Bungo Stray Dogs

Action / Comedy / MysteryTV12 EP/7 Apr 2016

Oshimeter

8.5
522 Ratings
— Want to Watch
— Watched

Synopsis

Kicked out of his orphanage at 18 because a mystical tiger keeps showing up and everyone blames him, Atsushi Nakajima finds himself starving and homeless. Starving and homeless, he fishes an eccentric man named Osamu Dazai out of a river. turns out Dazai is a supernatural detective with a casual hobby of attempting suicide. He's also investigating that same tiger, and what they discover about Atsushi's connection to it pulls him into the Armed Detective Agency, a crew of gifted individuals who take on cases too weird for the cops. Their main headache? The Port Mafia, a criminal organization with its own roster of superpowered operatives. Here's the hook that makes this show stand out: every character is named after a real literary figure: Dazai, Akutagawa, Fitzgerald, and their supernatural abilities are inspired by those authors' actual works. It's a surprisingly clever layer on top of what's already a solid action-mystery setup. Studio Bones handles the animation, so the fight choreography looks genuinely great, with that same fluidity they brought to shows like Noragami. The tone sits in an interesting space: there's real tension and some dark undercurrents around organized crime and personal trauma, but it balances that with genuinely funny character moments. If you liked the supernatural ensemble energy of Durarara or the moody stylishness of Darker than Black, this 12-episode TV series hits a similar frequency. It's a seinen adaptation, so it doesn't shy away from complexity.

Episode Guide

Oshimeter0-5960-7980-100Upcoming

Characters

Osamu Dazai

Suicidal, yet cunning ex-mafia executive with ability-nullifying touch.

Miyano Mamoru

Atsushi Nakajima

An 18-year-old who can transform into a powerful white tiger, Atsushi struggles with his ability and dark past.

Mittelman Max

MANGA BRIDGE

This season covers Chapters 1-16 of the manga. Continue reading from Chapter 17.

Manga cover

Community Feed

Someone and 19 others rated 9.5
EP 1
bluethorn★★★★★VerifiedEP 12

Oh, now there are impersonations of foreign authors. For a moment I thought it wasn't going to happen. That's exciting. They come across as a real threat, and even though the Agency has powerful members, they seem somewhat defenseless. The fight against the new enemy is excellent, very flashy, and with good twists. I've been missing episodes like this. The Port Mafia looks a thousand times cooler than the Agency, which is supposed to be the protagonist of this story. I must say, though, that this episode doesn't feel like a season finale at all.

5
bluethorn★★★☆☆VerifiedEP 11

I'm sorry, but I find it quite hypocritical that the agency members who had to be sent by their boss to find a kidnapped colleague are now acting like such good people, giving the mafia's victim a warm welcome. In fact, the contrast with the mafia scenes is quite telling, where they openly know they won't be protected, but at least among themselves they remain loyal to Akutagawa and are willing to help him even if it means risking their lives. I must remind you that Kunikida did not get on the ship to help Atsushi fight Akutagawa, or to rescue the new member. From then on, we learn more about Kenji, a member of the agency. His personality is extremely innocent... and that's about it.

4
bluethorn★★★☆☆VerifiedEP 10

So, the entire motivation behind his actions was jealousy? That's not what I expected, though it's not bad either. I'm particularly disappointed. I certainly don't like that the final impression is that Atsushi feels protected by the agency when they literally could have helped him much sooner. This anime is strange; it has some really good episodes, but this one is definitely one of the "it doesn't make sense" ones. By the way, it suffers too much from the "If they'd stop talking stating the obvious, they'd have time to rescue people" trope.

4
bluethorn★★★☆☆VerifiedEP 9

In this episode, Kunikida suffers a rather strange heel turn. After arguing with Dazai about whether it was right to kill someone who shot his protégé in his face, he now hesitates to welcome an obvious victim. Incidentally, the agency's security measures remain abysmal, and it's hard to believe it's not because the author doesn't know how to add drama and suspense without falling into these massive plot holes. It seems that the reluctance to act stems primarily from establishing the agency's head as compassionate and authoritative. However, it reflects poorly on the agency, which, due to its negligence, has others paying the BIG price.

4
bluethorn★★★★★VerifiedEP 8

It's a bit of an awkward start, but the episode gets much better halfway through. It's worth asking why the agency doesn't take protective measures with characters clearly being targeted by the villains. The action and suspense scenes are very well done, and Yosano looks great showcasing her skills. The episode does a good job of managing the tension and the emotional moments at the end. I'm still bothered by the over-exposition of the characters through their dialogue, but we have to accept that it will continue to happen.

4