Title: Bungo Stray Dogs Vol. 19
Author: Kafka Asagiri (Story), Sango Harukawa (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 192
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Publication Date: July 13, 2021
The Story
Volume nineteen of Bungo Stray Dogs deals with the rescue of Kunikida, Katai, and Fukuzawa by none other than Ranpo! Ranpo goes through a pretty long series of Deus Ex Machina plot points to explain how he rescued all three of them. Once the operation is complete, Ranpo asks Fukuzawa for his orders. His orders are that he doesn’t want the case solved… he wants it destroyed.
With this in mind, Ranpo seeks out the head of The Hunting Dogs: Ouchi Fukuchi. Fukuchi, known as one of the world’s greatest heroes, was also asked to head up a brand-new military… a military that will act as a global anti-terrorism force that works independently of any nation. At first, he denies the request but then accepts it. After he accepts it, Ranpo pays him a visit based on a suggestion by Fukuzawa. In short, the ADA and the Hunting Dogs want to team up in order to track down The Decay of the Angel and its leader, Kamui.
Fukuchi still doesn’t trust the ADA thanks to the words written on The Page by Kamui but he goes with his gut instinct and trusts Ranpo. For now, they need to escape so Ranpo, Atsushi, and Fukuchi all get on board a luxury liner and head out. There, Atsushi asks Ranpo to use his powers of super deduction to discover the true identity of Kamui. After using his powers, he finds the answer!
The Characters
There wasn’t much in the way of character development in this volume… that I can talk about. I could unveil the identity of Kamui but it would ruin a major plot point. Honestly, the spoiler is the biggest character development in the entire volume.
Ranpo did get a good share of the spotlight but there really wasn’t much to write home about as far as his character goes. Once again, he resolved to use excuses that seemed a little too perfect or too convenient in the ADA’s rescue operation. I get that he’s supposed to be a tremendously smart person but sometimes these scenarios are a little too perfectly written… even for a character like him.
Outside of that, there was more story progression than there was character progression in this volume.
Final Thoughts
The volume was pretty thrilling, even with the perfect solutions to rescuing the ADA members. Funny enough, as soon as Ranpo began his deduction as to Kamui’s true identity, I guess it right away.
I did find it interesting that the reason why they couldn’t find The Page was that it was being kept hidden in the one spot nobody would think to look… it was being held by Kamui himself the entire time. Given the fact that Kamui always wears a gas mask, it made the task of figuring out his identity all that more difficult but once Rampo thought back to the world before The Page altered it, he strung together enough clues to discover his true identity.
All that is left is for them to get the page back from Kamui but that’s going to be a tougher challenge than once thought.
Of course, Kamui being a tough challenge is expected. He is the “final boss” of this story arc so why would it be an easy task? At least now, we might see the ADA and The Hunting Dogs team up so things may not be as bleak as it would seem!
Volume 20 is shaping up to be quite the thriller! Can’t wait to see if they can get The Page back and fix, at least, half of this mess! There is still the problem of the exploding coins and the end of humanity and all of that.
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @JJPiedraOELN
You can also check out other The Outerhaven reviews on your favorite social media networks:
Subscribe to us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theouterhaven
Subscribe to us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOuterHaven
Subscribe to us on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/theouterhavennet
This item was provided for review by Yen Press
