Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Durarara!!×2
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Ahirue
 Posts: 62 |
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Agree with you 100% on that one! Mikado and Masaomi might be on the dull side, but Anri has always been one of my faves, and I hope she and Saika get plenty of spotlight in DRRRx2. 
Although my ability to enjoy Masaomi increased somewhat after seeing Gatchaman Crowds, and going back and rewatching DRRR. There are scenes where Mamoru Miyano uses the exact same voice for Masaomi that he ended up using for Berg Katze, and that cracked me up. Character's still boring, but at least his voice is entertaining sometimes! |
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Ambimunch
 Posts: 2012 |
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After watching the first two episodes of S2, I realized I haven't enjoyed a show this much in the last two years. Drrr is truly a masterpiece, A+
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_Cyphon_
 Posts: 996 |
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To all of you who don't like Shinra breaking the 4th wall, in the first season he already did it when he first introduced Celty. I don't see what's wrong with that, it has always seemed like his way of doing stuff to me.
The other thing I see in this discussion right now is a debate over the twins. I don't get why people dislike them. Because of Yuri and lesbians? Go watch Yuri Kuma Arashi. This is mild compared to that. Or is it because of incest? Go check out Oreimo. Spoiler alert: spoiler[They're related by blood]. Seriously though, I don't see why people detest Yuri and incest. Just because they love someone same gender and same blood doesn't make them weird. Ever heard of "Gender Dysphoria"? I say humanity just accept this, everyone has different tastes. For me, personally, I really like the twins. Especially Mairu. I chuckled when she introduced herself in class. Aoba strikes my liking as well. Loved it when he ratted out the bully like he didn't even care. These characters might seem weird and wacky, but i prefer them over the usual Tsudere or Imouto character archetypes. I have a feeling Durarara x2 will be very entertaining this season. I'm gonna make a huge speculation right now that Aoba's the murderer. I agree with the review that there is no way in satan's backyard that he is a normal high school student.[/u] |
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Videogamep
 Posts: 564 Location: CA |
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There's no way anyone in Durarara's normal. |
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justsomeaccount
 Posts: 471 |
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Not technically, the difference is it wasn't explicit ('hey audience!') and it had a context: Shinra was recording a video about the opinion of everyday people about her as some kind of documental which was in secret a video about their own lives just in case somebody in the future will find it. Yes, it's made in benefit of the audience, but it has a context inside and as a narrative device it works better because it introduces us naturally who is Celty, what people think about it, and above all what Shinra thinks about her and their lives. When you knew that, it was cute. Here, it was too explicit and unnecessary. People are weirded out by the sisters because incestual twin girls is a common fetish in anime and they don't find it cool to see it here. I personally am alright because when these novels came out those two characters that wasn't that extended (I think, I haven't read the novels) and they don't look made for fanservice or something but more like "another creepy couple" in a show full of those. And there is already interesting ideas going on with them (their complementary personalities, their share of everything including potential boyfriends, etc.), so it's not vanal. Edit: Yei! I knew the girl that is with Yuhei in the Opening and Ending reminded me to someone in the previous season (now that I rewatched it very recently)! spoiler[She was the idol that Saburo Togusa (the 'other friend' of the Dotachin group) loved going to her concerts. Woah the amount of detail this anime can have.] |
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_Cyphon_
Posts: 996 |
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Lol, now that I think back I remember there was a video camera that was recording, so ignore my previous comment on the fourth wall matter.
Everyone has different opinions I guess. There's really no point trying to convince other people to like them. What matters is I like their design, and I think they're interesting characters.
Holy crap, you're right! She's the idol Togusa was worshipping at the concert. Man, loving this show more by the second! |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5506 Location: Iscandar |
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Episode 3 grade: A-
This was a less hectic episode where things started to make sense. I continue to like the new characters, but I am glad to see the old characters returning to their routines little by little. I am still not so sure what this season is going to do story-wise, but the idea of introducing more "monsters" is intriguing. |
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justsomeaccount
Posts: 471 |
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I, however, would put this a C. And not because of the content itself but the execution, this is becoming too checklist of scenes and delivery of lines, it doesn't look translated from a novel to a visual medium (for example, Shizuo's backstory in the first season combined beautifully narration and visuals to complement each other with the proper pacing to each scene or line), the main conversation in this episode spoiler[(Kasuka and Rui)] was all 'my line' 'your line' 'my line' 'your line' etc. without variation of pacing depending of what they said or movement, when the weight the conversation tried to bring wasn't at all like that. spoiler[All the scenes of Ruri to introduce her were souless, it was just exposition (narrated by who-knows) about her situation and that's it, nothing else, she's introduced by exposition and you don't care about her.] Which reaaaaally bugs me because those scenes and empathy for these eccentric characters was one of the biggest strengths of the original show, and not seeing it here makes me really worried because maybe it's not a hooky start but a hooky season (or seasons). With that other minor issues, but this being the biggest.
Geez, I wasn't expecting to be worried of Durarara in execution, but now I am. Don't do that this season is described just as "a bunch of scenes" please 
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bobob101
 Posts: 201 |
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Durarara is an interesting show because even though I can understand and partly agree with your criticisms, I also think that you are totally wrong on some points.
To put my money where my mouth is, Ruri's monologue made it probably clear she has distinct targets for killing. Also, I'm willing to bet she is a lot older than she appears, as there is definitely something supernatural about her (the spinning of the weights with spider man fingers made me chuckle) One thing that I am fairly certain of with regards to this season is that we will be learning a lot more about our Russian friends. What do we know about Simon other than he has seen some bad shit? Nothing really, but I bet that Russia Sushi will be a leading player in whatever is to come. I don't actually think Aoba is interested in Anri that much, but I have some spoiler info that I can't say in the forums. |
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Ultimatum
 Posts: 165 |
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Yay, more Anri love! The Saika arc was probably my favorite one in the show, too. Every part of it just worked so well and Anri got some much-needed character development (or maybe just a revealing of the character that was already there?) that bumped her up to my second favorite character in the show. The idea of the friendship trio is a nice one, in that they all spoiler[represent one of the main factions in Ikebukuro but none of them know about the other,] but Mikado and Masaomi kinda dragged it down. It was kind of hilarious and kind of sad how in the last 2010 arc when Masaomi was reflecting on their amazing friendship, and how Anri spoiler[wouldn't betray them,] he flashbacked to one of the times he sexually harassed her and made her obviously uncomfortable. Uh...how about that deep friendship, huh? And Mikado, cute though he may be, is sort of a potato. Not an unlikeable potato, but not an interesting character, either. Anyway, this season is going pretty slowly so far. It's not a bad thing, and I don't mind the new characters, though I'm not super-interested, yet. I'm not sure what to think of anything just yet. |
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Plasmaeclipse
 Posts: 153 |
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Yeeeeaaah so far the Hollywood Arc has felt more like filler space to introduce and set up the other characters that will play a part in the next storyline.
I vaguely recall some aspects of the novel but it's been a while so I can't say for certain if there's any more to this though based on what's animated and some vague recollection of the novels spoiler[I think the arc is basically over cause I know for certain Hope's estimates are totally off] I have to say though so far this season has been a bit hit and miss for me. I certainly enjoy the actual content of the series but the way it's being presented is a bit too chaotic for me. Things keep jumping back and forth, I've completely lost all sense of the time scale. I have no idea who is doing what and when they are doing it anymore. spoiler[(Mild Novel Spoilers!)Hopefully this will be resolved when the Russian Mafia takes the forefront I'm looking forward to seeing Vorona and Akane animated, as long as it's coherent] |
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kguillas
Posts: 7 Location: Canada |
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I agree that it seems as though the staff is on autopilot, execution-wise. The first season was full of really clever character-hopping, and it handled multiple stories at once with ease. That just doesn't seem to be present here. I think the opening animation kind of reflects that; for the first season, it jumped between character introductions from opposite ends of the city using (mostly) linked objects and it worked really well, but here it just zooms in on characters based on their different locations in the same area. I'm not saying the opening animation sets the storytelling quality in stone, but it's an interesting parallel. It's as though some of the imagination and fervour of the staff has been lost.
Studio Shuka is in charge of these seasons, but the staff remains almost entirely identical from the first season, and from Baccano!. We all know what they're capable of. Would changing studios really influence them that much? |
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Videogamep
Posts: 564 Location: CA |
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I'd give this episode a B+/A-. Even if it was a little monologue-y, the entire cast (including the new characters) is so much fun it didn't really bother me. The style of Durarara seems to be throwing out a bunch of random events and slowly building towards a climax that ties everything together. That can make for some slower episodes here and there (I didn't particularly enjoy episode 1 of the first season) it's always worth it when everything comes together.
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Theozilla
 Posts: 144 Location: Oakland, California |
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I personally would give this episode a B+/A- as well, I don't think the episodes have been running on autopilot, more it seems like there is a little less breathing room for the plot and characters to take advantage of its visual storytelling medium. But the flaws I don't think bother me as much, because the plot and cast are still so much fun and interesting.
I wonder if this maybe because the show is having to adapt all 10 remaining light novels into only 36-39 episodes total, so each book it seems will only get about 3-4 episodes each to tell their story arcs (compared to the first season giving 12 episodes to the 1st book, and about 6 episodes each to the 2nd and 3rd books). From what I've research about the light novels, it seems that book 4's story arc might get completed by the next episode. Also apparently the people that Ruri kills are spoiler[actually people who worked/conspired with her boss Yadogiri Jinnai (the closest thing to a Big Bad of the series) and subjected her to some messed up occult rituals or something (due to her being 1/4 vampire I guess). So that's why she is killing apparently.] I wonder when that part of her backstory will get revealed sooner or later? |
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Via_01
 Posts: 551 |
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But that's the thing with his character, at least for the moment. Regardless of how many other characters there are, Mikado is still kinda like the main character, or at the very least, he's the only character that started his life in Ikebukuro at the same time we did, if you get what I mean. Even though he had Dollars thing going on from before, he never really got to develop himself until he reached Ikebukuro, while every single other character in the series had already gone through a lot. I think Mikado will grow up to be more and more interesting as the show goes on, and he has the potential for it, unlike many others who I believe are going to remain more or less the same, which is why he's one of my favorite character. I can even bet that the series will end with him. EDIT: Also, I don't get the hate for the third arc. Sure, it wasn't amazing like the last two, but it was still pretty good. |
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