Durarara!! 24 – Simon the Puncher (END)

I always knew Simon would come through by the end of the series: The one time he decides to finally do something, it is for a perfectly worthy cause. Izaya isn’t really humiliated (save for a mocking laugh thrown his way by Namie), but a nice shiner — along with what has to be several bumps and bruises after flying through the sky courtesy of Air Simon — is some decent comeuppance for 24 episodes of dickery on Izaya’s part.

And yet it also shows a lot of what goes wrong in the second half of Durarara!! Characters with craploads of potential come and go without doing very much at all. Simon sells sushi without affecting the plot much at all, even though he can clearly make things happen. Shingen makes a cameo as if he is appearing in some low-rent sitcom. The cop’s appearance is great, but he probably could have been a more substantial character than he actually is. And on and on and on.

Durarara!! 23 – Surgery Squick

Animated violence rarely grosses me out, because it does not often look real at all (and the more real violence seems, the more disturbing it is), but anything related to surgery is automatic squick material. There’s just something about opening up the human body and fiddling around that just creeps the hell out of me . . .

Anyway, it’s funny how anticlimactic Izaya’s plan has turned out to be, although at least part of that has to be because the anime has presented his plotting as if it is the be-all-end-all way for Izaya to awaken Celty’s head, whereas the events in the second half of the series are no doubt one part of a larger plot, because that is how these things work. Taken in that view, Izaya’s plan is slightly less dopey; however, it won’t make his inevitable smugness at the end of the series any less infuriating.

(By the way, it’s also funny how Izaya is already setting up Horada as a potential scapegoat if his plan fails. Maybe Izaya should choose a better representative than some creepy old dude (is he old? He sure looks old) who has risen in the ranks in a gang of middle- and high-schoolers.)

Durarara!! 22 – I Mustn’t Run Away! … Next Episode

Kida calling is not enough to awaken Mikado from his self-pitying slumber . . .

I’m of two minds about this episode: On the one hand, at least something is finally happening. The Yellow Scarves were moving. Dollars was moving. Anri stands up for herself after receiving more help from Celty. Shizuo gets to kick a little ass (and receives some retaliation in return). After so much build-up, it seems as if events are finally moving somewhere.

Durarara!! 21 – Bit Late for the Hard Knocks Approach, Eh?

Seems appropriate that the first time we see Kida exercise any sort of physical control over his group, the mutiny against him is starting to reach its fever pitch. :p

In a way, doesn’t that represent everything we have seen from Kida so far? People have been wondering just how in the hell Kida keeps a large group of big, tough dudes in check, and it isn’t until the gang is coming apart at the seams do we see him back up his commands with action. Presumably Kida has been running the show this way for quite a while, but for the audience, it is too little, too late . . . just like his realization that he was in too deep with Izaya came too little, too late, and how his realization of his friends’ true identities threatens to be too little, too late. If someone’s going to hold all the cards right now, sure Izaya would want it to be Kida, right? He comes off as the most adult, but he is also the most under Izaya’s control.

Durarara!! 20 – Played

Well, my positive feelings about Kida from the last episode did not last very long!

To be fair, it’s still uncertain whether Kida is yet willing to launch into a full-on war with Dollars, especially now that he knows Mikado is the group’s leader; Kida is at least telling the Yellow Scarves to gather definitive proof about a link between Dollars and the Slashers, even if, you know, nobody in his group is listening to him. Change happens, the loyalties of the group shifts, Kida is operating in a way that does not put him in the mindset to maintain control and, even though he is trying to act as cautiously as possible, Kida is still getting played by Izaya.

Durarara!! 19 – Trollin’

A troll’s work never stops.

It’s funny how brazen Izaya can be when he’s doing his job. I believe only Mikado knows that Izaya lurks behind the online persona of “Kanra”, but even in front of Mikado, Izaya plants suggestions about the Slasher, Dollars and the Yellow Scarves . . . and Mikado still chats privately with Izaya for information, just because he has made himself so darn useful throughout the course of the series. That’s the power Izaya has — what he says is ugly, meant to undermine and is often full of outright lies, but nobody (save Shizuo) can bear to completely dissociate themselves with him because he is so good at mixing in the occasional truth with his lies and making them indistinguishable.

Durarara!! 18 – Izaya Is a Dick

Seriously, what a dick. Even Superman would frown upon that behavior.

That said, he’s also an impressive dick. (Though whether he has an impressive dick is not for me to say.) Whenever a villain pops up and does his or her whole Chessmaster routine, what always stands out to me is the amount of patience required to play out those plans step by step. I am patient when working with other people; however, when it comes to personal plans, patience is a word that does not exist in my vocabulary. I’m always on edge when working on something. I try my best to be thoughtful, of course, but lurking just below the surface there’s this manic energy propelling me to finish everything I write as quickly as possible. Can’t help it; it’s the way I’m wired. (Kind of ironic, too, since it usually takes me a while to write these posts. :p)

Durarara!! 17 – A Little Game of Chess

Oh, Izaya, you wily bastard, you.

It’s of course not at all a shock to finally see Izaya’s influence over the events of Durarara come out into the open; actually, most people were probably wondering when Izaya would step a little more into the open and flex his muscle a bit. He still hasn’t really done that, but maybe letting Namie in on his plan counts as showing off the bicep just a bit. (Guess Izaya is confident he has Namie completely under his thumb if he is willing to let her in on such precious details.)

Durarara!! 16 – Love Makes Us All a Bit Crazy

You know, if there is anything Durarara!! has to teach us, it’s this: Think twice before you fall in love!

Seriously. When Celty x Shinra is your healthiest relationship (not really sure if Erika and Walker are together or just good friends . . . and their penchant for team torture might make people question how healthy that relationship is, anyway :p), then that might be a sign for the whole world to give up the entire enterprise, or at least live a little more first. But, no, the Haruna Niekawas (and Mika Harimas) of the world would rather stalk first, and ask questions later. Alas. Maybe it would be OK if they had better taste in men, but of course you cannot help with whom you fall in love.

Durarara!! 15 – The Measure of Strength

Shuji Niekawa’s search for strength in Ikebukuro is interesting. He wants to write a magazine article about the strongest person in the city, but right from the start he seems to get it wrong because his approach is all out of whack.

For one thing, the word “strength” itself is so vague. There are so many different kinds of strength — can one really be placed on top of another so easily? Shuji narrows his search to focus on physical strength and determines (through his own observation and through interviews) that Shizuo is the strongest person in Ikebukuro. Certainly seems like a good choice at first glance. When Shizuo lets loose, which is often, he is capable of unleashing holy hell upon anyone in his way. Being on the opposite side of a pissed-off Shizuo is a frightening experience. Outside of, perhaps, Simon, nobody in Ikebukuro seems to be a match for Shizuo from a physical standpoint.

But is he the strongest around?