This week Bungou Stray Dogs spends its time to focus on another side character, this time it is Kunikida that has a chance to shine. Out of all of our supporting characters, Kunikida is the one that has the most screen time. He appears in every single episode so far, but sadly, he was also one of the most one-note character. Before this week all we know from him was he’s a very uptight, self-serious person. He obsessed with his book “ordeal” because he believes his future, his plan… are all written down there. He was also very fond of Dazai, despite they having a completely opposing personalities. All these straits are fine on its owns, but they were mostly played for laugh. This week, however, we learn an interesting backstory that shed a new light into his character. He believed he was responsible for the death of five detectives in a bombing known as the Azure Flag Terrorist Incident, so he still takes his time to look over for Taguchi, a hacker genius type and one the detective’s son. This is a nice development for Kunikida and I really hope the show keeps digging into that direction. On side note I actually think the joke on Dazai worked this time, maybe because he is not rambling about any of suicide method, but just gets so high and talks nonsense. But what a whimsical nonsense.
The actual case for this week is uneven at best. The case was set up until the stakes got so high, and then things were resolved rather quickly and quite unconvincing. I still think the set up part is impressive though. We got introduced to the missing case, and then found our way up to the abandoned hospital. The setting itself has a creepy and tense atmosphere, which is a nice touch from the show. We then witness a girl who nearly drowned in a fish tank, and then a bunch of other victims were gassed right in front of them. This was a nice set up with so much tension, unfortunately the other half was very inconsistent. In process of investigating the case, there are only two characters that have a role in the case: one is the female victim Sasaki, and the other is the taxi driver. And guess what, turns out the taxi driver is the kidnapper. This conclusion is jumpy, there are very little clues to actually figuring out the true culprit here. And worse the case turned out to be just a setup for next episode, and the kidnapper turns out to be controlled by the Port Mafia, which all are ridiculous. But at least we then have an amazing fight so I’ll complain no more. Now when I think about that maybe miss Sasaki will have a role in the next episode as well, because why not?
So in the end, in terms of plot development, this episode is a mess. The pacing is never a strong suit of Bungou Stray Dogs and it again shows in this episode. The character development, on the other hand, was on point and I really much hope for the show to follow that direction. Next week we get to the actual bombing case and we might learn who the Azure King is.
~SuperMario~
I think you meant “Ideal” not “ordeal.”
Another thing to point out is that the taxi driver wasn’t controlled by the port mafia. He was being hunted by them because he accidentally kidnaps one of their members.
Thanks for these corrections. It was “ideal” that I wanted to write, wonder what I was thinking when I wrote this. Yep, he was covered by the organ-smuggling organization. Thanks again MMM