Bungo Stray Dogs Season 4: Episode 2 EARLY ACCESS Reaction!
Added 2023-01-14 14:00:03 +0000 UTC*ADORKABLE HEADPHONE WARNINGS*
While this episode is clearly setting up for the BIGGER mystery and case to be solved next episode, I will not shy away from gushing about Ranpo and his adorableness...and Fukuzawa LITERALLY creating a "monster" of his own, in handing Ranpo the glasses. Fuku-chan may have instant regrets on that one, but I'm so happy to see that he brought "color" into Ranpo's life!
Now, for the next episode to see where this shady character and Natsume-sensei fit into all this -- just leave our baby Ranpo alone!
LINK TO REACTION: https://streamable.com/ah1eoi
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
Comments
Yesss, I love the transition from white and black to color and what that represents in this! :) It’s so good! And the fact that it goes two ways for both of them? Perfect! I like that even if a lie, technically, it’s Fukuzawa doing it to help Ranpo in that moment – it’s SO parental and shows he really cares for Ranpo like a parent! :3 It’s so cute! You can see how it impacts Ranpo later on as an adult and makes his actions in S1-3 make sooooo much sense! And I like that we as the audience see that Ranpo KNOWS that he doesn’t “technically” need the glasses, but it makes so much sense why he believes him. And that Ranpo has markers for autism helps to add more depth to his actions in this flashback too – I just want to hug him and Fukuzawa for the relationship they establish with one another. It’s so heartwarming! I, too, love that BSD has such variety in its characters! Ooohhhhhhh, that makes a LOT of sense with Fukuzawa, so, hmmmmm…that is HILARIOUS, but now I’m sad we didn’t get an extra episode because I would have loved to have seen Fukuzawa realize about his ability – maybe we’ll get something with that later on; we shall see, but that makes sense! And Discount Ango! The anime clearly has something against our poor man! 😛Thank you so much for the kind words and comment! SO excited for the next episode!
Romaniablack
2023-01-25 16:33:42 +0000 UTC(Catching up on videos lol) Still so so happy that Bones did exactly what a lot of us predicted with it turning to color at Ranpo's pivotal moment. When I watched episode 1 blind and saw the two short flashbacks in color, I too wondered if it might be a gradual thing as Fukuzawa brings love and "truth" into Ranpo's life (PLEASANTVILLE!! I haven't thought about that movie in SO LONG, omg now I wanna rewatch it 😭), but then I read the light novel and I instantly realized that it would likely occur, if it did at all, when Ranpo put on the glasses..... and that's exactly what happened. 🥹❤️ Beautiful, beautiful moment. For all of the anime's flaws, the one thing it consistently nails is color and lighting symbolism to fit the tone and tell a story; I could write entire essays about the color palette and lighting choices in certain episodes. Just *chef's kiss* I really, really love what Fukuzawa ends up doing for Ranpo here and how he phrases everything, because it may have been a lie, but even so, it was exactly what Ranpo desperately needed at the time. His parents loved him dearly and raised him in a cocoon of safety, where he could live a normal life ignorant of the fact that he was /not/ "normal" and that the rest of society was not at all as intelligent as he and his family were, but once he lost his parents so suddenly, he was thrust into out into the world he had been protected from unexpectedly, with no one to help him gradually acclimate to it. And instead of telling Ranpo that he's different from everyone else because he's way smarter than them, which would only make him feel even more alienated and confused and make it seem like /he's/ the odd one out, like /he's/ the problem, Fukuzawa lies and says that it's not that he's too smart -- everyone else around him is just too dumb. Ranpo isn't on a higher level than normal; /they're/ just /below/ normal. It's hard to explain, but there's quite a distinction to be made there imo, because it puts the burden of being "different" on everyone else instead of on Ranpo himself. Granted, he's still told that there's something that makes him stand out from others, but now he's given something to latch onto to explain it, something he'll actually believe -- an ability. It makes him feel special, but not in a bad way, because the problem isn't him now, but with everybody else, and he can be /proud/ of who he is. And Fukuzawa knocking him out briefly as he puts on the glasses in order to trick Ranpo into thinking some major transformation actually occurred when he used them lol, it's all an elaborate but clever conditioning (like on a puppy lol), and it both warms and breaks my heart because nothing is actually happening here at all, like you said, and I always can't help but feel like deep down Ranpo KNOWS that all of this was just a ruse on Fukuzawa's part -- I mean, he's certainly smart enough to know that -- but he still clung to it and continues to cling to it because that was what he really needed at this time. The Poe episode seems to hint at that, when he tells Yosano at the end that "I'd look really stupid if I turned out to be normal now", and is so insistent that he needs his glasses while inside the book to use his ability...... That lie of Fukuzawa's, the glasses, they're just so comforting for him to rely on. 🥹🥲❤️ It's really meaningful because yeah, a lot of people have read Ranpo as autistic-coded with a lot of his behaviors and mannerisms (ESPECIALLY with his meltdown in the theater here), or at least somewhere on the spectrum, so seeing Fukuzawa validating Ranpo for what could very well be something like that, and not shaming him for it and instead making him feel empowered by it, is really touching, and relatable. Bungou Stray Dogs has so many relatable characters and Ranpo is just one of many of them ❤️ Fukuzawa's ability allows him to exert control over the abilities of SPECIFICALLY official members of the Armed Detective Agency, /only/ after they pass their entrance exam (hence Kyouka being able to use her ability to free herself at the end of season 2 on the Moby Dick, because in that moment of sacrificing herself she'd passed her entrance exam, so All Men Are Equal could help her control her ability). So the only conclusion to be drawn from this is that Fukuzawa didn't realize he had an ability until he formed an organization of his own, which makes him making Ranpo incorrectly believe he has an ability here INFINITELY funnier, when he himself is the actual one with an ability and just doesn't know it yet. 😭😂 Still think it's very funny they made the clearly evil cop look like a discount Ango. Anime what do you have against Ango like this 😭😭😭
Dana
2023-01-24 03:31:24 +0000 UTCThanks for the comment!
Romaniablack
2023-01-14 16:58:40 +0000 UTCI think you're right. Rampo has made himself the "shrimp" as bait for the "sea bream". Maybe? If so, it may be a little reckless, but he seems to have a lot of faith in Fukusawa.
4Paz
2023-01-14 16:57:17 +0000 UTCRIGHT?! I feel for him so much, especially at the start of this episode!
Romaniablack
2023-01-14 15:52:09 +0000 UTCThanks for the comment!
Romaniablack
2023-01-14 15:51:51 +0000 UTCThanks for the comment!
Romaniablack
2023-01-14 15:51:48 +0000 UTCThanks for the comment!
Romaniablack
2023-01-14 15:51:44 +0000 UTCThanks for the comment!
Romaniablack
2023-01-14 15:51:41 +0000 UTCI think Ranpo is so smart that being kidnapped is also part of his plan. Like, you literally can't do anything to Ranpo without him knowing exactly what you want to do.
Stace
2023-01-14 15:45:32 +0000 UTCI'm a bit disappointed that the anime didn't explore more about Ranpo's parents. The novel does and it's interesting.
Stace
2023-01-14 15:35:31 +0000 UTCWhen Fukuzawa said to Ranpo he was lonely because he's talented than all others and then gave him the glasses to help him think better, I'm reminded of the scene in Dark Era novel where Oda said to Dazai: "Nothing in this world can fill the hole that is your loneliness. you will wander the darkness for eternity.", and then he told Dazai to join be on the good side to feel better, there's a similarity. For Ranpo and Dazai there's nothing that can be done to make them fit in but at least there's a way for them to cope.
Stace
2023-01-14 15:24:48 +0000 UTCMy theory is that since Fukuzawa's ability is All Men Are Equal which allows him to help his subordinates control their abilities (like Atsushi, Kyouka controlled theirs), his way of doing it is making the person believe/acknowledge they're using an ability and then inflicts his influence on them. It's entirely theorized so it might not be correct.
Stace
2023-01-14 15:08:11 +0000 UTCI just want to give Ranpo a hug. That's all. 😅
Irenaeus
2023-01-14 15:04:09 +0000 UTC
