Mass murderers make the cutest mascots.
What They Say:
“First, an Unsuitable Profession for Her. Second, an Ecstatic Detective Agency.”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Bungou Stray Dogs is doing some surprising things with its structure. After several episodes detailing an involved arc for a number of characters, things are suddenly back to being decidedly lighter with only one episode left in the season, even splitting its penultimate episode into two parts. How the next one will feel like any kind of finale I can’t imagine, but it’s always been a series that didn’t seem to have its structure down. With veterans handling the direction and series composition, it’s a wonder this is happening, but perhaps it will all come together and make complete sense. Or they just don’t care about the first cour being anything but the first half of the whole, despite the gap in between the two. It’s not the most creative way to defy convention, but obviously the end of the next season (assuming that’s all we get of anime for at least a while) will need to be more like a finale. With the potential built up, I have little doubt that that will work out.
The first half of the episode puts the Port Mafia in the spotlight for the first time, specifically making Higuchi the star for this brief period. Akutagawa isn’t doing too well after the events of the previous episode, but Higuchi is still his loyal subordinate and appears to have more personal feelings for him. With him out of commission, she isn’t getting the respect she should as a superior officer; after all, she’s hardly done anything aside from supporting him. This is made clear to her by Black Lizard, the group within the Port Mafia that was hyped up as a major threat to the Armed Detective Agency before being reduced to a pure joke upon actually attacking. Here they are treated with the utmost seriousness, which is more than a little bizarre given what they existed for until now. For that matter, there may not be any other sequence of the series this devoid of humor, even when stakes are much higher. Higuchi is meant to be made into a sympathetic character on a level beyond what we’ve seen in the Port Mafia thus far, but she doesn’t have nearly as much personality as any other member of the cast who has received any measure of focus. Her feelings for Akutagawa and how they keep her at a terrible organization like the Port Mafia are also a little hard to take without enough time to really delve into what makes Higuchi tick. Her Black Lizard colleagues are depicted as not only competent but actually quite honorable, which is a far cry from the perception that had been portrayed prior. With more time, the Port Mafia could be explored as a group containing many individuals that could be among the protagonists, but with such a short sampling of it, this feels like unnecessary filler.
For the second half, everything shifts. The Armed Detective Agency is back at the center and everything is light, fun, and wacky again. Atsushi continues his trend of shadowing a senpai with Kenji, the very image of a country bumpkin and a dangerously naïve optimist. Kenji is even more of a quirky joke than maybe anyone on the team, as it’s impossible to have any real kind of conversation with him, but his idealism allows a certain level of charisma that brings Atsushi along for the ride, believing things that he never would’ve were they expressed with any less conviction. This leads into the finale, so hopefully it will offer more than the joke that defines Kenji.
In Summary:
Following up the major plot developments of the past few episodes, this one is split between a throwaway look at a member of the antagonists and an introduction to another member of the team, leading into the season finale with jokes but not a clear idea of how things will end for now.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Roku 3, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.
