Sorry guys, no avatar cosplay today. I’m having a pretty rough week and it’s all I can do to just keep up with episode reviews. I know a lot of you guys are really sweet so don’t worry, I’m fine. I just have a few work issues to sort out and it’s a bit of a dran on my time and patience.
On the upside though, I can always count on Bungo Stray Dogs to cheer me up in the middle of the week. Not sure if cheer is the right word here. Maybe interest and distract me.
Now wouldn’t it have been nice if they had gone into a bit more detail on how Ranpo figured it all out at this point? I know they do the great detective back and forth a little later on in the episode but they never actually told us how Ranpo pin pointed Oguri in the first place. It’s easy to guess that it was through process of illimination. After all, Perfect Crime erases evidence and not clues. These are two different things.
In fact, evidence means something different depending on jurisdiction. I wonder if the ability adapts.
Also, how did Ranpo find the page in the first place?
Look, I really like this show and I particularly like the arc we are starting but it’s not like I’ve fooled myself into thinking it’s perfect. Most mystery stories tend to fall into plot holes or just exagerrated intuitive leaps here and there. It’s a pitfall of the genre. And since Bungo Stray Dogs really is more of an action shonen, it was never particularly refined as a mystery show. What I’m saying is that it shouldn’t be surprising that it tirps up here and there on that level. And I do think you have to be a bit indulgent here.
Remeber a few weeks ago when Fukujawa smaked the heck out of Ranpo for putting himself in danger and ending up with a gun pointed at his head? Remeber when he told him not to do stuff like that? I remeber! It seems Ranpo doesn’t quite remeber though!
There’s this little idea that’s starting to crop up in BSD about the core difference between law and justice. We hope the two notions allign but in fact they are completely speperate things. The idea was also thouched on briefly in Psycho Pass. And I personally find it fascinating. How we try to come up with an idea of justice as a society. Something that’s entirely made up mind you. And then we further create a set of laws that are really just made up instructions for not detroying each other and try to make them match that idea of Justice. And that can gouvern people’s entire lives. People beleive in Justice and will sacrifice for it. But it’s such a fleeting concept.
So far, we’ve mostly heard of Dostoyevsky (or as I call him, Fifi) as the mastermind for everything that has been happening. But it’s starting to look unlikely that he’s alone in all this, right? Hiring someone with diplomatic immunity? That can’t be easy, or even entirely possible… It’s more likely that he has an accomplice that already has diplomatic immunity. I couldn’t see the card in detail but that’s my guess.
I wonder who it could be. The Russians don’t seem prestigious enough for that. Maybe we’ll get yet another nation in on it. The Brits have some pretty renowned authors, and they have had some influence on Japanese litterary history. Just sayin.
Poe’s power is so cool! I thought it was cool to begin with but I didn’t even think about the fact that a novel doesn’t have to be physical anymore. He can just send a text or email to someone and BAM. That adds a ton of functionality. I’m surprised that hes not considered more powerful. Then again, he is quite high up in the Guild so maybe he is considered pretty powerful. It’s just that he acts so goofy, it’s easy to forget.
For a while now, they have been building up this idea that there’s a bettle of wits going on between Ranpo and Dostoyevsky (Fifi). When you think about it, Ranpo has always lived in a world surrounded by fools. This is one of the first times he has a rival that’s his equal. Fifi is his Moriarty. That’s got to be weighing on him. And it’s not the first time that the people around Ranpo have found him more similar than not to this nemesis.
The Detective Agency is made up of the most morally diverse group in BSD. They have a general vision of the future they are reaching for but otherwise are much less unified than the Mafia or the Special Division. Most are well meaning and trying their best. Someone like Kenji is probably the closest to a pure character in the series while Dopo is a personification of lawful. On the other hand there’s plenty of evidence that Dazai is still not a good person by any stretch and you know who else is deeply morally ambiguous? Ranpo. He’s extremely likeable but if you really think about it, there are a lot of lines he would cross without thinking that the others would find unacceptable. In another world, he would have been a fine Mafia strategist.
The Decay of the Angel! Get ready to hear that a lot. It’s a pretty great title, isn’t it? It’s a novel by Yukio Mishima but I don’t think we’ve seen Makashima as a character yet. That’s surprising, ’cause this guy was certainly a character! If you want to be entertained, read up on his biography a bit.
In cvase you missed it, that white hair fellow is not Makashima but rather Gogol. The actual Nicolaii Gogol was by all acounts a bit of a dork. Those who know me know that I use the word as one of the highest terms of endearment. Obviously, I never met the man but from his writing I can guess that he was, for lack of a vetter word, fun! Not this type of fun though!
These last few episodes have been titled The Perfect Murder, The Perfect Killer. But there hadn’t really been any murder, had there? Until now that is. And it begs the question, who’s murder is that title referring to?
I think that was the day we had that discussion about AI 😆 Hope work is less annoying these days…
You’re having way too much fun with this series! Wish I could get into it myself 😿
That’s ok. I can enjoy it for the both of us!
Finally caught up to you in my binge! And now I’m sad because I only have the movie left to watch.
The fundamental problem in any mystery is that the author needs to be as clever and intelligent as the protagonist to pull it off well. Ranpo has ability beyond that of a human. Because it is impossible for any person to be this sharp, gaps are inevitable.
You can try writing as a team. A well put together team could be smarter than an individual but that’s rare. Most teams are just random people tossed together. Many fail because of ego and creative differences. Or one really sharp person ends up carrying the load for everyone else. (I HATED group projects in school!) The committee trying to build a horse often ends up with a camel, if it does anything.
I just assume he’s so smart that explaining how he got to a conclusion would be meaningless to me. Why bother? It is just another “gift.”
It’s one way to think about it. I’m super impressed you managed to binge it all!
I enjoyed it. And I’m retired. A binge is easy.
I won’t lie, I’m a bit envious
Don’t be. Unless you can retire early, by the time you get there, you lose so much physical ability you don’t enjoy it as much as you might.