Atsushi Nakajima (Bungo Stray Dogs)

Atsushi Nakajima
Bungo Stray Dogs character
First appearance	Bungo Stray Dogs (2012)
Created by	Kafka Asagiri, Sango Harukawa

Atsushi Nakajima (Japanese: 中島 敦, Hepburn: Nakajima Atsushi) is a fictional character from the manga Bungo Stray Dogs written by Kafka Asagiri and illustrated by Sango Harukawa. In the story, he is 18 years old, and used to live at an orphanage before the caretakers threw him out. Their words condemning him as "worthless" have since left trauma on him, and drives his will to fight in order to find a reason to live, slowly gaining confidence as the series progresses. His ability is named Beast Beneath the Moonlight (月下獣, Gekkajū), which allows him to turn into a large white tiger with incredible strength, speed, regenerative capabilities and durability, although he has no control and retains no memory if he fully transforms. Later, he learns to change his limbs to that of a tiger to enhance his physical abilities. Despite his lack of confidence, he has a pure and good heart and fights hard to protect others. Atsushi also appears in the series' light novels and the film Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple (2018).

The character has been voiced by |Yūto Uemura in Japanese, and Max Mittelman in English. Critical reception to Atsushi has been mixed with writers having different opinions in regards to his weak will as to whether or not he was a fitting character. Nevertheless, his rivalry with Ryūnosuke Akutagawa from the Port Mafia earned major positive response due to their differences yet similarities while also highlighting how the two at the same time become allies to fight the Guild's CEO. He has also been popular in Japan, especially during promotion of Dead Apple.

Creation

Kafka Asagiri created the fictional character of Atsushi originally as a 24 year old man rather than a young adult. Harukawa gave him white hair with the image of a white tiger and a long dangling belt that looks like a tail. Atsushi's hair was going to be white or blonde, but it changed to fit with the tiger's image. Harukawa thought that white would be nice. The author added it was easy to draw the main character in white in any scenario. When first reading the manga, anime director Yasuomi Umetsu was impressed by the relationship Dazai had with Atsushi, and Akutagawa. This brought the staff ideas for the making of symbolic sequences in the opening and ending videos scenes of the anime series where these three characters are featured. The staff noted Dazai had a mentor-like relationship with these two which resulted in scenes where he is seen trying to pat their heads.

Appearances

Atsushi first appears in the manga as an abandoned orphan who is eager to rob the next person he sees in order to survive. He instead saves a detective named Osamu Dazai who is angry at him for interrupting his suicide. However, Dazai invites him to a meal and Atsushi explains he was expelled from an orpahange after it was attacked by a white tiger. Dazai realizes Atsushi is a weretiger and invites him to his Detective Agency to work. Atsushi accepts and starts working he meets other members who also possess different skills. He also learns he is the target from the Port Mafia who seek the tiger. During an encounter with the young assassin Kyōka Izumi, Atsushi becomes concerned with how the Mafia plan to sacrifice her. As a result, Atsushi begs Dazai to recruit her but he instead left in charge of protecting her. During another encounter with the Port Mafia, Atsushi becomes able to use his shapeshifting powers to battle the powerful Ryūnosuke Akutagawa who bears hatred towards him for being Dazai's new pupil, with Dazai being previously working for them.

After escaping from the mafia, the Detective Agency also learn of a group known as the Guild. During their battles, Kyōka is kidnapped. In order to fight the stronger enemy, Atsushi convinces Dazai to form an alliance with the mafia. As a result, Atsushi is sent to attack the Guild, being the strongest detective. During his search for Kyōka and the need to stop the airship Moby Dick from falling into the city, Atsushi clashes with Akutagawa once again. The two encounter the Guild's leader, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. Joining forces, Atsushi and Akutagawa defeat Fitzgerald while Kyōka stops the airship as a test to join the Agency.

Atsushi also appears in the film Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple where the Agency learns of a series of suicides within people who possess skills. Through his superiors, Atsushi and Kyōka learn that the suicides are the result of a fog that causes the personification of the powers to go berserker and kill the user. During the story, Atsushi, Kyoka and Akutagawa lose their skills but manage to defeat its personifications. However, Atsushi is left alone as he cannot recover his will to fight. He then realizes that when he was in the orpahage, he was tortured by Tatsuhiko Shibusawa, the same man who created the mist. In a fit of rage, Atsushi killed Shibusawa but the man revived thanks to a man named Fyodor. Atsushi embraces his power and once again kills Shibusawa with Kyoka and Akutagawa's help, resulting in the fog disappearing. The manga adaptation of the film also has Atsushi.

Reception

In promoting the movie, Tobu Zoo in Miyashiro, Saitama Prefecture displayed a pictures of Atsushi alongside the tiger mascot "Rocky-kun". During the promotion of this event, Atsushi's voice actor, Yūto Uemura, collaborated in making multiple announcement which was run between February 24 and March 3, 2018. In a poll by Gakuen Babysitters, Atsushi was voted as one of the male character fans wanted to have as their younger brother.

Critical reception to Atsushi's character has been mixed. Upon his introduction into the manga series, The Fandom Post noted that his power of becoming a tiger gave him potential to make goods rather than the curse he fears. Anime News Network felt that while initially weak, Atsushi could be become little by little into a stronger person thanks to the way Dazai guides him. The Fandom Post also noted him as the series' most relatable character due to how through his eyes, the reader learned of the main cast. His final fight against Akutagawa from in the first season also received positive response. Manga.Tokyo enjoyed the appeal between Akutagawa and Atsushi, due to the former's mysterious hatred against the latter during the anime's first season. On the other hand, Reel Run Down considered Atsushi as one of the weakest characters due to his constant insecure thoughts despite having multiple achievements in the storyline. As a result, the reviewer found his abusive background became more of a stale running joke than a terrifying experience. Otaku USA noted that while Atsushi becomes a hero during the story, he is overshadowed by others character he found more interesting.

Atsushi's and Akutagawa's rivalry has also resulted into positive reaction. Otaku USA noted the major contrast between these two characters due to Atsushi's insecurities and Akutagawa's violence in a mad quest for the admiration of his peers. Manga.Tokyo shared similar comments to the point of making the Ying Yang. The further exploration between these two characters when interacting was felt to improve both of their characterizations during the anime's second season's climax. As this happens, both Atsushi and Akutagawa accept their differences and makes a short peace to join forces and defeat Fitzgerald from the Guild. This generated positive response by the Fandom Post due to how the rivalry progressed across the story and at the same time it was an enjoyable battle with Fitzgerald also showing signs of hummanity, avoid tones of black and white. When this scene was animated, The Fandom Post found it as one of the series' best animated action sequences while also addressing how the two characters also felt more explored during their interactions.

Manga Tokyo critcized Atsushi's characterization in Dead Apple comparison to his stronger form from season 2 of the anime series. On the other hand, ANN felt Atsushi's journey to be strongest appeal in the movie. Finding the villains weak, Atsushi's central conflict was noted to have a major impact in the plot for his realization of how in the past he killed one of the orphanage's abusers in a fit of rage and surpassing the trauma. Once Atsushi accepted the tiger, ANN felt that he participated in on of the most interesting fight scenes alongside Akutagawa due to their actions.