Bungo Stray Dogs Is Already Dark, But One Official Alternate Is Somehow Even More Brutal

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Bungo Stray Dogs: BEAST

Bungo Stray Dogs: BEAST is an official alternate universe of the original Bungo Stray Dogs series, offering a much grimmer and darker take on the characters and events that unfold. Unlike the main storyline, BEAST flips roles and explores how the characters’ fates could have dramatically changed under different circumstances. This alternate reality provides fans with a deeper understanding of the mysterious book in the original timeline and how it partially functions.

Bungo Stray Dogs: BEAST doesn’t shy away from making the storyline darker than it already was. The main protagonist, Atsushi, is plunged into a role that doesn’t fit his kind personality, whereas Akutagawa is pulled into a role most foreign to him. Yet, the greatest and most shocking change comes from none other than Osamu Dazai, who is revealed to have an even greater understanding than anyone first assumed.

Atsushi and Akutagawa’s Roles Are Reversed in Bungo Stray Dogs: BEAST

This Alternate Universe Explores How Their Fates Could Have Changed with One Major Shift

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In Bungo Stray Dogs: BEAST, Atsushi and Akutagawa switch their respective roles. Akutagawa becomes the protagonist of the BEAST universe, while Atsushi works for the Port Mafia as Dazai’s pupil. While their personalities remain mostly intact, it is clear that their different experiences took a toll on them and carried a heavy impact on how they go through the world. Their switched roles demonstrate how their upbringing, environment, and the people they are surrounded with can mold a person’s identity.

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The Atsushi and Akutagawa of the main storyline often seem like polar opposites, but BEAST takes that idea and crushes it, showing that they are not inherently bound to the paths they have chosen. Akutagawa, although still quick to act and highly values power, is shown to slowly learn what it is like to be around others who genuinely care about his well-being and urge him to be the best version of himself. On the other hand, Atsushi is taught to harm others before he is hurt first and to obediently take Port Mafia's orders without question.

Bungo Stray Dogs: BEAST Is the Darkest Storyline in the Franchise

BEAST Pushes the Boundaries of the Series’ Themes

Beyond switching the roles of Atsushi and Akutagawa, BEAST doesn’t hold back with its tragedies and heart-wrenching moments. The Bungo Stray Dogs: BEAST manga pushes the themes of pain, loss, trauma, redemption, and the pain of being the “stray dogs,” or the outcasts of society. In the case of Akutagawa, he becomes driven to find his sister, Gin, and save her. However, while on this mission, he gets faced with the fact that he never thought deeper than the surface level and only ended up hurting others and himself in the process.

Similarly, Atsushi’s descent into the role of The White Reaper for the Port Mafia goes to show how even the most kindhearted people can be twisted under certain circumstances. Atsushi becomes ruled by his fear over a mistake he had made after breaking orders. Ever since, Atsushi has become devoured by that fear so much that nothing else could overpower it. Both Atsushi and Akutagawa become products of their environments, each in search of redemption and each reeling and trying to find a sense of normalcy amid their tragic pasts.

Akutagawa Enters the Light While Atsushi Remains in The Dark

The Experiences They Go Through Show the True Potential of Their Characters

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Akutagawa was found by Oda Sakunosuke and is taken to the ADA. For his first task, he helps Kenji at a rice paddy doing manual labor, and Kenji shares his belief in halves, that there is a balance of good and bad. Akutagawa shrugs it off at first, thinking it wouldn’t apply to him. However, in typical Kenji fashion, he tells Akutagawa that he received the good halves from his friends, simply by being alive. Through Akutagawa’s reaction, it’s clear that he never thought of it that way before, and it may have very well been his first true encounter with the light.

However, when Atsushi is introduced, he is shown to be a killer, swift and merciless alongside Kyoka. He is dominated by the fear of the permanent actions he had previously taken and begs Dazai to give him orders so he wouldn't make another mistake. This fear stems from when Atsushi met the director of his orphanage and misinterpreted the situation. When the director opened his arms, likely for praise and a hug, Atsushi lost control and killed him in cold blood, left to be haunted by the memories. This incident left him like a marionette, unwilling and unable to do things of his own volition out of fear of another mistake.

Dazai’s Shocking Connection to The Book

No Longer Human Gives Dazai Immense Power in This Series

As always, Osamu Dazai knows more than he lets on and has a specific plan in place. In this alternate universe, Dazai’s connection to the book that can rewrite reality is breathtakingly complex. With his ability, No Longer Human, Dazai is capable of seeing all alternate realities that exist within the book, including the memories of Dazai from the original universe of Bungo Stray Dogs. With that knowledge, he pulls the strings from behind the scenes, taking on the mantle as the head of the Port Mafia.

In this universe, Dazai acts as the cold-hearted leader of the Port Mafia, even while aware of the countless other memories of universes that could have been. The BEAST universe is particularly special to Dazai because it’s the only reality among many others where Oda Sakunosuke is alive and writing a novel. Dazai yearns for a connection with Odasaku as the memories of his dying wish for Dazai in the original Bungo Stray Dogs haunt him. Yet, in this reality, Oda is part of the ADA and couldn’t care less for Dazai, barring him from ever having another connection with Oda.

The Brutal Ending of Bungo Stray Dogs: BEAST

The Revelations from Dazai Throw Atsushi and Akutagawa on Lonesome Paths

After having a meeting with Oda at the bar Lupin, Dazai returns to the Port Mafia’s headquarters to reveal the truth to Akutagawa and Atsushi about the multiple realities, and the fact that their universe was but one possibility. He informs them that there can only be two people who are aware of the fact, and any more would disrupt the fragile balance of their world. To preserve the world’s balance, Dazai uses his suicide as a calculated sacrifice. Dazai’s final thought is his only regret, that he will never get the chance to read Odasaku’s novel.

Dazai’s final wish reveals his deep emotional void left by Oda’s death and absence in the BEAST universe. By revealing the truth to Akutagawa and Atsushi, Dazai essentially forces them to understand the fleeting nature of the world. However, in doing so, Dazai also isolates them as the only beings aware of the fragile existence around them. Even so, Akutagawa officially joins the agency in hopes of seeing Gin again, and Mori and Elise take in Atsushi at the orphanage he grew up in, each with a new understanding of the reality that surrounds them in Bungo Stray Dogs: BEAST.