Anime 54898 Bungou Stray Dogs 5th Season Reviews Filter Check 3

And so, another season has ended. Is it good, did it fix the mistakes of the previous one? Of course not, “if it’s not broken - don’t fix it” as they say, eh? As I did for the previous season, let me tell you where this one falls flat.
First things first I’ll mention that flashbacks take much less time in this season and they are mostly fine. However I still don’t get why giving us flashbacks of the events that happened 5 minutes ago is considered a good idea. Thank you, but I don’t have issues with memory.
But if you thought that there would ... be no annoying overused writing method - you are mistaken. There is a golden rule for any movie, anime and any other similar work and it goes as “show, don’t tell”. You want a cool fight? Ok, show it to us. Great smart plans? Show us. Tragic events? SHOW US. Instead most of the “action scenes” consist of one move and a “Oh, you are surprised it didn’t work? Let me tell you why!” - and yes, after that we get a text dump that explains what happened. It would be fine in something that is not obvious, but instead you will hear this phrase several times per episode, even after some minor events that don’t need an explanation and are obvious. So the question arises: does the author think that we are brain dead? Because there is simply no reason to give such explanations, either this or cutting spendings on animations to further profit from fans who will ignore this obvious disrespect and be thankful for another season. And with those answers I don’t even care which one it is, as both show lack of effort put into the show.
While I am talking about the writing - no, it didn’t get better. The plot turns are obvious, the events try fruitlessly to ramp up the tension - and as with the previous season you as a viewer just can’t believe there is any danger coming at all. Why, you ask? Plot armour, obviously. For four seasons our brave heroes prevailed against any and all evil plans - how can I think they will fail this time, when the stakes are the highest? When in four seasons no one died and all the injuries were healed by a miracle healer - how can I care about a lost fight that led to serious injury? Instead of being thrilled I just think “nah, they will heal him anyway” and continue watching unfazed. To make things worse - some of the descriptions of the events in “let me tell you how” segments feel like an afterthought and a patch hastily applied to a plot hole, not like something that was carefully built into the world. At some point I was just wondering how bad the explanation would be instead of trying to enjoy the show. And as the result of ramping up enemies' strength the main villain is given a completely OP ability that he, of course, doesn't even use to its full potential as the main party would lose not even reaching a half season mark. I just wish more effort was put into thinking things through instead of trying to be cool while pretending to be smart.

I really thought that I had a lot to say about the show, but when I wrote down the text above I realised that most of the problems are already covered and going through them more would be more of the same, repetition. And this is EXACTLY what S5 is - repetition of everything you have already seen. If you are a hardcore fan and loved the previous seasons - this anime will be great for you, cause it is more of the same. If you, like me, didn’t like it - you will only waste time watching it - because, once again, it is more of the same. No progress in writing skill for the author. No significant character development. No major events that actually matter. Nothing, just another evil plan for our heroes to battle, more of the same stagnant mediocrity with zero entertaining value we have already been fed for 4 seasons.