Kishitani Shinra is an underground unlicensed doctor who is currently living with Celty Sturluson, the headless motorcycle rider. Shinra, who is extremely interested in how the world appears in the eyes of the headless rider, deduces that the shadowy particles that are emitted from Celty’s body serves to convey information about her surroundings to her, in a way acting as replacement for the lost head. Celty is a Dullahan, otherwise known as a headless fairie from Celtic folklore. A Dullahan is supposed to carry its head whenever it goes, but twenty years ago, Celty woke up in the mountains to find her head missing, along with her memories. Since then, her search for her head brought her to several places, finally landing in Japan. To not let herself stand out among people, she transferred the spirit of her horse into an abandoned motorcycle and rides on it instead.
She has been constantly searching for a street artist who mentioned something about losing a Dullahan’s head, based on Izaya’s information, and finally finds him with Shizuo’s help. The old man clarifies that when he saw the Dullahan, she didn’t have a head, and his imagination is not good enough for him to draw it. He also tells them that a strange man once told him that his drawing of the Dullahan is perfect without the head. Shinra tells her that the Dullahan might not have been her, since Celty doesn’t recall encountering the old man before, but Celty insists that it has to be her. Shinra tries to persuade Celty to stop looking for her head and stay with him in vain, and she leaves the room. Shinra then recalls how he met her in the ship to Japan when he was four years old, and his father made an agreement with Celty to let him dissect her in return for a place to stay. It is revealed that Shinra is also the strange man who told the street artist that the drawing is perfect without the head.
Awesome episode! It’s definitely the most intriguing story so far, with the focus being the background of the most mysterious character in the show. It is interesting to learn that Celty is a Dullahan, but having an autopsy done on her must be the first time I have ever seen a doctor dissect a mythical creature. We have seen researchers wanting to open up aliens and mutants all the time, but this is the first for me when it comes to an immortal being (at least it wasn’t as brutal as in Baccano!). It makes sense that her organs need not be functioning to make her alive, otherwise she would be gravely injured if someone were to attack her, and what actually keeps her alive is still a mystery. However, I wonder why the heart would be missing, how Celty needs to sleep, and how is it that she can still feel pain. Doubt it is part of the major mystery, but more of just being a fact of supernatural beings. In addition, it was interesting watching a folklore creature in an urban city, having to “upgrade” from using a pen and notepad to using iPhone and IRC to “talk”, and exchanging a headless horse for a possessed motorbike.
Some of the remaining questions about Celty is how she is connected to the suicide person mentioned in ep 2, who is the person who took her head, and how and why did that person do it. Judging from the pen, it seems like Shinra’s father is the man who told the street artist of the existence of Dullahans in the past too.
That aside, we get to hear a lot of Fukuyama Jun and Sawashiro Miyuki this week! And the scenery pictures are simply gorgeous.
PS: Nice wallpaper that Celty has there.
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