Bungou Stray Dogs Episode 33: Let them fight
Published on June 2, 2019
It looks like it's finally time for Fyodor to make his move, and it was a big one. He seems to bring an interesting mental aspect to the series, which really allows Dazai to shine. He's engineered a massive battle between the Armed Detective Agency and the Port Mafia, which I'm looking forward to seeing (if it actually happens). It's been a long time since I've seen many of these characters in action, so it should be fun.
I think the idea of having the leaders of each organization attacked to spark conflict between them is great, but I did have a thought on it. Specifically with the president of the Armed Detective Agency, he generally doesn't contribute to the story anyway. So, it's like the story is taking out a character that wouldn't otherwise do anything, and I don't know how I feel about that.
I probably should have remembered Nathaniel from the last season, but I had another small nitpick to add here. We established in Fyodor's introduction that his ability doesn't allow him to control his target's mind. Instead, he does that naturally. So, I think it would have been more impactful if Nathaniel had been truly convinced to help get rid of the gifted users. It could still be the case, but I don't like how mind-broken he looks in this episode.
I'll be honest. I'm a little skeptical about Fyodor's plan here. Don't get me wrong. His personality makes complete sense given the author he's based on, but his ultimate vision could use some work. The whole "purge the gifted" thing isn't the most inspiring goal. How big was his organization again?
Watching Dazai and Fyodor play chess with each other was great, but the episode could have given a little bit more explanation for this virus bit. Fyodor mysteriously says that it would end poorly if Dazai touched the virus, but that doesn't really add up given what we know. Why wouldn't it just work? Sure, it's probably almost impossible to find them, but Fyodor makes it sound like there would be some backlash.
This fight is looking pretty epic so far. I think it's funny that they cut the episode after Chuuya asks whether the fight will be one-on-one or all-out. I'm kind of wondering that myself.