Beast Atsushi - Blog Posts

some drawings from school today :3 i’m kinda eh about both of them

my goofy lil critters X3

here’s a drawing i forgor about. it’s the first one i ever did in my current artstyle.

he’s having a breakdown.

i don’t like my old art, but i was cooking with some of the graphic design.

my favs from my april sketchbook

Chapter 119 led me into thinking about Fyodor and Atsushi dynamic in Beast

Since now we know that Byako have Fyodor's respect because she was made to protect.

And in Beast, well.

This is a self explanation. So please, if anyone has thought about this, feed me.

I really like how the unwritten message of Beast is that anyone could become anyone given the circumstances they were put into. Atsushi could become a murderer, Akutagawa could learn to tame the beast inside of him when surrounded by good people. It questions the idea that people are innately good or innately evil. Because while yes, Atsushi is a murderer burdened by guilt and fear, and Akutagawa is a detective who lacks a drive for helping people and has no qualms resorting to...unsavory methods to get results, at the end, we see that despite Akutagawa being told he's meant to be evil, he STILL wants to try to learn. To learn how to live a good life, learn how to tame the beast. And at the end of the day, while Atsushi still wants to protect people, he learns to kill them without a moment's hesitation. The only person he can protect is Kyouka, and he is almost TOO protective of her. I just think it's really cool that you can take these characters, one who is "innately good" and one that's "innately evil" and switch their circumstances, and you can see how they'd really end up. How a good person can become a murderer when surrounded by evil, how a bad person can quench the thirst for vengeance inside of him when surrounded by good people.

Beast tiger

me and who

More beast memes cause i miss them 💔

(Also you cant tell me this isn’t something they would do)

Can we talk about how *safe* Atsushi and Akutagawa feel with each other

How much they're connected to each other is actually insane

They have innate trust with each other (Akutagawa even gave his coat to Atsushi), and they're comfortable with each other, it's wonderful

I think the best depiction of canon "domestic sskk" per se, is in beast

The direct passage from the beast light novel is:

"They continued to shoot the breeze for the next few minutes or so. Both boys shared small yet profound experiences that their colleagues would never be able to understand or even empathize with. The two of them could just be kids, something they seldom did around others.

'This is the first time I've ever been able to talk to someone like this,' the white-haired boy said with a chuckle."

They can relate to each other so strongly, they're opposites yet they feel intertwined. God they have such a well written and like at this point really romantic relationship

I really like how beast can show us a new perspective on sskk (among other things in the Bsd universe), comparing their first meeting in the main series to their first meeting in beast is kinda crazy. When Akutagawa nor Atsushi has the prior information of who they work for, they can get along. In a world with no abilities, no Mafia, no detective agency, they would know each other so well

Also, I'm sure Akutagawa has smiled more than twice in the series, but both most memorable times he's smiled they were both directed at Atsushi (one smile was the one he gave Atsushi while he told him to run before dying, second smile was in beast, shown in the picture above)

It's like Atsushi brings out the best of him, and vice versa. They're just so *perfect* for each other 😭

I will always love their parallels and similarities, their relationship balance is a perfect representation of the yin and yang

Atsushi knows he can't bear to live without Akutagawa. Akutagawa knows that Atsushi is the only person he's ever met who really, truly understands him. And no matter how much they're in denial about how they're a lot more than just "rivals", they still scream each other's names when one of them gets hurt, because they both *care*

Akutagawa is definitely going to go feral in the next chapter or so oml

Technically a redraw of an official beast art that Harukawa did (you can find it in the beast light novel) but I altered it by kinda a lot

I'm fond of drawing Bsd characters in my style but for this specific art I thought it'd look better if I leaned more into Harukawa's original style<3 you can still see bits of my style peeking through lol

Atsushi's beast design though UGH IT'S SO GOOD

And yes the angel wings are supposed to look messy, in a contrast to how put together Atsushi himself looks, his white angel wings/his morals on the inside are messy and not as clean :D

A Fear Even Greater: BSD Ch. 121 vs. BEAST Ch. 4

I was reading the new chapter today and I couldn't help but notice some similarities to BEAST that I wanted to share. I'm sure I'm not the first person to notice this nor do I usually do this kind of analysis post but I thought it was interesting and I'd like to share so please bear with me!

BSD CH. 121 SPOILER WARNING

I've highlighted the segments from each work that I think are thematically relevant to each other in the same colours because my brain works that way, but if yours doesn't don't worry - I will explain:

In YELLOW we have Atsushi's instinct to flee in the face of the enemy. I touch on this a bit more later on but BEAST!Atsushi is further along this thought process than canon!Atsushi. B!Atsushi seems mostly afraid of pain and violence while canon!Atsushi is more despondent. He's lost hope and had his spirit broken from watching his surrogate family die in front of him (understandably, poor baby)

In GREEN we have Dazai acknowledging/calling out Atsushi's cowardice. BEAST!Dazai is mostly describing how Atsushi used to be while canon!Dazai is snapping Atsushi out of his current doom-spiral.

He does this in most of his other hallucination appearances, not dissimilar to his interaction with Atsushi in Ch. 25.

In PURPLE we have the core of this whole rambling post (*´▽`*) There really isn't any contrast in these two, both B!Dazai and canon!Dazai are saying the same thing here.

Which brings us to CYAN where we see how the purple bits deviate slightly with context. It's a minor difference but B!Dazai lists the things that Atsushi used to fear (pain, violence, etc.) but canon!Dazai lists the qualities that Atsushi feels he's lacking (courage and hope). B!Atsushi is already able to use this "technique" (for lack of a better term) in combat, likely because he was exposed to terrifying situations earlier and more frequently than canon!Atsushi and has had more time to adapt to them (again, poor baby [╥﹏╥])

Now in RED we skip ahead a bit in the BEAST chapter to Dazai giving Atsushi his next directive. B!Dazai uses Atsushi to enact his plan and (eventually) bring Atsushi and Akutagawa together while canon!Dazai urges Atsushi to compartmentalize and focus on saving the people that he's still able to save.

Canon!Dazai's request is reminiscent of Oda's final words to him which - knowing Asagiri - could very well be intentional even if this is obviously not the "real Dazai" but rather the manifestation of some part of Atsushi's inner thoughts or Byakko (personally my money's on the tiger theory but we'll see). The Oda/Dazai/Atsushi/Akutagawa parallels will never stop and I'm here for it tbh.

[Dark Era excerpt from this translation from @nkhrchy]

Which brings us to MAGENTA (Could I have done these in chromatic order? Yes. Did I only realize that after typing it all out? Absolutely.) In both cases at this point Atsushi comes to a realization and I think the difference in what that realization is really drives home how well BEAST uses alternate universe to emphasize characterization in canon. Some of this is based on my assumptions about the final page of Ch. 121 and is therefore at risk of being jossed next month BUT I think that what canon!Atsushi is realizing in the final panel ("who you really are") is that this Dazai apparition comes from The Tiger. If it isn't Byakko explicitly I think it's fair to say that it's coming from somewhere within Atsushi himself. So, that being said, let me explain a little bit: B!Atsushi's only recourse is to take refuge in Dazai's plans/orders. His "greater fear" stems from an instance when he deviated from those orders and as a result he feels safest behind the bulwark of going along with Dazai's will. Not the healthiest coping mechanism, but it makes sense considering what B!Atsushi has experienced up to that point. Canon!Atsushi, however, is (I assume) realizing that the safety and reassurance - however harsh it may seem - of the Dazai in his head has actually been coming from himself the entire time. I think it's safe to say that whether it's his subconscious or Byakko, this apparition takes the shape of Dazai because that's who Atsushi trusts during times of crisis; that's the voice he's desperately wishing he could hear. Ultimately canon!Atsushi is in a much better place (despite... everything lol) because he's able to recognize his own internal strength instead of clinging to the safety he sees in Dazai. B!Atsushi does eventually start this process after Dazai fires him and Kyouka (and then steps off the roof of HQ RIP) but he has to take the time first to heal from the anxiety his violent upbringing inflicted on him (quite understandably - let's all say it together: poor babey T_T) There's more I could say about canon!Akutagawa undergoing a similar process re:Dazai but this post is too long! So I won't ♡

OKAY! My brain has never been satisfied with using one word when I could use ten so if you made it to the end thank you and I'm sorry ♡ I am not a writer and doing this reminded me why!! So I will definitely stick to drawing pictures (I'm almost finished one I swear! I'm like a plant, I wither into nothing in the winter months)

Bsd Chapter 121:

Dazai (hallucination) to Atsushi.

Dazai to Atsushi: Do you need things like “courage” or “hope” to overcome fear? No. You haven’t had those things from the start.

Dazai: You haven’t needed them. What you need to crush your fear, is a fear even greater.

Bsd Beast Chapter 4:

Beast Dazai to Beast Atsushi.

Beast Dazai: I do think you’re correct in saying that you’re a coward. Your former self was a fearful boy who would search for an escape route right in front of the enemy.

Beast Dazai: But ever since that day you’ve changed. Do you understand why that is?

Beast Dazai: It turns out that the best way to drown out your fear is with more fear.