Review of Durarara!!

English is not my first language, so grammar nazis please spare me What would happen if a dullahan, straight out of irish mythology landed in modern Tokyo(!) and tried to live a normal life(!!?) in its downtown district –Ikebukuro? One thing for sure Durarara!! definitely has an orginal story. Art 8/10: Art of the Durarara!! Is incredibly solid, the animation is fluid, the characters look great, even our headless heroine doesn’t seem out of place. Ikebukuro looks incredibly realistic, the crowds on the streets, the lights, it really seems real, and that’s the artstyle Durarara!! Creators chose – characters look like normal people(that doesn’t mean they areboring, more like believable), no bright flashing colours during the fights. And I have to say, even thought one of the characters doesn’t have a head, another one has superhuman strength it seems very realistic, thanks to the artstyle

Sound 8/10:

Durarara!!’s openings and endings are very good – the first opening is truly a masterpiece, the first ending became a meme(but mostly due to animation). The second opening was solid, and 2nd ending has a great song. The OST was by comprasion quite medicore, the music repeated itself very often, and none of the tracks were truly memorable. The voice acting was great – especially Shizuo and Izaya. Its also worth noting that the Eng Dub of this anime is actually GREAT. I actually liked English Celty more than Japanese one, rest of the characters are either equal or only slightly worse than orginal. Trust me if you want to watch an eng dub, Durarara!! Is a great one to pick.

Characters 9/10:

This is definitely the strongest point of Durarara!! The cast of characters is HUGE – and that can be a downside for some people(it was for me). Even the characters that might seem like boring clichés(the shy,weak,quiet male protagonist and his loud, outgoing, strong friend) have their own secrets. Because of the storytelling style of Durarara!!(more on that in story part), the “bad guys” have allot of screentime and are well developed with their own motivations, heck some people will no doubt disagree if I told them who I consider the villain in the story. Some of the more memorable/unique characters are: Shizuo- the bodyguard that dresses like a bartender, has superhuman strength (throwing vending machines like a boss), who hates violence, but always ends up fighting, Izaya: the intelligent, but slightly crazy information broker who just loves watching peoples reaction to crazy situations( the famous cellphone jumping scene), loves pissing off Shizuo. And ofcourse Celty, a female dullahan that actually has quite sweet personality, and that’s just three characters of Durarara!!’s massive cast(albeit those 3 are definitely the most interesting ones)

Story 8/10

Only 8? Let me explain. While the story is incredibly orginal, and well.. good, it’s the storytelling and the massive cast that lowered the score from 9(for me). Durara!! Essentialy follows 4 or more character groups at the same time, eventually merging them really late in the series. I always personaly hated that kind of storytelling – there will always be 1-2 characters you care about/like much more than the others, which makes me stop paying attention to other character arcs, and just wishing I could watch my favourite characters again. This might be a plus for some people but it was a minus for me. This also affected the enjoyment score. The ending leaves allot of questions unanserwed ( but offers some closure) – there is definitely room for season two(which hasn’t been announced yet, WHY?)

Enjoyment 8/10:

I enjoyed watching Durarara!!. It didn’t have me hooked like the shows that I rated higher, but I enjoyed every single ep. I watched. While the storytelling style choice didn’t fit my preferences, I still liked the show quite a bit. The unique story and solid art,sound and animation made the experience of watching this anime really nice one.

Overall 8/10:

Durarara!! Is very solid and has an unique story, aswell as a huge character cast(everyone is bound to find at least a few characters they will like). It’s a show I can recommend to almost everybody, from yaoi fangirls to boys raised on watching Dragonball. I can see why some people will rate this show higher, it can definitely get a 9 if you like Durarara!!’s storytelling and shows that have allot of characters