

He's still in there.

He hasn't lost himself.

The other thing I love is that while Chuuya's outfit has changed, he's still wearing his hat. The hat that Mori gave him when he joined.

It's a clear sign that he's still with the Port Mafia.

But Fyodor doesn't know Chuuya, he doesn't know the significance of his hat nor why keeping his hands tucked away mean.

Fyodor doesn't trust people.

That was his first mistake.

His second was thinking he could ever control Chuuya Nakahara.

here various Big Important Authors occasionally take end-of-mandatory-education exams (the language/literary analysis part), including those whose works are in the curriculum AND on the exam.

Needless to say, they do not pass with full marks.

Or simply fail.

i learned that in 1963 a 16 year old sent a 4 question survey to 150 well-known authors (75 of which replied) in order to prove to his English tutor that writers don't intentionally add symbolic content to their books (x)

YES SOMEONE ELSE NOTICED IT.

You cannot have Fyodor's entire fucking plan hinge on the vampires, over which only Bram and the person who has possession of Bram have any control, and then try and tell me that Fyodor lost because he didn't have faith in people.

it's long but go read it

P sure it's supposed to be Fyodor who writes down on the page, as iirc the handwriting is shown to be quite shaky? (unless it's alcohol tremors kek).

re: pilots: doesn't anime implicitly cover that by a shot of him bleeding himself out into a chalice (drama queen)? This would foreshadow pilots and signal C&P can be used remotely by blood.

Meursault could have been taken over preemptively, but then: why not just vamp everyone instead of Chuuya murdering a bunch of guards? As for communication, previous speculation came up with various book-based explanations. As for how information was passed inside - with food selection, presumably? The reader's attention was brought to it for seemingly no reason.

as for Fukuchi and Fyodor not being friends/allies: this completely disregards the angle that Fyodor is willing to risk being permanently stuck in Meursault to establish world government, meaning: one way of accomplishing Fukuchi's goal (to end all wars) would be good enough to give up his own. Also: 500 deaths' limit is something Fyodor just… kept to? This would explain why he had a bead on Dazai - percieved equal - and didn't get him shot. (the other option is being perfectly normal about Dazai for fujoshi-approved reasons, which in this context is rather weak; see above.)

ech Meursault was super fun but Chuuya not being a vampire the entire time retroactively sours the entire bit, along with the speech underscoring how the entire time both demons were framed as roughly equal, but the arc resolved by uncertainty working solely in Dazai's favor, making contrivance glaring (= willing suspension if disbelief breaks).

at it's heart, the problem is importing the anime, which notoriously dumbed things down and removed the quiet bits. As a consequence, Fyodor had to be rewritten from Johan Liebert knockoff (a gift that keeps on giving, speculation-wise) to Light Yagami knockoff (who doesn't work as an antagonist). The other problem with adapting the anime is that last time we see Dazai in the manga it looks quite gory - but anime can't show that, so it carries on with a broken leg. If one counts wounded hand in the anime as a 2nd-improved-take on the sequence, both work with what anime already has going for it - hiding in broadcast norms for the former and A LOT of foreshadowing for the latter. Like, Asagiri is perfectly aware that there are bits that anime will do better via color and motion, so why not take the L and write it out for static panels of the manga that has already been written?

As a result, we got this speech to the scene's detriment, instead of doing more show-don't-tell. ranted about this as well earlier (lel), but how about: Dazai - dumbfounded, incredulously - asking the vampire wtf, and him answering that Lord Bram ordered so (they can hide in the populace, so why not). To which Dazai murmurs - but close enough to hear - that Ranpo must have figured it out. Then be like 'i leave keeping an eye on the rat to you~' and just go talk to (freshly unvampirized) Chuuya/inject antidote, without care in the world. Leaving Fyodor to think/die mad about it.

It would work better to underscore the difference in manipulation style: Dazai hides his behind seemingly harmless/beneficial actions, Dostoy runs on FUD. Yes, Sigma bit is there - but they survive solely due to Fyodor deciding to be a good sport about it (this man routinely offs underlings, but someone with ALL HIS SECRETS is k?).

It's like there is an entire 'Fyodor not going to do the efficient thing because then only Deus Ex Machina could bail the protagonists out doing a suicidal life's goal wouldn't be fun for the character carrying it out.' thoughtline that makes sense only with the portrayal anime went for.

@peachymoriarty

imo not even that - the angle to reach that conclusion would be by referencing 'diamonds polishing diamonds' concept, and/or straight up scrimming for practice on the side, and/or showcasing where this works - mostly with Ranpo, ex: - having the motive to pull a Ranpo Ex Machina that just so happens to have the delayed side-effect of saving the world - early on him and Dazai iterating on plans, so now he can scheme on his own

But since both demons are already Peerless Anime Geniuses(tm), that ain't happening.

BSD 111.5: A Complaint (again)

All right. So.

I have criticized the S5 finale extensively, and now that the manga is following the same storyline almost exactly, I feel I want to air my grievances one last time, because it's just so bad. At least in my humble yet correct opinion (to quote Fyodor from the BSD dub). And it only gets worse the more I think about it. 

The writing here is...not good. I’m talking about the big “Chuuya was never a vampire to begin with” reveal, the retconned hand injury and what absolute contrived nonsense that is - and most of all, I’m talking about Dazai’s speech about why he “won” the "game," and how it makes no actual sense because what he says happened is not what actually happened. 

All of this is stuff I've talked about in other posts (I'll be repeating myself a lot here), but I really want to focus on Dazai's speech and why I just. Don't like it.

"You don't trust anything you can't control," Dazai tells Fyodor.

This is supposed to be the reason Dazai "wins": because he trusts people, and Fyodor does not. He relies on others he considers friends; Fyodor just uses others that he considers pawns.

And this is fine in theory. Indeed, it's been heavily foreshadowed. Personally, I think "Dazai wins because he has friends, Fyodor loses because he doesn't" is a super boring way to go with both Fyodor's character and with the conflict between him and Dazai, but whatever, we all knew something like this would be the reason for the ADA's victory over the DOA. Theoretically, it makes sense.

Except, it doesn't actually work the way they did it. It doesn't work because Fyodor's plan apparently hinges on the vampires, and Fyodor does not actually have control over the vampires.

In fact, Fyodor does not have direct control over any aspect of the Decay of Angels plot.

Fukuchi does.

First of all, the Decay of Angels plot doesn't begin until after Fyodor is already in prison. Fyodor is not the one who writes on the Page, and Fyodor is not the one in possession of the Page. Fyodor is also not the one who is in possession of Bram. All of this falls to Fukuchi.

Now, there is one interesting scene where Fyodor tells Dazai that he "added a line to the page":

But - unless I have my timeline mixed up - since the Page was not stolen and used until after Fyodor was sent to prison, this only suggests he told Fukuchi what to write. There is still no point where he actually had possession of the Page himself.

Fyodor is the one who set up the entire plot and arranged for all the pieces to be in place, but once it actually starts to unfold, he is no longer in a position to directly manipulate his pawns, because he's locked up underground thousands of miles away.

Of course, this does not mean he has been removed from play entirely; he is still communicating with the outside, and he is still able to manipulate the course of events to some extent, as we see when he (somehow; it's never explained) killed the pilots so Fukuchi could get his hands on the One Order:

But how is this any different from what Dazai is doing? Dazai lets himself be captured and locked away, too, to keep an eye on Fyodor and read his moves as things unfold on the outside. He is also in communication with his allies, and he is also able to do some string-pulling, as we see when he stops Fyodor's assassination attempt on Fitzgerald and the neutralization of the Eyes of God:

Basically, both Fyodor and Dazai have the same level of control over what is happening.

Dazai being superior to Fyodor because he "simply had faith" in Ranpo (and the rest of the ADA) implies that Fyodor did not have faith in Fukuchi. But that implies that Fyodor had some means of direct control over Fukuchi throughout the unfolding of the DOA plan and therefore did not have to leave anything solely in Fukuchi's hands. Or it implies that Fyodor had a plan independent of Fukuchi. Except he didn't. On both accounts. At least not that we know of.

In fact, in the anime (which I assume will be repeated in the manga in later chapters), Fukuchi says that Fyodor didn't have any direct control. Fukuchi tells Fukuzawa that he had Fyodor sent to prison for the purpose of preventing him from interfering in Fukuchi's actual plan. And Fyodor agreed to this. He got himself arrested on purpose. The reason he does this is suggested to be that the prison is essentially the safest hideout in the world. Except Fukuchi tells us that this action also severely hindered - though not outright neutralized - Fyodor's ability to influence events.

And I'm not trying to downplay Fyodor as the spider at the center of a complex web of manipulation, not at all. I'm simply pointing out that: a) Dazai is exactly the same, and is countering Fyodor move-for-move, and b) the plan still heavily relies on Fukuchi's independent actions.

As I mentioned, the DOA plot doesn't begin until after Fyodor is arrested and sent to Meursault. Fyodor was using vampires planted as guards as his means of communication (which doesn't even make sense itself, because when exactly would this have happened? When does Fyodor communicate with these vamps? Why did Dazai not notice this?), but Fyodor himself is not controlling those guards, Fukuchi is. Because Fukuchi is the one in control of Bram, and the vampires can only be controlled through Bram. It is certainly conceivable that Fyodor might have had these guards planted before his arrest, but the vampires are only usable as pawns as long as Fukuchi has control of Bram, or at least as long as Bram isn't in control of himself.

Using Chuuya as a pawn also requires Fukuchi to be in control of Bram. Therefore, Fyodor's entire escape plan relies on Fukuchi.

Fyodor literally cannot do anything with the vampires without Fukuchi. And if his entire plan rested on the vampires, that means his entire plan rested on Fukuchi.

In other words, Fyodor's entire plan rests on him having faith in Fukuchi.

It doesn't matter that Fyodor and Fukuchi are not "friends"; it doesn't matter that Fyodor thinks of Fukuchi as a "pawn" instead of an "ally" (although I should note we've been given no evidence of this, because we have never actually seen them interact and we don't know their relationship; we're just meant to assume this). The point is that Fyodor structured this plan of his to be centered around the actions of someone else. This is no different from Dazai. In fact, this is how the both of them usually operate. They just tend to have different ways of going about manipulating their "pawns"/"allies."

Then there's the "hand full of uncertainties" line:

How, exactly, was Dazai's hand "full of uncertainties" in a way that Fyodor's wasn't? How exactly did Fyodor have "the world in the palm of his hand" in a way that Dazai didn't? How exactly was Fyodor in more control of what was happening than Dazai was? As I've already pointed out, what we've been shown suggests they both had equal measures of influence on the outside, and therefore equal levels of manipulative power and equal amounts of uncertainties.

In fact, if we are to believe that Fyodor was surprised by Nikolai and Sigma, that was a whole hell of a lot of uncertainties being thrown at him. And just like Dazai, he just ran with it.

And the reality is that Dazai actually had a whole hell of a lot less uncertainties than Fyodor did, and a whole hell of a lot more control, because Chuuya was never a vampire to begin with. The moment Chuuya arrived, Dazai had the upper hand. It's not like he was ever in any actual danger from the point Chuuya showed up. He was in full control of the situation from that point on.

And you can say that's the whole point, Dazai was in control because he had an ally, but the point I'm making is that the only control Fyodor thought he had over the situation was also because of an ally that he believed he had. If he believed he was controlling Chuuya, he also had to believe that Fukuchi still had Bram and was still on his side. He was operating on faith in pretty much the exact same way Dazai was.

You can also argue that Chuuya showing up was proof for Fyodor that Fukuchi was still in control of Bram (even though he wasn't by that point) and that things were going according to plan. But I'd counter-argue that if at any point before Fyodor managed to escape Bram had had his will restored, Fyodor would have been fucked (had Chuuya actually been a vampire). The very act of using Chuuya as a pawn was a huge act of faith on Fyodor's part.

It's important to stress here that Fukuchi was not under Fyodor's "control" at any point, at least not so far as we've been shown. He is not brainwashed like Nathaniel. He is also not a throwaway piece. He is vital to the plan. And he has his own motivations. We aren't quite there yet in the manga, but we know from the anime what Fukuchi actually wanted, and we also know from the anime that Fyodor approached Fukuchi and propositioned him. They made a deal. Of course, Fyodor always had his own plan, but he knew what Fukuchi's real motivations were. Even so, he trusted that Fukuchi would carry out the plan as he instructed, at least so far as we've been shown.

The argument can be made that Fyodor doesn’t actually have any trust in Fukuchi, he simply trusts that he knows exactly how Fukuchi will act and that everything will go as he predicted. But how is that any different from Dazai? Ranpo negotiating with Bram and Bram ordering the vampires to attack Fyodor might not have been something Dazai and Ranpo set up beforehand, but it is certainly something Dazai planned for, because he purposefully set Fyodor up to be in a vulnerable position, anticipating that exact scenario. Again, they are both operating in the same exact way: not directly controlling their allies, but assuming that their allies will act as they expect. The only difference is that Fyodor’s “allies” did not meet his expectations and Dazai’s did.

I get that the point of this is supposed to be that Fyodor is undone by his cruel manipulation of others and his ruthless attempts to impose his own order upon the world. And that's fine. It's good, even!

The problem is...that's not what happened. Fyodor lost because he relied on something that was outside of his direct control: the vampires. Fyodor lost because he put too much control in the hands of Fukuchi.

And this in itself is a problem, because Fyodor should not have so heavily relied on Fukuchi. All of this would work for me just fine if everything didn't revolve around the goddamn vampires. You cannot have Fyodor's entire fucking plan hinge on the vampires, over which only Bram and the person who has possession of Bram have any control, and then try and tell me that Fyodor lost because he didn't have faith in people. Why would he use the vampires at all if he had no faith in Fukuchi?? Why would he get into a helicopter with the vampires piloting if he had no faith Fukuchi was still his ally and Bram was still under Fukuchi's control?? Why would he have agreed to go to prison in the first place if he had no trust in Fukuchi????? It doesn't make any sense.

And don’t try to tell me, “Well, Fyodor’s just arrogant.” That is the laziest fucking excuse you could possibly give to justify why Fyodor’s IQ points have been cut in half this arc. And, for the thousandth time I ask—how is this any different from Dazai, who also just assumed everything would go his way? Why is it "faith" when it's Dazai but it's arrogance when it's Fyodor?

Personally, I think BSD made a massive narrative mistake in putting Fyodor and Dazai in Meursault in the first place. It's over-complicated things.

Also, one thing that really bothers me about all this is that it's supposed to be a big character moment for Dazai, but...I don't see how this is any different from how he usually operates. Hell, this ruse Dazai and Chuuya set up is even something that SKK did before when they were a team in the Mafia. We've seen Dazai do this shit a thousand times. What's supposed to be the big deal here? The fact that he made a friendship speech this time?

It's just fallen really flat to me, and that's a bummer because I think Dazai is one of the most well-written and interesting characters I've ever come across, and I want to see great character development for him.

I've complained endlessly about Chuuya being in a Halloween costume the entire time so I'll just say here that it's really fucking dumb that Fyodor just. Didn't notice. That he was fooled by fake fangs and contact lenses. Dazai would have noticed, if their roles were reversed. Ranpo would have noticed. It really is just a case of Fyodor being made stupid out of nowhere so Dazai could win.

The retconned hand injury is also incredibly dumb, because first of all, in the manga it didn't exist until the last two chapters when it needed to exist. And second of all, the hand is clearly shown to be usable after the incident that is supposed to have injured it so severely that Fyodor needs the vampires - who, again, are not under his direct control - to pilot the helicopter so he can escape, and this is true for both the manga and the anime. It conveniently only becomes a problem when Dazai needs it to. Because plot, I guess. Because the universe is chaos unless Dazai is pulling another deus ex machina.

I really hate being so critical and so negative, especially about BSD, because it's been my favorite series for years now. But ever since the S5 finale I've been finding more and more things about this arc and it's conclusion (?) that make no sense to me. And considering that Fyodor and Dazai are my favorite characters and a large part of the reason I'm invested in this story, to see them both so poorly handled has left a very bad taste in my mouth.

In conclusion:

and here i was, thinking i'm immune to deranged baseless ranting.

so, within the BSD plot we're informed/led to believe that the 5 in question points to Decay of Angel (5 stages etc), with some extra Buddhism to pitch the idea to Fukuchi. The name itself is a reference to the Decay of the Angel book, which in itself is part of a series. One of the key characters, apparently, is a young manipulative sadistic orphan. In lieu of reaching 0% coherency, my suggestion is for the reader of this post to skim the synopsis with the idea of Touru <=> Fyodor, weaving in the vague theoryspace of Crime and Punishment being some form of resurrection, if only as the other way to look the same through the years. As a bonus, it would implicitly answer 'why not just put him in a box, forever', and if he's 2nd copy of (mafia) Dazai, where did the equivalent of the latter's suicidaility go? Is the stated end goal a red herring? Is it because he *can't* off himself? Or is that the red herring and it's actually just extension of C&P's 'specialest boy' angle? Is the sword Kladenets bit foreshadowing that the sword Bram was impaled on WOULD work? AAAA---

On top of that, the namedrop suggests Yukio Mishima exists in BSD (similarly to how ppl go 'Meursault? ah, Camus probably exists') - which also adds the possibility of 'fake reincarnation' leveraging some third party. …in fact, as i'm typing it, we are at ch112. At this point:

Sigma failed to die at the casino/interplay of All Men Are Equal and Sigma's ability means they'll wake up whenever it's plot-appropriate

Gogol failed to be sawed in half

Bram failed to die from having the sword pulled out (in anime) / the coin is still in flight (manga)

Fukuchi failed to die(?) as per the 'two hours later' (in anime) / the coin is still in flight (manga)

Dostoy [COPIUM OVERDOSE]

at this point i want Fukuchi to be k, let's see what themes of the story will do with a traumatized vet.

also: yep, the Untold Origins play sounds as ridicious as last time. Are we sure this isn't a mix of introducing idea of ability users = bad (but also: 'fallen' angels hiding in the normie populace), while Dostoy is tooting his own horn? I'd rather if it wasn't tho, and at least pulled double duty re: Fukuchi. Then it makes more sense to use theater specifically.

re: stars/singularities, isn't it stated… somewhere… that it's possible for one ability to into a singularity, by itself? As in, a star collapsing into a black hole?

Fourth (Third is here):

Tumblr

あり^^

Third (Second is here): Second (first is here): There are a few things that just won't leave my head, I had to write them down (my friends

last but not the least

I've been reading bsd writers' works

I strongly recommend you do the same, they're absolutely magnificent

Sometimes you can even see obvious references

Like this one

I was reading Doppo's River Mist and other stories

I think Dead Apple is mostly inspired by it

one of the stories is named The Stars

it's about two stars in the sky who are in love, and come down to earth to talk in the garden of an author, in form of humans

Look at this part

sounding familiar?

No?

Ability Users are Fallen Angels,

Abilities themselves are Fallen Stars

It's even true scientifically

Remember the 'Singularity' mentioned?

Astronomically, a singularity can be formed by two gigantic celestial bodies (such as stars) crashing into eachother, resulting in the corruption of matter, forming something with infinite mass and zero volume, which we call "singularity" (yeah my study field's math/physics lol)

that's what was done in Dead Apple

Combining two stars

I love Kafka

not even about Fitzgerald later popping back up again for Eyes of God, because EoG was introduced more-or-less just before being used vs Dostoy. But here's the thing: in that spot instead of Fitzgerald we could have introduced another character who is as dead-set on Agency's innocence (instead of him 'betting on the winning side') and the maneuvers wouldn't change. But because of Bungou Special there was a route to reuse a not-dead character. That Odasaku looms over the plot so hard is imo signaling how much impact a death should have. And i can't help but be reminded of an interview with the writer Harlan Ellison, in which he goes on at length how tv made violence palpable for mass consumption and death cheap - exhibit A: this thread.

Re: Incongruent details: the saddest thing is that all it took was some extra moves to get from point A to B, the same way fanfic writers can make characters do anything as long as the setup for them changing in the desired direction is there. Like okay, hand injury isn't there but in the anime shoulder injury looked like a graze, but in the manga it was sold harder. So instead of forcing it with a retcon which due to anime is even more obvious (fr we probably wouldn't even notice), roll with the punches and swipe theories go "actually the gunshot is more disabling"/"a wild Yosano (PM medic would also work but that would require preestablishing) appears!" and route to the same outcome.

Like, it's impossible to control one's heartbeat and i will never forget that one scanlation group did the math on "a chair dropped from the Sky Casino would be like a bomb" and proved Asagiri can't do physics. We're already past point of giving a shit to these inaccuracies - but on top of mentioned the results of retcons go against the themes of the story.

Not disagreeing. Commiserating. It's not that we're having a Boring Invincible Hero on our hands, it's that he gets to expouse absurdism and how everything is unpredictable and random happenstance. Dazai Eating Shit and recovering while Dostoy runs out of fallbacks because he never had any: works better. The canon wants to be this, but Dazai was waaaaaay to much zest to sell how he didn't do shit b/c he couldn't do shit. Behavior flip of Dostoy can be read both as 'this is how he's actually like' and 'absolutely tired and fed up with this shit'. That Dazai lacks anything similar makes things worse. ....at this rate we will, in fact, disassemble how this storytelling fails.

Like, imagine we're doing play-by-play from the anime, but instead of heli crash undoubtedly caused by Dostoy trying and failing to wrest the controls not matter how doomed, while we watch it happen from the outside directly after 'you need to control everything' bit... we're watching it happen from inside of the helicopter, POV'd as a One Desperate Vampirized Guard vs Global Terrorist, Demon of the North. Sure, the steel pike (while we're at it: why.) kind of throws a wrench in the framing, but. The result would look less like Dazai mindgaming Dostoy into anime outcome instead of waiting for the poison to off him something something controlling every variable; i did mention 'if they're even poisoned' but as characters, they should know. It would look more like the unpredictable action of an ally (Ranpo->Bram or just the guard themselves having to sit there and listen to this shitshow). Bonus points for both favoring relevancy of non-ability users and 'desperate people are the strongest' bit... because it ain't happening.

Side note on main(?): you mentioning the plan implies Nikolai would expect it to work; him not thinking that creates a cool foil as 200% improvisation guy - but that's limited by options at your disposal. Maybe it's just extra wriggle room in case two anime geniuses do something too ridiculous to predict. Maybe he even it's a fallback in case the ability is resurrection.

Or just 'why not' (also: the contrivance of him being in the right place at a right time implies he was told what would happen after his death): Dostoy's captured, Nikolai is considered dead, there is some time to grab the guy that produces fun reactions. ....in fact, Sigma would cover how Nikolai knows about everything in Meursault. yes yes Overcoat is OP but this does bolster the setup.

Oh wow…so the BSD anime ending wasn’t an anime-only original after all, because it looks like the manga just followed suit.

What a shame. The manga ending is just as terrible as the anime’s and we’re right back in the same place we were a couple months ago. I really can’t hide my negativity about this because this storytelling decision makes everything feel like a letdown anticlimax.

The cope has run out. Really I’m just super upset that Fyodor is still going to die in the most contrived and embarrassing way possible while Sigma lays dead on the floor and Dazai makes his obligatory “actually there was no danger or emotional stakes all along and I pulled this plan out of my ass” speech. Yet again, Dazai acts as a convenient narrative crutch for whenever Asagiri needs to get out of a corner and culminates an anticipated confrontation in the most typical way imaginable.

BSD really is full of so many twists and surprises! Every time I think the plot is going to culminate in something meaningful, I am let down by a barrage of contrived nonsense! Asagiri is truly a genius of storytelling! Who cares about emotions and relationships between characters when you can just say SIKE! And reveal that it was an elaborate ruse all along, ruining the tension and making the buildup to that moment effectively meaningless!

Hey, at least the manga has better art though. The story might’ve sucked, but at least all of the characters looked good while sucking.

@raytyger thank you! real insight into cardgames = gained!

ahaha assumed magic, too has "increase" != "becomes". But it turns out it doesn't have truly wild rulings on lingering statchanges xD

i don't think it's even about proper deaths, but how contrived it is. By making it contrived, it signals hard it's fake. Remember when Fitzgerald fell off Moby Dick? You could legit write him out of the plot and it would have the same impact as Pushkin being caught/imprisoned.

That characters don't die is a strength of the manga when it plays to these strengths. Because this way, they get to have character development. What does it mean for Fitzgerald to lose everything AND LIVE? Have a less bourgie life, after being so filthy rich? Having to face his wife knowing he Dun Goof'd Bad? That the local government isn't pursuing him for… everything? If this wasn't more-or-less a rehash of an old SKK plan, this means they get to sit down. And talk. About the drowning bit, and the sappy speeches. Way too many gunshots. Suegiku shippers could go brr (harder). also it kind of reinforces Q's existence - if they're like that, why are they being kept alive? With everyone else not dying it flies under the radar.

And yeah the entire thing resolved too cleanly which undercuts the whole 'didn't plan this, just left it to my allies'. Doing so would mean they inevitably fuck up, even if the grand scheme turns out k. If we were into prowrestling i'm sure we would be able to phrase/explain better how it's the pace or whatever.

Also: multiple retcons re wounds during Meursault. i would 100% taken an inexplicable contrivance sheer-dumb-luck surviving a falling elevator if that meant Rehab. Instead we get: magically appearing hand wound - which anime sold so hard (and well) it looked like a split timeline, magically disappearing [long list of injuries] - like even if the leg is fine, what about the major blood loss AND the gunshot wounds AND everything else, assuming they're actually poisoned? all fixed in 20mins, despite the prison being built like a Humanoid Containment Site? even with Ango feeding Chuuya map of the place and all the codes, and security keycard(s), dafuq? Too many things are stacking to be like "as long as you have more than 1hp, you are ready to go!" this isn't "whelp we messed up on moon phase that has no real bearing on reader perception, correction next chapter".

pondering on fitz makes me think - a lot is unstated relying on the readers not being idiots but when it DOES get explained it turns out it's a tossup if it's shittier than rabid theories. i am dead certain BSD is a scheme to get people to read/write, and boyyyy salt and spite are Motivators, but there are limits.

Oh wow…so the BSD anime ending wasn’t an anime-only original after all, because it looks like the manga just followed suit.

What a shame. The manga ending is just as terrible as the anime’s and we’re right back in the same place we were a couple months ago. I really can’t hide my negativity about this because this storytelling decision makes everything feel like a letdown anticlimax.

The cope has run out. Really I’m just super upset that Fyodor is still going to die in the most contrived and embarrassing way possible while Sigma lays dead on the floor and Dazai makes his obligatory “actually there was no danger or emotional stakes all along and I pulled this plan out of my ass” speech. Yet again, Dazai acts as a convenient narrative crutch for whenever Asagiri needs to get out of a corner and culminates an anticipated confrontation in the most typical way imaginable.

BSD really is full of so many twists and surprises! Every time I think the plot is going to culminate in something meaningful, I am let down by a barrage of contrived nonsense! Asagiri is truly a genius of storytelling! Who cares about emotions and relationships between characters when you can just say SIKE! And reveal that it was an elaborate ruse all along, ruining the tension and making the buildup to that moment effectively meaningless!

Hey, at least the manga has better art though. The story might’ve sucked, but at least all of the characters looked good while sucking.

Reminder that steam is not only "no longer supporting windows 7" ,. they will be actively disabling all clients on this OS by end of this year. No, you can't run offline. No, you can't run the games standalone. The official steam position is go fuck yourself. Their reasoning is due to intertwinement with some google features, which imo is just making it even fucking worse, because why the fuck do google need to be involved in me playing a game I bought in 2013? And why do they get to say I can no longer access this game?

If you want a workaround, hit up this but in future, just use GOG.

This isn't about the OS, so don't even start with me. Deliberately disabling access to items you've already purchased with no recourse is the highest order of bullshit.

yess so much space for Deep Ideas. how about… Akutagawa is fine, because he was ordered to prep himself for combat - but Tachihara being kept away from it, didn't have that order and thus just idled, so when (assuming Fuku didn't want the plan capstone to be as in anime; too much wiggling in the manga) Dracula stops working Tachihara is stuck like that. This would have Implications about Jouno's situation - let's say Asagiri's impenetrable plot armor kicks in, Tecchou + Kenji just contrivance his location out before Aya jumps off the tower. Here, we got options:

Tecchou moves him to Yosano at Hunting Dog speeds

due to Fukuchi quite liking Hunting Dogs, he's already in a location that's just good enough to stabilize him, so back to your boi Tachihara

Given the context, what about status of HG as an unit? wouldn't Fukuchi throw a lot of suspicion on the group? Obv they're not getting decommissioned, but either (or both, lel) on thin ice, or just… most of their bodymods removed (in preparation of), breaking the unit apart. The former could be used to create tension with Mori's requests, the latter via 'well now you're full-time mafia! It's a good thing you like it here, yes?'

Tachihara Meta below the cut-- heh, cut. Get it?

So I think his eyes were healed up when he was turned and he'll be fine.

But oh my god, the angst of the blinding not going away is so interesting to me. As much as i think a blindness arc would be so interesting, would there be any reason for magic vampiric healing to not fix his eyes? Idk, maybe a loophole or something.

I think Fukuchi blinds him so callously, not even turning around, because he knows that it will be healed. I think Fukuchi actually cared for the hunting dogs. They were under his command and he was responsible for them. Even if Tachi did turn on him, it was because Fukuchi was being evil on purpose to push humanity to his goal.

Anyway, back to Tachihara. I want to find a way to facilitate this cuz I want him to talk to Jouno and learn how to cope with this loss. Maybe find a way to use his metal ability to sense metal in the environment and "see" through his ability.

And imagine if he decides to go to Yosano for help, cuz he can't stand never being able to see the world again. Never being able to see the people be cares about. And she helps of course. And they talk and he learns more about how his brother died and how Yosano tried to stop that madness but was forced into a corner by none other than Mori. I think Tachihara would feel differently about staying in the mafia if he knew that Mori was the true culprit.

Maybe his injury was healed and his body is healthy but his mind is shutting down his vision out of mental trauma. He has to go to therapy to process his fucked up life and regain his eyesight. What a journey.

Ah fuck I'm writing this, ill call it an AU if I need to, if canon doesn't follow this thread.

as someone who tags along for the vibes: does Magic actually do something with differently-sized counters, so to speak? that would prevent the phrasing from being "(…), for each creature you control whose power is greater than it's base power, double it's power increase." ?

alternatively: he read the rumor mill post Dead Apple and knows Ranpo was yeeted out into the normie dimension, hence: not an ability user. So the angle would be more that he would shine brighter and dazzle more people if there was noone with magic bullshit powers to overshadow him, with the parry could be that then he'd be utterly alone (no way for Fukuzawa to come up with 'you're a wizard Harry' bit with enough confidence to not seem sus) and there would be no convenient explanation ('I'm magic, deal with it' vs ...do they even know autism exists?) to throw at people.

...but should it? That would be revealing an exploitable weakness.

...which could be parried with:

greatness would find greatness (to nod at C&P some more)

that's what the internet is for (wink at the camera :^) )

that he would end up making his own group, thus creating a place to be for others (wink at the litnerds in the audience + give this sort of 'selfdestruction for the benefit of others is fine, actually' vibe)

at which point the followup would depend purely on the demands of the plot/authorial intent, yeah?

also interesting we never had Naoto Shirogane moment with him - i.e. without ADA, even if he was let to crime scenes he'd be treated as a tool, not a person. In this context, it really is noticable how it seems Minoura is framed like his sole point of contact with the local force. Yes, it's to set up him rescuing Ranpo later, but...

now that i think of it Untold Origins does not include a single use of an ability that could not be explained via mundane skills - Flawless as raw skill+luck, for instance.

... ONE MORE THING: what are the implications of Ranpo basically RPing Dostoy out of necessity to get a result he needs, side effects be damned?

Listen. Ranpo wasn't born with an advantage. Ranpo's ability to understand cases rationale seems like an advantage, but actually it is not, because Ranpo is trying to hold on among the talented people with his brain, and he is fighting with people who have a gift in their hands. What happened like someone fighting against superior intelligence with their own analysis. A working person who makes the move with their ability to analyze against someone blessed with talent. Ranpo seems to have an advantage, but actually he also has disadvantages because there would be no world he can live if his learned talent gone. That's why I so want to see Ranpo and Fyodor talk. Imagine, Fyodor there are people gifted with ability, Fyodor see this as unfair, a sint and argues with Ranpo, who isn't actually gifted but has a talent.

worse, actually - it would be from Fyodor's perspective, thus would include opinions

(his general concept also extends to Ango, if you think about it - at some point he had to learn to control/use Discourse on Decadence, which could mean learning what people did on furniture)

remember how sigma said he wanted to know all of fyodor’s secrets? this means that when he wakes up he’s also going to know so many unserious secrets about fyodor.

he will wake up and the first memory he will have is that fyodor cut someone in line at mcdonald’s when he was 12.

he will wake up knowing that fyodor was scared of the dark until he was 16.

he will wake up knowing fyodor sprained his ankle after failing to do a cartwheel a year ago.

he will have to sort through countless useless secrets before getting to the important stuff and that’s so funny to me.

There's certainly Something about singularities in Bungou Stray Dogs presenting as massive, myth-derived creatures with more than passing resemblances to kaiju given the setting predates its analog to World War II.

Gojira and the kaiju genre were born in the aftermath of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Lucky Dragon Incident (in which an American hydrogen bomb test rained radioactive ash on a Japanese fishing boat and much of the South Pacific). Life form singularities (like Chuuya and Verlaine), the Seven Traitors, the Transcendants, Mori's fixation on skill-based warfare, and everything else about the Great War all indicate that skills are akin to nuclear arms.

But unlike nuclear arms, skills are generally framed as intrinsic to their user. They're neurological; as much as part of skill users' wiring as the rest of their synapses. Even for Kyouka, whose skill was inherited but not fully integrated, her skill more resembles hereditary neurochemical wiring than it does nuclear proliferation.

Gojira (1954) ends with Dr. Serizawa's promise that hydrogen bombs would always assure nightmarish, monstrous manifestations of the horrors of war. You'd think Dazai's gift, then, would be the enigmatic focal skill of the series; he's capable of nullifying hydrogen bombs, after all.

But it's Atsushi and his celestial Byakko that Shibusawa calls the antithesis of all other abilities. And, as explained in 55 Minutes, Byakko doesn't heal or regenerate Atsushi, it negates his wounds. Atsushi isn't only a particularly tenacious shounen protagonist, Byakko compels him to stand when he's been cut down. When Atsushi is at the edge of death, Byakko consumes him completely, and Atsushi is lost within him, moreso than even Chuuya is in his Corruption state (Chuuya is fully conscious in Corruption— if Atsushi is conscious, he's either repressing or sluggishly recalling the memory of what occurred). Akutagawa also mentions during the Cannibalism arc that Atsushi's claws cut through skills themselves (even Rashoumon, which eats space). Akutagawa also becomes aware, in 55 Minutes, that Byakko can be triggered by Atsushi's peril, and Akutagawa does so to negate the manifestation of a seemingly transcendant skill that otherwise had utterly defanged them (although he seems sorry to have to do it).

Nevertheless, although Atsushi's Byakko seemingly negates the metaphorical horrors of the Great War illustrated by the others and their relationships with their skills, it's Atsushi who posits that perhaps skills aren't innate. He says to Kunikida, "Maybe they come from somewhere else and stick to us. Maybe they're something we can't understand... I don't really know how to put it into words, but that's how I feel."

Much of 55 Minutes is colored by Atsushi's fear of Byakko and his understanding that Byakko could devour him. His fear is seemingly validated by the antagonist, a manifestation of a skill that seemingly swallowed its human. But although textually consistent with his expressed fear, Atsushi's tone, demeanor, timing, and thought processes from when he speaks that line until the light novel ends aren't. His musings reflect his namesake's exploration of and uneasy relationship with the nature of existence, which he understood to be constructed by one's culture and environment better than most due to his somewhat rootless childhood.

I think it's interesting that someone with a skill capable of cutting through other skills, negating wounds, and antithesizing all skills challenges whether skills are innate at all. And if they're not, what does that imply about the parallels between skills, the horrors of war, and the fear of nuclear holocaust?

It's important to me that the scars of American imperialism and disregard for the sanctity of life are not erased from the narrative when discussing the world wars and nuclear proliferation. So I hesitate to posit anything about what skills may be in Bungou Stray Dogs that is too abstracted from trauma wrought by Western imperialism, Japanese imperialism, or the horrors of World Wars I & II. But perhaps that's it; when Atsushi speculates that skills are something that sticks to you, I'm reminded of how trauma has shaped and informed his own. He is certain that Byakko's negation and restless hunger are connected to his birth and subsequent suffering. At first, I thought we were being teased with his early background. But there's no need to tease; the reason so many characters in Bungou Stray Dogs are orphans directly relates to the Great War and the generational trauma still reverberating in its aftermath, and amid the threat of another, even more destructive war.

Perhaps Atsushi was implying that skills are constructs born not from any innate self, if there's such a thing, but from traumas, experiences, needs, cultures, and environments. Which is to say that skills aren't separable, exactly, from their users, but they're not innate either. They're like our personalities: immutable once shaped in the crucible of our most formative years, but nevertheless reflections of not only ourselves, but of what we need and who we become when confronted by others, in all of their beauty and horror.

Thus, perhaps it isn't Atsushi's skill that's so very antithetical to all others. It's his understanding of it, his ability to cut through to others, his compassion, his cowardice, his curiosity, and his separation from his sense of self that both inflicted him with Byakko and which will allow him to transcend it to become who he desires to be. It reminds me that, shortly before his death, his namesake decided to become a writer. And that although he wrote and lived only briefly, his sincerity, thoughtfulness, and introspective skepticism cut, and continue to cut, with a brilliance emblematic of life.

Anyway. Atsushi is both the main character and protagonist of Bungou Stray Dogs. Dazai knows this, too; even if he can nullify Byakko, he's just as impacted by Atsushi's brimming earnestness as everyone else Atsushi encounters. Atsushi liberates the narrative so that it's not a warning that the horrors of war will proliferate so long as we are capable of mass destruction, but instead it's a promise that hope needn't be intrinsic to persist all the same.

I wonder if Teruko stays in her younger form so often to avoid the intensity of her own emotions.

Her devotion to Fukuchi despite his faults -> A childish crush

Her intense pride + rage that she must endure horrors for the sake of national peace -> Constant tantrums that seem disproportionate to the situation

Her sadism going unfulfillled during an interrogation and the storm of emotion that arises from that -> Cluthing Jouno's hand and wailing like the child she is embodying

mmm we could still be like "Dostoy had a shot perfectly lined up, and instead of offing Dazai right there merely uses it to force cannibalism arc to go brr", and then course-correct with 'because Reasons Dazai is crucial to whatever plan to erase ability users is being cooked', and THEN course-correct with 'not that easy to abduct', and then course-correct with...

the point is: you are reading a manga. The authorial intent is to keep Dazai alive and to showcase that normies can do stuff too. (the latter was mentioned in interviews, but you can work it out asking 'why is this the author-approved outcome, what themes/ideas does it reinforce'). How exactly this happens is razzle dazzle and willing suspension of disbelief, most likely induced by the plot being engaging in the moment.

Wouldn't be surprised is that for all our whining we're sticking around due to logic underpinning these two decisions.

also notice Fukuchi didn't Amenogozen Aya to pieces either and use the 10s window to cover to cutting down Bram. Because otherwise a) Aya would have no agency in the plot, see above b) we wouldn't get zonked by Tachihara vs Fukuchi (which happened to enable more character building and to slowly raise threat level. Without the slowdown the readerbase would go "this is OP bullshit" even harder. As is, the bootstrap paradox is framed more as a logical extension of what was already known - we just didn't sit down and try to break it Jojo-style)

You know who would've been a perfect person to be in prison with Fyodor? Ranpo.

Give Ranpo an earpiece, use Ango's influence, and Ranpo can easily communicated in Morse code or something. It doesn't need to be that secret because Ranpo can figure out Fyodor's plans just by looking at him.

Because that puts Dazai on the outside. Everyone's still using Ranpo's genius, but now they have No Longer Human, and that changes everything.

Time-traveling sword? Nullified, Fukichi loses. Vampires? All Dazai needs to do is touch the sword in Bram. One Order? Dazai destroys it. Dazai just needs to touch the Page and it's gone. Seriously, Dazai's ability was so perfect for all of the problems in the series and he just wasted away in prison playing mind games with Fyodor. I love Ranpo, but he doesn't have a fighting ability, and he literally stayed in one room the whole time anyways.