Bungou Stray Dogs 5th Season

And so, another season has ended. Is it good, did it fix the mistakes of the previous one? Of course not, “if it’s not broken - don’t fix it” as they say, eh? As I did for the previous season, let me tell you where this one falls flat. First things first I’ll mention that flashbacks take much less time in this season and they are mostly fine. However I still don’t get why giving us flashbacks of the events that happened 5 minutes ago is considered a good idea. Thank you, but I don’t have issues with memory. But if you thought that there would be no annoying overused writing method - you are mistaken. There is a golden rule for any movie, anime and any other similar work and it goes as “show, don’t tell”. You want a cool fight? Ok, show it to us. Great smart plans? Show us. Tragic events? SHOW US. Instead most of the “action scenes” consist of one move and a “Oh, you are surprised it didn’t work? Let me tell you why!” - and yes, after that we get a text dump that explains what happened. It would be fine in something that is not obvious, but instead you will hear this phrase several times per episode, even after some minor events that don’t need an explanation and are obvious. So the question arises: does the author think that we are brain dead? Because there is simply no reason to give such explanations, either this or cutting spendings on animations to further profit from fans who will ignore this obvious disrespect and be thankful for another season. And with those answers I don’t even care which one it is, as both show lack of effort put into the show. While I am talking about the writing - no, it didn’t get better. The plot turns are obvious, the events try fruitlessly to ramp up the tension - and as with the previous season you as a viewer just can’t believe there is any danger coming at all. Why, you ask? Plot armour, obviously. For four seasons our brave heroes prevailed against any and all evil plans - how can I think they will fail this time, when the stakes are the highest? When in four seasons no one died and all the injuries were healed by a miracle healer - how can I care about a lost fight that led to serious injury? Instead of being thrilled I just think “nah, they will heal him anyway” and continue watching unfazed. To make things worse - some of the descriptions of the events in “let me tell you how” segments feel like an afterthought and a patch hastily applied to a plot hole, not like something that was carefully built into the world. At some point I was just wondering how bad the explanation would be instead of trying to enjoy the show. And as the result of ramping up enemies' strength the main villain is given a completely OP ability that he, of course, doesn't even use to its full potential as the main party would lose not even reaching a half season mark. I just wish more effort was put into thinking things through instead of trying to be cool while pretending to be smart. I really thought that I had a lot to say about the show, but when I wrote down the text above I realised that most of the problems are already covered and going through them more would be more of the same, repetition. And this is EXACTLY what S5 is - repetition of everything you have already seen. If you are a hardcore fan and loved the previous seasons - this anime will be great for you, cause it is more of the same. If you, like me, didn’t like it - you will only waste time watching it - because, once again, it is more of the same. No progress in writing skill for the author. No significant character development. No major events that actually matter. Nothing, just another evil plan for our heroes to battle, more of the same stagnant mediocrity with zero entertaining value we have already been fed for 4 seasons.

Bungo Stray Dogs season 5 is the best the series has ever been. It’s got overwhelming odds, awesome action scenes and a villain who actually deserves to be feared. A must watch for any fan of the series and worth getting through the first 4 seasons for. Normally I would phrase a review in general terms, but if you’re on season 5 of BSD it’s obvious you like the show and its characters. The important thing for you to know is that everything has gone to another level in this season from the action to the general sense of tension. The detective agency truly have their backs against the wall and all hope seems lost. It’s a desperate and gruelling battle against an enemy who can control reality itself. I mean how can you even compete against that? With many members of the detective agency incapacitated or unable to fight, I enjoyed seeing new characters like Aya step up and play pivotal roles in the story. She really stole the show for me down the stretch and seeing her relationship with another character develop in the final third was great. Atsushi is somewhat of a divisive character amongst the fandom. For many people, myself included he was kind of irrelevant for large parts of the story. I mean you’d be forgiven for thinking Dazai is the MC of BSD, but this season made me gain a lot of respect for him. It seems like he can go missing for 10 episodes and then pop up and be dependable when called on. He shines really bright in this season. Lot of good action scenes with him and I gained quite a bit of respect for the white tiger. While I still think he’s lacking as an MC and is rather shallow, credit where it’s due, he came up big here. The reality altering book is a crazy OP concept, combined with the main villain’s other abilities and it makes for a nail biting set up where you actually struggle to see how the good guys will come out on top. In fact, given the anime is now fully caught up with the manga, the author might be feeling that way himself. He’s certainly written himself into a tricky scenario, but that’s why he gets paid the big bucks so it’ll be fun to see how the Detective Agency navigate this. This is for sure the best plot line BSD has had. There’s quite a lot of action in this season compared to season 4’s slower paced plot. Almost every episode had a well animated fight or someone getting “killed” so there’s a lot of weight to every episode, making them all very enjoyable to sit through. I think one of the biggest issues I’ve had with BSD in the past is that it has some really good arcs, but they’ll be followed up by some episodes that put you to sleep. None of that in this season. It’s consistently engaging and the drama only builds as episodes go on. As I said, there’s a lot of action in this season and Bones did a great job during all of the fight scenes. Great storyboarding combined with some banger OSTs adding a lot of weight to every scene. If you’ve come this far in the BSD journey, you already know what you’re gonna get in terms of hot husbandos, character interactions, banter, battles of wit, etc. BSD takes it all to another level and I really feel like this is the peak of the series. It will likely be several years before we get more of the anime as it’s now fully caught up(ahead technically) of the manga, so the wait for more content will be excruciating, but they fed us good this season and I won’t be forgetting this memorable ride anytime soon. BSD season 5 gets a very easy 10 pages out of 10.

Bungou Stray Dogs Season 5 also known as the embodiment of Deus Ex Machina, starts to overstay its welcome with the excessive plot twists. On top of giving too much screen time to Atsushi who continues to be 100% irrelevant. Animation / Art / General Visuals - 9/10 ----------------------------------------------- The show continues to look great. Great scenery art and solid action animations. Sound / Music / Voice Acting - 9/10 ------------------------------------------ Top notch stuff. Great music, voice acting, additional sounds. Story - 7/10 ------------- I'm starting to get tired. S4 was fun, but S5 undoes a lot of the build-up by producing one story twist after another, all of which seem excessively contrived, and full of deus ex machina moments that ruin the narrative cohesion. Nobody ever dies. Everyone is always found to have been magically saved 2 episodes later, using one excuse after another. The entire season is a never-ending game of "I knew that you knew, that I knew that you knew, that I knew that you knew...". We have Ranpo, Dazai, Ando, Fyodr and others endlessly one-up each-other in ever more unbelievable ways. It's like watching Code Geass, except instead of following along the gradual planning of Lelouch, we're stuck as an out of loop third party, just watching all the craziness go down without having a clue. The main villain's motivations are only barely believable thanks to my own imagination, because the show surely hasn't fleshed out the world enough to make me relate to his mindset. We basically have to take his word that his rationale is solid, because there's no real supporting evidence for it. And the way it all played out in the end was absolute confusion. The season ended and I still didn't know who actually "won" and who "lost". Except I have a feeling that it's we, the viewers, who lost hours from our life watching this mess. Characters - 6/10 --------------------- A let down after Season 4. This time around, we have excessive focus on a bunch of fanatics. Most of the Detective Agency and Port Mafia is side-lined. The Guild is basically all absent. Ranpo is stuck carrying a large part of the weight, while Atsushi once again does his best to be the worst anime character ever created. My god, for the second season in a row, Atsushi continues to be 100% dead weight, with the story being in no way affected whether he existed or not. He still hasn't found any confidence in doing anything. He loses every fight he's in for the second season in a row. Like straight up, he hasn't managed to do anything successfully. And to make it worse, the show creates a 1 minute cliffhanger scene at the end featuring Atsushi as someone who's gonna be relevant in S6. Even though we already know that he's never gonna do anything because the character is clearly written to be utterly useless until the end of time. --- Total - 7/10 --- Bungou Stray Dogs Season 5 is a let down in my book. S4 started building up a fascinating storyline, but it all kinda fell flat because of excessively tangled up deus ex machina filled narrative. Still, the show looks great, and the characters for the most part are fun. Except Atsushi of course. He should never have existed. Here's me begging god again that S6 finally writes him out of the show. Please god. Make him trip and break his neck or drown in his bathtub or something. That character does not deserve the animation effort.

BONES, once again, fails to include a few 'not-so-important' yet intriguing elements from the manga in the fifth season of Bungou Stray Dogs. It feels like they're rushing to churn out another 12 episodes, resulting in a noticeable budget cut. This budget constraint makes it challenging to enjoy the series; for instance, even when a character is just one meter away from the screen, they lack eyes. A glaring example of this is when Ango takes a photo of Dazai in his hand; they didn't bother to draw his eyes, only depicting a smiling face. While the story of this season remains engaging, BONES' negligence in attending to these 'details' has rendered it (almost) unwatchable for me. Wacth only if you like the story.

I don't get why anime fans are not talking about it. The first 3 seasons are good, but 4 and 5 are simply amazing. To those who are looking for a good anime and have exhausted the common choices this is the best anime. It has good story, action, mystery, suspense, comedy and all the things required of a great anime. The animation is good, characters are relatively well written, each with a unique power/ability. The deployment of the abilities in unique ways, and mystery and suspense are the best part about it (especially season 4 and 5). So far BSD Season 5 and Bleach TYBW are the best series of 2023.

Season 5 of Bungou Stray Dogs continues to directly build upon the events of Season 4, though in a much less character driven way this time, which paved the way for a more fast paced, action packed season that also had many twists. That comes with the positive of keeping me at the edge of my seat in suspense for what was to come, but gave me less to think about after each episode ended, as it wasn’t as full of depth as the previous season was. It also did what few anime do nowadays, pass the current chapter of the manga to the point of having a finale episode that covered scenes not seen in the source material. Seeing the fact that no one knew what the end had in store was definitely an exciting time, and it was overall once again another thrilling season. The plot builds upon the finale of Season 4 at the Sky Casino, and continues with the Detective Agency trying to clear their name, with the Hunting Dogs hot on their tail. Their goal was to capture Kamui, the leader of the Decay of Angels, but it turns out a familiar face is the one behind it all. The thing that impressed me the most with this season was that the stakes felt higher than ever before, with the fate of a lot of the characters genuinely uncertain, and with that uncertainty, it does a great job in creating that feeling where I was actually scared if a character would be killed. The one thing that was the source of some frustration to me was the one of the villain’s ability, as it was so overpowered that no one could stop him. However, as these stories tend to go, it would seem like he would have to be defeated at one point, and I felt however way the protagonists ended up winning would be through a deus ex machina. That said, I really liked the villains, as they were very crafty (especially Fyodor), and twisted enough to make things very interesting to watch. The story might not always be written at a very high standard, but it gets the job done in an immensely entertaining way, despite the flaws. Production wise, much like the previous seasons, it was very consistent, and the soundtrack continued to be solid, along with an excellent opening and ending song. The focus on the characters was not that balanced this time around, with some characters being virtually absent for the entire season, but the cast of characters that were present were about as good as before, though this time around, it wasn’t as emotional as last season, which had numerous backstories that really fleshed out the characters. Like I mentioned before, it was more of an action packed season, along with a lot of mind games in the form of twists. It was great to see the return of Aya though, as she was a nice character that appeared in one of the OVAs before. Overall, another extremely thrilling, enthralling roller coaster that had me looking forward to each subsequent episode, and while it was less emotional, with some notable negatives and some poor tonal shifts, it still got the job done. We likely won’t see another season since the anime has passed the recent manga chapter, but whenever a sequel happens, I’m sure I’ll be there yet again to witness it.

Yeah.... This ain't it chief. All that build up,all the other 4 seasons,just for this dissapointment? This finale? This final boss? I started enjoying this season like the others really.But the final episodes really fumbled the bag.In the worst ways possible. What i mean by that? Well,for starters,the reveal of this secret boss that is above Fyodor or something really was uninspired.Especially after the reveals at the end. "i want world peace". Even the most naive of idealists like Emiya Shirou never spouted this absolute non-sense. Fyodor was a far better main villain no questions asked.And that same villain had easily one of the most unceromonious deaths in the whole show. World peace.... by brainwashing every single human being on earth and turning them into a hivemind.And then you have this cardboard MC think to himself "damn this is really hard" like what? Not only that but they have the old man's demise be this bitter-sweet moment and all that jazz. Another issue.... even when they weren't the main baddies ,the Port Mafia still had a presence.This time around they are just deux ex machina devices. Even though most of the intresting characters actually come from that organization. The backstory episodes were especially rather enjoyable. And another point i gotta make.......We get dangled the keys that are the vampire king Bran all this time,and then he finally gets released and..... NOTHING. Very fun stuff mates. And since we are on this same subject,the finale in this one was just so unsatisfying.... God it pisses me off so much,because this season just makes me feel like i wasted my time up until this point,even though the other seasons were solid storytelling and worldbuilding. This season simply added so many mcguffins and one note characters that it feels written by somebody else entirely. Like a charicature of Bungou Stray Dogs and everything it tried to show and represent in the previous four seasons. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS. A frustrating season to say the least.

I just knew how much I really love anime after rewatching the last season of bsd I was so keen focused as I also like smuggling investigation from nat geo too...but even I couldn't be able to predict the whole story And it was one of my new genre category. Uniqueness in the story: emotional intelligence and balance shown in this anime series really excited me. Art style : Dazai ever been my crush for all of his explicit attitude. I actually watched the last season of this anime twice and never been bored. They all felt familiar within wholesome.. Wanting thrill yourself? , then give it a try!

Season 5 isn't the best season of BSD, that title goes to season 2 or 3, but it does the impossible, and gives us a better adaptation than the manga's version of this arc. I was skeptical of the praise at first, given the current arc in the manga has been THE WORST in the entire series with how Asagiri would insufferably stall on and on, with dozens of half chapters and chapters broken up into parts. It seemed like he turned into a bumbling idiot trying to figure out this arc. But no, he was just biding his time and, given he didn't tell the manga readers, he got lucky that the season didn't bomb and give the series a bad rep. I think Bones was smart to air Season 4 and 5 basically back-to-back as a 2-part season, since our antagonists are around for several arcs. However, they broke tradition and actually went a chapter ahead of the manga, instead of animating a light novel this season like they usually do.

If I had to summarise this season I'll have to say "it's pain and suffering". This season was perfect, the suspense and anxiety it makes you have are priceless. I believe Atsushi didn't have much protagonism; nevertheless, it didn't bother me. I also loved the way they explain some characters in more detail, such as Kenji. In every episode they play with your feelings, things don't how as planned most of the time. There are parts, which could be seen as predictable, but I believe they compensate having characters such as Fyodor or Dazai, you never know what's gonna happen with them. A highlight for this season, for me, would be the interaction those two had, it was amazing (altho I do think there are parts in the manga that would have been refreshing if they had been animated). I think the ending leaves a lot of questions, I honestly believe there were things that didn't have an explanation; still, they will hopefully explain it in the next season. I really recommend it if you like not knowing what's gonna happen next and if you like watching the main characters struggle, this season definitely made the script seem as if it was against the "good ones"

Through the whole series Bungo Stray Dogs Season 5 has to be the best. The build-up was slow and steady loaded with action, suspense, and tons of surprises on its way to its grand climax. What makes the "right thing to do" right after all? Was a question thrown at the audience. The characters were amazing. In this season we got to see the Armed Detective Agency work separately in smaller groups, which was a first. The villain was one to be feared despite not being so much of a villain because again "What makes the right thing to do right after all?" Overall, I'd totally recommend you to watch if you've been following through the seasons (which you most probably are). So get your snacks ready because this is going to be one hell of a rollercoaster ride.

"Nothing in life is worth pursuing if it means prolonging your suffering." Anime: Bongu Stray Dogs. This show is not often talked about. At least I've not seen many people talk about it. Perhaps, because masses don't like to watch anime shows which aren't from their dear SliceOfLife category. But this show deserves as much attention as your fav show. It has all the ingredients to stand out and the author is keen to cook this show in the best way possible. Almost every character has backstory which furtuer strengthens its character and gives every character it's time to shine. Every character has it's badass moments. The story is intriguing and still keeping the watchers off the hook. The show has 5 seasons and the manga is currently ongoing. While there's a lot to write on this series, I'll urge you to watch the show instead of reading the synopsis or reviews. Just bing it. It's on par with some great shows and if concluded well, it might sit with some greatest shows. Whole show: 8/10 Season 5: 10/10

The fifth season of Bungo Stray Dogs is an immediate continuation of the previous, foregoing the usual flashback arc and opting for more episodes to develop the ongoing plot. This has been the grandest and most ambitious part of the anime thus far, and strongly executes on the expectations set before. The tension has peaked, incorporating a constant rate of suspenseful, yet impactful twists and stakes with solid weight behind them. Character motivations and ideals have become more personal, adding to the depth of each side of the conflict. The show has found its stride, and it has never looked or felt better than now.

Vampire Survivors. Bungou Stray Dogs season 5 continues to be an exhausting rollercoaster that I want to get off, but my body and mind won’t let me because I love the thrills and tension. Last time the Armed Detective Agency was on that part of the rollercoaster that climbs to the top of the slope and then plummets down, down and down for the entirety of season 4 as every time you thought things couldn’t get any worse, somehow they do. Season 5 is that part where the plummet ends and the rollercoaster skims across a pool of water spraying everyone in the face before going up another slope and doing the whole thing again, but this time with loop-da-loops. Can you tell I’ve visited Alton Towers recently? Rollercoaster metaphors aside, I do love Bungou Stray Dogs. The loveable characters and their designs, the incredibly tight writing, Studio Bones’ simple yet beautifully fluid animation and incredibly dynamic, none of that has changed from the past four seasons. It's an excellent anime. However… I am starting to notice that I am becoming a little tired of the Bungou Stray Dogs formula. That formula being a new enemy emerges, kicks everyone's teeth in for ten episodes and then a counter-reversal happens in the last two episodes and the day is saved. I am fully aware that I am describing the formula for literally every action anime/manga ever (except Chainsaw Man), but you feel it in Bungou Stray Dogs. Maybe it is because the members of the Armed Detective Agency spent the entirety of season 4 getting their teeth kicked in, or maybe it is because the power scaling is becoming incredibly high with the introduction of the Hunting Dogs. When one of them draws a sword that can cut space and time and he isn’t the son of the Soul King from Bleach I start to wonder if you’re overdoing it. I’m also not too fond of Atsushi. In the span of five seasons, I feel like he’s taken two steps forward as a main protagonist and not much else. It gets tiring watching him go through the same internal conflict every time he hits a wall. Despite my gripes, there is logical consistency throughout the story. I don’t like the space/time sword, but how it is used is interesting and one of the character's counter to it was clever. I may not be fond of Atsushi, but I love Dazai and Ranpo who spent the entire season proving how much smarter they are than everyone, as usual. The vampire plot was… strange, but Bram and Aya are both incredibly entertaining and they genuinely stole the show a few times. I don’t want to talk much more about the story in case I step into spoiler territory, but talking as someone who is hooked on Bungou Stray Dogs I think you know whether or not you like this series. You probably like it a lot if you're this far into it, and you should, it's great. Bungou Stray Dogs is one of those very rare action mystery stories that don’t rely on bullshit “I knew you’d do that” Gotcha moments where a character just does something to outwit another without any satisfying set-up for the audience like in Spy Classroom, the Detective is Already Dead, or Classroom of the Elite (All of which are light novel anime, which should tell you something…). If you want to get into a new long-running series then you can’t go wrong with giving Bungou Stray Dogs a try. 8/10 Great.

Bungo Stray Dogs 5th Season is an absolute Masterpiece and an amazing Conclusion (So far) To the Bungo Stray Dogs Series. Getting right into things, The plot this season is amazing, Continuing onward From Season 4 the main Arc between the two seasons is being continued so this could be regarded as Season 4 Part 2 rather than Season 5. Regardless everything flows so perfectly this season, despite being the exact same Arc from the Fourth Season so much happens, So many new developments within the plot itself aswell, Every episode felt like 10 In a good way, They packed so much content into each episode that keeps you so engaged throughout, The amount of plot turns and they way the tables turn so much keeps you on your toes the entire time and just such an enjoyable viewing experience. The animation this season is outstanding, Not in the way that everything looks beautiful but rather you can tell how much the quality has improved since the first season and overall everything just looks smoother and just better overall leading to a pleasant viewing experience overall. The OST this season Is the best yet especially with the OP. The OP just sounds great with the genre mainly being In my opinion metal which is a really nice change of pace compared to other anime and it does suit this season quite nicely. Overall this is the best Season of Bungo stray dogs and I'd recommend watching the entire show for just this one season alone 10/10

ilk uc sezon benim favorim diger iki sezon beni sadece cildirtti ama bsdnin bu özelliğini seviyorum sağol asagiri cidden. Konu işleyişi olarak sürekli şaşırtııyor beni onun dışında karakterler fan kitlesi tarafından daha çok önemseniyor ki bence de önemsenmeli ç nkü ciddi anlamda çok kaliteli yazılmış karakterler var ama bir konu benim çok sinirimi bozuyor, fanlar tarafından bir karakterin çok abartıldığını düşünüyorum tahmin edersiniz ki bu karakter dazai. Dazai evet iyi karakter hatta beni çok güldüren bazende düşündüren bir karakter ve de gerçek hayattaki dazai yi de çok severim eserleri de ayrıca güzeldir lakin bu karakterde bu kadar abartılacak bir şey görmüyorum. Genel anlamda fan kitlesi yakışıklı olmasndan kaynaklı dazaiy'i seviyor ki bence çok yakışıklı değil. Onun dışında oda,atsushi(ana karakter olmasına rağmen ana karakter muamelesi görmüyor),poe,kedi olan bir adam vardı ismi aklıma gelmiyor o,mori(pedo olması sadece iğrenç ama karakter olarak öenmli biri) belki bu diyeceğim karakter size işte"zaten seviliyor" dedirtebilir ama bence tam olarak anlaşılmayan bir karakter olan chuuya ve son olarak ango özellikle angonun fazla abartılmadığını düşünüyorum ve gereksiz nefret var angoya karşı. Neyse çok uzatmak istemiyorum gayet iyi bir yapım ve karakterlerle daha çok ilişki kurmak için gerçek hayattaki yazarların eserlerini okumanızı öneririm. Tek sıkıntısının mangasının çok yavaş yeni bölüm gelmesi asagiri plz new chapter amk. okuduğunuz için teşekkürleeerrr:33333💞💞💞💗💗💓💓

Two straight seasons of being blown away by this series and all I can do is hunger for more. The complexity of what’s going on is ramped up to 11 as schemes come to fruition and the action largely takes place in two distinct arenas. I don’t think there was a single episode that didn’t end on some major cliffhanger or revelation, so I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. And the way the season wrapped up was worth every second of waiting for it. It’s not without its flaws, though. There is one ability used in this season that’s particularly broken and is continuously used to get out of jams. The whole season is based around some other broken abilities that feel like they push things a bit far, even if it makes sense that the series would keep pushing things. It’s disappointing to see an after-the-credits teaser for next season that looks more like a return to the early seasons of shonen action than something that belongs here. In general, I wouldn’t say this season hits quite as hard in the emotional moments as S4, but there are some actual stakes, characters die (even if there’s still plenty of plot armor to go around), and it’s kind of amazing how well everything comes together. I’m sure some people will argue that this they didn’t like all the explanations for how things played out, but given that this entire season was a series of mind games, I don’t mind that it kept us guessing about how these characters performed the tricks that got them through it. It’s a detective story as well as shonen. That’s part of the package and I think few series can boast to do it this well.

Started off wonderfully with some excellent storytelling and animation. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time I was watching the show, speculating about what would happen next. Given that the plot begins with a moderate pace, it's not difficult to keep up. One would need to be invested in the plot to follow along given the numerous broken abilities some of the characters possessed. What was going to happen next was genuinely difficult to predict. I mean, they have improved with each passing season, and I hope to see that trend continue into season 6. It undoubtedly met expectations and in some ways exceeded. Definitely a watch if your continuing the show.

(This review applies to previous seasons as well) Since the beginning of the show, every season has been better than the previous one. One of the things this anime does very well is giving context to every character. By this, I mean few flashback episodes at the start of some seasons that are actually meaningful and get you more attached to already interesting characters, even some beloved side characters (Odasaku, yes). I have to say though, BSD is probably the best out there at playing the ending song during the last scene of each episode. Most episodes end on a cliffhanger that make you thirst for the next one. Even though season 1 is probably the weakest season (but still enjoyable), I'd still recommend to give it a shot.

BSD is actually good?! This season delivers some of the most engaging content since season 3. A direct continuation from the 4th, the 5th installment sees the Detective Agency grappling with their tarnished reputation due to the Decay of Angels' plot. I've often had my gripes with the series' worldbuilding and the sometimes haphazard introduction of plot points. But surprisingly, this season made me overlook most of those concerns, and I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. While previous seasons sometimes felt like they were making things up on the fly and brushing it off with a cheap, technically infallible "it exists, we just didn't give you prior context," and this annoying formula prevails, but this approach worked better this time around. The high-stakes and asspulls were entertaining in a way that the previous seasons failed me. What's even better is that the tone shifts and comedic elements didn't feel as disruptive as they did in the past. The show used to struggle with maintaining its balance, often feeling cheesy when it attempted seriousness (The finale of season 1 and the Guild arc sucked), barring a few good moments (Fyodor's in Episode 29, Backstory arcs, season 3 as a whole was pretty solid.). But this season, it's like they finally found their groove and made fewer missteps. Even if they weren't winging it as I assume, it definitely felt like they did. I'm not sure whether it was the fault of Asagiri for not making the series as a whole cohesive, or Bones' adaptation of the source material. Granted, Bungo Stray Dogs has always excelled in its character department (with a handful of S-tier characters and others left underdeveloped), but its worldbuilding has often left much to be desired, although, this season's shortcomings in worldbuilding didn't bother me as much. All in all, this season of BSD managed to overcome the issues that plagued its predecessors, offering a more consistent and focused viewing experience. The writing feels committed, unlike before when consequences often felt non-existent. Whether a die-hard fan or a skeptical viewer like me, season 5 is a definite W for the series. Story: 7 Animation: 7 Visuals: 8 Music: 9 (OST) 7 (OP & ED) Characters: 8 Sound: 8 (Sound Design) 7 (Voice Acting) Favorite Episode: 4 - Hero War, Gang War.