Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 7 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

Right when you’re basking in the afterglow of the story, here comes the all-too-familiar afterword to ruin the mood.

Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen is the latest novel in the Bungo Stray Dogs series. It’s actually based on a bonus story given to those who saw 2018’s Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple film in theaters. The previous volume, Beast, is based on the story given to everyone who saw Dead Apple the first week the movie came out, while this one’s based on the story from the second week.

This novel, meanwhile, is the definitive edition of that second story and includes new scenes and added details. The last scene in particular was written solely for this book and was not included in the story moviegoers received.

When the film’s production committee asked me to write this novel, they had two requests: One, it had to be about Chuuya and Dazai, and two, it had to take place in the past.

Ah, the time has finally come, I thought.

Chuuya made his debut in the third volume of the manga, where it was explained that he and Dazai used to be partners. But that was it. What kind of cases did they solve as partners? How long were they partners? What was their relationship like? All that was shrouded in total darkness. At the time, I was fine with that. The imagination is a powerful thing, more powerful than awareness itself. It’s just like going to the dentist: The scariest part is when you’re in the waiting room. When I imagined what Dazai and Chuuya had been like as a duo, my mind automatically jumped to the havoc they’d wreaked together. So I always kept that to myself.

And I believed I made the right decision, at least for a few years. It allowed many people to imagine the pair’s past for themselves. Dazai and Chuuya ran amok in countless fans’ heads until they broke through the walls and created their own personal kingdoms in each individual’s imagination. Eventually, people started telling me: “I’ve daydreamed about their pasts so much that it’s about time I get some answers.”

I don’t blame them. That’s why I decided to write about the pair’s past as slowly and steadily as possible in order not to shock anyone too much.

That’s where this novel comes in. It takes place seven years before the events of the manga. Some parts are already complete while others are more malleable. I tried to give readers a sense of how Dazai and Chuuya evolved into adults over those seven years. (The changes themselves are still shrouded in darkness, left up to the imagination.)

So how did the story compare to what you’d imagined? Was it just as you thought it’d be? Or was it different? As the author, I believe it’s a little bit of both.

But the story doesn’t end here. There are still a few important mysteries that need solving, a few untold tales about what happened during those seven years. And there’s yet an even bigger secret than what was revealed in this book.

Why would I hide something so momentous? It makes you wonder if there’s a mysterious reason behind it or if I’m just being a jerk. But the truth is simple: I didn’t have enough time to write about it in the bonus booklet. (Sorry about that.)

Which is why this story will be continued in the next novel, Storm Bringer. There are still many other stories to be told, and I’m sure I won’t have time to dive into them all in this next book, either. That said, I do plan on cramming enough details inside that’ll give a satisfying conclusion to Twin Dark’s past.

Oh, right. One more thing. Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen was well received by the animation staff, especially the director Igarashi, which led to an anime adaptation broadcast on TV in April 2019. Dazai and Chuuya’s teenage years were vividly reproduced with beautiful animation, exciting action scenes, and, most of all, extraordinary voice acting. Please check it out for yourself on a screen near you.

And before I go, I would like to give thanks to the following: the Dead Apple production committee; Shirahama in Beans Bunko’s editorial department; Sango Harukawa, who illustrated the cover and interior artwork; every distributor and bookstore; and most of all, everyone who picked up this book. Thank you all.

Let’s meet again in the next installment.

KAFKA ASAGIRI

Special Thanks

Original Story and Script Supervision by Kafka Asagiri

Manga Illustration by Sango Harukawa

Director: Takuya Igarashi Script: Yoji Enokido

Character Design and Chief Animation

Director: Nobuhiro Arai

This novel is the complete version of the bonus story “Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen” given to audiences during the second week of the animated movie Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple’s theatrical release in 2018.