Atsushi Nakajima

"Motto: 'What's better than being alive?'"

Atsushi Nakajima (中島 敦,) is the main protagonist of Bungo Stray Dogs and a member of the Armed Detective Company

Appearance
Atsushi has light gray hair, pale skin, and is of average height with a slim build. He appears to have segmental heterochromia, consisting combination of purple with yellow along the bottom curve of his pupil. His hair is short and swept forward in loose spikes with a lock left long on the right side of his face. This uneven style is the result of bullying he suffered at the hands of other orphans in the orphanage, and he never fixed it.

Initially, he wears rags issued by the orphanage. After he joins the Armed Detective Company, Akiko Yosano and Doppo Kunikida issue him a white button up with the sleeves pushed to his elbows, a loose black tie, black pants, black, fingerless gloves, and a suspenders/belt combo with a long stretch of the belt dangling loose from the buckle.

Personality
Atsushi has severely low self-esteem due to his upbringing. He has a major complex about his worth as a person, as such he reacts negatively to people who judge others as unworthy. When people begin hunting him due to the seven billion yen bounty on his head, he becomes worried and continues to think that he is putting the Agency at risk, though is told by Doppo to learn how to become useful rather than worry about the Agency being attacked. As part of his low self confidence, when confronted with a dangerous situation, he initially tends to cower and/or has difficulty reacting to a situation or understanding what to do, being paralyzed in fear. However, while generally flighty and unsure of himself, his will hardens in tough situations, and he becomes steadfast and reliable. He is selfless and does everything possible to protect his friends, at one point using his body to cover up a bomb to protect the Agency members despite having never met them and on a number of occasions rises up and uses his power to save them.

He is easily scared and is somewhat naive and simplistic, believing things at face value. Despite this, he does have some common sense and is arguably one of the most "normal" members of the Agency. He tends to have exaggerated reactions towards the shenanigans of the Agency members and due to the strange circumstances and situations that follow them.

Although still struggling with his self-esteem, Atsushi gradually improves his confidence and sense of self after joining the ADA, along with his many confrontations with Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Strengthened by several missions and the clashes between the Port Mafia, Guild, and Rats in the House, Atsushi makes a goal for himself: prove his self-worth by helping and saving others, still plagued by the words of his former Headmaster.

He has a strong sense of morality, as seen through his interactions with Kyouka. He values life and tries to help his enemies, such as Kyouka and Lucy Maud Montgomery, both of whom were moved by his actions. He hates it when people die due to unfortunate circumstances or abuse their power to hurt others, as shown during his battle with Akutagawa.

Due to his poor upbringing, he has a mild obsession with money, though never to the point of greed. When he first meets Dazai and Doppo, he agrees to act as bait for the man eating tiger after learning how much the reward was. When he learned there was a reward for correctly guessing Dazai's original occupation, he comes up with a number of random guesses. He also becomes worried about how much Kyouka eats during their first outing due to the fact he had to pay for it (and she ate quite a bit). Despite this, he willingly helps others in need and money never comes before saving a life.

Ability
Beast Beneath the Moonlight (月下獣,): Atsushi has the ability to transform into a white tiger. At first, he doesn't seem to have much control over the transformation, likely due to the fact, or caused by, his unawareness of his state as an Ability user.

After becoming an official member of the Agency and under the influence of All Men Are Equal, he gains more control over his transformations - as shown during his second fight with Akutagawa, when he breaks the transformation on his arms to escape.

Atsushi has shown several varying states of transformation, which range from a rather large full tiger form, to just slit pupils and tiger stripes on his face. He can transform and manifest various tiger body parts at will, such as tiger forearms with claws, or a tiger tail.

Also notable is that Atsushi's ability has extreme regenerative powers capable of healing bisection and amputation almost instantly.

He has shown to possess immense speed, durability, strength, stamina, and endurance on several occasions. He has also been shown to be a natural fighter in close combat and has shown to very cunning in battle in several fights.

However, after using his ability, Atsushi seems to become unconscious and collapses onto the ground.

Someone from the underground has put out a 7 billion yen bounty for him with the Mafia - it is later revealed that Fitzgerald is the one behind his bounty and the reason is because Atsushi is a guider to the book that every ability-user desires.

Background
Not much is known about Atsushi's background thus far. He grew up in an orphanage, where he suffered from severe abuse, both verbal and physical, from his caretakers, as well as social isolation from the other children. This history of mistreatment has evidently taken a huge toll on Atsushi's self-worth as an adult and has caused him to constantly question the value and usefulness of his life.

According to the headmaster, Atsushi's parents dumped in the trash. This headmaster becomes the foundation of Atsushi's warped self-worth. The abuse (presumably severe especially because of the tiger rampaging at night) led the headmaster to chain Atsushi in a cell with little to no food, and forcibly injecting him with either sedatives or nutrients. The headmaster emphasised Atsushi's hatred towards him, seemingly even encouraging it. Alongside the headmaster and other caretakers' verbal and physical abuse, Atsushi suffered at the hands of the other orphans. Oftentimes, the other orphans threw Atsushi under the bus when they could get in trouble, as the orphanage ran on some sort of point system that affected if and when they were fed.

Once he hits 18, Atsushi was kicked out of the orphanage because, though he was unaware of it at the time, he was transforming into a white tiger under the moonlight due to his ability and causing chaos.

Plot
Aimless and starving, Atsushi arrives in Yokohama two weeks after being kicked out of his orphanage. Although plagued by the orphanage staff's cruel words, he refuses to submit and die. Although reluctant, he determines he'll have to steal in order to survive. He intends on waiting for the next person to pass him by the Tsurumi River's bank. However, the next person he comes across is a young man drowning in the river. Atsushi ends up saving the man.

Quickly coming to, the man is displeased with being saved. Atsushi responds with great confusion, and the man clarifies he was trying to commit suicide by drowning. However, at the same time, he wanted his suicide to go without disturbance. As Atsushi got entangled in his attempt, the man intends on doing something in return. He hears Atsushi's stomach growl, and relates to the feeling, claiming he hasn't ate in a few days himself. However, the river swept up his wallet, leaving him without money. Soon after, Atsushi meets the man's colleague. Eventually, the two strangers end up taking Atsushi to a restaurant to eat chazuke in exchange for saving the suicidal man's life. The man finally properly introduces himself as Osamu Dazai.

During the meal, Atsushi learns Dazai and Kunikida are detectives of the ability-using Armed Detective Agency. He also learns their current investigation involves a giant white tiger that Atsushi remembers as one that has been following and taunting him for much his time after being kicked out. After forceful persuasion via Kunikida, he reveals the tiger was the cause of severe damage to the orphanage he was kicked out of. Now, it appears the tiger followed him all the way to Yokohama.

Using the reward money as a bribe, Dazai pulls Atsushi into a plan as bait to capture the tiger once and for all. However, during their wait, an agitated Atsushi is at a loss for words when met with Dazai's complete nonchalance towards the tiger's looming threat. As moonlight pours into the abandoned building, Atsushi himself transforms into an aggressive white tiger. However, Dazai uses his ability to nullify the tiger, returning Atsushi to normal, albeit unconscious. He wakes up in a dormitory, and is called by Dazai, the one who set up his lodgings. Dazai claims he is about to die, and Atsushi quickly moves to check the scene, only to be met by yet another failed suicide attempt of Dazai's. After helping Dazai, Atsushi meets back up with Kunikida as well, who informs the duo of a mad bomber holding up the Agency.

Trivia

 * He and several other characters made appearances in mobile games, such as Love Heaven, Kimito Lead Puzzle 18, and Yumeiro Cast as limited time characters.
 * His favorite food is tea on rice (chazuke).
 * His choppy haircut is a result of another child cutting his hair as a prank when he was younger at the orphanage, and he had just let it grow as it is.