Doppo Kunikida

Doppo Kunikida (国木田 獨歩) is a member of the Armed Detective Company.

Appearance
Kunikida is a tall and slim young man with dirty blonde hair and deep, green-grey eyes. His bangs are parted to the right and has rather neat, but spiky hair that ends in a long ponytail. He is always seen wearing his glasses.

His attire consists of a beige vest over a black long-sleeved dress shirt, a red ribbon tied into a bow around the collar, beige pants and plain brown shoes.

Personality
As a member of the Armed Detective Company, Kunikida is very professional and diligent when it comes to his job because to him, the reputation of the agency takes precedence over anything else. He constantly feels the need to organize, gather, and schedule every bit of detail, which is why he may come off as somewhat too strict and harsh during investigations.

He can also be seen as practical to a fault, as he almost considered abandoning a kidnapped Atsushi because the boy's presence might implicate the agency. Despite this, Kunikida is nonetheless a trustworthy and loyal detective that many in the agency rely on because of his authoritative capability and responsible nature.

He is almost never seen without his trademark notebook, which he believes to be an "ideal" and guide to life. He utilizes its function for several reasons, such as data-gathering, planning, making the world a better place, and most importantly, a medium for his ability, Doppo Poet.

While depicting a calm and careful front, Kunikida is also known for his exasperated outbursts, which is primarily caused by his partner, Osamu Dazai, who constantly vexes him with his suicidal attempts. However, Kunikida does not genuinely dislike Dazai. He especially acknowledges Dazai's skill and knowledge when first working with him, and continues to entrust much of the Agency's strategies to Dazai. Similar faith extends to Ranpo Edogawa, as Kunikida actively participates in letting Ranpo believe Ultra Deduction is a real ability, reverent of Ranpo's detective prowess and its value to the Agency.

He is also uncharacteristically naive and is prone to easily believe Dazai's lies, which he later jots down in his notebook for future reference.

Kunikida values human lives, as he strives to save all innocent people during dangerous events in Yokohama. He sticks to this belief after seeing incidents of youth injured or killed in front of him. As a result, Kunikida never thinks of killing his opponents as the only option, constantly to right wrongs without the need of bloodshed. Due to his dedicated compassion to try to protect the city and its people, Ranpo believes he is the strongest and most virtuous person in the agency.

This calm front begins to crack when he is forced to "bend the rules", resulting in a mental breakdown. Kunikida's mental state continues to deteriorate when being hunted by the Hunting Dogs, losing self-confidence and "the light he always sees on the other side of the mirror". His ideals are challenged by Saigiku Jōno, who calls them "big and lofty as a hot air balloon". He believes that Kunikida's ideals will disappear if his comrades die and he will feel "relief".

Kunikida deeply thinks about this statement, causing him to re-evaluate his ideals drastically, saying that "idealistic thought alone won't save lives, it's time to be more realistic". By the end of the chapter, Kunikida makes a self-sacrificial decision, sticking to his desire to keep his comrades alive and telling Tetchō Suehiro that he "won't let anyone ruin his plans" and "with this life as fuel, he will fly for eternity".

Ability
His ability, Doppo Poet (独歩吟客), makes objects written on the papers of his notebook come into existence. However, it does not work on objects larger than the notebook. Such objects include wire guns, handguns, grenades and flashbangs.

He is shown to be able to use pre-written notes as a means for his object summons, which can be especially convenient if one of his hands is bound and incapacitated. Also, he is able to remotely activate his ability, transforming pre-written notes into objects, which come in handy when supporting other members from afar.

Nevertheless, his ability possesses a great flaw, since the pages of his notebook are limited and getting a new one is expensive.

Background
Alongside working in the Agency, Kunikida previously worked as a cram school tutor for maths, working part-time on the weekends before turning 20. He paired this with college studies, but later dropped out to dedicate full-time to the Agency.

Some point afterwards, Kunikida focused on a terrorist known as the Azure King. Although working alongside authorities, miscommunication ultimately ended in multiple detectives' deaths, including Rokuzo Taguchi's father. Due to his guilt, Kunikida took up trying to support Rokuzo later in life, but both suffered from a strained relationship, with Rokuzo wanting little to nothing to do with Kunikida.

At some point, Kunikida handled a case involving a high school student setting bombs up on school grounds. He attempted to talk the boy out of this terrorist mindset, but later learns he failed.

During Osamu Dazai's entry into the Agency, Kunikida's tasked with deciding whether or not Dazai is meant for the Agency. Yukichi Fukuzawa orders him to kill Dazai if Kunikida determines Dazai is a danger. An order that, despite Kunikida's faith in Fukuzawa, begins to shake Kunikida's faith in his ideals.

The two work on a serial kidnappings case, and Kunikida enlists Rokuzo's technological skill to find solid leads. Kunikida and Dazai later rescue Nobuko Sasaki from drowning in a tank. Unfortunately, several other kidnapped victims, locked in a gas chamber, perish. Security cameras recording the incident were leaked, an image of Kunikida failing to save the victims published in the newspaper.

This further strains Kunikida's ideals, however he presses on, hoping Sasaki's ordeal and further leads will finally lead them to the true Azure Messenger.

Unbeknownst to Kunikida, Dazai later has Rokuzo look into Sasaki's claims, leading himself and Kunikida to an abandoned building. When Rokuzo arrives, Kunikida denies the thought of him the Azure Messenger, which Dazai confirms, however, before either he or Rokuzo can clarify the situation, Sasaki appears, shooting and killing the boy. Sasaki confesses to the kidnappings and murders being her doing. She tells Kunikida she and the Azure King were lovers, and now she takes his place to follow through with his ideals, but with this confrontation, she's tired of killing and living altogether, unable to reach those ideals in the first place. Before Kunikida can react, Rokuzo shoots and kills her.

Rokuzo and Sasaki's deaths greatly impacted Kunikida and his view of his ideals. Although he remains true to them, he is constantly haunted by the deaths of those he cannot save, a weight that remains heavy on his shoulders.

Plot
While at a mission, Dazai jumped in the river to commit suicide and then met Atsushi. Kunikida then came yelling at him, but Dazai made him pay for their dinner. While eating, they introduced themselves and Kunikida explained their mission was to capture a man-eating tiger. Upon hearing that Atsushi attempted to run, but Kunikida stopped him. Atsushi explained that the tiger attacked the orphanage he was in and he then got kicked out of it, and now the tiger followed him in the city. Dazai then gave Kunikida a note and went with Atsushi to capture the tiger.

Later that night, Kunikida came to the warehouse where Dazai had mentioned the tiger will appear and had brought some more agency members with him. There Dazai explained the tiger was Atsushi and wanted to welcome him in their organization, which shocked Kunikida as it wasn't Dazai's decision at who joins them.

On the next day, Kunikida found Dazai and Atsushi and again got angry at Dazai. He then explained there was a bomber at their agency office and they all went there. As they were wondering what to do, Kunikida lost to Dazai on rock-paper-scissors and had to confront the bomber, but as the bomber knew who he was, he made Kunikida keep his distance and was careful about his ability. Dazai then made Atsushi face the bomber and act as worthless human and as Atsushi did, Kunikida saw an opening and using his ability took out the bomber detonating device and then knocked the bomber. Kunikida then got in argument with Dazai, which gave a chance for the bomber to escape and activate the bomb. As Kunikida was struggling with the bomber, Atsushi decided to sacrifice himself and cover the bomb with his body. But as the bomb didn't explode, it was revealed all to be an act and test for Atsushi, who was then accepted into the agency by Dazai's recommendation.

At a bar, the group were talking and Atsushi ended up guessing each person's previous jobs. He guessed that Kunikida was an official worker and Dazai corrected him being a math teacher. Then they got a call for a client and went back in the office. As Dazai made a move on the client, Kunikida took him in the other room and beat him up. After listening to the client's job, Kunikida gave it to Atsushi and Junichirou and then warned him that if he sees a man named Akutagawa, to run away.

When Atsushi woke up after Akutagawa's attack, Kunikida was next to him reading his notebook. Kunikida explained that Naomi and Junichirou were fine. Kunikida looked calm, but Atsushi noticed his notebook was upside down and as he told him, Kunikida stood up in shock explaining that in the worse case scenario they get attacked, he will take down the mafia with variety of techniques. Atsushi realized Kunikida was nervous and thought the situation was serious. He decided to leave the agency, so it doesn't get attacked, but the agency still got attacked. As they were gunned down, Atsushi arrived to see how Kunikida took down the last member of the attackers. The agency had easily dealt with the attack and Kunikida was angry at how much money that will cost them to fix all the damages. Another member reminded him it was his turn to go around with gifts and apologize to their neighbours, which annoyed Kunikida as that was the worse case scenario he imagined.

Quotes

 * "Just what is an 'ideal'? (...) ... if you ask me, the answer is clear. It is a word written on the cover of my notebook. My notebook is omnipotent. It guides me as a principle, as a master, as a prophet. At times, it becomes a weapon and also a key."

Trivia

 * Kunikida, along with several other characters, appeared in the mobile game Love Heaven as a limited time character.
 * He used to work as an algebra lecturer twice a week as his side job.
 * His conditions for an ideal partner total to 58.
 * According to Kafka Asagiri's tweet, Kunikida was a college drop out.
 * BONES incorporates the events with Nobuko Sasaki into the anime, involving Atsushi in them. This contradicts the canon timeline of events.