Bungou Stray Dogs 2nd Season is a continuation from the first season which places the Detective Agency, The Port Mafia and the Guild against each other in a three-way battle which sounded really interesting and then I realised it only lasted for 12 episodes which made me slightly worried and then the first 3/4 episodes were taken up by a flashback which shows Dazai, Ango and Oda so I was afraid of how the season would adapt this battle in just 8 episodes.
PLOT
The plot for the first 3/4 episodes is actually extremely intriguing as it looks into, best character, Dazai and reveals even more about the integrity of the Port Mafia and the different forces that intertwine throughout. However, despite all this the plot was displayed the best through Oda as it depicts the heart-wrenching tale as he goes from a hopeful author to a vengeaful suicidal man after he watches the kids at the orthanage being blown up. The plot serves well in setting up the tone for what I assume the rest of the season will follow, however, this is when I got slightly disappointed. As we break from the past episodes we are re-introduced to the characters of Atsushi and Kyouka and seemingly out of nowhere Kouyou arrives. The impact seemed quite weak to me as I felt there was a huge lack of build-up and it was just thrown on us and, if that wasn't enough, Kouyou suddenly calls out the Port Mafia and then members of the Detective Agency show up and then the Guild members just drop from the fucking sky??? Are you kidding me? This is what that great 3/4 episodes setup has resulted to? We are then shown the overwhelming power of the Guild and the plot manages to pick itself back up as we are shown the aims of the different groups although the Detective Agency's reasons are pretty weak in comparison as they sort of just fling their members out into a war without care. The plot gets better as we are shown the Port Mafia launching an assault on the Guild's base as lemon bomb man and Akutagawa manage to take out two of the members, despite sustaining injuries/reopening injuries, and as Chuuya is shown to attack the Detective Agency (the reason why I can't seem to recall as that fight seemed lackluster to the others to come.) However, from this point the plot gets even better as the fights get even more interesting from the introduction of Q with his mind-control to the giant ship flying through the sky. Near the end comes the best plot device as we are shown the genius of Dazai as he purposefully pairs Akutagawa and Atsushi together and the two of them are forced to accept their differences and work together to beat Francis with a pretty cool combo, however, the ship doesn't ascend. I was taking by shock when this happened as I assumed the episode was ending and was immediately heartbroken as I saw Kyouka ram her drone into the ship and crash it into the ocean but that shock was immediately stopped due to me forgetting what the President of the Detective Agency's ability was XD. Then the plot settles down before ending on a cliffhanger on a new enemy which was in cahoots with one of the Guild members.
Overall, the plot was amazing to start off with but lost its footing in the middle but managed to find it again near the end. (Plot: 7.5/10)
CHARACTERISATION
The characters in Bungou Stray Dogs always seemed to get on my nerves, apart from Dazai, but in this season these characters were extended upon and made even the more interesting to me and entertaining. A new addition was Oda, Dazai's friend from the past who died due to the gang which called itself "Mimic", who started off as a seemingly weak member of the Port Mafia but whose ability was slowly hyped up and revealed during the episodes only to make an explosive reveal after he hit rock-bottom after he lost those dear to him. This was a heart-wrenching development which resulted in his death and was very well portrayed and immediately made me love this season and the characterisation only served to continue as we were introduced to another of my favourite scenes when Atsushi is shown to be actually quite smart. The scene is when Atsushi talks to Lucy and the two reconcile other the similar abuse they have been through. This was done very nicely as it showed a growth in both characters and made me actually like Atsushi's character just a bit more. Another well-done characterisation was at the end where Atsushi and Akutagawa begin to understand each other yet despite this still argue and fight until, due to the overwhelming enemy, they are forced to help each other fight. The characterisation was extremely well-done in this season and there were so many examples of it- one being Kyouka's character who, after seeing the light, was thrust back into the darkness by herself due to her "dark nature" yet through understanding that she never wanted to regret anything she resolved to sacrifice herself in order to get one taste of the light. I could go on and on but this characterisation was extremely well potrayed although not all the characters were developed to this extent and to that I look at the Guild who were all pretty boring and forgettable characters. (Characterisation: 8/10)
CHARACTER DYNAMICS
A strange paragraph but a necessary one. There were two separate character dynamics that I loved to see- one being the dynamic of Chuuya and Dazai when they fought against Lovecraft and the other being the dynamic of Akutagawa and Atsushi when they fought against Francis. I already spoke above about why I loved Atsushi's and Akutagawa's characterisation as they grew to fight together but the reason it was so good is just how well the two characters work together and, as Francis said, "The two of you are really similar". As a short explanation to explain the reason they work well together is through the excellent writing which, despite different circumstances, the circumstances are still shaped to mimic the pain each of them has gone through. Atsushi grew up in the orthanage where he was nearly killed twice and abused most days merely because of the power he gained meanwhile Akutagawa ALSO grows up as an orphan under horrible circumstances all mainly because of the power he has been given as well. The two of them are only both saved by Dazai and to that pivotal figure, respect is shown, and the two then wish to fight and prove their worth to him. However, their differences stem from how they wish to show their worth- Akutagawa through developing his overwhelming strength in the Port Mafia through hurting others and Atsushi through developing his strength in helping others. These similarities are played so well together in their character dynamic that I felt like I couldn't help but to root for them. Chuuya and Dazai are also well played in dynamic but through the complete opposite reason the dynamic of Atsushi and Akutagawa works as the two of them are united in their differences. In simple terms, Chuuya is an idiot who charges head-first whereas Dazai is a genius who always thinks things through to the very end. The two use their differences cleverly and it is shown effectively in the superb writing as, in order to compensate for Chuuya's reckless behaviour, Dazai merely has to stop his ability at the right moment. The action, despite simple, is portrayed really well and, yet again, makes you want to root for these characters as they come together to fight. Overall, the character dynamics are incredible and is something Bungou Stray Dogs did amazingly this season. (Character Dynamics: 9.5/10)
VISUALS/ANIMATION QUALITY
My god what else is there to say. Bungou Stray Dogs is masterful at its visuals and its animation is flawless and poignant when it needs to be. The use of gifts is so brilliantly animated that it draws your attention and holds it through the entire fight or scene to follow and, on a different note, each gift is so unique and different in quality that I found myself never being born when I new character come on screen as I got to try and figure out what their gift was. (Visual/ Animation Quality: 9.5/10)
VOICE ACTING
I don't really have any downsides with the voice acting as I think each voice is great although, this is just what I believe, but Chuuya's voice really just doesn't fit what he looks like and whenever he's on screen I kind of expect to hear a different voice and then he opens his mouth and I'm taken out of the scene for a second. I'm not saying the voice actor is bad infact I think Chuuya's voice actor is amazing I just find that the voice doesn't fit with his character. However, aside from that the rest of the voice actors are incredible and you can really tell the effort they put into this series. (Voice Acting: 9/10)
MUSIC/SOUNDTRACK
My god do I love Granrodeo and the ending, again, was spectacular like last season. Basically, I don't need to say anything- the music always comes in at the last fight or at a poignant moment and each time it's perfect and fits nicely with the overall theme of the season. (Music/Soundtrack: 10/10)
FIGHT CHOREOGRAPHY/PACING
Unfortunately, this is where Bungou Stray Dogs falls short for me. The fights don't have a flow to them and they just feel more like a fighter arcade (i hit you then you hit me) and it sort of falls flat in comparison to other series' fights. For example, in the final battle this is shown when Akutagawa and Atsushi develop their new forms but first Francis attacks and hits them back and then Atsushi and Akutagawa attack and Francis counterattacks Akutagawa saves Atsushi and then they do a combo attack to punch Francis off the ship. This seems fine but it all got a bit sloppy due to the overwhelmingly fast pacing of the season. I feel like if the season had 24 episodes it could've fleshed out this fight and slowed down the pacing as it felt like there should have been multiple battles occuring at the same time yet it always ended up feeling like there was only one battle taking place which would be over in an instant. (Fight Choreography/Pacing: 4/10)
GENRE MIXING
The mixing of genres is really well handled in Bungou Stray Dogs and by this I am referring to the mixing of the supernatural and dark/crime genre with the comedic genre. This is mainly achieved through end of the fight scenes and it works well as it doesn't interrupt the hype of the fight with a bad joke but instead ends the fight with the two character then maybe hitting each other or arguing. This was shown in Akutagawa and Atsushi's aftermath of the fight with Francis as after Francis falls of the ship Atsushi immediately freaks out and runs to grab the remote from Francis' body but Akutagawa steps on Atsushi's belt and reveals that he already haves it to which the two bicker which results in Akutagawa stepping on Atsushi's head which is delivered very well and works as a pay-off and aftermath to the big fight and made me laugh whenever the technique was used in the series. (Genre Mixing: 9/10)
CONCLUSION
To conclude, this season was really good although the pacing felt a bit too rushed and it would've been much better if it was given more episodes to flesh out the battles and expand on the scale of disaster and the disaster that would behold each group upon losing. My final scores from the different sections are:
-Plot (7.5)
-Characterisation (8)
-Character Dynamics (9.5)
-Visual/Animation Quality (9.5)
-Voice Acting (9)
-Music/Soundtrack (10)
-Fight Choreography/Pacing (4)
-Genre Mixing (9)
OVERALL SCORE= 8.3/10
33 out of 35 users liked this review
