Durarara!! / First Impressions

「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. Unsurprisingly, the source of that information is Izaya, but I wasn’t expecting him to reveal it so nonchalantly and make it so anticlimactic. Masaomi was somewhat shocked about the idea that his best friend was Dollars’ head honcho, but it seemed like he was doubting it more than anything else at first. Given how Izaya’s never been wrong though, at least not from Masaomi’s point of view, he appears to have more or less accepted that as the truth after seeing how Mikado reacted to Takiguchi panicking over the Yellow Scarves coming after Dollars members.

However, since his grasp over his fellow gang members has significantly decreased like Kadota pointed out, there’s really little he can do to prevent tempers from boiling over. Try as he might to tell the Yellow Scarves not to provoke Dollars members needlessly without proof they’re in cahoots with the Slashers, the wheels Izaya has set into motion don’t look like they can be stopped by words alone anymore. If only Mikado, Masaomi, and Anri could talk to one another and share what they know, the Ikebukuro situation probably wouldn’t be in such a garbled mess like it is now. I’m still holding onto hope that that will happen sooner rather than later, but for now only Anri knows Masaomi’s secret, only Masaomi knows Mikado’s, and Mikado is still Izaya’s number one pawn.

On a separate note, I mentioned before how I really like Kadota and his crew being central players to the overall story here, but Yumasaki and Karisawa are pretty damn creepy the more I learn about them. They’re both huge otakus, except gangster-like versions who have let all that fictional stuff affect the way they approach reality. Once I heard them talking about pretending inconvenient stuff like the whole Blue Square incident that Masaomi went through with Saki never happened to begin with, I really started getting some psychological killer vibes from them both. Particularly Yumasaki with the way he almost stabbed Masaomi’s hand with chopsticks. The only thing that put them back inline with the goofy images I had of them was watching them freak out about the kitchen knife that the chef threw into their booth.

With the way the story is now focused on Masaomi’s misunderstanding that the Slashers attacked Anri and how they’re working with Dollars, I gather the next big turning point will be when he realizes he’s wrong on both accounts. The question is, how bad things will have gotten between the Yellow Scarves and Dollars by that time. The only resolution I can think of then is to have Celty, Shizuo, and maybe even Anri and Simon kick everyone’s asses and make them give up on fighting. After all this talking though, I’d totally be up for some more ass-kicking.

* There were lots of cameos/references to other series this time, so I tried to cap as many of those shots as possible.

 

Preview

60 Comments

  3. I can’t help but think what a bastard Izaya is he’s basically lying to Mikado with the bet that Mikado will mobilize the Dollars. Show Spoiler ▼

    What’s funny is that I don’t even think that Izaya himself even realizes exactly who is in the Dollars, he certainly doesn’t know that Shizuo is a member (though Mikado does). If the Dollars ever decided to retaliate against the Yellow Scarves the Yellow Scarves would be completely wiped out with little to no effort.

    Chan
    Reply

  4. Damn this episode dialogue was so funny and I can’t wait for next week.
    They managed to build up and all with all the serious talking AND throw some joke bombs here and there.
    Like you said they could resolve a lot of things just by talking together or at least if Mikado went to the hospital with Kida to see Takeguchi at the end.But if they just talked and resolved everytthing there wouldn’t be a plot anymore right.I know some stories manage to pull it off but even if it’s not like that in Durararara!! it’s still my favorite show this season.
    I wanna make a world full of moe and tsundere and bl too!!!humm maybe without the bl.
    Namie complaining and all was funny too.
    And Anri lying on her bed with her black stalker clothes typing on her phone was hawt.I wanna see pics of that now.
    We’ll get more of the crazy couple Seiji/Mika next week too.It’s been a while since we saw them.
    And on an unrelated note the first Break Blade movie is out today, sorry I don’t remember if you already specified where are you Divine but if you live in Japan and if you go to the movies hummm well if we could maybe get a nice review from you?

    Rockmanshii
    Reply

  6. Gaaaah, the three adults in the Yellow Scarves kinda piss me off ><. They pretty much spurred on most of the others in their groups to fight the Dollars, for like no reason :P. And it feels weird seeing the three adults play Cops and Robbers with a bunch of Middle and High Schoolers xD

    Click
    Reply

  7. Erika and Walker are amazing, even if their psychological issues make them out to be psychopath killers. I knew something was up ever since they “tortured” one of Kaztano’s Kidnapper back in Episode 06. I’ve also learned never to be too lenient on a guy with closed shifty eyes (in anime of course), they tend to turn out to be real creepy or weirdos. I mean just look at Brock from Pokémon!
    Other than that, this was a pretty awesome episode overall.
    I’m really Diggin’ Erika’s Hair when she’s not wearing her hat!

    adventchaos
    Reply

  8. You would have had a much better understanding of how psychotic the otaku-duo are if they didn’t cut out the majority of the “torture scene” from the Dollars Arc.

    Spoilers (even though it already happened): Show Spoiler ▼

    Jaysus
    Reply

    1. huh dont think so…they didnt reveal d title of the book, only mentioned it was a foreign title with jap subtitles with a nice cover….and the torture they were gonna do was Show Spoiler ▼

      I read the book raw myself…im sure of this

      unknown2
      Reply

      4. Thanks but I was refering to the manga…I’ve read some of the novels already.I also buy the actual book and read them RAW since Im lucky enough to be living in japan…Im just too busy right now to read till the latest coz Im studying for the board exam …ty tho

        unknown2
        Reply

  12. I really like the otaku pair.
    they skipped some part of izaya and namie’s conversation:
    “I have nothing to do”
    “then can I punch you”
    “I dont think its a good idea to punch your boss cause I pay you”
    “then ill punch you after I get paid”
    is what happened in the novel.

    mikado is not as harmless as he seems izaya, he has icy blue eyes and I mean “icy”

    amado
    Reply

    1. they were pressed for time lol…but hey they added stuff in the anime that wasnt in d book like the whole episode with Izaya and the twin-tailed chick was totally new…in the books it was 2 chicks in the karaoke bar who he drugged and put them into a suitcase, and that “YO YO YO HEY MAN” aka Hiroshi did not exist in the book or that extra fight scene for Shizu punching a punks clothes off …awesome ad ins lol

      unknown2
      Reply

    2. To be fair, Aoba only wondered whether Izaya realizes this and that about Mikado. It’s not a given that he doesn’t. He’s fully aware of how powerful Kida and Anri are, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Mikado’s dark side doesn’t come as shock to him.

      Roger
      Reply

      1. he doesnt, this proves it:
        Show Spoiler ▼

        retrieved from here(if you dont believe me) : http://anni-fiesta.livejournal.com/9829.html

        amado
        Reply

    1. Hate the fact it’s going to end in 4 episodes. It only means the rest of the series will feel either rush or the ending to be different. We need another season. Honestly, from what I’ve seen for this summer anime line-up, it’s a lackluster one.
      Divine, did you take a look or have any idea on which series you will blog this summer?

      Shinjiro
      Reply

  20. Mikado should do something really cool next time, the story is too focused on Masoumi. I actually want him to get revenge, even though it would make the gang war start sooner. But I want to see the grey people become colored again like episode 12. Like some yellow scarf people atacking a dollars member and then color shift and encirclement by the Dollars would be badass.

    Haroda(yellow scarf older guy (I think that’s his name)) is quite like Dallas Genoard in his attitude and even somewhat in appearance.

    treizer
    Reply

    1. That would be the Yellow Scarves’ motto and title of this episode. I talked about this a bit last time, because it’s actually part of a longer saying that includes the previous episode’s title.

      divine
      Reply

  22. You what I noticed,
    Dotachin = Aizen, takes off glasses/beanie and he has slick hair
    Walker = Gin, the fox-like eyes
    Togusa = Tosen, short hair and wears a vest

    LOL @ the BL

    hammerhammer
    Reply

  23. Kida knows that Mikado is the leader of Dollars. Anri knows that Kida is the leader of Yellow Scarves. Mikado knows that… err, Mikado doesn’t know anything apart from the information given by Izaya. I feel sorry for Mikado.

    Lil' Lilly
    Reply

      1. I was just trying to comfort Divine that even if the basic plot point was ruined, that when it happens it’ll be so awesome that it won’t matter that it was originally spoiled. Now… if someone spoils the specific details, then death would be too light of a punishment for him/her. 😉

        Jaysus
        Reply

      2. I agree with you, Props for u Divine. I totally ruined myself by reading spoilers purposely and not. I actually bought the light novels the moment I heard DRRR was being animated but didn get a chance to read it right away. Im enjoying the anime that i read only till the part thats happened in the anime so I’d still get ciffhangers and such. Right now I enjoy the differences ;the omited/additionals between the two so thus it is the only spoilers i can spread lol

        unknown2
        Reply

  27. I don;t like the way Masaomi is acting; specially his reaction and action after knowing and reporting the innocent schoolmate’s getting beaten up by his own gang. It was almost like he actually told his gang to beat that schoolmate to see Mikaido’s reaction.

    banzemanga
    Reply

    1. It did kind of seem like that when he was observing mikado and then answered the schoolmate. But at the end of the episode I would have to say that he looked awful sad that his friend was in the hospital.

      treizer
      Reply

Leave a Reply

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