Finally, the main storyline is back! After 22 episodes, we’re currently at 13 chapters in the manga, it seems. With 37 chapters currently released, the second season will have no problems fitting those all in, provided of course that the manga will end in about a year or something.

I liked how this Mana arc, despite being another one of the fillers, neatly tied in and introduced the upcoming arc, by fleshing out who Gauche is, without offering any information about what the heck happened to him. That might prove to be very valuable to the future, and the creators chose this arc very well. Thunderland also got a lot of extra depth in this episode, and he’s no longer the stereotypical scientist that he first was. It’s pretty much exactly what a filler should be: either an excellent standalone-story, or a story that contributes to the overall story.

Now, as for the main storyline: this episode hinted at a lot of interesting stuff. Human experimentation has been done often in anime, but it gets an interesting dimension when it suddenly gets linked to Gauche’s mysterious disappearance. It would hint at how he got into an accident when he went to meet that person who was unable to become a spirit. What does that mean anyway, becoming a spirit?
Rating: * (Good)

So here I thought that I was beginning to understand the story of this series. And then this episode comes and gives a completely different dimension to just about everything. Seriously, is there no end to the Armed Librarians’ awesomeness?

I remember noting a few episodes ago, that the Violet Sinner might be this series’ protagonist. Okay, so that was obviously wrong and incredibly misguided, as this episode showed that she too could be quite the bastard to Hamyuts, and probably turned her into what she is today. I’m very surprised that the creators have decided to show much deeper into the past, to show where everything begun: with the wishes of one of the acting directors to destroy heaven. AKA: that damned tree!

This episode revealed A LOT: as it turns out, the Armed Librarians exist in order to protect heaven, while the Church is there to maintain it: to provide it with good books in its attempt to achieve true happiness. The reason they’re at war is mostly because most members don’t even know about this, and Kachua getting strange ideas and taking these ideals much further than necessary.

Now, about Hamy: the majority of her past hasn’t been revealed yet, but based on what this episode my theory is the following: both she and the Violet Sinner were developed as a way to destroy heaven. Heaven told Makia that it wanted to die, however I believe that this was mostly another one of its attempts to create the ultimate book: Hamy. I have no bloody clue what his wishes are, but I think that the church believed that Hamy’s book was the one that Heaven was looking for, and therefore tried to kill her with all their might. In contrast, the Violent Sinner was meant to destroy heaven: when her love would come true, heaven would be destroyed.

My guess is that whatever Heaven is trying to do, Hamy wants it as well. By ‘wanting to ascend heaven’, she meant that she wanted to have her book absorbed by that tree. She’s basically been living her entire life, trying to make her book as exciting as possible! That’s why she wanted to die: in an as exciting way as possible, so that’s why a simple suicide wouldn’t work: everything about her needed to be glorious in order for her to be the book that grants Heaven’s wishes.

I’m not sure how that ties in with the Violent sinner, though. There are just too many open questions about her at this point. Who did she love? What is her connection to Hamy, and what did she want Hamy to create?

Overall, Armed Librarians has been without a doubt my favourite show during the past Winter Season. The next question is simple: SECOND SEASON WHERE!?
Rating: *** (Awesome)

Wikipedia has the following to say about the so-called ‘Westermarck Effect‘:

“When two people live in close domestic proximity during the first few years in the life of either one, both are desensitized to later close sexual attraction. This phenomenon, known as the Westermarck effect, was first formally described by Finnish anthropologist Edvard Westermarck. The Westermarck effect has since been observed in many places and cultures, including in the Israeli kibbutz system, and the Chinese Shim-pua marriage customs, as well as in biological-related families. In the case of the Israeli kibbutzim (collective farms), children were reared somewhat communally in peer groups—based on age, not biological relation. A study of the marriage patterns of these children later in life revealed that out of the nearly 3,000 marriages that occurred across the kibbutz system, only fourteen were between children from the same peer group. Of those fourteen, none had been reared together during the first six years of life. This result provides evidence not only that the Westermarck effect is demonstrable, but that it operates during the critical period from birth to the age of six.”.

Someone, please go to Japan and hit the anime creators over the head with this page.

So yeah, while these two siblings are very likely my least favourite members of the Durarara cast after this episode (they’re a bunch of elitists who can’t see beyond their own ‘love’), I liked the rest of this episode. “Celty’s head” (for a lack of a better name for her at this point) running into Mikado may have been a bit forced, but I guess it’ll do to get him involved with the rest of the storyline.

The interesting thing is of course that while this episode would have been very mundane if the course of this series was only 13 episodes, it creates a ton of possibilities for a 24-episoded series. It’s a pretty nice build-up for whatever is going to happen in that second half of this series. I also loved Izaya’s role in this episode: in this episode we really get confirmed that he’s genuinely interested in people, but he just happens to have a sick mind that can easily lead to trouble.
Rating: (Enjoyable)