10 Second Anime - Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 19

The three Gifted factions face tense moments against each other as Dazai attempts to recruit a fourth faction into their war.

Episode 19 - "Will of Tycoon"

Heh.

The title of this episode was written as katakana of the English language phrase. I suppose we have to connect the title with the American tycoon Francis F.

It always comes down to tentacles in anime.

I can understand Lovecraft having tentacles because of his connection to Cthulhu, but John S.'s Grapes of Wrath power made my suspension of disbelief waver.  Not the part about grape vines taking over the roots of nearby plants, but the part where Steinbeck had to cut his neck open to plant grape seeds in there. Most of these people's gifts are understandable in how a young kid would discover using them, but Steinbeck's complicated recipe doesn't seem like something a person could stumble upon. Maybe he was planting grapes, fell and got cut deeply and the seeds fell in there? Seems a bit too complicated.

Lovecraft doesn't die. He just goes to sleep like the Old Ones. Fitting.

Looks like Akutagawa wasn't the only one with a fascination towards Dazai. Higuchi makes her reappearance, but tellingly she's not paired with Akutagawa. There's some stuff to be told back there, I'm sure.

The Port Mafia unleashed Q (Kyusaku Yumeno) to use his mind control gift of Dogra Magra against friend and foe alike. Lots of orphans getting captured and used up by the Port Mafia, I see.

The real life Yumeno Kyusaku was the pen name of Sugiyama Taido. The pen name literally means "person who always dreams." Yumeno wrote detective stories, horror and science fiction from the 1920's up to his death in 1936. His most famous novel, Dogra Magra, is considered to be the precursor to Japanese science fiction and reads like most mystery adventure games. A guy wakes up with amnesia and a psychological thriller develops as he recovers his memories.

I'm sure the anime version of Q looks like that because Yumeno wrote a story entitled "White Hair Boy."

I don't quite get why the normal staff of the Agency is being used as bait except as a way to target their moral code to protect their own. Could there be something more strategic than that?

Ango! And now we see the other reason we had that extended flashback at the beginning of this second cour. First was to show that powers can be duplicated. The second was to introduce the Gifted Special Ops Division. These guys usually don't do anything and appear to be the most secretive gifted faction in Yokohama. Dazai is trying to break up this three-way war into a 2 against 2. You know the Guild and the Mafia are going to join up at some point because of their malleable code of ethics.

Louisa A. was Louisa May Alcott with her Little Women ability. She's being called an Apprentice in the Guild. Too bad we haven't seen titles like Journeyman and Master to keep terms consistent in something called a "guild."

Ango told Dazai that the Special Ops people had to keep their distance because the Guild bribed or pressured the government into giving them diplomatic immunity. That means we'll see John S. and Lovecraft in action again pretty soon.

That car accident looked pretty bad with Ango and Dazai...

Atsushi is not doing so hot lately. His confidence was shaken again by Q controlling his mind to hurt Naomi and Haruno, and then Francis literally kicked his ass in front of Kyouka.

Dazai told Atsushi that "pitying yourself will make your life an endless nightmare." Atsushi hasn't come out of that bad dream yet.

Francis F seems similar to Dazai in that he doesn't really have to use his powers except for special circumstances. He's just a tough mofo.

Francis gave a tantalizing clue that the Guild set the 7 billion yen bounty on Atsushi. Looks like Francis is about to save his organization a whole bunch of money.

Double cliffhanger with Dazai and Ango in a pinch and Kyouka seemingly working with the Guild. Not a lot of time for the funny stuff with all this action going on.