Bungou Stray Dogs 4th Season 文豪ストレイドッグス

2023 winter | Episodes: 13 | Score: 8.4 (131864)

Updated every Wednesdays at 23:00 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Streaming: Crunchyroll | Aniplus Asia | Aniplus TV | Bilibili Global | Laftel

Synopsis

No longer concerned with military affairs, Yukichi Fukuzawa intends to act as a lone bodyguard-for-hire, making use of his deadly swordsmanship. However, things are not going as planned for his freelance business, and that is when he crosses paths with a mouthy boy named Ranpo Edogawa. While their initial interactions are intertwined with a bizarre murder mystery, the aftermath prompts the formation of the Armed Detective Agency. Presently, Ranpo finds himself chasing down a gifted individual with the dangerous ability to execute the perfect crime. But as the great detective unravels the case, he soon discovers an elaborate plot to obliterate the Agency in its entirety. Although forewarned of the trap, the Agency continue their pursuit of the criminals, only to end up framed for the crime themselves. Now branded as wanted terrorists, the remaining members must find a way to prove their innocence—even if they must turn to sworn enemies for assistance. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Voice Actors

Miyano, Mamoru

Uemura, Yuuto

News

Reviews

Spast1c
04/16/2025, 04:57 AM
Bongo Stary Dogs Season 4 Is the most engaging Season of Bungo stray dogs to date Period. Where do I even start. This is the best Season of Bungo stray dogs yet. The plot is absolutely Awesome this season round especially after Episode 5 because that Is when it starts getting Juicy. I mean everything Is just so well tied together with so many new characters and plot twists beyond belief keep you on your toes the entire season. Everything just cuts together so nicely and It didn't feel like I was forcing myself to watch it to keep up I wanted to keep watchingepisode after episode because it I felt so engaged the entire time. Honestly such a good plotline this season and Since this season is like half a season since the plot continues into Season five we get even more amazing plotline. The animation in Season four was noticeably better than season 3, 2 and 1. There was a real attention to detail this time round mainly with the battle scenes but that is besides the point. Everything was just really pretty with all the special effects. I wouldn't say they were pretty but they just looked really cool and you can tell that the quality has increased since season 1 all the way back in 2016. The OST again isn't anything special this season. Most of the time the credits were cut off or just played over the scenes so we couldn't even hear it this season but it was really nothing special sadly. One thing to note about this season Is that it isn't a full season and Is continued by Season five. Amazing anime season this time round 9/10 better than the rest.
Yunice
01/27/2025, 08:07 PM
The excitement of this season! Personally, I feel this is the best series out of the lot so far. In this installment, we have the first half or so with the story between Fukuzawa and Ranpo. It helped viewers understand how Ranpo finally teamed up with the lone Fukuzawa to what became the detective agency. There was also a brief glimpse into the past of Yosano, the doctor, which helped with understanding the later parts of the story. The other half of the season featured the intricate plot of enemies framing the detectives, turning them into felons in the eyes of the government. It was aroller coaster of emotions watching them fleeing for their lives, trying to outrun the government forces and the enemies, while at the same time trying to prove themselves innocent. The ending of the season did not bring this tense situation to an end, so we would have to patiently wait for the next season to find out what happens after. It has been a fabulous season, for which I was glad to see Atsushi and Kyouka both maturing into dependable members of the agency. I also enjoyed watching the Port Mafia working together with the detectives and aiding them in parts of the escapade.
lilpikipek
04/15/2024, 07:34 AM
the thing with bungou stray dogs, in my opinion, is that literally everything is happening all at once! everything is all over the place and is complicated for me to absorb. like there's no general storyline and suddenly a new arc or an accident jumps out of the blue into the current happenings and the previous issue hasn't been made clear for the viewers. and i really hope the meaning and reason behind very fundamental questions be solved finally too! but maybe that's the whole point of bsd and many may enjoy these sudden happenings, the excitement and absurdity of it all. onthe other hand i personally really enjoy this whole concept of using world's writers' names and their books as a source! and while there's a clear goal to reach in parts i can't leave my sit at all.
En-psychopedia
03/02/2024, 03:11 PM
This is the season BSD takes a big leap forward and starts getting juicy. Things start getting more serious and there is more of a central plot than the previous seasons. U also get some good backstory on some characters and the Armed Detective Agency as a whole. Anyone who says it follows the same formula as the other seasons, i'd have to question whether they actually watched the entire series to this point... this season has a different feel than b4 and is simply better than previous seasons, as is evident by the 8.45 score. That's one hell of ascore, and it deserves it.
ArchangelEST
11/02/2023, 10:55 AM
Bungou Stray Dogs continue their climb towards higher quality, thanks to once again all but removing the useless Atsushi from the picture. Animation / Art / General Visuals - 9/10 ----------------------------------------------- The show continues to look great. Great scenery art and solid action animations. Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 9/10------------------------------------------ Top notch stuff. Great music, voice acting, additional sounds. Story - 9/10 ------------- The story continues its build-up, with more flashbacks of history, more elaborate plans and mysteries. It's hard to keep track of it all, but it's a fun ride that pressures both villains and heroes and those in-between to their utmost limits. One might remark that it's getting a bit silly how the Detective Agency can't catch a break from false allegations, but it is what it is. The writing is good enough so it doesn't feel overly contrived. The conclusion to the story however will not be reached in S4. Characters - 8/10 --------------------- Season 4 has an enjoyable focus on the characters we love the most. Rampo and Fukuzawa get a major flashback arc, fleshing out the history of the Detective Agency as well their own stories. While Dazai gets intellectual screen time in the latter half of the season. We also get Yosano's backstory, which is interesting and quite tragic. Atsushi is luckily absent from most of the season. And when he does show up, he is actually, straight up 100% irrelevant. His entire existence could be switched to a mannequin doll and it would make no difference in the story whatsoever. I both applaud the creators of the show for sidelining him for most of the season, and denounce them for putting some focus on him on the latter half, only showing him to be 100% useless yet again. Please for the love of god, just kill the character off. He adds nothing to the show. --- Total - 9/10 --- Bungou Stray Dogs Season 4 is an impressive season in almost every aspect. It could only be improved by further removing Atsushi, but I'm starting to think that dream of mine will never be realized. Still, even despite his existence, S4 is amazing.
EfiChan
07/01/2023, 05:14 AM
This anime grabbed my attention from season 1. But this... this was above all the excpecation I ever had for this series, or any series. It should get and 11/10. Anticipation: To be honest, I wasn't too thrilled after the first episode. But later I realized it was a jam on its own. And it was the beginning The surprises came one after the other, you thought you saw everything but no, they come up with a new thing to blow your mind once again. I love this non sense. Don't you want more of such things? Also, the stakes never were as high. Plot: Not onlythey brought new stuff which we didn't know of before, but also took existsing characters and light them in another shade with new information we never knew of. They manage to combine the new and the old into this new season, to creat something we never experienced before. Not just antoher funny moment of Chuuya and Dazai (which I love, don't get me wrong), but so much more. Characters: Well, the focus changed a lot during this season. Dazai is almost completely gone (and I am happy every moment he was there), and even Atushi didn't get as much screen time as past seasons. I don't feel like this season added a lot to his character, unless previous seasons. The remaining members, other than Kyoya, had more attention, especially a certain someone (no spoiler). Also, another character we knew so well, suddenly needs to face itself the way the never did before, but it wasn't explored much. The mafia also didn't get a lot of spot light, but when they did... they never stopped impressing you. We also meet some totally new characters, most of them from two new orgenizations. Prequal episodes: Starting from season 2, the anime brought preual episodes. In season 2 we met Oda and season 3 we saw the first encounter of Dazai and Chuuya. This time, Dazai was abesent and was replaces with Fukuzawa and Rampo something like 10 years befoer the main plot (I think). We got a glimpse througt this for the about to come in a way, but I think the new beauty of it was showing those two characters who, again, don't get a lot attention. As for visyal styke, I'm not sure it's much differet then previous seasons, so... not much about it. Hope it was helplfu and thanks for reasing this long stuffl :)
whiteflame55
06/24/2023, 06:25 AM
Where to even begin? I started watching this series just before the new season was going to drop, ended up finishing S3 after the second episode of S4 had dropped. To keep it brief, I saw a lot of promise in those first 3 seasons and the movie, but nothing that really wowed me. The setup was more interesting than your typical shonen fare, but beyond a couple of hints at something deeper, S1 didn’t really do anything to distinguish itself. S2 showed the first sign of something truly great with some character depth and progression that remains some of the best in the series, andS3 introduced a genuinely terrifying villain, but it still felt like the series was just getting going with little sparks of something great that hadn’t lit a flame yet. Even the movie felt underwhelming despite its strong action scenes. To that point, the series was a good watch, but nothing special. I think the central Armed Detective Agency has always been fun to watch, but the gifted, both in personality and ability, have largely felt like gimmicks, the central group hasn't been much of a detective agency beyond using it to afford to keep the lights on, and the whole story has felt pretty toothless since our characters could always keep up or exceed when the plot required it. S4 doesn't fix all of those problems completely, but it does quite a bit. And perhaps more importantly, those sparks have lit a fire. It’s everything the series has been working its way towards and it’s hard to overstate just how strong this season was. S2 and S3 both included a 3 episode peek into the past, each focused on Dazai, who got a lot of development and was easily the best part of those early seasons. S4 does something similar with a character I found rather insufferable on the whole, turning him into one of my favorites, including a scene that is one of my favorite anime moments in recent memory. I thought that, like S2 and S3, there would be little to note afterward. I was dead wrong. Not only has this series added substantive backstory to other characters, including some amazing backstory, its narrative has been consistently gripping. Almost all the pacing issues I saw with the first 3 seasons are gone here, and even the plot directions that feel obvious go to places I wasn’t expecting at all. This series has thrived by utilizing conflict between the protagonists in the Armed Detective Agency and other groups, and while that’s no different this time, it really feels like they’re dealing with something wholly distinct and far more terrifying this time, and that threat keeps ramping up, requiring all of them to step up their game. I won’t spoil where this season goes, but suffice it to say that there will necessarily be a part 2 to it (S5 just got announced) and, oh boy, am I ever here for it. I can hardly wait to see what comes next, and while I’m tempted to read the manga, this anime has proven that it’s worth waiting for. If I have any knocks against it, it’s that the season ended less powerfully and surprisingly than I was hoping and that it had a surprising lack of Port Mafia players, which limits the dynamics of what could happen. That being said, it looks like they’ll make up for the latter in a big way next season, and they were pivotal in the wrap up. I was waiting for this series to get good, and it exceeded my expectations. 9.2/10, best of season for me by far.
Ghusji
05/28/2023, 04:30 AM
It was a great watch and kept me hooked from the start till the end . Starting from the first episode, it show us the past of the two founding members of the Armed Detective agency. Lots of new characters that seemed like they have been there from the start but never showed till now. We get to deep dive into some of our main characters' past like Akiko and awesome plot twists connecting each other like a spiderweb. Eagerly waiting for the next season, seeing where this season left off. I would recommend it to anyone who have been keeping up with this series.
No-Life-101
04/14/2023, 02:05 PM
I've been looking forward to this for a long time now,, my friends and I are big fans of the show and when we found out about the fourth season we were so excited! It's so good to see the characters again and they're chaotic as ever, their designs haven't changed much since the beginning of the show but they have developed a lot since then - we've gotten to see their backstories, relationships with other characters, and what their role is in the story. I've always found this anime to be aesthetically pleasing in the sense that the colours aren't too harsh, thescenery looks breathtaking, the music isn't too overpowering, the character designs fit the story, and the like. This season has more tension in it compared to others because of what's currently happening, I've been watching for this part of the manga to get animated and it hasn't disappointed me!
Joshuukun
04/13/2023, 03:31 AM
Another case of BSD struggling with whether it wants to be good or not. The flashbacks as always, are the best moments of the show. Always masterfully written with great direction that makes a solid one-off story. The overarching plotline on the other hand is a mess. Somehow always making a writing misstep after a good scene. You'd think "How is that possible? It's just a backstory, it takes away from the current events." but when you look at the show holistically, the flashbacks existing in a bubble outside the current events is exactly the reason why it's the only parts of the show that hasa solid foundation. This season's exploration of Ranpo and Yosano's pasts, akin to the excellence displayed in Oda's backstory from season 2, and to a lesser extent, Dazai's from season 3, adds depth to the characters and continues to weave into present-day events nicely. For once, the writing felt committed, now that it felt like the events have actual consequences, especially with the impact of Fyodor in the first half. Eventually, after the episode with Nikolai which was fantastic, "The Hunting Dogs" gets written into existence without any real foreshadowing, which isn't the issue. As always, my biggest gripes come with the haphazard introduction of plot points and the neglect of essential story beats. It struggles with tone shifts and trying to make me care for most of the events, specifically because of lackluster worldbuilding. It relies heavily on the viewer filling in very huge blanks by themselves until they decide to actually write later on. And without being hooked in the first place, people would hardly care enough to try and play into this formula. For the same reason, the explanations don't feel satisfactory to me. I find it difficult to enjoy BSD but highlight its flaws without explicitly spoiling the specific examples, but ultimately it just hinges on the eye of the beholder. How I see it, it's just the horrible worldbuilding that takes away from the smaller scenes. It's wasted potential, really. A bad mesh of good ideas. Story: 4 Animation: 7 Visuals: 7 Music: 9 (OST) 8 (OP & ED) Characters: 7 Sound: 8 (Sound Design) 7 (Voice Acting) Favorite Episode: 9 - A Dream of Butterflies
Alara_Marshal
04/04/2023, 06:07 AM
So----Dazai and Chuuya? YES~ To anyone who is like --- debating whether or not to watch this anime, don't hesitate watch it RN! Honestly this was kinda forced on me to watched, but just from the first season i was hooked (Season 5 you are deeply awaited). I usually watch romance and shoujo but this made me change my opinions about genres, Anime is awesome! The suspense had me clenching me teeth, the humor had me falling out of my chair, and the characters---well---what can i say about Dazai and Akutagawa? The characters especially were very well written and portrayed, i adored their humor and relationship with eachother as well as the multiple agencies and new characters, Their abilities are also pretty cool and not overdone.
R_2_R
03/30/2023, 07:20 PM
Let's introduce a scenario where the ADA will get caught in a fucked up state. Let's bring Dazai every God damn time because he's a fan favorite, but also remind people that the main character is actually Atsushi and not Dazai. This is basically what happened in the main conflict past 3 seasons. S4, however, took a different approach where it left Dazai and Fyodor backstage as puppet masters, while the story progressed the same but now, with Rampo getting some spotlight. I hate to break this but, at this point, Atsushi is a really weak main character surrounded between characters who have more interesting stories totell. It's kind of ironic that his conflict is about self-worth, finding purpose despite being rejected, yet he's the least among them all. He has, however, interesting moments when he's facing Akutagawa, who constantly stands in his way. Their rivalry makes them interesting, but sadly Aku got no show this season. He literally has 0 screen time, if you exclude the appearance in the opening (the OP is pretty lit btw. ED... I still think "Lily" is the best BSD ED). Though I already highlighted, I just love the small details the show adds. For instance, Edgar Allan Poe's ringtone is the cries of a Raven, one of Poe's famous poems. BSD characters are generally an encyclopedia if you want to find about classic literature authors, and their best works. The Anime is really an homage to all the great people in literature history and you can certainly find someone you can get invested in in their works. I currently read a few of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories & poems, reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment, read Usamaru's manga adaptation of No Longer Human, and planning to read something by Yosano Akiko. Conclusion At the heart of all, Bungou Stray Dogs is not about the overall story or mystery, it's not about the homosexual tension between hot dudes, or it's not about me mindlessly simping over a crazy doctor. It's about Kafka Asagiri's appreciation to all the great authors & writers through his imagined personifications of them, in these characters. And a director who understands it. I don't think this is a great story, but I still love these characters.
Astau
03/29/2023, 09:38 PM
The 4th season has now ended, question is... was it good, short answer, well obviously, slightly longer answer - Just like the previous three seasons, the 4th was just as good, introducing a new cast of character that are mostly written very well, my favourite being teruko. The story continues basically right after the third season, and in all respect it is better than the third season in many different ways, I wish I could explain why but I do not want to spoil the story. The visuals are pretty average though, just a run of the mill anime visually, but, it does have it's moments whenyou think to yourself "That was a pretty cool scene." The music in the anime was alright, The Intro song does have nice points about it, for example the kick was nice and bassy but with a tinge of high end to hear the hit of the kick, the mixture of the piano, synths, bass guitar and Electric guitar were are really well mixed and not at all during the OST did it get muddy. Overall, the anime can't get higher than what I have scored, but it is still worth the watch.
Typo_comma
03/29/2023, 07:26 PM
The reason why I started watching this anime is very simple: I was playing Fate Grand Order at the time, so these historical characters with special abilities (or these metahumans with the names of historical characters) have an inexplicable attraction to me. I will admit that most of Bungo Stray Dogs' appeal is provided by its interesting characters. But as an animation that has ended the fourth season, I can't deny that it is difficult to maintain the freshness of this series with only interesting characters. Beginning with season 2, we'll see a flashback story to kick off each season, and a main storyline to confrontthe new organization, complete with a variety of new characters whose superpowers will humble the previous ones. I don't think "being formulaic" is a problem. If this is a story about fighting with superpowers, making stronger opponents seems like a straightforward solution. However, even though we've reached episode 50 (four seasons plus a movie) and will have season 5 (actually it's more like the second half of season 4) in July, I still don't feel I myself know more about the world of Bungo Stray Dogs. What is the origin of the power? How to judge the strength and level of abilities? Why do some people have powers and others don't? Will capable people be discriminated against and treated differently? Is no research institute curious about Dazai's abilities? What I'm more worried about is that none of these questions accumulated through years of watching (there may be more if I think about it carefully) hasn't even been considered by the author Asakiri Kafka, because I watched several seasons of fighting villains, and even no suspense was thrown. Akutagawa, Fitzgerald, Fyodor, now it's Decay of the Angel's turn, Atsushi's character arc and ability curve are still confusing, and Dazai is Lv.MAX as always. I believe this is also the reason why most people's perception of this series continues to decline. Since the story is not over yet, I'm not in a hurry to draw conclusions, because thanks to BONES' wonderful animation, I will continue to watch it with a numb mind. What if it surprises me in the near future? I hope so.
BabyGirl06301
03/29/2023, 11:24 AM
I have such fond memories of this series, and I was so excited to return to it—finally!—but then I remembered all the reasons Bungo Stray Dogs is a “have to be in the right kind of mood” anime for me. Here’s what I loved about it: the humor this season did all it needed to to encapsulate the charm of Bungo Stray Dogs, and I was happy we got to see that through a few new avenues. Well, new and old avenues, but the old avenues (like Ranpo) got more of an opportunity to shine this time around. I also was happy to see anuptick in the drama department and a bit more of a stabilized plot than we’ve seen in the past because I think, with the plotlines this anime deals with, it can handle high drama pretty well when it wants to. And it did. That being said, I’m still not a huge fan of the season starting with a story from (x) amount of years ago before moving into the present-day storyline. I just feel like it fragmented this season a bit too much and didn’t give me enough time to be reacquainted with the characters I’ve missed for so long. I also wasn’t always the biggest fan of the new characters we got to see in this season or even with the division of screen time allotted to the already established characters. I don’t know, I suppose I found this season a bit more lackluster than the others. The antics were quite as pronounced, either, which I suppose is a sacrifice needed for increasing the drama, but still. I don’t know, if the series continues, I’m going with it, but I hope it brings back some of the charm it lost for me this season.
ddmareo
03/29/2023, 10:16 AM
After long years of wait, we finally get to see the continuation of arguably one of the best shounen in these modern days, Bungou Stray Dogs. After watching the fourth season throughout, I came to the conclusion that it still retains the quality of the previous seasons, which is an impressive thing since most of the time, it is hard to have this level of consistency. As a long-time fan, I'm thoroughly contended. The fourth season started off with the backstory of the Agency - how it was first formed. Basically, the first three episodes or so follow the story of Fukuzawa and Rampo, from theirvery first encounter to the creation of the agency. I was enthralled that the fourth season begins like stated because now we get to know in detail who was involved in the creation of the agency, how it was made possible, and why it was first initiated. And the fact that the fourth season begins with Rampo, one of the characters in which I've looked up to besides Tanizaki, made it even more fascinating to watch. Not only Rampo and Fukuzawa, but the backstory of Yosano was also later revealed along the way. With that being said, we will get to know how and why Yosano decided to join forces with the Agency. And not to mention, the relationship she has with one of the members of the Hunting Dogs. The rest of the episodes, however, are basically fresh contents that serve as the continuation of the previous seasons. The story carries on with the problems that were not fully resolved in the first three seasons. What is praise-worthy about it is the fact that they were able to do it with the same pacing and delivery that we are familiar with. Besides the content of the story, the rest are completely similar, if not the same as the previous seasons. The animation and sound that were presented in the fourth season were no different. I mean, why would they change something that had nothing to be fault in the first place? All in all, the fourth season of Bungou Stray Dogs successfully came out as the sequel that I have hoped for. The overall quality of it is on par with the previous seasons, if not slightly better due to the amount of excitement entailing around the story. The only downside of the fourth season is that we didn't get to see Dazai in action and last but not least, the infuriating cliffhanger that the season had left for us.
slavemaster_1991
03/29/2023, 08:03 AM
With every season I watch this series I can't help but notice that the same formula works worse and worse, to the point of completely falling flat. Let me explain what feels wrong with Stray dogs. First, following the already existing pattern, we have flashbacks. Way too lengthy flashbacks that add nothing to the story for two simple reasons: they are too ordinary and they add nothing to the character in question. By being ordinary I mean that there would be no difference if the story of the flashback was set in the present, as the plot of said events doesn't differ in any meaningful wayfrom what the characters are doing in present time. Even worse, even though there are years between flashbacks and the actual events of the main story - the characters are the exact same as they were, like they were in stasis this whole time or not even existing. I know that without major events people don't go through major change, but at least some progress is to be expected, characters mature and get experience even if the viewer/reader is not going through every second of their life. Oh and while I am talking about character development - there is almost NO progress for the rest of the cast too, even though they are actually going through a serious event. Second, the lack of logic. Yes I know this anime has supernatural. But you see, even the supernatural follows SOME rules, or it will soon deteriorate into a mess. And this is exactly what happens in Stray Dogs. Almost half of the season is a kind of mystery-solving detective story. What do you expect from it? Logical investigation, interrogating suspects, collecting evidence, cornering the criminal into revealing themselves. Or you can just get a set of BS accusations based on "I AM A GENIUS '' claim that suddenly are all correct even though they make no sense at all. It is almost like saying "The sun is up so it is monday '' while it is indeed monday. Yes, you are correct, but your reasoning is completely wrong and you can't make me believe you used any kind of logic here. Oh and don't forget to make anyone involved in the investigation more stupid than they should be so our "genius" claim would be at least somewhat believable, or just make the mystery in question predictable and obvious from the start. Third, the lack of thrill. When the action comes you could expect adrenaline, high stakes, a battle of life and death. Not here though. Because the plot armor is so THICC for everyone that characters are basically immune to all kinds of blades, bullets and explosions as long as it is not THE tragic moment. Cause when THE moment comes - suddenly a character can be damaged even by strong wind. I know that this is used to both fill the title with action and have some kind of a point to continue with the plot, but at least give characters a thing to fight over. Because "fighting for their lives" while your plot armor doesn't allow you to even be wounded is not a working justification for me to be engaged. Maybe if characters in combat at least used their magic powers in an interesting way it would be enjoyable, but nope, they do the most basic stuff one could imagine. Overall I have an impression that Stray Dogs simply tries to be way too many things at once. It wants to be over the top with abilities like Jojo does, but doesn't embrace the required "over the top and out of charts' ' level, as it also wants to be a serious show. It wants to be a serious detective/mystery story, but lacks good mysteries and can't make a logically sound investigation process. It wants to have deep characters but only throws one flashback on a barely developed character with one defining trait and calls it a day. It wants to be an action but lacks both the thrill and the spectacle. To be honest I didn't read the novel so I don't know whom to blame - poor adaptation of great source material or poor writing in the source, but the result is the same - I don't find Stray Dogs in any way enjoyable. I would only recommend this anime if you are watching it in the background while cooking or doing something else, because if you pay attention to what is happening on the screen - you will lose all the fun in its shortcomings.
Mcsuper
03/29/2023, 07:28 AM
After watching the first three seasons and movie recently, along with this fourth season, I can tell why the Bungou Stray Dogs franchise is so big in Japan, albeit a bit less popular overseas due to it being more of a seinen series. The cast is quite unique, there is a solid balance between humour and serious moments, and the presentation is very well done. Without a doubt, Season 4 of Bungou Stray Dogs has been the best installment in the series thus far, as it was definitely the most thrilling and consistent of all the seasons. Since Season 2, each season kicked off with aflashback that focused on certain characters of the show, and the flashbacks usually ended up being the best part of the season itself. However, this time around, I was thoroughly impressed by the fact that the events flashback sequence related to the events in the present quite a lot, and built upon them effectively, which was what was lacking in Season 3. I felt the present arcs were even better executed than the flashback, which was great. The fundamental reason why this season worked better than the previous three in my opinion is that the stakes felt higher than they’ve ever been, and I genuinely felt worried for some of the characters, fearing they would meet their demise. Each episode was filled with twists and turns, which made it all the more thrilling, and the episodes just flew by every week. The sense of mystery felt stronger than it ever has been. You thought you knew what was coming, and then another twist happens. What’s more, the twists for the most part, didn’t feel forced at all, and were executed very nicely. The cast of characters felt even more fleshed out this season, with Ranpo and Yosano really taking centre stage for a few of the episodes, and I’m glad they focused on characters other than Dazai and Atsushi, and gave more balanced development to each character of the Detective Agency. Some mature themes were present in their backstories, and I grew to appreciate their characters much more with the events that transpired in the past and future surrounding them. It felt like much needed information on their character was delivered, and it was delivered well. The animation and designs continued to be consistent throughout, meaning that the production was probably healthy, and the staff finished the episodes ahead of schedule. Good job by Studio Bones here as usual. The soundtrack was good as always, capturing the mysterious and darker tones of the series. OP and ED were great as well. I have virtually nothing but praise for this season of Bungou Stray Dogs, and aside from a few powers that felt a bit over the top, it wasn’t much of a problem for me personally. Overall, just a very solid, thrilling season that was a pleasure to watch every week, and the best season of the series to date. With Season 5 coming in summer of this year, you bet I’m excited for what’s to come.

Bungou Stray Dogs 4th Season 文豪ストレイドッグス

2023 winter | Episodes: 13 | Score: 8.4 (131864)

Updated every Wednesdays at 23:00 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Streaming: Crunchyroll | Aniplus Asia | Aniplus TV | Bilibili Global | Laftel

Synopsis

Voice Actors

Miyano, Mamoru

Uemura, Yuuto

News

Reviews

Spast1c
04/16/2025, 04:57 AM
Bongo Stary Dogs Season 4 Is the most engaging Season of Bungo stray dogs to date Period. Where do I even start. This is the best Season of Bungo stray dogs yet. The plot is absolutely Awesome this season round especially after Episode 5 because that Is when it starts getting Juicy. I mean everything Is just so well tied together with so many new characters and plot twists beyond belief keep you on your toes the entire season. Everything just cuts together so nicely and It didn't feel like I was forcing myself to watch it to keep up I wanted to keep watchingepisode after episode because it I felt so engaged the entire time. Honestly such a good plotline this season and Since this season is like half a season since the plot continues into Season five we get even more amazing plotline. The animation in Season four was noticeably better than season 3, 2 and 1. There was a real attention to detail this time round mainly with the battle scenes but that is besides the point. Everything was just really pretty with all the special effects. I wouldn't say they were pretty but they just looked really cool and you can tell that the quality has increased since season 1 all the way back in 2016. The OST again isn't anything special this season. Most of the time the credits were cut off or just played over the scenes so we couldn't even hear it this season but it was really nothing special sadly. One thing to note about this season Is that it isn't a full season and Is continued by Season five. Amazing anime season this time round 9/10 better than the rest.
Yunice
01/27/2025, 08:07 PM
The excitement of this season! Personally, I feel this is the best series out of the lot so far. In this installment, we have the first half or so with the story between Fukuzawa and Ranpo. It helped viewers understand how Ranpo finally teamed up with the lone Fukuzawa to what became the detective agency. There was also a brief glimpse into the past of Yosano, the doctor, which helped with understanding the later parts of the story. The other half of the season featured the intricate plot of enemies framing the detectives, turning them into felons in the eyes of the government. It was aroller coaster of emotions watching them fleeing for their lives, trying to outrun the government forces and the enemies, while at the same time trying to prove themselves innocent. The ending of the season did not bring this tense situation to an end, so we would have to patiently wait for the next season to find out what happens after. It has been a fabulous season, for which I was glad to see Atsushi and Kyouka both maturing into dependable members of the agency. I also enjoyed watching the Port Mafia working together with the detectives and aiding them in parts of the escapade.
lilpikipek
04/15/2024, 07:34 AM
the thing with bungou stray dogs, in my opinion, is that literally everything is happening all at once! everything is all over the place and is complicated for me to absorb. like there's no general storyline and suddenly a new arc or an accident jumps out of the blue into the current happenings and the previous issue hasn't been made clear for the viewers. and i really hope the meaning and reason behind very fundamental questions be solved finally too! but maybe that's the whole point of bsd and many may enjoy these sudden happenings, the excitement and absurdity of it all. onthe other hand i personally really enjoy this whole concept of using world's writers' names and their books as a source! and while there's a clear goal to reach in parts i can't leave my sit at all.
En-psychopedia
03/02/2024, 03:11 PM
This is the season BSD takes a big leap forward and starts getting juicy. Things start getting more serious and there is more of a central plot than the previous seasons. U also get some good backstory on some characters and the Armed Detective Agency as a whole. Anyone who says it follows the same formula as the other seasons, i'd have to question whether they actually watched the entire series to this point... this season has a different feel than b4 and is simply better than previous seasons, as is evident by the 8.45 score. That's one hell of ascore, and it deserves it.
ArchangelEST
11/02/2023, 10:55 AM
Bungou Stray Dogs continue their climb towards higher quality, thanks to once again all but removing the useless Atsushi from the picture. Animation / Art / General Visuals - 9/10 ----------------------------------------------- The show continues to look great. Great scenery art and solid action animations. Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 9/10------------------------------------------ Top notch stuff. Great music, voice acting, additional sounds. Story - 9/10 ------------- The story continues its build-up, with more flashbacks of history, more elaborate plans and mysteries. It's hard to keep track of it all, but it's a fun ride that pressures both villains and heroes and those in-between to their utmost limits. One might remark that it's getting a bit silly how the Detective Agency can't catch a break from false allegations, but it is what it is. The writing is good enough so it doesn't feel overly contrived. The conclusion to the story however will not be reached in S4. Characters - 8/10 --------------------- Season 4 has an enjoyable focus on the characters we love the most. Rampo and Fukuzawa get a major flashback arc, fleshing out the history of the Detective Agency as well their own stories. While Dazai gets intellectual screen time in the latter half of the season. We also get Yosano's backstory, which is interesting and quite tragic. Atsushi is luckily absent from most of the season. And when he does show up, he is actually, straight up 100% irrelevant. His entire existence could be switched to a mannequin doll and it would make no difference in the story whatsoever. I both applaud the creators of the show for sidelining him for most of the season, and denounce them for putting some focus on him on the latter half, only showing him to be 100% useless yet again. Please for the love of god, just kill the character off. He adds nothing to the show. --- Total - 9/10 --- Bungou Stray Dogs Season 4 is an impressive season in almost every aspect. It could only be improved by further removing Atsushi, but I'm starting to think that dream of mine will never be realized. Still, even despite his existence, S4 is amazing.
EfiChan
07/01/2023, 05:14 AM
This anime grabbed my attention from season 1. But this... this was above all the excpecation I ever had for this series, or any series. It should get and 11/10. Anticipation: To be honest, I wasn't too thrilled after the first episode. But later I realized it was a jam on its own. And it was the beginning The surprises came one after the other, you thought you saw everything but no, they come up with a new thing to blow your mind once again. I love this non sense. Don't you want more of such things? Also, the stakes never were as high. Plot: Not onlythey brought new stuff which we didn't know of before, but also took existsing characters and light them in another shade with new information we never knew of. They manage to combine the new and the old into this new season, to creat something we never experienced before. Not just antoher funny moment of Chuuya and Dazai (which I love, don't get me wrong), but so much more. Characters: Well, the focus changed a lot during this season. Dazai is almost completely gone (and I am happy every moment he was there), and even Atushi didn't get as much screen time as past seasons. I don't feel like this season added a lot to his character, unless previous seasons. The remaining members, other than Kyoya, had more attention, especially a certain someone (no spoiler). Also, another character we knew so well, suddenly needs to face itself the way the never did before, but it wasn't explored much. The mafia also didn't get a lot of spot light, but when they did... they never stopped impressing you. We also meet some totally new characters, most of them from two new orgenizations. Prequal episodes: Starting from season 2, the anime brought preual episodes. In season 2 we met Oda and season 3 we saw the first encounter of Dazai and Chuuya. This time, Dazai was abesent and was replaces with Fukuzawa and Rampo something like 10 years befoer the main plot (I think). We got a glimpse througt this for the about to come in a way, but I think the new beauty of it was showing those two characters who, again, don't get a lot attention. As for visyal styke, I'm not sure it's much differet then previous seasons, so... not much about it. Hope it was helplfu and thanks for reasing this long stuffl :)
whiteflame55
06/24/2023, 06:25 AM
Where to even begin? I started watching this series just before the new season was going to drop, ended up finishing S3 after the second episode of S4 had dropped. To keep it brief, I saw a lot of promise in those first 3 seasons and the movie, but nothing that really wowed me. The setup was more interesting than your typical shonen fare, but beyond a couple of hints at something deeper, S1 didn’t really do anything to distinguish itself. S2 showed the first sign of something truly great with some character depth and progression that remains some of the best in the series, andS3 introduced a genuinely terrifying villain, but it still felt like the series was just getting going with little sparks of something great that hadn’t lit a flame yet. Even the movie felt underwhelming despite its strong action scenes. To that point, the series was a good watch, but nothing special. I think the central Armed Detective Agency has always been fun to watch, but the gifted, both in personality and ability, have largely felt like gimmicks, the central group hasn't been much of a detective agency beyond using it to afford to keep the lights on, and the whole story has felt pretty toothless since our characters could always keep up or exceed when the plot required it. S4 doesn't fix all of those problems completely, but it does quite a bit. And perhaps more importantly, those sparks have lit a fire. It’s everything the series has been working its way towards and it’s hard to overstate just how strong this season was. S2 and S3 both included a 3 episode peek into the past, each focused on Dazai, who got a lot of development and was easily the best part of those early seasons. S4 does something similar with a character I found rather insufferable on the whole, turning him into one of my favorites, including a scene that is one of my favorite anime moments in recent memory. I thought that, like S2 and S3, there would be little to note afterward. I was dead wrong. Not only has this series added substantive backstory to other characters, including some amazing backstory, its narrative has been consistently gripping. Almost all the pacing issues I saw with the first 3 seasons are gone here, and even the plot directions that feel obvious go to places I wasn’t expecting at all. This series has thrived by utilizing conflict between the protagonists in the Armed Detective Agency and other groups, and while that’s no different this time, it really feels like they’re dealing with something wholly distinct and far more terrifying this time, and that threat keeps ramping up, requiring all of them to step up their game. I won’t spoil where this season goes, but suffice it to say that there will necessarily be a part 2 to it (S5 just got announced) and, oh boy, am I ever here for it. I can hardly wait to see what comes next, and while I’m tempted to read the manga, this anime has proven that it’s worth waiting for. If I have any knocks against it, it’s that the season ended less powerfully and surprisingly than I was hoping and that it had a surprising lack of Port Mafia players, which limits the dynamics of what could happen. That being said, it looks like they’ll make up for the latter in a big way next season, and they were pivotal in the wrap up. I was waiting for this series to get good, and it exceeded my expectations. 9.2/10, best of season for me by far.
Ghusji
05/28/2023, 04:30 AM
It was a great watch and kept me hooked from the start till the end . Starting from the first episode, it show us the past of the two founding members of the Armed Detective agency. Lots of new characters that seemed like they have been there from the start but never showed till now. We get to deep dive into some of our main characters' past like Akiko and awesome plot twists connecting each other like a spiderweb. Eagerly waiting for the next season, seeing where this season left off. I would recommend it to anyone who have been keeping up with this series.
No-Life-101
04/14/2023, 02:05 PM
I've been looking forward to this for a long time now,, my friends and I are big fans of the show and when we found out about the fourth season we were so excited! It's so good to see the characters again and they're chaotic as ever, their designs haven't changed much since the beginning of the show but they have developed a lot since then - we've gotten to see their backstories, relationships with other characters, and what their role is in the story. I've always found this anime to be aesthetically pleasing in the sense that the colours aren't too harsh, thescenery looks breathtaking, the music isn't too overpowering, the character designs fit the story, and the like. This season has more tension in it compared to others because of what's currently happening, I've been watching for this part of the manga to get animated and it hasn't disappointed me!
Joshuukun
04/13/2023, 03:31 AM
Another case of BSD struggling with whether it wants to be good or not. The flashbacks as always, are the best moments of the show. Always masterfully written with great direction that makes a solid one-off story. The overarching plotline on the other hand is a mess. Somehow always making a writing misstep after a good scene. You'd think "How is that possible? It's just a backstory, it takes away from the current events." but when you look at the show holistically, the flashbacks existing in a bubble outside the current events is exactly the reason why it's the only parts of the show that hasa solid foundation. This season's exploration of Ranpo and Yosano's pasts, akin to the excellence displayed in Oda's backstory from season 2, and to a lesser extent, Dazai's from season 3, adds depth to the characters and continues to weave into present-day events nicely. For once, the writing felt committed, now that it felt like the events have actual consequences, especially with the impact of Fyodor in the first half. Eventually, after the episode with Nikolai which was fantastic, "The Hunting Dogs" gets written into existence without any real foreshadowing, which isn't the issue. As always, my biggest gripes come with the haphazard introduction of plot points and the neglect of essential story beats. It struggles with tone shifts and trying to make me care for most of the events, specifically because of lackluster worldbuilding. It relies heavily on the viewer filling in very huge blanks by themselves until they decide to actually write later on. And without being hooked in the first place, people would hardly care enough to try and play into this formula. For the same reason, the explanations don't feel satisfactory to me. I find it difficult to enjoy BSD but highlight its flaws without explicitly spoiling the specific examples, but ultimately it just hinges on the eye of the beholder. How I see it, it's just the horrible worldbuilding that takes away from the smaller scenes. It's wasted potential, really. A bad mesh of good ideas. Story: 4 Animation: 7 Visuals: 7 Music: 9 (OST) 8 (OP & ED) Characters: 7 Sound: 8 (Sound Design) 7 (Voice Acting) Favorite Episode: 9 - A Dream of Butterflies
Alara_Marshal
04/04/2023, 06:07 AM
So----Dazai and Chuuya? YES~ To anyone who is like --- debating whether or not to watch this anime, don't hesitate watch it RN! Honestly this was kinda forced on me to watched, but just from the first season i was hooked (Season 5 you are deeply awaited). I usually watch romance and shoujo but this made me change my opinions about genres, Anime is awesome! The suspense had me clenching me teeth, the humor had me falling out of my chair, and the characters---well---what can i say about Dazai and Akutagawa? The characters especially were very well written and portrayed, i adored their humor and relationship with eachother as well as the multiple agencies and new characters, Their abilities are also pretty cool and not overdone.
R_2_R
03/30/2023, 07:20 PM
Let's introduce a scenario where the ADA will get caught in a fucked up state. Let's bring Dazai every God damn time because he's a fan favorite, but also remind people that the main character is actually Atsushi and not Dazai. This is basically what happened in the main conflict past 3 seasons. S4, however, took a different approach where it left Dazai and Fyodor backstage as puppet masters, while the story progressed the same but now, with Rampo getting some spotlight. I hate to break this but, at this point, Atsushi is a really weak main character surrounded between characters who have more interesting stories totell. It's kind of ironic that his conflict is about self-worth, finding purpose despite being rejected, yet he's the least among them all. He has, however, interesting moments when he's facing Akutagawa, who constantly stands in his way. Their rivalry makes them interesting, but sadly Aku got no show this season. He literally has 0 screen time, if you exclude the appearance in the opening (the OP is pretty lit btw. ED... I still think "Lily" is the best BSD ED). Though I already highlighted, I just love the small details the show adds. For instance, Edgar Allan Poe's ringtone is the cries of a Raven, one of Poe's famous poems. BSD characters are generally an encyclopedia if you want to find about classic literature authors, and their best works. The Anime is really an homage to all the great people in literature history and you can certainly find someone you can get invested in in their works. I currently read a few of Edgar Allan Poe's short stories & poems, reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime & Punishment, read Usamaru's manga adaptation of No Longer Human, and planning to read something by Yosano Akiko. Conclusion At the heart of all, Bungou Stray Dogs is not about the overall story or mystery, it's not about the homosexual tension between hot dudes, or it's not about me mindlessly simping over a crazy doctor. It's about Kafka Asagiri's appreciation to all the great authors & writers through his imagined personifications of them, in these characters. And a director who understands it. I don't think this is a great story, but I still love these characters.
Astau
03/29/2023, 09:38 PM
The 4th season has now ended, question is... was it good, short answer, well obviously, slightly longer answer - Just like the previous three seasons, the 4th was just as good, introducing a new cast of character that are mostly written very well, my favourite being teruko. The story continues basically right after the third season, and in all respect it is better than the third season in many different ways, I wish I could explain why but I do not want to spoil the story. The visuals are pretty average though, just a run of the mill anime visually, but, it does have it's moments whenyou think to yourself "That was a pretty cool scene." The music in the anime was alright, The Intro song does have nice points about it, for example the kick was nice and bassy but with a tinge of high end to hear the hit of the kick, the mixture of the piano, synths, bass guitar and Electric guitar were are really well mixed and not at all during the OST did it get muddy. Overall, the anime can't get higher than what I have scored, but it is still worth the watch.
Typo_comma
03/29/2023, 07:26 PM
The reason why I started watching this anime is very simple: I was playing Fate Grand Order at the time, so these historical characters with special abilities (or these metahumans with the names of historical characters) have an inexplicable attraction to me. I will admit that most of Bungo Stray Dogs' appeal is provided by its interesting characters. But as an animation that has ended the fourth season, I can't deny that it is difficult to maintain the freshness of this series with only interesting characters. Beginning with season 2, we'll see a flashback story to kick off each season, and a main storyline to confrontthe new organization, complete with a variety of new characters whose superpowers will humble the previous ones. I don't think "being formulaic" is a problem. If this is a story about fighting with superpowers, making stronger opponents seems like a straightforward solution. However, even though we've reached episode 50 (four seasons plus a movie) and will have season 5 (actually it's more like the second half of season 4) in July, I still don't feel I myself know more about the world of Bungo Stray Dogs. What is the origin of the power? How to judge the strength and level of abilities? Why do some people have powers and others don't? Will capable people be discriminated against and treated differently? Is no research institute curious about Dazai's abilities? What I'm more worried about is that none of these questions accumulated through years of watching (there may be more if I think about it carefully) hasn't even been considered by the author Asakiri Kafka, because I watched several seasons of fighting villains, and even no suspense was thrown. Akutagawa, Fitzgerald, Fyodor, now it's Decay of the Angel's turn, Atsushi's character arc and ability curve are still confusing, and Dazai is Lv.MAX as always. I believe this is also the reason why most people's perception of this series continues to decline. Since the story is not over yet, I'm not in a hurry to draw conclusions, because thanks to BONES' wonderful animation, I will continue to watch it with a numb mind. What if it surprises me in the near future? I hope so.
BabyGirl06301
03/29/2023, 11:24 AM
I have such fond memories of this series, and I was so excited to return to it—finally!—but then I remembered all the reasons Bungo Stray Dogs is a “have to be in the right kind of mood” anime for me. Here’s what I loved about it: the humor this season did all it needed to to encapsulate the charm of Bungo Stray Dogs, and I was happy we got to see that through a few new avenues. Well, new and old avenues, but the old avenues (like Ranpo) got more of an opportunity to shine this time around. I also was happy to see anuptick in the drama department and a bit more of a stabilized plot than we’ve seen in the past because I think, with the plotlines this anime deals with, it can handle high drama pretty well when it wants to. And it did. That being said, I’m still not a huge fan of the season starting with a story from (x) amount of years ago before moving into the present-day storyline. I just feel like it fragmented this season a bit too much and didn’t give me enough time to be reacquainted with the characters I’ve missed for so long. I also wasn’t always the biggest fan of the new characters we got to see in this season or even with the division of screen time allotted to the already established characters. I don’t know, I suppose I found this season a bit more lackluster than the others. The antics were quite as pronounced, either, which I suppose is a sacrifice needed for increasing the drama, but still. I don’t know, if the series continues, I’m going with it, but I hope it brings back some of the charm it lost for me this season.
ddmareo
03/29/2023, 10:16 AM
After long years of wait, we finally get to see the continuation of arguably one of the best shounen in these modern days, Bungou Stray Dogs. After watching the fourth season throughout, I came to the conclusion that it still retains the quality of the previous seasons, which is an impressive thing since most of the time, it is hard to have this level of consistency. As a long-time fan, I'm thoroughly contended. The fourth season started off with the backstory of the Agency - how it was first formed. Basically, the first three episodes or so follow the story of Fukuzawa and Rampo, from theirvery first encounter to the creation of the agency. I was enthralled that the fourth season begins like stated because now we get to know in detail who was involved in the creation of the agency, how it was made possible, and why it was first initiated. And the fact that the fourth season begins with Rampo, one of the characters in which I've looked up to besides Tanizaki, made it even more fascinating to watch. Not only Rampo and Fukuzawa, but the backstory of Yosano was also later revealed along the way. With that being said, we will get to know how and why Yosano decided to join forces with the Agency. And not to mention, the relationship she has with one of the members of the Hunting Dogs. The rest of the episodes, however, are basically fresh contents that serve as the continuation of the previous seasons. The story carries on with the problems that were not fully resolved in the first three seasons. What is praise-worthy about it is the fact that they were able to do it with the same pacing and delivery that we are familiar with. Besides the content of the story, the rest are completely similar, if not the same as the previous seasons. The animation and sound that were presented in the fourth season were no different. I mean, why would they change something that had nothing to be fault in the first place? All in all, the fourth season of Bungou Stray Dogs successfully came out as the sequel that I have hoped for. The overall quality of it is on par with the previous seasons, if not slightly better due to the amount of excitement entailing around the story. The only downside of the fourth season is that we didn't get to see Dazai in action and last but not least, the infuriating cliffhanger that the season had left for us.
slavemaster_1991
03/29/2023, 08:03 AM
With every season I watch this series I can't help but notice that the same formula works worse and worse, to the point of completely falling flat. Let me explain what feels wrong with Stray dogs. First, following the already existing pattern, we have flashbacks. Way too lengthy flashbacks that add nothing to the story for two simple reasons: they are too ordinary and they add nothing to the character in question. By being ordinary I mean that there would be no difference if the story of the flashback was set in the present, as the plot of said events doesn't differ in any meaningful wayfrom what the characters are doing in present time. Even worse, even though there are years between flashbacks and the actual events of the main story - the characters are the exact same as they were, like they were in stasis this whole time or not even existing. I know that without major events people don't go through major change, but at least some progress is to be expected, characters mature and get experience even if the viewer/reader is not going through every second of their life. Oh and while I am talking about character development - there is almost NO progress for the rest of the cast too, even though they are actually going through a serious event. Second, the lack of logic. Yes I know this anime has supernatural. But you see, even the supernatural follows SOME rules, or it will soon deteriorate into a mess. And this is exactly what happens in Stray Dogs. Almost half of the season is a kind of mystery-solving detective story. What do you expect from it? Logical investigation, interrogating suspects, collecting evidence, cornering the criminal into revealing themselves. Or you can just get a set of BS accusations based on "I AM A GENIUS '' claim that suddenly are all correct even though they make no sense at all. It is almost like saying "The sun is up so it is monday '' while it is indeed monday. Yes, you are correct, but your reasoning is completely wrong and you can't make me believe you used any kind of logic here. Oh and don't forget to make anyone involved in the investigation more stupid than they should be so our "genius" claim would be at least somewhat believable, or just make the mystery in question predictable and obvious from the start. Third, the lack of thrill. When the action comes you could expect adrenaline, high stakes, a battle of life and death. Not here though. Because the plot armor is so THICC for everyone that characters are basically immune to all kinds of blades, bullets and explosions as long as it is not THE tragic moment. Cause when THE moment comes - suddenly a character can be damaged even by strong wind. I know that this is used to both fill the title with action and have some kind of a point to continue with the plot, but at least give characters a thing to fight over. Because "fighting for their lives" while your plot armor doesn't allow you to even be wounded is not a working justification for me to be engaged. Maybe if characters in combat at least used their magic powers in an interesting way it would be enjoyable, but nope, they do the most basic stuff one could imagine. Overall I have an impression that Stray Dogs simply tries to be way too many things at once. It wants to be over the top with abilities like Jojo does, but doesn't embrace the required "over the top and out of charts' ' level, as it also wants to be a serious show. It wants to be a serious detective/mystery story, but lacks good mysteries and can't make a logically sound investigation process. It wants to have deep characters but only throws one flashback on a barely developed character with one defining trait and calls it a day. It wants to be an action but lacks both the thrill and the spectacle. To be honest I didn't read the novel so I don't know whom to blame - poor adaptation of great source material or poor writing in the source, but the result is the same - I don't find Stray Dogs in any way enjoyable. I would only recommend this anime if you are watching it in the background while cooking or doing something else, because if you pay attention to what is happening on the screen - you will lose all the fun in its shortcomings.
Mcsuper
03/29/2023, 07:28 AM
After watching the first three seasons and movie recently, along with this fourth season, I can tell why the Bungou Stray Dogs franchise is so big in Japan, albeit a bit less popular overseas due to it being more of a seinen series. The cast is quite unique, there is a solid balance between humour and serious moments, and the presentation is very well done. Without a doubt, Season 4 of Bungou Stray Dogs has been the best installment in the series thus far, as it was definitely the most thrilling and consistent of all the seasons. Since Season 2, each season kicked off with aflashback that focused on certain characters of the show, and the flashbacks usually ended up being the best part of the season itself. However, this time around, I was thoroughly impressed by the fact that the events flashback sequence related to the events in the present quite a lot, and built upon them effectively, which was what was lacking in Season 3. I felt the present arcs were even better executed than the flashback, which was great. The fundamental reason why this season worked better than the previous three in my opinion is that the stakes felt higher than they’ve ever been, and I genuinely felt worried for some of the characters, fearing they would meet their demise. Each episode was filled with twists and turns, which made it all the more thrilling, and the episodes just flew by every week. The sense of mystery felt stronger than it ever has been. You thought you knew what was coming, and then another twist happens. What’s more, the twists for the most part, didn’t feel forced at all, and were executed very nicely. The cast of characters felt even more fleshed out this season, with Ranpo and Yosano really taking centre stage for a few of the episodes, and I’m glad they focused on characters other than Dazai and Atsushi, and gave more balanced development to each character of the Detective Agency. Some mature themes were present in their backstories, and I grew to appreciate their characters much more with the events that transpired in the past and future surrounding them. It felt like much needed information on their character was delivered, and it was delivered well. The animation and designs continued to be consistent throughout, meaning that the production was probably healthy, and the staff finished the episodes ahead of schedule. Good job by Studio Bones here as usual. The soundtrack was good as always, capturing the mysterious and darker tones of the series. OP and ED were great as well. I have virtually nothing but praise for this season of Bungou Stray Dogs, and aside from a few powers that felt a bit over the top, it wasn’t much of a problem for me personally. Overall, just a very solid, thrilling season that was a pleasure to watch every week, and the best season of the series to date. With Season 5 coming in summer of this year, you bet I’m excited for what’s to come.

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Winter 2023 Preview

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'Bungou Stray Dogs 4th Season' Reveals Additional Cast, Staff, First Promo for Winter 2023

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Bungou Stray Dogs 4th Season 文豪ストレイドッグス

North American Anime & Manga Releases for July

'Bungou Stray Dogs' Gets Fifth Season in Summer 2023

Winter 2023 Simulcast List [Update 1/26]

Winter 2023 Preview

'Bungou Stray Dogs 4th Season' Announces Pair of Additional Cast

'Bungou Stray Dogs 4th Season' Reveals Additional Cast, Staff, First Promo for Winter 2023

'Bungou Stray Dogs' Gets Fourth Anime Season