Bungo Stray Dogs 5th Season finished airing almost a month ago, but I’m only just now finishing my episode reviews for it. I apologize for the delay, but I think I’m finally getting back into blogging. Anyway, I was very impressed with BSD 5 as a whole. You can expect a full series review on this blog at some point. For now, here are my thoughts on the last three installments of the season: episodes 9, 10, and 11.
Note: These episode reviews will not contain detailed recaps – only my responses to selected events and character moments.
Episode 9 (59): Land of Inhuman Demons 2
This episode was great, full of action, suspense, mysteries, and bits of humor. One of my random thoughts about this episode was related to Atushi. He has gone through a lot of pain over the course of this anime. When he got captured by Teruko, I was expecting him to endure intense torture. But much to my relief, the tiger-boy avoids major pain this time. Teruko was only instructed to keep him from interfering with Fukuchi.
Speaking of Teruko, she reveals that the Angel’s Decay has a secret motive other than the destruction of world governments. I am eager to learn this true objective – though I think I already have the basic idea. My guess is that Fukuchi is somehow trying to prevent future violence and wars that are even worse than what he’s been doing. It’s obvious that Fukuchi was strongly affected by his experiences on the battlefield. The flashback of him holding a dying soldier in his arms was rather telling. He must want the violence to end.
There isn’t a lot more that I can think of to discuss right now. But I do have two more quick notes. Firstly, I am interested in the friendship between Fukuchi and Fukuzawa. Their interactions in this episode definitely reinforced the idea that they were best friends in the past. It must be painful for Fukuzawa to fight his old companion.
The second note I made was about Dazai and Sigma. It makes sense that Dazai wants Sigma to use his power to uncover the truth about Fyodor. Honestly, I had forgotten all about Sigma’s ability. Leave it to a smart guy like Dazai to think of an effective and productive way to utilize that power. And although Dazai is sort of “using” Sigma, he is also saving his life. I believe Dazai when he promises to keep Sigma alive. That’s all for episode 9!
Episode 10 (60): Land of Inhuman Demons 3
Episode 10 spends some time on Aya, the little girl who seized Lord Bran at the airport. Despite being a child, she is intelligent, ambitious, and courageous. Aya is definitely my favorite kid in BSD for her inventive mind, strong spirit, and desire for justice. Her Kansai accent is cute, and her interactions with Bran are often funny and wholesome. Last of all, it’s cool that she is studying karate. I have a feeling we should not underestimate this girl.
Like most BSD characters, Aya was named after a real, historical author. Aya Koda was a writer of books and essays published in the 1940s-1960s. She wrote a lot about domestic life as a woman in that era, and was considered an early feminist. Some of her famous works are Nagareru (Flowing), Chichi: Sono Shi (The Death of My Father), and Kuroi Sosu (The Black Kimono). I wanted to mention the real Aya here so everyone who reads this can learn something new about literature. You’re welcome.
Now let’s get back to the fictional world of Bungo Stray Dogs, as I have a few other things to mention about this episode. First of all, I felt quite frustrated at Sigma for being fooled by Fyodor. I know he’s not supposed to be the brightest character compared to someone like Dazai. Still, I didn’t expect him to fall for that terrible act. As Fyodor said, giving villains “split personalities” (an outdated term) is an overused trope.
My final note for this episode is that it was well-written and well-executed. Everything came together to create an epic and seemingly hopeless situation. Fukuchi has activated the One Order, and the Detective Agency has been defeated. Fukuzawa was impaled with a blade, Atsushi is being ripped apart by Akutogawa, and Dazai has been shot in the head.
As chaos breaks out for our characters and all over the world, audiences wonder how (or if) this can ever be fixed. Will there be any kind of decent resolution? If a show can make the viewers anxious in this way, it usually means the writing is pretty good. Now, all that remains is the season finale.
Episode 11 (61): Twilight Goodbye
Although imperfect, the last episode of BSD 5 was more than good enough overall. Let me go over a few highlights that I appreciated. First, there’s Aya. Her courage was one of the major factors in saving the world, and that’s amazing. I expected Atsushi to play more of a role, but I’m also happy with Aya being the young hero this time.
The way Dazai defeated Fyodor was quite satisfying. I like what he said about having allies. While Fyodor is limited by the fact that he doesn’t trust anyone, Dazai gambled on his fellow stray dogs, and it paid off. Fyodor is dead. He was definitely my favorite villain in the BSD universe, so his end was bittersweet for me. Additionally, it was somehow touching when Nikolai sadly and calmly accepted Fyodor’s demise.
Possibly the best part of this episode was the discussion between Fukuchi and Fukuzawa concerning war and humanity. The dialogue was thought-provoking. There is a lot to unpack in this scene, and I certainly cannot do it justice in a short episode review. Eventually, I plan to write in detail about this meaningful interaction. For now, suffice it to say that the discussion was critically important to understand.
The death of Fukuchi was both beautiful and painful. Teruko is my favorite of the newer characters, so it was sad to see her forced into the final duty of killing the man she most admired. But as difficult as it was for Teruko, the death of Fukuchi was even more powerful for Fukuzawa. He wept as he held his friend in his arms for the last time. His cries and sobs were heart-wrenching. This scene was very poetic and well-executed.
Considering the limited amount of time, the season finale of BSD 5 was actually rather impressive. However, I can’t pretend that it provided satisfactory resolution. Since there is probably going to be a sixth season, I can accept the fact that a lot of important elements were left unresolved. There are still many unanswered questions, loose ends, and plot points that were not clearly explained. Hopefully, the answers will be provided in BSD season 6.
Can I just add how happy I am that the story will most likely continue? As I watched most of season 5, I assumed this would be the last season. You have no idea how thrilled I was to see the teaser at the end of the episode, complete with the words, “To be Continued!” BSD is a wonderful anime and I thoroughly enjoyed the 5th season.
Thanks for reading~
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