I have a question!! So I’m a long-time BSD enjoyer but I haven’t read nearly as much of the manga as I would like. I’ve seen all of the anime though, most of it multiple times through. I didn’t realize until looking at the comments on Danny Motta’s video at how much people fucking hate Fukuchi and his sword. Up until this point I’ve thought it’s cool as hell and he, along with the sword, bring something kinda new and fun to the series.
HOWEVER, I know BSD is FAR from perfect and there’s a lot of dumb shit that faithful manga readers have a better perspective on. Would you mind explaining why Fukuchi and the sword are such a sore point? I hope this isn’t too much to ask. I just really want to know.
Hi anon! Its not too much to ask at all!
Unfortunately the answer to that is best explained in the context of ALL the issues I have with the manga/show so... this is going to be v long... and im done giving this show more credit than it deserves but don't take it that seriously lol I hesitate to even consider my pov to be on par with the average manga reader but ig we'll see how my opinions hold up after i post
And disclaimer: I don't mind answering this but ONLY with the context that this is 100% my opinion (as of late, bsd as a whole has just been REALLY bugging me so im just gonna take this opportunity to explain my gripes since most of them apply to or tie greatly into fukuchi's character/design/motivations/development)
I simply don't want anyone to come for my head bc of anything I say here tho, bc I feel like I may disagree with a large portion of the fanbase but WITH THAT SAID...
***from this point forward there will be a few spoilers from s5e11***
Here are my gripes with BSD...
1. BSD and its "magic system"?
bsd powers suffer from what i like to call a "lack of scope"
granted this could be due to the fact the story isnt complete HOWEVER im sure any anime fan can tell you this story doesnt feel like it is leading anywhere its just... going... (ill get to the awful pacing later)
for comparison sake im going to also talk about The Case Study of Vanitas since it is the world I have the most experience in
what does BSD not have that VNC does?
simply put, the magic system doesnt reinvent itself character to character
in VNC if you have an ability it is EXCLUSIVELY connected to "manipulations of the world formula" which is essentially elemental control (fire, ice, gravity, etc.) based on a sci fi version of chemistry (alchemy, if you will) and this rule applies to EVERY CHARACTER in VNC
its a structure that starts developing from the beginning
BSD however introduces a WHOLE NEW magic system for each character
some character abilities are similar, yes, and can be classified as such, but many cannot be classified
again a magic system doesnt NEED to have strict rules (its actually more boring that way if the rules are too simple) but it DOES need RULES... and solid ones
otherwise its tempting to use the MAGIC system to fill in PLOT RELATED gaps
and if that system isnt defined, well, to me that looks like lazy/sloppy/illogical writing
if you like the whiplash of not knowing whats gonna happen next, fine, (i did for awhile too!) up until the unpredictability started to come from powers that as a whole look like an authors way of trying to write themselves out of their own plot hole
ie: time travel
specifically time travel that isnt introduced FROM THE BEGINNING...
2. Fukuchi and his "deus ex machina" sword
time travel is NOTORIOUSLY difficult to pull off and especially by my standards
I have watched Doctor Who since 2008, before I even knew what tumblr was I was doing my own solo fandom stuff (basically just watching a LOT of youtube video essays) but basically I have high standards when it comes to time travel in stories
Amenogozen has the POTENTIAL to be a great weapon if used in a logical context... but theres one thing the sword (and BSD as a whole) does not follow
RULES
time travel is TRICKY mostly bc it has consequences... in BSD fukuchi gives nothing in exchange for his powers
lets even toss time travel aside for the moment
what is Fukuchi's innate special ability? Mirror Lion... (read below)
its essentially an attack multiplier of x100 at CLOSE RANGE
lets say your average untrained human punch is 150psi (pounds per square inch) which is the pressure equivalent of a point 100m below the surface of the ocean...
with Mirror Lion's multiplier you get 15,000psi which would be 10,000m or 10 kilometers
a pressure equivalent to the deepest part of the ocean (i dont need to remind you how powerful water is... we all know about oceangate)
MY POINT IS HE'S OVERPOWERED AS FUCK
dont even get me started on his motivations too
im glad we got backstory for him in ep 11 and im sure we are just supposed to sum up his motivations into "he was willing to pay the high price for world peace" but tbh royally fuck that
dont TELL me thats what he believes
PROVE to me how you made that conclusion
also the only reason he even dies is becasue he wants fukuzawa to kill him... we dont have any sense of accomplishment for stopping his scheme because NOW the scheme has been PLOPPED right into fukuzawa's lap which fukuchi intended to do from the start... apparently
and this seemingly retroactive decision-making is a problem A LOT of bsd characters have, especially the one and only character i hate THE MOST... *drumroll*
3. Osamu fucking Dazai
oh boy...
I have thought long and hard about Dazai... im not going to lie, after ch109 and ep10 I was about to admit Dazai might actually have grown on me BUT
this was all erased after 6 minutes into ep11 when he was confirmed to indeed NOT be dead
Dazai just *knows* everything thats gonna happen
Chuuya was never a vamp... he knew this... and somehow his ENTIRE escape plan was just hinging on that? bc yknow... hE kNeW fRoM tHe bEgiNniNg
OSAMU DAZAI IS A PLOT DEVICE USED *ONLY* TO FILL IN NARRATIVE HOLES
HE IS A WAY TO FORCE PROGRESS ON A STORY WITHOUT EVER GIVING A REAL EXPLANATION
HIS CHARACTER IS AN INSULT TO INTELLIGENCE
His character is paper thin, with motivations that do not translate to his actions
and frankly... im tired of it...
additionally... if sigma doesn't survive, all of Meursault was literally useless... so why pick him for nikolai's prison break game?
even if he does, it means the ONLY thing we get out of the arc is information about fyodor... as to WHAT information, who knows... but regardless, a villain arc that has been going on for TOO GODDAMN LONG (40 chapters?) should have a resolution that isnt "i knew what was gonna happen all along"
we spent the whole time being SHOWN that fyodor and dazai were of equal intelligence levels... or at least higher than what dazai was used to dealing with
if dazai could just predict shit like this from the beginning why was fyodor a villain for so long? makes ZERO sense, dazai would've defeated him AGES ago... what makes THIS time any different?
also... why is he even suicidal? yeah ok the author was... but like... why make it such a present character trait?... so we can fake kill him over and over? idk
can you tell i dislike him?
4. THEORY vs PRACTICE
I am a "show dont tell" girlie
ALL BSD DOES IS "TELL TELL TELL" ...its infuriating
almost every power/special ability has an element of "trust me bro" ok SOME OF THEM DONT but most of them do
ie: atsushi is a tiger (what does that even mean), kenji gets strong when he's angry (ok hulk?), and THIS JUST IN we STILL don't know how fyodor's ability works... and now he's DEAD?... we also dont know almost any detail about sigma's ability and he might ALSO be dead
but thats only regarding abilities...
when it comes to writing stories using people of high intelligence it is VERY difficult to not get into the aforementioned "trust me bro" mindset which BSD does REPEATEDLY
im not listing off every example but off the top of my head is one scene from s4...
ranpo explains his plan for saving yosano loosely involved "replacing the engine [of an armored vehicle] with an electric motor and playing engine sounds over the speakers so no one noticed" ...and only i can pick this claim to shreds lol (i engineer electric vehicles for a living) but this is so wrong on so many levels...
Internal combustion engines and Electric motors are IN NO WAY EQUIVALENT
ranpo would never be able to power a vehicle the size of an armored truck with a motor that he installed an hour before the truck was put to use... he just wouldnt... the vehicle is too big... ugh *facepalm*
and dont even get me started on batteries...
MY POINT IS
if you want to write some *genius move* at least TRY to do some research to make the action believable
thats like saying "oh yeah i ran out of gas so a threw a couple AA batteries into my gas tank until i could make it to the station"
BUT THAT WOULDNT FLY BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE KNOW THATS NOT HOW CARS WORK
*sigh*
5. Manga Readers' POV
the.chapters.are.too.short
especially for a monthly released manga
i am relatively new to anime and manga... like late 2020, so I am part of the "new gen" I guess you could say so i know i dont have any right to complain about pacing in comparison to like... the dressrosa arc of One Piece
with that said, not enough in bsd BUILDS on itself
it all feels like a self "one-up"
its been too long since any of my large questions have been answered
honestly its rare that any of my questions are ever answered because the narrative rarely follows logical progression anyway and any scenes thats ARE useful are cut from the anime
characters do not *develop* their powers, they just simply ARE
whatever ability you are born with limits what you can do and thats that... which leads me to...
6. Types of Ability Users
the most coherent thing i think i can speak on so this will be short lol
there are 3 types... i think (excluding lightnovels, i have not read 15, Stormbringer, or any others)
(1) natural abilities (ones that can be nullified by dazai or stolen like in Dead Apple)
(2) human/god fusions (chuuya) -> but this can ALSO be nullified???
(3) when an ability isnt an ability (it CANT be nullified) -> ie: whatever the fuck Lovecraft is
Sigma -> ??? (he could be part of the natural ability category but like... it feels weird to put him there)
but... there is never a comparison between these types so im not even sure of this "list" is exhaustive
this is just another way the story is leaving open ways to dig itself out of a plot hole... which isnt fun... bc now there are no stakes... there are no rules... its disorganized chaos where anything can happen
everyone will always be fine because there is a way out of everything
and thats BORING... and for me, downright infuriating
fukuchi likely falls into the first category... but then again he's also using a tool from another ancient ability user... so does he even fit there?
7. Anime Adaptation
rushed
rushed
RUSHED
and i know why...
BSD is so thin on STABLE plot the story would feel like its dragging if Bones wasn't animating at the pace they are (see Manga Readers' POV)
so to try and counteract the feeling that nothing is happening they are cutting "irrelevant" scenes BUT ALSO important portions relevant ones (ie: aku's death)
do all the plot points from the manga happen? by definition, yes... but the nuance the manga has is lost almost entirely
Atsushi doesn't physically throw an injured Aku's arm over his shoulders... Aku doesn't smile upon his demise... Aku doesn't reach out through the fog of the fire extinguisher (the adaptation of this scene was personally my last straw)
and then we have the new anime content...
why did we tack on an additional fight? zero context... didn't even tie up loose ends from fukuchi like...
is sigma alive?
are chuuya/dazai/nikoali still in france? europe?
is fyodor going to return in some way? (we know nothing of his motives, ability, or MOST importantly, what information did he learn from Sigma??? his ability is an EXCHANGE so why even have that happen if they are both dead anyway?) why would you fucking kill off a character like this
WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS ENTIRE ARC??? The mere reason I'm asking this question is, in and of itself, unacceptable
we MAY get an answer later... but its been 20 episodes... why the fuck dont we know anything about the arc we just completed? ...ludicrous
Final Thoughts
BSD does not have enough reliable rules in its magic system to form a solid foundation of... anything
Fukuchi is a disjointed character trying to do too many things at once, he doesn't have solid motivations, and his arc provides more questions than it answers
Osamu Dazai is not a character... he is a plot device used like a saving throw in DND
BSD frequently insults my intelligence to cover it's ass in its storytelling
being a manga reader is like taking 30 days to rip off a tiny band aid... the pacing is unbearable
even with the end of fukuchi's arc now known, there was no sense of accomplishment in defeating him bc technically we didnt… he gave himself up... so the sword was just to make him overpowered... it was pointless
the anime adaptation was rushed, scenes cherry picked, and plot narratively thinned into water... there was no depth this season
In my opinion...
There are very few redeeming characteristics about BSD now
The few meaningful scenes we do get in the manga are overwritten by later context that negates any emotion initially associated with the scene
even with the end of fukuchi's arc now known, there was no sense of accomplishment in defeating him bc technically we didnt... he gave himself up
Dazai is the worst written character I have ever read
It is very likely i drop this story entirely
If I seem salty/upset/etc. its because I am. However is NOT directed at you, it is simply a manifestation of my disappointment in this story.
...
And there you have my opinion... in way too many words... thanks for sticking around if you made it this far im impressed bc i am salty as hell lol
I finished this artwork back around July 8th of 2019, in an attempt to illustrate a certain headcanon of mine: that despite Arahabaki being referred to as a god by many people, Chuuya and the “being” within him known as Arahabaki are, in actuality, two halves — the reincarnated body and half a soul, and the other half of the soul, respectively — of one whole reincarnated Angel, whom had been corrupted by the organization which captured and experimented on them.
(The concept actually way predates even the artwork, but shhh, that’s a story for another time.)
I actually find it quite interesting that now, with the existence of Storm Bringer showcasing Chuuya originally having a corrupted angelic-like form when using Corruption against Paul Verlaine/Guivre (whom I will also talk about at some point), my headcanon has actually been given a bit more support from canon — especially considering his wings are described as being made of flames (granted, black flames but it makes sense considering he would have been already corrupted at this point in my headcanon) and what is described as (a) glowing ring(s(?)) (a halo, anyone? And perhaps also something else important in my headcanon which fits this description, ah but that’s all a topic for later!).
I plan to discuss the whole headcanon at some point later on, but for now, I hope you enjoy this artwork!!!
Do not repost my artwork anywhere without my explicit permission or claim it as your own. See F.A.Q.s for details.
Songs I listened to while drawing this:
This Beautiful Playlist 🥺💖
This artwork is a part of a series of illustrations relating to this headcanon. Other artworks will be linked below when completed:
Given that Sigma has no designated birthday I have a proposal for a birthdate (or at least a dedicated date) for him...
The greek letter sigma usually comes in two forms. Uppercase (Σ) and lowercase (σ).
Uppercase sigma (Σ) (below) in mathematics is to denote a summation/sum of a collection of numbers. But, unfortunately, there is no value typically associated with that letter.
Now looking at the lowercase letter, sigma (σ) can mean a multitude of different things. For example, in thermodynamics, the Stefan-Boltzman constant is denoted by a lowercase sigma. I considered this as a possibility, but there are no applicable connections I could find to Sigma's character. Ultimately, I found a value that fit better.
Sigma is the Sky Casino manager and the profits of a casino are quite literally based on the rules of probability, so what better way to consider a birthdate for him than looking at statistics?
In a nutshell, in stats, standard deviation is the distance from the average/mean (μ) at which, in a normal distribution (also known as a "bell curve"), data can be considered statistically significant...and is also denoted as a lowercase sigma.
In less technical terms, standard deviation (std. dev.) is very helpful in determiming what casino betters would call, "odds."
Here are examples of different mean and std. dev. values in some different casino games.
Looking at a normal distribution (below), at a distance of one "sigma" from the mean, 34.1% of the data points exist on either side of the mean (and 68.2% for both sides added together.)
So, we can say that one sigma of statistical significance to be 34.1% in general.
Now, taking that percentage and looking at the days of the year, 34.1% of 365 days is about 124 days.
And the 124th day of the year is May 4th.
Also, as a little addition to seal the deal, May 4th is typically Star Wars day (you know "May the Fourth be with you").
Its mentioned in Chapter 72 that the amount of fuel used to keep the Sky Casino afloat is much less than it should be. Possibly as a result of someones ability as some mysterious "force".
bro (gender neutral please don't come for me) is deffo the type of guy (gender neutral) to get stuck in bathrooms cause he can't turn the doorknob cause he used handcream which makes his hands all slippery
what the fuck am i on bro (gender neutral) does not get into these kinds of situations
