#bsd entrance exam

[sorcerersandskillusers]

I want to talk about one of the most terrifying and interesting bsd characters who almost no fan remembers.

This character nearly tore down the ADA without ever getting involved herself, yet the entire fandom has ignored her because of her terrible anime adaptation.

Who am I talking about?

Nobuko Sasaki

If you haven't read Dazai Osamu's Entrance Exam, then you probably don't even know who this character is, in the anime she is watered down to the lovesick girlfriend of an actual villain, and you probably dismissed her immediately. But in the light novel, we get to see how dangerous and cunning she really is, to the point she nearly gets the better of Dazai and almost causes the ADA to be shut down. (Fukuzawa says he would have closed the agency if they hadn't caught her)

In terms of intelligence I'd put her on the same level as Mori, just slightly below the super human genius characters i.e. Dazai, Fyodor and Ranpo

The Azure Apostle

For those who don't remember, Sasaki was the Azure Apostle, a mysterious figure who challenged the agency with several horrifying cases, which would all lead to mass casualties if the agency failed to stop them. These were; uncovering an underground organ smuggling operation (which the agency failed to stop and which massively hurt their reputation) stopping a bombing of Yokohama port which could have killed hundreds of people, and preventing a commercial aeroplane from crashing into the city (this was not included in the anime)

Each of the people, who committed these crimes, had no Idea they were being manipulated and thought it was their own idea the whole time. There was no evidence that anyone else had been involved at all, and the agency had no way to connect her to any of the crimes. And she even makes the genius move of framing Dazai, the mysterious new member with suspicious knowledge of the underworld and a hidden past, as the true culprit.

In fact, she only made one mistake, challenging Dazai. If Dazai had been basically anyone else, they would have been cornered and arrested, but since Dazai's mind works on a level even master strategists can't imagine, he was able to turn the tables on her.

But even after Dazai sees through her plans, the ADA still has to act exactly the way she wants them too and stop the plane crash. Even when they know they're being manipulated, they still have to do exactly what she wanted.

Finally, after Dazai and Kunikida confront her and get her to admit to being behind all those crimes, even then they are powerless to stop her.

Even after being involved with so many massive crimes, Sasaki herself hadn't done anything illegal, so within the law the ADA is completely powerless to stop her.

They can't arrest her, and if they try then the agency will be put in even more danger as will many innocent lives. She has completely trapped the ADA, and even Dazai in a choice to follow the law and let her go or take justice into their own hands and prove they will stoop as low as she did.

In the end, there she has them in a perfect deadlock, let her continue her mission, or kill her themselves. Both are bad outcomes for the ADA.

In the end, Dazai has her killed by using a third party (Rokuzo) to shoot her, so the agency can't be blamed for her murder, though this ends her plans it deeply scars Kunikida and shakes his resolve in his ideals.

The trauma from this event still haunts Kunikida to this day, we see that when he is affected by Q's curse, Sasaki is who he sees.

So thats the Azure Apostle, a terrifying master mind who nearly brought down the Armed Detective Agency, but now lets look at the other side of this character.

Nobuko Sasaki Herself

We know several things about Sasaki as a character and her history from the light novel. That she was a brilliant criminal psychologist and was internationally recognised despite being so young

,that she was the ex-lover of the Azure King and the real mastermind behind his plans, and that she had very little motivation of her own.

That's not meant to be an insult to the character, she says herself that she never really had much direction in life, even with her incredible intelligence she never really had anything she wanted to achieve.

But the Azure King was the opposite, he had powerful drive and strong ideals, he wanted to punish criminals who couldn't be touched by the law and when he failed to change the law as a bureaucrat, she offered him an alternative.

A very important thing here is that neither of them were manipulating or forcing the other into this path, as far as we see they genuinely loved each other, each providing something the other couldn't, Sasaki her mind and the Azure King his drive.

When the Azure king died, Sasaki had no path of her own to follow, so she simply kept following his, even though she doesn't seem to have really cared about his cause.

All of this creates a very unique character, you can't say she was driven by revenge, because she wasn't really driven at all. It's more like she was running on momentum, she had chosen a path to follow and could not stop even though there was nothing pushing her down it any more.

She's a perfect antithesis of Kunikida and was the best possible villain a light novel about him could have had.

A man who brings his ideals into reality with his own hands against a woman who uses others to enforce ideals that were never hers to begin with.

Anyway, I made this because Sasaki is criminally underrated in this fandom, If you haven't read "Dazai Osamu's Entrance Exam" I highly recommend it, I've only put a tiny fraction of the amazing story here.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs dazai #dazai #dazai osamu #bsd analysis #doppo kunikida #bsd kunikida #kunikida doppo #bungou stray dogs kunikida #dazai osamu's entrance exam #bsd entrance exam #bsd light novel #dazai's entrance exam #bsd character analysis #bsd characters #Nobuko Sasaki #bsd sasaki

[originalaccountname]

sharing more fantastic inner monologue that did not make it to the adaptation

#i'm extending wungo wednesday to thungo thursday because couldn't watch the episode yesterday #bsdrewatch2023 #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd entrance exam #apparently i talk sometimes

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

Unstoppable Force vs Immovable Object dynamic (they are each somehow both at the same time)

#why am i posting so much today i have actual work to do #bsd #bsd kunikida #bsd akutagawa #bsd entrance exam #bsd beast #anyways they're funny to me

[solunstell]

Notes I've taken from the first three bsd novels... brainrot included

Entrance Exam:

Dazai is a terrible driver

Kunikida is scared of ghosts

Kunikida actually makes lots of references to Christianity. From the direct quote "Let there be light" when using a flashlight to "There is no difference between myself and them. Are we not all born on the same planet, only to ultimately return to the eternal heavens together in death? O divine creator, answer me." (I say Christianity because I know for a fact that the first quote is directly in the bible)

Karen Dazai

Dark Era:

Dazai is repeatedly noted as appearing younger than he is or compared to a child by Oda

This novel really helped me understand Dazai's relationship with suicide better. The way I read it, it seems like it's not about dying but almost dying to him, similiar to the dopamine rush of skydiving or mountain climbing. This lines up with the fact that he always makes dumb mistakes that fail the attempt, something that would be out of character if it were accidental mistakes.

I love Oda's narration. A bit dry and blunt. Very fitting for his story.

Untold Origins:

Naomi's suggestions for the entrance exam all being [redacted]. Also her characterization in this novel was great. Really helped me understand how the author intended her be written in a way that wasn't as transparent in the manga or anime.

Dazai says "methinks"

Kid Ranpo's voice is compared to a chicken

He also seems to have terribly hand-cut hair

Fukuzawa plays by the rules of the secretary's maze of papers, Ranpo does NOT

Oh my god Oda my boyyyyy

I noted that he is vengeful even in his assassin days

Also kinda funny how Oda's youngest appearance in the series and one of his oldest appearances in the series are both in scenes with Ranpo. I wonder if Ranpo knew...

The fact that Oda talks down about V killing for justice is very ironic.

Also, V being after a skill-less world is very similiar to the whole Fyodor Dostoyevsky thing

Natsume owed a debt to Ranpo's father

Throughout the novel, Fukuzawa notes how bad he would be at being a leader or in power. Ironic.

He also didn't know he was a skill user until after starting the agency haha. An interesting world building question is how many people have abilities that they just never know?

Ranpo autism moments:

Not eating the mochi

Getting confused over if he was using the word granted right ("You can’t take connections like this for granted… Wait. Taken for ‘granite’? ‘Granted’? Uh…”)

Immediately calling Fukuzawa's business card and saying “Please help me, Mr. Bodyguard, sir. I don’t have a job, and I’ve got no place to stay tonight. I’m going to die.”

Fukuzawa can hear him doing this over the phone and across the cafe

Actually the phone call is a bit desperate.. this entire meeting has been a bit desperate on Ranpo's part. It feels like he is trying to reach out to Fukuzawa and practically begging for help. The most interesting thing about the phone call is that it is the most honest Ranpo is about his emotions and motives in the entire meeting, and yet, he has his back to Fukuzawa the entire call. And when he gets what he wants - when he is accepted - he turns around with a big grin.

Psychoanalyzing Egawa and being confused as to why she gets mad

You have to be exact in what you ask with him or he WILL NOT know what you're really asking

My babyyy adults get mad when he speaks the truth cuz he's smart and blunt

"What's a skill user" sweetie it's the middle of a play

Ranpo NO TALKING in the middle of THE PLAY

RANPO NO

RANPO

RANPOOOOO

He's very physically expressive

He is often portrayed as more cool and collected by fanon, but this scene of the play, although it takes place when he is younger, really shows the depths of his emotions. He is confused. He is agitated. He is angry and scared. He doesn't know how to deal with his emotions and he doesn't know how to ask for help. And he has a breakdown at a really really dumb annoyance because it tips him over the edge. Probably one of my favorite scenes for his characterization.

And Fukuzawa doesn't invalidate his feelings.

His parents raised him so well. I would live an au where they didn't die and were able to bring him up the way they planned to. I think that would be fascinating to see how Ranpo would turn out.

Ranpo doesn't look down on others cuz his mother taught him not to.

Fukuzawa dad moments:

Says he'll feed this kid he doesn't know later if he keeps talking

Tempted to tell everyone in the restaurant that the kid just followed him there

“Hear that? Those are the wails of the mochi you left behind”

Tempted to say he's only thirty two when Ranpo calls him old

Ranpo basically adopted him as his dad

"Three times, Fukuzawa told Ranpo to quiet down as he whined for candy. Twice, Ranpo wore down Fukuzawa’s patience until he caved. Three times, Ranpo asked Fukuzawa why planes could fly. Four times, Fukuzawa convinced Ranpo to keep walking when he complained his legs were tired. Four times, Fukuzawa carried Ranpo on his back."

Keeps imagining ways to leave Ranpo

When Fukuzawa lashes out, Ranpo is legitimately stunned, even shaking for a while afterwards

Using a chi attack to make Ranpo think the glasses did something lmao

Fukuzawa chewing out Ranpo for the whole plan

#sol text #meta #bsd meta #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #tw suicide #tw religion #tw caps #bsd light novel #bsd untold origins #bsd dark era #bsd entrance exam #ranpo edogawa #yukichi fukuzawa #osamu dazai #souseki natsume #doppo kunikida #oda sakunosuke #fyodor dostoyevsky #long post #naomi tanizaki #bsd spoilers

[alchemicon]

one of my favourite running themes in bsd, is the power of gay male partnership. like you and the guy you're psychosexually obsessed with can truly change the world. anyways happy pride month asagiri

#bsd #skk #sskk #rimlaine #fyolai #soukoku #shin soukoku #mori and fukuzawa too #not most arcs centering on a male partnership #kunikidazai too shut up #i wouldn't put odazai here as their bond isn't technically a partnership #so ya #but #all of bsd is about shin soukoku #15 and stormbringer are about soukoku and rimlaine #dazais entrance exam is about him and kunikida #like it's everywhere #POE AND RANPO SHUT UPPPPP #ranpoe

[originalartblog]

Dazai trying to pretend to be a nobody who knows nothing so his new colleague won't be too suspicious of him during his entrance exam is hilarious

#actually this scene is important and full of dazai bullshit but let me make fun of him before i have to yell #i saw like two mentions of dazai in the ada with a gun recently and remembered this part #apparently this is a kunikida week #bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd fanart #dazai's entrance exam #bsd dazai #bsd kunikida #bsd dazai osamu #bsd kunikida doppo #nawy's doodles #i know nothing about guns i just picked the first transparent result i found #bsd light novel

[neo--queen--serenity]

Rewatching this series has allowed me to notice the quite frankly hilarious exchange between Kunikida & Jun’ichirou during Atsushi’s entrance exam.

Jun’ichirou is trying to act tough with threatening Kunikida until he—out of nowhere, says this shit:

And Kunikida, understandably, is like excuse me??

Now, you can see the exact moment Jun’ichirou realizes he fucked up. Idk how much improv experience Tanizaki has, but I doubt he intended to make his demand that kinky, and it shows.

But it’s too late to change his bad boy act now, so he doubles down.

At this point, you can tell Kunikida takes a moment to lower his blood pressure, before he just resigns with a “this may as well happen” sort of face.

Like IMAGINE. You tell your colleague to pretend to be a psycho bomber and he asks you to do THIS shit??? Like Tanizaki do you have something you wanna share with the class?

You gotta hand it to Kunikida for keeping a straight face the whole time though, goddamn. He may be a tightass, but he committed to that role.

#and poor atsushi. who has never witnessed a crime before. is like ‘i am uncomfortable & i would like to leave.’ #like YEAH buddy UNDERSTANDABLE #bungou stray dogs #bsd #bsdrewatch2023 #bsd rewatch #doppo kunikida #kunikida doppo #junichirou tanizaki #tanizaki junichirou #atsushi nakajima #nakajima atsushi #atsushi’s entrance exam #naomi tanizaki #tanizaki naomi #jun'ichirō tanizaki #tanizaki junichiro #junichiro tanizaki #bsd kunikida #bsd tanizaki #tanizaki bsd #kunikida bsd #neo queen serenity’s posts #bungo stray dogs #bungou gay dogs #jun'ichirou tanizaki #tanizaki jun’ichirou #bsd analysis #bsd meta

[monarchamos]

Decided to make a google drive folder for the good people out there so here yall go

<< Bungo Stray Dogs Stageplays with English sub >>

Note: Only includes SOME stageplays. list on those included, those being worked on, and those unstarted due to lack of subtitles under cut

included:

BEAST movie (yes this is included because it's live action even though its not a stage. it's the same actors anyhow)

STORM BRINGER stageplay

Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam stageplay

Cannibalism Arc stageplay

work in progress:

Osamu Dazai and the Dark Era stageplay

currently unstarted (lack of subtitles or even video)

Untold Origins of the Armed Detective Agency stageplay

Bungo Stray Dogs on Stage (the first one)

Dead Apple stageplay

Three Company Conflict stageplay

#probably gonna add dark era next week #after that idk i cant find any subs for fifteen or untold origins or any of the main stages before cannibalism #bungo stray dogs #bsd stage play #i hope i dont get sued or anything #the subs for entrance exam and dark era are by popopretty1 on twitter btw

[carbonateds-oda]

no bc the fact that kunikida didn’t say those words out loud kills me like imagine if dazai knew what he was thinking of him in that moment that even when he believed that dazai had been lying to him all along he still thought of him so fondly and I hate that the anime didn’t include him saying this at all cuz it rlly waters down their bond and just how quickly they connected which is exactly why so many skk fans insist that his partnership w kunikida doesn’t compare to the one he had w chuuya and why he’s seen as genuinely hating dazai when there was so many moments in that light novel just like that one that show that that isn’t the case and-

the drive thru worker: can you please just order already I’m fucking begging you

#i am thinking of that ln again raise ur hand if ur surprised #bsd #bungou stray dogs #dazai osamu #kunikida doppo #kunidazai #kunizai #kunikidazai #kndz #dazai’s entrance exam #bsd light novel

[arangora]

Google doc with all the bungo stray dogs links :

Contains:

-All the light novels

-All the mangas and spin offs (gaiden, beast, wan ect)

-beast live action

-anime s1-4

-welcome to the hot springs CD

-stage play

-official art archive

Note : most of these are illegal websites and might have dangerous files, I do check these every once in a while but I might miss some. If you have the links to anything missing please send it my way so I can add it 💗 have fun reading / watching!!

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #bungou gay dogs #bsd light novel #stormbringer #dazais entrance exam #osamu dazai and the dark era #dark era dazai #bungo stray dogs gaiden #bsd gaiden #bsd 55 minutes #dazai and chuuya fifteen #dazai and chuuya 15 #bsd beast #beast live action #kunikida and katais magnificent days #the day i picked up dazai #bsd x chou chou alis special #bungo stray dogs anthology #bsd anthology #bsd wan #welcome to the hot springs #bungo stray dogs on stage #bsd on stage #my doc links 📘

[gay-snufkin]

what a great time to remind myself that if only they animated dazai's entrance exam properly like it deserved, kunikida and kndz would have a lot more fans

#bsd #dazai's entrance exam #kunidazai #dazai osamu #kunikida doppo

[sorcerersandskillusers]

Dazai and Odasaku have a fascinating connection I never noticed before, their views on killing for justice.

Dazai Osamu's entrance exam

He looked far off into the distance. “The phrase ‘seeking justice’ is a weapon. Once it hurts the weak, it can no longer be a force of good. This justice the Azure King sought was what killed Sasaki.”

The untold origins of the armed detective agency

“Justice,” said the hit man. “I can understand killing for money or because you hated someone, but they’re killing for justice. I don’t want to get involved with a group like that. After they’re done killing for their justice, they’ll only continue to kill. They’ll just stop caring who they’re killing.”

It's very interesting that two characters who both have no issue with killing people and have killed hundreds themselves see the incredible danger of "killing for justice"

Killing for greed, killing for revenge, killing for boredom... all of these are personal things, they stay focused on the person who's doing the killing, but if you kill because you think it's right, then you will seek out more people to kill unendingly "Their religion is heresy", "Their whole country is evil", "They don't respect my authority" and soon even people who have done nothing wrong are killed because "they could be a threat later"

The moment you justify killing, you can never stop, there will always be more criminals who deserve to die, and soon it won't matter if they deserved it or not.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs dazai #dazai #dazai osamu #bsd analysis #my analysis #analysis #bsd odasaku #sakunosuke oda #odasaku #dazai osamu's entrance exam #the untold origins of the armed detective agency #bsd untold origins

[originalaccountname]

while the events of the anime are different from the light novel, I want to give a shout out to this bit here. It's such a cool (very sci-fi) way of giving them the final piece of the puzzle, the confirmation they needed to accuse Sasaki. And specifically, that last "blink and you miss it" shot of Rokuzou's reflection in the screen.

I hadn't noticed it before! He looks mad, this teen just found out the guy who killed his dad had an accomplice who is still alive. You can also see Dazai's coat and bandages on the far right, so you know it was probably Dazai who told him to check the videos for that detail. But since we still know Rokuzou hacked Dazai's email to show up to their meeting spot, we can still infer Dazai didn't intend on making Rokuzou sacrifice himself, it just kind of happened. There wasn't really a good reason for Sasaki to shoot any of them when she hadn't dirtied her own hands up to now. Things got wildly out of control really fast.

#bsdrewatch2023 #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd entrance exam #apparently i talk sometimes

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I have so many thoughts on Rokuzou and Sasaki from Entrance Exam. I think, conceptually, they're really, really interesting and underrated as light novel characters, though I have some conflicted feelings on how they were written, I guess.

Anyways, I want to write something up on them but I also have all the other analyses too... and I don't want to get sidetracked on those...

So, I guess I'll just gauge interest for now: does anyone want to hear thoughts on these two? If so, I'll add it to the list, but likely after those other ones get finished.

#storyrambles #bsd #bsd entrance exam #bsd rokuzou #bsd sasaki

[lotus-pear]

guys stop asking me for bsd fic recs, i will tell u to go read the light novels

#“lotus do u have any angsty soukoku fi-” have you read stormbringer? what about fifteen? and dead apple? #“so i hear you ship knkdz have u stumbled across any good fi-” entrance exam. osamu dazai's entrance exam. Light Novel One. also 55mins #why read fics when the canon source is gayer than ANYTHING fic artists could dream of #yeah someone could write abt soukoku making out with tongue and fucking each other until they can't stand and the bed breaks #but is that rly as gay as saying “you used corruption because you trusted me? how beautiful.” #or “what a violent way to wake up snow white” #SHUT UPPPPPPPPPPPPP #i hate it here fml #bsd

[lady-tortilla-chip]

I saw a rant about how the back and forth between Fyodor and Dazai is ridiculous at this point and like. I think that’s the point. The point is that one is not actually superior to the other in regards to intellect so they are ALWAYS going to be stuck in this cycle of ‘well I thought of/planned/predicted that!’.

The difference is in their connections and what those connections are made of. I find it fascinating actually that Fyodor thinks he’s won because he STOLE gravity away from Dazai and claimed Dazai didn’t even know how to use it when he had it! The thing is though, Chuuya doesn’t seem to be under Fyodor’s control anymore and he hasn’t ever chosen the people who try to use him like an object over Dazai. And despite the four years of separation (which was longer than their time together) he always came when Dazai expected him to.

And I’m thinking he expects him to now which would ultimately be what tips the scale in Dazai’s favor. Because where Fyodor sees a tool Dazai sees his partner. I’m also thinking Chuuya isn’t the only key to success here and that was why he chose Sigma too (if the points where he thinks about the ADA not using each other is any sort of foreshadowing).

#also actually I have some more to write on the differences between Fyodor and Dazai and how they see Chuuya specifically #also kinda obsessed rn with the idea of Sigma being what changes everything around ultimately #like yes Chuuya is there but if this actually IS some kind of entrance exam (which would be AMAZING) sigma will have to shine somehow here👀 #ALSO by he hasn’t ever chosen anyone over dazai before I mostly mean like #in the given situation where it was working dazai and getting to broader horizon of understanding or of choice he’s always chosen thay #and Dazai very much represented that especially in the beginning even if Chuuya ultimately being and staying with the Pm— #isn’t the greatest outcome for him #ANYWAY AM RAMBLING UPON THIS FINE MORNING #bungou stray dogs #bsd #nakahara chuuya #dazai osamu #Soukoku #Fyodor Dostoyevsky #BSD manga spoilers #BSD manga #BSD spoilers