Hulu hasn’t done much with anime for a while now but they’ve recently added some new material. One of the more interesting shows of this year is now on the service with Bungo Stray Dogs as the first twenty-one episodes are now live on it, keeping it pretty close to the Japanese broadcast and simulcast schedule. Naturally, it’s open to subscribers only and those in the United States, but for those that have Hulu it definitely provides some additional value to the service.
Studio Bones announced the project with its adaptation in early August 2015. The series comes from the manga that began in 2012 in Young Ace from writer Kafka Asagiri and artist Harukawa35. The ninth compiled volume came out on December 29th, 2015.
The anime adaptation was produced by Bones with Takuya Igarashi directing it based on the screenplay by Yoji Enokido. Nobuhiro Arai served as both character designer and chief animation director.
The cast includes Yuto Uemura as Atsushi Nakajima, Mamoru Miyano as Osamu Dazai, Yoshimasa Hosoya as Doppo Kunikida, Hiroshi Kamiya as Ranpo Edogawa, Toshiyuki Toyonaga as Junichirou Tanizaki, Hiroyuki Kagura as Kenji Miyazawa, Yuu Shimamura as Akiko Yosano, Chiaki Omigawa as Naomi Tanizak, Rikiya Koyama as Yukichi Fukuzawa, Kensho Ono as Ryuunosuke Akutagawa, Wataru Hatano as Motojiro Kaijii, Asami Seto as Ichiyo Higuchi and Sumire Morohoshi as Kyoka Izumi.
Plot concept: Nakajima Atsushi was kicked out of his orphanage, and now he has no place to go and no food. While he is standing by a river, on the brink of starvation, he rescues a man whimsically attempting suicide. That man is Dazai Osamu, and he and his partner Kunikida are members of a very special detective agency. They have supernatural powers and deal with cases that are too dangerous for the police or the military. They’re tracking down a tiger that has appeared in the area recently, around the time Atsushi came to the area. The tiger seems to have a connection to Atsushi, and by the time the case is solved, it is clear that Atsushi’s future will involve much more of Dazai and the rest of the detectives!