I’ve been waiting for this episode: the point at which this series carries itself to a higher level. It’s here where it grabs the build-up of the previous episodes and develops it. And I have to say that it’s here where this series has become something truly unique. What an inspired episode.
It was a very interesting choice for the creators to make Mikado seem like your average teen-aged lead at first. At the time he was introduced, he indeed seemed like another one of those cliched leads that you see everywhere. But at the same time, he ended up becoming a perfect character to play around with, because of the expectations we have of these kinds of characters. Most notably, the fact that they never seem to have any background. It’s one of the many stereotypes of anime: your dull lead who’s supposed to be your average lead, but because he’s trying so hard to be average he never stands out at anything. Instead, Durarara has really shown that it’s a series in which all sorts of interesting people meet. Who in turn are just a small fraction of all of the interesting people that walk around in the city. I really have to applaud this series for that.
But what impressed me the most, and what set this episode really apart, is the execution, especially what happened after Mikado hit that send button, and every gray person suddenly started to get colour. It’s the kind of thing that never would have been possible without the previous build-up of this series. The way it was delivered, by showing the reactions of everyone standing in that street, along with Celty’s breakdown made this episode into a unique experience for me.
And yet you could also see a ton of stuff that’s borrowed from other series. The most notable was of course that the creators pulled a Clamp around the middle of this episode, with Isaac and Miria making actual cameos (I’d sell my hat of a shot of these two, going to the theatres and watching Baccano). There’s the flashback, just in the middle of a climax, explaining everything that just happened (a technique that’s also loved by the Armed Librarians), and the tons of pop culture references that had to be slightly modified due to copyright issues.
But most of all, I saw this episode as a celebration of the opportunities of modern social networking. As someone who’s also often on the Internet and who also has been involved in the creation of various communities, I could very much relate to Mikado as he and his friends created the Dollars. And meeting interesting and different people is exactly what I love about the Internet.
Despite its unique approach, this isn’t the first anime to focus on online communities. Mostly science fiction, series as Serial Experiments Lain, Master of Epic, .Hack//Sign and Real Drive also got to show their take on them (and yes, I’m a really big fan of those kinds of series). One thing that I’ve noticed however is that so far, there’s been one big part of the Internet that has been pretty much ignored: the idiot side of the Internet. There also are a lot of morons and spam-bots on the Internet, but you often see anime focus on the positive and progressive sides. While it might lead to a more complete image, but then again things like those would be rather hard to watch.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
You know, I hadn’t given too much thought of the symbolism behind the color change, but that makes sense — the shift from dull, lifeless/colorless people we ignore everyday on the street, to people who are suddenly filled with color and life because the connections they have with each other are suddenly recognized. The more I think about that scene, the more I’m liking it as much as everyone else (I kind of scoffed at it at first, haha).
Well about the bad side of the internet, there was an episode of durarara, where someone spammed in the chatbox~
As far as I remember both Durarara!!! and Baccano take place in the same universe. So it’s not really like Clamp
That is an interesting idea for a show: the idiot side of the Internet/social networking. Sometimes the ‘dark’ side of the Net is referenced, but rarely do people show how stupid it can be. And yet, the stupidity of love, or high school is a staple of anime. Some movies have explored the stupidity of other social forms (especially the military, but also corporations). The easiest way to approach it is as a source of comedy. Sometimes you can show something so stupid it becomes sad.
Since the Dollars group did get out of control temporarily I don´t see it as that unrealistic.
I really liked the line “Maybe it´s guys like you who are the most dangerous in this world”.
I love how Mikado finally stood out from the other awesome characters. This episode definitely placed him in the spotlight. I beginning to love Mikado more than anyone else now. He had a clever plan that didn’t have to involve with violence or whatsoever. I totally underestimated him. And I agree with Unentschieden, I loved Yamie’s quote. =D
I love the baccano references, the password he typed in the computer last episode was baccano btw. I’m so glad I decided on a whim to watch baccano a couple of weeks ago and then decided to pick up durarara since i was bored and the show looked someone interesting from the screen shots.
“This is definitely a sign that Biribiri is going to become the heroine!
Oh there’s always something new to applaud about or be impressed in in this series~
YAY TO THE POWER OF THE INTERNET xD
I don’t know Master of Epic though o_O *includes in watch list*
I like this show to the extent that writing any comments about it seems to have become slavish. The franchise will undoubtedly liberate many monies from my tyranny.
I’m actually quite fond of a lot of the stylistic decisions they’ve made with this show. The color design, the icon designs and the fidelity of the user interfaces, the modeling of the light and reflections, the drab background characters, and so on. In particular the drab background characters, while probably serving as a compromise between ambiance and budget for production, also work to focus the viewer’s attention on the main actors in a scene. It’s not completely dissimilar to the way playing with the depth of field is sometimes used in films. The transformation of the background characters as they became relevant to the scene in this episode was a good idea. The way that the message propagated and how we’re introduced to the wide range of the sorts of people involved was kind of exhilarating, and seeing the puzzled response from the lab cronies as the agents around them spring to life was amusing.
The way that it pops away to show us the variety of the members of Dollars is also kind of interesting. It may seem a little too rosy that such a disorganized set of good-natured people happen to become members of a single Internet clique, but I think there’s a lot of room for that kind of romantic idealism in fiction to provide something to strive for. (It’s an interesting contrast to all of the senseless violence of Baccano, and I am curious if it’s as idealistic in the novel as the anime.) The difference between these people, who come to take pride in Dollars as a force for good, and the color gangs is pretty obvious, and I wonder if it’s not part of the author’s point. Either way, the background we obtained for Mikado and Dollars made me question Mikado having had a transformation or having hid some true nature, but rather found himself tested by life and, and with confidence he obtained from meeting some of the members of Dollars, trusted that they would be able to help him thwart Namie’s machinations.
I was really confused by whatever Celty was going on about. I’ll have to look at a subbed episode, because to some extent she strikes me as incoherent. There’s certainly a good chance that was the point, but unless she was having a Rene Descartes with mercury poisoning moment I think I just didn’t understand. It was pretty fun watching her cut people down, though.
…This was said before but I say it too. Mikado is NOT main character. Celty is. Its called DECOY PROTAGONIST.
(Oh and on dark side of Internet… Izaya is trolling on chat box.(He pulling GIRL(guy in real life, aka someone who acts and claims to be girl in order to mess with people) routine.)
P.S… I heard that Baccano, Vamp! and this take place in same universe… Though I don’t know anything about other two so yeah.
m, I feel Celty’s reaction and behaviour was quite understandable.
She has been searching for head for, i think she said, 20 years. It has been her predominant aim, desire, goal to be re-united with something that has been taken from her. It had become her raison d’être.
To have been searching for something for so long (especially if its something that yours) and when you finally find it, to then realise that you probably cant get it back, anyone would not be impressed. Hence her frustrated outburst, in which she went after the people that took away what rightfully belongs to her.
I suspect its even harder for her to show it, obviously because she doesnt have a head to scream, cry etc, so for her actions speak louder than words i guess.
Towards the beginning of the episode, she questions whether she has changed, but I saw it as her questioning whether she had become more human(so to speak). Shinra has the sort of relationship with her that we would see between a normal (human) male and female, and her other friends (Shizuo, Izaya etc) all treat her as she were an average person. However I think Celty does not want to acknowledge this, as at the moment she is still a headless rider. It is as if, the search for her head, is her yearning to resemble a much more human form, a yearning for what ever humanity she may have. Its all fine and well that her closest friends accept her for what she is, but not everyone would if they knew she didnt have a head (as we saw the crowds reaction towards the latter part of the episode). She even refers to herself as a monster, as I think that what she believes she is without her head, even though she probably doesnt want to be seen that way.
But I thats just what I suspect, I could just be reading to much into it, and may be way off, but its just my opinion. 🙂
“Mikado seem like your average teen-aged lead at first.”
He still is one.
@Karry, how many teens do what he just did in this ep?
Reminds me of Unwritten Law’s “Genocide” off the self-titled (sphinx) album. Here’s the particular segment:
You’re standing there
Like we’re gonna be all scared
Come now
And I don’t really wanna brag
But my whole city’s got my back
And we’re all ready to attack
Those lines give me chills every time this song comes up on my pod. Kind of like the mass Guy Fawkes scene in V for Vendetta. Awesome.
Agreed that I loved the Bacanno reference. Who better to be a part of a group like this than Issac and Miria? It was just icing on the cake~!
Great episode C: And better for Mikado. It was was awesome to see him take such an interesting offensive. Especially for the ending. Very nonviolent for the sudden violent attack at the end.
Mikado really stepped it up and I can easily relate to the internet themes. Now we’ll have to see what he does next. He probably won’t reveal that he’s the founder of Dollars, but I think it’ll be quite interesting if he does.
Isaac and Miria are not the only Baccano reference….
Put the screen on slow motion and you’ll realise that the password to the Dollars website is actually “Baccano”. XD
Isaac and Miria are not the only Baccano reference….
Put the screen on slow motion and you’ll realise that the password to the Dollars website is actually “Baccano”. XD
Aha. The kind of anime I’d sacrifice a lot for. After watching so much titles, this one didn’t cease to amaze and give me an intriguing vibe to the guts.
Sweet.