Welcome to Daran Headquarters!

What is Daran?

It is (one of) the ship name(s) between Dazai Osamu and Edogawa Ranpo of Bungou Stray Dogs! This name originates via the Japanese fandom formatting of names the western fandom has adopted in the recent decade or so over the familiar (wordhere)shipping often still used in yugioh and pokemon fandoms, using the Da (太) in Dazai and Ran (乱) in Ranpo.

Daran is alternatively known as Randa/Randaza or Ranzai. There are two versions of their ship names because as we use Japanese fandom ship formatting etiquette, this inherently includes ship top/bottom preferences into the equation to help filter searches and find the specific posts you like and spares you from discourse. Contrary to popular stigma, Japanese fandom has always had a way to include ships that have no exclusive top/can switch. Repeating the Kanji of the initial first character a second time allows for both 'versions' of the ship to pop up in a search.

(Ex: 太乱太 — it includes both daran (top Dazai) as well as the kanji for ranzai (top Ranpo) when you search it, allowing for you to find all you are looking for, while those who only like one or the other can exclusively find the version they like!)

What about the name Souheki?

The term 'Souheki' for Dazai and Ranpo was first stated in 55 Minutes. A translator by the name of Chazuke Kani on instagram made a visual graphic mentioning the paragraph in which this is mentioned, where in the English version translated by Yenpress, the two are described to be the sharpest members of the agency.

While Souheki can be a catchy name, the translator unintentionally left out the context of this name— that it is a general name/term for two people who are a 'dynamic duo, undefeatable pair, etc'. On Jisho, it is described simply as (two) matchless things; (two) matchless people and not unique exclusively to this duo. While it is common for 'power couples' to fit into this category, it is not always the case. By definition, Soukoku and Shin Soukoku are also 'Souheki', but it is perhaps exactly because this term can be applied to ANY duo, the two Soukoku's were given unique versions of it via using 'koku' in place of 'heki'. Fukuzawa and Mori have often held this title as well in fandom spaces.

The ship of Dazai and Ranpo has long existed before the mention of this information from 55 Minutes, which came out 4 years after the series itself. (And changing ship names is sort of a no no, no matter the fandom!)

Then... What should I do?

While it is an accepted fact that all of the Soukoku names are equaled with the ship in western fandom, that is not the case for the E.Asian fandom. The art they tag as 双黒 will usually only ever be general, unromantic/nonsexual art of the two because team names are not interchangable with their ship names, and it further helps protects people looking exclusively for the content they want, as perhaps some people only like them as a buddy duo, sibling-esque, friends, etc!

This is the case with 'Souheki' as well. Souheki is the team and 'platonic' name for Dazai and Ranpo, which is why none of the E.Asian artists who have been creating for them for years have ever used or made much mention of the name because they like the two as a couple.

(However, the Ranzai artist Shirousagi DID make a Souheki/Platonic focused Doujinshi you can glance at here. So it's not as if it's totally ignored, but it's not for most and what they're aiming for in their fandom adventures!)

Basically, if you like these two as friends/brothers/anything non romantic, then yes, Souheki is perhaps for you! But please don't be surprised if/when another duo ends up using the same name in the future, because it doesn't exclusively belong to them!

This website plans to dedicate to all variations of these two, but naturally will take priority with the romantic angle. Happy exploring of this ever growing site, dedicated to the two lil guys I love a lot! For more information on the use of Souheki as a term, feel free to click here.