Fukuzawa Yukichi/Edogawa Ranpo
| Pairing | |
|---|---|
| Pairing: | Fukuzawa Yukichi/Edogawa Ranpo |
| Alternative name(s): | Fukuran, Ranfuku, Tantei Soujin, Ranzawa, 福乱、乱福、探偵双人, 후쿠란, 란후쿠, 社乱 |
| Gender category: | BL, mlm, yaoi, slash |
| Fandom: | Bungou Stray Dogs |
| Canonical?: | No |
| Prevalence: | Rarepair |
| Archives: | AO3 tag |
| Other: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Fukuzawa Yukichi/Edogawa Ranpo, or Fukuran, is a rarepair in western Bungou Stray Dogs fandom and a popular ship in eastern fandom. As of June 2024 the ship had 296 works on AO3 and 2297 on Pixiv.
Canon
Fukuzawa and Ranpo’s first interaction occurred in chapter 10 of the manga (episode 9 of the anime), where Fukuzawa is shown to be able to completely control the notoriously unruly Ranpo with a few words and threats of being “unhappy” with him, and motivate him with only an offer of praise. The manga was still new at the time and by the time the anime aired the competing ship RanPoe had been introduced, but in general most shippers credit the “praise scene” as what first sparked their interest in the ship.
During Poe’s introduction (manga chapter 32, anime episode 22) we learn that Fukuzawa was the one who gave Ranpo his glasses and told him the lie that he was an ability user. Ranpo stubbornly refuses to believe that Fukuzawa would lie to him and delays solving the case as long as possible to avoid acknowledging the truth.
In 2015 the light novel “Bungo Stray Dogs: The Untold Origins of the Detective Agency” was released in Japan. No English translation existed until a fan translation by yokohama-drip was completed in October of 2019. The light novel tells the story of how Fukuzawa and Ranpo met and formed the detective agency. In it they’re christened with the duo name “Tantei Soujin” similar to many other ships in the series (Soukoku, Shin Soukoku, Souheki, and so on) and readers were given much more insight into Fukuzawa’s feelings. Toward the end of the novel Fukuzawa realizes that, despite the regrets he carries from his time as an assassin, he still wants to help people, and:
"...to ensure he was not going to make the same mistake again, he needed Ranpo’s strength."
The novel also showed that Fukuzawa’s lie about Ranpo’s glasses was only meant to keep Ranpo from crumbling under the realization that everyone else was much, much less intelligent than him, and not intended to last longer than their first job. It also established that Fukuzawa created the agency to support Ranpo despite his lack of confidence in running an organization.
Later, during the Cannibalism arc, Ranpo is despondent when Fukuzawa is poisoned. When the detectives gather in the hospital he says that the president wants them to pull together, and when the others assume this means Fukuzawa is awake he responds that Fukuzawa isn’t, but he can hear him. When their initial attempts to solve the case peacefully fail, Ranpo disobeys Fukuzawa’s direct orders in an effort to save Fukuzawa’s life. He leads the other agency members to attack the Port Mafia and himself challenges the very physically powerful Chuuya as part of the assault. Ranpo takes full responsibility for the revolt but is only made to wear a bear costume to promote a client’s shopping mall as punishment (a task he doesn’t complete, as he leaves in order to clear Kunikida’s name).
The decay of angels arc depicts their teamwork regularly. Ranpo and Fukuzawa fight at the start of the Decay of Angels arc over whether they should take the case on. This ends with Ranpo storming out of the office, but Fukuzawa assures the other detectives that they’ve decided to take a two-pronged approach: the agency will take on the case, and Ranpo will take the case of the agency’s potential demise.
In chapter 80 Ranpo arrives and rescues all of the captured agency members culminating in “Operation President Rescue” where he and Poe smuggle Fukuzawa out of The Hunting Dogs’ headquarters. Fukuzawa asserts he knew it was Ranpo despite Ranpo being totally covered by baggy clothes and a gas mask. Ranpo offers to solve the case if Fukuzawa gives the word and Fukuzawa responds that he wants the case “destroyed.”
It is uncommon for Ranpo to have dialogue in a scene without mentioning Fukuzawa. In the next scene Ranpo breaks into a news broadcast and plays the original Decay of Angels’ message (featuring Nikolai) he says the video looks good for an amateur effort, then idly wonders if he should shoot a video for Fukuzawa. It is unclear what he intends to record.
Ranpo next goes to speak with Fukuchi Ouchi and Fukuchi observes that Ranpo is jealous of all the time Fukuchi has spent with Fukuzawa, being his childhood friend. Author of the manga and light novels Kafka Asagiri later said in an interview that Ranpo "...views Fukuchi as his rival in love. They are enemies in a love triangle."[1]
It has also been noted that the two of them use very familiar, affectionate pronouns for each other, Fukuzawa choosing "omae" and Ranpo "anata[2]." This is especially interesting from Ranpo as "anata" should not be used with those of superior status.
Fanon
Juggernaut ship Soukoku and its common pair Shin Soukoku notwithstanding, Bungo Stray Dogs ships were uncommon after the second season finished airing. When the third season was released in 2019 fandom was trending toward less open-minded stances on ships. The large age gap between Fukuzawa (45) and Ranpo (26) and the popularity of rival ship RanPoe led to Fukuran being largely forgotten in English-speaking fandom. Prior to the announcement of the 4th season there were only 57 English works for the ship on AO3. Season 4 and 5, which started out with an animated adaptation of Untold Origins and contained Operation President Rescue (and considerably more focus on Fukuzawa besides) created a surge of Fukuran fanworks on AO3, Pixiv, and Twitter.
The majority of shippers prefer Fukuzawa/Ranpo with only about 200 of the works on Pixiv tagged as the reverse. There are several prominent shippers in the Japanese fandom who consider the ship reversible or who prefer Ranpo/Fukuzawa, however, and a similar handful of each in English fandom as well. This became more common with the increasing competence Ranpo displayed over the Decay of Angels arc. Until the 4th season aired, there were no Fukuran works on AO3 tagged with “Top Edogawa Ranpo.”
Though not often discussed, Fukuran has strong Sherlock and Watson overtones. Asagiri himself stated in an interview at Anime Expo 2023 that Ranpo was inspired by stories of Sherlock Holmes, and it’s not a great leap to see that Fukuzawa, a retired military man who is instantly amazed by Ranpo’s abilities despite everyone else finding Ranpo annoying (and who contributes greatly to improving his public image) is comparable to Watson.
English fandom has a generally negative view of the ship. Reasons cited are the aforementioned age gap (18 years 9 months), the fact that they met when Ranpo was underage, and several lines of dialogue and narration with varying levels of translation accuracy. Despite this, the ship has twice failed to make the top 10 in twitter-run “worst ship” polls, generally trailing behind ships with smaller age gaps that compete with Soukoku such as Odazai, DazAku, and Sigzai[3][4]. It has been pointed out even by those who dislike Fukuran that both characters are over 25 in canon and despite personal feelings on the matter the ship isn’t inherently “problematic.”
Japanese fandom has the opposite situation: RanPoe is considered unattractive for being a ship between a foreigner and a Japanese native. In comparison, Fukuran suits multiple BL tropes popular in Japan, not the least of which is smallish childish character/strong protector (see Sebaciel). FukuMori is reasonably popular but can't compete with Fukuran's numbers. Fukuran is the most popular ship for both characters in their pixiv results by a significant amount.
Common Tropes in Fanworks
- Detective Partnership: As the two of them have been together since the start of the agency - and they worked together for around 8 years before we're aware of them recruiting another detective (Kunikida) - a number of works in all languages explore their work together as partnered detectives.
- First Time: Many fanworks explore how their relationship might start, given how long they’ve known each other.
- Established Relationship: Many other fanworks explore their relationship as a well-established, comfortable constant.
- Dom/sub: Fanfics in particular commonly have an aspect of D/s. Interestingly, this is true no matter which character tops.
- Major Character Death: Due at first to the age difference and more recently to the unfolding events in the manga, a portion of works for the ship explore the deaths of the characters (usually Fukuzawa).
Example Fanworks
Fanfic
- loud silence by Lua, in which Ranpo is overwhelmed and Fukuzawa helps.
- Dead on Arrival an anonymous translation of Мертв по прибытии by Tino_Fxi, a cyberpunk Case Fic.
- Bungoutober 2019 chapters 3, 4, and 5 by Anonymous, a short series of drabbles.
- Cloud Nine by Anonymous, a No Powers Police AU.
- There are two kinds of love letters by wolfrayetstar, in which Ranpo sends Fukuzawa a love letter.
- The Principal’s Office by Anonymous, a Teacher/Student School AU.
- my little ribs around you by whorecoded, a PWP.
- a bitter taste by Lua, an introspective piece about Fukuzawa and Ranpo’s relationship through Fukuchi’s eyes.
- the merits of traditional funeral rites by camichuu, a fic in which Ranpo addresses the likelihood that Fukuzawa will die before him.
- Soulblind by wolfrayetstar, a Soulmate AU.
Fanart
- Death and the Maiden and Drunk Fukuzawa by Lex_Dark_
- Young Ranpo and Fukuzawa by Osmoi. Most in the fandom believe this to be official art, however, it can be seen on page 49 of their pixiv log alongside art that creates a story with it. The collection has the Ranpo/Fukuzawa tag, among other ships.
- Fukuzawa and Ranpo Kiss by knst_bnst (account deleted).
- When the Detective Makes a Mistake by yu_ko0220
- Fukuzawa and Ranpo Kiss at the office by Nekoy113 (collection deleted).
- Ranfuku neck kiss, Ranfuku on the floor, and Ranfuku packed in a box, by Otogi021 (twitter often private).
- The cover of Ivy Green's Secret, a doujin by Hirota (twitter often private).
- I serve you this tea (and my whole life) by Alice_lovelast
- Fukuran by 鱼无渊 (account deleted).
Vids
Meta
- Fukuran Romantic Themes Essay a ship manifesto by flaresanimedump.
- the tragedy of Fukuzawa and Ranpo’s relationship by vitasexualiiis.
- Why Fukuzawa is the Hottest BSD Character by flaresanimedump.