Durarara!! Episode 04

"Utterly Alone" is the fourth episode of the Durarara!! anime.

Synopsis
Shinra Kishitani is walking around Ikebukuro interviewing passerby on his document camera about the Headless Rider. Many claim to have seen it, but the ones (like Rio Kamichika) who have met it don't say much. He enters his apartment and peeks into the bathroom, where Celty Sturluson is taking a shower. She tells him not to peek, then Shinra debates the effects of calcium on her. Celty tells him to shut up.

They sit and chat on their computers, and Shinra asks her how the world looks through the eyes of a Dullahan. She explains that she doesn't know herself, so Shinra theorizes that the shadows around her neck act as sensors. Celty doesn't care. He asks about her job from Izaya Orihara and says he thought it would be easy. The scene changes to Celty meeting Izaya out on the streets to receive payment from him, where he asks if she has ever heard of a Dullahan. Izaya explains there is a painter talking about a Dullahan he had seen who kept proclaiming she lacked a head. Celty rushes off to find the painter at a park but is told that he just left. She goes to each location she is directed to, but each time, she just misses him. 20 years ago, Celty woke up on a hill in Ireland without her head. Although she was a Dullahan and therefore had no head attached to her body, she usually carried her head with her, but now it was missing, along with some of her memories. She wanted her head so that she would know her reason for being. She came to the realization that her head was no longer in Europe but was on a ship bound for Japan. The spirit of her Cóiste Bodhar, the Dullahan's familiar that had taken the form of a horse, had to go before she could stow away on the ship, but she found a motorcycle and placed the horse's spirit within the bike.

In present day, Celty finds Shizuo Heiwajima, who has seen the painter and asks to take her to him. They find him drawing for some girls, and Shizuo asks if he was the painter who saw the Dullahan. When the painter says yes, Celty confirms that  the Dullahan had lost her head, and the painter tells her he can't draw the head because he doesn't know what it looked like. He then tells Celty and Shizuo about a strange man he was talking to earlier, who said the Dullahan was perfect without her head, but the painter wanted to draw her so that he could preserve the beautiful memory.

Back at Shinra and Celty's apartment, Shinra tells Celty to let her head go, and that she is complete now, without her head. He asks her if she wants to go anywhere, telling her he would even go to Ireland with her if she wished. Celty replies that she is fine with their living arrangements as they are, to which Shinra says he would like to "change those arrangements." Celty angrily storms out. In the past, 4-year-old Shinra saw Celty on the ship and told his father. Shingen promised Celty a place to stay for the rest of her life if she would let him dissect her, and she agreed. Celty then removed her clothes and was restrained to keep her from moving. During the dissection, the Kishitanis discovered that anesthesia would not work on Celty and that she has instant healing abilities. Shingen also remarked that she has all her organs, yet they don't function, and that she has veins, but no blood circulates in them. Shigen even had little Shinra dissect Celty.

In their apartment in the present day, Celty notices Shinra documenting this story on his camera and asks him what he is doing. Shinra says he is recording their story for generations to come. In a flashback to earlier that day, Shinra is revealed to be the strange man who told the painter the Dullahan was perfect without her head.

Chatroom

Kanra was talking about the headless rider, and TarouTanaka asked if it was true that it didn't have a head. Setton told him that was a ridiculous rumor and that no one couldn't have a head. Kanra says that his source is very reliable, and that the Black Rider doesn't have a head because it's not human.

Referbacks

 * to the job Izaya had Celty perform of rescuing Rio in episode 2

Trivia

 * When the painter narrated his story from back when he first saw the Dullahan, we see him asking for advice from a man who spins his black pen around his fingers. He is actually Shinra's father. This can also be confirmed, aside from the similar looks, clothing, and pen, by the fact that when Celty went abroad the ship in order to sail to Japan, Shinra and his father Shingen were also aboard at the same ship, which means that before the ship departed, they were in Ireland. Therefore, it is possible for the painter and Shingen to have met back when the painter first saw Celty.

Character Debuts

 * Shingen Kishitani

Character Appearances

 * Celty Sturluson
 * Rio Kamichika
 * Shinra Kishitani
 * Izaya Orihara
 * Shizuo Heiwajima

Quotes
Shinra: "What do you know? Do you have any thoughts on the legendary headless rider? Are you scared of it, or maybe you think it's cool and not a bad guy at all, or maybe you're in the camp that wants to believe it but doesn't know if they can."

Shinra (to Celty): "I sometimes wonder how different the world I see and feel is from the one you see and feel. I'm not just talking about what you see, either. I mean, how you process and feel about what you see - your values. You're not like the other people here. You're like a fairy who just suddenly appeared in this city. Tell me what the world looks like when viewed through the eyes of a dullahan."

Izaya: "I'm simply misunderstood."

Shinra (to the painter): "I still say she's better without a head. She looks more charming that way. In a word, perfect."

Painter (to Shinra): "Ya know, sonny, you're a weirdo."