FukuRan

"Your point of reference may be justice, but mine is to face the same direction as the President."

- Ranpo to Ōchi Fukuchi in manga chapter 82.

FukuRan is the slash ship between Yukichi Fukuzawa and Ranpo Edogawa from the Bungou Stray Dogs fandom.

Canon
Fukuzawa and Ranpo met 12 years before the start of the main story when Fukuzawa, who was working as a bodyguard at the time, was called to the scene of his client’s murder. Ranpo arrived shortly after him to pick up a work permit from the murdered client and solved the case immediately. Fukuzawa was impressed by Ranpo's intelligence, even more so later when they went to lunch and Ranpo explained his reasoning in more detail. Out of work thanks to the murder, Ranpo managed to convince Fukuzawa to bring him along on his next job.

As they got to know each other it became apparent that Ranpo, who had been orphaned two years prior, did not understand that he was smarter than other people and he struggled to understand them because of it. Fukuzawa offered him a white lie that he was an ability user to help him “control” his talent. This allowed Ranpo to accept that he was different from others and wield his intelligence to effectively solve crimes. Fukuzawa vowed to “become his shield and fend off evil so that [Ranpo would] be safe to engage in his reasoning.” He then title-dropped the series, “A detective must be armed,” with the arms in question being Fukuzawa himself. Ranpo has at that point been abducted by the villain of the story. He tells said villain that he doesn’t think Fukuzawa would want to work with him long-term because “he’s afraid of strangers.” (Though he does later say he was expecting Fukuzawa to rescue him, it can be assumed that Ranpo thought this would be the end of their brief acquaintance.)

As predicted Fukuzawa arrives just in time to see Ranpo with a gun to his head. He takes out the men in the factory where Ranpo is being held. When Ranpo starts bragging, Fukuzawa strikes and shouts at him for putting himself in so much danger. When Ranpo protests that he knew Fukuzawa would come, he tells Ranpo that showing off is fine and facing strong enemies with his ability is good, but “wagering his life on his gambles” isn’t. Ranpo at last understands and apologizes.

After working together for a year Fukuzawa realized that Ranpo gaining fame as a “gifted” detective could cause trouble, as the gifted are not supposed to use their powers for work without a permit. Fukuzawa and Ranpo contacted Natsume in order to get one of these permits – amusingly succeeding despite the fact that neither of them had an ability (Fukuzawa did not discover his own ability until nearly a decade later). Thus they founded the Armed Detective Agency.

Early in the series proper Ranpo is against rescuing Atsushi from the Port Mafia, citing that his problems aren't necessarily the agency's. He's quickly persuaded to help when Fukuzawa scolds him for his indifference. Later when Ranpo is bored with their task he asks Kenji to find him a murder case but is cowed once again by the reminder that the president might get mad if he takes on a case other than Atsushi’s. Still later, when Atsushi is kidnapped, Fukuzawa quickly gets Ranpo’s assistance by promising him praise.

During the cannibalism arc in season 3 Ranpo is distraught by Fukuzawa's illness. He briefly takes the helm of the detective agency (as Kunikida is incapacitated). While in command he directly disobeys Fukuzawa's orders when those orders are to let Fukuzawa die rather than face off against the Port Mafia. Nonetheless, Ranpo sends Atsushi to try one last attempt at avoiding that battle. Once Fukuzawa is saved he appears totally unconcerned at the prospect of being punished, showing that he believed in his choices completely.

In the manga Ranpo takes full responsibility for their actions and is thus the only one punished. His punishment is very light and one he abandons in favor of proving Kunikida’s innocence. He doesn’t appear to face any consequences for this.

At the start of the next arc Ranpo and Fukuzawa argue over whether or not to get involved in the Decay Of Angels case. Ranpo refuses to work the case to avoid the danger posed by it, as Mushitaro warned him that taking the case would be “the end of the agency.” Fukuzawa insists that they will take the case because it’s the right thing to do. Ranpo shouts at him and storms out. Kunikida tries to chase after Ranpo but Fukuzawa stops him, saying that Ranpo knows their best option is to take a two-pronged approach: the agency will investigate the murders and Ranpo will investigate the potential demise of the agency. This shows a depth of understanding and communication between Fukuzawa and Ranpo that appears only between other series-partnered pairs such as Kunikida and Dazai and Dazai and Chuuya.

Ranpo disappears for many chapters after the agency is accused of terrorism. Fukuzawa is told Ranpo was shot but isn’t worried, insisting that if any of the agency members were killed he would know. Ranpo later reappears disguised as the Decay Of Angels’ leader, Kamui, and escorts Fukuzawa out of the prison completely unimpeded. Once on the roof he explains that he’s been hard at work rescuing the other members of the agency. He states that “if I’m in danger, it’s because it’s better for me if the enemy thinks I’m in danger.” This parallels Fukuzawa’s years-earlier panicked request that Ranpo stop risking his life for his deductions.

He asks Fukuzawa to give them new orders. Fukuzawa replies that he wants the case “destroyed,” to which Ranpo gives an enthusiastic affirmative.

When Ranpo later visits a news studio he wonders if he should “record something for the president” as he’s watching a clip of the Decay Of Angels. It’s unclear what he meant by this.

Ranpo then visits Fukuchi to ask for help. While there he promises to trust Fukuchi completely. His reasoning is that Fukuzawa said “I believe in Fukuchi,” and delivers the quote at the top of this page - “your point of reference may be justice, but mine is to face the same direction as the President.”

But Ranpo tries to show off to Atsushi by finding Kamui’s identity not long after and realizes that it must be Fukuchi. He escapes death using one of Poe’s novels and Atsushi is able to transport him back to their base unharmed. He and Fukuzawa strategize from Lucy’s ability space for the majority of the following chapters.

In recent chapters the two of them were lured into a face-to-face meeting with Fukuchi. The outcome of this conflict is currently unknown.

Fanon
FukuRan is an uncommon (and controversial) ship within western Fandom with only 108 works AO3 between English, Spanish, and Italian. It is the most common ship for both characters in eastern fandom, however, with around 550 illustrations and manga on Pixiv (to Souheki/DaRan, RanPoe, and FukuMori’s 300 each, FukuFuku trailing at around 60 works at time of writing). Pixiv sports over 1200 fanfics for the pairing – more fics than all other m/m Fukuzawa and Ranpo ships combined. Its popularity in eastern fandom has even spilled over onto primarily-western AO3, where 30 fanfics in Standard Chinese make up 20% of the results in the ship tag.

Portrayals of the ship often skew Fukuzawa/Ranpo. Of the Pixiv results, around 500 images and 1100 fanfics are Fukuzawa/Ranpo. There were no FukuRan fics tagged with “Top Edogawa Ranpo (Bungou Stray Dogs)” on AO3 until the 4th season of the series aired. Many western fans call the ship FukuRan no matter which character is considered ‘dominant’ in the relationship, but a rare neutral ship name, Tantei Soujin/探偵双人 (detective duo), does exist in the eastern fandom. This name comes from the end of The Untold Origins of the Detective Agency where Fukuzawa and Ranpo’s partnership is christened such after they start working together.

Ranpo's commitment to follow and trust Fukuzawa without question, and Fukuzawa's ability to sway Ranpo with just a few words of praise, are generally the basis of the ship. Fukuzawa's love of all things cute and Ranpo's cuteness is another common theme in artworks. It does not escape fandom notice that Ranpo is depicted as a catboy disproportionately more often than the other characters in merch campaigns when Fukuzawa adores cats.

Ranpo displays slightly tsundere behavior on multiple occasions in canon. This has been highlighted in some fanworks and even in official non-canon anthology chapters, most notably Akatsuki chapter 3 “A Little Break” where the original Japanese is explicitly calling out Ranpo’s tsundere attitude towards Fukuzawa.

Some works focus more on Ranpo’s willingness to go against Fukuzawa during the cannibalism arc in order to save Fukuzawa’s life. This is significant as Ranpo, despite appearances, is called “a stickler for the rules” and says himself that his “point of reference” is to “face the same direction as the president.” Though Fukuzawa had given the order to stand down and let him die to protect the city, it was Ranpo who led the charge to defy him.

Though it's never given direct focus in canon, the lengths Fukuzawa has gone to for Ranpo, often entirely against his own nature, is often an underlying theme in the ship. In the Origins light novel he says he'll never pick up a sword again, but he later does just that to support Ranpo and the agency. Early in the novel he thinks about his murdered client and how he "could never run an organization, dealing with all the paperwork and people," and Ranpo himself says Fukuzawa is "afraid of strangers." Despite this, by the start of the series Fukuzawa is respected as the Agency president and has connections spanning judges, department store owners, and countless country officials. He says and thinks multiple times after they meet that he intends to work alone, is notorious for it even, yet he's the one who cements their partnership in the end.

Their excellent teamwork and complementary strengths make them a classic buddy cop duo.

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