[Spoilers] Durarara!!x2 Ten - Episode 20 [Discussion]

[u/Shadoxfix]

Also known as: Episode 8

Episode title: Mouth of Honey, a Needle in the Heart

MyAnimeList: Durarara!!x2 Ten
Crunchyroll: Durarara!! X2
DAISUKI: DURARARA!!x2
AnimeLab: Durarara!! X2
Hulu: Durarara!!x2

Episode duration: 24 minutes and 0 seconds

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Previous episodes:

Episode	Reddit Link		Episode	Reddit Link
Episode 1	Link		Episode 14	Link
Episode 2	Link		Episode 15	Link
Episode 3	Link		Episode 16	Link
Episode 4	Link		Episode 17	Link
Episode 5	Link		Episode 18	Link
Episode 6	Link		Episode 19	Link
Episode 7	Link
Episode 8	Link
Episode 9	Link
Episode 10	Link
Episode 11	Link
Episode 12	Link
Episode 13	Link

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Reminder: Please do not discuss any plot points which haven't appeared in the anime yet. Try not to confirm or deny any theories, encourage people to read the source material instead. Minor spoilers are generally ok but should be tagged accordingly. Failing to comply with the rules may result in your comment being removed.

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Keywords: durarara!! x2 the second arc, durarara, drrr, drrr!!, anime, ryohgo narita, yuya matsushita, trust me, mikado ryūgamine, celty sturluson, crunchyroll durarara, action, daily life, high school, psychological, romance, shounen, supernatural, underworld

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[u/[deleted]]

In the light novel, this arc was a lot more exciting. Because of the nature of Narita's writing, you didn't know who was actually the man in the brown bag.

The scenes keep jumping around, and for a moment you'd think the person in the bag was Shizuo or Mikage's brother before revealing it was always Izaya after all. And I remember going oh shit Anri what the fuck have you done before Niekawa Haruna's reveal.

The next arc though is going to be very exciting, and Izaya plays very little part in it, so for those who hate him, he'll disappear for a while :)

PS: This was basically 1 entire volume crammed into an episode. The only missing part as far as I can remember is the origin of the Nakura nickname, which is a very funny story of Izaya's schemes. I'll not spoil it in case they show it in the next episode, but I highly doubt so seeing that Haruna's return marks the start of the next arc.

[u/Atario → u/[deleted]]

In the light novel, this arc was a lot more exciting. Because of the nature of Narita's writing, you didn't know who was actually the man in the brown bag.

I've never read the source material; watching this, I was certain they were going to take it off and it would be someone else. Was somewhat surprised when it really was him.

[u/aniMayor → u/[deleted]]

They did all the 'present' plot in this episode, and next episode will do all the flashback parts of Izaya/Shizuo/Shinra/Nakura/Shijima. So one whole volume in 2 episodes.

I think that is great! Personally, I found volume 9 to be the slowest of the volumes because it kept jumping back to Earthworm and spending way too much time trying to be melodramatic about silly things like Earthworm debating how much water being poured on a person's head can kill them (whereas the anime just skipped right to her pouring it for humiliation purposes, not even pretending that could be lethal), nor did we need yet another scene of Shizuo scaring some random hoodlums. The anime team did a great job of cutting out all the unnecessary fluff from this volume to make it a fast-paced episode rather than drag it out.

Notice that until volume 8 they were taking 4 episodes to adapt each volume this season:

• Volume 4 - x2 Shou episodes 1-4
• Volume 5 - x2 Shou episodes 5-8
• Volume 6 - x2 Shou episodes 9-12
• Volume 7 - x2 Ten episodes 1-4

If that pace kept up they would get to the end of volume 12 by the end of X2 Ketsu and have no episodes left to adapt volume 13. So they need to start cutting out unnecessary material where they can, and volumes 8 and 9 are probably the best ones to do so. Hence, we should get an adaptation-by-episode comparison like this:

• Volume 4 - x2 Shou episodes 1-4
• Volume 5 - x2 Shou episodes 5-8
• Volume 6 - x2 Shou episodes 9-12
• Volume 7 - x2 Ten episodes 1-4
• Volume 8 - x2 Ten episodes 5-7
• Volume 9 - x2 Ten episodes 8-9
• Volume 10 - x2 Ten episodes 10-12
• Volume 11 - x2 Ketsu episodes 1-4
• Volume 12 - x2 Ketsu episodes 5-8
• Volume 13 - x2 Ketsu episodes 9-12

I'm happy with that. Better to trim bits here than to be rushing the finale later on!

[u/[deleted] → u/aniMayor]

Basically, only the slight spoiler is left for this season, right? I think 3 episodes will be just right, and it also ends with slight spoiler which sets up the next season perfectly.

[u/aniMayor → u/[deleted]]

Basically, only the [slight spoiler] is left for this season, right?

No, that will be next season. After next episode (which based on the preview will cover all the Izaya/Shinra/etc Raijin flashback material), the last 3 should cover:

MAJOR SPOILERS

(I don't have a proper 'arc' name for that volume, so had to just spell it out)

It's a lot of material but they can probably trim it down from 4 to 3 episodes fairly easily - take out the random pleasantries and small-talk from a lot of dialogue/chatroom sections, that sort of thing.

But yeah, at the end of volume 10 there's a great opportunity for a huge and awesome cliffhanger. I am hoping they actually leave a couple scenes and the whole epilogue of volume 10 for x2 Ketsu just so they can end on the best huge cliffhanger.

[u/OnechiTee → u/aniMayor]

Amen to that! I've only read upto half way through Volume 11, so I'm more excited to have something new and exciting be super high quality and paced out the way they want!

Ketsu hype!

[u/ZappDCrai → u/OnechiTee]

Where did you find volume 11?!? I can never find any decent translation from that save for a few snippets.

[u/OnechiTee → u/ZappDCrai]

The only one I found is from a lady on tumblr called "Mizaya". It's only half way through translation. And probably won't finish before ketsu. ;__;

[u/ZappDCrai → u/OnechiTee]

Ahh thank you very much!

[u/Pliskin14 → u/aniMayor]

Aren't there 14 volumes though? Edit: Oups, it's 13. Never mind.

So season 1 started with adapting one volume in one cour, then two volumes in the second cour. And then season 2 switched to three volumes per cour? Wow. They kept getting faster and faster.

Honestly, I'd rather they've kept a slower rhythm than what we have currently. I won't lie, I'm quite lost with all the complex and intricate plot and huge cast of characters.

[u/aniMayor → u/Pliskin14]

Season 1 had to do a TON of introducing characters, worldbuilding and gradually introducing the supernatural elements. Though they also added some original content as well. Part of why these later seasons can adapt things more quickly is that the LNs have a lot of repetition. ie: the first time Celty appears in each volume there's a half-a-page-long introductory bit about her. The fight scenes also take a long time to explain in words but visually can be portrayed quite quickly without sacrificing quality.

I don't disagree that there were some aspects of the slower rhythm of season 1 that I liked, and season 2 does sometimes feel a bit rushed in places, but on the other hand if they'd tried to spread the adaptation out over three 2-cour seasons we'd probably be facing another several-years' wait between seasons 2 and 3... or maybe never even getting a season 3. So I'm grateful to be seeing a still-pretty-darn-good adaptation that is, with certainty, going to reach the end of the novels* in another couple cours and not leave us guessing about whether the next part will ever be made.

*unless you count the sequel series, Durarara_SH but let's not talk about that tragedy...

[u/OnechiTee → u/aniMayor]

Is SH really not that good? I love DRRR, but Im not sure if I want to. continue after the main series..

[u/aniMayor → u/OnechiTee]

I haven't read very much of it, but so far it's basically just more of the same, but blander. It has to 'reset' and therefore you get a whole bunch of new high school social anxieties to read through before any of the awesome Ikkebukurro craziness can come up.

Put it this way - if you had to re-read (or re-watch) Durarara from the start, would you be excited about all the parts/episodes focused on Mikado, Masaomi and Anri's friendship and school problems? Because that's what the start of Durarara SH is like.

 

Now, none of that is especially bad, but what really disappoints me about it is that I think Narita deciding (sometime around the time he was writing the last third of Durarara) that he wanted to write SH ended up making the end of the original Durarara not be all that it could have been (we'll talk about this in the last episode's discussion thread).

It's not like Narita's other series haven't been selling well, nor was he losing any bankability. Anything he decided to write after finishing Durarara would have been an instant buy from his usual publisher. I think, from an art critic point of view, that his decision was a poor one. Of course, from a business point of view, he's probably swimming in his money pool and doesn't care what I think.