Bungo Stray Dogs Season 5

Episode 58

It's always the cheery ones, isn't it? Kenji Miyazawa the author wrote some very bittersweet stories, so it makes sense that Kenji the detective would be hiding a tragic past beneath his happy-go-lucky façade. That it would also factor into what is essentially the next level of his Ability also makes sense. When Tetchou mentions that Atsushi will be tortured (and may not survive it), that catalyzes Kenji's transformation. What we've seen him do before is only the tip of the iceberg because when Kenji needs to save someone he considers a friend, all bets are off. Again, this makes sense with real-life Miyazawa's works, which often use friendship as a major thematic element. If it's to save someone he cares about, Kenji can do anything.

Interestingly, his heart is big enough to understand when someone is hurting, even if he's the one inflicting the physical pain. His battle with Tetchou is vicious, but it also comes to a close when he realizes that Tetchou is just worried about his friend Jouno. Kenji is never so far gone that he can't stop when he wants to, and that may be a greater strength than any of the others we've seen in this series. Kenji doesn't lose himself; he permits himself to act no matter what. Since we've seen plenty of other people not be able to make that distinction (certainly, that's part of why Dazai and Chuuya were partnered up), it makes Kenji stand out all the more as someone consistently underestimated.

Speaking of Chuuya and not understanding your own feelings, wow, that was brutal when Dazai nearly drowned him. We know that Dazai must be lying when he says that he can't think of any good memories with the other man, but unlike Kenji, Dazai needs to believe that he's unfeeling. It's another of Odasaku's legacies to his friend, the knowledge that caring hurts, and Dazai is doing his best not to appear to care. That would make him far too human for his comfort; it's much safer to hide away behind a devil-may-care smile and a snarky attitude. But the way his voice actor delivers the line “good-bye” before Chuuya's hat floats to the surface still holds at least a little bit of pain. Whether he wants to acknowledge it or not, Dazai can't hide behind the safety of his Ability, which, like its name, helps him to pretend that he's no longer human and can nullify anything.

The vampiric Mafia really is a problem, though. Chuuya may have been taken out of play, but Akutagawa is still very much a force to be reckoned with, and that he's turning his claws on Aya and Bra-chan is not good. Aya has offered to take the sword out of Bra-chan, which honestly feels like the best plan: if only Fukuchi has the sigil needed to control it, then getting the sword free should erase his hold over Bra-chan. The vampire is talking a big game about rising up and destroying the world, but we've already seen that he'll stand up (so to speak) for Aya. She's a plucky girl, so it's not out of the question that she'll just rip that sucker right out, trusting that whatever Bra-chan does is better than death at undead Akutagawa's hands. Someone's got to get this bloodsucker situation under control, and with Atsushi strapped to a table and Sigma trying to wrap his head around the deliberate enigma that is Dazai, it just may be up to Aya to save the world.

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Bungo Stray Dogs is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.