Gwen

Idk how to do facial hair

I love fyolai, and I'm tired of all the fyolai angst so here's a cute lil kiss.

She was never really given a proper name, but she responds to "kitty" so I just call her that.

I love reading the actual books of Bungo Stray Dogs characters because often, (not always) characters are highly inspired by a particular character. (Like Raskolnikov to Fyodor and Yozo to Dazai) So, because I had only read the General Inspector, and not The Overcoat, the namesake for Nikolai’s ability, I picked it up. 

The surprising thing is that Akaky Akakievich ,the main character, is NOTHING like Gogol (BSD). The novel is a short comedy in which Akaky was an old (by old I mean in his 50s) copyist who enjoyed and was satisfied with copying various texts all day. He would not defend himself when others poked fun at him, and was shy and had a stutter. One day Akaky Akakievitch went to get his coat mended, but because it was so thin the tailor told him he must get a new one. Akaky came back later when the tailor was intoxicated to get a better deal on the coat, and settled on a price. He kept adding various things he wanted on the coat while he saved up for it. It took some time, but he ran into money and purchased the overcoat. When he returned to work, they insisted on him attending a party to bless his new coat, which he did. He was uncomfortable at the party until he became intoxicated, left, and had his coat stolen. The watchman failed to notice so shortly after he went to an “Important Personage” to get the coat back. This official looked down on everyone who had a lower rank than him, so he eventually made Akaky leave. The “Important Personage” felt kind of bad about this, so he sent someone to get Akaky, only to find Akaky had died of fever.

You think the story is over? No. Gogol adds an insane twist to the end of the story. Akaky haunts the streets as a hideous ghost that steals peoples coats and doesn't stop until he steals the coat of the “Important Personage” which apparently fit him just right. 

Perhaps Akaky has nothing to do with Gogol (BSD) and the name of the book solely inspired the ability, or maybe Gogol (BSD) is simply given his personality because of the satirical nature of Gogol’s (IRL) works that actually had a deeper political meaning. (Especially in the General Inspector)

I have yet to read other books by Gogol (IRL) because I have SO much to read. Have you read anything else that might be what inspired Nikolai’s (BSD) character? Did I miss something? Was there a specific book that inspired him, or does Asagiri just use his name in his manga?