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Jun 28 2010

Categories: durarara, general review
Tagged: durarara

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Russia Sushi! It’s cheap, yo!

One thing I gotta say about Ryohgo Narita’s works is that the good guys do get to do some serious pwnage at the end. That type of finale plus a Russian literature-sized cast are his trademarks, much like how sad girls in snow and piano muzak are for Jun Maeda. (Or Code Geass penetration jokes and Month of Mio are for this blog.) And while I could use a bit more beatdown of Izaya, it wasn’t bad.

I enjoyed DRRR!!, and I have joked before that the only anime I’m watching now contain “!”… and that’s true! Angel Beats!, K-On!!, Durarara!!… I wish there were a fourth show in the mix, but everything’s been so terrible lately. Nonetheless, the first half was much better– non-idiot plot with two killer revelations at the end of the Mika and Seiji arc. Plus, a cameo by Miria and Issac. How can you not enjoy that? The second half… a drop-off with the main plot being the angst-ridden (almost on par with pretty vampire angst) idiot plot that surrounded “Wait, what’s my special ability again?” Mikado, “Hopes and dreams” Anri, and “Am I a frat boy yet?” Masaomi.

Maybe it’s realistic to believe that these three “close” friends would have problems and hide them from each other, yet not able to hide their problems to others in the outside world. The whole plot hinged around three supposed friends who didn’t talk to each other. They’re not friends. They’re superficial friends. I might believe some sort of disconnection with others with Anri due to her power, but not Masaomi. When he found out that Mikado was the leader of Dollars and didn’t confront him, I was like, “This is like Battlestar Galactica when no one confronted Baltar about the missing nuke.” And then Mikado… how stupid is he to not use his network to find out who The Slasher and who the Yellow Scarves leader were? He couldn’t have tweeted, “@dollars, anyone know who is leading @yellowscarves?” (Where are the @purplehorses and @redballons?) He literally hid under his futon hoping everything would right itself and go away. Did he undergo a 180 degree personality change? Because I remember Mikado from episodes 1-12… not Shinji Ikari.

(If only he had an S-DAT tape player.)

(On a bromance scale of 1 to Simon and Kamina, I give Masaomi and Mikado a six. Simon would never doubt Kamina.)

The World Wide Wes analogue. Who is World Wide Wes? An almost fictional power broker in the NBA world. Mysterious to the point of sinister. He makes BP look like a transparent organization. He holds LeBron in his hands like how Izaya held Masaomi in his hands during the initial Blue Squares vs. Yellow Scarves battle. And, yes, Simon accusing Izaya of being gay for Shizuo? Saw it miles away… well, not miles, but when there’s more Izaya x Shizuo fanart than there is of Mio x Azu-nyan, you know something has gone wacky with the world. I guess the only question now is are you on Team Izaya or Team Shizuo?

Ryohgo Narita’s greatest character since Ladd Russo. How can you not enjoy all the Shizuo-chan fanart?

My only question is… how do you turn the Qan(T) Gundam of anime characters into a genderbended one? Dude took bullets and shrugged it off like one of the women on TLC’s highly disturbing I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant show. Here’s an actual line from that show, “I went to the bathroom at McDonald’s, and I didn’t know what was going on. There was blood everywhere! And then a baby came out!” Needless to say, I removed TLC from my channel listing. Anyway, Shizuo stole the show from Celty. Reminded me of the Eastern Conference Semifinals this year when it was supposed to be about LeBron… and it turned out to be all about Rajon Rondo.

(And, yes, Sunrise needs to scrape Qan(T) Gundam and replace it with Shizuo Gundam. There’s no way I can believe Setsuna piloting Qan(T) can defeat Shizuo… Shizuo is in the Power Pantheon, an equal to Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, TK, and Moe~ Moe~ Mio.)

No question. Saji is Sam Cassell‘s long lost daughter. I couldn’t take her seriously because of it.

(Must be tough on Masaomi… both girls whom he loved lied and betrayed him… though I liked how Saki’s injury magically healed once Masaomi healed.)

He fell in love with headless oddity. Sure, she doesn’t have a head and is a poor loser (I hope you enjoy your black orbed Famicom!), but she has a great rack. Just because of this, Shinra’s the Dirk Nowitzki. No, not for anything Dirk did on the court, but, “Sure, she has tattoos like Mike Tyson, she’s a con artist, and she’s been in jail recently, but she has a great rack.” applies to Dirk’s fiancee Cristal Taylor as well.

(If there’s a life lesson here, it’s this. If the first nakkid female you see is a headless oddity that your dad is slicing open with a scalpel, maybe it’s not the wisest of decisions to fall in love with it. Oh, who am I kidding? Seduction Celty 4tw!)

Best part of this scene, outside of Celty, is the look on Shinra’s face. It’s the same on Wily E. Coyote has when he sees Roadrunner. Worst part of this scene? Motorola, if you really want to compete against the iPhone, you needed to approach Brains Base and say, “Hey, we’ll give you a million bucks if Celty uses a Droid X. The sliding keyboard is great for headless supernaturals like her.”

As for his dad… mmm… come on, it has to be the Lakers bench. Sure, they were on the winning team, but they hardly contributed. And seeing Shinra’s dad onscreen was like seeing Luke Walton play in an NBA Finals… wait, dear Okanade-sama! That’s Luke Walton’s music! I’m headed for the concession aisle.

Kinnosuke disappeared for much of the series… barely had an impact… and returned at the last moment to save the day (kinda). If he didn’t earn a comparison to Nate Robinson in the Eastern Conference Finals between the Celtics and the Magic, I don’t know what does. And, yes, I’m still disappointed Ryohgo Narita didn’t license Kosuke Fujishima’s Natsumi and Miyuki for the role instead. It’s just a glorified cameo role, so perfect for a crossover like that. Best part? Natsumi’s manifest destiny is to end up with Shizuo. They would create a superhuman more evolved than a puny Innovator.

Probably my second favorite character behind Shizuo. We can definitely refer to Shizuo and Simon as the Twin Towers… just I can’t figure out which one is Tim Duncan and which one is David Robertson for the 1999 Spurs… mmm… much better analogy? 2004 Detroit Pistons. Shizuo would be the hot-headed, attention-grabbing Rasheed Wallace while Simon would be the cool, defensive-minded Ben Wallace. You might win even if Rasheed is going, but you’re not going to win if Ben is going.

(The whole Russia Sushi thing slays me. To think that the supposed balance of power was between Mikado’s, Masaomi’s, and Anri’s factions… but really, Izaya, Russian Sushi, Shizuo, Celty, and the Horo~n Fan Club ended up being more powerful factions. In terms of Gundam, those three would be the Marina Ismail everyone else’s Ribbons and Setsunas. Yes, I do enjoying mixing and Gundam analogies… that’s what we do. Here at Russia Sushi Blog. Damn, that would be a great name for an anime blog…)

Enjoyed Rookiez Is Punk’ed’s Complication (enjoyed it more than eating Moose Tracks ice cream from Guernsey Farms on a hot day)… made me almost forget Yuya Matsushita’s unforgettable dance moves in Trust Me. Though shouldn’t Yuya be wearing a single glove? But they’re both almost perfect songs for this anime.

You knew he could save the day when things were on the line. Not everyone likes him, but he has a very loyal following and gets results. Say hello to Kobe Bryant.

(I enjoyed his team more… they would be Lamar Odom, Ron Artest, Sasha Vujačić, and Pau Gasol in some form or another… I’m leaning towards Walker for Artest, since both are borderline insane, and I’m almost positive Ron Artest likes Nogizaka Haruka’s Secret… maybe Togusa for Pau Gasol, since he just goes along with and is a steady head in helping Kadota. Needless to say, I wonder why anyone would follow this blog if they weren’t an NBA fan.)

Shorter skirt than the Laker Girls. Love the turtleneck on miniskirt combo… the turtleneck says, “I’m cold!” but the miniskirt says, “I’m cold, but you could heat me up!” Though I did enjoy the brocon sinister mastermind of the first half of the show being a glorified secretary for the second half. That Columbia diploma just isn’t worth what is used to be.

And, almost finally, for Brains Base… loved the animation, loved how competent the show turned out (*cough* unlike Angel Beats *cough*) but I really loved the sound. The BGM was almost spot-on everywhere, and the sound effects were great, especially the subtle and not-so-subtle horse noises when Celty is play. I’m now rooting for you guys to remake Insert Whatever Series That’s Currently Disappointing Me Here. Don’t let me down!

(One complaint: the animation quality could be a tad higher. I’m not asking for Eden of the East, but give us a non-static ED for Okanade-sama’s sake. And more Seduction Celty.)

The motherlike figure who tries to keep the peace… only in anime could a headless Irish legend could become the unofficial protector of a major trendy Japanese city. And not seem weird. Only in anime.

And with that, Durarara!! is out like Russia Sushi. Here’s to hoping for more.