John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck is a supporting antagonist and a combatant of The Guild in the anime and manga series Bungou Stray Dogs. He seems to have a close partnership with HP Lovecraft in his job. He is based on the American author with the same name.

He is voiced by Kengo Kawanishi.

Personality
John Steinbeck often comes off as a rather relaxed man, yet he is by no means incompetent. He suffers from some arrogance that impedes his ability in combat, as seen when he gave his opponents the information they needed to beat him about his power, and has completely screwed up any stealth on a mission because he believed Lovecraft was effectively unbeatable but is still a rather good agent despite this.

He feels no guilt in brutally dealing with his enemies, but is only homicidal when need be. He isn't particularly threatening when talking with his enemies mid-combat, and sometimes comes off as affably evil. The only people he seems to particularly care about are himself and his family members.

History
John Steinbeck was raised as a relatively poor agricultural worker in North America. He joined The Guild as a way to bring himself out of poverty.

He first appears with Howard Phillips Lovecraft (Bungo Stray Dogs) after crashing his car while on a mission to initiate an interception of the conflict with Kouyou Ozaki and several Port Mafia agents against three Armed Detective Agency agents with Kyouka Izumi as the source of the conflict. They have to walk the rest of the way, but they still show up before any of the other guild members.

He mentions a "package incoming" before Margaret Mitchell, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mark Twain and Melville Herman show up and almost instantly incapacitate everyone in the Port Mafia and Armed Detective Agency using Mark Twain and Melville Herman's powers combined. They all leave the scene afterward, and John goes back to the guild where he participates in some of the planning with Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. This event initiated the three-way war between the Port Mafia, The Guild, and the Armed Detective Agency.

Chuuya Nakahara of the Port Mafia sets up a conflict between The Guild and the Armed Detective Agency as means of killing 2 birds with one stone. He does this by revealing the position of 2 (ironically) unarmed Armed Detective Agency members to The Guild as bait, and then uses the threat of the Guild members to bait the Armed Detective Agency to fight them. John Steinbeck and H.P. Lovecraft are sent on the mission for The Guild while Kunikida Doppo and Junichirou Tanizaki are sent to fight for the Armed Detective Agency. In an extended dispute, Steinbeck and Lovecraft ultimately lose and are arrested by the police after Tanizaki's illusion ability lead a civilian truck to crash into the two.

They get out of prison, possibly due to Francis's influence, and Steinbeck is later seen using his ability on Yumeno Kyusaku after Lovecraft abducted him. The Guild planned to use the captive Yumeno and Steinbeck's ability in synchronization as to cause massive destruction to the city of Yokohama. This would be done by using the pain receptive ability of Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath" with the weaponization of self-pain in Yumeno's "Dogra Magra" to cause 1/3rd of the population of Yokohama to go crazy and attack everything and everyone around them all at once. The plan reaches final stages but is stopped when Osamu Dazai of the Armed Detective Agency manages to terminate the attack by nullifying Yumeno's ability with his own.

Dazai proceeds to search and rescue Yumeno from The Guild. Steinbeck and Lovecraft are tasked with ambushing Dazai (predicting his position using Louisa May Alcott's master tactician abilities) before he can do that. Their plan fails, however, when Chuuya Nakahara shows up and forms a temporary alliance with Dazai. The fight leaves both Lovecraft and Steinbeck incapacitated, but they ultimately survive and show up later.

After The Guild loses the war, he and several other major guild members discuss the fate of the guild in the future. Steinbeck says he will stay, protecting the remnants of the guild (which would become its own faction later) as the leader of the guild was missing.

When Francis comes back, Steinbeck states to himself that he will crush Francis's dreams.

Abilities
The plants are shown to be fast enough to catch people and are strong enough to shield him from massive attacks like speeding trucks. He can also use the plant to transmit pain to other people, as shown with Yumeno Kyusaku.
 * The Grapes of Wrath: Steinbeck's special ability. It allows him to grow massive grape vines quickly out of anywhere on his body by planting seeds into his bloodstream. The grapes can latch on to nearby plants as to turn them into an extension of his ability. The grapevine and bound plants can be controlled and can feel the area around him.

Trivia

 * He shares many similarities with Tom Joad, the main character of the book The Grapes of Wrath written by real-life John Steinbeck.