Bungou Stray Dogs – 16, 17

Episode 16

「文豪ストレイドッグ」 (Bungou Sutorai Dooguzu)
“Bungou Stray Dogs”

 

Episode 17

OP3 Sequence

OP3: 「Reason Living」 by SCREEN mode

「紛争の戦略」 (Funsou no Senryaku)
“Three Companies Conflict”

Author’s Note: So I apologize for the huge delay in Bungou Stray Dog posts this month. I’ve been in the process of getting a new job (again for the second time this year) and very busy as a result. Good thing is, my career is finally at the trajectory that I’d like it to be at… and the downside is, I’ve expected to put in more hours. I’ll try my best to keep up with the posts and timeliness but as history dictates, I’m not good at making promises. Hopefully this will be the last double-post this season though =P

Since I missed last week’s episode – and it was that good – I’m going to spend a bit of time talking about. It was similar to the epitome of what happened in the first cour when we find out that Dazai used to be a part of the Port Mafia. Episode 16 was the reveal of why Dazai left the Port Mafia and joined the Agency. It didn’t happen at all like how I anticipated, but it did have a huge impact to the larger story as well which leads us to where we are today. For one, while I love Dazai as a character, I was turned off by how his choice to join the Agency wasn’t necessarily an epiphany from within of wanting to do something good. Instead, the inspiration came from Oda’s dying wish for Dazai to do something good with his life. In the end, I’m glad that Dazai decided to go through with it even if it’s after his friend passes away. It certainly showed a lot more about his character and some of the history he has with Ougai (and Ango who might return one day?). Only time will tell how this will lead to their interactions in the current day.

Interestingly enough, it wasn’t Oda’s final words or battle that really had me captivated last week, it was instead the exchange between the Port Mafia and Ministry of Internal Affairs. Since the beginning of this season, I’ve been wondering, “What is the point of this prologue now?” and we finally get that answer! It was the show how Ougai ended up with a business permit for his use of people with “Special Abilities” – the exact same permit that The Guild is after now. Oh how tricky Ougai is… and how clever and sinister he is to allow Mimic to wreak havoc on Japan while he sits back to watch until called upon. It’s crazy to think that the government just hands off these permits (to criminals) so easily because they know that they can’t handle the situation themselves. It’s not like this is outside the realm of how criminals in our society are asked for help either though… Regardless, these are the permits that both the Agency and Port Mafia possess in the present day story line; and the exact same ones that The Guild is trying to buy at the end of last season. See the connection now? I feel like the Dazai backstory was all icing on the cake to this reveal.

And this leads us very well into episode 17 which brings back all the same main characters that we met before but also a few new ones. Nakajima Atsushi (Uemura Yuto) is still busy watching over Izumi Kyouka (Morohoshi Sumire) and they actually complete a case together… kind of. It’s not long before they bump into the Port Mafia executive, Ozaki Kouyou (Koshimizu Ami) who is tasked with retrieving Kyouka but fails with The Guild members show up. As seen in episode 15/16, two people can have very similar abilities and it’s clear that Kyouka’s and Kouyou’s are almost identical. Except what they call it and how they control their demons of course. After The Guild members disappear (and assumingly taking Kyouka with them), the Agency goes into hiding and the rest, is just a setup for the 3-way battles coming up. Plus, they also hold Kouyou hostage for the time being.

While I still don’t have a clear indication of what The Guild wants – especially collecting all there permits – I can guess that it’s because Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (Sakurai Takahiro) wants to hold the world’s most powerful organization of “gifted” people (and legal too). With the three teams all against each other now, I’m curious to see who is actually the stronger team and how/who still strike first. I’m scared to say that without Akiko, the Agency doesn’t really have a lot of strong individuals since I don’t see them as an offensive team as opposed to a defensive one. Plus, the Port Mafia are already a set ahead by tracking the Agency and keeping tabs on people. As the “good” team, obviously I wouldn’t want the Agency to lose so soon, but then again, leadership usually sets a huge tone for the team and as I don’t really know what any of the leader figures can do (yet), I can’t say who is on the winning side. We’ll have to wait to see if that’s determined by the end of the season.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: Another new opening for #BungouSD! Unbelievable just how much focus there is on this second season. Love it! And of course #BungouSD closes off with a new ending sequence too. Wow, I’m impressed!

 

ED3 Sequence

ED3: 「風が吹く街)」 (Kaze ga Fuku Machi) by Luck Life