My thoughts on Season 4 (this was WILD and i loved it) Bungou Stray Dogs (spoiler-review)

I'M BACK and hopefully i'm mentally-here enough to continue making videos for this channel. I can't make any promises on specific content & will likely be making whatever content I'm in the mood to make at the moment. Lately I hate video editing, so it's hard to edit through videos and generally takes a long time for me to get through if I record a lot for the video. You might notice that this video is all over the place and that's because i didn't really have an overall purpose, it's just the overall opinions i had by the end of the season and more talking generally rather than about specific events within the season. Let me know if you want to hear me get into more specifics and possible questions we can ask from this season, plot-wise, b/c i would love to give my weird questions and hear what your theories might be for what happens after this season! (i do know a bit b/c i've read the manga but i stopped at chapter 101 so i'm behind at the moment!)
Also, should i do a BSD manga reaction/catchup similar to given where i react to it live??? Should i attempt to livestream that ??? I've always wanted to try livestreaming once to see how it is, but idk if that would be interesting enough content-wise, especially since i have zero streaming experience and will likely be boring to watch lol 🤣😂
as always, thank you all for the support and i appreciate every like and comment i've received!! let's keep talking about bsd and have fun!! (pls be kind to each other in the comments 😊 i do not want to see fandom in-fighting over fiction)
Find me on twitter: / casualfanview

[@casualfandomview]

Skip to 3:53 if you’re just here for the s4 general thoughts & don’t care about the disclaimers/my personal life stuff You can tell from how all over the place this video is that my mind has been mush lately…i am so bad at organizing and i sometimes repeat my points when i ramble. This channel is fairly casual & i do this for funsies, so i’m gonna ignore the perfectionist within me and just post this! Extra opinions/thoughts i forgot to mention: 1. I noticed when I searched for manga panels to use in this video that there could be censoring going on to make this less gruesome? For example, the tachihara panels where the smoke covers his face so it looks like his head was blown off. In the anime his head is still visible. Do they make these changes to not get the 18+ rating??? Genuinely curious about why they showed it like that. 2. I do hope they give us more exposition on the book and fyodor’s exact execution on the paper at some point (like i want to know the EXACT details on what he wrote to get away with the initial framing of the ADA.) The explanation they gave wasn’t enough detail for me. 3. (i already mentioned this in my chuuya effect video but here ya go) i was annoyed that chuuya barely had any screen time and just did one thing and left. We didn’t get to see him again! Where did he go after being with them on the plane?! He was there a minute ago, but now it’s only mori & the lizard squad ?!?! I just wish that more in-between moments were shown. In the manga it felt a lot more abrupt and awkward that chuuya was just gone lmao so i guess props to the anime for not making it AS weird as the manga did. (this could be b/c the anime’s pace was so fast that the abrupt nature of chuuya being gone didn’t feel weird)

[@phrinus]

About Dazai's heartbeat controlling abilities. I'm not sure when or where he learned this, but, chronologically, it's first seen in 55 minutes ln. On believability scale, well, I'd say it's complicated. Even though us ordinary humans can control our heartbeat (making more rare or more frequent) with practice or have a brain structured in a way that we can more easily affect our bodily functions (which is very dangerous), we can't quite "drop dead" like Dazai does in 55 minutes, so... It's somewhere bordering on the line of believable/unbelievable. Because, again, the ability itself can exist in reality, it's just its scale and lack of limits that bring it into question.

[@ProPinkist]

Was so excited when I saw this video in my notifications 👀 After experiencing the 13 very, very long weeks that encompassed this season, the exhausting rollercoaster that it was, I've pretty much come to terms with the fact that the anime is indeed never going to truly give me the experience I want from the manga, and is never going to be as good as season 2 was again. Not that seasons 1 and 2 were perfect by any means; like you, I'm heavily clouded by nostalgia for season 2, and the s1 ED and the s2 OP carry so many feelings for me. But even putting that aside, Dead Apple onward just marked a definitive, undeniable quality dip in the anime imo, that it's just never been able to come back from, and I really don't believe it ever will. There's more _heart_ in those first two seasons, some feeling of _effort_ , that just... isn't there anymore, for the most part. Season 4 was so _wild_ , because it truly was a rollercoaster in terms of quality to me personally: it had some of the best episodes the series has ever had, but also some of the worst, and this often occurred _back to back._ Overall, it was DEFINITELY a step up from season 3, which felt mediocre from start to finish, and I thoroughly enjoyed the sum total of season 4, but it still had so many moments that frustrated me with how badly they were executed, just as much as season 3's adaptation of chapter 39 (the death of Atsushi's headmaster) did. So many scenes that me and a lot of the fandom were waiting to be adapted, that were either not there at all or just butchered in tone. And the thing about the fast pace is that YES this stretch of the story _is_ very chaotic and a lot _is_ happening very, very fast and there are multiple different plotlines going on with different characters, and you're right that fight scenes happen a lot more quickly in animated form than on the page, so it's to be expected for some of this to feel faster animated than we might read it. But it's not the fight scenes that bother me; it's the fact that, even throughout all the chaos happening here, there are so many small, quiet moments with the characters that feel much more grounded and are meant to develop them further, and the anime has a tendency to either skip those entirely or just breeze right by them, without giving them enough.... breathing room? It's hard to explain without experiencing it yourself while watching, but there are so many important scenes where imo it feels like they should take a second or two more to linger on them to really let the impact sink in, and they just don't, because the anime, and this season in particular, is more concerned with racing through as much content as possible in the time constraints that they have. This kind of thing might be fine one or two times, but once they add up it becomes a lot more noticeable. The result of this is that certain moments again don't have the impact they really should have, so anime onlies might not be able or feel inclined to stop and think about certain things the way they would if they were reading the manga or the light novel, because the show has to move onto the next thing ASAP. Dazai and Kunikida are prime victims of all this imo, in every season, but it affects everyone to some degree. The characters who got the dealt the worst hand this season are without a doubt Tachihara and Sigma, and for both of them this is a result of the absolutely insane cramming of the Sky Casino arc into _two episodes._ That's _seven chapters_ in two episodes, whereas all the other manga episodes adapt two or three chapters each (and three still feels pretty rushed usually). Tachihara had some of his gradual development leading up to his epiphany to side with the ADA cut from the anime, so it sort of feels like he did a complete 180 on his feelings out of nowhere, when in the manga it was much more built up to. And don't even get me STARTED on how badly Sigma was flattened into paper (pun intended) his entire introduction scene was cut, and then later on his _entire backstory_ narrated by _himself_ is cut; instead, it got shaved down to just a few lines from Fyodor. So much of Sigma's depth is lost with the loss of these scenes; I have NO idea what they were thinking trying to squeeze the Sky Casino into the very end so much so that its spotlight character had to be so butchered like he was. Sigma fans were NOT happy indeed; he deserved so much better than this 😭💔 and it's so insane to me because if season 5 was already planned to be coming so soon after this season, there was no need to put Sky Casino here?? They could have just teased it at the end of season 4 and moved it to season 5, where it would have much more comfortable room to breathe??? It feels like such a slap in the face GOD Untold Origins was decent. Definitely the second best light novel adaptation by the anime's standards; Dark Era is the best primarily because they let it have four episodes instead of three, but also just... again, season 2 quality (yes I know I'm biased, but still; it is the best one okay). It still suffered from the same problems the ln adaptations always do, where they don't include enough internal narration, so a lot of Fukuzawa's interesting thoughts about Ranpo and his frankly hilarious internal panic about "oh god I can't parent what do I do gotta bullshit my way through this" are lost. As the other comment said, the anime also cut out Ranpo talking about his parents and again Fukuzawa's musing about them, which make it clear that Ranpo is the way he is because his parents basically (with good intentions) raised him in a bubble to believe that everyone being as smart as himself and them was "normal", so when he was thrown into the real world without any support he wasn't prepared to face the reality. The anime also toned down the heartbreaking bleakness of teenage Oda: in the novel, he has a bag over his head when Fukuzawa first fights with him (which shows how skilled he is at being able to fight without even seeing), and his eyes and expression and just entire demeanor are described as empty and hollow and worn-out and emotionless, to draw a direct comparison between himself and Dazai at that age. In the prison cell, he's in a straitjacket and chained up, too. So I was rather disappointed the anime didn't keep any of that, to add to the tragedy of Oda, and drive home the intentional parallels between him and 14/15/16 year old Dazai (btw, Oda _is_ mentioned as having been a child assassin in Dark Era, because Natsume giving him the novel and telling him to be a writer is what inspires him to stop killing. Since Oda is 14 in this arc, that incident must occur very soon after Untold Origins). And lastly, Ranpo's meltdown in the theater was just kind of... weird?? In the novel he's portrayed as much more gradually angrier and shouting, but in the anime he's just kind of softly crying; idk, it just didn't carry the same tone and hit as hard for me. The Ranpo Fukuzawa hug scene was beautiful and perfect though, I have zero complaints; definitely one of the highlights of season 4. Yosano's backstory episode was literally _phenomenal;_ I am STUNNED by how good it was. Every episode involving Mushitarou was also absolutely god tier; I already loved him and his story in the manga, but his episodes this season made me love him even more, he is SUCH an underrated, amazing character. I just cannot explain how the quality of those episodes could be SO GOOD and then everything else be so...... the way that it is. It's so baffling and frustrating 😭 if the entire thing was subpar, I could just write all of it off, but because SOME of it is great, I'm just like..... why can't the rest of it be this great too? Stop playing with my emotions with the inconsistency, Bones!!! Rant aside though, I'm still always happy the anime exists, because it shows how much bigger BSD has become recently. There's nothing wrong with people enjoying it as a casual fan, because it's still a good anime! And I'd much rather people watch it and be encouraged to read the manga and light novels by it like I was in 2016, than never know it exists at all. I'm so happy for the success of the series, so even if I have plenty of issues with the anime adaptation, I hope BSD as a franchise continues to grow and expand and more people get into it, and that the anime helps that. There's so much to enjoy right now: the light novels, the stage plays, the live action movie, the anime, and the current manga content, which has been absolute PEAK the last few chapters. Asagiri is coming to Anime Expo in America in a week (no, I am not coping well with the fact that I'm missing my sole chance to meet him :' ), and they're showing the first episode of season 5 there, and I'm just really happy that BSD is getting enough attention that something like this has become even possible at all. It's really wonderful to see 💖 so I'm glad we have the anime to thank for things like this, because for so many people, myself included, it's their introduction to BSD, and that's what's most important in my eyes: letting more people know about and experience this wonderful series. YES PLEASE LIVESTREAM YOUR MANGA CATCH UP; I would love to see it!! As of typing this, there are 12 chapters after 101, including the half chapters, and some of the most recent ones have been probably some of my favorite chapters in the manga thus far, it's SO good. More importantly though, I'm glad things are improving again for you lately, and I hope they continue to; please don't feel pressured to make videos or rush things though 💖 whenever you feel like you want to make content, however often or infrequent that may be, we'll be here. I'll always continue to enjoy your videos, whenever you're able to post~ 😊(and I'm sorry for the essay length comment as always, and hope it's not too negative...... we're all just so passionate about BSD okay, I can't help myself 😭🥹)

[@casualfandomview]

OMG don't EVER apologize for long comments, i abosolutely love them. I love gaining insight into fellow bsd lovers brains, especially from people who pay closer attention to the manga (and probably have a way better memory than me). I only noticed when i was editing this long video (so after i scripted it and then recorded the audio) that tachihara's character significant moments were just completely cut out of the anime??? i think i unconsciously didn't see his turn around at the end as weird because i already read the manga and so it made sense to me since the info was locked down somewhere in my brain lol. but for anime onlys, it must have felt SO MUCH MORE RUSHED. i could tell from the last two episodes that they were rushing in a way i couldn't explain properly in this video b/c my memory is spotty. but i'm glad my hunch/vibe was on the mark that sigma's character was rushed cause i could've sworn we got to see more of him before the big reveal about his past! and considering we just met him the reveal definitely wasn't as impactful in the anime. ( i remember being SHOCKED Sigma had no past when i read the manga, that reveal was awesome) i definitely looked at this season with rose coloured glasses due to my love for yosano's character and the episode that they absolutely nailed (also as you mentioned Mushitarou was awesome on screen every damn time, he totally stole the show with his gags & i love bsd's humour) and as i said in the video i did love how the hunting dogs were shown in this. there were likely more pauses that i missed on though and thank you for mentioning the issue of letting us sink in with the feelings of the characters. (it's probably why i loved yosano's episode so much b/c we did get to sink in her feelings so deeply!) About Oda: I didn't interpret the Dark Era Oda, when he said he killed previously that he'd done it AS A KID, since in the flashback he LOOKED LIKE A WHOLE ASS ADULT. idk when he's sitting in the chair and we see the silouette of him talking to Natsume he didn't look that small to me, he had the exact same porportions of dark era Oda, so i assumed Oda meant he USED TO KILL WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG ADULT LIKE 19-25 OR SOMETHING (i didn't know if it was as a hit man on his own or if he was killing for the port mafia specifically) but after hearing those words from natsume he stopped killing so that he could be a writer and write a story. I didn't know the age specifics because in the anime it wasn't explicitly mentioned lol and i guess i just assumed a kid wouldn't be killing people???? i mean that isn't where my mind really goes, it made more sense for an adult or young adult to change his lifestyle and suddenly realize he wanted to be a writer (you know how people always say it's never too late to follow your passions!) The fact Oda was an assasin at a young age just gets me asking more questions lol. i should probably just read the light novel. As you said, that does bring about a very obvious parallel btwn him and Dazai. once again, never apologize for the long comments, i love hearing the details about manga vs anime differences. and like you, i think i'm at the point where i just have to accept there are differences btwn the media. it could be my young nostalgic self talking when it comes to the season 1 & 2 combo & viewing back on it so fondly lol. i find it awesome we both share that nostalgia 😆😁It's a hard pill to swallow that some things are just left to be rushed b/c of how it has been split up episode wise. As you said, leaving it for the next season might've worked better (BECAUSE APPARENTLY IT'S COMING OUT SOON THE NEW SEASON I THOUGHT WE'D HAVE TO WAIT LONGER SO WOOHOO FOR THAT LOL ) i had no idea that Asagiri is gonna be at AnimeExpo WOW. and they're showing the first ep of seaosn 5?! thanks for telling me this, it's awesome to hear how much love the series is receiving! and i'm happy for all those fans who will get to see him in person, that's amazing. (as a canadian i feel you on the missing out factor, i feel like it's rare for a big name manga artist to come to Anime North lmao. though i recently did have fun at Anime North cosplaying as Yosano for one day and Chuuya for another and it was my first time cosplaying them at a con too! 😁) thank you for your kind words 🥰 sometimes i question myself a lot and i don't want to lose the passion i have as i make these videos so thank you for reminding me to go at whatever pace i'm comfortable with, it means a lot, seriously. And i will FOR SURE make a community post if i do end up doing the livestream manga reading catchup for bsd!! though if i were to do a livestream i should probably do a refresher of the previous chapters BEFORE i livestream it so i don't look like an idiot that forgot everything lmao. Also, i need to look into the tech side of livestreaming and look up how-to videos on how to do it well & for everything to look nice! ☺ This video also had me considering making a yosano-dedicated video where i gush about her but we'll see lol 😉 btw your comment was so concise and well organized, love all your points, and i loved hearing about your experience while watching this season!

[@sci-fienthusiast5500]

I feel like the light novel adaptation of Untold Origins was absolutely not necessary. They shouldn’t have done a light novel adaptation at all which would’ve helped the pacing and content of the episodes.

[@ProPinkist]

@@casualfandomview Aaaaah I'm so glad you didn't mind the length alsdfjgkfl; tbh I spent many hours writing that comment, and then had to spend more time trimming it down because I went over the character limit :' ) so originally I had even more to say explaining some things better, haaaah. BSD brings out the (nonexistent) literary student in me I swear alsdkfklfd I just can never shut up about it, oops. I always feel bad whenever I spend so much time ranting negatively about the anime (as I did on your season 3 ending video too... lol), because I don't want to ruin the experience for anime onlies or just casual fans in general. But I wouldn't be complaining at all if I didn't genuinely love BSD and didn't think it deserves so much better, and if I didn't know that the anime CAN do better, as proven by episodes like Yosano's. 😭💔Yosano's backstory may be some of the darkest and heaviest content the series has had so far, so I really think they didn't have much of a choice _but_ to do it perfectly or it would have seemed incredibly tasteless, but it just makes me so sad because the tone in that episode is genuinely so well done (the MUSIC, IT LEFT ME SO HAUNTED, GOD I LOVED IT), but for most of the rest of the anime and in so many other scenes it feels like they don't understand the needed tone at all. I was really looking forward to seeing Dazai's arrest scene, that's one of my favorite panels of Dazai of all time in the manga, but they changed his expression and flew by the scene way too fast, so it doesn't feel nearly as impactful or like... the same tone at all... as it does in the manga. That's just one example, but there's so many moments like this, and it's so frustrating to see it happen time and time again. The presentation of the anime can give newcomers a _completely_ different interpretation of characters and scenes, so without reading the manga/light novels it can often feel like an entirely different experience. Which again doesn't have to be a bad thing, cause people should be able to consume the series however and as in-depth as they want.... but if you want the fullest, most faithful experience, you really have no choice but to read the manga and lns, cause the anime just isn't doing them justice anymore. But yeah, I watched seasons 1 and 2 in 2016 when they aired (I think I STARTED season 3 as it aired, but then fell off it because I was so upset about the Portrait of a Father episode.... lol); yay for us being nostalgia buddies 🤝🥰 Season 2 is just so special to me; I have a lot of fond memories of watching a LOT of ongoing anime that fall 2016 season with my online friends, and season 2 starting with Dark Era is what initially made me completely fall head over heels in love with BSD. It's far and away my favorite light novel/story arc in the series, it and Oda and Dazai and Ango are so so special and touching to me... idk it just holds a really special place in my heart. Both because of my memories of watching it at the time, because of how it made me obsessed with the series when I was pretty lukewarm about it after season 1, and just how much I love it in general. So yeah, season 2 is the best season; I'll never stop saying this lol. I wish they'd never have chosen to squeeze light novels into each season because it's detrimental to both the light novel arc AND the manga content cause it gives them less time for each, but Dark Era and the Guild arc combo in season 2 was definitely the smoothest they've ever pulled it off. BUT YES SORRY it never even occurred to me until you said it that they never mention Oda being 14 when he stopped being an assassin in the anime; it's been a while since I've watched it, and I just have so much of the light novel stuck in my head that I often forget what anime onlies don't know in regards to Dark Era, oops. 🥲You're right that he doesn't look that young in the silhouette in the anime... fun fact though, teenage Oda's Japanese voice actor is the same as Atsushi's (more intentional parallels...), both in season 2 and in season 4...! But yeah, please PLEASE read the Dark Era light novel; it is a masterpiece, and Oda is such an important, interesting, fleshed out character who haunts the entire narrative of BSD and is so integral to the core themes of the series, and this can only really be gleaned by his internal narration that the anime didn't really fully capture. By the way, do you have any interest in watching the BSD stage plays? They're SO good, and a lot more faithful to the source material (the Dark Era and Stormbringer ones are such masterpieces goddd, but I love them all really). If you want to see them, I have some of them I can send to you~ I'd be curious to hear your thoughts! but I swear it's just an idea alskdfjgklfd no pressure really That's so cool that you've cosplayed Yosano and Chuuya! I'd love to see, and I'd love to see that Yosano video if you make it as well 💜and the livestream! But yeah again, take your time to do things at your own pace, whenever you feel up to it. 💖I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, and neither is BSD lol

[@sci-fienthusiast5500]

@ProPinkist Can you recommend me your top ten favorite animes/mangas? I need recs lol

[@maximax-x6783]

The anime adaptation of the light novel was overall alright, it followed the main story plots, the cut-out bits were reasonable enough, but it would have been great if one important thing was mentioned more: Ranpo's parents. It's the whole reason why Ranpo has trouble interacting with the world, because (most likely) was sheltered by his parents who were even smarter people than Ranpo himself. His father was a legendary police officer/detective, and his mother was just a housewife(?), but she was the smartest of the three. Ranpo's breakdown is basically not accepting the fact that his worldview he believed because his parents was wrong, that he's alone in a world he thought was full of 'geniuses' like his parents. Also, Fukuzawa is just a nervous mess the whole time lol-

[@casualfandomview]

I did wonder if there was more to Ranpo's family situation, it would've been great if the anime allowed us to see more of that, maybe even given us a flashback? It definitely would round out the story more with those details being mentioned. In the anime it didn't read as fukuzawa as being nervous so maybe that was lost in the anime version. if anything he mostly seems flabbergasted/confused by ranpo's entire situation and personality. i guess towards the end of the story he's definitely nervous about ranpo being in danger! 😅 thank you so much for this info! hopefully i'll get around to reading the light novel at some point 😊

[@meh5036]

I loved it, but OH MY LORD. CAN WE PLEASE JUST USE THE CHARACTER DESIGNS IN THE MANGA TO THEIR FULL GLORY. Tachihara's hair was way too short sometimes... *and they took away Sigma's heels* (but i'm ok with the hunting dogs uniform color change btw, i don't really care about that)

[@sci-fienthusiast5500]

This season was good….until the last two episodes. They did Sigma’s character so dirty….

[@ShizuruRavenRobin026]

I'm happy I picked up the manga and now what's going to happen,I think with what's out now there going to wait bit more maybe tell the end of next year to give use a new season I can't wait for more and yeah the ops for this anime arnt my favorite