Bungo Stray Dogs (season 1)

The first season of the Bungo Stray Dogs anime series based on the manga with the same name by Kafka Asagiri and illustrated by Sango Harukawa. It is produced by Bones was directed by Takuya Igarashi and written by Yōji Enokido.[1] The series focuses on a weretiger named Atsushi Nakajima who joins into the "Armed Detective Agency" who investigate multiple cases while dealing with multiple organizations.

Bungo Stray Dogs
Season 1
Season one's key visual
Country of origin	Japan
No. of episodes	12
Release
Original network	Tokyo MX, Teletama, Chiba TV, tvk, GBS (Gifu Broadcasting), Mie TV, SUN, TVQ Kyushu, and BS11
Original release	April 7 (2016-04-07) – September 23, 2016 (2016-09-23)
Season chronology

The series premiered on 7 April 2016 and ended on 23 June 2016, being broadcast on Tokyo MX, Teletama, Chiba TV, tvk, GBS (Gifu Broadcasting), Mie TV, SUN, TVQ Kyushu, and BS11.[2] Nobuhiro Arai and Hiroshi Kanno served as the chief animation directors, while the former also served as character designer along with Ryō Hirata. A total of six DVD volumes collected the series from June 24, 2016[3] to November 25, 2016[4] Funimation released the entire first season on March 6, 2018,[5] while another compilation will be released on September 17, 2019.[6] Madman released the season's DVD and Blu-ray on February 20, 2019.[7] Madman Entertainment released the DVD box on February 20, 2019 in Australia.[8]

Taku Iwasaki composed the series' music. The season uses two theme songs. Granrodeo performed the anime's opening theme, titled "Trash Candy",[9][10] and Luck Life performed the anime's ending theme, titled "Namae wo Yobu yo" (名前を呼ぶよ, lit. "Call Out The Name").[11]

Episode list

No. in series	Title	Original airdate
1	"Fortune Is Unpredictable and Mutable" Transcription: "Jinsei Banji Saiō ga Tora" (Japanese: 人生万事塞翁が虎)	7 April 2016 (2016-04-07)[lower-alpha 1]
Nakajima Atsushi, a starving, homeless orphan, encounters a man floating down the river who appears to be drowning. Atsushi dives in and rescues the man, who comes to consciousness and introduces himself as the suicidal maniac, Osamu Dazai. Dazai's colleague, Doppo Kunikida yells at Dazai from across the river and ends up treating Atsushi to a meal of chazuke in a tea house. Atsushi discovers that Kunikida and Dazai work for the Armed Detective Agency, an organization of individuals possessing supernatural abilities. Dazai and Kunikida explain that they are searching for a tiger that has been ravaging warehouses and livestock. Atsushi states that the tiger had been following him throughout his traveling, and ends up posing as the bait to help the two agents capture it. Dazai slips Kunikida a note and takes Atsushi to a warehouse. Atsushi explains how he was kicked out of the orphanage to save money, because the tiger had caused the financially poor orphanage a great deal of damage. Dazai concludes that Atsushi is the tiger, or rather that he has a supernatural power to transform into the tiger under moonlight. The full moon is revealed and Atsushi transforms and attacks Dazai, who reveals his special ability: "No Longer Human", which stops all other abilities when he touches a person. He is able to subdue Atsushi. Not long after, Kunikida arrives at the scene with three other agents. Dazai decides to make Atsushi a member of the Armed Detective Agency.
2	"A Certain Bomb" Transcription: "Aru Bakudan" (Japanese: 或る爆弾)	14 April 2016 (2016-04-14)
Atsushi wakes up in a dorm room owned by the Armed Detective Agency. He receives a call from Dazai, who claims that there is an emergency. Atsushi frees Dazai from a suicide attempt in a barrel and decides to look for a different job outside of the agency. Dazai offers to help him and the pair eventually runs into Kunikida who hurries them to a scene of actual emergency. A man had taken a hostage and was threatening to blow up the building. Dazai and Kunikida play rock paper scissors to determine who would be the one to distract the criminal; Kunikida loses rock paper scissors and attempts to negotiate with the man, but is ordered to get on all fours on the table and is unable to do anything else. Atsushi is dressed up as a newspaper boy and successfully distracts the man from the bomb, giving Dazai enough time to subdue the man. The man still presses the detonator and the bomb starts counting down. Desperately, Atsushi throws himself over the bomb to try and protect everyone else. The bomb does not go off; the whole scene was set up as a test to see if Atsushi was the right kind of person to join the Armed Detective Agency. The President of the Agency leaves the decision up to Dazai, who deems Atsushi worthy to be a member of the agency.
3	"Yokohama Gangster Paradise" Transcription: "Yokohama Gyangusuta Paradaisu" (Japanese: ヨコハマ ギャングスタア パラダヰス)	21 April 2016 (2016-04-21)
Higuchi Ichuyou requests help from the agency to deal with some smugglers. Kunikida warns Atsushi about someone named Akutagawa, a member of Port Mafia. Higuchi reveals herself as a member of Port Mafia and attacks Naomi. Junichirō retaliates with his ablilty "Light Snow" but is defeated when Akutagawa appears. Atsushi transforms into the tiger and both battle until Dazai shows up and cancels both powers with "No Longer Human" revealing he saw through Higuchi's act. Akutagawa reveals that Dazai used to be a member of Port Mafia
4	"The Tragedy of the Fatalist" Transcription: "Unmeironsha no Himi" (Japanese: 運命論者の悲み)	28 April 2016 (2016-04-28)
After the encounter with Akutagawa and Higuchi, Atsushi wakes up on the Agency's clinic where Tanizaki is shown to be healed by their doctor, Yosano Akiko, using unorthodox methods. Kunikida warns Atsushi that the Port Mafia's guerilla squad might enter the Agency and he suggests to do something before things end up in a bad manner while Higuchi calls for the members of the Black Lizard Squad (which consists of Tachihara, Hirotsu, and Gin) to infiltrate the Agency. Atsushi returns to the Agency after a phone call only to see the Agency holed up and goes upstairs in panic, only to reveal that the members have the upper hand against the team to which Atsushi almost cries, thinking that he lost them.
5	"Murder on D Street[lower-alpha 2]"	5 May 2016 (2016-05-05)
Atsushi is tasked to assist Ranpo, one of the Agency's most intelligent detectives to a murder case on an embankment that revolves around a dead policewoman and where they also meet Dazai. Using his special ability named "Super Deduction", Ranpo reveals that she wasn't killed by the mafia and it is rather a copycat crime committed by a police officer on the scene. The end of the episode marks the story of how the murderer got bribed by a corrupt diet member to kill the policewoman and how Ranpo solved the case with his pure intelligence along with glasses which indicates that he doesn't have a supernatural ability.
6	"The Azure Messenger" Transcription: "Ao no Shito" (Japanese: 蒼の使徒)	12 May 2016 (2016-05-12)
An episode coming from the first light novel: Dazai Osamu's Entrance Exam which revolves around a series of cases involving the Azure King where the usual victims are tourists taking a specific cab and never to be seen again by the public. Dragging Atsushi and Dazai in this case, they find out that a taxi driver has been an accessory to the crime according to Rokuzou, an orphan hacker who is helping Kunikida and a witness named Sasaki Nobuko is found almost drowning in a water tank. Kunikida is able to save Sasaki in exchange of other prisoners who die through the gas chamber in an abandoned hospital.
7	"Love for the Disease Called Ideals" Transcription: "Risō to Iu Yamai wo Aisu" (Japanese: 理想という病を愛す)	19 May 2016 (2016-05-19)
The mystery deepens as the trio had already found a witness to the crimes of the Azure King and to which Kunikida and Sasaki get closer. Finding some leads, they are able to catch the ability user who killed the taxi driver by using numbers and to avoid the deaths of a lot of people due to the Azure King's bomb threat. When Rokuzou meets with both Dazai and Kunikida handling the USB that contains files of the Azure King, he was shot by none other than Sasaki who is revealed to be the criminal's girlfriend and the Azure Messenger. Dazai points the gun to Sasaki only to snatch it from Rokuzou and shoots her, claiming that she is responsible for the death of his parents before dying. Kunikida almost engages into a brawl with Dazai only for the other detective to say a philosophical statement concerning justice.
8	"Teaching Them To Kill; Then To Die" Transcription: "Hito wo Koroshite Shine yo tote" (Japanese: 人を殺して死ねよとて)	26 May 2016 (2016-05-26)
A normal day starts in the Agency when Atsushi asks to where Dazai went, not knowing that he was kidnapped by the mafia's newest assassin, Izumi Kyouka. Atsushi is then dragged to Yosano's shopping trip which ends with both of them aboard a train, with the doctor fascinated on his regenerative ability after the incident to Rashomon biting his leg only for an explosion to happen, which is orchestrated by Kaiji Motojirou. While Yosano fights with the bomber, Atsushi meets Kyouka with her terrifying ability called "Demon Snow" that allows her to control a phantom through a recipient in her phone. In summary, Atsushi won only to find out that Kyouka is a suicide bomber and promptly jumps out of the train, only for him to rip of the bomb vest and save the girl in the end while Yosano beats Kaiji and even "healed" him.
9	"The Beauty Is Quiet Like a Stone Statue" Transcription: "Utsukushiki Hito wa Sabi to Shite Sekizō no Gotoku" (Japanese: うつくしき人は寂として石像の如く)	2 June 2016 (2016-06-02)
Now that Kyouka has been saved by the Agency, Kunikida reminds Atsushi that the girl has killed 35 people and is currently being wanted by the government. Nonetheless, Atsushi still treats Kyouka to a lot of places where she wants to go and even earning a rabbit stuff toy for her. Once they are done, Kyouka immediately heads to the police station much to Atsushi's reluctance but before he could even respond, Akutagawa stabs him with his ability and takes Kyouka by himself. Meanwhile, Dazai is still locked up at the Mafia's torture room in chains, promptly taunting Akutagawa that Atsushi is a better student than him in the middle of the episode. In the end, another character named Nakahara Chuuya makes his debut.
10	"Rashōmon and the Tiger" Transcription: "Rashōmon to Tora" (Japanese: 羅生門と虎)	9 June 2016 (2016-06-09)
Dazai has a face-off with his ex-partner Chuuya, as Chuuya attempts to uncover Dazai's true intentions for letting himself get captured. Meanwhile Atsushi faces Akatugawa's intense and inexplicable hatred for him, as the ship continues on to the meeting place where he will be handed off in exchange for the bounty on his head.
11	"First, an Unsuitable Profession for Her. Second, an Ecstatic Detective Agency" Transcription: "Sono Ichi, 'Kanojo ni Mukanai Shokugyō'. Sono Ni, 'Uchōten Tanteisha'" (Japanese: 其の一『彼女には向かない職業』。 其の二『有頂天探偵社』)	16 June 2016 (2016-06-16)
In the aftermath of Atsushi and Dazai's abduction, the Agency must decide what to do with Kyouka, the loose end. Meanwhile the Port Mafia also deliberates what to do with Akutagawa, now comatose as his enemies seek vengeance.
12	"Borne Back Ceaselessly into the Past" Transcription: "Taemanaku Kako e Oshimodosare nagara" (Japanese: たえまなく過去へ押し戻されながら)	23 June 2016 (2016-06-23)
Francis, the leader of The Guild, a North American organization of gifted members, is the one responsible for the bounty on Atsushi's head. Fukuzawa refuses Francis's offer to buy out the agency, but their agents begin to disappear.

Home media releases

Name	Date	Discs	Episodes
Volume 1	June 24, 2016[12]	1	1–2
Volume 2	July 29, 2016[13]	1	3–4
Volume 3	August 26, 2016[14]	1	5–6
Volume 4	September 30, 2016[15]	1	7–8
Volume 5	October 28, 2016[16]	1	9–10
Volume 6	November 25, 2016[17]	1	11–12

North America

Name	Date	Discs	Episodes
Season One	March 6, 2018[18]	2	1–12
Seasons One and Two	September 17, 2019[6]	2	1–24

Notes

1. The series was listed to premiere at 25:05 on 6 April 2016; this is the same as 1:05 on 7 April.
2. This episode has an English title only

References

1. "Bungō Stray Dogs Gets Anime Adaptation at Studio Bones". Anime News Network. 20 August 2015. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
2. Chapman, Paul (24 January 2016). "Japanese Broadcast Details Announced for "Bungo Stray Dogs"". Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
3. "Bungo Stray Dogs Vol.1 Limited Edition" (in Japanese). CDJapan. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
4. "Bungo Stray Dogs Vol.6 Limited Edition" (in Japanese). CDJapan. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
5. "Bungo Stray Dogs: Season One". Amazon.com. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
6. "Funimation Setting 'Bungo Stray Dogs' Double Season Anime Collection". The Fandom Post. Retrieved July 14, 2014.
7. "Bungo Stray Dogs Complete Season 1 DVD / Blu-Ray Combo". Madman Entertainment. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
8. "Bungo Stray Dogs Complete Season 1 DVD / Blu-Ray Combo". Madman Entertainment. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
9. "Granrodeo Performs Bungō Stray Dogs Opening Theme Song". Anime News Network. 31 December 2015. Archived from the original on 3 February 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
10. "Bungo Stray Dogs Anime's 2nd Video, April 6 Debut, Split-Season Plans Revealed". Anime News Network. 1 March 2016. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
11. "Luck Life Performs Bungō Stray Dogs Anime's Ending Theme". Anime News Network. 24 January 2016. Archived from the original on 25 January 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
12. "Bungo Stray Dogs Vol.1 Limited Edition" (in Japanese). CDJapan. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
13. "Bungo Stray Dogs Vol.2 Limited Edition" (in Japanese). CDJapan. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
14. "Bungo Stray Dogs Vol.3 Limited Edition" (in Japanese). CDJapan. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
15. "Bungo Stray Dogs Vol.4 Limited Edition" (in Japanese). CDJapan. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
16. "Bungo Stray Dogs Vol.5 Limited Edition" (in Japanese). CDJapan. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
17. "Bungo Stray Dogs Vol.6 Limited Edition" (in Japanese). CDJapan. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
18. "Bungo Stray Dogs: Season One". Amazon.com. Retrieved July 13, 2019.