Bungou Stray Dogs

It's a simple anime, perfect for watching without commitment.

I started watching Stray Dogs at the beginning of August... and only finished it at the end of the month. Sometimes it can be uninteresting. It's not a boring anime, but the story doesn't hook you enough to watch the next episode.

The main characters in this anime are charismatic and funny, with the main character (Atsushi Nakajima) being a good protagonist, but one who doesn't stray from the generic. The antagonists, however, are silly and fail to convey any sense of power. Of course, this is due to the mixture of comic and dark, which I find ... terrible. A great scene of tension is broken by a joke that isn't necessarily bad. There are many anime that know how to use a serious and funny tone at the same time, but unfortunately that's not the case with Stray Dogs.

As for the animation, the quality is good, but it's not spectacular, it's the level you'd expect from a 2016 anime.

It's not even close to being a bad anime, but I can tell you that I wasn't left wanting more when I finished it, and I'm certainly going to take my time starting season 2.

It's the kind of anime you put on your "watched" list and don't even remember. Anyway: 7/10.

In General :-
Truth be told it was a real disappointment even from the beginning i thought
the story was advancing to better and it did so but too late at least for this
season.
The Enjoyment :-
it's comedic with funny characters even the bad guys had their share in the comedy so i really enjoyed watching the show but was expecting something
much better hope that is in the second season.
The Story :-
it was really developing fast or you can say wasn't developing at all....lol
with no much details and things need to be revealed isn't
... many episodes wasjust in vain to shorten
it i felt like the anime started from EP 8 !
yeah...repeating the same scenes every episode want make us get the
characters' personality that's what i think BUT IN GENERAL I GIVE IT 6 POINTS
The Characters:-
the main character Atsush is as written an orphan who is uneasy about his position
in life and how he isn't useful but his personality is just so stupid
and he is a real coward but a real friend and care about people
appreciate their helping.
IN GENERAL
STUPID BUT I LIKED THE CHARACTER .
AND there of course dazai the suicide fanatic idiot his character
IS complicated yet comedic with so many mysteries that
got revealed shortly afetr.
AND of course the rest of the character but talking about them is spoiler
The Art And Music
i liked the art was detailed was some lags but didn't like the
papers that appear when a new character shows up telling us his/her name and ability it felt like a manga not an anime with it killing some
jokes in the early part of the show and taking the whole screen
just for a name and some few word AS FOR THE MUSIC i really liked the OP
but the ED was somehow off.

So just finished watching Bungou Stray Dogs today so i thought I'd finally start writing my small reviews.

Overall, I'd say this series was kinda disappointing. Hearing about it from other people made it sound like some underrated gem with great characters and interesting story but, I can't honestly say that it met those expectations. It started off with a really good hook that got me watching but it quickly fell off and I got bored pretty soon. I only continued watching cause I don't like dropping series midway unless I really can't stand it anymore. That is to say that Bungou Stray Dogs isn't really ... that bad, just painfully average.
Personally I didn't like the pacing of scenes and story progression or a lot of the humour which I don't think I'm the only one to find a bit 'tasteless' at times. Atsushi could have been an interesting character to follow and the series does set up some good concepts to work with, but ultimately it didn't feel like he went very far and I can't say I believe the future seasons will do him any justice. Dazai and some of the villains were only characters I'd say I care about and are the reason why I might continue watching the series later.
Now, there is a small list of things that I did enjoy: one of the main reasons I decided to watch Bungou was because of the art and character designs. All the characters look good and interesting, plenty of good uses of colour and I'll be honest; the fashion was easily my favourite thing in the whole series. The other good thing I took away from the series was the outro song; there was more visual, musical and emotional quality in the last minute of each episode than in the rest of the series. I ended up skipping the intro after hearing it the first 2 times, but I never skipped the outro.

As a final thought; I recommend going into Bungou Stray Dogs with low expectations. It looks better than it actually is. If you're looking for something "okayish" with good visuals and not the worst story, I say go ahead and enjoy.

This is my first review ever as I felt I needed to let people know what this anime is.

the story, sound, art. all are a solid 8 if not higher.

but the problem comes in the pacing. the first couple of episodes are slow and bland with some potential. as far as production goes, this was a well-made anime and if this was just written better with an engaging start then it might have been an overall 9. for example there are multiple boring, slow and bland arcs in one piece but by that point, I'm way too invested into the story to drop it. this ... anime is how an anime should be made, with great detail to the art and environment, but it's all for nothing if it doesn't captivate the viewers in the first place (btw I've watched more than 6, later on, I just haven't updated it)

Very confusing. I was dragged in by Dazai's character and i wound up with a mediocre anime. The premise and potential are great but the show has little consistency or plot. I honestly thought that it was a slice of life for a while. The focus on the main character is mostly his self-pity and he is faced with to many "defeat" moments. His back story and powers are interesting and I love his design but somehow he goes from not being able to use his powers..to using them perfectly. It's very repetitive in scenes, the characters always seem to be in the same position ... but they never learn. The plot is confusing, the development is not existent, the potential is grand but the art, animation and the character design will keep me watching... Perhaps the manga is better paced? i'll probably read it.

I initially scored this as an 8 because as far as I could remember, it was really good. But then when I re-watched this, I realized BSD's first season didn't really start off as a bang. I get that they introduce the characters with their abilities an/or story with each episode, which really did paid off for season 2 and 3 as well as the movie.
But season 1 was lacking something. It seems like they were just running around in circles with the 12 episodes and then it started picking up in the last moments. Another problem was having too many good characters. Let's ... be honest, they really did have promising characters with a cool premise of a detective agency vs port mafia; however, with the number of characters in the story, it's hard to be attached to them all in just 12 episodes, with no clear plot at all.
Thus, I gave it a 6 for this season only. However, one must not lose hope. For better watching experience, I suggest you continue watching till it finish because it'll get much better in the next episodes.

THIS IS A SPOILER FREE REVIEW
I honestly don't know where to start with this review. First off this review is about all three seasons of BSD, because for me all three seasons had the same issue, there was no plot! You get introduced to great characters such as Dazai Osamu, Nakahara Chuuya, Edogawa Rampo and Kunikida Doppo to name a few, but they are not used properly throughout the series. BSD also introduces you to a decent power system but that also isn't explored it's just brushed over with many other things in the series. You then have the main character Atsushi Nakajima whose supposed ... to be the "Chosen One" whose is supposed to " Save/Change/(Possibly Destroy") the current situation that they are in, but that to is just something left up in the air and for you to interpret. It also introduces you to the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia who are supposed to be enemies, but who have a kind of friendly relationship. So the whole rivalry they have is also thrown out the window. The only enjoyable thing in this show for me is the characters that are wasted in this show. I gave all three seasons a 6/10 . I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. It was just meh. I wouldn't recommend, but I wouldn't try to steer you away from it. If you do end up watching it I hope that you enjoyed it more than I did.

(6.5/10) For an anime that has some really amazing things going for it, Bungo Stray Dogs does not get off to a great start.

Let's start with the good things. First off, Bungo Stray Dogs has a wonderfully hilarious premise for literary nerds. The mangaka created the story in the hopes that it would get people more interested in Japanese literature, and I think he's successful for the most part. At the same time, a lot of author dynamics are inverted in the anime compared to how they are in real life (for example, Atsushi is younger than Dazai in the anime, but was from the ... previous generation of writers in reality), so there's also intrigue for people who are already familiar with Japanese literature.

The second good thing I think BSD has is art and animation, particularly character design. BSD has an enormous cast, which means each character needs to look unique so a viewer can recognize them and their story without too much effort. Do I think that Dazai's bandages and Atsushi's tiger-tail belt are as on the nose as Denki Kaminari's yellow lightning-bolt hair? Yes, but those stylistic choices also make the characters memorable and unique. I also love the stylized animation with varying outline thickness to convey character emotion, and as a Studio Bones property, you can rest assured that the action scenes look great. They do not love to draw in faces on far shots to save budget, but I think that overall, that's a small price to pay.

That said, BSD S1 has two glaring faults, particularly in the opening episodes, and the first of those is pacing. For something that bills itself as an action series, there’s not much plot-driven action at first; in fact, the plot does not arguably begin until episode 8 out of 12. While episodes 9 through 12 are certainly fun and exciting, and make you leave the season on a high note with the promise of better things to come, there’s a lot to wade through to get there. Episodes 1 through (most of) 8 are slow and repetitive slice-of-life, with blatantly obvious (and somewhat boring) mysteries for something that bills itself as a mystery series. You really have to be invested in the characters to enjoy the slower, chaotically comedic, and generally plotless nature of those first episodes.

And that brings me to the other glaring fault of the BSD S1: the characters. With its large cast, BSD really only works if you become invested in the main core of characters. The problem is, the main core of characters don’t leave a good first impression. Fan-favorite Dazai is (canonically speaking) a “suicide maniac,” who constantly drops the idea of committing suicide like it’s the funniest thing in existence (the directorial choices around this are… interesting). Atsushi is adorably bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but also an angsty wet blanket for most of the opening episodes, and a bit of a hard sell as the main protagonist. Kunikida is (until episode 6) a one-dimensional straight-man; Ranpo is (until season 2) purposefully and very successfully annoying; Yosano is (until episode 8) sexualized in a bizarrely uncomfortable way; and Tanizaki and his sister are just an blatantly and uncomfortably incestuous disaster. Fans of the franchise will tell you that the characters get better with time, and that’s true, but unless your taste runs in the right ways, they’re a really hard sell at first.

So what DOES BSD offer, given these glaring faults? All I can say is, it really gets better with time. Although the execution is clumsy and off-color at first, the premise is wonderfully creative, and the plot does get going eventually. The characters grow more loveable with time, and as the cast expands, it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ll grow like someone eventually. There are some legitimately wonderful explorations of the concepts of humanity, what it means to live, and more. The score is solid, as is the voice acting, in both sub and dub. For once, the dub matches the unhinged humor of the franchise with fervor and is legitimately hilarious at times.

Try to give BSD a chance, knowing that the later parts (both in S1 and onward) will reward you. If you don’t like it at first, but can get behind at least one character, the wacky premise, and chaotic sense of humor, keep going. But if you get to the ending of episode 6 and it’s still a major effort to get through, just drop it while you’re ahead.

Plot: 6/10
The plot gets a bit boring and predictable at times, but aside from the arc about Kunikida that just felt completely out of place in the middle, for the most part it's okay. However, I do think they should've cut down on the comedy and make the show more serious.

Art (Opening, Ending): 8/10
Art is solid, opening and ending are both pretty nice.

Sound: 5/10
Some of the VAs are very good, and others are just lackluster.

Characters: 6/10
Some characters are just left mysterious for no reason, like Dazai, while others have bizarre attachments to them that feel superfluous. There was no need for Tanizaki ... to have the incestuous sister - the sister ends up only serving her purpose which is to distinguish the brother and sister pair from basically anyone else. As for the other characters, they're pretty bland, an example of this being Akutagawa, who I never really liked anyways. He's just the typical edgy, dark bad man. For Atsushi, they kept repeating the orphanage scene three times per episode which was quite annoying honestly.

Enjoyment: 8/10
Despite all these issues, it's still enjoyable, so I still kept coming back to it.

Overall: 6.6 (rounded to 7)

---Original lenguage: Portuguese--- ---additional lenguage: English---

English: "Would you like to commit double suicide with me?"
Simply a unique personality. I really liked the anime, good elements of action and investigation
The development of our protagonist was notorious and at the same time and did not develop, he can control his powers but his personality remained intact? I understand that having strong elements of comedy influences the course of each character, but is not changing anything really the best?Staying fearful and irrational certainly doesn't make my kind
Other than that I don't have much to complain about, I'll see next season for sure
anime 7/10

PT-BR: "Gostaria de cometer suicídio ... duplo comigo?"
Simplesmente uma personalidade única. Gostei bastante do anime, bom elementos de ação e investigação
O desenvolvimento do nosso protagonista foi notório e ao mesmo tempo e não desenvolveu, ele pode controlar seus poderes mas a sua personalidade continuou intacta? Entendo que ter elementos fortes de comedia influencia no curso de cada personagem, mas não mudar nada é realmente o melhor? continuar medroso e irracional com certeza não faz o meu tipo
Fora isso não tenho muito o que reclamar, verei a proxima temporada com certeza
anime 7/10

2016 was a widely different time in anime, for sure.

"Bungou Stray Dogs" is the third consecutive anime I see about an agency with special people inside. It may be my fatigue from the formula, but it's all just a constant stream of tropes. The problem with this instance is how many things it was trying to do in such a little amount of time. The show isn't anything I can identify, and not in a good way. There's not an objective in sight, and usually that can lead to more of a "survive the situation" kinda thing, but we don't get that. Things happen, ... we deal with them, back to status quo. That's entirely ALL it is. There isn't any spice, or moment that changes the narrative towards an interesting deal. Characters only react to a new thing, and they'll keep reacting until the very end.

For a story, I wish we had a little more of a something. We get to episode 2 and that's all you get. This kid will work, will learn to fight, and he will fight better, solve things more, voilà, there's the anime. Loads of people can enjoy the mundane feeling from it, since it emulates a sort of "Slice of Life" formula, with blood, with terrorism, mafia, etc. It can work, for sure, but give us something to latch onto. Sure, they gotta eliminate the biggest enemy, but they don't do anything to reach that, it just comes to them. The characters always solve everything with very small fails. The enemies are a laughingstock, the plot doesn't matter because it all comes back to episode 2 stakes. I didn't care for anybody if they don't matter for the plot, which is, 90% of the cast.

The thing that managed to pull me through was the animation and the feeling that there clearly was potential here. Battles had a way to begin brutally, hits landing are powerful, bloody, it raises danger. Yet, as we know, they didn't give any fruit on the matter. Maybe the second and subsequent seasons explore what this story is all about. It was just the beginning, and I'm willing to give it another chance since it has the thing, it isn't limited by itself. The fact that it doesn't have an identity means it can still lead to greatness.

The characters themselves are fine, but that's it. I tolerate them, I like some better than others, yet, the protagonist was on the same level as them. He isn't that interesting, other than what the full capabilities of his powers are. It's a mystery, but one that doesn't really try to be solved by the interest of its audience. The villains want it, we don't know why, but they're never really close to getting them, making things all the less interesting. Plot armor, and a character that can just solve everything with the tip of his tongue, reduce the importance of the protagonist's role. It all turns a bit sour, but again, they have the potential.

Overall, I didn't hate my time with the series. I didn't think it was all around terrible, and I did laugh at some jokes. The biggest problem about watching this is how I was actively looking for what I like and what could be better. Wasted potential? For sure. I'll give the series a second try with the second season, and I'm still willing to watch it completely, even if I don't enjoy the rest.

TLDR; 6/10, wasted potential, they solve things too fast. An anime without the backbone to let things have stakes that let their fingerprint on the story.

Before we get started I just want to mention the irrelevant fact that I was born in the 90's, okay. I grew up in the 90's and I'm going to tell everyone. Did I mention that I was born in the 90's yet? 10 Top Things Only 90's Kids Will Remember!!!! Number 3 will fuck your dad!!!!! Sorry, I had to get that out of my system. If you have ever said that in an anime review, you need to get that fuckshit outta here. Nobody cares, just talk about the anime and get to the point. Stop wasting my time! Number 3 was Rocko's ... Modern Life, if anyone cares. Anyway, Bungou Stray Dogs. スタート
I understand there's more to the story. This is just a smaller piece to an even larger narrative, I completely understand, but as it's own stand-alone story, season one of Bungou Stray Dogs was a pretty underwhelming and lukewarm experience. I still like it, regardless. On the surface, it clearly seemed like something I would've loved and revisited for years to come. After watching the first two episodes I was getting strong Kekkai Sensen vibes and set my expectations pretty high. On paper, this entire show is pretty damn cool, but in execution, it's meh. Minor spoilers. Just minor ones, I promise. But if you're reading this, chances are you've already seen the show.

When I was in the middle of watching this show, a thought came to my head. I'm under the distinct impression that this show cares more about style rather than substance. When it comes to the setting and world of Bungou Stray Dogs, it felt like I wasn't properly introduced and established to anything. It's just about a group of people who work for a detective agency doing cool shit on screen. I'm skipping a few details and there is a story here, but my point is, this show never gives you a good enough reason to care about what's going on in the actual story. And it also doesn't give you a good reason to care about these characters. Atsushi is a rather unique example when it comes to this, because in episode one, the show explains to the audience of Atsushi's past, background, and trauma. It's a very disheartening and sad story, but as a character, not a fan. Sorry. If I'm being entirely sincere I'm not a fan of his personality and character traits. I've watched too much anime at this point to care about another low self-esteem, self-loathing, and self-doubting teenager playing the lead of an anime. I've seen it too many times and it becomes more and more unconvincing each time I see it. It makes me groan and roll my eyes. At least the show gives you a reason to care about Atsushi and over time he begins to evolve into a young man with a little more confidence and skill. Near the end of the first season, you begin to realize that he becomes less dependent on his other co-workers and that was nice to see. He still needs help every once and a while, but hey, progress. :P

Osamu Dazai was disappointing. You'll hear me say that a few more times about these characters. Obviously, there's a lot more under the surface of his character. However in this season, you get NOTHING. Just a tease, but essentially nothing. It's like asking the anime, "Hey, do you think you could maybe flesh out Dazai's character just a little more?" And then the anime is like, "Oh, sure thing, bro!" And then they fax you a picture of a monkey pissing in it's own face. It was the writing equivalent of that. It was fun. *Winky face*
I'll say this right now so I can get this out of my system. Dazai is not funny. Humor is subjective yes, yes, yes, but this show's attempts at humor are just like Dazai's suicide attempts...it fails.

What's the best thing about Alzheimer's disease? You meet new people everyday.

Seeeeeeeeeeee? That's a good one, you gotta admit. That joke alone is a lot better than most of the humor that came out of this show. Dazai's infatuation with suicide is very peculiar. I was told by a friend that it makes more sense if you read the novels written by the actual Osamu Dazai, but uh.......................... I don't care. Don't do that. No, no, no. Don't do that.  Don't make read a bunch of novels to understand a character from an anime. I'm not going to jump into a book that will take up many hours of my time so I can fully understand the actions of a character I don't care about. I could be JO-ing to Naomi during those hours. If you're curious about my JO schedule, send me a message, we can sort this out. I'm positive more is explained in the later seasons, but all that tells me so far is that you can't write compelling characters without leaning on the contexts of pre-existing novels. Not cool. His suicide shtick is not funny and it gets old quick.

The suicide stuff reminded me of Itoshiki-sensei. Both characters have a deep fascination with death and suicide. Both even keep a catalog of who they might possibly have a double suicide with. And after thinking about Itoshiki-sensei for a while, that made dislike Dazai just a little bit more. It's a weird parallel, I know. And I hope it's okay that I talk about Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei for a quick second. This will sound pretty messed up considering I'm talking about suicide, but Itoshiki's suicide attempts were actually explained and felt more justified than Dazai's. Suicide is a major theme of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, especially the early parts of the series, because Itoshiki would give valid reasons for his attempts even if it was exaggerated for the sake of comedy. Even if you don't find that show funny, it makes perfect sense. The suicidal aspect of Itoshiki's character would slowly fade over time, so it became less relevant. Dazai wants to kill himself just for the sake of it, with a beautiful woman. That's all. Nothing more. You can laugh now. I'm sure the kids find it funny. I can't stand Dazai. And yes, I'm fully aware that one of the many inspirations of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is "No Longer Human" by Osamu Dazai. I just think Itoshiki is a more convincing and well-written character. I can feel the "Edginess" of Dazai oozing from the screen. Not a fan.

None of the other characters are all that fleshed out, as well. They all just feel like one-note characters rather than people. I don't care about any of them. The show doesn't give you a reason to care about them or what's going on. Hell, two characters that I did enjoy on some level, Junichirou and Naomi disappear for most of the show and pop up out of nowhere near the end like nothing happened. I'm trying my best not to get into spoilers. I especially missed Naomi. She's a real cutie with a nice ass. I'd give her a good poke, if you know what I'm sayin'? And the mole on her face was a nice touch. I don't hate all of these characters, I just feel they're flashy and not very nuanced. Ranpo seemed liked a pretty cool dude. He reminds me of myself. Someone who acts a lot younger than what they actually are, and is kind of a lazy asshole. DAT ME HAHAHA. We don't get much of him, but I enjoyed him. There isn't much to his character, anyway. There was a great scene later into the season where the president of the agency was trying to convince Ranpo to do an assignment and Ranpo refused. So the president tells him that if he cooperates, he will give him praise. And Ranpo widens his eyes, does the slow turn to the president, and says, "Why didn't you say so sooner!" With a huge grin on his face. Excellent scene. Can't fully explain why I love it so much.

The show also introduces a few one-off characters throughout the show. The one-off character would be the central focus of an episode and have some connection to the assignment the gang is working on. If you just pay attention to what's going on and don't look away for a second, it's pretty obvious what's going to happen in the climax of the episode. There's usually a twist, but if you see it coming, like I always did, you'll feel almost nothing afterwards. It tries to pull the "dramatic irony twist" to get you emotional. That kind of storytelling is not inherently a bad thing, I just think Bungou Stray Dogs' writing is not clever enough to pull it off well.

Akutagawa, the big bad villain, was also disappointing. You want some cheese with all that whine, good sir? There's a clear connection between Dazai and Akutagawa. They both worked with each other at some point, and now, Akutagawa despises Dazai, which I can understand lol. He is jealous of Dazai's new protégé, Atsushi. All because he wanted to impress Dazai? I believe that was the reason. Can't quite remember at this point. If I'm remembering this correctly, and that was his motivation for most of what he did, he was a very unimpressive and unmemorable villain. He gave me a good fright when he was first introduced, but where he ends up was just disappointing. Also they just straight-up named a character F. Scott Fitzgerald. Are you fucking kidding me? Wow, that's not even subtle at all. It's not really an issue I have with the show, it just made me facepalm when I came to that realization. I just watched The Great Gatsby the other day and mentioned it in a previous review. Something weird is going on. And yes, they also named a character Osamu Dazai, I know. But I feel that there's a little more obscurity when it comes to his name compared to F. Scott Fitzgerald. And I don't care if you were already familiar with Osamu Dazai before watching this show. There's a greater chance of someone not understanding the Osamu Dazai reference compared to the F. Scott Fitzgerald reference. That's all I'm trying to say. The latter just feels more forced to me. Who hasn't read The Great Gatsby!? You can easily make the argument that Osamu Dazai is a very well-known and famous author, and I agree with you. I just feel that on a worldwide scale, there's plenty of authors who are more recognized than he is. Jane Austen, John Steinbeck, George Orwell, Shel Silverstein, fucking Dr. Suess, and F. Scott Fitzgerald! I'm not trying to disregard Dazai, I just don't think his name is as universal as some people say. It's all a matter of perspective and how you came to discover someone and at what time. This show really likes making literature references, huh?

The animation and art design is one positive I can mention about this show. Everything looked beautiful and polished, very pleasing to my gross, disgusting eyeballs that watch too much anime. I knew I recognized those character designs. The characters in this show look just like the ones from Soul Eater. I thought that was nice. Action scenes are well animated, but I wasn't surprised about that at all, considering it was Bones. They always deliver a good fight scene. I can't really complain about the visuals in this anime, it all looks great. Even the OP and ED look pretty good, despite the fact that I'm not a fan of the OP. Yep, sorry. It's really the song that I don't like. It just doesn't sound very good. Not my thing when I comes to music. And I think that's mostly it. There's some other stuff I could briefly mention, but it's nothing noteworthy, just one-off comments. Bungou Stray Dogs gets a 6 out of 10 for me. It was a 7 at some point and slowly went down.

What I learned today: I would more than likely eat Naomi out.

The rest of my scores:

Story: 4/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 5/10
Characters: 4/10
Enjoyment: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

Quick take: Bungou Stray Dogs is a whole lot of build up and character introduction with little significant story until late in the season.

Bungou Stray Dogs' story line is a whole lot of build up to a rather disappointing finale episode. We're presented to an world where special abilities are rare among humans. Within this world, a special private investigative agency helps solve crimes that the police cannot handle or refuse to touch. It's a great premise that fails to deliver a "wow!" throughout the entirety of the first season, as much of the time we're introducing characters and spending time on world building. ... Even then, the world feels devoid of depth. That is to say, there feels to be clear cut lines between "good" and "bad," lacking much grey area to create a lot of tension.

I disliked the art much of the time. Early on, it felt cheesy, corny or just poorly drawn, but as the show progressed, I came to believe that much of the design choices were intentional. It led to a bizarre situation where the art style didn't match the story line. This created a division within the show as to whether it wanted to deal with heavy topics, which the story line toys with most of the time, or if it just wants to make a couple of kids laugh.

Sound was good. English acting was okay, neither great nor poor. The OP and Ending songs were nothing special.

Character development was fair. The first season felt more about quantity vs. quality. We were introduced to a lot of characters, but none felt developed to any noteworthy depth by the end of the first season. We see some growth in the main characters as well as some budding branches for future growth between the characters, but none are realized by the end of the first season.

Overall, Bungou Stray Dogs is plagued by a whole lot of "meh." The art choices are questionable at times and rarely add that levity a comedic passage is meant to do. Characters remain undeveloped and the story builds to a lackluster ending. All this adds to an anime that is slightly better than mediocre. Hoping that the story and character development, at the very least, picks up in later seasons.

Do you like watching bullets getting kicked out of the air directly back into the shooter's face? Characters taking themselves way too seriously and they're only there for a moment or so? Do you like cheese with a side of ridiculous super powers?

Listen, this wasn't a masterpiece BUT I was so entertained until the end. This show had me laughing so hard when I least expected it. This show takes itself, for the most part, very seriously but as serious as it looks it's very childish. I also was drawn in by the style. Oh my god, everyone really does look cool! The sound ... track is catchy! The characters were... entertaining! Honestly, I watched every episode and the movie (while doing other things) and right up until the 3rd season did it start to slow down. Just, trust me and give it a few episodes.

This anime left me feeling hungry and unsatisfied. Like the waiter forgot to bring my bowl of rice to pair with all the assorted dishes, so there was no context to my meal, but I just continued eating thinking the waiter was just slow and would bring it eventually, but then I finished all the food.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Story *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
The first few episodes gave me high hopes as the premise was rather interesting - a port city ruled by mafia opposed mostly by a lone agency full of misfit detectives...plus supernatural powers. Warring philosophies related to justice, value of life, purpose of death, etc gave purpose ... to the storyline and characters.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Art *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Fashion and looks have an industrial age feel, similar to Baccano’s, and the creators put emphasis on eyes that flash squint, glare, to portray distinct thoughts and emotions. Also, with laggy internet that intermittently froze on random scenes, I noted the settings to be quite detailed, even the ones that are supposed to fade into the background. And the fight scenes are high-quality as well without any disproportionate bodies spinning into the air or characters making weird/bland faces when they thought no one was looking ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Sound *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
Opening and closing themes are catchy. Soundtrack wasn’t noteworthy though. Completely blended in with the mood. Probably wouldn’t recognize it if I heard it elsewhere.


✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Character *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
This anime is full of dark characters with dark pasts struggling to survive and to find reasons to continue doing so. Characters like Dazai, Atsushi, and Kyouka have internal conflicts that lead to their interesting (and somewhat split) personalities, but the anime hardly goes into their backstory and thoughts, leaving them with a lack of depth and lost appeal. Fortunately in later seasons the anime somewhat addresses this (ie exploring Dazai’s past) thank god.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Enjoyment *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
The anime swings between dark & gory and then the classic exaggerated anime humor complete with the enlarged faces and simplified expressions. Sometimes they’re funny, but sometimes they’re not, like it didn’t even match the character’s personality sometimes or it was awkward according to the situation. Totally the kind of humor if you did that in real life, I would judge you...hard.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* Overall *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧
If you enjoy cheesy humor and idiosyncratic supernatural characters, then watch this. Despite my criticisms, I finished until the end, and I heard it gets better in the future seasons, so I will continue the series~

hope u enjoy (ㆁᴗㆁ✿)

Reviews if you don't have time.
*SPOILER-FREE*

If you like good shows with awesome characters, “Bungou Stray Dogs”, one of the most popular shows in the genre, might be worth to waste a little time on. It is a manga adaptation with powerhouse studio Bones at the helm of animation.

As one might expect from the name alone, Bones did an amazing work with this adaptation. From the design of the characters and scenes to the powers each of them have, it is all very well executed and done. The fights are good and exciting and have a good flow and balance to them. It is not a ... Bones masterclass, like shows such as “Mob Psycho 100” but still is a noteworthy show, animation wise.

The plot is actually well written and despite being, specially at the beginning, isolated cases that change every few episodes, the major and overarching plot points and mysteries remain interesting and captivating and normally end up in a pretty satisfying climax towards the end of the season. Some stories are better than the other which makes it a little hard to watch some parts but overall, they are all pretty good.

However, if there was one thing that the shows in the genre and “Bungou Stray Dogs” does beautifully is the characters. The are unique and amazingly design. Their powers are well thought out and used in a way that makes sense and it is not pointless. Overall, a show worth watching if you like good characters and detective-like shows.

I'm not going to do a recap of the plot because honestly, there is barely anything to talk about. People really hype up this series and it's giving me the same feeling as solo levelling or tower of god - it's just average. The premise is fine but I really struggle to take any of it seriously. I'm continuing to watch the series and it feels like it's more of the same so far.

My main gripe is that it just feels like it was written by an idiot. The detective guy is maybe the best example - he can deduce things just using his massive ... brain (he has no magic powers) which he has no way of knowing. It's just lazy, don't write a smart character if you aren't going to put in the work because it's just a drag to watch. I don't care about how he solves anything because it makes no sense, spending an entire episode on this is a waste of time.

Throughout the entire series you will see characters using their massive brains to deduce what their enemies next action will be - it's trying to be like a crime drama I guess in some ways. It's the same thing though, whoever wrote the story just isn't smart enough to write characters making reasonable deductions or inferences. So we see them jump to extremely specific conclusions with 100% certainty and turn out to be correct.

It's enjoyable in some ways and the concept of a battle shonen mixed with a political crime drama sounds cool, but it's not handled maturely enough to work.