Review of Durarara!!

To quote Simon in the last episode, "You are more transparent than you think." I think this sums up the story pretty well. While it seems to be complicated at first, the plot isn't nearly as strange as people seem to think it is. It's more that the show seems to draw people in to being as naive or at least nearly as much as most of the characters seem to be. I'm not really going to talk about the show so much as just tell why I am giving the ratings. There are enough other reviews to say the rest. Story - 6 I justhave to give it a lower score. It isn't finished. Too many of the main plot lines from the first half of this season were left hanging at the end of the show. It made me think of Kare Kano in this respect, but at least they did try to bring together some kind of ending to satisfy people. It didn't make me feel all "warm and fuzzy," but rather confused about where the rest of the show was. Even then, it could've been worse. They could've just plowed on and after the last fight just closed up shop like the other anime I mentioned did. If there is another season coming I will come back and reevaluate my scores, but for now I think this is fair.

Art/Sound - 9/9 Both the art and sound are just great. The unique art style really shines throughout the entirety of the show. And the sound was also wonderful. One of the very few times that I actually didn't mind watching the OP/ED in every episode. The voices also seemed to do a great job, helping to make the characters come to life and filling out their personalities well.

Character - 8 I liked most of the characters very much. All of the main characters had their good points. Yes, Mikado could be boring at times, but I still liked him ok as well. Everyone from Celty to Sonohara to Kida to Shizuo had their good points. I think they would have fleshed out a bit more in a second season so I will have to hope for more here as well, but I thought most of the characters were very good. Mikado could definitely use some more development. And then there's Izaya. He's the human scum that pretty much makes the whole thing happen. Without him there is no show. I think most people will probably have a love/hate relationship with him.

Now what I said about the naivete of the characters in the beginning. Well, if you watched it you can see that right? Everyone, especially Mikado is very naive and it's only at the end that they start to finally get more of the picture.

Enjoyment - 7 I enjoyed the show from the beginning to about the 18th episode. From there it built up tension toward the end of the show, and then never really delivered. Sure there's an end, but it feels more like a cookie-cutter ending that Mikado himself would dream up. I can't really explain it very well, I just feel like the ending ruined both my overall enjoyment of and ultimately my overall rating of the show.

Overall - 8 I'm probably being generous for everything I just said above, but I am finding it hard to rate even that low given how much I enjoyed the first half of the show. Between the 20th and 24th episodes my overall rating went from about a 12 to an 8. Again, this all may change if there is a second season, but as it is, an 8 is the best rating it can get from me, and even then I fell like I'm being too generous.

I like this anime. And I really wish I could give it a better score, but it just doesn't feel complete enough to me to earn a better score. The story(especially about Celty's head), and many of the characters themselves (and again, this is especially concerning Mikado), really just don't feel complete. I will recommend this series to everyone, as I think it is one that should be seen by most anime lovers, but I really hope there will be a second season to finish all those story arcs that were left unfinished.