Durarara!! - Episode 4

Durarara!! continues with its theme of having a different character act as narrator for each episode, and for this fourth instalment that particular task is left to underground doctor Shinra Kishitani. As if that isn't an interesting enough claim to fame, he also just happens to be living with the headless motorcycle rider who everyone around Ikebukuro seems to be so fascinated by.


Thus, this particular episode is largely dedicated to the story of said rider, as we learn that her name is Selty Sturluson and that the reason she's in Japan is to search for her missing head. Selty is a Dullahan, a being of Irish legend and a headless horsewoman who traverses the land looking for people close to death, backed up by an equally headless horse. However, from spending her days travelling around with her detached head carried under her arm, it appears that twenty years ago Selty managed to quite literally lose her head, leaving her to regain consciousness to find herself shorn of her memories. Is the missing head the secret to regaining these memories? Who knows, but nonetheless Selty makes for Japan to hunt for her noggin, "upgrading" her horse to a motorcycle.

This episode also reveals just how Shinra came to know and end up living with Selty, which is actually a bit of a twist in the tale in its own right, while this particular instalment also begins to introduce subtle bonds between several previously disparate characters as it goes along its way.

While I was actually a little surprised to see so much revealed about the show's previously mysterious central character so early on in the series, this episode certainly made for a nice change in pace from the bustling and madcap city shenanigans of the series so far, instead taking a much more personal turn to explore Selty's world in a simple yet genuinely interesting way. Whether knowing so much more about her at this early stage detracts from or increases the intriguing aspects of the series is difficult to judge at this juncture, but either way I'm left wanting to find out more about the search for her missing head and who (or what, I suppose) might have it... which makes this another successful episode of Durarara!! in my book.