Bungo Stray Dogs

Written by Kafka Asagiri and illustrated by Sango Harukawa, Bungo Stray Dogs began publishing the manga in Kadokawa Shoten's seinen magazine Young Ace in 2012. Kadokawa has compiled the series into twenty tankōbon volumes as of December 2020. The series has been licensed for North America by Yen Press with the first volume being released on December 20, 2016.[11] The English translation is by Kevin Gifford.[12] As of October 2020, 16 volumes of the main manga have been published.

A manga based on the light novel Beast, which is illustrated by Shiwasu Hoshikawa, debuted on 26 December 2019 in the February 2020 issue of Monthly Shōnen Ace.[13] This spin-off manga features Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, who joins the Armed Detective Agency, and Atsushi Nakajima as a subordinate of the Port Mafia.[13]

An anime television series adaptation produced by Bones was directed by Takuya Igarashi and written by Yōji Enokido.[1] Nobuhiro Arai and Hiroshi Kanno served as the chief animation directors, while the former also served as character designer along with Ryō Hirata. Taku Iwasaki composed the series' music. Kazuhiro Wakabayashi was the series' sound director at Glovision. Additionally, Yumiko Kondou was the art director, Yukari Goto was the anime's color designer, Tsuyoshi Kanbayashi was the director of photography and Shigeru Nishiyama was the editor.[14] Granrodeo performed the anime's opening theme, titled "Trash Candy",[15][16] and Luck Life performed the anime's ending theme, titled "Namae wo Yobu yo" ((名前を呼ぶよ, I'll call your name).[17]

The series was split into two halves: the first half, containing twelve episodes, premiered on 7 April 2016 and ended on 23 June 2016,[16] being broadcast on Tokyo MX, Teletama, Chiba TV, tvk, GBS (Gifu Broadcasting), Mie TV, SUN, TVQ Kyushu, and BS11.[18] The second half, also containing twelve episodes, premiered on 6 October 2016 and ended on 22 December 2016.[16][19] The series has been licensed for streaming by Crunchyroll.[20] As for the second half, Screen Mode sung the opening theme titled "Reason Living" while Luck Life once again sung the ending theme titled "Kaze ga Fuku Machi" (風が吹く街, lit. "The city where the wind blows").

An OVA was bundled with the 13th limited edition manga volume, which was released on 31 August 2017.[21][22]

On 21 July 2018, it was announced that the series would receive a third season.[23] The cast and staff would reprise their roles from the previous two seasons.[24] The third season premiered from 12 April 2019 and ended on 28 June 2019, being broadcast on Tokyo MX, TVA, KBS, SUN, BS11, and Wowow.[25] Granrodeo performed the third seasons' opening theme "Setsuna no Ai" (セツナの愛 lit. "A moment's love") and Luck Life performed the third season's ending theme "Lily".[26] Funimation released the simuldub on May 17, 2019.[27]

The anime is licensed in North America by Crunchyroll with home video distribution by Funimation, and in the United Kingdom by Anime Limited.[2][3]

In June 2020, Kadokawa announced that an anime television series adaptation of the spin-off manga, Bungo Stray Dogs Wan!, is in production.[28] Satonobu Kikuchi is directing the series, with Kazuyuki Fudeyasu handling series composition, and Hiromi Daimi designing the characters, with Bones and Nomad handling production. The main cast members will reprise their roles. The series premiered on January 13, 2021 on Tokyo MX, BS11, MBS, Wowow.[29][30]

At the Mayo(w)i Inu-tachi no Utage Sono Ni event on 19 February 2017, a film project based on the manga series was announced.[31] Titled Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple,[32] the film premiered on 3 March 2018 with the staff and cast from the anime series returning to reprise their roles.[33]

A new live-action film was announced in July 2019. It will be based on the stage plays from the series.[34]

An action role-playing game titled Bungo Stray Dogs Mayoi Inu Kaikitan has been announced and is set to release on iOS and Android.[35] The game will include character side stories that were not found in the anime series as well as new game-exclusive scenarios.[36]

A stage play based on the events in the first season of the anime was realized starting at the KAAT Kanagawa Arts Theatre in Yokohama from December 2017, with the play moving through major cities in Japan. It was also shown at the Morinomiya Piloti Hall in Osaka on January 12–13, and at AiiA 2.5 Theater Tokyo from January 31 to February 4. Starting in September 2018, a second stage play was done based on the light novel Dazai Osamu and the Dark Era and its anime adaption in the second season of the show. It was first shown in Tokyo at the Sunshine Gekijō from September 22 to October 8 and then moved to Osaka where it ran at the Morinomiya Piloti Hall on October 13–14.[37] A third stage play based on the rest of the second season, thus excluding Dazai's backstory at the beginning of the season, was performed from June to July 2019 in Iwate, Fukuoka, Aichi and Osaka, and in July in Tokyo.[38]

Bungo Stray Dogs was well received in Japan. As of late 2016, the manga sold 4.1 million books.[39] The series also appeared in the Da Vinci's magazine poll from Kadokawa Shoten,[40] while the franchise combined sold 1,878,804,092 units in 2016.[41] By 2018, the series reached 6 million copies.[42] It came in at number 11 for the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2014".[43] Author Dan Brown was attracted by the manga when the author created a fictional version of himself to promote the story. Brown stated he was pleased with the result.[44]

Critical reception to the series has been positive. The Fandom Post said ever since its start the series has had potential to be an entertaining manga, citing the characterization of Atsushi and the power he has,[45] later leading to interesting mystery arcs when more characters from multiple parties become involved,[46] such as the reclutant alliance Atsushi and his rival Akutagawa form to defeat another group.[47] The artwork was praised by UK Anime Network for how detailed are fight scenes while also praising the balance between dark and light plot storylines. Nevertheless, he found a common commentary within fans that the series suffers from a slow pace.[48]

The anime series and its film have been popular, appearing in multiple polls, involving its style, cosplay among others.[49][50][51][52][53] Atomix listed it as the fifth best anime from 2016, praising its premise, designs and references to writers.[54] In the Newtype Anime Awards 2016–2017 at the Machi Asobi Vol. 19 event, the anime series took the second place in "Best television series" behind Fate/Apocrypha.[55] Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network listed the third season of the anime as one of her favorite anime from early 2019.[56] The home media releases of the series were also popular in Japan, achieving good sales.[57][58][59] The film Dead Apple was also the winner of Newtype's "Theatrical Film Award" in 2018.[60] In 2019, the series once again took second place in the best television series award behind Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba in the same magazine's awards.[61]