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Edogawa Ranpo/Edgar Allan Poe

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Pairing
Pairing: Edogawa Ranpo/Edgar Allen Poe
Alternative name(s): Ranpoe
Gender category: M/M, Yaoi
Fandom: Bungou Stray Dogs
Canonical?: No
Prevalence: Popular
Archives:
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Edogawa Ranpo/Edgar Allan Poe or Ranpoe is a popular ship in the Bungou Stray Dogs fandom.

History

Real-Life Inspirations

The author Taro Hirai, better known by his pseudonym Edogawa Ranpo, was a fan of the real Edgar Allen Poe and chose a pen name which was meant to sound like a Japanese version of Edgar Allen Poe. Hirai is thought to have been gay and included queer themes in his writing, and some BSD fans claim that hints of this have influenced the character Ranpo, as well as that Hirai had something of a crush on the real Poe, though the source of the latter claim cannot be found.

In Canon

Six years prior to their first canon era meeting, Ranpo bested Poe in a detective contest. To Ranpo, it was a pleasant experience and Poe was a talented adversary, but to Poe, it was a humiliating and utter defeat. Poe spent the next six years preparing to kill Ranpo in revenge, with a plot including writing a fiendishly difficult mystery novel and joining the Guild. When they meet again, Ranpo initially pretends not to remember Poe, solves the mystery, and reveals that he remembered and respected Poe to some degree, then challenges Poe to do better and bring him a more difficult novel to solve. Poe continues to refer to himself as Ranpo's rival, though outsiders sometimes assume him to be Ranpo's fanboy. He often helps Ranpo, usually by writing novels and using his ability to put people in them but on one occasion by using his sniper skills.

In Fandom

Though some Ranpoe-tagged fics on Ao3 are backdated to as early as 1950,[1] the ship cannot predate July 04, 2015, when Poe was introduced to the manga. The oldest realistically dated Ranpoe fics on Ao3 as of 2025 date to June, 2016,[2] though the ship may be older.

Ranpoe is by far the most popular ship for both characters in Western fandom.

Depictions of the ship fall between two poles, perhaps due to contrasting interpretations of Poe's character, with shades in between.

On one end of the spectrum is extreme fluff, usually with Poe as a shy Cinnamon Roll who pampers Ranpo and Ranpo as affirming how much he respects Poe despite arrogance and a lack of proficiency with expressing his emotions. It is more common than is average in the fandom for one or both of them to be headcanoned as on the aro and/or ace spectrums, and their relationship may take the form of a QPR rather than a romantic relationship. Art and fics taking this approach are usually heavy on cuddling.

The other end of the spectrum depicts the ship as very intense in a way which defies ideas of healthy relationships or of conventional propriety. Poe may be a stalker whose relationship with Ranpo retains a sinister element. With or without the stalker element, smut often depicts them as having rare, intense kinks.

Common Tropes in Fanworks

  • Ranpo and Poe behaving like they are in a relationship despite one or both not realizing it, followed by a Love Confession.
  • Ranpo not being able to understand his own emotions, in contrast to his sharp insights about the world around him, and not realizing that he is in love.
  • Poe continuing to refer to them as rivals until he formally knows they are in a relationship and mistaking references to the relationship others think they have as references to their rivaldom.
  • Poe, Ranpo, or both feeling unworthy of the other's love.
  • One or both of them being on the asexual and/or aromantic spectrum(s) and having internalized aphobia which the other reassures him past.
  • The involvement of foods, particularly sweets. In gen fics, they often eat at cafés and Poe often keeps a stash of candy at his house for Ranpo. Food is also often involved in Ranpoe smut, such as in the famous powdered doughnut fic.
  • Poe's ability to transport people into his novels resulting in a romantic revelation is a trope which may be found for other ships in the fandom but is especially common for Ranpoe. A subtrope here is Ranpo finding himself in a romance or erotic novel in which he and Poe, or thinly veiled versions of them, are the characters.[3]
  • Either of them helping the other with autism-related overstimulation or anxiety, or Ranpo helping Poe when Poe has a depressive episode.
  • Poe calling Ranpo "Dear," "Dear Ranpo," "my dear Ranpo," his "dearest rival", etc.
  • Ranpo having a Praise Kink.
  • In canon, Ranpo and Poe have a somewhat substantial Height Difference, half a foot. This is sometimes exaggerated in art and mentioned in

Example Fanworks

Fanfic

Fanart

Video and Miscellaneous

Archives and Communities

Notes & References

  1. ^ Virgin Pit 🇺🇸🦅 by jaystxrr is filed as "Published 2024-05-26 Updated: 1950-05-26", Chocolate by Amusing_Lotus is "Published: 1950-06-02", Chicken by Amusing_Lotus is "Published: 1953-09-06", and Sprite Can (That Can Explode at Any Moment) by ccthemagician is "Published: 2025-03-08 Updated: 1955-02-08."
  2. ^ The first, something 'bout the strangers and the noise by MiniNepthys, is dated 2016-06-28, and the same author published two more Ranpoe fics the same month.
  3. ^ silly by @ryartchus on Tumblr is one example.
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