/manga/114998/bungo-stray-dogs-beast

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I always have some kind of dissatisfaction when it comes to Bungou Stray Dogs. Despite liking the different eye designs, the abilities based on real life authors and if we're talking about the Anime, the cool OSTs (I still listen to Eye of the Tiger & Inou no Susume), I always had one problem. #Dazai is too interesting This might be one of the few cases where I found a character being too interesting as a problem. In stories like BSD, characters are like magic tricks and the story is the magic. Every character has something you can look forward or root for, but the Anime story likes Dazai too much. Repeatedly bringing him everytime, is like using the same magic trick again & again until it's done-to-death. Look, Dazai is cool and pretty much the boss & mastermind of the whole story, so bringing him at every point, in every character's episode, made him more of a main character, which weakened the main character-ness of Atsushi (who's the actual main character). Every port mafia backstory is so interesting that it pales in comparison to a story about a whimpy 18 year old trying to work hard in a detective agency while overcoming his fears & trauma. So, I never really liked when the Anime shifts focus from Dazai's backstory to the present Atsushi's story, and even then, it's more of Dazai's plan than Atsushi's growth. In Beast, however, Dazai has less of a screentime, which works really well with his "Mastermind behind the scenes" character archetype. So, when his reveal about his master plan comes at the end of the story, it just hits differently, unlike in the Anime where it brings Dazai for every solution which just made him kinda boring.

But why does it matter? What did BSD Beast deliver by making one of it's dearest & best character as a side character?
Well, it achieved what the Anime couldn't quite deliver.
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The Beast & the Tiger
Bungou Stray Dogs : Beast is set in an alternate universe, where Akutagawa join the armed detective agency (ADA) and Dazai & Atsushi join the Port Mafia. We follow, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke who lost his sister to the "Man in Black" of port mafia and swore revenge on him.
I really liked how much Akutagawa worked as a protagonist. Seeing this alternate version of him in ADA is believable & kinda hard hitting, I particularly liked his interactions with Kenji. Seeing Aku coming to terms with his inner beast is quite inspirational. He went from despising the weak to protecting them. What really surprised me though, is Atsushi's character study. Though, it's pretty much the same as the parent story, it hits differently. The main reason why Beast works is because, it highlights the rivalry between Atsushi & Akutagawa. There's a small section where Aku & Atsu have a normal talk like friends, as they reminisce about the small rewards they used to have in their harsh pasts, it's quite sad & wholesome at the same time, and it is my favorite moment in this whole story. The battle between Aku & Atsu in the second half of the story is nail-bitingly intense, as they start to question each other's motives and pasts, this clash between these two rivals is what the Anime couldn't quite deliver which I always wanted to see and Beast does it miles better.
#Nitpicks
I initially didn't like the artstyle. I like the idea of having an overall dark shade for a darker storyline, but it needed time to get adjusted with. It's a shame we didn't get to see much of Chuuya (sad day for Chuuya fans) or Akiko (sad day for me).

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#Conclusion I really like this to get animated more than the parent story. It's dark, intense, does all things right that the main storyline couldn't do and will probably be my favorite in the whole franchise.

Note :- Beast contains massive spoilers for BSD S1 & 2. So, don't read this without watching them.

Let's conclude with my favorite Panel.