The meaning of sunset
This is more obvious in the anime than in the manga, but there always seems to be happening something important when it's twilight or sunset (meaning that the air/sky is covered in orange, yellow and red). A number of things that just happened to be at twilight:- Atsushi meeting Dazai. (day into night)
- Oda's death. (day into night)
- Higuchi taking up arms to save Akutagawa. (day into night)
- The crashing of Moby Dick. The fight between Shin Soukoku and Fitzgerald is actually twilight, but you can't see that due to the dark clouds and rain. (night into day)
- Dead Apple starts at twilight. (day into night)
- The fight between Fukuzawa and Mori during the Cannibalism arc. (day into night)
- Fitzgerald talking with Buchanan and deciding that he doesn't get anything out of him. (unclear)
- The end of season 3. (night into day)
Twilight seems to be a time of change of heart, one in which the life of people is drastically changed. Note that Atsushi's eyes are also colored like the twilight/sunset.
The connection between BSD and Real Life writers
Essentially, Bungo Stray Dogs is Mundane Made Awesome. It turns books and their writers into magic, and the creators of the series have Shown Their Work by relating them, how far off they may seem. This is an ongoing list of similarities and references in Bungo Stray Dogs to real-life authors.
Atsushi Nakajima
Atsushi Nakajima
Cover made for Kadokawa Bunko x Bungo Stray Dogs collaboration.
The real life Nakajima Atsushi is a relatively obscure author. He had an unhappy childhood, much like BSD Atsushi. He also died young. The only reason why Japanese literature courses still talk about him is his most known work: Sangetsuki, or The Moon Above The Mountains
. In it, a man strives to become a poet, and in his obsession with his goal, turns into a tiger after being driven to madness. Now, this Atsushi, being inspired by the author, has the power to, well, turn into a tiger. Atsushi also starts out being nearly driven to madness. He is near death by poverty and considers the opportunity to steal - more about that in the Rashoumon section. The connection his power has with this book is very direct, as in it is the exact same power. However, Atsushi starts out unable to control it. The real Atsushi was very interested in oral and written communication, reactive and planned respectively. This is exactly what Atsushi tries to do in his ways to control it. Cited from this page
, 'In Nakajima's world, to be literate means to experience agony (...)', which is spot on to Atsushi's initial mentality, as he saw his Ability (Abilities are the equivalent of being literate, remember!) as a curse. It continues describing 'which is made even more acute when the inner literate mentality is contained within an outer oral appearance. The tragedy of ‘Sangetsuki’ lies not in the transformation of the hero from literate to oral, but in the incompleteness of the transformation; the hero retains his human mentality even after his physical appearance has been transformed.' If we take 'normal' Atsushi as 'literate' and 'tiger' Atsushi as 'oral' in this sentence, it very well describes Atsushi remaining conscious as a tiger, using this power to achieve his goal. Most of Atsushi's enemies know him as the were-tiger (Akutagawa especially so), and they all target him due to his power - not for his personality, not for who he really is, just because his power is the key to the Reality-Writing Book. This can be likened to the real Atsushi being only known for Sangetsuki and not for the person he was. At one point
he references a sentence from Light, Wind and Dreams from the author he's named after - 'I’ve never regretted anything I’ve done. I’ve only ever regretted the things that I didn’t do.'- Atsushi: I wonder who the author was?
Ryuunosuke Akutagawa
Ryuunosuke Akutagawa
Cover made for Kadokawa Bunko x Bungo Stray Dogs collaboration.
The author Akutagawa Ryuunosuke wrote short stories, the most known being Rashoumon. Rashoumon 's protagonist starts out being near death, starving and contemplating the choice to become a thief (compare Atsushi!). He wants to shelter for the rain and walks to the dilapidated, eponymous Rashoumon, a gate where dead bodies are kept. There, an old woman is pulling out hairs from a dead body. The protagonist is confused, but the old woman says it's justified, because the woman she's pulling out hairs from, was someone who sold snake meat as fish and made her living that way. Now the old woman wanted to make wigs of them in order to make her living. The story ends with the protagonist robbing the old woman of her kimono to make his living. The character Akutagawa has, strictly speaking, the power to control his own clothes. This obviously stems from the conclusion of Rashoumon, as usual. It's also obvious that Rashoumon is a Semantic Superpower, as it looks like he can control it in extreme ways - make it as sharp as a blade, make it steady enough so it can lift him up in the air, etc. It is the power of someone who will and can do anything to survive, (just like Atsushi's!) no matter what he needs to do. The protagonist of Rashoumon was ultimately able to answer the question 'Is stealing justified if it's important for my wellbeing' with 'Yes'. In Dead Apple, when the Abilities get split, Beast Beneath The Moonlight and Rashoumon immediately start fighting, because they have a similar drive to survive.
The real Akutagawa had a banal relationship with religion, saying he can believe in the Devil, but not in God. This was the ground on which his fight with Hawthorne was grown. Akutagawa's frequent coughing references the real Akutagawa having pleurisy
. Both of them had sisters, and this pose is a hidden reference as well. Both of them like figs and dislike bathhouses and dogs. Doppo Kunikida
Doppo Kunikida
Cover made for Kadokawa Bunko x Bungo Stray Dogs collaboration. (Musashino)
The real Kunikida Doppo died young, but not without leaving a lot of precious works and ideas behind. He is considered the creator of a new branch of realism: naturalism. His stories contain themes found in naturalism, stating that You Cannot Fight Fate. The only possible way you could Screw Destiny is by committing suicide. This is very interesting because the character Kunikida works together with suicide enthusiast Dazai. The Kunikida in BSD has a very strict nature, is a Control Freak and has no time for joking around. This not only reflects them both being a Virgo, this also obviously reflects the naturalism that the real Kunikida started. Naturalism is, like said previously, a branch of realism - as in that character Kunikida's words are so real that they become real. Plus, luckily, Kunikida has the maturity and mind to use it in the right way.
In the anime, Kunikida is seen playing a huge role in the Azure King arc. The character who sets off this entire arc is, ultimately, a girl named Sasaki Nobuko. In real life, Sasaki Nobuko was a woman had a relationship with the real Kunikida. It, however did not last long and Sasaki's mother even told her to perform suicide instead of marry him, but she left him after he ran out of money. The entire deal made him very depressed, similar to what happened in the Azure Messenger arc.
Ranpo Edogawa
Ranpo is notably the only character in the entire franchise who is named after an author but does not have a viable Ability, one that is derived from a work of his namesake. The author he is named after, greatly shaped the detective genre, this particular brand of fiction. The genre is known for having one protagonist, the detective, it centers on, who often (but not always) have a sidekick. The detective has to crack the case using their own smarts, because often, they are not helped by any outside sources. One great cop-out to resolve the story would be that A Wizard Did It, because then, the entire sleuthing work feels useless to the reader and the explanation by the detective as to how it went is a large cathartic moment in the story. Reading all of this makes it more obvious as to why Ranpo does not have an Ability, relying on purely his own intellect to handle cases.
Junichirou Tanizaki (also, Naomi and Haruno)
Junichirou Tanizaki
Cover made for Kadokawa Bunko x Bungo Stray Dogs collaboration. (A Fool's Love)
The real Junichirou Tanizaki wrote books about Japan's fascination with the west. His books were very different, as some were controversial because of the way they described sexuality, whereas others were of much calmer sentiment. One of them, Naomi (or A Fool's Love) is quite literally represented in Naomi Tanizaki, Junichirou's sister. In old times, Japanese women kept their hair short, or if it was naturally long, in a nice updo in order to show their neck, which was considered attractive. Having it loose was a taboo. However, Naomi stood out because she did exactly that. The Naomi that is featured in BSD, has long, wispy hair in a reference to that. She greatly responds with the character she's named after, in particular, her BroCon. This nicely encapsulates the sometimes-uncomfortable themes Tanizaki wrote about, as there are still fans who are divided about her. In contrast, Haruno Kirako, who is from the same book, is none of that. She is coy, innocent and smart - a complete Foil to Naomi. These two characters were used by author Tanizaki to display the difference in women, as well as to show that the protagonist's obsession with Naomi may not be a good thing after all. On the topic of Light Snow, this Ability can be said to show the other side of Tanizaki's writing. Light Snow is called this way because it not only projects illusions, but also snow. In English, the book is translated as The Makioka Sisters because 'Sasameyuki' is a Japanese concept that cannot be translated well in English without captivating the same feeling as it has in Japanese. Light Snow corresponds with the writing style of Tanizaki, being gentle and evocative. Of course, every author wants their readers to get an image based on the written word, and Tanizaki happened to succeed in doing that. Thus, Light Snow manifests itself as catching other people in illusions before they know it's happening.
Osamu Dazai
Osamu Dazai
Cover made for Kadokawa Bunko x Bungo Stray Dogs collaboration.
Dazai resembles his real-life counterpart more than you'd think. There are obvious things like both being friends with Oda Sakunosuke and Sakaguchi Ango, drinking at Lupin and having lives revolving around suicide, but there are several lesser-known things that correspond. A scene in the Manga, for example (which was Adapted Out in the Anime), shows him toying around with a dog. After Atsushi says: 'You're not very good with dogs, are you?', Dazai reacts with: 'Dogs are much harder to deal with than humans'. The real Dazai also hated dogs, so much so that he even wrote a 17-page story about it. His rivalry with Chuuya is based on the real Dazai's dislike of the poet, and their nicknames they give each other stem from reality. The real Dazai also had bad luck with women, was involved in illegal activities (the communist party in his case), was lazy and didn't want to work, and was bad at cooking/cleaning. He, however, liked to paint and made a self-portrait, which was referenced here
◊. They also share a familiar pose
◊. As for the book his Ability is called after, there are also some hints as to how the book translated into the power and into his life. It is a quasi-autobiography (as he makes use of an Author Avatar in it) written at the end of Dazai's life. It is a story that makes you feel like there is no hope when you are done reading it. The protagonist is basically an Author Avatar, that resembles BSD Dazai as well. The Ability is a manifestation of this sentiment, by nullifying other abilities. As a bonus, the book references Dostoyevski's book Crime and Punishment at some point, which gave fruit to the two characters being rivals as well.
Akiko Yosano
Akiko Yosano
- They are both feministic, and controversial in their way of work. The poem Thou Shalt Not Die was highly discussed because it was of anti-war sentiment. And while the character Yosano got in some fights (versus Kajii or Chuuya), she doesn't necessarily like it. Her past may have to do with this.
- They both had connections with Mori Ougai; the real Yosano even asked him to name her twin daughters.
Kyouka Izumi
Kyouka Izumi
Cover made for Kadokawa Bunko x Bungo Stray Dogs collaboration. (The Holy Man of Mount Koya)
The name 'Kyouka Izumi' was a pen name, just like several other ones, as it is customary in Japan. What, however, stands out, is that 'Kyouka Izumi' is a feminine name, whereas the real author was male (and named Kyotarou Izumi). The feminine pen name might have been the inspiration to make Kyouka a girl. Izumi Kyouka's works are often said to be that of a surrealist sentiment, as it differed greatly from the writing of the other authors of his time. He preferred tales of the supernatural. This can be likened to Kyouka's Ability being the most traditionally supernatural, as it summons a phantom. Summoning ghosts and phantoms are not abnormal in the aforementioned tales of the supernatural because it is the most direct link to something not from this world.
Both incarnations of Kyouka lost their mom young (around and about nine years), which left a big blow on their young minds. They both try (or in the real author's version, tried) to honor their mother in their work. They both underwent tutelage of a certain Ozaki Kouyou and took on their mentor's style of work. The real Kyouka Izumi collected everything that had to do with rabbits (even though he was born in the year of the Rooster, the sign opposite the Rabbit). There is a statue of the real Kyouka with a rabbit in his hands
◊. Chuuya Nakahara
Chuuya Nakahara
Cover made for Kadokawa Bunko x Bungo Stray Dogs collaboration.
First off, the real Chuuya was also called by his first name as well more than his last name. It is unknown why that is, but there is a certain memorial museum in which he is consistently referred to by his first name. There went some thought in making his power gravity-related. Quoting
from the collaboration with the memorial museum: "He'd surely be rough, but burdened with sorrow, outrageously strong, cool, with a black hat, a little short, driving the story and the readers — I thought that he’d be a character as described above. However, he did not easily appear so as I wished in the story. The hardest struggle was deciding what type of Ability he'd have. Not flames, nor ice. Not lightning, nor water. Having said so, it wouldn't be a quiet Ability either, such as mind-reading or clairvoyance. Destroying his enemies with violent force, yet tranquil in some way, with a weight that settled in the heart, merciless, passing through all defenses to pierce into his opponent—he should have such an Ability. After an extremely long, immense struggle and examination, I reached the conclusion of "Gravity". It could only be gravity. The Manipulator of Gravity cloaked in black, Nakahara Chuuya. In the work, he drew the story forward with his rich personality and advanced as I wished. The joint fight with the genius Ability user Dazai Osamu, whom he's at loggerheads with, has become an eminent battle within the work. He will continue playing an active part from now on". This was because the poet he is named after, wrote poems that spoke to the heart of people. In the same link, there is a comment made about how gravity is from the weight of words. 'Being able to control the heaviness or lightness of words at will……perhaps we can say that is the connecting point between the real poet Nakahara Chuuya and the manipulator of gravity Nakahara Chuuya.' Gin Akutagawa
- She is named after the main character in Akutagawa's story O-Gin. In that story, the Christian note O-Gin throws away an afterlife in heaven to join her brother in hell. This can be likened to Gin doing anything to stay with her family, even if it means joining the mafia.
Hirotsu Ryuurou
- The team of special ops he leads, the Black Lizards, references The Black Lizard.
Ozaki Kouyou
- In Golden Demon, a beautiful young woman named Miya tells her fiance, Kanichi, that she is breaking off their engagement so she can marry a banker’s son who has wooed her with a big diamond ring. Enraged, Kanichi kicks Miya to the ground and vows to forsake humanity. Kanichi goes on to become a cold-hearted moneylender and Miya’s marriage to the rich man does not go well. Sound familiar?
Kyuusaku Yumeno
- The original writer wrote a Doorstopper about science-fiction themes, a protagonist in an asylum having an Ontological Mystery called Dogra Magra. It's the source of Q's...bizarre nature.
Others
Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The real Fyodor liked mind games in his works as well, the plot of many stories being 'gambits upon gambits'.
- They both seem to have a lot of knowledge about human psychology.
- They both have a connection to Gogol, Pushkin, and Poe.
- They are both good at gambling (the real-life Fyodor had a gambling addiction).
- He is anemic, and the real Dostoevsky died from an internal lung bleeding.
- Both of them got arrested and detained once.
- Both were regarded as extremely dangerous at some point.
Ivan Goncharov
- The real author was also a censorist (one who censors stuff unfit for public), mirroring his animesona being unable to feel unhappiness.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
- His ability and name is a reference to "The Scarlet Letter: A Romance", an 1850 work of fiction in a historical setting, written by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. Throughout the book, Hawthorne explores themes of legalism, sin, and guilt. This likely inspired the character's religious nature and him becoming Fyodor's assassin over his guilt over Mitchell's condition.
Kyougoku Natsuhiko
- The works of the author he's named after deal with Youkai, Onmyouji, demons, and possessions.
Lucy Maud Montgomery
- BSD Lucy is able to create an imaginary world of her own, ruled by her "friend" Anne. Said ability left her shunned and ostracized by everyone she knew, so she had an unhappy childhood. The real-life L. M. Montgomery also grew up friendless and lonely. Her mother died of tuberculosis when she was 21 months old, and her father was too overcome with grief to cope with her, so she was sent to live with her strict grandparents in Cavendish. In that time period, it was frowned upon to openly shower your child with love and affection, as the Victorian notion of parenting of the time was to ensure that children were taught to be unquestioningly respectful and obedient to the point of being completely self-effacing. Lucy often created imaginary friends and worlds in order to cope with her loneliness, which she claims to have played a part in cultivating her writing and creativity.
