Review of Durarara!!

When this first aired a few years ago on Adult Swim’s Saturday Anime block, I will be the first guy in the room to admit that I wasn’t too interested in it. I originally thought it was boring and had nothing for it, but then again, I was a sour pissant back then. However, a few days ago, I decided that I needed a good few days of anime to watch, so I gave it another go and boy I couldn’t have been more surprised in my life. There has been no anime aside from Fullmetal Alchemist that has got my attention from the veryget-go. I don’t know if it was the story, the OP’s or the ost that made its way into the series. It just all came together and was well-crafted.

I will talk about the story itself cause I feel that deserves some credit. It took me a while to get onto what exactly was happening cause there were bits that went forward, flashbacked, and just pretty much went back-and-forth. It sort of reminded me of the American Dramedy, How I Met Your Mother, where it was told in flashbacks and flashforwards. I will admit that it took at least three episodes for me to get the groove of it, but once you stick around for that long, I will be the first one to tell you that it did not disappoint. It was a well-crafted, well-paced story that will have you begging for more.

The art and sound had a certain zing to it. I don’t know how exactly I can explain it, but the two went hand-in-hand with each other. With the almost jazzy-esque sounds for the dramatic moments to the soothing piano to the more emotional moments, the music definitely gave it a great atmosphere. I also have to give major props to the voice acting. I only watched the dub version, so I don’t know how the subbed/original did in comparison, but in my opinion, the dub was pretty spot on. I will actually go on record and state that it was one of my favorite dubs out there. Of course, that’s not counting Future Diary or High School DxD.

The highest point of the series was definitely the vast array of characters that the series had. We had almost every types out there. It ranged from classic shounen-types to the shy main character, to overbearing husbandos to over-the-top angry males. I mean seriously, the characters had such a different personality in each of them, I was so surprised at how well-balanced each of them seemed to mesh with the seires’ over-the-top atmosphere. Some of my favorite moments definitely came with the main characters were interacting with the supporting characters. Also, the way that each character had their own story but seemed to find a nice balance as to not overshadow the other characters, well it was well done.

So, at the end of this review, what have we learned? Durarara is an over-the-top, almost barbaric series with even more over-the-top, and barbaric moments, but at the end of the day, it’s one of those series’ that you just have to watch and experience first hand. It’s one hell of a ride full of moments that will make you laugh out loud and reach for the nearest tissue.