Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Durarara!! ×2 The Third Arc
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GeneStriker
Posts: 156 |
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Damn, this series knows how to deliver a sucker punch. My jaw audibly hit the floor when Kujiragi made her big move in ep 5.
My question is, what is the rest of Celty's crew going to do now? Are they going to try to make moves independently, now that their leaders are gone? Or are they going to try to make a team effort to get Celty and Shinra back? Both are acceptable courses of action, at least from a third-party standpoint. Don't feel like they'd get very far on the 'getting back Celty' plan, though. |
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killjoy_the
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The Celty team just looks like it's a complete bust, now. Seiji and his merry harem are gonna be busy probably going after the head (or stopping him from going after the head), and now that Dotachin's back from his coma (though I've no idea if he's gonna be up and about any time soon) Walker and Driver Dude don't really have that much motivation to stay around. |
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GeneStriker
Posts: 156 |
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So, more or less the first, then. Speaking of which, we're not going to see Kadota until the very end, are we? I guess that's how it has to be, but still... |
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SnowyLightning44
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Well now Durarara!!'s really up and running with everybody trying to make their move before the other's. Its nice to see the series up to it's usually antics and having both major and minor characters get deep into the plot line.
I like the way Kujiragi just came in and stole Shinra from right under Celty's eyes and Celty's reaction to that act. And also Saki's back in the fray and out to make sure Anri doesn't get any close to Masaomi which kind of works but instead of doing that she actually manages to help Anri with her own personal problems and help her come to the decision of what her 'move' will be. And yeah now I've read the review it makes sense the Shooter came to Shizuo since he's one of the few people he/she (I don't know which) sees Celty talking to regularly (except Shinra of course who's been kidnapped of course) and I'm wondering what will happen when Shizuo catches up to Varona a.d then what will happen when he goes after Izaya and how Izaya plans to 'erase his card from the deck'. 
Also Rokujo and Masaomi have seemed to make a temporary truce so Masaomi can get the old Mikado back. And Mikado seems to have stuck some sort of deal with Izumii and Aoba seemed pretty annoyed when Mikado comes down from talking to him unscathed and with everything seemingly sorted out 
And lastly although we don't get to see in episode 6, at the end of episode 5 we learn that Kadota has come out of his coma and Anri and Erina are going to visit him, so I'm curious to see what his condition is and what he can now do as one of the main faces of the Dollars to sort out the chaos that's now complete enveloped Ikebukuro 
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HaruhiToy
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I like this anime and I think it deserved the A rating you gave it, but absolutely its biggest weakness out of its cast of thousands is Mikado. He is not terrifying. He is terrified. His influence is tenuous at best and would not even exist if it weren't for Aoba propping him up. His acts range mostly from hesitant to passive and are mostly ineffectual when he manages to try to do anything. He has no insights deeper than a street puddle and he cannot even communicate Masaomi or Anri. He is a featherweight in every way I can think of. He has some proficiency with computers and is nice to Celty. Marks for that. That's it. That's the emperor's clothes. I am reminded of Haku in Utawarerumono where he does virtually nothing but every consequential character thinks he is marvelous somehow. Could someone explain where what I wrote here is wrong? |
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GeneStriker
Posts: 156 |
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Alright, I don't know if I can explain this well, but I'll try. To talk about why Mikado is important and powerful, we have to know what power is in DRR in the first place. There are two kinds of power in this show. The first is the kind that people like Shizuo and Celty have - brute strength. The kind that can win fights on a small scale (or relatively large in Shizuo's case). The second is the kind that people like Kujiragi (not to discount her brute strength) and Izaya have - information, or 'power over others.' This particularly applies to Izaya. The guy is handy in a fight, sure, but at the end of the day, the thing that makes him a constant threat is the power over others he possesses. Every other character in this show, to an extent, has at least one of these two kinds of power, to varying degrees. One could argue that Mikado has neither of these things. He isn't strong. He doesn't know what other people are thinking. However, that's exactly what makes him dangerous. Mikado has something that none of the other characters have. He has a third type of power: his fear. In the first season of DRR, he was the only 'normal character.' Even after we learned that he had created the Dollars, he still just seemed like a normal person who took a joke too far. Everything 'extraordinary' simply happened around him. He was an outsider. Unrelated. And yet, you always got the feeling that if he weren't there, things would have been different. That he was somehow to blame, or that he had a hand in it, with his first action. That had he not quietly sculpted the Dollars into its current form, things would have changed. Then Aoba arrived. Like almost everyone else, to him, Mikado was only important because of his first action - the creation of the Dollars. He wasn't powerful for any reason. He was only an exploitable pawn, something that couldn't do anything on its own. Something he could use effortlessly. So he made his proposal to Mikado. He just wanted to take over the Dollars, and Mikado seemed like the quickest way to do it. He was sure whatever Mikado would use them for would be foolish and trivial. And had this character been any other character in the series, he would have been right. But he's not. He's afraid. Mikado can set things in motion that no one else can. Not because he's powerful, but because he's Mikado. Had anyone else been given the power that Aoba and Blue Square provide, It might not have mattered in the long run. But Mikado is afraid. He's afraid of everyone. And fear is a dangerous thing. Fear is a constant feeling, one we can be desperate to get rid of. Some people can swallow their fear. Face it, even. But some people can't. Some people can't accept fear, and can't overcome it, either. These people are the ones who make fear so dangerous. Because they only have two options left. The first is to run, and that might not work. The other is to destroy that which makes them afraid, at all costs. This reaction is contagious. Throughout history, this reaction to fear has lead to countless atrocities. Manslaughter. Witch hunts. Genocide. Mikado is afraid of everything. So he plans to destroy everything, if he has the power. And Aoba inadvertently gave him the tools to do so. ...Again, I don't know if that makes sense. I'm trying to put my thoughts into words, but I'm not particularly good at it, so.. Yeah. |
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WeNTuS
Posts: 65 |
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I would say that Mikado got another power - unpredictable mind. Aoba was scared of Mikado because he started acting not like he expected but with twisted moves. Mikado is psycho now and no one know what to expect from him. His power is fearing others not being feared. |
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SnowyLightning44
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Love the way Tom's in mentally-dialogue, talking about 'normal' and not resisting the flow of situations while there's zombies right out side coming for him
 ,well at least Simon's brought out some of the shops totally legal weapons to help defend against them. Wow I always had a feeling Namie was gonna lose it eventually but not in a major way like this (never even thought about anyone saving logs, she's been doing more I thought) and its going to be interesting what going will happen if a lot of people get wind of everything she posted.
It's how Walker can be so hype when all this is going on although maybe that's just his way of dealing or looking past things and now Kadota has come back and Erika's right outside the Sushi bar being ravaged by zombies  .
Can't believe Takashi's managed to come back and make such a big impact and its going to be hard to predict what he'll do. It's good to see Shizuo coming in and see him fighting with his heart, and brain (a tiny bit) as well as his fists and once he makes his way to Izaya (can't believe he tried to burn Shizuo, sneaky man), he's ready to fight even if he's just gonna twist the information broker into a pretzel 
and the newly formed alliance of Varona and Kujiragi make their way up the staircase to join him only to be stopped by Mikage who seems to be holding them off very well despite Kujiragi's supernatural power. And fails Shinra and let's his instinct and curiosity take over and throws Celty's head (well more like gets Egor to do it) into her body to see what will happen. I really like the designs of Celty though now she back to how she originally was and I hope Rokujo's plan manages to go off without a hitch although with all the other stuff going on around the city at least one thing is bound to get in the way and Anri and Saki manage travel safely amidst the Saika army |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Episode 32 (8)
It's really weird, but I feel like Celty's real head isn't as cute as I imagine her to be. I'm not quite sure what I think she should look like or how I see her in my head, but her real head just looks so...ordinary. It's disappointing. I still don't have a clue what's going on, what with every other person in Ikebukuro having their own Saika all of a sudden. Even with the reviews to spell it all out, I doubt I ever will. But it's still fun to watch, and these recent eps have been interesting enough that I don't dread them like I did last season. |
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3768 |
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Mikado has way too cavalier of an attitude towards guns. They're not something you go "eh, might as well use it" about. I'm thinking that Rokujo would not have gone with that plan if he knew Mikado had a gun. Depends on what direction they want to go with the ending as to whether he shoots it or not. If they go for tragic, he'll shoot. If they want a happy ending, he won't. I'm honestly not sure which way they'll go.
As to the cuteness of Celty's head, I'm not displeased (although you just noticed that now? It's been seen since the original series. Maybe it's just that it is awake. I don't know) though that's because I'm fond of short haired brunettes. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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But it was always just a head in a jar, something I don't think of as cute or anything but a head in a jar. Now that it's awake and looking around and talking, it just emphasizes how ordinary she is, as ordinary looking as Seiji's girlfriend has always looked (never did understand how he fell in love with her head). I think it's mostly the short, mousey brown hair. Celty should have a glorious mane of either midnight black or flaming red hair.  Hell, I'd settle for a cute pixie cut in any other color than blah brown.
Now that she's awake and talking, I also expected to feel something ominous about her or threatening or something, but she's as ho-hum as her hair. When The Reaper comes for you, it shouldn't evoke a yawn. |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3768 |
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I suspected as much. I guess everyone has their own taste.
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HanyouHime56
Posts: 3 |
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Mikado is scary because he’s cagey and great at reading people. In the beginning he asks Masaomi about the dollars while playing the role of the naive, down to earth friend. He quietly listens, gaining information without breaking Masaomi’s idealistic impression of him. After Mikado’s first Dollars meeting, Masaomi brings up a rumor he heard and Mikado just tells teases him about it without breaking a sweat about lying to his face. Mikado always reads the room well. He plays the innocent card with Akabayashi. He acts dramatically polite and respectful and shows concern for Anri. Akabayashi thinks he’s naive for revealing so much, but it was also exactly the response he was looking for since he doesn’t want Anri around someone dangerous. Mikado doesn’t need to know they share this in common. He just has good instincts like Shizuo. This is also true for how he handles Izumi. He’s scared of both Izumi and Akabayashi, but handles them differently. Mikado’s tone of voice and choice of words sound similar to the way Izumi talks. Mikado’s crazed diaglog is all over place. You don’t use reason to talk to Izumi. Izumi decides he likes him. Mikado reads Aoba really well too. Aoba’s most sensitive spot is how much he hates his brother. So when Aoba wants to find out what Mikado was discussing with Izumi, Mikado says he wishes he had a brother which flusters Aoba and distracts him from pressing further. He even knows how to get under Izaya’s skin. In his last conversation Mikado says Izaya-san not Orihara-san which is very unlike him. Mikado doesn’t let on how well he reads people the way Izaya does. This gives Mikado a lot of allies. To Masaomi Mikado’s a straight shooter, to Anri he’s supportive, to Celty he respects her for who she is, to Izaya he’s the guy who can’t be left alone because he’s so human. He manages to be everyone to everybody and that’s why he’s surrounded by everyone. At his core he may be a nice person but Mikado is a chameleon who can change his color when he needs to. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Episodes 33-34 (9-10)
So...after flooding the place with CO2 and propane (?) to get rid of most of the oxygen, how did Izaya get it to explode? If any of it ignited, it would have been what had risen up to his own level where there was still O2, and he'd have blown himself up instead. Wouldn't have been much of a blast though, certainly not a column of fire visible across the city. Anyway, this is getting fun again. I'm not quite as lost as usual, and those parts where I still can't follow it don't much matter anymore.
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HaruhiToy
Posts: 4118 |
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I don't see how Izaya is going to get away from Shizuo this time. It looks to me he has no more tricks to play.
Yeah well him and me both. The delusion is how are we supposed to make any sense of Mikado's motivations? What the hell does this kid want? If it was made clear in the episodes or the review I certainly missed it. At this point I am even prepared to set aside that it still makes sense that Mikado is any sort of leader for anyone. In the thread above more than one poster made a good attempt to explain it but I'm sorry but "being afraid of stuff" is not some sort of goddam superpower. Still, I really like this anime. For me the attractive point is its amazing multithreaded storytelling choreography. |
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