Durarara!! – 8

So everyone who theorized from the beginning that Mika Harima is “wearing” Celty’s head (including good ol’ Scamp) . . . you all just earned yourselves a Stephen Colbert-sized “Called it!” Take advantage of this opportunity to shout it to the heavens! Unfortunately, I was swayed to this theory a bit too late to be able to join in on the fun — but I believed in you all the whole time!

The ending also confirms that Seiji is well aware that Mika is wearing Celty’s head; in fact, that appears to be what he likes about her! Seiji is way too young to have seen Celty in Ireland, so clearly he first viewed Celty’s head (and presumably fell in love with it) while in Japan. With Seiji knowingly involved, that pretty much narrows the suspects quite a bit. It’s almost a given that Seiji’s shady sister, Namie, is involved with this, and because this episode makes it clear that Shinra has a direct connection with Yagiri Pharmaceuticals (he’s on call for them, and he is also “keeping their secret”), it is more likely than ever that he knows the truth about Celty’s head.

Shinra might really believe Celty is better off without her head. He might be trying to cling to his living situation with Celty. He might just be trying to cover his ass while he peeks ever more into what makes Celty tick. Or it could be a combination of the three. Whatever the case, the tiny amount of trust I had in Shinra has evaporated. Even if he is in over his head and/or a part of this shady business against his will, it’s still fairly shitty to keep Celty in the dark for this long.

As for the story of this particular episode, I like how the theme of losing and finding is woven among the many characters and gives them all an ironic sort of connection that they cannot take advantage of (poor Mikado). Celty is missing her head, but more importantly she is missing herself — she believes she is playing at being human and not doing an especially great job at it, and is in fact distracting herself from her goal, which is of course to become whole again.

In his Durarara!! post a while back, Landon wrote about Celty as a mythological creature going through the sort of existential crisis common in modern storytelling — that even the most inhuman of creatures/concepts is humanized to make it more believable to the average viewer. What Celty is finding out is that this is not really working; or, at least, she can’t really know if a human’s life is for her until she gets back in touch with herself as a dullahan. I actually like that the whole human thing isn’t turning out so well for her so far. She isn’t human, so why should she be measured by human standards? It’s like when aliens are humanized in sci-fi movies. Why wouldn’t they be completely different than us? Isn’t it right that Celty is like, “Man, this shit is kind of ridiculous — I’d rather be a dullahan again”?

And Shinra is looking to fulfill his unrequited love; however, the chances of that happening any time soon are quite small. (Maybe he should take a hint from the fortune cookie and realize he is squarely in the Friend Zone.) I’d feel a bit sorry for him if I weren’t so mistrustful of him.

You’ve also got Mikado losing little things and through that trying to get in good with Anri, who is not especially receptive to his advances, to say the least. She ditches Mikado the first chance she gets (curiously, it’s after she brings up her parents, although it is just in passing), and when he personally returns her shoes to her, she makes damn sure there is no way an awkward guy like Mikado would ever think to ask himself inside her home. Mikado is looking for that connection, but it doesn’t appear as if Anri is looking for that right now. Or is that it? People keep saying that nobody in Durarara!! is normal — what are Anri’s secrets?

To close the circle, the only person who seems to have found what he is looking for is Seiji. He has Celty’s head plastered onto a young human body. What more could he possibly need? (What a fucked up family that is.) I suppose human love just isn’t romantic or impressive enough for him. But, hey, earn the love of a mythological creature, and there’s something you can tell the boys.