Manga 111603 Bungou Stray Dogs Gaiden Ayatsuji Yukito Vs Kyougoku Natsuhiko

Preword: I've never read the novel since there isn't really an English version available (fantranslated or official) so I really did go in blind and only read the manga.
That being said. .. . I really enjoyed the two manga volumes that are out and available. Genuinely one of the strongest pieces of BSD storytelling there is.

SO. first, the story: solid. very good. as much as I adore BSD for its wild reasoning and flops and flips it goes through to get somewhere sometimes, I find it charming and it only makes me love the series more. I feel this has a wonderful balance of ... both and really leans more into that government working with a PI that the main series just doesn't have. I like that the side manga series tend to be a touch more graphic and brutal. Not that it NEEDS to be but especially for Gaiden, it really delivers the appropriate mood and tone for the story. It's also the first time sex has been explicitly mentioned as a plot point and motivator which is interesting for this series (hi sorry I'm asexual)

The characters: Love love LOVE the main characters for this one. Both of them are so . mwah. I was honestly sort of worried because I loved them before reading and never saw the fandom discuss them, so I wondered if they had perhaps done something bad. .. luckily, I can excuse murder.
Ayatsuji Yukito has such a good design and I love his warm tones and unique take on what a detective looks like. He's still that 'brilliant mystery solver' archetype we all love in this series, but Asagiri somehow manages to make an interesting and separate take on the trope. Detective Ayatsuji is most definitely his own person with his own way of thinking. The stakes surrounding his career and everything that ties into that also influence how he behaves. He's very careful but in a different way from the scheming Dazai, Fyodor, or even Rampo. He's at the mercy of others while he pursues what he knows is correct. The more I've thought about it, the more I just love his character. Plus he's pretty what can I say. I wish there was more done with his interest in dolls but who knows, maybe that's in the novel.
The other main character, Mizuki Tsujimura, is cool in her own right. I love that it's established she's totally capable and good at her job, but she's surrounded by freaks and therefore made to look out of her element. She doesn't know when to and when not to take her partner seriously and I overall like their dynamic. I won't spoil it but I absolutely adored how she interacts with her ability. I thought it was something this series has dabbled in, but it was a different flavor and you FELT how much gravity there was. It kind of makes her relationship to being an agent at all kind of a thinker.
There isn't too much to go off the villain at the moment, but I think that's a positive. That's the point. He's there but not, which is what makes the story oh-so interesting and high-stakes. anything can happen and anything HAS happened. His design is also cool. I just love anything that deals with Eastern mythos though, it's definitely a weakness for me. His design is also unique to the series. Old people ROCK!
Little side note but I like how it shows the characterization of Sakaguchi Ango, by having a general lack of him, despite how much he affects the plot. It shows how busy he is and how when we see him in the main series, he truly is taking time out of his duties to help our lovable cast.

Gifts/Abilities: LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE L O V E how the gifts are portrayed. Oh my goodness gracious. The three main ability havers are very unique, especially in how they interact with one another. it helps broaden the world and the ability system greatly in a fresh way that's kind of different from the main series. Again, no spoilers, but they become cooler and cooler the more you think about them. I keep thinking about how they could potentially interact with the characters we already know in canon.. . . it could turn so many tides. .. . The violence serves to greatly emphasize the nature of the abilities of the main three and how much weight they have. Pretty nifty definitely some of my favorite abilities from the whole series.

Art: Good, although a little inconsistent from panel to panel. Overall I really liked it and the detail in the environments and details is pretty awesome sauce. Just kind of wish there wasn't so many crotch shots of the girl lead? It's kind of hard not to notice once you realize how much of it there is. What's up with that

Final notes: Not a long read but has a lot of cool lore and characters and abilities if you want a different feel from what usually goes down in the series. Art is fun, has a bit more violence, different stakes, different handicaps, different organizations, etc
Thanks for reading this far if you have lol