Bungou Stray Dogs 4th Season

No longer concerned with military affairs, Yukichi Fukuzawa intends to act as a lone bodyguard-for-hire, making use of his deadly swordsmanship. However, things are not going as planned for his freelance business, and that is when he crosses paths with a mouthy boy named Ranpo Edogawa. While their initial interactions are intertwined with a bizarre murder mystery, the aftermath prompts the formation of the Armed Detective Agency.

Presently, Ranpo finds himself chasing down a gifted individual with the dangerous ability to execute the perfect crime. But as the great detective unravels the case, he soon discovers an elaborate plot to obliterate the Agency in its entirety.

Although forewarned of the trap, the Agency continue their pursuit of the criminals, only to end up framed for the crime themselves. Now branded as wanted terrorists, the remaining members must find a way to prove their innocence—even if they must turn to sworn enemies for assistance.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Dazai, Osamu Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Nakajima, Atsushi Main

Uemura, Yuuto Japanese

Nakahara, Chuuya Supporting

Taniyama, Kishou Japanese

Edogawa, Ranpo Supporting

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Oda, Sakunosuke Supporting

Uemura, Yuuto Japanese

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor Supporting

Ishida, Akira Japanese

Yosano, Akiko Supporting

Shimamura, Yuu Japanese

Izumi, Kyouka Supporting

Morohoshi, Sumire Japanese

Kunikida, Doppo Supporting

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Gogol, Nikolai Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Suzuki, Mari Producer

Kurakane, Chiaki Producer

Takemoto, Nobuhito Producer

Igarashi, Takuya Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Mar 29, 2023

Mcsuper

Recommended

After watching the first three seasons and movie recently, along with this fourth season, I can tell why the Bungou Stray Dogs franchise is so big in Japan, albeit a bit less popular overseas due to it being more of a seinen series. The cast is quite unique, there is a solid balance between humour and serious moments, and the presentation is very well done. Without a doubt, Season 4 of Bungou Stray Dogs has been the best installment in the series thus far, as it was definitely the most thrilling and consistent of all the seasons.

Since Season 2, each season kicked off with a ... flashback that focused on certain characters of the show, and the flashbacks usually ended up being the best part of the season itself. However, this time around, I was thoroughly impressed by the fact that the events flashback sequence related to the events in the present quite a lot, and built upon them effectively, which was what was lacking in Season 3. I felt the present arcs were even better executed than the flashback, which was great.

The fundamental reason why this season worked better than the previous three in my opinion is that the stakes felt higher than they’ve ever been, and I genuinely felt worried for some of the characters, fearing they would meet their demise. Each episode was filled with twists and turns, which made it all the more thrilling, and the episodes just flew by every week. The sense of mystery felt stronger than it ever has been. You thought you knew what was coming, and then another twist happens. What’s more, the twists for the most part, didn’t feel forced at all, and were executed very nicely.

The cast of characters felt even more fleshed out this season, with Ranpo and Yosano really taking centre stage for a few of the episodes, and I’m glad they focused on characters other than Dazai and Atsushi, and gave more balanced development to each character of the Detective Agency. Some mature themes were present in their backstories, and I grew to appreciate their characters much more with the events that transpired in the past and future surrounding them. It felt like much needed information on their character was delivered, and it was delivered well.

The animation and designs continued to be consistent throughout, meaning that the production was probably healthy, and the staff finished the episodes ahead of schedule. Good job by Studio Bones here as usual. The soundtrack was good as always, capturing the mysterious and darker tones of the series. OP and ED were great as well.

I have virtually nothing but praise for this season of Bungou Stray Dogs, and aside from a few powers that felt a bit over the top, it wasn’t much of a problem for me personally. Overall, just a very solid, thrilling season that was a pleasure to watch every week, and the best season of the series to date. With Season 5 coming in summer of this year, you bet I’m excited for what’s to come.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Nov 1, 2023

Joshuukun

Mixed Feelings

Another case of BSD struggling with whether it wants to be good or not.

The flashbacks as always, are the best moments of the show. Always masterfully written with great direction that makes a solid one-off story. The overarching plotline on the other hand is a mess. Somehow always making a writing misstep after a good scene. You'd think "How is that possible? It's just a backstory, it takes away from the current events." but when you look at the show holistically, the flashbacks existing in a bubble outside the current events is exactly the reason why it's the only parts of the show that has ... a solid foundation.

This season's exploration of Ranpo and Yosano's pasts, akin to the excellence displayed in Oda's backstory from season 2, and to a lesser extent, Dazai's from season 3, adds depth to the characters and continues to weave into present-day events nicely. For once, the writing felt committed, now that it felt like the events have actual consequences, especially with the impact of Fyodor in the first half. Eventually, after the episode with Nikolai which was fantastic, "The Hunting Dogs" gets written into existence without any real foreshadowing, which isn't the issue. As always, my biggest gripes come with the haphazard introduction of plot points and the neglect of essential story beats. It struggles with tone shifts and trying to make me care for most of the events, specifically because of lackluster worldbuilding. It relies heavily on the viewer filling in very huge blanks by themselves until they decide to actually write later on. And without being hooked in the first place, people would hardly care enough to try and play into this formula. For the same reason, the explanations don't feel satisfactory to me.

I find it difficult to enjoy BSD but highlight its flaws without explicitly spoiling the specific examples, but ultimately it just hinges on the eye of the beholder. How I see it, it's just the horrible worldbuilding that takes away from the smaller scenes. It's wasted potential, really. A bad mesh of good ideas.

Story: 4
Animation: 7
Visuals: 7
Music: 9 (OST) 8 (OP & ED)
Characters: 7
Sound: 8 (Sound Design) 7 (Voice Acting)

Favorite Episode: 9 - A Dream of Butterflies

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Mar 29, 2023

slavemaster_1991

Not Recommended

Funny

With every season I watch this series I can't help but notice that the same formula works worse and worse, to the point of completely falling flat. Let me explain what feels wrong with Stray dogs.
First, following the already existing pattern, we have flashbacks. Way too lengthy flashbacks that add nothing to the story for two simple reasons: they are too ordinary and they add nothing to the character in question. By being ordinary I mean that there would be no difference if the story of the flashback was set in the present, as the plot of said events doesn't differ in any meaningful way ... from what the characters are doing in present time. Even worse, even though there are years between flashbacks and the actual events of the main story - the characters are the exact same as they were, like they were in stasis this whole time or not even existing. I know that without major events people don't go through major change, but at least some progress is to be expected, characters mature and get experience even if the viewer/reader is not going through every second of their life. Oh and while I am talking about character development - there is almost NO progress for the rest of the cast too, even though they are actually going through a serious event.
Second, the lack of logic. Yes I know this anime has supernatural. But you see, even the supernatural follows SOME rules, or it will soon deteriorate into a mess. And this is exactly what happens in Stray Dogs. Almost half of the season is a kind of mystery-solving detective story. What do you expect from it? Logical investigation, interrogating suspects, collecting evidence, cornering the criminal into revealing themselves. Or you can just get a set of BS accusations based on "I AM A GENIUS '' claim that suddenly are all correct even though they make no sense at all. It is almost like saying "The sun is up so it is monday '' while it is indeed monday. Yes, you are correct, but your reasoning is completely wrong and you can't make me believe you used any kind of logic here. Oh and don't forget to make anyone involved in the investigation more stupid than they should be so our "genius" claim would be at least somewhat believable, or just make the mystery in question predictable and obvious from the start.
Third, the lack of thrill. When the action comes you could expect adrenaline, high stakes, a battle of life and death. Not here though. Because the plot armor is so THICC for everyone that characters are basically immune to all kinds of blades, bullets and explosions as long as it is not THE tragic moment. Cause when THE moment comes - suddenly a character can be damaged even by strong wind. I know that this is used to both fill the title with action and have some kind of a point to continue with the plot, but at least give characters a thing to fight over. Because "fighting for their lives" while your plot armor doesn't allow you to even be wounded is not a working justification for me to be engaged. Maybe if characters in combat at least used their magic powers in an interesting way it would be enjoyable, but nope, they do the most basic stuff one could imagine.

Overall I have an impression that Stray Dogs simply tries to be way too many things at once. It wants to be over the top with abilities like Jojo does, but doesn't embrace the required "over the top and out of charts' ' level, as it also wants to be a serious show. It wants to be a serious detective/mystery story, but lacks good mysteries and can't make a logically sound investigation process. It wants to have deep characters but only throws one flashback on a barely developed character with one defining trait and calls it a day. It wants to be an action but lacks both the thrill and the spectacle. To be honest I didn't read the novel so I don't know whom to blame - poor adaptation of great source material or poor writing in the source, but the result is the same - I don't find Stray Dogs in any way enjoyable. I would only recommend this anime if you are watching it in the background while cooking or doing something else, because if you pay attention to what is happening on the screen - you will lose all the fun in its shortcomings.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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