Season 4 ofBungo Stray Dogshas been teasing the viewers, saving its much-anticipated Decay of Angels arc for what is sure to be a packed latter half of this season. However, the conclusion to the two-part mystery which began last week, while succinct and satisfactory, left with it a lingering sense of confusion.
Last week, Ranpo met up with Poewhile they were both investigating separate matters but ended up joining forces when a murder is seemingly committed before their eyes. The killer, Oguri Mushitaro, watched from the crowd and erased the evidence with their ability before scurrying off, only to end up in a car with Ranpo, who seemed to be on his trail regardless of the lack of evidence.
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Too Much, Too Quick
Firstly, a small complaint regarding Crunchyroll’s subtitles, which are typically superb, especially in shows likeBungowhich uses a lot of screen text for visual gags and presentation. However, all season long, as these episodes have come out,there have been issues with the subtitles, especially on mobile.
The captions have a tendency to get stuck and not load the next ones, notably when something is being captioned other than dialog (as seen below). Fixing this glitch meant exiting the episode and selecting it again, which was awfully frustrating when trying to absorb all the details being presented. Keep in mind, this could be an incident exclusive to this reviewer, but it certainly didn’t help with the experience.
It would be unfair to say that “A Perfect Murder and Murderer” isn’t a well-thought and meticulously constructed mystery, because it certainly is. Episode 41 subverted its mystery early on by following the killer and watching as the detective closed in from their perspective, not unlikeDostoevsky’s novelCrime and Punishment. Fitting as Dostoevsky is the mastermind behind everything inBungo.
Episode 42 is more of a meta mystery as the audience watches the murderer escape prosecution through the fruits of their planning. Ranpo knows Mushitaro is guilty, but there’s no evidence, per his ability, something that is carried across effectively. Seeing Ranpo acknowledge his limits shows huge growth compared to his younger self as seen in the prologue.
And the way the story uses the conceit of a power that erases evidence to change up the game is quite clever. Mushitaro’s ability is aptly named in that it truly is “Perfect Crime” and the answer to the question “how do you defeat the perfect murderer?” makes for an unexpected turn to a fairly minor character arc.
There is plenty to like about this story and not everyone watches mysteries the same way, but speaking personally, these two episodes have been particularly frustrating to review. Because while it isn’t a bad story, it feels like it’s trying to do too many things and be too many different kinds of mysteries.
It’s as if the review of episode 40 from two weeks ago has come back with a vengeance because now it feels likeBungowas aiming to tell a more serious mystery. Not everyone will feel the same way, but viewers who try to follow along with the story like a traditional mystery may end up more frustrated than anything. And what’s most frustrating… is thatthatmight have been the point.
The Ultimate Mystery
The (real) murder at the heart of this story is that of a mystery author whom Mushitaro kills, and whose manuscript serves as the key to resolving the case. But in the end, the truth behind why Mushitaro commits the crime makes it clear that the point of the mystery was for it to be unsolvable.
But in a sinister turn that might actually be why this episode is kinda cool, its unsolvability isn’t because of Mushitaro’s power at all. The gimmick of the mystery, when revealed, invalidates the point of searching for an answer. This story usesa fictional mystery author and their own murderto make a statement about mysteries as a genre.
And as soon as that hit, it became infinitely easier to digest the parts of this story that were so frustrating. In the end, this two-episode mystery once again mirrored the prologue arc, by having Ranpo reveal that the whole mystery was a farce created for the sake of art.
So all the frustration in dissecting the mystery ended up being part of the point. Mushitaro’s ability practically makes trying to solve it pointless and he himself is a character that seems to hate mystery stories.Ranpo is the textbook “brilliant detective”and he can’t bring Mushitaro to justice without Poe’s own power.
Even with that revelation, this episode and this entire story aren’t without their issues. In the midst of an otherwise satisfactory climax, Ranpo has a bizarre line where he suggests that he’s “memorized and assimilated” Fyodor. It could be taken to mean that he’s learned to play dirty like him, but it comes across more like it’s a special ability that Ranpo himself has, which doesn’t gel with the context at all.
Enter Nikolai Gogol
Altogether, despite being a bit too dense for its own good, “A Perfect Murder and Murderer” goes to showthe lengthsBungo Stray Dogsgoesout of admiration for the genres that inspired it. Some might be frustrated, others could be awestruck, and plenty of others might just have a fun time and take the above critiques as a stretch.
Regardless, this small (yet very complex) mystery has further cemented Ranpo as one of the series’ MVPs, something that seems to be a major goal of this season. And now there are - presumably - no more distractions or side stories. With the arrival of Nikolai Gogol, The Decay of Angels has arrived. Fans of the manga have been hyping up Nikolai’s arrival for some time now and the early trailers only partially do him justice. It seems friends of Fyodor have a similar knack for attacking people disguised as cops, but Nikolai sheds his disguise with so much more gusto. With plenty of new characters on the horizon, he’s by farthe villain that will be stealing the spotlight.
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