One Of The Theories Going Around About Fyodor Is That His Ability Is To Take The Years Of A Person's

Sometimes I re-watch BSD for fun.

Sometimes I re-watch Danny Motta's reaction to BSD for fun.

Both are an experience of their own and should be done by everyone ✨

Personally, after I have read TSH a million times, and I DON'T like any of them.

Richard is pretentious liar, who may be making up the entire story, who knows.

Henry.....I am not even gonna explain his faults. I still love him tho (I don't like him, it's a love/hate relationship).

Francis, used to be my favourite because I imagined him looking like Timothée Chalamet but now that I think, he wasn't much great either (although I still consider him more likeable than others, but that might be my delusion or want to find one good character).

Camilla is a mystery. I don't know anything about her and I don't trust Richard and how he made her the saint of the group. I know she is a fan favourite, I just don't get her, we see so little of her personality! What is this girlie thinking? (she could've made a great twist villain)

Charles. I know he was used as the "scapegoat" in the book but if he was the way he acted in the last chapters. I hate him.

Bunny, somehow the most normal one, makes my skin crawl with his words. I am conflicted about his murder.

What if all of them are red flags? (Kinda are)

Ps: I didn't put "none of them" because I knew it would get the most votes.

ENFJ: why don't you smile more?

INTP: I don't see the point in smiling.

ENFJ: there is no point in that, it is just more welcoming.

INTP: I don't want to seem welcoming.

ENFJ: you can make more friends.

INTP: you can also make enemies.

ENFJ: how about this, you can't avoid people all your life, you have to live in society.

INTP: not if there is no society.

ENFJ: that sounds....sus

INTP: I am totally not building a robot army to take over human population and start a sci-fi war to eradicate humanity.

I feel so much stress that I want to pack up my bag in middle of the night, run away from home, change my name and start a new life working for some restaurant as a waiter or something.......

"The world would be a better place without me, which is exactly why I will keep on living"

Camilla Macaulay: the twist villain that never was.

(ps: this is just a headcanon and personal opinion, nothing serious!)

Out of all the characters in TSH, Camilla to me seemed the most enigmatic, more than even Henry Winter. There's something about her that I cannot understand. I couldn't trust her when I was reading TSH for the first time, I thought she was going to be the mastermind behind it all.

Why? Isn't Camilla the nicest of all of them? So was Charles, and look at what happened to him. The twins gave me the ick a lot of the times, especially during re-reads where I could see the early hints of the incest reveal and the abuse. It could have been completely believable, if Camilla, behind the scenes was the one causing the drama all along.

1. Richard's rose coloured lens: since the story is told from his point of view, it's understandable if he decided to leave some details, changed the story or was oblivious to some things he didn't want to remember or think about. He had the most bias for Camilla, she was his crush. And we often look at our crushes with rose tinted glasses and often hide their flaws and mistakes. Richard shows bias towards the Greek class even before he was in it and his infatuation with Camilla could be the reason why we don't get any bad details about her throughout the story.

2. Motives: while Bunny did get murdered for blackmailing and trying to betray the Greek class. Only Camilla had other motives to cause distress among the others. Particularly, Charles. We know he was extremely possessive with her and has caused her emotional and physical abuse (there's background info we get at times about the twins having broken objects in the house and other times where Charles is possessive of Camilla). I don't think she truly loves Henry, it's more that being with him gives her the protection and safety she needs. She has shown some kind of liking to Francis, they seem good friends and have kissed two times (I call it gay solidarity). She plays with Richard's heart a lot, kissing him when no one is looking and making him think he has a chance when he clearly doesn't. Camilla is overshadowed by the guys in her friend group; getting the "only girl treatment". Bunny is always trying to get under her nerves and is misogynistic towards her. Charles is controlling and abusive (her own brother). Henry is cold and sociopathic, as well as someone you can't trust ("I call it redistribution of matter"). Richard is a simp. Francis is there.

3. What could have happened: Camilla, tired of the way her life is tied to Charles, Henry and Richard and their feelings towards her forcing her into a corner with no choice of her own. As well as, mentally scared from the murder of the farmer, decides to end all of the misfortunes in her life. Instead of Henry making the plans, it's Camilla in this version of the story that decides to kill Bunny both to get rid of him from her life as well as to hide the first murder. But she does this from the shadows. And the person that discovers her plan is Francis, since they have a relatively good relationship, it's possible he wouldn't spill her plans and stay quiet. She gaslights Henry into believing he ended up killing Bunny (let's say he went through with the poisonous mushrooms but instead Camilla gave Bunny actual posion)

When Charles goes into his villain arc, Camilla uses Henry as a shield to keep him away. And in the final scene, instead of Henry shooting himself, Charles ends up shooting him and Camilla shoots Charles as an act of revenge. She then threatens Richard that if he says a word about this (both Bunny and Charles's murder) then he would die too, she does that to seal her secret; she knows Richard has a big mouth and might betray her and spares Francis, since he already knew and is trustable. Camilla cleans her fingerprints from the gun and puts it in Charles's hand in order to frame it as a murder-suicide. Camilla attends their funerals and gives an alibi in front of the police that her, Richard and Francis were in the country house during the murder-suicide and then testified that Charles and Henry were the ones who were involved in the two murders and were holding them hostage with that information, clearing the three of them from the murders. Then she finally leaves for a better life. (Maybe the epilogue would be about Francis telling Richard about Camilla's behind-the-scenes story, showcasing the aftermath and what they are doing in the present)

4. Character arc: making Camilla crucial to the plot and a twist villain would give so much to her character. Her mysterious nature, absence from the main plot and lack of impact at the start of the story could be explained by her secretly planning their downfalls and her escape. Instead of her being the object of affection for the three guys and being the typical "girl that ruins the friendships between guy friends", she is the hidden mastermind with her own motives, personality and story. She was the only one who didn't change in the second part. But in this version of the story, she is the one who drives it's entire narrative.

Let her be manipulative, a liar, a gaslighter. Let her show the wrath of female rage.

When the twins were introduced in white clothing, looking like angels. Maybe they were wolves in sheep's clothing. Both of the twins. Not just Charles but Camilla too. They were creepy, eerie, and strange. They hid their true personalities behind southern hospitality and beautiful features.

"Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it"

After all, the best characters are the grey ones.

Chuuya, singing in the kareoke: I wanna key his car, I wanna make him lunch

Dazai, whispering to Atsushi: Chuuya sounds so desperate

Chuuya: I wanna break his heart and be the one to stitch it up

Dazai: .....wait

Chuuya: Wanna kiss his face

*Dazai, smirks*

Chuuya, making a fist: with an uppercut

Dazai: oh no....

Chuuya: I wanna meet his mom, to tell her, her son sucks!!!

*ADA and PM laughing in the background*

"if they are enemies, let them stay enemies. They are enemies in the canon 😡"

Me: No they are lovers, hope that helps ❤️❤️

Atsushi: that doesn't explain why you were smiling while he was choking you!

Dazai: I wasn't smiling, I was gasping.....wait for you follow me around or something?

Atsushi: oh no, me and Akutagawa were buying our groceries

Dazai: YOU AND AKUTAGAWA? WHY WERE YOU TWO TOGETHER?

Atsushi: we have decided to be friends!

Ranpo, rolling his eyes: Gay.

Atsushi, confused after a mission: what exactly is the relationship between Dazai-san and Chuuya-san?

Fukuzawa: they are enemies

Kunikida: more like ex-coworkers

Yosano: definitely, enemies with benefits

Kyouka: best friends!

Kenji: they help each other out in times of great trouble like good neighbors :)

Junichiro: Aren't they rivals?

Naomi: I thought they were Ex-boyfriends!

Haruno: I heard they got divorced

Atsushi, even more confused: they were married????

*Everyone looks at Ranpo*

Ranpo, takes his Lollipop out: Gay.

BSD and Shipping

Since Valentine's day was coming I was interested in discussing a huge part of the BSD fandom: Shipping

( ⚠️ RANT INCOMING. DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED ABOUT OPINIONS ON SHIPPING. PLEASE BE RESPECTFUL TOWARDS OTHER PEOPLE'S OPINIONS IN COMMENTS AND REBLOGS. ⚠️)

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So where to start?

For a long time I have been noticing one specific trend in the BSD subreddit. And that are posts that talk about unpopular opinions/Headcanons/fav or least fav ships etc.

What I find interesting about these posts is that one thing is always in the forefront, and it's the debates about the sexualities of the characters in BSD. While Headcanons can be annoying and some people do push their opinions on others, there is nuance that is lacking in the community when discussing some topics. Finding posts about Mori being a pedo and how Dazai is unlikable or overrated is very easy and the discussions surrounding topics like that are always the same. People would pick sides and end up writing a lot about what their opinion is and while that's valid, it also ends up in fandom wars where it's hard to like or dislike something without your head being in the chopping block.

Now let's go to the original topic: shipping. To examine the environment of shipping culture in BSD fandom we have to start with the headcanons that people have adopted for sexualities of the characters.

1. THE PROBLEM WITH HETRO-NORMATIVITY

Now, the posts about shipping often contain a lot of people writing paragraphs and paragraphs about what ships they like or dislike.

One of the ships that takes the most bullets for its existence and popularity is Soukoku or Shin Soukoku. There are lots of comments about these ships that "remind" us that canonically Dazai, Chuuya, Atsushi and Akutagawa are all straight. They should not be shipped with each other because they are straight.....

Dazai flirts with women and wants to commit a double suicide with a beautiful woman. Atsushi is very clearly set up to end up with Lucy. Akutagawa couldn't care less about romance as we see how dismissive he is with Higuchi. And Chuuya.......wears fashionable outfits and has a slutty waist, but we won't comment on that.

Dazai and Chuuya have a lot of queer subtext that anyone can see. Akutagawa and Atsushi are pointed out to complete each other and complement each other several times. These ships don't exist out of thin air.

Now there is nothing WRONG with anyone having the headcanon of any of these (or any other) characters to be straight, after all we are not given enough information about their sexualities. But by stating "Dazai is straight, he likes women" or "this ship doesn't make sense because they are not gay" not only does it imply that characters can't have other preferences but also that being straight is the default, which it isn't.

This is coming from a straight woman from a very conservative country where we don't have exposure to queer media. It took me a long time to stop being so heteronormative. I think assuming someone is straight until they prove to you or tell you directly is just as bad and as assuming someone is gay. I think we have come far along as a community to understand that it shouldn't be our first instinct to assume everything is heterosexual until we get some sort of proof or stamp of approval from its creator.

Asagiri isn't going to stand up in a stage in front of the world and say "yeah Dazai and Chuuya have gay feelings for eachother" because the manga is from Japan. If there were explicit queer characters then BSD would no longer get the label of being universal because of certain censorship laws. Even if it's getting more acceptable in Japan to show queer characters in manga and anime, BSD isn't a romance or slice of life story. It's a seinen, not a BL/GL. Besides, Asagiri shows little to no interest in romantic relationships in his story.

So by saying "______ character is straight because we don't have any other information proving otherwise " isn't a valid excuse to tell shippers not to ship certain characters, it's making it seem like heterosexuality is the default state of being.

That also doesn't mean you can say "Dazai is gay, don't ship him with women" because that's the same thing. If you think Dazai is gay/bi/pan/etc. then that's your opinion, pushing that on others only worsens the rep of skk shippers especially.

You have the right to like or dislike certain ships or have your own Headcanons. This is why even feminising certain characters also isn't as problematic as people call it. It's just a different take on a character (but that time people were correcting those who called Sigma a "he" instead of "they" was genuinely wrong). Headcanons of some random online stranger doesn't make anything canon. So if you find yourself around annoying people like that, just leave the conversation.

2. WHY SUBTEXT MATTERS

Subtext is really important when discussing media; in case of BSD whether it is the anime, manga, anthologies or LNs. BSD is not new to subtext, even from the start of the story there is a lot of queer subtext that people can figure out easily.

When we are introduced to Dazai and Chuuya's partnership in the first season, it's clear as day to see the dynamic and its underlying tension. We can see how close those two are that their relationship can't be explained just as simple partners turned enemies. Time and time again we get so much queer subtext between Skk's interactions. The entire 15 arc and well as Stormbringer shows us the bond and trust between the two as well as the intense amount of gay scenes. At this point I am sure Hoshikawa is a hardcore skk shipper. All of their official art is also gay (that could be queerbating though). Asagiri must know what the public thinks about Skk and still writes subtext about them. It makes sense why this would be a popular ship; it's not made out of thin air with no context (*ahem* Kousano *ahem*) but has actual roots and the proof to back it up too.

SSKK is a similar story, it's not my favourite but it has been growing on me ever since S5. Similar to skk, we get a lot of subtext and homoerotic moments between Aku and Atsushi. They are yin and yang. They are enemies that sought to kill eachother but still team up to fight together. Atsushi is literally the centre of Akutagawa's life since the beginning. Atsushi and Akutagawa grow together as characters and as different as they appear are similarly looking for one thing: validation and acceptance. Their relationship is so compelling in so many levels that it too makes sense why their ship is as popular as it is (especially regarding recent events in the story)

Ranpoe.....let's be real, those two got married a long time ago. They are the definition of "be gay, solve crimes". They are undeniably a cute ship regardless of whether it's one sided or not. Fyolai as well makes complete sense with the context behind Fyodor and Nikolai's relationship, while I also consider it quite one-sided as it's mostly Nikolai that is fascinated by Fyodor (and wants to kiss kill him) Fukumori isn't my cup of tea but it too has enough subtext to back it up, same with FukuFuku.

While I would love to talk about other ships, I wanted to show the reasoning behind the most popular pairings.

Personally, as a multishipper, it's very fun for me to have so many characters to examine and spend time obsessing over.

Now, there are straight ships that I like too as well as ships I don't ship for myself.

The reason I don't like Yosano and Ranpo together is because I see them in the same position as Kyouka and Atsushi. The scene of Ranpo recruiting Yosano (who worked with Mori) into the ADA parallels Atsushi saving Kyouka (who also worked with Mori). I consider them siblings and like how they are platonic instead of it being the typical "a boy and girl can't be besties". Another ship I love and cherish is AtsuLucy because it's so adorable, Lucy is my fav Guild member and her and Atsushi are "Girlboss and Malewife". I ship Tachihara with Gin, Higuchi and Gin as well as Kunikida with Yosano (surprisingly I don't find the appeal of Kunizai; though I still like that ship from time to time, just don't ship it actively). I prefer not to ship Sigma with anyone (he is still a baby to me)

So it's not that BSD doesn't have straight ships, when you make a majority male cast and have them be rivals or enemies, obviously people will ship m/m more. Especially if there is more subtext and tension behind the male characters and they have little to no interactions with women.

And I might get some heat for saying this:

It is okay for most of the BSD characters to be considered queer because if comp het is so normal in anime/manga then why can't the opposite be the case? We already have enough series with little to no representation, so why can't we have a bunch of queer characters?

3. TOXIC SHIPPERS AND THE FALL OF FANDOM CULTURE

I have been raving for the past two sections and defending the shipping community. But it isn't a conversation with nuance if I don't address the problem of a small group of people that take shipping too seriously. The reason why fandom itself gets a bad rep is because of shipping more often than not. I will admit, it's not all sunshine and rainbows when people argue about their fav ships. And a lot of the aforementioned ships are to a point, toxic. Yes, some shippers are annoying and ruin everyone else's fun. There are ships that don't make sense at all.

But that doesn't mean that a small part of people should represent others who are just having harmless fun and don't even believe their ships to ever become canon. Let's be real it's highly unlikely we will have any couples by the end of the show (the closest could be AtsuLucy). Sometimes people are too intense about ships and that goes for both antis and pros. Both of the extreme are toxic. And instead of shoving down our opinions down other people's throats, we should be celebrating the very story that brought us together in the first place.

Yeah it can be hard for those who don't like shipping at all to enjoy the story and have discussions. But we have to remember the roots of fandom culture start with shipping. It's always been the case and it's always been the most popular way to discuss one's favourite fictional work. From Sherlock to Genshin to boy bands to streamers, everything has been shipped and will always be. There is a reason why AO3 works so well.

4. SO WHAT?

The ships are what brought me to BSD in the first place. I wanted to explore the world of BSD because of its characters and their dynamics. And a lot of other people have gotten into this fandom for the exact same reason. While there are unflattering moments in our fandom, that doesn't mean it's not a place for people to come together and have some fun. Whether you ship or not. Whether you like fanfictions or not. We have to accept that there are a lot of pros to shipping too. It brings our ideas together, makes us feel giddy inside or tears our heart apart, it produces beautiful fanarts and fanfictions, it makes us analyse characters, it makes us look deeper into the story....and it makes us wait for what's next to come.

And I want nothing more than to be able to enjoy shipping without the guilt that comes with it.

Shipping isn't free from its flaws, but it is not defined only by its flaws. It might not be for everyone, but it is someone's everything. So even if you don't like it in particular, let's not spoil other people's fun. One's trash is another's treasure.

~Peace out 🕊️✌️