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z827's DURARARA!! Tv Review

DURARARA!!

DURARARA!! tv Review

In Tokyo's downtown district of Ikebukuro, amidst many strange rumors and warnings of anonymous gangs and dangerous occupants, one urban legend stands out above the rest – the existence of a headless “Black Rider” who is said to be seen driving a jet-black motorcycle through the city streets.

Ryuugamine Mikado has always longed for the excitement of the city life, and an invitation from a childhood friend convinces him to move to Tokyo. Witnessing the Black Rider on his first day in the city, his wishes already seem to have been granted. But as supernatural events begin to occur, ordinary citizens like himself, along with Ikebukuro's most colorful inhabitants, are mixed up in the commotion breaking out in their city.

Written by MAL Rewrite

Story & Characters

This is a Review of Durarara! :

Story Introduction :
Mikado Ryugamine , a High School student who had recently moved to the city , Ikebukuro. When he reached the city , he met up with his childhood friend Masaomi Kida and found out about how dangerous this city really is. Color gangs , crimes and the fabled legend , the headless rider that rides on a motorbike through out the city as well as the mysterious Dollars , a gang without a color. A city where people gathers , a city where many possibilities occur , a city which is enshrouded in mystery.

Terminology :

Dullahan :
Dullahan are essentially fairies or supernatural beings of sorts that leaves their head under their arms. They travel around in the medieval times with their horse ( Which is headless as well ) and arriving at the doorstep of those who are at their deathbeds. Who ever is as to be as careless as to come out while a Dullahan is at work will be poured a bucket full of blood.

Dollars :
This is a mysterious wide-spread organisation or gang which is without a color , in contrary to the city's gangs as all of them wear a color of sorts to signify themselves as part of that particular gang. Dollars does not have a hierarchy system so there is no such thing as a leader-subordinate system , but who is the founder of this organisation?

Characters Sypnosis :

Mikado Ryugamine :
Mikado Ryugamine is your everyday High School student , who recently moved to Ikebukuro under the encouragement of his childhood friend , Masaomi. In the city , he experienced much unusual activities and learnt about the Headless Rider , the color gangs and the Dollars , whom he seem to be somewhat interested in.

Personality :
He is fairly mild natured but also relatively friendly. He , according to Masaomi , is honest with himself and speaks whatever went through his head without hestitation.

Masaomi Kida :
Masaomi Kida is the childhood friend of Mikado Ryugamine. He urged Mikado to come to the city to experience the life there along with him and he was extremely enthusiastic in teaching him the ways and life of the city.

Personality :
Compared to Mikado , he is much more outgoing and tends to make lame jokes all the time , but this amuses Mikado. Masaomi can also get fairly flirty at times , but in a comical manner. He also treats Mikado somewhat like a brother and is very close to him.

Anri Sonohara :
Anri Sonohara is a quiet girl that is of the same class as Masaomi and Mikado. She is constantly bullied at school and seems to be having a rough time.

Personality :
She is rather...quiet , underconfident and definitely gloomy. As the plot progresses , she realises the emotions of the people and what they feel for her but she told herself that she can be nothing more but friends with them. However , she does smile occasionally , especially when she's around Mikado and Masaomi.

Celty Sturluson :
Celty is the fabled Headless Hunter of the city , an urban legend. However , the rumor was spot-on , she truly does not possess a head and bears supernatural powers. However , she does not kill and seems to take on errands , she is also capable of communication but only via a phone which she always carries around with her.

Personality :
Despite what she appears to be like at first....She is really cute...Err...nevermind that...*ahem* Despite being a Dullahan , Celty is quite similar to a typical girl yet also quite different in various ways. She gets annoyed at times , she have friends , she falls in love...Even without a head , she is exactly like a human.

Shinra Kishitani :
Shinra lives alongside with Celty ever since the day when she was taken in by Shinra's father when he was a child. Ever since then , they have been living together under the same roof. Shinra is also a doctor , but not an official one , in fact , he is an underground doctor , but an excellent one at that.

Personality :
Despite being an illegal doctor , he is not those...maniacal mad scientists you'd be speculating in your head. In fact , his quite cheerful and he doesn't hestitate to say what he wants to say. He also treasures Celty and he is in fact in love with her.

Orihara Izaya :
Orihara Izaya is a rather mysterious yet also disturbing figure. Moving around the city at times , he often does bizzare or strange things but he is not to be taken lightly , as he is labelled as one of the city's strongest and it is not without a reason that he is one of the strongest due to his agile movements and his skill with a knife.

Personality :
Izaya is both twisted and cool at the same..and I never thought this combination would ever work. He claims he loves humanity and does somewhat twisted acts to express this love of his. He is also fairly calm in battles and can get fairly cocky at times. However , he is also extremely intelligent.

Heiwajima Shizuo :
A man often dressed in a bartender suit , along with a pair of sunglasses. He bears unnaturally high strength and is also one of the city's strongest figure. He also seems to bear a severe grudge with Izaya , often lifting up something heavy and dangerous , then chucking it in his face. Though he often fails to capture him.

Personality :
Shizuo is extremely hot-tempered and snaps very easily. The signal of him losing his temper is him taking out something that resembles a stick and bending it into half before stepping it with his feet. However , he is not ill-natured and he hates to fight ( Ironically enough ) but he is unable to hold his anger well. He also loves his brother a lot.

Simon Brezhnev :
A tall black Russian who is often seen outside a Russian Sushi Restraunt to advertise it with fliers. He is one of the very few people who can bear Shizuo's fist head-on and he attempts to calm him down at times.

Personality :
Despite his intimating stature , he is actually down-right friendly. He often chats with those he knew when they passed by his workplace.

( Note that this isn't the entire character list due to Spoiler restrictions )

Overall :
To be honest , the story is suffocating at first. The overly mysterious atmosphere and the obvious attempts at making the viewer think about what's going on is so disgustingly obvious that I can't help but feel....suffocated by it :P
However , these are nothing but mere stepping stones for the next step in the plot , just when you thought you had the plot figured out , the Anime would throw something unexpected in the face of the viewers , something that you had certainly not speculated and yet it makes every ounce of sense. However , the Anime is compromised with two parts and at the beginning of each "part" , things get fairly dry but when the conclusion draws near , that's where things get interesting.
Also , there are several episodes dedicated entirely to the characters to tell you more about their background and personality. Though some of them were actually quite amusing. The unexpected thing is that some character episodes does tell you a bit about the other characters as well , not only the character it is focused on.
The cast of characters was also finely crafted , woven and made. Rather than focusing on a single or two characters compared to other Anime , everyone have an equal amount of importance in the storyline and their equally well crafted that it's almost impossible at times to tell whose the main character.
The characters are also likeable , in fact , their lovable :D However , I must admit one part of the storyline can get fairly dark and disturbing.
Generally , Durarara have a cast of almost ordinary , yet extraordinary characters , as well as a storyline which is like a pie placed in an oven. You have to wait for it to be cooked before you can enjoy it.

Rating: 9

Art

Artwork Review :
There's nothing significant in the artwork scheme for the characters , perhaps other than Celty's , the helmet she wears to cover her.."head" is fairly interesting. I mean , that helmet have two horns poking out that resembles cat ears.... ( and I must say that Celty have a really good figure...*ahem* moving on... )
However , despite the fairly ordinary character scheme , the environment is superb. The viewers , immediately upon first glance , will be able to feel how a night life in the city is like. So the viewers are pretty much chiseled into the mood by the well-drawn artwork of the environment , particularly the artwork of the night city.
Well , as for the Opening sequence , it's pretty cool but nothing particularly special. The first ending theme was unique ( In fact , the first ending sequence has inspired many parodies amongst fans ) but the second one was pure plain.

Rating: 8

Sound

Music Review :
The Opening and Ending themes of Durarara were great , with a very strong city-feel about it. Though ironically , you might want to check out the ending themes instead since their generally better than the opening , making it a reason to sit through the credits.
Though the existence of music within the Anime itself is almost zero. :P

List of Openings , Endings and BGMs :

Uragiri no Yuuyake ( Opening I )

Trust Me ( Ending I )

Complication ( Opening I )

Butterfly ( Ending I )

Rating: 8

Presentation

This is a Review of Durarara! :
Certainly , Durarara is being overly mysterious and being too wrapped up AT FIRST. However , like waiting for something to get cooked , you need to have patience , otherwise you'd never have a chance to enjoy the savory taste of the plot twist at the back.
This Anime also have a strong city-feel about it and though it IS about the darker side of a city , it isn't quite as disturbing as I thought it'll be.
If your looking for strong plot-twists that doesn't need you to burst your mind out of all the thinking , a cast of intriuging characters and an atmosphere that is often being swayed between "dark" and "light" , this is your meal...I mean , this would be your cup of tea...whatever!!

Overall ( Others ) :

Age Recommendation : 13+

Genre : Fantasy / Supernatural ( Mild ) , Mystery / Suspense ( Mild-Medium ) , Romance ( Mild ) , Action ( Extremely mild ) , Psychological ( Mild )

Romance :
Well , the romance involved here is...say..sprouting between several characters. The romance involved here isn't the extremely pink types you often see , it's a bit more ordinary , a bit more everyday themed. Ranging from a crush to obsession and to mutual love , you'd see it in this Anime. Though not all of them are perfect stories nor happy endings.

Humor :
Well . humor is involved here. But not as in chibi artwork or anything extremely exaggerated. It's the irony of the conversations and dialogues , you can't help but grin at times. Though joke episodes are rare so hold them tight while you still can.

Gore :
Ample amount of blood spraying at certain scenes , but at a fairly realistic level.

Psychological :
Well , I did mention obsession in the Romance sector didn't I ? Anyway , in the later part of the plot , you will get to see a man obsessed with someone and what he did to be with her , the results are fairly disturbing and so is what he had done. Ironically , some one is obsessed with this particular man as well.
The characters are also psychologically realistic. All of them have different behaviours and personalities and the history they have lived through makes it sensible for them to be that way.

Trivia :
- Durarara is originally a Light Novel
- Durarara is then adapted into Manga
- A game for Durarara is scheduled to be released on the PSP sometime this year

Reviewer's Comment :
Well , if you can sit through the first half , your in for a treat.

Rating: 9

Final Verdict

8.6667 (very good)

Reviewed by z827, May 30, 2010

Comments

  1. Buchou-dono May 30, 2010

    Wow!
    Especially the charakterinformation was nicely done.
    I love this anime for their special and unique characters.
    Great review.

  2. the2ndpandora May 30, 2010

    This one of the best anime i ever watch , the charater in this anime are very very very special (you will know after you watch this anime :">)
    The story and style of this anime are very good , i like the style of this anime .
    Last thing is music , it's very good too , especially opening I & ending I.
    Your review is great .

  3. Nubes May 31, 2010

    T_T

    Right now I want to see it urgently... I have heard a lot of good critics of Durarara! Thanks for reassuring it to me! ;-)

  4. artauxeo May 31, 2010

    yea, checkin it ryt now.
    i'll post a review after i watch a couple of em.

  5. VisualDepth Jun 01, 2010

    I must say well done with the review.
    The opening and ending I definitely agree are great, it actually reminds me of the opening and ending of the Persona anime due to the similar concepts.

  6. emina07 Mute Member Jun 02, 2010

    this anime is good.. just how baccano had amazed me

  7. Nubes Jun 04, 2010

    Exactly! I though the same when I saw the 1rst chapter... "this kinda reminds me of Baccano! story-telling" and I must say... Shizuo is the best character of all! I laugh till death when I see him burst for any thing: Izaya or other annoyin for him thing... Although some chapters I had to rewind to understand better, I think this is hillarious! I'm chapter 13, waiting for the end... Hope that Selty gets her head, I hope for that. =D

  8. SchRita Aug 27, 2010

    It seems to be really popular, maybe I'll give it a try.

  9. Warpten29 Jan 14, 2011

    Thanks for the unique review!

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