Bungo Stray Dogs Season 4 will premiere in January 2023, as shown earlier in the first trailer. The information was revealed during a Crunchyroll Expo, which was attended by studio Bones president Masahiko Minami and Kadokawa’s producer Chiaki Kurakane. The panel is still ongoing and will be available as video-on-demand, starting today at 5 pm PST.
Minami and Kurakane talked about Kafka Asagiri’s involvement in the production and praised their dedication, stating that it was unusual to see an author be so involved, as it is usually the editorial department’s job. The duo also touched upon Nobuhiro Arai’s character designs, which played an important role in bringing the manga characters to life. Season 3 was produced alongside the Bungo Stray Dogs movie, something that was very challenging for the staff, according to president Minami. Kurakane talked about adding original anime scenes to the adaptation, which in Bungo’s case is visible in the first season.
A new visual, dubbed the “international visual” was revealed. It is dedicated to overseas fans and it was drawn by Nobuhiko Arai. Arai’s involvement as the chief animation director was also highlighted; Bungo Stray Dogs, as a series with many characters, requires his input. He apparently prefers using pencils, and Minami jokingly says that he has never seen him use pens and markers before (a making-of video of a special postcard was shown during the panel). Other fun tidbits, like the fact that Bones picked up Fullmetal Alchemist anime after Yoshiyuki Ito (character designer) praised the manga, were also shared.
The fourth season of the highly-popular anime was announced in November of last year when it was announced that studio Bones will be returning to animate. Takuya Igarashi is directing the sequel, while Youjo Enokido is writing the screenplay and doing the series composition. Both Igarashi and Enokido worked on the previous seasons; Igarashi directed the Dead Apple movie. Nobuhiro Arai is doing character designs and is also listed as the chief animation director.
In addition to the trailer and new visual, new characters that will appear in Bungo Stray Dogs’ fourth season were also introduced, along with the voice cast. Akio Otsuka will voice Ochi Fukuchi, Makoto Koichi is Teruko Okura, Takehito Koyasu is joining as Nikolai Gogol, and Takeshi Kusao is Mushitaro Oguri. Their character designs were also revealed:
Bungo Stray Dogs is based on a manga by Kafka Asagiri, with Harukawa35 illustrations. Serialization started in 2012 in Young Ace magazine with Yen Press holding the English license. A prequel manga with Sango Harukawa’s art is currently ongoing in Kadokawa Beans Bunko magazine.
The anime adaptation aired in the Spring of 2016, with a second season following in the Fall season of the same year. Season 3 aired in 2019. The franchise also has a movie titled Bungo Stray Dogs: Dead Apple, as well as an OVA Bungo Stray Dogs: Walking Alone from 2017. A stage play titled Storm Bringer was announced earlier this year and a live-action movie is also in the works.
Yen Press describes the plot as:
Having been kicked out of the orphanage, a despairing young man by the name of Atsushi Nakajima rescues a strange man from a suicide attempt–Osamu Dazai. Turns out that Dazai is part of an armed-detective agency staffed by individuals whose supernatural powers take on a literary bent!
Source: Crunchyroll Expo Stream
©Kafka Asagiri, Harukawa35/KADOKAWA/Bungo Stray Dogs Production Committee
The article will be updated with relevant information as it comes in.
