#and saw that skk literally has 15k more fics than sskk

[aconfusedkitten]

on soukoku and shin soukoku

so @stardreamerl0ve and i were talking about bungou stray dogs and various things about it, and it eventually ended up with us talking about why we think soukoku has so much more content than shin soukoku, despite sskk arguably being the main duo in the series, and this is what we settled on.

for reference, skk currently has over 20k fics, while sskk is just barely above 5k.

obviously, there are multiple reasons, but when it comes down to it, both of us agreed that it came down to their dynamics, and the amount of room there is in canon content for various interpretations and fics.

skk and sskk both have a similar dynamic, but there are quite a few differences. they're both enemies to lovers ships, and each of them have their own appeal.

shin soukoku is still figuring things out, and they don't have that same trust in each other quite yet, so their dynamic is constantly shifting and growing. as the audience, we get to watch as all of this happens, and see them go from enemies to people who can, to whatever extent, work together.

on the other hand, soukoku has a very set dynamic, and it involves a lot of things that fandom has a history of being invested in and enjoying. you have rivalry, codependency, insane levels of trust, as well as things like 'friendly' banter, interesting (however sparse they may be) interactions, and a shared history.

and really, that shared history is where we said a lot of the popularity gap comes from.

while shin soukoku have plenty of interactions during canon, we're seeing their entire relationship play out, from their meeting to whatever way it might end. and it's great! we get to see that development, and create content based on all of the scenes that we're give for them.

when it comes to soukouku though, there's seven years worth of time to write about. unlike sskk, almost all of their relationship happens where we can't see it, and because of that, there is a lot of room for interpretation. and that room gives them an advantage when it comes to comparing them against every other relationship in the fandom.

shin soukoku is absolutely a delightful ship, and skk isn't even the main thing i write in bsd, but soukoku has so many different parts of them that fandom loves (rivalry, complicated pasts, opposite personalities, i could go on), that it doesn't quite surprise me anymore how much more popular it is than shin soukoku, and even the rest of the ships in the fandom.

#cheshire rambles #bungou stray dogs #bungou stray dogs meta #bungou stray dogs analysis #kind of? i think the tag still applies #skk #soukoku #sskk #shin soukoku #honestly it all started because i was checking the top tags in all the categories #and saw that skk literally has 15k more fics than sskk #despite the fact that chuuya rarely shows up #and dazai isn't The Main protagonist #while atsushi and akutagawa are constantly at the forefront #anyway this probably isn't coherent #because its 3:30am as im posting this #but honestly who cares? #dazai osamu #chuuya nakahara #atsushi nakajima #akutagawa ryuunosuke