Durarara – 08



One of the many reasons why this series rocks is the following: even though every episode is dedicated to one particular character (in this case Celty), it never forgets that it has a huge cast, and also shows some of the lives of the other characters that don’t have anything to do with the episode’s main focus, beyond mere cameos. This is especially important early on in the series, and a lot of series seem to forget the entire rest of the cast when they decide to dedicate an episode to one or two particular characters. This is a great way to breathe life into all of your characters, rather than just one or two.

I also have to say, that this show is very good at red herrings. We finally get to see Celty’s real head confirmed. I could have sworn that it was captured by that scientist woman, but no! It was the girl with the scar after all! In any case, it’s great to finally see an episode from Celty’s perspective. This episode was mostly slice of life, but very enjoyable slice of life nonetheless. We got to see her worries and how much finding her head back means to her, and this episode managed to get much more into her character than in the Shinra-episode, at which she first was properly introduced.

The question-mark in this episode was that strange guy who blew himself up. I mean, what was up with that? We never saw him before, he just appears and then kills himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if Izaya was behind it, but still, that might seem a bit extreme even for him, to suddenly command an army of suicide terrorists…

And yeah, Walker and Erika were really cute together in this episode.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

15 thoughts on “Durarara – 08

  1. every episode is exciting to watch. this anime is 1 of the best this season. i hope they will also pull out something that would make this anime, one of the best in the decade

  2. Well we still have 9 years of this decade left, so it would be sad if DRRR was already the best they could offer.

    Still this episode was enjoyable. Now that they officially revealed whose head was on that girls shoulders there was finally some actual tension.
    The slice of life was executed as good as always and some characters are starting to take shape.

    Yet I’m not that pleased with the animes plot-construction compared to the novel…somehow that part about Celty’s head came a bit too blunt.

  3. I thought the repeated mistaken identity foreshadowed the location of Celty’s head pretty well. I thought the head in a jar belonged to the missing girl whose body she’s using, though clearly I don’t have a lot of evidence for that position.

    This episode was pretty good. Celty’s a likable character, we saw a few different settings, and I assume all of the other threads don’t just serve to flesh out the characters for their own sake, but to construct the story. I like the formula for this show, because it always manages to dangle carrots for future episodes instead of just being plainly predictable.

    I’ll have to import the novels in the spring when I should have more free reading time. Books are almost always better than stories told in a visual medium, and this one’s already pretty good.

  4. I’m pretty sure Mr.Fireworks guy isn’t dead. When Shinra pointed the torch in his eye the pupil…changed shape (forgotten the technical term) which is a clear sign he’s alive. More obviously, the guy talked about erasing his memories which you wouldn’t say about a dead man

  5. Poor dude, even the girls with no head are complicated and tough to read.

    Celty’s head actually fits quite well. I must say I enjoyed this episode a lot. It’s low key, relaxing, and just puts a warm feeling in your chest all while keeping an element of mystery.

  6. My guess: the head was in a jar until the pharma. facility was able to find a compatible body–which is Mr.Dynamite’s girlfriend’s body.

    I find it really sad that Shinra ended up with a “unrequited love” fortune paper. I thought Celty and Shinra would be a better match compared to Celty X Shizuo.

    And was Kida purposely ‘away’ in this episode to let Mikado be with the class president for awhile longer?

  7. I think Celty’s head is probably on Mika Harima’s body,as Pi said above but I wonder why Namie still need experimental subjects if Mika is compatible with Celty’s head?Or is the Kaztano kidnapping incident happened before Mika got Celty’s head?But I swear I saw her with that head since episode 1,which happened before episode 6..

    Or,and I think Mika will meet up with Mikado next week according to the preview,can’t wait for next week!

  8. I think Kida went after the perps who threw the shoes out the window. Hopefully we’ll get to see what came of that next week.

  9. yeah the fireworks guy wasn’t dead. In fact the impression I got was the security at the company beat him up after he started flingin fireworks. But yes, his pupil dilated which means he’s alive.

    As for why Mikado was looking for connections…I’ve always fancied this strange theory that Mikado was actually the head of the dollars. you just go on the website and sign up and bam you get to be a member of dollars. It seems to me something a lonely kid would create. I have absolutely no evidence supporting that theory. It’s just a gut feeling that’s probably wrong.

  10. actually this isn’t celtys head on the girls body.
    its just the face looking the same.
    coincidence? probably not…

  11. @psgels

    My impression with the kid with the firecracker was that he was angry at the pharmaceutical company for ‘doing’ strange ‘expiriments’ on his girlfriend. The dude was just stupid enough to get caught by security and got the crap kicked out of him. That’s why the doc was called in to fix him up and ‘erase’ his memories so they could send the kid packing none the wiser.

  12. Maybe Mikado is looking for people in order to get in touch with members of Dollars?

    I feel that the head of Dollars could be Mikado as well, but… perhaps they’re trying to mislead us to think that Mikado’s the gang leader of Dollars. Maybe the leader of Dollars is someone else.

    On a random note, don’t you guys think Dotachin and Seiji Yagiri look alike? Perhaps Dotachin (if that’s really Seiji) agreed to join Dollars in hopes to keep Celty from retrieving her head and lose his girlfriend.

Leave a Reply