Did you hear about the sushi chef? He was Russian.
Really? He should slow down.
- Durarara still isn’t firing on all cylinders for me. For whatever reason, it just isn’t the same experience.
- I do rather like the Russian Bratva, who are singularly weird and colorful (though often curiously pale) characters in DRRR. But what’s with them (the guys, anyway) all having those sunken, shadowed eyes?
- I don’t recall meeting Lingirin (Tsuji Shinpachi, very funny here) and Drakon (Yamaji Kazuhiro) before now, but they’re obviously important – Lingirin seems to be the head of the crime family that all of the Russian characters we’ve met belong to, and Drakon is Vorona’s (and yes, it is Vorona) father.
- Interestingly, it’s Lingirin much more than Drakon who’s sympathetic to Vorona, who’s on the outs with the family (along with Slon). Her major crime seems to be that she’s a loose cannon, and you can certainly see why anyone would think that.
- I was right about Vorona and Slon’s other job – it was indeed to capture (though not kill) Anri. Unfortunately for Vorona she keeps getting sent out on jobs with very incomplete information on her targets. What in the world is she going to think of Japan after her first two jobs turned out like this?
- Izaya messing with Mikado’s head still seems like the main plot driver in this arc, but it’s still barely at a low simmer. Seemingly, Aoba is going to help bring it to a boil – which makes me wonder if his interest in Mikado is due to the fact that he’s working with Izaya.
- Not enough Simon this week to make up for the lack of Shizuo.
sonicsenryaku
February 22, 2015 at 5:19 pmDaaaamn…lot's of unfinished animation in this ep. It's such a shame to because like i mentioned before, when the show's art is being consistent, it's actually better than the first season. Unfortunately the budget this season doesnt seem to be strong and so now both the art and animation are suffering as eps go by. Those ex-brain base employees must have took a risk developing studio shuka
R Lawlied
February 22, 2015 at 6:13 pmOh yes, the first few minutes in and I thought the video file must be broken or something.
This being 3-cour makes me worried about this show future..
admin
February 22, 2015 at 11:25 pmIMHO I don't think this season was ever better than the first two visually – I've been pretty clear about my concerns on that front from the premiere on (stiff animation, off-model characters, background detail drops etc.). I think what we're seeing now is just more evidence of new studio syndrome.
sonicsenryaku
February 23, 2015 at 2:47 amhere's hoping they make the studio transition as well as BONES did from sunrise cuz let's face it: BONES shits on sunrise all day like it's a monsoon of poo; i dont see any sun rising here (nah just half-kidding sunrise is a pretty cool production company)
Gary Cochran
February 23, 2015 at 12:53 amUnlike you guys I'm still liking this series. Perhaps its not as good as the 1st season but its still enjoyable to watch.
sonicsenryaku
February 23, 2015 at 2:43 amOn the contrary my friend im enjoying this second season very much so; i like this whole "ikebukuro is a batshit insane place with mobsters and mythical creatures all mashed up together thing" this season is going for, but if i see some issues, all biases aside, i am going to pick at them. Again, the plus' of this season is that the art direction is better than the first season (stronger primary colors, shadows, high lights, low lights nice camera shots, and the decision to stick closer to the art design of the LN is a nice welcome) and the story is moving at a nice fast clip. But the art and animation have been lacking consistency as of late and it's starting to stick out like a sore thumb. Still, DRRR x2 is quite the thrill ride.
Sketch N.
February 24, 2015 at 11:24 amI haven't seen the episode yet. Does it have amusingly bad russian in it?
admin
February 24, 2015 at 12:37 pmI don't speak Russian well enough to know.
That Latin@ Chick
March 1, 2015 at 3:43 amI finally watched this episode. Its hard to talk about Durarara because really not much has really happened since its still character introduction. I'm not entirely feeling the new characters yet but since this has a 3 cour I will just have to wait and see.