Random Curiosity

「天下泰平」 (Tenka Taihei)
“Peace and Tranquility”

Oh my god, Durarara. After being given the opportunity to watch Shizuo and Izaya’s love for each other grow, the only thing missing would be some younger sister yuri action. Oh wait!

「則天去私」 (Sokuten Kyoshi)
“Selfless Devotion”

Good eye to those who caught Kadota easily infiltrating the ranks of Horada’s Blue Square revival last time, as he and the other Dollars members lying in wait totally crashed the party.

Nico Nico Douga users never fail to impress by creating amazing fan-made videos. There’s been a sort of a craze going on at Japan’s popular video sharing site in recent months over creating seiyuu-based parody videos of Durarara‘s first ending sequence, featuring “Trust Me” by Matsushita Yuuya. It’s likely due to how the sequence itself is fairly straightforward with a vertical scrolling of characters, but when you see it with an interesting assortment that are all played by one seiyuu of the Durarara series, it’s still pretty cool to see.

Some are particularly well done, but I find this “Hanazawawawa” one featuring Sonohara Anri‘s seiyuu — the always moe Hanazawa Kana — to be one of the nicer ones. It’s Hanazawa Kana all the time here and I love how this version lists credits for each of the characters to make it look like an ending sequence as well, all played by Kana of course. Some characters that most people will recognize in addition to Anri are Tenshi from Angel Beats, Nadeko from Bakemonogatari, Suou from Darker than BLACK, Zange-chan from Kannagi, and Kobato from Kobato. For a full-list of the characters in the order they appear, see below. Enjoy!

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「千錯万綜」 (Sensaku Bansou)
“All Complicated and Confusing”

After taking several gunshots last time, it turns out Shizuo’s mind over matter bursts of superhuman strength really knows no bounds. To him, he just thought he slipped and fell down in the rain.

「解散宣言」 (Kaisan Sengen)
“Declaration of Disbandment”

Okay, I clearly have to take back saying Mikado can’t to do much as the figurehead of Dollars, because once he sends out a distress message to all members, everyone in the city is suddenly on the same page in rescuing Anri. Cell phone mass e-mails are frightening!

If you’re unfamiliar with ON/OFF, you might be surprised to learn that it’s actually a duo comprised of identical twin brothers, Sakamoto Kazuya and Naoya (left-to-right in the video preview picture). Being identical twins, their voices naturally sound the same, making it somewhat difficult to discern that there are actually two vocalists rather than a backtrack sung by the same person. Admittedly, I was quite oblivious about that fact when I first heard their second single “Futatsu no Kodou to Akai Tsumi” as the opening theme of Vampire Knight back in 2008. In any case, their third single “Rinne -Rondo-” was subsequently featured as the opening theme of the Vampire Knight Guilty sequel the same year. I took an almost immediate liking to both songs when I first heard them, which made it pretty easy for me to get into the second Durarara ending sequence we have here.

As for the duo itself, they’re still a fairly new group having only debuted back in 2007 with the song “Eien no Setsuna”, which became the ending theme of the television drama of Fuuma no Kojirou. What’s notable about that though is that they both had recurring roles in the show itself as well. For those wondering, Naoya is the slightly older one of the two and while they don’t quite look identical in this PV (Kazuya’s eyes look bigger), they do a lot more in the profile shots on their official website. The single for Butterfly was released today (6/9) and featured this PV in the limited edition.

「五里霧中」 (Gorimuchuu)
“At A Total Loss”

Having the most information may not always be a good thing when it’s a garbled mess, which Masaomi can probably attest to as he continues to try and make sense of it all.

With the full version of the second Durarara opening theme having been leaked over a week in advance, I’ve been listening to a it fair bit like I mentioned back when episode 19 aired. I even threw it up on the sidebar for a while for those who were interested. Well today is the official release of the single and along with the limited edition is the PV for it you see above. It’s not a bad one either, but the best part of it is still the song itself. As good as the TV size version is already, the full version has a longer lead in and rap portions which together make the song sound so much better. I just don’t seem to get sick of it regardless of how much I’ve listened to it. It’s likely because the song switches the tempo up at various parts, offering a bit of everything, before coming on strong every time it gets back to the chorus. If you haven’t listened to it already and watch the series, then I really recommend doing so!

「黄天當立」 (Kouten Masa ni Tatsu)
“The Yellow Sky Will Rise Up”

For an episode that revolved almost completely around Simon’s Russian sushi restaurant, it wasn’t the least bit dull as Kadota eventually directed Masaomi to where he can find out who the leader of Dollars is.

「蒼天已死」 (Souten Sude ni Shisu)
“The Azure Sky Will Soon Fall”

In classic Durarara fashion, we delve into Masaomi’s involvement with the Yellow Scarves from a slightly different perspective this episode. Anri’s view on things leading up to her discovery of him as the gang’s leader showed just how powerless she, Masaomi, and Mikado are at trying to stop an all-out gang war even if they wanted to.

p>「死生有命」 (Shisei Yuumei)
“What Will Be Will Be”

My goodness Saki is a cutie pie. Aside from her unsettling religious-like adoration for Izaya, I have no how Masaomi can tell her that he’s interested in Anri now — and straight to her face no less.

「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.

「相思相愛」 (Soushi Souai)
“Mutual Love”

Despite how much the story’s been leading us towards an ultimate Ikebukuro showdown involving Dollars, the Yellow Scarves, and the Slashers with Mikado, Masaomi, and Anri leading each of them, I was really hoping it wouldn’t come to that in Anri’s case.

「愚者一得」 (Gusha Ittoku)
“Even a Fool Has Merits”

One of the unique aspects of Durarara’s screenplay is how it tends to go back and revisit parts of the story from a different perspective.

「物情騒然」 (Butsujou Souzen)
“Turmoil Prevailing”

I haven’t been waiting nearly as long as people who have been following Durarara since its premiere, but I can already appreciate how some light’s been finally shed on the overall story.