Title: Bungo Stray Dogs Vol. 14
Author: Kafka Asagiri (Story), Sango Harukawa (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 184
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Publication Date: March 24, 2020
The Story
Volume fourteen of Bungo Stray Dogs wraps up Ranpo’s investigation after he admits defeat… but come on, do you actually think Ranpo would give up? Using his brilliant deduction, he solves the mystery of the body that fell from the roof in the last volume. The majority of the volume dedicates itself to unraveling who did it and how Ranpo figured it out so I’ll refrain from spoiling the ending but the Detective Killer was, as you would expect, outmatched and outwitted by Ranpo. Did you really expect anything less from him?
However, the conclusion to that arc gives rise to a new arc involving a group of five people known as The Decay of the Angel. The group consists of Dostoyevsky, a new character that we are introduced to known as The Clown, Gogol, and three other people who have not yet been identified. Ranpo was warned for the A.D.A. not to take their next mission as it would mean their destruction and that is exactly what it is shaping up to be!
Gogol uses the government’s justice department to frame the A.D.A. for a crime that the Decay of Angels is committing. Gogol’s skill is incredibly difficult to deal with as he uses Special Abilities to transport virtually anything within the confines of his cloak. He ends up in a battle with Atsushi and, as you can imagine, Atsushi didn’t exactly fare too well. The volume ends with the military police showing up and setting up their snipers. I’ll leave the rest of the ending up to you to read.
All I will say is that this is going to be the A.D.A.’s toughest challenge to date. Gogol’s skill is incredibly powerful. So powerful that certain measures had to be taken before the trap and framing could be set up and acted out. This is going to take an absolute miracle to get the A.D.A. out of this one but… there are already pieces in place for that miracle to happen. Whether or not those pieces are accounted for is a completely different story. Still, this looks to be a highly interesting arc and I can’t wait to see how it unfolds!
The Characters
Atsushi undergoes some training with Kunikida who gives him a bit of a pointer… that while his Tiger Skill is strong, Atsushi, himself, is not. Somehow, this shocked Atsushi to hear that. Is he that painfully naïve to his own weakness? That would be really dumb if he was… especially with his backstory and everything that he had gone through up until this point. Then again, holding your own against Akutagawa several times could cause you to become a bit naïve to your own strengths and weaknesses so, who knows? Still, it felt as if a seed were planted for Atsushi to receive a bit of a power-up soon. The fact that he tried to detail Gogol by holding him to conversation is a sign of growth as he’s starting to think a bit more intelligently! That’s a good sign!
Aside from Mushi, Gogol received the biggest spotlight in this volume. Gogol is pretty eccentric. He likes to give his victims quizzes but, then again, sometimes he actually lies during them. He said it himself to never trust what a clown says. I’m really enjoying him as a villain. He’s like The Joker from Batman just turned up to 11. He’s more eccentric but yet he is calm and in control at all times! His skill is incredibly powerful and with that kind of power in the hands of someone like him, it is clear that he will be the A.D.A.’s greatest challenge to date. I just hope they don’t end up taking him down with some sort of Deus Ex Machina plot device.
Speaking of Mushi, we did receive some nice backstory on how he met Dostoyevsky and got involved with his plans. We got to understand his motives and how he carried out his “perfect crime” which wasn’t so perfect since Ranpo was able to figure it out. Still, the actual motive, the method, and everything else was a bit of an enjoyable twist. I know it was set up that way in order for the reader to feel some sort of connection to the character but I just didn’t. Even if Mushi was also used to set up Gogol’s arrival, I still didn’t really care all that much. The mystery was more entertaining than the character, sadly.
Final Thoughts
I really like how this series just keeps transitioning from one arc to another. Very rarely is there any downtime or filler arcs between stories and if there are, they usually end up leading into a new major arc rather quickly. Bungo Stray Dogs knows how to keep readers hooked and how to keep the story interesting. It is a series that rarely takes its foot off the gas and volume fourteen is no exception. With the Mushi/Detective Killer arc over, we are plunged straight into the Decay of the Angel arc and this, in and of itself, looks to be incredible!
Rather than action, this one seems to be a more cerebral arc, much like the last, but under much different pretenses. Not sure if we will get to see the other three members of the group but with Dostoyevsky and Gogol getting unveiled one at a time in their own arcs, it would suggest that this could be a long-running meta story broken up over several story arcs and that’s just fine by me! I’m a sucker for slow burns and this one looks to be just that!
Watch! I say that and the other three will be revealed next volume! Guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
