Without a doubt, the second episode of Durarara!! is the one that hooked me on the series. I was interested after the first episode, but I found the second episode's vibe and storytelling to be much more engaging than what the debut offered. I'm not saying the first episode is bad...far from that. I just happen to like this episode much more!
Compared to episode 1's high intensity, episode 2 takes a much calmer approach. We're given another look at what happened in the first episode, but this time around we get a lot more of the story. For those of you that were wondering what happened to the girl that was trapped in the van last week, this time around you get to see her story. This is all told from the perspective of another character that just so happens to go to school with the kidnapping victim.
This character's narration was fantastically handled, and it really got me engaged in the episode. Seeing the first episode's story from another perspective was interesting enough, but then getting more details on this girl both before/after the kidnapping really made me sit up and take notice. Now I'm starting to see why people are really into this show! Episode two really opened my eyes.
While much of the episode is a slow-paced, I actually preferred this because it helped to build up the characters and suspense. We definitely learn a bit more about character motivations, and we see the mysterious motorcycle rider in a different light this time around. In the first episode we see her violent side, but this time around we see that she has compassion for people as well. Top all that off with a near-death experience for our kidnapping victim post kidnapping, and I just couldn't get enough.
Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to the third episode. Waiting a week to check it out is going to suck!
9 out of 10
