The “edge meter” is maxed out right now
- Last week on Durarara!! X2 Shou, we met some new characters who all have their own quirks and secrets. This week, we’re treated to a few twists and surprises, some of which work, and some of which don’t work.
Nice proportion there
- First, the parts that I feel didn’t work: the serial killer, known as “Hollywood”, is revealed. Yep, it’s the third episode, and what I thought was going to be the main plot (finding out who the killer is) has already happened. Not only that, but the reveal was pretty lame. Instead of establishing a bunch of new characters, we’re just introduced to a new character when she’s accused of being the killer. That doesn’t work for me at all, and it was a little more than a bit disappointing. Maybe the real mystery will lie in why she killed the people she did, and that could make for a nice story. But the way she was revealed could have been thought through a couple more times over.
- Another aspect I wasn’t too fond of was how Kasuka is becoming more and more central to the plot, yet his personality is such a blank slate. His aloof personality only works when he’s given another character to bounce off of, but the character that he does most of his interacting with is just as bland as he is. This resulted in some pretty stale pseudo-philosophical jabber between the two characters, and it just didn’t amount to much. Also, Kida is nowhere to be found.
- The parts that did work, however, really worked. I loved the fact that Celty has, be it through her own goodwill or the request of others, befriended Ruri, the “Hollywood Killer”. That’s one of the most enduring aspects of her character, the ability to see good in bad situations and see the good in otherwise worthless people. Just like in the first season where she tried to convince a suicidal girl that life is worth living, here, she makes Ruri feel like she finally has people she can relate to. This simple aspect about her character is why she is one of my favorites.
- Another part I liked was how some of our beloved old characters got to belt out a few lines before the episode ended. We heard a bit from Simon, Kadota, Erika, and Walker. It was nice to get some reassurance that they’re still characters, and hopefully they’re going to play a bigger part later on. All of their parts were pretty miniscule in the long run of the first season, so I don’t expect too much out of them, but their presence is nice.
I don’t think I quite understand Japanese biker gangs yet…
- This episode was such a mixed bag for me. On one hand, there were some great interactions between characters. On the other hand, there were some pretty lousy interactions between characters. Hopefully the plot will pick itself up from the shattering this episode did to it, and restructure it into something interesting and unexpected. I’ll hold out hope.
