EVERYONE KNOWS DAZAI OSAMU, BUT NOT THE ANIME [ANIME REVIEW & RECOMMENDATION]

         Actually, I’ve been watching anime for my past 3years but I’d never recommend what I’ve watched anime to the other friend, because I have a ‘different’ taste towards the anime. I mean, it depends on my mood. Sometimes I feel like, I really want to watch (kinda) gore anime, horror anime, and in the next day I really want to watch the romance one. And the most important is, the visuals. Okay, maybe the plot and story is important too, but, the visuals is also important. Why? Because I can’t stand with anime with horrible visualization.

It’s harsh, but, well, the good animation can bring the whole mood of the anime itself. But, sometimes I’ve started anime with ‘average’ animation but the story is hella good. And I should, I mean, SHOULD, finish it, even it going take a whole times of mine.

And, since I love a lot of anime, maybe I just going to review anime that was ‘my type’. Because I’ve been watched it for a second time since it’s released. It is, BUNGO STRAY DOGS.

            Everyone that already watched this anime must be in love with Dazai’s character. He is hella mysterious, cool, funny also extremely smart. I, personally like him but he is not my favorite character after all. I will tell u soon but let me introduce you, this one of top10 anime for me

Bungo Stray Dogs. The series focuses on Atsushi Nakajima, a man with the ability to shapeshift into a tiger. He joins a group of people with superhuman powers who undertake diverse tasks from running a business, solving mysteries, and working for the mafia.

Bungo Stray Dogs can be categorized as a dramatic mystery series. The well-paced story keeps you on your toes as the suspense keeps building with each passing episode. The well-detailed characters’ features highlight their exaggerated and comical expressions. The series has an undeniably good plot and great characters. However, the various elements sometimes get overshadowed by one another. The flow from serious scenes to sudden comical incidents is a little abrupt.

                The main face of the show is Dazai, an equally eccentric and enigmatic detective with some hilarious suicidal jokes (that become less hilarious if you are aware of the origin behind them). Dazai is easily one of the most enjoyable characters to watch, which is saying a lot as more and more players are introduced. His unorthodox methods, “dark past” and bipolar personality make him an unforgettable face.

Aside from Dazai the Agency also includes the stern Kunikida, the childish genius Ranpo, the beautiful and sadistic Akiko, the comically incestous Tanizaki, and the country boy Kenji. And while Kunakita is the only one out of them to get enough development of his own, each of them provides an interesting enough personality to stand on their own.

But I do appreciate the balance the show gives among its key factions; members of the local crime syndicate ‘Port Mafia’ also receive considerable amounts of screen-time to be fleshed out as their own characters, and so do another group’s members later on. In particular, the antagonist character Akutagawa has one of the best character arcs in the entire show, overwhelming most members of the ADA.

The problem comes with balancing out all those elements. Because BSD has no idea how to shift its tone.

One moment you may be laughing out loud at Dazai and Atsushi’s (and we’ll get to him later) antics, before a sudden - and often incredibly violent - scene shifts the show to either a high-octane action flick or some Greek tragedy drama story. But the transition is rarely smooth.

            I love the idea of mood whiplash and how it can affect the story, but the way the show can shift between multiple tones and styles over the course of one episode - or even half episodes - is more jarring than shocking.
              
            From what I understand this is more of the adaptation’s fault than the original manga, as it is somewhat darker and subtler in its execution. It actually reminded me another drama anime that had sometimes… out of place comedic moments: Fullmetal Alchemist. Surprisingly or not, both shows were produced by Bones. However, BSD’s case is far more severe.

More often than not the jokes have no idea where to stop. Don’t get me wrong; BSD can be hilarious and I wouldn’t have minded it to remain a silly comedy anime with supernatural twist, but this is not the case and when you shove Dazai’s suicidal jokes or Atsushi’s low self-esteem pranks during intense confrontations with Port Mafia or near-death situations, you lose some of those moments’ impact.

The story itself starts off clumsily but has a lot of heart and is joy to watch regardless of its flaws. Some partly-episodic episodes and predictable yet fun cases help establishing the setting and the cast, and the show slowly tightens its pacing to allow for a more coherent narrative.

Probably my favorite piece of the entire story is the opening arc of the show’s second half, called “Dark Age arc” and shows us Dazai’s past career. It’s a surprisingly touching and bittersweet little story and it shows how the series can handle different genres at once, and handle them well.

Now you may have noticed that I avoided talking about our main character Atsushi until now. That’s because Atsushi is one of my biggest problems in the entire show. I am fine with whiny protagonists and their slow coming of age stories to become better… But I found it hard to care for Atsushi.

He regresses to his initial persona far too often and he is often more content to criticize himself rather than improving. Now, I honestly can relate to Atsushi’s self-esteem and loneliness issues, but I found it harder and harder to do as his character simply regressed for the next episode and how his abusive background became more of a stale running joke than a truly terrifying experience.

I find Bungo Stray Dogs to be a very fun, if deeply flawed, anime series. It has a lovely, likable cast of eccentric and wild characters, and they are truly the heart of the series. It’s funny, it’s touching, it’s exciting, but it always struggles keeping all those balls in the air, and its uneven tone ends up making one confused series.

Bungo Stray Dogs is by no means a masterpiece, but you can’t deny how fun this ride is; from its characters to its bizarre situations, BSD may be somewhat of a mess at times, but its a very fun mess. I do hope that if a future season will ever be produced Bones would rectify and improve the issues I had with this season, but regardless, I do believe that Bungo Stray Dogs deserves a watch.

- S -