<p>Akiko explain's her own ability when she is on the train with the bomber in episode 8 at 16:45.</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>"My ability, Thou Shalt Not Die, can cure any wounds. Even my own injuries as you can see. But the necessary conditions are harsh. It can only cure lethal injuries. What an inconvenient ability. If I want to cure moderate injuries, I have to half kill my patient first." - Akiko Yosano</p>
</blockquote>

<p>From the <a href="http://bungostraydogs.wikia.com/wiki/Akiko_Yosano#Ability" rel="nofollow">wiki</a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Akiko has a rare ability among ability users, Thou Shalt Not Die (君死給勿, Kimi Shinitamō Koto Nakare?), which allows her to heal external wounds. However, to heal someone they must first be "half-dead"; meaning they must have fatally serious injuries before she can use her ability. Due to this, her ability is inconvenient for healing minimal wounds since she needs to fatally injure that person first.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>As for Akiko's name. She was named after the feminist poet Yosano Akiko. Yosano Akiko's poems were written during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War" rel="nofollow">Russo-Japanese war</a> which was around 1945 when feminism <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Japan" rel="nofollow">wasn't highly thought of</a>. The early-to-mid 19000s in Japan was a time when women were slowly gaining new rights, during this time feminism was a huge thing for women, but controversial overall.</p>

<p>You could say that Akiko's nature and appearance embody this ideal.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-28T07:09:05.793Z
That much I know. You link to the exact same wiki page I link to, so nothing new there. What I want to know is **what does _she have to do_ to heal people?** I get that the having-to-half-kill-the-patient-first-part may be why Tanizaki seemed to be in pain at the beginning, but I don't get why she looked like she was about to get some pleasure out of it all, nor why Tanizaki sighed pleasurably at the end.
JNat
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-28T14:21:33.470Z
There's no deeper meaning here. She literally half-kills the patient and then her ability activates. What happened off screen with Tanizaki is a mystery, but nonetheless irrelevant to Akiko's ability.
FatalSleep
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-28T14:24:42.020Z
I say this because the scene with Tanizaki being healed is inconsistent with the scene on the train in episode 8. The "pleasure sigh," you mentioned was simply from whatever Akiko wanted to do to kill Tanizaki, but was again irrelevant to healing him.
FatalSleep
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-28T14:26:30.493Z
So you mean the pleasure she takes from this may very well be from the half-killing her patients part?
JNat
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-28T14:30:17.003Z
@JNat yes. This is just speculation, but... Her ability may be a manifestation of her personality. For example, if her personality is that of a sadistic doctor, that could have impacted her ability forcing her to half-kill her patients to heal them.
FatalSleep
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-28T14:43:10.463Z
Hmm, I see. I'm still missing the connection with the eponym feminist pacifist poet.
JNat
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-28T14:54:01.473Z
See my edited answer.
FatalSleep
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-27T18:06:43.813Z
2016-06-28T14:53:47.330Z
2016-06-28T14:53:47.330Z
FatalSleep
<p>In episode 4, we learn that Akiko is the Armed Detective Agency's doctor, when she's healing Junichirou Tanizaki.</p>

<p>Just when she's about to start healing him, she starts taking off her shirt, and though Tanizaki appears to be dreading what's about to go down, she has a grin on her face:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/imWeA.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/imWeA.jpg" alt="Akiko grinning"></a></p>

<p>That suggested, to me, that she was about to take some sort of sexual pleasure from what's about to go down.</p>

<p>Then the scene switches to the next room, where Atsushi and Kunikida are, and it sounds like Tanizaki is not really enjoying himself:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/PZxT1.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/PZxT1.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>But then the noise subsides, and he sighs in what seems like a pleasurable way:</p>

<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/zAnnB.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/zAnnB.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>

<p>So it made it look like, to me, he was suffering for a while, but ends up taking some kind of pleasure from the process too, like Akiko appeared to be about to take herself.</p>

<p><a href="http://bungostraydogs.wikia.com/wiki/Akiko_Yosano#Trivia" rel="nofollow noreferrer">This section</a> from Akiko's page on the anime's Wikia says:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Akiko is named after a feminist pacifist poet whose work was considered controversial in her time for portraying and encouraging female sexuality.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>So, basically, <strong>how exactly does Akiko's ability work?</strong> What does she actually do to heal someone?<br>
It does have some sort of sexual connotation, given the trivia in the Wikia page, right?</p>

<p>Has the manga shed some more light on her ability? Or has maybe the author revealed anything in any other way?</p>

<bungou-stray-dogs>
How exactly does Akiko's healing ability work?
# How exactly does Akiko's healing ability work?
Posted by: username_0 on 2016-06-25
In episode 4, we learn that Akiko is the Armed Detective Agency's doctor, when she's healing Junichirou Tanizaki.

Just when she's about to start healing him, she starts taking off her shirt, and though Tanizaki appears to be dreading what's about to go down, she has a grin on her face:

[![Akiko grinning](https://i.sstatic.net/imWeA.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/imWeA.jpg)

That suggested, to me, that she was about to take some sort of sexual pleasure from what's about to go down.

Then the scene switches to the next room, where Atsushi and Kunikida are, and it sounds like Tanizaki is not really enjoying himself:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/PZxT1.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/PZxT1.jpg)

But then the noise subsides, and he sighs in what seems like a pleasurable way:

[![enter image description here](https://i.sstatic.net/zAnnB.jpg)](https://i.sstatic.net/zAnnB.jpg)

So it made it look like, to me, he was suffering for a while, but ends up taking some kind of pleasure from the process too, like Akiko appeared to be about to take herself.

[This section](http://bungostraydogs.wikia.com/wiki/Akiko_Yosano#Trivia) from Akiko's page on the anime's Wikia says:

> Akiko is named after a feminist pacifist poet whose work was considered controversial in her time for portraying and encouraging female sexuality.

So, basically, **how exactly does Akiko's ability work?** What does she actually do to heal someone?  
It does have some sort of sexual connotation, given the trivia in the Wikia page, right?

Has the manga shed some more light on her ability? Or has maybe the author revealed anything in any other way?
**Tags:** bungou-stray-dogs
---
## 1 answers
### Answer by username_1 on 2016-06-27. Score: 4
Akiko explain's her own ability when she is on the train with the bomber in episode 8 at 16:45.

> "My ability, Thou Shalt Not Die, can cure any wounds. Even my own injuries as you can see. But the necessary conditions are harsh. It can only cure lethal injuries. What an inconvenient ability. If I want to cure moderate injuries, I have to half kill my patient first." - Akiko Yosano

From the [wiki](http://bungostraydogs.wikia.com/wiki/Akiko_Yosano#Ability):

> Akiko has a rare ability among ability users, Thou Shalt Not Die (君死給勿, Kimi Shinitamō Koto Nakare?), which allows her to heal external wounds. However, to heal someone they must first be "half-dead"; meaning they must have fatally serious injuries before she can use her ability. Due to this, her ability is inconvenient for healing minimal wounds since she needs to fatally injure that person first.

As for Akiko's name. She was named after the feminist poet Yosano Akiko. Yosano Akiko's poems were written during the [Russo-Japanese war](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War) which was around 1945 when feminism [wasn't highly thought of](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_suffrage_in_Japan). The early-to-mid 19000s in Japan was a time when women were slowly gaining new rights, during this time feminism was a huge thing for women, but controversial overall.

You could say that Akiko's nature and appearance embody this ideal.
> **Comments:**
> **username_0** (2016-06-28): That much I know. You link to the exact same wiki page I link to, so nothing new there. What I want to know is **what does _she have to do_ to heal people?** I get that the having-to-half-kill-the-patient-first-part may be why Tanizaki seemed to be in pain at the beginning, but I don't get why she looked like she was about to get some pleasure out of it all, nor why Tanizaki sighed pleasurably at the end.  
> **username_1** (2016-06-28): There's no deeper meaning here. She literally half-kills the patient and then her ability activates. What happened off screen with Tanizaki is a mystery, but nonetheless irrelevant to Akiko's ability.  
> **username_1** (2016-06-28): I say this because the scene with Tanizaki being healed is inconsistent with the scene on the train in episode 8. The "pleasure sigh," you mentioned was simply from whatever Akiko wanted to do to kill Tanizaki, but was again irrelevant to healing him.  
> **username_0** (2016-06-28): So you mean the pleasure she takes from this may very well be from the half-killing her patients part?  
> **username_1** (2016-06-28): @JNat yes. This is just speculation, but... Her ability may be a manifestation of her personality. For example, if her personality is that of a sadistic doctor, that could have impacted her ability forcing her to half-kill her patients to heal them.  
> **username_0** (2016-06-28): Hmm, I see. I'm still missing the connection with the eponym feminist pacifist poet.  
> **username_1** (2016-06-28): See my edited answer.  
---
