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「モスクワは涙を信じない」 (Mosukuwa wa Namida wo Shinjinai)
“Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears”
I’m going to continue calling Sloan and Varona, Sloan and Varona, because that’s how the subs have it, Cryllic is alien to me, and one can do worse than a phonetic rendering. If this annoys anyone particularly aggravatingly, let me know.
So the plot is a bit thin this week, as is the animation budget (seriously, we’re almost at flipbook level this episode), as we step back a bit to give some development for our newly introduced characters. First on our list is Varona, and with her the other Russians (and more besides) who seem to be flocking to Ikebukuro. Turns out, they do all know each other. Before Dennis and Simon found their calling in sushi, they trained Varona in the ways of violence, though before that she was already starring in her own M-rated Home Alone spinoff. Supposedly her disposition for violent murder comes from her daddy issues (isn’t it always daddy issues?) and a thrill-seeking nihilism. Alternatively, she’s picked up too many strange ideas from reading too much. That’s a new one; it’s not violent videogames that turn kids into murderers, it’s books. Run that story, hysterical media.
The rest of the subplot is basically just crazy Russians hunting crazy Russians, and the details behind that are a bit sketchier. Varona has supposedly gone rogue and stolen away with some inappropriate weapons, but reasons are unknown. Surely she didn’t come all the way to Japan just to pick a fight with a dullahan for some shady businessman. And I’m still not sure why she went after Anri. There’s little reason for anyone to attack Anri unless they knew she hosted Saika, and how many people are privy to that secret? Well, there’s that Izaya guy for starters, and his potential involvement already makes the whole affair stink. Well at least Varona has done no real harm thus far (except to Celty’s poor helmet, too good for this sinful earth). Bullets, even big scary ones, just aren’t good enough in Ikebukuro. I don’t know why everyone’s making such a big deal about the anti-materiel rifle. Guns are useless.
Watching Russians kill people (or fail to kill people) is all good fun, but there’s also that other subplot we have to worry about, namely the one with Mikado in it. It’s definitely the weaker one, perhaps because Mikado hasn’t really done anything other than mope around and contemplate his navel. And, just like last week, it’s painful watching him be so impressionable. I expect Mikado to wise up at some point, but until then the sharks are circling and he’s bleeding into the water. It’s feeding time in there.
That development is unlikely to come too quickly, because it looks like next week’s episode is about Rokujou Chikage and whatever he’s been plotting. That could be interesting, but right now I’m more concerned about whether the animation is going to make a recovery. Hopefully it’s just a production hiccup this week, or they’re saving their best work for something more epic down the line. If we continue to go downhill from here, it might be a cause for concern. Pretty animation has never been Durarara!!‘s strongest suit, but I’d still like to get to the final episode and have some semblance of motion remaining. I’m not asking for much. Come on, Durarara!!. You can do it.
Full-length images: 21.
Preview
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…As a fellow RTS player during my childhood, so do I…however its not really the first thing that came to my mind, Thanks to The Red October…
Anri is OP, not only she can summon Katana out of herself whenever needed, but if she cuts you, you get mind controlled instantly, now i wonder if Celty can be mind controlled.
No. Celty has been cut before and it did nothing. Saika does not “love” Celty, because Celty isn’t human.
I guess i just forgot that small detail, meh
IIRC, She took control by inflicting pain and fear on her victim, which is also why Shizuo is immune because Saika can’t do jack to him.
And Anri is a better fighter than a gifted assassin.
Poor Varona Anri will not kill you if you get cut by that blade the way Anri will probably use it, Anri will own you. But what would Anri do with a professional assassin Varona that will go back to work if she releases her into back into the city like she does with her other children. Anri has released one but she did not quite know what his job was, just that he was dangerous. So Anri might stay reluctant to interfere or she will have to break her rule and keep someone under direct control around her.
Thus Anri’s greatest power she can acquire an army, a good night slashing at a Japan Defense Force base and Anri would have a real Army.
Mikado’s subplot will get screentime in due time. Now it’s just buildup, we’ll focus on the Akane and Russians subplots for more one or two episodes.
About the animation quality drop, I was kinda expecting it so it didn’t bother me much. I just hope they will polish or even redo some stuff for the blurays, as there are sequences that look unfinished or even using placeholders.
We will have to put up with stuff like that every three or so episodes, it is a small studio after all.
The fading animation is effective for an ethereal kind of effect, but man, it’s very apparent that the animation is getting WORSE the further in the show we go! I know half of this episode was spent on a flashback, but man!
Varona said she was bored with Ikebukuro, I wonder if that´s still the case?. Be careful with what you wish for, something the world gives you way more you expected. If tha girl thinks Anri/Saika and Celty are scary let´s see how she reacts to Shizuo.
I’m living among actual Russians for a combined total of at least 4 years (and counting),
and on hearing the Russian in this episode…..the first spoken Russian sentence was understandable, but I had to strain my ears to try hear out the rest..
By the way…somebody help me out on this:
Japanese accent + English = Engrish.
Japanese accent + Russian = ?
Rashian?
Roshian.
Engrish was originally only used to describe the half english half Japanese words used as slang in Japan. See Wikipedia. I have seen a comment from someone who mastered Japanese in school having trouble in Japan because he was not taught these words. But now I have seen English used for proper English just with an Japanese accent many times. Only problem is which Engrish someone is talking about at times, the slang or just the accent. I find English cute to describe an Japanese accent so no problem with it.
*Here, as a native Russian, I’m letting you know that this aggravatingly annoys me*
:V
Lussian?
Shockingly poor animation this week. Good Lord what happened?
Vorona attacked Anri because someone hired her to. This was mentioned just last week. Vorona and Slon were hired by Yodogiri to kidnapped Akane in case you forgot that.
I also don’t recall Mikado moping around, you can see him on Dollars site looking up more information on Toramaru while he is talking Izaya who having an interesting discussion about the future of Dollars.
So, yeah, who would want to attack Anri? Anri’s the type who only acts if provoked, and here’s someone hiring Russians to provoke her.
My guess is ether our master troll Izaya or our troll king wannabe.
I can’t say due to spoilers, but if remember what happened at the end of S1 you might get a clue.
https://randomc.net/image/Durarara/Durarara%20×2%20Shou%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
When in danger – use a bigger weapon!
Would have loved to see Varona’s reaction if they were stationary and she saw that the only thing she had done to the headless rider is knock it back a fair bit.
Varona stick to your first idea ditch the bike. Then tell your employer here’s your advance back that target is way over your or any mortals head.
Varona reason for going rogue was simple. She run away from guarding a storehouse that was going to be attacked knowing it’ll be targeted, but that was defying orders and they will need to make a example of her so she chooses to leaves the country altogether. That’s what they were talking about at the beginning.
Wait… I thought Dennis and Simon did that. I’ll need to rewatch that part.
Aoyu means that same thing can implied with Vorona and Slon. More for Vorona, she probably feels has outgrown and surpassed what Russia has to offer as challenge. Ikebkuro is “new” game for her.
Season one’s animation was so better and consistent that it could hold its own against new upcoming animes. What happened to this season? Is it because of the anime studio or not enough budget? ;(
It’s only really been this episode that was bad animation wise though. The rest has been good to decent.
Was anyone else laughing manically at the Winnie the Pooh reference? So wrong on so many levels.
The animation quality this episode was really bad, they didn’t draw the in-between frames then they used a slow motion effect to hide the fact… even my animation class assignment got more frame to draw in each cuts more than this…
Interesting episode, but WHAT THE FLYING FUCK happened to the animation quality this week?! There were parts where there was literally NO animation. Shuka has absolutely no excuse for this considering the budget this show is getting.
Sharks, lol.
Any chance that the decline in animation this episode was done on pupose not so much for budget restraints, but because the studio wanted to try a sort of “storybook” style for this flashback episode. I really hope thats the case. It definatley took away some points for the episode but that just means better quality for and upcoming episode which I could spoil but I won’t. One little hint though… it will be the biggest “BIG DAMN HEROES” moment in the series so far.
I’m guessing the poor VAs had brain aneurysms trying to pronounce здесь. (Phonetic: zdyes.) The results speak for themselves.