Durarara!! - Episode 5

In that tradition much beloved of some more complex anime series, the fifth episode of Durarara!! actually begins virtually at its end, as we again find ourselves following the tracks of Selty Sturluson, albeit briefly - However, despite all we learned about her last episode, it seems that even this immortal Dullahan can have a bad day, as she finds her latest mission hijacked by some crazed individual who puts even the normally passive Selty into quite a state.


Aside from that however, it's Masaomi Kida who takes up narration duties for this particular instalment; an episode which gives us a huge amount of insight into not only his character, but also Mikado's. To be quite frank, I could easily sit and write a 'blog entry about this aspect of the episode alone, as we learn of Kida's own interest in Anri Sonohara and the developing love triangle there and his rather more fractious relationship with Mikado than we've been able to grasp previously. More importantly, both Kida and Mikado's personalities are really fleshed out here, with the former's outgoing character proving to be something of an act while Mikado's seemingly naive persona hides an incredibly perceptive guy underneath it all. Throw in some secrets which Kida seems to be hiding (or just plain avoiding) and my fascination with these two major characters has well and truly jumped up a notch or two.

Of course, this series being what it is we don't simply focus on two characters here - Instead, we learn of Anri's relationship to a girl named Mika Harima, her association in turn with Seiji Yagiri, and a whole bunch of other slender threads which tie together the various individuals that make up this show's world.

It's this almost dizzying interlinking of characters that is making Durarara!! - Despite giving so much away about Selty last episode, we're still left with so many mysteries and unknowns that it's difficult to know where to start, and it's genuinely fun to let the conjecture run wild as to who is who, what they're doing and how they're related to another. Throwing this melting pot of fascinating individuals into a bustling city is also proving to be a work of genius, as despite its excesses it still somehow manages to "feel" authentic, and the fact that it's becoming so easy to like, or at least want to become closer to, the major characters only helps the show yet further.

Really, there's so much to consider and discuss here that my "stream of consciousness" style of 'blogging feels like little more than a rabbit trapped in the headlights here - How can I possible dissect and devour everything that this episode brought to us just minutes after watching it? Of course, I simply can't, and in a way that's what I love about Durarara!! so much right now. It knows exactly what it's doing, and it's revelling in it, as am I. It even manages to sum itself up in a single sentence towards the end of this episode: "The things happening in this city may look like they're unrelated, but they're probably connected somewhere."