This is a theiry my brain has cultivated since watching the 4th episode, since it is a theory, don't take anything I'm saying as fact. it's purely speculation for now.
also apologies in advance, but this will be a wall of text, that is to say, a long post.
So, Each character in the Digital circus seems to have a gimmick of some kind. Ragatha gets hurt by the environment often, Gangle's got her breaking comedy mask, Zooble has their ever-changing parts, Pomni seems to have an existential crisis every episode, and Kinger has his fluctuating lucidity. But what about Jax?
well, in episodes 3 and 4, Jax either didn't get a lot of screen time, or didn't take many opportunities to cause mischief. Hell, in episode 3, Jax vacuumed up ghostly only because that's what he thought he was supposed to do for the adventure. after that Jax didn't get to do much on account of being tied up.
In episode 4, as far as mischief goes he just throws Ragatha in the deep fryer. but before that happens, I think we see the first glimpse of Jax's gimmick. it happens in the first minute of the episode, where Ragatha was helping Gangle learn to throw a baseball. Jax honestly seemed to just want to play a game in the moment, yet when Gangle threw the ball, and he hit it, the ball hit her right in the face. Jax might not have looked apologetic in the moment, but he did seem confused. and when Ragatha went to scold him about it (assuming he did it on purpose), he says "I actually didn't mean to do that".
This is interesting to me because in every other episode, Jax has done something to cause mischief. and said mischief usually involved someone getting hurt, thrown around, or having something of theirs broken.
Here's the thing, I think that Jax deliberately causes this mischief on purpose, because his character gimmick is causing harm to others. maybe when he first arrived in the digital world, he had tried to be nice, maybe even helpful, but those efforts would backfire in a wacky way, ultimately resulting in something or someone getting hurt. in other words, he'd accidentally do something that harmed someone or something important to someone.
I think at first he felt bad about it, accidentally causing harm to others. but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to go a day without hurting someone. and the harder he tried to avoid it, the more others would get hurt. So Jax, seeing the pattern, decided to embrace it. He started deliberately causing mischief, and found that if it wasn't an accident on his part, then he would have a level of control over how much pain he causes. like if he feels he has to cause chaos, at least he can control it to a degree.
over time, I think Jax started to find humor in others misfortune. and it sorta turned into a coping mechanism for the gimmick of constantly having to cause someone else misfortune.
I find it interesting that Tsukasa reached for Nene without hesitation. It was probably because he needs her to fulfill his goals but I wanna be delusional and say he has a heart and cares for her / people
lol it is very hard to tell with tsukasa!! but he definitely does have a heart it’s just….selective lol.
and i think the fact that it's so hard to tell how tsukasa feels about people makes him and nene such good complements to each other!! nene is so expressive and open, and tsukasa is such a mystery to the audience and especially to amane, the person closest to him. these differences play off of each other beautifully. it's nene's openness and persistence and open-book optimism that gets us so many glimpses into tsukasa's feelings and past and world view and the different attitudes he's capable of embodying and expressing. and i personally think this moment is an example of that!
i think tsukasa catching nene was a very instinctive action he took!! i don't think he gave it any thought:
i loveeee this moment and these two pages like... he makes the decision so quickly that the panel of nene falling doesn't even have time to complete!! tsukasa physically breaks into the panel of nene falling, that's how fast and split second his decision is!! it's such a beautiful use of the space on the page. and tsukasa looks surprised by himself on the next page!! tsukasa is a very calucated person who usually has the upper hand, and in this moment he realizes he has truly given that upper hand and that foresight and that planning up, that he needs to resort to the last resort of calling amane for help. he resorts to what he sees as the impossible!! so i really don't think catching her was just part of the plan. there was definitely an emotional element involved there!!
i also think nene really has a knack for bringing out new sides of tsukasa. she's the reason he revealed that he's called for hanako before with no response!! she challenges him in ways he hasn't been challenged before!! she constantly surprises him and makes things interesting for him. i think she is definitely a very unique relationship in his life, and given all the reactions she gets out of him, i would say he definitely has at least some level of emotional investment in her as a person.
you are right though, that this doesn't necessarily mean he cares about her... but i don't think it's delusional for us to hope that it means something along those lines!! after all, they've spent a lot of time together leading up to this moment, and thanks to time travel, who knows how many interactions they've had that only tsukasa has experienced at this point? there's so much we don't know about tsukasa, constantly!! and i think the way he feels about nene is one of the more confounding mysteries about him.
i think it's very possible he has a soft spot for nene at this point! or at least is developing one. I’d believe it!! after all, if nene falls to her death who will listen to tsukasa talk about amane for four hours straight??
also look at them here:
serious analysis on pause they're best friends here. they are consulting they are looking to each other they are silently communicating!!! where do we go from here!!! nene said :0!!!!! tsukasa said O_O!!!!!
okay back to more text based analysis lol: from a different angle, you could also argue tsukasa's end goal with all of this is extending nene's life, as he's working to grant amane's wish, which, to his knowledge from the conversation in ch91, would be to extend nene's lifespan. so indirectly, but still supposedly his goal in a way!! which is a way to interpret his motivations in this moment as well.
and on the topic of tsukasa's goals, i think they show his heart!! yes, he's got an agenda, but overall his agenda has really just been to grant amane's wish. and it's an agenda he does his best to fulfill, which is a way of showing heart!! he thinks this is how amane can get whatever he wants. so in a way, even if this moment was just about needing nene as a means to an end, the end and the means of getting there are all motivated by his heart!!
but yeah in summary i definitely think there's a lot of depth to this relationship and to this interaction in particular. it haunts me constantly!! i love tsukasa i love nene i love the ways they play off of each other so much!! yes i'm biased because i would steal the moon from the sky for tsukasa and nene, but i really do think she makes him feel a lot!! whether that results in affection for her i think is beautifully complicated and unclear, and i can't wait to see their relationship progress throughout the rest of the manga!!
so i am with you in your delusions anon!! keep the faith!! i certainly will!! <3
Egghead arc goes CRAZY.
happy holidays wasn’t this movie fucked up
Sunny day
Just read Moominvalley in November and I loved them all, I'm so sad there's not much content of them because they are a gold mine of joke comics.
It wasn't just The Book About Depression, it was also about Some Guy and Some Lady arguing over cleaning duties and the guy snatched Snufkin's tent for a whole night afterward.
Chapter 1073 really had this:
And I am so happy.
Since practically the very beginning the World Government has been presented with their negative side.
Captain Morgan was The Marine at the beginning but we quickly learned he was not a man of the people. He was only in it for himself, and was 100% willing to 1-lie and go back on his word and 2- step on anyone to keep a strangle hold on power. (A great foreshadowing for the whole WG throughout the series and their void history). This was also the first time we saw the WG flag and I looked at it, thought about the fact I was committing to watching a Pirate Show, then I tilted my head sideways about 45 degrees:
Look at that hidden Skull and Cross Bones design. It’s like some modern deconstruction that is supposed to be edgy and simplified.
There are some exceptions in the Marines (like Bell-mere or Garp or Koby or Tsuru-even Smoker and Tashigi) but for each of those they also have Morgan, the rat faced man from Arlong Park, Spandam, and this guy in 1073 (off the top of my head). Plus all that went down for the Buster Call. They (and the actual CD/World Government) are only around for what they can get for themselves. They do not care about the people. They do not care about who is hurt. They fit the classic idea of a pirate; liars, prying on the weak/defenseless, selfish, lawless, cruel.
And these are the characteristics the WG pushes on the pirates we know. (Kidd was known to kill people, Gold Roger hoarding treasure/wealth, Pirates send many scrambling, the legal slave trade, not to mention all the reactions people in the East Blue and early Grand Line had when they learned about Luffy being a Devil Fruit eater) But the narratives are opposite. Yes Luffy is all about personal desires and governments are all about imposing rules on society (in theory to complete a just social contract). But! Luffy has a strict moral code and rules he follows and makes sure his crew obeys (dreams, not beating people up for nothing, making sure they know HE is the Captain) These Marines actively disobey the laws they are supposed to be enforcing and don’t care about the chain of command they are under to the point where characters shouldn’t even trust their words.
Plus there is the rest of the 1073 story:
Can I just point out that Whitebeard’s island is not part of the World Government, and so, like Wano or Fishman Island, you would think that the Marines have no actual jurisdiction. These people the Marine is asulting/terrorizing are actually the ones with rights, and the Marine is invading. But he doesn’t see it like that, and his overwhelming use of force only helps him impose his own will. Besides, the WG would never tell him to not. (Especially after WB’s death, and that they would probably consider the island “hostile.”)
and thinking about WB, the fact that his (redesigned) flag is similar to the WG flag makes me think there is an argument that WB was more of a fair government to his people, actually upholding a just social contract for those under his protection.
tldr; The World Government/Navy are “Just Like Pirates” and were established to act as such from the beginning of the story. Their Flag and many Marine characters help push this point time and again in the story.
Artober day 17: He'd be right
ok so... there's this new thing that I'm hyperfixating on because of course I am, why would I ever like and enjoy something a normal amount?? Absolutely preposterous!!!!
(if they look weird I'm sorry, I'm still figuring out how to draw them)
Main manga (new chapter on 3rd of every month)
Bungo Stray Dogs Wan (new chapter on 16th of every month)
Extra manga content:
Wan Special Chapter
Wan Season 5 Shorts
Wan vol 12 bonus side story (Part 1 / Part 2) and omake
Anthology Chapters Masterlist
Raws of anthology 1-5 if anyone wants to translate
Omake / alt link+ wan special chapter
Bungou Stray Dogs: Chopsticks and a Spoon
Dazai’s Entrance Exam
Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era
The Untold Story of the Founding of the Detective Agency
55 Minutes
Beast
Dazai, Chuuya, Age 15
Stormbringer
Dead Apple
Bungo Stray Dogs Another Story (Gaiden) (Fan translation)
The Day I Picked Up Dazai
there is no official or fan translation because it just came out recently but there are fan translation of booklet so here (it doesn't contain illustrations from light novel and can be a little different, if any changes are made in the light novel)
Side A / Side B
Side A is about how cannon Dazai first met Odasaku and Side B is about how Beast Dazai first met odasaku so I recommend reading Beast light novel before reading Side B.
Side Short Stories:
Kunikida and Katai's Brilliant Days
The Heartless Cur
Bungo Stray Dogs Beast
Dazai, Chuuya, Age 15
Stormbringer (New chapter on 26th of every month)
Gaiden
Dead Apple (not all chapters are translated in english)
The Untold Story of the Founding of the Detective Agency (New chapter on 4th of every month)
Beast Movie (if it is not available in your country, turn the vpn on and change the region to France)
Bungo Stray Dogs on Stage
Dark Era (check the tutorial for adding subtitles)
Three Companies Conflict (if it is not available in your country, turn the vpn on and change the region to France)
Untold Origins of the Detective Agency
Dazai's Entrance Exam
Dead Apple
Dazai, Chuuya, Age 15
Stormbringer (if it is not available in your country, turn the vpn on and change the region to France)
Cannibalism Arc
You can find rest of the stage plays in this file but sadly there are no english subs
CD Dramas
Character Songs
Stage Play Behind the Scenes
Bsd va Radio
Uemura's Detective Agency
You can find almost all of this on BSD-Bibliophile and if anyone has subtitled file of stage plays tell me so that i can add it here
I'm starting to believe that Dazai's Good-bye speech was legit meant to be a misdirect for Fyodor, but then Chuuya went brlbrl and Dazai's actual feelings got involved, so he cut it short