Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple

It has enough over the top action (and a particularly visually spectacular fight) to offset what is a pretty nonsense plot with a lead villain that just doesn't feel like he's all that different from the usual tropey schlock inherent to Shonen movies, even if he's got a prettier aesthetic than most. The central conceit of most of this movie is done to death as well, though it's executed well enough that I can look past it. The main villain of the next arc is introduced, but we only get a surface level treatment of him with one good scene. We get some more insight ... into the background of our MC, which is interesting, but his breakdown here seems kind of forced and doesn't jive with events up till now. His development in this movie seems like it already should have happened. Anyway, it's cool, even if it's contrived, overly complicated in parts and overly simplistic in others.

Dudes really just made a movie out of the The Zanpakutō Rebellion arc from Bleach...

High production values and some good performances by supporting cast just barely manage to salvage this movie that was surprisingly determined to run itself off the tracks with their persistent attempts at making sure Atsushi continues to be the front-runner for the worst shounen MC to hit the scene.


Animation / Art / General Visuals - 9/10
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This being a movie and all, the increased production values over the base anime are pretty obvious. The visuals are notably grander with the effects team putting in work. We get some pretty cool scenery and ... action, so if nothing else, you can walk away having given your eyeballs plenty of pleasure.


Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 9/10
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The movie gives us a ton of banger music, which is sure to find its place in many a people's playlists. Sounds and voice acting is similarly on point, but it's the music that's really a drop above the base anime.

And thank fucking god it at least had that...


Story - 6/10
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I'll be honest, I don't "get it".

My best attempt of understanding leaves me with the impression that this movie was more about laying a few extra bricks of foundation into the grander storylines yet to come in the anime. Which is why it kept the finer details vague and confusing.

Personally, I'm not a fan of such an approach. A movie is better off being 100% non-canon so you have freedom to do whatever the hell you want, or actually being a serious progression into the canon story, not just a tiny building block. Half assing it is kinda lame almost every time it's tried.

Also, funny enough, this movie is in large part a straight up rip off of Bleach's The Zanpakutō Rebellion arc. Which, while surprisingly enjoyable, just adds more to the pile of reasons why it doesn't quite meet my standards for a top notch anime movie.


Characters - 5/10
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I'm tired. Tired of Atsushi. He's the most worthless main character in a popular shounen anime that I can recall. The dude has no redeeming factors.

He has no personality of any sort outside of the EXTREMELY generic "good guy" persona. He has no aspirations. He has no skills. He has no self confidence, and can't go 5 minutes without dropping to his knees and wallowing in self-pity.

He is the textbook definition of "pathetic".

Yet the movie tries to play him up as some kind of an ultra special something. Which is 100% the absolute worst thing to do to any MC which is as badly developed as he is. We're now stuck with a main character with no redeeming qualities who is destined to be the focal point of the story by no merit of his own, just some "he's special" factor.

There's no grand aspirations that Naruto, Luffy, or Asta had. There's no grand willpower to save innocents like Ichigo had. No playfulness and desire to kick ass like Natsu.

Atsushi is empty inside. He's a shell in which the writers put all the Deus Ex Machina they might need to tell their larger story. And I find that very depressing.

LUCKILY, this movie does at least have some supporting cast that aren't so depressingly lame. But their screen time is hardly enough to really carry the film. Dazai is his usual self, but he only plays around with vagueness. Akutagawa does nothing but yell at our pathetic MC and fights a bit. Kyouka is a bit of a nice surprise with showing some evolution in her character, but again - it's not enough to carry the movie by itself.

The main villain of the show may as well be replaced by a test dummy because his motivations and actions make little sense and are hardly explored. Secondary villain is even more confusing. Guess they really wanted to build him up a bit more for anime where I'm sure they'll explore him further.

All in all, a let down in characterization. Playing to none of the strengths of the cast, only focusing on the weak points.

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Total - 7/10

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Bungou Stray Dogs: Dead Apple is heavily carried by its production values, and for that reason alone it can be worth a watch. But it does little to advance the grand story or the characters. If anything, it fumbles and risks it all by reversing a lot of what the MC had already learned in Season 2, and making him go through even more of the same self pity and discovery, which is beyond tiresome at this point.

I'm sorry, maybe I'm stupid but i swear this movie makes no sense.
I first watched this movie like a year ago and at that point I thought I just didn't pay close enough attention. I'm rewatching the series now and coming back to this movie I was ready to give my undivided attention and try to understand it, but as the movie goes on i just got more and more lost. I don't understand any of the motivations or plans or how anything happens. By the end I was just confused all to hell.
I'm happy that everything I read said the movie is ... unimportant to the plot of the show because if it was important I would be doomed.
If you liked and understood it I'm happy for you but for me I rewound certain parts a couple times trying to make sense of it and just never could. So idk if I'm dumb or what but I doubt I'll revisit this movie ever again and would recommend people avoid the headache :/