This week we got to see Shizuo do what he does best, with a side order of kick-ass. We also got Anri’s backstory, and afterwards she received a power upgrade. Finally, in case you’ve been unconscious up to this point, it drove home Kida’s true allegiance. However, Izaya’s manipulation of events, starting back in season one, is perhaps the most important aspect. They have always painted him as The Chessmaster, but his Xanatos Gambit solidifies his position. Can anyone hope to stop him?
Can't you let me play chess in peace?
First on the list, we have Mikado. On the positive side, he probably has the largest of the three major powers in the city, and it has the most diverse set of people. With all the manpower available, he could potentially counter Izaya’s plans. Unfortunately, Mikado set up his organization all wrong. With a completely decentralized structure, he has very little control over his people. They don’t even know who he really is! Additionally, Izaya has proven he can manipulate him, especially because Mikado lacks in the backbone department. If he has any deciding role to play in this conflict, he will likely have to act on his own initiative, or with assistance from Celty.
Well, at least he tries to look dramatic and important.
Second, we have Anri. She finally grew a backbone and no longer suffers from broken-bird syndrome, at least not as much. She also received a field promotion to lead all the Saika children manufactured to this point. The hive mind architecture can work wonders in some situations, but I feel she has a distinct disadvantage. First, Anri is not used to wielding authority like this, so in all likelihood her efforts won’t have maximum impact. Additionally, we have seen how well the children fight, or rather, fail at fighting. The Borg worked so well because of an exceptional degree of efficiency and standardization. Anri has to work with human limitations. She has a better chance at breaking through than Mikado, but she has to surpass her handicap in the next few episodes.
Anri? Smiling? Isn't that a sign of the Apocalypse?
Kida marks the final stop on our major powers list. It never struck me until this episode, but we actually know very little about him. I imagine next episode will fill in the gaps. However, we do know he managed to organize the Yellow Scarves while still in middle school. Even Izaya points that out as evidence to watch him. I imagine the girl he visits in the hospital is his primary weakness, but more significantly, he shares a major weakness of the other two. They never talk to each other! Each one leads an organization who wants to fight off the other two. If they would actually reveal it to each other, the manipulation probably wouldn’t work as effectively. As long as they stick to each other’s throats by proxy, they will all fail.
You guys are disturbing my big afternoon brood.
In addition to those three, a few more minor forces reside in Ikebukuro. Shizuo is perhaps the most obvious. He hates Izaya, but obviously Izaya can use this aspect of his personality against him. However, he has finally exhibited some degree of control over his superhuman strength. It might sound counterintuitive, but he gained the control by actually letting go. To illustrate, if you fear losing a game, you will lose because you lack any focus on winning. Similarly, since Shizuo’s fears consumed his thoughts, he could never muster any focus on actual control. All this said, even if he can do nothing to thwart Izaya, it’ll be entertaining to watch him.
GIGA! SHIZUO! BREAKER!
Next, we have Simon. We know even less about him than we do about Kida. For all we know, he actually works for the Americans and will order a tactical nuke to hit Ikebukuro in episode 24. In seriousness though, he knows too many people and too much information not to play some role in the resolution. We could establish a similar assumption for Shingen.
Be less of an enigma, darn you!
Is anyone left? No one? Are you sure? Actually, one final wild card deserves consideration. Dotachin and his small group of otherwise insignificant characters might determine Izaya’s failure or success. If you need proof, just consider the number of plots that have failed due to unaccounted stupidity. Their continuous appearance in the series and Dotachin’s resolve to learn the truth also play in their favor. They are the definite long shot bet, but maybe they are so far out that even Izaya will not plan for it.
It was a brilliant plan, and it would have worked too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!
I wouldn’t be surprised if Dotachin’s group made some sort of significant dent in Izaya’s plan, but I’m definitely looking at Simon as a wild card. As you write, we know very little about the guy, so he’s probably, like, a Russian spy or something, haha. (Or maybe a Russian mobster.) He’s certainly shown to have a good deal of knowledge and insight into Izaya’s plan, so I’m just waiting for him to make his move.
Don’t say “dent” around Saburou Togusa!
I agree about Simon, though. He just seems too powerful to not have a role to play.
Maybe his restaurant actually sits on top of a secret base, like the TV show Chuck!
Walker and Erika’s enthusiasm for torturing the kidnapper should’ve tipped you off that Kadota’s gang isn’t as harmless as they seem. In the novel and manga, Togusa beat up on the kidnapper for a while to no avail, and then the hard core otaku took over the interrogation. But if anything this show teaches us, it’s beware of the quiet ones. After all, Anri turns out to host Saika, Mikado created and lead Dollars, and Kida founded and lead Yellow Scarves. Kadota is actually the best street fighter amongst the Otaku gang, and one of the better ones in Dollars (Shizuo, Celty and Simon being the top 3), and his joining Dollars is his attempt at atoning past sin.
Yeah, I’d heard about the difference between the anime and novels. It’s a good point you have there too, since all the main characters were pretty nondescript for the first half of the series. Thanks for the comment!
Man, this episode just had some awesome reveals. I love how the 3 high schoolers who seemed so innocent compared to the other characters turned out to be the big dogs of the city. Didn’t see it coming.
I’m definitely intrigued to find out more about Kida. We see how Mikado got his web based gang and Anri has her supernatural one, but how did a middle schooler organize a traditional gang like the Yellow Scarves?
I’m fairly excited by Anri having now a major role. She’s almost anti-Selty, evolving from some helpless princess into a somewhat less helpless princess. Either way, the character development is natural and evident.
But as to middle schoolers organizing that, we’ve had thirteen-and-unders organize failed military resistances before (sauce on some Internet article I read that was likely a hoax). And so many animus have had a ten-year-old lead a group. It wouldn’t be unfeasible according to Japanese animation standards for that to happen.
One thing to look out for is that age does not necessarily measure up to maturity. I’ve met thirteen year olds with more maturity than me, and thirty year olds who act like kindergartners. If you’ve got the maturity, intelligence, and most of all, the charisma, building a gang shouldn’t be terribly difficult.
Maturity is one thing, but regardless of it, it’s difficult for a child to command respect from adults. That’s why the internet and magic are convenient shields for Mikado and Anri. Kida must have done something really substantial to become what he became, and it should be interesting to find out what.
great episode! really loved watching Shizuo go all out beating up the Saika zombies, strange how Celty can give parts of her power away like that wonder if she can give scythes out?. Things are getting good now that Kiba,Mikado and Anri all have control over a army of their own, wonder what happens when they find out who’s who,and who Celty takes sides with if any.
She could probably give a scythe out, but it’s not something you’d give to just anyone. This type of “death scythe” is a bit of an unrealistic weapon in real life. You’d have to have trained with it yourself in order to use it to any effect.
Thanks for the comment!
I don’t like the flat Dollars organization at all. The whole thing is so wishy-washy that I can’t take them seriously.
As for the scythe, it’s clear from the Slashers that weapons are useless if you don’t know how to use them. All those Slashers had a variety of blades and they were pretty much terrible in every case, just standing and slashing wildly.
Yeah, that’s the whole problem with Mikado’s foundation: there is none. It’s a bunch of people loosely tied together. If, say, Kida had made the Dollars, it’d probably be a heck of a lot more useful.
What struck me about the Slashers wasn’t just their lack of proficiency, but that they always attacked like they were in a panic. If you give a rational person a knife, they will have some intrinsic feel for how to use it as a weapon. Remove rationality, and that feel goes right out the window. Maybe it’s a wild observation, or maybe it’s a limit on how effective Saika leadership is.