The Conversation Between Atsushi And Dazai In This Chapter Is So Important, Because This Is Clearly Not

Kyouka doodle

cage of the soul

To me, what is so fantastic about One Piece Fan Letter is the emphasis on the way the Straw Hats have created these connections in the lives of people they have never met. The ending scene, with all the hands putting together the puzzle pieces, and the way that all these connections came together in one dazzling way-- I loved that. I teared up at that. Wherever the Straw Hats go, they leave behind all of these puzzle pieces for people to put together and create bonds that would not have existed had the Straw Hats not shown up!

And it also just... Makes me so in love with the concept of the world after Luffy becomes King of The Pirates. I know that Oda has the final chapter planned in his head, and I doubt we will really see the long lasting effects of Luffy achieving the title of Pirate King + his dream, and I really do not want a sequel series ala Boruto or Yasahime, but.... I want to see a world in which children believe they can become a Brave Warrior of the Sea thanks to Usopp, I want to see more children look at Nami and realize they don't NEED to have a Devil Fruit or Haki or muscles to have adventures. I want to see the next generation of the One Piece world believe so strongly in their dreams, that they set out to accomplish them.

One Piece Fan Letter really opened the door, I think, for more and more stories about the "regular" people in the world of One Piece, the people you don't see in the arcs because they're the nondescript background characters, and how the Straw Hat Crew has changed them. And I want that. To me, that is fantastic.

OK correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like the main 'yin/yang' parallel with Atsushi and Akutagawa is not something like 'this one is bad but secretly has a good side and this one is good but secretly has a bad side'.

I feel like it's more about 'who they are at their core vs who they choose to be'.

At his core Akutagawa is kind and at his core Atsushi is not. But despite this Atsushi tries every day to make the kinder choices and I love him so much for it. He has to work so hard to be good.

He wants to be a bitch SO bad I know he does but he tries his best to help people and be nice (sometimes he fails but that's OK <3)

Atsushi doesn't always WANT to help people, a lot of the time he's selfish and scared, but he does help people anyway. He keeps helping people over and over again. There's still some selfish motivation to it, and his initial motivation for helping people was because the headmaster told him that's all he was worth, but overall he does care about the people he helps and it weighs on him if he fails to save them. And of course, as the series goes on he starts helping people more because he can rather than because he feels like he needs to.

In Akutagawa's case, he's still capable of being kind but his environment led him into being someone who chooses to hurt people. But he's always been a protector at heart. In the start he was bad compared to Atsushi because he was choosing to hurt people and keep the cycle of abuse going. Just like how Atsushi developed in why he saved people, Akutagawa starts to get redeemed when he chooses to not just act on his rage. Not only does he start to spare people, but he speaks more kindly to them (apologising to Higuchi and telling Kyouka he's proud of her). It all culminates into the moment he chooses to help Atsushi and sacrifice himself for him, going back to his core value of being a protector. Even when he's finally revived, he keeps this role in his new position as Aya's Knight.

I kind of see the streaks of white in Akutagawa and the streaks of black in Atsushi not as their 'hidden sides' but as their fundamental selfs. That's who they are at their core, and their main colours (black for Akutagawa and white for Atsushi) are how they're presented to everyone else and how they try to have people see them as.

Gakuen Bungou Stray Dogs - The First Half (Part 2/2)

Previous Part: Part ½

<Thanks for lovely cover page @bsduwu​)

Sorry it took me so long but I finally finished the first half of the au novel that was included as a bonus in the DVD/BD of the anime. The novel is called Gakuen Bungou Stray Dogs  (Bungou Stray Dogs School) and is consisted of 2 parts, the first half is included in DVD/BD Vol 2 and the second half is in Vol 8. It is about 80 pages in total. It has also been adapted into a story in the game Bungou Stray Dogs: Tales of the Lost so you may find the story familiar.

Below is some of the notes I would like to read before proceeding.

- Please buy the DVD/BD to support the authors if you can.

- I don’t mind if you use bits of it for analysis or credits, but do not repost the whole thing out of Tumblr.

- Feel free to retranslate it if you want, but keep in mind that my translation is not perfect as I am not fluent in neither English nor Japanese.

- I am translating casually at my pace so I can’t promise when the next part will come out. But I will make time for it when I can.

That’s it. Happy reading!

Continuar lendo

guess my favourite character guys

small art for aku bday :>