▲ 125 r/BungouStrayDogs
New Asagiri Interview
source: Tokyo Shinbun June 23 Morning Edition
Things that stood out to me while looking over it (ft my mediocre translations) (lmk if I missed anything else of interest or if I may have mistranslated or misunderstood something):
Asagiri and Harukawa are conscious to not make the BSD characters and irl authors too similar
>朝霧さんは「どこまで史実を参考にするかは難しい。フィクション化に当たり、たっぷリクッションを敷かせてもらっている」と春河35さんは「あくまでキャラクターで、文豪本人ではない。序盤は本人の写真を載せることは避けていたが、有名なエピソードは特段に反映している」と明かす。
Asagiri-san says “deciding on how much to refer to historical fact is difficult. When fictionalizing, I have to lay out plenty of cushioning.” Harukawa-san confirms that “They’re characters at the end of the day, not the actual literary masters. In the early stages, we avoided using the real authors’ photos, but the famous episode (note: episode 13?) was an exception.”
Asagiri says Sigma is his OC
>一方、第1部終盤で活躍する「シグマ」は特殊 で、文豪の「元ネタ」が不明。熱心に考察するフ ァンもいるが、朝霧さんは「あえてゼロから考えた特異なキャラ」と激白! ただ、「まだまだわからないのが彼の魅力」と含みも持たせた。
Meanwhile, Sigma, who is an active participant towards the end of part 1, is special, his original literary master is unknown. While fans have eagerly investigated, Asagiri-san reveals that he is “a unique character [he] created deliberately from scratch”! However, he also implies that “his charm is that there is still so much unknown about him”.
Harukawa comes up with the omakes
>朝霧さんの原作に対して、春河さんの解釈違いはほとんどないというからすごい。 単行本のカバー裏のミニ漫画は完全に春河さんのアイデアだという。朝霧さんは「一応監修するが、ほぼ全通し。一番の理解者」と全幅の信頼を寄せる。
It is remarkable that Harukawa-san’s interpretation is hardly ever different from Asagiri-san’s original work. The mini mangas on the opposite side of the volume covers are entirely Harukawa-san’s ideas. Asagiri-san expresses his full trust in her, saying “I more or less oversee it, but I approve pretty much everything. She understands it the best.”
(Part 2 spoiler)
>!Atsushi did not time travel to the 1800s at the end of part 1!<
>>!第1部は中島が英ロンドンへ飛んで幕を閉じる。過去へと時空も超えたようにも映るが･･･。 朝霧さんは「時代は変わっていない」と明言!!<
>!Part 1 concluded with Atsushi getting sent to London. It seems as though he transcended space and time to go to the past, but... Asagiri-san declares that “the era is not different”! !<
Anyone else is free to translate the full interview! These are just snippets of what I found interesting.
also im pretty sure that pic is the back of Asagiri's head lol
u/menheramar — 2 months ago
▲ 202 r/BungouStrayDogs
Happy birthday buddy
not well enough to do a good art for him atm so i did this instead
u/menheramar — 2 months ago
▲ 189 r/BungouStrayDogs
I finally got my Dazai nendoroid!!
now I can finally do the crossover I've been wanting to do for so long...
u/menheramar — 3 months ago
I drew maid dazai for maid day (may 10)!
u/menheramar — 3 months ago
▲ 27 r/BungouStrayDogs
I finished reading the book Naomi by Tanizaki recently and I have some thoughts and theories. There will be spoilers for the book Naomi, and also, trigger warning for grooming.
The BSD cover version of the book \"Naomi\" (\"A Fool's Love\" in Japanese)
Context/Summary
So, the book is about a 28 year old man, Jōji Kawai, who takes a 15 year old Naomi from her uncaring family into his care in order to groom her into his ideal western-style wife. The book takes place in the 1920s, so there are several references to western cinema of the time, which Jōji is obsessed with, he wants her to be like one of the western actresses on screen. As the story progresses and Naomi grows older, Jōji is shown to be very insecure and criticizes Naomi a lot, but is easily used by her for his wallet. They often go out to western-style dances together, where he meets some of her guy friends. Eventually, when she is around 19, Jōji discovers that Naomi has been cheating on him with multiple other guys. Even when he tries to get her to stop, she doesn't.
They argue, and Naomi leaves him. During this time, Jōji talks to one of the other guys Naomi was cheating on him with, and he finds out that Naomi's biological family was a low-ranking samurai family who ran a brothel. Earlier in the book, it's also stated that they wanted her to become a geisha, but she didn't want to.
When Jōji is doing his best to move on from Naomi, she suddenly reappears in his life. Under the guise of being "just friends," she teases him constantly. So much so that he genuinely starts to become insane, and have fits of hysteria, and soon becomes completely obsessed with her. By the end of the book, he agrees to do whatever she wants, and he pretty much becomes a walking wallet and slave to her while she is still allowed to see other men, which she does openly. He is so obsessed with her that he doesn't care. She ends up living the most high class western lifestyle possible in Japan at the time, according to her wishes, funded by the desperate Jōji.
This line explains the logic behind Jōji so obsessed with Naomi after she left him and then came back.
Thoughts
I think that the book tries to imply that Naomi became a player, so to speak, due to it being in her blood since her family ran a brothel.
From a modern lens, I think that it might be more like a case of Naomi being exposed to those kinds of things as a child, and as an adult, she behaves how she does because that's how the adults in her life when she was a child behaved. I also think that Jōji, having taken her in so young, gave her literally no other choice for a partner, so Naomi never got a real chance to explore what she wanted, and as a result she did that exploration behind his back.
I also think that BSD Tanizaki is "pathetic" around Naomi in a similar way that Jōji is with his version of her, which was probably done on purpose, but I think that BSD Naomi cares a lot more about Tanizaki than book Naomi does for Jōji (who is a pedo and also groomed her, BSD Tanizaki would never...).
Theory
So, to build on the context from the book, here's my theory... I think that BSD Naomi was perhaps rescued by Tanizaki from her original family who may have been involved in sex work, who might also have intended to marry/sell her off to an older man. That's why in chapter 118 (spoilers), >!Tanizaki mentions Naomi's "real family," hinting that they are somehow relevant.!<
Maybe the reason they larp as siblings is because Tanizaki legally became her brother so that she would not be forced to live with her original family or marry an older man.
There's also the fact that Book Naomi is based off irl Tanizaki's sister-in-law, so the BSD Tanizaki "siblings" might actually be brother and sister in law. As in, what if Naomi's family did marry her off to an older man, but she was rescued by the older man's younger brother Tanizaki, who is technically her brother-in-law?
The actress Hayama Michiko, irl Tanizaki's sister-in-law, whom book Naomi is based off of.
There might've also been a traumatic incident between BSD Naomi and Tanizaki, where they became separated for some time and as a result became overly obsessed with each other, which explains why they're so attached.
There's also a small detail I noticed, but in the book, Naomi originally wanted to be a student, but her family didn't seem to have the means. I think it's nice that Naomi in BSD gets to be a student : )
Tbh, I think this theory paints BSD Tanizaki and Naomi in a better light. What do you guys think? Any better theories?
u/menheramar — 4 months ago
▲ 86 r/BungouStrayDogs
u/menheramar — 4 months ago