DRRRRRRR! dat gang violence

in honor of finishing Durarara, here's a picture of my new hat.

I started Durarara back in January of 2010 when it was having it's original run but ended up dropping the show after a few episodes due to disinterest. The owner of Robo Gato has this habit of mentioning Celty any chance he can so last week I was going through anime I had downloaded but hadn't watched only to decide to watch Durarara. I ended up having a marathon of episodes 7-24 (I had watched 1-6 the day before) while working on a scarf for a friend of mine.


image copyright goes out to Brain's Base



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Specs:
Studio- Brain's Base
Director- Takahiro Omori

Series Information:
Year- 2010
# of Episodes- 24
Genre(s)- action, romance, supernatural
Synopsis-
Ryūgamine Mikado is a boy who longs for the exciting life of the big city. At the invitation of his childhood friend Masaomi, he transfers to a school in Ikebukuro. Masaomi has warned him about people he doesn't want to cross in the city: a champion fighter, an informant, and a mysterious gang called "Dollars." Nervous from Masaomi's stories, Mikado witnesses an urban legend on his first day in the city, the Headless Rider astride a black motorcycle. From then on, the existence of supernatural cases and a gang called the Yellow Scarves will rise to the surface, and Ikebukuro will pushed to the breaking point.
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I believe more people have heard of the Baccano anime verses the Durarara one, which is understandable considering Baccano was released by FUNimation before Durarara was announced in Japan if my mind serves me that memory correctly. My good friend has been practically begging me to watch Baccano, and he constantly mentions how good of a story it has. I should get around to watching it considering there are only 16 episodes, a whole 10 less than Durarara... well my rebellious nature took over telling me to "watch Durarara first!" even though it takes about 3 hours longer to watch.
I mention Baccano because the same author who wrote the light novels also wrote the light novels Durarara is an adaptation of.

If you like fast paced anime, then you'll probably enjoy this one even though the fast pace doesn't seem to go anywhere for about 10 or so episodes. There is plenty of action, and there seems to be a story developing but by the time the story is revealed (I believe around episode 11) you feel like you just may have wasted your time; but bear in mind these first 10 episodes were to let you get to know the characters, to get attached to them whether they were main characters or side characters. A really good point about this anime is that the side characters get a pretty good amount of screen time, and get their shining moments just about as much as the main cast. This isn't usually done in anime, but with a 26 episode series it's entirely possible and executed appropriately. Characters I didn't really much care for from the first few episodes I honestly became attached to; by the end of the show I didn't have any real favorite characters nor particularly disliked any as well.

One of this shows highlight is the very catchy opening and endings. All of them are easily recognizable as being "that music from Durarara" instead of generic poppy sounds like a lot of anime have these days. The background music isn't all that memorable because I honestly don't remember any of it... but I hardly ever remember background music >.<

Animation is fairly straight forward, but thanks to the character designs and city like feel of the show I feel in love with the style. Fight scenes are smooth, and ones where Celty is chasing down vehicles on her "horse" (it's her black motorcycle) are believable despite the fact she can leap extreme distances.

Overall Durarara is very action packed, but it takes like 10 episodes to reveal any real plot which makes this a show you have to have patience with. It's not like Inuyasha where the plot goes off track just about any chance it gets, but once the plot is revealed Durarara has one of the best reasons for being animated that I've seen in a long time. Light novels are a big source of adaptation these days in the anime community, but a lot of them are about getting together with a tragic moe girl verses a good story. Good thing Durarara decided that it was going to be kick ass verses another reason for me to go "awww, you're just like all the other light novel anime out there"

Did I mention that this anime is about gang violence and Valkyries? No, well shame on me.