REVIEW: ‘Bungo Stray Dogs’ Episode 56 — “At the Port In The Sky, Part 2”

The race to save the world is on as the Armed Detective Agency sets out to stop Ouchi Fukuchi from obtaining the One Order. Bungo Stray Dogs Season 5 Episode 6, “At the Port in the Sky, Part 2”, picks up right as Fukuchi is hunting down Aya and appears to have her cornered. While the Armed Detective Agency might finally have a chance to stop Fukuchi, he still poses an incredible threat that will take everything they have to defeat.

When Aya was first caught taking a picture of Fukuchi as evidence of his role as the main villain, I was sure she would be caught immediately. That she could escape Fukuchi shows he is not as infallible as he appeared at the start of the season. His plans’ last few wrinkles have also made Fukuchi paranoid. He assumes it was a trap, one of many the Agency allegedly set up to trick him into revealing himself and Bram’s location.

It can be difficult to take a villain with seemingly unstoppable powers and make it believable that they could lose, but Bungo Stray Dogs Season 5 Episode 6 shows Fukuchi’s weak points. No amount of planning can account for human nature, and how he responds to his plans starts to unravel. Ranpo, ever the brilliant planner for the Agency, begins to enact his new plan that will halt Fukuchi’s plot and, in the process, cause Fukuchi to slip up.

Bungo Stray Dogs Season 5 Episode 6 starts by building hope that the Agency might win here, only to pull the rug out from underneath them. Or, instead, it seems that way at first. The way expectations are subverted and the plot twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat, waiting to see who was going to come out on top. The margin for error is incredibly small, and Ranpo and Fukuchi are master planners. Seeing the two of them battle each other and other outside forces without ever physically coming to blows is a large part of what makes Bungo Stray Dogs so interesting as a series. It is as much a battle of wits as a battle of special abilities, which is on full display here.

Meanwhile, two other major players in Bungo Stray Dogs, Fyodor, and Dazai, are still stuck in the special prison Meursault. The conflict between the two is not shown much here, but an interesting development sets up their escape. They are both poisoned and given 30 minutes to escape, and the first one to do so will survive. This Nikolai Game, as it’s called, is only introduced in this episode. Still, their sadistic reactions to the game starting and the deadly premise set up an intriguing showdown in future episodes before they either die or rejoin the battle at large as reinforcements for their respective sides.

As good as all of those moments are, the reveal of how Aya hid from Fukuchi and what ensues after he leaves really impressed me. It turns out she hid inside Bram’s coffin, the last place Fukuchi would expect to look. After Bram attempts to strike fear into the young girl’s heart, Aya is unphased and ultimately forges an unlikely bond with one of Fukuchi’s deadliest weapons. The only way for Fukuchi to have the One Order released to him is if the vampire armies attack, but he cannot order them to do so without Bram. The idea that his plan could be foiled by a young girl and her new friend, the vampire lord Bram, is comical and extremely on-brand for the series.

The relationship between Aya and Bram is also surprisingly wholesome. Bram is the lord of darkness; Aya should be scared out of her mind just by being in the same room as him. Instead, this 10-year-old girl with no special abilities is so determined to do what is right that she gets through to Bram. They share a heartfelt moment to end the episode that is both emotional and comedic since it turns out all Bram wants is to experience wireless radio. Aya shows Bram the world of music streaming services that directly ties the end of the episode into the end credits, which was neat to see done. It’s also just a nice bonding moment between two of the unlikeliest of allies, and I can’t wait to see their relationship develop now that they seem to be working together.

Bungo Stray Dogs Season 5 Episode 6 continues to develop the main plot while providing interesting side stories to keep viewers engaged. The plot continues to thicken, but it does finally seem like the Armed Detective Agency stands a chance of stopping Fukuchi once and for all.

Bungo Stray Dogs Season 5 Episode 6 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.