Talking with a fellow anime fan has lead me to wonder;

“How many people out there watches Bungou Stray Dogs and doesn’t even realise that all the characters are based off real life authors?”

Well okay, so maybe only the minority doesn’t know. But well, I’ll write the post anyway.

Let’s start with the main characters.

Nakajima Atsushi - not sure about him, but he’s complete one major work called Light, Wind and Dreams, to be quoted by Atsushi himself later on in the series. He also has a collection of short stories called The Moon Over the Mountain which got an English publication, involving a story where the main character is turned into a tiger.

Dazai Osamu - this guy’s a well-known fiction writer in 20th century Japan whose works are considered pretty much modern-day classics, including No Longer Human, also the name of Dazai’s supernatural power. He tends to write pretty deep, dark stuff about human nature and so on.

Kunikida Doppo - he writes poetry. If I remember correctly, Kunikida’s power is called something like “Doppo Poet”, right?

Tanizaki Junichirou - is another famous writer of Japan’s modern-day classics, and one of his novels is called Naomi. A lot of his works were published in English, and he was also nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature. One of his famous works is called The Makioka Sisters (in English), but its Japanese title is Sasameyuki, lit. lightly falling snow, referencing to Junichirou’s supernatural ability Light Snow.

Yosano Akiko - a writer, poet, feminist, social reformer. Her most notable work is Thou Shalt Not Die, also the name of her supernatural power.

Miyazawa Kenji - a poet and writer of children literature. His most famous poem is called Undefeated by the Rain, also Kenji’s supernatural ability.

Edogawa Rampo - a mystery fiction writer considered to be someone who’d shaped Japan’s mystery fiction to what it is today. Might have heard of him if you know of the anime/manga Detective Conan.

Fukuzawa Yukichi - only researched him up just now, and he appears to be quite a prominent figure in Japan history, also considered a founder of modern Japan, and one of his notable deeds that I’d like to mention is the founding of Keio University. His supernatural ability, All Men Are Equal, is most likely reference to An Encouragement of Learning in where he wrote 17 volumes “outlining the importance of understanding the principle of equality of opportunity and that study was the key to greatness”. (i.e. He believes education would bring about prosperity)

Akutagawa Ryunosuke - regarded as the “Father of the Japanese short stories”, he was interested in Mori Ogai’s (Port Mafia Boss) works. One of his notable works is called Rashomon, also the name of his supernatural power. By the way, he died from committing suicide. There’s also a literature prize in Japan named after him.

Izumi Kyouka - in real life, he’s a guy. He writes novels, short stories and kabuki plays and his works portrays Romanticism (not the genre, the art term). It also appears that Ozaki Kouyou was his mentor, and in the manga Kouyou also seems like some sort of mentor to Kyouka. Didn’t see any works named Demon Snow, but he writes a lot of fantasy about gods and demons and these sort of stuff.

Of course, the other characters are also based off real people. Actually I’m not sure if it’s everyone who’re based off real authors, but so far the characters that I’ve seen/checked are.

In the next arc where The Guild, an international organisation, appears, we’ll then meet European authors of various kinds!
Authors (with the same name as their respective characters) of Moby Dick (whose ability is to magic up a flying fortress in the shape of a whale), Anne of the Green Gables (whose ability is to create a different dimension and lock people up), The Scarlet Letter (whose ability is to control his blood and use it to fight), etc.. even Edgar Allen Poe appears!

Personally, I’m waiting for Arthur Conan Doyle with his Sherlock Holmes ability, if he would ever appear, lol.

P.S. I absolutely love how they’re all based off real people though. I don’t know, it just feels kind of real yet surreal… anyway I love it.