English Dub Review: Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! “Laid-Back Guild / We Intelligent Men / Kyō-chan and Lu-chan”
OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
The Guild gets a new base, geniuses meet up, and Kyo and Lu meet in a cafe.
OUR TAKE
Another week, another episode of “that show full of inside jokes about a different show I have little to no recollection of”. Well, this week is at least a little bit easier to follow and talk about because all of the comedy is mostly situational, meaning everyone can pick up on what’s happening and why from just what’s happening. First up, we have Lord Francis, AKA F Scott Fitzgerald, and his assistant Louisa May Alcott (also named after an American novelist) looking for a new base for their organization The Guild. Don’t worry about what The Guild is or was, or how these two characters are similar or not to their respective namesakes. Focus MORE on the fact that this skit doesn’t have an ending and just kinda stops! After that is a clandestine meeting between a bunch of “genius” characters from their own in-universe organizations, which kinda just makes me think that this story has way too many goddamn organizations. And then lastly, we have two characters, Kyo and Lu, who end up meeting in a cafe where Lu is working and go shopping, apparently after being in rival organizations prior to this, which I don’t know anything about.
Okay, so maybe this week’s comedy wasn’t as easily accessible or understandable as I first thought, but let’s strip away all of the references and connections to a more well established story and just look at the jokes themselves. They’re still pretty simple, but there’s still at least something there. First, we have a rich guy and his attendant who are down on their luck and finally have a new house, but the rich guy is so out of touch that he ends up buying a lot of stuff while his attendant is trying to figure things out and can’t with all of his interference. Again, would have been good to have some resolution there, but it’s something. Next is the meeting of the minds with all the smart characters from their respective organizations, wherein they all realize that they’re either not that smart compared to others within their own groups or that this gathering may have been a huge waste of time. And lastly, we have two people who previously were on opposite sides of a conflict trying to reconcile because one is trying to make friends and the other doesn’t know how. See, not that hard to make its own thing! Although maybe including clips of relevant episodes from the main show would do a lot to help fill in the context.
