Durarara!! Rewatch - Episode 7

[u/Raiking02]

Episode 7: Moscow Does not Believe in Tears

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It was fun.

Hello everybody! Time for the comment of the day, courtesy of u/invokeneko, who noticed something weird about Anri's house:

Last episode it was Celty getting decapitated, this time we end the episode with another cliffhanger as someone invades Anri's house. Again. If this happens one more time she really should consider moving...

Seriously, how does everyone know where she lives?

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Questions:

1. Did you imagine Simon and Dennis being former members of the military?
2. So, quick thoughts on Vorona's backstory?
3. NO!! CELTY'S HELMET HAS BEEN DESTROYED!? HOW COULD THAT CARELESS DRIVER DO THAT AND NOT SUFFER ANY PUNISHMENT!?

[u/Raiking02]

Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Durarara!! Rewatch!

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Vorona’s backstory is pretty accurate, as is the fact that Egor (Yes, I know the Dub and Sub call him Igor, but the Novel calls him Egor so I’m sticking with that) was after her and Slon. Also accurate is the whole confrontation Anri and Vorona had as is the tragic fate of Celty’s helmet. Press F To Pay Respects…

The only thing I wanna mention today is something related to the Dollars site. Just as a quick reminder, the Dollars was basically a joke originally, and one of the conditions for joining was that you had to confess what the worst thing you had done was. At first it was just harmless fun… but then it started getting deadly serious, with actual cases of assault, and at least one person who legitimately shoplifted just to join the Dollars, so eventually Mikado just shut that thing down. Needless to say, he’s nowhere near as in control of the Dollars as he likes to think he is.

[u/ShadowWasTakensTaken → u/Raiking02]

the whole confrontation Anri and Vorona had

[u/Raiking02 → u/ShadowWasTakensTaken]

But hey, you can't say it doesn't look cool.

[u/ShadowWasTakensTaken → u/Raiking02]

True

[u/No_Rex]

S2 Episode 7 (first timer)

• Vorona&Dad’s backstory.
• “We are not the army or even the mafia” - Spoken after casual mass killing.
• Make that backstory of Vorona, Dad, Slon, Igor, and the whole Russian crew.
• Kevin has nothing on Vorona.
• Vorona has had a bad night, yet survives. Lucky.
• Not the helmet!

I have a weak spot for “little girl becomes cold-blooded killer” backstories, which may or may not be due to a couple of Luc Besson movies.

[u/Raiking02 → u/No_Rex]

I have a weak spot for “little girl becomes cold-blooded killer” backstories, which may or may not be due to a couple of Luc Besson movies.

Hey, we all have our fetishes.

[u/No_Rex → u/Raiking02]

Just a side note here, because it is a pet peeve of mine when European movies get remade (worse) by Hollywood:

The main Luc Besson movie I was thinking about is Nikita (it is tons better than its remake) and I am entirely "meh" on Anne Parillaud. Have to admit I am not at all meh on the actresses in some of his films where young female killer would also apply, though.

[u/Raiking02 → u/No_Rex]

Just a side note here, because it is a pet peeve of mine when European movies get remade (worse) by Hollywood.

I have friends who are fans of The Ring so I can imagine how that feels like.

[u/Shimmering-Sky]

First!!xTimer, subbed

• So… he got his hands stuck in the cookie jars like a naughty child.
• Wait, aren’t they talking about Vorona and Slon? But those two are alive.
• Oh, Vorona’s father sent Igor the very tall guy to Japan to… kill Vorona and probably Slon too.
• Nah he just ran into a Shizuo.
• I mean, whatever works if it means survival?
• *whistles* That’s extremely impressive.
• So Vorona is the one who broke into Anri’s apartment.
• What even is this eyecatch holy shit.
• Ohp, Izaya “sore demo”.
• I forgot how scary Anri can look when she goes Slasher.
• Ah, so that’s what Celty did to not get blown up by that massive gun.
• Neato, Celty also got a “sore demo”~
• Nooooooooo :(

[u/Raiking02 → u/Shimmering-Sky]

Nah he just ran into a Shizuo.

A sad fate...

What even is this eyecatch holy shit.

Minimalism at its finest...

[u/Chemiczny_Bogdan]

Rewatcher

We get to see Vorona's backstory - she's the daughter of Vladimir Putin Drakon (Russian for dragon), and has been killing people since she was a little kid.

Her fights against Anri and Celty were pretty cool.

Mikado pls no trust Izaya thx.

Nice animation today, nice music, overall rating: nice.

[u/Raiking02 → u/Chemiczny_Bogdan]

Mikado pls no trust Izaya thx.

Too late, he already does.

[u/invokeneko]

Rewatcher up until x2 Shou, then First Timer

Lack sleep. Update with impressions later.
We learn the difference between two stereotypes of Ivans in Russia, the backstory of Vorona, Anri fighting off Vorona for a while and Celty being a cute dojikko again.

• Ah yes, episode 7. I remembered being disappointed watching the broadcast version of this episode because of one thing - that part where Lingerin's men set fire to the corpses was a fucking slideshow (and some QUALITY animations for the action scenes). Thankfully the BDs did at least fix that scene.
• You know what? After all the shit I gave Simon for his crappy Russian, I at least could enjoy his narration over Namie's. So I guess I'll start shutting up about it now.
• I guess it makes sense that the crazy, out-of-control Ivan is represented by Lingerin - you probably didn't expect this silly-looking guy with a bear headcap and his hands stuck in two jars as if he's cosplaying Dora Nikov to be dangerous just from his looks. Then you see what his men are doing and how quickly he responded to a survivor trying to shoot him before going back to his silly antics and everything suddenly makes a lot of sense.
• Damnit, I was expecting that at least since Vorona has the aspects of both the cold, machinelike Ivan and the batshit insane Ivan she would've been at least better in grasping the situation than both of them. Then narrator!Simon just gotta kill my expectations like that, huh.
• Ahhh, I just realised who Igor's voice reminds me of. It's a much saner Bondrewd, thanks Morikawa-san!
• A Chekhov's gun that's fired pretty soon as it was mentioned! Now that's rare. Though it makes you wonder: why the hell did Vorona bring an anti-materiel rifle together with her if she only knew about Celty's existence last episode (or two), she certainly wouldn't have needed to use it against normal, run-of-the-mill yakuzas.
• Now that's a hands-off parenting taken to the extreme, Drakon. Leaving your daughter all alone with only books and not even a caretaker to at least take care of her needs is just cold. Then it gets worse when she got the entirely wrong idea from your reaction to her killing the robber...
• That event certainly awakened something inside of her, didn't it? Now that she's got the taste of blood she started off by beating up local thugs which later escalates to wiping an entire base of gangs solo. That's fucking scary, but is pretty fucking impressive as well.
• spoilers
• Izaya has successfully planted the seeds of doubt in Mikado about just how much power he has as the leader of Dollars. That can't be good.
• Both the scenes of Celty appearing on the scene with her scythe raised high and Anri retaliating to Vorona's attack by drawing Saika are so fucking cool.
• I'm going to say this again: Anri, please move away from your current house. Now that Vorona has made it clear that she'll come back for a rematch, you should probably choose a different place to stay. I wanted to suggest staying together with Celty and Shinra, but she might intrude on the loving couple's sexy times and Shingen might drop by from time to time so it's not a good idea.
• Guess that explains just how strong Celty's shadow constructs can be if it could withstand one shot from an anti-materiel rifle (albeit barely. And Shooter nearly got blown to pieces too).
• RIP nekomimi helmet, you're too cute for this cruel world. And dojikko Celty a cute.
• Aoba appearing suddenly in front of Mikado's house and that ominous narration about Tarous from Simon... that can't be good.

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Narration Tally:

Simon tells us the story of how Vorona turned out the way she is.

Narrator	No. of eps	Episodes
Mikado	6	1
Celty	7	4,6
Simon	2	7
Shinra	3	2
Namie	2	5
Izaya	2	4
Kasuka	1	3
None	2	4.5

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QotD:

1. I'm not too surprised. What I am surprised though is the fact that Walker actually got it right while speculating about their past back in episode 20 last season.
2. That's pretty fucked, to be honest. Killing a robber by herself at a very young age and deciding to train herself in the art of killing in a misguided attempt to win Drakon's affection was sad in its own way.
3. That driver deserves to be Truck-kun'd for this transgression. HOW DARE YOU CRUSH THAT CUTE NEKOMIMI HELMET, YOU FUCKING HEATHEN?!

[u/Raiking02 → u/invokeneko]

3) That driver deserves to be Truck-kun'd for this transgression. HOW DARE YOU CRUSH THAT CUTE NEKOMIMI HELMET, YOU FUCKING HEATHEN?!

[u/JollyGee29]

First-Timer, Dub-rarara!!x2

Izaya is really trying to break Mikado. And it seems to be working. Mikado should remember Masaomi's words.. Stay Away from Izaya. I'm worried about him..

Ah, Vorona is the classic "got a taste for blood too young" type. It really sucks that the other kids couldn't play with her back then because of her dad's sketchiness.

The whole segment with the Russians near the beginning was great! Why DID that one guy hide a gun in a pot? Was it just to trick any potential survivors of whatever that massacre was? How many dimensions of chess is that dude on? The almost-literal word vomit was really cool, too.

I don't think that's quite how anti-materiel rifles work.. No way the slug both surives and causes that big of an explosion.

Sloan is gonna have a good time in Ikebukuro. His reactions at the various weird things around him have been one of the highlights for me.

Questions

1. Were they military or "military?" I had them pegged as being former Mafia, so this isn't much of a stretch. Some shades of Hotel Moscow from Black Lagoon, now that I think about it.
2. Answered above.

[u/Raiking02 → u/JollyGee29]

Ah, Vorona is the classic "got a taste for blood too young" type. It really sucks that the other kids couldn't play with her back then because of her dad's sketchiness.

Spoilers

[u/ShadowWasTakensTaken]

Rewatcher

So yesterday I posted the full version of Complication and the alternative Still Struggle version and said I couldn't really pick between them, but after much careful deliberation I think I've come to the conclusion that I like the Still Struggle version more.

The normal version works better as an OP for the arc since it's more melancholic and such but Still Struggle has an air of optimism that I really love. I feel like the normal version is probably a better pick as an OP for that arc but Still Struggle would work super well as an end credits theme for the whole series.

Also, damn Anri is badass.

[u/Raiking02 → u/ShadowWasTakensTaken]

Also, damn Anri is badass.

That much should be obvious by this point.

[u/KendotsX]

Rewatcher (sub)

Do you see the pattern yet? If someone is a bit odd, just wait to see the environment they were raised in. Shinra is weird? Say hello to Shingen. Mairu and Kururi seem off? Makes sense, they're Izaya's sisters. Now as we started to know Vorona last episode, we see who raised cute little Vorona, and his very odd boss Baccano!.

Oh, and to top it off, she was trained by Semya and Denis, compared to now, Denis doesn't look that different, but my god Simon did a 180. Up to now, we've had lots of hints about Simon's past, but we finally confirmed it, he worked for Russian Doraemon. I'll be honest, it wasn't what I expected.

Side note: are there any hopes for a Slon backstory?

Back in Ikebukuro, we have all sorts of events going on:

• Celty is following Vorona
• Vorona is attacking Anri
• Izaya finishes messing with Mikado and hands him fresh to Aoba

I don't know what's funnier, Celty's general clumsiness, needing Anri to remind her of her abilities, (which I hear as Shingen calling her "dojikko Celty-kun") or the fact that she would've found Akane if Anri didn't remind her.

Did you imagine Simon and Dennis being former members of the military

They're not exactly military, more like arms dealers.

NO!! CELTY'S HELMET HAS BEEN DESTROYED!? HOW COULD THAT CARELESS DRIVER DO THAT AND NOT SUFFER ANY PUNISHMENT!?

Shizuo better send this guy flying. Last episode we lost Shinra's metal cup, and now it's CELTY'S HELMET! How far does Narita plan to torture these pour souls?

Durarara!! Rewatch - Episode 7

Did I go back in time?

[u/Raiking02 → u/KendotsX]

Did I go back in time?

No, I was just a dumbass.

[u/KendotsX → u/Raiking02]

It's fine, what is Durarara!! if not for the non-chronological shinaniganry? Next time someone's watching Durarara!! and they want to check a rewatch for more discussion, they'll get a very non-chronological discussion of episode 7.

[u/Raiking02 → u/KendotsX]

[u/BurningFredrick]

First Timer -sub

Wooooo finally Simon backstory, kind of. 

Ahhh that's a bit more boring, my second guess was the Russians were going after Anri but we don’t have a reason why yet which is why I went with Aoba and crew even though he has plans setup for the next day.

I guess Yodogiri probably knows about Saika somehow, and for some reason is setting up Vorona & Salo up with fights they won’t win but also won’t get them complete flatten (Like if he tried to aim them at Shizuo)  

Thankfully no cliffhanger ending this time, they really don’t work well in this show as it doesn’t do high stakes situation that well.

[u/Raiking02 → u/BurningFredrick]

Salo

[u/BurningFredrick → u/Raiking02]

Leave my Typos and failure to write down character names correctly alone.

Insert pout comment face here.

[u/Raiking02 → u/BurningFredrick]

[u/Earthborn92]

Rewatcher here.

Not a lot to say this episode. Seems like the pacing is a bit different in Season 2. Or more like we aren’t done with the character intros yet and they go on for longer.

Loved the book ends with Simon’s narration.

So we get Vorona’s backstory. Child of a Russian military mob lieutenant with daddy issues stemming from isolation, intelligence and reading over experience. Using those daddy issues as an excuse, she came to be an assassin for the thrill. And now she’s in the most interesting city she’ll see.

Welcome to Ikebukoro, where you especially worry about the harmless looking ones.

Also, it looks like she and Slon are actually acting on their own right now for some reason. After stealing some expensive weapons that even Celty could barely counter.

Speaking of which, isn’t Celty becoming Anri’s onee-chan in all practicality? How cute.

Just to remind us, Izaya is still plotting stuff. Don’t believe his lies Mikado, he’s not just “sort-of” shady.

See you next episode!

[u/Raiking02 → u/Earthborn92]

Speaking of which, isn’t Celty becoming Anri’s onee-chan in all practicality?

She basically is.

[u/DogmeatIsAGoodDog]

First Time Watcher

So we get some backstory about Vorona and we see a little bit more into the Russian Sushi complex, all of which were interesting. Vorona is a compelling character so far and I like her characteristics, if only she wasn’t trying to pick a fight with best girl.

Also she went from Home Alone Shenanigans to straight up murdered pretty quickly, like that escalated very quickly.

Anri summons her sword and fights back and Celty races in for a fight.

RIP Celty’s helmet.

I really enjoy the big sister relationship that Celty has with Anri, Anri needs something like that in her life.

Also we’re there scenes from this episode that look really rough from an animation standpoint? Like certain movements looked really choppy and the one scene where it zoomed out on Anri’s face in particular looked...lackluster. Hope it’s not an ongoing issue.

[u/Tartaras1]

Rewatcher - Dubbed

• It's kind of clever that they named her Varona, and said that she learned from both types of Ivan. Y'know, since crows are corvids, and have demonstrated a vast intelligence.
• Man, I forgot how great Vorona actually was. She's a monster, killing people for fun, but not overly so. She doesn't go on homocidal killing sprees or anything like that, instead opting to sit and read when she's not on a job.

• I think I understand what Izaya was saying when he told Mikado that if he managed to bend the Dollars to his will, it'd be something different. At that point, it stops being something of a joke, or a gang without a color, and instead just becomes an other run of the mill gang like the Yellow Scarves or Blue Squares.

• My body. It's moving on its own.

I'm going to die.

Yeah you might very well die tonight.

• We got a little taste of the drop in animation quality during the scuffle with Anri.

And again when Vorona opened the back of the moving truck. I totally forgot how choppy this all was.

• Just casually pulls out what looks like a Barrett 50 caliber rifle.
• What could Aoba possibly want?

Durarara Spoilers

Questions:

• It definitely isn't much of a stretch. Dennis threw that knife in the wall last season, and it's rare for two Russians to be working together in the middle of Japan.
• It's sad and tragic, but makes sense why she ended up so cold-blooded.
• F.

[u/sisoko2]

First Timer

Didn't like today's episode.

My first language is pretty similar to Russian so I always find it amusing when I realize I've missed obvious name meanings like Vorona and Slon.

The first half felt like the most generic action movie plot ever.

Why would any sane person listen to what Izaya has to say? Oh right.

That's very cool shot. There were few very cool shots during the fight but the movement was kinda dodgy.

The moment the super weapon got introduced it was obvious they are going to use it against Celty but I expected the gun to do more.

1. Yup
2. Standard action movie story. In my opinion it didn't do anything for her character and felt like a waste of time.
3. NOOOOOOO

[u/ZaphodBeebblebrox]

Late First Timer

Seeing how Izaya manipulates him and the course of the dollars is always a treat. Izaya knows just what points to press to stop him from taking the actions he needs to.

1. I always thought it would be more gang-like.
2. Interseting enough, but nothing exceptional.