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freuleinanna · 8 months

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I'm still confused about Verna.. I thought she was a demon?? Because why would Death be going around making a bunch of deals with people? After Verna told Pym she decided to go "topside" I thought she was some kind of crossroads demon since it implies she came from below (hell)

Oh! I feel you, and I struggled with that a lot too. She does seem a lot like a demon. I'm not saying I'm 100% correct in my thinking either, but here's why I personally think she's Death. Kind of a long post, sorry. I hope I make myself clear, but feel free to follow up!

So, Verna. An anagram for Raven, that much is established. Ravens are wonderful - symmetrical even - creatures. Bringers of death in a wide understanding. Bringers of good luck in many cultures. The duality is amazing. To me, that also leans majorly into the theme of death being a concept of duality: an enemy for some, a friend for others. Each greets her differently. I'm not talking about the characters here, but people in general.

There's a proverb I came across a while ago that reads 'Death is a great leveller'. Meaning, everyone's equal before her. You have no leverage or buffer against death, and it doesn't matter if you're poor or blindly, feverishly, grotesquely rich (like our folks here). Everyone pays the last bill. For everyone, there's a day of reckoning. It's a major theme with the show, at least. Verna also says 'Buy now, pay the bill later' - although it can still read very demonic, I agree.

She's obviously ancient, and I was leaning toward the demon theory based on all of her talking. Yet - she also keeps ranting about Egypt and pyramids and Cleopatras and such. What's the one thing with Egyptians everyone knows of? They honored death. Death may have been a bigger part of their lives than life itself. The Usher Twins' obssession with all things Egyptian, antiquities, jewelry, swords and such, plays a nice parallel here too, because they're just collectors. They have no grain of honor for the real thing, for what these things are tied to. Kind of a nice thought, I guess.

Anyway, back to Verna. She says on multiple occasions how intrigued she is with us, 'adorable little things'. She saw the pyramids, the expeditions, and she wanted to see what else we do, she wanted to see what Roderick and Madeline will do (in her own words). It's all an experiment to her. She makes an offer just to see what we, people, do.

Here's where my beef with a demon theory comes in. No demonic creature I could think of, be it an actual demon, a trickster, or something else, is that sincerely intrigued. Something something death loving life something something.

Demons, in my understanding, are most interested in winning the deal. They come up with incredible challenges, they enjoy torture, emotional or physical, they never let anyone win. Verna has never once expressed this. Quite the opposite. She gives everyone a chance to step back. Even when the ink has dried and everything's decided, each Usher sibling is conditioned to make a choice: push forward, or step back. Neither of them steps back. Neither of them takes a long hard look at themselves (except Tamerlane, both literally haha and figuratively, as she's the only one to have realized how lost she was in her way - just at the end, when it didn't really matter anymore, but still). Verna is kind to those she takes (sincere pet names, regrets of having to do it this way, making sure they know it's not personal, etc). She grieves with them, just before. Grieving - 'The Raven' being about an expression of grief and trauma - ravens as synonyms for death... you get the gist. Oh! Except Freddie - cause Freddie struck a cord. Infuriated her. So he doesn't get an expressed choice. And he would've blown it like coke anyway, so meh.

And then Arthur Pym. Oh, Arthur Pym. I honestly couldn't imagine a demon kneeling and thanking someone who's refused them.

About Arthur Pym, by the way. It's the one story I hadn't reread, and I should have, it turns out! haha Anyway, a few notes about his travels:

In the story, Arthur Pym is expressedly afraid of white color (North Pole, yada yada, white being the absense of colors/life, and the absense of life is death).

Verna enumerates the moments she witnessed of his travels. Someone getting left in Sahara. Someone getting shot in the Arctic. Something bad that was done to an Inuit woman. Why would she follow Arthur so closely? She didn't know him, he wasn't her favorite. I think it's because she came to collect those deaths. If she is death, she would've been exactly there, where people died. She would have also seen Arthur not partaking.

Aaaaaaaand it makes her 'You saw me' line sound better, because he had sure seen death along his travels.

I think the part about a place of out-of-time, out-of-space creatures and hollow Earth was a bit unnecessary, BUT I can try and tie it in this way:

It showed us how Arthur might have coped with what he saw, and he 'saw a lot', even in his 70s it's difficult for him to recall, and it made him think of humanity as a virus, literally;

He might have thought up that ethereal realm simply because he was in an expedition? Exhaustive conditions for both body and spirit? Traumatic experiences? If he saw Death, he might have cloaked it in his mind to cope with it, thus came his stories;

Verna going 'topside' may just mean that she had to go take a look herself, actually be willingly present for the events - to see the brave little humans conquer the earth. 'Topside', as in, 'visible, present, participating'. If Death exists, I doubt it bothers with our boring human realm but lives downunder, among all threads that weave the world.

So that's that on Arthur Pym.

A few other references my mind is too exhausted to tie in nicely:

Death takes Lenore. THE Lenore from 'The Raven' (mostly) and 'Lenore' (secondary). That happened. Also, death talking to a child of life? Regretting having to take her? Not very demonic of dear ol' Verna, in my opinion.

Her mourning veil, her last toasts to the Ushers at the cemetery? Demons don't tend to grieve their players. Demons don't respect and love them enough, and 'what is grief, if not love persevering'?

Death is the last threshold. Before death, we look upon our legacy (major theme with the show), we remember our losses and loves (Annabel Lee!!!!! love the poem, brilliantly done), we get heavy with regrets. We face death as an enemy & fight, like Madeline did. As a friend, like Arthur did. We confess, like Roderick did. All that is too significant to me overall.

And the last thing. It's Edgar Allan Poe. The whole Death tribute is a giant, incredible, thought-through-to-the-bits hommage to his literature where Death, figuratively and literally, takes the throne.

I hope I managed to express myself alright there. Thanks if you read it through, and as I said before, feel free to follow up or elaborate on some ideas. There are oceans to discuss. <3

#tore a few veins typing it out ughhhhh the poetry #asks #long post #the fall of the house of usher #tfothou #tfothou spoilers #tfothou tv #netflix #carla gugino #verna #meta post #the fall of the house of usher spoilers #edgar poe #edgar allan poe

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ticklinglady · 1 year

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The Guild's actions during the story are so insane, when you think about them properly, you know? When I first read the arc with them, this moment hasn't really occurred to me, as I was too busy going nuts over finally seeing the names of the familiar writers, but now when I think of that... I am not sure, I comprehend how they managed to achieve such a ferocious reputation. I have already made a little post about how extremely dysfunctional the DOA members are, but at least those guys have a plan, which actually makes sense more or less, even despite the gang using cheatcodes/the Book. The same cannot be said of the Guild however archghhjkn. Like, what the hell were these guys even doing??? XD

So here are just some moments, which weirded me out the most

At first I'd like to address the entire story with everyone's favorite tsundere, Lucy Maud Montgomery. Her introduction leaves quuuuite an impression in the best way and nothing makes me happier than the fact, that she gets a chance to find happiness in the following chapters and actually becomes a reoccurring character! HOWEVER, her entire involvement with the Guild is super odd... I still can't wrap my head around her getting fired. She is a girl with a hella powerful ability, who got taken to the Guild from a terrible, terrible orphanage in order to fight for them in the war for the Book, so not only is she very strong, but she's also immensely dependant on the organisation and wouldn't do anything outside of its interests. Yet Lucy is also put under extreme pressure. As she herself puts it, the Guild doesn't tolerate failures and will kick her out the moment she screws something up.

Later we see that this is exactly what happens, when she messes up her first mission. Fitzgerald himself confirms that, since she failed and revealed her ability to the enemies, she's no longer useful, so now a powerful esper, like Lucy works for free as a... laundress?

EXCUSE ME??? WHEN HAVE THE GUILD MEMBERS EVER DONE ANYTHING, BUT FAIL AND REVEAL THEIR ABILITIES?

Let's be real, these dudes were successful like only once or twice...

This fact not only makes Fitzgerald look like an idiot for wasting such a talented and useful worker, because of one mistake, but also as one hell of a hypocrite, cause he is more than fine with everyone else fucking up. And in case of Lovecraft and Steinbeck: fucking up twice. To add to the oddity, we later learn, that Louisa genuinely cares for Lucy and despite her social anxiety actually stood up for her during the entire story, but even that wasn't enough to change Fitzgerald's mind on the issue, though Louisa is one of the few people, whose opinion he respects. Honestly, this is such a waste of a truly useful subordinate. And speaking of which....

The Guild has never even tried to implement Edgar Allan Poe during the war...

This man is actually rather op when you think of it. He can capture and neutralise literally any ability user in Yokohama (besides Dazai, Mori and Ranpo ofc) just by throwing a book at them. Seriously, as we see with Chuuya, they don't even have to read it, they just need to see the pages. Plus the book can be actually sent via email!!! So why has there been an absolute zero amount of strategies with the use of this ability??? They could actually try to catch Atsushi by sending him such email containing any of Poe's mystery stories and then safely carry him back to their base. And it doesn't have to be just Atsushi, it could be literally any of their enemies. Non-combatant, like Ranpo could use this pretty damn well to his advantage and it doesn't take a genius to understand the potential of the "Black Cat in Rue Morgue". But nooooo, it seems like everyone has just forgotten of Poe!!! (Tho to be honest, I can actually see this situation in a funny extra awfgbfggfjj. Not the main story however) The agency would never even learn of his existence, if he didn't personally decide to try to fuck Ranpo's life up. Like, what does Poe even do in the Guild? He's the master architect and, according to him, the third ranking man in the organization, but we never see him be of any use, so Idk. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Lucy at least got to do something, unlike this poor man.

Then there's the entire drama with the Guild's decision to destroy Yokohama. Where do I even begin...

First of all, Fitzgerald has no way of knowing that Atsushi is going to come to Moby-Dick to fight him. Poor guy is the Guild's primary goal and has already gotten himself captured once, so it would have been safe to assume that the ADA decided to hide him somewhere and not send him on any dangerous missions for the time being. That basically means Fitzgerald could have burned down not just Yokohama, but also the only person, who could actually help him find his precious Book.

But if we're to ignore this, let's also go with Wikipedia then~

"Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu. Yokohama is also the major economic, cultural, and commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area along the Keihin Industrial Zone."

..........................

Good luck making up for the destruction of THIS, Fitzgerald 🖕

And if this in itself wasn't bad enough, most people, including me, tend to forget that all Guild members are actually big shots in the American government, which I think is very sad. Because first of all, can you imagine any of the Guild members actually working as politicians?!! The sheer idea makes me hysterical avshbgj. Like, just consider Lovecraft working as a senator or something. This eldritch horror of a man leaves the ocean once in three years at best LMAO. Second of all, I have a feeling, that the destruction of Yokohama at the hands of influential politicians from a foreign country would have resulted in an international conflict or two~ Like as if random deranged rich Americans arriving in Japan, wreaking havoc over there and destroying the second largest city in the country wasn't bad enough, these Americans just HAD to be super influential businessmen and politicians. Louisa, my dear, I understand that it wasn't your intention, but it's as close to a declaration of war as it can get, you know? Fitzgerald may be ready to do anything to resurrect his dead daughter, but I'm not sure, that the execution of himself and the rest of the Guild at the hands of the Hunting Dogs is something he'd like.

(And here's another funny thing that stems from them being politicians 🤭 As @originalartblog wittily pointed out, Fitzgerald wasting all his money fighting sskk has probably resulted in a market crash and recession over in the USA)

I also have some other questions in regards to this entire plan, such as why did they have to waste Moby-Dick just to destroy Yokohama? Yes, it works in the short term, but in the long term they loose a super powerful fortress with the stealth mode and as the practice shows, you better have a safe base, unless you want another lemon freak to blow it all up. I mean, you could just ask Lovecraft to destroy everything for free. Or, if the device is the only way to stop the giant whale from crashing, why didn't Fitzgerald just take it to a far away bunker or something and waited things out there without the need to spend millions of dollars just to survive the explosion? (And it would have been extremely funny, if during the fight with sskk he just threw the device overboard) But I think I have already rambled for long enough already atxhghbgv XD

The Guild is an even bigger mess than the DOA and I think that's glorious 🙌

#the guys stole mafia's building once just to show off and nobody has ever brought it up again #if that's not a true definition of hilarious I don’t know what is 🤭#bsd fitzgerald #bsd lucy #bsd louisa #bsd poe #bsd lovecraft #bsd guild #bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd meta #sort of #bsd francis #bsd spoilers #ticklinglady talks

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sad-stucky-shipper-107 · 1 month

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I apologize in advance for spamming the tags but I just had a cursed thought and I need you all to also think about this:

Ik some of us don't really like to acknowledge the sequels but Palpatine rlly said trans rights lmfao when he was tryna transfer his consciousness into Rey's body, like man simply did not give a fuck the body he was trying possess was female.

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herearedragons · 3 days

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thinking about how the gods of Eora being Like That is 100% the Engwithans' fault. "we studied all existing lore and crafted a perfect pantheon" you made your gods full of contradictions is what you did. look at them. they're killing each other

#herearedragons meta #pillars of eternity #poe spoilers #dunking on the gods is fun #but also the gods ARE trapped by their own nature #they can't stray from Their Purpose even if it's flawed and self contradictory and self destructive #pillars of eternity spoilers

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hopefull-mindset · 4 months

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I've started reading The Great Gatsby (I've fallen into the reading classical literature trap 😔. I really need to finish Crime and Punishment.)

Anyhow I think it's really interesting how Asagiri chose to characterize many of the people in BSD. Especially after learning that irl Fitzgerald was more of a cynical person (at least towards the end of his life) than his animated counterpart. And it made me think of all the other characters of the show and how their characterized.

What was Asagiri's purpose as he came together with these characters? Why'd he have some characters act as their irl counterparts while others act more like the characters they wrote or people in their lives?

These aren't really questions that I wanted the answers to they were moreso just thoughts that I had. I'd love to have a peek into this man's mind and how it works

I think a lot of us have fallen into that trap LMAO. This is my favorite topic though. I could talk about this forever because Kafka Asagiri is an interesting person who has integrated a lot of literature into this one series. I don't know what goes on in this man’s mind and I know these aren't literal questions, but I am interested in sharing what I know!

As you've pointed out, some characters do act more like the people in these works written by them than the actual people. BSD isn't purely just taking these authors, their relationships, and then implementing them just like that. it also takes these authors’ literary personas, their impact socially, and their works to make them into who they are. Asagiri is doing this because it makes it more interesting, but also imagine writing about this authors where most of them lived depressing lives with qualities that don’t make uh, the type of story you want to tell.

I’m impressed with how creative he is.

I’m trying to limit myself on how much I should talk about this, but I fear that I’ll leave out important bits about how Asagiri incorporates these people into the work. I’m also just jittering and excited. Like I almost forgot to bring up the fact the reason BSD has a war narrative is because it takes Japanese authors from Meiji to Shōwa era, so about the time Western influence kicked in, forcing them to modernize and keep up with the rest of the world during what is a fairly short time for huge development like this, to post-war Japan where, you know, the Occupation of Japan is happening and they have to intake the traumatic repercussions of everything before that.

This can make The Great War functionally WW2, but obviously not a one to one match. I’m not a historian or anything, but this should come to mind for anyone who’s in the know about some Japanese history. Now that I’m bringing it up though, Mori’s attitude during the flashback with Yosano is put into context because he pretty much says himself that he needs his country to realize that they keep up with the rest of the world and that the battlefield is changing, and real life Japan did not care about how they did that.

With N, Chuuya, and Stormbringer too. I’m almost hesitant to bring this up because it’s so serious, but yes, Japan did do lethal human experimentation for that same purpose to keep up with the rest of the world and prove themselves.

Ahh, I went off track. Sorry, we were talking about how Asagiri writes characters, right? There is a lot of crossover between the real authors and their writing, so it’s sorta hard to tell with people like Dazai where the work influence ends and the the real person begins.

For me currently in my classic lit research period, I’m almost upset at myself for barley reading anything by Ryuunosuke Akutagawa because he’s my favorite character. I’ve just been so caught up doing my Oda Sakunosuke essay that I don’t have too much time for other authors. I’ve also picked up “The Similitude of Blossoms: A Critical Biography of Izumi Kyōka” recently (and A New Hamlet by Osamu Dazai, but that’s not important).

Ah, how much should I talk about.… hmm… how about Chuuya as an example of Literary Voice vs Real Person…. Lucy Montgomery and Edgar Allen Poe for Social Impact (for Japan specifically)…. and then.. Oh whatever, I’ll figure it out. One day I’ll talk about Kyouka, but not now. I’d feel ill prepared.

If you’ve ever read a poem by Chuuya Nakahara, taken in the emotion and deep feeling, and then found any fun facts about his interactions with other authors, there’s a huge contrast between those two modes that can be jarring. Im sure you can tell how that carries over to BSD. I’m impressed by how Asagiri is able to balance both the brash attitude of Chuuya and the inner literary voice that voices the emotion and care he has in him.

Edgar Allen Poe is slightly more obvious than Lucy’s influence (or maybe it’s Lucy’s, ah it depends), but both pop out at you when it’s pointed out. He was one of the first American authors to be introduced to Japan and fairly popular, but mainly we would point to Edogawa Ranpo as the most blatantly influenced by him and who his name is quite literally attached to. While Lucy Montgomery isn’t attached to anyone in particular, Anne of The Green Gables was wildly distributed in Japan when there were few english children books and became a hit.

There’s a television series too if you search for it. Any redhead, pigtail-braided girl you see in some Japanese media is because of her! It’s probably why these two have the most presence in the story currently compared to other members of the Guild and work with the Agency at times.

There are times when Asagiri will use influences outside of the author’s own catalog to create them, some literary like Albert Camus’s The Stranger and The Myth of Sisyphus (in writing characters like Dazai or Fyodor, I could make a post about that), and some just of his own anime/manga interests in other series like Jojo, Cowboy Bebop, Black Lagoon, etc. if you’re familiar.

I’d feel bad if I don’t at least show one example of this so, how about an Odasaku example with The Long Goodbye by Reymond Chandler? I was going to avoid talking about him until the essay, but I can’t help myself. Many have pointed out these parallels before, but Asagiri did point it to be his favorite book last year in an interview.

If you’ve noticed that the presentation for Dark Era in the anime comes off like a Noir film just like how Untold Origins came off like a black and white samurai film, good job! The Long Goodbye is a Noir novel about a detective named Phillip Marlowe who is unable to let go of a case involving a friend that was accused of murdering his own wife, but supposedly commits suicide and confesses to it before Marlowe is able to leave custody. By the end of the book, he uncovers the real perpetuator (a past lover of Terry Lennox’s before he was ever called by that name) and finds out where Lennox really is by poking into the story of where the message he got was sent.

He comes in with a new look and identity, and he asks if it’s too early for a gimlet. They say their last few words to each other, Marlowe flipping back and forth from acknowledging him as Terry Lennox and as a person he never knew, and then Marlowe tells him that “he’s not here anymore”. Marlowe had already told him goodbye when it was sad and lonely, so Lennox does the same here. That ends that mutual, long goodbye and he never sees Lennox again.

The immediate response I’ve see about this is how it parallels the relationship between Dazai and Odasaku. In The Day I Picked Up Dazai, just like how Marlowe brings him to his home to clean him up and meet up at the same bar for the next few months of their friendship, Odasaku also does so with Dazai and drinks a Gimlet for reasons he doesn’t know. In reality, Gimlets are a representation of the friendship between Marlowe and Lennox as it’s Lennox’s favorite drink. It makes it a little painful when Marlowe ignores him when he ask to go get a gimlet at that same bar they always went.

BEAST is more hyper specific about it by having Dazai ask the same question that Lennox asks when he gets smoked out and Odasaku asking for a gimlet with no bitters, which is specifically how Lennox takes it. Odasaku does not drink the gimlet at all though, showing that there is not friendship to start or accept or say goodbye to, as Lennox does ask Marlowe to drink a Gimlet to say goodbye to him in the letter. Just like TDIPUD is like their beginning, BEAST is their ending without ending because BEAST Dazai is not the same person he was friends with.

Odasaku fulfills being a detective and Dazai is the tragic friend with a past he doesn’t say anything about. Great. Now what I think people are missing when they entirely focus on Odasaku and Dazai when they talk about Lennox and Marlowe is that Lennox is narratively also Andre Gide.

If we were to split Lennox into three people just like his three identities, this is what it would look like:

The Friend: You help him out and don’t judge for his faults, in turn you go out to a bar with each other. It’s uneasy, but it’s worth a lot to the both of you. Eventually you have to part ways in death. (Dazai & Terry Lennox)

The Unknown: Is he someone you know? He acts like it, but he looks nothing like what you’ve encounter before. Maybe in some world you were, but that’s not now and it’s too late for this goodbye to be playing out. You let it happened though and you never see him again when he walks out that door. (BEAST Dazai & “Señor Maioranos”)

The Soldier: The past is right around the corner and its come to bite you in the ass. White hair and war memories haunting him with a scar as a reminder, he’s a reflection of you but maybe not. Who knows? (Andre Gide & “Paul Marston.”)

The initials “P.M.” of both his past name and Phillip Marlowe’s is meant to clue in how Eileen (the past lover) is connected to Lennox by her thinking of Marlowe as her past lover as she attempts to seduce him in some trance. What I’m trying to note here though is that you can take this as Lennox being another reflection of himself. It’s easy to do that reading for both Dazai and Gide as they’re both his foils and are purposely similar, but Gide aligns more with this past identity than Dazai does and retains his white hair.

Uhhh, wasn't planning to make a mini-analysis in the middle of my talking but okay. I'm leaving it off there. I went blank a lot while writing because I didn’t know what I wanted to comment on. There's too much to say about this large cast. I have way more literary fun facts and ideas to say, but nah.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #dazai osamu #mori ougai #bsd analysis #bsd meta #bsd edgar allan poe #bsd lucy #oda sakunosuke #odasaku #bsd beast #the day i picked up dazai #andre gide

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the-force-awakens · 11 months

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with it officially being disability pride month, I wanna talk about my favorite disabled headcanon, which is for the one and only, my most beloved Poe Dameron. Buckle up, because this is a long post.

I actually have a few different disability headcanons, most of which hold up to canon/are extrapolated from canon, so we'll keep that in mind as we go through. I expect this to have about...four parts total. Let's go!

Hard of Hearing

I think a good case can be made that Poe is hard of hearing, with a few instances that could point to this fact, primarily the very beginning of the Rise of Skywalker. Even though Chewie is sitting right beside Poe, Poe does not understand what Chewie has said, because his head is turned (at no other point does Poe have any problem understanding Chewbacca, so we know it is not a linguistics issue)

It's only when he turns towards Chewie and Chewie repeats what he said that Poe understands what was said. There's also the frankly adorable moment in The Last Jedi that's extremely easy to miss, because it's a far away shot and we just barely catch what Poe says:

BB-8 is beeping so fast trying to catch Poe up that Poe has to request that he slow down so Poe can understand him. Other possible evidence of him being HoH (beyond the comical amount of explosions he's constantly caught in) is that there are several shots where we see Poe carefully watching the lips of the person he's speaking to as they're talking, as if that might help him keep up.

And (I don't have a gif of this lmao I'm not giffing him getting hurt) when Poe gets shot in tros, @/dameronalone pointed out it could be evidence he didn't hear the approaching stormtroopers when he turned to look the other way. @/hermitmoss has also pointed to his line at the start of tfa while being snarky at Kylo as further possible evidence, about how it's hard to understand Ren with the voice modulator.

Essential Hand Tremor

Another fact pointed out to me by @/hermitmoss (thanks Braigwen) is that when Poe goes to cover Leia's hand with his own in the Last Jedi, we see that his hand is shaking:

I later noticed that this isn't the only time that we see Poe do this, we see it again in the Rise of Skywalker, where he cannot keep his blaster steady as Rey approaches the serpent at all.

These are the only two circumstances I can find of his hands trembling in the movies, though, and we know from plenty of other scenes that Poe ordinarily can keep a blaster extremely steady:

Autism & ADHD

Okay this one I don't consider to be a headcanon, lmfao. I genuinely believe that Poe was intentionally coded as autistic/ADHD by Oscar Isaac.

Oscar playing/coding Poe as something that is never explicitly confirmed by Disney is far from new: Poe is coded as a bisexual (or pansexual) man, because that's how Oscar Isaac saw Poe and chose to play him, and even if we weren't gifted with it being made explicit, it's still there in his performance.

If you happen to be a fan of Oscar Isaac, or just a Marvel and Star Wars fan both, you'll know he starred in the Disney+ series Moon Knight last year as the Moon Knight system (Steven Grant, Marc Spector, and Jake Lockley).

Shortly after the first episode premiered, Oscar Isaac revealed in an interview that while trying to figure out who Steven was as a person, he came up with the idea that the system be on the Autism Spectrum, and approached Marvel to see if he could include it into his performances, and it was green-lit.

The Lunar system is the best intentional autistic representation I've ever seen, there are so many things they do that are so minor that I doubt most people would ever consider to include, but they are things that me and my friends do.

And there's an overlap in how Oscar plays the various autistic habits and traits of the Lunar system in how he portrays Poe. Most notably, Poe and Marc have extremely similar meltdowns:

There's plenty more overlap (Poe does the same anxious stim Steven does, of rubbing the inside of his index finger with his thumb) but there's so much there I'm not sure where all to begin. I have gone more in depth on the various autistic traits Poe shows throughout the films in this gifset here, though.

I'll go ahead and include some of the moments we see him stimming, that I have evidence of:

(he also does this same hand thing when he starts to leave BB-8 and promises to come back.)

We also see him fidgeting anxiously with his hands during the briefing in the last jedi:

Poe also has a habit of running his tongue along his bottom lip while he's stressed or thinking something through. Here's three examples from across the trilogy (there are plenty more):

We're leaning a little closer into ADHD territory now. I don't really know how to explain why I think Poe is ADHD, to be quite honest, besides the fact that he just radiates ADHD energy to me and I heavily relate. This is a man who cannot stay still, and frequently talks with his hands:

But there's also the fact that Poe oftentimes has a tendency to not be able to fully see the potential of negative outcomes to his decisions - he sees point a to point b, and sometimes becomes laser focused on that. It's something I understand perfectly, because it's hard for me to pull away from something I've already fully committed to doing, and it's even more difficult sometimes for me to truly understand what (and what kind of) consequences my actions will have.

Other evidence of him being extremely autistic (and adhd) is just....that he makes autistic expressions?

Like this...is an autistic expression, I've seen my best friend make this exact fucking face before, I don't know how else to explain it.

Misc Thoughts

Aside from the above, it's pretty much canon that Poe has anxiety and depression — at the very least, Poe Dameron: Free Fall by Alex Segura certainly does not shy away from the suggestion, and is one of the most implicit portrayals we have of it outside the films — it is a series of catastrophizing his circumstances that leads Poe to joining Zorii for a little while as a teenager, following a joyride that ended in a crash that Poe explicitly wishes he had not survived.

The movies themselves also points to Poe having PTSD, partially through the writing but mostly due to the nuanced and thoughtful performance Oscar Isaac gives as Poe (that goes....woefully underappreciated, seriously he adds so much depth to every single scene as Poe, including the thread of anxiety in Poe's voice when Rey mentions Ren's ship is over Kijimi, or constantly looking out to make sure they're not being followed in tros).

(Good expanded material follows through on this, such as Poe's reluctance to discuss anything about what happened aboard the Finalizer in the Poe Dameron: Flight Log, and becoming irate at the thought of having to. He's an extremely traumatized man, and he certainly doesn't deserve to be thrown out of an airlock jfc and he isn't as arrogant as the fascist regime he is fighting, tbh he's not arrogant at all).

Conclusion

I believe that sums up the majority of my Poe is disabled thoughts, or at least the ones that I think holds up very well within the canon framework. He's extremely disabled and - in the case of being neurodivergent - this is critical to understanding him as a character, especially considering his arc ends up being focused on interdependence.

I wish all fellow disabled folk a happy pride month, and I wish all very ableds a very "please do not be ableist on this post". You will be blocked otherwise.

#nym speaks #disabled tag #autism #poe dameron #my meta #sui ideation cw

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iwritenarrativesandstuff · 2 years

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Underrated adorable thing Kyouka does is when someone gives her something to do and/or tries to show her something new and she gives it her full, serious attention.

It could be a matter of life-or-death. It could be delivering an important document. It could be taking care of a cat. It could be mixing a little candy. Doesn't matter.

Someone: *showing Kyouka a thing*

Kyouka: *staring intently, laser-fucking-focused*

What makes this so good to me is that it's nothing to do with her mafia training - she tends to go numb and distant when her assassin instincts kick in. When she focuses like this, it's driven by her genuine want to learn how to do the thing and do it perfectly. And yeah, part of this is also likely to do with her want to prove that she can do good things, but there are a million different ways she could go about this and she chooses... to watch people. To listen and learn and try her hardest at every single little thing she does. Honestly, I don't think this is anything she picked up from anyone - I think she's just like that. She gives everything she does her full attention.

And yeah, sometimes she gets a little too into it (tasing the guy she was supposed to deliver the files to, making a gigantic tower of god grub...) but she's got the spirit.

You guys she's so cute. She's SO cute. And also I think so incredibly strong for this. I don't think Kyouka fully realizes how much of her recovery is due her own consistent dogged efforts. Atsushi and the Agency gave her an opportunity and a safe home base and she took it and ran with it through her own conviction (in spite of all the setbacks), making herself brighter in the process.

#now if only the story would directly acknowledge this...#or have kyouka have a major role or expanded interactions outside of her dynamic with atsushi...#listen her and atsushi's dynamic is so sweet but my favourite kyouka scenes remain the ones with her and kouyou or akutagawa #also that bit in wan where she was better than atsushi at complimenting lucy so they both ditched him lol #i miss herrrrrr #actually as far as i remember kyouka yosano lucy and poe are still unaccounted for #maybe they're working on some other part of the agency's plan?#i'd love it if yosano got to confront teruko tbfh #and lucy just tossing fukuchi in her room while poe cheers because he's mad his boyfriend was knocked out then manhandled like a kitten #and kyouka faces vampire akutagawa and or helps aya and bram get away #my crappy late night theorizing that is basically just a wishlist #anyways that's not the point of this post the point is that i love kyouka #bsd #idk does this count as meta? it's more just my unhinged rambling #bsd meta #i guess #bsd kyouka #storyrambles

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twink-with-an-agenda · 1 year

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I don't think I've ever seen this connection drawn, but I'm pretty damn sure the Ninth House prayer references The Sleeper by Edgar Allan Poe - wouldn't be surprised at all, since Muir already explicitly references another poem of his, Annabel Lee.

All of The Sleeper has heavy Alecto vibes, but this stanza stood out to me in particular.

#very fitting for muir to repeatedly reference poe since he is a foundational figure in the Haunting Dead Wife subgenre of gothic poetry #tlt #the locked tomb #the locked tomb meta #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #alecto #edgar allan poe

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afterthelambs · 1 year

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Mushitaro+Yokomizo's parallels with other character pairings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Oh wait whats this--

oh. oh.

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

That sounds familiar...

Yeah... 🥲

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

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

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

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poelya · 1 month

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it's been a hot minute, and honestly I'm trying to use social media less, but talking to @dameronalone last night about Poe spurred on a lengthier thought process/analysis of him today, so I want to talk about Poe Dameron and emotional neglect.

That sounds heavy as hell! It really does, but it's been on my mind recently while re-examining Poe while I come to terms with a new neurodivergency(tm) of mine, and it's really changing my whole perspective on him as a whole.

So what is emotional neglect? Well, according to ScienceDirect, it's this

Emotional neglect can be defined as a relationship pattern in which an individual’s affectional needs are consistently disregarded, ignored, invalidated, or unappreciated by a significant other.

At which point you're probably thinking "okay Nym, but Poe doesn't have a significant other" which is true! But Poe's emotions do get neglected quite often. Let's examine it below the cut shall we?

So what spawned this thought process of mine, was my partner mentioning that Poe probably is feeling a little bit "he was my friend first" about Finn in TROS, in regards to his jealousy. Whether you want to look at things from a romantic lens, a platonic lens, or a queerplatonic one, I think it's safe to say we can all agree that in TROS Poe is feeling left out.

"You mean when Poe's not here" he's clearly bitter and angry about being the odd man out, that they're keeping secrets from him (even if they also don't know everything about him), and can't let it go even when they're about to be executed. Poe is usually the one to get left behind, so there's a lot that he's not privy too - not just in the sense that Finn and Rey both have the Force when he doesn't, just in the sense that there's a history there that Poe doesn't know.

And - to no fault of their own - I don't think anyone's attitudes in the film is particularly helping Poe's sense of isolation and alienation. He gets held to a particularly high, nearly impossible to reach, standard at every turn. He attempts to save everyone's life aboard the Falcon, and is at first clearly compared to Rey (although I don't understand Chewie, I think the "Rey wouldn't be doing this" translates extremely well considering Poe's follow up of "well Rey's not here, is she?"), and then his accomplishment of getting everyone back alive is completely dismissed because he trashed the Falcon doing so. Again, he's held to a standard he cannot meet. Every time Poe does something, it's treated as not enough.

As much as we might joke about the fact that the TROS visual dictionary implies he has a praise kink, the fact that it points out that "yeah well, I got us back didn't I?" is Poe seeking acknowledgment, one that he doesn't get in the slightest, leads into I think the most telling thing about how much Poe's emotional needs are neglected: Zorii.

By all rights, things should be way more complicated between them than they are, from Poe's perspective. Regardless of how nuanced the actual circumstances were, the fact of the matter is that things ended awfully between them two of them (not that it started well between them, when Zorii tricked Poe) and the last time Poe saw her, they fought physically as enemies despite being friends that occasionally made out just a few short hours before.

And we do see some of that "complicated" initially. Poe drags his feet about going back to Kijimi (and I think a little of that is due to him not wanting to lose any 'standing' with Finn and Rey, if they find out something less than great about his past, then perhaps their opinion of him will drop), and he's guarded around Zorii - up until the rooftop scene.

As much of it is likely latent "I think I might have loved you once upon a time" feelings, I do think Poe jumps so quickly into opening up around her, because she unintentionally fills an absence/lacking that Poe feels around everyone else, and especially around Finn and Rey (who at this point seem to be the people he's closest with). Zorii gets Poe in a way neither of them will be able to, on several layers, and I think that might be a little bit also why he's even able to open up to her. If Poe's already feeling left out, the having somebody abruptly ask him to run away with her because she wants him around and wants to include him, and then acknowledges what no one else has/is able to ("I don't believe you believe that"), then I can understand why Poe in the next few minutes is asking to kiss her.

But it's also indicative of...a recurring trait of Poe's, as well. Because Poe has a tendency of becoming ride or die for people, upon being offered...the bare minimum?

Zorii shows him a small amount of vulnerability in lowering her visor so they can speak, then admits she wants him around, and hears him out about his fears and points out that she knows deep down that he doesn't believe that. And it's enough to make Poe ask her to come with them, to kiss her, and then later give her bedroom eyes across the clearing on Ajan Kloss.

But - it's not just romantically that this happens. The same thing happens in Before the Awakening. Yes, Poe absolutely would have joined regardless because of what happened to Muran, but I personally think Poe becoming immediately ride or die for Leia, has a lot to do with the fact that Leia listens to him.

He mentions that he's never felt so heard before in his life, and it moves him enough that I think it has a lot to do with why he's immediately personally loyal to Leia and willing to do anything for her.

Even prior to any romantic feelings for Zorii, he projects a bit on her in Freefall because they're of similar age, and winds up loyal to her because of the fact that they bond a little bit because of their similarities - in terms of age, of feeling older than they are because of trauma, and feeling the weight of their respective family legacies. Again, it's the bare minimum of being heard, that draws Poe in.

(I think you could make a small argument, also, for Poe being so immediately ride or die for Finn, because the latter saved Poe's life and then rescued BB-8.)

Considering the continuing trend of Poe throwing himself at the next problem so he doesn't have to stop and linger on his problems, I think his emotional neglect is partially self-inflicted, but I do think there is a larger habit of the people around him on occasion forgetting that he has those emotional needs as well.

He is the Leia of the sequel trilogy, in the sense that I think everyone looks at how strong and competent he is, and forgets that he needs the same amount of emotional care as anyone else. And unfortunately, unlike Leia, what Poe doesn't have is a Han to beat it over his head that he needs to be taken care of just as much as the Resistance does.

It all rounds back to the "everything's easy for Poe Dameron, no need to dwell" in issue #14 of the Poe comics. And you'd think that, since after TLJ Poe is no longer hiding behind that cheerful, cocky flyboy facade, that things would actually be easier for him, but it isn't - his emotional needs are still being neglected, routinely both by him and the people around him because it seems like he doesn't need them as much, WHILE also feeling left out and held to impossible standards he seemingly can't meet no matter how hard he tries or whatever he might accomplish.

And it's hard to say what might have prompted this - it could be the strain his and Kes's relationship took due to Kes falling into a depression and being unable to meet Poe where Poe was at in his grief. It could (and most likely) have something to do with his mother's former coworkers telling Poe he was more trouble than he was worth and that Kes would give up on him someday. It could be from spending a year and a half/two years of being put down for his idealism by Zorii. It could be from years in the New Republic, being told he was a problem for being who he was and standing up for what he believed in. It could be all of the above, as well as Poe's own mental health problems.

But it's safe to say that I want to curl up around him like a protective little dragon and hug him for a long time and make that boy feel so loved that the bare minimum doesn't get hearts floating around in his eyes ever again.

#nym speaks #my meta #editor note: this is from a mostly objective perspective and is not dragging any character mentioned in this essay #poe dameron

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artist-issues · 8 months

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The characterizations for those first two Star Wars Sequels movies were Plain Good. Poe, Finn, and Rey were delightful to get to know! They were likeable people! It’s so nice to rewatch them and relive the fun of when Star Wars was coming out in theaters again.

Poe - In The Force Awakens, he’s a cocky hotshot who keeps making the hero-move against impossible odds. Sending his defenseless droid into a desert so he can take on the bad guys single-handedly? No problem. Fly a ship he’s never flown before with a Stormtrooper he just met to escape capture? Totally calm about that. He’s comfortable living in the moment and taking big risks. After all, he’s serving directly under Leia, Savior of the Galaxy, champion of the free world; he’s walking with giants, he’s got to act like it! And then in The Last Jedi he has to learn to stop doing that. Be a leader. Leaders look at the big picture, and focus on how to move forward instead of just saving the day in the moment. He can’t keep being cocky and reckless. Taking a stand against a Dreadnaught and facing down the First Order with cocky quips? Easy. But letting others make the sacrifice play while you live to lead, so the galaxy can go on hoping, and fight another day? Not so easy for Poe.

Finn - In The Force Awakens he’s a Stormtrooper who wants to run away from fights. He’s got a compassionate streak, sure; he doesn’t want to kill, and when he escapes, he likes to do it in the company of people who talk to him like he’s more than a number in an army list. But the point is, he’s out to save his own skin, and the skin of anybody who’s good to him. Then he learns to stop running and start fighting for something worthwhile. He starts to learn that by the end of that first movie when he’s running into danger and fighting for Rey. But it’s not until The Last Jedi that he understands: fighting isn’t the point. (And how great is that in Star Wars?) After all, even when he’s fought, it’s just to escape. He doesn’t really believe evil can be defeated—just escaped or sacrificed against. But in The Last Jedi, he learns to stop looking at it negatively, and start looking forward; don’t just fight for things that you love, or to hurt what you hate. Fight to save what you love. Actually focusing on what you love is what helps you to accomplish keeping it safe. It’s a stormtrooper learning about hope.

Rey - UAGH she’s a lonely soul who’s dedicated her whole life to having faith that her family will come back for her when you meet her in The Force Awakens. She hangs all her identity on that; she’s nobody, from nowhere, hoping that someone will come back and tell her who she is and that she’s loved. It doesn’t matter if a brave Resistance Hero believes she can help him, or if THE Smuggler Han Solo believes she can be part of his crew, or if a thousand year-old wise woman believes she could be the heir to the Luke Skywalker Legend—Rey can’t settle for their belief in her. She thinks she needs her parents’ belief in her to be somebody. But she learns that, even though her family isn’t with her, The Force is. And she needs to find belonging ahead, not behind. So her faith dips it’s toe into a new object—The Force— by the time you get to The Last Jedi. Then she’s still hoping to find out that she’s somebody who’s loved; maybe The Force can be her key to finding out about where she belongs and how she fits. She thinks it’s led her to remind Luke Skywalker of who he is by doing what he did; redeeming the bad guy. But she fails. And that’s all she really learns: that it’s not about her, and it never was, just like it was never about Luke. She doesn’t need to find her identity in where she comes from or who believes in her: she just needs to do the right thing for the future.

And we could talk about Kylo Ren but he gets a post of his own.

Point being, these movies had characters and a direction that were Plain Good and going somewhere, and if I go back and watch them, I remember how fun it all was

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linkspooky · 1 year

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BSD VS. LITERATURE: MURDER ON D STREET

The third entry in my long-running series analyzes every literature reference in Bungou Stray Dogs and tries to piece together the author’s intention in referencing the work.

Ranpo’s the only character whose ability name does not reference a specific book, but his entire character seems to be a reference to Ranpo Edogawa’s collection of mystery novels and his life’s work in general. However, the first chapter to feature him is named after his first story facing his primary detective Kogoro Akechi. Let’s root out the references underneath the cut.

1. Poe and Ranpo

Ranpo the character is not just a reference to the original author’s work, he’s a tribute to the mystery genre and detective fiction in general.

Ranpo is an incredibly prolific mystery author in Japan. He is credited as one of the biggest influencers in the Japanese mystery tradition. He was an admirer of western mystery novels, especially Edgar Allan Poe, and tried to make his own more Japanese-inspired tradition of mystery novels.

“His chosen name, in combination with his frequent allusions to works on crime and detective by mostly Western authors, demands that the reader or critic compare Rampo’s work with that of the famous western writers he references and consider them all as belonging to the same category. Ranpo believed that a Japanese detective story could match the work of Western authors in the modern ratiocinative tradition they had established. Some of his works bear directly on the debates surrounding the issue, such as “The Case of the Murder on D. Hill” itself which Rampo intended as a response to critics who argued it was impossible to set the secret incidents and mysterious dealings which formed the core of the modern WEstern mystery in the open, wood-and-paper houses of Japan and that it was thus a natural result of the Japanese way of life that Japan should produce no strong mystery tradition of its own.”

Edogawa Ranpo - The Early Cases of Akechi Kogoro Introduction

Ranpo set out to write Japanese mystery stories written in a Japanese way, so eastern authors could establish their own traditions. In the same way, Ranpo in Bungou Stray Dogs is always interacting with other characters inspired by Mystery Authors, Edgar Allan Poe himself, and Mushitarou Oguri another Japanese crime novelist who was western inspired (He was known as the Japanese John Dickson Carr). Yokomizo was named after Seishi Yokomizo. His pen named Kindaichi is named after his private detective character “Kosuke Kindaichi.” In the same way that Ranpo was dedicated to helping Japan create its own mystery tradition, Ranpo himself is someone who gathers other detectives around him and befriends them.

The relationship between Edgar Allan Poe and Ranpo in BSD itself is also a pretty heavy reference to the influence both share in their respective genres. Edgar Allan Poe is largely credited as being the first mystery author and “Murders in the Rue Morgue” as the first modern detective story. In the same way that Edgar Allan Poe invented mystery novels and inspired Ranpo, Ranpo then went on to inspire mystery novels in the east and be formative for the Japanese mystery tradition.

2. Murder on D Street / The Case of the Murder on D. Hill

There are several references to Kogoro Akechi’s first case in the first real mystery to feature Ranpo in the manga. The first and most obvious is the title itself. However, the fact that the murder takes place when a corpse is discovered in a river is a reference to Ranpo’s chosen pen name. "Edogawa” which Ranpo chose as a pen name uses the characters for the Edo river which borders present-day Tokyo to the south and was originally the lower course of the Tone River.

His pseudonym incorporates the geography of Edo, the old capital of the isolationist Tokugawa Shogunate, with the name of Poe, an American writer. This contradictory composition reflects Rampo’s own efforts to create a uniquely Japanese tradition of an imported genre.

Edogawa Ranpo - The Early Cases of Akechi Kogoro Introduction

In D. Hill, the murder itself is a bit of a parody of more western mystery novels. Most of the deduction takes place when Akeichi and his friend the narrator are discussing the details of a particular case that appears to be a locked room. At first, the narrator makes a solid deduction in the way a Sherlock Holmes or Western detective would immediately jump to the conclusion of a case based on connecting a large amount of small evidence noticed at the crime scene.

The two characters themselves are also avid mystery readers and make references to several other mystery novels.

“I know you’ve read Poe’s the murders in the Rue Morgue ad Leroux’s The Mystery in the Yellow Room, and I’m sure you know that Rose Delacourt Case in Paris. Even now, a hundred years alter, there are still mysteries surrounding that curious murder case. I’m recalling it now. Isn’t the way the perpetrator of tonight’s incident departed without leaving a trace somewhat similiar?” said Akechi.

The Case of the Murder on D. Hill

This was Poe’s first real attempt to create a locked room in a traditional Japanese paper wall and sliding door room. Poe even draws attention to that fact.

“It’s often been said that the kind of serious crime you find in a western novel could never happen in a Japanese building, but I certainly don’t think so, because of incidents such as this one. Somehow or other, although I don’t know if I can, I feel that I’d like to try my hand at solving a real case, just once.”

The Case of the Murder on D. Hill

The narrator goes through the process of deduction and comes up with a likely-sounding theory, that’s just like the kind of clever solutions in one of those novels. However, he comes to the wrong conclusion because he was thinking in mystery novel logic and Akechi goes out of his way to correct him.

The Murder on D Street chapter in BSD is structured in the same way, at first there’s an obvious culprit to the crime only for Ranpo to reveal that the culprit framed it as the mafia and there was another story behind it. In both cases too, the murder victim was killed by accident by her own lover.

In a way, Ranpo in his work goes out of the way to both parody and comment on the western genre of mystery novels themselves. Akechi even highlights that some of the guesses that characters leap to in those novels are ridiculous.

“For example, concerning my relationship with that woman, have you made a thorough and psychological investigation inot what sort of childhood friends we were? Whether or not there had been a past love affair between us in the past/ Whether or not I bore a grudge against her? Those aren’t the story of things you can guess at, are they...?”

The Case of the Murder on D. Hill

Akechi points out that rather than solving mysteries by jumping to conclusions based on evidence he tends to solve people psychologically.

“My methods are a bit different from yours. Physical evidence and things of that kind can take all sorts of appearances depending on the point of view. The best method of detection is psychological: to see through the depths of people’s heart.”

The Case of the Murder on D. Hill

Perhaps about this, Ranpo the character is a genius who can puzzle together the culprit of a murder with just a few pieces of evidence. At the same time, he is completely unable to understand psychologically the way people around him think.

“I don’t understand what anyone’s thinking! I’m scared! It feels like I’m surrounded by monsters! It doesn’t matter what I say - nobody understands me! My parents were the only ones who did, and they’re dead!” BSD. VOL 3

Edogawa Ranpo the author also created a mystery series for children known as the “Boy Detectives Club”. Yoshio Kobayashi, the assistant of Kosuke Kindaichi starts a detective club of his own right by gathering other children from his own school. In the third light novel, Ranpo’s father is a reference to Akechi Kogoro himself.

The man was a legendary detective. The “Headless Officer” case, the “Moonlight Phantom,” the “Cow Head Incident” - he helped solve several difficult cases that shook the nation.

If his father was Kosuke Kindaichi, then naturally Ranpo himself would be a reference to Kobayashi the boy detective. Which also fits his role of gathering all the other detective characters and forming connections between them. He also gained fame for being a young genius detective, and it’s also how he gained his home and his place with Fukuzawa and the detective agency.

Ranpo is also, much like the author himself a character who does not have a power like the rest of the ability users, trying to still create a name for himself. Ranpo Edogawa was an inspired and talented enough author to basically rewrite the japanese mystery tradition into something more unique. Whereas, Ranpo the character despite having no ability of his own is the most important character in the agency fights on the front line with everyone else. The same way Ranpo influenced the entire mystery genre in Japan, Ranpo the character also is the main reason the detective agency was created and the reason they all stay together.

Which speaks a lot of the importance of both the author and the character.

#edogawa ranpo #bsd meta #edgar allen poe #edogawa ranpo bsd #edgar allen poe bsd #seishi yokomizo #mushitaro oguri #mushitaro oguri bsd #bungou stray dogs meta #bungou stray dogs

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ticklinglady · 1 year

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You know, I find it to be truly fun to think about connections of various writers and wonder how those might play out in the story, however then I remember that Asagiri himself isn't particularly interested in doing this, aside from some exceptions. For better or for worse, which is a matter of preference, he truly creates an entirely new story with some references to the real people, despite using their names and alluding to their works. Usually I'm rather cool with that, "Let the man go wild, he's awesome! 🥰", however sometimes I can't help, but feel like it results in some missed opportunities for the story. If you name characters after real people, might as well play with the allusions to them a little more. Here are just some examples of the connections between the real writers, that I am aware of, yet they played no role in the BSD at all:

Akutagawa Ryunosuke was the student of Natsume Soseki and loved his teacher dearly - zero interactions between the two during the story

Q/Yumeno Kyusaku was quite a huge fan of Edogawa Ranpo and Edogawa later became the benefactor of the writer - zero interactions between the two during the story

Tayama Katai and Mori Ogai became acquaintances during the Russo-Japanese war and spent lots of time talking with one another while at it - zero interactions between the two during the story

Edogawa Ranpo was the first person to translate and introduce Lovecraft's writings in Japan - zero interactions between the two during the story

Akutagawa Ryunosuke loved Poe's works and translated them into Japanese - zero interactions between the two during the story

Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville were great friends and Melville adored Hawthorne so much, that it influenced the creation of "Moby-Dick" a lot and from what I have seen many people say he was actually in love (maybe the writer was indeed in love with him, but I am afraid, I'm not qualified enough to talk about this. Feel more than free to add info to the post) - zero interactions between the two during the story

H. P. Lovecraft was quite a fan of Edgar Allan Poe and his works were heavily influenced by him - zero interactions between the two during the story

Nikolai Gogol and Alexander Pushkin were great friends and influenced each other a lot - zero interactions between the two during the story

Fyodor Dostoevsky was one hell of a fanboy of Alexander Pushkin and even had the honor to give an official speech at the anniversary of the latter's death - zero interactions between the two during the story

And etc.

I mean, don't you guys think it would have been interesting to see Mori and Katai interact, given Katai's heavy dislike for the mafia? Hell, Mori might have even been made the main reason behind Katai's strong emotions! And then there's the situation with Akutagawa and Natsume. I find it to be truly surprising that Mori and Fukuzawa were made Natsume's students in the BSD, yet the person who was actually Natsume's student in real life hasn't even talked to him so far. Nathaniel and Melville are actually part of the same organization, yet there's nothing about it, though to be fair, the Guild members suffer from the lack of screentime in general. But just imagine if there was a tragic love story between the two instead of the one we got with Margaret arffufgbh. However, like I said in the beginning, it's a matter of preference. The story still works on its own and Asagiri still gives us from time to time such interesting references so in general I am very content and happy X3 I'm just saying here my thoughts on how fun it would have been, if he had gone even further

#ticklinglady talks #wow that's a lot of people to tag avghjkg #bsd #bsd akutagawa #bsd mori #bsd ranpo #bsd katai #bsd nathaniel #bsd fyodor #bsd nikolai #bsd q #bsd kyusaku #bsd poe #bsd natsume #bsd lovecraft #bsd meta #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs

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