「有為転変」 (Ui Tenpen)
“The Way of the World”

As mentioned last week, I still prefer the timid Anri who has a complex with emotionally affixing herself to others over the Saika-wielding one who does it to counterbalance being possessed. In the first case, she’s helpless and someone you want to protect, whereas in the latter case she’s kind of scary and makes you want to stay the hell away from her. However, kudos to Anri for not going ape-shit insane for having all the Slasher voices constantly echoing in her mind, which is something Haruna couldn’t even bear a couple of minutes of after she let her have a taste of it. So as hinted at briefly at the end of the previous episode, Saika is what eventually killed both her parents, but it’s revealed here that her mother was indeed the original. While I didn’t find the whole murder/suicide due to an abusive father bit all that surprising, the scene with Anri grasping the sword and being overwhelmed by the voices within Saika for the very first time was pretty intense. As such, I’m pretty impressed she was able to suppress them for a good five years, even if her personality is well-suited to handle being possessed.

Aside from Anri, it was pretty funny seeing Celty feel attracted to the sight of Shizuo kicking some serious Slasher ass. On the other hand, it was pretty damn awesome seeing him hold his own against a complete swarm of deranged knife-wielding maniacs and hold his own with a fair bit of ease. I’m actually surprised he didn’t get a single cut on him during all that time and end up possessed himself, especially before he got some cut-resistant gloves from Celty. In Mikado’s case, it was amusing seeing his reactions to Anri telling him how she was saved by Shizuo and Celty, which made him feel like that’s the competition he’s up against in trying to win her over. There were some more quirky anime references this time around too, such as the Nogizaka Haruka van door replacement, mention of Kino no Tabi, and a Jigoku Shoujo ring tone, to name a few.

Story-wise, it’s pretty clear now that Izaya’s the one everyone’s going to have to ultimately stop to prevent an all-out war between Dollars, the Slashers, and the Yellow Scarves from breaking out. With the way he explained how he’s been pulling the strings towards this when he was manipulating Nasujima, in conjunction with the official emergence of Masaomi as the leader/founder of the Yellow Scarves with a misguided bone to pick with the Slashers, I get feeling that things will get pretty chaotic in the coming episodes. They’ve hinted at Masomi’s involvement every since the beginning of the second half of the series, plus the new opening highlights how he’s one of the three main players in the story, so that doesn’t come as any surprise. Regardless, I’m really looking forward to the fallout of everything now that it’s been made clear, especially when the preview shows Yumasaki very unlike his usual carefree self.

 

Preview

61 Comments

    1. Indeed. This episode was good in revealing the other two “superpowers” of Ikebukuro, and it now makes a lot more sense at the beginning of the opening, where the three of them seem to be at a crossroads.

      Da5id
  1. This was such a great episode. It really was a very sketchy series at first (because I haven’t read the novels) and it confused me a lot. These last few episodes keep putting stuff together from earlier episodes and now it makes lots more sense.

    I really had a laugh at Celty changing opinions about Shizuo, and at the way she used her shadow to make gloves for him. Practical! What I didn’t see coming was the identity of the slasher before Anri. Makes her that more interesting to me now.

    TehJawknee
  2. I feel that the next episode is a flashback one relating to how the yellow scarves were a year ago/6 months? Since it showed that girl walking about and Masaomi in a different set of school uniform as well as not cautious around Izaya.

    Cherubium
  3. it can be pretty ironic since anri decided to stop her two friends from being hurt but she’s really the reason they might get hurt(im not gonna spoil something for now)

    they forgot to mention this:the yellow scarves are angry because a lot of them were attacked by the slashers then shizuo which makes it true that the slashers and dollars were behind the attack(its referred as ripper night in the novels)

    amado
  4. Hahaha, I felt so bad for Mikado when he was listening to Anri talk about how cool Shizu-chan and Celty are. And credit to Toyonaga-san for the perfect voice at that time =P

    Satoida
  5. “I’m actually surprised he didn’t get a single cut on him during all that time and end up possessed himself”

    He was cut but didn’t get possess because he was not afraid. Fear is what the Saika use to gain control of their host.

    Anri = Zerg Queen or Borg Queen?

    Xellos-_^
  6. If only you knew Erika and Walker’s true nature…
    (Note: I don’t consider this a spoiler because you can see what I mean by reading one of the erliar chapters of the manga that focus a bit on the events after the Kaztano case.)

    SomeKindaNick
  7. Yayyyyy I guessed right XD! On another note, I’m wondering if the Dollars will actually fight for Mikado. Since it doesn’t look like the Dollars will/can fight (since they consist of primarily civilians, excluding the superhumans)I’m wondering how the war Izaya spoke a few weeks back will go down.

    Click
    1. on second thought
      dont view this link, it has too much spoilers on whats happening in the novels unless you really wanna spoil yourself on EVERYTHING in durarara

      just take my word for the spoiler tag above.

      amado
  8. i swear durarara is the one anime on rite now that never bores me, never lets me down, and just gets better and better. All the characters are so interesting and each arc is fun and awesome. Now we have the three best friends fighting eachother to defend eachother hahaha! this is gonna be great =D

    shiryoenbou
  9. Holy crap, Durarara!! is on a roll. The stage is set. I KNEW Masaomi was the leader of the Yellow Scarves, I’m looking forward to see him actually fight. However, I’m worried about the friendship of Mikado, Masaomi, and Anri collapsing if they find out each others identities as the leaders of the three sides in the upcoming “war”. Izaya must be having a lot of fun with this.

    akani
  10. With this chapter it seems that Shizou could join the ranks of Sengoku Basara. Blasting mooks into the sky is one of the required skills for a main character. Given a weapon he could easily rise up the ranks.
    I totally hope the dollars come out on top of this gang war. I totally want Mikado to start planning meetings again like episode 12.

    treizer
  11. Now I finally get the significance of the chessboard game in Izaya’s room… The 3 “superpowers” are the chess pieces and otello pieces I guess, so if you do pay attention to his “game” it should be possible to predict the outcome of each fight.

    Innocence
    1. nope, they’re just gonna wrap it up in vol.3(it also has a sort of ending to the plot)

      the later novels will rarely involve izaya as the main mastermind and introduce new antagonists for the novels

      so technically, the latter volumes can be counted as a 2nd season since vol.1-3 mostly involve the same cast you see currently and vol.4 and more will introduce a lot of new characters and a new plot(the current plot seems about the “struggle” between the 3 powerful and large gangs)

      amado
      1. So basically this whole series is just a commercial/demo to get people buy the novels? I’m still waiting on Baccano, I really need to learn japanese so I don’t need to rely on a middleman.

        Firefly
      2. Lol it’s probably not my place to say this but Amado I think you say too much about the series some of us will read the novels and all as soon as the anime is over so you shouldn’t post all this info.I don’t call it spoiler cause it’s second rate things like when you said on the previous episode comments that the van door was replaced with an anime char door or that Izaya sent Nasujima to Anri’s house but yeah I would have liked to discover this myself this episode.

        Rockmanshii
      3. Yeah, I have to agree. I appreciate the discussion you’re bringing amado, but please try to keep it in the confines of what’s been shown so far for people who don’t read the novels (myself included). I also noticed what Rockmanshii pointed out about comments you made last episode. Even comments like the above about a drastic cast changes hints at a bit too much, so if you want to make note of that, please spoiler tag the whole comment. Thanks.

      4. ok, sorry

        I just have a hard time keeping it in me, I like to talk about it since the novels were good but the anime is still good despite some difference since I know what bits on what will happen

        amado
  12. Love how this EP manages to wrap up the loose ends and unanswered questions i’ve had til now.

    Kinda sad how Anri, Masomi and Mikado all want to protect each other but their secrets are doing more harm than good, now both Masomi and Mikado are on a slasher hunt to avenge Anri.

    Firefly
  13. On another note Celty sure knows how to catch a woman with her shadow ,look at the scene again you’ll know what I mean.
    Seeing Shizuo punch and kick through dozens of people was funny.
    The jigoku shoujo ringtone is Erika’s it’s the second time first was at the dollars meeting episode.

    Rockmanshii
  14. After watching the episode, I find it quite amazing how Anri, Mikado and Kida are trying to protect each other but they are actually fighting each other, just wow.

    Leticia

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *