For those who love action-packed anime series, will no doubt want to give “Bungo Stray Dogs” a chance!  It’s one of the more exciting anime series I have watched in 2018, so definitely check it out!
Images courtesy of © 2018 Funimation. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Bungo Stray Dogs – Season One
DURATION: 300 Minutes
BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition 16×9 HD Native, Dolby TrueHD English 5.01 and Japanese 2.0, Subtitles: English
RATED: TV 14
COMPANY: Funimation Entertainment
RELEASE DATE: March 6, 2018
Originally created by Kafka Asagiri (Story) and Sango Harukawa (Art)
Directed by Takuya Igarashi
Series Composition by Yoji Enokido
Music by Taku Iwasaki
Character Design by Nobuhiro Arai
Art Director: Yumiko Kondou
Anime Production by BONES
Featuring the voices of:
Mamoru Miyano/Kaji Tang as Osamu Dazai
YÅ«to Uemura/Max Mittelman as Atsushi Nakajima
Asami Seto/Carrie Keranen as IchiyÅ Higuchi
Atsushi Ono/Greg Chun as RyūrŠHirotsu
Chiaki Omigawa/Erica Linbeck as Naomi Tanizaki
Hiroshi Kamiya/Vic Mignogna as Ranpo Edogawa
Hiroyuki Kagura/Lucien Dodge as Kenji Miyazawa
Stalked by a beastly white tiger, Atsushi Nakajima has no idea that the menace lives inside him—a power that catches the attention of the Armed Detective Agency. Using inhuman abilities to combat crime, this team takes Atsushi under the wing of their most eccentric member, Dazai. Together, they tear through mafia-muddled mysteries while enemies keep an eye on the tiger’s lofty bounty.
Back in 2012, Kafka Asagiri and artist Sango Harukawa created a manga series titled “Bungo Stray Dogs”.
Serialized in “Young Ace” magazine, an anime series adaptation by Bones aired in 2016 with a total of 24 episodes + an OVA produced. And in March 2018, the film “Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple” was released in theaters in Japan.
And now “Bungo Stray Dogs: Season One” featuring the first 12 episodes will be available on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Funimation.
“Bungo Stray Dogs” revolve on individuals who have supernatural powers and for business, use them to solve mysteries and carry out missions.
The series begins with a homeless orphan named Atsushi Nakajima who sees a man floating down the river and is drowning. When Nakajima goes to save him, the man is Osamu Dazai. His colleague, Doppo Kunikida calls him over and the men treat Nakajima to a meal.
Both men work for the Armed Detective Agency, an organization of individuals possessing supernatural abilities. They explain to Nakajima that they are searching for a tiger that is ravaging warehouses and livestock. And they learn that Nakajima was kicked out of the orphanage because the tiger caused damage to the poor orphanage.
Dazai believes that Nakajima is actually the tiger and he can transform into a tiger under moonlight. And sure enough, testing the theory, Nakajima turns into a tiger at full moon but Dazaki uses his special ability, to stop other abilities when he touches them.
Seeing Nakajima as useful to the Agency, Dazai makes him a member. Reminding Nakajima that he doesn’t have a place to live or eat.
And as Nakajima meets the other members of the Agency, their is a high bounty on Nakajima’s head and the Port Mafia intends to kill Nakajima.
But learning that Dazai was once a member of the Port Mafia and the deadly Ryunosuke Akutagawa hates Dazai with a passion.
But what happens when Nakajima finds himself wanting to help Kyoka Izumi, a orphan girl working for the Port Mafia? What kind of trouble will Nakajima find himself in?
VIDEO:
“Bungo Stray Dogs” is presented in 1080p High Definition and the animation for the anime series if fantastic. Bones did a wonderful job with character design and overall animation including cool backgrounds. And this is pretty awesome as TV anime series are more on the less detail side due to production deadlines. But Bones’ “Bungo Stray Dogs” is an exception as the animation is vibrant and looks fantastic in HD!
AUDIO:
“Bungo Stray Dogs” is presented in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and in Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0. Overall, the 5.1 lossless soundtrack sounds very good and there is a good amount of surround usage and its much more immersive than its Japanese lossless counterpart.
Both soundtracks are well-acted and for the most part, fans should be pleased with the lossless audio.
Subtitles are in English.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Bungo Stray Dogs – Season One” comes with the textless opening and closing theme songs, promo videos, commercials and trailers.
EXTRAS:
“Bungo Stray Dogs” comes with two Blu-ray discs and two DVD’s.
“Bungo Stray Dogs” is an entertaining, fun and action-packed anime series.
While the series focuses on an orphan named Atsushi Nakajima, a timid and shy boy who doesn’t know the extent of his powers, his time staying with the other members of the Armed Detective Agency makes him grow as an individual but most of all wanting to protect the people he cares about.
And as a huge bounty is targeting him, Atsushi starts to realize there are people who care about him and want to protect him. Especially Osamu Dazai, a carefree member of the agency but also a former member of Port Mafia, one of the groups who are hunting after Atsushi.
The series does a great job of integrating many more characters but not making the stories convoluted or confusing. As we watch Atsushi meeting members of the agency, we also meet many members of the Port Mafia.
You have Osamu Dazai who for some reason, wants to encourage Atsushi to grow, while Dazai and his partner Doppo Kunikida are often at odds. Where Dazai is carefre, Kunikida is very organized and wants things to be planned out.
But the most interesting part of the storyline is when the Port Mafia are after Atsushi and attempt to kill him but when he comes into contact with Kyoka Izumi, also an orphan girl but has killed many, but she doesn’t want to kill anyone anymore and when she sees Atsushi wanting to protect her, needless to say, the two become the series couple (despite both being naive but knowing they like to be around each other).
The battles are quite violent and bloody, people get impaled, body parts severed, so this is not the type of action series you want young children to watch.
As for the Blu-ray release, animation is fantastic and Bones did a wonderful job with this series. Voice acting for both the Japanese and English soundtracks are top-notch but I have to say that it was great to see new voice talent featured. Funimation had gone banal by using the same voice talent over and over for a variety of series and while the English voice talent did a great job, I have been wanting to see more newer talent featured and “Bungo Stray Dogs” has voice talent that I am unfamiliar with. And for the most part, they did a great job.
Unlike other Funimation Blu-ray releases, unfortunately, there are no audio or video commentaries. It’s pretty much a textless opening and closing song, promo videos, commercials and trailers.
But for those who love action-packed anime series, will no doubt want to give “Bungo Stray Dogs” a chance!  It’s one of the more exciting anime series I have watched in 2018, so definitely check it out!
