Durarara!!x2 Shou Episode 12 Discussion

Pat_To_Do-List said:
Mikado somehow had forgotten/did not learn anything from what happened in the 1st season. Anything at all.

Pat_To_Do-List said:

My hope for the 2nd cour/part is to be more focused, do not introduce any characters if they are not going to be involved in the story

Jagd84 said:


If that's want you want then I then I don't think DRRR or any of Narita's adaptations are for you. Every character no matter how minor their part in story is important in DRRR. Every character has their own tale or role to play which may isolated at but eventually clash with others. Naritia is not a traditional writer, if you can't handle his style which always has an increasing cast don't watch the next season nor any adaptations of his following because it not going to change.

bunny1ov3r said:

Izaya got stabbed, really remind me of Monogatari Series second season.

Jagd84 said:
Wait... what does Mikado deciding what kind of group he wants to the Dollars to be and what ultimately he has to do to evolve to become part of Ikebkuro's abnormalities have anything to do with last season? The half of the arc here was about his character development in coming to grips with his inner desires that was merely touched upon a bit in ep 11 of s1.

Jagd84 said:
If that's want you want then I then I don't think DRRR or any of Narita's adaptations are for you. Every character no matter how minor their part in story is important in DRRR. Every character has their own tale or role to play which may isolated at but eventually clash with others. Naritia is not a traditional writer, if you can't handle his style which always has an increasing cast don't watch the next season nor any adaptations of his following because it not going to change.

Pat_To_Do-List said:

That's him deciding things, not developing. There's difference between character development & moving plot. He, as a character, is not developing at all. What's the difference between the current Mikado & the old Mikado? "Now he is much braver & bolder than ever." He has always been like that, but this time his bolder side is showed on a different conflict. What is the same about the current Mikado & the old one? He's still afraid to tell his friends about what kind of problem they are in because he does not want to make them worried. He's still hesitant asking the Dollar members for help(just like what he thought in the early 1st season) even though he did just that in the 1st season after he realized that he's not alone/he had the Dollars with him.

Well, I enjoyed this season of Durarara!!, the 1st season, & Baccano!. So I will keep watching any of his works. Thank you for the warning.
But that was not the case in this part. I know, this is only the first part, but was it really necessary to introduce so many characters when they had zero involvement in the overall story? In the 1st season of Durarara!!, almost everyone had at least some kind of involvement in each arc. Even if they did not, they would have a meaningful involvement enough to the arc they were introduced in. Here? Not really. For example, the two weird Russians which one of them spat out some ice blocks right from his mouth for comedy purpose. So I am just hoping all of those characters that had been introduced in this cour will play some part in the next cour or the next after that.

Jagd84 said:
Wow... This post totally shows that you don't understand the kind of conflict Mikado was going through, at all. This problem isn't about some miscommunication, it's not about seeking help, it's about deciding the future of group for himself. Growth and character development is all about making decision after coming to an understanding about something after going through hardship and changing from it which is what he did. Everybody I've seen who have read or watch this arc easily understands this, but you.

Getting help to beat the Blue Squares or Toramaru solves him nothing. That's only a surface issue that has no bearing on what type of person is he wants to become to keep up with Dollars and Ikebukuro. Remember Mikado came to this city because he secretly likes it's chaotic environment and wants to be a part of that. That is whole reason why the Dollars existed to began with. He choose this path because he understands that idealism alone he once pursed cannot control something like the Dollars which is ultimately made up of factions.

From the epilogue of Vol 6 during the conversation between Mikado and Aoba


That's pretty stark change in attitude compare to first season where he didn't believe that Dollars shouldn't heavily influenced by one group or person.

In otherwords Mikado is planning to do something that other people like Kadota won't agree with nor can they do, to restore the Dollars to way he thinks it should be. Everyone else would just tell him to leave it be and become a normal person like Chikage does because they don't believe he can handle it. Which defeats the whole point of coming here at all.

Jagd84 said:
Sorry, but this is your issue if you don't find a character meaningful. As some who actually read all of Naritia's works, how he handles his characters in what he writes is the same. Baccano has even more characters than DRRR, but everyone seen are usually find impressive how he able make every one play a role one way or another in all his stories despite the growing cast. That is his hallmark, if you can't deal well your free to drop it. That just the truth.

Basically you saying that Vorona and Slon weren't involved in what happened, means that you don't understand DRRR how every character fit into the first season either, like Kaztano, the foreign American woman Shiri, the Van gang, Haruna, Tom, Simon etc.

Imperial_Thunder said:
6/10. Pretty all over the place and didn't really get its act together till towards the end.

Glad Izaya got stabbed, his smugness can get irritating.

Pat_To_Do-List said:

I understand what he has been through & what kind of problem he had to overcome. From how he did not know what to do with the Dollars to how to control the Dollars without establishing any rules. The problem here is he is progressing through all of the problems without a single character development. He is like in auto pilot, just plowing through every problem without learning anything from any of them. Look, you have to differentiate between character development & plot progression. What you have been talking about is Mikado as a character overcoming his problems, not character development. You have been talking about the storyline, not a character development. Character development is when a character learning something new & take that new thing to change his reaction to the problems he's facing. So in order to developing a character there needs to be a change on how he views/reacts to something. So, is he changing(apart from how his views on how to control the Dollars)?

You got it wrong there. As we learned from the 1st season, Mikado asked the Dollars for help to do certain things. So in other word, he learned that he can ask the Dollars to help him. Because in the end he is the founding father of the Dollars, so of course at least some of the members respect his decision/his call for help. Then, in this season, he once again faced a problem where he could easily ask the Dollars to help him in a certain way(not helping him beat up the Blue Squares). Maybe at least try to clear the confusion about what's happening between the Dollars & the white motorbike gang. Did he ask anything from the Dollars after he learned he could ask them for help in this season? No. Why? There's no explanation for this.

I give you that. That is a character development. But after all this time & the only thing changed from him is that one thing is not that good of a character development. He should have learned from many things & changed so much yet he is not. That's disappointing.

Well, maybe in the novels they are all the same. But in the anime adaptations? Are the characters handled the same? It's different. Like I said, the new characters in this season of Durarara!! were not handled as well as the 1st season or Baccano!. Was it different entirely? Not really. It had the same formula but with different quality to it.

What? What are you talking about? I never said anything about that. Again, you react so negatively towards my criticism. Let me clear things up, those two weird Russians(not Vorona & Slon) just there spat out a tiny bit of exposition about Vorona & that's it. Those two characters could easily be removed & it will not change a thing. Vorona's backstory could still be explained by the Russian sushi guy. And about those two weird Russians involvement? There's already an explanation about those two on the conversation between the Russian sushi guys & the other Russian who got punched by Shizuo. So their introduction in that particular scene was not needed because in the end they were not involved in anything meaningful in this season. Yes, they were involved indirectly, but that's it.

heavylobsterguy said:
Shizuo is still the best character in this show and Izaya finally got his shit pushed. Pretty content with that. But l still found this season to be kind of mediocre overall so l can't say l'm too motivated to continue watching the next seasons. It'd be nice if future seasons were way more focused than this one. There were quite a few new characters introduced with little relevance here. Not to say that they won't be relevant in the future, but there are characters from the first season that were pretty much non-existant here so I don't much hope for these new guys. l would still prefer a smaller more focused cast as opposed to this big huge one since that would get rid of my problem, but oh well.

Jagd84 said:
Again, you seem not really understand what's going on and why things happened the way they did. Alright first off Mikado never asked Dollars for help in s1 ever, he can't ask the Dollars for help. He is not the leader of the group so he can't go around giving orders, only suggestions. Mikado can only manipulate like he did when tricked them into holding a meeting to comfort Name. Second, Blue Square are the Dollars members, no different from Kadota or Shizuo. Furthermore what they have done is entirely valid even if self-serving because it based on ideals Mikado himself has set forth. Now it up to him to decide if Dollars are worth keeping in spite of that so there is no confusion to clear. Nobody can help here in any meaningful way, because his conflict is the Dollars itself on ideological level. The things that happened in s1 has nothing what's going on here at all. You merely bring up something superfacial that wouldn't change anything because nobody really views the Dollars in the same way Mikado does. Nor can they because they do not have the history he has with it. Sure Mikado is type of person to shoulder the burden of others, but it's really not what this is about here.

Jagd84 said:
Anime follows the novels more or less give or take a few things. Nobody that exist in this show (maybe save for Rio) would not be here without appearing in the novels first. I'm not seeing any differences here or ones with any real meaning.

Jagd84 said:
Haruna could have been removed from the story and somebody else could have taken her place because Saika's host could have been anybody. Mika could have been removed from the story and her role given to somebody else because it didn't need to be her due to plastic surgery. Simon could have been replace by a regular Sushi chief for all he does. This is the cyclic argument your going through doesn't work because it can be applied to 90% of cast outside Cetly, Mikado, Shizuo, Izaya, and Shinra. This why I say you don't get DRRR. This show about strange people for who know where interacting and causing chaos, whether it's for their agenda or anothers. It doesn't matter whether they're a re 2 bit crook or a politician. They contribute to the plot in some way. Russians were working directly for one of antagonists of this arc as well as various factions so they are involved in this mess no matter what you say. That is the fact.

Vorona's past important to understand her character and why she is the way she is. It's the very same reason you got backstory on Shizuo, Akane or anybody else. You don't need see any of them further to the plot, but that would be dumb and serve to make everyone less interesting. DRRR afterall about it's characters and their interactions. My post is not being defensive, it's just that your criticism has holes that contradict how DRRR has been. I'm only telling you how it is and that every character will be handled the same way, just they were since the novels and anime began.

bunny1ov3r said:
Wow Shizu is so awesome, like a badass

Anri = Flame Haze, lol

Is Mikado's true nature starting to surface, split personality?

Izaya got stabbed, really remind me of Monogatari Series second season.

Pat_To_Do-List said:

Again, I do understand.
So then why couldn't he "manipulate" the Dollars members to help him in this 2nd season then?
Couldn't he at least tell the other members what's actually happening? At least? No? He knew he could, but he did not do it. And there's no confusion to clear? There's definitely a confusion to clear. Even Kadota was confused on what's happening. Mikado had the privilege as the founder to say things in the Dollars forum & to be heard by other members with higher respect. Even in the 1st season some of the member clearly asked for the founder to at least speak/tell them something to do when there's a conflict between the Dollars & the Yellow Scarves. Unfortunately, he did not learn from that.
Well, this is a sequel. So to say what happened in the first season has nothing to do with the 2nd season is unfathomable.
Forgive me, but I do not understand what you are trying to say about Mikado's view on the Dollars is different compared to others & how he shoulder the burden of others. We are talking about Mikado & his lack of development, not his view or anything you are talking about. I bring up his view on the Dollars because you bring it up for a proof of his development.

I am talking about how the anime adaptation handled the characters, not whether there were new characters/characters from the novel removed in the anime adaptation.

That's not the point. The point is those two Russians did not need any screen time in this cour because in the end they did not serve any purpose except for comic relieve & explaining some things about Vorona. I think it's better to just remove their scene & just mentioned their existence in the world in some conversation(& they did mentioned in some conversations). Then, if they are going to serve any purpose than those in the next cour please do give them some screentime. As for this cour, it's unnecessary.

I did not say Vorona's past is unimportant. What? See, you are interpreting my post so negatively. Please do not do that. What I was trying to say is some Vorona's backstory that was explained by those two Russians did not have to be explained by them specifically. The backstory could have just incorporated in the Vorona's backstory that was told by Simon.

Then please show it to me that you are not being defensive. Thank you.