I really like Narita’s writing it’s smooth and he’s got a knack for developing a diverse set of characters!  I’d like to see him work with Rie Matsumoto’s directing and Kazuto Nakazawa’s character designs on a crime-drama episodic series.

This episode really emphasizes Shizuo’s role wonderfully–  he’s the peacekeeper of the city.  He’s ridiculously strong [which we saw a lot of from the first season] and this episode shows his talent in stopping thugs and tying the relationships he has with Ryugamine and Celty wonderfully.

In anticipation for the next arc beginning July 4th I’ve been re-watching this series and for the sake of finishing up my reviews.  Durarara!! certainly doesn’t have the budget Kekkai Sensen does but it still has its charm.  Remember the guy Shizuo beat up in episode 2?  Ex-KGB assassin Egor finally redeems himself here and I really like how it isn’t just the main cast that is able to be overpowered.  Even the characters with smaller roles get a chance to hold their own!  Quite an action-packed episode!

While this still follows the ongoing story about Ikebukuro citizens cleaning up the city’s trash, it does (satisfyingly) conclude the first arc of x2Shou and keeps Izaya in the background as a kind of revolving villain for Shizuo to challenge whenever this series ends.  Aoba may be the villain of this arc but Izaya is the bad guy of this entire series.  Good to see he’s back, monologues and all and this episode shows that he’s waiting for the right time to really work his mischievous magic.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 8/10

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