Bungou Stray Dogs 4th Season

With every season I watch this series I can't help but notice that the same formula works worse and worse, to the point of completely falling flat. Let me explain what feels wrong with Stray dogs. First, following the already existing pattern, we have flashbacks. Way too lengthy flashbacks that add nothing to the story for two simple reasons: they are too ordinary and they add nothing to the character in question. By being ordinary I mean that there would be no difference if the story of the flashback was set in the present, as the plot of said events doesn't differ in any meaningful wayfrom what the characters are doing in present time. Even worse, even though there are years between flashbacks and the actual events of the main story - the characters are the exact same as they were, like they were in stasis this whole time or not even existing. I know that without major events people don't go through major change, but at least some progress is to be expected, characters mature and get experience even if the viewer/reader is not going through every second of their life. Oh and while I am talking about character development - there is almost NO progress for the rest of the cast too, even though they are actually going through a serious event. Second, the lack of logic. Yes I know this anime has supernatural. But you see, even the supernatural follows SOME rules, or it will soon deteriorate into a mess. And this is exactly what happens in Stray Dogs. Almost half of the season is a kind of mystery-solving detective story. What do you expect from it? Logical investigation, interrogating suspects, collecting evidence, cornering the criminal into revealing themselves. Or you can just get a set of BS accusations based on "I AM A GENIUS '' claim that suddenly are all correct even though they make no sense at all. It is almost like saying "The sun is up so it is monday '' while it is indeed monday. Yes, you are correct, but your reasoning is completely wrong and you can't make me believe you used any kind of logic here. Oh and don't forget to make anyone involved in the investigation more stupid than they should be so our "genius" claim would be at least somewhat believable, or just make the mystery in question predictable and obvious from the start. Third, the lack of thrill. When the action comes you could expect adrenaline, high stakes, a battle of life and death. Not here though. Because the plot armor is so THICC for everyone that characters are basically immune to all kinds of blades, bullets and explosions as long as it is not THE tragic moment. Cause when THE moment comes - suddenly a character can be damaged even by strong wind. I know that this is used to both fill the title with action and have some kind of a point to continue with the plot, but at least give characters a thing to fight over. Because "fighting for their lives" while your plot armor doesn't allow you to even be wounded is not a working justification for me to be engaged. Maybe if characters in combat at least used their magic powers in an interesting way it would be enjoyable, but nope, they do the most basic stuff one could imagine. Overall I have an impression that Stray Dogs simply tries to be way too many things at once. It wants to be over the top with abilities like Jojo does, but doesn't embrace the required "over the top and out of charts' ' level, as it also wants to be a serious show. It wants to be a serious detective/mystery story, but lacks good mysteries and can't make a logically sound investigation process. It wants to have deep characters but only throws one flashback on a barely developed character with one defining trait and calls it a day. It wants to be an action but lacks both the thrill and the spectacle. To be honest I didn't read the novel so I don't know whom to blame - poor adaptation of great source material or poor writing in the source, but the result is the same - I don't find Stray Dogs in any way enjoyable. I would only recommend this anime if you are watching it in the background while cooking or doing something else, because if you pay attention to what is happening on the screen - you will lose all the fun in its shortcomings.

After long years of wait, we finally get to see the continuation of arguably one of the best shounen in these modern days, Bungou Stray Dogs. After watching the fourth season throughout, I came to the conclusion that it still retains the quality of the previous seasons, which is an impressive thing since most of the time, it is hard to have this level of consistency. As a long-time fan, I'm thoroughly contended. The fourth season started off with the backstory of the Agency - how it was first formed. Basically, the first three episodes or so follow the story of Fukuzawa and Rampo, from theirvery first encounter to the creation of the agency. I was enthralled that the fourth season begins like stated because now we get to know in detail who was involved in the creation of the agency, how it was made possible, and why it was first initiated. And the fact that the fourth season begins with Rampo, one of the characters in which I've looked up to besides Tanizaki, made it even more fascinating to watch. Not only Rampo and Fukuzawa, but the backstory of Yosano was also later revealed along the way. With that being said, we will get to know how and why Yosano decided to join forces with the Agency. And not to mention, the relationship she has with one of the members of the Hunting Dogs. The rest of the episodes, however, are basically fresh contents that serve as the continuation of the previous seasons. The story carries on with the problems that were not fully resolved in the first three seasons. What is praise-worthy about it is the fact that they were able to do it with the same pacing and delivery that we are familiar with. Besides the content of the story, the rest are completely similar, if not the same as the previous seasons. The animation and sound that were presented in the fourth season were no different. I mean, why would they change something that had nothing to be fault in the first place? All in all, the fourth season of Bungou Stray Dogs successfully came out as the sequel that I have hoped for. The overall quality of it is on par with the previous seasons, if not slightly better due to the amount of excitement entailing around the story. The only downside of the fourth season is that we didn't get to see Dazai in action and last but not least, the infuriating cliffhanger that the season had left for us.

This is the season BSD takes a big leap forward and starts getting juicy. Things start getting more serious and there is more of a central plot than the previous seasons. U also get some good backstory on some characters and the Armed Detective Agency as a whole. Anyone who says it follows the same formula as the other seasons, i'd have to question whether they actually watched the entire series to this point... this season has a different feel than b4 and is simply better than previous seasons, as is evident by the 8.45 score. That's one hell of ascore, and it deserves it.

I have such fond memories of this series, and I was so excited to return to it—finally!—but then I remembered all the reasons Bungo Stray Dogs is a “have to be in the right kind of mood” anime for me. Here’s what I loved about it: the humor this season did all it needed to to encapsulate the charm of Bungo Stray Dogs, and I was happy we got to see that through a few new avenues. Well, new and old avenues, but the old avenues (like Ranpo) got more of an opportunity to shine this time around. I also was happy to see anuptick in the drama department and a bit more of a stabilized plot than we’ve seen in the past because I think, with the plotlines this anime deals with, it can handle high drama pretty well when it wants to. And it did. That being said, I’m still not a huge fan of the season starting with a story from (x) amount of years ago before moving into the present-day storyline. I just feel like it fragmented this season a bit too much and didn’t give me enough time to be reacquainted with the characters I’ve missed for so long. I also wasn’t always the biggest fan of the new characters we got to see in this season or even with the division of screen time allotted to the already established characters. I don’t know, I suppose I found this season a bit more lackluster than the others. The antics were quite as pronounced, either, which I suppose is a sacrifice needed for increasing the drama, but still. I don’t know, if the series continues, I’m going with it, but I hope it brings back some of the charm it lost for me this season.

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