We got a huge revelation this week in Bungo Stray Dogs. Apparently, this detective agency only has one actual detective! The rest are just sort of there…I kid, of course. Each member brings a specific value to the group that justifies them being there, redeeming them of their more undesirable quirks. Kunikida is a skilled fighter, but has some anger issues and a pony tail. Dazai is also very skilled at…uh…something, yet is consistently trying to kill himself. Atsushi is a noble weretiger that also hates himself and acts quite nervous/awkward/clumsy fairly often.

And now there’s Ranpo, a cocky jerkwad that utterly lacks common sense. It’s okay though, he makes up for it by being a masterclass detective, so excellent in fact that it has earned him utmost respect from all of his colleagues. Basically, the others put up with his bullshit because he gets the job done. This mentality seems to justify every character’s place in the agency. That, along with a shared sense of justice and ideals, demonstrated in the second episode by Atsushi’s test.

Anyway, Ranpo seems like kind of a boring character until the very end, so before we get there, let’s talk about the Dazai suicide joke of the episode. It was weaker than usual, and this time I saw it coming. Probably at the point they mentioned it was a man, maybe sooner. Am I just getting wise to the act? I hope not, because I really appreciated the gag. This week’s joke may have just led up to the punchline a little too slowly, so I was able to figure it out in time. Perhaps going a bit faster will fix this problem, but I don’t know. I guess you could say I’m worried. Please don’t take suicide jokes away from me!

So Ranpo’s gift comes off as totally boring. It’s boring for a detective to skip all the steps and get right to the solution, and I don’t think there’s a way around that. Luckily, his power isn’t real at all, Ranpo is just incredibly deductive. Weirdly enough, he still believes he has a power and I don’t quite understand how that works. At the end of the episode, most of the deductions were explained by Dazai, how Ranpo knew exactly what happened and so forth. I say “most”, because there are still some points left that Dazai couldn’t even explain. This is how they show Ranpo’s skill level compared to everyone else, and to be honest, it just seems lazy because nothing is really there for the viewer to come to their own conclusion on what happened. The genius detective knows more than you, but he won’t explain it because he’s a dick. All you need to know is that he’s better than you and everyone else in the show. Ha, ha, *fart noise*.

I can’t say I’m too pleased with this entire episode being dedicated to Ranpo, especially since a lot of it was just shit talking a stubborn police officer. Seriously old man, just let the master detective solve the case, don’t let your stupid, misplaced sense of pride get in the way of your job. So yeah, that annoyed me. But the episode as a whole I thought was alright, the mystery intriguing enough and we got a few jokes out of it as well. I just hope Bungo Stray Dogs gets past its introductory phase soon, because I’d hate for all of this time to be wasted on characters that the show ends up not knowing what to do with. I already episodically reviewed Myriad Colors Phantom World. Don’t make me do it again.

+ Nice mystery story

+ Detective isn’t actually OP

– Not every deduction is explained

– Predictable Dazai joke