Anime 31478 Bungou Stray Dogs Reviews Filter Check 1

Dramatic, mysterious, & fun to watch.

Initially, I wasn't too excited or hyped up about the show because I didn't feel any type of enjoyment. Most of the times the humor felt forced along with most of the drama however during episode 3, that was the biggest turn around for me. Everything after that episode had me completely anxious, and excited to see what's going to happen next episode! Before I knew it the damn show was over. The story itself is really engaging. I think that the biggest part of Stray dogs that I enjoyed most, was the shows well delivered, strong, dramatic and ... supernatural story-line. One of the biggest issues that I had, that I also noticed a few others had this problem, was the balance. Sometimes, stray dogs was a comedy, then a drama, and then finally back to comedy. The poor balancing negatively affected my time watching it because it really took away some of my engagement not to mention my enjoyment with the show. That said, the story is actually pretty solid. In terms of the stories supernatural occurrences, it reminds me a lot of both the series Durarara and Baccano. Oh, and I cannot forget the comedy style! although, thinking back I don't remember whether or not both DRRR and Baccano used over the top reaction faces..
That aside, the whole gang warfare, port mafia vs armed detective company reminded me a lot of yellow scarves vs the dollars. Of course Stray dogs version of this is more about justice than revenge. Now I did enjoyed Stray Dogs comedic routines. It is always refreshing to have a bit of comedy and fun after dramatic or serious events have occurred. It really does take your mind off of things for a while. I believe that uniqueness was Stray dogs strong-point overall. It is is one of those titles that's simply fun to watch because of an interesting story with unexpected and exciting new developments.

As far as animation and art style goes, visually stray dogs reminded me a lot of Baccano! even some of the characters looked like they belonged in Baccano. I noticed that Bungou Stray Dogs setting and character designs have a strong 1940s-1950s feel to it. I think that whoever the key animator was, and whoever was in charge of doing the background settings did an amazing job with it. I loved watching the fight scenes occurring in this show. Fights and action scenes are perhaps one of the most noticeable things caught my attention the most. During fights, I noticed that the fast paced animation used greatly increases the intensity of the battles. In addition to that, I also observed that when it comes to fighting, when characters are talking to each other, there is also a sense of build up. I knew that right after characters would finishing talking, there would most likely be some sort of turnover and the quality of the fight would turn out even greater. Character designs were pretty interesting, the eyes were most unique to me. They weren't quite oval shaped nor were they round. For some strange reason male characters features tend to stand our more than the females. I noticed that are drawn to be more "pronounced" so to speak. They did a great job making a good looking main character for the Fujo's to go nuts over too.

Sound was pretty great too. I enjoyed both the soundtrack and voice actors used in Stray dogs... well except Chiaki Omigawa. Her voice is like nails on a chalkboard. She sounds like a boy going through puberty, that is how bad her voice is. Every other voice actor I had no issues with. The background music was pretty good too. I like that during battles, the music would help intensify the fight. Lastly, I loved that vocals were used in most of the songs, rather than just sticking with instrumentals.

Character growth and development is featured in the show however, it's not really prominent. I feel like the events in season 2 will definitely help characters develop more so that they aren't too.. plain. My biggest issue with the characters is that none of them really stand out. Having a long lasting impression of the characters in stray dogs seems almost impossible due to their uninteresting traits along with personalities.

Enjoyment for the show was pretty strong. I think that this was easily my 4th favorite title airing this season. It does deliver quite a lot of drama, action, and mysterious elements. I do believe that because of the way the show is written and introduced that it doesn't appeal to everyone. My overall feeling for the show is that it felt too incomplete, like they are relying on season 2 to make things even better. Despite that that though, I believe that stray dogs delivered enough greatness to make me want to come back for more. I was impressed with just about everything featured in Bungou Stray Dogs.

What happens when you get together a special group of individuals based off famous literacy authors? The answer is Bungou Stray Dogs. Only this time, they have special abilities in a world where there’s mystery, crime, and all other sorts of dark phenomenon that will take your breath away. Based off the manga of the same name, this is a show that can be easily recommendable to almost anyone. But if you’re a fan of supernatural mystery, it’ll be an exception treat.

Bungou Stray Dogs is prime proof that supernatural fiction can still work in attractive fashion. The show stars a group of characters as part ... of the group known as the Armed Detective Agency, who specializes in missions to solve dangerous cases. It offers a select group of individuals with their own unique talents, traits, and ways that makes us wonder about their everyday life style. Then, we also meet Atsushi Nakajima, the main protagonist who got kicked out of his orphanage and ends up becoming a member of the Agency himself. It’s like fate connected his life together with these individuals in a story of innovative wonders.

If you’ve seen The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen or something along that line, then watching this show will feel a bit familiar. On paper, it’s a pretty cool looking show with a cast of badass characters named after famous literary works. Not only that, their special powers are also based off of their well-known literature. The first episodes establishes a blend between mystery, supernatural, and black comedy. In fact, the show easily crafts a mood that is rather comical with the way Osamu Dazai is introduced. I mean think about it, the guy tries to commit suicide in an absurd fashion until Atsushi decides to save him. Throughout the show, his relationship with Dazai can be viewed as bizarre. This also expands to many other characters because truth to be told, Atsushi really is like the new kid in class. Other characters he gets associated with such as Junchirou Tanizaki, Doppo Kunikda, Ranpo Edogawa, Akiko Yosano, and Kenji Miyazaza also brings the best and worst out of him. Throughout the series, it’s also shown that he is perhaps the most “human” out of all the characters. He is very ordinary and has low confidence in himself from the beginning. The revelation regarding his own powers also makes him feel like he’s a walking curse and that misfortune follows those who he encounters. Now you’re probably asking why you should care. The main factor is that Atsushi needs to realize that not everyone can be saved. Kunikda realizes this and constantly reminds himself and others that it’s a cruel world they live in. And that’s a lot to say about the show. The world setting of Bungou Stray Dogs has mafias, underworld organizations, and crimes that goes beyond imaginations.

The story structure sets up the show nicely with its first two episodes. I will emphasize that as part of the series, comedy also plays a large factor to perhaps decide whether you’d like to continue watching or not. For some, this can be very entertaining in the form of popcorn comedy. For others, it can be distracting and even annoying. Director Igarashi Takuya puts his talent at the table and his previous work with Ouran Koukou Host Club can feel familiar to those who recognizes it. That is to say, the comedy may not be suitable for everyone, in particular the timing. The adaptation itself is also quite faithful with panel by panel. It also brings in the violence that gives the show a darker tone mixed in with the humor and jokes. However, I will mention that the show does go off for two episodes around mid-season (not based on the manga). Also, the plan to adapt the series is split into 2-cours (12 episodes ach) and this review will cover the first half.

As some may expect, the Armed Detective Agency also attracts enemies. This is where the Port Mafia comes in as they are introduced. Working from the shadows with mysterious origins, we also meet Ryunosuke Akutagawa, mysterious member of Port Mafia who seems to have a history with Dazai. Other members introduced in the mafia also shows their ruthlessness and lack of care for human life such as terrorist bomber Momojiro Kaji. The point is that the show makes them the main antagonists for the first cour, an antithesis to what Atsushi believes in. At one point, he even meets a young girl known for the murder of 35 people yet still hopes there’s some redemption for her.

As I mentioned before, Bungou Stray Dogs is a cool looking show, literally. The characters portrays some unique personalities with their own personal powers. From tiger transformation to bringing objects into existence by just writing in a notebook, the show demonstrates the capability of attracting fan of supernatural fiction. Unfortunately, I can’t say that the mystery is very impressive. It’s actually pretty straightforward although sparks quite the curiosity about characters’ background stories. What I mean is more of the cases that is rather predictable and some of them actually feels repetitive by nature.

Bones helms the series and once again shows that they are capable of capturing the magic of supernatural genre. Character abilities not only looks cool but also decoratively presented in fashion that is extraordinary. Speaking of the characters, each of them has some unique appearance that makes them stand out in one way or another. From the carefree expressions of Dazai to the mischievous Akiko, it has something to offer for anyone. There’s also a prominence of male characters with bishounen-like characteristics so female fans may find this series a nice sight to look at. The action speaks pretty much for itself with good amount of violence, choreography, and battle theatrics. I can also confess that most of the character expressions in the anime is done better than the manga.

Soundtrack is a nice way to make the show more entertaining as well. From the OP song by Trash Candy to the battle OST, it gives the pleasure of what supernatural battles are all about. Character voice mannerism can also be praised especially for guys like Akutagawa’s sinister tone or Daizai’s sarcastic personality. Because the show is known for its catchy dialogues, the voice mannerism has to be portrayed with credibility and the voice actors/actresses does just that.

It is what it is. Bungou Stray Dogs is pretty much a show that can be watched by anyone from the beginning without any knowledge about literature. That being said, the comedy can feel like a bit of the hit or miss category. After the introductory episodes, the story does pick up quite a bit so patience is a key to enjoy the show. Luckily, there’s an adequate amount of entertainment provided by the unique cast of characters, themes, and storytelling so be prepared for a wild ride. It’s one that you’ll someday come back and realize how fun it was.

The anime is overall very great and attracted my attention. It had just the amount of mystery, suspense and funny moment to make the show entertaining and interesting.
The Main Character is likable. He had very heroic moments like wanting to protect his friends, but what he didn't realized is that his friends are just so OP that he is the one needing protection.
Wondering if this anime is for you, then see my below list of what I enjoyed form this anime:
1) Action
2) Mystery/Detective
3) Funny moments
4) No Harem/ Reverse Harem / Ecchi
5) Without a lot of female characters
6) No pathetic highschool squealing girls that ... faint a lot
7) Great fighting scenes
8) Art and Graphic are pretty good

One thing I have to point out is that: the main character, Atsushi, is well..........Very Abnormal Looking. Heed my warning in mind. He is not your average looking anime males. No, he is not a spiky hair guy. Just heed my warning ...... :)
Over all, this anime is definitely worth your time if what I said above is your taste.

Written by Kafka Asagiri, illustrated by Sango Harukawa and under Bones studio, Bungou Stray Dogs, an anime filled with supernatural action has totally made it for bring us cool characters and several unpredictable elements through it episode one by one. What can I say? I just sit and watch it with “good hopes” about the anime and believe it or not that hopes really fulfilled at the end. Although, the good hopes I mention in here not all of em are answered by this season, there are several reasons why I give 7 (seven) for this despite the fact of my desire to give it ... an eight (I wish I could but still my final whole score is 7 (seven)). Well, why the score is 7 (seven) not 8 (eight)? I’ll explain it further below.

(*) Story
Centers on several people who are gifted with supernatural powers and how they use them to do some various activities, for an example like the main characters did for a living as a member of association named Armed Detective Agency. The activities started from problem solving through some cases, catching culprit to bomb disposal. Well, sounds too much? Nope! Because both the writer and the director has succeed to deliver that package directly to the audience without side issue of little importance at the first. I certainly have to admire the creators for not throwing much garbage in the beginning though there’s some episode not fully whole action. But, I liked the story idea very much. I think this kind of story could be a favorite for an anime fans who like an action genre. I don’t recommend this anime to a fans that like full action without background story. Cause this anime show some short explanation about character’s point of view and cases through several event and condition for approximately 24 (twenty four) minutes each of episode. I felt that kind of short but whatever, I still watch the anime though.

For the beginning of the story, I admit it that I quite confused about how the story started. Suddenly, there’s an orphan who complaining in the side of long river about himself after terrible event happened to him. What I confused at that time is that, what kind of action story that the writer want to show with those kind of start? Will it be like an amazing superhero action, an extraordinary magic action or maybe a “boring” one? I added the “boring” one because I thought the good visual is trick from the creators so we can’t denied to watch it. But, after I watched the end of first episode to third episode I’m sorry that I ever thought about this anime that way. Cause especially from the third episode the story suddenly twist into cool and awesome action with little surprise essence from the characters that existed. Indeed, I have to disappointed that near the end the creators still add the introduction one of character which I thought it doesn’t need to. But again, as a matter of fact it well received and paid in the end of the last episode.

I love the creator’s idea to make this story not so serious, added by some little dramatized comedy that makes me giggles several times. For an example like in second episode when one of the main characters got stuck in a barrel for a reason that awkardly ridiculous.

In conclusion, I think for this season the creators did a story focus to introduce the main and the villain caharacters, not focus to main or ideal conflict to it climax or anti climax of the story yet. There’s still a lot of homework for the creators or I’d rather say there’s event that need more to explain and that includes the past of the story and the impact of them to the characters, villain’s true intention, and many other secret that important to known by the audience. And for that, I’m just glad to realize there’s second season for this show.

(*) Art
I love how the creators draw the characters uniquely. My favorite of all is Nakajima Atsushi’s design. I actually didn’t like that type of character but I don’t know, I mean I loved the hair (to me it’s like modern style of fashionista), love from the clothes to the black boots he wore too. And I like the design of Dr. Yosano too. Black short hair decorated with a medium butterfly hairpin, white collar shirt with long black tie, black skirt, black stocking and high heels. Both the design definetely worked to plus the aura of each character and helped improve the personality of the characters. And that condition apply to other characters too, all of the the main and the villains. They made the characters are memorable to the audience and they are different one to another.

The art background is realistic enough. I liked the opening when Dazai fall from a high-buiding by the way. It looked cool despite the fact when his body touch the ground, he will be dead. Fortunately, that kind of event did not exist haha. Well, back to the background, I think that the creator already did best for them. Like places (from side of the river to big shipboard) and the action event that got more intense the longer you watched. The design of character, the background and the story fits and blend to one another. It is a very good job.


(*) Sound
My first confession about this section is that I fallen in love with the ending song. Though through picture of the ending you can see that such event doesn’t existed to the story yet but the song hits the feel. I definetely will keep it in my track list of anime songs and hearing it again and again. For the opening, I guess that fits well to it scene and has rising the air of the battle scene.

For seiyuu part, I think they all have succeed to portrayed their character’s personality. Like several examples, first Uemura Yuto has made it to show how unconfidence Atsushi sometimes whenever he try to do something out of his imagination and afraid others see him as an annoying one that made them hate him till they want to ask Atsushi to get out of their sight. He started with a weak light voice but in some condition when Atsushi believe in himself, Uemura’s voice could change.

Second, that too happened with Dazai who portrayed by Mamoru Miyano that famous and known with his character voice on Yagami Light’s Death Note. He could make a line between when Dazai teasing or playing around with each other and a side when he get a serious one. It definetely improved the seiyuu cause he has succeed to present Dazai differently than other character he has already portray.

And for the third example, don’t forget Akutagawa who voiced by Ono Kensho. I’ve knew that Ono Kensho often portray a character that have soft side or I’d rather say the good one. But in this anime, (wow) it certainly showed that Ono Kensho have a wide ability to “misdirect” his voice into heavy and sounded bad and evil at the same time. I admit it that I was shocked when I realize who is the voice actor of Akutagawa and he unpredictably is Ono Kensho. They did a very good job with this section.

(*) Character
If the creators have wanted the character of this anime to remember by people who watch it (especially in Japan), then they have made it. First, it because there’s creativity and path that the creators have gives to this anime. And that creativity is to name almost main and villain character from famous literary author’s name in Japan. Which I found that is the brilliant idea to make the introduction of the character more simple and memorable.

Second, the design all of the characters they have made are unique (include their supernatural power) and their personality too. Well, you will find a character that looked weak in the beginning and suddenly he could do something out of beyond and our imagination, you will find a character that looked dumb but have a strong supernatural power, the one who looked innocent but deadful, the one who looked calm but knows everything or the one who looked elegant but in the end get scary as well. You will find many different and unique charactesr in it. My suggestion to describe them all is that, “Don’t judge a book by its cover!”

Despite of two good points I mentioned above, there’s still some shortage though. I have realized that for solution to several conflict that one of the main character through is too simple and fast. Realisticly, that could not happened just for a moment like that, but I’m still happy that after the solution, the next event get surprising feel for the audience. That moment happened for at least one or two times. Luckily, it didn’t broke how slow or the fast story pace is.

Next, as I have explained in the story section that there’s some event that need more description or explanation. It relate to this character section which I realize that there’s character’s emotion changing drastically in one event and the problem is I don’t see any causes or reasons that have been explain previously. Actually, this kind of problem often happened too in other anime that have season per season cross apart. And I don’t blame for the author, the director or any other who’s in it, cause “role” in story will get worked perfectly if you understand the personality of the character, from background story to how “the role” through his or her life in the story. It needs hardwork and it is difficult. Seiyuu in here have role to portray “the existed role” and they have to work together with both the author and the director. If one of them get messed up then “the role” itself could get even messier. I think they have to work this part even more for the next season or project ahead.

And the last part is that the existence of several supporting character (I’m talking about the characters beside the main characters and that includes villains too). There’s several character who get “shadowed” by the other main characters. Actually, it because the story not so focuses on them till comes feeling that I don’t give a crap about what’s gonna happen to them. You will see there’s some poping up character suddenly in the end of final episode. But, the problem is not the sudden poping and I don’t put a conflict about the character that showed up in the last minute. I am actually bothered by some main villain’s character which I found cool at the beginning but “really less-cool” at the end. And for the worse, they have already existed indeed but their role is so small. If i put those character’s existence into percentage, you will find a big hole depends on the main’s role. They are indeed have role to one condition but that condition doesn’t stay for very long, just a little time (like sponsors or something). I tell you, it could make the audience forgot about them. Luckily, their character’s design is easy to remember but I have to tell you again I already forgot their name after I finished watching the last episode. I still did not know how the creators want to put them in the next season. I hoped their percentage of existence will rise up, not drowning to the ground.

(*) Enjoyment
Watching this flowing from the first episode to the last episode just like that. I have to admit that I still have enjoyed watching it though there’s some lackness I mentioned above section per section. Cause the genre that I thought would be heavy, it turns out to be lightier than I ever expected. Plus the comedy from this anime is awkward (I mean rare) but I still giggles and some time laughing cause of it. You may predict several that could happened, but between your guess, you will get surprised and amazed by the characters even more. For the continue, just watch the next season for seek that answer further. In all, I would like to say that Bungou Stray Dogs is recommended for all of you who likes an action anime genre with not so heavy story.

SPOILER FREEEEEEE
I just finished episode 12 and I just could not stop myself from writing a review.

Lets just talk about the character designs and the art style.
I try to never judge an anime or manga by its art style but, I gotta say that one of the things that attracted me to watching this series was the unique art style. The eyes, they are just one of the best things about this anime’s art style. It’s very original and soooo pretty. All the characters were designed so well, it suited perfect with the character’s personality.

The voice actors? Did a good job, honestly I ... haven’t watched an anime with bad voice actors I mean they suited the character and that all I can say right?

Now the anime is totally worth watching if your into action/comedy/mystery/slice of life and a little bit of blood then I recommend giving it a try. I laughed through the whole series, it is even funny at moments when it really shouldn’t be.
It did had plot armor, but I think they did a good job to not make that too obvious.

I am so excited for the season 2, cuz in season 1 they introduced us to all the characters and got us into the story. So I hope in season 2 that they will be giving us the rest of the story. The sad part is that the main protagonist didn’t master his transformation but I hope he will in season 2.
I loved that the anime actually focused on all the characters and not just on the main protagonist.

The titled of this anime was brilliant too, you’ll know why if you watched the whole series, it actually has a meaning behind it.
Another things is the first episode, I mean that first episode will leave a really impact your view on that anime. It really got me excited for what was going to happen, curious for the story.

Overall I think it was a great anime, and as I said excited for S2
This review was probably very random an unorganized that’s cuz I am writing this real late at night…
But yeah hope that this was helpful to some of u guys !! xxx

The Lord of anime has graced us yet again with a no more than average creation.Same ol',same ol',I could say.For even if their powers are fairly refreshing,the plot is still ordinary.

Story(7/10)
*I more or less summarize some aspects of the story because I don't want to have to rewatch it again later to remember

I will have mercy in this area because the idea of super powers named after different japanese books and their use appeared curious.But it still managed to dissapoint quite a bit.I can't even remember the characters' names except Dazai and Kyouka so I will look on the info to refresh my mind.Atsushi didn't ... strike me as an too inspiring protagonist.The story begins when he gets kicked out of the orphanage he was in because he was an eyesore and they didn't want the burden of one more child after so many strange attacks at night.After,when he was on the riverbank,he tries to save a drowning man but surprise!He was actually a suicide maniac who would love to die in a double suicide with a beautiful woman.As a reward for ''saving'' Dazai,the MC is given a meal and because he didn't have any place to go to,his future coworker gives him the offer to help at their detective agency.The protagonist was reluctant at first but after some incidents where it proved his worth and that he wouldn't trouble his comrades he decided to stay.But of course things aren't so easy,for he has a huge bounty on his head because of his previously discovered tiger power and the Port Mafia(and some other guys) are hunting him.A few other events lead to another and there are all kinds of cases to solve but the quarells because of Atsushi's power are the center of it all.Oh,and there aren't any particular plot twists so that's a let down...
It ends with the revealing of a quite a peculiar possible villain so I'm wondering if the other season will ultimately save it or destroy it for good because till now it's way too ordinary.

Art(8/10)

The art reminded me of Durarara a bit and I like that.It gets a passing grade from me,even if I love art like the one in Grimgar or Kabaneri more.Their expressions are funny and some of the characters look familliar.For example,Kenji reminds me a lot of Finnian and the girl from the last episode of Grell,both from Black Butler.

Sound(9/10)

This is probably my favorite thing from this show.I just love the way the opening opening starts with Dazai and then introduces the characters and some cool fight scenes.The ending changes in a more tame and sad tone and I could swear there is something going on between Dazai and Atsushi besides the coworker thing.Oh,and I love Ranpo and Dazai's seiyuus.

Character(7/10)

Atsushi has not a such unusual backstory:he has no parents(orphan) and was rejected by the people around him.He doesn't have any big aspirations,just to help the ones in need(like he did with Kyouka) and it's haunted by the same scene over and over again.Dazai is a total mystery besides his weird suicidal tendencies and his later revealed ex-place of work.The others are kind of alright,I like the ''nurse'',she has the most intriguing power in my opinion.But of course I dislike those frickin clingy Tanizaki brothers because of their obvious show of love,incest not being really my thing.And Akutagawa is another one of those disciples thet want to be noticed by senpai but end up with lots of screws loose.

Enjoyment(6/10)

I'm not proud to say this however this has astonished me in any way.My sense of comedy has become Gintama-leveled so nothing less than weird and unbelievable shit can amuse me.As for action,I've seen a lot of it and much of it and this is only acceptable for me.

Overall(7/10)

If you don't have high standards for comedy and action like me and don't mind the absence of plot twists and stuff too deep then I invite to give it a go.Even if only for the awesome op and ed,and boredom it would be a good choice.I sincerely hope the second season will raise to my standards and not let me doze off in my chair

When it comes to studio specialties, Bones is definitely one of those companies who specializes in creating story-based action and excels at doing so, being one of the companies with a relatively consistent track record on the quality of their work in this genre. So, in comparison to Fullmetal alchemist, Soul Eater, Noragami, and Hitsugi no Chaika, how does their newest adaptation, Bungou Stray Dogs stack up?

Story: Atsushi is...a very unfortunate individual. After being thrown out of his orphanage because they needed to cut costs and so that they would have one less mouth to feed, he is left homeless, penniless, and virtually ... left to the vultures due to having nothing to eat for a good many days. After contemplating suicide, he finds a man just dangling in the river he's sitting next to and decides to save him out of the goodness of his heart, only to try and rob him later. This man named Dazai is an agent for the Armed Detective Agency, a group of individuals with special powers who act sort of like a special police force for the city and solve cases for various events and going-ons in the city. And with Atsushi being one of these 'special power' wielders, he is taken in by the Agency to then be thrusted into what sums up to be a mob fight in the city.

Bungou stray dogs, or Straydogs as I'll be calling this show for the rest of the review, runs on an arcic setup where every few episodes runs with a certain storyline that progressively moves the story forward. What makes this so beneficial to the story is the fact that the show manages to fulfill a lot of the criteria that is needed in order to aid the audience in knowing what is going on. Every new story provides movement so the anime never loses momentum, each arc focuses on a specific character in the story that also provides a bit of development to their character, and there is always an aftereffect so that the story will then continue to pick up its pace. Additionally, there're always more comical moments where the characters show less serious and wacky sides to themselves that adds more to the character and qualities of these characters. (Also, the action is really well done. Classic gunfights and street brawls were very visually appealing.)

However, Straydogs does have a few bugs in the mix. The first of which is with the comedy, where the transition from comedic to serious and vice versa are sometimes extremely choppy and doesn't really flow all that well. And the second, and biggest problem of Straydogs is Atsushi's backstory. The show consistently in every arc reminds you that Atsushi was a thrown out orphan, even having a dedicated 2-3 minute scene of Atsushi's internal thoughts that details his internal struggle with finding a place in the world. And they use this WAY too often. It's fine that the show expresses Atsushi's internal struggle, but the show hammers it in a bit too much to the point that I was shouting at my screen saying "I get it! Atsushi was abandoned and thrown out for being unwanted. Jesus, let's get back to the gunfights and street brawls already!" Every arc has some portion of it dedicated to this aspect of our main protagonist and while it does diminish as the series goes on, and Atsushi does grow as a character, they still do it regardless where in the series we're in and it's just a bit annoying.

Overall, Straydogs's story is more or less just a lead-in to the second season coming in the Fall. The series excels at having the classic gang-like setting with the Agency's rival, the 'Port Mafia' acting as the main antagonist for the series and uses this setting to its advantage by having its mini-arcs feature some gritty and well developed stories that impact our characters with every new episode. Aside from the constant usage of Atsushi's background information, the story didn't really have many flaws. It wasn't exactly an extremely compelling story, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless.

Overview:
+ Good use of setting
+ Episodes were more or less a perfect blend of both character and story development
- Kinda leaves us hanging with the ending (Cause hey look, Season 2)
- Overuse of Atsushi's orphan backstory

Characters: The characters of Straydogs are actually quite...interesting. Every single character who has powers has a very unique name for their respective powers, where each character that the series shows us is a reference to a different novel that exists in the world that depends on the character's nationality. That being said, onto the analyzations.

Atsushi Nakajima is the main character of Bungou Stray Dogs with the power 'Beast beneath the Moonlight' (A reference to The Moon over the Mountain) who has the ability to turn into a white tiger. That's...basically all he can do. Of course he gets added physical ability when he goes tiger but in a nutshell, he turns into a tiger. Anyway, Atsushi serves as the 'new kid on the block' kind of character as he, like the audience, gets introduced to his coworkers at the Agency and every few episodes or so while also being thrown into various situations that show him the kind of cruel reality the world is. As mentioned before, his backstory is that he was thrown out of an orphanage (is me repeating this starting to get annoying yet?) and more or less left on the streets to die. As the series progresses, you can see Atsushi's constant self-victimization die down with every new case he's involved in, which while is more or less a plot device to keep the series going, is nice to see cause it moves his character along and helps him grow with every new case that does get progressively harder with every new situation. The issue I see with Atsushi's character is not with his character himself, but with what he does to the people he's against. The entire series tells us that everyone and I mean EVERYONE wants Atsushi cause he's so special or he's so good. This sparks so reasonable rage to some of the other 'main' antagonists to the story that sorta just want to see him drop dead. My problem with this is because literally everyone he fights has basically the same reason for hating him specifically, it just sorta feels hollow.

Then there's Osamu Dazai, who has the ability 'No longer human' (a reference to an actual japanese novel called 'No Longer Human') who can negate any ability with a single touch. Dazai is...an interesting individual. His character is that of an overzealous person who finds it his duty to commit suicide, but only the most graceful or beautiful suicide, before promptly deciding that he wants to commit a double suicide with a beautiful woman too. Safe to say, Dazai serves as not only Atsushi's main mentor in the series, but also as the series' comic relief while possessing a decently cunning and intelligent individual underneath. Despite being one of the more core characters in the series due to his role in the series and his backstory, there really just isn't much to say about Dazai. He's more or less just...there, and really doesn't add a whole lot to the series' plotline as a whole. Sure he has his moments, but compared to other characters, he's just not as important story-wise.

Then there're the other characters in the series. Because of the way the series structures itself, these characters aren't necessarily background or side characters, but rather characters that belong to different factions. As such, I'll be going them by faction.

The Armed Detective Agency has quite a...colorful cast. By colorful, I mean REALLY...WEIRD. As the main faction of characters that we follow, these are the characters that we follow the most. Each story arc has Atsushi follow or learn from one or more of the Agency members where we get to know them a little more as characters with the arcs that they are involved with as well as understand their sense of humor cause this group of strange individuals definitely have a lot of different kinds of funny bones.

Then we have the Port Mafia, the most prominent antagonist in this season. Believing in strength and to use their powers to get what they want, the Port Mafia acts as your stereotypical gang group with lots and lots of murderous intent. Does that mean they're generic? No. The series focuses on a select few members of the Port Mafia for a few episodes and/or focuses on their members (Akutagawa specifically) during certain arc in the series. While their lack of screentime due to the main brunt of the series focusing on the Agency members kinda hampers on knowing everything about how this organization works, there certainly is a great deal of information that the series was about to give us about our antagonist characters that only helped to serve the series.

Finally, we have The Guild, the third and final faction that only appears in the last few episodes in the series. Because of Season 2, this faction and its agents were only revealed at the very end of the series so there really isn't much to go off of. But hey, they seemed interesting.

All in all, the characters of Straydogs were while interesting, have a very...clear flaw to them. At least to me. I for the life of me cannot remember at least 90% of the cast. The show has a lot of characters that they throw into the spotlight during certain arcs and moments in time, and while they are all enjoyable and quite memorable as characters, the show doesn't really do a good job at hammering in their names so, at least for me, I cannot recall many of their names. (Maybe it's due to the fact that I don't read enough to constitute me knowing the authors that these characters reference...)

Overview:
+ Colorful and diverse cast
+ Character development
- Atsushi is sort of a plot device for some characters
- I cannot remember most of their names despite knowing more or less everything else about them

Art: The direction that Bones took for this series is leaning towards a sort of dulled out color scheme and simple yet crisp and concise look on the animation. The majority of the color scheme is either beige or various colors of white and such. There's no real pop to the color and is pretty monotone to give this sorta big city sort of look. (And while I say it's monotone, the muted color scheme actually helps give off that gang-filled city feel.)

The action for the series is pretty fluid and the street brawls and such are only elevated by the various powers and abilities that the character wield and use. As the series takes heavy inspiration from various books and novels, the series uses a series of rings with text on them to dictate the usage of a power or not. Effects like these and many other involving the usage of powers make the street brawls even more visually appealing to look at and improved the look of the series overall.

Overview:
+ Dulled color scheme that fit with the series's setting
+ Fluid action
+ Good effects to bring more life into the action sequences

Sound: The OP known as 'Trash Candy' (Weird name, I know) is an rock song that brings a loud and rambunctious tone akin to the city and action theme that the series brings a lot of throughout its entire runtime while the ED, "Namae wo Yobu yo" is a mellow and quiet slow rock piece that pertains more to the metal thoughts and internal conflict with the characters in the series. Both tracks fit with different aspects to the series and are very well made. Despite that, these tracks don't...really resonate with me personally. They're good, don't get me wrong, but just personally, I just don't find these songs to be memorable or worth listening to in my down time unlike a lot of other tracks.

Overview:
+ Good OST
- Not really memorable (to me)

Personal Enjoyment: Bones gave me a show a few seasons ago that I absolutely despised. That show was called Concrete Revolutio. Because of that, I was actually scared to watch this show because of how similar of a concept that series had with this one. Nevertheless, my friends tried to convince me that it was nothing like that trash pile and that I would actually see more worth in this series than that one. So, after finishing this show, I can safely say, dear god they were right.

Did I like this anime?

To say I loved this anime is...a bit overstating it. This show really isn't the kind of thing I like all too much, but I definitely did enjoy it. It was consistently interesting and I always appreciate an excessive amount of real life references even if I myself don't get/know of them. Also, I really like Kyouka. She's adorable.

What didn't I like about this anime?

My one and only complaint with this series was how much they drove in the fact that Atsushi or other characters were abandoned by something or someone and were taken in by one of the three factions. Like seriously, there are an excessive amount of characters that were just recruited off the streets. It makes sense to have similar backstories so some character can relate to each other, but when you have 3 or more characters like that, well now that's just being a bit excessive, especially with the amount of screentime the show was dedicating just to make sure that you knew that Atsushi was thrown out by the orphanage. (If I'm saying that too much, the series uses the same 2-3 minute scene at least 5-8 times in the series alone. Just think about it, about 1/2 episode's worth of screentime is the exact same scene.

Would I recommend this series?

If you want a series that's about gangs and/or gang-related stuff than this series might fit the bill. The show is largely story-based so there's not a shortage of interesting stuff happening on-screen, and there're enough comedic moments and serious moments to create a good and reasonable balance on both tones of the show. Overall, Bungou Stray Dogs was a good show that delivered mostly on what it wanted to do. With a second season coming, the sort of 'read the manga' ending feel doesn't really have any shortcomings as there will be more animated material coming soon, so it also does will in that aspect too.

So what happens when you have a buncha people with powers get together and form a detective agency? You get an unstoppable force. Seriously these guys are so strong like nobody can even do anything to them. They're against the mafia and others but damn they're so strong. And this show had a lot of badass characters with cool powers. They're not your standard ki blasts or whatever but pretty cool stuff. This show is pretty funny though and comedy might be one of it's best traits. And Dazai is the best. His power can neutralize any power and he's always messing with everyone and ... he's just a lowkey badass. lol. There's a lot of powers in this show it's like watchin freakin X-men. The action scenes are good, the comedy is great and the cast is just full of badass and funny people. Give this show a watch if you like good action and comedy.

By all means this show can't be compared to the greatest ones you've seen, however i believe it's pretty damn solid and i can easily recommend you to watch it, considering you're interested enough to read a review of it.
Now, lets break the whole thing down in parts:
Story - 7
The whole world setting is pretty simple - some ppl have superpowers, god knows why - doesn't matter. The story is pretty interesting, so if you might like the combination of genres 'Action, Comedy, Mystery, Seinen, Supernatural', then you won't be disappointed. Altough i would call this show a Shounen rather than a Seinen (the fact ... that characters are working adults instead of being highschoolers doesn't make a series a seinen imo). The comedy is at most places pretty juvenile and won't make you laugh out loud most of the times, however it should reduce the distance between you and the characters
Art - 8
The animation/art isn't extraordinary nor anything new , however it doesn't fall short in comparison to other shows of the season. I also liked the character designes of most of the characters (especially Kyouka's).
Sound - 7
I don't recall any ost from the show that i loved, it was ok though. The opening and ending did not catch my ear all that much either. However the music does work well with everything that happens on the screen and will make you more involved with the action, so i can say it's good.
Character - 9
I liked them, simple as that. Dazai & Kunikida duo is pretty damn entertaining to watch, other main characters are pretty interesting as well, i surely hope i will get to know them better in the next season of the show.
Enjoyment - 8
Got nothing to say in the subject, simply seems like a cool show to watch.
Overall - 8
The show is interesting and fun to watch, it's a strong position among this season's anime, deserving to be in top 5 in popularity ranking of the season.

To summ up, it's a show worth watching, you will surely enjoy it, if the humor dosn't end up irritating you or scaring you away. Cheers!

Literature Greats turned Superhuman Investigators

Bungou Stray Dogs is by large a character analysis piece with literature greats with superpower going to a huge civil gang wars...and the way LA said it, it's actually a great premise, however...

The plot does tend have small short arcs concerning the investigator's firm's quirky wacky members but as well as Atsushi voiced by Yuto Uemura, Doppo Kunikida voiced by Yoshimasa Hosoya and Osamu Dazai's look at society of their world. Dazai is by the far the most interesting character out of the bunch and his background is told in little snippets giving us his "true" self, Doppo's look at society ... as a theme is one of the best looks at the corrupted and unfair world that they live in and Atsushi is the realist in all this and probably the most developed characters from the the wimpy, spineless main protagonist to someone who holds his beliefs of his world of peace in high regard, even if it means he needs to dirty his hands to do it.

Unfortunately aside from those three characters, the other support characters at best get one episode with the main protagonist with little to string them together aside being "support" to Doppo, Atsushi and Dazai with their superpowers. The best connection most of the support characters and minor villains are their connection to their real life literary counterparts and their theming makes them intriguing one-off characters (well most of the villains anyways). LA's favourite character would actually be Atsushi as his character development quite surprised LA to the point of calling him a badass, bouns points for Atsusuhi being an audience surrogate making us relate more to himin his world even more. The only other character LA grown a liking to was Kyouka Izumi voiced by Sumire Moroboshi, reason being her backstory, her being a badass and once her appearance and "arc" happened she(*SPOILERS* not only gave Atsusuhi that push from wimp to badass but gave herself character evolution too!) got something of equal share of screentime with Atsushi.

There is comedic bouts in this anime and really it comes off as a mood whiplash at best especially concerning Dazai's attempted suicides. The comedy does work if it's character jabs or banter but the comedy just doesn't mesh with the very serious plot aside from "cooling down period" before getting back into the action.

The animation by Studio Bones is by in large largely reminiscent to Soul Eater right down to the comedic moments to the highly detailed battle scenes. The animation is highly commendable with no animation derps. LA had no problems with the animation and should praise Bones for the gorgeous animation.

If there was anything at fault in Bungou Stray Dogs that would have to be that the anime's pacing is very slow at first (in order to get used the setting and main cast) but just because it's slow doesn't mean it has a benefit, that being it develops the huge roster of characters at the very least.

The mysteries with this anime however are intriguing and does bring plot twists nonchalantly as possible even giving some of the mysteries answer the whole "red herring supernatural cause but actually not" take on it, which is unique giving us something of vibe to the world Atsushi lives in, the plot twists does it's thing by giving more developments outside of the cast (one episode be damned).

Considering this is the first season and the next season will be released by Fall 2016, this anime's "story" is just getting started however LA will see what the first season did and to be frank, besides the mood whiplash comedy the very slow start, Bungou Stray Dogs, gave us a world of literary greats with superpowers, a brewing civil gang wars and a then wimpy spineless main protagonist turned badass and the main plotline thread still looming. LA would like to continue watching Bungou Stray Dogs only to see what happens next as it left us hanging on a cliffhanger by the finale.

Well yeah before it came out, I was reall hyped up because of the description plus the seiyuu lineup (not having read the manga and all), and while watching it progress into 12 episodes, it did become more typical shounen (especially the MC). HOWEVER, for some reason, I kinda liked it more than the other shounen animes I've seen. I can't quite explain it, maybe it's the reference to several literary geniuses? Maybe it was the art and music? Or maybe the side characters (though quite a lot) were interesting? Maybe I found the humor cute? I'm not so sure, but I DID LOVE IT.

I ... didn't drop it (lie I did to the other animes of the season) because even if the MC was sort of generic, there were others who really stood out. It also helped a lot that the OSTs are amazing.

Here we have a story about an auto win character. I don't like these, I truly don't. The character has almost zero control of his powers at first, but somehow becomes really adept at using them. He's also just about invincible so I never really worry about him... Ever. Every situation, ever hit, every little thing that happens to him you think to yourself "Ugh, he'll be fine."
Not only that, but it's yet another "Random company full of super powered people." It feels dry, and it tastes dry, and honestly I think it goes a couple episodes too long.
However, the show does one thing really ... right. NO LOVE INTEREST. We don't need it, and this show knows that! Oh thank goodness. That can't be all though, right? I just said a bunch of bad things about it, and yet I gave it an alright score, so what's up with that? Honestly, for such a fair story, it builds everything up really well. Excluding the last few episodes it's pacing is on point, and it is genuinely interesting to see how everyones abilities work with or against one another. Especially one character who doesn't seem that interested in living, but is still trying his best to help everyone he can. Also, the action in this show is really well done, and fun to watch. This anime came to do one thing, and that thing was to be fun to watch. Even though it has faults, it manages to work past these and still manage to be fun.

There's just a certain something to this show that keeps me coming back to it!

The plot and characters' personalities are interesting, no doubt; most are quirky and "likeable" but not too overdeveloped. I also love the cross-literary references that get all tangled up but somehow stay connected (even though I wish they weren't so western-focused).

But I think what really makes this show great is the way it touches on a range emotions that often stay below the surface. In particular, concepts related to the fear/comfort of aloneness, not an uncommon theme in general. This show dives right in, opening a conceptual conversation about ... without resolving it, leaving the task up to the watcher. Somehow it has a very nostalgic feel.

Truly amazing show. Development of characters is great and the fact that they are based on the real authors is adding something special. It's interesting to see all the references to books that authors wrote. The story itself is also amazing and keeps viewer interested. I really enjoyed every single episode and I'll definitelly come back to this anime one day. Plot is basically never boring and there is not a single one "empty" part. Sometimes it may not seem like it, but every small detail or any scene that is less action is usually realy important for story. Bungou Stray Dogs series are really ... interesting and this may sound pathetic, but it changed my way of looking at world and people.

Heavy Spoilers
Except, there isn't really much story to follow anyways... so I'm not really spoiling anything. All the enjoyment comes from Dazai. Dazai ichiban delicious.

Story;
The whole premise of the anime is very good, the set up is nice and the first episode makes you feel engaged. However, after the first episode the story begins to get a little messy and there are too many different elements/themes/ideas that are being shoved into the anime. Essentially, the anime began as a supernatural, comedy, action, overcome your past and learn new things, etc. type of anime. The set up is very typical, but what sold it was ... the characters; their quirks, backgrounds, and the mystery of their personalities/relationships.

And then all of a sudden (across the period of a few episodes), the anime turns into the detective genre. I guess I gave it a pass as -spoiler- he joins a 'detective agency' with all the other 'gifted' people. But this is exactly what made the story a lot less coherent and enjoyable than it could have been. Instead of the story prioritising on helping the main protagonist learn about himself and to master control over his tiger transformation, the focus remains on random arcs, which don't actually progress the story too much. The only premise that remains constant (after a few episodes of random genre jumping), is that Atsushi is the weretiger and he's being hunted because he's very valuable. And this doesn't really make any sense cause it comes out of nowhere as well, and the 'dangerous' man he's told to avoid turns into a Team Rocket vs Ash type scenario where, at the end of each episode he appears in, he's essentially done nothing.

Oh yea and they stole a bunch of random things that were meant to be 'WOW DIDN'T THINK OF THAT!! haha u got mi animay riter!!' except it just came off as kinda cringe. Like when someone makes something cool/funny/inspirational and other people try to copy it??? yea like that. like omg cpt murica jumped on grenade 2 save teammates lets make him a super american!!! yea, well atsushu jumps on a bomb but it was actually a test as well and they decide to accept him.

To be completely honest the storyline was so messy in terms of genre that I don't even really remember what happened. The main reason I wanted to write this review was because:
Art (9/10):
The art was delicious. His haircut on the otherhand... I mean, the fella isn't an orphan anymore okay, at least ditch the bad haircut. No offence to kids at orphanages, cause they probably have more stylish haircuts than him. THAT RANDOM BANG JUST ANNOYED THE SASDIUHASIUDH out of me holy coaofaasasf. Just no. Get a different 'I'm the main protagonist of this anime' haircut please.
Sound (9/10):
What can I say, the OP and ED were delicious too. Didn't find anything unusual about the FX and VO's either so yea.

Character (10/10):
Legit the only reason I was still entertained and decided to finish the anime was because of Dazai. Like the whole premise of trying to suicide was like... oh my i know what's going to happen...
-some edgy loser kid with depression is going to get triggered somewhere and rate the anime 1/10 for being insensitive-
Dazai was your typical comedy relief guy who's actually opop. Oh yea and the main character... which literally no one gives a sdafj about cause he's just trash. This is also why I have to deduct a point for characters as well. Atsushi is such a aewifaoi. His character development was typical, but then you have all the negatives. This is also why I rated the story so bad. His 'gift' he transforms into opop regen tiger under moonlight. But all of a sudden he can turn into a tiger whenever he wants and he just learns how to control it randomly. And I guess the writers realised and were like oh.... let's just make him say, "I still don't have control over it..." at the end of the anime. Hopefully no one overlooks the fact that all of a sudden he's able to randomly transform his limbs into the tiger form???????? ppl r nut dum 0k animay riter-san, we r smurt, we kan folo plot dsentlee 0k.

Enjoyment (9/10):
- Dazai

Overall (8/10):
- Dazai gets his own anime in the next season!!!
- I rated this 8/10 for development of Dazai's character for the next season.
WOOOOH
-Atsushi is trash- WOO!!!
Also Atsushi just reminds me of like 'old man' in Korean so... I'll take away extra points from Atsushi. No one likes him. Atsushi should listen to his orphanage parents. If you don't already see it, I dislike Atsushi.

It's kinda like Clannad/Angel Beats. The first half of it is so boring you just don't want to continue. But then plot twist it's all a set up for the better half (the second season)

Bungou Stray Dogs was an anime I was really excited for, for reasons that weren’t really much. I saw the first PV and just the animations and music alone sold me. I didn’t need to know anything else. After watching the first episode though, well, I have mixed initial reactions. It was a lot more lighthearted than I expected… a lot more. And at first, I had quite a lot of issues in getting used to its tonal shifts. As the series went on, I started to accept both its tone and content. And by the end, I did enjoy the series. Bungou Stray Dogs ... does a lot of things right, in sacrifice for some other qualities. The PVs and key visuals might be misleading with the tone, but the genres aren’t, so you will get what you’ve wanted, just not as much as you’ve wanted.

~{Story}~
Bungou Stray Dogs is about a homeless boy who meet a suicide-loving supernatural detective who makes the boy join his supernatural investigation agency. Yeah, that basically sums it up, though it may not sound too interesting for some. But the series manages to have quite an interesting main story once the mafia aspect gets introduced. The thing is that it’s only interesting when the main story is present. Throughout most of this season, it was mainly episodic supernatural cases that weren’t too enjoyable. They ruined the flow of the series and it’s quite disappointing. And many of these stories were anime-original, so they had no reason to be here. However, when the main story kicks in, it kicks in hard. It’s a very entertaining story about detectives vs. mafias and it manages to be very thrilling… unless if the comedy ruins it (which I’ll talk about later). The story is left incomplete and it ends off at a cliffhanger. This would have been a flaw if a second season wasn’t announced (luckily it’s a split-cour series).
Story: 6.5/10

~{Presentation}~
Bungou Stray Dogs gets a lot of things right, but a lot of things wrong too. The world building in this series is fantastic, as right off the bat, this supernatural, mafia filled world feels believable for some reason. The characters are also presented and introduced nicely, as the series gives adequate development for all of their characters. The series is very stylish and the setting is interesting too. And the fact that all the main characters are named after famous Japanese authors is both weird and enthralling. But the thing Bungou Stray Dogs doesn’t get right is its tone and pacing. Both make the series suffer heavily. The series is a mixture of both comedy and drama, but the mixture isn’t pure enough. Bungou is more relish than ketchup in terms of its mixture. The transition between seriousness to humor to back to seriousness is very off-putting at times. One second the characters will discuss a murder incident, the next second a character will make a joke about committing suicide. The series feels all over the place with its tonal shifts. Secondly, the pacing heavily suffers whenever the main story is put on hold and episodic stories come in. Not much really happens in these 12 episodes. If only the series was a loyal adaptation of the manga.
Presentation: 6/10

~{Character}~
Bungou Stray Dogs has quite a unique set of characters. For many they may end up being likable from the first episode, for others it may take some time, and for some, they may end up not liking them at all. It only took me a second to like the characters in Bungou. Our protagonist, Atsushi, is a very likable main character. He has and interesting power of becoming a tiger spirit and it’s fun seeing his reaction to the other eccentric detectives. And though it may not seem like it at first, but he can be a badass when necessary. He is more than just a pretty face. However, his backstory on why he had to leave his orphanage felt quite weak, though luckily they don’t focus on that too much. Our deuteragonist, Dazai, ended up being my favorite character. He’s character is a good mixture of humor and badass-ness. His committing suicide gag always ended up being funny, even during the umpteenth time. And we have other interesting detectives such as, Edogawa, Kunikida, Miyazawa, Tanizaki and Yosano, whom all are interesting and unique, even if a couple of them borrow some cliché traits. The antagonist of this series, so far, aren’t quite as interesting as the main cast, but they still have another season to shine.
Character: 7.5/10

~{Art}~,
It’s really damn pretty, no other way to say it. The lighting, the coloring, the neatness, all amazing. Never was there a drop in detailing. It’s Bones at its best. The character designs are great too. Some may call it fujoshi-bait, but pretty-looking boys doesn’t make the series deserve that title. The backgrounds are pretty too. And those sunsets are absolutely gorgeous. However, whenever a comedic situation happens, the art intentionally looks simplistic and characters are drawn chibi-type. It’s drawn well, but it makes a bad contrast with its more realistic arc. And the simplistic art makes the tonal shift look even more jarring. It almost feels like I’m watching two different anime. Other than the simplistic art, the normal art is gorgeous and is a good competitor for art of the season.
Art: 8/10

~{Animation}~
Just like its art, Bungou Stray Dogs features great animation too. It’s probably one of the most fluid anime of the season, and it might be better than Bones’s other work from the same season, Boku no Hero Academia (in terms of consistency). Character animations looks superb and the backgrounds are well animated too, especially the wind effects. And during the action moments, the animations look even better and even more fluid. The animations during the chibi/comedic moments are more simplified and it matches the context. It’s just that the comedy itself is a little out-of-place. If there’s nothing you can enjoy from Bungou, at least you have great animations to satisfy you.
Animation: 8.5/10

~{Voice Acting}~
The seiyuu cast is considerably well-known in Bungou Stray Dogs, and they all do well. Atsushi’s voiced by one of the lesser-known seiyuu, Uemura Yuto, and he does considerably well considering his experience. He manages to do both the lighthearted and the serious moments properly. Saying that Miyano Mamoru didn’t deliver as Dazai is like saying Death Note isn’t the most popular anime of MAL – It’s factually incorrect. Miyano does everything right with Dazai. His humor is on point as it always makes me laugh and his serious moments are fantastic too. His range in his voice is extraordinary and there’s not surprised why he’s loved as a seiyuu so much. And talking about talented seiyuu, Kamiya Hiroshi does Edogawa, and he does it excellently too. However, his character has primarily been in comedic situations, so this anime doesn’t showcase his talent of doing more serious roles, but he still gets the comic timing right. And Kunikida is done well by Hosoya Yoshimasa, as he manages to capture the character’s strict and serious character properly. And you have other talented seiyuu doing supporting roles like Ono Kensho, Sakurai Takahiro, Hanazawa Kana, and Ishikawa Kaito, who all go a good job.
Voice Acting: 7.5/10

~{Music}~
The thing that made me excited for Bungou Stray Dogs before its premiere was the music. It was good enough for me to quickly put the anime on my “plan-to-watch” list. First of all, Iwasaki Taku is a very talented music composer as he’s done so many well-known tracks for well-known anime. Bungou’s music is an extra addition to his ever-growing list of success. The background music in the series is phenomenal. Some of the jazzy tracks always gets my attention, and the way they are used in the anime, especially during the action scenes, it makes things so much better. Just listen to the music in the first PV and I dare you telling me that it doesn’t sound sexy. The OP, “Trash Candy”, is alright. Personally, it’s not my type of music, but it’s listenable. The music for it is pretty upbeat. The ED, “Namae wo Yobu yo”, is far better as both the vocals and the music is soothing, and it matches the anime too.
Music: 8.5/10

~{Enjoyment}~
I didn’t enjoy Bungou Stray Dogs as much as I wanted too, due to some noticeable flaws, but there are some things that are done so well that it’s hard not to like it. The premise is interesting and the main plot is great, but whenever the main plot is put on hold for some episodic moments, my enjoyment is put on hold too. And due to large tonal shifts throughout the series, sometimes I feel like I’m being taken away from the moment. Due to tone shifts, comedy moments don’t feel as funny as they should and serious moments lack the punch it needs. But the characters are likable enough for me to get past those issue and still consider this a good series.
Enjoyment: 7/10

In the end, Bungou Stray Dogs is something you should check out for sure. Though it may be a seinen anime, it’s fan base is primarily female based (and it may be due to obvious reasons). Don’t go into this anime with really high expectations because it’s not too special of an anime. And don’t expect the series to be serious focused, because it might just have more comedy than most of the anime from this season. The tonal shifts in the series might be off-putting for some, and it might be the biggest flaw for those who’ve dropped the series. But the characters are likable, and most importantly, memorable, and the story (finally) seems like it’s going somewhere. Though it would have been unforgivable that the series focused on its main story so late, but since the series is a split-cour, it’s hard to complain about it that much. Can’t wait to see how the second season turns out to be.

+ Great world-building and premise
+ Likable main characters, voiced by talented seiyuu
+ When the main story kicks in, it’s really good
+ Fantastic background music, which complements the action sequences.
- Some of the episodic storylines ruin the pacing of the series
- Tonal shifts can be jarring at times and the comedy, at times, is misplaced.

Overall: 7.4/10

Bungou Stray Dogs was one of the better anime of this season. Not the best overall but still a decent start to the franchise as a second season is coming out in Fall 2016. I did enjoy this anime for some parts although I myself found this anime quite boring in some episodes. In my opinion, it will appeal to a lot of people due to its action and decent story.

Story: 6/10

The story of Bungou Stray Dogs is decent as of right now. It focuses a lot on our main character, Atsushi becoming a weretiger and how it affects his life. He goes ... to a detective agency which shelter him from the Port Mafia that are trying to take him because he has a large bounty on his head from all the chaos he has done. Now this anime is just boring for me, It does pick up in the later part of the series, around episode 10 but it is just plain boring before that. Nothing particularly interesting besides the detective scene happens before then and it feels like some of it is filler. If you can survive that though, the story is more interesting and will surely bring us a treat in the second season. The main problem I have with the story itself is just how boring it can be. It was so hard to just watch it during some scenes because it wasn’t very interesting. It was like watching the first episode of Fate/Zero for the first time and extending that for around 6 episodes. Although the story is unique, the writing just didn’t interest me until 3/4 of the way through this anime.

Art: 7/10

The art of Bungou Stray Dogs is good for the most part. It’s not the best by anyone’s standards but it’s not bad at all. Background art looks fine any character designs are good.

Sound: 7/10

The sound is solid with a solid Op and decent Ed and it is sometimes nice to hear but there is no stand out track in my opinion and nothing I will remember very well such as Sword Land from SAO or The battle is to the strong from Fate/Zero. Overall, still a solid soundtrack

Characters: 6/10

The characters to me are sort of interesting but they can honestly be annoying. Dazai to me is interesting but is dragged down by his desire to commit double suicide all the time. Atsushi is always afraid and I really don’t like that about him. Although he can be cool at some moments, he just feels like an average character. Some of the cast can be forgettable while others aren’t. There are some very memorable characters but the others just fade into obscurity for me. I believe they could be better developed too as only Atsushi, Dazia, and Kunikida are actually sort of developed throughout the series. Everyone else has little to no character development.

Enjoyment: 7/10

I did enjoy the last part of the series a lot but I did not like the first part of the series. It was boring for me. I did not enjoy the comedy at all during this series either. It isn’t very funny and the dialogue wasn’t very interesting. Action was good but that was really the only thing I enjoyed Bungou Stray Dogs.

Overall: 7/10

With decent characters and a boring story until the later part of the anime, Bungou Stray Dogs sets itself up for the second season in Fall 2016. Animation and sound are solid and are a nice sized + to this series. Overall, should, you watch Bungou Stray Dogs? Yes, but it may not be for everyone.

Watch If:
- You like some good action
- Liked Kekkai Sensen
- A more unique spin on Mystery series

Don’t Watch If:
- You like comedy (it’s bad)
- Characters and Story are a priority for you

Spoiler free review everyone! ^^

"There is a way even in difficult times."
I think that's overall the message of this series, and they use a pretty fresh "non-cliche" kind of showing it to the viewers.
Let's break this diamond into pieces, and I'll tell you some of the hits and misses:

BACKGROUND, STORY AND SETTING:
The story focus on Atsuhi, a boy that has been kicked out from his orphanage due to a strange reason he still can't comprehend. And thanks to a kind action towars a man with Suicide Tendencies (Dazai) he ends up being involved in a company of supernatural detectives, each with it's own ... talent.
By that t's pretty interenting in it's own.
The story revolves around a bunch of cases; and every one of those makes you learn a little bit more about the main character and the important side characters. That makes the anime go smooth, without not to much obvious exposition and it's pretty complementary.
What it's good about this anime, is that the min characters have a low of balance between them, and the moral of the good guys and bad guys can be very questionable. And you end up liking both sides.

ART AND SOUNDTRACK:
Just look at the intro. What I like about Bones studio is that they give each of their animes a pretty "remarkable" artsyle. And this one is full of color without being overwhelming. It's really pleasing to see and eyecatching. That paired up with the awesome rock-electro tipe of music gives you an awesome intro and so much of an aweosme background fighting music.
As for the ending, it is a huge contrast, being mre calm and story-like.

CHARACTERS: So this is my favorite part to talk when it comes to BSD, cause it is brilliant. For the ones who don't know, every relevant character in the series is named and inspired after a classic (mainly japanese or American) writer. And their powers as well.
Without knowing this the anome is still great to see, but if know this fact and know the authours that inspired this character the anime becomes more interesting and a lot of fun to catch references.
One complain is, that we do not see much character developmet from other characters that are not the main one, and that is kinda sad since the rest of the cast would be so interesting.

TIME RATIO AND EXECUTION:
As I told you, this anime doesn't go on a slow pace, but soemtimes I wished they could explain things a little bit better. I think than even when the motive of the "good guys" it's pretty clear, the one from the bad guys is kinda blurry and not that understandable. You can still figure it out by yourself, which is fun but I would have loved a little bit more depht in that part, and maybe I think that was becuase this season was just 12 episodes.


OVERALL:
Bungou Stray dogs was pretty impressive snce my first impression on this anime was that it was going to be pretty goofy and for comical purposes, but it ended up being more than that, the story is on cliffhanger and I am totally looking forward to see the second part of this o October. If you like omedy, you will like this. If you like action, you will like this.

Bungou Stray Dogs Season 1 Anime Review
By: Asagiri Kafuka
April 23, 2019

Overall: 10

Plot: 10

It's very rare for me to see an anime where I get really into it only by seeing the first episode. This series is one of them. This story is about gifted human beings with different abilities since they were born. The protagonist found himself alone, dying of hunger. That is when the time a special operative help him and coincidentally the one they are looking for. Along this season, different characters and abilities was introduced. Mainly, it was shown how the protagonist choose to survive on the harsh world he's in with ... the people who accept him. It feels like the first season is mainly for introducing every significant characters of the story and the beginning of the war between groups of gifted humans with the principle they have. It seems bias but I really love this anime.

Characters: 10

I love Dazai. The suicidal maniac who became really serious in times needed. I love this kind of character who is humble and act idiotic, but you know is genius and strong. Apart for him, the other characters have their own unique way of telling that they are also great. They all have different ideals and their actions correspond to that. They stand on their belief and help those in need. It is great how every characters is not perfect, they have flaws, weakness, and mix emotions. Oh. I think, there's one perfect but sulky type out there.

Sound and Animation: 10

The action scenes on this series is awesome. The way before they displayed or use their skill is one of a kind. And the movement of the characters when they are in a fight is flawless. It was graceful but savage at the same time. Scratches, blood, marks are in there. The emotions of each of them when they are in pain, they are angry, they are serious is perfect. I really like the expression on their faces. You can tell what the characters are feeling the way the level of roughness on their faces changed. As well as the voices which suited their role.

Enjoyment: 10

The first episode sold it to me. It really got me. It made me hook on the series. There are little anime out there who can do the same. The beginning of a story is very important. It is what makes the viewer continue. It is what excites them to turn in the next page. This series does not fail me. Every fights and characters are interesting. The comedy is there. It is a perfect combination.

Ending: 10

The ending is just the beginning. It only get started. The end of the season one is really exciting. It showed the antagonist they will need to face later on the story. The casts are complete so it will be the time to show all the cards. Feels like it. The series will just get more and more interesting. And I can't wait for that!

This is just an anime I found randomly on the internet while looking for something new to watch. It seemed promising so after watching the whole Bungou Stray Dogs series and reading the manga, this series really got to my heart and nowadays I'm happy to say that this is one of my favorite anime series ever.

The story is very well written, it's full of unexpected encounters and unpredictable events. The character development is amazing...every single one of the main characters have a dark or simply fascinating backstory and the relationships between the characters are really interesting. It is mostly a mystery+detective show but through ... all the serious topics it's debating, it also has many funny moments and cute scenes. The whole thing is really catchy and personally, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen until I've finished it. (and I'm surprised that Dazai managed to stay alive during the whole show. lol)

I personally highly recommend this series and I guarantee that most of you will totally enjoy it. This is all for now, I hope I've managed to write a decent short review without including any spoilers. Cya!