Summary:

On this particular day, Mikado’s class is choosing class representatives, and Sonohara Anri volunteers to be the female one. In light of this, Mikado volunteers to be her male counterpart, but after class, Anri claims to have something to do and hurries away. Masaomi sees this and decides to take Mikado to try to pick up some girls, but Masaomi’s own attempts end unsuccessfully. In the process, the two run into Walker, Erika, and Kyouhei, and Mikado asks them about the Dollars gang that he’s heard so many rumors about, but he just gets warned against getting near them. Mikado has started to question if he can really live in this city, but Masaomi tells him to overcome it all. The two then happen to see Anri getting picked on in an alley by a trio of girls and a guy who’s supposedly part of the Dollars gang, and Mikado considers trying to go save her. Before Mikado can do anything, Orihara Izaya shows up and pushes him onto the scene. Izaya himself is the one who ends up scaring off the girls by stomping on one of their cell phones and the guy by shaving the guy’s head in a flash.

It turns out that Izaya knows Masaomi, and he claims to have come to Ikebukuro to meet someone. Their conversation is interrupted when a large trash box comes flying out of nowhere and nails Izaya. It was thrown by none other than Heiwajima Shizuo who has a bone to pick with him, but before the two can fight, a bunch of guys – led by the one whose head Izaya shaved – show up and get involved. While Shizuo is beating those guys up, Izaya tries to escape, so Shizuo picks up and throws a vending machine at him. Unfortunately for Shizuo, Simon jumps off the top of a nearby building and catches the machine. Simon tries to convince Shizuo not to fight, and when Shizuo attempts to punch him, Simon is able to stop the fist. Around this time, Mikado decides to take Anri’s hand and flee the area, and they finally stop running in a park. Mikado tries to talk with Anri, but she ends up just thanking him and running off on her own. Elsewhere in the city, Seiji finds the girl he was looking for.

Preview

I found this episode to be tons of fun to watch. Simon wasn’t the best of narrators, especially not compared how good a job Sawashiro Miyuki did last week, but it didn’t matter too much because everything else was great. Izaya and Shizuo practically stole the show every time they were on screen. I loved how Izaya scared off those girls and that thug, and Shizuo chucking things and kicking ass – like how he punched that guy’s clothes off – made for some great entertainment. Even Simon was pretty cool when he came flying down and caught the vending machine, though I wish they had more time to show how that fight went down since the final shots indicated that he lost. Oh and of course I have to mention again that Miyano Mamoru does a wonderful job voicing the hyperactive Masaomi.

Story-wise, this episode raised a lot of questions about the girl Seiji and Anri were looking for, the teacher Anri seems to be avoiding, Izaya and Shizuo’s backstory, and why Izaya is so interested in Mikado now. I’m sure a lot of that is connected, and it’s part of what makes the series so interesting. As I said last week, the show and story have me hooked.

On a slightly different subject, the PVs for both the opening and ending songs have aired, and while neither of the videos were particularly impressive, I really enjoyed hearing the full version of Uragiri no Yuuyake. I also thought they chose a really good clip of the Trust Me for the ED, which means that while I like the song in general, I didn’t think the full version was that much better than the tv-size version. Anyway, I’m sure both of the videos have made their way onto YouTube by now.

59 Comments

  1. @j0ny

    Name: Ryuugamine Mikado
    Admitted to Raira School. Test score Rank 32 among all participated examinees.
    Date of Birth: March 21st
    Weight 2.982kg at birth.
    Father: Ryuugamine Tatsuya
    Director of Human Resources of a major Printing Press
    Mother: Hitomi (Maiden Name Hishita/Hishida)
    Registered Residence: Higashi-Matsuyama City, Saitama Prefecture, Minamino (?) City Block 2-6-16
    Father Annual Income 4.5 Million Yen.

    Iron Maw
  2. The book Walker holds in the 8th screenshot has Yozakura’s Hime on the opposite side.

    The father’s name could read Tatsuya or Ryuuya. And yeah, Minamino should be district/street name kind of stuff, although in our actual world we do have Higashi Matsuyama City but there seem to be no Minamino district or something even remotely like that name.

    DC/AC
  3. Japanese ‘r’ sound actually stays somewhere between R and L in English, in other words, Japanese people would have hard time when they want to tell English R’s from L’s. They just have that ‘r’. No English R’s or L’s. So when they import an Engish word to their language, both R’s and L’s are covered with that ‘r’.

    DC/AC
  4. I really enjoy watching this show. Even the over poweredness of people comes of as a retelling of stories that have been told that have grown stronger over time. So at first a guy jumps down from the first floor to catch a thrown shoe and some time later the same story is being told as a guy who jumps down from the top floor catching a vending machine.

    outcast
  5. I am reluctant to be too enthusiastic about a show, because I’ve been hurt before*, but this show seems to be concentrated awesome sauce. A few bits of Shizuo’s early fight scene were a little spastic, but otherwise it manages high levels of visual entertainment, and the show’s pacing is pretty solid.

    I didn’t really mind Simon’s narration. Even while acknowledging its failings, he seems to convey a sort of romantic admiration toward the city. This despite being beaten on for playing superhero and everyone avoiding him while he does menial labor. It’s an interesting perspective.

    * Insert preferred winky emoticon here.

    m
  6. I don`t know if it has been said before but this show reminds me so much of baccano!, and this episode especially with the “previously on” in the OP, and the large cast, the music, that pulp fiction multi plot style, idk but it really got me hooked and looks pretty interesting 🙂

    Null_x
  7. why Izaya is so interested in Mikado now
    > Iron Maw at 5:43 am on January 22nd, 2010
    especially this one: Father Annual Income 4.5 Million Yen

    i think he is about to pull off a fraud, especially since there is info about money

    SpiritweaverAinu
  8. yo “anonymous” i don’t know whether that is true or not but shouldn’t you be putting spoiler tags on that? Kind of a big BIG spoiler if it is true….oh god i hope it isn’t true….

    Feenix
  9. ahahahahaha!!! i totally forgot about that guy being punched out of his clothes. that was hilarious! lol. i also wanted to see more of the fight between simon and shizuo. but sonohara taking the lead from mikado made up for that. ^^

    kyuzo
  10. if you go to Wiki now, someone’s already posted a couple of spoilers on Izaya + Shizu-chan already.
    @Feenix: wat anonymous wrote is true. Show Spoiler ▼

    that said, i just really want to read the novels now.

    c00ki3m0n5t3r
  11. OMNI, you’ve mentioned that Kida’s voice is epic, gotta totally agree with that^^ It was the first thing that got me hooked ^^

    But I also gotta add that Ono Daisuke’s voice (Shizuo) is pure win too. C’mon, he gave his voice to Sebastian, Jack Vessalius, etc etc etc – all charming characters, and I’d never tell it was Ono voicing Shizuo if I wouldn’t look it up.

    Both Ono and Mamoru are progressing much better than Fukuyama Jun O.o I could add Ishida Akira here too though. But honestly, they’re doing a really great job not only for this show but for others as well.

    Jane
  12. @c00ki3m0n5t3r, and anyone else:
    there’s a site called…baka-tsuki that hosts some (very few) translations of the novel (1st). it hosts other projects by other groups and such, but maybe it helps.

    Sissy
  13. most interested in why Izaya has his eyes on Mikado >:D dont really see this as a fighting series however (more philosophy :/), so i doubt Izaya gonna turn Mikado into an ass kicking machine like himself >: D

    brianleung8912

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