HUZZAH Almost 10 Months In The Making I Present My Biggest Project So Far!! My New Bsd Stormbringer Animatic

Ok, I'm convinced at this point that instead of teaching English, schools should just start getting their students into bsd, because honestly, the effects are about the same.

Like, what is this fandom??? As far as anime go, it's sort of known, but it's not even close to mainstream, and then you join the fandom to discover that it's actually huge.

-The fans will write five thousand word analyses, complete with textual evidence, about anything and everything, and they'll all be more well written and deeper than their thematic essay for English class.

-They won't even think twice about reading a bunch of classics to understand their favorite characters, and then they'll happily write you an analysis of a Japanese classic written in the mid-twentieth century and how it connects to their favorite character. They'll casually read Crime and Punishment, a book english teachers have no hope of having their students read in general, let alone for fun, and they'll do it and then give their theories about how it may connect to the villain's powers. They also end up just getting into classic literature in general.

-Ask them to give a summary of the book they had to read, they'll stare at you blankly, but ask them about the chain of abuse vs the savoir chain and you will hear a psychological breakdown on the concept of abuse, and how different characters treat others differently because etc etc etc.

-Not even the top criminal defense lawyer could compete with a bungou stray dogs fan explaining why Chuuya Nakahara, a man who is an executive in the Mafia, a man who has killed many people, has gotten involved in smuggling and all sorts of illegal activities, is actually a good person and deserves all the sunlight and happiness in the world.

-And the art that comes out of it??? The fanfictions, the fanart, the edits- I've read fanfiction that made me feel more than a published book ever will. Seen fanart that belongs in a museum, and the edits are some of the coolest stuff known to man.

-And they're just so low key??? Like seriously, don't teach English, teach bungou stray dogs. You'd get better results that way.

I feel like this is Oda poking fun at the parts of the fandom ragging on poor Jinbei for not guaranteeing an instant win for the Strawhats now that he's on their crew. Especially since Jinbei himself is pointing out how even a strong fighter is going to be hard-pressed fighting someone who can regenerate their entire head.

Cut the man some slack, y'all, he's doing his best!

Also watch it be revealed that Brook recognizes Gunko from her being the groupie for his Soul King tour always in the front row waving neon arrows like glowsticks

Divine Being Amenogozen and the horror of the wrath of God

I wanted to talk about the current main threat to the BSD cast because I feel like not many people talk about him and how terrifying he is and also what he symbolises.

His creation/abilities:

So Divine Being Amenogozen was created via the 'Tripolar singularity' - a combination of 3 abilities/ability infused items. These are the Amenogozen sword (or the Space-Time sword), The Holy Sword Soluz Levni and Fukuchi's ability Mirror Lion. In short, Amenogozen can stab/move through space and time, the Holy Sword can infuse people's abilities into their bodies, and Mirror Lion strengthens any weapon by 100 times.

In terms of skills, Divine Being Amenogozen (who I will now refer to as Gozen) possesses the abilities of the Space-Time sword (liquification/absorption of people/abilities and energy blasts), as well as superhuman speed/swordsmanship, Levitation, self-healing and the ability to generate blades from himself to match his sword. He's already a powerhouse of an oppenent with just these skills that makes him an insane enemy for the characters to fight, but it's some of his other skills I want to draw attention to - mainly, spatial manipulation and his higher-dimensional existence (although I may bring mention to the others too).

As opposed to the others, I single out spatial manipulation as it is one of the things that makes him most intimidating alongside his physical appearance/actions. He's able to disappear and reappear in various places in the blink of an eye, something which really adds to the general horrifying nature of him as an antagonist.

The main aspect I want to talk about is him existing on a higher dimension than every other character in the series. Fyodor specifically says that Gozen is a fourth-dimensional being, whereas the rest of them are third-dimensional, and that Gozen's form is simply a shadow of his true self. Essentially, Gozen exists at a higher level of existence that is inconceivable to the rest of the cast, operating at this higher level not only in consciousness but also in ability/skill. It is why all of his skills are so heightened that they surpassed perhaps every single character in the current BSD canon.

To simplify the idea of dimensions, i'm pretty sure that a three-dimensional object is something that can be specifically located via 3 units (or dimensions) - usually this is the scales of height, width and depth in a physical space. A four-dimensional object also adds another variable scale (usually time I think) that you can see. In essence, Gozen is able to perceive the scales of height, width, depth and time (which implies that he can see through time itself).

[I want to clarify that this is not a topic I am very knowledgeable on, and I am kind of teaching myself the basics as I write this. So please feel free to correct me if I've got this wrong.]

So Gozen is able to travel across space and time, as well as manifest himself in multiple places at one via the past and present versions of himself (as if writing with two hands on a piece of paper, as Fyodor describes it). Fyodor describes Minkowski Space as part of his skills, a concept that I can't quite figure out how to explain so I recommend you give it a bit of research tbh). And Fyodor uses that to essentially kill the ability users that stand in his path and intimidate Atsushi into leading him to the book. It's also important to note that Fyodor, due to the seal marked on his hand from the Holy Sword, has seemingly complete control over the actions and abilities of Gozen. It is interesting to combine these concepts of Gozen's character with the general ruthlessness of his actions because it to me acts as a visualisation of the wrath of God.

Religious connotations and the wrath of God

Fyodor as a character has always been associated with religious imagery from his introduction. I don't know what specific sect of religion he's usually associated with, but for the sake of this post I'll talk about Gozen and his links to Christian imagery (since Christianity is the religion i'm most familiar with).

[My understanding is also quite limited so please don't take what i say is complete fact in case i'm completely wrong 😭]

Gozen as a higher-dimensional being to me brings associations with the concept of God and his omnipotent power. God is often said to know all, see all and have immense power (enough to create, for example, worldwide flooding). Gozen also exhibits similar concept:

- when he faces kunikida he is aware of his previous injuries (his hands being destroyed by the explosion in escape from the Hunting Dogs), despite not having been known to exist until much later.

- Gozen uses huge blades to chop down any buildings in a large area around the airport, showing he has power on a huge scale.

- Since he can present in multiple places at the same time (by manifesting past and present versions of himself at the same time) he can perceive through time.

Now, Gozen is not specifically like the Christian God. The christian God is said to have created the world we know and have complete control over it. Gozen doesn't show any evidence of this. Gozen seems more similar to a God present in a religion with multiple Gods that are worshipped by different people for different purposes. I seem to bring this towards the Christian God because often I know more about it (Christian primary school core) and see many depictions of the Christian God as one who is surprisingly ruthless - weather it be in stories surrounding Adam and Eve or The Great Flood for example. It's the inherent horror associated with this wrath (great anger and/or a desire to punish) that I bring to attention.

It is the inherently horror of being punished by someone of a higher existence and power that I focus on. I can see how Fyodor summoning Gozen to rid of his enemies here and his plan to unite humanity via the removal of the 'curse' of ability users can feel similar to the concept of Judgement day, where God is to come down and judge humanity for their actions and send them either to heaven or to hell. Fyodor however is more about force and violence in his methods, suggesting that he has perhaps invoked the more violent aspects of Gozen's wrath.

And there's a huge element of horror in fighting against a being who exceeds you in every single aspect and is at a completely inconceivable level and has so far basically killed anyone it has come in contact with before you but yet it decides to spare you and intimidate you instead because you serve, in its opinion, a greater purpose. Because that's what Atsushi is facing. Gozen is drawn in such an intimidating way at many points when facing atsushi too - I'm adding some because I think his design is so interesting too (might make a separate post on that because this is getting long).

Essentially, Gozen is terrifying because he is above and beyond everything any of these characters have ever known and possibly will ever know. He is a godly being who is ruthless in his directed pursuits and operates with such an intimidating air because of his inherent power and higher-dimensional existence. He is terrifying because he is so inconceivable and invincible in the eyes of the characters in universe, and to them Fyodor has essentially invoked the wrath of a God upon them for the 'crime' of being ability users that dare oppose him.

[This post started to fall apart towards the end because I only have a limited understanding of God's presentation in Christianity but I wanted an excuse to talk about how interesting and terrifying Gozen is as a character concept... I kind of love him as an antagonist despite him being so overpowered.Sorry that this became a bit of a mess towards the end but feel free to add anything to this idea - whether corrections or new ideas!]

the most beautiful ending was for sukuna (and uraume) because not only did we get a good afterlife scene of him going north for and with uraume but gege also showed in the epilogue how he was always destined to go north because he was always a chill guy and had depth, despite keeping an aloof demeanor. He took uraume and raised them like he was always meant to be an amazing father. What he did was a reaction to how he was treated but at the very core he always carried light. Ending the manga with "how did YOU not grow cold with me uraume?" to uraume's first "how are you not cold next to me sukuna-sama?" was the most beautiful way to describe their relationship, they both might have seemed cold to others but they were a source of warmth for each other, both of them kept the other intact in some way. Ride and die for eternity.

It reminds me of the quote, "when is a monster not a monster? Oh when you love it"

Loki really is the princess of the arc, isn't he?

For those who haven't seen it yet, the official translation is already on mangadex!

MangaDex

Bungou Stray Dogs - Ch. 122 - That Which Pushes Us Forward - MangaDex

Read Bungou Stray Dogs Ch. 122 "That Which Pushes Us Forward" on MangaDex!

Bsd chapter 122 - translation

(this translation may be incorrect, so if you read this remember to check the official translation! This post only has the pages with dialogue, also, read from left to right)

Dazai: Think about it. It's what people do to remember the past.

Atsushi: H-here is... the agency?!

Dazai: Physical distance doesn't matter in the fourth dimension.

Dazai: To get from point A to point B on this sheet in the quickest way... what should be done?

Atsushi: ? Go in a straight line, of course...

Dazai: Normally, but we are in a higher dimension.

Dazai: Just do it like this.

Dazai: It is possible to intercept all the places here... and attack the origin point, which is ame-no-gozen.

Atsushi: Will you do the same with me?

Dazai: If you understood, let's fly.

Dazai: Focus.

Atsushi: Dazai-san! You...!

Dazai: Just look...

Past Dazai: I want to recruit you for the Port Mafia

Akutagawa: Jinko...

Akutagawa: Why did... you protect me?

Dazai: I want to recruit you for the Port Mafia

Akutagawa: Why am I... remembering this now?

Akutagawa: I just... hated... this world that let my street friends die for nothing.

Akutagawa: I wanted revenge... for being born into this world.

Dazai: If you're ready... I'll give you what you want.

Akutagawa: What I want? Are you... able to give me a meaning to live?

Dazai: I am.

Atsushi: Akutagawa...

Dazai: It's taking too long to activate your ability! You won't survive like this in the organization!

Akutagawa: I didn't feel any pain. Dazai-san was the one who gave me a meaning to live. But...

Akutagawa: ...He disappeared without any explanation

Akutagawa: And when we met again, he had a new subordinate.

Dazai: "My new subordinate is much better than you"

Akutagawa: Jinko! Jinko! Jinko! Jinko!

Akutagawa: Feeling humiliated and resentful… I feared I would never be accepted. This motivated my heart. And I bet everything on the tiger's execution.

Akutagawa: And then.. then...

Akutagawa: Fool... go now

Dazai: We arrived.

Dazai: The true body of the god is beyond this door.

Atsushi: Where are we?

Atsushi: It's big. And it's completely sealed…

Atsushi: It doesn't work, it's too heavy. It doesn't even move.

Orphanage director: You stupid brat. No one will save you.

Orphanage director: You don't deserve to live.

Dazai: I can only get you this far.

Atsushi: Thank you. I couldn't have gotten this far alone.

Dazai: I was the one who called you to the agency. Who brought you into a dangerous world. It's the least I can do.

Atsushi: No. You are not Dazai-san.

Atsushi: Because of the nullification ability… he couldn't become an illusion and talk to me. And you sometimes… didn't behave like Dazai-san.

Atsushi: You thought I wouldn't listen to you… if it wasn't in this form, didn't you?

Atsushi: You're right…

Atsushi: Director. When your illusion disappeared… I started seeing Dazai-san. Then…

Director: It was… the only way.

Director: I don't have… the right to talk to you. That's why…

Atsushi: You are just a shadow… created as a consequence of Q's ability.

Director: Yes. The real me is already dead. But…

Atsushi: Enough. I don't want to talk to you.

Atsushi: It's no use. It's not moving at all. But… if I don't defeat the god behind this door, everyone will…

Thee kiddos

Bsd Chapter 121:

Dazai (hallucination) to Atsushi.

Dazai to Atsushi: Do you need things like “courage” or “hope” to overcome fear? No. You haven’t had those things from the start.

Dazai: You haven’t needed them. What you need to crush your fear, is a fear even greater.

Bsd Beast Chapter 4:

Beast Dazai to Beast Atsushi.

Beast Dazai: I do think you’re correct in saying that you’re a coward. Your former self was a fearful boy who would search for an escape route right in front of the enemy.

Beast Dazai: But ever since that day you’ve changed. Do you understand why that is?

Beast Dazai: It turns out that the best way to drown out your fear is with more fear.

Dead apple but everyone is still in their pajamas

I think it would be funny if everyone collectively just didnt care to change in to their work clothes for the plot of dead apple cause imagine Chuuya fighting that big ass dragon still in his dog themed pajama pants 🐶

again & again