Well, I’ve managed to couple my lateness with getting a post up with my interest in the ideas and questions posed by other bloggers.  Maybe this’ll be a trend for the rest of the series.  For episode 7, I’m going to take a look at the prophecy the old guy gave to Kujo.  Flareknight wonders what it means for the couple.  I think he’s right, it very clearly points to their separation somewhere in World War II.  I also want to believe he’s right about the strength of Kujo’s character.  I don’t think he’d go back home to join the war effort despite his heritage.  So what else could possibly separate the seemingly inseparable pair?  Well, let’s expand world events in the war years.

Okay, seriously, why are all old people in this series creepy?

You need to know a little about geography and world history in order to assemble the Chaos.  Sabure (or Sauville) is portrayed as a fictional country.  This can make it easy to forget it still has to sit on a map somewhere.  After all, they bill this series as occurring on planet Earth with the geography and time line seemingly intact.  If you recall, the anime places the territory “between” France and Italy.  That’s all well and good, but pay close attention to the map when they show you it at the beginning of the series.  Now look at a real map.  Do you see the problem yet?  They didn’t add land to Europe, they just redistributed it to make allowance for a new country.  The fictional land of Sabure is really the western border of Italy.  If you know anything at all about World War II, feel free to use the expletive of your choice now.

Yes, that’s right, Italy sides with Germany to form the Axis powers.  Specifically, they join as France starts to retreat into itself in the face of German advances.  Italy’s very first move is to try seizing some territory from their neighbors.  They aren’t very successful, as the resisting forces stop them at the Alpine Line.  For our purposes, it doesn’t really matter.  For Italy to reach the Line, they would have to roll over Sabure, where Kujo and Victorique live.  We already have a problem, and it only gets worse.

They do have the option of fleeing, but none of the options is particularly good.  If our heroes flee to France, they immediately end up in enemy territory.  Shortly after Italy’s stalled offensive, France surrenders to Germany.  They could alternatively head north to Switzerland, but the Swiss had very strict refugee policies during the war years.  They even turned some people away.  It’s possible the couple would have better odds in enemy territory.  Kujo’s background could also play against him.  The Pacific War theatre opens in 1941, and Kujo is a military man from Japan.  He’s not the most welcome person in Neutral or Allied territory, and there’d be a lot of pressure to contribute to the war effort in Axis territory.

Try not to think about it, and enjoy it while it lasts, buddy.

The series would likely never get to this point in the time line so all we can do is speculate on what separates them.  However, there’s guiding point here.  Victorique and Kujo have no control over their situation.  They really can’t do anything in the face of the world around them going to hell in a hand basket.  With the open nature of this conclusion, I open the floor to you readers.  What do you think happens to split the couple?  Additionally, if you have a greater understanding of WWII than my admittedly amateur research, feel free to share it as well.

Six months have passed in the world of Durarara!!  In some ways, life has returned to normal, but any sense of normalcy will soon change.  Even things people consider “normal” aren’t really normal at all.  This week’s episode focuses on the way the city has changed in the aftermath of the Dollars’ meet-up.

Fortunately, some things never change.

In any situation, perspective can make all the difference.  To a bystander, Celty probably looks like a demonic creature whom someone should lock in a cage and throw away the key.  She doesn’t see herself in that light, which makes all the difference when the police confront her.  Celty views them as the monster for trying to confine her.

Kinnosuke’s tactics only reinforce that image.  For the longest time, she has traveled through Ikebukuro without challenge.  Celty doesn’t try to kill people, and she even avoids hurting the goons that corner Shinra’s dad, electing to simply scare them.  Now not only does this officer pursue her, he focuses on backing her into corners and forcing her into a conflict.  She never had to deal with such a defensive situation, so you can understand why the experience shakes her.  She is a truly fearsome foe when provoked to violence, as we saw in the finale for the first half.  I don’t want to imagine what could happen if she fought “seriously.”

You probably shouldn't bother the supernatural scythe wielder

Concurrent with the special police’s appearance, we also see the Yellow Scarves trying to grasp power.  While Mikado organized the Dollars as a peaceful group for change, the individuals will prove a problem.  While many members are passive, others, like the goons in this episode and previous ones, use the name to mark territory.  A potential gang war could loom on the horizon, and Izaya warns Mikado to act with caution.  With such a diminutive appearance and personality, the Yellow Scarves could easily capture or kill him if they compromised his identity.

The episode confirms that Kida used to work with the gang, but he has no interest in returning to them.  It’s still a bit concerning though, because he says he won’t join “this power.”  Whether he means the Dollars or a potential fourth power, we don’t know.  However, the police and gang emergence forms the three-sided war I imagined a few weeks ago.  Izaya must have played some part in orchestrating it.

Screw you guys, I'm going home!

Poor Anri really is a confused and forsaken girl.  The narration tells us she never had a friend and still can’t tell the difference between friendship and true love.  Those ganguro girls start to harass her again, and I imagine she really has no idea know how to tell them to stop and leave her alone.  Cue the Slasher’s appearance to save her from persecution.  There’s been speculation that Anri is the Slasher, but here you can see they are two autonomous entities.

However, the observation doesn’t mean she has no control over it.  It’s far too convenient for the Slasher to appear at her moment of deepest despair, and through the shadows you can see they resemble each other.  As for how long this has gone on, the closing lines focus on how she views the occurence as normal.  To establish some level of normalcy for such an event, the Slasher must have existed for quite some time, probably before Mika’s surgery.  Losing her friend, her rock and her defense, probably caused it to emerge with increasing frequency, resulting in all those new reports.  The Slasher seems to insist on pulling the Dollars into this conflict as well, by constantly infiltrating their chat room.  Next episode, Turmoil Reigns.

The horror... the horror...

Last week on Sora no Woto, we received an introduction to the Roman side through Aisha, a forward scout from the nation.  Hopkins dropped by on his way to war for the day, and Aisha stood in his men’s sights.  This week’s episode determines whether the girls can avert the bad ending.  Do they succeed?  Well, they’re the protagonists, what do you think?

Five girls against this? I'll put my money on the ladies.

Aisha takes the gunshot, but survives.  In response, Filicia takes the Colonel hostage and orders him to send away his troops.  Hopkins reveals that he wants to provoke the Roman into a fight and Filicia has him thrown in the brig, but he manages to escape.  In the meantime, Kanata hears a signal from Rio and decides to try to stall the war.  Filicia and company agree to the plan, and they quickly power up the tank.  They make a rather grand entrance by destroying the building and escape down the mountain.  Hopkins and his unit pursue the girls, but the tank dispatches them with relative ease.  As they travel, we hear the Roman Fire Maiden myth.  They arrive at the front with just moments to spare.  Kanata attempts to stop the Helvetian charge with the signal to cease-fire, but it doesn’t work.  She then launches into Amazing Grace.  Rio and royal tank division show up with a cease-fire order from the Archduke and Emperor, and there is much rejoicing.  For her role in ending the war, Rio is allowed whatever she wants.  She chooses reassignment to the town she calls home with the people she loves the most.  Exeunt.

You know that this image is missing? More lens flare.

Hopkins claims to have a “noble” intention in his pursuit of warfare.  If the nations fight, they will have to develop new technology in quick succession, catapulting humanity back to its former heights.  This idea does have a weird merit to it.  A large amount of the technology we take for granted today has origins in the military.  This includes the Internet that you utilize to read this very post.  It started as Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), developed by the Department of Defense.  They developed it in direct wake of the USSR’s Sputnik program, and we could continue tracing the cause and effect back even further.  Despite the technological boom that warfare can bring, we know that it’s far from the moral choice.  Hopkins really just wants to watch the world burn.  Noël crushes him like a bug, a fitting takedown for such a pest.

I think he's actually considering killing the townspeople.

Poor Kureha.  You can see that all she really wants to be is a good soldier.  She wants to server her country and act as a good backbone to her comrades.  Unfortunately, she must reconcile her duty with her sense of morality.  It takes a certain kind of person to carry out some duties.  Either you need the capacity for extreme rationalization of your actions, or you need to lack a moral compass.  As a result, some people are not cut out to fight in a war, and if you try to force it on them, they simply break.  In my case, I do want to protect others.  At the same time, I am morally opposed to taking someone’s life, or even participating in warfare.  Kureha is trying to reconcile her morals after the fact.  She doesn’t even want to think about someone torturing Aisha, who is just a young girl like herself.  She doesn’t want to send people down the path of war.  When she realizes that this means she can’t carry out her duty as a soldier, she bursts into tears.  While she might not be the perfect soldier, I think it makes her a better human being, and that counts far more in my book.

You might be broken, but we love you anyway!

I’ve read a lot of complaints about how the ending is entirely unrealistic.  It does push hard against suspension of disbelief.  What you need to keep in mind is that the regular soldiers did not want to fight.  At the start of the series, we had a brief look at the mindset of these soldiers.  They comment that treating the bugler well will ensure you hear the retreat call.  They also point out that few people have volunteered to enlist.  These are not battle-hardened soldiers that live to fight.  They’re normal people who likely found themselves drafted into the military.  They enjoy the truce and are more concerned with the girls at the outpost than their duties.  Even when marching to the lines, they relate that they don’t want to fight.  They probably just want to go back to bed.  Kanata pops out of the tank to play Amazing Grace, and if Aisha is any indication, both sides know the song.  Thus, they take the opportunity to stave off the ensuing fight for just a few fleeting moments.  It’s not this, but rather Rio and her Big Damn Tanks that taxes the scene, but even that lies in the realm of plausibility.

I am princess. Hear me rwar!

Ultimately, the episode felt rushed, and I think it could have played out far better over the span of two episodes.  Your enjoyment will largely depend on the ending you really wanted to see.  If you wanted to see the girls die in the name of peace, perhaps even trampled upon in the rush, then you probably found it lacking.  On the other hand, if you wanted the peaceful resolution that the series spent so much time building around, you probably found it satisfactory.  From a personal standpoint, I could have gone for either ending.  I wish it could have done more, but I still enjoyed the ride.

Kanata and Kureha use Tackle! It's super effective! Goodbye girls, it's been real.