Bungo Stray Dogs
Bungo Stray Dogs, also abbreviated as B-S-D, is a Japanese manga series written by Kafka Asagiri and illustrated by Sango Harukawa, which has been serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's manga magazine Young Ace since 2012. Each character is named after influential authors and writers of the late 19th century to early 20th century and their powers are based on said author's books. The series follows the members of the Armed Detective Agency as they try to protect Yokohama from organizations such as the Port Mafia. The story mainly focuses on the weretiger Atsushi Nakajima, who joins others gifted with supernatural powers to accomplish different tasks including solving mysteries and carrying out missions assigned by the agency.
As of 2025, ten light novels have been published. An anime television series adaptation produced by Bones aired in 2016 in two parts; the first season aired between April and June 2016, and the second season aired between October and December 2016. An anime film, Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple, was released in March 2018. A third season aired between April and June 2019. A fourth season aired between January and March 2023. A fifth season aired from July to September 2023.
A spin-off television series adaptation of Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! aired from January to March 2021, with a second season set to premiere in 2026. A live-action film, Bungo Stray Dogs The Movie: Beast, was released in Japan in January 2022.
Plot
The story focuses on a young adult named Atsushi Nakajima. After being kicked out of his orphanage, Atsushi saves a detective named Osamu Dazai, believing he was drowning in the river while his actual intention was suicide. From Dazai, Atsushi learns he is a gifted with a supernatural ability capable of transforming him into a berserker white tiger in the moonlight; which was why the orphanage kicked him out. Dazai recruits him into the Agency he works for, the Armed Detective Agency, that handles crimes too dangerous for the police to handle. There, he meets many other ability users as they tackle various cases and events taking place in the city of Yokohama, a place teeming with individuals with Supernatural Abilities. Atsushi becomes the target of Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, who is a member of the criminal organization run by Ōgai Mori known as the Port Mafia. Atsushi also rescues and recruits the young mafia member Kyōka Izumi upon learning she is being forced to kill.During Atsushi's fights against the mafia, he also meets Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, the leader of an organisation named the Guild who placed the bounty on his head. Fitzgerald reveals there is a supernatural book capable of changing reality linked with Atsushi's tiger, hence putting a bounty on the black market. Fitzgerald disregards any superficial damage the Guild might bring to Yokohama in exchange for the book, having an airship named "Moby Dick" destroy the city. However, he is nearly killed by Atsushi and Akutagawa once they join forces while Kyōka stops Moby Dick. Kyōka passes the Agency's entrance exam as a result of doing so.
A Russian man, known as Fyodor Dostoevsky, is introduced into the story, wishing to obtain The Book in order to erase all gifted people. He sets up a fatal clash between the detectives and the mafia using a virus ability user from the group that he leads, Rats in the House of the Dead. Natsume Sōseki, who is the creator of the collaborative Tripartite Framework, stops the fight. While Atsushi and Akutagawa corner the virus' originator, Dazai manages to arrest Dostoevsky with Fitzgerald's help. However, Dostoevsky is later revealed to have orchestrated his own imprisonment in order to lead his followers.
Pages of The Book are later found by Dostoevsky's other group, the Decay of the Angel, which uses its powers to frame the Detective Agency for a murder case. Dazai is imprisoned for his past crimes and is placed in a cell near Dostoevsky while the government sends its military forces known as the Hunting Dogs to execute the members of the Agency. As the Agency faces defeat, they form an alliance with Fitzgerald and later the mafia in exchange for one of their members. Across the multiple fights, it is revealed there is another person above Dostoevsky and that person must be stopped. During an encounter with one of Dostoevsky's allies, Sigma, Atsushi discovers that the leader of the Decay of Angels is a person who is codenamed Kamui. Ranpo Edogawa then manages to gather most of the Agency and prove their innocence to the law. After this, he uses his skills to determine Kamui's identity: Ōchi Fukuchi, the leader of the Hunting Dogs. Both Atsushi and Akutagawa are defeated by their enemy with the latter sacrificing himself in his last moments to let Atsushi escape. After the battle with Kamui, the next stage for the Decay of the Angel plan commences - turning people into vampires and eventually controlling humankind thanks to Bram. The United Nations decides to release One Order, an ability weapon that can make the listeners of orders given through the device act as ordered. The Agency fight the Hunting Dogs for their innocence and end the vampire reign. A young girl named Aya Koda takes Bram from Fukuchi to stop the vampires, eventually leading to Bram having a change of heart and betray Fukuchi. As Fukuzawa manages to defeat Fukuchi, he is revealed to have wanted to rid the world of wars through his methods and is killed by one his underling from the Hunting Dogs. Back in the prison Dazai and Fyodor were in, Fyodor is defeated, leaving only an arm after crashing into the prison tower in a helicopter. However, it is revealed that his special ability is to take the body of whoever killed him; who in this case is Bram Stroker due to the pilot being an infected vampire. This is shown when Bram Stoker's face tears open and Fyodor is there inside. Fydor then proceeds to create a singularity using the Sword which was previously imbedded in Bram's body and turning Fukichi into a God called Amenogozen.
Amenogozen proceeds to brutally slaughter the following members of the Armed Detective Agency: Kenji Miyazawa, Doppo Kunikida and Junichirō Tanazaki. Atsushi, who has to witness it all is crushed and broken when Fyodor reveals that he has page of the book and that Atsushi is the Bookmark who could've saved his friends if he was stronger to further traumatise him.
Development
After quitting his job as a salaryman, Kafka Asagiri became popular through his video "Yukkuri Youmu and the Really Scary Cthulhu Mythos" released on Nico Nico Douga. The first episode was viewed about 1 million times, much to Asagiri's surprise. Four months after he uploaded the video, Asagiri was approached by the editor-in-chief of Monthly Shonen Ace to bring in three projects in two weeks. The Editorial department has also contacted him.The manga originated from Asagiri's idea to gather multiple famous late authors and poets and draw them as young adults and teenagers with supernatural powers. He was inspired by Shūsaku Endō's story Ryūgaku. In particular, Osamu Dazai was used as a major character after reading his book No Longer Human; in the story, Dazai expresses his embarrassment involving his entire life which the author found relatable. Impressed with this work, Asagiri decided to make his own take on Osamu Dazai stand out among the readers. After Dazai, the next writer chosen to make a character that often accompanied Dazai was Atsushi Nakajima, the main character. However, he instead needed a third character who acts as an equal to Dazai. This led to the creation of Kunikida. Although Kunikida was hard to come up with, Asagiri did not have writer's block in general as he claims that writing backgrounds takes him between two or four days. He calls this process "mysterious". Kadokawa Shoten approached Asagiri with writing more content for the characters, which led to the production of light novels where the writer decided to explore Dazai's past.
Among several supernatural elements seen in the series, Asagiri came up with one that everybody wants under the name "The Book". The magic nature of the book was based on Akira Toriyama's wish-granting items from the manga Dragon Ball. A major theme in the narrative of people overcoming themselves; As an example, Kyōka Izumi was written as an assassin who wants to escape from the work from the Port Mafia and instead becomes Atsushi's partner in the Detective Agency. While Kyōka is unable to leave her past behind, she tries to appeal to the readers with her new way of living which was written to be relatable. Villains are often written to be relatable despite their horrible actions too. Francis Scott Fitzgerald from the Guild plans to destroy Yokohama in his story arc but at the end and his next appearances, it is revealed his only desire was protecting his family. Sigma is also another villain written to be relatable though the author made him like that due to his "average" skills when compared to stronger antagonists. Ranpo Edogawa was one of the hardest characters to write due to his superior intelligence when compared with the rest of the characters but still felt that his role in the story would appeal more to the fans once he became more active. As the series progressed, Asagiri reflected although the story is about the battle between justice and terrorism with the arrival of the Decay of Angels and Hunting Dogs, it was more specific about the side of justice and who is on the enemy side of evil. He wanted the reader to do whatever he wanted to do based on whether he was to be included on either side.
Sango Harukawa provided Asagiri with designs that helped the writer to create the stories easier. Asagiri stated that the designs of Atsushi and Dazai were done to contrast each other although there were some revisions done in the making of the series. The light novels were also written with the idea of having more books released per year. The lives of more writers inspired Asagiri, most notably the friendship of Osamu Dazai, Ango Sakaguchi and Sakunosuke Oda. When it came to Sigma, Asagiri drew his own take on the design but it was instead altered by Harukawa. In 2023, Asagiri expressed satisfaction with the large amount of other works based on his manga and expected there would be more products in the future.