Soukoku

"A view worth the billions."

- Chūya about Dazai

Soukoku is the slash ship between Chūya Nakahara and Osamu Dazai from the Bungou Stray Dogs fandom.

Canon
Dazai and Chūya were paired up with each other when they were 15 years old to investigate the Arahabaki case. The man who had paired them was Mori Ougai, the new chief of the mafia, who reasoned that "only diamonds can be polished by diamonds."

The duo was named Soukoku after one memorable night during the events of "Dragon's Head Rush", where they had defeated an enemy organization in a short amount of time that night. This resulted in them recognizing themselves as Soukoku, or Double Black, among other enemy organizations. They are also known as "Yokohama's vicious duo", well-known and feared both inside and out the mafia.

Despite bickering and arguing constantly with Chūya wishing Dazai dead multiple times, the two work together seamlessly on the battlefield with Dazai being the only person who can deactivate Chūya’s Corruption state. Despite flaunting his hatred for Dazai. Chūya expresses his concern when Dazai is injured, like when he calls out his name during the fight with Lovecraft. They claim to truly dislike each other, though they can predict the other's thinking, logic, and moves. Dazai constantly reminds Chūya of their past partnership and finds amusement in their interactions, such as striking a deal to make Chūya pose as a “spoiled rich girl.”

The pair express distaste for working with one another, however, have an unconditional trust for each other. As stated in the "Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple" guide book, "The core characterization of Dazai and Chūya's partnership is based on pure trust where both of them are capable of leaving each other's life on the other's hand without a second thought or doubt."

During their first meeting at Suribachi City, Dazai recognizes Chuuyas as the infamous "King of the Sheep" and calls him a "cocky, overconfident child" while Chūya retorts with "suicidal brat" and "condescending prick." It's shown that Dazai resents Chuuya's violence and over-the-top methods of thinking, teasing him with how he can't think out a plan; while Chūya scorns Dazai's suicidal tendencies and more strategic approaches.

Even if Dazai and Chūya had misunderstandings and qualms at the very beginning, their trust was always present from an unknown force, like when they successfully defeated Rimbaud together. Dazai was well aware that the Sheep was merely using Chūya for their own good and decided to trick them into abandoning Chūya for his good in future. During the events of the light novel Dazai, Chūya, Age Fifteen, Dazai had made a bet with Chūya in an attempt to make him his dog and servant in the arcade. Later, Dazai claimed Chūya to be his personal dog to which Chūya declines. However, still to the present day, Dazai likes to refer to Chūya as his "Sheep Dog".

The light novel Stormbringer, set a year after Chūya joined the Port Mafia, gives more insight into the two’s relationship; Dazai had assisted Chūya multiple times, like showing up at N’s base to save Chūya or coordinating the attack on Verlaine for Chūya’s sake. Despite the two’s further insults and expression of hatred for one another, Dazai was one of the few people who believed in Chūya’s humanity, stating that he wanted to see Chūya “suffer as a human.” Chūya had used Corruption trusting in Dazai, and the two shared many comedic and lighthearted moments I. The novel (i.e. Chūya telling Adam that Dazai’s the “type of guy who would get away with selling water to a drowning person,” or Chūya hanging Dazai upside down and spinning him around until he throws up as a torture mechanism.)

The first time when Chūya had used Corruption was mentioned in the light novel "Dazai, Chūya, Age Fifteen", then the light novel “Stormbringer.” Next, it was during the arc of "Dragon Head's Rush." Chūya did not chant anything while he had activated Corruption as shown in the movie. However, in the "Dead Apple" light novel, it had been mentioned that the chant was originally created by his partner Dazai Osamu, as followed: "The wind rose, Chūya's hair floated. Don't stop me."

In the events of "Dragon Head's Rush" (light novel and from the game) Chūya is seen breaking into Dazai's room to check if he was safe; just to find an empty room. He then recalls a conversation from the previous night during an executives meeting where Dazai calls him extremely small in size and he is in need of a microscope to be able to see him properly. Chūya raged but he later realizes it was a code language for what will happen the following day and where to find him.

Their partnership collapsed four years ago when Dazai left the Port Mafia and joined the Armed Detective Agency. However, their partnership resumes during the conflict with the Guild. Later Dazai is also seen folding Chūya's coat and hat before taking his leave. There had been also an extra chapter where Ozaki Koūyo was looking for Chūya but when she was unable to find him she came across his coat; where she noticed a badge sewed inside saying "Dear Hatrack's." Their constant childish bickering and fighting is something iconic for the pair however, Chūya is aware of his partner not experiencing a proper childhood; therefore allows him to act as childish as he can and lets him tease him relentlessly.

In "Dead Apple," Chūya uses corruption to save Dazai, even after Ango says that he's dead for sure. As well as that, Chūya screams Dazai's name while in Corruption when he is not supposed to be in a sane state of mind; as Dazai mentions in their reunion episode, Chūya loses control and does not have the track of reality while under his own ability but this time, while using Corruption, the one and only thing that was on his mind was "Dazai."

Afterwards when Chūya manages to rescue Dazai, Dazai gently touches his cheek to nullify corruption and greets him with, "You used Corruption believing in me? I am so touched I could cry." Chūya groans, and replies that yes he did, Dazai argues it with, "That was a somewhat a violent way to wake the snow white up." claiming himself as the Snow White and Chūya his prince who saved him and should have kissed him otherwise. To which Chūya replies with, "You were the one who hid that antidote in your mouth knowing that I would come and punch you to life."

When the duo falls on the ground Dazai forces Chūya to rest on his lap and stops him from getting up when Chūya tried to use his knee as a support, because he did not want to risk it any longer for if the fog separates Chūya from his ability specially when Chūya was worn out.

Behind the Scenes

 * In the interview for a bonus after purchasing the DVD or Blu-ray of Dead Apple, the director for the film, Takuya Igarashi, comments on Dazai and Chūya's relationship as something more than friends where one another can understand and communicate as if they are one soul in two different bodies.
 * The author of the series, Kafka Asagiri, adds with Takuya Igarashi that Chūya is the only one who can predict and understand Dazai's true motive.

Fanon
Soukoku is the most popular ship within its fandom. On AO3, Soukoku is the most written ship for both characters as well as the Bungou Stray Dogs tag. Platonic Soukoku is also the second most written ship for both characters and the third most written ship for the fandom. Soukoku is normally shipped alongside other popular ships like Shin Soukoku, Ranpoe, and Fyolai.

People tend to ship Soukoku due to their special and complex dynamic. Even though Dazai and Chūya state that they "hate or strongly dislike each other", they canonically have a much deeper bond. They trust and risk their lives for each other.

Fandom

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Trivia

 * On the ranking of top 20 pairings of 2018 in Japan, Dazai and Chūya had came on the 7th place, while their voice actors were placed at 20th.
 * During the character designs, the creators of the series mentioned that Dazai and Chuuya would be in a Partner/relationship, as well as that Chūya was originally designed for Dazai.
 * Chūya had been promoted to being an executive before Dazai; making him the youngest executive in the history of Port Mafia. However when Dazai became an executive, the title had been given to Dazai since he was 51 days younger than Chūya.
 * When Chūya mentions Dazai as the youngest executive in the History of the Port Mafia, it is simply an insult for his bitterness and jealousy about Dazai taking the title away from him. Dazai on the other hand does not back off and calls Chūya "Short" and "Small half of Double Black."
 * In the official High School alternate universe, it had been mentioned that Chūya used to call Osamu (his given name) when they were younger and Dazai had written this down and hide it in a time capsule. (Source- Bonus special from the pre-order of DVD/Blu-ray of Dead Apple.)
 * The ship is the most popular ship among the Japanese and Western fandom.
 * Their stage actors ships and adores them (Dazai played by Hideya Tawada and Chūya played by Ueda Keisuke).
 * Dazai and Chūya are 51 days apart in age.
 * Their height difference is 21 cm (Chūya - 160 cm, Dazai - 181 cm).
 * They have a whole episode dedicated to them for their reunion in season two, called "Double Black".
 * Chūya has put his life on the line just to save Dazai many times.
 * Dazai once stated that he did not enjoy the company of men or hugging men. Yet, in one promo picture, he is seen hugging Chūya from the side, while wearing a very amused smile and winking at Chūya.
 * Red camellias (Camellia Japonica) are often used to represent them. The said flower stands for love, passion, trust, and desire. In some cases, it also represents death or sorrow of losing someone, and is related to Chūya's ability (For the Tainted Sorrow), where he has a higher chance of dying.
 * The name was canonically given to the pair of men from the boss of mafia, Mori Ougai.
 * On Crunchyroll the subtitles were changed to "You used Corruption believing in me? How beautiful."
 * In Dead apple, Despite being told by Ango sakaguchi that Dazai was most likely dead, Chūya still risked his life to save the city and Dazai, knowing Dazai was still alive and that if he were actually dead, he wouldn't mind dying alongside him, because in the end it would have been worth it.
 * In BSD Wan! Chapter 83, Dazai tells Chūya that he has several notebooks / journals dedicated to his grievances with Chūya.
 * In BSD Wan! Chapter 92, Chūya reads a book on Conversation techniques and uses it on Dazai, unintentionally flirting with him, only realizing afterwards that the book was a Romance volume.
 * In a mini comic in Volume 4, Chūya drunk calls Dazai.
 * In the 15 light novel, Dazai expresses that he loves Chūya because how well they get along together, Chūya however gets caught off guard by the advance, causing him to be grossed out by it. This results in Dazai being disappointed by the response.
 * In the Stormbringer stage play, Mori explains to Dazai that if Chūya dies, he could share the double suicide he craves with Chūya.
 * In Stormbringer, Dazai was convinced that Chūya was human despite others like Verlaine denying Chūya's humanity.
 * On July 1st 2023, the official Fandom Twitter account tweets about Soukoku ranking #4 for the top 5 LGBTQ+ ships on fandom via the Shipping wiki.
 * In Chapter 101 / Episode 58, Dazai smiles fondly as he has memories about him and Chūya, which causes him to pause/hesitate when he attempted to drown Chūya.
 * In Chapter 109 Dazai tries snapping Chūya out of his vampiric state by saying some emotional words; this includes Dazai stating "We can't let our destinies end like this. After all, we're both indelibly fated to-" before Chūya shoots him. In the same chapter Dazai says "come back to me" instead of "come back to your senses" to Chūya.
 * In the finale of season 5, after it's revealed Dazai didn't die and Chūya was never a vampire in the first place, Chūya asks Dazai "Fated to what?" as he passes him, Dazai replies with simply, "I'll keep that to myself today.".
 * Soukoku ranking at the 4th place for the most written ship in ao3 2023
 * Soukoku is often one of the most trending pages on the Shipping Wiki (this website.)