Bungo Stray Dogs: BEAST


 * This article is about the Bungo Stray Dogs BEAST Light Novel. For the manga, see Bungo Stray Dogs BEAST (Manga).

Bungo Stray Dogs BEAST (文豪ストレイドッグス　ＢＥＡＳＴ,) is a light novel by Kafka Asagiri, first released in the limited form alongside the official DEAD APPLE film premiere on 3 March 2018. A booklet summarizing the light novel's events will be included in DEAD APPLE's DVD and Blu-ray release on 28 November 2018. The complete novel was released on 1 April 2019, including more content Asagiri incorporated and illustrations by Sango Harukawa.

Summary
BEAST narrates an alternate universe, with Ryunosuke Akutagawa joining the Armed Detective Agency and Atsushi Nakajima acting as a subordinate in the Port Mafia. Under the mentorship of Sakunosuke Oda, Akutagawa strives to confront the Port Mafia's boss, Osamu Dazai, and free Gin, his younger sister, from the organization. The mission leads him to an intense feud with the Port Mafia's "White Reaper", Atsushi.

Key Differences

 * Akutagawa's personality, while still intense and ill-tempered, has not been bred to be as homicidal or impatient. He's still largely himself but exercises a great deal of self-control not seen in the main universe. This Akutagawa succeeded in killing the men that killed the orphans he interacted with and refused Dazai's invitation to the Port Mafia. In the Armed Detective Agency, his main goal is to find and retrieve his younger sister from the Port Mafia.
 * Atsushi gains a reputation in the Mafia as one of its strongest members, known as the "White Reaper". He's forced to wear painful restraints to keep the tiger in check, and he uses the tiger's form frequently to defeat and often kill his enemies. At his core, he is still a fearful, timid person, wracked with guilt and remorse over the tiger going out of control and killing an unknown researcher before entering the Mafia. He is also fanatically devoted to Dazai for bringing him into the Mafia and letting him leave his past hellish life.
 * Kyōka Izumi betrayed the Port Mafia in the past and left. Unlike her main universe's counterpart, she returned to the Mafia and acts as Atsushi's personal partner.
 * Gin plays a much larger role than in the main universe. She still works in the Port Mafia, albeit as a secretary rather than as a commander of Black Lizard. She is more vocal than her main universe counterpart and holds a grudge against Akutagawa for 'abandoning' her in the past.
 * Sakunosuke Oda survives the war against Mimic, as he wasn't present during its main events. He left the Mafia two years prior to BEAST's events and now works in the Armed Detective Agency, acting somewhat as a mentor for Akutagawa. The orphans from the Dragon's Head Conflict also live with him, along with ten other children. Alive and well, he's in the process of publishing his first book. His friendship with Dazai is nonexistent, having never met Dazai, and Oda allows no friendship between them. This is the only universe in which he survives.
 * Dazai succeeds Ōgai Mori as the Port Mafia's boss. Dazai is much grimmer, although he still holds his dark, sardonic sense of humor at the worst of times. Dazai made many enemies, but the Port Mafia's influence spans even greater than Mori's influence during his leadership. Somehow, he managed to obtain the Book, and, thanks to No Longer Human, the Book's ability to merge and diverge realities does not affect him. This makes him largely similar to the main universe's Dazai, and they are essentially the same person living different universes. Protecting the Book is Dazai's main priority, aware it's the only universe Odasaku lives in and achieves his goal of becoming an author. As such, Dazai allows many hardships for himself for Odasaku's sake. In the end, however, the Book's knowledge and his own struggles overwhelm him, and after asking Atsushi to continue protecting the Book, he falls off the ledge of the main Mafia building.
 * Mori works at an orphanage and is a ex-Mafia member believed to have been killed by Mimic. He eventually tends to Atsushi together with Elise, a young adult nurse who acts as his assistant; she still refers to Mori as Rintarō.

List of Chapters

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