Opening Songs
OP 1 - TRASH CANDY (GRANRODEO)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - Call Out The Name (Luck Life)
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Mystery, Supernatural
Episodes: 12
An unfortunate day for anime indeed when we have to see something like "Bungo Stray Dogs" come to pass. Looking at the promotional art or cover for this show, I expected an action anime, or at least something remotely close to something RESEMBLING an action themed show. Yeah, sure, this show most definitely has guys fighting each other, but unfortunately for it, its surely one of the most confusing and uninteresting shows I've watched in awhile. The show does have a promising start and some great episodes down the line, but it ultimately ends up being tedious, confusing and overall very disappointing. This is one of those shows that got quite popular for reasons I didn't quite understand (probably because of all the hot guys), but oh well.
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| Yeah no matter how you look at it, she's not a certified doctor. |
For a show that I didn't really like, "Bungo Stray Dogs" does have a sick opening theme. "TRASH CANDY" by GRANRODEO is the kind of opening song that I live for. Fast, furious, heavy and head bang worthy, its certainly a nice opening suited for an action based show. The ending theme is a lot less quick, but for an ending theme, it isn't bad. Its "Call Out The Name" by Luck Life. Its not exactly a slow song, and its more than serviceable than most other ending themes.
Rating: 6/10
Okay, let's lay out some of the problems for "Bungo Stray Dogs". For one, outside of maybe the main character and Dazai (who is easily the only good character in the show other than the crazy doctor Akiko), everyone has very little character development or character side story to really explain their drive. There are some cool abilities here, but all in all its hindered by some characters being extremely bland or whiny. The story is completely out of wack. Outside of some pretty good minor arcs, the final moments of the story made less sense than something out of "Metal Gear Solid". I'd actually be alright with a confusing story, but "Bungo Stray Dogs" does the unbelievable: it jumbles the episodes all around. The final episodes spoiled the immersion and were overall very unsatisfying to watch, and it was surely a crappy way to end the series.
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| Ladies and gentleman, he's pretty much the best thing about the show. |
Atsushi Nakajima is your regular homeless kid that has no idea what the hell he's doing or what's going on. While going around homeless he is one day approached by an enigma of a man, Osamu Dazai, who appears to be quite interested in Atsushi and his predicament. Actually Atsushi found Dazai floating in the river, thinking he was a dead man...but that's not quite important. Anyway, Atsushi explains that nobody likes him because he is stalked by a powerful, supernatural white tiger, which is why he is shunned everywhere. Dazai helps him out, and it is soon discovered that Atsushi himself turns into the White Tiger at night. Dazai somehow manages to turn Atsushi back, but soon explains to him that he has a special power, like Dazai himself. Atsushi is then brought to the Arms Detective agency, where meets other individuals working there with insane special powers like himself...
"Bungo Stray Dogs" is apparently popular enough to get itself a sequel and even an upcoming movie in 2018. Its a strange show to say the least, its certainly not the worst thing ever, but its not something I enjoyed, not at all. The troubling storytelling certainly spoiled any future interest in this show for me. Who knows, it may be something for the ladies instead.
