Chuuya Nakahara

Chuuya Nakahara is a character from the Bungou Stray Dogs anime and light novels.

Chuuya is a member of the Port Mafia as well as Dazai's former partner in Twin Dark. He is one of the five Executives in the Port Mafia.

Appearance
Chuuya is quite short with a petite, yet muscular build. He has grey eyes and striking orange hair that frames his face, with a longer section that falls just past his left shoulder. He wears a black hat with a red hatband, and a thin silver chain that hangs over the brim.

His outfit consists of a white button up shirt under a dark red vest, a black choker in the style of a pet collar, a black ribbon bolo tie held together with a small silver buckle, an open black cropped jacket with the sleeves rolled up at the elbows, black slacks, a black belt hanging off his right hip and black low-arch shoes. He is almost always seen wearing black gloves. Chuuya also sports long black coat with light-coloured lining and lapels that he wears around his shoulders like a cape. The undercoat is a light shade of red.

Personality
On the surface, Chuuya is a temperamental and rather arrogant, blunt man. He revels in fighting, happy to show off his combative ability and taking great pride in his reputation as the mafia's strongest martial artist. Taunting remarks pair with his pride, as he isn't above ridiculing his opponents in the middle of a fight. Befitting of an Executive, he has no qualms eliminating the Port Mafia's enemies by any means necessary, including murder, however isn't nearly as homicidal in his tactics as members such as Ryunosuke Akutagawa and the members of Black Lizard tend to be.

For as hot-headed as he may seem, Chuuya isn't impossible to reason with. In fact, he's rather reasonable when no one is pushing his buttons. While his skills and presence signal an inherent threat, he's reliable enough for Mori to assign him the task of confronting the Armed Detective Agency during the three-way conflict involving the Guild. It's true he didn't hesitate to retaliate and fight back against Akiko Yosano and Kenji Miyazawa (in fact, he takes great pleasure fighting against people that put up a good fight), but as soon as Yukichi Fukuzawa addresses him for more information, Chuuya disengages from the battle. Here as well, his nature as a mafioso shines through, expressing no remorse for the danger the mafia intentionally put Naomi Tanizaki and Hirako in, using them as bait. In fact, he's rather smug about it, knowing it angers the Agency immensely.

Ruthless as he is, Chuuya seldom takes people's lives for granted, and knows the importance of compromise and rationality. He refrains from unnecessarily brutal methods when need-be, and has enough sense to know when enough's enough. Notable instances include his conflict with Arthur Rimbaud, the man responsible for attempting to kill him long before he joined the Port Mafia at age fifteen. Chuuya fully intended to kill him, but heard Rimbaud's last words without malice nor mockery. In fact, Rimbaud's final words for him had a deep effect on Chūya's own outlook on life and himself. He receives Rimbaud's hat as an entry gift to the Port Mafia, and takes good care of the hat as a result.

After Osamu Dazai "mercy killed" an enemy, only to repeatedly shoot and laugh at the corpse, Chuuya demanded he stop, seeing no sense in Dazai's actions. Chuuya's grudge against Ango Sakaguchi does not stop him from acknowledging the fact he owes the man a favour, and as such refrains from antagonising Ango (and, by extension, his subordinate Mizuki Tsujimura) until he can repay his debt.

Just as Chuuya took his responsibility defending Sheep's well-being from their enemies, this holds true for his loyalty and devotion to Port Mafia after joining. So as reasonable as he may be, his top priority is the Port Mafia's prosperity and well-being, thus nothing will stop him from fulfilling his responsibilities as an Executive even at the cost of other's lives. Fierce in his loyalties, Chuuya finds betrayal intolerable, and treats his subordinates quite well.

In the past, Chuuya struggled greatly with his identity and place in humanity. His connection to Arahabaki ended in him questioning how human he truly was, worsened by not knowing the truth behind why he was freed from the government's possession in the first place. While his strength lies in his ability, the awareness of a god's effects on him left him feeling as though he wouldn't feel worry nor fear in a fight, knowing he'd most likely win without a scratch. He attributed this to being - in his mind - inhuman, and thus unable to understand the depth of such emotions.

In order to give himself a sense of restraint, he preferred kicking largely over throwing fists, never even removing his gloves. He figured if he came to a fight where he had to remove his gloves, it was because he could not longer enjoy the rush of a battle, and genuinely needed to defend himself - in other words feeling attachment to the life he lived, even if he felt like a foreign soul in a shell, rather than a human being. This holds true to the present, as Chuuya's only seen removing his gloves when using Corruption in dire moments.

After Rimbaud elaborated his own beliefs on humanity, Chuuya had a bit of a change of heart, taking his own life a bit more seriously. The Sheep's betrayal affected him greatly, alongside Port Mafia's direct involvement in uncovering the truth of his origins, but ultimately led to his loyalty in them. The drive for learning more about himself contributed largely to his rise in rank, much faster than anticipated.

Chuuya's ultimate downfall is his intense disdain and hatred for Dazai. The two never got along, with Chuuya instantly hating Dazai's underhanded, warped strategic personality. Dazai has always gone out of his way to dehumanise and ridicule Chuuya, constantly attacking his pride and even driving Sheep to abandon and betray him in the past. Even now, the slightest insult from Dazai will set Chuuya off on a tangent, taking full advantage of his quick temper and pride. This makes it easy to distract Chuuya from tasks at hand. Nonetheless, as part of Twin Dark's nature, Chuuya acknowledges Dazai's role as the tactician, extending minimal trust in at least knowing that Dazai knows how to effectively overcome a situation.

Abilities
His ability, For The Tainted Sorrow (Yogorecchimatta Kanashimi ni), revolves around gravity-manipulation, allowing him to manipulate and make gravitons, as well as alter the gravity of anything he touches. He is also capable of standing and walking upside down from ceilings.

Corruption (Ojoku) is the true form of Chuuya's ability and is exceedingly dangerous. This ability allows him to manipulate the gravitons in his surroundings. By increasing his own density, he is capable of crushing a tank with his bare hands. He is also able to shoot balls of compressed gravity that act as black holes that swallow anything. However, he has no control over his Ability's true form; he will continue in that state if his Ability is not nullified until he dies.

Corruption stems from Chuuya's origins as the entity Arahabaki, a God of immense destructive power. When Chūya releases his stability over said powers, Corruption takes over, essentially Chuuya reverting to his true, uncontrollable nature existing solely for destruction. Paying homage to his own philosophies, Chuuya removes his gloves when activating Corruption.

Trivia

 * Yen Press first typos his first name as "Chuoya" in Dazai's dislikes section.
 * In Yen Press translation, "Soukoku" (Chuuya-Dazai's team name) is translated as 'Twin Dark' instead.
 * He, along with several other characters, made a guest appearance in the mobile game Love Heaven as a limited time character.
 * The chanting required in order to activate Corruption originates from a stanza in "Sheep Song"; a poem from Chūya Nakahara to Yoshihiro Yasuhara. "Sheep Song" later becomes the origin of his former group, the Sheep.
 * In chapter 31, he taunts Dazai as 'Enemy of Women'. This might be due to Dazai's womanizing habits.
 * His JP voice actor, Taniyama Kisho, is the singer of GRANRODEO who sung the OP theme of Bungo Stray Dogs season 1 - TRASH CANDY.GRANRODEO later sings again for Dead Apple's OP theme; titled Deadly Drive.
 * Despite liking alcohol, he tends to get drunk pretty easily.
 * He smokes on rare occasions. Mostly when stressed and irritated.
 * Arahabaki, who is Chūya's former identity, is an ancient Japanese god shrouded in mystery, its origins and historical relevance drenched with unreliable, scattered accounts. One theory considered it a sort of "guest god", on or lower a level of power of the main of a shrine it manifests in.