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12
TV
Finished Airing
Apr 7, 2016 to Jun 23, 2016
For weeks, Atsushi Nakajima's orphanage has been plagued by a mystical tiger that only he seems to be unaware of. Suspected to be behind the strange incidents, the 18-year-old is abruptly kicked out of the orphanage and left hungry, homeless, and wandering through the city. While starving on a riverbank, Atsushi saves a rather eccentric man named Osamu Dazai from drowning. Whimsical suicide enthusiast and supernatural detective, Dazai has been investigating the same tiger that has been terrorizing the boy. Together with Dazai's partner Doppo Kunikida, they solve the mystery, but its resolution leaves Atsushi in a tight spot. As various odd events take place, Atsushi is coerced into joining their firm of supernatural investigators, taking on unusual cases the police cannot handle, alongside his numerous enigmatic co-workers. [Written by MAL Rewrite]
5.7/10
Average Review Score
35%
Recommend It
20
Reviews Worldwide
"Stupidity is a talent for misconception" -Edgar Allan Poe We've all heard the famous phrase "I'd rather be a Jack of all trades than a king of one", but what happens when you try to be at Jack of too many trades? Well, that's where you get a show like Bunguo Stray Dogs. The second anime to be produced by bones this season, Stray Dogs is an edgy, ambitious story of an abandoned orphan who finds his place with a detective agency solving crimes and battling the notorious Port Mafia. The synopsis is what really had me hyped for the show, because on the surface it soundslike it has the promise to be something really unique. However, throughout its first season's 12 episodes, Stray Dogs never really discovers what it wants to be. Throw in some sporadic comedy, unnecessary gore along with some of the poorest excuses for detective work I've ever seen and you've got a recipe for disaster. I truly mean what I say with regard to the promise I had for the show. It loosely reminded meet of the anime Gungrave's synopsis with an orphan joining a powerful agency and excelling through the ranks. I really enjoyed the first episode or two with the introduction of our main protagonist, Atsushi and how he comes into the Armed Detective Agency. I was looking forward to uncovering his past as well as the origin of his mystical Weretiger ability. But after 12 episodes of watching Stray Dogs, I would like to throw a strong disclaimer out there: don't expect anything to be explained in this anime. People use magic abilities, characters appear out of nowhere and mysteries are solved with the level of clairvoyance that would make Nostradamus roll over in his grave. I digress, I can give a pass to the whole magic thing, as I expect this to be explained in later seasons... If I'm even committed enough to make it that far. After being collected by the agency, Atsushi does his best to fit in. And the man that initially recruited him, Dazai does his best to send Atsushi on meaningless tasks in order to establish himself at the agency. Perhaps it was to lay the groundwork for the characters, but I felt that nothing really happened in the first five or six episodes. At one point I thought the show was a dark comedy, the next a murder mystery, but all of the ideas that it seemed to have fizzled out into one disjointed mess. It's like the kid from your high school that never figured out what he really wanted to do and instead hung around into his 20s and 30s and made attempt after pitiful attempt to be cool. Not to mention the ghastly written comedy. Perusing the forums in hopes of finding out what I was missing to take away from the show, I found statement after statement praising the comedy in Stray Dogs. Has anime become so watered-down that feeble comedy such as the kind found here is passable as funny? The jokes are so forced and random that it made me cringe. I laughed at approximately 0% of it. I know I can't be the only one that feels this way. Another mute point that was spewed at me was how each of the characters were based off of a famous writer of American, British or Japanese dissent. There is Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe and Agatha Christie just to name a few. The moment I thought I knew who the writers were portraying, they would do something so out of character that I had no idea who they were trying to emulate. It's almost as though the creators of Stray Dogs were trying to use this as a scapegoat. They probably figured that most anime fans have little knowledge of old literary geniuses, so it didn't matter if their personalities were accurate to achieve the same amount of praise. Forgive me, for not all the writing is bad. The last 2 to 3 episodes dwarfed The rest of the series in terms of complexity and engagement. There are still the occasional scenes where the character's moods would shift from serious to slapstick, but I felt like overall I finally got some bang for my buck. The main villain even got some backstory and the writers offered a glimmering sliver of hope for next season. As a main character, Atsushi was one emo moment away from me chalking him up as just another whiny bitch. Honestly it was uncovering his crippled past that drew me to the series in the beginning. I wish someone would've told me how little of an explanation I would get in the long run. His interactions with Dazai at the beginning of the anime were rather entertaining, but again their relationship never really transpired past the same cheesy recycled jokes and forced authoritative delegation by Dazai. Speaking of Dazai, what is with the suicide complex? I'm assuming it has something to do with his personification as a famous writer, but I found his split personality offputting and unnecessary. I mean who could be that bad at committing suicide? His true motives for recruiting Atsushi and acting the way he does haven't fully been explained, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens. Honestly, Kunikida was my favorite character of the entire show. His methodical personality and antics reminded me a lot of myself, and of course he got berated with jokes on a regular basis. It seemed like he was the only genuinely serious thing in the entire show. The rest of the characters were thrown in to fit various tropes, and that lazy, pompous detective guy Ranpo pissed me off to no end. The OP is actually rather strong. It punches you in the face both visually and with some ear-splitting metal riffs. It's arguably the only aspect of Stray Dogs I consistently enjoyed from beginning to end. The ED and rest of the soundtrack were forgettable but didn't necessarily detract from the overall experience. I did quite enjoy the artstyle however. There was something about the colors that really caught my eye... I can't explain it but perhaps it was a combination of the bigger budget and flashy fight scenes that kept my senses stimulated. Each character was uniquely drawn, and there was rarely a repeated background to be seen. I loved it. It goes without saying that my feelings about Bunguo Stray Dogs are relatively negative. I will probably stick with the second iteration launching in October because I've already devoted enough time to it... but only time will tell. Hey, maybe I'll even forget about how much I disliked certain aspects of it and move on. I'd recommend this to fans of more recent series, and people looking for generic battles and a cheap laugh. As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of my Spring 2016 reviews!
Click an episode to read its synopsis.
Dramatic, mysterious, & fun to watch. Initially, I wasn't too excited or hyped up about the show because I didn't feel any type of enjoyment. Most of the times the humor felt forced along with most of the drama however during episode 3, that was the biggest turn around for me. Everything after that episode had me completely anxious, and excited to see what's going to happen next episode! Before I knew it the damn show was over. The story itself is really engaging. I think that the biggest part of Stray dogs that I enjoyed most, was the shows well delivered, strong, dramatic andsupernatural story-line. One of the biggest issues that I had, that I also noticed a few others had this problem, was the balance. Sometimes, stray dogs was a comedy, then a drama, and then finally back to comedy. The poor balancing negatively affected my time watching it because it really took away some of my engagement not to mention my enjoyment with the show. That said, the story is actually pretty solid. In terms of the stories supernatural occurrences, it reminds me a lot of both the series Durarara and Baccano. Oh, and I cannot forget the comedy style! although, thinking back I don't remember whether or not both DRRR and Baccano used over the top reaction faces.. That aside, the whole gang warfare, port mafia vs armed detective company reminded me a lot of yellow scarves vs the dollars. Of course Stray dogs version of this is more about justice than revenge. Now I did enjoyed Stray Dogs comedic routines. It is always refreshing to have a bit of comedy and fun after dramatic or serious events have occurred. It really does take your mind off of things for a while. I believe that uniqueness was Stray dogs strong-point overall. It is is one of those titles that's simply fun to watch because of an interesting story with unexpected and exciting new developments. As far as animation and art style goes, visually stray dogs reminded me a lot of Baccano! even some of the characters looked like they belonged in Baccano. I noticed that Bungou Stray Dogs setting and character designs have a strong 1940s-1950s feel to it. I think that whoever the key animator was, and whoever was in charge of doing the background settings did an amazing job with it. I loved watching the fight scenes occurring in this show. Fights and action scenes are perhaps one of the most noticeable things caught my attention the most. During fights, I noticed that the fast paced animation used greatly increases the intensity of the battles. In addition to that, I also observed that when it comes to fighting, when characters are talking to each other, there is also a sense of build up. I knew that right after characters would finishing talking, there would most likely be some sort of turnover and the quality of the fight would turn out even greater. Character designs were pretty interesting, the eyes were most unique to me. They weren't quite oval shaped nor were they round. For some strange reason male characters features tend to stand our more than the females. I noticed that are drawn to be more "pronounced" so to speak. They did a great job making a good looking main character for the Fujo's to go nuts over too. Sound was pretty great too. I enjoyed both the soundtrack and voice actors used in Stray dogs... well except Chiaki Omigawa. Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard. She sounds like a boy going through puberty, that is how bad her voice is. Every other voice actor I had no issues with. The background music was pretty good too. I like that during battles, the music would help intensify the fight. Lastly, I loved that vocals were used in most of the songs, rather than just sticking with instrumentals. Character growth and development is featured in the show however, it's not really prominent. I feel like the events in season 2 will definitely help characters develop more so that they aren't too.. plain. My biggest issue with the characters is that none of them really stand out. Having a long lasting impression of the characters in stray dogs seems almost impossible due to their uninteresting traits along with personalities. Enjoyment for the show was pretty strong. I think that this was easily my 4th favorite title airing this season. It does deliver quite a lot of drama, action, and mysterious elements. I do believe that because of the way the show is written and introduced that it doesn't appeal to everyone. My overall feeling for the show is that it felt too incomplete, like they are relying on season 2 to make things even better. Despite that that though, I believe that stray dogs delivered enough greatness to make me want to come back for more. I was impressed with just about everything featured in Bungou Stray Dogs.
Bungou Stray Dogs had a somewhat interesting premise, yet was ultimately disappointing. This anime could be easily summarized as an average battle shĆnen with arguably sub par comedy: not exclusively because the comedy is bad, which is hit and miss, but because of its implementation in the most inappropriate moments. This does not mean the anime as a whole is terrible, it is simply lacking as hardly any progression was made throughout its airing time making it as a whole just average. The story of Bungou Stray Dogs is centered around the orphan protagonist Atsushi who was kicked out of the orphanage because of mysterious incidentsthat happen around him. Having no idea or clue on how to survive, he aimlessly wanders around, just to coincidently fish out a suicidal detective out of the river, by the name of Dazai. Of course it just so happens he is no ordinary person: he works for a firm of supernatural investigators. Being pulled into this world, the daily life of the protagonist begins with a wacky cast of characters. Not to mention the mystery surrounding the main character. At first glance it may seem as an endearing premise, which it is, only up to a certain extent: while it treats some of the difficulties the protagonist is suffering, it mostly focuses on the introduction of new characters and their respective powers. Hence, is mostly of episodic nature. The various powers introduced are interesting and varied on its own, which in turn makes it possible to have entertaining battle sequences, although the conflicts are very simple: detective firm versus the mafia. This is combined with an abundance of comedy, which is personally the biggest gripe with the show. The humor is rather basic: suicide jokes, ill-timed situational ones are such examples. What is worse, whenever it is trying to be serious, it is often followed by a gag that hampers the immersion in the narrative significantly. The characters presented in the anime are of simple nature, with some endearing ones, while others are rather dull. The main character Atsuchi is a timid boy who does not know of friendship; combined with the fact that he is very insecure of himself and his peers, the protagonist finds himself in a constant conflict. Being labeled as a seinen anime, it does not present an interesting development akin to the genre, rather it follows that of the battle shĆnen one. He experiences some character development throughout the series by interactions with the cast, and the events that happen to him. He could be described generally as a wimp in some occasions, while in others he is courageous. Regarding the other characters, these are rather stereotypical with their own charm in some cases: the excentric airhead, the suicidal enthuthiast, the strict guy, the maniac - just to name a few. Some of these have some mysterious background attached to them, which enhances the narrative, and in exploring their respective personalities. Due to the short span of the anime, most characters remain very basic, as well as the opposing entities of the main cast. Consequently, there is little investment in the villains themselves, which is a bit dissapointing. The animation of Bungou Stray Dogs was well executed which implemented some great action scenes: fast and fluid, with consistent design. As for the art style, it was remarkable with amusing character designs: although using a similar template as other anime, it is distinguishable on its own, more akin to the likes of Durara. In addition, it makes use of exaggerated facets of the characters for comedic purposes, which were lacking: this was mainly due because of the humor that simply was not fitting for the different atmospheres the anime was trying to portray. Concerning the sound used, it was a whole well implemented and executed with befitting voice actors, although in some cases it could feel off.This mainly concerns in some cases some transitions of suspense to comedy, and also the protagonist. The soundtrack uses various tunes, jazz included, which is a nice touch to the generic notes viewers are used to. The ending of the anime was well done with a great transition, which was personally a joy to listen to. Unlike the ending, the opening is rather forgettable as a whole. Bungou Stray Dogs was a show I had some interest in, yet was rather disappointing as a whole, which was mainly because of the ill-timed and arguably bad comedy. The anime falls short of even beginning to expand on the whole mystery surrounding the protagonist, consequently being quite hard to get into. Regardless of said issues, it had some great action sequences as well some interesting background stories to share, which was satisfying. Otherwise this anime is quite average and does not stand out from its competitors. If the jokes are no issue for the viewer, I'd say try it out, otherwise not. Thank you for reading.
What happens when you get together a special group of individuals based off famous literacy authors? The answer is Bungou Stray Dogs. Only this time, they have special abilities in a world where thereâs mystery, crime, and all other sorts of dark phenomenon that will take your breath away. Based off the manga of the same name, this is a show that can be easily recommendable to almost anyone. But if youâre a fan of supernatural mystery, itâll be an exception treat. Bungou Stray Dogs is prime proof that supernatural fiction can still work in attractive fashion. The show stars a group of characters as partof the group known as the Armed Detective Agency, who specializes in missions to solve dangerous cases. It offers a select group of individuals with their own unique talents, traits, and ways that makes us wonder about their everyday life style. Then, we also meet Atsushi Nakajima, the main protagonist who got kicked out of his orphanage and ends up becoming a member of the Agency himself. Itâs like fate connected his life together with these individuals in a story of innovative wonders. If youâve seen The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or something along that line, then watching this show will feel a bit familiar. On paper, itâs a pretty cool looking show with a cast of badass characters named after famous literary works. Not only that, their special powers are also based off of their well-known literature. The first episodes establishes a blend between mystery, supernatural, and black comedy. In fact, the show easily crafts a mood that is rather comical with the way Osamu Dazai is introduced. I mean think about it, the guy tries to commit suicide in an absurd fashion until Atsushi decides to save him. Throughout the show, his relationship with Dazai can be viewed as bizarre. This also expands to many other characters because truth to be told, Atsushi really is like the new kid in class. Other characters he gets associated with such as Junchirou Tanizaki, Doppo Kunikda, Ranpo Edogawa, Akiko Yosano, and Kenji Miyazaza also brings the best and worst out of him. Throughout the series, itâs also shown that he is perhaps the most âhumanâ out of all the characters. He is very ordinary and has low confidence in himself from the beginning. The revelation regarding his own powers also makes him feel like heâs a walking curse and that misfortune follows those who he encounters. Now youâre probably asking why you should care. The main factor is that Atsushi needs to realize that not everyone can be saved. Kunikda realizes this and constantly reminds himself and others that itâs a cruel world they live in. And thatâs a lot to say about the show. The world setting of Bungou Stray Dogs has mafias, underworld organizations, and crimes that goes beyond imaginations. The story structure sets up the show nicely with its first two episodes. I will emphasize that as part of the series, comedy also plays a large factor to perhaps decide whether youâd like to continue watching or not. For some, this can be very entertaining in the form of popcorn comedy. For others, it can be distracting and even annoying. Director Igarashi Takuya puts his talent at the table and his previous work with Ouran Koukou Host Club can feel familiar to those who recognizes it. That is to say, the comedy may not be suitable for everyone, in particular the timing. The adaptation itself is also quite faithful with panel by panel. It also brings in the violence that gives the show a darker tone mixed in with the humor and jokes. However, I will mention that the show does go off for two episodes around mid-season (not based on the manga). Also, the plan to adapt the series is split into 2-cours (12 episodes ach) and this review will cover the first half. As some may expect, the Armed Detective Agency also attracts enemies. This is where the Port Mafia comes in as they are introduced. Working from the shadows with mysterious origins, we also meet Ryunosuke Akutagawa, mysterious member of Port Mafia who seems to have a history with Dazai. Other members introduced in the mafia also shows their ruthlessness and lack of care for human life such as terrorist bomber Momojiro Kaji. The point is that the show makes them the main antagonists for the first cour, an antithesis to what Atsushi believes in. At one point, he even meets a young girl known for the murder of 35 people yet still hopes thereâs some redemption for her. As I mentioned before, Bungou Stray Dogs is a cool looking show, literally. The characters portrays some unique personalities with their own personal powers. From tiger transformation to bringing objects into existence by just writing in a notebook, the show demonstrates the capability of attracting fan of supernatural fiction. Unfortunately, I canât say that the mystery is very impressive. Itâs actually pretty straightforward although sparks quite the curiosity about charactersâ background stories. What I mean is more of the cases that is rather predictable and some of them actually feels repetitive by nature. Bones helms the series and once again shows that they are capable of capturing the magic of supernatural genre. Character abilities not only looks cool but also decoratively presented in fashion that is extraordinary. Speaking of the characters, each of them has some unique appearance that makes them stand out in one way or another. From the carefree expressions of Dazai to the mischievous Akiko, it has something to offer for anyone. Thereâs also a prominence of male characters with bishounen-like characteristics so female fans may find this series a nice sight to look at. The action speaks pretty much for itself with good amount of violence, choreography, and battle theatrics. I can also confess that most of the character expressions in the anime is done better than the manga. Soundtrack is a nice way to make the show more entertaining as well. From the OP song by Trash Candy to the battle OST, it gives the pleasure of what supernatural battles are all about. Character voice mannerism can also be praised especially for guys like Akutagawaâs sinister tone or Daizaiâs sarcastic personality. Because the show is known for its catchy dialogues, the voice mannerism has to be portrayed with credibility and the voice actors/actresses does just that. It is what it is. Bungou Stray Dogs is pretty much a show that can be watched by anyone from the beginning without any knowledge about literature. That being said, the comedy can feel like a bit of the hit or miss category. After the introductory episodes, the story does pick up quite a bit so patience is a key to enjoy the show. Luckily, thereâs an adequate amount of entertainment provided by the unique cast of characters, themes, and storytelling so be prepared for a wild ride. Itâs one that youâll someday come back and realize how fun it was.
(This is a spoiler-free review adapted for this site) [Synopsis]: Due to a recent string of mysterious incidents involving a great, white tiger, Nakajima Atsushi (Uemura Yuto) is evicted from the orphanage that has served as his home his entire life. Left both homeless and penniless, Atsushi happens upon a drowning stranger whom he rescues from a nearby river. The man turns out to be Dazai Osamu (Miyano Mamoru) who, along with his partner, happens to be searching for the white tiger responsible for Atsushiâs predicament. Dazai himself belongs to the Armed Detective Agency â a group of people possessing supernatural abilities that solve especially violentcrimes and combat underworld organizations. Following Dazaiâs lead, Atsushi is quickly entangled with the agency and the menacing Port Mafia as he struggles to find his place in the world. [Characters]: Bungou Stray Dogs features a fairly small cast, comprised mostly of the various members of the Armed Detective Agency, the Port Mafia, and a few episodic characters besides. Perhaps the most key feature of the showâs cast is that each characterâs name serves as some reference to a renowned author or poet with most of the references stemming from modern Japanese literature. This relationship between author and character is an ongoing element within the show and often certain personality traits or actions associated with the authors are exhibited by their respective characters in varying degrees. While this aspect of the show sounds both interesting and engaging the manner in which it manifests is very lackluster and sometimes even problematic. The actual depth of reference the characters pull from their real-life counterparts is very shallow with most characters simply borrowing their names with their abilities often titled after their authorâs most pervasive work. Beyond this the characters donât seem to have all that much depth to them and hardly borrow from their referenced authors in either a thematic or intelligent way. What could have been a complex and intricate parallel of ideologies and themes becomes no more than a slew of referenced names. My own familiarity with each author is incomplete and there are occasionally thematic parallels that arise however for the most part the show is quite shallow in how it pulls off this would-be-interesting characteristic. Though the actual depth of Bungou Stray Dogsâ references is questionable, what issues arise within the showâs cast lie with the characters themselves on an individual level. In terms of characterization and how the character fits into the show, Dazai Osamu is possibly the biggest offender. Whether itâs his passion for attempting to kill himself over and over again and comically failing each time or his desire to find a partner for his ideal double suicide, Dazai presents an incredibly unappealing character. Beyond the fact that paralleling the real Dazai Osamuâs relationship with suicide and its presence within his works by turning it into a poorly constructed gag is the height of insensitivity, the gag itself makes absolutely no sense. The very fact that a character is continually trying to kill themselves yet both fails to actually do so and will fight for their own self-preservation runs completely opposite of whatever poor characterization could be drawn out of Dazaiâs ridiculous character. In a number of ways, Dazai is representative of how the show handles its references â in a loose and often unintelligent way. The protagonist of the show, Nakajima Atsushi doesnât fare much better than Dazai in terms of characterization. From the beginning of the story it is quite clear that he has themes of rejection and belonging after being tossed out of his orphanage. He feels out of place wherever he goes and undeserving of anybodyâs interest or compassion. This is a decent start and he does develop over the course of the show, slowly coming to terms with his place within the agency and accepting his coworkers however this is not achieved without some hitches. For one, a certain flashback of his dismisal from the orphanage is often queued whenever the show attempts to discuss the themes surrounding Atsushi and its over-usage quickly becomes tiring. The same exact sequence plays multiple times an episode for more than half the series and its pervasiveness gives insight into the showâs complete inability to characterize Atsushi outside of paralleling his predicament at hand with the scene in question. Though Iâve highlighted Dazai and Atsushi specifically here, the rest of the cast isnât a whole lot better. Atsushi doesnât really play off of his coworkers at the agency as much as he predictably reacts to them in given gag scenarios. The Port Mafia, despite their initial introduction, is continuously undermined as an antagonistic enemy as their plans are foiled relatively easily which cuts the tension surrounding them considerably. And lastly, the showâs cast is chronically over-involved. Bungou Stray Dogs tends to shy away from introducing new characters once each story gets rolling which causes the subsequent events to feel extraordinarily coincidental and predictable at times when the same characters keep wrapping around into relevance. [Art/Animation]: Bungou Stray Dogsâ animation is perhaps its only worthwhile attribute. Though it fails in various ways elsewhere, the art style is crisp and unwavering while Bones presents beautifully animated action scene after action scene. The fight sequences are very high quality though they are actually rather sparse for the greater part of the show â growing far more frequent after around episode 8 and on. Despite its subject matter, a lot of the show features slapstick, physical comedy and various gags which utilize a slightly more cartoonish aesthetic. Though these gags still look good visually, they are rarely funny and often only serve to disrupt the scene at hand. [Story]: The first episode of Bungou Stray Dogs is fairly slow paced as it introduces the viewer to Atsushi, Dazai, and Kunikida as well as the existence of the Armed Detective Agency and their supernatural powers. It isnât a bad introductory episode but it doesnât present much of a hook into the show either. The shock comes with the arrival of the third episode as it features the showâs first real action sequence. The episode as a whole is surprisingly bloody and ruthless despite the two proceeding episodes of mostly repeated gags between Atsushi and Dazai. This episode was actually a pretty good introduction into the brutality of the Port Mafia which would later be undermined repeatedly however its the showâs earliest insight into Bungou Stray Dogsâ biggest, critical problem. After the early introductory episodes, the show plays out in somewhat of an episodic fashion â featuring Atushi as he tries to find his place within the agency and one of the various detectives that work there as they team up to solve various mysteries and cases. There isnât much of an overarching plot though the Port Mafiaâs interest in abducting and selling Atsushi is a recurring part of the story for most of the show. The stand-alone episodes arenât terribly interesting and the featured mysteries leave a lot to be desired as their outcomes often felt predictable or coincidental. The major failing of Bungou Stray Dogs is in how poorly it marries its two establishes tones as its subject matter involving murders and underground crime organizations clashes against its style of comedy giving way to very polarizing scenes. The show undercuts whatever real drama or tension it is able to conjure up with its rampant character gags. A police woman is shot in cold-blood and washed away by the river and her senior and subordinates are visibly torn up about it. Dazai then cuts into the scene, mourning the loss of her beauty and says she should have committed a double suicide with him instead. Not only does it continuously set precedent for generally tension-free scenes but it does so by utilizing the stupidest gag in the entire show. One second the show pokes fun at Kunikidaâs ideals and Dazai imbibes hallucinative mushrooms and the next moment people are being forcibly drowned, gassed to death, and killed as products of a black market organ trade. The extremes are too huge and the comedy is too gag-oriented and dumb to allow for the viewer to take any of the more gruesome scenes seriously. The show tries wholeheartedly to be dramatic but completely fails due to its cast of primarily comedic characters who simply arenât capable of executing a serious moment either because of their exaggerated nature or comedic tendencies. [Music]: The soundtrack didnât stand out to me very much and mostly served to reinforce the two prevalent atmospheres of the show. The music supported the showâs comedy and action from the background without ever becoming too prominent or memorable itself. [Final Thoughts and Rating]: Looking at Bungou Stray Dogs as a whole, I would warily say it has potential to be more than what it is. The show element of referencing various authors and imparting various attributes from them and their works into the characters is a very compelling idea at face-value and if it could make better thematic use of the technique I think it could yield very interesting results. With the next season already around the corner I have to wonder if perhaps the show would do better outside of the format of exploring individual members of the Armed Detective Agency each episode and instead attempted to tackle something a bit grander and more comprehensive. With these hopes in mind, the show has to find a place for its comedy and I think if it cut it entirely it would have a fair chance at becoming something worthwhile however I doubt this will come to pass. To add a quick note about whether or not itâs worthwhile to be familiar with the referenced stories and authors beforehand â I donât think there is much benefit to it currently. I was familiar with probably over half of the authors mentioned and a moderate amount of the literature alluded to and outside of a few shallow comparisons between characters and how the show aesthetically designed their abilities, there wasnât much extra benefit to the knowledge so I wouldnât urge prospective viewers to familiarize themselves unless they wanted to. Rating: 4 I gave Bungou Stray Dogs a 4 because its cast had either poor or uninteresting characterization, its story had a variety of problems, and it was very conflicted tonally causing. Its later action sequences and slight movement away from the rampant comedy of its earlier episodes improved its second half by a small margin along with the overall quality of its animation. [Recommendations]: I would recommend Bungou Stray Dogs for its action sequences and animation above all else. Though it has its fair share of narrative issues and a cast of problematic characters, its visuals are quite strong all throughout. I didnât enjoy the comedy of the show however one can tell whether or not it appeals to them by the time the first episode finishes.