Bungo Stray Dogs Season 5: Episode 8 Full Length Reaction!
Added 2023-09-03 13:00:03 +0000 UTC**INHUMAN HEADPHONE WARNINGS**
This episode went to a LOT of places I didn't expect...mainly with KENJI! The fight with him and Techhou NOT being over was the most pleasant of surprises, despite the reveal about our beloved farmer!
And meanwhile, things are getting dicy and spicy with Dazai and Sigma's adventures, Teruko and Atsushi, and Bram and Aya...and I'm not getting good vibes from ANY of it...but what's new with BSD this season?
LINK TO REACTION: https://streamable.com/apayet
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
Comments
Yes, our tiger boy IS intelligent – he’s just also innocent too! It does show Teruko made him a little kid, but him as a tiger cub would have been adorable! Kenji is my mannnnn, I love he gets to be utilized here in this rematch against the guy that skewered him in Season 4. Seeing him ACTUALLY angry and oh yeahhhhh NOW his power really does make all the sense! I agree that I love that he chooses to be positive despite all the sadness that comes his way, but hurt his friends? And YOU DONE GOOFED. And Tecchou and him having this moment of bonding? OMG I want them to be friends tooooo! Tecchou and his love for Jouno sent me as well! UGH. I need more of this ship, just hopefully not as vampires! Same with Aya and Bram – that flashback was soooo sad! But I just want him and Aya to be able to be together and be friends! Akutagawa, I love you and wanted you back, but not now! Haha! I definitely feel for the scene and I love the way they animated Dazai’s emotions as it happens. And I get Dazai is trying not to let that care for Chuuya show in this scene and we the audience can see right through it. I agree; the voice acting is SO GOOD – Miyano *chef’s kiss Mamoru - I enjoyed seeing him show a smidgeon of vulnerability there! I do agree that Dazai’s character needs to be able to emotionally express himself! Long overdue, indeed! Thank you for the kind words and comment!!
Romaniablack
2023-09-07 00:30:57 +0000 UTCI really like the moment where Atsushi realizes the inconsistency with Jouno and brings it up to Teruko, because he IS smart and he CAN make smart decisions, even if he's held back by a bit of naivete and his insecurities sometimes; he is FAR from dumb. In this case, it turned out badly for him, but....... I suppose it would have turned out badly anyway even if he hadn't figured it out, so :/ Also I think it would have been adorable if when Teruko had de-aged him, he'd just have been a little tiger cub when we cut back to him. Missed opportunity to see cub tigersushi xD 🥹 Kenji is the purest boy 😭😭😭 We don't ever get much of him but I really love his character, because after his introduction episode/chapter in season 1, it's easy to just see him as just nothing but naively innocent, who is ignorant to the horrors and darkness of the world and just thinks he can always win everyone over by simply being nice enough (especially because that part plays it completely as a joke), but that's not at all who Kenji is -- he DOES understand the pain and cruelty of the world, very well, sadly, like almost everyone in this series does, but despite that, he chooses to be kind and cheerful anyway. Much like Atsushi does, but Kenji takes this to an extreme, especially since it's necessary for him to hold back the torrent of destruction that would be brought forth if he was ever truly, TRULY made upset (For the longest time, I couldn't understand what the ability name "Be Not Defeated By The Rain" had to do with super strength, and just chalked it up to ability names rarely feeling like they have any sort of connection to the actual ability lmao, but when I got here I was like "ohhhh. I get it now."). I love the part last season when Kunikida, Yosano, Tanizaki, Kyouka, and Kenji are in the woods and on the run after being made into terrorists, and they're despairing about their current situation, but Kenji gives them hope by telling them that they have to keep pushing on, because they can always eventually rebuild and start anew as long as they stay together. He's never ignorant of suffering or hardships, but he chooses to be positive in spite of those things, because kindness is more powerful than anything else, and so I love that he ultimately forgives Tecchou in the end here and treats him with kindness, even when he had every opportunity and every reason to want to kill him when he could, because that's just who Kenji is, and he knew kindness would do more good here than more needless cruelty. I love that he recognized Tecchou's love for his friend, and that that was the only thing motivating him to do what he was doing to him, and so he offered to help him look for Jouno, which was enough to move Tecchou. Bones did so well with portraying the emotions of their final moment together, and I just want them to be friends so bad 😭😭😭🥺🥹💖 But yes, "For five minutes, I will place Jouno above justice" is 100% the new "I love you". I love how well Tecchou understands Jouno, and understands how kind he actually is and how much he cares about justice, and how much he's changed, despite his cold and sadistic exterior. Such a good ship 💖 I need to see more of them :' ) Bram and Aya are so dear to me...... The flashback with Bram makes me so sad; he cared so much about his people, he cares so much in general, despite everyone else seeing him as just this inhuman monster (cue the episode title), and him leaning into that persona. :( 💔 he really, truly needs someone like Aya, who doesn't see him in that way and just wants to be his friend 😭💖 Ah, the Chuuya drowning scene...... The infamous scene. One of the most infamous moments in BSD fandom history, that rocked the entire community. I wasn't caught up with the manga yet when this chapter happened, but I still know how monumental of a chapter it was; it's impossible to /not/ know if you're as involved in the fandom as I am lol. I'm with you, in that I too, didn't believe that it could stick when I read it, but the majority of the fandom did -- however, I'm also not as huge of a Chuuya fan nor a soukoku shipper like everyone else is lol, so the scene also didn't have as big an effect on me for that reason either when I read it. However, that being said, despite how easily I moved past it in the manga for the aforementioned reasons, for SOME reason, seeing it in animated form actually /really/ got to me. Because as I said on discord, the emotions from the scene for me don't come from what's happening to Chuuya, but rather from /Dazai's/ reaction to it -- from his clear anguish at what he has to do, and the clear love he has for Chuuya (whatever kind of love you interpret it as), all of which he has to mask behind his usual cheerful facade, both because showing vulnerability and letting himself grieve is so hard for Dazai in general, and because he just can't afford to let himself show any weakness in such a dangerous situation. It's truly heartbreaking, and while I already knew that Dazai's smile and claim of "sorry, I couldn't think of anything!" were clearly fake even in the manga, it's heightened in the anime by the extremely long pause as he reminisces about his time with Chuuya (there's a white screen showing 7 black bars when Dazai's little "movie" first starts, and I saw speculation that the bars could correspond to the 7 years Dazai and Chuuya knew each other), and the sounds of Chuuya drowning that Dazai can obviously hear, and the music, and the voice acting, GOD, THE VOICE ACTING, and how BROKEN he sounds..... It's so well-done. THANK YOU BONES, FOR FINALLY LETTING DAZAI SHOW SOME EMOTIONS. Just a beautifully done scene all-around, one that took a part in the manga I originally didn't think much of compared to everyone else, to something that truly hit me so hard. It's one of the best scenes in the anime now imo. Ugh, Dazai, you need a long, hard cry already, for so many reasons and over so many things; it's long overdue 😭😭😭💔💔💔
Dana
2023-09-06 23:49:03 +0000 UTCThanks for the comment! <3
Romaniablack
2023-09-06 16:19:20 +0000 UTCHonestly, Bones outdid themselves with this episode, which is more than most can say about other times in the anime. However, there's just one single moment that really has me kind of befuddled?? Not that it's a bad thing but I'm just wondering why the studio chose to depict it the way they did because I feel like it's a MAJOR testament of Dazai's character development thus far. To the point I would really like to know your thoughts on it Romania. So, in this episode; When Dazai and Sigma make it to the surveillance room and Sigma panics about the guards, the doors open and it's revealed all of them are unconscious. There are no real signs of a struggle, they only appear to be sleeping, and Dazai even admits that knocking them out was an easy feat with time frozen. BUT in the manga.... the guards are not unconscious, they are simply dead. There is blood everywhere, Sigma is unnerved, and Dazai himself doesn't seem particularly phased by it when he explains in the same way that it was easy to do so with them being unable to move. He doesn't say he "knocked them out," but instead- "took them out." Aside from the initial uproar over the drowning scene, a lot of the fandom got into another debate about such actions and reasoning when Dazai is supposedly on the side of good now, "the side who saves people." Many people actually ridiculed him for it but frankly, I disagree with them. It should be common knowledge that Dazai is not a GOOD man, but he's a BETTER man. A morally grey character. He's been trying his hardest for the agency of course but he has his flaws just as any other person does. That dark part of himself is not just going to go away because of Oda's dying wish, it's what he was raised in and children are always going to be more impressionanle than an adult. This is especially so when even Oda himself admitted that Dazai sees good and evil as the same and finding a reason to live would be impossible. "Whether you’re on the side who kills people or the side who saves people, nothing beyond what you would expect will appear." And he's right, because you honestly never know what to expect when you're trying to survive in a world like this. But he followed Oda's advice and tried to minimize casualties and protect orphans/innocents and became more gentle. Yet, it is not always possible to think of everyone while formulating a plan of great consequence, especially in desperate times like this where it's dog eat dog, and such a plan that would have heavy repercussions if it failed. Like imagine, if even one guard had woken up and tried to stop them, the odds would have been in the favor of Fyodor. Was it moral what he did? No, absolutely not because we are taught to preserve human life, not end it. And Dazai blatantly went against that, he killed people who might have had families to take care of. But was what he did necessary? I certainly believe so. Dazai has never been one to kill people if it was not necessary, which is why he would always reinforce in Akutagawa that killing is not all the Mafia does or is about. Mori is the person who taught Dazai "The ends justify the means," and a lot of BSD involves the ideas of deontology vs consequentialism. Is the act itself just? Or does it not matter unless the outcome is worth it? It was even said by Akutagawa that Kyouka also understood this rule during Dead Apple in the elevator, even if she's changed too. Atsushi claimed that the ADA would never go as far as to kill Shibusawa no matter how bad he is, because "that's not how we do things in the detective agency." But the Port Mafia's entire existence in the tripartite framework is too handle the wretched, and those who have lived in that darkness understand that they must do what needs to be done to eliminate a threat. They are the personification of order. I might be biased but I do think that Dazai is the only one among the ADA who can make tough decisions (and maybe Tanizaki) when it is needed and Fukuzawa knows this, which is why he almost gives a free reign to Dazai when it comes to making plans and does not rely on Ranpo for everything, as was seen in the kidnapping during Season 1, the Skk reunion in season 2, the Cannibalism Arc in season 3, and even Dead Apple. Sometimes we have to sacrifice hundreds to protect the lives of thousands, the needs of the many outweigh the few, as they say. Most leaders have taken such measure and made such decisions during the several wars that have occurred throughout history because you have to always protect the majority. That is the logical route, not the emotional one. So, even if you might feel guilty or saddened by the loss of innocent lives, Dazai did what he felt was important in defeating Fyodor, who is more than willing to kill an entire planet of people because of his own prejudices. Besides, Dazai is seen to have shown remorse over his actions before, when he was explaining to Atsushi about Oda, the very friend who convinced him to "flee a world of bloodshed where he would have continued murdering people." I think most BSD fans have this misconception that Dazai ENJOYED what he did and what he currently has to do, like he's truly that twisted. When- he so obviously has human emotions he works to hide. We literally just saw his mask slip when having to put Chuuya through that, he CARES and it's so annoying that people think he's as heartless as Fyodor when Fyodor is literally supposed to be his direct foil. They are similar but not the same. And I'm sure Dazai absolutely hates that. Basic psychology 101 (no pun intended). There is a term called Psychological Projection. "The devil is the accuser." A defense mechanism people have, where they’re afraid of some quality in themselves, and so they project it onto others. Dazai’s defense mechanism and emotional masking have always been to project onto others and defend himself via manipulation. "The devil is the accuser," Dazai is the devil, but he tends to be extremely harsh on the evils he sees in other people. It’s a pattern that repeats itself, with Akutagawa, with Chuuya, and especially Fyodor. Perhaps it's why he's learned to love the sinners and striving low-lifes so much, because he's grown to appreciate certain aspects on his journey towards redemption. Tecchou was also willing to put aside his morals, give up justice and murder a 14 year old kid solely for Jouno's sake. No BSD character is completely innocent, they struggle to live, and that's the entire purpose of the series. Everyone is flawed, everyone's ideologies are misconstrued, everyone is essentially lost. Stray Dogs!!! So of course, Dazai realizes when he's doing something wrong cause he's not stupid, it's a talent of his and it’s probably the reason he is so self-loathing in the first place. But yes, he feels guilty like any other human being, he just views his actions as necessary. He doesn’t work well together with others, but manipulates for the greater good. He is a terribly lonely man who sees himself as inhuman, yet has so much faith in others that there's no way he's anything BUT human despite his ability/mindset proving otherwise. Sigma is a prime example for this situation too, why did Dazai choose him? No one can say. But Sigma is an ordinary person who is desperate, the Atsushi type, and Dazai is seemingly proud of that. I wish someone would say the same about him. Whew! Sorry, went on a little passionate tangent there. I just feel like the guards being shown as brutally killed would have had more of an impact when you stop and consider Dazai's role in the present. The mafia persona jumped out for a second guys, he was just feeling silly. 🙄🤞 But in addition to this, I forgot to mention last episode that the color palette for Chuuya's jacket in the manga is actually supposed to be GREEN and not black/brown like shown in the anime. Which if you think about it, is probably another intentional callback to his 15 year old self where his ratty leather jacket was literally green as well, just like the thing with the hands in the pockets. Though on another note, I do really wish we had the full scope of ability lore because it's so interesting! We know powerful reactions called Singularities occur when certain gifts interact with each other. We know that apparently Fukuchi's Amenogozen sword was crafted 1500 years ago by gifted blacksmiths, but with Bram, it's clearly hinted abilities have existed wayyyy before that and have evolved quite a lot. Ability merged with flesh after its human body dies. Lovecraft as Cthulhu, God of horrors. Chuuya as Arahabaki, God of destruction. Kenji as friggin Mother Nature herself. And now Bram as one of these mysterious 10 immortal calamities. Where did they all come from? How are specific abilities granted to their host when they are born? How do the characters learn they have this power? Is there an ability hierarchy and do the HIGH RANKING gifted like I just named have repercussions compared to others? Do they get an afterlife since they seemingly didn't have a choice in what they harbour? And why is it that almost all gifted seem unhappy with their lives? Dazai himself said in season 1 ep 2; "Anyone with a special ability has something wrong with them inside...." And it's crazy that this has been proven time and time again. It's like such a burden and none of them can ever live normally. So many questions and so little answers.
—ARGENT
2023-09-03 21:33:45 +0000 UTC
