got a bit of a friendgroup going

some physical descriptions down below that i based my designs on (since Virgo and Nemo don't have canon designs)

Parallel between Gab from 55 Minutes and Atsushi in Dead Apple

Happy Birthday my sweet Gab!

(Sorry, but I won't translate that whole thing right now, i'm quite busy so maybe later. Meanwhile if you wanna read how MUCH I LOVE Gab and WHY I do, you can translate in your own or wait until I do so ♥ )

Hoy 08 de febrero se celebra el natalicio del escritor Jules Gabriel Verne. Nació en 1828 en Nantes, Francia, y falleció el 24 de marzo de 1905 en Amiens, Francia con 77 años de edad. Fue conocido como uno de los padres fundadores de la ciencia ficción y la aventura literaria. Comenzó sus estudios de derecho, pero su verdadera pasión era la escritura. Era apasionado por los viajes y la exploración, lo que se reflejó en muchas de sus obras. Aunque nunca realizó grandes viajes durante su vida, investigaba extensamente para sus novelas y utilizaba esa información para crear mundos imaginarios convincentes, y también fueron sus libros con los que aprendí a leer. Leía sus palabras, sus letras me sacaban la voz incluso antes de que las comprendiese.

Quien diría que el personaje ficticio del que me fuera a encular fuera el homónimo de este sujeto. Que vueltas da la vida.

Como ya todos saben, (el nombre de mi perfil lo indica), estoy perdidamente enamoradísima del personaje de Gab de la novela ligera 55 minutos perteneciente a Bungou Stray Dogs. Cuando leí sus primeras apariciones, me pareció un morrillo miadito y castrocito, bastante energético, un sol travieso, probablemente lo que era la definición de un niño normal (cof, si ignoramos que era ladrón)

Y entonces falleció.

Asagiri nunca ha tenido le ha tenido miedo de crear personajes, que te encariñes con ellos 2 minutos y luego matarlos (cof, las banderas de stormbringer). Antes de morir, Gab y Atsushi tuvieron un pequeño momento de entendimiento y conexión, pensé que Gab en realidad era un niño muy bueno y dulce, pero entonces murió en agonía junto con sus camaradas que tanto apreciaba.

Y entonces revivió.

Yo si le llore a Gab su muerte, así que cuando lo vi vivito haciéndole un “Objeto o pastel?” a Dazai yo quede “QUE” y me enoje. Me enoje porque Gab me hizo creer que hubo una conexión real, me hizo llorar, sentí que jugó con mis sentimientos pero como ahi dicen “Pos ya que” seguí leyendo por que ahora tenía saber cómo fue que el morrillo estaba vivo y mas que nada, la necesidad de saber “¿POR QUÉ?” Las hojas pasaron, la historia pasó, y la pelea llegó. Saben, las crisis existenciales son algo terrible y no se las deseo a nadie, te hacen cuestionarte a ti mismo, la vida y tu humanidad. Es algo con lo que he sufrido por mucho tiempo. Eran tragos amargos que me pasaba a regañadientes, pues nunca estaba totalmente satisfecha. Cuando Gab menciona no ser humano (y que en realidad es una habilidad), note que eso no le generaba alguna crisis o inseguridad (a diferencia de Chuuya), de hecho, pese a no ser humano el SABIA que tenia humanidad, sabía que estaba VIVO y su instinto de supervivencia estaba muy marcado. Muchas veces en mi vida me he sentido atrapada en un bucle, congelada en un cubo de agua, lentamente esperando a que el día inicie y que el día acabe, derritiéndome. Aun así, siendo que yo he tenido mil veces más libertad que ese sujeto (pues en realidad no es un niño, tiene la habilidad de cambiar de edad por lo que es más seguro que sea adulto, solo dios sabrá lo que es) y aun así, aun así, Gab se aferraba mil veces más a la vida que yo. Me pregunto si se habría sentido miserable al tener que repetir el mismo bucle tantas veces solo para mantenerse con vida. ¿Habrá alguna vez añorado más? ¿Habría alguna vez mirado el rostro de sus amigos y sentir que ya estaba harto de sus rostros? ¿Alguna vez había sentido el deseo de simplemente dejar el tiempo correr y morir…?

No.

No, no lo pensó. Estoy segura que ese hombre no lo pensó ni por 3 segundos. Durante la pelea, hubo un momento en el que Atsushi le pide que acabe con todo esto, que acabe con el bucle, que ya había vivido lo suficiente, solo así el resto del mundo podría ser libre.

“Estoy aquí, estoy vivo ahora mismo, ¡nunca será suficiente! Nunca habrá suficiente de respirar, pensar, escuchar, hablar— nunca suficiente de estar con amigos. No habrá un momento en el que diga "hey, creo que estoy bien" y tu no eres diferente”

Cuando Gab dijo eso yo ya estaba llorando bien fuerte. En bungou, hay muchas muertes, si. Algunos no alcanzan a decir mucho, algunos fueron sacrificios, seguido hay llantos por la muerte de otros, pero son pocas las veces en la que el personaje está rogando por su propia vida, gritando desesperado que no quiere morir. Hay muchas personas que creen que vale más morir que perder la dignidad, el honor o la libertad, que sin ellas la vida no tiene valor. También hay personas encadenadas en el aburrimiento, sin libertad, deseando morir.

Entonces Gab grito:

“¡No necesito ser libre! ¡Quiero vivir! ¡Quiero vivir!”

Y yo lloré aún más. Gab no hizo nada malo, no puedes obligar a nadie a sacrificarse por otros, ¿A él que iba a importarle? Él sabía lo era estar no-vivo, el verdadero vacío oscuro y solitario, el verdadero no existir.

Su único pecado fue vivir.

Él amaba vivir. No le importaba que siempre viera las mismas caras, no le importaba repetir la rutina, no le importaba tener que defender su vida sin descanso… él amaba vivir. ¡Amaba vivir! Oh dios, ¿Cuántos de ustedes se atreverían a gritar con esa misma fuerza y determinación, sin dudas y con seguridad “QUIERO VIVIR”? Mi vida no es terrible como muchas otras, incluso cuando vivía con aún más comodidades, gritar eso se sentiría como una mentira. Me gustaba empatizar con personajes desgraciados que no soportaban vivir, que para ellos el oxigeno no tenia sabor, nunca me había sentido atraída a un personaje que quisiera vivir, tampoco había visto a una persona o personaje querer vivir como el. Porque una cosa es querer vivir por las cosas que anhelas hacer, y aparte está el querer vivir por amar vivir.

En mis early teens como dicen los gringos, hubo momentos en los que directamente pensé “Quiero morir”, pero gracias al apoyo que recibí de muchas personas de mi alrededor, esas palabras se desvanecieron en el aire y decidí que seguiría viviendo, que crecerá y haria cosas, conocería gente y crearía algo. El problema es que habiendo decidido eso, yo aun no sabia como se dice “Quiero vivir” ¿Con que cara o sentimiento podría hacer eso? ¿Cuál sería el sabor de esas palabras? ¿Cómo serían?. El mundo me enseño a decir “Quiero morir”. Las personas con sus lenguas me deletrearon cada consonante y vocal, pero ahora quería aprender palabras nuevas…¿Pero como?

“¡Quiero vivir!” grito Gab otra vez hasta su muerte.

Cuando termine de leer, estaba hecha un desastre. No solo por que murió el personaje del que mas me había encariñado, no solo por que el personaje que mas merecia vivir no fue rescatado, no por que murió con una sonrisa como si pensara “Fue bueno vivir”, si no tambien por que yo quería ser como el. Ese momento se sintió como haber encontrado el sol de mis días, el calor que derretiría el hielo y me dejaria ser libre, mantendría mi corazon calido y latiendo, en ese instante, en ese instante fue tan claro como el agua, en ese instante supe como era un verdadero “Quiero vivir”.

Feliz Cumpleaños Gab. Gracias por decir esas palabras.

// spoilers for BSD 55 Minutes

My favorite thing about 55 Minutes is definitely how 4 million people's lives were at stake which is a perfectly good reason for Atsushi to fight Gab but he just kinda forgot about that and really went "can you please die so I can save Dazai-san" holy shit Atsushi I'd be mad too if I were Gab 😭😭

More tiny guests!! both requests and some I just thought of! I absolutely had to make Gab and Wells when someone asked for them

Gently handing them to you be nice to them (NO chewing)

(asks and animal choice ↓)

@fandomrouletteburrito, @rachi-roo, thank you! <3

Gab is a sea otter for: sea, floats, has special rock (island), needed friends not to lose himself, breaks open shells

Wells is a puma/cougar because of 'The Island of Doctor Moreau' by HG Wells (it's medical horror so watch out) for the puma-woman hybrid that killed Dr Moreau.

Yosano is a honey badger (please look at this video, warning for swearing) because they're metal as fuck and don't die from poison.

Atsushi. I tried to make him something else but I couldn't think of anything good and he had a whole arc about accepting the tiger. I let him have this one.

Ranpo is cat for Fukuzawa's sake (warning: this might actually make Fukuzawa explode)

Fukuzawa might hold the "lone wolf" title, but he's also the chill guy who has taken in all the other ADA members. He gets capybara'd.

Mori is a chipmunk here because we were talking about how they actually are omnivores and then I found this picture and couldn't stop laughing. Sometimes I'm shallow like that. (I'm open to suggestions for more fitting mammals with a matching Elise if you have one jhsdgfhjh)

and Sigma is a rabbit because he's nervous and jumpy yet fierce and inexplicably just has that vibe 🐇

hello! hi i’m back! sorry i haven’t posted these in a while ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

BSD and loneliness

Loneliness and what it does to a person, as well as how far the attempts to counteract it can go, what they can and can't do, is an overarching theme in Asagiri's writing, and many of the stories portrayed can basically boil down to "this person is suffering because they are really, really lonely", which I love. Here I want to focus more on loneliness of the "existential" type, the one that's almost intrinsic to someone and stems from who they are rather than whom they do or don't have around them, because, in my mind, it makes for great tragic stories.

Dazai

He is the most obvious example, and probably one of the loneliest characters I've ever come across. Able to comprehend everything, yet unable and from a point onward unwilling to be comprehended, no one can understand his mind, and even those "like him" who might, like Fyodor, won't understand his emotions. First of all, of course, he controls them too well. Secondly, although I do think there are moments he shows a need for connection, he does that from the safety of his usual persona (for example, hiding behind his usual teasing), so that, in the mind of others, there is no clear distinction between the two. Thirdly, the awareness he has of his own emotions is probably very low, since he's learned that the only way to survive and make sense of himself and the world is to rationalise. There are meagre chances for Dazai the human being with emotions to be less lonely, until he chooses to let himself be seen and be vulnerable, and, at this point, it would probably be extremely hard for him to actually practice that, even if he did make the decision.

Dazai does understand that it's better for people to be with one another rather than alone. It's clear even in Stormbringer, when his mental health is arguably at its lowest. It's clear in Dark Era, when he says that if everyone around him died, it would be a form of suicide (I'm using these examples even though there are clearer ones because these are probably the times he was doing the worst). But he doesn't believe that he can have true companionship, and is also being taught to believe that attachment is a weakness, that loneliness is where he belongs.

And then there's Oda, who, while admittedly unable to understand his mind, comprehended exactly this loneliness of his. He and Ango both did, and, as per the light novel, they could not manage to interfere, but were by him as he experienced it. And yet he barely knew that was the case, until Oda made it clear, and then the one person who he now knew could see him died.

But what people rarely comment on is how much capacity to care for someone Dazai had. There was one person, the first person who saw beyond the unpredictable Demon Prodigy, the first person who acknowledged his loneliness - didn't even manage to break through it, just acknowledged it and treated him with care, and that was enough for Dazai to care about him as much as he did, and that is heartbreaking in itself.

Lastly, but perhaps the most telling point of all is Asagiri himself admitting that he never knows what Dazai is thinking. I don't want to get too into meta, but being the creation of someone, and still not being understood by your own creator is possibly the loneliest position I can think of.

Verlaine

My second favourite example, because here we have someone who was loved, and he knew that he was loved, but it wasn't enough to change things.

Verlaine's loneliness is objective, in the sense that he really is fundamentally different than those around him, he really is not biologically human. That loneliness of his, combined with the hatred that it fostered, was what led him to seek Chuuya - he thought that the only person who could understand him was one who shared that nature, and incorrectly believed that Chuuya would think so as well. He needed Chuuya, and thought that Chuuya would need him in he same way. He was, however, wrong, because Chuuya, being uncertain of his humanity instead of certain of his inhumanity, put great effort into being among other people instead of discarding them.

Rimbaud knew Verlaine's nature since the beginning. He accepted it, he cared for him and loved him regardless. He knew that it made him suffer and was there for him, and he did try to empathise with him, while knowing that it was impossible, because the gap was not one that could be mended. In Verlaine's case, no love could be enough to change his nature, a nature that made him look at the world with hate, including the person who loved him. To a person who feels like they should never have been born, even the sincerest "I'm glad you were born" would only cause pain, until it was too late.

Of course, that's not to say that he actually hated Rimbaud - it's very apparent from the ending of Stormbringer that he cared about him, and that he did appreciate all the efforts he made for him. I don't know if you want to call it love, but it's the closest thing he had the capacity for. But, at the end of the day, nothing that Rimbaud would do could change the fact that Verlaine perceived the gap between himself and the world as unbridgeable. Yet still, he was affected. Nothing could really change, but Rimbaud reached him somehow, although the ending couldn't have been different.

Shibusawa

Here we have an example of someone who shared a similar kind of loneliness, but never had anything to counteract it. He's portrayed as comparable to Dazai and Fyodor: smarter than everyone around him, detached and bored. But, in contrary to Dazai, he isn't shown having any meaningful relationship that could challenge that. This difference is recognised by Dazai, who tells him to his face that he wouldn't think like that if he had any friends. This is a "playful" way to put it, but in reality Dazai simultaneously empathises with his point of view and discards it, because he now knows better than to view people the way Shibusawa does.

I haven't read the light novel, I'm just basing this on the movie, so I can't say much more, but I think his character works as a good point of contrast between people who still try to find "meaning" and those like him, who have decided it's not worth it.

Curious to see where Fyodor, the other so-called superhuman, will fall in regards to this loneliness, but I think we don't know enough about him and how he actually feels in order not to grasp in the dark.

(part 2 about the less existential type of loneliness if i gather enough coherent thoughts)

Enemies being forced to third wheel during arguments is my favorite genre of sskk

Delusional take: season 5 is 6 episodes of Stormbringer and 6 episodes of manga adaptation

do you know how insane i would’ve been if this was a short chapter and it left off with fyodor saying his ability had taken over his body as a cliffhanger and we didn’t find out that i was all a ruse until a month later.

11:05

If I had a nickel for every time Akutagawa told the enemy that had defeated him to kill him because death is what he deserves for being weak I'd have two nickels which is downright sad

Silly Gab

I love my silly terrorist baby boy

cocky bastard

Nobody cares about Bungou Stray Dogs: 55 Minutes and I will make it everyone’s problem. (Spoilers for the manga, Dead Apple, Dark Era, Fifteen and Strombringer).

I love this light novel. It’s like one of the only ones light novels I actually care about, and you should to if you care about world building on BSD.

But nobody has read it so I have decided to write some fun facts and food for thoughts that the synopsis and summaries can’t make it justice. Also yes, all those works are mentioned or connected to 55 Minutes.

Firstly, I want to point out how Atsushi’s transformation is described:

“He visualize a tiger… the complete opposite of his weak self… Like night cooling the ground, the frailty hidden deep down inside Atsushi grew until it was sinisterly ferocious. The tiger was not of this world. It only existed within him. It was his arrogance and cowardice, his pride and sense of shame. The more he tired to hide his weakness, the more exposed it became… His skin corrugated as his bones started to creak strangely.”

I just love how despite this taken place after the Guild attacked, he still consider himself weak, a coward, and needs someone to help him.

Europe, in average, has more skill users than Japan, and using the war they manufactured a lot of weapons. Nowadays, a lot of those weapons seem to be hidden or in the governments possession. 

Victor Hugo, Shakespeare and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe are all canon, they are all Transcendents (just like Rimbaud), they participated on the war, and he fought and caused more casualties at once in the entire history.

H.G. Wells is also a character in the story, she is an ability user that can send the memories of someone 55 minutes to the past and only once, and she also participated on the War and created a weapon of mass destruction. Which is what most people are fighting for in the story.

Apparently Dazai knows how to control his heart beat because of his suicide attempts… know he does it to be a spy.

Andre Gide is also mentioned in the novel and they are partially part of why one of the villains, the Colonel, it’s obsessed with getting a secret weapon. By the end of the light novel, they were trying to piece together Colonel’s story and that it matches, only to find nothing, because the Mimic attack is hidden to the public and cover the event completely, which Dazai of course says so the ADA stops looking for it, since the government just won’t let them. Only for Atsushi to ask “do you know anything about them?” WHICH HURT MY SOUL WHEN I FIRST READ IT.

Dazai famously gets stabbed on this novel, and it’s so noticeable and impressive because he didn’t predicated it at all. The ADA had to make their own plan to rescue his ass. (And this is important to show that they can solve a case without his help).

It’s implied that Dazai is not the only ability user that has a nullified ability.

If an ability user has a to-the-touch ability (Fyodor) or one that doesn’t turn off (Fukuzawa) and they are dead, their ability cannot be used, but abilities can used on them. So if Dazai dies, Yosano can use her ability because he is dead, and like IRL, there’s a time in which people can still be brought back even if they are dead.

The main reason why I wanted to read 55 Minutes was because of Jules Verne and his relationship with Gab (his ability who obtained consciousness).Verne’s ability is Mysterious Island, in which he gains the ability of any user that dies on Standard Island (where the events of the light novel take place). Gab is what happened when someone abuses their own abilities and said ability mutates and grow. 

Jules Verne was someone who suffered in the war, his parents died and they did everything to stop the War and suffering of others. He met Wells long after the war was over, and they actually met because they were stopping a terrorist attack on the island Verne swore to protect, not only because it was part of his ability, but because it gave him a purpose.

Jules Verne, after his parents died, joined an organization to stop the war when he was around 12-15 years old. They were named the Seven Traitors. They stopped the war by kidnapping a bunch of world leaders so they signed peace treaties to stop the war… and it worked. Once the war was over, they disappeared essentially and they put Verne in charge of guarding the island. He was fine with it, because those years he spent planning with the Traitor, they all became friends. And with no family, and with the knowledge that his friends were safe, it gave him a purpose.

He is pretty similar to Sigma in that way with DOA. They got attached to a group and were put on a place that gave them a purpose. 

The difference is that Verne had the ability to steal the abilities of anyone that died in his island, and that would be his downfall. During Wells and Verne’s plan, she died and he was able to use her ability so she wouldn't die next time, and the problem was to that, in his next try, not everyone was safe, people still got injured. So he continued to go back, and something unexpected happen. The found out that Wells’ and his own ability grew every time he used them. He was able to travel more than 55 minutes to the past. So he started to go back in time over and over again, in part to save Wells and the people he cared about, but it got to the point he tried to go back in time enough that he could stop the War itself. That would be good in theory but the island got free will, and as it grew stronger he overpowered Verne, and eventually took over his body.

I have wanted to read this because this could happen to Atsushi at any time, if their abilities get free will. Which sadly they are. Verne's ability was Standard Island, but he got a name Gab. Atsushi's ability name is Beast Underneath The Moonlight. And we see this struggle with Verlaine and Chuuya on Fifteen and specially Stormbringer. They struggle to keep their sense of humanity, and the separation of them as people and as abilities. 

Alongside this, I want you to remember the war was 13 years ago, Jules, Gab and Verne and the entire island have being on a time-loops for over a decade. 

Something important I want to point out: Atsushi didn't fight Gab, it was only Byakko (the white tiger). During the whole battle, Atsushi just let Byakko took over, and defeated him. And most importantly Gab is talking to it. He said:

“I’ve been conscious ever since my master, Verne, controlled this body- but I couldn’t say anything. My voice reached no one. I was neither alive nor dead. I was just alone in lukewarm darkness, wondering who I was.”

(Which sounds kinda familiar if you have read Stormbringer)

There’s also an interesting parallel to the themes of DEAD APPLE: the connections of souls, abilities and the reason to live. “Gifts are lodged deep inside the human soul. You shouldn’t remove them” Which is interesting and notorious since Shibusawa and Verne NEED to kill the users to obtain their abilities.

ALSO, IMPORTANT: Even if Gab is on control, Verne is still conscious inside of the body. He just can’t reach anyone at all. Except, curiously, Atsushi. I wonder why (I have theories, but nothing is confirmed)?

Also @yarrayora here’s your “Bungou Stray Gods can be canon” evidence:

“I think a lot of skill users believe their skill is part of them” Atsushi said as if answering his own question “But maybe they’re wrong. Maybe they come from somewhere else and stick to us. Maybe they’re something we can’t understand… I don’t really know how to put it into words, but that’s how I feel.”

Atsushi, at the end of the events, thinks back to Verne and Gab, wonders if Verne and the Seven Traitors acted like the ADA, and maybe that’s why Gab joined the same group of people while stuck on the time loops, so maybe he could experience what Verne felt with the Traitors; and if Gab ever had true friends that he could have ended differently.

What do you think of the theory that Dazai’s ability is unusual in terms of having no conditions and being always on because it was given to him via the Book?

To be honest, I don't know. I think any idea on the potential origins of Dazai's ability are possible at this point, and there must be some kind of connection to the Book... he just seems to know too much about it.

At the same time, I honestly kind of like it if his ability is just weird and there is no real explanation for it. We know abilities can result in some weird expressions, and that odd instances due to them occur every once in awhile naturally. Plus, in a series that emphasizes the unpredictability and absurdity of the universe, I think it's kind of neat if Dazai's ability just came about naturally. Sort of like a rare mutation irl. (I know there will probably be something special about it tbh but I think it's just a neat idea).

I mean, to be quite real here, we still don't know how abilities come about in the first place (they're likely triggered by stress or trauma, but how does one end up with the potential to develop one in the first place?), or what they are really. I personally feel it fits more with the themes of the story if they are random and spontaneous, and it is the people within the world who assign value to them (whether for good or for ill).

...did this... actually answer your question?