Kunikidazai

Kunikidazai is the slash ship between Doppo Kunikida and Osamu Dazai from the Bungou Stray Dogs fandom.

Canon
Dazai frequently teases Kunikida, giving him false information for him to write in his notebook and mocking him for his ideals. Kunikida often beats up and kicks Dazai around, the latter who shows no resistance and frequently blushes upon Kunikida’s reaction. Despite their violent partnership, the two have a mutual trust built upon the course of two years since the Azure Apostle case. Kunikida and Dazai are the most successful duo of the Agency, and outsiders presume the two to have a perfect relationship.

Dazai has a deeper understanding of Kunikida’s ideals, warning him not to get absorbed by his goals. Nevertheless, Dazai acknowledges Kunikida as one who can instill beliefs in other people, can skillfully handle affairs, has an unwavering character, and is aware of his own limits and weaknesses. Dazai recognizes Kunikida as a role model and the next ideal President for the Agency. Dazai trusted Kunikida to not shoot him upon their first meeting and placed a greater faith in the latter.

When first meeting in the first light novel, Kunikida is sore about Dazai’s luck with women, and Dazai often teases him for that and tries to get him with Sasaki. Kunikida comments how there’s much to be desired upon looking at Dazai’s disheveled appearance.

Port Mafia Arc
In Chapter 1, Kunikida and Dazai are work partners who are trying to solve the case of the tiger that has been appearing in Yokohama. Shortly after Atsushi rescues Dazai from drowning, Kunikida sees the two of them and scolds Dazai for fooling around. Dazai thanks Kunikida for his hard work. This does little to abate Kunikida's anger, and Dazai offers to treat Atsushi to chazuke on Kunikida's dime.

At the restaurant, Kunikida tells Dazai they have to get back to work. Kunikida reprimands Dazai for jumping into a river in the middle of work and says it is his fault they are behind schedule. Dazai comments on Kunikida's affection for the latter's notebook, and Kunikida retorts by saying that it is not just a notebook but his aspirations and life compass. Kunikida adds that having a suicide maniac as a colleague was not part of his ideal. Kunikida explains to Atsushi that the military police requested that Kunikida and Dazai drive out a wild beast. As Dazai and Atsushi converse, Kunikida tells Dazai that the two of them are not philanthropists, and they must return to work. Dazai and Kunikida explain to Atsushi that they are detectives working for the Armed Detective Agency. Dazai comments that the beam in the teashop looks like it could support a person's weight, and Kunikida scolds Dazai for thinking about hanging himself every time he is in a teashop. Dazai pranks Kunikida by telling him that hanging is part of a health regimen, and Kunikida believes him and starts to write down information on this "health regimen" as Dazai dictates information to him.

A few moments later, Kunikida restrains Atsushi and demands that Atsushi tell Kunikida and Dazai about the man-eating tiger or else Atsushi will pay for the chazuke with his arm. Dazai tells Kunikida to calm down and reminds him that the director always says to gather information through questioning. Dazai questions Atsushi as Kunikida shoos away onlookers. Kunikida and Dazai listen to Atsushi's story and Kunikida asks what Atsushi means when the latter claims that the tiger is here to kill him. Dazai questions Atsushi some more, and Kunikida mentions some more details of the case. Dazai asks Atsushi to help with the case and tells Kunikida to take a note back to the director. Kunikida asks Dazai if he is planning on catching the tiger with just himself and Atushi, but Dazai says it will be fine.

After Dazai nullifies Atsushi's ability and solves the case, Kunikida appears at the warehouse, and Dazai tells him it took long enough and that he has solved the case. Kunikida asks Dazai if Atsushi is the tiger, and Dazai confirms it. Kunikida tells Dazai to let him know beforehand next time because Dazai gave him quite a fright.

At the beginning of Chapter 2, Dazai mentions that he will be hiring Atsushi, and Kunikida responds in a surprised way. The next day, Dazai and Atsushi are walking to the office when Kunikida spots Dazai and calls him a "bandage-wasting device," and Dazai acts hurt. Kunikida alerts the two of them to an emergency happening, and Dazai responds by telling Kunikida the negative health effects of shouting too much. Kunikida believes him, and Dazai instructs him to write it down, which Kunikida does. Dazai then reveals he is lying, and Atsushi looks on at their antics with an unentertained expression until he asks what the emergency is.

Kunikida stops physically contorting Dazai and remembers the emergency. He urges the other two to come to the office. Dazai asks why, and Kunikida explains that a bomber has taken a hostage and barricaded himself in the office. In the next scene, Kunikida, Dazai, and Atsushi are hiding and discussing what to do about the bomber. Dazai suggests that they give into the bomber's demands and allow him to meet the president, but Kunikida objects, mentioning that not only would the bomber would kill the president, the president is also away on business. All of a sudden, Kunikida and Dazai play rock, paper, scissors, and Kunikida loses. Kunikida confronts the bomber, which proves to be ineffective. Atsushi is sent out by Dazai to address the bomber, and Kunikida is able to remove the detonator from the bomber's hand and arrest him.

Atsushi makes the decision to cover the bomb with his body after he is pushed onto the detonator. After the test is over, Atsushi is bewildered, and Kunikida tells Atsushi to curse Dazai if Atsushi wants to curse anyone. Dazai tells Atsushi that Kunikida is right and explains that this was an entrance exam.

In Chapter 3, Kunikida, Dazai, Tanizaki, and Atsushi are hanging out after the exam. When Tanizaki apologies to Atsushi, Kunikida tells Tanizaki that he has nothing to apologize for, and Dazai tells Kunikida that is he being rude. Dazai imitates Kunikida activating his ability during the exam, much to Kunikida's annoyance. Kunikida tells Atsushi that he is part of the agency now and that he should not copy those who trash the agency's sign or cause trouble. Kunikida says that he and the others will be making sure and asks Dazai to back him up. Dazai instead asks if the waitress would be willing to strangle him, and Kunikida tells him to shut up and scolds him. After this, Junichiro and Naomi introduce themselves in quite an odd way, and then they go on to guess Kunikida’s and Dazai’s old occupations; Kunikida claims he believes Dazai was a criminal but he swears he’s not. Like the rest of the agency, Atsushi fails at guessing Dazai’s previous work, so they up the amount of the prize winnings to give to whoever does manage to guess.

Higuchi then shows up to the office, but Kunikida and Dazai don’t stick around too long around her arrival as Kunikida takes him into another room to beat him up him when Dazai flirts with her. Leaving Dazai in the room, Kunikida then goes back out and talks about a case of smugglers, telling Atsushi and the Tanizaki siblings to go with him and to watch out for someone in a picture, the person of the picture is Akutagawa.

Atsushi, Junichiro, and Naomi leave, which leaves Kunikida and Dazai in the office. Kunikida does some cleaning as his partner kicks his feet with his headphones on, singing a song about double suicide. This is later revealed to be Dazai spying on Higuchi, as when he flirted with her he’d put on a microphone of sorts, and therefore knew when the others would be in trouble. At hearing them in trouble at last, Kunikida goes to shout at him some more but Dazai is not there.

Light Novels
Entrance Exam:=

Osamu Dazai’s Entrance Exam
The first novel is almost entirely written in first person from Kunikida's point of view. The prologue opens on Kunikida and Dazai chasing a criminal through the streets of Yokohama. Kunikida yells at Dazai not to fall behind, but Dazai responds saying that his shoe came untied. Kunikida tells Dazai to keep running, and they continue to banter.

"I could always just shoot you in the head if you want to die that badly!" "'Wait. Seriously? Wow, thanks."

[Desc.] Dazai smiles bashfully, even though there's nothing to blush about.

The chase continues until Dazai yells "fire," sending the townspeople into a frenzy, which blocks the routes of escape for the criminal. Kunikida is able to take down the criminal, and Dazai calms the crowd and introduces both himself and Kunikida as members of the Armed Detective Agency.

The first chapter starts with Kunikida arriving to work early and discovering that Dazai is tripping on hallucinogenic mushrooms as a staff member begs Kunikida to do something. Kunikida ignores Dazai at first but knocks him unconscious a little later. Kunikida begins to recount his first meeting with Dazai that occurred four days ago.

Dazai and Kunikida first meet two years prior to the start of the manga when Dazai is seeking a job at the Armed Detective Agency. Kunikida describes Dazai as somewhat handsome and notes that they are the same age. As Dazai shakes Kunikida's hand, Kunikida notices something:

"In that moment, I suddenly sense a cold, piercing light in his eyes, as if he were calmly evaluating his senior--no, as if he were staring into my very soul through the eyes of a heavenly, enlightened sage. However, it is only for a fleeting moment before his vacant expression returns. Was I seeing things?"

The president asks Kunikida to carry out Dazai's entrance exam and to ascertain whether or not Dazai can be trusted. Additionally, the president gives Kunikida a gun and instructs Kunikida to shoot Dazai if there are "any signs of wickedness in his heart." After being handed the gun, there is a time skip to where Dazai and Kunikida are walking to an informant and talking about their plan to investigate ’a haunted mansion’ by request of an anonymous client that reported strange noises. The two bicker about being late on their way to the informant, later introduced as Rokuzo. Kunikida brings up the earlier fiasco of Dazai eating the hallucinogenic mushrooms, and despite telling him next time he should make sure it’s the fatal ones, wonders if he’s alright after that. Kunikida begins to express that he believes there’s no way Dazai is a spy or has wickedness in his heart since he thinks Dazai’s antics are so stupid, and his solution is to get rid of him.

The two enter a small warehouse, arguing over ghost stories, and are welcomed by a young boy in a room filled with technology. Rokuzo and Kunikida do some back and forth chat, it’s clear the two have already formed a connection before events of the novel. Dazai and Rokuzo introduce themselves to each other and quickly end up teaming up on Kunikida, but it’s revealed amidst the humour that there has been a series of missing persons incidents with no obvious connections between victims. Before they set back off, Dazai jokes about getting incriminating photos of Kunikida since Rokuzo is a hacker. Kunikida claims nervously no such things exist, he has nothing to hide.

As they wait for a taxi, a more transcendental scene occurs. Dazai mentions Rokuzo is a good kid, regret evident on Kunikida’s part at introducing them, but asks Kunikida why he’s looking after him with a solemn expression. The two of them wind up talking about the boys father who died to an old terrorist, the Azure King. After Kunikida lets out some of his personal feelings about that incident, having been a detective in the scene and feeling like he’d failed people, Dazai reassures him, and they get in their taxi.

As if a magnet to troublesome people, Kunikida even squabbles with his talkative taxi driver, trying to talk to Dazai about the missing people he’d mentioned earlier that Dazai didn’t know about. After a summary, Dazai shows some deep knowledge on black markets while telling Kunikida his idea on what’s going on, giving a sketchy excuse at confrontation. They get distracted anyhow, and somewhere along the line Dazai ends up speaking like a stereotypical tourist while poking fun at Kunikida yet again. The man also finds he can’t trust Dazai behind a wheel.

At their destination, the haunted mansion at mid night, Dazai consistently brings up the topic of ghosts, going so far as to intentionally pretend a ghost is there, scaring Kunikida to the threat of firing Dazai already. Until, Dazai goes for the same joke again, his yelp covered by a real scream, leading them to meet Sasaki, who leads them to a room full of other victims that Kunikida cannot save. And the next morning, Kunikida faces public and personal shame as it got public coverage. After Dazai attempts to get Kunikida to go home since he looks unwell- Kunikida notices Dazai did not get into any photos shared in the newspaper.

After Kunikida shows Dazai his ‘ideal woman’, he comes to a realisation with the case when his glasses are stolen by his new partner. The two confront the supposed kidnapper with all their gathered evidence, they work over a deal of sorts with who they caught, until their car is hit by members of the Port Mafia. At this, Dazai sprints away to deal with the kidnapper while Kunikida faces Akutagawa. After the stressful events, Kunikida starts to offer he and Dazai go for drinks, but they’re then told to defuse a bomb, and if they don’t do so within time then over 100 people would die.

The pair don’t meet until a couple pages later as Kunikida runs things over with other members of the ADA, Kunikida finding Dazai using him as a conversation piece with Sasaki. Kunikida repeatedly denies he’s jealous of Dazai, you don’t have to be told that’s a lie to know. More information is shared about the Azure King, and more information is shared about Sasaki’s type, surprisingly correlating with Kunikida.

In an utterly embarrassing and childish display, Dazai infiltrates the United States Embassy with Kunikida, both of them undercover. It’s here that Kunikida suspects Dazai has some kind of criminal background due to his evident backgrounds erasure- but when Dazai starts talking rudely to a lady in the Embassy, he sticks with the idea he’s just an idiot. For the first time of a few in the novel, Kunikida thinks about how Dazai is amazing after he saves Kunikida who was doing a terrible job of lying to someone important to lie to, getting them to where they need to be.

They meet Ranpo and get led to a fishing-gear shop, and in the car on their way there, Kunikida finds himself questioning Dazai’s past from how intrigued he was about Ranpo. "Thats not what I’m talking about. You seemed taken aback that someone had the ability to know and see all."

After the death of a person called Alamata, Kunikida gets a call from Rokuzo, who tells Kunikida that the person that sent the agency emails was none other than Dazai himself. Kunikida takes Dazai to a secluded space, and aims a gun to his head, rattling off all the reasons he ‘knows’ Dazai is the villain of this story. Before giving a final warning, Kunikida thinks of how Dazai was so talented, and how he couldn’t have asked for a better partner. "… Get up. We’ve got work to do."

A real confession ensues, where it’s revealed what’s been going on behind the scenes all along by Dazai’s point of view, and they get back to cracking the case- the current issue being a plane falling from the sky, headed to hit the city. After Dazai talks to a little girl and helps calm her, and Kunikida explains to the pilots the situation, Dazai runs into an air-raid shelter with Kunikida backing him up due to armed men awaiting them.

Once settled into their own places in the building, Kunikida faced with an ability user and Dazai with a muscled man, after realising neither of them are capable to fight their own battles due to their personal weaknesses, they manage to lock eyes, each of their weaknesses able to be backed up by the others strength, they yell each other’s name and swap places; Kunikida using a grapple by his own ability and Dazai jumping down.

With their enemies taken down, and Dazai having bent the key to the communicator, Kunikida makes one with his ability: Matchless Poet. With their teamwork, they manage to communicate that the pilots are back in control, and watch the crashing plane slowly melt onto the sky together.

Faced with Fukuzawa’s question on if Dazai passed his exam, Kunikida makes sure to get across that Dazai is awful, yet has exceptional talent, he passed his exam. He’s then contacted by Dazai while he is at a cemetery, and goes to meet him, and the final truth is revealed, who the true Azure Apostle is. Sasaki. In an intense confrontation, both Rokuzo and Sasaki are shot dead, leaving Kunikida and Dazai alone with their late acquaintances last words. Rage fills Kunikida, grabbing Dazai and yelling at him, only met with a blank stare, the message that ‘there was no other way’, and a cold hard truth about an ‘ideal world’ dropped from the others tongue. Kunikida understands somewhere, but it still hurts him.

Drawing the novel to a close, it’s revealed that Kunikida was telling this as a story to the Tanizaki siblings about the case. Identified from a tracker Kunikida put on Dazai, he was floating down a river. After all of the trouble, Kunikida leaves with the thought of Dazai’s capabilities, acknowledging his own weaknesses.


 * -|Untold Origins:=

The Untold Origins of the Detective Agency
''Please note, the following section is more so bits and pieces, as the summary writer does not have the physical copy of this novel despite having the others listed on the wiki. There is only screenshots from an initial reading of the official novel in their phone which should give enough information on Kunikida and Dazai as pretty much all of the important quotes about the two were captured. Translations online are not the best, and summary writer cannot find their initial source. If there’s any mistakes you’d like to point out if you notice them, or anything you’d like to add, please feel free to edit this section as much as you wish.''

Before the section of the actual novel that describes as it’s titles implies, the origins of the ADA, the first chapter is called ‘The Daily Lives of a Certain Detective Agency’, where there are additional Kunikida and Dazai interactions as the ADA work together to work out Atsushi’s entrance exam- the one we see within the first chapters of the manga which has already been summarised at the top of this wiki.

This chapter starts with Junichiro asking Kunikida why the ADA was created, to which Kunikida says he only knows it was founded 10 years ago by Fukuzawa and ‘an encounter’ was what triggered the establishment. The two then talk about how Fukuzawa is very strong and admirable yet scary, that conversation started by Tanizaki saying he doesn’t want to ask the president himself of the founding. Tanizaki then claims that he brought it up because Dazai asked. To hearing the mans name, Kunikida tells Tanizaki to wait as he needs to calm down- even hearing his name supposedly causing Kunikida a dull pain in his stomach merely from the stress. He then claims that he can sense Dazai approaching since his vision flickers. Continuing, he then says that no one in the ADA could control him other than Kunikida who was assigned to supervise him by the president.

Suddenly, Kunikida asks Tanizaki if the lighting just got worse, to which a mysterious voice sings that’s their cue- and out pops Dazai. True to Kunikida’s claim, he truly can sense the man. At the appearance, Kunikida yelps and his chair rattles.

"Ah, I never get tired of hearing Kunikida’s lovely screaming. I could practically see his life span shortening with my two very eyes."

Dazai proceeds to scoot in beside Kunikida, making the already cramped seat more cramped. Kunikida asks in a low voice what the man’s doing there, and Dazai replies saying he’s there to shorten Kunikida’s life span- but before he can finish his sentance, he’s being strangled by Kunikida who asks when he’s going to stop making him suffer, to which Dazai cackles joyfully at the treatment, his face described to be in ‘pure bliss’ as his neck pops.

Dazai then proceeds to explain that he was with Tanizaki earlier that day which was when he asked about the origins. Apparently, Dazai was at a bar and getting along with all the other people there, planning to head home. Quickly, he mentions in passing there was also a bomb involved. Tanizaki stutters Kunikida’s name, as his body started rocking back and forth in silence. Kunikida feebly says he passed out for a second there. The man then asks about the bomb, asks what happened to it, and leaps out of his chair when Dazai drops it onto the table they’re sat at. A fake bomb, sent by a ‘secret admirer’ who was obsessed with him. Exhaustedly, Kunikida questions how he’s even popular with women. On another topic, Dazai also spoke about how an officer went up to him and praised him, calling it weird. His partner cocks his brow and comments that that was nice of them, but that Dazai doesn’t deserve that praise when he’s but a menace and womaniser, kicking his chair.

Kunikida then brings up, after a sip of tea, Atsushi- who they rescued earlier that day. In the manga, this takes place the night they figure out who the man eating tiger is, and Atsushi stays at the dorm. Kunikida makes it clear he’s not a fan of the idea and doubts that Dazai was serious since Atsushi is dangerous and a complete stranger. Dazai tells him he’s more than serious, which is actually why he showed up. Tanizaki then marvels at the two about the case of the tiger.

"I can’t believe you guys were able both to solve such a bizarre case in under a day and take a skill user into custody without issue. You aren’t known as the best duo in the agency for nothing."

"Oh, stop. You’re embarrassing me."

"We’re not a ‘duo’."

[Desc.] Dazai and Kunikida spoke at the exact same time.

As if it hadn’t happened, Dazai then informs them he hadn’t thought about Atsushi’s entrance exam yet. Then says that ‘such a serious matter should not be left for him to decide alone’, slyly smirking at Kunikida when he says: ‘right, partner?’. Kunikida crosses his arms grumpily while saying: ‘of course’.

They go to the fourth floor of Café Uzumaki which is where the office is. The members that show up to this ‘emergency meeting’ are at first: Dazai, Kunikida, Junichiro and Naomi, and Yosano. Getting annoyed that no one was speaking, Dazai nudges (shoves) Junichiro into speaking (again calling him by his first name as there is now two Tanizaki’s). After the boy answers an idea for the entrance exam, it’s written down. Junichiro requests a case similar to Dazai’s for the exam. Kunikida butts in with an objection, that exam cannot be done with Atsushi as the military police have him down as a terrorist and is wanted.

"They don’t call you the president’s top apprentice for nothing!"

[Desc.] Dazai placed his hands on his cheeks.

When Dazai is asked his idea for the exam, he giggles as if he’d been waiting to be asked; he reveals a bundle of paper, sentences crammed onto them- apparently, Dazai’s handwriting could be mistaken for scribbles. Everyone looks in awe, except for Kunikida, who scowls; having seen this coming.

While Dazai starts to explain his ideas (leaving Atsushi in a zoo to fight bears, or to reconcile with them, or because that’s morally wrong in the bears point of view- getting Atsushi to borrow 1,000 yen from an old man that’s stingy), Kunikida repeatedly calls his name as if to snap his partner out of a ranting trance.

Kenji then enters the scene, and Dazai urges him to give his idea. Kenji’s idea is to have Atsushi wrestle him, which leaves even Dazai speechless. Yosano then comes up with the idea that she should file down Atsushi’s crotch to see how much it takes for him to cry, which makes all the guys in the room grab at their crotches and leap out of their chairs even imagining the pain.

Kunikida proposes an idea next. If Atsushi can take out Dazai, he’s hired. Dazai asks if there’s anything else, so he continues to say that if Atsushi can argue Dazai into silence and make him reflect on himself, he’s hired. Tanizaki agrees, and asks if there’s anything else after that.

"He could take Dazai…! And then, like, put him between two wooden boards or something, then slowly apply pressure on both sides and blow hot steam in his face. He could stab him with countless tiny needles with the occasional electric shock in between and whisper in his ear, ‘This is all your fault. This is all your fault. This is all your fault.’ And then after that, he could…!"

[Desc.] ''In a heated frenzy, Kunikida gestured as if he were hitting something in the air before twisting and shaking it. His eyes were bloodshot. Tanizaki, as well as the others watching in the conference room, were slightly weirded out.'' "Um… I… I’m sorry…"

[Desc.] ''Dazai mumbled feebly. However, Kunikida didn’t seem to hear him.''

After… that. Dazai then asks Naomi for some help. He encourages that any idea of hers would help, and Kunikida sends a pleading ‘shut up’ look his way. As expected, she recommends something outrageous.

After a section of more ADA banter, Kunikida explains some of the things he and Dazai have done together in just a year.

"I’ve cleaned out drains in the freezing cold, fallen into the women’s fitting room at a department store, and even been forced to drink so much that I woke up in someone else’s bedroom without any memories of the night before."

Another thing that is revealed, is that the ADA had teamed up to work against Dazai. Again this is paraphrasing from what summary writer can remember. They planned to make someone do something(?) and were going to draw names from a box, and they estimated for Dazai to be picked and be forced into doing something, as they all wanted payback on him. This, I believe leads to a comment by Kunikida about how dexterous and tricky Dazai’s fingers are. Frighteningly dexterous. ‘He could pick a bank locks safe with a single needle, so of course making fake slips of paper and switching them would be nothing for him’. Because Dazai slipped the papers beforehand, it was Tanizaki who was picked to do this something; most likely get embarrassed at having to pretend to be a terrorist in the office the next day, which is shown in the manga. To Kunikida’s comment on his hands, however:

"I can’t tell you how tickled I am to have Kunikida compliment me so much today."

[Desc.] Dazai giggles, placing a hand over his mouth and bouncing in his chair.

To end this summary up, they figure out what they’re going to do for Atsushi’s entrance exam the next day, and then Kunikida, Dazai, and Tanizaki go for a drink.

"I ended up somehow helping you avoid taking responsibility today. It’s humiliating. I really thought I had you this time.” Groaned Kunikida. “I don’t care how I do it, I just want to win and make you say uncle."

"Haha, all you had to do is ask, and I’ll say it as many times as you’d like. Uncle. Uncle… Now, I wonder what kind of food awaits us under this lid here."

After a currently unknown comment, Dazai also continues to say:

"Uncle, uncle, uncle. That’s because during the meeting today I felt that Kunikida wasn’t just trying to make me pay for everything I do to him on a daily basis. It was also like he wanted me to learn something during this entrance exam, and, well, you have to show a little gratitude for people’s good will every once in a while."

"Hmph. You’re just the absolute worst."

[Desc.] Kunikida spat before looking away as if to hide his expression.

Surprisingly, it also seems that Dazai truly did intend to take a lesson, as a lot of his character development seems to stem from Atsushi’s arrival, since before then, he still seemed to be a bit scummy despite being good enough to be counted on.

Ending this starting section of the novel off, Kunikida and Tanizaki run away from Dazai, since the obsessed woman that planted a fake bomb near him earlier was the one who gave him his food, and when he opened the lid, there was a motion sensor cable with a real bomb on it. A note fluttered out, saying: ‘I said to keep your eyes on me and me alone.’ Everyone in the bar, actually, runs away at the sense of danger. The last word Dazai says is ‘uncle’.


 * -|55 Minutes:

55 Minutes
The fourth novel is focused around Atsushi and mainly Kunikida venturing an island that is described more like a giant ship from how it floats on the water. The novel starts with the ADA on a boat, headed towards their destination to investigate some thieves. Kunikida and Dazai do not meet until later on in the novel, as Dazai opts himself to swim to the island instead to sneak in. Before moving to that point in the plot as this is a wiki revolving just Kunikida and Dazai, Kunikida is mentioned to be trying his best to turn the eccentric Dazai with a hobby of suicide into a hardworking an honest person. Apparently, from what Atsushi could see, he does not think his efforts would ever pay off.

After Kunikida and Atsushi are sent into a hostage cell for interrogation after being accused of murdering the captain of the island and being terrorists, the pair notice some giggles coming from a garbage can nearby. Earlier in the novel, Dazai first introduced himself by hopping out of one- having been hiding since people were looking for ‘the guy who snuck onto the island’. Just the same, Dazai snuck into the hostage cell by rolling in the can and staying there while the other two were interrogated, having been able to assume all that would happen. Kunikida with cuffed wrists kicks the can with Dazai still in it.

"Owww… What do you think you’re doing, Kunikida?! Your deus ex machina just arrived in your time of need, and this is how you greet him?!"

Kunikida screams at Dazai for doing nothing while they were actually being interrogated. Dazai claims he thought he’d be thanked for sensing the danger and sneaking in before them to help, and after rolling in the can some more, says he’s stuck inside of it. After asked how Dazai knew they were going to be interrogated, Dazai tells them that he knew they’d get into trouble, and even managed to sneakily see the two when they witnessed the murder scene of the captain. Kunikida is surprised to learn that, and Dazai continues, saying he couldn’t get into the ‘top secret zone’ so when he saw them being taken away he was free to switch objectives to saving them- he also says he was following the English gentleman with the camera hanging on his neck.

Atsushi gasps at this, bringing up the fact that Dazai earlier told him that ‘the thieves are nothing but a small part of the catastrophe to come’, asking if Dazai knew there would be a terrorist threat- the killing of the captain. To this, Kunikida asks Dazai if it’s true he really told Atsushi this.

"If it were, would that change your opinion about me?"

"Don’t worry. My opinion of you can’t get any lower. Now spit it out."

"Ah, your praise brings a tear to my eye!"

Dazai says there isn’t much time, so he’ll have to brief the situation. Apparently, the case to catch thieves was just an excuse to get on the island and their real job is to prevent ‘the Foreseer’ from detonating a skill weapon near Yokohama. Again, Kunikida is surprised, and Dazai continues. It’s revealed that the reason Dazai smuggled himself onto the island and stole his coins from others (coins are needed to access the island, there are different coins for different access points) is because he’s on a secret mission, and didn’t get any luck on swiping a golden coin- hence why he couldn’t enter the ‘top secret zone’.

When Atsushi expresses it doesn’t make sense because them getting captured was just a string of bad luck, Dazai turns serious and informs him that it only took the captain’s murder to flip everything upside down and gave them pushed into a corner- without their local collaborator, they’re nothing but a foreign element to the island as far as the other people are concerned. Apparently, this slowed him down, which led to the terrorist being able to elude pursuit. Atsushi manages to figure out that the terrorist intentionally tried to create this situation.

Rolling in the trash can to the centre of the room, Dazai explains a plan: Atsushi will crawl through a ventilation hole to leave, since the place they’re in is underground, and neither Kunikida or himself could fit. He says that the plan is like fishing, dangling some bait and waiting; the best way to catch someone who is known for being elusive. Here, Kunikida tells Dazai to hurry up, so he does- continuing onward to tell them that ‘the Foreseer’ was originally identified with a black briefcase, yet in security footage and witness testimonies, he has never had a briefcase at all. According to Dazai’s research, a weapon should be in that briefcase, but then a weapon wasn’t seen in any of the footage. He then tells Atsushi to go to the clock tower where he placed a fake black briefcase on the top floor- Atsushi’s job is to go there and capture the terrorist when they go to take the fake.

Dazai undoes Kunikida’s cuffs, concluding his plan, lastly adding that Atsushi won’t be able to call him for help as he is probably about to be captured, so it’s up to him to prove the ADA’s innocence and set them free. Atsushi then leaves, the sound of the Dazai and Kunikida being caught the last things he hears. Atsushi confronts the terrorist who is outraged at the sight of him, and at the fact that ‘The Shell’ was put where it was since it’s extremely dangerous; after the terrorist shot it, the entire island began to shake, and everything became tinted red, since the terrorist had actually gone to destroy it: ‘a crimson celestial sphere of annihilation’, since it was a fake, the real one was able to be activated. The Shell became to vaporise everything, countless people, with Fukuzawa looking onward, able to see the destruction even from his own office at the ADA. (I know this section sounds confusing right now, but it makes sense really soon so don’t fret, the context just comes after the initial plot).

[Desc.] Kunikida and Dazai witnessed the event as they ran down the islands stone pavement. "What’s going on?!"

[Desc.] Broken handcuffs still hung from Kunikida’s wrist after he escaped the hostage cellar. "That’s the skill weapon,” said Dazai in a strangely soft voice. “Seems like we didn’t make it in time."

"That’s a skill…? Impossible. That goes beyond the scale of what a skill can do!"

[Desc.] ''The plasma vapor, thousands of degrees hot, removed their flesh and carbonized them to the bone. Not even Dazai’s power to nullify other skills could nullify the collateral plasma vapor. He and Kunikida became shadows, burned onto the pavement-but even that pavement instantly melted away.''

The terrorist, now revealed as a woman called Wells, (the one described earlier as the gentleman with a camera) helps Atsushi run away, explaining that ‘The Shell’ was created by her at the end of a war that The Shell was the cause of, killing four million people. She says someone else smuggled it onto the island and detonated it so she sneaked on to stop it, and failed, causing the current predicament. Four years ago, nations of Europe had sent a group of skill users to war, and they fought- resulting in the most war casualties and damage in history. She explains that at that time, she was an engineer, and where she worked was conducting experiments that intentionally awakened ‘Skill Singularities’.

A ‘Skill Singularity’ is when two skills cancel each other out and create something different from either skill- for example if Person 1 has a skill to always trick their opponent, but Person 2 had the skill to always uncover the truth, what would happen? The same question applies to Person 1 having the ability to concentrate energy into one spot, then using their ability at the same time Person 2 does, who has the ability to disperse energy. Usually, one skill would beat the other. However, on rare occasions, both skills will interact and produce a profound result, which goes beyond what average abilities can do- that is a ‘Skill Singularity’.

So, The Shell is created from a ‘Skill Singularity’. Well’s skill allows her to locally manipulate time, her skill was combined with various magical effects, in this case- the ability to create a talisman that produced a fiery shell. After combining both these abilities and generating the singularity, the skills went far beyond their limits. She proceeds to explain what an ‘Uncertainty Principle’ is, and I’m only going to write the way she says it for Atsushi who can’t even understand: Say you have lit a match; for a trillionth, of a trillionth, of a trillionth, of another trillionth of a second, even the small flame of a match can possess high energy powerful enough to set the world on fire. The fluctuation of energy, so to speak. However, the greater the energy, the shorter the span it can exist, so therefore would never affect the outside world. Now, if you, like Atsushi, grasp what she just said, and think the following: ‘A large amount of energy that only exists for an extremely short amount of time… A skill to manipulate time… and a singularity…’ And then, if you exclaim “Oh!”, there is maybe a small chance you will understand, unfortunately the person writing this summary does not.

In any case, this is merely to make sense of the fact that both Kunikida and Dazai come back to life so that I can start talking about them again and move away from the entire plot of the novel. To cut it so short and to promote you to still read this novel outside of Kunikida and Dazai related parts, Wills sends Atsushi back to the past since her ability as we have now established is relating to time. She tells him to figure out who the true terrorist is, who plans to detonate The Shell, and steal the weapon to prevent all of this happening again. Summary writer doesn’t quite get, again, how Atsushi remembers what just happened despite everyone else forgetting… But they will skip right back to the main focus of the wiki. Sorry.

Redoing the start of the novel, not telling anyone of the future he knows, Atsushi finally makes it back to meeting Dazai; after making sure the captain lives. He approaches the can containing Dazai along with Kunikida after Kunikida tells him if Atsushi can’t spill the secret to him, he can speak to ‘him’.

"He’s a repellent man. The worst of the worst. But if lives are at risk and you tell him you really need help…” He paused, then sighed deeply as if he didn’t want to say it. “Just leave it to him, and everything will be okay."

When Atsushi catches Dazai this time, he scares the man who doesn’t expect him to know he’s there. Dazai collapses at the initial fright and manually stops his heartbeat to act as if Atsushi had killed him, before jumping up to still succeed in scaring the boy, calling that his secret technique: Cardiac Arrest.

"So you’ve finally given up being human.” Muttered Kunikida. He sounded thoroughly disgusted. “How does somebody survive even after stopping their heart?"

Dazai explains he learnt it in his quest to master the secret arts of suicide… ‘Naturally’. And it doesn’t take long for hearts to start back up so it’s not a big deal. Whenever Atsushi then moves on from that and goes to tell Dazai what’s going on, it turns out Dazai knows. Atsushi is ‘the Foreseer’- the man who can see into the future. Atsushi tells the partners all that happened and that he didn’t know what could help. Kunikida and Dazai go over some possibilities, both of them seeming to come to a loss. Until, Dazai smirks.

With 33 minutes left until the time of detonation, Atsushi stands at the clock, talking to Dazai through a wireless microphone within his shirts collar. When Dazai starts joking to Atsushi about how nice it must feel to have him whisper in his ear, Kunikida roars at him to do his damn job. Following Dazai’s really embarrassing plan, Atsushi manages to convince the thieves he is just like them, and temporarily befriends them so he can sneak into the gold-coin area, previously called the ‘top secret room’.

When Dazai connects back to update Atsushi on their end, he says that he and Kunikida managed to get the captain to spill his secrets, but apparently there wasn’t any. But, he was kind enough to tell them about the secret zone’s layout and guards. By ‘kind enough to tell them’, Dazai means that they bound him to a chair and force fed him pudding until he couldn’t eat anymore and surrendered. Despite seeming to let this go on, Kunikida is also disgusted by it.

Dazai is stabbed in the back by Gab, since Dazai was the main obstacle preventing Gab traveling back in time. While Dazai bleeds out, Atsushi demands Kunikida to send Yosano to the tower saying Dazai’s pulse is dropping.

"What?! Damn it! Just when I thought this couldn’t get any worse!"

In the midst of his own battle to save the tourists of the island, after Atsushi then tells Kunikida that Dazai’s heart stopped:

"I see… Atsushi.” Kunikida said as if he was struggling to suppress something. “You know the procedure, right?"

The ADA, notably mainly Kunikida, made a plan for the scenario of Dazai’s death- since he cannot be healed by Yosano’s ability… While alive. It’s explained that in a very short window of time, Dazai’s ability that usually fights off others would be weakened enough to heal him, just before he cannot be saved. It turns out that Wells ‘as well’ had been stabbed, and so Atsushi takes both of them to an underground base that the lady claims to have. She informs him that she can extend Dazai’s life using the same method she used on herself. Atsushi leaves Wells and Dazai in that base, and has 20 minutes to get them treatment (bring Yosano to them after defeating Gab) or they’ll both die.

To avoid even more main plot, Dazai meets with the ADA alive and well, although annoyed at the fact he finally got what wanted just for it to be taken from him. After Dazai rants about having to find a new way to die because ‘they spoke about him behind his back’, Kunikida screams his name, drop-kicking Dazai and sending him to the ground, pinning him to the ground and choking him.

"HOW… MANY TIMES… ARE YOU GOING TO… SCREW UP THE JOB… BECAUSE YOU CAN’T STAY STILL?!?! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH… WE HAD TO GO THROUGH… TO BRING YOU BACK TO LIFE…?!?!"

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Kunikida, please stop kicking and choking and yelling at me!"

"The hell are you talking about?! ‘Finally managed to die’? You’re no longer human! You don’t deserve that right! If you really want to die that much, I’ll kill you myself! How about this?! And this?! How about from this angle?!"

Ending off the novel, the ADA are back in the office, Dazai expresses a want for matcha ice cream, Kunikida barks that he has work to do.

"Whaaat?” Complained Dazai, clearly put out. “I mean, I guess I could do it, but… Kunikida, do you have any way I could cool off? Like with your skill?"

"I know a way you could really cool off, but it doesn’t have anything to do with my skill. Want to give it a try?"

"Wait- really? How?"

"Stop your heart for two minutes, then let me resuscitate you."

"… I regret everything."

Moments
Twitter Events:= On July 7th in 2016 was when the first Q&A event was introduced on the official Twitter, and a new one was held on different events up until 2020. In these events, the characters in the show were asked a series of questions each time and they gave their answers accordingly. In the events (this link leads to a page of the pictures to go with the text) there’s also a series of small conversations between Kunikida and Dazai.

On February 14th, 2017, there was an event held for St Valentines day. In this event, Dazai comes into work late after being flooded with chocolate’s since ‘a sinful man like himself gets so many chocolates by merely waking’. He says after being shouted at by Kunikida for his lack of punctuation, while he’s grateful for the chocolate’s, he’d have to turn them down, and all women are candidates for a double suicide. Kunikida reacts with a hint of surprise as it looks like he forgot it was Valentine’s day at all, and declares he wants to verify if the chocolate’s given to Dazai were out of obligation or serious.
 * -|Valentines=

According to Kunikida’s notebook, in the case of an obligation the ‘ideal return price’ (I assume to give to the person obligated to give chocolate, so they get paid for their troubles) is 3.25 times the original price, then says he’ll have to add the work of checking the price of the chocolate’s Dazai received in the next days schedule. Dazai tells him with a serious face that he has a piece of advice, it’s better to leave that alone.

On July 7th, 2017, is when Kunikida and Dazai are next featured together, and it was for Tanabata. Their interaction starts with Dazai yawning and Kunikida mentioning it’s still before noon. To this, Dazai informs him he drank too much the night before. Kunikida yells at him for slacking off, the usual, urging him to do something with all of his accumulated papers; this is before Dazai tells him to not raise his voice since it hurts his head. Kunikida pushes his glasses up and takes his voice back down to complain about how Dazai can’t be useful for 5 minutes in a 24 hour day, only to come to the conclusion it can’t be helped, instead telling Dazai to drink some water and lie down. Dazai supposes he has no choice. A while later after some other characters have spoken is when Kunikida tells Dazai he should get up to make Sasa decorations with the rest of them and eat something because he hadn’t all day, but he’s met again with indifference since Dazai says it’s too much and he has no appetite- he’ll get up when it’s adult time. Again, ‘there’s no helping it’ is claimed since Kunikida supposes Dazai stayed up late and Kunikida says he’ll scold Dazai in one hour. Before seeming to fall back asleep Dazai mentions to his partner that he’s a sensitive person and that’s why he can’t sleep at night. Despite the intriguing information, that’s only met with Kunikida saying compared to Dazai, rubber bands are more sensitive.
 * -|Tanabata=

To end the event off, the two group back together one last time and talk about wishes, and Dazai says Kunikida should wish to meet his ideal woman. As the partners conversations go, Dazai is told to shut up, and Kunikida notes that since it’s the evening Dazai is full of energy, a nocturnal creature. Back to the topic of wishes, he moves on to ask what Dazai wished for instead. Dazai says such things as wishes are meaningless, what he wants is a timing device that promises to be lost the moment he obtains it- but in that moment, since Kunikida mentioned it, he guesses he would wish for a night without dreams. Prompted by the mystery of the wish, Kunikida asks another question, did Dazai have a nightmare? And he had, but he moves onward quickly to invite Kunikida out. He says since it’s Saturday the next day they should drink while watching the stars. Kunikida at first calls him a moron since in the morning he’ll have to throw the Tanabata decorations with everyone’s wishes into the river and he has no time, then wonders if Dazai hadn’t learnt his lesson since that very morning he had a hangover.

At Kunikida’s rejection there’s a whine on Dazai’s part, and he threatens to drink a lot of sake by himself ‘again’ and throw himself in the river if Kunikida doesn’t go. Like a broken record, Kunikida supposes there’s no helping it, and he’ll go out with Dazai; but he’ll leave before the next day arrives. Dazai smiles and says he’s so unusually kind, demanding they go quickly. He also seems to tug on Kunikida’s hair, since Kunikida yells that his hair isn’t a bridle. Kunikida also says he said it’s okay, but is evidently annoyed that his schedule is always ruined. Dazai must continue, ‘are you even listening to me’ being written as if in a shout, but ignores it with a grin, wondering what the two should toast to.

On December the 24th and 25th, 2017, they hosted a Christmas event. This event features Dazai missing a party, whining at Kunikida that he didn’t get an invite. Kunikida tells him he looked for him, but Dazai probably went out by himself. Every single time, he says, Dazai wanders and wanders like he’s a balloon with a broken string. Dazai doesn’t talk about what his partner said, only calls him mean, saying he also wants a gift. Kunikida reprimands him since in spite of being old enough to know better he acts like a blockhead, claiming that even if Dazai was a child he couldn’t be considered a good boy, so if he wants a gift he should listen and get work done and come to hear from a client and report. Again, however, Dazai simply says he’s cruel and a bully, Kunikida yelling that he’s an annoying brat afterwards. Their last interaction in this event is Kunikida showing concern as to why Dazai looks worn out, told it’s because what happens in the event seems like a medical treatment to him. Kunikida Cards (BSD Game):= In Kunikida’s card (this link takes you to a display of all his cards) called ‘Harvest Moon’, Kunikida is gazing at the full moon with the rest of the agency and some rabbits- from the events thumbnail when you load into the game, it also seems as though he and Dazai were sat together. In his home quotes, Kenji informs Kunikida that Dazai took the rice wine.
 * -|Christmas=

In Kunikida’s ‘Resplendent Banquet’ card, he is talking amongst other members of the agency as this is also an ADA event. When it comes to his home quotes, we see that he goes looking for Dazai and finds him. When they meet, Dazai asks him for a flower from his bouquet. Kunikida gives him one of the flowers that can also be found in Dazai’s card for this event, and says he doesn’t mind, he just didn’t think Dazai would cherish such a thing.

In Kunikida’s card, ‘Duality’, the image and the chibi-drawn characters that fight are of this pair together. In the memo, it’s mentioned that despite appearing otherwise, Kunikida works well with Dazai in combat; leading their team to victory. The home quotes involve various different ways that Kunikida has complained to Dazai.

In Kunikida’s card, ‘Fretful’, the image displayed and also the cards special skill involves Dazai annoying him and ruining his plans, along with Atsushi, the mischievous pair matching the bsd-typical round blushing cheeks to indicate ‘I know what I did’.

In Dazai’s card (this link takes you to a display of all his cards) called ‘Resplendent Banquet’, as previously mentioned in Kunikida’s cards, Dazai is at an event with the rest of the ADA members, just watching the rest of the agents enjoy themselves. Whenever Kunikida finds him, he asks Kunikida for a flower from his bouquet, complimenting the flower and saying thank you when his wish is granted.
 * -|Dazai Cards (BSD Game):=

In Dazai’s ‘Year Of The Tiger’ card, he’s seen lion dancing with the spirit and treating it like a house cat, and tells the lion that they should go look for Kunikida immediately since getting bitten by them is supposed to bring good luck.

In Dazai’s ‘Ability Nullifier’ card, he also has a sub-skill where he says: “I’ll leave the rest to you <3” which only activates when Kunikida is on the same team as him.

Dazai also has a card that features both him and Kunikida working together, but it’s currently untranslated.

Fanon
Kunikidazai is the most popular ship for Kunikida and a the third most popular ship for Dazai. Despite Kunikida's annoyance at Dazai's antics, it has been acknowledged that they work well together and are the best duo in the ADA. At the start of the manga/anime, they have been work partners for 2 years. Additionally, it has been explicitly shown that they have high opinions of each other even though they do not always get along. Their dynamic in Osamu Dazai's Entrance Exam was popular enough to inspire Fukuzawa and Mori's interactions in a scene from the Dead Apple film. Kunikidazai occasionally gets compared to Soukoku due to the fact that Chuuya is Dazai's former work partner and Kunikida is his current work partner and the similarity in temperaments between Chuuya and Kunikida. However, a lot of Kunikidazai shippers believe it to be a healthier form of either Soukoku or Fukumori, as the two openly express their worry and care for the other, and Kunikida goes against the very ideals that keep him in check to include Dazai and making sure Dazai is okay; caring about his personal issues, not just because it effects how useful Dazai is to the organisation.

The Bones adaptation of the Azure Messenger Arc (Episodes 6/7 of Season 1) made several changes compared to the light novel. In the light novel, solving the Azure Messenger case was Dazai's entrance exam for the ADA. However, the anime added Atsushi, and this story arc takes place after both Dazai and Atsushi have already joined the ADA.

As far as tropes go for this ship, the most reoccurring one revolves around either of them being the sun or the moon, or yin and yang. This is brought on by their moral differences that make them interesting to many.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Dazai Osamu & Kunikida Doppo tag on AO3
 * Dazai Osamu & Kunikida Doppo tag on AO3


 * Frequent Writers:
 * Spicygrass, Kunikidakinnie, Collofo, Celestial_Stardust, OhZuku, Yuuikida, Misila, Mirela, Chiffonades, Littlekittenaqua

ART
 * Kunikida/Dazai on Pixiv
 * Dazai/Kunikida on Pixiv
 * Twitter Artists: Entei, Cocoa, Kyros, Carameldancen, KevinScottland

SOCIALS
 * #kunikidazai and #knkdz tags on Twitter.
 * #kunikidazai tag on Instagram.

Trivia

 * Kunikida has two check ins with Dazai a day, written in his schedule.