Bungo Stray Dogs Season 5

Episode 57

Sometimes, you've just got to stop and dance. Or at least you do if you're Dazai in the middle of a prison break. He may not be my favorite character in Bungo Stray Dogs, but he consistently gets some of the best moments, possibly because he never appears to take anything seriously. He probably does, deep down, but the face he shows to the world is that of an amiable goof, and that holds true this week: when offered his choice of weapons to help his escape from Meursault, he opts to take Sigma instead. Then, midway through said escape, he stops for a bit of a waltz. Poor Sigma, who feels like the token sane person, is baffled by this, but if there's one thing we should have learned by now, it's that Dazai never does anything without a reason.

That's true of most of the characters in this show, although Dazai and Rampo are probably the two most likely to keep their motivations under wraps. Since most of the other planners have been taken out by Bra-chan's curse, the field has cleared considerably of strategists, although the sheer number of unthinking vampiric spawn may threaten to overwhelm the thinkers. Or at least, that's what you'd assume: Kenji, in a rare moment of glory, proves that brute strength can help with the nasty bloodsuckers. He also gives us some rare insight into his mind. Kenji has been even less utilized than Yosano, mostly just hanging around in the story's background. But now we learn that he sees himself as a sheepdog, the first line of defense against wolves who would prey on the innocent.

It's a little weird to think of Bra-chan as an “innocent,” but if we look back at how he's acted since he was introduced, he can be read that way. He's a victim of Fukuchi as well, and one who has been used as a weapon against his will. When Fukuchi holds the sword Bra-chan's stuck on, he can force him to act, and that's both what started this whole mess and how Fukuchi has kept it under his control. Aya saved the vampire, and now Kenji will save Aya, because she's the world's best bet for ending the vampire scourge. Her only stake in this game is that she wants to do what's right, and that may make her the most powerful person of all, because she's not caught up in any of the nonsense about power that everyone else is dealing in.

And it's safe to say that Bra-chan likes both her and Kenji. He acts like it, even if he doesn't say it out loud. Goodwill is in short supply here, and the people who have been the most badly used – Bra-chan, Sigma, and Tachihara – are the ones who are most able to make a stand. Clearly, Dazai sees something more in Sigma, or he wouldn't have chosen him over a radio. And Tachihara, although sadly no longer with us (at least not as himself), has given the Agency a tool to reach Teruko. It might not work, but then again, it might. Those little chances are the ones that we have to gamble on now.

Dazai facing off against a vampiric version of his old partner may be an even bigger gamble than anyone realizes. Can his Gift break the vampiric curse? Or at least stall Chuuya until Yosano can try using her Gift on it? Poor Chuuya may be in for some indignities, but at least the possibilities are opening up for Fukuchi to be taken out.

Rating:

Bungo Stray Dogs is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.