Other authors that can join BSD
Come on, with the amount of side characters in BSD, I think we can throw more in. You already know what I said about Raichou Hiratsuka (with accessibility, she can easily be added as Yosano’s former colleague or something).
Here are some other authors, and while I won’t go as extensive as I did for Hiratsuka, I might include some reasons why. All of this is from Wikipedia because I’m a scrub.
Takiji Kobayashi - He writes proletarian literature meaning he wants to support the working class. He wrote a short novel called “Kanikosen” (Crab Cannery Ship) which tells a story about workers who revolt against the company and managers. The author died due to violent torture at age 29 by the Tokko Police.
Takuboku Ishikawa - He was a poet who was known for his tanka and modern-style poetry. He supports socialistic values and naturalism and was acquaintances with Yosano. His major works were two volumes of tanka poems “A Handful of Sand” and “Sad Toys” plus his diaries.
Naoya Shiga - He was a novelist and short story writer. Okay, I know he married his cousin, but we can leave that part out. His works were praised by Akutagawa but other contemporaries including Dazai were critical of him. We already have some connections.
Takeo Arishima - BSD has a habit of making male authors female (Kyouka and Kouyou). Takeo is another good option since one of his most notable works is called “Aru Onna” (A Certain Woman) which is about a strong-willed woman struggling in a male-dominated society. Yes, he and his lover Akiko Hatano both worked in literature and committed suicide together. He was critical of Christianity and supported socialism and humanism.
Yone Noguchi - Also known as Yonejirou Noguchi, he was a writer of poetry, fiction, essays, and criticism. He was fluent in both English and Japanese. he did live in western society for years and had various romantic encounters. Personally, I think this is an opportunity to use him as a character that’s a spy between the Guild and the Port Mafia or Armed Detectives Agency.
Ayako Sono (and Shusaku Endo) - Both are Japanese Roman Catholics, but I find Sono far more interesting of the two (because there was more information on her). She was a hardcore conservative and can face off against Yosano since she believed that women had no right to work after giving birth or getting pregnant. She was racist and believed that South African people should live in a segregated zone. She had a best-seller that depicted domestic violence, but a lot of her works depicted normal life. She’d make a good antagonist.
Sawako Ariyoshi - She is far more modern than the rest, but she wrote about the racism within America (especially since she lived before and after WWII). She described relationships between mothers and daughters. I think she would offer a unique perspective, but I highly doubt them adding her since Japan seems to shy away from that dark side of their history (but what country doesn’t?)
Toyoko Yamasaki - I think she might be a little bit too modern to be considered though.
Kono Abe - This has a similar issue to the previous entry, but he has a connection to the universe already. He admired Dostoyevsky, Kafka, and Poe. He’s known for his surrealism and absurd fiction. That means it leaves a lot open for ability.
Ryotaro Shiba - He was known for his historical and detective fiction.
Juza Unno - He is credited for being one of the founding fathers of Japanese science fiction. A lot of his works were influenced by the defeat of WWII which he took as a hard blow. His scientific work was influenced by Tesla.
Chiyo Uno - Another woman ahead of her time, she was a writer and a kimono designer. She was a short story writer, serial writer, and magazine editor who was heavily influenced by American and European culture (like many in the 1920s). She wanted to be more than a wife and mother and became part of the “Bohemian world of Tokyo”.
Masuji Ibuse - His history is interesting since he was a propaganda writer, but he was also a respected writer at the time. He was heavily impacted by the war and wrote a novel called Black Rain which was based on the historical records of the devastations caused by the atomic bombing in Hiroshima. Again, they will probably shy away from WWII, but I thought Black Rain sounded like a cool name, and I don’t really like the idea of shying away from that part of history.
Jun Ishikawa - In real life, he had interests in many people of the BSD universe including the dark era trio (Oda, Dazai, and Ango), Mori, and Mishima who isn’t canon yet but is suspected to be joining eventually.
Fumiko Enchi - She was one of the most notable writers of the Showa period.
Ayako Miura - She wrote a novel called Freezing Point which sounds like a cool ability. She respected Dazai and Natsume.
Miyamoto Yuriko - She had a different view of socialism and feminism. She was an anti-imperialist, wrote about working-class women, was imprisoned for her beliefs, and was even turned away by fellow feminists because her work was “too masculine”.
Yasunari Kawabata - He was a naturalist who was the first Japanese author to win the Nobel Peace Prize in literature.
Murasaki Shikibu - She was a very early but a very prominent writer. She wrote the famous “The Tale of Genji”. She was instrumental in developing Japanese into a written language and is regarded as a classical writer.
W. W. Jacobs - One of these things is not like the other! I blame @awkward-akutagawa and their Twitter AU for making me want to make a character that can resurrect people and @awkward-oguri for providing the fuel for this (they have an OC with a similar ability). Known for his humorous writing, he was an English writer (which makes me question whether he’s elligible for the Guild. Maybe he just upped and left?) He wrote a story called “The Monkey’s Paw” which is basically another cautionary tale of “BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR BECAUSE KARMA’S A BITCH”. That would be the basis for the ability. The rest is up to @awkward-atsushi and the other wonderful OC makers.
