Bungo Stray Dogs, Volume 7: Dazai, Chuuya, Age Fifteen

So happy to finally have this! It's a nice addition to what we got to see in the anime, since we get to see some of the characters' thoughts and more elaboration on events.

I was actually really happy with part of the ending where Chuuya actually walks away from the Sheep attack for a time and finds Dazai, rather than Dazai was just sitting under the cliff for the Sheep attack, waiting for him, everyone posed dramatically. It makes more sense visually to save time with what happens in the anime, but the novelization version works more, logically.

It's still a great story, and Chuuya and Dazai get up to a lot of funny hijinks. The internal art is also quite lovely. The cover is gorgeous. And I love the preview of Verlaine.

My one criticism show more is probably Chuuya's dialogue. It's incredibly cringe-worthy and uncomfortable to read when they try to make him sound... I don't know... uncultured? Not as refined as Dazai or most other characters? I imagine they're trying to accurately reflect whatever Japanese dialect Chuuya is using that differentiates him from Dazai in particular, and this is the closest they got, and it's just... kind of strange.

Overall, a great light novel in the series. show less

TBC