Bungou Stray Dogs chapter titles and references

I decided to make a list of Bungou Stray Dogs chapter titles and their meanings. Most of them refer to works of authors featured in manga or just describe a chapter, but there are several curious exceptions.

Note that my Japanese skills are zero, this list is compiled with a help of Google-fu and dictionaries.

I rarely post on Tumblr, but you are free to ask or add anything!

Japanese title / EGScans (or dazaiscans) translation / Crunchyroll translation (if exists and is different)

1. 人生万事塞翁が虎 / Losing a Tiger Might Be a Blessing in Disguise / Fortune is Unpredictable and Mutable

This title rephrases old Chinese saying about old man Sai and his horse (read the story here). The “horse” is replaced by the “tiger”, which makes hard to translate saving both the change and the meaning, so Crunchyroll went with using an equivalent to original.

2. 或る爆弾 / A Certain Bomb

As Kafka Asagiri revealed, this title is a shout-out to 或る女 (“A Certain Woman”) by Yukio Aoshima and 或る忠告 (“A Certain Advice”) by Osamu Dazai.

3-4. ヨコハマ　ギヤング　スタア　パラダヰス / Yokohama, Gangsta, Paradise / Yokohama Gangster Paradise

I have no idea what this might refer to if it does.

5. 運命論者の悲み / The Sorrow of the Fatalist / The Tragedy of the Fatalist

Combines titles of two Doppo Kunikida’s stories: 運命論者 (“The Fatalist”) and 画の悲み  (“Sorrow in Pastel”).

6. Murder on D Street

Refers to movie with the same name based on Rampo Edogawa’s story “The Case of the Murder on D Hill”, where detective Akechi Kogoro makes his first appearance.

7-8. 人を殺して死ねよとて / To Kill and Then to Die / Teaching Them to Kill; Then to Die

Quote from Akiko Yosano poem “Thou Shalt Not Die”, which her ability is named after.

9. うつくしき人は寂として石像の如く / Beautiful People are Quiet Like a Stone Statues / The Beauty is Quiet Like a Stone Statue

Slightly shortened quote (original is うつくしき人は寂せきとして石像の如く) from Kyouka Izumi’s 竜潭譚 (”Of a Dragon in the Deep”).

10. Detective Boys 

Reference to “The Boy Detective Club” by Rampo Edogawa

 11. 在りし日の・・・/ …of Days Gone by

Part of the title of second poem collection by Chuuya Nakahara  在りし日の歌 (“Songs of Bygone Days”).

12. 羅生門と虎 / Rashoumon and the Tiger

Self-explanatory

13. 有頂天探偵社 / Ecstatic Detective Agency

I have no idea what this might refer to if it does. Maybe the source is somewhere in Kenji Miyazawa’s works.

14. 彼女には向かない職業 / An Occupation That Doesn’t Suit Her

Title is similar to Kazuki Sakuraba’s novel 少女には向かない職業 (“Careers not Suitable for Girls”). Also P. D. James novel “An Unsuitable Job for a Woman” was published as  女には向かない職業 in Japan.

15-16. たえまなく過去へ押し戻されながら / Borne Back Ceaselessly into the Past

Last line from “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

17. 剏めての御使い / The First Mission

I have no idea what this might refer to if it does.

18. 花と紅茶、雪と金色 / Flowers and Red Leaves, Snow and Gold

Not quite a quote but a combination of Kyouka Izumi and Kouyou Ozaki traits. Kyoka is “flowers” (kanji 花 is in his pen name Kyouka 鏡花) and “snow” (”Snow Demon”, Shirayuki). Kouyou is “red leaves” (kanji 紅 is in pen name Kouyou 紅葉, he also liked to drink red tea — note 紅茶) and “gold” (”Golden Demon”).

19. 三社鼎立 / Three-Way Conflict

Self-explanatory

20. 檸檬一顆 / A Lemon

Obvious reference to Kajii Motojirou’s 檸檬 (“Lemon”).

21. 助修士と黒悪魔 / Irmão and Diablo

Self-explanatory

22. The strategy of conflict

Title of Thomas Schelling’s book. Mori Ogai remembers him in chapter 30 while talking about strategy.

23-24. 眸ニ実レリ怒リノ葡萄 / Grapes of Wrath Ripened in the Eye

Certainly refers to John Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath”, but I couldn’t find if the first half of the title appears in Japanese translations of his novels.

25. Q

Self-explanatory

26. ウィル ・ オフ ・ タイクーン / Will of Tycoon

“Tycoon” refers to F. Scott Fitzgerald because of his unfinished novel “The Last Tycoon”.

27. 砕け散りし海辺に / On the Jagged Shore

I have no idea what this might refer to if it does.

28. 緊急プラン / Emergency Plan

Self-explanatory

29. 頭は間違うことがあっても / The Head May Err

Part of the quote from Atsushi Nakajima’s “Light, Wind and Dreams”. [*]

30. 沈黙の塔, 鴉の宴

Shortened quote from Mori Ogai story“Tower of Silence”. Full quote is: マラバア・ヒルの沈黙の塔の上で、鴉のうたげが酣たけなわである (“And so at the top of the tower of silence the crows are feasting upon a banquet”), it concludes the story. [*]

31. 双つの黒 / Double Black

Self-explanatory

32. ポオと乱歩 / Poe and Rampo

Self-explanatory

33. 天の海をゆく白鯨のありて / The White Whale Swimming Towards the Ocean in the Sky

Line from a poem by Dairiki Konno 天の海 (“The Ocean in the Sky”, see Japanese text here).

34. 最後の大君 / The Last Tycoon

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s last book, unfinished.

35. 羅生門と虎と最後の大君 / Rashoumon & Tiger & The Last Tycoon

Self-explanatory

36. 若し今日この荷物を降ろして善いのなら / If My Burden Could Be Shed Away Today

I have no idea what this might refer to if it does.

37. 宴の始末 / Clearing up the Feast

Half of the title of the novel by Natsuhiko Kyougoku 塗仏の宴 宴の始末 . 

38. Slap the Stick

No idea what it means. Did the authors decide to admit that BSD has a lot of slapstick comedy?

39. 父の的肖像 / Portrait of a Father 

There is Seiji Tsutsumi’s novel with the same title.

40. 独り歩む

Probably shortened quote from Doppo Kunikida’s “Musashino”. Full quote is  この路を独り静かに歩むことのどんなに楽しかろう.

41. Addict

Probably no reference.

42. 咎与うるは神の業 / Bestowing Sins is God’s Work

I have no idea what this might refer to if it does. Could be religious text or anything by Dostoevsky, but I couldn’t Google an exact quote.

[*] — this comment was already written by EGScans, thanks!