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Bungou Stray Dogs

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Fandom
Name: Bungou Stray Dogs
Abbreviation(s): BSD, Bungo Stray Dogs
Creator: Kafka Asagiri (writer), Sango Harukawa (illustrator)
Date(s): 2012 - present (manga), April 1st 2014 - present (anime)
Medium: Manga, Light Novel, Anime, Film, Video Game
Country of Origin: Japan
External Links: BSD on Crunchyroll
BSD on Wikipedia
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Bungou Stray Dogs (文豪ストレイドッグス) is a seinen manga series written by Kafka Asagiri and Sango Harukawa for Young Ace. All the characters' names and superpowered abilities are based off of writers and their literary works from the characters' country of origin. For example, a major antagonist is an American businessman named Fitzgerald with the Ability Great Gatsby. In addition to the manga, BSD has an anime in its fourth season from Bones, two Bones films, and eight light novels. A fifth anime season has also been announced. The second light novel, Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era, was adapted into the first four episodes of the second season, while the fifth light novel, Fifteen, was adapted into the first episodes of the third season. The third light novel, The Untold Origins of the Detective Agency, was adapted into the first three episodes of the fourth season. The first light novel, Dazai's Entrance Exam, was adapted into episodes six and seven of season one, but due to major changes made to the novel's narrative (including but not limited to changing the timeline so it could not be Dazai's entrance exam) this is widely regarded as a poor adaptation.

Canon Overview

Atsushi Nakajima is cast out of the orphanage where he grew up and where the orphanage director tortured him. He struggles to survive in the outside world, making up his mind in Yokohama that he must steal if he wants to eat. However, when he's choosing a target, he finds a young man floating head down in the river. Atsushi saves the man in the river, who gives his name as Dazai, but instead of being rewarded, Atsushi is yelled at for interrupting Dazai's suicide attempt. Dazai reveals that he works for the Armed Detective Agency, who are looking for a rampaging tiger. Atsushi believes the tiger is targeting him; however, it turns out that Atsushi is the tiger, unknowingly turning into the beast when under direct moonlight. Dazai invites Atsushi to the ADA, where he gains control of his Ability, and begins facing a range of Abilities organization, starting with the local Port Mafia, then an American organization, the government division dealing with Abilities, and the terrorist organisation Decay of the Angel.

Characters

The Armed Detective Agency

  • Dazai Osamu: The mentor to Atsushi, with a mysterious past in the mafia. Very popular in the fandom due to his care-free attitude that hides his painful past, his good looks and his ability to be a badass in fights.
  • Izumi Kyouka: A fourteen-year-old ex-assassin from the Mafia, now works for the Agency.
  • Kunikida Doppo: A member of the Agency. Strongly believes in his ideals.
  • Yosano Akiko: The Agency's doctor, who once worked with Mori Ougai.

The Port Mafia

  • Akutagawa Ryuunosuke: The foil to Atsushi, a young man known as the "Rabid Dog of the Port Mafia".
  • Nakahara Chuuya: Dazai's old partner from the mafia. Has a powerful ability. Main character of associated light novels.
  • Kouyou Ozaki: a young mafia executive, she serves as a complex older sister figure to Chuuya and Kyouka.
  • Oda Sakunosuke or Odasaku: A figure from Dazai's past in the mafia.
  • Mori Ougai: The current leader of the Port Mafia, a former doctor whose Ability manifests as a girl named Elise. A very controversial character in fandom.
  • The Flags: Chuuya's friends from his first year in the Mafia, Piano Man, Lippmann, Albatross, Doc, and Iceman, appear only in Stormbringer.
  • Paul Verlaine: A lab-created spy-turned-serial-killer who sees himself as Chuuya's older brother.
  • Arthur Rimbaud: A former French spy partner of Verlaine who infiltrates the Mafia.

The Decay of Angels

  • Fyodor Dostoyevsky: The leader of the Rats in the House of the Dead and a member of the Decay of Angels.
  • Nikolai Gogol: Known as "the clown", a member of the Decay of Angels.
  • Sigma: Manager of the Sky Casino and a member of the Decay of Angels.

Other

  • Edgar Allan Poe: An ex-member of the Guild, now associated with the Agency. A writer and former detective.
  • Sakaguchi Ango: a one-time friend of Dazai and Oda's who is revealed as a government agent.

Fandom

Ships

Dazai and Chuuya were partners in the mafia, where they were an unstoppable duo called Soukoku (double black), and now hate each other. In the fandom the ship is also referred to as Soukoku or SKK. As of March 2025, this ship is the most popular in the fandom on AO3 by far, with 38,477 works tagged for it compared to 93,971 works total in the BSD tag. It was also, as of April 2023, the 11th most popular ship of ANY fandom on Pixiv, with 27,747 works in the tag (these statistics didn't include the 双黒 tag, however, bringing the actual total to 29,165).

This ship is probably at least partially responsible for the amount of Chuuya content and popularity prior to the release of Chuuya-centric media, as he is a character with relatively few appearances in the original manga. This is supported by Dazai's presence in so many of the most popular ships while Chuuya is in considerably fewer. The ship was already very popular when Dazai and Chuuya only had a few interactions "on-screen" in canon. They now have more canon interactions in the Dazai and Chuuya: Fifteen and Stormbringer light novels and manga, which focus on Chuuya.

Because of the ship's runaway popularity (it has 3.5x more pixiv results than the second most popular ship on Pixiv and 4x as many AO3 results), some fans who don't ship it have become frustrated with the common assumption that they do.

The most popular ship for both characters involved in both the east and west. AkuAtsu is also known as Shin (new) Soukoku or SSKK for short, as Dazai dubs their partnership this in canon. The second-most popular ship on AO3 with 9,927 works as of January 2025, and second most popular on Pixiv with 8,382 works in the tag as of September 2024. The ship's fandom approval rating has become higher in the wake of the Decay of Angels arc.

Known as RanPoe, this is most popular Ranpo ship in western fandom with 4,448 fics on AO3 as of January 2025. It overtook DazAtsu after the fourth season aired to become the third most popular BSD ship on AO3. The ship is less popular in the east, trailing as the 4th most popular Ranpo ship in number of Pixiv results with just over 732 as of September 2024 (Behind Fukuzawa/Ranpo, Dazai/Ranpo, and Ranpo/Yosano). This is likely due to prevailing stigma in Japan about relationships with foreigners (westerners especially). This ship has the lowest percentage of works marked as "explicit" or "mature" on AO3 of any BSD slash ship with more than 30 fics in the tag.

Fyolai has gained popularity in western fandom over time. It's now the 4th most popular romantic ship for the series on AO3 with 3,600 results as of January 2025, having shot up from 7th to overtake even long-time frontrunner DazAtsu. Depending on future series events, it has a chance at taking 3rd place from RanPoe. This is rather impressive as there was a large gap between the top 6 ships and those below them for many years, but it's perhaps more understandable if the dramatic increase in fandom activity after season 4 (with works on AO3 more than doubling from around 43,400 to over 95,000) is taken into account.

Likely owing to the unpopularity of foreign characters, Pixiv had fewer results than it could have in April 2023 at close to 400, but by September 2024 the numbers had jumped to 11rh place with a respectable 1143 results.

They are sometimes shipped as a throuple called "the Decay Trio" (a name also used for the three non-romantically) with Sigma, with 283 AO3 results as of March 2025.

The fifth most popular ship on AO3 and third on Pixiv. The ship has 7,123 Pixiv results as of September 2024 and 3,018 AO3 results as of January 2025. The ship oftem plays on Dazai's mentoring role to Atsushi. Some fans see it as problematic for exactly this reason, but generally these fans can be avoided. Known as DazAtsu.

Fourth most popular on Pixiv and 12th on AO3. Known as DazAku, the ship sports 5,203 Pixiv results as of September 2024 and 1,153 AO3 results as of March 2025. Often seen as problematic in western fandom primarily for their relationship dynamic.

Kunikida's most popular ship, KuniZai is the fifth most popular Dazai ship and seventh most popular overall for BSD on Pixiv. The ship has 2,611 results on Pixiv as of September 2024 and 2,947 results on AO3 as of January 2025 (Kunikida's next most popular Pixiv ship, Kunikida/Atsushi, has 293 Pixiv works, while in the west Kunikida/Katai has 283 on AO3).

The fifth most popular BSD ship overall on Pixiv and sixth on AO3, Odazai has 3,829 Pixiv results as of September 2024 and 2,189 works on AO3 as of January 2025. Oda and Dazai think of each other as rare friends and have multiple light novels depicting their relationship. Due to Oda's death in canon, the ship has lots of angst potential.

The ship was the target of flame wars when it was determined to be problematic, with some fans claiming Oda was "Dazai's father" despite only a 5 year age difference between them. Many on both sides find the fatherhood reasoning unrealistic, but those who disapprove of the ship argue that even if the relationship was not familial, Dazai was still a minor for most of their acquaintance. It is still hotly debated. Many feel that Soukoku's popularity drives this 'debate', as more often than not those who argue against Odazai do not know the characters' ages (sometimes asserting that Dazai was 14 and Oda in his 40s when he died, when in reality they were 18 and 23), the ship had been under fire for years before knowledge of their history existed, and DazAtsu also suffers the majority of the arguments lodged at Odazai.

ChuAtsu is Chuuya's second most popular ship on Pixiv and third most popular on AO3. Despite finding limited popularity in western fandom with only 768 works on AO3 as of March 2025, it comes in sixth place for the most Pixiv results with 2,957 as of September 2024. This is interesting as the two characters have not interacted in canon.

ChuAku is Chuuya's third most popular ship on Pixiv and second most popular on AO3. The ship has 786 on AO3 as of March 2025 and 1,548 on Pixiv as of June 2023. This is interesting as the two characters have one brief interaction in canon.

Fyozai has 1,865 works on AO3 as of March 2025 and 716 on Pixiv as of September 2024. It may suffering the same popularity limitation as other ships between Japanese nationals and foreigners.

Suegiku, or TetsuJou in Eastern fandom, has few but dedicated fans. The ship has 1,359 works on AO3 as of March 2025 and 670 Pixiv as of September 2024. It was speculated that the ship's popularity would increase after the fifth season was animated, and it did in western Fandom - the AO3 results nearly tripled between June of 2023 and March of 2025, bringing the ship up from 13th to 9th most popular on AO3. Season 5 doesn't seem to have had as dramatic an effect on Eastern fandom (which saw only a 65% increase from 400 to 670 works).

FukuRan is the most popular ship for both Fukuzawa and Ranpo in eastern fandom but is a rarepair in the west. The ship is eighth most popular overall for BSD on Pixiv with 2324 results as of March 2025, but has only 319 works on AO3 as of the same date. As about 20% of FukuRan fics on AO3 were posted by Chinese authors, the ship also saw losses from the Chinese government's 2024/2025 crackdowns on homosexual works (which frightened many CN authors into deleting their M/M works from the internet entirely).

FukuRan's western rarepair status is mainly due to their large age gap and the rise in morality politics in western shipping, though some have speculated that the common infantilization of Ranpo, who is often read by fans as neurodivergent, has led to attacks on and limited many of his ships when depicted in a sexual manner. The latter is actually supported by AO3 results where Ranpo's most popular western ship (RanPoe) has the lowest percentage of works marked as explicit or mature of all the m/m ships listed here.

Fukuzawa's second most popular ship on Pixiv, though content for it is still limited. FukuMori, also known as Zenki Soukoku, has 813 works on Pixiv (falling at 12th place) as of September 2024 and 1,406 AO3 as of March 2023. Interestingly, this is one of the most reversible ships in the series, with almost an identical number of works tagged for Fukuzawa topping vs Mori topping on pixiv (this is difficult to track on AO3 as not everyone tags their works for who tops, but as Japanese fandom cares a great deal the Pixiv numbers are more reliable).

Fukumori has faced backlash because of Mori's involvement in the ship.

Ranpo's second most popular ship and 9th most popular overall on Pixiv for BSD, DaRan is somewhat of a rarepair on AO3. The ship has 1762 results on pixiv as of September 2024 and 765 on AO3 as of March 2025. DaRan had the largest percentage gains of the top Ranpo ships after season 4 a 50% increase in the number of works (compared to FukuRan's 32% and RanPoe's 22%), surprising given that DaRan was the only popular Ranpo ship that did not have any interaction in seasons 4 and 5.

Tenth most popular overall in Pixiv results, AtsuKyou has a turbulent existence in western Fandom. Many find the ship problematic as Kyoka is 14 in the series while Atsushi is 18. Despite this, they are the only two characters to have canonically gone on a date, though this is easily read as platonic and is by many. AO3 has only 134 fics for the pair as of March 2025, but the ship is popular on Pixiv, with 1,366 tagged works. The Pixiv results are respectable for a series whose draw is partially attractive men (where het ships often don't do well).

On AO3, their platonic tag is more popular, with 954 works tagged as of March 2025.

AtsuLucy is in much the same situation as RanPoe where the ship has a jarringly low number of Pixiv results compared to similar ships without foreigners. Despite being widely supported in the west, the ship only has 371 results on AO3 as of March 2025. It has 123 on Pixiv as of April 2023.

Primarily a western ship, likely derived from the characters' similar ages and positions in the Port Mafia and ADA. The ship has 1,255 works on AO3 as of March 2025 and only 16 on Pixiv as of April 2023. It is often a side ship, however, as over 80% of the AO3 results are lost if a user filters out Soukoku, Shin Soukoku, and RanPoe.

Most popular in the west, HiguGin has 842 works on AO3 as of March 2025 and 14 on Pixiv as of April 2023.

The most popular ship for both characters, with 733 works tagged on AO3 and 108 on Pixiv as of March 2025. Works featuring it sometimes tie in their real life counterparts, who had a romantic relationship.

Tropes & Fanon

A popular BSD-specific trope in fan works is the introduction of an OC based on a famous author not represented in the cast as a plot device.

Since canon material has been released over a period of over a decade, there are many widely circulated fan theories, such as The Tanizakis Are Not Siblings, Naomi Is Not Real, The Sigma Basis Debate, Fyodor is Atsushi's Father, and Dazai Will Die. Some popular theories have been confirmed as canon, some have been disproven, and some remain uncertain.

Famous Fan Works

"Bernadette" is a famous Fyolai animatic.

I Was Screaming Your Name Through The Radio is a famous Soukoku longfic.

Some smut fics have become infamous in fandom to the point of serving as buzzwords. "Powdered Sugar" by purplezipper is a RanPoe smutfic which blew up on TikTok and is often invoked in fandom by mentions of powdered doughnuts. The author described its sequel as "equally as ridiculous", suggesting it is not meant to be taken seriously. "I love atsushi" is an anonymously published Atsushi x Author porn fic which has been described as ten times worse to read than The Hat Fic. Most readers claim to have found it very disturbing, some to the point of finding it traumatizing, and advise against reading it.[1] It is often invoked by name. One short smut fic, which is seldom or never referred to by name, featured accidental Dazai x Eiffel Tower, followed by Dazai carrying the monument's nine children.[2] Because of this, "getting Eiffel Towered" is sometimes used as an in-joke euphemism by fans. Inspired fics ship Dazai with the Great Wall of China and Big Ben. As of 2025, it appears to have been deleted from AO3.

Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Vids

Meta

Zines

Links & Resources

  1. ^ What is the Fanfic I Love Atsushi About? Reddit comment section
  2. ^ "If you know you know" Reddit thread, featuring the following comment by the OP, whose username has been deleted: "Context: There is a Relatively well known fanfic in the bsd fandom about Dazai and the Eiffel tower where Dazai and Chuuya go to Paris and Chuuya flies Dazai to the top of the tower and Dazai accidentally gets dropped on the tip of the Eiffel tower and it goes up his ass and he enjoys it and part 2 of this Weird and wonderful story so Dazai fucking births 9 children and I don't know what they even came out of or how a monument got him pregnant and yeah that should be all the context you need and if you wanna read the fanfic don't read it but please for the love of god don't as good as it is don't read it"
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