Title: Bungo Stray Dogs Vol. 18
Author: Kafka Asagiri (Story), Sango Harukawa (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Publication Date: March 30, 2021
The Story
Volume eighteen of Bungo Stray Dogs opens with Teruko stopping a plane from crashing into the Sky Casino with Tachihara watching on. Afterward, they realize that they need to get to Sigma as Tachihara discovered with The Decay of Angel’s true plan is… to circulate currency from the casino throughout the world and then detonate all of the coins, causing mass murder and destruction. The result would be the downfall of the world’s economy which would lead to another world war!
Meanwhile, Atsushi and Kyouka are trying to carry out Dazai’s plan of uniting with The Hunting Dogs in order to prove their innocence. What they didn’t count on was Teruko and Tachihara being as fast as they are and getting to Sigma before them. Teruko battles Sigma; however, Sigma plunges off the side of the Sky Casino in the process. Atsushi attempts to save him but they are confronted by Hawthorne! Anne intervenes and they are back to square one inside of Anne’s Room.
Meanwhile, Sigma is thought to be dead; however, someone else who was thought to be dead intervenes. I’ll leave those tidbits for the readers!
So much happening in this volume… way more than I summarized above because I’m trying not to reveal everything; however, I can tell you that Dostoevsky is an insane mastermind and it seems as if he is always two or three steps ahead of Dazai. We also see another agency member we haven’t seen in a long while who receives a pretty strong arm offer from The Hunting Dogs. Things are definitely heating up as this volume just packs in multiple storylines and ties them all together!
The Characters
We got to see a bit more of Teruko as well as learn about her skill. She can change the age of anyone she touches. Once she has you, she can crumble you into old age or revert you into an infant. Her power is insane and it is said that in close combat, she is invincible. We also saw just how powerful her strength is after she stopped that plane and deflected armor-piercing rounds from Sigma’s miniguns. She’s definitely worthy of her title among The Hunting Dogs although her attitude could use a little work.
Tachihara was asked to rejoin the mafia for more undercover work. Outside of his conflicted emotions in doing so, not really much happened with him.
We got a little more insight into just how intelligent and dangerous Dostoevsky is. The fact that he and Dazai instantly created an unbreakable code to speak in while in prison shows their level of intelligence. It is still a bit of a mystery as to what his true goal is. Just when we thought we had the answers, Dostoevsky changes the questions.
The reappearance of two characters is a bit spoiler-ish but at least we got an explanation as to how they are still alive!
Finally, the big focus was on Sigma. He is an engineered human with no past and amnesia. His skill was useful in carrying out crimes and after his creation, he was abducted by human traffickers. Once he escaped, Dostoevsky found him and made him an offer. Because of this, we learned the history of the Sky Casino and why Sigma could be the most powerful man in the world but it’s not for reasons you would expect. In a way, you kind of feel sorry for him once you learn his true past.
Final Thoughts
Simply amazing. I keep singing this manga’s praises each time I review it because it really is that good. Once again, we are taking multiple storylines and tying them together seamlessly in order to create a bigger, overall picture. The action is still top-notch, the story aspects are highly intriguing, the twists keep you guessing, and everything is just laid out perfectly!
There is a revelation that Atsushi had about knowing where the Page is. I guess we will find out more about that in Vol. 19; however, I am more interested in what Dostoevsky really has planned, and with a certain someone’s reappearance, I wonder if it’s actually part of his plan or if it is an outlier that he hadn’t considered? Given how intelligent Dostoevsky has been portrayed so far, I would find it hard to believe that someone’s reappearance wasn’t a calculated portion of his plan. Either that or maybe Dazai counted on it as a backup should Atsushi fail? I don’t know… it seems it could go either way right now!
All I know is that I’m hooked and want more!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
