Sadly, no vacation episode but we did get a BIG REVEAL in this episode kids – and it comes right up front at the beginning! We don’t even have to wait through a whole episode for it! Are you ready? CAN YOU EVEN HANDLE THIS?!

Kida’s four strange friends are members of the Dollars gang!!!!!!!

…Which is pretty much the last thing I expected, so hats off to Durarara!! for pulling a fast one on me.

Episode 6 focuses on one of those members, Kyohei Kadota (aka Dotachin – and he hates that nickname, so everyone uses it as much as possible), and what he terms the “Kaztano Incident.”

Remember the kidnappers from episode one? The ones that snatched the girl and drugged her and then got beat up by Selty? WELL, it turns out, they DO work for an evil pharmaceutical empire that IS using human subjects for nefarious experimentations. They’re careful to only nab people who won’t be missed, like runaways (the girl) or illegal foreigners (like Dotachin’s friend, Kaztano).

So Kaztano gets snatched and it’s up to Dotachin and his friends to get him back. (I should mention, just because it’s funny, that the reason they like Kaztano so much is that he’s a ticket scalper and gets them sweet tickets for events – like concerts for a particular pop star that Togusa is in love with.)

Luckily for our “heroes,” the kidnappers spilled chloroform all over themselves so they’re not 100%. One in particular passes out and Kaztano – crafty fellow – convinces the others to dump him out of the van. BUT that guy happens to have Kaztano’s cell phone in his pocket.

Dotachin & Company end up calling the phone and who picks up? Izaya, OF COURSE, because if there’s shady business going on you can bet he’s somewhere nearby. He can’t talk long, though, because Shizuo (who he calls “Shizzy” – love it) throws a vending machine at him and chases him down the block. Oh, boys.

Eventually, under the threat of torture, Dotachin gets the information he needs from the other kidnapper and they go to meet up with them at the drop point.

Now Dotachin’s no dummy. Earlier he called Selty to help out in the search. She wasn’t much help until the end, when the kidnappers see her coming and FREAK OUT, abandoning their mission entirely. After that she pretty much goes home, job well done.

The Kaztano Incident is pretty much resolved by this point, but they chase the kidnappers for a while anyway. We do get a couple of short scenes of a doctor with the evil experimentation league – turns out, she’s Seiji’s sister (remember him? the guy who’s eloping with the girl with the scar?). We also get a shot of a SEVERED HEAD in a jar. This is definitely important in the grand scheme of things, perhaps because their experiments involve cutting off and reattaching heads? Perhaps to other bodies? Girl with the scar, HELLO!

Dotachin also admits that he thinks Izaya may be the head of the Dollars, but no one’s ever met the person who’s in charge of it all, so it’s just a theory. From what we know of Izaya, I think it’s a pretty good one.

Although I can’t help but feel like if that guy was in charge of a gang, it would be a lot more violent and a lot less goofy. But who knows? Maybe these kids are more dark than they seem at first glance…that does go along with the “reality is not what it seems to be” theme of this series.

Hmmm. Lots to think about. Pieces starting to come together…maybe…I don’t know…we’ll see!

Next Time: Strongest Man Alive
I predict lots of thrown vending machines – yay!