kunikida deserves a break
anime: bungou stray dogs. it’s on crunchyroll or gogoanime, and on netflix in some regions i believe
if you want to read light novel 1, here’s a link! readfrom.net/k... - alternatively you can buy a physical copy from yen press, and it’s also available on kindle and apple books. i urge you to do this if you are financially able !!
more details below, as promised! i’ll try not to be too spoilery. it turned into a long rant so feel free to ignore. if you wanna read it though, here are my thoughts (i have Opinions about this, here’s a warning)
if you didn’t know, light novel 1 (osamu dazai’s entrance exam) was technically adapted in the anime in S1 EPS 6-7. but… they cut a LOT of stuff out, and as a result, 1. kunikida’s character feels much less fleshed-out and 2. so does the kunikidazai partnership. i’d personally even go so far as to say 3. it also makes dazai’s own growth as a character more shallow.
i say this as the LN is set when kunikida and dazai are both 20 (2 years before the current timeline). imo, the differences between 20!dazai and 22!dazai are quite big. if you thought dazai’s speech at the end of episode 7 - after both rokuzo and sasaki d!3 - “this was the only possible outcome”, felt a bit… out of line with the rest of his actions, then this is one way of explaining it. 22!dazai, at least in my personal view, would not have let so many people d!3. 20 y/o dazai still is feeling out the boundaries between good and evil, fresh out the underworld. but 22 y/o dazai has a better grip on them.
the anime plays up kunikida’s comedic aspects. and he IS funny, albeit unintentionally, as he is in the manga. and they did do a good job in visually drawing the parallels between kunikida and the azure king that are in the LN! but. kunikida’s ideals in the light novel are much more… unaligned w reality. at 22, his ideals are more grounded. yeah, 20!kuni still comes across as exasperated, tired, and logical as he is now. but at 20, he tries to (unnecessarily) take on the burden of many in his quest to create the ideal world, like rokuzo, for example - he tries to fill-in as a father figure, though he denies it. the contrast with him at 22 is that he knows he can’t save everyone. and it’s something he reiterates Many Times to both atsushi (about kyouka) and dazai (about atsushi). this aspect of change - in both dazai, whose first introduction to the world of light is kunikida, a man of ideals and the best choice to show him the ropes bc of it - and kunikida himself, whose ideals are at first so unattainable (e.g the gag of his ideal woman not existing), but has someone like dazai to ground him, is SO important.
bc the anime kinda just brushes over how kunikida and dazai are actually a very well-balanced pair as a result of this? their cooperation is written off as “wow they’re so cool!” but… there is just so much more to their partnership than just that. but anyway, i digress
it’s a v entertaining read! there are lots of funny scenes that were left out of the anime, such as dazai driving and karen!zai. and even more kunikida being scared of ghosts. but it also gives both of them much more depth. it puts events in the manga/anime, 2 years on, into perspective, particularly the opening chapters. it is key that these events are seen as dazai’s entrance exam, as they’re much more consistent w a younger version of both kunikida and dazai.
and yeah !!! at the end of the day, this doesn’t really matter. maybe i’m being a bit nit-picky about this. and you don’t have to agree !!! i get why the studio chose to adapt it (to help atsushi + the viewers understand kunikidazai’s partnership). but in my honest opinion, this light novel - much more so than the anime arc - is crucial to understanding both kunikida and dazai, both as individuals and as a duo. so. i highly recommend you read it !!!
anyway, i’ll shut up now. thanks if you actually read that all LOL have a cookie if you did 🍪
(tldr: anime left out a bunch of stuff that messed w kunikida and dazai’s character growth. yeah)
music used:
intro: unclouded by my ideals / waga risō ni kumorinashi (kunikida character song) - kunikida voiced by hosoya yoshimasa. link: open.spotify.c...
outro: reason living - SCREEN mode (bungo stray dogs OP 2)
“this book isnt just some day planner” scene: fire - bts
dazai telling kunikida about his previous occupation: curb your enthusiasm
bonus: fluffing a duck - kevin macleod
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#bungoustraydogs #kunikida
3 окт 2024
