Bungou Stray Dogs fans slam manga’s “bad” habit with character deaths

The latest chapter of Bungou Stray Dogs has fans unhappy over one “bad” habit of the series relating to character deaths.

Bungou Stray Dogs, written by Kafka Asagiri and illustrated by Sango Harukawa, just released its new chapter. Numbered as Chapter 114.5 and titled ‘Ressurectio, Part 2’, it has a number of shocking revelations.

While the latest installment is very important for finally revealing Fyodor’s ability Crime and Punishment, it also makes the unexpected revelation that Fukuchi is still alive. This is a shocking twist as he seemingly got his conclusion only two chapters ago.

Ever since his introduction in Bungou Stray Dogs, Fukuchi has faced a number of death scares. He was seemingly killed by Atsushi and Akutagawa’s tag team but he survived by using his ability and turning back time. His last and most prominent death was by Teruko in Chapter 113.

In the chapter, Teruko stabbed him through the chest after Fukuzawa failed to kill his childhood best friend. The stab was lethal and pierced through his heart, seemingly leading to his death. However, Chapter 114.5 reveals that despite the lethal wound, Fukuchi still didn’t die.

This doesn’t sit right with the Bungou Stray Dogs fandom. Fans are now criticizing the series for never killing any of its major characters, with the exception of Oda.

Characters like Dazai and Fyodor have had multiple fake-outs with no real damage in the end. The only character who has is Oda, with his death changing the trajectory of Dazai’s life.

The criticism centers on the idea that frequent fake-outs diminish the impact of a character death. Bungou Stray Dogs has always excelled in infusing emotions within its characters, but failing to include real deaths has sparked criticism.

“The day Asagiri kills someone important in the manga, a world ends (apart from Odasaku etc),” comments a user on X/Twitter.

“Seriously, it’s bad writing how nobody actually dies when they’re supposed to,” says another.

Another user writes, “I fully thought Fukuchi was dead. Some characters really need to start actually dying in this show, I swear.”

Despite the criticism, the series might be on its way to correct this habit. In the latest chapter of the Bungou Stray Dogs manga, Bram died, having Fyodor subsume him with his ability. However, whether Bram stays dead for long is yet to be seen.