English Dub Review: Bungo Stray Dogs “Skyfall”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Dazai instructs Atsushi to capture Sigma, who holds the key to stopping the Decay of Angels’ planned terrorist attack. Meanwhile, Sigma is hellbent on protecting the Sky Casino.

Our Take:

The Detective Agency and the Hunting Dogs are caught in a troubling situation involving Sigma, a member of the villainous Decay of Angels. The Hunting Dogs are now being accused of terrorism by Sigma, who sends his guests to attack them. It doesn’t help that Sigma is also blinded by his obsession to protect his Sky Casino by any means necessary. Of course, that includes killing the Hunting Dogs. With the stakes now higher than ever, it’s no wonder the show’s fourth season is concluding with a bang.

The season finale sees Atsushi and Kyouka continue searching for Sigma before Tachihara and Teruko do, as Sigma knows where the missing page is. After escaping from the guests, Teruko arrives at the casino’s control panel first to override the casino and kill Sigma. This then resulted in a gripping showdown displaying Teruko’s ruthless nature. In addition to her Gasp of the Soul ability, which allows her to manipulate the age of anyone she touches, Teruko can also block the incoming bullets from Sigma’s security system with her bare hands. If that’s not enough to prove how tough and unhinged she is, she also damaged her eardrums to make Sigma’s sound wave gun ineffective against her.  

Thankfully, Atsushi arrived just in time to rescue Sigma from his doom. But, sadly, it was all for nothing when Nathaniel Hawthorne arrived to kill Sigma. Despite Lucy managing to lock Nathaniel in her pocket dimension, the remaining Detective Agency members lost their best shot at finding the missing page as Sigma fell to his death, thanks to Nathaniel. But that doesn’t mean there’s not another glimmer of hope amid the darkness. This is due to Tachihara finally learning about the agency’s innocence after finding a USB drive containing the Angels’ true intentions.

Additionally, Tachihara is also asked by the Hunting Dogs to infiltrate the Port Mafia once more to figure out the location of the remaining Agency members. This moment displays another crucial development for Tachihara, as he’s now questioning his reasoning for going undercover again after doing it to avenge his brother. More importantly, we also see that Tachihara spared Yosano’s life, meaning the team’s medic will return in the show’s upcoming fifth season. However, Yosano’s not the only one making a comeback, as seen in the finale’s post-credit scene.

This has been one hell of a ride for me as a newcomer regarding Bungo Stray Dogs. I may be unable to keep track of its lore and characters due to not watching the previous seasons, but that didn’t stop me from being intrigued by the events happening later. “Skyfall” does enough in its action and characters to conclude the show’s tension-filled season while teasing bigger things for the upcoming fifth season, including the sudden return of Nikolai Gogol. Fortunately, we won’t have to wait long to see the Detective Agency again, as the next season arrives this coming July. Stay tuned for my season review, where I discuss my first experience with the popular series and my thoughts on season four as a whole.