10 Second Anime - Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 36

Mori and Fukuzawa fight to protect their organizations and the peace in Yokohama. An interested third party allows the Port Mafia and Armed Detectives to work together against Fyodor's forces.

Episode 36 - "Cannibalism (Part 3)"

Hmm.

Well, isn't it nice to know that the architect of the tripartite system keeping Yokohama calm and peaceful never really left the scene? It was a pretty good excuse to see Naomi and Haruno again, but their scenes were over too quickly. Natsume is too much like a cat, though. He only shows up on his schedule and when he wants to, and he destroys things and makes it look like he meant to do that or it was a good idea.

The real life Souseki Natsume was a professor of English Literature and his first commercial success was the book "I Am a Cat," which is narrated by a house cat living with a middle class family. He is considered one of Japan's greatest authors. I presume the Natsume character in the anime talks in the same noble register the cat did in the book from 1905.

We finally met the real person behind the virus infecting Mori and Fukuzawa, Alexander Pushkin. The real Russian poet and playwright's tragedy "A Feast in Time of Plague" centered around a man taunting death by holding a banquet during a plague outbreak. He appears sneaky like the other Russian guy in this story, Fyodor.

The interaction between Atsushi and Akutagawa, forced to work together again, was a delight to watch, basically because Akutagawa was on his best behavior to look good in front of Dazai. It's nice to see how much he's changed since we first saw him, where he lashed out at everything, but he took Atsushi's best verbal shot and agreed with him. Atsushi himself had a nice moment where he realized his moral compass and motivation to help people came from the lessons the Headmaster cruelly pounded into him. He can actually smile at those memories now.

That scene in Atsushi's memory had a cross pattern appear in the wall of his cell, which reminded me of the cross pattern in the tunnels with Kunikida and the little girl with the grenade necklace. There's lots Christian imagery in this anime, which is pretty interesting, considering the characters are based on Japanese authors. I wonder if it's not a nod toward how much these historical figures studied English literature in Europe before coming back to Japan and starting their own writing careers. So much of English writing before the turn of the 20th century was steeped in the influence of the Church, be it Roman Catholic, Orthodox, or Anglican.

Heh.

Mori calls Fukuzawa The Silver Wolf, formerly the best assassin swordsman in the government. I thought he was more like a silver fox...

Ah. Flashback to 12 years ago. Let's see why these two get along so well together. Fukuzawa was ordered by Natsume to bodyguard the underground doctor Mori. That Natsume guy always had a reason for doing everything.

Fukuzawa had just retired and was about to open a detective agency. Elise is already there in the office drawing pictures.

Mori doesn't seem to need that much protection since he can handle himself.

Ha. These two get along so well already. "I'll kill him!" says a gang leader. "Go ahead, I don't mind," says Fukuzawa. "Oh, come on," whines Mori. This is great. It's like a calmer version of Dazai and Chuuya.

Who is Dazai talking to on the phone? I guess it doesn't matter. What matters is that Mii the cat gets around. Dazai explains who Natsume is, for the audience's sake at this point. He supposedly has the most powerful Gift, allowing him to see through anything. Like walls, or plots?

Back to the flashback, to the same building Mori and Fukuzawa are in right now. This is where they signed on to Natsume's tripartite plan to keep the peace in Yokohama. The Military Police work the day, the Port Mafia works the night, and the Armed Detectives work the twilight. It's worked so far. It still meant Mori had to kill the previous Port Mafia boss because he was getting more unstable and murderous.

Mori still fights sneaky too, because he knows the Port Mafia would devolve into violent chaos without him guiding their actions.

These two still don't know how Natsume's Ability works. I guess we won't know either.

Atsushi notices how calmly Kunikida is taking Katai's death. Well, it's because Kunikida knew that Katai wasn't under Yoshiko the Futon in that surveillance video they just saw. Somebody fooled Fyodor and it probably wasn't Katai himself who decided to use a bulletproof futon. And here comes that cat again.

Haruno and Naomi just noticed that Mii the cat always disappears when something big happens in Yokohama. Okay, we get it. It's way past time to see this cat turn into Natsume, right?

There he is! Souseki Natsume, retired and kind of pissed off his proteges still need his help. Somehow that explosion of the house stopped Fukuzawa's neck from bleeding too.

This cat, ahem, is smart. The house explosion makes the Rats hesitate while other people confirm which leader died in the blast. The cat shared a sardine with Dazai that just happened to have a microSD card from Katai with the location of the Rats' lair. So now, it's time to get that virus guy.

Dazai is having too fun touching Atsushi and Akutagawa so they don't fight each other. Atsushi speaks the truth. Akutagawa's hatred for him is beyond reason. And yet, he's just sitting there, not fighting. He's not listening either, but at least he's not fighting.

I suppose Akutagawa wants to really impress Dazai, since this is the first time in four years they've worked together.

Ha! Atsushi has a modest talent. Besides the weretiger thing. He can tell when someone's switch has been flipped or someone tapped their last nerve by saying the one thing you shouldn't say. So, isn't Atsushi's talent actually saying that thing you shouldn't say? It's only a modest talent instead of a superb one because he only realizes that touchy subject after he's blurted it out, instead of saving it for a special occasion.

Atsushi tells Akutagawa that he only thinks about killing the enemy in front of him, which is why Dazai dropped him and vanished. Ooh, burn!

But Akutagawa agreed with him! Wow, he's really matured.

Nice. Akutagawa is always hiring for the Port Mafia.

Who is that guy pouring tea for Fyodor? Oh, and Fyodor just casually made another dude kill himself.

Ah, that's a nice twist. Pushkin was actually one of those guards Akutagawa captured. These Russians are sneaky in this show.

Why is Atsushi not transforming and tackling this guy faster?

Oops. Akutagawa got infected. And now it's time for the "Temple of Doom" cliffhanger.