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sorcerersandskillusers · 4 months

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I want to talk about one of the most terrifying and interesting bsd characters who almost no fan remembers.

This character nearly tore down the ADA without ever getting involved herself, yet the entire fandom has ignored her because of her terrible anime adaptation.

Who am I talking about?

Nobuko Sasaki

If you haven't read Dazai Osamu's Entrance Exam, then you probably don't even know who this character is, in the anime she is watered down to the lovesick girlfriend of an actual villain, and you probably dismissed her immediately. But in the light novel, we get to see how dangerous and cunning she really is, to the point she nearly gets the better of Dazai and almost causes the ADA to be shut down. (Fukuzawa says he would have closed the agency if they hadn't caught her)

In terms of intelligence I'd put her on the same level as Mori, just slightly below the super human genius characters i.e. Dazai, Fyodor and Ranpo

The Azure Apostle

For those who don't remember, Sasaki was the Azure Apostle, a mysterious figure who challenged the agency with several horrifying cases, which would all lead to mass casualties if the agency failed to stop them. These were; uncovering an underground organ smuggling operation (which the agency failed to stop and which massively hurt their reputation) stopping a bombing of Yokohama port which could have killed hundreds of people, and preventing a commercial aeroplane from crashing into the city (this was not included in the anime)

Each of the people, who committed these crimes, had no Idea they were being manipulated and thought it was their own idea the whole time. There was no evidence that anyone else had been involved at all, and the agency had no way to connect her to any of the crimes. And she even makes the genius move of framing Dazai, the mysterious new member with suspicious knowledge of the underworld and a hidden past, as the true culprit.

In fact, she only made one mistake, challenging Dazai. If Dazai had been basically anyone else, they would have been cornered and arrested, but since Dazai's mind works on a level even master strategists can't imagine, he was able to turn the tables on her.

But even after Dazai sees through her plans, the ADA still has to act exactly the way she wants them too and stop the plane crash. Even when they know they're being manipulated, they still have to do exactly what she wanted.

Finally, after Dazai and Kunikida confront her and get her to admit to being behind all those crimes, even then they are powerless to stop her.

Even after being involved with so many massive crimes, Sasaki herself hadn't done anything illegal, so within the law the ADA is completely powerless to stop her.

They can't arrest her, and if they try then the agency will be put in even more danger as will many innocent lives. She has completely trapped the ADA, and even Dazai in a choice to follow the law and let her go or take justice into their own hands and prove they will stoop as low as she did.

In the end, there she has them in a perfect deadlock, let her continue her mission, or kill her themselves. Both are bad outcomes for the ADA.

In the end, Dazai has her killed by using a third party (Rokuzo) to shoot her, so the agency can't be blamed for her murder, though this ends her plans it deeply scars Kunikida and shakes his resolve in his ideals.

The trauma from this event still haunts Kunikida to this day, we see that when he is affected by Q's curse, Sasaki is who he sees.

So thats the Azure Apostle, a terrifying master mind who nearly brought down the Armed Detective Agency, but now lets look at the other side of this character.

Nobuko Sasaki Herself

We know several things about Sasaki as a character and her history from the light novel. That she was a brilliant criminal psychologist and was internationally recognised despite being so young

,that she was the ex-lover of the Azure King and the real mastermind behind his plans, and that she had very little motivation of her own.

That's not meant to be an insult to the character, she says herself that she never really had much direction in life, even with her incredible intelligence she never really had anything she wanted to achieve.

But the Azure King was the opposite, he had powerful drive and strong ideals, he wanted to punish criminals who couldn't be touched by the law and when he failed to change the law as a bureaucrat, she offered him an alternative.

A very important thing here is that neither of them were manipulating or forcing the other into this path, as far as we see they genuinely loved each other, each providing something the other couldn't, Sasaki her mind and the Azure King his drive.

When the Azure king died, Sasaki had no path of her own to follow, so she simply kept following his, even though she doesn't seem to have really cared about his cause.

All of this creates a very unique character, you can't say she was driven by revenge, because she wasn't really driven at all. It's more like she was running on momentum, she had chosen a path to follow and could not stop even though there was nothing pushing her down it any more.

She's a perfect antithesis of Kunikida and was the best possible villain a light novel about him could have had.

A man who brings his ideals into reality with his own hands against a woman who uses others to enforce ideals that were never hers to begin with.

Anyway, I made this because Sasaki is criminally underrated in this fandom, If you haven't read "Dazai Osamu's Entrance Exam" I highly recommend it, I've only put a tiny fraction of the amazing story here.

#bsd #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs dazai #dazai #dazai osamu #bsd analysis #doppo kunikida #bsd kunikida #kunikida doppo #bungou stray dogs kunikida #dazai osamu's entrance exam #bsd entrance exam #bsd light novel #dazai's entrance exam #bsd character analysis #bsd characters #Nobuko Sasaki #bsd sasaki

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neo--queen--serenity · 4 months

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KUNIKIDA ISN’T THE AZURE KING, RIGHT?? RIGHT!?!?

I let it slide the first time I watched the series, but I subconsciously expected to get some sort of explanation for why the two characters looked so alike, but an explanation never came.

It’s not coincidental. Despite having his face covered, Bones made sure we saw the Azure King’s hair and eye color, and they match Kunikida’s EXACTLY. Even the shape of the eyes are the same.

And like, the whole episode, they kept talking about how the Azure King “lived by his ideals,” saying it numerous times. They talked about him the same way the ADA talks about Kunikida. We also have the similarities over his education and connections in government organizations.

Even down to the fact that Kunikida is drawn to and attracted to Sasaki, who was the Azure King’s lover. Down to the fact that she tells Kunikida, at gunpoint, “you resemble him.”

The Azure King and Kunikida even share the same Japanese voice actor. The irl Nobuko Sasaki was married to the irl Doppo Kunikida, but they divorced early into their marriage.

Was Kunikida the Azure King!?! I told myself he wasn’t, the first time I saw it, because I expected more information later, but like I said, we never got any.

I know I’m not the first person to theorize about this, but I just wish we knew more. The Azure King could just be an elaborate allegory for what Kunikida could have been, if he went down that path. But that’s…such an excessively detailed allegory. Like why go that hard if it’s just a parallel?

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theazureapostle · 2 months

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─ 🖋️ ; “Miss.. Sasaki? Wait. Why the hell. Why the hell are you alive? How did you—?” Kunikida backs away slightly.

(@manofhisideals) (yum yum angst)

Ah, hello Mr. Kunikida...

What do you mean by that? Still alive?

#ooc: this sasaki blog is probably from after she met the agency #before she died #ask #bsd #bsd roleplay #roleplay #sasaki bsd #sasaki nobuko #nobuko sasaki #sasaki #bungou gay dogs #bungou stray dogs

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kyouka-supremacy · 2 months

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If we’re talking about sexism in BSD can we talk about Dazai Osamu’s Entrance Exam? (Not the anime adaptation) I really really really hated how Dazai and Kunikida would talk about Sasaki right in front of her like she wasn’t even there?? And just how they generally were with her…Reading that light novel was a genuinely unpleasant experience more times than I’d like to admit solely because of how egregiously gross it was when it came to Sasaki's character and how the guys would treat her. I've never seen anyone talk about it but it's been bugging me for a while now.

(个_个)

I understand how that's all sorts of fucked up. I haven't read the Entrance Exam novel but in my opinion the Sasaki / Kunikida / Dazai anime scenes rub just as wrong. There's really the whole deal of talking in front of women like they were lesser / objects which is plain atrocious. But then again, the bsd novels produced the unfamous Naomi description, so it's really the author giving their worst apparently.

The sexism in bsd is pathologic. Something I've brought up before but that is really explicative to me, Dazai going “The murder must have occurred in the early morning, because that's the only time of the day a woman wouldn't be wearing make-up”. And it's probably silly of me to pick up on such a small thing when wearing make-up is debated within feminist spaces itself, and it's probably something I have personal issues with, but the way in the story it serves the role of an objective hint, something plain and unconfutable, that women are expected to wear make-up at every hour of the day and them not doing so is just absurd and unthinkable… To me it really speaks of how the world of bsd is a world were women are expected to fit a determined ideal that is very distant from reality, and the author really has a very limited understanding of what women are actually like irl.

If we’re talking about sexism in bsd, can we talk about what was up with the Yosano / buisnessman (?) scene in chapter 7? It's been two years since I've watched and read that scene, and I still can't figure out what it's supposed to mean or convey. First, Yosano is shown being tame and overly polite towards someone who was being extremely rude; then, after he hits her and tells her to know her place, she replies “Well, a thousand pardons, sir. Would it be more womanly for me to crush your puny ××××× under my heels, perhaps?”. Now, her reply is somewhat funny, but really, doesn't mean anything. And I'm not talking about the censure. Why is her behaviour so fluctuating and inconsistent? What does womanhood has to do with anything here? Why would she be so polite and then suddenly backtrack? Really, why was she being polite in the first place to someone being so vulgar and disrespectful towards her? Honestly, that doesn't feel Yosano at all. At most it feels like that's supposed to portray how a woman is expected to react in an imaginary and unrealistic world, but that has so little standing potential irl, not even Yosano in this manga could hold the charade for long, and the result ends up looking awkward and nonsensical. Every time I see this scene I'm just like… What is going on here. Not even in a judgemental way, just as in “I seriously can't understand what the author was trying to say with this”, and frankly, I don't think they do know either. It really makes evident their struggle to write female characters, like women were this strange, foreign, very abstract concept that's impossible to crack or relate to. And when the answer is so simple, that you shouldn't write women as an unknown and indecipherable species, but simply as people— it would almost be endearing if it wasn't so detrimental. I won't even get to her “It is an era of equality for men and women” line which, put in the context of this manga, comes off as the most unfunny joke ever. Here, I can see what the author was trying to do alright, nodding to irl Yosano Akiko feminist viewpoints, but making the character Yosano talk in cheap feminist slogans to rival mcu movies ends up doing her a disservice more than anything, and I doubt it would leave the actual Yosano Akiko positively impressed at all.

If we’re talking about sexism in bsd, can we talk about how Kouyou should be the next pm boss, and the fact that the spot is canonly reserved for Chuuya instead is insane and nonsensical and outrageous to the point that even CHUUYA agrees on the fact that she should be the one? You know, Kouyou, the powerful ability user, experienced, senior in hierarchy, who has been shown to be both loyal to the current boss Mori and close to him on a personal level? Compared to Chuuya who never wanted to be the boss in the first place? But he gets to be either way, because the concept of a woman pm boss is just unthinkable. I feel like there's more reasons to cry for that Cannibalism stage play scene than the Flags' voices.

If we’re talking about sexism in bsd, can we talk about Higuchi? Can we talk about Lucy? Bsd offers so many examples of its sexism, we could be here to talk about it for days. At this point I feel like I might come across as someone who loves hating on things, but in reality every time I write a post of this kind it's a desperate prayer to the author: “Prove me wrong! Please, prove me wrong! Write women with layers and agencies! Expand on their virtues and flaws and ambitions! Dedicate narrative arcs to them! Prove me wrong!”

#On one hand I'd say let's try and keep the negativity levels low but on the other you know what?#Actually speaking of this from time to time can be helpful for everyone.#And I truly get how genuinely frustrating it gets ESPECIALLY to see it ignored and not talked about so like.#I've changed my mind in reality we should TALK about this. And if you need to vent about this in my inbox feel free to.#nobuko sasaki #akiko yosano #kōyō ozaki #bsd #bsd negativity #mine #people asks me stuff #If the wording sounds dramatic in some points there's a very simple explanation for that and that is: I like to be dramatic

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sskk-manifesto · 4 months

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Baby!!!!!!

#nobuko sasaki #bsd #bungou stray dogs #bsd s1 #bsdrewatch2023

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saffron0v0 · 13 days

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First time trying to replicate the bsd manga style.

Idk how to feel about the results.

Anywho, this piece was drawn in tribute to the first drabble of sasazai on Tumblr, written by the amazing @littencloud9 , as per my request (⁠人⁠ ⁠•͈⁠ᴗ⁠•͈⁠)!

I loved it so much, and I was high on artistic motivation (while trying to run from my studies), so here we are!!!

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kawaiibaphomet · 1 year

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Have a peek at my current sketchbook!

I wanted to celebrate hitting 200 followers by showing you guys the first few pages of the sketchbook I'm working on this year 💗 spoiler! There's a lot of OCs, lol

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asagirisfavoritepen · 3 months

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Lately, I've seen a lot of posts about Kuni being the Azure King. But something about this theory didn't sit right with me so I made some research online. Just so you know, I didn't read the novel, but I've read a lot of Tumblr posts about it.

So, first of all, let's see why people think our beloved Kuni is the Azure King.

Same Japanese va, Yoshimasa Hosoya

Both of them are idealists.

Same hair color (anime only)

Kuni was a teacher and it's known that the Azure King attended some elite education institution (said in the light novel)

And probably other reasons, but this are the ones I met.

I personally think these are ways to make Kunikida and The Azure King something like a parallel. Especially the thing with the same voice actor must be it.

In Beast, he also wears blue (according to Harukawa in an interview) because he's not traumatized by the Azure King incident. So he can't be the Azure King (In Beast, Odasaku is the one that caught him)

Then who is the Azure King?

My theory is that he's Takeo Arishima. He fits the high-quality education thing and he also had some ideals. But what truly makes me suspect him as the Azure King is the fact that one of his most well-known books A Certain Woman has the main character, Yōko Satsuki, based on Sasaki Nobuko.

In the anime/light novel, she is The Azure King's lover. But in the real life, she was Kunikida's ex-wife.

Takeo Arishima also committed suicide, like The Azure King did. Well, he didn't explode himself, but you get the idea.

But then we have another problem. This Takeo is a writer. Then the character must have an ability, right? Well, it's obviously based on A Certain Woman. But what does it do? That I don't know and can only speculate. But after reading the summary of the book, I think his ability is related to the fact that he wanted to get rid of the criminals (Light Yagami kinnie moment) like how Yōko wanted to get rid of people's expectations of her. So maybe his ability tells him who committed the worst crimes so he can get rid of 'em.

#bungou stray dogs #bsd #kunikida doppo #the azure king #theory?#anime and manga #oda sakunosuke #sasaki bsd #rokuzo? i don't remeber the kid's name #back with the opinions no one asked for #dazai's entrance exam #takeo arishima #the azure apostle #nobuko sasaki #a certain woman book

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bsd-polls · 7 months

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The BSD Ultimate Wet Cat Debate

Round One!

#bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd ultimate wet cat debate #nobuko sasaki #bsd mark twain

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i-like-damei-ig · 11 months

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I drew this at 2 am

#goddamn I love Sasaki sm #She is like actually the strongest bsd character #bsd #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #bsd fanart #bungo stray dogs fanart #bungo gay dogs #Sasaki #bsd sasaki #sasaki nobuko #Nobuko Sasaki #bsd fandom

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chaosesque · 10 months

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Posting Sasaki art here too! :3

#bsd sasaki #bsd #bsd fanart #nobuko sasaki #bungo stray dogs #bungou stray dogs #fanart #my art #digital artist #draconialost

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misuzu7 · 9 months

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#bungou stray dogs #doppo kunikida #nobuko sasaki #dazai osamu #kunikidazai #bsd

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neo--queen--serenity · 4 months

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I think it was implied in the Light Novel "Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam", which was basically just the Azure Messager Arc without Atsushi in it, since it was two years before Atsushi joined, that Sasaki and the Azure King did know each other, without his face being wrapped up.

So that could mean two things: one, Kunikida got plastic surgery, or two, Sasaki knew exactly who he was, just as he knew who she was, but neither of them knew what to do or if they should rat the other out because they were in love at some point. In the novel, before Sasaki dies, her last words were "I... love..." to Kunikida, who had her in his arms after she was shot- she didn't die instantly.

Personally, I think Kunikida *is* the Azure King, and that he survived his "suicide bombing" because the bombing was caused using The Matchless Poet, his Ability. Or he's just... really good at not dying to bombs, as proven when he fought against Tecchou. The reason he stopped, the reason he looked after Rokuzō, was because innocent detectives died, which went against his Ideals of innocents being killed.

What are your thoughts?

I think that the light novel makes it a TINY bit more obvious that Kunikida isn’t the Azure King, but I don’t think it completely rules out the possibility.

In the light novel, the Azure King was said to have graduated from an elite educational institution, but without clarifying if it was a university or a high school. The novel then tells us the Azure King studied abroad at a university for an unspecified period of time (which could have been as short as a single semester—or half-semester—as far as traditional study abroad programs go).

The Azure King then worked for the government in some way for an—again, unspecified—period of time (meaning his tenure in any organization could have been brief enough to fall in line with Kunikida’s age bracket) before he began his bombings on government facilities.

Kunikida was a college dropout, as most of us already know. He would have been 20 years old during Dazai’s entrance exam. He worked part time as a math teacher, which gave him the freedom to work for the ADA simultaneously, but again, we don’t know when he started teaching, nor for how long he held the job.

As unlikely as it is, he legitimately COULD have done all of those same things within the 2 years of graduating high school and establishing himself as a member of the Armed Detective Agency by the time he first meets Dazai at age 20.

Now, like I said, the light novel does make that possibility less likely, but not impossible. Do I think, truly, that Kunikida is the Azure King? The largest part of me says no.

But then Bones had to animate the Azure King the way they did, and cast the same voice actor as Kunikida, and pull all of these parallels in front of our faces in a way we’re forced to acknowledge. It’s odd, the level of dedication the production team went into these parallels.

I also think, during the conversation with Sasaki and Dazai in the cafe, that Kunikida’s behavior was hella suspicious. He actually made me MORE suspicious by how he reacted to the theory that the Azure King was still alive, and could be pulling the strings in the present day.

These are just some of the things I think about. As a story, it’s delightful for me to have the possibility introduced to us. A part of me loves not knowing, really, because that makes it more interesting. The other part of me demands more information, and goddamn Bones, they only made the drama juicier by not giving us a clear answer.