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LINK TO REACTION: https://streamable.com/jk98z8  

Randou vs. Chuuya and Dazai it is! The climax -- or is it?! -- of our "Fifteen" flashback arc, and I love seeing how these two came together to form SouKoku. But y'all, Chuuya and Mori's conversation about being a leader, the reveal of BABY Q, and oh...that NATSUME-SENSEI name drop?! This episode has me so curious as to what's to come next!  

But I feel I need to read the "Fifteen" Light novel, first!  

Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!

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Bungo Stray Dogs Season 3: Episode 3 Reaction! "Only a Diamond Can Polish a Diamond!"

LINK TO REACTION: https://streamable.com/jk98z8 Randou vs. Chuuya and Dazai it is! The climax -- or is it?! -- of our "Fifteen" flashback arc, and I love seeing how these two came together to form SouKoku. But y'all, Chuuya and Mori's conversation about being a leader, the reveal of BABY Q, and oh...that NATSUME-SENSEI name drop?! This episode has me so curious as to what's to come next! But I feel I need to read the "Fifteen" Light novel, first! Thank you for watching with me and for all the support! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RomaniaBlack My Anime: https://myanimelist.net/profile/RomaniaBlack Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/RomaniaBlack You can mail me a letter or anything (except food, please) at this address: Romania Black PO Box 768 Harrisburg, IL 62946 USA

Comments

wes

The last scene reminds me so much of the opening scenes from “The Swan Princess” animated film, lmao. Literally identical to child/teenage Odette and Derek postures, love-hate dynamic, and Ougai (Queen Uberta) standing with Kouyou (King William) on each side, awing at the sight of their children falling in love. Thank you for reaction.

Moth (GreenAppleSause)

Not sure if you picked it up, but Randou is Arthur Rimbaud. His ability is Illuminations. It makes a lot of sense for Rimbaud to be the literary figure here, beause Chuuya was known as the Japanese Rimbaud, and translated a lot of Rimbaud's works. And that was Randou/Rimbaud's grave Chuuya was sitting on

romaniablack

Bahahaha, that's amazing! I haven't watched The Swan Princess in so long, but that is such a good comparison! With Kyouya being redheaded like Chuuya and Mori dark-headed like Dazai, it all makes sense. They ship it! And Q's just happy to be there! :P

romaniablack

Ooooh!! I'm so glad you mentioned this! I didn't pick that up, so I'll have to research that -- I was JUST planning to watch episode 4 today, so I'm glad you said that! Thank you!! :D

WuXian Suibian

Dazai x Chuuya banter gives me life. That's all. Love them.

Julie

This is my theory. For this whole arc, I think that Mori, with his strategic mind and his long view, has been playing God (and matchmaker), and succeeding. I think he knew this wouldn’t be an easy job with no danger when he gave it to Dazai, and I think he predicted that Dazai would like it when it got hard and dangerous. And he chose Chuuya as the diamond who could polish him. I think he predicted that he would also help keep Dazai alive. And Dazai’s serious suicide attempts seem to have ended, or at least gotten better, after he met Chuuya and joined the mafia. Chuuya was a huge part of that. You predicted it too at the beginning of the season! I don’t think Mori knew Rando was a spy, but I think he more or less predicted how things would go down with Dazai and Chuuya on this case. Mori sees all. I love his character and I love his dynamic with these two, especially back when they were young. I do see him as a kind of father figure to both of them. (Makes what went down with Oda all the more tragic for Dazai, but I’m not gonna dwell on that right now cuz 15 year old Soukoku at the end here is a happy place, and I’ll take that 😊).

Sabrina

Time for some dazai x chuuya candy hidden in this ep! First of all, there are a lot of details this episode wiped away from the original plot in the novel. I wish I could tell you but you asked for no spoilers so I will tell you some parts of the hidden stuff you CAN see, as well as some support from the team in charge of this arc from interviews and season 3 data book. (character design, background design etc.) The director said something along the lines of the teenage years (youth) are very hazy, their emotions unclear like muddy water. However, throughout this entire arc,the team made it intentional for the sky to look very very clear, and blue(青). In Japanese terms, this 青 means blue, but also young and youthful, the term often used to describe youth and in a relationship, the beginning of young love, not yet ripe, but developing. This arc is also called (青之时代)or, the era(time period) of blue. When all this is placed in the relationship between Dazai and Chuuya, it can be interpreted that while youth and emotions are hazy and muddy, with you everything clears up (no longer lost) into the mesmerizing blue. The director of this arc says that Dazai and Chuuya are both alone in this world, and no one can understand their loneliness aside from each other. At the end of the episode, the scene where they were in a corridor decorated with stained glass. The person in charge of details like these were very intent on stating that everything was planned accordingly. Dazai and Chuuya walking towards each other and then stopping right beneath the stained glass window tinted PINK and shaped like a CROSS. The director explicitly asked for a design of a window that contains light filtering from the glass, the contrast between colors, because this background would represent the future of Dazai and Chuuya. When you think of stained windows and crosses, you think of a church, and two people standing beneath the cross bickering over their future….well...I hope you understand. When they were playing the game at the game center, the character they used was also very interesting. The team set up around 8-10 characters based on other people in the show, yet out of all these characters they just had to choose the Tanizaki siblings as the characters double black used to play. If you look closely, the siblings name is written on the wall inside the game beneath an umbrella sign. In Japan this represents a couple. (like western ??? x ??? means love) When tanizaki siblings are used as “parallel” to double black, you can sort of hint at their relationship. Again, the person in charge of this stated that nothing is a coincidence, everything has a certain purpose. A short interview with the author of this series confirmed that these two are parallel lines that never meet or cross, but are destined to intertwine with each other. Like DNA, never touching but always there, together. Originally he wanted to write the two of them as people who desperately want to get along with each other, but in the end are unable to. While he was writing, he realized through his pen that they are destined to interact this way, always arguing but knows each other more than ANYONE. When asked about how they would be in a relationship (not to each other, but in general) they replied that Dazai is hopeless and dangerous, do not expect to be the one to “change” him, you will only be disappointed in the end. Chuuya on the other hand, is someone who will always properly wear the wedding ring, and that while he may not seem like it, he has more common sense than most people in this series, an outstanding man. What’s interesting is that for some reason a picture of Dazai sticking his tongue out was placed next to this specific reply for Chuuya along with a short “none of your business” sentence next to his picture. During their argument beneath the stained glass, once again we hear Dazai bullying Chuuya. He calls Chuuya his dog. In real life, Author Dazai had written a book where he describes the main character's hate for dogs, but ended up raising one and awkwardly liking it.(like a tsundere) and that whenever Dazai wants to eat Soba noodles, Chuuya will find a chef to make him some. What is interesting is that when most people say they want to eat something, people want to eat their favorite food. Soba is not Dazai’s favorite food, crab is. But here he specifically mentions Soba, which sounds very much like “by my side”. A popular phrase in Japan being “I want to eat soba with you”, or “I want to always be together with you” a pretty hazy way of confessing. The person who sang the opening of season 3 is the VA of Chuuya, also the person who wrote this song. It’s a song about very intimate love, and he says that the song is written “by Chuuya” about double black’s relationship. (Oh my GOD) There is more, I won’t say because of spoilers from the novel. But hopefully you can read it and enjoy more details from the novel. One last thing, real life Dazai wrote in a novel, “everyone finds their future wife from the red string” and “my future wife will wear a red belt around their waist” please remember this! It will get to you like a meteor when you read the novel!!!!!! Please!!!!!!!!!

Anastasia -

That last scene with Shirase makes me think again, who were Chuuya's friends that our White Qilin has kiiled? You start to suspect those were the Sheep but then this happens... well, considering those friends must have been gifted, they probably were Mafia. Chuuya surely makes friends fast, huh. I also can't stop thinking Chuuya still sees Mori and Mafia and their intentions in a more... romantic or idealistic way, while Dazai intentionally brutalizes and darkens his approach. Kouyou is definitely the one responsible for finer and more elite aspects of Chuuya's training and tastes, for people skills, for infiltration skills and ahem. Those that Kyouka has shown. In fact, before season 3 aired we knew little of Chuuya's past in manga apart him being kind of patronised by Kouyou, so there is quite a lot of fiction depicting Chuuya growing up in a brothel Kouyou supposedly controlled (that's a fanon too, albeit a pretty realistic one considering the fact her own glimpse of a story resembles a cultural trope of brothel girl failing to flee with her lover, and the fact any mafia has to eye brothel business with interested eyes). As for Soukoku both making executives, there is a bit of controversial info on who got there first. Mobile game event says Dazai wss aiming for one of the places that Dragon Head conflict vacated, Dark Era says he was the youngest one to be made executive, Dead Apple novel says Chuuya was made executive first right after Dragon Head Conflict and he was the youngest. The version I go for now is that Dazai was there a few days earlier and he's the most famous for that, but since Chuuya is a bit younger than him, he's become the newest "youngest executive". Any of those sources of translation could be botched of course haha.

romaniablack

That's a really good analysis -- Mori being all obsessed with strategy and game theory makes it believable he would have saw many of the outcomes of the mission and felt Dazai could handle it, despite the danger. Plus, as a resident Soukoku shipper, he knew Chuuya would be a good thing for Dazai. ;) I love that ability-wise, Dazai helps Chuuya, and humanity-wise, Chuuya helps Dazai....that symbolism! :3 And yeah, it all ties together with what Mori tells Chuuya at the end -- a leader has to make decisions that are the best for the organization, even if means dragging themselves through filth. Oda's death ensured Mimic's defeat and the Port Mafia getting the Permit. It's just that Mori can look aside at Oda as expendable, and Dazai cannot, with Oda being his friend. Very interesting...

romaniablack

That's a really good point; I hadn't considered that, but yeah -- they were probably Port Mafia members Q killed. Hm. Yeah, Chuuya likes his social circles! I can't blame people for wanting to be friends with him, though! :) It's definitely like Kouyou was Chuuya's mentor in the PM, and wow, yeah, Chuuya views Mori's leadership in a romantic/idealistic way, and Dazai sees it for the more "practical/realistic" perspective...like Mori. Interesting how each mirrors their mentors, eh? That's an interesting fanon, too! That's interesting about the timeline with them becoming PM executives, too. Always in competition, eh? I'm curious to see more executives, hopefully, in this season and the manga! :)

romaniablack

Yay! Thank you for the comment and details! I’ve just finished the novel in time to watch Episode 4 and it was neat getting the additional details the anime either left out or didn’t elaborate on. I LOVE that idea of the “blue sky” – having watched Episode 25 of My Hero Academia season 5, the title of that episode makes a lot more sense. I like the idea of a “hazy, emotion-driven” teenage arc; it fits their characters and the tone perfectly. And them each understanding their loneliness? Yup. Love that. ^^ Well, I mean…. that symbolism works perfectly for soukoku shippers, right? I love that scene, though; it’s aesthetically gorgeous animation-wise, hilarious, and so poignant with Mori and Kouyou’s conversation at the end. And we throw Q in there as a little Easter egg and to help callback to Dazai and Chuuya’s conversation about Q from season two. I didn’t even see that about the video game characters! Wow, that’s a cool observation! @.@ I love that idea of Dazai as “hopeless and dangerous” – basically a wild card – and Chuuya as the stable, sensible one to help balance him out. And as for that stained glass conversation and you’re note about the author in real life – I love it that we think of Chuuya as the tsundere one, when Dazai is just as much. Ahhhh, and that special “confession” analogy. Love it! And of COURSE Chuuya’s VA would ship soukoku. ^^ Oooooooh, I’m assuming with the red string, you mean the cloth that was tied between Chuuya and Dazai when Randou died?! Ooooooh, that’s awesome! :D I hadn’t thought of it that way!

Toni simi

How dare they make Randou so pretty and then let him die. XD The scene with Dazai and Chuuya after Chuuya got stabbed was actually the reason I started watching the show since I saw screenshots of it. I really like that Chuuya is aware that he isn't a good leader. That there are qualities that he doesn't have but would need to be a good leader. And if Chuuya decides to be loyal he really is till the end. Even though the port mafia is an criminal organization they really grow on me everytime we see more of them. They feel, similar to the detective agency, in some ways like a big family. I'm not sure what it is but they have scenes that make my heart feel fuzzy. The last scene with Ango feels so suspicious for me. The way they showed it to us feels like they hint that Ango was randou's partner, his long look at the camera and all, but I don't think it is him. It just gives me a weird feeling. Wish you a wonderful day!!

romaniablack

Right?! Randou looked SO good in these episodes; I loved his character design! Oooh, that's awesome -- that scene is SO good and sets up their future dynamic so well! And yessss, not every character can be a leader; I'm glad Chuuya recognizes that and Mori's speech with him was SO great. Yeah, Chuuya is really "ride or die" with whoever he aligns with! :D And yesssss, the Port Mafia has a soft spot with me...they do nefarious deeds, but genuinely care about the city they live in as a whole. I could watch a whole spinoff series with just the PM as the focus. I just finished the light novel this is based off of, and am going to talk about it in Episode 4, so it's not too spoiler-y, but Ango -- to my knowledge -- is not the partner of Randou. However, that doesn't mean he's not suspicious. Ango has such an odd vibe around him all the time, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens with his character this season! Thank you for the kind words and have a great day, too!