Bungou Stray Dogs - Episode 38 - 10 Second Anime

Fukuzawa recalls the case and circumstances of meeting Ranpo before establishing the Armed Detective Agency.

Episode 38 — "The Lone Swordsman and the Famous Detective"

Hmm.

Four years later, Bungou Stray Dogs starts with a flashback. Fukuzawa met Edogawa Ranpo as a fourteen-year-old dropout. The police academy kicked the skilled detective out because he wouldn't listen to his teachers. Of course not! Similarly, Fukuzuwa stopped working for the military police and used his sword skills for bodyguard work. His client's mysterious death, coincidentally meeting Ranpo looking for a job, and how the kid solved the case upon entering the office gave us everything we would have expected from a first fateful encounter. Bungou Stray Dogs is back! Entertain me!

Heh.

Fukuzuwa enters a crime scene. His client for protection services fell out a window. Strangely, that guy's assistant rearranges documents all over the office floor. The apparent perpetrator is in the next room, handcuffed, sitting in a chair. What an odd setup for a mystery. The assistant claims the murderer sought to destroy or take documents, so he's trying to find the missing ones. Suspicious. The captured "assassin" looks familiar to me. Oh! It's Dazai's friend Oda Sakunosuke when he was a child killer for the Port Mafia. Ha! Suddenly Ranpo! Oops. A sudden death canceled his job interview. Edogawa Ranpo already figured the secretary was the killer.

Oda had impressive moves back then too. He killed the killer. Problem solved. Fukuzawa treats Ranpo to red bean soup, but the kid only wants the sweet stuff. And so Ranpo joined Fukuzawa's private security agency.

Ranpo's first case is at a theater. The play's sign looks like the Bungou Stray Dogs title card. Someone has threatened the performance, so Fukuzawa needs to prevent an attack. Ranpo has no tact, and we know he never learned any. This flashback episode is a conventional mystery novella. Ah. Fukuzawa's attention to the newspaper headlines about war hawks is the foreshadowing we need when we jump to the present. A serial murderer eliminates military contractors.

Fukuzawa asked the right question of Ranpo: does he believe everyone sees the details as he does, but they lie about it? Ranpo is a literal autist. Aha. The serial murderer targeting pro-war privateers mimics Fukuzawa's last assignment for the government. Someone is trying to frame him. Is this the first and last time we see Ranpo open his eyes? And did Fukuzawa use his paranormal ability, "All Men Are Created Equal," on Ranpo? That skill suppresses the supernatural techniques of those he considers part of his team. So, first, Ranpo is already Fukuzawa's partner, and two, Ranpo's ability is always talking. I always thought Ranpo didn't have ESP, but this puts doubt in my mind. Har. The playhouse's name is 世界劇場 (せかいげきじょう, sekai gekijou) — The Globe Theater. The curtain rises for the next episode.