Bungo Stray Thoughts - Blog Posts

Hello!!

Something that has recently come to mind is the impeccable usage of coats in Bungo Stray Dogs, and their different meanings — so I just wanted to quickly examine them!! (⁠ ⁠◜⁠‿⁠◝⁠ ⁠)⁠♡

There may be spoilers for Stormbringer ahead!^^

UNBUTTONED COAT/OPEN COAT

Throughout characters such as Dazai, Tsujimura and Chuuya, we can see the pattern of open coats/jackets throughout their designs. I believe it can be summarized as 'resignation'. Within Dazai Osamu's The Setting Sun, self-resignation is a concept reappearing throughout the whole story. To resign oneself, is defined as submitting to something unpleasant in which you have no way of changing.

For Dazai, it can be taken as Oda's wish is something he must fulfill — and my particular reason for thinking it was unpleasant for him, was because of the conversation he has with Kyouka during season 2, detailing the struggle between being a good person when having a history of doing bad deeds.

Possessing a skillset which encourages him to remain Port Mafia black, how on earth is he supposed to assimilate to the light? Additionally, when he asks Atsushi, 'Do I look like such a good person?', Atsushi responds positively. His self-perception does not align with being in the ADA, but regardless — due to his friend — he has resigned himself to it.

For Tsujimura, though I have yet to read Gaiden, I believe this is the resignation she has come to after the legacy her mother left her, which she strives overcome due to her complicated relationship with her.

For Chuuya, despite the attempts of The Flags, he can only resign himself to being in the Port Mafia. Though, it is not unpleasant to him, I believe it is moreso a case of him not really seeing himself anywhere else. Though he used to be a member of The Sheep, he was betrayed and no longer held a place there. The Port Mafia is his home, in the same way one cannot help but call home, well, home due to the sentimentalities towards it.

Essentially, I believe the open coat represents a doubtful resignation to one's position, however an unwavering desire, or internal promise to remain there. Of course, this may be flawed! But that's how I've perceived it so far.

CLOSED JACKET

The closed jacket is one that took a while for me to understand, to be quite frank. Examining the designs of Ango Sakaguchi, Chuuya's outfit from Stormbringer, Dazai's design in The Dark Era & Atsushi's design from BEAST, it's reasonable to believe it is a shield against something internal.

Ango Sakaguchi works for the government, the Special Division, and therefore is thrown into whatever role suitable to get the job done. This was explicit in The Dark Era, where Mori and Takeda discuss his safety for the permit. His suit is a representative of how he uses his job as a defense of his guilt over Oda's death. His role gives him a sense of agency, which he can tell himself, 'I had no choice, it was for the sake of my job'. The reason I assume Ango feels guilty is because of how he takes care of Dazai, in a way. During the DOA arc, he assists Dazai. I believe it was also revealed he had went to the seventh agency to clear Dazai's list of crimes, in memory of Oda.

On Chuuya, I believe in his timeline, he was recovering from the sharp betrayal of The Sheep, and growing into his role in the Port Mafia. Though he had a similar demeanor in Fifteen, I believe it becomes more clear he is less trusting and more guarded about his relationships. His demeanor of being irritated or distant is merely a facade to keep him from being hurt once again.

With Dazai, his coat is buttoned up, which can be viewed as Dazai using his role and duty as a Port Mafia executive to shield him from the overwhelming indifference he possesses on why he should live at all. This is also voiced when he confesses it to Oda, feeling if he got closer to the raw instincts of humanity by being in the Port Mafia, he may achieve some sense of meaning.

Lastly, BEAST Atsushi was one of the points I think is most explicitly explained to the audience. He says:

In BEAST, Atsushi ensnares himself with Death to keep him from his fear of it. His jacket is zipped up, covering a portion of his face in pitch black. The cause of this is his guilt towards what he did to the orphanage director. Atsushi at his core, is a guilty person, irrespective of whether he has committed a crime or not. For BEAST, there is no alternative environment for him to atone, and leaves him isolated with Death.

Overall, I believe that the closed/buttoned up coat represents characters using their roles and duties as a shield from an internal anguish which they suffer from. Usually, this coat gets switched out for an open jacket, which could symbolize a form if closure with that chapter of their internal conflict.

COAT OVER THE SHOULDERS

As well as symbolizing authority, it may also symbolize a burden given to the character by society or another.

For example, to return to Chuuya again, he carries the burden of killing The Flags, however, it is also something that cemented him in the position of being a staple executive (that is, if he wasn't one already) due to his loyalty. I believe this is also intrinsically tied to his position as an executive, finding himself once again in a position of leadership.

Another example is Dazai, specifically at age eighteen. Mori views him as an heir of sorts, due to his intelligence and what he perceived as detachment from sentimentalities, which is a burden onto Dazai. He has no such desire or fondness of the position, constantly disregarding ranks and importance when befriending Oda and Ango. Furthermore, as he rushes to Oda's side as he bleeds out, his coat flies off his shoulders. He forsaken his authority, and loses his burden for the sake of Oda.

There are other characters with such a burden, such as Ayatsuji from Gaiden and Paul Verlaine — however I am unqualified to include them in this analysis because of my lack of knowledge on the two and their materials.

Overall, I believe it's such an interesting way to dress up characters whilst simultaneously discussing their journeys, even if that sounds pretentious. I look forward to seeing the progression of characters and, in general, the continuation of Bungo Stray Dogs.

Thank you for reading.

From Asagiri’s “Reception of Modern Literature” lecture at Chuo University’s Hakumon Festival. It's quite interesting, so sharing it here. It's confirmed that there'll be more arcs after this one is finished!

The Maiden of Forgetfulness & The Angel of Remembrance

Yamakawa Tomiko & Yosano Akiko.

More information about them below the cut!

Her nameless poem is dedicated to Yosano Akiko:

Yamakawa Tomiko was a fellow poet, however she was the total opposite of Yosano in the sense that she was obedient and modest. They were best friends (or perhaps even more? According to some sources!) for a long while, producing poetry magazines together, such as myōjo. Tekken — Yosano Akiko's husband — liked her for those reasons. Due to that, Yosano Tekken had destroyed their relationship by making them rivals for his affection. With poetry being published publicly on the matter, there was no privacy for them. Yamakawa, wanting the best for Akiko, decided to enter the arranged marriage her family prepared for her while Akiko married Tekken. She contracted tuberculosis from her husband, which led to an early death.

"I quietly surrender the red flowers to my friends, and weep and weave the forget-me-nots." (Source)

Which was also translated into English as,

I leave all the scarlet flowers

For the woman I love

And hiding my tears from her

I pick

The flowers of forgetfulness.

(Taken from Women Poets of Japan.)

beast spoilers just in case

something i’ve been thinking about is dazai’s bandages during his time in the pm vs beast dazai

i’ve seen people talk about how dazai’s right eye is covered in the pm, sort of symbolizing how he’s shut off his emotions during that period of his life.

meanwhile, in beast, the bandages cover the opposite eye. thinking about it, this does represent his motivations during the course of beast—dazai’s actions can be perceived as purely emotional by the end.

after all, dazai wanted to preserve a world where oda was able to carry out his dream of becoming a writer, even at the expense of his own life. through beast, we get to see a somewhat more emotional dazai, even if outwardly he still tries to suppress these feelings

tbh i’m struggling to fully put into words the incoherent thoughts in my brain but im hoping the bsd fans of tumblr can pick up on the brain waves im transmitting telepathically through this post ykyk

11.08.23 | Lotte Williams, PT I - Design

🎤: I've enjoyed making the slideshow, really. I think Lotte is the one I've worked hard on, and I'm excited to draw her and write for her! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

This is part 1 out of 2 for the slideshow! ✨

Next Friday's one will probably be characteristics, such as personality n' stuff!!

I looked into it this morning and Midnight Blue truly fits Dazai!

When Dazai was in the port mafia ('a limited spectra') he appeared black morally, and in terms of color, a bringer of death and highly intelligent. But when Odasaku displayed a more realistic gaze on him, due to Odasaku being an as-it-is person, we discover he was just trying to get close the the human nature, and see if it would give him a will to live.

Midnight Blue is composed of black and blue, the black gives it it's dark shade. In the eye of "sunlight" otherwise referenced to as the ADA, we can see the brighter aspects of him.

I think that's what Odasaku saw in him too, his blueness.

Bungou Stray Dogs character colors From the 2nd BSD Guidebook

All of their names are on the left side, with their corresponding color on the right side.

What a nice brain you got there!!

I want to pick up that book but it's like 600 pages long and i- I want to see the world I want to explore life, but it's also like, I want to know what that man was up to

There is a film adaptation of the book though, or at least a part of it, on YouTube!! It's very interesting, Genji is 🧍🏾‍♀️ Genji is actually pretty similar to Fyodor and Dazai when I think about it?

I'm calling it right now, the Book is gonna be an ability based off Genji Monogatari by Murasaki Shikibu

No Longer Human & BSD's Dazai Osamu: An (incredibly sloppy) Analysis

Please let me know if this needs TWs :)

Again, this is sloppy. I'll clean it up when I do another analysis, but I think it's alright, but it's not supposed to be academic -- it's just for fun! (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)⁠❤

If you want something to listen to whilst reading this:

so I'm making this character, and I really wanted her ability to be called 'Mad Dog' because of the connotation. I was also researching stuff and found out the dangers of them, which I wanted to explore with her ability. At the same time, I really like the sorrowful meaning behind bulls and the masculine connotation that's had with them.

so could I like, combine it?? like, if the ability is called 'Mad Dog' could I get away with it actually being personified as a bull?

Especially in BSD, there's alot of sorrow being confused with anger, and anger with sorrow, etc. Like Dazai & Chuuya and Atsushi & Akutagawa, Ango & Dazai.

So, hypothetically????????????