Sketching: Bungou Stray Dogs - Call A Name

Please, see this in my DeviantArt.

I shall simply feature this artwork here. Well, I forgot to take process pictures along the way, so this was the final product.

Bungou Stray Dogs was quite interesting, as you could tell from my reviews each week. In my boredom several weeks ago, I decided to draw these two: Atsushi and Dazai, the two most charming, fit to be drawn.

The ending song, Namae wo Yobu yo was a nice tune, and the art was just begging to be drawn. Actually, I did just copy down these references, detailed a bit here and there.

I simply moved Dazai over from the original position, made the papers in a circle, and removed villain Akutagawa from the picture.

It had been a while since I've drawn anything, and I thought that I could just practice shading here, plus composition. Used my usual from HB until 4B. As usual, HB was the most used, but 6B wasn't used at all, as the drawing was quite light.

This took around about four hours, I think. Same old-same old, with the outline first, doing Atsushi first, then Dazai, and retraced the lines for a dark outline. Then just a quick brush in Photoshop to clean up the piece from my scanner.

Not much to comment by me, here. Atsushi turned quite nice, but Dazai... a little too melancholic, perhaps. 

Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 8: Getting Interesting, With Another Bomb

Right back into the fray, now, straight from last episode's dealings with a bomb. Now we shall encounter another bomb--and perhaps, we shall advance the Port Mafia story here a little bit more with episode 8 of Bungou Stray Dogs: Teach a Man To Kill, then To Die. One interesting thing now: we shall see another member of the Detectives in action. Thus, spoilers ahead, intentional or otherwise.

What an interesting way to start, all mysterious with the little girl and her "finding" Dazai. According to what he said, this might be something bad.

...But then they held off on that. Yes, some references to that, saying "Where is Dazai" and such. However, as always, they managed to turn it into a big joke. Yes, how does a man with a suicide fetish stay well and healthy?

True, the first half will be all laughs; I mean, just look at that scene. Once more I seemed to have a good long bout of laughter as Junichirou confessed that he's been "treated" by Dr. Yosano four times.

Speaking of the lady that struck fear into the hearts of the Detectives, here she is. Once more the story takes to one seemingly overused scene, where Atsushi must bring all her shopping goods. But then, what an epic way to introduce someone's other side: threatening to cut off a man's hand, who tried to threaten her. Well, woman power, I suppose. No blaming that.

And then, all of a sudden as usual, the show took on a darker tone, truer to its seinen genre, with a (or rather, yet another) bomber terrorizing the train.

And it seems that this one won't disappoint. Surely we always need another deranged physician in this story, and this time, this one is much more philosophical.

Then, I must say, I quite enjoy Atsushi's fight with the little girl, Kyouka. On one side, it was  an extremely bloody mess, no question. On the other, even from the tone of her words we could tell that Kyouka's nothing more than a brainwashed minion.

It went from just subtly emotional to philosophical with Atsushi's past being thrown back in: all the people in the train were dead or endangered because of him, and once more we see the recurring theme from when he was kicked out of his orphanage--but this time, seems he managed to find a reason to stay alive, to fight for others. Now this is character development. 

Meanwhile, Yosano. Not your regular doctor after all. It was epic, how she 'explained' about death to the guy. This one was philosophical in quite a hilarious, but touching somewhere inside.

One point to make was, yes, indeed, what a convenient ability to have, having to make them even nearer to death to heal someone. While I'm not a fan of her just spilling all her abilities, seems there's no other way around; she did nicely explain the fear around her.

And the finale? Well, once more it retained its emotion, and the presence of a character development.

Yes, it was through a big pep talk by Atsushi. And it was just dumb how he was the one that triggered the bomb. However, hearing Kyouka's voice with some kind of fear, perhaps along with hope not to kill anyone else, she jumped off the train.

...to which Atsushi jumped and saved her. Yes, he'll never let anyone die again, as per his vow.

On a side note, seeing the next episode's teaser, these two might be something. We don't know yet.

Oh, so that was where Dazai went all these time, to the lair of the Mafias.

In that case, then, nothing else to comment for this quite packed and gory episode. Now we got the little girl and Dazai missing as something to look toward to, apart from being introduced a helpful-but-mean doctor. Until next time.

Uh-oh. Forgot to press publish all those days ago. Dammit.

Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 7: Death of a Disease Called Ideal

Well... seems like my charger's left behind somewhere. Well, I shall make this quick and dirty.

Now, last time we were left wondering with a cliffhanger. A bomb in the city, and the detectives shall now attempt to disarm it, while following the trail of the Azure Messenger with the usual detective work, plus as this episode 7's title says, Kunikida shall be tested quite some about ideals, such that I shall title this article the same. Spoilers, intentional or otherwise, are ahead.

Nothing too special from the first scene. A shame, though, that the OP song needed to be cut. Some comments, though: at the very least, we got to see more people, so far ignored, talking--but, sadly, quite a shame that even halfway through the season, we got no action from Miyazawa nor Yosano.

Also, it seems they put Ranpo out of the picture so he couldn't deduce the location of the bomb. It is cheaty both ways, though. Either we have him finishing the story quickly, or sneakily silencing him.

As usual, the first half would be almost all laughs. It was not often we get to hear Kunikida agonizing over a spilled secret--and a big one, that he was quite attracted to the woman that became a victim.

Although, there were some moments where Kunikida seemed to see that the woman hides more than she was saying. Subtle, at the same time noticeable--and cliche.

Oh, it seems Ranpo checked in and said immediately the bomb is near the port. So much for that.

And it seems they could still keep us interested, by making the bomb unable to be defused.

What came next was quite something: Kunikida stopping the car, blocking the road, to take a call.

Now, here, once again I'm at a loss (or just not paying to much attention, but...). The three phone calls just dropped a massive amount of information, all of a sudden, just to advance the plot. Shame, but I guess they need to make some progress in a season.

However, what they were led to was interesting. The power with the numbers was new, and Kunikida getting thrown around was borderline hilarious.

...but shame Dazai only got himself a generic thug.

...but then again, how the two worked together, switching foes to maximize their strengths, awed me as much as it awed Atsushi. It was not at all a long fight, actually, nor did they use many really fancy moves like the last episodes, shame there, but it was something to watch for a different reason.

The scene after that, Kunikida dealt with his past and shared it with the woman--name still forgotten, sadly. Once more, we delve deep into what made Kunikida tick, the ideals and the guilt behind it. This one was emotional, especially coming from him.

And finally, Dazai lured the Azure Messenger in. Kunikida arrived, and shortly after, the hacker.

Lo and behold, the woman is the Azure Messenger after all, still in line with the late Azure King, her lover. That does explain everything.

At the end, it became all shades of surprising. The Azure Messenger shot Kunikida, which the kid took a shot for--and he took Dazai's gun and shot her back. What a way to end the show.

But it's not done. Kunikida, ever the idealistic man, agonized over how it could have ended better, no one dying. Dazai ended it all by saying that his ideals might drag him down like the Azure King. Thus became the title of the episode. This was a damned strong episode emotionally, dealing right at the heart of Kunikida's idealism--though sacrificing plot and action, sadly. So, we shall wait a week--no, five days, forgive the lateness--for what has become of our man here.

Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 6: A Murderous Plan

It seems we are forging with this theme of "half-laughs, half-serious" with Bungou, after last time we solved a murder. This episode six, The Azure Messenger, we shall deal with a great conspiracy, and putting the Port Mafia in the mix as well. But most importantly, we shall know our idealistic man, Kunikida, better. So, spoilers, intentional or otherwise.

This thing opened very seriously, with Kunikida presenting his Ideals. Knowing that, I really do like him better. Finally, someone with a semblance of ideals in this crazy series.

Speaking of crazy...

That magic-mushroom-induced-craze made me laugh. For very long indeed.

The craze averted, they went on a job to meet an informant. Really nothing too much to comment here, but the presence of the Azure Messenger, that the informant there mentioned. That mysterios name must mean that there's something interesting, perhaps a conspiracy or such.

Oh, we also learn more about Kunikida's Ideals: about women. Well, actually the more interesting thing was that when Dazai noticed that he came all the way just to meet the informant, rather than ringing him.

This may very well be something taken from Sherlock, with the suspicious taxi driver taking them to suspicious places. I dunno, that's just how stuff usually works. Nice job on trying to cover up its tracks, though... as we shall see later on.

Dazai could still squeeze a laugh by being intentionally annoying as usual to Kunikida. Nothing too new there.

And see, they turn to abandoned hospitals. The allusion to horror/detective movies are quite obvious for this one.

But shame again, that they put some unnecessary fanservice here and there, when they saved the woman.

Actually, the scene that hit quite to some extent was when several people were being suffocated in the glass chamber.

On one side, the impact: Kunikida, the man of ideals, was forced to retreat from the gas for his own life.

On the other side... well, couldn't they try a bit more on saving those people? And to make it worst, it seems that had no impact whatsoever the following day:

Knowing Kunikida's ideal woman was... well, a good comic relief.

This one scene was... a little off, somehow. Certainly I liked the deduction that the taxi driver was the culprit (and yes, that part was confirmed) and how his plans worked. However, I still did not get what Kunikida thought in the first place, with the very limited information from the woman, to take them to the driver. 

Oh, it turned out to be an organ-dealing organization, by the way. This really is going to be a big crime story.

The driver forgotten altogether when Akutagawa arrived at the scene, this time with only Kunikida at the scene. Extremely interesting action, as usual, though not long.

We also see his inventiveness here, when he used his stun gun to electrocute Akutagawa. But as all main villains must be, he didn't fall, and retreated.

They then got a whiff of the Azure Messenger at an abandoned building, and delved into the backstory of the Azure King, who blew himself up there. From here, with the repeated use of the word "Azure," I do think this organization will be something fascinating for us and them to encounter.

Here, one of the detectives that was killed was actually the informant's father, which Dazai pointed out. There's also a pattern here, too, where it seems Dazai is always the one to read people. Anyway, once more we see Kunikida's sense of duty, by trying to be there for the kid as a father figure.

And the episode ended when they were told to defuse a bomb by the Azure Messenger. Just great, a cliffhanger. Ah well, on to next week.

___

I also would like to say what a darned busy week this has been. Excuse the lack of content on the blog.

Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 5: Sherlock Has Come

When last time we see Bungou, we see the Detectives easily destroying the Port Mafia hitmen, and Atsushi settling in. And now, for the first time we shall see the enigmatically eccentric Edogawa Ranpo in action, in the fifth episode of Bungou Stray Dogs: Murder on D Street. Spoiler alert, for both intentional spoilers and otherwise.

Right after last episode, the headquarters was still in ruins, and yet Ranpo was just chilling around and playing around with with a marble. Without looking at the explanation at the end of the episode, it could already be understood that he holds quite some influence, as a respected member of the Detectives.

And here we see Atsushi being sidelined for once, to help the comically clueless Ranpo. Stereotypical genius that has no idea how to do usual day-to-day stuff.

Yes, we shall go along with the classic storyline. The tried and proven private eye was shoved from the case by a new investigator. Although, in this case, Ranpo took that relaxedly.

On another note, the case seems to also be just another classic murder. Bungou's first fray into mystery could perhaps be just that: a collection of used plotlines.

Well, mixed with Bungou's running joke, that is. The moment they caught a man in the net, I already guessed it'll be him.

Oh, it's been quite a while since last hearing Dazai going on and on about ladies and double suicide, since that one time last episode. However, they never really told us about why he ended up in the river, other than "going for a swim." Perhaps it's just that we were seeing the story from Atsushi's perspective, after all.

On to more laughs, when Ranpo challenged the sergeant to solve the case in sixty seconds.

It was quite a miracle that he didn't outright panic and thought about the murderer's MO: the same as a Port Mafia execution. However, once more this turned out to be the same recipe as a usual crime story: a red herring.

But when Ranpo used the ability, to my surprise, they threw all usual means of making a good murder story by outright telling us who the killer was.

To my surprise, the sergeant.

The moment he hesitated to pull out the gun for examination, the investigator pleaded that his subordinate can't be wrong. Now that was some tense moment, but I thought that he relented too quickly. His ego seemed big enough at the start of the episode.

The deduction was finished, and all it was left is to hear from the perpetrator how it went to be. It was a classic tale, once again, not really much to be commented; the usual corruption and evidence that he needed to retrieve, then the accident where the victim was killed.

But Bungou flipped the pattern of deduction. Ranpo never told anyone how he did it. On the other hand, Dazai did explain the case like Sherlock. But he not being a master of deduction, it seems not all strings were tied; not all questions answered. I thought they just couldn't find a way to connect the clues.

And the last reveal, the most shocking one of all, it turned out that Ranpo wasn't Gifted after all, just a super talented person who could deduce in under a minute: Sherlock on a different level.

But the most striking thing was that Ranpo was, according to Dazai, just convincing himself that he was Gifted. Such was the childish personality of this eccentric man.

That's about it, actually. Until next week, where I do hope they return to chasing the Port Mafias.

Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 4: Desperation

After the bloodbath we had last week, Bungou returned to quite the usual goofy show, though indeed, Atsushi would become changed by those past events--and those to come in this fourth episode: The Tragedy of the Fatalist. Beware of spoilers, intentional or otherwise.

Truly, the backstory and connection with Atsushi's previous experiences are some of the nicer points of Bungou. Here we have Atsushi thinking back that he would only injure those around him, making a worst-case scenario.

And for once, Kunikida would play some big role in his thought process, by telling him to focus and think about what he could do himself.

...and losing his cool.

Coupled with the really awkward scene involving Junichirou and, surprisingly, Yosano, who hasn't really appeared since episode one. And who knew she'd be that lewd.

A new man with a cool new power, to break solid matter, who works for the Port Mafia. He infiltrated a factory, and after squeezing a man to death, smokes while his goons opened fire. He might be interesting enough, with his eccentric acts, but we'll see.

 

And, after that, who knew that Atsushi would phone the mafia and declared that he quit. And really do that.

The emotions stirring in him is just really obvious, making this show quite touching, really. Here, his thoughts return once again when he was kicked out of the orphnage; a unifying theme in this show, and it was just sad that the only thing he could focus on doing was to quit.

These three guys of the Black Lizards, the Port Mafia hitmen, could be an interesting bunch, the usual quarrelsome mob leaders. Else, why did they give us their names?

And thus, as Atsushi quit thinking he won't harm the Detectives, the Lizards prepare to knock down the headquarters. Ironic, really.

These two scenes, Akutagawa and Dazai. I have no idea what they mean. Perhaps that is Akutagawa's servant or something. Perhaps Dazai is just being Dazai and appears just for the sake of appearing.

Oh, here we'll have a nice fight...

...or not. Shame, I would've loved to see more action here, seeing what they are capable of doing such as in last episode. Atsushi, in his disbelief of hearing gunfire in the headquarters, rushed there, where he was met with equal disbelief in the calm scene, with all of the Lizards defeated and being thrown off the window.

Apparently, the worst case scenario is having a raid and having the budgets being thrown way off.

Seriously, in the end, they were just messing around with us in this episode, just for the sake of Atsushi.

Even Dazai didn't appear in the battlefield. I mean, come on.

However, this episode did end quite satisfyingly. Well, other than Atsushi's tears being stopped by the yelling Kunikida. Perhaps those tears are of being accepted. This episode, I would say, will make him stay with the Armed Detectives for the rest of Bungou.

Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 3: Really is Adult After All

Well, apologizing for the lack of content this week, as it was hectic. Anyway.

If the title does not give the contents away yet, I would quickly say that Bungou Stray Dogs, which was labeled as seinen or adult (on the level of Tokyo Ghoul) would finally deserve to be called as such. While the first half would squeeze the last drops of laughter, the main bad guy is out, and everything's going to be hard from now on.

And if the title does not give it out yet: please watch for some more bloody depictions. Also for spoilers, intentional or otherwise.

We start straight off with laughs. And plenty of it, when Atsushi guessed the other members' jobs in a cafe.

One thing that needs to get  out of the way: the very nearly mature scene that unfolded in front of Atsushi; the Tanizaki siblings being real creepy. Now, is there a point to all of this, really? Thank goodness for at least some decency there.

Anyway, I didn't expect this to turn into something more than just giving some background to the characters, but actually this little game that Dazai made, to guess his job before being a Detective, turned into something big for the show. Perhaps this is Bungou, where backgrounds do matter for the story.

Then, they have a client, who wanted them to find proof of smugglers in the port. 

Pretty hard to focus while Dazai was screaming as he was getting knocked off his feet, behind closed doors, by Kunikida, for womanizing said client...

However, we then learned the name of the most dangerous man in the Port Mafia: Akutagawa.

That was when all laughter stopped for the episode. After the scene above, a bloodbath ensued: the first truly cruel one for three episodes.

Perhaps my mind skipped, but I didn't catch there being a trap by the client. It was nicely put by the Tanizaki Junichirou, though, when they were led to a dead end where no smuggler could escape.

And then, the woman grabbed two SMGs and fired away.

What I didn't expect, though, was that Naomi protected her brother, ending in a bloody mess. And for one, they didn't shy away from showing it on screen.

Definitely angered by this, to have his lover/sister taken away, Junichirou activated his ability, supposedly not for combat: Light Snow.

His ability was... I think, a much more epic display than those Kinikida's and Dazai's. He disappeared--tense moment for the woman, that is--and grabbed her by the throat from the back, almost making the trachea burst open, then...

He got stabbed by Akutagawa from the back. Two major losses in one episode. That's something. But perhaps they won't die, or else Junichirou won't be in the opening, lest I was wrong.

Nicely performed by Atsushi upon looking at someone he wasn't supposed to face: utter panic. Perfect stuttering... and even more so when he thought back to his time in the orphanage that, perhaps, he was meant to cause harm to people around him such as the siblings.

But, (un)expectedly Atsushi ran past the conjured demon and grabbed an SMG, and opened fire.

It was then revealed that Akutagawa has the coolest power: to manipulate space-time to protect himself. By the way, it seems all their abilities were based on space-time manipulation, aren't they? invisibility, summoning a wire gun, etc.

As promised, Akutagawa ripped Atsushi's leg.

As expected, perhaps once more drawing a parallel to Attack on Titan, his leg regrew as he transformed back to the tiger, attacking the mafias... with the help of Junichirou. Seems he'll survive.

Now, that was a mystery. How did he turn without a moon? Perhaps on due time?

And then, Dazai appeared and put on a light show bu stopping both powers.

It seems that he's quite powerful; on a different level than Akutagawa, that even he was forced to retreat. Perhaps this could be very interesting...

For after that, we learned that Dazai was an ex-member of the Port Mafia. Nice use of the quiz on his prior work at the start of the show. Well, after those tense, bloody scenes, the story seems to get even more interesting, with backgrounds overlapping with the current story, making this one may be worth my while. until next week.