It’s a joyous feeling to be so excited about the return of a series close to one’s heart, especially at a time when beloved art can be cut short before its full story has been told. Of course, after three seasons and a feature film, one could hardly call Bungo Stray Dogs underrated much less unsuccessful, yet perhaps because of its quality, there’s a yearning for it to get much more recognition.
Director Takuya Igarashi returns to direct Season 4 of Bungo at Bones Studio D, the same studio that brought audiences the all-time classic, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. This time, the Armed Detective Agency has to clear its name while pursuing a terrorist group plotting worldwide chaos to some unknown end.
Beware The Decay of Angels
In the aftermath of the last arc, the Agency is recognized for its contributions to public safety. However, after Ranpo receives a warning from a foe-turned-friend, he becomes convinced that the Agency is about to be framed. His suspicions turn out to be true when a group known as The Decay of Angels uses a page from “The Book” to alter reality and frame them for murder.
To make matters worse, Japan’s Military Police have deployed their most powerful force yet, the Hunting Dogs, a group of surgically enhanced Gifted on a whole other league from our heroes. Their introduction is exceptional, crashing onto the scene (literally) with ridiculous flair even by Bungo’s theatrical standards. They are easy to love and fear in equal measure.
This season's most prevalent theme is determination, which only becomes more blatant as it continues. Everyone becomes separated, and the narrative is a relentless gauntlet of trials. The frightening power of the book is presented in such a way that the blow dealt to the Agency feels decidedly fatal. It’s an incredibly effective and clever narrative device playing into the literary motif that dominates the text.
The resulting manhunt forces the protagonists right into the palms of past foes, be it the Mafia or the Guild. It is a productive tension that reveals great insights about how far the characters have come, and it wouldn’t be nearly effective if not for the years of buildup. Audiences have seen these characters as enemies, but also as allies, adding depth to these relationships as new obstacles complicate things.
Season 4 feels different in a number of ways. Tonally, it’s a far darker story, and narratively, it’s far less self-contained. While the second and third felt like they wrapped up in a neat and exciting bow, the fourth is very clearly and unapologetically the start of something much bigger. To that end, the story moves at a breakneck pace, yet unfortunately, its brevity is also a symptom of its biggest flaw.
Speed Reading
Bungo Stray Dogs’ flashback arcs are awesome, but that might be a controversial opinion depending on who you ask. Some manga readers will tell you that these opening arcs hurt the story, leaving fewer episodes to cover the main story. Alternatively, one might argue that because of the flashback arcs, the remaining episodes of the previous seasons were stronger thanks to tighter pacing. This is to say nothing of what these stories contribute to the overall themes.
However, Season 4 feels the most burdened by this pacing, which is a shame, because The Untold Origins of the Detective Agency is a great story to start off with. It genuinely enriches the characters of Fukuzawa and Ranpo and shows the birth of the Agency right before the main story tears it down. But in retrospect, it might have been better to simply start where the manga left off, and that hurts to say.
As the opening act, it builds this expectation that the main story following the opening will be more about Fukuzawa and Ranpo, the found family that is at the heart of the Agency. In reality, Ranpo and Fukuzawa are relatively minor characters this time around, though certainly not because they aren’t important.
On the contrary, every character is utilized well and has their time in the spotlight. There just simply isn’t enough time to adapt the manga to get to those moments in 10 episodes. Akutagawa doesn’t even so much as make an appearance despite being prominently featured in the opening. The Hunting Dogs are awesome, but they only start to take center stage in the last two episodes, when the story uncomfortably pivots to a new mini-arc that isn’t optimal to cap off the season.
This results in the highly abridged Sky Casino Arc, and the cutting of scenes that helped to flesh out the fan-favorite character and antagonist of the arc, Sigma. The way that Dazai and Fyodor talk about Sigma makes him incredibly interesting, but it comes at the cost of scenes that illustrate why he’s interesting. His importance feels somewhat lost in the whirlwind of events coinciding with his late introduction.
A Story Determined To Be Excellent
Amid everything said before, one might think that this newest outing was a letdown, and compared to Season 3, perhaps it is. If it weren’t for the surprise announcement of a fifth just a few months away, it very well may have left many fans bitter. But even as a step down from its past work still puts this series a league above many others.
Sigma may have drawn the short straw concerning screentime, but Yosano’s episode might be one of the hardest-hitting and emotional of the series. Beneath the pretty exterior, Bungo has always been about people who struggle to believe that they deserve to live, and their long, rocky roads to self-affirmation. That message is as powerful here as its always been.
It can’t be understated how beautiful this series can be, even in its moments of profound tragedy. The storytelling has a style and spirit all its own that it has monopolized through a signature art direction. These things don’t fully make up for this season’s pacing problems, especially on the tail end, but they save it from being shackled to those flaws.
The Sky Casino Arc notwithstanding, the pacing works in ramping up the tension and delivering some of the most shocking twists and gripping stories in the series yet. It is a game of wits in which the heroes are rarely winning and are arguably worse off at the end than when they started. And yet, there is a resounding feeling of hope in the final episode that can put a smile on your face.
Bungo Stray Dogs Season 4’s biggest weakness was time, but it accomplished far more than it had any right to do under the circumstances. Furthermore, it’s a gorgeous series that continues to raise the bar in its animation. Few shows are as visually consistent as Bungo in this day and age, and we’re lucky to have a show like this continue as long as it has. And with any luck, Season 5 will be even better.