Durarara!! 07

What this film needs is a werewolf samurai

Summary:

Shizuo driving up health insurance premiums

Shizuo is narrating this time, and he tells of how his monstrous strength started when his quiet little brother Kasuka ate Shizuo’s pudding.  Shizuo cannot control his anger at all and his rage overrides his brain’s normal limits.  By tapping into the desperate strength typically reserved for fight or flight, Shizuo constantly injures himself badly but also comes back stronger each time.  We then see Shizuo meeting up with Shinra, Selty, and Izaya while at Raira Academy, where Shizuo immediately clashes with the manipulative Izaya.

After HS, Shizuo had a tough time keeping his temper in check, and kept getting fired.  One day his brother, now going by the stage name Hanejima Yuhei, stopped by the bar where Shizuo was working and gave Shizuo a ton of bartender uniforms in hopes that he would stop changing jobs so often.  Unfortunately, Izaya framed Shizuo, which led to Shizuo’s brief arrest and the loss of his bartending job.  Eventually, Shizuo secured a steady job acting as debt collector Tanaka Tom’s bodyguard, and as the episode comes to a close Shizuo mentions that he feels close with Selty because they both understand what it is like to feel lonely.

Reaction:

What part of 'Give us your melon pan' don't you understand?

I don’t really like Shizuo’s character that much, and I found this episode kinda boring.  In fact, I would have preferred to see more of Kasuka’s Camilla Saizo, Vampire Ninja movie.  I could tell that movie had a very deep storyline.  One thing I didn’t understand was the flashback to the baker who looked a little like Anri.  What was Shizuo’s problem?  Sure he trashed her store and got her injured, but those thugs were totally gonna beat the crap out of her and trash her store anyway.  If anything, she came out ahead, since the thugs got beaten up.  Shizuo should have held his young head up high!

I noticed they kept showing Kadota being ignored by Shizuo, both in HS and on the street.  Perhaps Shizuo is also one of the Dollars, since Kadota seems to think Shizuo ought to know him.  Shinra doesn’t seem to have changed much since middle school, but it was fun watching Selty jab him in the solar plexus over and over again.  Speaking of Selty, I am starting to think that it really is Selty’s head in the jar, because you’d think she’d be able to locate her head if it was out and about in Ikebukuro.  I joked about it in the last episode, but now I wonder if Mika really did just cosplay as Selty to trick Seiji.

About Kabitzin:
One of the founders of Sea Slugs, I handle most of the blog admin tasks while wearing my I AM BOSS shirt. I like my action series well-choreographed, and my romance series extra trashy. I also have a soft spot for puns.
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28 Comments

  1. (Power Level: 735)
    Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:21 am | Permalink

    I thought it was implied that Izaya started Dollars… so I don’t think that Shizuo would be in it.

    I thought this episode was pretty funny, and I kind of like Shizuo, if only because he somewhat reminds me of a non Bushido Bob Graham Acre.

    • (Power Level: 3048)
      Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:21 pm | Permalink

      Kadota keeps implying that Izaya is the leader of the Dollars, but I think he’s wrong. It just seems too easy…

      • (Power Level: 154)
        Posted February 24, 2010 at 7:00 pm | Permalink

        Agreed. The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that if there is indeed some purpose to Izaya screwing with everyone, then it has little to nothing to do with Dollars. Izaya is better off as a lone wolf, anyway. More cell phones for him to stomp that way.

      • (Power Level: 3048)
        Posted February 24, 2010 at 11:34 pm | Permalink

        Although it would be delicious irony to have all these do-gooders find out they are just puppets for that jerk Izaya.

  2. (Power Level: 70)
    Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:37 am | Permalink

    Not a bad episode most people like Shizuo due his super human strength, something about throwing large objects at people makes me laugh. I still laugh about Izaya getting hit by a trashcan But i can see where he might not appeal to everyone.

    @epi Omg yes i was thinking the same thing Graham Acre or Kamina off Gurren Laggan minus throwing stuff.

    • (Power Level: 3048)
      Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:22 pm | Permalink

      I think that may be why I liked this episode even less than usual. Shizuo just used sign posts on everyone. Hitting someone with a vending machine > hitting someone with a sign post.

      • jetbird1126
        (Power Level: 235)
        Posted February 24, 2010 at 6:26 pm | Permalink

        I hate to admit it, but this episode wasn’t as good as I expected. Sure it was cool to see how Shizuo got his strength from, but I wished he used something else besides a sign post. The trash pin, and vending machine were good (you don’t see anyone flinging a vending machine now a days) but seeing him defeat a group of guys three times with a sign post just loses its appeal after a while.

        The one thing I disliked hearing from Shizuo is that he doesn’t like violence…I just found that annoying.

      • (Power Level: 3048)
        Posted February 24, 2010 at 11:35 pm | Permalink

        Same here, he clearly does like violence, he just doesn’t like dealing with the aftermath.

  3. (Power Level: 172)
    Posted February 24, 2010 at 9:36 am | Permalink

    All that pent-up frustration. Shizuo either needs to get laid or fap more often.

    • (Power Level: 3048)
      Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:23 pm | Permalink

      LOL that would be worse than what happened to Samson!

      The reload would probably be faster, though.

      • (Power Level: 12)
        Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:54 pm | Permalink

        Or the velocity of his ejaculate would be fatal to his partner, leading up into more angst.

  4. (Power Level: 29)
    Posted February 24, 2010 at 12:23 pm | Permalink

    Two things:

    1) Shizuo is ashamed when he hurts the baker because when he finally tried to use his power to protect someone, he hurt that person instead. It’s the classic idea that it’s difficult to use a purely destructive power to defend someone you care about. I also imagine that’s why he asks his brother if he’s afraid of him shortly after the event.

    2) Kadota greets Shizuo on his way out of town. On the way back in, it sounds like Shizuo is finally returning the greeting. It’s the same thing with Simon, he greets Shizuo on the way out, and Shizuo returns it on the way back. It’s not that he didn’t know Kadota, he was just in a bad mood and not talking to anyone.

    • (Power Level: 3048)
      Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:26 pm | Permalink

      Shizuo is ashamed when he hurts the baker

      She was getting hurt either way. That has to be considered a draw, especially since I can’t imagine her suing the thugs. If she had given him a bottle of milk and he had accidentally punched her in the face, things would be different.

      Interesting about Shizuo greeting people on the way back. I didn’t notice it, so I might have to rewatch the end.

      • (Power Level: 29)
        Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:38 pm | Permalink

        That’s not how human nature works though, especially for young kids. Think about a doctor. A doctor might do everything perfectly right during a life-saving operation, but the patient will die anyway. He’s not going to think about how the patient would have died if he did nothing, he’s going to agonize over every little detail and think about if he could have done more. Shizuo is in the same position. I’m sure at some level, he knows that baker would have been hurt anyway. What he’s agonizing over is that HE hurt her, and that he couldn’t do more to prevent it by controlling his power.

      • jetbird1126
        (Power Level: 235)
        Posted February 24, 2010 at 6:32 pm | Permalink

        Yea but I was hoping this situation would teach him something. All I got from it was that he realized just how much of a beast he really is…on the outside.

        I wonder what made him dye his hair blond?

      • (Power Level: 3048)
        Posted February 24, 2010 at 11:38 pm | Permalink

        Oh that Shizuo is such a softie at heart. If he spent less time whining and more time chucking vending machines and punching people out of their clothes, I’d probably like him more.

        It’d be funny if his brother told him to dye his hair blonde.

  5. (Power Level: 391)
    Posted February 24, 2010 at 1:26 pm | Permalink

    Shizuo mentions that he feels close with Selty because they both understand what it is like to feel lonely

    I think that their true bond springs from their shared urge to torture Shinra, who apparently doesn’t know that “no means no” when it comes to dissection. I also would have liked to see more of the Vampire Ninja movie, as that looked like a good time, even if the title makes me think of geography.

    Other than that, I wonder if the milk-chugging trio from last episode are emulating Shizuo and, related to this, I’m curious as to how much the Japan Dairy Council is paying the production studio….

    • (Power Level: 3048)
      Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:28 pm | Permalink

      How did Pizza Hut miss out on this opportunity?! Chug that pizza, breakfast of champions!

      It would be terrible if Shizuo got a crush on Selty, although at least it would be hard for him to beat her.

      • (Power Level: 12)
        Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:56 pm | Permalink

        At least the angry sex would be epic, knowing that Selty can at least survive the experience.

      • (Power Level: 3048)
        Posted February 24, 2010 at 11:39 pm | Permalink

        Hotel room would be trashed!

  6. Noc and NC
    (Power Level: 1)
    Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:17 pm | Permalink

    Kyouhei knows Shizuo because he also went to the same high-school. You can see glimpses of him during the flashbacks, just watch the high-school scenes carefully for a fourth guy who isn’t colored all gray.

    • (Power Level: 3048)
      Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:29 pm | Permalink

      I noticed him, and he is the only one (other than that fat middle schooler) that is colored and doesn’t talk to Shizuo at all. This probably wasn’t an accident.

      • (Power Level: 29)
        Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:41 pm | Permalink

        I don’t think the point was that Kadota and Shizuo didn’t talk. Think about Mikado and company showing up in episode 6 and accomplishing absolutely nothing. I think the point is to show that they were both in the same place at the same time. Why that’s important, we don’t know yet.

  7. (Power Level: 12)
    Posted February 24, 2010 at 5:57 pm | Permalink

    There could be a possibility that the baker was Anri’s mom, adding yet another connection between the cast.

    • (Power Level: 3048)
      Posted February 24, 2010 at 11:40 pm | Permalink

      I wouldn’t put it past them to pull something like that. These throwaway details have a funny way of coming back into the main plot.

  8. (Power Level: 26)
    Posted February 24, 2010 at 9:57 pm | Permalink

    you’d think she’d be able to locate her head if it was out and about in Ikebukuro

    I think it was stated that Selty doesn’t remember her own face, along with everything else about herself, so she can’t identify it

    • (Power Level: 3048)
      Posted February 24, 2010 at 11:41 pm | Permalink

      This is how you know the “good ole days” sucked. If Selty had lost her head in the present day, she’d at least be able to look through her smartphone to find pictures she had taken of herself while sexting.

  9. Dez
    (Power Level: 1)
    Posted March 1, 2010 at 11:54 am | Permalink

    …eh, the Baker looked nothing like Anri aside from the fact they both wear glasses. :P

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