Chūya Nakahara

Chūya Nakahara (中原 中也,) is a member of the Port Mafia as well as Dazai's former partner. He is one of the five Executives in the Port Mafia.

Appearance
Chūya is shown to be quite short with a petite, yet muscular build. He has blue eyes (grey in the manga) and light brown/orange hair that frames his face, with a longer section that falls just past his left shoulder. He wears a black hat with a red hatband, and a thin silver chain that hangs over the brim. His outfit consists of a white button up shirt under a charcoal grey vest, a black choker in the style of a pet collar, a black ribbon bolo tie held together with a small silver buckle, an open black cropped jacket with the sleeves rolled up at the elbows, black slacks, a black belt hanging off his right hip and black low-arch shoes. He is almost always seen wearing black gloves. Chūya also sports an thigh-length black coat with light-coloured lining and lapels that he wears around his shoulders like a cape.

Personality
Chūya is hot-headed and quick to act on his temper, but can analyze situations well enough if he is calm and has enough time. He is inclined to taunt other people into a fight with him, probably due to his confidence in his martial arts skill and his Ability. He can be quite gullible as well, falling for Dazai's tricks a majority of the time. He also bears great loyalty for the Mafia and deeply respects Mori, following almost all orders given to him. Despite being in the Mafia, Chūya seems to care a lot for his subordinates, to the point that he would have no qualms in Dazai killing Q, because he reminds him of his dead subordinates. Additionally, in the Drama CDs, it was shown that he takes care of his subordinates by taking them out to lunch and to the hot springs.

Ability
His ability, For The Tainted Sorrow (汚れっちまった悲しみに,), revolves around gravity-manipulation, allowing him to manipulate and make gravitons, as well as alter the gravity of anything he touches, keeping it that way until a certain period of time. He is also capable of standing and walking upside down from ceilings.

Corruption (汚濁, Ojoku) is the true form of Chūya's ability and is exceedingly dangerous. It is activated by the verses:

汝、陰鬱なる汚濁の許容よ、 Oh, Grantors of Dark Disgrace,

更めてわれを目覚ますことなかれ Do Not Wake Me Again.

This ability allows him to manipulate the gravitons in his surroundings. By increasing his own density, he is capable of crushing a tank with his bare hands. He is also able to shoot balls of compressed gravity that act as black holes that swallow anything. However, he has no control over his Ability's true form; he will continue in that state if his Ability is not nullified until he dies.

Background
It is shown on the cover of chapter 31 that Chūya was taken in by Ozaki as a child, so it is possible he was raised by her during his childhood, while Dazai goes in the opposite direction with Mori and Q.

His past before joining the Mafia and how he was raised within the organization is unknown.

He and Dazai used to be partners during the latter's days in the Mafia, and together—after they had decimated the entirety of an enemy organization in one night—they became notoriously dubbed as the "Criminal Underworld's worst enemy", earning the title Soukoku (双黒).

Plot
He first appeared where Osamu Dazai was imprisoned by the Port Mafia, held with shackles around his wrists and two chains hung up in the air. Feeling something was off, Chūya questioned the prisoner's plans, in which he received that Dazai was merely awaiting his punishment. Triggering Chūya's anger, he claimed that with Dazai's attitude, he could have killed him since long ago.

Known as the strongest martial artist in the Mafia, he broke Dazai's shackles with one kick, even causing the wall behind the prisoner to crack. He then challenged Dazai to a duel, and to his amusement, Dazai had already broken the shackles before Chūya's arrival, which only aggravated the mafia.

After some time, Dazai revealed to Chūya that his actions were for Atsushi's sake. A five boss meeting of the Mafia would soon be held due to Dazai's letter that stated 'If Dazai Osamu is dead, all the mafia's dark secrets will be exposed'. Dazai further explained that if Chūya killed him, he would then be viewed as a traitor by the Port Mafia if Dazai were to die, and therefore Chūya has no choice but to spare him. It is implied, through Chūya's nonchalance and Dazai's time of arrival in relation to Chūya's finished vacation, that this situation was planned in Dazai's favor. Choosing to retreat, Chūya subsequently tells Dazai where Akutagawa kept the records of Atsushi's bounty as per Dazai's prediction before the duel.

In chapter 16, Chūya is seen again with the other mafia members bowing down to Mori and reports regarding the assassin from The Guild that was killed on the spot.

In chapter 19, Chūya is stood in Mori's office where Elise and Ougai Mori were located. He reports that The Guild has attacked them, and that Kouyou Ozaki has been captured by the Detective Agency as a prisoner of war. Commenting on the fact that they can't let their guard down since one of their five Executives has been captured, he asks for Mori's direction. To Chūya's surprise, he is ordered to plan the assassination of Fukuzawa Yukichi.

When the attack is a fiasco, Chūya is seen surveying the aftermath, from which he reaffirms his belief that hired outsiders cannot be trusted. Reporting to Mori on the attack's failure, Chūya subsequently confirms the success of the Scandium marker transferred onto Fukuzawa, allowing the Mafia to track his location. Chūya is later seen on the camera of the Detective Agency's hideout, smiliing menacingly.

In chapter 22, Chūya is shown confidently navigating the railway tunnel towards the hideout, taking down cameras and surpassing the automatic gun emplacements. Via camera, he taunts the onlooking Detective Agency to "come out, whoever's alive in there." Deeper into the premises, he is confronted by Akiko and Kenji, he later reveals a message from Mori to Fukuzawa. The message was revealed to be the time and place of the appearance of two guild members, Lovecraft and John Steinbeck. Suspecting his intentions, the two detectives engaged in a short battle with Chūya. After the battle, Fukuzawa questions the mafia's intentions and taunted Chūya, whom sees it as an honor. Chūya then reveals that the mafia had baited the Guild members by leaking the location of the Detective Agency's clerks.

He is shown surveying the Port Mafia's casualties after the Guild's attack on the city and states that they would have had ten times more deaths if it was not for Dazai nullifying Q's curse. He and Mori are interrupted when Ozaki Kouyou makes her return.

He next appears at the Guild hideout, where they were hiding Q, when he meets up with Dazai. He uses his gravity manipulation to crush the Guild's foot soldiers. Steinbeck attempts to stop him, but Dazai neutralizes his powers and Chūya hits him with a devastating kick. After all the Guild members are seemingly defeated, Chūya tells Dazai that he opened a bottle of Petrus (a very expensive wine) in celebration the day Dazai left the Port Mafia, while Dazai reveals that he attached a bomb to his car on the same day. Reaching Q, Dazai aims a blade at Q's throat, and asks Chūya if he's not going to stop him. Chūya expresses his desire for Q's death even though his orders were to bring him back alive. Chūya carries Q out of the base before being thrown into the building by one of Lovecrafts tentacles. He then uses his powers to destroy Lovecraft's arm after Lovecraft lands a hit on Dazai. Lovecraft remarks that he has a heavy fist in a surprised tone. He and Dazai use one of their practiced techniques to punch a hole thorugh Lovecraft and send him flying into the ground. Lovecraft then assumes his monster form forcing Chūya to activate "Corruption". Chūya uses his gravity balls to blow large chunks out of Lovecraft but Lovecraft seems to have endless regeneration. After Dazai activates a bomb he places inside Lovecraft, Chūya launches a huge attack that completly destroys Lovecraft. Afterwards he continues to destroy his surroundings until he is stopped by Dazai.

Trivia

 * He, along with several other characters, made a guest appearance in the mobile game Love Heaven as a limited time character.
 * The chanting required in order to activate Corruption, originates from a stanza in Sheep Song ; a poem from Chūya Nakahara to Yoshihiro Yasuhara.
 * In chapter 31, he taunts Dazai as 'Enemy of Women'. This might be due to Dazai's womanizing habits.
 * His JP voice actor, Taniyama Kishou, is the singer of Granrodeo who sung the OP theme of Bungou Stray Dogs season 1 - TRASH CANDY.
 * Despite liking alcohol, he tends to get drunk pretty easily.
 * Based on the cover panel for Chapter 31, he was likely raised by Kouyou (as opposed to Dazai who seems to have been raised by Mori).