Bungo Stray Dogs Season 5

Episode 56

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: never, ever underestimate the power of a pre-teen girl. Or a pre-teen anyone, really, but little girls have the world fooled on a different level; that whole “sugar and spice and everything nice” nonsense has made it so that their deviousness is often overlooked. And while forces are finally coming together to deal with Fukuchi, Aya's role in the whole thing is likely to steam him the most because not only did he fail to catch her, she stole his trump card right out from under his nose. Or kidnapped, I suppose; she may wear Bram out like a backpack, but he's still a person. There's also something delightful about the fact that this ten-year-old kid cannot only kidnap an immortal vampire but she also successfully turns him to her side with the easiest of all gifts: a portable music player and some headphones that she just happened to have in her pocket. It makes sense – if you were a head stuck in a coffin for all eternity, wouldn't you want something to pass the time? And since Bra-chan (I refuse to ever call him Bram Stoker again) was last conscious when the best music technology was the wireless radio, this new tech is positively mind-blowing. Had Fukuchi offered it to him sooner, maybe his best asset would have been harder to bribe, but that's Fukuchi for you: so caught up in his genius and web of plots that he misses what's right in front of him.

That tendency makes it possible for others to move against him, and we did need that to happen this week because things were getting frustrating. With Ranpo aware of an extra failsafe on One Order that Fukuchi wasn't, a bit more time has been bought, and Aya absconding with Bra-chan took away Fukuchi's easiest method of dealing with it. But I'd bet it never occurred to him that Dazai and Dostoyevsky would escape from Meursault, with or without help, or that the straight-laced Ango would channel his inner Dazai and lie to the Prime Minister. It's all very cathartic because if anyone deserves to fail, it's Fukuchi, and the only question is whether it should happen swiftly or if he should realize his defeat by inches.

Either way, this is one of the funniest episodes of Bungo Stray Dogs that we've had in a long time. Of course, Bra-chan and the music player are a highlight, but the entire scene with Nikolai and Sigma breaking Dostoyevsky and Dazai out of prison is also pretty spectacular. From Dazai smoldering at Dostoyevsky (in a playful way, of course) to his “Wow!” when they're actually out of their cells, the whole thing is well played. And, of course, poor Sigma wondering if he's somehow the sanest person in the room – I imagine that Ango is very familiar with that feeling.

Ango does get one of the few serious moments this week, and it's an important one. As he tries to prevent Fukuchi from accessing One Order, he imagines Dazai there helping him before looking down at his photo. We know very well how Dazai misses Odasaku, but we've had less insight into Ango's feelings about losing their trio. This shows us that he feels the loss of those two friends deeply and that, just like Dazai, the memories help him keep going. It isn't quite the same, but it's still important that Odasaku's death touched Ango and what it wrought, too. After all, moving forward is hard if you've forgotten where you've been.

Unless the past doesn't have portable music players. Obviously.

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Bungo Stray Dogs is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.