Soukoku Rant

So I just needed to get this out there.  This won’t have any references (although I will try to direct to where I saw a thing) so sorry, but I just need to blab about this thought in my head. THIS TURNED OUT TO BE SO LONG SO HERE’S A CUT.

A big part of the BSD fandom is Soukoku.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Soukoku (Nakahara Chuuya and Dazai Osamu).  I don’t ship them but I love them, and especially love them separately (Chuuya is my favorite, and he’s still taller than me). ANYWAY something that always comes up is Soukoku’s relationship and I think the fandom in general is pretty spot on about how their dynamic is complicated and complex.  It is stated in the both the manga and anime by the characters themselves and in the manga character sheets that they hate each other.  Like to the point that Chuuya’s only dislike is Dazai. Not even Atsushi and Akutagawa have each other listed as dislikes (granted that’s pretty obvious and is a main story arc with Shin Soukoku, but I digress).  And they do apparently hate each other.  However, we all saw in both the manga and the anime how, when Dazai was smacked by Lovecraft and actually pretty hurt, Chuuya was concerned.  And in the opening art of Chapter 31 (Double Black/Soukoku)  of the manga little Chuuya and Dazai looking at each other as they walk away.  This all leads (pretty obviously) that their dynamic is more complex than just ‘they hate each other’. 

What I’ve been thinking about is this - there are two ways their relationship has played out. But there is something to keep in mind here before I ramble more: 1. the main ‘pairing’ of the story isn’t Soukoku (at least the main story of Bungou Stray Dogs); that belongs to Shin Soukoku. Atsushi IS the listed main protagonist and the manga has this goal in mind.  BSD is about Shin Soukoku not Soukoku. 2. We are getting an original movie that the poster featured Soukoku; so there might be hope for more Soukoku past but I don’t know anything and all my info has to be translated because I’m lame and don’t speak Japanese. So all this could be for naught. But do keep in mind, the movie is a Bones production and I have no idea how much say Asagiri is having (could be writing the whole thing, again I don’t speak Japanese and I have no idea). 

Now, the two ways Soukoku relationship could play out.  Let’s start with the optimistic one first. They were probably raised somewhat together in the Mafia and were friends once upon a time. They were partners after all, and while one could make an argument for putting them together for the compatibility of their strengths alone it was probably a little more than just that.  But they are SUPER compatible.  Chuuya is strong, and not just because his ability is fucking gravity manipulation; he is the lead martial artist of the Mafia.  Dazai is ‘the demonic prodigy’ and while he does have some hand-to-hand combat training and is good with it his real strength is his strategic mind.  They are very much a brains and brawn combo.  Not saying Chuuya isn’t smart, he is; Dazai is just smarter.  And this is where the hatred probably started.  They are listed as being the same age (both 22 in present day BSD) yet Dazai is the one known as the Demonic Prodigy, the one with the title of ‘Youngest Mafia Executive’.  Not Chuuya. We don’t know when Chuuya became an Executive (or at least I don’t) but we can assume it was after Dazai became one. And we know Dazai used to give Chuuya shit all the time when they were partners - Chuuya says Dazai used to spite him and insult him during Episode 10 (and the correlating manga chapter) when they were partners all the time.  Do we think Dazai is above rubbing something like that in Chuuya’s face? Chuuya is big on loyalty and the Mafia hierarchy, and Dazai being an Executive and Chuuya not would cause some problems for Chuuya with being his partner.  But is Dazai about being petty? Absolutely not.  Especially ESPECIALLY Mafia-Dazai. And Dazai toward Chuuya in general; he admits he was captured and came to Mafia headquarters ‘mostly for Atsushi’ with the rest of his reason being to spite and goad Chuuya.  EVEN AFTER FOUR YEARS OF NOT SEEING EACH OTHER DAZAI IS STILL A LITTLE SHIT TO CHUUYA. So let’s think about this; Chuuya as we know is an extremely hard worker, loyal to a fault to the Mafia, and cares deeply (as shown when he is looking at the deaths from Q’s curse).  Dazai (especially Mafia-Dazai and yes we must separate them) cares little for others, loves to prank his partners, and while he works hard everything is easy for him because he is so smart.  The hatred could have started, at least on Chuuya’s side, from a sense of jealousy and that’s WHY anytime Dazai is brought up and praised he still gets upset (that wine scene with Kouyou, Mori, and Chuuya post Shin Soukoku fighting Fitzgerald). And another thing - Chuuya is dependent on Dazai for Corruption. Completely dependent and at Dazai’s whim.  Soukoku is powerful and became Soukoku because of Corruption (as stated in the manga); Corruption being CHUUYA’S ability yet Chuuya’s life is in Dazai’s bandaged hands. And yet, Dazai seems to get the most praise.  Now why does Dazai hate Chuuya? (We know he does, it’s stated and he is much less reactionary toward Chuuya than the other way around). Not sure, Dazai is always hard to read.  But I would theorize that they were friends at one point, probably partners for a long time, and it was jealousy and conflicting personalities that made them drift apart.  But it’s hard to let go of in-grained habits, like caring for your partner and knowing their habits and attacks; remember it was 4 years from when Dazai left the Mafia and they still remember their old maneuvers.  And caring for the one person that could save your life if you have to use your suicidal yet super strong true ability. Looking at you, handsome ginger. 

Now for the more pessimistic reason they hate each other - because Asagiri wanted a parallel to Shin Soukoku. That’s it. Because the author wanted a parallel.  And this only works as the parallel to Shin Soukoku because Dazai is officially part of the Agency and Chuuya is a Mafia Executive.  It would make sense for there to be an original Soukoku if the end-game is Shin Soukoku with Atsushi and Akutagawa.  It makes Shin Soukoku more believable and gives them room to grow and makes them front and center if and when they become more powerful than Soukoku.  Now yes, Chuuya and Dazai were dubbed Soukoku back when they were in the Mafia together, but WE DON’T SEE THAT which is what is important.  We don’t see Soukoku originally, we see Soukoku as Asagiri (this is an intentional fallacy but imma do it anyway) intended for us to see them - as one member from the Agency and one member from the Mafia working together. Giving us an original Soukoku with a backstory that makes it believable makes the idea of Shin Soukoku more appealing and more believable especially since Akutagawa spends SO MUCH TIME trying to kill Atsushi. Them working together without a previous basis of reliability, of an example of ‘oh hey two people from opposite sides who hate each other working together can work cool’ would be hard to sell.  Now this isn’t the first time things have been twisted to suit the narrative in BSD.  Very first episode, very first chapter - when we find out Atsushi is the tiger and we see Dazai’s No Longer Human nullification for the first time, for some reason Atsushi’s arm doesn’t return to normal.  Which, by all accounts and all instances we see of No Longer Human later, it should have.  So why this first time does Atsushi’s arm remain a tiger paw? Dramatic effect. So Atsushi can find out in a slightly humorous manner he is the tiger and he is a gifted individual.  Dazai says “My nullification ability is absolute” in Double Black when fighting Lovecraft.  If it’s absolute, as we have seen it to be, this first interaction of No Longer Human on Atsushi makes no sense - except as a twist made by the author for the narrative.  And the narrative is Atsushi, as the main protagonist, joining the Armed Detective Agency and later becoming part of Shin Soukoku. Side/Last note, Soukoku isn’t the only Mafia/Agency duo OH NO we find out Mori and Fukuzawa were an unofficial Soukoku back in the day.  Chapter 50 we discover THIS LITTLE TIDBIT and it was hinted they had interacted before during the Guild Arc. 

All in all? It is probably some combination of the two.  There is probably a back story to Chuuya and Dazai’s hatred of each other we are not privy to. But this is a chance it is not detailed because it isn’t necessary for the main story.  Now, if the movie does prequel to our BSD universe and gives us the truth of Soukoku? I’m down. 

The purpose of this? I’ve been thinking about this every god-damned day for like a week and I needed to get it out. Sorry for the ramble.