It’s a small similarity but anyways, I was working on this group paper, but nobody has been sending the parts I asked them to do, so I had to start typing them anyways… And I was complaining so much and telling my friend that I could only rely on her on works like these, and she asked me, “Why don’t you rely on me?” And I replied, “Because you have your own paper with your own group,” And she told me, “But?? I’m part of you’re group?? And you haven’t given me my task yet??”. So yeah, point is,we finished it in a couple of hours, no thanks to my screw up lol. Anyways, that reminded me of this soooo… yehp–
Okay, so normally I have a tendency to stay faaaaar away from discourse, but I noticed that a few people (this isn’t directed at one person alone) have been saying that Soukoku is abusive or unhealthy. Now, I’m no relationship counsellor, but I want to make some points here.
Keep in mind that you’re still free to hate Soukoku, you’re free to print out and burn fanart on your roof, rant about it on twitter, complain about it to your friends, etc. This is just to clear up some misconceptions peeps have. Also, if you want to counter some of my arguments, feel free to do so, but again I must ask you to please stay respectful. Thank you.
Fifteen (First Meeting Novel): Summary with Short Excerpts
This post is more than 13,000 words long.
1. I have not put any warnings on this post; that does not mean there aren’t possible warnings. If you’d like to know specifically what these trigger warnings are, please privately contact me. For those who proceed, please do so at your own caution.
2. Please do not repost. Please do not translate into another language.
3. I have translated only those excerpts I wanted to. If you’d like to send asks, please kindly refrain from asking me to translate a certain part or other.
4. If you want to wait for a full English translation, reading this post will most likely, most definitely, take away some of the excitement of reading the novel.
5. Once again, same encouragement for movie posts applies: tag responsibly and place all discussion under a ‘read more’, try to keep your tweets out of the public search engine (I also recommend using fusetter); please be especially careful if you have followers who do not wish to be spoiled. Please be especially careful that this does not spread to any of the Japanese fandom, which errs on the side of caution and keeps all spoilers out of view.
The story of Bungo Stray Dogs centers around individuals who are gifted with super natural powers and use them for different purposes including holding a business, solving mysteries, and carrying out missions assigned by the mafia. The story mainly follows the members of the “Armed Detective Agency” and their everyday lives.
Most characters in the series are named after famous literary authors and/or characters in their works — Wikipedia
ANIME
First season finished, currently waiting for season two.
http://gogoanime.io/category/bungou-stray-dogs
MANGA
ongoing.
http://mangafox.me/manga/bungou_stray_dogs/
Chapter 24.5 includes a short story, A Heartless Dog
http://dazaiscans.co.vu/masterpost
Spin-off
ongoing
http://mangafox.me/manga/bungou_stray_dogs_wan/
LIGHT NOVELS
1- Dazai Osamu’s Entrance Exam
ongoing translation by chendaere
Prologue [ 1 ]
Chapter 1 [ 1-3 4 5-6 7-11 ]
Chapter 2 [1]
Intermission [ 1 ]
Chapter 3 [ 1-2 3-4 5
2 - Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era
translated by nkhrchy
Prologue [ 1 2 3 ]
Chapter 1 [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ]
Chapter 2 [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ]
Chapter 3 [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ]
Chapter 4 [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ]
Epilogue [ 1 ]
Afterword [ 1 ]
3 - The Untold Story of the Founding of the Detective Agency
I felt the need to read again the Dark Era novels and I saw Dazai's line about why he is suicidal in the beginning: "It is a singular event in one’s life that none may reverse. That is what I desire.” This, along with what he said about he always losing the things that he wants, it made me think that death by suicide at that time was something that he could choose to have and not lose it afterwards. What do you think?
Please correct me if I’m wrong - that line is only from the anime episode 13? I scanned through the novel but couldn’t find the line…! What Dazai says in the novel seems to give a slightly different perspective to his character, so… I’ll look at both!
Essentially, I largely agree with you! Where I differ slightly is this: I believe Dazai is comforted by the choice he has - the fact that he can achieve his own death anytime he wishes - but he does not long for death itself. And my reasons for thinking this way are…very rambly. (Please note that the translation of novel lines below are done by me, and might differ from what you might have read.)
(What incredible artistry in this episode…! I love what they did here - it’s an effective way to advance time by telling us that Ango is on his way to join them at the bar. But the animation team also shows, from the very beginning, that Odasaku, Ango, and Dazai are connected by death, the death that is endlessly present in their lives…)
When Dazai discusses death and - by implication - his desire to commit suicide here, it seems to me that he’s discussing the topics on a philosophical level. He’s encompassing all of humankind when he uses the term “Man” - man fearing death and being drawn to death, man who consumes death in cities and in literature. And it also seems to me that he is talking about an idealised version of death he aspires to - the death in cities is on such a wide scale that it is impossible to imagine any single, personal, ugly and gritty death, such that all we have is a vague, abstract notion of people dying as the world spins; the death talked about in literature is what we see in life, and it’s different from what we see in life as well. In the realm of fiction that draws heavily from life, death is both personal and impersonal at the same time, about fictional characters whom we might be able to relate to, but who are distant too simply because they do not exist.
Dazai talking about death here is not dissimilar to how he talks about his desire to commit a double suicide with a beautiful woman. It is a romanticised vision of death he has, a death that is painless and glorious and freeing. And, as you said, it would also be his choice. In a world where sometimes we cannot control what happens to us, Dazai’s decision to actively work towards his own death is certainly an exercise of his own agency. Putting these ideas together, I feel that Dazai yearns more for the idea of death and what it means (a final, irreversible end that nobody can interfere with) than actual death, which can be painful and messy and ugly.
Comparatively, the novel is subtler and more complex in presenting Dazai’s philosophical musings:
Oh I agree completely - all kpop companies, even BigHit, treat their idols like a product to be marketed. The difference is that some companies are kinder to that product, have real-life attachments to that product, and some are completely impersonal towards them because they believe that they can be replaced.
Let's talk about TVXQ, for instance. one of SM's biggest victories and failures. in 2004, a year after their debut, there was a huge scare that SM were implementing a "rotation system" - essentially what they're doing with NCT now, and something they tried with Super Junior right after the scare died down. It started from a video of Yoochun crying during a performance, and it was spread that either Jaejoong or Yoochun would get replaced by a different trainee.
The scare escalated so fast that TVXQ needed to have an interview right on the streets, surrounded by hundreds of fans, to assure them that the rotation system was a myth. to this day it's unknown whether SM actually planned it, but 5-1=0 became kind of an anthem among fans. it was "all or nothing". That was the first instance of fan solidarity that could potentially make a company change their minds.
Of course, it didn't last, because SM weren't paying them anything, and JYJ broke apart. But with that came vicious fans on both sides, attacking every member, blaming each other instead of the capitalism that had led to them wanting to leave in the first place. I still firmly believe that this could've been easily resolved if they had been actually paid off, but they weren't. And people use this instance - their slave contracts - to claim that SM were mistreating them, and being in SM isn't a privilege.
But it is. Like you said - what is important is discerning between them as a product and as people. The fans, when they brought up that 5-1=0 banner, considered them as a group, as real people who had come together in a dynamic they liked, rather than random people who could sing and dance and harmonize well. The company wouldn’t have considered that - they didn’t have the same attachment to them. This is the same reason, I believe, that SM doesn’t do much about sasaengs. TVXQ’s and Super Junior’s sasaengs were a vicious lot, and the situation kept getting worse over the years. EXO’s sasaengs are almost as bad as they used to be, but there’s slightly more stringent measures in place. However, the company doesn’t sue them - because after all, they provide the fodder to SM’s cash cows. The whole boyfriend fantasy is marketed specifically to this kind of crowd, so in the end SM is the one providing the bait for these stalkers. It’s fucked up, but that’s how the world works.
At the same time, these particular groups are also catapulted towards the top. SM, JYP and YG groups had stellar promo going for them when they first debuted, even being able to perform before senior acts on music award shows, getting radio shows and variety show appearances. This is the kind of promo a smaller company would never be able to afford - or they wouldn’t have the connections or pull in the industry to get there. An example being - SM could’ve easily promised more appearances for EXO on a particular channel to get NCT a certain slot. Back in the day, they would have used the pull of Shinhwa and H.O.T. to promote TVXQ. GOT7 were touted as the “mini 2PM” when they first debuted. These acts all debuted with a strong fandom. As for YG, despite Blackpink being on semi-hiatus constantly, all their comebacks so far have been very strong digitally internationally, and the last one also made a pretty big impact on Korea. When they first debuted, there was already hype around them because of the mere fact that they were from YG! Heck, even the latest Billboard article on rookie Kpop groups to watch out for this year mentions the fact that YG is supposed to debut a new girl group this year, and we don’t even know for sure that it’s happening. That’s the kind of promo you don’t get unless you have connections in the industry, unless you’re rich and well known enough to make it
That’s where the difference comes in, and it’s really not that hard to remember. Any group that debuts in BigHit now will have that privilege, along with the burden of living up to a group the entire world recognizes. But BTS didn’t. Neither did H.O.T. or Big Bang. TVXQ didn’t have any precedence when they made a name for themselves in Japan either. In that way, that makes them exempt from the privilege of the Big 3, because they made it without any predecessors who would make the way smoother.
Hey just curious about when you said Jimin said that Tori Kellys Dear No One represents him, where did he say that?? love the post by the way haha xx
It was in a profile Jimin wrote - pretty sure it’s up on the official BTS facebook account somewhere! They were asked for a song that represents them each, and Jimin wrote Dear No One for his, mentioning he likes listening to it these days. Sorry because I don’t have the exact link!
friendly reminder that jungkook put tori kelly’s dear no one on his playlist. a song jimin says represents him. jungkook? put jimin on his playlist? why am I not surprised I feel like I should be more surprised but I’m not
I've been avoiding speculation regarding the continuous storyline bts has been building completely. Your post was the first that I've come across since November and I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to write it. It actually sparked a theory I've started building in my head. If I ever get the courage to post my theory, would it be okay to add a link to your tumblr post to credit you for the inspiration?
Ahh, I’m glad you liked it! And, of course, I have no problems with that, in fact, link me to your meta when you finish so I can check it out! I’’ll be rooting for you :D
