Durarara!! Episode 18

"Life and Death are Up to Fate" is the eighteenth episode of the Durarara!! anime and the nineteenth episode overall.

Synopsis
The episode opens with Masaomi Kida standing at a hospital window talking to Saki Mikajima. They discuss Masaomi’s recent visits to the hospital to see Anri after the night of the Slasher incident. He confirms that he likes Anri and that he and Saki are "ancient history." He leaves as Saki states that she is fine with him dating all the girls he wants, because he will never love another girl like he loves her. She claims to know this because Izaya said it is so. In his apartment in Shinjuku, Izaya is playing his personal board game while Namie listens to his laughter in silent disinterest. Izaya is gleeful in anticipation of three closely connected but opposing sides of a war coming head-to-head. Feeling god-like in his role in the war, he pours lighter fluid on the wooden board and lights a match, setting the board and pieces ablaze. Next to him on the couch, Celty’s head sleeps peacefully. In a flashback to two years previously, Saki is lying unconscious in her hospital bed with both her legs in casts as Masaomi looks on. Izaya appears, goading Masaomi to fight, cruelly making light conversation of the feelings of anger and guilt that Masaomi has and stating that he cannot run from his past. In the present day, Masaomi is walking with Mikado and Anri, talking about Anri’s recovery. Masaomi receives a phone call and leaves Anri wondering to Mikado about how strange he has been acting lately. As Masaomi runs off, he reflects on his past with the Yellow Scarves. In a flashback, Masaomi remembers meeting Saki. She had boldly approached him and begun flirting before introducing him to Izaya. Masaomi remembers his first encounter with Izaya with regret. In the present day, Yatabe approaches Masaomi at the gang’s hideout and informs him that they do not have any information on the Dollars or their leader. Another member introduces him to Horada, who explains his encounter with the Black Rider. Another member offers the information that the Black Rider is a member of the Dollars. Masaomi instructs Horada and his thugs not to invite any members older than themselves into the gang, stating that they are a bunch of punks who do not want trouble from the yakuza. Horada does not look pleased with this order. In a flashback, Masaomi remembers Saki recommending that he get Izaya’s input whenever he was unsure of what to do in a situation. Masaomi grudgingly would comply, and though he refused to trust Izaya, Izaya’s ideas helped the Yellow Scarves. Saki confessed to Masaomi her devotion to and trust in Izaya, to the point that she would jump off a cliff if Izaya told her to. Masaomi felt sorry for her, but he enjoyed spending time with her, and after promising to help her fix her devotion to Izaya, the two began dating. Before long, tensions between the Yellow Scarves and Blue Squares increased, and Masaomi, tired of watching his friends ambushed and beaten by members of the rival gang, turned to Izaya for advice. With Izaya’s information, the Yellow Scarves gained the upper hand on the Blue Squares. After some time has passed, Masaomi receives a call from Izumii, the leader of the Blue Squares, who reveals that he and his thugs have kidnapped Saki. Masaomi runs to the designated meeting place while calling Izaya, who tosses his phone aside. A member of the Blue Squares speaks to Kyouhei Kadota, encouraging him to join in the “beat-down” on the leader of the Yellow Scarves, while Kyouhei repeatedly states that he wants no part in the fight. When the member mentions that they have kidnapped the Yellow Scarves’ leader’s girlfriend, Kadota appears interested, and gives the member his resignation from the Blue Squares as he punches him out. While running toward the parking garage where the Blue Squares' higher-ups are holding Saki, Masaomi freezes. He tries to push himself onward in terror and desperation, but his legs refuse to move. In the parking garage, the leaders of the Blue Squares are laughing over an unconscious Saki. Walker Yumasaki opens the door of their van and exclaims over Saki’s broken legs before comparing her state to that of a damsel in distress found in anime and manga. The other members of the Blue Squares write him off for his usual ramblings, but Walker shocks them by pulling out a bottle of lighter fluid and a Molotov cocktail. He throws the lighter fluid on the men in the van and throws the second flaming bottle inside. Ablaze, the men leap out of the burning van and roll on the ground. Walker enters the van and steps out carrying Saki. Kadota’s van comes in screeching, Kadota and Erika holding the door open. Inside, Erika and Walker tend to Saki and the group heads to a hospital. As they speed down the road, they pass Masaomi, still frozen in place. While standing outside Saki's hospital willing himself to go in, Masaomi is approached by Kadota, Walker, and Erika. Masaomi thanks them for saving Saki, and Kadota passes along a message from Saki. He also tells Masaomi that the guilt of being unable to save Saki himself is the pain he has to carry for everything he put her through. In his guilt, Masaomi is unable to face her. Shortly after Saki’s hospitalization, Masaomi quits the Yellow Scarves. He immerses himself in talking to Mikado online about his life in Ikebukuro, leaving out any mention of gangs, and invites Mikado to come to Tokyo for high school. In the present, still inside the Yellow Scarves' hideout, he thinks about how he cherishes the quiet life he currently lives in high school with Mikado and Anri. Angered by the disruption of his quiet life, Masaomi vows to take down the Slasher that hurt Anri, and the Dollars with it, if the Slasher and the Dollars are working together. Masaomi’s thoughts are interrupted by some of his members bringing news of a girl spying on their meeting. He orders the members to catch her so he can talk to her. As the boys run off, Masaomi runs around the back of the building to try and head her off, thinking about the uneasiness he feels inside. Outside, Anri glances behind her in panic as she runs, wondering why she saw Masaomi among the members of the Yellow Scarves.

Referbacks

 * To Celty intimidating Horada and his thugs as they harass Shingen in episode 13

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * 1) Masaomi Kida
 * 2) Saki Mikajima
 * 3) Izaya Orihara
 * 4) Namie Yagiri
 * 5) Mikado Ryuugamine
 * 6) Anri Sonohara
 * 7) Yatabe Koji
 * 8) Horada
 * 9) Kyouhei Kadota
 * 10) Walker Yumasaki
 * 11) Erika Karisawa
 * 12) Saburo Togusa

Unanswered Questions

 * Why was Anri spying on the Yellow Scarves?

Cultural References

 * During one of Masaomi's flashbacks, a large television screen in a city square shows a scene from Baccano!, another work in the Naritaverse. Above the screen is a poster of Chane Laforet, who can be glimpsed in the scene playing on the screen.

Quotes
Izaya (to Masaomi): "You’ll never be able to escape this girl. Your guilt will become your past and she will become your god."

Walker: "Da da da da! We're about to embark on Operation Let's-Turn-Reality-Into-a-Bitchin'-Anime-Story-by-Way-of-a-Happy-Ending!"

Kyouhei (to Masaomi): "If you feel guilty about running away then lying to her is the pain you'll just have to learn to live with, got it? That's the least you can do to make it up to this girl. And if you don't want to lie to her, then stop running. It's time you face what you're afraid of and tell her the truth. If you want to run from your past, fine. But whatever you do, don't run from the present, or worse, your future."