Bungo Stray Dogs 4 ep. 47 – A Good Day

I’m keeping my little Yosano avatar for this week as well. I know I’m repeating myself but Yosano rocks. She always did, she just rocks harder now! I really like her.

This was another rough episode. There was a lot of action to distract us from the hopelessness of the situation but things are really looking grim now. And they were looking very grim, to begin with. I’m usually not the type to fall for those super dark and gritty arcs yet I absolutely love this. It feels like this is what Bungo Stray Dogs was always meant to be. Now if we could only get a bit more Dazai…

Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Obviously trusting the mafia is always a dicey proposition and the guild is barely any better. But the way I see it, the one thing that could play in the Agency’s favour right now is that the other side is full of monsters.

The Hunting Dogs are a power to be reckoned with and I doubt either Mori or Fitz want them wandering around their town freely. The Decay of the Angel is still almost entirely shrouded in mystery. I’m not sure who (if anyone) even knows of their existence aside from Dazai and Fyodor at this point. But power sense power. They might not know the details but I’m sure the leaders of the different factions have felt that something was up.

So it’s a case of the enemy of my enemy… The Agency is a known quantity. Even though they have been at odds with the Guild and are still regularly on the opposite side of the Port Mafia, there’s a familiarity and even grudging respect there. If the Mafia and Guild want to get rid of the Dogs and the Decay, now is the time, while they’re distracted with the remains of the Agency and before they set their sights on them. And because of that, the remaining Agency members might actually find real allies in their time of need.

I always really liked this sequence. Fitz is a fun character. He’s not evil exactly, although he’s also not good. He’s greedy and selfish but otherwise pretty neutral. He’s a bit of a jerk is all. And that’s a great personification for a powerful antagonist. You don’t get the sort of a jerk bad guy very often. And it works so well in the context of this character.

That’s also what makes this scene work so well. I don’t know if you guys remember when Fitz lost all his money and had to rebuild the Guild. It was a great little arc. So much fun. And it was the first time we got to get a good look at what type of person Fitzgerald is. You got to give it to the man, he has good instincts and a talent for cutting through the BS. If he thinks the Agency is going to win this, I kind of think that he’s probably right. His reasoning sounded pretty good. And Fitz is certainly a man who would only side with the winners. It was the one bright moment in the episode and indeed the last few episodes. The fact that it was brought to us by Fitzgerald just makes it that much more satisfying.

How do you guys feel about overpowered antagonists? I hope you like them. The dogs are just ridiculous. And we don’t even know most of the Decay yet. They might be even worse although that’s hard to imagine!

I don’t know if we ever saw Yosano’s power before. I think it was always offscreen. We heard cries from the room next door for example. Maybe I just forgot, that’s also possible. In any case, seeing it at work now and how it visually manifests into a flurry of butterflies was… heartbreaking in a pretty way. Or maybe just hr=eartbreaking, I’m not entirely sure. It’s clear that Yosano is not someone who wants to forget her past no matter how painful it was. Doesn’t she rock!

Someone I still want to know more about is Hirotsu. He has played a key role on a number of occasions and his demeanor has always been intriguing. As it stands though, we really know next to nothing about him other than his deep devotion to Mori. I wonder where that comes from. Maybe he’s just the type that likes to be really good at his job?

I’m being coy, aren’t I? If you’re here, you’ve seen the episode, and you know what happens. And yet I refuse to mention it until we come to it! So we learn a tiny bit about Tachihara. He’s been around since the very start of the show but he’s always just sort of there. The red hair makes him easy to recognize but that’s about it. We don’t even know what his ability is. Apparently, he’s a good thief. Certainly nowhere near as intriguing as Hirotsu or as fun and charming as Gin. Gin needs another episode to herself, who’s with me?

We also got another glimpse at Dazai and Fyodor. Not much to report on that front this time around. Except for that Dazai actually looked worried for a second there. It’s very bad news when Dazai looks worried.

Of course, I knew all along. I’m trying to figure out if it’s a good reveal. If I didn’t know would I have been floored by this episode? I still think Tachihara is a bit too much of a background character for me to have much reaction about his association with the Hunting Dogs. Frankly, I was way more surprised that he was the soldier’s brother although they did do a good job of making the characters look alike. I appreciate that!

I can’t help myself. I just have to say it. Tachihara has a character arc. In my opinion, it’s a very good one. But at this point in the story he’s still just sort of there.

Yosano says that Today is a Good Day on several occasions throughout the episode. Each time when she’s in danger. It sort of sounds like the classic: today is a good day to die, and considering the circumstances it would be easy to interpret it that way. But I don’t think that’s it. I don’t think that Yosano is a death seeker. I think she is genuinely relieved that someone else is seeking revenge and she can stop beating herself up.

They are jerks for ending the episode this way though! How am I supposed to wait a week?

Previous episodes

• Bungo Stray Dogs 4 ep. 38 – In the Begining
• Bungo Stray Dogs 4 ep. 39 – Fools
• Bungo Stray Dogs 4 ep. 40 – Curry Rice
• Bungo Stray Dogs 4 ep. 41 – The Great Detective
• Bungo Stray Dogs 4 ep. 42 – The Rise of the Angels
• Bungo Stray Dogs 4 ep. 43 – The Fall
• Bungo Stray Dogs 4 ep. 44 – Releasing the Hounds
• Bungo Stray Dogs 4 ep. 45 – Masterminds
• Bungo Stray Dogs 4 ep. 46 – War