10 Second Anime - Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 32

Louisa finds Francis in a slum and together they start writing The Guild's comeback story.

Episode 32 - "Fitzgerald Rising"

Hmm.

The whole point of this episode, besides reminding us why The Guild came to Yokohama in the first place and to make things more complicated for Fyodor's mission to eliminate the Port Mafia and the Armed Detective Agency, was to make us root for Francis. F. Scott Fitzgerald always had a certain villainous charisma about him previously, and there was that vague backstory about needing to find a legendary Book to save his wife in America, but the dude was stinking rich and arrogant. Here, he's literally begging for change next to a garbage dump in the slums. If you thought you could sympathize with The Great Gatsby for his rags to riches origins, check out Francis!

However, we'll need more than self confidence and a Big Idea to sympathize with Francis. The devotion of a pure maiden helps, so thank you for that, Louisa May Alcott. A sick wife's love literally saving him from a falling death is another good point in Francis' favor. Having an eye for the value of human resources in addition to their work product is good too. But every great hero needs a quirk, a weakness, a little something to humanize him. How about not being able to resist pointless sales items? I mean, who could pass by a 3 for 1 cooking pot sale? Especially when you can't cook and have nothing to cook? But that's a great deal! So now, I'm totally Team Francis, at least for his part that will act as a spoiler to whatever Fyodor is working on.

Heh.

Louisa May Alcott is the most loyal of the Guild to Francis, but there's obviously an unexplained history between the two, one which is more important to Louisa than Francis.

Oh hey, there's that slum Chuuya came from. Francis is here too, begging for change next to a garbage collection point. At least that guy still knows the value of location.

There's some mystery to how he survived his fall, since he was absolutely dead broke after Atsushi outlasted him.

Ah. Lucy is here for exposition on Guild info. She needs to make better coffee and Kyouka is not afraid to spend harem hierarchy points to knock her down either.

Lucy is weak to Atsushi's guileless charm.

She says Louisa has only used her special power for other people, never for herself. I'm looking for backstory on this info now.

Ha. I'm totally digging this melodramatic music during Louisa and Francis' conversation.

Oh. Francis says his wife's 500 Grand ring disappeared as he fell, using its value to buff himself. It shouldn't have happened, but it did. Somebody loves this guy, I think.

This is some nice, tight writing. First, we're set up in the slum from the prologue and now we have the foreign mercenaries the Armed Detectives beat up in five minutes for hurting the Master of the coffee shop. They're obviously going to get beat down again.

50 cents is enough for Francis to beat down a hobo.

Francis and Louisa are doing their own version of Gatsby's origin story. Francis only needs 50 billion dollars to turn Yokohama's Interior Ministry into his own Guild. That's cheap...

He needs their resources with the Special Ops Division of the Military Police to find that Book to cure his wife.

Oh hey, there's the Big Bad Fyodor talking with gibberish spewing mouse logos. Just to remind us we're on a side plot to the actual story.

Ha. This "Splendid Boardinghouse" doesn't look so splendid.

Louisa's special power needs to be done in a closed room, and apparently just slows down time. This means she's just really smart to come up with her strategies. Is this also a dig at Louisa May Alcott for all the time skips in her books?

And now, we watch Louisa's story of corporate shenanigans, stock shorting, and acquiring facial recognition software with a government backdoor sold for extra.

Eyes of God has a nice ring to it.

Ha. Francis has been rich for so long, he has no idea how to shop. 3 for 1 is a good deal, if you actually need those things...

Francis is a good leader - if you can't do something, find someone who can!

Edgar Allan Poe is still competing with Ranpo, but Louisa just used Ranpo to solve the murder mystery of the engineer who didn't kill his best friend.

This backdoor code to Eyes of God will definitely be more valuable than the software itself.

Francis is a good salesman too. He presents a reflection of the mark to close the deal.

Okay, Francis Ace Attorney.

And that's a Big Short. 400 million dollars! It's a small first step to 50 billion.

Ho ho. "It won't be easy living on the streets at your age."

And Francis has new headquarters for The Guild within a security company.

So now we have a bit more of a complicated plot with a treasure hunt in the middle of Fyodor's mission against the Port Mafia and the Armed Detectives. Nice.