I Hate To Break This To You, But BSD Ain't A Romance And Isn't Romance Oriented So, No Ships Would Be

I Hate to break this to you, But BSD ain't a Romance and isn't romance oriented so, No ships would be canon. The closest that we have to canon and Romance are the One sided crush ships like, AkuHigu (Akutagawa x Higuchi), AtsuLucy (Atsushi x Lucy) and TsujiAya (Tsujimura x Ayatsuji.) So, yes, It is a "Everyone is beautiful and Noone is Horny" type of thing.

I'm so tired of generic straight romances - pretty Mary Sue x pretty Gary Stu, I-lost-someone-I-loved-romantically-and-that- defines-my-entire-life-and-interactions-and-I-will-never-ever-be-happy-again, the love interest always being pretty with clichéd coolness and sassiness (especially if they're female), that love can only be felt towards good - looking people especially pretty females, etc.

If any of that nonsense is the only (most probably hinted) romance to happen in BSD then I'll be so disappointed. Because so far, BSD has avoided quite a few of these asinine tropes even in some of its potential straight ships, has avoided the travesty of romantic love and love in general that modern media perpetuates.

If BSD has romance arcs / hints that turn into another example of 'everyone is beautiful and no-one is horny', that will be such a tragedy. The excessively conservatively heteronormative section of the fandom is ruining BSD's intriguing, unconventional gay ships, female characters and unconventional straight ships as it is.

bsd beast is sad and so here’s how i’ll be coping ✍️

TW⚠️: suicide, blood, beast au spoilers

It's times like these where I just wished BSD had a different animation studio.

WHERE ARE HIS THIGHS?!!? WHERE IS IT?? NIKOLAI’S THIGHS DESERVED MORE THAN THIS! WHERE ARE HIS SCRUMPTIOUS THIGHS??! #justiceforNikolaisthighs

I really do wanna talk about Chuuya's tough guy act though because...it's something that could easily be mischaractarized as toxic masculinity except for the fact that it has nothing to do with gender roles. Chuuya isn't afraid to appear feminine except when people (re: Dazai) directly make fun of him for it. Hell, he respects the shit out of Kouyou and she's nothing but femininity.

But his inability to appear vulnerable or soft is directly a by-product of the "I am the strongest person therefore I have to act strong" mentality that he can't seem to let go of. It's funny because everything about it (unable to show negative emotions except anger, not letting people see him cry, the agressiveness, etc.) are all such Gender(tm) things but they're not about gender?? Idk I just find it facinating.

Dazai’s relationship with Kunikida is so interesting actually, because its kind of entirely built on lies and there’s always this weird emotional distance there, but also… that doesn’t seem to be a bad thing in the context of their relationship? Like, it almost seems to be out of respect and affection on Dazai’s part, if that makes sense.

Also I think that relationship stresses the fuck out of Kunikida but he still cares about Dazai (and does find him quite impressive and almost charming in the light novels) , but it might honestly be very comforting from Dazai’s perspective. They have this consistent jokey rapport with each other that usually never actually gets too close to genuine vulnerability or intimacy. Dazai can be whoever he wants to be with Kunikida. Kunikida’s not stupid, but he is a little bit naive and gullible at times, and Dazai’s a good enough liar to pull off any facade he wants. He can be a good person with Kunikida if he wants to be.

And while I don’t he entirely agrees with Kunikida’s ideals, I do think he respects that Kunikida is so dedicated to them. (Maybe it reminds him of Oda? Or well it’s probably more like Dazai finds people having strict moral codes novel and endearing, because he also seems fond(?) when Hirotsu, Chuuya, and Ango express basic empathy or loyalty.) I think being that close to such intense righteousness makes him feel like he himself isn’t as I guess… hated by righteousness? Even if he has to lie a bit to get there.

People always compare it to his relationship with Chuuya and say it’s lacking in comparison or that it’s better. But honestly I think they’re two equally important relationships that serve two different purposes in Dazai’s life. I’d say his relationship with Chuuya is a lot more intimate and a lot less comforting. Kind of like how you can love someone without fully liking them. But not exactly. They know just a bit too much about each other and were pitted against each other just a bit too often as teenagers for it to ever be a truly positive relationship. But there’s definitely some deep affection and understanding there, and they both hate that.

Although I would also argue that Kunikida has expressed just enough emotional vulnerability throughout their partnership for it to be kind of uncomfortable for him in how one sided it is. Like Dazai knows so much about him, but Dazai’s an enigma to him. I think that’s what Dazai likes about their relationship and what Kunikida finds annoying about it.

Bungou Stray Dogs Birthdays

In case anyone was wondering.

Janurary:

4. Kyusaku Yumeno

10. Kouyou Ozaki

10. Yukichi Fukuzawa

19. Edgar Allan Poe

22. Katai Tayama

Februrary:

4. Gin Akutagawa

17. Ogai Mori

17. Motojirou Kajii

27. John Steinbeck

29. Mizuki Tsujimura

March:

1. Ryunosuke Aktuagawa

14. Mushitaro Oguri

15. Tecchou Suehiro

26. Naomi Tanizaki

April:

1. Nikolai Gogol

12. Teruko Ookura

29. Chuuya Nakahara

May:

2. Ichiyou Higuchi

5. Atsushi Nakajima

8. Tatsuhiko Shibusawa

13. Ochi Fukuchi

26. Alexander Pushkin

June:

18. Ivan Goncharov

19. Osamu Dazai

July:

4. Nathaniel Hawthorne

15. Hirotsu Ryuurou

24. Junichirou Tanizaki

30. Michizou Tachihara

August:

1. Herman Melville

20. H. P. Lovecraft

27. Kenji Miyazawa

30. Doppo Kunikida

September:

24. Francis S. K. Fitzgerald

24. Saigiku Jouno

October:

20. Ango Sakaguchi

22. Ranpo Edogawa

26. Sakunosuke Oda

November:

4. Kyouka Izumi

8. Margaret Mitchell

11. Fyodor Dostoyevsky

29. Louisa May Alcott

30. Lucy Montgomery

30. Mark Twain

December:

7. Akiko Yosano

23. Yukito Ayatsuji