English Dub Review: Bungo Stray Dogs “Cannibalism (Part Two)”

When life gives you lemons, you make a Lemon Party.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

As the deadline to the virus’ symptoms starting approaches, the agency tries to respect their president’s wishes to not fight the mafia and find the real source of the virus. So, everyone makes a decision whether or not to fight, knowing that the members of the mafia will be after them no matter what, though Kunkida is still shaken by the incident with the little girl. Their first step is to find Katai, who should have some info he’s gathered from his surveillance as to who is the source, but it looks like he’s been killed by Fyodor.

While others end up dealing with a lemon-themed bomber, Kyoka attempts taking Higuchi for more info on Mori, but is stopped by Akutagawa, who she shares a history with. Chuya is trapped in a murder novel when he fights Edogawa. And the two bosses arrange to meet in a secluded place in order to duel and settle the matter once and for all.

OUR TAKE

WELP, this would probably be a lot easier to follow if I were more familiar with the last two seasons, but I CAN tell you that the situation is becoming more nuanced and tricky as the objectives of either side start shifting. The Port Mafia is still dedicated to killing Fukuzawa to protect Mori, no matter who else they have to kill in order to make that happen. But after hearing from Fukuzawa not to fight, the agency is now on the defensive in order to focus on the real culprit. This ends up proving easier said than done, as the mafia’s defenses prove to be as impenetrable as ever on all fronts, leaving everyone back at a stalemate. And now it looks like their bosses, the ones whose lives are most at stake here, have taken the choice out of their respective groups’ hands and chosen to end things on their terms.

Things look like they’re coming to a head, meaning this episode might be the last chance for a lot of characters to get the spotlight in a battle before the season wraps up. However, the battles, while nice-looking, seem to happen in such rapid succession that it becomes harder to really feel the impact or stakes of them, especially if they’re all going to end so suddenly to set up the showdown between the two bosses…which I am honestly unsure will last very long. It could end up being another bait and switch once someone from the agency figures out how to properly capture Fyodor or the virus user to make a cure, but we ARE at a point where a major death on either side could kick off a bigger conflict to be settled in a later season.

Though if I had to guess, as someone who hasn’t read the manga, I’m guessing this will all get resolved relatively bloodlessly, with this boss showdown being more about exploring their characters than about killing either of them off. We have one more episode in this “Cannibalism” three-parters, but this story also didn’t START with its first place, so we might be looking at this going all the way to the finale. We’re at this middle section of the arc that makes it difficult to really find much to talk about because nothing’s really resolved and we’re all waiting on what the outcome will be so we can look at what we should have been keeping track of. So, see you next week when I will hopefully have something more substantial for you to read!