The following contains spoilers for Bungo Stray Dogs Season 4, Episode 4, "A Perfect Murder And Murderer (Part 1)," now streaming on Crunchyroll.
As audiences have come to expect, Bungo Stray Dogs Season 4 teases them with a nostalgic-feeling backstory arc only to then revert to the present. Ranpo and Fukuzawa’s origin story, which is also a stepping stone for the foundation of the Armed Detective Agency, is wrapped up quickly but satisfactorily, and the agency’s battle against Fyodor and his allies comes back in full swing.
Episode 4 doesn’t let go of Ranpo, choosing instead to follow his investigation as he tries to free Kunikida from jail. In spite of his usual self-confidence, for the first time, Ranpo comes up against an apparently insurmountable wall. All the pieces of the puzzle are in front of him, yet he cannot see the answer. What consequences can failure have on someone with such self-assurance as Ranpo?
Bungo Stray Dogs Picks Up Where It Left Off
While Season 3 wrapped things up nicely, with the promise of a fight between Atsushi and Akutagawa six months away, Season 4 still starts where the previous one ended. Fyodor’s Rats are still active behind the scenes, and their first victim is Kunikida. Falsely accused of murder, he is rotting away in jail when Ranpo finds him. Knowing that Kunikida is innocent and realizing that Fyodor must be the one to frame him, Ranpo sets out to find the culprit and free his teammate.
More than likely functioning as a set-up for this season’s conflict, Ranpo’s investigation has him run after an 'evidence destroyer' -- someone who can wipe out all evidence of a crime. Fyodor is still a few steps ahead of the agency, as the audience can see from a two-month-old flashback where Fyodor hires the evidence destroyer to work a special job for them.
Ranpo Finally Finds His Match in a 'Perfect Murderer'
Ranpo’s rival Poe makes an appearance in Episode 4 as he tries to solve a crime himself. Running into Ranpo by chance, he inadvertently helps him with his investigation since it becomes apparent that the two crimes -- the one Poe is trying to unlock and the evidence destroyer one -- are linked. Ranpo easily figures out that the evidence destroyer tried to fake his death, but as he slips his glasses on to finally find the murderer, he is stunned to realize that he doesn’t know. Ranpo has stumbled into a 'perfect crime.'
The initial three-episode arc finally makes sense when Ranpo’s investigation is introduced as the first act of Season 4. His backstory is essential to understand the consequences that failing to find the answer can have on the detective. In fact, Ranpo’s reaction is one of pure astonishment. For someone with as much self-assurance as him, fallibility must be overwhelmingly hard to take. While the audience knows that he failed because the evidence destroyer is a Gifted person with the ability to destroy all evidence, Ranpo doesn’t.
However, after ruminating in silence for some time, Ranpo runs into the evidence destroyer. What seems to be an uncanny coincidence is actually Ranpo’s plan. He understood that the murderer must have been a Gifted and, while he is admittedly powerless against real abilities, he worked with the few facts he had to get to the solution. The three-episode flashback that opened Season 4 serves as a foundation for understanding Ranpo’s character. Once a lost and scared child, he was transformed by his encounter with Fukuzawa, eventually growing into a confident detective. Despite his grandiose airs, he is a grounded individual who knows how hard it can be to get to the truth -- but he believes in himself nonetheless. Ranpo’s current investigation seems to hint at a long narrative arc that will still largely feature Fyodor’s Rats. Bungo Stray Dogs Season 4 is really just beginning.