DRRR!! x2 -- Review of Second Season of Durarara!!

A note to my guests: My review includes spoilers as I do not see the point of entering a serious discussion of a work by separating my opinions and interpretations from close readings of the events in a story. There are no “SPOILERS!!” warnings in the text because I want to maintain the flow and logic of my writing argument, so if you have not seen all of the events in a work being reviewed, you will have to read at your own discretion.

DRRR!!x2 begins rather slowly. In fact, it feels quite a bit slower than the first season since the new characters (at least, the new focus on different characters) aren’t very compelling in the beginning. The Orihara twins are downright strange, and the anime gives no explanation or justification for their strangeness. They experience no real growth or change in the show; they’re weird from the start and just as weird at the end. The show seems to expect viewers to simply accept that the girls are weird because they’re related to Izaya, who is undoubtedly very unusual. The Hollywood serial killer isn’t interesting; we have no idea why the pop idol kills people or why she resists killing Yuuhei. As a character, she lacks dimension. Like the twins, she simply sticks out of weaving of DRRR!! without any apparent connection to the other characters except Yuuhei who inexplicably likes her. We see that she considers herself a monster and compares herself to Shizuo, Yuuhei, and Celty, but she can’t decide whether she pities them or whether she admires them. Yuuhei is boring; he adds interest and dimension to Shizuo’s background and personality, but Yuuhei himself doesn’t add much to the show.

Honestly, all of the scenes involving Hijiribe Ruri/Hollywood, Yuuhei, the cat, and the stalker should have been omitted. They don’t add nothing to the main story, don’t offer any explanations for events or opportunities for meaningful character development, and don’t result in a conclusion by the end of the second arc. The only reason Ruri seems to matter in the big picture is her connection to Yodogiri Jinnai, but that group could have logically been introduced with its trouble with the yakuza and Izaya. As a viewer, I have no investment in Ruri’s wellbeing, no interest in her vague past, and no idea why she was put in the mix at all. The stalker arc essentially ends with the stalker(s) still on the street, potentially plotting for future trouble that is not even mentioned in the last episodes of the season. Yuuhei’s attraction to Ruri makes little sense since all he knows about her is that she’s killed several people, and he doesn’t even care to know the explanation for her crimes. The show hints that Ruri killed the people who were involved in her father’s murder, but we don’t know why he was murdered or why Ruri agreed to work with Yodogiri in the first place except as part of a desire to be “a real monster” as a pop star. The show doesn’t even bother to explain how a pop star is like a monster from Ruri’s or Yodogiri’s point of view.

One possible cause for the lack of apparent connection between the characters and lack of depth in each new character is the fact that there are so many new characters in the second season. My sister and I struggled to remember who was who when a character mentioned someone else by name. Even worse, most of these characters don’t seem to matter in the long run, and far too much time is spent on showing their back stories and showing their conversations that could conclude in a few seconds. The addition of Varona works for me, but her character isn’t developed quite enough. Sloan makes sense as her partner, but he isn’t seen much in the show, so I find that I don’t care about him. Akabayashi is an interesting character, and I appreciate his connection to both the yakuza and Anri. The brother and sister who run the dojo where Mairu Orihara trains don’t seem important at all—why do they help Izaya even though Izaya seems to have been involved in the woman’s rape? Why do we have to know about them at all?

Eijirou Sharaku. Durarara!! by Ryohgo Narita and Suzuhito Yasuda and published by ASCII Media Works.

Mikage Sharaku

Seriously, who are these two?

The lack of dynamic characters  is a real problem for the second season because they can’t advance the story in a way that is both compelling and plausible. The fact that I feel disjointed     from the Orihara twins and from the Hollywood killer/idol really bothers me because the show’s first season emphasizes the unknown or indirect connections that each person has on everyone else, and this emphasis is present from the first episode. This technique is an exceptionally good one because it provides an insight to real-world life that most people don’t consider on an everyday basis. I think the real problem is that the new characters either don’t connect to other characters at all or connect to only one other character or group. This connection is too flimsy to handle the level of complexity that a 25-episode season can handle.


I get the feeling that DRRR!!x2 is trying to pull off the indirect-and-multifasceted connections method, which is great and probably the perfect way to organize the complexity of both the plot and characters, characters who change and grow dynamically and realistically. With this method of showcasing connections in mind, the second season deals with the introduction of Aoba and the return of Izumii, the former leader of Blue Square who caused many of the problems that come to impact Mikado, Anri, and Masaomi in the first season. Aoba has resurrected Blue Square and apparently wants to take over the Dollars just as Blue Square attempted to take over the Yellow Scarves in the previous season. Already, this goal is boringly obvious. We don’t even have to wait for Aoba to tell us what he wants to do to know his plan—he is suspicious from the moment he is introduced in the second season. His strange decision to allow a group of girls to deface the Orihara twins’ desks and then rat the girls out speaks of an Izaya-like penchant for trouble. However, I think my real bias against him began when I saw his eyebrows. Those brows are not trustworthy.

Aoba Kuronoma.

Also, Alma Karma much? And why is that Neko boy the way he is?


When we learn his identity, he becomes immediately the kind of interesting, unpredictable character that is familiar to the first season. Then he reveals his goal.

Aoba Kurunoma, referring to Blue Square as the sharks who are to infiltrate the deep waters of the Dollars and take over the organization. DRRR!!x2 episode 22

He wants to make the Yellow Scarves and the Dollars actually fight a war in the streets. Which was Izaya’s goal for the second season. Which means either he will team up with Izaya or Izaya will find something else to preoccupy him. So… no new plot, really.

However, the second season fails to show meaningful and deep connections between the characters. The characters in the first season, however, connect on multiple levels. I categorize the original cast in three main groups of what I call Underground Ikebukuro: the high schoolers/low-level underground people, the street workers/mid-level underground, and the Big Money/high-tier underground. Masaomi, Anri, Mikado, Mika, Seiji, and pretty much all the other high-school age characters, along with the reporter Niekawa, fit in the first group. Kadota/Dotachin, Walker, Erika, Togusa, Shizuo, and Tom comprise the mid-level underground. Simon and Dennis also fit in this group despite their high connections with Russian assassins/gangsters. Izaya, Yagiri Pharmaceuticals, Namie Yagiri, Jinnai Yodogiri, and Shinra’s father clearly make up the high-tier underground with their large financial privilege and essentially unrestricted access to resources. Using this description of the high-tier underground, I would classify the yakuza as part of this group, but their hierarchy logically includes mid-level workers. Celty and Shinra are like the yakuza to me; they dwell mostly in the mid-level underground, but they have strong connections to the high-tier underground.

Mikado and his two friends are low level, but they connect to the mid-level and high-tier through the Dollars, Yellow Scarves, Saika babies, Kadota and friends, Izaya, and Celty. Mika and Seiji connect to mid-levelers via the Dollars and to high-levelers via Yagiri Pharma and Seiji’s sister. Celty and Shinra know pretty much everyone thanks to Shinra’s father and Izaya. Izaya knows everyone because he’s Izaya and tends to get involved with mid-level kidnappers and Celty’s transportation business. The actual gangs Dollars and Yellow Scarves are mostly mid level, but the Dollars encompasses low-level underground and regular people as well.

In the second season, the most successfully dynamic characters are those with multiple connections. The Russians connect to Simon and Dennis and seem to have high-tier connections with Yodogiri and the yakuza, and Varona partners up with Shizuo, thereby tying her to the mid-level underground. Egor is a bit of a mystery, but he’s probably mid-level to high-tier only. Akabayashi appears to be a high-tier yakuza, but he is close with Anri, who is mid-level with Saika, and is seen cooperating with Celty and Niekawa, the latter of whom is low-level. On the other hand, Aoba is strictly mid-level, as are the Orihara twins as far as I know, as are the unexplained Amphisbaena and Heaven’s Slave and. . . that one guy (Nakura) who seems to have started both of those groups and is now being psychologically tortured by Izaya. I’m not sure about Izumii; he seems to have been mid-level for a long time and still seems to be, but his connection to Izaya may put him closer to the higher tier. Ruri is basically a normal person being used by high-tier people, but her actions as a murderer and relationship to Shizuo’s brother Kasuka put her in either the low- or mid-level. But Kasuka is not an undergrounder himself, so Ruri’s connection to the mid-level is tenuous. The dojo people know the Orihara twins, mid-levelers, and now also Akane, potentially high-tier because of her yakuza family but still too young to really be an undergrounder, but they seem to be normal people until they help out Izaya. Therefore, I’m calling them strictly low-level.

The second season is wholly frustrating. The repetitive unoriginality of the main action, along with the uninteresting static characters (e.g., the twins) who fail to add the main action, is a huge problem for the show. The first season is distinctly unique, but the second one falls flat, banking off a watered-down version of the previous plot because it was successful for the first season. I have a lot to say about my frustrations with the Russian assassins, the yakuza, and Yodogiri, but, readers, let me know if you want a post about some of these frustrations. Overall, DRRR!!x2 thus far lacks emotional tension/pathos and dynamism except in Mikado; it simply has scattered drama that fails to tie up too many loose ends. Although Mikado’s change is arguably negative and difficult to explain (and I do have some problems with it and with Masaomi), he at least remains interesting and true to his love of change and flexibility. I guess all I can do is wait for the continuation in January 2016, and I look forward to the third part of the season, but I can’t shake the feeling that the organization of the DRRR!!x2 is messy, drawn-out far too long, and disappointing compared to the first season.

Character Review of Haru Yoshida from My Little Monster

A note to my guests: My review includes spoilers as I do not see the point of entering a serious discussion of a work by separating my opinions and interpretations from close readings of the events in a story. There are no “SPOILERS!!” warnings in the text because I want to maintain the flow and logic of my writing argument, so if you have not seen all of the events in a work being reviewed, you will have to read at your own discretion.

Let’s talk about My Little Monster. I have a lot to say about the series, but I want to focus on the character most viewers have a problem with: Haru Yoshida. Haru is openly and excessively violent, socially awkward, and jealous of his love interest Shizuku Mizutani. He is repeatedly inconsiderate of Shizuku’s boundaries, grabbing her and covering her mouth to prevent her screaming on multiple occasions and, in one instance, infamously threatening to rape her if she makes a sound. These behaviors are all indeed problematic, and I, along with many other viewers who have vehemently written negative reviews about the show,  was shocked and appalled when I saw them take place. As a feminist and civil human being, I can’t justify these actions.

My Little Monster, AKA Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun. Created by Robico and published by Kodansha.

However, as a viewer, I can’t hate Haru or stop liking the show to the extent that I do, and I don’t think Haru’s character should be disregarded as a misogynist pig. I prefer to think there is a reason for Haru’s behavior since the show seems to emphasize thoughtfulness not only as a theme but also as a quality of production and storytelling. In fact, I argue that Haru acts the way he does because I interpret his character as a combination of two things: (1) a representation of a boy living with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) such as Asperger syndrome and (2) a representation of the male population as a whole.

I watched the first, and currently only, season of My Little Monster with my younger sister, and we shared this thought during the first episode: Haru’s got to have some kind of autism spectrum disorder. We have a half-sister in elementary school who has been diagnosed with ASD, and although she has never exhibited violent impulses, her emotional volatility and difficulty with understanding social cues are traits that we easily identified in Haru. Because Haru functions well physically and cognitively, we think he demonstrates the following aspects associated with Asperger syndrome:

• limited or inappropriate social interactions

This symptom manifests in his difficulty with making friends and consequent isolation as well as his inability to regulate his emotions and tendency to act too impulsively and extremely in social situations (including clingy, obsessive behavior with Shizuku; severely beating a schoolmate on at least three occasions in elementary school, middle school, and high school; and running away from people or situations he doesn’t like).

• challenges with nonverbal communication (gestures, facial expression, etc.) coupled with average to above average verbal skills

We see Haru’s struggle with understanding why people are afraid of him, and in one episode, Shizuku teaches him that he shouldn’t glare at strangers if he wants to make friends. His verbal communication is blunt and at times impolite, but he is sincere and honest. I actually find this characteristic refreshing and heartwarming not only in Haru but also in almost any character who exhibits it.

• inability to understand social/emotional issues or nonliteral phrases

This point is a little tricky for me to tackle because there are instances when Haru shows that he has a quick wit and appreciation for jokes, especially regarding sexual innuendos. However, Haru remains fairly oblivious to Shizuku’s responses to his advances and doesn’t understand that her desire to go to a college prep school despite the fact that he doesn’t want her to go. He assumes that, because she reciprocates his romantic feelings, she will give up doing what’s important to her for the sake of spending time with him over his rival Yamaken. He is shocked when Asako Natsume tells him that Shizuku is disgusted when he tries to touch her at a time when Shizuku doesn’t like him. He is also completely oblivious to Oshima’s crush on him, misreading her confession to him as a joke.

• lack of eye contact

When Haru learns to try smiling at people and becomes popular with his female classmates, he declares that his social success must be due to “the power of eye contact,” implying that he typically avoids making eye contact.

• obsession with specific, often unusual, topics.

Haru demonstrates very narrow and intense focus at times, particularly when he spends almost an entire episode looking for a firefly. He stops by his friends to ask if they’ve “seen it,” but he never tells them what he’s looking for, and he is so preoccupied with his search mission that he leaves behind several of his belongings during his journey. He is similarly focused when he determines that he will catch a cray fish for Shizuku despite the fact that the river where he fishes will not yield cray fish in the winter. He is also strangely attached to his rooster Nagoya, whom he carries with him all over campus. I suppose he is particularly inclined to animals.

Haru also demonstrates difficulty judging personal space—although his motor skills are exceptional given his tendency to climb up walls, jump out of windows, and aim successful punches—and superior rote memory since he was able to memorize high school-level work in middle school well enough to make perfect grades when he actually began high school.

For more information on Asperger syndrome and the complete list of symptoms associated with the disorder, visit the Autism Speaks website and the Autism Spectrum Education Network (ASPEN):

https://www.autismspeaks.org/what-autism/asperger-syndrome

 http://aspennj.org/what-is-asperger-syndrome. 

 The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) says this about teenagers with ASD:

During the teenage years, adolescents become more aware of other people and their relationships with them. While most teenagers are concerned with acne, popularity, grades, and dates, teens with ASD may become painfully aware that they are different from their peers. For some, this awareness may encourage them to learn new behaviors and try to improve their social skills. For others, hurt feelings and problems connecting with others may lead to depression, anxiety, or other mental disorders. One way that some teens with ASD may express the tension and confusion that can occur during adolescence is through increased autistic or aggressive behavior. Teens with ASD will also need support to help them understand the physical changes and sexual maturation they experience during adolescence. (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autism-spectrum-disorders-asd/index.shtml, para. 10, my emphasis)

Haru certainly struggles with maintaining his self-esteem, regulating his emotions, forming normal peer relationships, and understanding other people’s emotions, perspectives, and social responses to his behavior. He is frustrated with his inability to connect to others and knows that he is different, as evidenced in the childhood flashbacks and insecurity he faces with making friends. The anime indicates that Haru has been “different” since early childhood, and his older brother once said that he hated Haru for being a “troublemaker” and blames Haru for creating strain in the family, especially with their father. Haru is lonely and insecure because he doesn’t understand why he can’t be considered “normal.” He tells Shizuku that he’s afraid of being “left behind,” meaning given up or abandoned. He doesn’t want to scare her off, and he becomes moody and volatile when she ignores him. He wears glasses for a day after hearing Oshima jokingly say that she was nominated for a class leadership role because she wears glasses, taking her quip seriously. Haru becomes disheartened and upset when he is predictably not nominated, not understanding why his plan didn’t work even though he had apparently fulfilled the glasses requirement.

His confusion and obliviousness regarding others’ feelings often result in angry and violent outbursts. He often acts on impulse, and Shizuku chides him more than once for not thinking before he acts. Haru genuinely does not recognize that his actions are bad, and ever since childhood, he has never understood why people are afraid of him. Some viewers interpret his self-centeredness as typical male egotism, calling his character a harmful and problematic representation of a bad boy for Shizuku to fix and the anime as a whole a harmful representation of what a relationship should be that normalizes domestic violence and rape. I certainly understand this view, but I contend that there is more to the story.

Haru is not really a cruel or hateful person. He repeatedly shows an investment in helping his friends.

He has no real intention of harming his friends, even though he says occasionally inconsiderate things and misses a punch and hits the wrong person. The rape threat is undoubtedly bad and unjustifiable. However, his learning disorder prevents him from understanding the real implications of this threat from Shizuku’s perspective; all he knows is that he wants her to stay quiet for a moment, that he is strong, and that people respond to him when he intimidates them. 

Because he was isolated and friendless for most of his life and apparently suffered an unhappy childhood with his family, he has no real model of prosocial behavior to guide him. Shizuku unwittingly becomes this model, and Haru does make real behavioral changes. He listens to advice from his friends, taking care not to touch Shizuku after hearing Natsume’s explanation of Shizuku’s feelings and resisting violent impulses when Shizuku intervenes. He also respects Shizuku’s boundaries when she explains to him her reasons for avoiding him and when she explains her decision to continue to attend prep school with a promise to spend more time with him in the future.

Haru is not a bad person; he’s a socially confused and insecure person because of possible ASD. He acts like a dick because, well, many people with ASD simply have trouble recognizing when their behavior does not follow acceptable social rules. He is in the process of learning to be mindful of others and healing his childhood anxieties with the help of Shizuku his new friends. His character makes for an interesting, complex, and realistic representation of living with ASD in adolescence and provides a needed representation of people with ASD in popular media.

As I think about this topic more, I think that Haru’s definitively unfeminist behavior is also representative of heteronormative male behavior in general. His quickness to violence is common in many patriarchal societies, especially in the West, that tell men that the only “safe,” manly emotions for them to express are anger and pride. His inability to think from other people’s, especially women’s, perspectives is a problem that many feminists seek to address in male society. He treats rape like a joke because rape is a joke to many men who simply do not understand its real impact, and he doesn’t respect Shizuku’s boundaries in the same way that many men simply do not perceive females as needing the same space, readily speaking to, touching, and making advances on women and often becoming indignant or hostile when they are refused. Shizuku’s desire to help Haru correct his ways is not necessarily a harmful example for girls: men who are ignorant of women’s problems and points of view are not necessarily bad people; they simply do not have experience with perceiving the world from a difference lens since patriarchal societies reward men for their problematic behavior. Often, sharing open conversations and experience with women can help them reform their views and behavior, and Shizuku handles Haru’s ignorance with compassion and sincerity, even if she becomes impatient at times. Haru takes Shizuku’s and Natsume’s advice to heart and demonstrates a willingness to understand and change when he alters his behavior around Shizuku.

Anticipate First Review

Beginning an anime review blog with a character analysis of Haru Yoshida from My Little Monster. Will be posted later today!