Look, I love Studio Bones. They adapted Bungo Stray Dogs with a loyalty that would make Kunikida blush—probably because Kafka Asagiri himself lurked in the writers’ room like a benevolent specter. But anime-only fans, bless your hearts, you've been robbed. Not of the big stuff, but of a tiny, juicy morsel that whispers “this is going to be a problem later”. And I’m not talking about yet another Dazai suicide joke.
Let’s rewind to Episode 32, “Fitzgerald Rising”. Twenty-something minutes that turned everyone’s favorite dollar-burning Gatsby wannabe into an underdog you couldn’t help but cheer for. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is, uh, not named after the real author—wait, yes he is—and he’s flat broke. After literally spending every last cent to boost his power in the Season 2 finale, he’s now picking coins off the pavement and wondering if his bespoke suit counts as a fiscal asset. He teams up with the perpetually anxious Louisa May Alcott, and together they hatch a plan: solve a murder, snatch a security company, and relaunch the Guild from the ground up. It’s peak rags to riches, with a side of brilliant deduction that would make Ranpo raise an eyebrow.
Everything wraps up neatly at the end of the episode. Louisa and Francis gaze out over Yokohama, ready to conquer the world again—or at least the business district. Fade to black, roll credits. Sweet, right? Well, hold your horses. In the manga, right after Francis declares his intention to buy the Ministry of the Interior, the panel pulls a sneaky little trick. Off to the side, hidden in the shadows, is none other than John Steinbeck—yes, the Grapes of Wrath guy with a grapevine ability and a permanent scowl. He’s been eavesdropping the whole time, and he looks about as happy as a cat in a bathtub.
Now, I can hear the anime-only crowd saying, “Wait, who cares? Why does this farm boy matter?” Let me paint the picture. After Francis’s defeat at the end of Season 2, the Guild splinters. Louisa chooses to find Francis, Mark Twain heads home to write about steamboats or whatever, but Steinbeck? He sticks around. Why? Because he’s got a twisted love-hate relationship with the Guild’s very existence. He despises rich guys who manipulate people with cash—and Francis is literally the human embodiment of a platinum credit card. But at the same time, John also admits that he relied on that cash to feed his family back home. So instead of running, he decides to quell the in-fighting among former Guild members, partly out of a sense of responsibility, partly out of sheer spite.
And then he learns Francis wants to rebuild the whole circus. Cue the internal rage.
Steinbeck’s little cameo matters because it sets up a direct, personal showdown. He thinks Francis hasn’t learned a thing—that the man is just going to wave a checkbook and turn more people into puppets. From Steinbeck’s perspective, crushing that ambition is a moral duty. It’s a fascinating rivalry: the guy who was once a cog in the machine now trying to disassemble the machine before it starts up again. And the dramatic irony is thicker than Dazai’s suicide manual. We, the audience, just watched Francis hit rock bottom, fish a cigarette butt out of a gutter, and claw his way back using his brains, not his bank account. He has changed—slightly. He’s still a money-obsessed peacock, but he’s no longer the completely one-dimensional villain of Season 2. Steinbeck doesn’t know that. And that disconnect is delicious.
So why in the world did Bones cut this? My guess: pacing. “Fitzgerald Rising” is already a perfectly self-contained underdog story. Dropping a cliffhanger with Steinbeck muttering about revenge would feel like someone hitting the brakes right before the grand finale. The episode’s title is literally “Fitzgerald Rising,” not “Fitzgerald Rising, Then Immediately Getting a Threatening Voicemail.” The extra scene would also raise questions the anime had zero intention of answering anytime soon. And—here’s the kicker—neither did the manga. As of 2026, both the anime and the original manga have done precisely zilch with this promised confrontation. Steinbeck is still out there, probably chilling with some grapes, waiting for Asagiri to remember he exists. So maybe Bones did us a favor. No use teasing a rivalry that goes nowhere.
That said, I can’t help but mourn what could have been. A Steinbeck-versus-Francis arc would be a classic BSD mix of literary reference, moral ambiguity, and dudes in fancy coats trying to punch each other into philosophical submission. Imagine John forcing Francis to confront his past manipulation, not with a fistfight, but with a courtroom drama-style cross-examination. (Objection, your honor—this man literally threw money at me!) Even if it’s shelved indefinitely, the deleted scene acts as a postcard from an alternate timeline where the Guild’s internal drama got more than a passing nod. For now, we’ll just have to settle for watching Francis be his extra, dramatic self and pretending Steinbeck isn’t side-eyeing him from the manga panels.
Will this rivalry ever bloom? At this point, I’m not holding my breath. Bungo Stray Dogs has a habit of planting seeds and then letting them sit in the fridge until the plot needs a snack. If Asagiri ever decides to cook this particular dish, I’ll be first in line with a fork and knife. Until then, I’ll just scream into the void about how an entire episode’s rewatch value could have skyrocketed with ten extra seconds of a pissed-off grape farmer. That’s showbiz, baby.
In the meantime, you can catch the whole beautiful mess on Crunchyroll—and maybe leaf through the manga if you want to see what other little daggers are hidden in the narrative sock drawer.