The one good thing about getting eaten alive by panel work and school crap this past month is that I get an excuse to marathon stuff. In the case of Durarara!!, marathoning actually seems to make the series a little better; I have the feeling that if I watched each of these episodes individually, they would feel a little more disjointed. The… simply weird approach to the storytelling makes for some awkwardness, even when marathoned, but it’s not like I’m sitting here thinking “What the #$%@ did I just watch?!” Instead, the series so far has been pretty interesting, and parts of episode 2 were actually epic enough to literally keep me on the edge of my seat.
The boring-as-heck protagonist, Mikado, is actually the series’ only real flaw. He’s one of those main characters who sits there and watches as everything happens around him; he doesn’t actually do anything. He’s not annoying, but he’s not nearly as interesting as, say, his BFF Masaomi. Anri-chan and Simon are nifty as well, despite a relative lack of screentime so far.
Their adventures vary from school confusion and awkwardness to witnessing confusion and awkwardness (and fighting) on the streets. There’s fighting, biking, talking, blushing, more talking, a bit of yelling, showering, more talking… pretty much like a lot of shounen-y anime out there today. But Durarara!!’s key difference lies in how the plot’s driven: what little plot there is so far isn’t driven by the main characters, but by the bad guys. That seems to be working so far, though, especially because the typical black-and-white-ness of characters is often blurred. For example, Mikado is warned to stay away from Izaya, but is Izaya really that bad? He claims to love humanity.
To put it blunty, though, Izaya’s a creeper. But an awesome one. He’s a mindscrewing jerk worthy of Evangelion’s Gendou Ikari or Bleach’s Gin Ichimaru. Heck, he could get even better than them, but only if the series throws in some more drama for him to play with like in episode 2. Shizuo’s almost as interesting, and it’s fun to see the contrast between him and Izaya: Shizuo’s physically violent, while Izaya’s mentally and emotionally manipulative. Brawn versus brains. Classic.
I Wikipedia’d Selty, the Headless Rider, because her backstory in episode 4 intrigued me … and apparently in the light novels she’s in love with Shinra? Or something? Putting the mysterious heroine in a relationship already is an interesting move by the original author. I wonder how that will play out in the anime. Shinra was flirting with her, sure, but if the novels have to be condensed at all to fit 24 episodes, maybe it’ll get cut out. I sure hope not, since I kinda ship them already.
Clearly, Durarara!! is not going to be a series for people who like their anime logical and clear-cut. It has no semblance of a real plot yet, and more importantly, the characters are thrown around various situations without any real rhyme or reason. The unpredictability is what makes it so refreshing, though, especially in comparison with the other crap airing this season. If it gets an actual plot going in these next few episodes, it’ll have me hooked for the whole 24-episode run.
CJ’s Rating: 8.5 out of 10 California rolls
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