#tldr BSD creators are both nerds good for them

[lastlenore]

ok im done screaming about kolya ill talk abt the cover because im also chuuya trash

it's pretty obvious that that's a reference to chuuya right? him being in the sheep, once upon a time, all that. also not to have an skk moment but those flowers look like red camellias(associated with dazai and chuuya canonically)

what crushes me is the way it's drawn, harukawa sensei drew the skull to look like it's crumbling, it looks so brittle. it also looks like it's being corroded from the inside, making way for the flowers to bloom. it looks infected.

i think it reflects chuuya right now, as a mindless pawn. it's so heartwrenching that someone so capable like nakahara is simmered down to just another "piece". of course it's terrible that all the other characters with their own lives have to go through this whole war, but chuuya(and the pm) especially.

there's this thing i call the Snape Effect (it's an actual writing thing, i just forgot what it's officially called) that tells writers to basically craft an incredibly human and "quirky" character(likely an antihero), someone with values, morals, friends, enemies and feelings, then kill them off. it makes a death more tragic (this is why Oda's and Aku's death is especially hard to get over, because we saw them as people, we followed thru their experiences only for that all to be cut down)

now whether the authors of bsd created chuuya with SO MUCH depth just to reduce him to a vampire because of popular demand, or because of their own plot, im not rlly gonna comment on. bottomline is that chuuya is as developed as a character can get.

for him to just be fyodor's "power move" is so unfortunate.

but !! im not yet done

it's been mentioned on twt by user @/rum_skk that fyodor's card might be Akutagawa(unlike what one would think—chuuya, because he's very clearly fyodor's pawn atm). while i cant really make out what's on the card(pls tell me if u can!! are the colors inversed??), i agree that it might be aku.

the key to decrypting Harukawa-san's covers is symmetrical symbols, most of the time. it's a thing in graphic novel and manga cover designs. artists need to convey as much as possible about the volume without spoiling anything. they only get one page, so how do they do it? symbols, and oftentimes, symmetry too.

BSD is a plot-heavy story, there's thousands of references that can point to a character or a scene: apples, bandaids, the colors red and blue, yin and yang, etc etc. By drawing those symbols that reflect an opposite context on the other side of the canvas, Harukawa-san maintains the "good and bad" narrative that BSD is going by.

you guys can actually see this in most cover pages/color spreads of BSD, Harukawa sensei loves this technique and i think it's endearing. It's seen with Aku and Atsu(black and white), the PM and ADA's Aura(red and blue), etc.

no back to the picture, here's the main symmetries i can point out,

there's also the (possible) throne angel thing, that supposedly looks over humans and their morals, on the center with one of its swords impaling the sheep skull.

maybe the Throne Angel and Chuuya's symbol being on the center with no symmetrical partner hints that there's a plot hole with Chuuya being just another pawn? maybe the fact that Nikolai and Sigma are looking at Fyodor and Dazai respectively implies which "side" they're on?

^^tbh i dont think Fyodor's gonna die this round, that's gonna be SO unfulfilling and it leaves so many knots untied. As for Dazai, while I think there's lots more bs he needs to take care of, if one of them is gonna die it'd be him.

This might be a stretch and FAR too much over analyzing, but i think there's no way this thirty minute game(which fun fact!! is the quickest recommended duration for one chessgame) will be either of these crazies' undoing. Wouldn't that leave so much plot holes? "why would Nikolai let Fyodor die like that, didn't he plan to use Sigma to find out his ability?? if Fyodor dies, who's gonna keep coercing Fukuchi into world domination? if Dazai dies,,,, well,,,, erm,, who's gonna say sorry to Akutagawa?"

i think Asagiri will pull another twist, like the light snow theory on twt, that would somehow save both these menaces from the poison.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd predictions #nakahara chuuya bsd #cover interpretations #poly overanalyzing eyerolls #bsd volume 22 #i wanted to add things about Sigma too #and why his name is like that #buuuut ill wait till i have a bit more info abt em #tldr BSD creators are both nerds good for them