I’m still waiting for that magic moment, but this week didn’t bring it.

I find myself in a funny sort of limbo with Durarara, both as a blogger and as a viewer.  At the risk of becoming a broken record, the experience of watching it is peculiarly hollow for me this season.  I can only say that so many times before I have to find some inspiration to write about what’s actually happening on-screen, but that inspiration hasn’t really hit me yet.  Maybe it isn’t going to, which would make continuing to cover it problematical (which would be a pretty hard blow to take).  And this is a real commitment, what with three cours of X2 to come – though the flip-side is that there isn’t a whole lot on the schedule competing for coverage right now.

Thing is, I am still enjoying DRRR.  It’s still a fun series to watch, though this arc (which is apparently over) didn’t strike me as one of the more compelling ones.  I tend to think Celty, nice as she is, works better as a piece of an ensemble rather than being the clear focus of events as she was in this arc.  Her affectations can be a lot to take when we get as much of them as we have these last four episodes, and there wasn’t a whole lot of narrative oxygen left over for the other major players from last season.

Given that the “climax” of this arc was basically a hotpot party (unless you count the motorcycle chase scene which was rather more “anti-” than climax) it’s hard to say just what it contributed to the overall narrative apart from a chance for some Celty vamping.  It’s a shame the motorcycle chase wasn’t better, as those kinds of scenes were a staple of the first season.  The party was fun – it was nice seeing a bunch of characters together who rarely intersect, and Izaya’s peevishness at not having been invited – but it wasn’t that much of a payoff for four episodes worth of buildup.

I’m not sure what would make Durarara snap for me like it used to, but maybe we’ll get some of it in the next arc.  Izaya seems like he’s going to start making serious trouble again, and maybe that means we’ll get more than a bit part for Shizuo.  I rather liked the three-way dynamic between Mikado, Anri and the now-absent Kida, and the high-tension standoff between the Dollars and the Yellow Scarves, but Kida is elsewhere now and the Scarves defunct – but perhaps Aoba’s positioning himself as a junior Izaya means we might get some interesting conflict stirred up once more.  I obviously can’t make any serious deliberations about coverage until I see what the next arc looks like, so for now I’ll simply hope for the best.