Durarara!!/Headscratchers

Not really a Just Bugs Me so much as a quick question: What exactly does the titles mean? Baccano is Italian for "ruckus or commotion," so I assume this is something similar.
- It's a play on "dullahan" - with "r" and "l" being basically the same sound in Japanese, "Durarara" could also be read as "Dullalala."
  - Word of God says it's just a nonsense word that the author came up with it on the spot.
  - Just to clarify things a little: DRRR!! should be the proper romanized title, given that Narita decided the title the last minute after hearing someone flip through the pages of a book. Since symbols (letters) are made out of sounds in Japan, it would sound like デュラララ (lit. durarara). In the west, however, it should be romanized as drr[rrr]. It's even written as such in the second opening credits where all of the names are spelled in English. Durarara, however, is decidedly catchier and easier to say.
- In addition to the word 'dullahan', it also sounds like the sound a motorcycle makes.
- It's also one syllable from 'dara dara', meaning 'no use' or 'not doing anything', which is the origin for the name 'Dollars.'
So let me get this straight. Izaya's plan to cause Ragnarok requires him to start a gang-war around Celty's head. Am I the only one who thinks that it makes no goddamn sense whatsoever? I mean, why can't he just take it to some war-torn areas or something? If Ragnarok occurs just because of some gang-war I really don't understand why it didn't happen before.
- My guess is that he would have restricted access (even with Izaya's agility, I don't think even he can just waltz in a place already at war) so he would need to start a war in an area he's already standing on.
- He does note that if worst comes to worst, he plans to just take it to a battlefield. But the point of starting Ragnarok is to "start a war that only I can win," hopefully earning him a spot in Valhalla. He's not sure it will work, but (as seen lower on this page), he's fine with the alternative.
  - Yup, Izaya doesn't have that much authority outside of the city, since his information network is just limited to that one place. He's only god inside the city, and just a 'normal' person outside.
When Celty rescued Sonohara from Yellow Scarves, one of them throws an iron bar to them and Anri cuts them in half, effectively revealing her status as the Slasher, causing much trouble. Why couldn't she just block it with her arm like she did few episodes ago? Did she really have to risk revealing her identity like that?
- In the novel, the narrative says that she did it without thinking. That is, by reflex.
- Oh, really? Summoning a blade is more instinctive than just blocking it with her arm?! Reflex does not work that way.
  - Well, considering what the sword in question is...
  - Remember a few episodes back when she was attacked by a fake host of Saika? She managed to block it with her arm, you know.
  - Yeah, but consider this: as much as Anri says that she doesn't understand love, it's obvious that she has affection for various people, Celty being among them. Those times she blocked with her arm, Anri herself was the only one threatened, and she doesn't think she's worth anything, so her reaction was a sensible defense. When the bar is thrown at her and Celty, she registers it as an attack against someone she has a connection with, and she overcompensates.
Why do Kida and Mikado keep talking to Izaya at all? Don't they realize that asking and getting help from him pretty much equals drinking sea-water?
- As manipulative as Izaya is, he's still the most resourceful person to talk to. Come to think of it, I don't recall him lying to people face-to-face. What he does online doesn't count.
- It also kinda helps he's basically the Durarara equivalent to Xellos. True, he can be a backstabbing troll, but as long as you and he have a mutual gain to exploit by your association, he can be a very valuable ally, so much you go out your way to keep him as such, even knowing his Chronic Backstabbing Disorder tendencies.
I'm kind of shocked that no one has brought this up yet, because I'm halfway through the series, and it is killing me. Celty cannot talk; this is made very clear, and is indeed an early plot point, and her communication, though we the audience can hear it, is through her blackberry, typed out. Again, a big deal is made of this. So why, every once in a while, is it completely ignored?!? I've seen her "talk" at least twice without the blackberry anywhere near her, and at one point, she does make the effort to type out what she says, but Shinri's face is buried in the couch and he never looks at the screen, but he still responds. It's a cool aspect of the character, but why would they introduce that if they're just going to ignore it?!?!
- I never thought much about it; maybe the producers just discarded that aspect because it didn't have any plot relevence? I don't know.
- Shinra can guess her mood by "looking at her face". He's just that special, he can probably guess what she wants to say without needing her to type it out. Although in the anime, sometimes we hear her voice but I took it to be her thoughts, it's not always clear that others can "hear" her.
- This has bugged me too. In episode 4, we see Shinra come in and talk to her while she's in the shower. She makes her text on the shower, but supposedly he can't see it because the door's not open wide. Later she is typing on the computer, but Shinra is on the desk next to her, he shouldn't be able to see it. It might be just animator laziness or to allow her to communicate better, but I like to think of it as one of her special powers being she can transcend her thoughts into someone else through text, that's why she still types even though no-one directly looks at it.
  - Actually, although the door wasn't open very far, he was quite obviously peeking in a bit through it. I do like the idea of her using text as a means to insert her thoughts into others' minds. Like a reverse Archive.
- Later in the anime he states specifically that he can read her mind, because he's loved her 20 years. He's not being literal, but he can easily figure out what she means without having to look at what she's typed.
Why do people assume that the boy that Mikado helps at the very end of Durarara OVA 2 is Aoba? He doesn't look anything like him in the novel and to top it all off he already lives in Ikebukuro and wouldn't need anyone to show him around. Also if it was Aoba, wouldn't he already know Mikado's name anyway since he's that type of person to get information on people he plans on using?
Izaya wants to start Ragnarok so he can be taken away by a Valkyrie so he won't have to fear The Nothingness After Death. Ok, I'm no expert on Norse mythology, but going off memory, Valkyrie only take brave souls who die in combat. Izaya is quite frankly a coward who is just good at hiding it. How does he expect to be taken off by a Valkyrie?
- He don't really expect to get to Valhalla -- he's not a warrior, but he's basically fine with it. He fears nothingness after death, and if his theories about Ragnarok prove right, then even ending up in Hel's realm won't scare him -- after all, it's still existence.
- If Izaya's supposed to be a coward, why doesn't he do a better job of avoiding the super-strong lunatic who tries to kill him on sight?
  - Because he enjoys messing with Shizuo so much?
It's probably something I missed or something the novels can explain better, but how did Saika infect anybody else after Anri's trauma?
- It was one of the previously-created children.
Okay, maybe this was answered in the novels, but why are the police after Celty? The only laws she breaks is speeding (maybe) and driving with her lights off. Arrest her, sure, but send a cop known for causing massive collateral damage? And you can't say they think she's a killer, since they knew enough about her methods to not be scared by her shadow trick.
- What do you mean maybe? She drives around at ludicrous speed with no lights on or engines sounds at night. From a traffic cops perspective she is a menace on the highway.
- Yeah, but she doesn't actually cause any damage except when they set the crazy cop who always causes accidents after her. It just seems like overkill.
  - I think that's the point - the traffic cop in question is crazy devoted to his job and, as far as he's concerned, bringing in a repeat offender who keeps breaking the laws he's bound to uphold is worth the overkill.
- I assume the cop wants to be the first person to arrest a headless urban legend that rides haphazardly with no lights, which sounds kinda cool.
- The said cop is outright explained to be a crazy Cowboy Cop who keeps getting into trouble over his antics. It seems that his superiors put him after Celty to keep him from causing more problems as a traffic cop.
Okay, about Celty's helmet. Mainly, how it stays on. Does it stay on by some weird peg system, or with crazy anime magic?
- The magic smoke that she creates can become at least partially solid, it probably expands to fill the helmet and keeps it firmly on her neck.
Anyone else think Kida's hair looks a bit too natural? Maybe it's because it matches his eyes and his eyebrows are thin, but he seems like a natural brunette though apparently he's a raven.
- Uh, he is naturally a brunette, he painted it blonde.
I've recently began watching the series, but I'm not getting the whole "Gang" part of the series. I know a lot about gangs, but only western ones. Is it a Japan thing?
- Well to be fair the entire "gang war" in the later half of the series was anime-only, as it never occurred in the novel. The anime was strange for the way it treated the Dollars, which the novel avoids calling a gang.
- I'm pretty sure it was in the novels (at least from spoilers I've read) and I don't see what's not to get about the gang thing. The Yellow Scarves are a pretty textbook teenage gang, except for there being little evidence of poverty in their background, and the third Story Arc is largely about this traditional sort of street gang getting into a conflict with the Internet based gang Dollars (which Mikado modeled after Real Life street gangs, even though they were never meant to do much of anything besides spread rumors about themselves).
While people are still on Celty, I know that she can manifest a 'scythe' out of her shadow and use it as a weapon, but does it kill or just incapacitate the victim? She's used it at least once in the anime on the Quirky Miniboss Squad, and they're more or less ok, but still...
- I guess it's something of a hypnotic slash so anyone who gets cut with it falls asleep.
- The novels confirm that Celty can choose whether or not to kill with it. Because she's the nicest person in the show, she never uses it to kill.
So...whatever happened to the fireworks kid in episode 8?
- Anime-original. Wasn't even given a name. There are more important people whose fates are never brought up. So nobody cares.
I have a kanji-related question--just how close is "I broke a plate" and "I've been kidnapped" in Japanese, in regards to Kazutano's text message?
- 攫われた [sarawareta] (was kidnapped) and 皿割れた [sarawareta] (a plate broke).
When did Niekawa become infected with Saika? Since Anri wielded it, the only way she could have become a carrier is if Anri cut her, but why would she since she can control it? I'm assuming all the attacks by the Slasher were Niekawa, but were the Saika children in 16-17 all directly from her?
- Niekawa was, to my knowledge, infected with Saika during the original slashing incidents five years ago. Anri's mother wielded it before passing it on to Anri. Due to Saika being dormant, her feelings went out the window and she became a psuedo-mother of Saika. So, it's pretty likely that the Saika children are from her.
- Ah okay. I thought I remembered something about there being a slasher five years ago but wasn't sure.
Why does it say that the Orihara parents were neglectful? Due to No Export for You, I haven't been able to read the entire series, but the fact that they're traveling businessmen or something doesn't necessarily make them neglectful, unless I'm missing something. Of course, Izaya said he came from a completely normal family, so there's that too...though being Izaya his ideas of normalcy might be a bit skewed.
- It's probably due to the fact that Mairu and Kururi do whatever crazy things they like and seem not to be under any kind of visible parental supervision. The same applies to their brother. Although it is not that unusual in the anime world.
- Where was it mentioned that his parents were neglectful again? It just seemed that, aside from Anri's, Shinra's and Haruna's, parents are barely mentioned at all.
Why does Izaya's school uniform, which can be seen in the seventh episode, differ so much from standard Raijin uniforms (those worn by Shizuo and Shinra)? Kadota also is seen wearing something similar but Izaya's attire looks more or less like a short black jacket and simple black trousers combined with longer red shirt.
- Raijin/Raira is pretty slack when it comes to school attire. It's why Masaomi can pierce his ears and wear a hoodie instead of the standard shirt, and why Shizuo can exempt his tie. I'm pretty sure that Izaya wears his middle school uniform, and Kadota probably wears his middle school outfit as well. Two characters introduced in the fourth novel, Mairu and Kururi Orihara also wear alternate uniforms: The former wears her middle school uniform and the latter, her gym uniform.
How did Izaya get ahold of Celty's head? Namie should have been the last person to have it, so why would she have given it to him? Sure, he had dirt on her about the kidnapping/human guinea pigs thing, but seeing as how he was the one helping them pick their targets, he'd also be in loads of trouble if the truth came out.
- Namie gives Izaya Celty's head for protection when Celty and Nebula start searching for it; that's actually their first face-to-face meeting. When Izaya starts going on about Valhalla, she realizes what a huge mistake she's made.
- I find it more disturbing that Izaya having it is probably as safe as the head's gonna be.
I know Seiji's Yandere and all that and trying to impart sense on such a thing is truly the stuff of madness but... Seiji's looking for a particular head attached to a girl and happens across a headless woman. He's in love with a head and comes across a headless vaguely female-shaped body and is completely un-curious about how weird that is at all. I know the Yagiri family has a completely alien concept of logic and all but that is just a stunning lack of deductive reasoning there.
- He's in love with the head. Even if he's just found the head's original body, if it doesn't have the head he's in love with attached to it, he doesn't care.
Why did Kida agree to work for Izaya? I suppose he needed some money desperately but still after everything Izaya had done to him and his girlfriend, shouldn’t he know better?
Why does Saburo get left out in everything? I'm starting to really feel bad for the guy.
- Well, someone needs to be a butt monkey...
  - But this isn't even about him being a Butt Monkey. He's a part of the van gang, but doesn't appear in nearly as many scenes as the others, he doesn't do much compared to the others, and the worst instance is in the van gang's introduction in the video game where not only does he not speak, you only know he's there in the scene when they cut to an art still and show his back in the corner. At this point, I consider him nothing more than an Advertised Extra.
  - I just kind of figured he was there for some light-hearted humor. There's so much going on in this series, and what with all the characters with heavy, mysterious, or dark pasts and presents, it's just nice to have someone whom you can't be suspicious or weary of.
What exactly was the extent of Takashi and Haruna's relationship? Haruna when in Axe Crazy Saika mode says something about selling / money and also mentions that Takashi got bored of her easily.... I'm not sure... although I assume sex was involved....
- My understanding of the matter was that he basically pimped her. As in, passed her around for people to sleep with and kept the money. Could explain (a little) why she's so screwed up.