Bungo and Alchemist

I fell pretty hard for Bungou Stray Dogs over it's 3 seasons and the movie, besides a little confusion with the jumping back and forth between timelines, and the relevance of characters and plot points from that, the characters were INTRIGUING, the quality of the inking and coloring was MASTERFUL, the star voice actors were ENGAGING, and the idea of 3 different departments keeping each other in check while protecting the city and keeping order harkens back to the Russian made (and based on novels) Day Watch & Night Watch! When it ended, it left me wanting MORE, we never really delved that deep into the characters backgrounds and motivations, and like typical Anime fashion a la Btooom!, Soul Eater, Blood Blockade Battlefront, Black Blood Brothers, et al, it just ended! So when I saw this series with a basically same name, the characters have the same names, I was elated! However, that was short-lived, by ten minutes into the first episode, I knew this wasn't my beloved anime! This is a series about the souls (they're all dead) of famous authors, being forced to "live" in this gigantic library, from which there is no escape, and they are beckoned into their books, to fight off "the taint" A destructive blue vaporeal (we don't know exactly WHAT it is) substance that is trying to take over and destroy their books. Sometimes they are beckoned into the books of other authors they knew in life, and they can "free" those authors to come live in the library too.

The library is overseen by an Alchemist, and as of Episode7, we STILL haven't seen him \her, the closest things are a non-vocal, glowing, hovering, blue Stone, and a talking cat who says he's the envoy for the Alchemist.

They REALLY like to torture us by every once in a while throwing in something that was pertinent to BSD, such as the 3 main characters meeting at the club Lupin, and Dazai's penchant for failed attempts at suicide. At this point they're just being cruel to us. It's an interesting show, but try to forget BSD before you watch!

I found this when I was searching for Bungo Stray Dogs on the Funimation app. Because I didn't know Japanese authors, I assumed both anime were of the same timeline and setting. I was wrong, and that's okay. Bungo to Alchemist is its own story and has nothing to do with BSD. If anything, this one is more accurate toward the authors as far as how they were in real life.

It can be hard to follow the authors if you don't know them or their works, but it's also a joy because they're like new characters. The artwork is pretty and the way they use clock gears throughout the anime really adds a nice touch.

It's not the best anime in the world, but it was also a video game before an anime, so please take that into consideration if you watch it. (I didn't play the game before watching, and I enjoyed the show.)

Story: Not going to lie, the whole "let's revive historical Japanese figures" has been done quite a few times, and to a foreigner it loses some of the appeal as we don't know as much, if anything, about them. THAT SAID, I find the story of this anime very interesting. I'm not a huge book nerd, but I found the plot unique and intriguing. I appreciate the way it explores famous works, and the impact of that literature on the world and other authors of the time period. The plot twists and inter-character drama is very *cough* anime, but fun nonetheless.

Art: Its not mind blowing, but it's very pretty and the action scenes are pretty well done.

Sound: I haven't really taken notice of it for anything in particular. :/ The OP and ED are pretty good.

Characters: More than the books, the authors are really the center of this anime, adding another layer of interest but also confusion for those who don't know much about their history. However, I believe the way they present the author's characters using anime character archetypes makes it easier and more enjoyable to follow along with their interactions. However, I fear it has not allowed for much character development, as the characters just revert back to their cliches after any emotional arcs. Though they make good use of character comedy to keep the anime from dragging too much.

Enjoyment: 8/10 I have enjoyed this anime. I learned a lesson about judging a book (lol) by its cover. And I will recommend it to friends who I think would enjoy this type of anime in the hopes that we can raise it above its current dreary 6.xx score.

Overall: 7 Not the best anime out there, but definitely worth at least some of your time, in my opinion. :)

Even if you're not japanese, you can learn about actual historical Japanese authors. Just like Bungo Stray Dogs, bungo means literary, so literary stray dogs, the characters are named after actual historical literary authors. Some of the characters in BunAl are the same characters as BSD, (named after real-life, now dead, authors) like Dazai. But both shows are completely separate and have different creators. It's fun to Google all of the characters names and learn a little bit about the real life authors.

So bonus, you not only get a learn about historical literary geniuses you also get to watch beautifully crafted, artistic anime.

Going into the world of the author's books and bringing it to life in anime form is really spectacular, creative and interesting.

This is not to be confused with BSD, although they do use some of the same characters names. (Found in History) This is an anime of, an in itself, unique.

Definitely worth a checking out.

I give this anime a 9 out of 10!