BY ALICE FONTANESI
STAFF WRITER
WARNING: THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS TO THE BUNGO STRAY DOGS ANIME
Hi, and yes, I am doing another anime review because that’s all I know how to do. This time, I’m going to talk about Bungou Stray Dogs. With the fourth season coming in 2022, there’s much to enjoy about the current three seasons and one movie that’s available. Or you could read the manga, but today we’re talking about mostly the anime adaptation.The manga was written by Kafka Asagiri and illustrated by Sango Harukawa. It was officially serialized in Kadokawa Shoten’s seinen manga magazine, Young Ace, in 2012 and adapted by Bones.
In summary, Bungou Stray Dogs is about Atsushi Nakajima. The story mainly takes place in Yokohama, a city in Japan. We’re introduced to Atsushi when he was homeless and starving. When Atsushi reaches Yokohama, he finds private investigator Osamu Dazai drowning. Atsushi rescues Dazai, but he discovers that Dazai was trying to kill himself. Since he wanted to die without burdening anyone, he apologizes. He and his partner, Doppo Kunikida, make it up to Atsushi by treating him to a proper meal (though Kunikida paid obviously because this is Dazai we’re talking about). Dazai and Kunikida reveal that they were members of the Armed Detective Agency, a private organization of people who possess supernatural abilities that deal with cases that the police don’t mess with. They were tracking down a tiger that ate humans around the area.
Atsushi ended up helping them, because the tiger had been stalking him recently. Dazai and Atsushi wait in a warehouse for the tiger to turn up, and Atsushi reveals to Dazai that he was from an orphanage. Atsushi had been kicked out of the orphanage because the tiger had been messing with their food and killing their livestock. They had to save room, and so they kicked out Atsushi who had already been deemed a useless child. He gets paranoid as they’re waiting for the tiger, but Dazai explains to him why they shouldn’t be worried. It made more sense that half of the orphans would’ve been moved to a different orphanage instead of kicking Atsushi out. If you add the fact the tiger had been stalking Atsushi, it became clear to Dazai that Atsushi had the ability to turn into a tiger.
Dazai was correct and Atsushi becomes an albino tiger under the moonlight. Luckily, Dazai has an ability that stops other abilities with a single touch, so he easily returned Atsushi to his normal state. Instead of turning Atsushi into the police, he decides to recruit Atsushi in the ADA. Atsushi would automatically be granted protection and a home, as well as a job if he joined.
The ADA’s main rival is the Port Mafia who are also the main antagonists for the first season. The Port Mafia is a mafia that takes advantage of Yokohama as a port city, and throughout the first season, Ryunosuke Aktugawa is determined to get Atsushi because of the large bounty on his head. The Port Mafia is definitely still relevant in season two.
Next, many people question why it’s called Bungou Stray Dogs. Bungou actually means “literary,” and most of the characters are based off of real famous authors and poets from America, Japan, and Russia who existed during the time period the story is based off of. Examples include Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Chuuya Nakahara, and H.P Lovecraft. Their abilities are also named after books the authors have written. Asagiri also captures the authors’ and poets’ personalities quite accurately. The real life Osamu Dazai was a suicidal maniac who was obsessed with committing double suicide.
The anime also does a great job of transitioning to season two. At the beginning of season two, we have a mini prequel arc from about four years before Dazai joined the agency. It shows the reason why he left the Port Mafia, and it sets up the new more serious tone to the anime and Dazai’s character.
We also get introduced to the Guild in season two. The Guild is an organization from the states who put the bounty on Atsushi’s head. The leader is Francis Fitzgerald, a crazy rich man who has the ability to turn money into power (essentially, the more money he has, the stronger he is).
With the progressing story, you really have to hand it to Asagiri. Bungou Stray Dogs is a story built up of arcs. If you don’t know what that means, it means that a story has many mini-stories that exist within the main storyline. Bungou Stray Dogs is made up of these various arcs, but you still want to watch the series in order, so you can have the full context of the next arc. None of the arcs bored me in any way, and I am still curious to know what will happen next season despite season three wrapping up pretty well. Honestly, I don’t know how Asagiri is going to end the series.
We also have great characters that I absolutely love. With many dynamic characters, they all drive the plot forward. For example, the two mini arcs at the beginning of seasons two and three about Dazai were interesting because we get a more in-depth vision of him and his views. With additional information about Chuuya and Ango, the mini arcs aren’t filler, which is usually the purpose of a flashback arc.
Moreover, we get to witness the character development of everyone else – an example being Kyouka Izumi. Kyouka was a Port Mafia assassin with an ability called Demon Snow. She could summon a demon that could kill just about anyone, but she could only summon it through her mother’s phone. After Kyouka left the Port Mafia, she learns to finally leave the place mentally and how to fight for others. Personally, Kyouka is my favorite character.
In conclusion, Bungou Stray Dogs is a brilliant anime about compelling characters with great storytelling. So if you’re looking for a new anime to binge with dark humor, action, elaborate detective stories, and an overall great plot, then Bungou Stray Dogs is a go to. Seriously, it’s my favorite anime, yet it’s so underrated.
Thanks for reading!