10 Second Anime - Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 31

Kyouka learns important details about her parents' death and her Gifted Ability. Atsushi feels a storm of mixed emotions upon discovering the identity of an accident victim.

Episode 31 - Part 1 - "Herurisu!" Part 2 - "A Father's Portrait"

Hmm.

Before we get started with the particulars of this episode, let me tell you something I learned. Japanese literature nerds do not contribute to English language manga wikis. If they did, it wouldn't have taken me six hours of off and on internet searching for what the hell ヘルリス means. After I found out, I don't even know how to spell it in the Roman alphabet. The real life Atsushi based his collection of short stories The Moon Over the Mountains on his miserable time spent in Micronesia, the present day Palau. That herurisu word is the Japanese phonetic spelling of a Palauan word!

Hellis (or however the Palauans spell it) is Atsushi's understanding of their word meaning "bonds between women." He even spelled it out as "strange love" in Japanese. So, that's how far removed I am, an American with a small understanding of Japanese, to a Micronesian word spelled out in katakana written in 1941 or thereabouts before Atsushi's death. I don't know if Atsushi is still taught in Japanese high schools, but if he is, those kids would have gotten the reference. Anyway, the title of the first part lets you know we're looking at a story about the "strange love in the bonds between women," which totally makes sense in the context of Kyouka, Lucy, Kouyou, Demon Snow, and Kyouka's mother.

Okay, so let's talk about the interesting idea of putting all of us aboard the feels train by combining two stories about parental relationships, guilt, hate, and forgiveness. In Kyouka's case, while we focus on how Lucy, Demon Snow, Kyouka's mother, and Kouyou relate to Kyouka, we also see a satisfying sense of closure on Kyouka's feelings of responsibility for killing her parents, or blaming Demon Snow for it, and the truth, which was a mother's love protecting her daughter. Maybe Kyouka will let Demon Snow help with the cooking from now on.

Compare that satisfying closure, including all the extra feelings the women in Kyouka's life provided along the way, with Atsushi's more conventional Japanese almost-everything happy ending with a huge dollop of wistful "what-if" feelings. Atsushi was left with a big ball of conflicted emotions regarding the death of the cruel Headmaster at his orphanage. Before finding out that he came to Yokohama to find him and meet him with a bouquet of flowers, Atsushi would have lived his life hating that man and feeling justified for it. But after seeing the newspaper clipping and the intent of a happy meeting, or at least something else that didn't include child abuse or torture, Atsushi remembered some of the Headmaster's words through a different filter, like his admonition to "hate me, but never yourself."

Dazai, of course, gave Atsushi the perspective that Ranpo could not (he figured it out in five seconds, again); that the Headmaster raised a good man. Men who do that are rightfully called "father." The wistfulness comes from having the chance at a real father-son relationship taken away from him, but Atsushi has that almost-everything closure that he should be proud of the man he is now because of all that abuse. A Son weeps for his dead Father, no matter how he was raised, and that is how Atsushi now regards the dead Headmaster.

Meh.

Come on, now. Atsushi is going to drown in the bay because he got his foot stuck? When he's a tiger (they love water) and he could easily break that debris if he transformed? Lucy had the right reaction - "Don't drown like you're not the guy who took down the Guild!"

Heh.

Ah. Domestic bliss. Kyouka is cooking for Atsushi. Kyaa!

But Demon Snow is a little too helpful for Kyouka's liking.

Atsushi just wants everyone to get along...

Ah. Lucy again. She's mad, but she wants Atsushi to figure out why she's mad, and she's mad that he doesn't know why she's mad, and just look at this run-on sentence.

Kyouka has a case to find documents on a boat, but Lucy's petty revenge is taking out the piece of paper with the boat on it. That's really petty...

Atsushi figured out why Lucy is mad! She hates his bangs! Uh, no, try again.

Finally giving an idiot a break and not overheating his brain. Atsushi said he'd come rescue her from Anne's Room, but he never did. Even Lucy knows it was an impossible task to find her doorway in the wreckage of Moby Dick, but nobody ever said feelings of abandonment were rational.

Atsushi should have at least said sorry when they met again. Lucy just wants some acknowledgement here. That's not too much to ask for.

Aw. The dumb boy tried looking for her. Even Lucy knows Atsushi is too pure to lie. Doki doki!

Can't dwell too much on Lucy blushing about her crush, time to get naked! I'm not even joking about that, though that is the joke.

Atsushi had a good idea here. How about just transporting the people into the room and not the water? Lucy warned him she might not get it right on the first try...

Nice butt crack, Atsushi. I'm reminded of Atsushi meeting Dazai in the first episode for some reason.

Kyouka was pretty quick to figure out where the documents were hidden. "Employment Gift" is a big hint to who hid them there.

Ooh, Ango has a cute junior officer. Everything else about this scene is exposition to set up the big reveal on who would want to give Kyouka a gift for getting a job.

The documents are about the death of Kyouka's parents at the hand of Demon Snow. The real circumstances.

The parents were Special Ops agents and a Gifted opponent with a grudge against them tried to assassinate them.

Clues to people we'll meet eventually - blood puppet ability and someone who can transfer Gifted abilities.

Kouyou knew all along that Demon Snow didn't kill Kyouka's parents on some out of control rampage.

Kyouka's mother looks just like Demon Snow.

I love this melodramatic music from 40's romance and detective movies.

Kyouka's parents sacrificed themselves to stop the blood puppet master from killing her.

Lucy knows the heart of a woman. Kyouka needs a moment, so shut up, Atsushi. Lucy is a sensitive and perceptive soul, worthy of the Atsushi harem. But can she cook?

Ah. Part 2 start. Atsushi's feels train is ready to board.

Ranpo had a case. But he's already solved it. Snack time is more important. And maybe this case is more important for Atsushi. Ranpo tells him to look for a flower shop. Yeah, Ranpo already knows.

The case is an unidentified man accidentally hit by a truck.

They ran fingerprints fast. Guh. It's Atsushi's cruel Headmaster.

And read above for all of Atsushi's conflicted emotions about being happy that bastard is dead, but finding out he came looking for him because he was the Yokohama hero. And then that possible future of a relationship was taken away before it even started. Damn you, formulaic Japanese dramatic conventions! Why are you so effective?

Dazai can say what Ranpo can't. It took Dazai ten seconds to solve this one, but he's got perspective and feelings. A son weeps when his father dies, and so Atsushi wept.

Next time, back to the main story, probably. Fitzgerald is in the title, so what else can we expect?