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Bungo Stray Dogs (TV + movie).




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L'Imperatore



Joined: 24 Mar 2014
Posts: 939
PostPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2016 2:21 pm Reply with quote


Season 01: Bungo Stray Dogs (TV)
Season 02: Bungo Stray Dogs (TV 2)
Movie 01: Bungo Stray Dogs: Apple (movie)
Season 03: Bungo Stray Dogs (TV 3)
Season 04: Bungo Stray Dogs (TV 4)
Season 05: Bungo Stray Dogs (TV 5)

Source: Manga (ongoing @ 23 volumes, written by Kafka Asagiri, illustrated by Sango Harukawa)

Demographic: Seinen

Animation Studio: Bones

Genres: action, comedy, drama, mystery, supernatural

Themes: coming-of-age, conspiracy, crime, detective, historical, literature, mafia, superpowers

Plot Summary: The "battle action" story centers around a league of literary figures with supernatural powers. For example, in real life, Ryūnosuke Akutagawa wrote acclaimed stories that inspired Akira Kurosawa's Rashōmon film and the Aoi Bungaku Series anime's Jigoku Hen (Hell Screen) arc. In Bungō Stray Dogs, he has the power to transform and manipulate his cloak into a monster-like entity. Together, these writers solve mysteries as part of the "Armed Detective Agency."

Air Date & Platform:
Season 01: April 6, 2016 (Wednesday)
Available on: Crunchyroll, HBO Max, Hulu

Season 02: October 5, 2016 (Wednesday)
Available on: Crunchyroll, FUNimation, HBO Max

Movie 01: March 3, 2018 (Saturday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Season 03: April 12, 2019 (Friday)
Available on: Crunchyroll, FUNimation, HBO Max

Season 04: January 4, 2023 (Wednesday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Season 05: July 12, 2023 (Wednesday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Episode Count / Runtime:
Season 01: 12 episodes
Season 02: 12 episodes
Movie 01: 90 minutes
Season 03: 12 episodes + 1 OVA
Season 04: 13 episodes
Season 05: 11 episodes

Total: 61 episodes
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Tue Feb 09, 2016 3:00 pm Reply with quote
Looks like one of Bones' adaptations this year. Their schedule is pretty stacked.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11600
PostPosted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 5:05 pm Reply with quote
Episodes 1-2

I'm liking this a lot so far, suicide jokes (and there are a lot) aside. I think some people don't like the comic expressions, but this was so unexpected it made me laugh despite being so simple.



I'm also enjoying the authors angle. Like it's funny that they named Jun'ichirou Tanizaki's sister Naomi (and played with the sexual kinks), which is his only work I've heard of before besides Tale of Genji (and I know nothing about his take on that classic).

I wonder what the deal is with all the floating straps on everyone's clothes. I can't even figure out what Atsushi's tail strap is supposed to be - a super long belt? Suspenders gone awry?
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HelloBucket



Joined: 07 Apr 2015
Posts: 477
Location: Upstate New York
PostPosted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:27 pm Reply with quote
episode two

I'm pretty lost as to why we needed this episode. It barely establishes any new characters. Demonstrating the team dynamics and establishing the main character's approach to the job could have both been integrated into a first real job. It leaves us exactly where we thought we were at the end of the first episode.

Still, it was decently amusing.
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2479
PostPosted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 7:40 pm Reply with quote
I barely liked this second episode just because Chiaki Omigawa has a role again and I love hearing her broken, broken voice.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15576
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Apr 13, 2016 10:46 pm Reply with quote
Episode 2

The first episode was alright, but the second one felt like a mess. Lets look at some of the logic: That bomb is high powered, it could take out an entire floor, but apparently putting something like a fleshy shield would be enough to protect people a couple feet from him, despite entire floor would assume it could go through walls too. The bomber is apparently distracted enough that he does not hear the guy yell at the person on the table who is an established threat to the bomber, who then loudly writes down, who yells out the word, and then has enough time for ability to activate summoning the tool, and then line up the shot, and then for it to grab the device. There could have been the threat of a second detonator, but still hold him down, but then let guard down long enough for the bomber to grab the detonator anyway?

It was pretty obvious that it was the test anyway, not real surprise and it could explain how things might have went, but it was really pushing suspension of disbelief. The script also felt like a mess, which could be some translation issue or something, but I feel it was something else. Usually I can put up with some pressuring the character into something for plot, but it felt like what they did to him was flat out blackmail.

The only saving grace felt like the bro-con character as being somewhat interesting. Also enjoy her VA.
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter
Exempt from Grammar Rules


Joined: 02 May 2006
Posts: 4630
Location: Gainesville, FL
PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2016 8:03 pm Reply with quote
ep. 3

aaaaaand... it reverts to ROXORS MEGA EEEVIL bad guy vs ROCKIN' COOL ANGSTY BADASS good guys.with wacky fun time in between. Lots of sneering and smirking gonna go on now.

Seen it.
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Sobe



Joined: 04 Jun 2011
Posts: 886
PostPosted: Sat Apr 23, 2016 8:20 pm Reply with quote
It's refreshing to see not everyone conveniently has an ability that works out for their job. I just hope we don't see a repeat of Witch Hunter Robin given who Dazai or rather what Dazai was before he came to the agency.
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Sobe



Joined: 04 Jun 2011
Posts: 886
PostPosted: Sat May 28, 2016 4:22 am Reply with quote
Episode 7, especially the ending, was exactly the kind of drama I've been looking for. Too bad it didn't play out as long as I would have liked in the end. Either way, it was well done but it really was too bad the ikemen and femme fatale died. I liked both of them. It would have been nice to see the two play out a bit longer.

Typical seinen anime killing them off before love can even grab hold of them. Crying or Very sad

Oh well, there's always next time. Twisted Evil I don't think I'll be able to bear the unbelievable long void before season 2 starts this fall though. Shocked
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 1:23 pm Reply with quote
I finished the show.

Cool season 1 finale, really like the fact that it introduces another group and potential threat for the Armed Detective Agency. That Lucy girl is apparently voiced by Kana Hanazawa and made quite a debut:



At the end of the episode, we meet the leader of the Port Mafia.

I think it's obvious that he wasn't just some bystander though during his brief glimpses of malice. Meanwhile, I think the show did a nice job at introducing all the main characters while giving each of them some spotlight.

Overall, good season looking forward to Fall's second cour.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15576
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Jun 23, 2016 5:12 am Reply with quote
Episode 12 (finale)

While there were some nice parts every so often in the series, I think that woven as a whole I just don't feel it that much. In general I did not like it that much, but I still found myself smiling at things like the last episode and getting drawn in. My problem came from how it failed to keep me drawn in when some things happened. I am actually surprised I did not comment here more often, because I know that I was expressing a dislike of a number of things in different episodes, which was probably done in the episode review section comments.

Like last week's episode where characters would be standing up and shooting at each other full auto for a full second before a stray bullet would apparently hit something. It created a weird disconnect where the show liked to set up this expectation where everyone is skilled, but in practice everyone was not. We were told that this was an organization that were both detectives and fighters, but the tone just did not jell properly. It never makes sense where the teenager (younger) characters are there, except to purely be an insert relatable tropes. How were they supposed to be detective anything when there appears to be no training that would make sense that they would be elites. One character seems to be a super detective, but as we are told he does not even have any powers, so why is he even there? It was quirky characters for the purpose of being quirky.

Going back to action, there was that time were being led to believe an attack on the agency was a worse possible result, which turned out to be that it would make a mess, there was no fear that the group could fight them off. A group that included the book guy (the only who makes sense, but also a bumpkin who seems to have no understanding of crime, and others having powers like healing through fatal wounds, erasing powers, and one particularly mentioned as not being combat. What exactly was making their agency so invincible that they had nothing to fear from trained assassins with guns? Even after the reveal of powers they don't seem that special. Although If they were so powerful why did they not just attack and defeat the port mafia themselves? The reason seems simple, it was being "badass" for the purpose of being badass, we are meant to think they are awesome because the show tells us this.

I have had kind of the above problems before, I can think of Kill la Kill where it dragged me out a bit with its inconsistencies and flagrant tricks to make the audience feel a certain way unearned, but Kill la Kill did actually do something different. It was a show where the characters are anime characters they can do the things they do because they are so much their character type. Bungo Stray Dogs characters are actually something more than just character though, they were authors, authors that had their legacy turned into powers, but the end I don't think it excused the characters enough for it. If I had to choose a reason why, I would say it was the world, while Kill la Kill did kind of a big deal at making the entire world kind of glaringly work by its own rules, BSD largely use rules closer to a more mundane world. We are told powers exist and are known, but apart from a number of people showing up with powers, it seems to have no impact on that world, like instead they are just written into it rather than they belong.

Badass for the purpose of being badass is a complaint that I would most point at the boss of the agency, a character who walks in with awesome music being played with intimidation that forces respect from everyone watching and make decisions that feel like they are made above everyone else's heads. In a few ways he is not too different than Satsuki from KlK, but this too I think is a difference in the shows ability to sell such traits. Satsuki's intimidating presence is not something that shows up a couple of times just to show that there is an authority, her intimidating presence is pretty much in every scene she is in until there is a clear moment that the lack of it spells something big. I don't think we quite got that with the boss, where although he comes back a few times to say something "cool", I think it lacked the intimidation or ability that felt like it was backed up for him coming across so confident, and it was probably a lost opportunity when we had this bigger bad guy show up in front of him in this last episode.

I should not go on about a show should have been more like another, but I think that maybe a few of my points might indicate where it could have been more effective. The show seems to be popular despite it all with certain audiences, but for me the problems were a bit too much and pulled me out. I rate it as Not really good (4/10), but not a total waste of time either.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13240
PostPosted: Tue Apr 30, 2019 4:17 pm Reply with quote
Season 3 is here at last, but I wish they didn't start off with a Dazai flashback again. I miss my boy Atsushi Sad
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Cam0



Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Posts: 4927
PostPosted: Fri May 10, 2019 2:38 pm Reply with quote
Episode 30

That epilogue was hilarious.

So the blond haired women is obsessively in love with Akutagawa? I don't remember that part about her character at all from the previous seasons. Though my bird brain has already forgotten tons of things about the show even though I watched the previous 2 seasons like less than a year ago. Also where is Kyouka?
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