An ode to Bungou Stray Dogs (meow)

Part 1: A Trench coat essay

Firstly, what is the perfect aesthetic? Answer, trench coats. BSD (bungou stray dogs) has seemingly taken the age-old trope of the snarky, cocky, overconfident, annoying and I quote obnoxious assholes, and perfected it in the character Dazai Osamu. This boi is the perfect example of every gen Z and millennial in the 21st century right now, that is, he wants to die. Ah frick I should probably explain what BSD is quick before I explain why he wants to die

BSD or Bungou stray dogs is a show where each character is based on a real-life writer, for example, the character Poe is based on the late Edgar Allan Poe. The show follows these characters who have magical powers based on the types of novels their irl counterparts wrote, in the city of Yokohama, as they either fight crime, detect said crimes or are committing said crimes, or in Dazais case, all three. That brings me back to why Dazai wants to kill himself. Dazai was ex mafia- of course he was, no one who wears a trenchcoat has a completely clean past- and for various (orphan exploding) reasons decided to leave the Mafia to lead a better life. However, Dazai has what in psychologist terms would be called depression and this leads to his feelings of not being able to feel satisfaction in life and slight sociopathic tendencies.

However, my main question is then Why the heck do people find mentally unstable and psychologically damaged characters so damn hot?!? Is it the mystery factor? The stupid sense of self-worth and superiority? My bet is on the trench coats. Furthermore, how did this type of character and show become a full blown aesthetic that has the power to ruin sleep schedules, change clothing choices and impact important life decisions, such as to whether or not I should consider buying a thousand different types of hats?!? It is a question as old as time and could probably be dated back to the old Sherlock Tumblr days of the dark fandoms past.

To investigate this most pivotal of questions, which has in effect ruined my life, I am going to use two examples of the appeal of mentally unstable characters and two examples of the mafia aesthetic characters to investigate what makes them so appealing. Firstly, Lelouch Vi Britannia and Kaladin Stormblessed,(sad bois) and secondly, Dazai and Chuuya. (mafia bois)

Leouch Vi Brittania needs no introduction. Some of his most infamous acts include; killing his sister, starting a revolution, laughing maniacally as he kills thousands of people in the city and being the most renowned terrorist of his age. He is despite all this or perhaps because of this, one of the most beloved mentally unstable characters after Light Yagami. I wonder if this says something about societys mental state in general? That we love such manically evil and gloriously flamboyant characters because we are yearning to be manically evil and gloriously flamboyant? That would explain the amount of angsty emo songs and anthems songs out there, looking at you Imagine Dragons but i digress. In addition to this the most depressed homeboy Kaladin depressblessed* Is also despite being one of the most self-depriving characters in the novel Way of Kings, one of the most loved characters. However I do think this is due more to the we must protecc the bebe '' factor that people – especially fangirls- have towards these types of characters than it is due to the I want to be evil too type of lovability factor.

Forging onwards and circling back to our suicidal Dazai for a moment, one of the main reasons the fans love him so much is because of his suicidal tendencies. This constant willingness to die resonates very deeply with some viewers ( geez, that says a lot about present times) and this character trait is constantly used to humorous effect in the show, which again resonates with viewers who use memes and social media to deal with trauma or mental issues. The aesthetic comes in however, with the Mafia AU* (Alternate universe). Due to the excessive use of this type of AU on Wattpad and so forth, an entire generation of youths have been conditioned to find anything that takes place in a Mafia setting hot. This then leads me to talk about the pure beauty, charm and tsundere* alcoholic that is Chuuya Nakahara*. Ex-partner of Dazai during his time in the Mafia, Chuuya has adopted the Mafia aesthetic to the point where one could argue, he is the mafia aesthetic. Naturally, he wears a long black trench coat with his personal stand out item being his hats. Moreover, he flaunts gorgeous ginger locks to all his mafia coworkers and constantly stomps around like he is better than everyone else. This of course adds to his aesthetic. Most importantly however for both the likeability of both Dazai and Chuuya is the manner of their condescending smirks.

A condescending smirk can make or break a character. And furthermore, adding or taking away from the likeably of said character. That said I will rate each characters smirks Id say: dazai – 10, chuuya – 9, kaladin- 10 and lelouch – 9.

In conclusion because I went off on a bit of a tangent there is no definitive reason as to why the aesthetic or appeal or mentally unstable characters is so prominent among fans. However, we can deduce that it has something to do with hotness, choice of attire, condensation - yes- of smirk and connection to some type of rogue band such as a mafia, bridge crew, terrorism group or anti-mafia glamour squad.

Therefore, henceforth I shall hereby declare that all factors for the perfect aesthetic have been met in the show BSD and this show is thereby the reason for my delightful suffering. In my next essay I shall discuss the psychology of a one Dazai Osamu and why he and Chuuya cannot function without one another. It will be a deep dive into the inner psychology of both characters and will be a phenomenal coping mechanism to help me through my spiral into BSD madness.

thanks for reading ~

Glossary:

**tsundere - Tsundere (ツンデレ, pronounced tsɯndeɾe) is a Japanese term for a character development process that describes a person who is initially cold (and sometimes even hostile) before gradually showing a warmer, friendlier side over time.

*depressblessed- known by many as Kaladin Stormblessed, a nickname he first gained in Amaram's army due to his reputation for being extremely lucky. The name has been altered here to show his inherent depression.

*Chuuya Nakahara- Dazais former partner in crime and a hat wearing alcoholic.

* AU - Au' is also a Finnish word and it means the same as 'ouch' in English.