New Anthology Comics

New Anthology Comics

My translation is approximate cuz I do not speak Japanese and I used translator!!!

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

Why does our guy look like this? 😭

They're beautiful ✨✨✨

Finally someone acknowledged Chuupoe Lay!

do you think Chuuya and Poe would make good friends?

in my opinion, i think they would to be honest. Poe is labelled the only tall guy Chuuya won't immediately maul because Chuuya refuses to acknowledge Poe is 6'0" and Poe silently slumps over more to seem less taller

also they'd totally have movie nights

This is a concept that had not ever occurred to me but I am now very attached to it, thank you anon—I feel like they really would get along! Reading Stormbringer convinced me that Chuuya is an introvert, so it seems like they’d vibe well together, and it might be fun for Chuuya to get to hang out with a smart person who doesn’t have the personality of Dazai or Ranpo lol

Thinking about Dazai's memories

I think it's interesting how we basically got two sets of Dazai's memories within 3 months, so since I analyzed the Beast ones, I thought I'd analyze these as well. As always it's just me rambling under the cut, and remember guys that below there are spoilers from everything up until this point!

The first memory memory we see is a completely new one. I love it when montages use new memories instead of simply reusing what was shown before, so I appreciate this little scene. Their outfits are taken from chapter 31 and seeing Chuuya in these clothes was so strangely nostalgic. The only difference is that Dazai has his arm broken instead of his leg. Also I like how young they look here. They're just kids annoying each other just like Dazai is saying in the background.

The second memory I'm pretty sure is also one of the new scenes we haven't seen before. It looks like Fifteen, but I don't recognize this background and the closest illustration I could find is the one from the light novel. Maybe it's supposed to show how they gained confidence and were ruling the city (judging by the building in the background), but yeah that's all I have.

After that I noticed a scene from chapter 31 in bottom left. It's taken right from the manga with no changes besides Chuuya's jacket being coloured in. Considering Dazai's fascination with corruption, it makes sense that it appears in his memories. Here, it's been 4 years since they fought together and it's the first time Dazai could observe Chuuya being possessed in a long time. Interestingly, it's not corruption in its peak that's portrayed here but the moment when Dazai is bringing Chuuya back to his senses. With the context of this chapter, it might mean that Dazai wants to protect Chuuya and despite liking danger and sending Chuuya to fight directly, he cares about him.

Bottom right seems to be from chapter 31 as well, just slightly changed. And that also makes sense because these are supposed to be his memories, so he might not remember each detail perfectly. It's the moment when Dazai sends Chuuya into action, which is something I already mentioned. Dazai likes to see Chuuya fight and to tease him, and this chapter had both.

With this next one I have no idea which scene it could be. I'm like 75% sure it's from their first meeting after 4 years back in chapters 10 and 11, but it's a reach. We only have Dazai's legs, a bit of his coat and Chuuya's shoulder, so there's not a lot to work with. But it does make sense for it to be from their first meeting after 4 years, because it was important for them both. Dazai stayed in that dungeon partially because he wanted to talk with Chuuya and this is what this memory could be alluding to. My first thought was Dazai leaving Chuuya behind after Oda's death, but I don't think he got his coat right this soon.

Then we have one of the most iconic skk scenes from Storm Bringer. Not to spoil it too much, but in this scene Chuuya decides to save Yokohama even if it means never getting to know if he's a human being. In this scene he trusts Dazai's plan and goes into action, something Dazai must be looking back at fondly. I kinda wish we had the scene in which he catches Chuuya after the fight, but I guess it would be too fluffy for this angsty chapter.

And I left 2 memries that I thought were the most interesting additions for last. The firts one being this scene from Dead Apple and I'm so happy that it made it here for a few reasons. First of all now we have a proof that Dead Apple is canon in the manga. I know it was canon before, but it wasn't mentioned or anything, so there was this shadow of doubt. Now, it's 100% canon. The other reason is that I'd love to see Dead Apple with Harukawa's art style and it's great that we now have this scene even though it's just a shadow. I wondered how it would be shown in the main manga and now I don't have to anymore. It also looks way more desperate than in the movie or Dead Apple manga, because of the wind and how Chuuya reaches his arm to Dazai before he punches him. It's also most likely Dazai's imagination, since he was unconscious when it happened.

And last but absolutely not least (on the contrary, I wanted to hype it up), we have one of the most iconic skk scenes, and here comes the question, is it even from Fifteen? Because as we can see, the positions of hands are swapped and Dazai isn't wearing this brace type of thing on his arm. This scene isn't in the original light novel, so either Asagiri and Harukawa were like screw it, we're adding it to the canon or it's a different instance. And if it's a different situation, then what was this fight? It's also possible that the positions are switched because it's Dazai's pov not Chuuya's like in the anime. Either way hand-holding is now canon and I'm so happy about this fact.

In conclusion

Dazai's memories with Chuuya seem to be a mix of their fights with enemies and some other moments they shared as well, putting an emphasis not on the fights themselves (since there are no other people and they aren't in combat stances), but their connection throught them. I wish we got to see more scenes, but I understand going overboard could be on overkill, especially if it's just a cliffhanger death meant to fool us. It's hard to judge Dazai's reaction, because he could be putting on a show, but it also seems to be genuine and cherishing these memories would make sense for his character. I'm so glad we got to see this little peek into Dazai's mind and his memories, and now I want more.

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.