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 forth 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 protagonist, who works for the Detective Agency.

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.

The foil to Atsushi, a young man in the mafia.

An ex-assasin from the mafia, now works for the Agency.

A member of the Agency. Strongly believes in his ideals.

A genius detective.

A boy from the countryside who is super strong.

The Agency's doctor.

A member of the Agency.

The president of the Agency.

A figure from Dazai's past in the mafia.

Dazai's old partner from the mafia. Has a powerful ability.

The leader of the Rats in the House of the Dead and a member of the Decay of Angels.

An ex-member of the Guild, now associated with the Agency. A writer.


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 June 2023, this ship is the most popular in the fandom on AO3 by far, with 23,754 works tagged out of 56,125 total. It's 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, as he is a fairly minor character with only a few appearances otherwise. This is supported by Dazai's presence in so many of the most popular ships while Chuuya is in considerably fewer. The ship is very popular despite Dazai and Chuuya only having a few interactions "on-screen" in canon.

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. 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 5,911 works as of June 2023, and second most popular on Pixiv with 7,939 works in the tag as of April 2023.

Known as Ranpoe, this is most popular Ranpo ship in western fandom with over 2,400 fics on AO3 as of June 2023. 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 600 as of April 2023 (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.

The fourth most popular ship on AO3 and third on Pixiv. The ship has 6,400 pixiv results as of April 2023 and 2,200 AO3 results as of June 2023. This 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 tenth on AO3. Known as Dazaku, the ship sports 4,557 pixiv results as of April 2023 and 800 AO3 results as of June 2023. Often seen as problematic in western fandom primarily for the 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 2,365 results on pixiv as of April 2023 and 1,852 results on AO3 as of June 2023 (Kunikida's next most popular ship Pixiv ship, Kunikida/Atsushi, has 300 pixiv works, while in the west Kunikida/Katai has 185 on AO3).

The fifth most popular overall on pixiv with 3,400 pixiv results as of April 2023, Odazai is roughly tied with KuniZai in western fandom with 1,688 works on AO3 as of June 2023. 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, many fans claiming Oda was "Dazai's father" despite only a 5 year age difference between them. It is still hotly debated though many on both sides find the fatherhood reasoning unrealistic.

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 566 works on AO3 as of June 2023, it comes in sixth place for the most pixiv results with 2,695 as of June 2023. 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 620 on AO3 and 1,327 on Pixiv as of June 2023.

Fyolai has gained popularity in western fandom over time. It's the 7th most popular ship for the series on AO3 with 1,367 results as of June 2023. Likely owing to the unpopularity of foreign characters, Pixiv had fewer results in April 2023 at close to 400.

Fyozai has 996 works on AO3 as of June 2023 and 480 on pixiv as of April 2023. 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 551 works on AO3 as of June 2023 and 400 pixiv as of April 2023. It is speculated that the ship's popularity will increase after the fifth season is animated.

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 1760 results as of April 2023, but has only 169 works on AO3 as of June 2023.

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 has 760 works on Pixiv (falling at 13th place) as of April 2023 and 833 AO3 (ninth place) as of June 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 11th most popular overall on Pixiv for BSD, Daran is somewhat of a rarepair on AO3. The ship has 1160 results on pixiv as of April 2023 and 466 on AO3 as of June 2023.

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 113 fics for the pair, but the ship is popular on Pixiv with 1,246 tagged works. The pixiv results are respectable for a series whose primary draw is attractive men (where het ships often don't do well). It's difficult to tell if the AO3 results have been impacted by dislike for the ship or by a lack of interest, especially since AtsuLucy has similar AO3 numbers.

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 181 results on AO3 as of June 2023. 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 719 works on AO3 as of June 2023 and only 16 on Pixiv as of April 2023.

Most popular in the west, Higugin has 502 works on AO3 as of June 2023 and 14 on pixiv as of April 2023.

Tropes & Fanon

Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Vids

Meta

Zines

Links & Resources

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