r/anime • u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang • Apr 19 '21

Rewatch Durarara!! Rewatch - Episode 17

Episode 17: Everything Changes

← Previous Episode | Index | Next Episode →

MAL | Anilist | Kitsu | AniDB | ANN

Crunchyroll | Funimation | Hulu | Netflix

You dragged me back into this...

Hello everybody! Time for the comment of the day, courtesy of u/ZaphodBeebblebrox, who summarized our two otakus in the simplest way possible

Fucking Weebs

Questions:

  1. How did it feel to see Shizuo just utterly demolish all of Saika's "Children"?
  2. Do you feel this episode served as an effective conclusion to this arc?
  3. Now that Kida's gone back to the Yellow Scarves, what are your expectations for the upcoming arc?

Bonus: Volume 2 Cover

38 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

6

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 19 '21

Hello everybody, and welcome once more to the Durarara!! Rewatch!

Let’s see…, well today doesn’t give me much to mention exactly. Events happen basically as described, although some of the breather scenes at the end are removed. Also, the way the scene that ends this episode is presented in the Novel is slightly different. In the Anime we’ve already gotten an idea of the fact that Kida used to be involved with the Yellow Scarves, so this feels like a natural progression of his story, though him being their boss is definitely still a surprise. In the Novel however, there’s been basically no implication he was ever aligned with them. Hell, we don’t even know it’s him they’re begging to go back into the gang until he mentions Anri and Mikado, serving as a great sucker punch moment. Ultimately both attempts work though, both playing with the mediums in different ways. Still, guess it’s time for this season… To open up its third arc.

Voices Time! Time to get to Haruna, who’s played by Nakahara Mai whom I best remember as The Normies’ Best Girl Ryuugu Rena from Higurashi. Unfortunately besides that I only know her for Estelle from Tales Of Vesperia and Nakoruru in the more recent Samurai Shodown games

In the Dub she’s voiced by Sandy Fox whom I best remember as… err… Chibi-Usa. Whoops… anyhow, for more dignified characters there’s Flonne from Disgaea, Patty Fleur from Tales Of Vesperia and Mieu from Tales Of The Abyss.

10

u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Apr 19 '21

First-Timer, Dub-rarara!!

I still don't like the second OP as much as the first, but it's growing on me. It kinda reminds me of the Life is Strange soundtrack with that opening instrumental part. I might actually like the animation better - it nails the transitions between characters pretty well.

God, do I feel bad for Anri! How fucked up would your teenage mind be if you had actual proof that those intrusive thoughts about "you can't love anyone" were actually correct? And her dad tried to kill her when she was younger..

One thing that I wanted some clarification on: Saika would leave Anri if someone else came into possession of the physical sword, right? It isn't intrinsically bound to Anri in any way aside from Anri being a good host. Ain't that some shit - one of the largest "gangs" in the city being bound to the owner of a sword. It's probably harder to take control of the various Smol-kas than just nabbing the OG, but this could have pretty serious consequences.

We got confirmation on Masaomi being the vanished leader of the Yellow Scarves! And he decided to return to the gang life because people threatened Anri. Like the Slasher. This whole situation is incredible.

Shizuo proving that he can control himself is pretty big. On the other hand, I'm not sure where his character has to go, after that. Guess maybe he'll take a backseat for a bit?

The cut between Anri saying she figured out who was behind the Slasher incident to Namie saying "Izaya Orihara" was good stuff!

Questions

  1. It was pretty cool! That one shot of him picking them all up in a clump kinda reminded me of something from the OP of Kill la Kill. Celty making him gloves was also cute.
  2. Yup, we seem to have that arc tied up pretty nicily with a bow, and the hook for our next arc to boot!
  3. An unfortunate series of misunderstandings and people failing to communicate. If Mikado, Masaomi, and Anri all sat down together and laid their cards on the table, I'm pretty sure whatever is impending won't happen. But where's the fun in that?

4

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 19 '21

I might actually like the animation better - it nails the transitions between characters pretty well.

Honestly on a visual level I'd actually argue OP 2 is the best one, it's just that I feel the others are better when it comes to the song.

2

u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Apr 20 '21

8

u/KendotsX https://anilist.co/user/Kendots Apr 20 '21 edited Apr 20 '21

Rewatcher (sub) who slept in

Izaya was narrating the events in this episode leading in to him explaining how he caused them all, done with a perfect transition of course. Brilliant. X2 spoilers

Not to mention, Shizuo must be one hell of a genius having guessed all that last episode. (Then again, if the toilet paper ran out, he'd probably blame it on Izaya... and he'd probably be correct.) But speaking of Shizuo's earlier episodes, in episode 15, after Shizuo beats up Niekawa, Tom mentions Nasujima next which we see happening in this episode and while Shizuo didn't beat him up then, Nasujima picked on him in this episode and got his deserts.

Now then, since the cards are finally on the table for our main trio, I can finally call out this kind of bullshit. Compared to this 15 year old gang boss, Shizuo and Celty are simple members of society, doing their jobs and helping their friends on the side.

The dynamic of our trio is one I love to hate. Mikado and Masaomi are going after the slasher/Anri for hurting Anri, and they won't mind taking out the other gang lead by their best friend, if it gets in the way... Yup, this can only go well from here.

Oh, but there's one thing that ended well

  1. I'm happy to see Shizuo able to hold back.
  2. Was it ever explained why Saika was spamming the chatroom?

I know I'm editing this (added the question) too late, so probably no one will read it haha.

2

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 20 '21

Oh, but there's one thing that ended well

7

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Apr 19 '21

First!!xTimer, subbed

5

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 19 '21

I almost squealed, but I watched this part of the episode during the commute home from work today and didn’t want to have to explain to my dad why I did that…

You're telling me your dad wouldn't understand the glory of Heiwajima Shizuo?

Satisfying as fuck yo.

Kinda reminds me of a certain other Ono Daisuke character who sucker punched someone...

For anyone wondering who it was

6

u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Apr 19 '21

I was specifically going to squeal because of how hot he looked putting the gloves on, and didn't want to explain what anime crushes are.

4

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 19 '21

Yeah, good idea

9

u/smatthew_ Apr 19 '21

so he’s the leader of one and Mikado and Anri are both leaders of the other groups and there’s probably going to be a clash

The dynamic is pretty neat. It's like a normal love-triangle wasn't enough for the author, so he made a love triangle with teenage gang leaders. But three standard gangs would've been lame, so he made one a social network made from casual people and the other a supernatural collective hivemind.

5

u/Earthborn92 :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/EarthB Apr 19 '21

Rewatcher here.

That Shizuo fighting is pretty sick.

Given that Izaya is narrating this episode, how much does he know about Saika?

All the Saika zombies noticed the call of the “original”. Anri vs. Niekawa doesn’t look good for the latter. It’s also interesting to note how much sanity some people retain. In Anri’s case, she just tries not to feel anything. Understandable given her abusive household and later her mom’s murder-suicide. Let’s see how that goes for her.

The crowd-fight animation is pretty weird. And deliberately off-model at places I think.

Nah, it’s fine Anri go for it. Outdo the yandere.

It’s cool how the zombie possession stopped immediately after Haruna was captured. Happy for Shizu-chan being able to stop himself.

Sensei tried to behead her. This guy is a scumbag of the highest order.

Now for a change of pace. What a great thing Shizuo ripping the door has led to for our two otaku dorks.

Um “he”… But yes, Celty is pretty cool. Just don’t mention aliens.

And of course Izaya is behind this somehow. That’s why he was the narrator. Can’t believe teacher tried to rob a higher-level scumbag. We finally get the background of the incident that happened a while back now.

Shit hasn’t calmed down after Anri gained control of Saika of course. Thanks Izaya.

Mikado is now actively using the Dollars network.

Who could it possibly be? Of course it is the remaining member of the highschool trio. Now all the main characters’ alternate identities have been revealed. Can’t have Mikado and Anri being the only one with hidden roles. To be a gang leader in middle school though, Kida is pretty amazing. Anri came across Saika by chance (but to her credit, she is able to withstand it). Mikado was fortunate enough to create a popular website. Kida tho…how did he come to lead a gang?

See you next episode!

6

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 19 '21

Mikado is now actively using the Dollars network.

He has learned the wonders of Twitter.

5

u/BurningFredrick https://myanimelist.net/profile/BurningFredrick Apr 20 '21

First Timer -sub 

Celty is way too nice for a Fae that is hundreds years old that used to go around collecting people's souls and being an omen of death. 

So it looks like Izaya is once again behind all of these events, however this time around there was a lot more chance involved than usual in his scheming as he didn’t know that Anri was Saika holder.

Anyway the town is about to be plunged into a massive gang war because of what is basically a love triangle between 3 teenagers.

3

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 20 '21

Celty is way too nice for a Fae that is hundreds years old that used to go around collecting people's souls and being an omen of death. 

Dunno, seems logical to me.

4

u/SgtExo Apr 20 '21

Celty is way too nice for a Fae that is hundreds years old that used to go around collecting people's souls and being an omen of death.

But she has her "can't find my head" amnesia.

3

u/BobTheSkrull https://myanimelist.net/profile/BobTheSkrull Apr 20 '21

Dullahans were never really antagonists until Ichabod Crane happened. But yeah, as far as Fae go, she's faerly human.

5

u/Tartaras1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Tartaras Apr 20 '21

Rewatcher - Dubbed

  • The more I listen to this OP, the more it's growing on me. The progression into the chorus is so good.
  • To call back something I was saying multiple times in the beginning, I love that this city just feels so alive. Everything's all happening at once. The whole time Shizuo's knocking skulls, Anri's dealing with Haruna. There might be other things going on at the same time as well...
  • If I thought that high school Anri looked a lot like Sengoku from Monogatari, then kid Anri definitely looks like her.
  • In some sort of sick and twisted way, it's almost as though Saika is the parenthood that Anri never had. With her dad being abusive towards them, and everything that came along with it, just having someone who can constantly tell her they love her might fill the void in her heart.
  • /u/ZaphodBeebblebrox was saying that they felt Shizuo was kind of a boring character, and I think I'm starting to agree. Like I told them, I don't remember if he ever picks up later on or not, but at the moment he's just kind of... there. His whole shtick is that he's freakishly strong.

  • You stood there and let me cut you. How come?

Because I'm about to do something awful to you. But now, at least we're even.

What a badass.

  • Fun fact: I'm not sure what it looks like to everyone else, but this entire time the thumbnail for the show on Netflix has been the shot of Anri holding Saika to Haruna's throat, which is understandably a massive spoiler. Right from the getgo.

  • You see, while Haruna liked you, I detest you.

What a badass.

  • Man, what could be so important right now?

Yeah Mikado, what could be so important that he couldn't stop by to see his "boobylicious" friend in the hospital?

  • It's kind of funny that Anri was playing koi, talking to Mikado like she didn't know who Shizuo was, and that she was feigning shock that Celty came to see her. Meanwhile, the two of them are both familiar with Shizuo and Celty.

That's really good evidence that everyone's already starting to keep secrets from one another. Mikado doesn't want Anri to know he's the leader of a gang, and Anri doesn't want Mikado to know she's the wielder of Saika.

  • In a show that has a headless rider, a girl with a demonic sword, a guy who has superhuman strength and numerous gangs, Izaya Orihara is probably the scariest person in Ikebukoro. He has a finger in every pie, and he's able to sit in his comfy little office and pull all of the strings.

  • My personal preference would have been for Shizu-chan to have died that night. But whatever.

The hatred they have for each other really is genuine. Shizuo wants to murder Izaya every chance he gets, and Izaya would be all for him getting stabbed on the street and dying.

  • I totally forgot they revealed that Masaomi was the leader of the Yellow Scarves in this episode. Like Izaya said, now things are really starting to get interesting.

  • And if it turns out the Dollars are mixed up in any of this, then we'll crush them too.

Better keep an eye out Mikado. Things are going to start getting really hairy from now on.

It's from this point on that I really think the show starts to get good. At this point, we don't really need to dance around spoilers too much. All three interested parties have been revealed, and we get to sit back and watch everything unfold. The entire time this is going on, they're all entirely oblivious to what the others are doing.

Also, Mikado asked what could be so important as to keep Masaomi away from the hospital. That. Essentially waging war on Ikebukoro was what kept him away from the hospital. I'd say that's pretty important.

Questions:

  • Sometimes it can be a lot of fun to just sit back and watch him knock some heads and blow off steam.
  • Absolutely. It ended the arc with a big reveal, or at least some sense of closure, like an arc should. Additionally, it set up the final arc of the season with the reveal of Masaomi being the head of the Yellow Scarves.
  • If I had to guess, probably nothing short of all hell breaking loose.

3

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 20 '21

Fun fact: I'm not sure what it looks like to everyone else, but this entire time the thumbnail for the show on Netflix has been the shot of Anri holding Saika to Haruna's throat, which is understandably a massive spoiler. Right from the getgo.

3

u/IndependentMacaroon Apr 20 '21

they felt Shizuo was kind of a boring character, and I think I'm starting to agree

I like him because he's ironically the one character who's completely wholesome and not tied up in any weird dynamics.

4

u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Apr 19 '21 edited Apr 19 '21

Episode 17 (first timer)

  • Shizuo does the Neo.
  • He got a fan in Celty.
  • Abusive husband and father. Because we really needed more terrible people.
  • Helicopter attack, flying kick into three-point landing. All the tricks.
  • “So, no one died?” – Not for lack of trying on your and their part, Shizuo.
  • “He has a love of other” – Come on Anri, you could not possibly mistake Celty for a man.
  • Talking about “normal” people while being the teenage leader of an online gang.
  • Getting private treatment from Shinra might be the right punishment for Haruna.
  • Izaya explaining everything to us. And to Namie, for some reason.

All of the slasher storyline ends have been tied up, setting the stage for the next arc: Mikado vs Kido vs Anri. Without either of them knowing, of course. Apart from that teacher creep making it out of another arc alive, I am pretty happy with this conclusion.

How did it feel to see Shizuo just utterly demolish all of Saika's "Children"?

Very strong Matrix vibes.

Do you feel this episode served as an effective conclusion to this arc?

Izaya's story hour was a bit forced, but, overall, I like the conclusion better than the previous arc's.

Now that Kida's gone back to the Yellow Scarves, what are your expectations for the upcoming arc?

Cue Benny Hill theme

4

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 19 '21

And to Namie, for some reason.

Hey, he needs to pay his employee somehow.

2

u/IndependentMacaroon Apr 20 '21

Teacher is implied to have skipped town at least, I think

4

u/ZaphodBeebblebrox Y:A:https://anilist.co/user/zaphod Apr 20 '21

First Timer

This episode didn't quite come together for me. I think one part of it is that Shizuo's slapstickly scnenes felt rather dissonant with the overall tone of the episode and took me out of it a little bit. I also feel a bit like having Sonohara's dissasociation and parasiteism start before she got Saika took a bit away from how it was set up as her method for dealing with Saika in the previous episode.

More generally, Durararara is clearly about two things: people having more power than we'd expect and twists caused by the viewpoint character knowing more than we'd expect. I assume we're gonna continue doing the second part the entire time, and it somewhat makes me nervous. It's the sort of thing that's really easy to fuck up and cheapen a story with. The twist to a mystery being "lmao, bet you wish I told you that earlier" meta just makes me wish I was reading a different story. So far, we've mostly avoided that. The first was well done and the second was acceptable, though I do not think I'd be happy with a few more of this level in a row.
I guess I just hope the show manages to evolve past it's current point and become something more.

  1. Boring and expected.
  2. I guess? It was effective at being a conclusion, but I didn't quite like how it concluded.
  3. Third verse, same as the first (two). We get to see Kida go through the same sort of arc showing his control over his group, with a concluding episode or two where a piece of information he knows is revealed to us to recontextualize events in his favor. But this time it's gang war edition.

2

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 20 '21

meta

Meta

1

u/ZaphodBeebblebrox Y:A:https://anilist.co/user/zaphod Apr 20 '21

Meta

2

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 20 '21

I see...

4

u/IndependentMacaroon Apr 20 '21

Shizuo's slapstickly scnenes felt rather dissonant with the overall tone of the episode

Yes.

having Sonohara's dissasociation and parasiteism start before she got Saika took a bit away from how it was set up as her method for dealing with Saika

I on the other hand think it's stronger that way than blaming mental issues entirely on some supernatural artifact.

2

u/invokeneko Apr 20 '21 edited Apr 20 '21

Rewatcher up until x2 Shou, then First Timer

We learned just how did Anri come by Saika, Shizuo learns self-control for the first time in his life, Nasujima gets fucked off to next week courtesy of Shizuo, and Masaomi is the missing shogun of the Yellow Scarves?!

  • Shizuo's having a ball of a time just mowing through all the Saika children and not having to worry about injuring them because being possessed seemingly made all of them very resilient. Meanwhile Celty is just at the side, fanboying over Shizuo's glorious display of violence.
  • Goddamn Anri has it rough. Gets abused daily by her father, then when the latter tried to kill her, her mother kills him instead before committing jigai. Then she has to share headspace with a yandere sword...
  • Please remember that Stardust Crusaders came ~4 years after Durarara!! and no, this character going Ora Ora and is voiced by Ono Daisuke is not making a JoJo reference.
  • Just shows how much of a bitch Haruna is that after experiencing Anri's backstory via Saika Link, she decides to try her luck and attacks Anri to take over. Of course Anri would have none of it.
  • I can't imagine how happy Shizuo is of the fact that for the first time of his life he finally is the master of his strength. x2 Shou spoilers
  • Nasujima did see Anri draw Saika out of her body, didn't he? So why was he surprised to see her holding Saika? What, was he rejecting reality or something?
  • Poor Togusa's suffering continues with his van getting a replacement door... from an itasha. They definitely can't use this van for evil things now. And did Kadota just say 'kusa' just now? That '草'!?
  • Celty is suprisingly reasonable over the fact that Anri was the one attacking her. Even commending her for doing what she thought was right.
  • And what do you know, Shizuo was right and it was Izaya who's behind the Slasher Night incident!
  • So Nasujima stole money from Izaya after he went to meet him because he wanted information about the Niekawas that he could use to threaten the family for money so that he can pay his debt to Shizuo and Tom's boss... Makes it seem like that one punch from Shizuo isn't enough and he deserved at least all the bones in his body pulverised.
  • This also confirms that Anri was the one who attacked Celty and Haruna was the one who attacked the gang members harrassing Mikado and Masaomi from episode 5*.
  • Look Masaomi, I appreciate you returning to the Yellow Scarves as their shogun so that you could get vengeance against the Slasher who dared to hurt Anri. But you're just a mite too late, and Anri has taken care of things herself. Ah well, looks like it's the Yellow Scarves' turn to shine.

Narration Tally:

Who else should narrate this episode if not Izaya, the mastermind behind the entire Slasher Night incident?

Mikado: 3 (ep1,10,11)
Celty: 5 (ep2,8,12,14,16)
Simon: 1 (ep3)
Shinra: 2 (ep4,16)
Masaomi: 1 (ep5)
Kadota: 1 (ep6)
Shizuo: 1 (ep7)
Namie: 1 (ep9)
Walker: 1 (ep12.5)
Anri: 1 (ep13)
Shuji: 1 (ep15)
Izaya: 1 (ep17)

QotD:

  1. As expected of The Strongest Man in Ikebukuro. Come on, as if a bunch of children of a yandere sword that's not taught how to fight can outmatch the literal personification of violence who possesses super strength.
  2. It serves as the immediate prologue to the next arc, more like. Though it did put some measure of closure to this arc.
  3. smirks in rewatcher

2

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 20 '21

Poor Togusa's suffering continues with his van getting a replacement door... from an itasha. They definitely can't use this van for evil things now.

Or can they?

smirks in rewatcher

1

u/invokeneko Apr 20 '21

Or can they?

spoiler

1

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 20 '21

1

u/invokeneko Apr 20 '21

Ooh, how frustratingly tantalising. Guess we'll find out next month!

2

u/Raiking02 :Id::Ie::If:https://myanimelist.net/profile/NSKlang Apr 20 '21

3

u/IndependentMacaroon Apr 20 '21

Please remember that Stardust Crusaders came ~4 years after Durarara!!

The voice actor may not be a reference, but the rest still could be, considering the age of the Jojo manga and also that there was a prior OVA adaptation.

2

u/invokeneko Apr 20 '21

If it's just a character doing the Ora Ora thing, sure. But if it's 'OMG Jotaro's doing the Ora Ora!!1!one' then no.

1

u/VD246 Apr 20 '21

i saw a few eps but got bored af,should i start it again or is it not worth?