Bungou Stray Dogs

(This is a spoiler-free review adapted for this site)

[Synopsis]: Due to a recent string of mysterious incidents involving a great, white tiger, Nakajima Atsushi (Uemura Yuto) is evicted from the orphanage that has served as his home his entire life. Left both homeless and penniless, Atsushi happens upon a drowning stranger whom he rescues from a nearby river. The man turns out to be Dazai Osamu (Miyano Mamoru) who, along with his partner, happens to be searching for the white tiger responsible for Atsushi’s predicament. Dazai himself belongs to the Armed Detective Agency – a group of people possessing supernatural abilities that solve especially violent ... crimes and combat underworld organizations. Following Dazai’s lead, Atsushi is quickly entangled with the agency and the menacing Port Mafia as he struggles to find his place in the world.

[Characters]:

Bungou Stray Dogs features a fairly small cast, comprised mostly of the various members of the Armed Detective Agency, the Port Mafia, and a few episodic characters besides. Perhaps the most key feature of the show’s cast is that each character’s name serves as some reference to a renowned author or poet with most of the references stemming from modern Japanese literature. This relationship between author and character is an ongoing element within the show and often certain personality traits or actions associated with the authors are exhibited by their respective characters in varying degrees.

While this aspect of the show sounds both interesting and engaging the manner in which it manifests is very lackluster and sometimes even problematic. The actual depth of reference the characters pull from their real-life counterparts is very shallow with most characters simply borrowing their names with their abilities often titled after their author’s most pervasive work. Beyond this the characters don’t seem to have all that much depth to them and hardly borrow from their referenced authors in either a thematic or intelligent way. What could have been a complex and intricate parallel of ideologies and themes becomes no more than a slew of referenced names. My own familiarity with each author is incomplete and there are occasionally thematic parallels that arise however for the most part the show is quite shallow in how it pulls off this would-be-interesting characteristic.

Though the actual depth of Bungou Stray Dogs’ references is questionable, what issues arise within the show’s cast lie with the characters themselves on an individual level. In terms of characterization and how the character fits into the show, Dazai Osamu is possibly the biggest offender. Whether it’s his passion for attempting to kill himself over and over again and comically failing each time or his desire to find a partner for his ideal double suicide, Dazai presents an incredibly unappealing character. Beyond the fact that paralleling the real Dazai Osamu’s relationship with suicide and its presence within his works by turning it into a poorly constructed gag is the height of insensitivity, the gag itself makes absolutely no sense. The very fact that a character is continually trying to kill themselves yet both fails to actually do so and will fight for their own self-preservation runs completely opposite of whatever poor characterization could be drawn out of Dazai’s ridiculous character. In a number of ways, Dazai is representative of how the show handles its references – in a loose and often unintelligent way.

The protagonist of the show, Nakajima Atsushi doesn’t fare much better than Dazai in terms of characterization. From the beginning of the story it is quite clear that he has themes of rejection and belonging after being tossed out of his orphanage. He feels out of place wherever he goes and undeserving of anybody’s interest or compassion. This is a decent start and he does develop over the course of the show, slowly coming to terms with his place within the agency and accepting his coworkers however this is not achieved without some hitches. For one, a certain flashback of his dismisal from the orphanage is often queued whenever the show attempts to discuss the themes surrounding Atsushi and its over-usage quickly becomes tiring. The same exact sequence plays multiple times an episode for more than half the series and its pervasiveness gives insight into the show’s complete inability to characterize Atsushi outside of paralleling his predicament at hand with the scene in question.

Though I’ve highlighted Dazai and Atsushi specifically here, the rest of the cast isn’t a whole lot better. Atsushi doesn’t really play off of his coworkers at the agency as much as he predictably reacts to them in given gag scenarios. The Port Mafia, despite their initial introduction, is continuously undermined as an antagonistic enemy as their plans are foiled relatively easily which cuts the tension surrounding them considerably. And lastly, the show’s cast is chronically over-involved. Bungou Stray Dogs tends to shy away from introducing new characters once each story gets rolling which causes the subsequent events to feel extraordinarily coincidental and predictable at times when the same characters keep wrapping around into relevance.

[Art/Animation]:

Bungou Stray Dogs’ animation is perhaps its only worthwhile attribute. Though it fails in various ways elsewhere, the art style is crisp and unwavering while Bones presents beautifully animated action scene after action scene. The fight sequences are very high quality though they are actually rather sparse for the greater part of the show – growing far more frequent after around episode 8 and on. Despite its subject matter, a lot of the show features slapstick, physical comedy and various gags which utilize a slightly more cartoonish aesthetic. Though these gags still look good visually, they are rarely funny and often only serve to disrupt the scene at hand.

[Story]:

The first episode of Bungou Stray Dogs is fairly slow paced as it introduces the viewer to Atsushi, Dazai, and Kunikida as well as the existence of the Armed Detective Agency and their supernatural powers. It isn’t a bad introductory episode but it doesn’t present much of a hook into the show either. The shock comes with the arrival of the third episode as it features the show’s first real action sequence. The episode as a whole is surprisingly bloody and ruthless despite the two proceeding episodes of mostly repeated gags between Atsushi and Dazai. This episode was actually a pretty good introduction into the brutality of the Port Mafia which would later be undermined repeatedly however its the show’s earliest insight into Bungou Stray Dogs’ biggest, critical problem.

After the early introductory episodes, the show plays out in somewhat of an episodic fashion – featuring Atushi as he tries to find his place within the agency and one of the various detectives that work there as they team up to solve various mysteries and cases. There isn’t much of an overarching plot though the Port Mafia’s interest in abducting and selling Atsushi is a recurring part of the story for most of the show. The stand-alone episodes aren’t terribly interesting and the featured mysteries leave a lot to be desired as their outcomes often felt predictable or coincidental.

The major failing of Bungou Stray Dogs is in how poorly it marries its two establishes tones as its subject matter involving murders and underground crime organizations clashes against its style of comedy giving way to very polarizing scenes. The show undercuts whatever real drama or tension it is able to conjure up with its rampant character gags. A police woman is shot in cold-blood and washed away by the river and her senior and subordinates are visibly torn up about it. Dazai then cuts into the scene, mourning the loss of her beauty and says she should have committed a double suicide with him instead. Not only does it continuously set precedent for generally tension-free scenes but it does so by utilizing the stupidest gag in the entire show. One second the show pokes fun at Kunikida’s ideals and Dazai imbibes hallucinative mushrooms and the next moment people are being forcibly drowned, gassed to death, and killed as products of a black market organ trade.

The extremes are too huge and the comedy is too gag-oriented and dumb to allow for the viewer to take any of the more gruesome scenes seriously. The show tries wholeheartedly to be dramatic but completely fails due to its cast of primarily comedic characters who simply aren’t capable of executing a serious moment either because of their exaggerated nature or comedic tendencies.

[Music]:

The soundtrack didn’t stand out to me very much and mostly served to reinforce the two prevalent atmospheres of the show. The music supported the show’s comedy and action from the background without ever becoming too prominent or memorable itself.

[Final Thoughts and Rating]:

Looking at Bungou Stray Dogs as a whole, I would warily say it has potential to be more than what it is. The show element of referencing various authors and imparting various attributes from them and their works into the characters is a very compelling idea at face-value and if it could make better thematic use of the technique I think it could yield very interesting results. With the next season already around the corner I have to wonder if perhaps the show would do better outside of the format of exploring individual members of the Armed Detective Agency each episode and instead attempted to tackle something a bit grander and more comprehensive. With these hopes in mind, the show has to find a place for its comedy and I think if it cut it entirely it would have a fair chance at becoming something worthwhile however I doubt this will come to pass.

To add a quick note about whether or not it’s worthwhile to be familiar with the referenced stories and authors beforehand – I don’t think there is much benefit to it currently. I was familiar with probably over half of the authors mentioned and a moderate amount of the literature alluded to and outside of a few shallow comparisons between characters and how the show aesthetically designed their abilities, there wasn’t much extra benefit to the knowledge so I wouldn’t urge prospective viewers to familiarize themselves unless they wanted to.

Rating: 4

I gave Bungou Stray Dogs a 4 because its cast had either poor or uninteresting characterization, its story had a variety of problems, and it was very conflicted tonally causing. Its later action sequences and slight movement away from the rampant comedy of its earlier episodes improved its second half by a small margin along with the overall quality of its animation.

[Recommendations]:

I would recommend Bungou Stray Dogs for its action sequences and animation above all else. Though it has its fair share of narrative issues and a cast of problematic characters, its visuals are quite strong all throughout. I didn’t enjoy the comedy of the show however one can tell whether or not it appeals to them by the time the first episode finishes.

Bungou Stray Dogs desperately attempts to be a quirky anime that tries to tell a "dark" and "gritty" story about organized crime, detectives and their interplay with a little bit of magic sprinkled in. However, the writing, whether it be the main characters, or any of the antagonists, or even the beats of the entire plot are at best generic (not inherently a bad thing) and at worst (which is the majority of the time) pedantically annoying and annoyingly melodramatic. It so badly wants you to empathize with the main character that every 2-3 episodes it flashes back to our protagonist Atsushis backstory, to the ... point it becomes overplayed and hard to care about. There's no nuance or subtlety with the character or how his tragic upbringing really affected him outside of these flashbacks, and a moment early in the season that feels empty due to its immediate resolution. It feels like a surface level justification that has little to do with the characters growth, struggles and life. For a show that's about detectives, psychology, and understanding the human being- its delivers nothing but shallow analysis and conclusions. It's boring and unentertaining.
Speaking of boring and unentertaining, the "Gifted" systems implementation feels like a half baked idea to me. On one hand, I totally understand the desire to add some degree of a power system to a story like this as it has some noteworthy potential- but this suffers from a similar issue as to what I felt like the Imperial Relics from Akame ga Kill did- there's no real cohesion with what's being chosen for gifts. It's just a power system but for detectives, with some having interesting implementations, with strengths and notable weaknesses like Kunikidas- and others feeling entirely haphazard like Akutagawa or Nakajimas. They don't seem to fit in the overall narrative cohesion of the story, and are more akin to "cool superpowers that we wanted to include" with there being no real precedent for what being "Gifted" actually is outside of apparently being magic that is somehow extremely prevalent but simultaneously not relevant in the public sphere.
A note about the characters, their designs, etc. While this may be more of a personal preference, I don't think any of their designs were all that interesting or memorable. It's a situation where each of the characters were meant to fill a specific aesthetic, but also be designed in a way that they reflect their personalities but often come off as strangely uninspired and uninteresting. I feel like I've seen all of them in another anime, whether it be the archetypes and rolls they fill, their personality, and even their powers- each one of them feels so bland I don't really expect to remember them outside of the names of the authors they stem from. Which is another fairly strong point of contention I have in regards to one character.
Osamu Dazai, the pen name for the author Shūji Tsushima, was a Japanese author who died in a double suicide via drowning in 1938. How does this anime interpret the tragic death of a real human being? By relegating much of the characters dialogue, and near every single one of his gags, to be how badly he wants to participate in a double suicide with a pretty woman. His character was first introduced attempting to kill himself via drowning in a river. It's so unabashedly tasteless, and frankly speaking its gross and was a horrible note to begin this series off with- and it set the precedent for the standard of humor and overall writing this show was to present.
Much of the show persists on an episodic format, introducing characters steadily that have a mild influence or importance to the story on the whole, and are relegated to importance later on- which I can only assume to be in its following seasons. If a character is introduced in an episode, then its more likely than not their arc will be concluded in that same episode. there's nothing inherently wrong with an episodic format, some of the greatest stories ever told have been done so in this medium. Stray Dogs, however, doesn't tell any interesting stories, or build the mystique of the world through this format. It wants to leave little crumbs of information that build towards a grander narrative, but that narrative is paper thin and I just don't think its good.
So far as positives I think the animation quality is fine, same with the directing of action sequences (however the lows for the action scenes are just rock bottom, like the gunfight in early episode 11). They're plenty punchy and tight, with the comedy scenes (while I don't think there's much humor to be found in the show) do a plenty fine job at conveying the attempts at humor and stylization that befits them- but that's not enough to carry the show, or even really do enough to help overcome the shows weaknesses.
Bungou Stray Dogs really doesn't care about its story or its characters, or even the real people they draw their names from. It's embarrassingly unfunny, bland, uninspired, and a slog to watch through. It was a struggle to force myself to watch this show, which is an utter shame as the premise was interesting- I wouldn't have considered it if there wasn't something I thought was worth my time. But the execution of the already struggling story results in a bad season. I'll more likely than not give the subsequent seasons a shot to see if they were able to redeem itself, but my hopes for what follows have plummeted.

For me, there came a point where not only did I no longer care how the show resolved, but I felt if I watched any longer it would be in insult to my emotional and intellectual capacity.

The backgrounds are very pretty and the sounds & music fit the scenes!

The humor of this show is sophomoric & uncomplicated.

The plots for each episode seem to comprise 8 minutes of the show, the rest being aforementioned humor and "character development"?

The characters can, seemingly, only be as smart as the writer(s) are. This series is a fine example of that depth.

80% of the budget for animation appears ... to have been put into the op and ed sequences. Which can allow for a frustrating viewing experience when the plot leaves so much to be desired.
There are anime that fulfill the mystery and super-powers criteria very well. Though the name of any specific anime eludes me...

This is my first review. I realize, now, how very difficult it is to write one that is devoid of "how I feel" and rather "what I observed."
So, if anyone has criticism or suggestions as to the construction, flow, or ambiance of this review PLEASE let me know.
If you just disagree, good! It is none of my business and I hope it stays that way!

The reason why I disliked this anime was because it was too goofy and had way too many "joke moments", it took away from the action that was supposed to be going on. The art is good and looks well designed but because the show lacks plot and character it throws the whole show off balance. I think this anime is more suited for a younger audience than a 18+ one, at least in my opinion. Plus I felt like the plot was all over the place for my taste! If it was more fighting and less jokes I would have liked it way more.

Bungou Stray Dogs is an anime from 2016 based off of an ongoing manga from 2012. The anime version was brought to us by Bones. The same studio behind Soul Eater, Boku no Hero Academia, Kekkai Sensen & Mob Psycho 100. So, sometimes I enjoy their work and sometimes I don't. Only a viewing will determine what the case is here.

Story:

We open with a young man named Nakajima Atsushi who's starving to death when he happens to go to the rescue of someone he sees drowning in the river. Only to discover that the man was trying to commit suicide. This results in Nakajima ... being taken to an Agency that solves cases using their supernatural abilities.

There are a couple issues with the narrative. The first is that it gets downright tasteless with the way it uses its characters. Here's the thing, all of these characters are named for writers from the early 1900s, late 1800s. Which would be fine, but then they have the character named for Osamu Dazai, a man who died fairly young after committing double suicide with his lover, and the series constantly uses him for suicide jokes. This would be a bit tacky under normal circumstances, but when the character is named for someone who actually lost his life to suicide it just elevates it to an exceptionally gross level of tackiness. I also find it bizarre that they give their version of Tanizaki Junichirou a fictional sister to be incestuous with. Yes, the man did have younger sisters in real life, but the character in question isn't named for any of them.

Putting that aside, the writing just isn't that compelling. I've seen quite a few works about agencies made up of people with super powers in my time. And this one doesn't really offer anything new in that regard. Besides the extra dose of tastelessness. It doesn't help that all of the twists are really obvious way before they come into play because the series telegraphs them in really obvious ways.

Characters:

If these characters weren't named for real people, I'd say they're a bunch of dull archetypes and leave it at that but because they're named for real people, I find myself more disturbed by their lack of complexity and, of course, the aforementioned tacky parts than I would be normally.

Art:
The anime does look pretty good. The character designs are pretty normal but the action sequences are really strong and look good. Bones also does a good job with the backgrounds. They've got some nice details.

Sound:

The acting is perfectly passable. It's one of those where they got some good actors like Miyano Mamoru, Hosoya Yoshimasa and Morohoshi Sumire, to name as few but the characterisation doesn't give them much to work with. The music is fine. Not great, but it works.

Ho-yay:

There isn't really any.

Areas of Improvement:

1. If you're going to name your characters after real people, you need to treat the legacy of those people with some respect. Unless you're naming them after a nazi or otherwise terrible person. So, don't be making light of someone's suicide. It's just not cricket.

2. If you're going to be writing something similar to a lot of other stories out there you need something to set it apart. Generic story-telling and dull archetypical characters aren't sufficient.

3. Put some more effort into your characterisation. Archetypes are fine for a starting point, but you need to build off of them and make the characters unique in some way. Especially if you're going to be naming those characters after real people.

Final Thoughts:

This is, in all honesty, one of the worst anime I've seen from Bones. Even without the tackiness, it would be a pretty sub-par work. With it, it's going to be a 3/10 from me. I can't really recommend it when there are so many things that take the basic concept and do it better.

i don't like this anime, at all
it has no idea wtf is it doing, i hate osama bin dazai, he is pathetic, his mannerism makes no sense whatsoever, he constantly tries to "jokingly" kill himself, but what exactly this manner has to do with the story or the plot? his design is cool but why is he like this? what are the bandages?
dazai is a empty character

him constantly making fun of his friends and not taking battles seriously doesn't make him cool it makes him cringy, characters in the show don't take the plot seriously! which shows this anime is nothing but a cash grab ... who focuses on style

i hate dazai's friend also, constantly yelling at dazai, he reminds me of the tall lunatic loser from hunter x hunter nobody give a shit about

the villians are pathetic as well, AHHHHH I'M GONNA KILL YOU ALL WHILE HAVING A DOT SIZE PUPIL!

the art is okay, so is the soundtracks but nothing special

i started this anime because of dazai, he is really popular in MAL so i thought maybe he is a deep character but i guess in a world where fucking Nezoku who has no personality whatsoever is as popular as she is, i shouldn't count on deepness of a character based on their popularity

This is my first review,and i'm a seinen fan so this review may sound a little of an overreaction for some people,And english isn't my first language so excuse my wording and structuring.
Bungou Stray Dogs,a Seinen,Action,Comedy,Supernatural,Mystery 12 episode long show that was an incredible dissapointment and doesn't deserve to be called a 'Seinen',it's your typical battle-shounen with some edgy scenes.

Story: 5/10
the story is as simple as it gets,Atsushi an orphan with a sad past gets kicked out of his orphanage and gets traumatized by it,meets two eccentric individuals and it goes on from there,most of the show cannot be taken seriously due to how forced ... the comedy is,and i couldn't feel for any characters or even get to connect to the story itself.

Characters: 6/10
we have a rather interesting cast of characters,that's what i thought,but it turned out to be horrible But it was good in the case of Dazai,as he was a pretty good character.
We have our main character,Nakajima Atsushi,an orphan boy with a sad past that got kicked out of his orphanage due to the orphanage blaming him for certain 'Tiger' attacks,Atsushi has a rather bitchy attitude,and he has a power to turn into a tiger 'under the light of the moon',He doesn't develope into anything different,but what we get is,He gets to Turn into a half tiger whenever he wants to,and once he goes full tiger even when it isn't at night and that was very confusing,Atsushi is a bad character.
then we have Dazai osamu,a character named after a writer same as most of the cast,He's a suicidal member of the agency and is rather eccentric,His amazing character was always messed up with the forced jokes and comedy this show gave us,and we couldn't take him seriously,same as most of the cast
Then we have some Not-very-amazing characters,we have the members of the agency,Which never had any screentime enough to understand them,they can be summed up in a couple of words for each beacuse again,they recieved no developement,and barely any screentime for some of them
we have kenji,who we never see the ability of in the first season,and is just..There.
Edogawa Ranpo,who is a 'Genius' with a deduction ability that allows him to deduce any crime,Doesn't get alot of screentime,only is showcased in a 'Whodunit' episode that hardly had a good 'Whodunit' vibe,it was as easy as a scoobydoo episode.
Yosano,a yangire doctor with an ability that pretty much Ruins this whole show,but we'll get to that later.
an Idealist called Kunikida,Doesn't get any developement,alot of screentime.
a wincest Sister and brother,the sister exists just for fanservice,same as the glasses girl ( which i quite liked ) and the brother also gets no developement.

the villians are rather..interesting,we have a guy with..Lemons,and Akutagawa which is actually a legit good character Like Dazai.

the characters introdouced were alot,but barely got any screentime or connections to the story,they were just there to tell you 'we have a big cast guys.' and were pretty much useless most of the time


Art 8/10,i liked the art,it was great and the fighting scenes were quite nice,but the tons and tons of Shitty face swapping and 'Comedy looks' were just horrible.

Sound 9/10,the sound was fantastic,The characters had great voice actors,the music was Great,the op's were pretty good and i liked most of the sounds in this show.

Enjoyment 3/10,This show failed horribly to be enjoyable,Mainly beacuse i went in with high hopes thinking it'll be a good show,a masterpiece even,but it failed to deliver,and that is for many reasons But the biggest problem was
They just won't kill characters.They just want to let characters live to Appeal to fans not knowing they stated this as a Seinen which is not what i came to watch,You get a guy being stabbed 35 times in the fucking stomach that survives,a woman that also gets stabbed by the rashoumone,Still survives Beacuse Why do we kill them off when we can let them stay and not upset our fans?This show also let me down with it's setting,It's setting is not serious,there is nothing serious happening,it's just shittons of comedy with a little action,This is a dissapointing show,and i don't recommend it if you came and tried to watch it as a Seinen fan,beacuse it'll dissapoint.

Overall 5/10,The show was horrible,and i don't recommend it,It has edgy fight scenes and Good art,music and a couple of nice characters,but overall,it's a failure as a seinen show,might work as a shounen though.

Comments are appreciated,this is my first review so i may have messed up how i structured my review,thanks for reading.

In anime there are times where a show would do one bad thing that gets on your nerves, but thinking that it will eventually stop, you ignore it and trudge onward. That's never how it works. This is the case whether it's a colleague frequently telling jokes with awful puns, a sibling constantly poking at you, or many other situations, and Bungou Stray Dogs exemplifies this quite strongly. Bungou Stray Dogs follows an orphaned kid named Atsushi who attracts misfortune to himself wherever he goes. After meeting Osamu Dazai, he joins the "Detective Agency", a small, special agency of superpowered detectives who solve cases in ... the city.

Story 4/10:
The atmosphere that the show creates is the most defining part of this anime. Bungou Stray Dogs often adopts a light, joking atmosphere that fails to amuse because it is so forced. Whenever a gag is made, the characters are drawn in a simple, cartoony manner and the reaction of surrounding characters are of the usual straight-man archetype, either finding difficulty in silliness of the situation, or berating the character making the gag. This is not funny. In fact the one time Bungou Stray Dogs made me laugh was in the penultimate episode in which it ditched this formula for a short period. For another good example of comedy from this season, look no further than "Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto" from this season. Each scene is completely outlandish yet treated as if it's almost natural for Sakamoto, which makes it amusing.

But not only is it completely unfunny, Bungou Stray Dogs wants to have it both ways. This is mostly a serious anime, but it also tries to simultaneously be funny. This only makes it difficult to take seriously. BSD has no idea of how to segment the serious from the non serious. The main example of this comes in the opening episodes when the opposing "Port Mafia" launches a raid on the Detective Agency after being built up for the whole episode only for every character from the Port Mafia to job and get chucked out the window of the building at the end. This is what makes Bungou Stray Dogs incredibly hollow. An unnecessary and unnatural tone and a frequent betrayal of expectations only hurts this anime.

Characters 4/10
The characters are slightly interesting but I don't think the story takes full advantage of what is has, at least for now. Each of the characters in Bungou Stray Dogs in based on a historical Japanese author, with Osamu Dazai and Edogawa Ranpo probably being the most recognizable, but I don't think the anime does enough to incorporate that into the story. With a character already set as the base, there is more expectation on what is done with that character but very little happens. We are limited to their ability being somewhat representative of their works. The theme of the characters representing authors ends up being something that is just there, but not at all necessary. Atsushi is particularly disappointing as his characterization is limited to a flashback that occurs at least once per episode in which he remembers his former caregivers at the orphanage kicking him out for bringing them misery. This is an annoying stigma that tends to haunt anime. Pushing a theme of wanting a sense of belonging in a not at all subtle way almost treats the viewer as if they aren't at all intelligent, and tries to draw pity where there is little to none.

Overall 4/10:
It's unfortunate because Bones has been building this show up for a while with some decent looking trailers and the synopsis of the show is quite interesting. But both the fights and the detective cases don't follow through on the initial promise. Just give me a cool action show with detectives actually solving issues and battling criminals and I'll be happy. Bungou Stray Dogs only added a lot of unneeded fluff to that.

Bungou Stray Dogs seems to fall into the rare category of "all fluff and little substance". Its animation is great with diverse comedic moments and fluid action scenes. Its art has distinct style and its character designs look great. But there's nothing about the story that keeps my attention. The main character's backstory is as thin as a sheet of paper with the anime beating the same flashback to death throughout the series. There's no focus and there's no flow of plot and/or character development. To top it all off, the world building is minimal at best.

This first season could just be a messy ... setup to a decent second season, but without any obvious central focal point, I don't have high hopes. What are the characters' goals? What are we expecting to see happen in the next season? Some fight scenes and that's it? With such great art, animation, and character design, it's a shame that this anime's story is just essentially nonexistent.

Español:

Este anime es de esos que aparentan mucho al comenzar ( digamos que en los 3 primeros episodios) pero que luego no dan para mucho mas me pareció aburrido y la historia no la supieron aprovechar al máximo, la animación esta bien pero no es nada del otro mundo hoy en día, se usa la usual comedia forzada y repetitiva que esta de mas decir, queda muy fuera de lugar en muchas escenas, este anime nos muestra el típico protagonista tonto y tímido que tiene tras sus espaldas un gran poder, que en mi humilde opinión personajes secundarios podrían protagonizar mucho mejor...No esperes mucho de ... este anime ya que no es algo "diferente" o fuera de lo "normal". para mi sin duda es una perdida de tiempo y una obra mal hecha. Lo peor del caso es que se ha confirmado una segunda temporada. ¿Es en serio? no, gracias...

English:

This anime is one of those that seem much at the beginning (say, in the first 3 episodes) but then do not give much more I found boring and history have not known make the most of the animation is good but nothing special world today, the usual forced and repetitive comedy that it goes without saying used, is very out of place in many scenes, this anime shows the typical stupid and timid protagonist who has behind their backs great power, which in my humble opinion supporting characters could star in much better ... Do not expect much of this anime because it is not something "different" or out of the "normal". for me it certainly is a waste of time and a work badly done. The worst of it is that it has confirmed a second season. Is seriously? no thanks...

This is an overall 4/10. Though the score may be below 5, make no mistake, this is not a bad show. It's simply mediocre.

The show doesn't really excel at anything in the first season despite the art and sound being very enjoyable, the story really has no aim in the first season besides introducing characters and their quirks. I'm fine with introduction arcs though usually they'll have to be very good in order to really stand out, this was not one of those introduction arcs. Eventually it gets off of the introduction arc stage and the story begins to pick up, I just wish ... it had a little more going for it. Season 2 did much better in story.

As for characters well, the design was nice, the voice acting was good, but the substance was very much missing. The best character moment I can think of is when we find out that Ranpo doesn't actually have a gift, though even this bit of character development doesn't hit until season 2 and is honestly not even that good nor original. I don't really claim that the show needs original ideas, but it should at least make the best of cliche tropes rather than settling for them.

watched it when it first came out cause it was fairly hyped, didn't much care for it watching it again now that dead apple is coming out and i genuinely dont understand the hype. As some one who has read and enjoys the books by the authors featured in this show i think I'm not the target audience because it seems to fundamentally not understand the authors at all beyond one or two quirky surface traits, Osamu Dazai probably has it the worst. Action is ok, music is ok everything is aggressively ok nothing stands out, except for the story which i found dumb. I ... just don't understand how this show is so highly rated, watched the entire first run only a couple years ago and I cannot remember almost anything that happened cause nothing really stood out enough to be remembered.

Telling you right now, if you're expecting to watch a dark themed action anime
click away right now

This anime got me so hard with things such as

-tags like ACTION, MYSTERY, SUPERPOWER, (oh and also comedy)
-cover picture being generally dark and mysterious which looks awesome
-a high score on mal
-great art

... but when I watched it, I was left with blue balls

Story (3)
To be completely honest, right from the gates this anime can't decide whether it wants to be funny or sad. From the first moments, we are left feeling bad for our MC with him starving and being exiled from his orphanage with no family/friends whatsoever. Then queue our first comedic relief where our MC tries to resort to stealing but utterly fails. And then becomes serious again when we see a man drowning in a lake where our MC saves. And then a comedic relief where the man tells our MC that he was trying to commit suicide and that he got in the way....while getting upset.
Holy fuck this shows switches its themes so much and this becomes a problem later in the story which I will explain in the character sections.

The second problem I have with the story is the fact that the enemies in the story that are supposed to be powerful and/or mysterious is ironically discredited by the sheer op-ness of 7 kids. For example, Port Mafia introduced as being a powerful organization that is lurking within the shadows. Already, in the beginning, they are conflicting with the investigators. This is not necessarily a bad thing but when this secret organization got their ass beaten by 7 children so easily twice it makes this whole "super-powerful organization" down in the drain.

The third problem I have with the story is the fact that all of the mystery elements of the story are told to us at the beginning which makes the world-building of the story completely non-existing. Things like why our MC is kicked out of the orphanage, oh it turns out he was the tiger. Who is Danzai, ex-port mafia? Why is MC being targetted, because he's worth 7 billion? Like pls, don't call this a mystery anime when you're going to tell everything about it in the first opening episodes like holy fuck. The only reason why I like watching a mystery anime is that it feels like every episode is a piece of the puzzle of the story. But this feels like them giving the whole picture which is fucking boring.

Art (8)
fucking hell it's gorgeous


Sound(5)
Forgettable. OP looks pretty lit which is ironic because this shit is a dumpster fire


Character(3)
MC- He is pretty generic as a shonen MC. To list it off he is OP, nice, selfless but he has one thing that separates him from the others and that is that he is tremendously insecure about himself. TBH he doesn't really bother me as much as Danzai

Danzai- Fuck this guy I swear he ruined the whole for me. Don't get me wrong I like comedy and I recognized that we need comedic relief in shows that are always very serious otherwise we'll be sad all the time. However, Danzai pulls comedic relief out of his ass every time he is on set and it is always about suicide. FUCKING SUICIDE, I did not enjoy one bit of his suicide jokes not only is it a sensitive topic but this quirk of his makes this character very shallow and boring. I have no idea why people like this man all he does is a joke about suicide and becomes one punch man when the action is at its peak like all the rest of the fucking of his crew. Off-topic, there is this man who can solve a case in matters of seconds which is so dumb but this is even dumber when it turns out he does not have an ABILITY *facepalm. Remember how I said switching between funny and sad becomes a problem. It is thanks to this asshole, no matter the situation he always finds a way to neglect the mood of it. For instance, there was a scene where a female detective was killed and was floating in the lake. Everyone at the scene was devastated, her co-workers, boss, and subordinates. And there comes Danzai the fucking man who had comedy relief already when he entered the scene, comes in looks at the body and says "Poor you, I wished I could have suicided with you darling" while grinning. Holy fuck Danzai, I don't know if you're an idiot or if you just don't care but your fucking ruining any chances of this show actually having any redeeming quality.

Oh, there was a blonde guy but it doesn't matter he is just like Danzai. comedic relief and one punch man

Enjoyment(2)
I honestly would have enjoyed this show more if they have changed the tags, op, and cover art

The tags would just be COMEDY and slice of life

The op would be cheery and colorful like Eromanga sensei

The cover art be also colorful and cheery

But the reality is set and stone and you can't change shit into a masterpiece

Overall(4)
PLEASE NOTE- I tried to keep watching this show, I wanted it to be good. I kept telling myself next episode would be better I promise. But no longer could I torture myself and I dropped it after 7 episodes.

Bungo Stray Dogs is that "Everyone Is Good Afterall" kind of anime. I don't understand why the author make it like that, hope it more like the ango, oda, dazai arc, it was the only good arc in the anime imo.

What more strange is why they describe every effing of their power to every opponent they find, the logic behind that is so stupid. AND why they always put their hand in their pocket WHYYY i understand the chuya chase but why the other? even the moby dick owner put their hand in his pocket, WHY POCKET

For real tho the ango, oda, dazai arc ... is good.

So, like, after binge-watching this anime, I'm legit, like, super pissed, and that's saying something 'cause this is the first time ever I'm dropping an anime review. So why do I think this anime is trash? Bruh, it's all about those cringe moments, you know? There's this constant yelling of ability names that feels hella awkward, and it's packed with the same old shonen clichés that have been done to death.

The story is a whole hot mess, man. The decisions the main characters make are straight-up head-scratchers, like, zero logic involved. And don't even get me started on the weird, out-of-place characters. It's just all ... sorts of strange and doesn't feel right at all.

Honestly, I'd say don't even bother with this one. Your time is way too valuable for this. It's lacking that depth and originality that keeps you hooked. Sure, there might be a few cool moments, but overall, it left me shook in the worst way, wishing I'd picked something way more lit to watch.

Bangou Stray Dogs is your typical action Shōnen anime that could hype you up to grab it, while searching for new anime to watch, but once you do, you're just left kind of disappointed.

Watching it you get your daily dose of action sequences, bunch of edgy main and side characters, out of place cringe worthy comedy, masterminds, some tries at plot twists that you should expect coming, little bit of "gore" and many more...

So why unfavourable review? If interested do read forward, but beware Weretiger and some slight SPOILERS ahead!

I won't lie. Going into this anime I really wanted it to be good, as ... the premise is interesting and animation of battles I've seen beforehand seemed really neat. Being tagged as Seinen and R +17 rated also picked up my interest as this gives one the idea of being a more of mature kind of anime.

And yet... right off the bat you meet the most typical Shōnen main character possible, mr. Weretiger; Nakajima Atsushi. Confused boy with bad past and strong morals, that make his actions through whole series indecisive (but forcefully decisive?), cringe worthy, whiny and at some parts straight out stupid.
That is actually not something new to this types of anime and one could surely look past it if other aspects of anime were great, but they just... were not.

To comment on other characters a bit. I get it why people might like Dazai and Ranpo. They are the "super-duper-smarts good guys" of anime, but sadly that just isn't my cup of tea and plot surrounding their great unravels is nothing but average.
I'd say villain camp was made slightly better, but built in full out edgy mode. Akutagawa was in essence the right opposite of Atsushi and at same time practically the same (good/bad contrast?).
Personally what I felt about characters over the whole series was resentment. It just felt like they were introducing one annoying character after another. Some might touch the average area, but overall they were just dreadful.

And characters while being very subpar weren't even the worst part of this anime. That title goes to none other than comedy!
Dear lord... I've seen a lot of bad comedy in my day, but never have I seen something as bad as it was here. It was out of place, it just wasn't funny. Even terrible comedy sometimes brings me a slight chuckle, this one just didn't. If they skipped it all together I'd see myself enjoying this anime far more.

Now that we got some of the bad parts out of the way, lets shortly touch the good ones.
Animation and sound was actually pretty decent. Visual effects were pleasing to the eye and combat sequences were very fluid and enjoyable. I'm personally not into character loudly announcing the names of abilities they use, but I can't get past saying that part was very well done.
Also the abilities they use in anime were very imaginative. They just had to put in that one that can cure all the fatal injuries tho didn't they? We're spoiled by George R.R. Martin killing of characters left and right I know.. but come on, everyone surviving, be it good or bad in plot that revolves around good guys fighting with mafia? You're just shooting yourself in the knee with plot like that.

In conclusion:
If you're a type of person that ran out of top notch action Shōnen anime and you're lusting for more, you should consider giving this a try, otherwise pick up something else.
All that being said I'm writing this review after I finished watching first 3 seasons. Didn't want to give my verdict before I saw if this anime improves over the time and before I understood why it has such a huge following. I'd say it does improve a bit, especially the plot part, so if you watched 1st and enjoyed it, be sure to check 2nd and 3rd.