Bungo Stray Dogs 5 ep. 55 – Mastermind

Posted on by Irina

We are getting close to the point in the story where I stopped reading the manga. I stopped because the season started and I wanted to discover it in the anime. And also because the next volume is coming out in November. I mean in English. It’s obviously already come out in Japanese or else this would be a very short season…

There was an episode of Star Trek the Next Generation where Data (for those who don’t know he was a super smart android) got beaten at chess and it just broke his well not exactly brain. He moped around for the whole show while saying he had no feelings so he could mope and then he figured it out. If you can’t beat an opponent at chess, stop trying to win at chess. Basically either change the win conditions or change the game.

Fukuchi is essentially unbeatable at war. The battlefield is his home and there is no way non-combat-tested warriors can stand against him no matter how powerful their gift. But he’s also tired of war. The point is clear now, isn’t it? Unite the whole world against a common enemy and be left with only one big army at the end. With no other side, there is no more use for war. Simple!

But I think Fukuchi is fooling himself a little. Don’t get me wrong, the man has severe PTSD and it is definitely what has driven him to this point. But world domination is also a real nice perk. There’s a reason his plan leaves him in charge. It could have been anyone… But who else can you trust? No choice really.

Did you guys remember Aya, like before the flashback? I remembered her. I thought that OVA was funny. Aya has spunk, I’m glad she’s back. And we immediately see the limits of the page. With her past experience, there is just no chance of her believing Doppo is a terrorist so there’s no effect at all.

The other thing we did see in this sequence, is that Fukuchi didn’t get where he is just through his battle skills. Regardless of what came first, the man has a lot of charisma. It’s easy to see why world leaders would be eager to trust him. Especially when they desperately need a hero. The same can’t be said for the rest of the hunting dogs though. I’m thinking Tachihara is probably the second most charismatic and that’s saying something.

Ok so first, the plan with the note was extremely risky. What if there was no one suitable on the way? I will admit that the haphazard nature of this plan is probably what made it almost impossible to predict or guard against. I mean who would think of something like this?

In the manga, they go on a bit more about the sound of happiness and gratitude and how much Jouno likes it. And how grateful he is to Fukuchi for having given him a chance to enjoy that type of life. It was sweet. But don’t get me wrong, in general, I prefer the anime hands down!

And boy, Juono is incredibly strong! He is going to be one heck of an obstacle… Now I have to imagine that there’s some sort of cure for vampirism. Or like a workaround where they can take a pill a month and essentially function as normal people or something like that. Or maybe it’s the final arc of Bungo Stray Dogs. Sure, so far the Agency (and the Guild) seem to be vampire-free. Great! But like 2 of the hunting dogs have been turned and from what we know like half of the Port Mafia if not more! A lot of well-known characters have gone down and it would be gutsy to just write them off and go on with the story. A pretty big departure from a show that tends to be bloodless, at least when it comes to named characters. They mow down extras, no problem.

But I don’t know. A tonal shift could be fun… oh and Akutagawa looks super weird as a vampire. Does vampirism change your bone structure or something?

Oh man, I can’t wait for what’s coming. It’s going to be so much fun. You know how much I love the pairing of young ladies with big animals…

Do you know where she’s hiding? Do you have any guesses? What would that imply? Next Wednesday is gonna rock!

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2 thoughts on “Bungo Stray Dogs 5 ep. 55 – Mastermind”

  1. The part about how many bullets it takes to kill an enemy soldier is true. Very few humans have the will to kill. It does not come naturally. Plus, if you are taking to time to aim to kill, your chances of dying increases as well. The aversion to killing is so great that in Vietnam, 20% of soldiers reportedly never fired their weapons, regardless of how dire the situation or how many firefights they were in.

    Modern battlefield tactics recognize this. In maneuver warfare, One group fires at the enemy’s position, not at individual soldiers. It is called suppression or covering fire. This keeps their head down while a second unit maneuvers into position. Then they provide cover fire while the first unit maneuvers. And so on until the enemy is in an untenable position. They must either surrender or retreat.

    The other side is trying to do the same thing. People dying is almost incidental.

    https://www.historynet.com/men-against-fire-how-many-soldiers-fired-weapons-vietnam-war/

    Attritional warfare is where it gets deadly. There is no maneuver. You have to beat the enemy into submission by killing them or breaking their will to fight. Killing troops in entrenchments is very difficult. There may be massive amounts of gunfire but most casualties are from artillery and air support. It is much easier for humans to kill if they aren’t looking directly at the person they are killing.

    Either way, many magazines of ammo are expended without killing anyone.

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  2. I didn’t remember Aya, and I still don’t, but I like her a lot. OVA? I don’t think I’ve seen one…

    So where could she be hiding? My immediate thought is: behind Bram Stoker, but from her perspective that would sound nuts. Unless she has more information than I know… I mean a big weakness of Fukuchi is that he pisses everyone off, so he needs more and more control and his current plan relies on controlling Stoker, who really doesn’t like him at all. So if he loses control over Stoker, then someone who doesn’t like him has that army…

    World domination based on control sounds like a nightmare, and he’s starting to find out that fighting on multiple fronts is really tiring. He’s starting to lose his cool, isn’t he? And it only gets worse with the amount of puppets under his strings…

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