Plot: Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Mikado Ryugamine is a young man who yearns for the city like no other. At the invitation of his childhood friend, Masaomi Kida, he leaves his hometown and enters Raira Academy in Ikebukuro. Masaomi warns Mikado about some dangerous people in Ikebukuro to watch out for. There are two in particular: the brawling champion Shizuo Heiwajima and hobbyist information broker Izaya Orihara; And also the mysterious organization of unknown origin known as the “Dollars.” On his first day out in the city, Mikado sees a jet-black motorcycle being driven by the fabled “Headless Rider.” From then on, a series of random attacks and events begin to occur on the streets of Ikebukuro, and a group known as the Yellow Scarves arises as Ikebukuro begins to crumble!
Impressions: So I recently was able to view the upcoming dubbed version of Durarara!!, soon to be released in the United States. This is the first I’ve heard of the series and I wasn’t sure quite what to expect. With a name like Durarara!! it seemed it would be something I could catch on Saturday morning with some bubbly exaggerated animation and characters who get into comedic misadventures. I could not have been more wrong.
First of all the animation is a nice blend of hand drawn and CGI The CGI is used primarily with the landscape shots to help accentuate open areas and in some action scenes. Another nice touch is with the use of color, or specifically the lack of use of color. Crowd scenes often use a technique where those who aren’t the focal characters are grayed out leaving only the main cast appearing color. While not the most original technique it certainly is an effective one that works quite well with the storytelling.
As far as storytelling is concerned, the plot unfolds similar to a Guy Richie film. This is a great compliment as far as I’m concerned. You may see the two “main” characters walking a crowded sidewalk and hear some background dialogue with a bit more clarity than the rest, only to find the two speaking coming into the plot heavily later on. The storyline is told from multiple perspectives as different characters experience the same scene. This is something that requires more sophistication in scripting than your typical A followed by B followed by C plot line, and has not gone unnoticed. The writers also do a great job with cliffhangers at the end of each episode to keep you highly anticipating the next one. When I first got the DVD in the mail I had planned on checking out the first episode and going back to Assassin’s Creed, but I found myself unable to put it down. I ended up watching all 5 episodes and wishing I had more. As a side note, I love the music. The action scenes are complimented by a modern jazz/rock that reminds me a bit of the soundtrack from Cowboy Bebop. This is a great detail and adds to the overall enjoyment of the show.
Now onto the actual plot. (you didn’t think I forgot now did you?) The first episode centers around Mikado Ryūgamine and his first trip to Tokyo. At fifteen he has never left his home town of, lets say East Jesus Japan. Upon an invitation from his best friend Masaomi Kida, Mikado decides to leave home to attend school in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Mikado is very timid and formal and finds himself confused and made uncomfortable by the big city, but Masaomi is determined to show him around. After meeting some of Masaomi’s delinquent friends, Masaomi warns Mikado of some people he shouldn’t cross; Izaya Orihara, an information dealer and complete bad ass, Shizuo Heiwajima who is mortal enemies with Izaya as far as he is concerned. And, lastly The mysterious “Dollar” gang. While little is known about the Dollars it is clear not to mess with them. Later on you find out that Masaomi’s friend Simon, a black Russian sushi restaurant worker, (WTF?), is not to be messed with. Yes that’s right, Simon is a black Russian man working at a Russian sushi place in Tokyo. At least the characters were as confused by this as I was. Oh, and he’s a complete badass too.
Next Mikado gets his first glance of Celty Sturluson AKA The Headless Rider. A local legend in Ikebukuro, The Headless Rider is said to have super powers, (she does, I mean come on what is an anime without some sort of super powers?) and looks like Uma Thurman when she is riding a motorcycle in Kill Bill Vol.2. (with the exception of the cat ears on her helmet) Outside of that you come to find out that she is actually a version of Death in search of her head and the motorcycle is her death steed in disguise. Yep, Death lost her head and can’t remember how. She is aided in her search by longtime friend Shinra Kishitani. Shinra is a doctor and has known Celty since his father helped her when Shinra was just a boy. He must also have the worlds strangest fetish as he is completely in love with his headless roommate. While Celty is invulnerable and can make a huge scythe come out of her neck she just can’t get that whole headless thing under control.
Izaya Orihara on the other hand is pretty much the antagonist. He may as well be the biggest asshole on the planet, and you first come to meet him after a 15 year old girl who clearly has no problem with walking into an obvious rape scenario is kidnapped. By obviously a rape scenario i mean she is brought by a man to a black van in a deserted ally and has no reservations about this whatsoever. After the girl is chloroformed and the van peels off you are left with Izaya watching and waiting. Later on the girl is saved by Celty and brought to rape scenario # 2, an abandoned building in a dark alley where she is told to meet a man on the roof. That man is Izaya, who had previously posed as a student online and made a suicide pact with the girl. He arranged the kidnapping to show the girl what real problems were and to see if she would still want to die. Seems altruistic though cruel, except he soon tells her that she is ugly and stupid after showing her a good place to jump. Izaya then leaves her on the roof alone with a final thought that she doesn’t have the cajones to go through with it. She then jumps.
Well, that’s enough spoilers for now. I’d hate to give away the whole plot as I think this anime is a real winner. With pacing and storytelling like a Guy Richie Film, True Blood quality cliffhangers and Cowboy Bebop like music, Durarara!! has a formula for success. My biggest complaint was the banner on this copy stating not for duplication getting in the way of the subtitles when Simon speaks Russian. I did have a chance to watch some clips of the Japanese release with English subs, and the dubbing is done quite well. So don’t feel like you’re missing out on the true dialogue. Scheduled for American release Jan 25th 2011 I would definitely recommend checking this one out to round out collections.
‘Till next time:
Scotty A-Town.
I was a huge fan of the subs, and glad to see other people can enjoy the creativity of this series. How was the english dubbing for you without having seen the other episodes?
Still waiting on my order from Rightstuf to come in but I like going around seeing who it was reviewed.
Sorry to keep you waiting. As I said the dubbing is pretty good. As there is a lot of narration the task is made more simple, however the dialogue is also well done. From what I saw of episode 1 subtitled they seem to re-word sentences rather than adding filler to fit the animation.