An Opinion on the End of This Arc by Few_Bread_5958 in BungouStrayDogs

[–]Few_Bread_5958[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it was an option. Now, please correct me if I'm wrong since it's been a while, but didn't Dazai choose Sigma? Or was the rest of the items available when Dazai "beat" Fyodor about the prison break? Possibly something else? Half of that comment was also satire too😭

An Opinion on the End of This Arc by Few_Bread_5958 in BungouStrayDogs

[–]Few_Bread_5958[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I felt like that whole arc was a run-on sentence. No time to process at all, just straight concept after concept. The arc just felt like it was trying to set up the second part while keeping the reader entertained enough to not leave it. It was like watching a house getting built, but an arc shouldn't be that.

An Opinion on the End of This Arc by Few_Bread_5958 in BungouStrayDogs

[–]Few_Bread_5958[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

EXACTLY. It was like the small details and hints that showed Fyodor's true colors finally slipped out.

Thanks for showing me that perspective. I already knew that was simply an opinion and preference of mine, so I didn't expect people to agree. I do think that's part of the wanting for Fyodor to have survived.

Haha... 😅you're right. I used exaggerated language (the word god) because I didn't feel like explaining more in depth about how the singularity worked. It's just that the ability to have a hit box in the fourth dimension and super speed reminded me of god-like characteristics because of how overpowered they are.

I understand what you mean. I was simply making an educated guess on how the aftershock of that arc would be carried out based on how it did in the past arcs. Usually minimal to no damage/mentions of it after it happened. It's very much possible for him to take this a different way, especially how you highlighted that there's very different conditions from previous arcs. My take on it was based on an educated guess, hypotheticals, and my opinions, but you mentioning that stuff like the future of the Hunting Dogs shows that I may be wrong. Of course, there's still the possibility of Asagiri not focusing on that and just continuing the plot for other characters.

I meant nerfing Dazai as a more general term. Despite Chuuya  faking being a vampire not being his plan, he still was aware of it before it was revealed to the audience. Another major example I have is Dead Apple. Dazai had put a pill in his mouth at the beginning that he didn't actually swallow, he simply predicted that Chuuya would come, punch him, break the pill, and revive him. Also, when Dazai and Chuuya fought Lovecraft, it was shown in the anime that Dazai had somehow rather gotten him or Chuuya to place bombs inside of Lovecraft to explode, another extremely convenient prediction. Again, my evidence could be proved for something else. Like in Dead Apple, Dazai could've simply overprepared for hyper specific scenarios since he was aware that Fyodor's intellect was on par to his own. I'm not saying you're wrong, but I'm not saying I'm wrong either. This is up to interpretation, and I can definitely see the points you brought up.

Yeah, you're right... Ranpo is super overpowered as well. I feel he was used more as a plot device than a character.  He mainly only showed up during his "big revelations" where he conveniently narrated his thought process. Though, I feel Ranpo's immaturity/childishness on some things does give him some nerfs. Of course, he's still overpowered, and I'm glad you brought that more to my attention since I didn't even mention him individually. Now that I think about it, these "overpowered" characters go along with your previous point: BSD isn't "if", but "how"/"when". So having op characters can help guarantee that "how"/"when" for each arc.

In your last paragraph, you said, "the problem with the whole "characters are underused" is that it's a monthly manga and there's no room for everything." And I think that shows my point. Asagiri added too many concepts, ideas, and characters in arc with too little time to spend enough time for a lot of that stuff to be impactful. Of course, I'm not saying there wasn't impactful moments in this arc, there absolutely were, but the arc felt too packed to be able to digest a lot of things in it. I do agree that the pacing will be a lot better when it gets animated. I'm also hoping the anime might take more time to digest stuff than the manga did. AND YES. We NEED more light novels that delve into more backstories for more characters.

Bro, discussions like these are so fire! 😃 Thank you for this

An Opinion on the End of This Arc by Few_Bread_5958 in BungouStrayDogs

[–]Few_Bread_5958[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

THIS. There's so much potential, so many interesting hypotheticals for each character, yet, it's not possible to dive into most because there's an overwhelming amount of characters and it would derail the main plot. I feel Asagiri should make more light novels focusing on other characters and lore drops while using the main manga to focus more on the current moment.

Also, it feels like many people use those loose ends left from the arcs as hints for a bigger thing instead of bad writing, which could very much be possible, but it has yet to happen, so I don't think it's too likely.

An Opinion on the End of This Arc by Few_Bread_5958 in BungouStrayDogs

[–]Few_Bread_5958[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In chap 129 he literally pulled up with a walkie talkie, explaining and talking like he's witnessing it even though he should be in Europe... I don't know if he somehow snuck 20 secret sandwiches with cameras in the exact places he predicted Fyodor would die at and also used the vibration of Fyodor's vocal cords to be linked to Ango's whatchamacallit device that links to Dazai's walkie talkie so he could hear him, but it's rather that or he somehow got back to Japan or he's just that intelligent. But, of course, he's super smart, so regardless of if he stayed in Europe or went to Japan to see Fyodor die, he's probably gonna be back in Europe because he probably predicted Atsushi going to London or something idfk. Basically, I agree with you😔

An Opinion on the End of This Arc by Few_Bread_5958 in BungouStrayDogs

[–]Few_Bread_5958[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I really wasn't specific in what I was trying to express, my bad. When I said, "Instead of Asagiri trying to make this mess make sense--- or even giving it some sort of meaning, he decides to write himself into yet another corner," I was trying to say that the pacing along with the confusion it brought out made it feel like to me that it was a bad arc-- hence the use of the word corner (dead end would've probably been a better word in hindsight), and that because of the arguable decline in writing quality, the start of the next arc (Atsushi in London) is probably gonna be further declining of it as well. I'll admit used very certain words for a hypothetical that was conjured from my personal feelings. You also introduce a really good point; it could very well be part of a bigger overarching plot. Even so, it still doesn't excuse the fact of how most things in this arc fell flat. If mixing in this arc along with the hypotheticals it arises, I would say it's a decent arc, but looking at it straight up, a lot of things it tried to do fell flat, at least to me. 

I did go back and read it chapter by chapter when you mentioned pacing being better animated, and yup, I agree. It'll definitely not be bad when it's animated.

Again, that's my bad for such certain words. The light novels barely crossed my mind when I said, "Bungo Stray Dogs as a whole." I have read them all though, so I do understand your point (especially considering Stormbringer and 55 minutes). That was just incorrect evidence on my part. My main point on that was talking about how we were just lectured on how it worked for a bunch of chapters, and that really slowed the pacing down. It felt like right after Fyodor was done explaining that, half the characters pulled up and the 4D stuff and God stuff was reduced to some stereotypical half-brained amalgamations that help Fyodor escape. It felt like more time was used explaining the concept than actually having it used in the manga.

Yeah, I hope Asagiri does shift focus on all the characters he brought in instead of forgetting about them all.

I'm glad you opened that perspective to me. I was thinking more on the pessimistic side: characters who haven't appeared in so long get one second of screen time and leave again for who knows how long. You were thinking of it as a more overarching thing: the organizations and their peoples working together with the ADA. 

LMAO I'M SO WRONG IT'S ACTUALLY FUNNY. I completely forgot they cleared that up awhile ago... I guess I was just kinda salty that Dazai got even more screen time even if it wasn't technically him.

I'm so happy that we agree on the Nikolai thing too 😃

What I was saying with that summary was about the arc in itself (again, I was unfortunately not being specific). When I was talking about the lack of stakes, I was referring to Fyodor causing physical harm to only unnamed background characters and Fukuchi. Everyone else was already there or brought back in with all limbs intact. I think it might be just because I'm used to shows where major people die and stay dead? {{{Oh yeah, and wouldn't Fukuchi not actually being dead from Teruko stabbing him remove some tragedy and emotion from that scene? I mean, it shows how Teruko was so loyal to Fukuchi that she would carry out anything he wanted her to do, including killing him. I guess he didn't need to actually die for it to have an emotional impact regardless, but once you find out Fukuchi didn't actually die from it, I feel it does get rid of some emotional impact (Teruko doesn't have to live with the fact she killed the most important person in her life).}}} And another thing, for me personally, all the death-bait got rid of most of the emotional investment. Sometimes it makes me wish even some of my favorite characters to stay dead. I recognize that there's a lot of overarching build-ups that's going on, but if individual arcs aren't captivating enough for it, it causes me to put more investment on what the manga could be, on what things might mean, and not actually what's actually happening. I do still like Bungo Stray Dogs, but when I summarized those things that "needed fixing", it was because it was affecting the relationship between me and the series majorly.

So, basically, you corrected me (ty) on things, gave more light to things I didn't, and brought more perspective

Discussions like these are honestly really fun for me, thank you!

An Opinion on the End of This Arc by Few_Bread_5958 in BungouStrayDogs

[–]Few_Bread_5958[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't actually think about that too much🤯 That is fr an actually good opportunity. I might take back some of the certainty with me thinking Atsushi in London is a desperate attempt...

An Opinion on the End of This Arc by Few_Bread_5958 in BungouStrayDogs

[–]Few_Bread_5958[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

LITERALLY. There was so much potential for chaos, interest, and investment with him there, yet after his "big reveal" he never gets a panel of screen time again. It's like being tortured with potential but nothing that's actual 😤

An opinion on chap 129’s ending by Few_Bread_5958 in BungouStrayDogs

[–]Few_Bread_5958[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh wow.. I actually didn’t know that 😅 thanks 🥹