「血は水よりも濃し」 (Chi wa Mizu Yori mo Koshi)
“Blood is Thicker than Water”
Wow, this episode caught me off guard – in a good way. First of all, I was amazed by the increase in budget for certain scenes. There were quite a few shots that were as crisp and sharp as I remembered Brains Base’s production to be. Next, I was so excited to see some old characters returning, from Kadota waking up (although we haven’t seen him yet) to Shizuo and Takashi (Ueda Yuji). You know it’s a good episode when you don’t realize time is flying by and before you know it, the credits roll.
The confrontation between Masaomi and Chikage wasn’t what I thought it’d be but that’s what makes Durarara!! so exciting. Rather than a brawl between gangs, Chikage confronted Masaomi about what he knows about Kadota, the Dollars and the Yellow Scarves/Blue Squares way back when. It was a good way to refresh everyone on what’s going on between the Colored gangs in case you forgot. At the same time Chikage makes his motives well known, deciding to offer up his services as an individual separate from his gang’s. It gets confusing when Chikage sticks his head into these “personal” feuds between the gangs, but I guess he feels like he owes it to Kadota. Man… Kadota is such a good guy, why would anyone want to hurt/kill him? Only someone that has a grudge against the Dollars and thinks he’s the leader. Anyway, Yellow Scarves have got themselves surrounded by making enemies with the original Blue Squares and now the Dollars. Masaomi will need more people on his side if he’s going to remain standing in the end. Last week I didn’t really recall Chikage being that great of a fighter but he’s comparable to Masaomi and Izumii Ran (Imaruoka Atsushi) so that’s already mountains better than… Mikado (and probably many other characters whom aren’t very hands-on). Next week will probably show Chikage, Masaomi and Ran going at it. With Ran holding a sludge hammer and Masaomi/Chikage already tired from their earlier fight, it’s hard to say who’s going to come out victorious. Maybe they’ll be interrupted again by someone else.
The fight scenes were definitely the highlight of the episode for me. The follow-up with the three girls having a nice chat over Saika was such an ironic and misleading scene. For all the Saika wielders to be talking about it and trying to “sell/buy” it from one another is something that I didn’t even know was possible. You’re talking about a strong demonic sword and some of the most dangerous characters wielding it… hopefully Anri doesn’t give hers up without a good bargain (or fight). At least the episode explained how both Anri and Kasane can both possess the Saika Mother swords because that was never addressed before now. In the end, no deal is struck, but Kasane makes her way to see Celty and Shinra (whom I guess Izaya hasn’t warned them about) and Erika explains how Kadota has finally woken up.
Haruna leaves the coffee shop and she finally sees her dad for the first time since she’s disappeared. Niekawa Shuuji (Koyama Rikiya) appeared in Ten concerned for his daughter, asking Mikado for help to locate her. He’s goes to the apartment which she’s staying at to confront her. Haruna tries to control him to walk away and forget about her, but he drugs her instead and a disguised Takashi throws her into his truck. She doesn’t wake up, but we learn that Takashi has taken control of the Saika within him as well and now he’s taken control of Shuuji as a result. Takashi is able to “override” Haruna’s control over Shuuji simply because he’s the last Saika to slash him. Meaning that anyone who is slashed twice can technically be controlled by two Saikas, but the one that did it last will have the “stronger” hold. I don’t know Takashi’s intentions with Haruna now that he has her… but we’ll see how he plays back into the story after being abscent for so long.
The last part of the episode which I wanted to bring up – just because I’m a huge Shizuo fan – is the part where obviously, Shizuo is released. Not by force, but by the powers of a Saika-controlled army. He bumps into Varona who has just bombed the police station with Celty’s head on the run. I thought Varona and Shizuo were on good terms? Or did I miss something there?
At this point, I’m almost certain I know who knows what and who but there is still the mystery of what each party wants. Celty is still on the search for her head, Izaya is just… out there and I think his ultimate enemy is still Kasane (whom has her own agenda). The Colored gangs are raging war and then there’s the odd characters that don’t really belong to any gang anymore but have their own side stories going on… Kadota, Shizuo, Haruna and even Anri. Surprisingly, those are the characters whom I think will play a more critical role later on because they don’t have any specific alliances to any gangs. As far as I’m concerned, as long as they’re all against Izaya, then that’s enough to satisfy me.
Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: Wo, did #Drrr_anime suddenly get a budget increase? Some scenes were surprisingly sharp and crisp =D Just what I’ve been missing lately. Plenty of action in this week’s #drrr_anime. Lots of returning characters and Kadota wakes up?! #Finally
Preview
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A lot of big stuff happen.
I didn’t understand what Kasane meant by her definition of a villain. I’ll have to re-watch.
I wonder if Kadota remembers who hit him.
And how come Celty doesn’t just drive around looking for her head? Its so close omg I feel like she has no trouble finding everybody else. Lol (I wanted to pass out when I saw it in the bushes too ) I feel so bad for her. She’s such a good person like Kadota!
Kujiragi-san is actually a Show Spoiler ▼
So she view herself as a villain to humanity.
Well the first episode this cour talked about her concerns with reuniting with her head. It’s like her head and her body are living two separate “lives” now and she doesn’t know what will happen once they come back together. That’s the impression I got… that and she fainted when she saw it on TV so maybe she’s not in a terrible hurry to grab it.
I’m curious about Kadota and his hit-and-run man as well. It’d be really convenient for him not to remember =S maybe he’ll wake up with short-term memory loss. But if he does remember, it’ll be interesting to see who and by whose orders.
too many Saika’s running around, controlling people around them…
how do you apply Occam’s razor to demonic swords?
anyway kudos to Anri for not chosing the easy way out – get rid of Saika, become human again…
but she has definitely taken up a challenge here, balance the power and darkness versus humanity and empathy… I hope she can handle it
“Shizuo is released. Not by force, but by the powers of a Saika-controlled army.”
Sure the guy in the next cell was offering to get him out but he seemed pretty surprised when the police came in to release Shizuo without him having to cause the commotion which was part of the guys deal.
Seems like there’s either another party at play or the charges really did just happen to get dropped.
Also Kasane is just turning into my favorite character right now… I am going to be beyond disappointed if she doesn’t end up in a goth loli costume before the end of all this.
Yup, since that guy was offering a deal to Shizuo, when Shizuo was released he was almost speechless (which was hilarious second to that scene when Namie and Seiji got sedated).
I was under the impression that the police were also controlled by Saika because the first episode showed that they were all red-eyed when they interviewed Shizuo. They could be different people though so maybe I’m wrong =X That meant to me that someone was controlling the officers to arrest Shizuo in the first place (probably Haruna… or Kasane but more so Haruna because Izaya probably told her to). And he was probably arrested for shits and giggles and not because there’s actual evidence against him…
Saikas… Saikas everywhere! It feels like the whole bloody city is infected!
Does a higher budget means even allowing the lens on Anri’s glasses to float in a different space, while she was bowing in apology?
You know, I thought for a little bit about that opening line when an anime episode seems to make time fly. On one hajd, it’s great that a story can be so engrossing…. but it may be a sign that there is too much information in one epsiode, but it’s delivered through exposition. There are a couple storytelling tricks that deal with time perception, like montages, debriefs, suspense, and one of my favorites , from the 2nd save the cat book, called the pope in the pool. (During exposition, adding in a entertaining element in the background. Sometimes it keeps a scene lively, and good for rewtching, but can be distracting if it is more interesting than what’s going on. )
Perhaps it’s the style of durarara, but I just feel like there have been seasons of setup and reactions to a couple events, but haven’t gotten in to the intertwining of groups and actions like the previous seasons.
I guess I would prefer a series that makes itself feel like you stay longer with it, but enjoy the time you have and want more, like Angel Beats, or The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. They felt much more filling when I finished those. It’s a little hard for me to feel the excitement when this is. What, the 5th cour of DRRR?
Why’s it seem like the bad guys are always winning in this show? As far as Haruna is concerned, nothing good can come from someone standing over you with a knife I’d imagine.