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hopefull-mindset · 9 months

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Finally understanding Beast Mori (as Asagiri intended)

Hello everyone, I am hoping you’ll be nice about me talking about Mori for two seconds and express my thoughts about such a guy like this. This isn’t going to be some fancy analysis picking apart stuff like I’d usually want to or even me addressing every trait he has because I definitely don’t go into everything. This is me finally being at peace with Mori’s humanity.

Before you say anything, I’d just like to share my own peace of comprehension. So if you were similarly confused the way I was, I think you’d appreciate this (Or if you’re looking for a different approach on Mori).

Im sure most of you have read the manga adaptation, so just to let you know, I am going to be using passages from the official Light Novel translation and if anyone needs it, I can send it to them!

For anyone who’s decided to read, hello! Nice to meet you. I’m sure we’ve all shared the same confusion when confronted with Beast Mori’s difference in personality and approach. Thoughts like “Why is he so much nicer?” Or “Why does he care much more about how kids are treated, when he himself has treated kids the same way he describes in the past?”

How could this person be the same guy who was Mori the Port Mafia Boss? The war veteran who used Yosano the way he did? So we came up with many idea of why he’s different to justify it, but here’s the thing: Mori is the same person he always was, this is a universe where everything is the same, but different where Dazai chooses to intervene.

After a few days, I was able to recognize it but I couldn’t hold myself to acknowledge it. It’s hard to see a man who represents the dark, the Port Mafia, to the Armed Detective Agency’s light. I couldn’t wrap my head that such a controlling, manipulative man could have humanity like the rest of the characters.

Why was this so hard for me to see? Well two reasons— the fandom and how the anime cuts down Mori’s emotions when adapting canon material. This happens to Dazai too, but people are much more willing to talk about it compared to Mori. Now the fandom really does love blaming everything on Mori and that’s not the most constructive thing to do when talking about abuse narratives. I can’t blame anyone for taking this route when it came to Mori because of Asagiri’s poorly thought out choice with him…. we all know what I’m talking about. Elise.

However, I need some of you to understand that abuse narratives are never as simple as “oh, it’s all this persons fault because they’re a horrible person, so [character] is resolved from any guilt or responsibility”. This not only dumbs down the situation and seriousness of it, by mischaracterizing the abuser, you’re also mischaracterizing the victim as well and what they’ve gone through. You’re putting their story in jeopardy.

Bungou Stray Dogs is a story about human beings, morality, and what it all means. Mori, and in turn Fukuzawa, are important to understand Bungou Stray Dogs because they are in two pinochle positions that start this discussion of Morality. I am baffled that a story like this, one that approaches these topics with so much appreciation for humanity and nuance, has a fandom that doesn’t want to talk about what it has to offer.

Asagiri’s poorly thought out writing decision of a joke is going to have lasting effects with how Mori is going to be approached forever and I see this, but I think the little girl jokes are the least important thing to talk about because they have as much impact as the Tanizaki siblings do. He’s also written to be not a good person either, so you can dislike him easily, but how many of these characters are traditionally good people? Kouyou, for example, is not a “good person” and emotionally abusive in example to how she treated Kyouka. That doesn’t stop people from liking her friendship with Chuuya and making content with her.

So this attitude toward Mori had me lost when it came to him because I could see how much thought Asagiri puts into writing him the same way he does with so many, but I’ve seen so many disregard his humanity that I had no way to express any of my thoughts to sort out what to think about through anyone else when faced with Beast Mori. Everyone was as lost I was, and the people that weren’t never explained it in a way I could break that barrier.

So what finally made me wrap my head around Mori? It was exactly one conversation I had with a friend and it wasn’t even about Beast Mori in particular, it was just about Mori and his poor humanity while navigating how to lead. Everything just clicked with that.

(Dazai, Chuuya, age Fifteen)

This right here is where Mori tells us what he thinks his position means after the struggling we visibly see him go through. Is it an inherently correct conclusion to make? No, but does it make sense as someone who’s a leader of a huge, dangerous underground criminal organization? Yes, it does.

We have no backstory on Mori, but his poor humanity is easy to explain when he’s been in positions that require him to disregard his own and everyone else’s humanity for years now. As someone who’s seen war up close and a physician, these jobs require him to take control of the other person. Well in his mind at least, he sees these jobs and chooses to the route that’s most efficient.

It’s never positioned to be for himself though, he doesn’t take glee in what he does for self serving purposes, it’s always for the country, the city, the organization. His thought process is never the power hungry yearning we see everyone mistake it for. It’s never that he wants it, it’s that he needs it for everything to go well.

That’s exactly how he treats Yosano because even though it’s creepy to base your abilities looks on a little girl, that doesn’t stop him from seeing her use before her age and humanity.

His clinical utilitarianism is his core trait but also most disliked one from what I can tell in the fandom, and people tend to misinterpret it to make the more non-favorable view of him. But again, he’s not supposed to be the greatest guy ever and you can understand where these traits started forming. And again, to paraphrase another’s words: he’s cunning, but not power hungry.

He’s also not disliked by his subordinates and actually respected, he respectively enjoys the company, but there’s a mixed answer to that and that it is… nobody is going to listen to you if you don’t treat them with decency. Why would you expect a tool to work if you break them? One of his earliest lessons he learned with Yosano and leadership.

(Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen)

For example, we all know this scene is manipulation. He’s baiting Chuuya with information while still treating the teenager with respect and enough honesty to form a bond. Chuuya is perfectly aware that he’s being used in the present and in the past, but he respects Mori as a leader objectively after his own considered failure and lack of control over the sheep, even if he didn’t consider himself one. I don’t think this honesty comes from nowhere because that quote, “only a Diamond can polish a Diamond”, came from Natsume in reference to himself and Fukuzawa.

He sees himself and Fukuzawa in Soukoku fondly, but I tend to rethink this quote time to time because at first it comes off as a quote about partnership and building off of each other’s good qualities to perfect their own, but the way Mori uses it here feels as though it’s positioned to mean that one of them comes out perfected and the other weared down. Pretty competitive if you think about it.

(Bungou Stray Dogs BEAST)

We’re finally at the part you’ve been waiting for guys! So what was my point for analyzing canonverse Mori? So as I said before, these are the exact same guy and all that word jumble? That was an extended version of what was communicated with me to finally get what was going on with Mori in this universe and why he’s suddenly in an orphanage.

Now I couldn’t tell what was going through Beast Dazai’s mind and where this decision came from instead of actually killing him like the rumor’s implied, but I can come close. I think that Beast Dazai recognized this potential of change either from the multitude of universes he was able to witness or recognized it in his own considering canonverse Dazai never does anything against Mori (even if he visibly dislikes him).

Possibility is one thing, the why is another. It was either that he saw potential and good that could come out of this in the long run, Mori’s intelligence and expertise still proves usefulness, less dangerous for Oda in the long run if he let Mori stay there instead of the Mafia, or all three.

I can say for sure though that this is better for Mori because after the years of being in atmospheres that require so much of him intelligently and exempt of any emotion involved for the sake of efficiency, being able to rekindle his humanity where nothing is expected of him except to raise kids in a non-exploitative context sounds really freeing to me. Considering he’s been there for 4 years, I find the development understandable.

Okay I’m hearing what you guys are saying again, “What about him saying he wanted to save Dazai? That doesn’t seem like typical Mori.” And I’m gonna say something really controversial: Well maybe he did.

Really though, I think he did care about Dazai and not because he saw a child struggling (think about Yosano and Q for 3 seconds), but because he saw himself in Dazai, which ultimately changed way more about their relationship than you guys think. There’s a lot of comparisons to Yosano and I understand where they come from because I think there’s a lot you can see similarities in, but Dazai is not purely a tool for Mori the way she was.

The avoidance of letting him die do come from his use and overall importance to the original plan of becoming the new boss, but I don’t think he would’ve left Dazai alone like that for 4 whole years after leaving the mafia if he didn’t care in some way way. What strikes me the most is how Asagiri decided to add “the man who raised Dazai”.

For Beast Mori, I think he’s had enough time to actually feel guilt and regret for Dazai as a person like a normal human being does. Oh I guess Elise is important too. Her aging up just meant that Mori has become less controlling and not like the little girl who he literally sees as a tool since kids are easier to manipulate. Can’t bring that energy to an orphanage, nope!

There’s better stuff out there about Mori that I think if you’re more open to thinking about Mori after this, you should check it out, these are just my thoughts recently. To end this off, here are two links to Asagiri’s own thoughts on Mori.

#bsd #bsd analysis #(?) kind of #bsd meta #bungou stray dogs #mori ougai #bsd beast #bungou stray dogs beast #dazai osamu #bsd dazai chūya age fifteen #I’m not gonna pretend for two seconds that this guy is some misunderstood hero #but he’s less as bad as fanon portrays him #and don’t take my words as him saying he ALWAYS has everyone’s best interest #he just says he does #shit guys wait I just realized this is my first contribution??? to this fandom??? oh well

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leonawriter · 3 years

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Y'know, I thought of a thing when I read the manga version of Akutagawa in BEAST handling Odasaku's kids, and the one who had got hold of a gun.

Unpopular opinion, but I don't think Dazai's abuse changed the core tenets of Who Akutagawa Is, and perhaps even more "strangely" for the fandom, I think that despite having suffered much in canon, I think he's happier there, in general. For the same reasons why I can't see Chuuya in the ADA (desperate circumstances notwithstanding).

Akutagawa in BEAST still defaults to violence first. He still tries to kill the people who try to help him before agreeing to work with them. His method for getting the kid to give up the gun was to show how useless it is... by aiming it toward his own head, with Rashomon devouring the bullets before they could kill him. Like, yeah, he succeeded. But he probably traumatised the poor kid with his methods!

I tend to have a habit of wanting to re-write BEAST so that Dazai doesn't die and his relationship with Chuuya is less strained and - let's face it - abusive due to the power imbalances (I ship them so much, but because I do That Scene just hurts) but... with regards to Atsushi and Akutagawa, people assume that Atsushi is suffering and because Akutagawa has found his way into the ADA, he must be finding the same sense of found family that Atsushi does in canon.

I'm not so sure.

For one thing, Dazai's absence is palpable. You see it in the way Kunikida's ideals are left unchecked, but also in the general tone of the office. Canon Dazai brings a certain amount of levity and a relaxed atmosphere to the office by means of his antics. Without that, and with Dazai as Boss of the Mafia, the overall tone us more sombre and sharp. The sense of family is still there, but Odasaku taking Dazai's place here - I will be honest, I love the guy, but he strikes me as an emotionally distant autistic man who isn't sure how to bond with others all that well. Despite adopting Akutagawa, I don't get that sense that he's a close family figure in the say Dazai is to Atsushi. He cares, but I feel that something between him joining the mafia and then leaving and joining the ADA made him actually have less... he's colder, somehow.

Akutagawa in canon has the mafia, he's had Chuuya, Hirotsu, and his sister ever since he joined. Neither he nor Gin wanted for anything after that point, other than to show their worth to the organisation that took them in. They fit, and they don't seem to have any issues with the nature of the work - either of them. Whereas in BEAST, Akutagawa was abandoned in the forest that day, arguably in some ways worse than Dazai taking him in and then abusing him via his training. He was forced to survive on his own, and was never taught either control or kindness. Under his OWN tutelage, his first instinct is to kill first. The lessons Dazai taught him via brutal means in canon (and likely he had his sister even if not the mafia medics to patch him up after, unlike here) were instead taught in other ways, with his life in danger for reasons other than a mentor who had no idea how to refine someone whose destructive mentality reminded him so much of himself.

As well, as touched on, there's Gin, who is put into a supposed position of power but is actually being used, and there's no positive connection between the two of them.

And to be honest, I feel that Akutagawa in canon making and keeping that promise helps him UNDERSTAND why the lives of others are important, while I feel that in BEAST he operates on "just do as I'm told even if it doesn't make sense" until he'll eventually become the mask, so to speak.

BEAST is a story that is "better" in literally only one way - Odasaku lives. But in every other way, even for the characters who get to be on the "good" side who were hurt in canon, they're still suffering way more than they should. That's the thing. BEAST is a story where no one gets to be *happy*.

And for those who say Akutagawa in BEAST can see Dazai as he really is - um, no. In BEAST, Dazai has cut himself off so thoroughly that there isn't a single person who can understand him. He's isolated, alone, in a position of power that he likely hates (given how he shit is his duties in canon), and has no support network. In canon his suicide thing is less purely "I want to die" and more "I want to find a reason to live" and he finds that in Odasaku's last words, in saving people. In BEAST he no longer has any "reasons to live" so he gives up. But no one in-universe can see that, and if they know then they can't see past who he's become to care enough to save him. So all Atsushi and Akutagawa and the others are seeing is the terrifying outer shell that Dazai shows the world. It's what he's capable of, sure, but he's also capable of what we see in canon, and of being seen as a human being instead of as a force of nature.

Tl;dr: Akutagawa isn't "better off" in BEAST by means of being in the ADA, and learned his lessons in ways just as harsh as Dazai's teaching methods, and is (or will be) happier in the long term for having been in the Port Mafia, current status notwithstanding.

#bsd #bsd stuff #bsd beast au #if this is rambly I'm on my phone and still waking up

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bi-dazai · 5 years

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BSD Episode 27 Analysis

Hello! Natalya back with my second instalment of my episodical analyses of BSD. This week I’ll be looking at episode 27 from the lens of a more platonic soukoku than last week, which was about explicit romance coding in terms of double-entendre and visual imagery. You can find that post here. I would suggest reading it, because I may indulge myself in romantic soukoku in this post a bit, although it will only be a side-track.

A note before we begin, however – I’m writing this in a much more casual academic tone, and I’m not using lowercase and internet casual as I did in my previous post. This is because it helps me enunciate my points in a way that doesn’t make me look like a crazy person. I also made quite a few grammatical errors, typos, and strange sentences. This tends to happen when I write long-form internet casual. For the sake of clarity, you’ll have to put up with the tone I usually place in a more casual academic setting such as my university tutorials.

So as usual I’ll pick out a few moments to focus in on to explain an overall general subtext and underlying message etc in the episode. For this episode, I’ve picked the opening in which Chuuya kicks the gun out of Dazai’s hand, and the scene in which our two other Sheep members are introduced.

This episode I’m going to focus on the way the episode expresses the burgeoning, newborn perceptions of Dazai on Chuuya and vice versa. I’m also going to be referring to moments that count as SPOILERS, so if you care about that then careful going forth, or perhaps wait until the Fifteen adaptation is finished before coming back to this post and reading it.

Also, for this episode I’ll be diving into my writing major and only partially into my film studies minor. I’ll have you know I pull out my textbooks and lecture notes every time I make an analytical post like this, haha!

So let us begin with the opening moments of the episode. This episode, structurally, is where we finally start diving past the surface of the introduction and right into the story of Dazai and Chuuya. This is the proper introduction of their relationship. So this first fight sequence serves to demonstrate the tone with which we will begin.

So here we have some classic establishing character writing. Step 1: Introduce the base characteristics of your characters. Step 2: Introduce a problem. Step 3: Explore how they interact with the problem.

So here we witness not just Chuuya and Dazai’s unique takes on how to deal with this problem, we also have their own perceptions of each other’s actions to explore. Remember – this story is about the two of them as a pair, not just as individuals.

So here we have our problem – an armed soldier has just appeared and is clearly threatening violence. Chuuya reacts by taunting – “Oi, old man. Let’s save us both some time.” Dazai is surprised by Chuuya’s brazenness (see the expression animated in the first SC). Chuuya taunts the opponent a little more, edging and encouraging danger, clearly seeking a fight. Dazai approaches. Walking calmly past, he says to Chuuya without regard for the armed soldier, “…you could just trick him to get some information out of him.” Here we have the set-up of Dazai and Chuuya in a problem. Chuuya sees a problem as a threat and escalates to a physical altercation; Dazai sees a problem as an opportunity and prefers mental cunning.

As the scene continues on however, we begin to recognise a similarity in Dazai and Chuuya, and that is that they have little regard for the problem. They understand how powerful they are and their upper hands (Chuuya his ability and Dazai his intellect). Even when they talk to a grown adult man wielding a gun, they talk down to him. When he holds a barrel to their heads within deadly range, they aren’t fazed:

And, of course, in this exchange here both Dazai and Chuuya both are shown to be knowledgeable of underground groups, networks, and goingsons. Keep in mind Chuuya is the ‘King of the Sheep’ and acts pretty much as their leader and later becomes Executive before Dazai does. And Dazai is Mori’s protégé, frequently set up to be the next Boss of the mafia to the point that Mori is fearful that Dazai would have taken his seat sometime soon if he hadn’t broken him (further) with the death of Odasaku. Chuuya and Dazai, despite their differences, are the most dangerous people in the underground right now, they’re clever and powerful. Chuuya may be the ‘brawns’ in their physical fights, but off the battlefield anyone interacting with them is subjected to two intensely intellectual and cunning people who are deadest on a goal. This is also shown at the end of the episode with their conversation with Randou, somewhat in Episode 21 when Chuuya isn’t beating the shit out of the Guild.

In short – they are different, yet incredibly similar. They have different views on a situation, but given the same goal they will work towards it in differing ways with equal success. They are the perfect rivals, and the perfect counterbalances to each other’s personalities and ethos’s. In My Hero Academia, Bakugou’s desire for victory and Midoriya’s pure heart and established as traits which each one must learn from the other to become both better heroes and better people. In Bungou Stray Dogs, Chuuya and Dazai work with and against each other and transform each other into better people.

And so, that is where this moment comes in:

(Sidenote: Chuuya’s line here translates roughly as “It’s useless to shoot dead bodies.” Don’t ask how, but I know that because of Jojo’s.)

(ignore this repeat sc, tumblr editor is being fucky)

(Second sidenote: Look. Look how close they’re depicted in this shot.)

(Third sidenote: sorry for quality drop – Australian internet is special.)

So here we have our first instance of one half of Soukoku directly challenging and changing an aspect of the other half. Here, Chuuya notices how clearly sick Dazai is. Furthermore, if we refer to our second SC (where Dazai’s expression makes me want to cry), we can see parallels to a certain future (ongoing) mental health arc:

I bring this up because we later find out that the reason Akutagawa is so violently driven is that he was constantly demeaned and psychologically abused by his mentor – Dazai. Akutagawa becomes not an antagonist but another protagonist upon meeting Atsushi [insert shin soukoku summary here] and bettering himself. He makes a pact not to kill anyone and begins working together with Atsushi (he used to be a lone wolf – a stray dog). Atsushi also learns to be confident and put a foot down from Akutagawa. But the point here that we need to focus on, of course, is that Akutagawa is seen as utterly deranged, violent, and demonic in the first season, but later we realise that he is in fact capable of empathy but was extremely battered by his own mental abuse.

We also see this expression on Fitzgerald as he begins to lose control. It’s another tie-back to Akutagawa (and in a small part Atsushi, but I’ll leave that for later when I analyse that episode). And we see it in Shibusawa in Dead Apple. We see this expression and through the stylistic language of Bungou Stray Dogs we come to understand it as not the depiction of someone to be reviled but the depiction of someone who is struggling inside.

So here, when we see Dazai make that expression, we know that Dazai may be a seemingly totally apathetic, suicidal, amoral mafioso who just went utterly crazy while shooting a dead guy in the head, but we know it is because, currently, Dazai is extremely, extremely depressed.

In thinking of Akutagawa and understanding what we know of Dazai’s past with Mori, it is safe to assume that Mori has not once opposed nor done anything to help Dazai with his mental illness. Mori has, in fact, utilised Dazai’s mental illness as a tool and a strategy to keep Dazai close.

And then the light finally comes in, and Chuuya kicks the gun out of Dazai’s hands, Dazai gets scolded, and finally someone is forcing Dazai to question himself.

So let’s move onto the vice versa of this scene. I’d like to give partial credit for this next piece of analysis to user @bluelancelion who wrote up an excellent little piece on this scene [https://bluelancelion.tumblr.com/post/184330424612/okay-so-we-all-know-that-dazai-is-manipulating-the]. [this is where the spoilers start to come into play!] Please go read that before you move on with my post here, because I’m going to expand on some points, however I don’t want to summarise something that’s already perfectly written anyway so I’m leaving that one to some assigned reading!

Ok.

So as OP stated, this is the first scene in which Dazai doesn’t put up a play act to hide his own feelings. Let’s actually go backwards when analysing this scene:

DAZAI: “Lay off him already. He has the ability to choose for himself how to use his power. Even a kid could figure out that much.”

I’ve attached this because that’s a stark contrast to this:

Both in expression and in dialogue, Dazai is already different. And here we have Dazai for probably the first time in his life using his intellect to set up a ploy for someone else’s benefit and not just his own.

[ROMANTIC SOUKOKU SIDETRACK: Dazai has been shown to canonically be a selfish person, especially in his Port Mafia days. Expanding on my theory expressed in my episode 26 post in which I posited Dazai has feelings for Chuuya that he either understands or doesn’t just yet, this could be both out of his feelings for Chuuya urging him to do something to make Chuuya happy (We can also add to this by mentioning how he just lets the Sheep hostages go. Chuuya is only meant to be working with the Port Mafia temporarily – Mori may have his plans but these are a long time coming at this point. Chuuya is still attached to Sheep and releasing hostages gives him much more of an excuse to ditch the mafia totally), and/or his feelings urging him to do something to keep Chuuya to himself. This is especially interesting considering this little interchange (she’s looking at Dazai):

Yeah that’s either 1) double-entendre or just 2) straight up explicit romantic competition. It’s after this that Dazai stops going along playfully with them and starts straight up demeaning them and saying Chuuya can do what he wants without their input.

I’ll end my RSS (Romantic Soukoku Sidetrack) with a sneak into Chuuya’s side:

Make of that what you will.]

*another kinda pointless sidenote: chuuya’s sheep male friend refers to chuuya as ‘omae’ [derogatory when used towards a person who isn’t your subordinate (i.e. teacher to a student; boss to an assistant etc) which is pretty damn brazen considering Chuuya can snap him in two at a moment’s notice and that Chuuya is probably the only reason their gang is still even alive.

Okay, Romantic Sidetrack done! Now back to our analysis. We’re moving on to our final scene of the episode. Before we get into the soukoku analysis, I just wanted to point out this little frame here:

For those who don’t know, the founder of the ADA is this cat. He wasn’t always a cat (I think?), but in Bungou Stray Dogs as we know it, he’s a cat. The cat has been seen frequently in scenes involving flashbacks to Dazai’s time in the mafia and often when Fukuzawa is trying (so hard) to feed cats. It’s also worth mentioning there’s a tradition of cats in Japanese literature, often about observing the world and realising things about yourself by observing it. If you want an anime example, go watch My Roommate Is A Cat. It functions in pretty much the same way. Anyway, here’s a fun aside in which Fukuzawa realises the cat is the ADA leader, “Come!”, and the ADA leader promptly rolls around the floor chasing feathers while going “nyan nyan nyan”: [picture not my own]

Okay where was I before I got sidetracked by a cat? Right. Soukoku.

We get a bit of Dazai gloating about getting rid of his romantic competition Sheep’s constant hold on Chuuya, before Randou asks Dazai to please shut the fuck up about the guy he literally met that week and please just send me to the execution room I don’t think I can take any more of this kid going on about Chuuya. (Understandable, have a nice day |　わかりました。良い一日を過ごしてください。)　

So we get a bit of Dazai’s explanation on why Randou is the culprit before we hear that all-too-familiar screech of Chuuya coming in hot. Let’s pause it there.

We’ve never, ever heard Chuuya yell like that without Corruption. Yet he does it now. This 1) ties Corruption in with our current mystery about Arahabaki (spoiler: Corruption is Chuuya allowing Arahabaki full reign over the god’s vessel (Chuuya)) and 2) makes us aware that the Chuuya we’re familiar with from our current knowledge of the anime (I use the anime because that’s what I’m analysing) is a little different from fifteen-year-old Chuuya. Okay, so keep that in mind, and we’ll keep going, fast forward a bit until this final bit after the credits:

[this shot: Chuuya has journeyed towards Randou. There is something tying Chuuya and Randou together that Dazai is not quite part of. Spoiler: Randou as we know is Rimbaud, who is a key factor in Chuuya’s development (hat) and the Arahabaki investigation.]

[this shot: First, we think back to Dazai, Akutagawa, Fitzgerald, Shibusawa. Those expressions are similar, but there’s something really wrong here. Let me tell you want it is. Mainly, visually the pupils of Chuuya’s eyes are inverted. But secondarily, we’ve already been visually warned just over ten minutes ago, first by this scene in which we cut to Chuuya while we talk of Arahabaki’s eyes (it does cut also to Dazai, but his expression is one of “I’m figuring out a mystery” and his eyes are obscured. This shot of Chuuya lingers on Chuuya’s eyes, pulling focus to them and the expression on his face.)

Secondly, Chuuya’s eyes are the colour of the sea that Randou talks about. And, of course, in this shot we see not only the sea but also the light of Chuuya’s ability plainly:

So there we have a burgeoning relationship between Chuuya and Randou, and a hint that we are going to be discussing Chuuya’s relationship with Arahabaki and with himself as its vessel.

And then we have this – Dazai did not know any of this. This is foreign to us – the Dazai we know has predicted almost everything. He even predicted Odasaku’s death. But here, he’s totally out of his depth. He’s dealing with gods now. He expected the main part of their investigation to end a few minutes ago when Chuuya explained how Randou staged the resurrection of the previous Boss. But now we, with Dazai, are being thrown headfirst into something clearly very much a Chuuya thing. And now we will see whether Dazai sticks or leaves with a plot involving an actual fucking god of destruction (we know what happens. He does).

And so, to finalise: This episode set up relationships. It set us up to the fact that this story is going to be about relationships, and more specifically about these ones:

- Dazai and Chuuya

- Dazai and Sheep

- Chuuya and Sheep

- Chuuya and Randou

It directs the audience to consider events, framing, characters etc within the contexts of these relationships in order to appreciate the story properly.

And yeah it also sets up that Dazai is a bit of a jealous bitchy bisexual.

#bsd #double black #soukoku #skk #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs

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atsooshis · 7 years

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the bsdxace attorney and ace attorneyxbsd au no one needs but is here

bear with me i love both, this is super long and i’m clawing at grasps with the AAxBSD part but i tried

BSD x AA: still takes place in yokohama

the ADA is all one big law office and for some reason most of the cases they end up catering to are murder cases

fukuzawa is the big boss lawyer and values justice

kunikida is his apprentice, he learned most of his techniques from fuku. kinda stands as the boss whenever fuku isn’t around

dazai is kunikida’s co-council, but in the past he was a prosecutor who had pretty crooked ways- he was a mole prosecutor working under the port mafia before. he gave up his job after defeat at the hands of fuku and kuni who worked side by side on a case against him, where he was trying to indict a falsely accused defendant for the death of odasaku. he’s trying to become a defense lawyer under fuku’s discipline.

tanizaki and naomi are assitants of sorts in the office, they’re not interested in becoming lawyers or anything, they just really like the idea of bringing justice for people who deserve it

yosano’s an injury lawyer but for some reason she landed a job in the nutcase agency and has to take up murder cases, which she doesn’t mind. her additional medical knowledge helps her understand autopsy reports more.

kenji often drops by the office after fuku helped him with a property dispute in his hometown, often brings fresh produce and food for the lawyers. now knows legal lingo for his own good despite no actual interest in law as well

ranpo’s a private investigator of sorts, he’s not entirely hired by the agency, but he has his own desk in the agency because he helps them a lot, in return for fuku defending his ass in the past. he’s with the police department but tends to work on his own, as he figures out mostly everything out in a minute. makes the correct arrests. he helps the lawyers investigate cases they get even though he isn’t involved, but doesn’t really talk about the actual answers though, because he believes they should be doing their job instead of him handing them the answers.

atsushi’s a fresh law school graduate and can barely argue without crying, but fukuzawa is his inspiration as a lawyer after the man defended him against false charges after the murder of the orphanage headmaster. will fight for what is right and generally the phoenix wright of all of this, except internal tears are 100% present. he’s a good lawyer at heart and he does handle his job well but trembles after trials. believes in his clients.

kyouka’s a spirit medium from the kurain village despite taking on a different surname rather than ayasato (jp’s version of ‘fey’). atsushi had to defend her after she was accused for assassination, where she was framed by the port mafia. has grown close to him in the process and acts as a co-council of sorts for the new lawyer.

the port mafia is still there and they have moles in the prosecutor’s office and the police department

namely akutagawa, a prosecutor who has never lost a single case until atsushi comes along. while he takes on numerous cases, he’s respected enough to be able to pull strings to prosecute port mafia cases in order to indict wrong suspects involved in port mafia businesses

higuchi is in the police department as a detective, whom akutagawa constantly has to work with, much like edgeworth and gumshoe

chuuya’s also a prosecutor, while being a mafia executive

basically everything else with the mafia is the same just aku and chuuya’s in the prosecutor’s office

black lizard squad..... but in the police department. hirotsu’s a high ranking officer, tachihara and gin are officers that closely work with him

the guild is a smuggling ring honestly imagine that fucking smuggling ring in AAI god i hated that

AA x BSD: still takes place in japanifornia

anything detective agency, a specialized detective agency whose members have supernatural abilities

phoenix wright - Rise from The Ashes, heals him upon taking fatal injuries. gets hit by a car? no fucking problem. runs on a burning bridge and falls down more than 10 feet into cold rushing water? no problemo. kinda like yosano’s ability, but people and him just have to be fatally injured. additionally still has a magatama maya gives him

mia fey, maya fey, pearl fey - all three share the same channeling ability due to their fey blood. feys still have the fame from spirit channeling, it’s just not much big of a deal as it was in the AA universe. additionally, mia can manipulate her scarf. think rashomon, but not as harmful- more of a shield and an extra hand.

miles edgeworth - Logic Chess, allows him to realize what the person he’s talking to will say next depending on what he will say. also lets him deduct possibilities in a case which helps the agency in their cases. kinda like oda’s ability, but more on verbal probabilities, rather than probabilities in the future, plus ranpo’s super deduction, just super limited.

gumshoe.... is their actual detective, a private detective for them. not actually gifted, but aids edgeworth on his cases. he used to be a detective under the police department until edgeworth invites him into the agency after finding out that his failures in his job has cut his salary a lot. he’s bad at being detective, but edgeworth brought out his best after he stayed with the agency.

ema skye - a forensics expert, helps within the agency. sometimes tags along with edgeworth and gumshoe whenever she’s needed for her expertise. can see bloodstains without the use of luminol, but she has to wear her funky glasses. can also tell whose blood it is as long as she sees other comparative blood samples.

franziska von karma - a prosecutor that works with the skilled ministry. unnamed ability grants her super strength as long as she’s annoyed/angry, which is often.

godot - Fragrance of Dark Coffee lets him dispense drinks out of fucking hammerspace. any drink, really. but mostly dispenses coffees of his own blends. throws dark coffee at enemies honestly and it throws them off guard but man can he fucking fight

apollo justice - Chords of Steel, his voice enables him to unleash destructive sonic waves but he has it under control. still loud as hell but minus destruction unless he means to. additional perception ability from the gramaryes.

trucy wright - adoptive daughter of phoenix after her dad, a suspect in one of the agency’s cases, disappears. a magician still. Magic Panties lets her pull out anything and lets her put anything in it. even people. she can manipulate the space fabric containers honestly, but prefers to use the panties for her shows. despite her magic panties being her main ability, she still has the heart of a magician and devises all tricks as much as she can.

klavier gavin - Guilty Love lets him use any sound he causes to unleash destructive sound waves as well. same as apollo honestly, but more control. can make a needle drop more destructive than it should be. still a famous rock star.

thalassa - has the same perception ability apollo has. Siren’s Serenade allows her to enthrall people with her singing, making them focus only on her. not part of the agency but often visits for trucy and apollo.

athena cykes - resident psychologist of the agency. Mood Matrix allows her to hear the voice and turmoils of your heart. honestly the same thing in the AAverse, and can choose to switch her ability on and off with widget’s help. also, for some unknown reason, the agency’s best hacker.

simon blackquill - another psychologist in the agency but works with edgeworth sometimes to manipulate possible suspects into fessing up. no ability, but can cut your throat

clay terran - apollo’s best friend and assistant of sorts. not an ability user, but this guy has learned how to map the stars and impresses everyone in the agency with it. he’s actually very helpful to them and everyone appreciates him despite being not an ability user. sometimes spends time with ema and gumshoe.

juniper woods- is not part of the agency but a student in Themis Legal. has an unnamed ability that allows her to grow flora or reverse the growth of plants. generally plant-based ability, but it tires her out pretty quickly. visits the agency and gives them all treats from her garden in the mountains after they help her avoid being falsely arrested.

the Phantom - Phantomime... generally enhanced imitation ability. the same thing in AAverse honestly

nahyuta sadhmadhi - no ability but honestly has the power of the Holy Mother™. the whole defiant dragons and khura’in’s shitty history doesn’t happen so he isn’t a prosecutor or anything, but he does fly to the US to visit apollo to see how he’s doing in that weird agency he got himself into

rayfa khura’in - enhanced insights anywhere as long as there’s water she can dance around on honestly. her insights aren’t as dull as they were in the AAverse, and while she can let images appear in the water, she experiences the victim’s last moment herself within her mind, and this lets her make correct judgements whether a defendant is guilty or not.

idk what else i was gonna write more about the port mafia counterpart in this but this is so long already honestly and i have no idea what to do with that

#luna mumbles #bsd #bungou stray dogs #ace attorney #aa #gyakuten saiban

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drink-n-watch · 5 years

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This week plunged us right back, head first, into the story of an old god of destruction, the ghost of an evil man and fifteen year old Chuuya and Dazai chasing after them. Almost immediately, I prefered this episode to the last. And that’s saying something because I quite liked the last one.

Do you guys like my gif. I’ve been making them lately. Also – all the spoilers, if you haven’t seen the episode, it’ll be like you did after reading this!

oh why thank you…ok, so this review is going to be positive..I mean, you can’t buy me!

We open on a dizzyingly well animated action scene as Chuuya and Dazai have to deal with the armed welcome committee they encountered at the mansion. Of course I always knew that Chuuya has an extremely powerful gift, but I had never quite gotten my mind around all the potential applications. Seeing him fight multiple enemies with childish glee was impressive and mesmerizing. It gave me a new appreciation for just how cool gravity manipulation is.

And a few minutes later, I got a whole new appreciation for just how terrifying Dazai is. There’s always been something uncomfortable about Dazai’s character. Bungou Stray Dogs tends to be bloodless and lighthearted in general so his personality has always been skimmed over or used for laughs but Dazai is not o.k…. Not at all. He pushes way past anti-hero into actual villain territory pretty often. I guess what Mori said last episode was true. Those two really are alike.

and we had started off so well…

About 5 minutes in and I was fully captivated. The visuals were stunning, the character developments riveting and the atmosphere somehow managed to be disturbing, ominous and yet cheerful all at once. Superimposing ll that violence over such a beautiful lush garden on a sunny afternoon. Good move.

I don’t remember exactly when it cut in, but we also got an OP for the first time this week. It was decent. I quite liked the song. The visuals were mostly stylized still images. No special but good.

Turns out the ability user they were visiting, and those armed guys were trying to take out, was none other than Rando. I had to look it up last week to find out it’s actually Arthur Rimbaud (french poet – good one – died quite young). There was something both sneering and incredibly fitting at watching the eternally cold Rimbaud dispassionately throwing books into his fire lace to keep warm. As a big fan of the poet, that scene resonated with me. I like to think that he would have enjoyed it.

is the state of the mansion a reference to how Rimbaud died in poverty? ohhh I made myself sad.

Basically this s what we know so far. 8 years ago, a god like creature named Arahabaki almost destroyed an entire city with an explosion of *black flame* then disappeared. In the past weeks, there have been sightings of those black flames again with the Port Mafia’s old boss at the center. Rimbaud was a witness at one of the last sightings.

Dazai is pretty sure the whole thing is an elaborate hoax. A simple chemical reaction can make ordinary flames look black and there are many ways to make people think they saw someone who isn’t there. Especially in stressful conditions. But who would be putting on this hoax.

As for the armed guys. They’re just a rival faction. Rimbaud’s new loyalty to Mori is helping calm down and unify the Port Mafia. If he were to suddenly be dispatched (especially in a see of black flames) that could spark mutiny in the ranks and greatly weaken the organisation. I dunno why I bothered writing about these guys. Chuuya already took care of them.

wait, you’re getting ahead here

Dazai isn’t the least bit thrown off when Rimbaud tells him what what he saw was definitely not a hoax, but it wasn’t the od boss either. He describes his encounter with Arahabaki and is visibly still shaken by it.

At this point I was intrigued. BSD is very loose with it’s rules. There definitely could be a great old god out there. Heck, there could even be a vengeful mafia boss ghost. This should really not be playing in the show’s favour. Universes where everything’s possible tend to get boring, and flashbacks with characters we know have no long term stakes. Yet, I’m eating this up so far. It’s well paced and interesting. They manage to make this bonker story just convincingly enough for me to want to find out what happens next.

Well what does happen next is some comedy relief banter between Chuuya and Dazai. Chuuya has a running gag that he’s only 15 and is going to get taller. it’s cute. They also make some silly bet at an arced, because they’re kids. Whoever figures out who’s behind it all first, get to boss the other one round. It’s always hard to tell with Dazai, but I think he might actually like Chuuya.

oh Chuuya…so easy…

Some bad timing means that Chuuya has an unfortunate encounter with some Sheep members and gets himself thrown out for collaborating with the Port Mafia. One thing I noticed throughout the episode, is that everybody seems to know Chuuya. No one knows Dazai. I wonder why he’s so popular!

Usually when shows have genius characters that can figure/plan everything out, there’s a fair bit of contrivances and intuitive leaps going on. It’s very difficult to consistently write these archetypes in a satisfying way. Dazai is no exception. But this time it worked. Because it was very simple. That’s the key to making your mysteries impactful. keep them straightforward.

and to the point

Dazai is throwing Chuuya a party to celebrate his new freedom with Rimbaud as the only guest. Let’s face it, neither of these guys have many friends. While waiting for the guest of honor Dazai an Rimbaud chat a bit and the conversation falls n the bet. At this point Dazai reveals he’s won and he knows the culprit.

In traditional sitcom style, Dazai calmy points at Rimbaud as the traitor both men just pleasantly chat while Dazai explains. This is where I was expecting a flood of coincidences and hard to follow mental contortionist but no. Simple answers are the best answers. Rimbaud’s description of the events of the previous week insisted on him seeing the sea. Yet he would have been in the middle of the crater. The sea is clearly not visible from there. The scene he described, could only have taken place before the xplosion 8 years ago.

And speaking of explosions, Chuuya sure knows how to make an entrance.

congratulations, you’re guilty!

Seems Chuuya also figured out it was Rimbaud behind it all but how? He simply says that all the other witnesses described seeing the boss’ face while Rimbaud described the actual Arahabaki and is simply not possible….

The episode ends on a shocking reveal. The fact that there was something that Dazai had not anticipated! I know, jaw dropped!

right!!!

But you must be asking yourselves. What exactly aren’t you ready for Irina??? Well basically this felt like an ending. That season 2 opening arc I keep droning on about was adapted from a light novel rather than the manga proper. It was a side story meant to give Dazai a bit of background. Thi explains the shift in tone and pacing. It was riveting. A bit of research has revealed that the present episodes are also adapted from a light novel. It’s entirely possible that the last second reveal marked the end of this particular journey and that next episode will bring us back to the present.

And I’m not ready. Sure I would love to see the rest of the gang again but I still have so many questions. I can guess Rimbaud’s motivations. He was not quite as loyal to Mori as he seemed and considering Mori staged a coup, he’s made plenty of enemies. There’s no need to go into that much deeper but, what about Chuuya. His character is up in the air right now. Not to mention Dazai who is rather worryingly unhinged at this point. Why did Mori bring them together in the first place.

And beyond the questions, I’m still enjoying this more mature and severe story. It has consequences and a lot of questionable morality. I enjoy shades of grey. I’m not ready to say goodbye to the comedy duo of angsty teenage Dazai and Chuuya. I hope to see them again next week. Fingers crossed!

agreed

in the meantime, you can see them in the dozens of screencaps I took!

Bungo Stray Dogs 3 -2 : I’m Not Ready This week plunged us right back, head first, into the story of an old god of destruction, the ghost of an evil man and fifteen year old Chuuya and Dazai chasing after them.

#action #anime #blonde bishie #Bungo Stray Dogs #episodic #supernatural

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