Stalked by a beastly white tiger, Atsushi Nakajima has no idea that the menace lives inside him—a
power that catches the attention of the Armed Detective Agency. Using inhuman abilities to combat
crime, this team takes Atsushi under the wing of their most eccentric member, Dazai. Together, they
tear through mafia-muddled mysteries while enemies keep an eye on the tiger’s lofty bounty.
(Source: Funimation)
>"Justice is a weapon. It can be used to cause harm, but it cannot protect or save others." Here we are again attempting to review shit, wish me luck lads. . . . . Bungou Stray Dogs (BSD) is an adaption of the 2012 manga series of the same name, being written by Kafka Asagiri and illustrated by Sango Harukawa. This 12-episode run is the first season of the current three seasons out at the time of this review, and my review will strictly be on the first season. img720(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tvHqaimwcKE/maxresdefault.jpg) BSD is about an 18-year-old orphan named Atsushi Nakajima joining the Armed Detective Agency, basically a bunch of detectives with a bunch of superpowers called gifts. Excepts its more a less a gang war than actual detective work, which isn’t bad, just something to take note of. Gifts have a more or less typical concept, similar to My Hero Academia or any other super power based anime, there’s nothing too unique about it, this isn’t really a bad thing, but the concept isn’t really ground-breaking or anything, though the idea of a detective agency with superpowers still sounds interesting enough to get me on board. Anyway it’s time to get to my actual opinion. I think Bungou Stray Dogs is interesting, what I mean by that is it has a lot of potential but falls flat a lot in the first half of season 1. Granted they are just getting their footing and they need time to get into the flow of things, but I just felt that the first few episodes felt disjointed. I wasn’t really intrigued and nothing really kept my attention. Even the set up for later episodes felt kind of flat. A clear example is in one episode they hype up a character saying they’re super strong and such, but the MC who can’t even remain conscious while using his gift is able to have a fair fight with him? Granted they did display his power to an extreme before hand on people who either didn’t have gifts, or fighting abilities, but to me its just felt kind of cliché for the MC to just come with the whole I cant die here yet kind of vibe. But once again this episode did build up a lot of lore the following later half. Which I would say turns around at episode 7, this is where I feel like the story picks up, it’s the first episode I felt fully invested in the characters and the stakes were felt, especially one of the key lessons in the episode, you can’t save everyone, or even anyone at some points, they’re detectives not heroes. That theme plays out a few times throughout the season, it gives the series a more realistic feel and I feel like that really works for it. This is helped by the characters. The characters are very well done, they have distinct personalities, motives and ideals, when they clash its interesting and when their challenged its even better, I think its well done even in early episodes which is always good, especially since the plot is heavily character driven, and for the second half of the season, the plots very good in my opinion, it all fit well together and the fight in episode 10 particular, felt very satisfying, though I feel like the antagonists motives in that episode came out of nowhere, but that might just be me. img720(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/da/20/64/da20647a4152e99f63a340810e5bdd33.gif) The series is accompanied by an amazing OST in my opinion, especially the OP and ED, the OP having a hype start to the episode and the ED having a more sentimental ending. The art style has a lot of saturated colours and refined line work that really looks nice, I really like what BONES have done, but BONES being BONES of course its going to be good. img720(https://66.media.tumblr.com/1a796c81de4f4c52032b7f2eb7620df0/cc52fdd2e690a439-73/s500x750/e05b997e7568f9f04c9cf14403ec2111d6b0354d.png) Overall it has a bit of a disjointed start which feels pretty mediocre, but it flicks a switch half way and becomes quite a satisfying show
>___Warning there might be some spoilers in this review___ This show has honestly baffled my mind and I still cannot comprehend what I have witnessed. I do not even know where to begin. Firstly this show has continued to haunt me even after completing season 1. You can't even understand the frustration I feel trying to search up this author's name and my search results are filled with this skinny twink. You cannot even understand me actually listening to the anime community once with everyone saying this shit is good and being severely disappointed but then have everyone saying the good shit happens in season 2. No way I'm watching another season of this fish-eyed plagued episodic show. Never again. Okay time to get into the show itself. Let me start with talking about the Port Mafia. They all look so fucking goofy and how they manage to look even goofier than The Guild is beyond me. Their leader is a 40-year-old freak who can't even get over someone that has already move on and summons a loli to fight for him. The fact that I am supposed to take him and his Scooby gang seriously is laughable. Then there's the Agency which let me start with the characters I kind of liked which was only Ranpo and that was because he entertained me even if have to look past the 9000 IQ moments that this man does in the show. Jun'ichirō and Fukuzawa were alright I guess but Osamu is a whole ass different story. Osamu is the single most annoying character in this show I don't hate him as much as the 40-year-old freak but he is a close second. I do not even know where to begin with this man. I guess the main thing was that the suicide jokes were not funny the first time and they were definitely not funny when they kept spamming me with them. At this point, I do not care what tragic backstory they come up with to explain his suicidal tendencies or if it is a person he is playing up just please spare me these jokes. I do not even care if he is going to actually commit suicide anything to just get him to stop. Okay, now I'm going to talk about some of the lamest abilities in this show. Steinback's ability was that he can grow grapevines because you know the author he's named after wrote that one book The Wrath of the Grapes or something like that. Then we have a guy who can only teleport people inside the book they are currently reading. Another one who can only limit and control the abilities of those who pass his "test". A woman who can think really fast. A guy who needs dolls to shoot accurately. A farmer who can only be super strong on an empty stomach. Amazing. In conclusion, there are only a few good things about this show, and I only finished it because I thought the President was kinda cute.
_[Note: this review is for all 3 seasons and the DEAD APPLE movie.]_
Atsushi Nakajima is having a bad week. First, he gets kicked out of the orphanage he called home—home
to abusive adults, but still. Then, he seems to be stalked by a bloodthirsty tiger so he has to stay
on the move. Also, he’s about to starve. THEN it turns out he __is__ the tiger—specifically a
weretiger, but he didn’t know and can’t control it.
My initial reaction from episode 1, and my current reaction 37 episodes and 1 movie later, are the
same: _Atsushi is a sweet cinnamon roll who needs a HUG and a THERAPIST and to SLEEP FOR A WEEK and I
LOVE HIM_
While Atsushi is our entry into the series and one of the main characters, _Bungo Stray Dogs_ follows
the supernaturally-gifted members of the “Armed Detective Agency," who accomplish different tasks
including running a business, solving mysteries, protecting people and running interference with the
local mafia, which _also_ employs a number of supernaturally-gifted people.
This is a __VERY FUN SERIES.__ It starts out seeming like a straightforward Underdog Good Guys vs.
Well-Funded Big Bad Organization, and that’s not necessarily wrong. But as the series progresses, the
“bad guys” get their share of the spotlight too.
Now first, I want to say, because I was confused for the longest time: this takes place in an
alternate modern day. They’ve got smartphones and the internet, but there was apparently recently some
big sort of war that doesn’t correspond to anything real, and the characters’ outfits are…well:
For several episodes, despite the cell phones and computers I swear I thought this was set in the
1920s, but no. They just all have the fashion sense of a 10-year-old playing with paper dolls.
I mean, look at the image above. And then look at __Mr. Edgy High-School Vampire__ below:
_These people not only inhabit the same city, but no one ever seems to think they look out of place._
Not a criticism. I admire a series that has devoted itself to such distinctly cosplayable designs and
refuses to give an explanation.
__Anyway.__
The general storyline is usually: the Armed Detective Agency receives a job that involves
investigating something murderous and/or supernatural, or that involves protection from something
murderous and/or supernatural. Sometimes this is straightforward, sometimes this is part of a longer
story that means things even _more_ murderous and supernatural are lurking in the shadows.
The players are often the Agency vs. the Mafia, but these orgs will occasionally team up for the
greater good if an outside threat tries to move in. Some members of one org were previously with the
other, so there’s a lot of history and emotions between certain factions.
One such complicated person is this dork: Osamu Dazai. He’s the one getting strangled by his partner.
He’s often found in the middle of a [failed] suicide attempt, or asking a pretty girl to commit a
lovely double suicide with him. He’s cheerfully nihilistic, not intimidating, comes off as an airhead
and a dork.
…and then you see this face, which is Universal Anime Face for __“character who knows SO MUCH and is
excellent at scheming.”__
The characters are this show’s strength. If you’d told me during the first handful of episodes that
one of my top 2 characters would be a mafia leader, I’d laugh, because _why would I like a bad guy
*that* much?_ When something is set up as clearly good vs. evil, I don’t tend to land on the side of
evil ~~regardless of evil’s extremely good character design~~
But hey, lots of evil gets a backstory and turn out to be super interesting—heck, this guy here is
part of the focus of a half-season prequel! (Season 2, for the record–—the first half is a prequel,
then the second half picks up after the end of season 1.)
The series is about fighting, and people get hurt, and people have to make tough decisions. But it’s
often balanced with humor, and that’s part of why I enjoyed it so much. There’s so much to
track—people on both sides with tragic backstories, the city- or world-ending plots that pop up, the
many, MANY attempted murders—that if it went straight through, it would be overwhelming.
But in the midst of all that, you have characters making jokes, or being inept, or responding to a
hostage situation by playing rock-paper-scissors to see who deals with it, or tripping their enemy in
the middle of a Very Serious Battle like Bug Bunny showing up to fight Thanos.
(None of that really translates to gifs well, but here’s a character, in the middle of a dangerous
fight, picking up __Mr. Teenage “I Swear I’ll Kill You If You Laugh At Me” Hot Topic Model__ and
carrying him like a sack of potatoes.)
Another fun thing about this series is that the title translates to “Literary Stray Dogs,” and all the
main characters are named after famous late writers. This is easy to miss if you’re American like me
and have never heard of “Doppo Kunikida” or “Akiko Yosano,” but once international characters show up
in season 2, you’re faced with “Louisa Alcott” and “John Steinbeck,” part of a group led by "Francis
Scott Key Fitzgerald.”
The characters’ powers all vary as well. Their names are often weird, until you learn that the names
are all lines/titles of the original authors’ works (Chuuya Nakahara’s _Upon the Tainted Sorrow_
gravity manipulation sounds ridiculous, Astushi’s _Beast Beneath the Moonlight_ weretiger ability
sounds pretentious until you know the connection). Abilities range from “great fighting ability” to
“useful defensive ability” to “Herman Melville creates small flying whales and that’s…cool, I guess?”
___Verdict___
_English dub?_ Yes, and I love it! I tried watching both, and I actually prefer the dub’s voices.
_Visuals:_ This is a show dedicated to its aesthetic, at least as far as fashion is concerned. I don’t
know if any of the character designs/outfits are based on their namesakes (although remember my
comment that I thought this was set in the 20s for a while? A lot of the namesake authors _were_
active/alive between 1900 and 1930, so…), but maybe? Or maybe they just wanted to have suspenders and
hats and long coats. Whatever, it’s cool and looks good, as does the rest of the series. Much of it is
bright and/or takes place in the daytime–avoiding the “too dark to see what’s going on” thing.
_Worth watching?_ YESSSSS. Please watch _sweet cinnamon roll too good too pure for this world_ Atsushi
find a place of his own and learn he _does_ get to have nice things. Please watch Dazai act like a
total goof before the next scene shows us he’s five steps ahead of everyone else. Please watch Chuuya
manipulate gravity so his hat stays on while he flips upside down. Please watch characters snark at
each other even as they team up to defeat city-destroying monsters.
I mean, it's okay. I feel like most people are distracted with the fact that Dazai is hot and they just assume the show is good. Not to say that Dazai isn't hot. Or that the show is bad. It's just not super phenominal like people make it out to be. Bungou Stray Dogs is a ~7/10 for me, coming from someone who adores over-the-top action and mystery, so you'd think this would be up my alley, right? But I didn't find anything about the show super impactful. It's entertaining, but it's lacking in a lot of areas. Also, this is a little picky, but I feel like this show couldn't decide if it was going to be silly or serious. It flips between the two, and I can't really tell what tone they were going for. Action and comedy tend to go together, but here it felt jarring. I can't really put my finger on it. __*SPOILER TERRITORY*__ Concerning Dazai, I actually thought he was pretty annoying. The whole "double-suicide" spiel was funny in the first episode when he was floating down the river and maybe a few times after that... but at some point, I found it annoying. I'm guessing he's supposed to be the edgy character? That's the best way I can describe it I guess - he came off as edgy instead of cool. He is SO pretty though <3 I can't say I don't love him. The plot is... disjointed. Sometimes when I was watching it, I was going, "oh, so I guess this is happening now, huh?" Sometimes it didn't feel like there was an overarching end goal; we were hopping from individual story to individual story without much connection between them. Sometimes it feels like they're just doing things to do things. And the characterization of the protagonist (i forgot his name :/) is really weak. I didn't find him relatable (it could just be me though). He's super strong out of almost nowhere. We don't really see him beat anyone in a fight until atakagawa in the last 2 episodes, so it makes you wonder where he got all that power from. During their fight, I was just confused. Is his power being a furry? Tony the tiger, is that you? His fights were... convenient. Very convenient. You don't really see the protagonist grow as a fighter so much as get strung along on various missions. A big point in the story is that he has a bounty of 7 million yen, but to be honest, up until that point all he did was get beat up. And really quick, concerning atakagawa: why did they put so much emphasis on how strong he is? Like seriously, everytime the characters talk about him, they get all serious and go, "if you see this man, don't engage him. Run away at all costs. Nobody in the agency can take him on. Do your best to escape with your life" AND ATAKAGAWA LOSES LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE FIGHT. EVERY SINGLE ONE. He's all cool, like, "heh. guess I'm retreating. until next time. im so smart strategic and tactful" YOU LOST DUDE. Ugh my god. I really didn't think it was the best, but I also wouldn't consider it a total waste of time. Anyways that's what i thought of it.
If you are looking for anime that will have you gripped and have you holding on at every twist and turn, then this is the show for you. If you want an anime that has extremally likeable, insanely complicated and just overall cool characters, this is the show for you. If you are looking for action packed fight scenes this is the anime for you! Honestly Bungo stray dogs has something for everyone, and is a great introduction to the seinen genre as a whole. # Summary# Bungo stray dogs is a 2016 anime about our main character Atsushi, an orphan, finding out he has what's called 'a special ability' that allows him to turn into a tiger. We follow along as he meets Dazai, who introduces him to the armed detective agency, a group of ability users who work together to solve mysteries and fight organized crime. Atsushi soon joins and we are taken on a journey as Atsushi as he meets each armed detective member and learns about their ability, goes on missions, and learns to control his own ability, with lot of (mafia- related) drama mixed in-between. img220(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-u1JvLvpUsl0/VwdIwCT0kRI/AAAAAAAAa50/x-h_RBncQTw24K0DUlf7NosXltVwUAKZw/s1600/Omake%2BGif%2BAnime%2B-%2BBungou%2BStray%2BDogs%2B-%2BEpisode%2B1%2B-%2BAtsushi%2BPaw.gif) # Positives Though this show has a wide range of attributes, one main highlight for me was the really interesting dynamics between every single character that is usually fueled by equally riveting backstory. One of the main themes of bungo stray dogs is the past and how it effects the future, which it handles beautifully. The show only improves as the seasons progress and as you meet more of the characters and learn the reason for some of their actions. With betrayals and double crosses at every corner you never know what's coming next. img220(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0d/bc/14/0dbc14f719dcfd3ee81e744cb1276935.gif) Speaking of characters, everyone who is watching this show can find a character they like and/or relate too. The spectrum of personalities is wide so you are bound to find one that resonates with you, even if just a little. img220(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b3/b6/8f/b3b68f8f32096cbf132684252fdd4938.png) # negatives One problem with this show is the animation. Whilst not bad in any sense of the word, they most often do not hold a candle to the manga pages they were adapted from. The framing is often weird and way worse than in manga. They constantly show characters at this weird fish eye angle which is just unsettling. img220(https://preview.redd.it/what-do-you-think-about-the-animes-fisheye-lens-effect-v0-bg6yjpo6roeb1.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=90cf90067fc265bafc3701c153ef8b33f89ff655) Many emotional moments just don't have the same impact. Being animated by studio bones, which has repeatedly been disappointing fans with their anime adaptations, this is no surprise. This is not too say they have completely messed it up. I would personally say this is some of bones best work and the first season does not look bad for a 2016 anime. Fight choreography is great and the characters 'abilities' are beautifully displayed and easy to understand as a result img220(https://media.tenor.com/tAvl8_RABi0AAAAC/ry%C5%ABnosuke-akutagawa-bungou-stray-dogs.gif) Another criticism I do have is that the main character, Atsushi, does get pushed to the side quite a lot. He more acts like a vessel for telling the viewer things about the world, as he does not know himself. However he does grow and develop throughout the story, so it is not like he is completely neglected. img220(https://thumbs.gfycat.com/EquatorialBlankCarpenterant-max-1mb.gif) # QUICK RANT ABOUT THE WOMEN IN BSD One huge credit i have to give to Bungo stray dogs is it is one of the only anime to have both well written and well designed female characters. They have their own personalities, they are useful in battle, they are not complete idiots, they don't only talk about how much they love a man, their outfits are not over sexualized and they do not have impossible proportions. I know what your thinking- 'wow the bar really is low'. But it is because in the anime space it can be hard to find inspirational, smart, not overly sexualized female characters but bsd care about their female cast and does not just discard them once they feel they are no longer relevant! one thing I will say though, (spoilers ahead btw) is Yosano's, the doctor of the ADA, ability is too heal people fully but she can only do it if the person is on the brink of death so she often has to hurt someone more before she can heal them. The hurting someone more bit is for some reason mildly sexualized in the anime? It's weird but does not effect her overall character. img220(https://media.tenor.com/IFjTHveQ5LkAAAAC/yosano-akiko.gif) if you like angst, a likeable cast , rich backstories, and interesting abilities (some which have such specific conditions they are reminiscent of jjba) then you will enjoy this anime Overall, a great watch that will have laughing crying and everything else in-between.
Last time I wrote a review about this series, it was a little incoherent, so I felt like i give it another, proper try. Bungou Stray Dogs isn't a bad anime by any means, and with fewer series under my belt, I might have genuinely enjoyed it. However, it falls short as a seinen anime, primarily because it leans heavily on classic shounen tropes, almost as if collecting them as trophies. Here's a breakdown of my thoughts: # __The Plot:__ The anime starts off like many shounen series do: the main character is an outcast with a unique power that inadvertently attracts a powerful monster. This power grants him immense strength, but also isolates him from others. He struggles to control his abilities until a mysterious organization of quirky characters steps in to help. While the plot is very ordinary, there are small side stories with depth and emotion. While the plot is solid enough for the most part, there is, however, a fundamental issue with the plot and setting that ultimately made me drop the series, which I'll discuss in detail later. #__Presentation:__ The animation is decent and consistent, with some extra budget allocated to fight scenes. The first season, in my opinion, doesn't quite measure up to other works by Studio bones, like the Mob Psycho or even My Hero Academia. As for the soundtrack, it's largely forgettable. #__The Characters:__ The characters are quirky, often presented in a comedic tone rather than a serious one. While this isn't inherently a bad approach, the frequent shifts between serious and comedic tones are poorly executed, often undercutting any tension that has been built up. The characters' quirks aren't as grating as those in most shounen anime, and they’re written with enough depth to be engaging—if you don't dig too deep. However, they lack meaningful character growth. Despite facing hardships or trauma, the characters tend to revert to their established personas, with little lasting change or impact. #__Plot Armor: __ One of my least favorite tropes is when ordinary characters survive being sliced, bludgeoned, or riddled with bullets, only to have their survival explained away with some asinine, contrived reason. This is a common occurrence in shounen anime, and Bungou Stray Dogs is no exception. It's not just about characters surviving unlikely situations; it's about baiting viewers into believing a character has died—often with a cliffhanger—only to reveal that they survived without any major injuries. Another anime I watched not too long ago had a character survive being stabbed in the heart, because they trained really hard to move their organs and it still makes me mad. # __Port Mafia:__ Now, let's talk about the Port Mafia—a ruthless criminal organization that controls the underworld, kills competitors, kidnaps children, and blows up entire city blocks. Yet, despite their supposed menace, they are treated with the same level of seriousness as Team Rocket from Pokémon. I understand that the anime aims for a lighter tone, but the inconsistency is jarring. We’re introduced to the Mafia with a scene where one of their top members walks into a police station and murders people out of sheer anger, but just a few episodes later, other members are easily defeated by the good guys and are sent flying as if their plan to capture Pikachu has just been foiled. The Mafia is so poorly depicted that it undermines many other aspects of the anime. Additionally, their business model is confusing. Despite being a "mafia," I recount no evidence of drug trade, weapons smuggling, or money extortion. Instead, they seem to focus on being overly edgy, blowing things up, and killing civilians. One character even slaughters an entire train full of people just to provoke a fight with the protagonists, and despite being beaten to a pulp, he becomes a recurring character. # __Verdict__ Bungou Stray Dogs had the potential to be a solid mystery anime, but the poor handling of its main villains for the sake of cheap comedy throws the overall tone off balance and diminishes any meaningful moments. While there were some moments that kept me engaged, after taking a break following the second season, I have yet to find the desire to continue watching.