Bungo Stray Dogs – Season 5 Episode 9 Recap & Review

Ulterior Motive

Episode 9 of Bungo Stray Dogs Season 5 titled ‘Land of Inhuman Demons (Part 2)’ begins with Akutagawa attacking Aya. Outside Kunikida and Tanizaki are taking out the guards when Fukuchi attacks. Elsewhere, Atsushi is strapped to a bed and Teruko points a sword at him. In a flashback, Fukuchi is surrounded by dead comrades. One of them tells him to avenge them so they don’t die of regret.

At present, Fukuzawa and Ranpo meet with Fukuchi who is holding Kunikida and Tanizaki hostage. Ranpo tries to trap Fukuchi in Poe’s novel but the Hunting Dog goes back in time and stops him. Fukuzawa realises that Fukuchi doesn’t want to end the world, but has a hidden motive. Fukuchi says yes and makes a deal – to guess his ulterior motive in 5 minutes or he will kill the hostages.

Elsewhere, Teruko frees Atsushi and he is shocked. Turns out, Fukuchi has also roped her into his real plan but she doesn’t want to torture Atsushi who is a good guy. He misunderstands and thinks that she will help him but she kicks him. Even though she knows the truth, she is still siding with Fukuchi. But on seeing that Atsushi is adamant about meting out justice, she makes up a game. She will tell him Fukuchi’s real goal but that will only make Atsushi want to give up hope. 

Outside, the old comrades clash and for a second, Fukuzawa thinks he can outmanoeuvre Fukuchi since they have known each other for 20 years. In a flashback, a young Fukuchi is challenging several dojos till he reaches Fukuzawa. But for the first time, he is evenly matched and he decides to train alongside him.

13 years later, Fukuchi tries to get Fukuzawa to join the war and is angry when he says no. However, Fukuzawa has other plans as he ends the war by killing the higher-ups responsible for dragging it. But it is too late as Fukuchi is a changed man after seeing all the destruction.

At present, he says he has changed, and mercilessly stabs Fukuzawa. The injured President guesses that Fukuchi wants revenge on those who forced his comrades to endlessly fight in a losing war including Fukuzawa who betrayed him by refusing to fight. But his guess is wrong and Fukuchi stabs him in the chest.

Fukuchi also orders the UN minister to unlock the One Order who still cannot believe that he is the bad guy. The minister thinks it is a part of some grand plan to save the world and Fukuchi laughs as he says maybe he will allow him to live as long as he listens to his orders. The minister agrees to unlock the weapon as long as the vampires don’t attack.

Inside, Teruko tells Atsushi he is free to go but he is stuck in a dilemma after hearing the real goal and wonders if it is right to stop Fukuchi. But he suddenly sees his friends and even Akutagawa saying that he should look outwards. He realises that he needs to tell Fukuzawa anyway and runs out.

Back to Mersault, Sigma as usual is annoyed but this time it is because he keeps losing to Dazai while playing rock-paper-scissors. Dazai keeps messing around with him till Sigma finally asks why he chose him in Nikolai’s escape game. Dazai first jokes that it is fun to have an audience to his antics, a Kunikida 2.0 if he must. But tired, Sigma just takes it as him not being important enough to be privy to his plans.

Dazai takes mercy and says it is because Sigma can read Fyodor’s future plans from his corpse. He adds that he needs to help the Agency and this strikes a chord in Sigma who has always been expendable. He is sad that he has no one while Dazai has found a home with the Agency. Dazai’s second reasoning is that if he hadn’t chosen him, Fyodor would have killed Sigma. 

Their bonding is suddenly interrupted as Fyodor and Chuuya reach the control centre and trap the elevator the two are in. Fyodor kills the time-suspending criminal and Dazai deduces that one of the guards was a vampire. Fyodor gloats as he reveals that Chuuya dented the wall. This means the hallway was never sealed and Chuuya and Fyodor had just swam out. Fyodor returns the favour and the elevator starts flooding with toxic water as he leaves.

The Episode Review

About time, Teruko got her redemption arc as well. She by far is the most interesting Hunting Dog but we have barely seen her as she only hangs out in the background. But she definitely is the smartest with the way she plays Atsushi and Fukuchi which even Jono or Tachihara couldn’t.

She knows she cannot go against her captain, so she is sticking with him as long as he is the victor. She doesn’t care about rights or wrongs and simply has strong self-preservation instincts. But what is Fukuchi’s ulterior motive and why does it show him in a good light to Teruko and Atsushi?

While, previously, the new pairings have bordered on comic relief, in episode 9 of Bungo Stray Dogs season 5, these relationships have been given substance such as that of Fukuchi and Fukuzawa’s friendship.

And aww, hope Dazai takes Sigma in. He would be a good addition to the Detective Agency. Poor Sigma, he has been used by everyone ever since his existence whether it is Fyodor or Nikolai. He would also be overjoyed to see that there is someone like him with the way Kunikida too is always frustrated with Dazai’s tomfoolery.