Durarara!!

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.

Mikado Ryuugamine 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]

Orihara, Izaya Main

Kamiya, Hiroshi Japanese

Heiwajima, Shizuo Main

Ono, Daisuke Japanese

Sturluson, Celty Main

Sawashiro, Miyuki Japanese

Kida, Masaomi Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Kishitani, Shinra Main

Fukuyama, Jun Japanese

Ryuugamine, Mikado Main

Toyonaga, Toshiyuki Japanese

Sonohara, Anri Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Dian, Isaac Supporting

Onosaka, Masaya Japanese

Harvent, Miria Supporting

Aoki, Sayaka Japanese

Brezhnev, Semyon Supporting

Kuroda, Takaya Japanese

Kananiwa, Kozue Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Yokoyama, Shuko Producer

Satou, Yumi Producer

Reviews

Oct 29, 2025

Silent_Seinen_

Recommended

The Awesome Stuff in Durarara!!

The huge and diverse cast:
From Celty Sturluson, Mikado Ryuugamine, Masaomi Kida, Anri Sonohara, Izaya Orihara, and Shizuo Heiwajima, to the car gang, Simon the Russian guy, and so many more — every single character feels unique and well-written. Seriously, it’s one of the strongest character lineups you’ll see in anime.

Storytelling and narrative style:
One of Durarara!!’s biggest strengths is how it tells its story.
Everything’s connected, but you only see the full picture bit by bit through different points of view.
At first it feels kinda confusing, but as the episodes go on, you start piecing things together like a giant puzzle. The writing ... is super clever, it keeps the mystery alive while constantly showing you familiar events from new angles that completely change their meaning.

Art and animation:
The visuals are simple but stylish, perfectly matching Ikebukuro’s urban vibe. The warm tones and shadows give it that mysterious atmosphere, and the animation really shines in the action scenes, especially the Shizuo vs. Izaya fights and Celty’s crazy chases. There are also a bunch of really well-done combat moments scattered throughout.

Smart, detailed dialogue:
The conversations are sharp, clever, and full of tiny details that make rewatching totally worth it.

The Not-So-Good Stuff

Uneven pacing:
The beginning pulls you in with mystery and energy, but the middle part slows down a lot, some episodes feel like they’re stuck in place with not much progress. Things finally pick up again near the end when everything starts to go wild.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Mar 8, 2023

SeinenJump

Mixed Feelings

Despite being a far cry from other more notable Takahiro Omori titles (Baccano!, Haibane Renmei, Hell Girl, Natsume's Book of Friends, Hotarubi no Mori e), more than a decade since it's release Durarara!! continues to be a part of the zeitgeist. However, in spite of the durability of the hype surrounding it, I can only think of two elements of this show that make it worth watching.

1) It's aura of mystique - it oozes of rich lore of urban legends saturating the streets of Ikebukuro
2) It's mesmerizing score - an absolute vibe

These components alone are reason enough to sit through 24 episodes meandering through ... who-knows-what. Beyond these two components, Durarara!! lacks the substance to live up to the artistic reputation the show has garnered. The characters aren't particularly likable or developed much (Celty excluded), the character design wasn't great then and it hasn't held up now.

Had this show been tucked away, without the projected facade of an artistic quality, I think I would have enjoyed this show more. But I feel that both the misdiagnosis of a large part of the anime community and the way it's own mystique unveiled proved to have little substance teed me up for little pay off & a surprising disappointment.

All of this said, if you are a long-time anime viewer. I do think this show holds an important place in the transition from anime in the '00's to anime in the '10's. Even if the music or the mystique somehow fails to draw you in, if you consider yourself a committed fan of the medium, it's worth it just to get a sense of where anime was at during this transitional period in it's history.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Dec 15, 2024

Saharas962

Not Recommended

TLDR - this whole show is redundant, looks promising but a big waste of time

the only reason I've watched this show is due to its high rank,
which i honestly have no idea why would someone (and plenty of them) recommend this thing.

First of all, there are way too many storylines in the series that they tried to squeeze into a small amount of episodes, and somehow they managed to make it look like nothing was happening in the episodes, with most of them being boring.

One of the reviews that made me want to finish the series was that "all the storylines come together for ... an epic ending."
Well, no, far from epic – the ending of the series was ridiculous, stupid, meaningless, disappointing, and childish.

Focusing on the three main storylines that run throughout the series and are the main reasons behind many of the events:
*One ended with a very childish and silly conclusion, almost to the point of being laughable.
*The second ended in such a way that if this storyline hadn't existed, no one would have noticed any difference.
*The third ended with no explanation as to why it even started in the first place, or what the point was in ending it the way it did.

On top of that, there were many more! (If I try to remember, about 10) side storylines that seemed like they were meant to contribute to the overall plot, but in reality, they were pointless and a waste of time. Most of them just disappeared from the series after a few episodes, leaving open or unresolved ends, and the viewer has no idea why they even saw that storyline and how it contributed to the plot.

What makes this even worse is the fact that they shoved too many characters into the story in an attempt to inflate the plot, taking the viewer on a journey through pointless side stories that, even after four seasons, still have no purpose or meaning.

Bottom line, this series is unnecessary, rating 4, and even that is, in my opinion, too high.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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