• characters

the first thing to know about
the characters is that there are a few major organizations.

the armed detective agency (ada)
the port mafia
the special operations division
the guild
the order of the clock tower
the decay of angels

the first three are based in yokohama, japan - where the story takes place. the ada are a group of private investigators with special abilities. they operate with a special permit given to them that allows them to function above the law. there are 8 members + the president.

the port mafia is the largest unit of organized crime within yokohama. with hundreds of members, there are five executives with an immense amount of strength and power as well as the port mafia boss. there are many ability users within the port mafia, most of which stand within high ranking.

the special operations division is a secret government branch that is in charge of maintaining national security and regulating gifted individuals + organizations

the latter three orgs are international organizations. the guild being an american group, the order of the clock tower being european, and the decay of angels being a mixed bag. the first two are legal organizations and the last is considered to be a terrorist group.

• story

bungou stray dogs follows atsushi nakajima, an orphan who has been kicked out of his orphanage as a result of a man-eating tiger. spoiler alert for the first episode: atsushi is this very tiger. he learns he has a special ability that allows him to transform into a tiger and is invited by dazai osamu and his partner kunikida doppo to join the armed detective agency. conflict brews between the ada and a criminal organization: the port mafia. from there, yokohama descends into chaos as an american organization known as the guild touches down in an effort to kidnap atsushi, who is the supposed key to finding a fabled book capable of making anything written in it real.

in the world of bungou stay dogs (bsd), there are people known as ability users which are, quite simply, people with powers. some of these powers are offensive, others defensive, and some in between. if you'd like to know more about the limits seen in the powers on the show or want to create a verse and need someone to bounce power ideas off of, feel free to come to my ims :)

other than that, the world is largely the same as our own. HOWEVER, you might see some names on my blog tossed around that make you squint (why is she talking about edgar allen poe owning a raccoon??? why does she refer to f. scott fitzgerald as a smug bastard???? since when is fyodor dostoevsky an evil terrorist mastmind who is also baby?? did she really just say mark twain is a slut who she loves???) and to that i point to the "bungou" in bungou stray dogs which quite literally translates to "literary"! one of the key features of bsd is that all of the characters share names with famous classic authors and many of them take inspiration from those authors in small ways. no the characters are not literally the authors, it's not a world where all of the authors are thrown into a universe with powers, it's just a really neat note of inspo!

• dazai-related info

dazai is a very complex individual and he has a few people in his life that are very integral to his growth and development, these are people that will likely still be mentioned regardless of verse as i tend to incorporate them across all verses in some form. please be wary that there will be slight spoilers ahead!

• mori ogai - the leader of the port mafia. took dazai in when he was 14 years old after a suicide attempt. complex relationship but was a guardian of sorts.
• oda sakunosuke- dazai's closest friend and the person who came the closest to ever understanding or truly knowing him. upon his death he told dazai to "be on the side that saves people" above all else. he is the reason dazai left the port mafia and joined the ada.
• ango sakaguchi - second closest friend from his port mafia days. completed the trio. betrayed the port mafia and a rift in their friendship was formed. it's still healing.
• chuuya nakahara - ex-partner from his mafia days. they claim to hate each other. (it's complicated). they were known as "double black", the most devastating duo the port mafia had ever created
• kunikida doppo - his current partner at the ada. dazai spends his days doing everything he can to get under kunikida's skin.
~ ~ ~
- dazai has a nullification ability. any ability user he touches he is able to nullify their power. there are no exceptions to this.
- he struggles with a deep emptiness and a boredom that has slowly killed him from the inside out. no one can understand him, nothing surprises him or interests him, and it's left with him wishing to die.
- he was taken in at 14 by mori but officially joined the mafia at 15. from there he became the youngest executive in port mafia history, rising through the ranks in record time. he defected when he was 18, spent two years underground to clear his record and joined the ada when he was 20. at the start of the series he is 22.