Durarara!!

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tbh I didn't know the anime came first until reading the other reviews

Secondly, I'm not sure why everyone was so confused by it. There were a handful of lines that seemed translated poorly that didn't take away too much from what all was happening.

That being said, having not seen the anime I will judge it on its own and not for how it measures up to the anime. The world of Ikeburo Tokyo is an exciting one with gangs and key players to look out for, your perspective is that of someone who is also new to these things so everything is thoroughly explained to ... Mikado, the main character, and you, the reader. The manga does a great job of juggling multiple subplots and tying them all together at different times. It also explores the theme of rejecting a stale life and trying to find excitement in this world which is something I personally enjoy reading about. The biggest downside to me is that it seemed too short for the interesting characters and exciting concepts it introduced.

Being too short of a story I think I might get more enjoyment from the anime in the future, but again, the manga itself is not a bad read by any means.

I'm not going to go into too much detail as the anime is one of my alltime-favorites and way more recommendable to spend time on than this manga. Really, whatever you think of Durarara!! after reading this (or planning to), watch the anime! You definitely won't regret it.

What's upsetting me the most is that the artstyle is just, whack. I think I'd only read it more than once because I basically love the characters a lot, but overall it isn't an enjoyable sight. The story portrayed in these 4 volumes is also rather... weak, to stay humble. It's almost as if you're already supposed to ... know the anime prior to reading this because everything happens so fast.

In the end it's an okay appetizer for people who don't know the anime yet (which again, is really good, I can only recommend you to check it out!!) or hardcore fans who still got some space left on their manga shelf to fill. The cover art doesn't look that bad imo, at least from the back haha.

For people who don't carefully look into the details that are laid out before you, this manga will be an utter annoyance for you. Some things (like the art) seem to be simpler, but details really are the key point in the manga. But there are many things this manga is lacking.

There are subtle clues as to what is going on in the plot and if you don't pay attention, you aren't going to get it until they really begin to explain whats going on. (Which they haven't really, they just elude to everything and seem to think [or hope] you'll get it.) The plot ... isn't very clear so far, but as the story progresses there should be a decent climax.

The black rider isn't given a real cool, elaborate costume. The characters' hair is done in that lumped-up 10 line bit instead of complex lines where you can see different layers where they should be, how the hair lines back for a ponytail, etc. The art may be simplistic as far as character design goes, but I think that for a story that has so much going on the art makes it a bit easier to understand. The clean lines make it easier for the story to develop via dialogue.

Many of the characters seem rather one-dimensional. Stalker girl just keeps going and going after Seiji, Izayu is crazy as sin, and our main man is just a normal high school student with dreams of something more. Hopefully as the story continues there will be more of an obvious growth for the character, but it doesn't look like it will happen any time soon.

Somehow I found myself pretty entertained by this, even though its flaws are very apparent. If you have time to kill and find yourself reading Durarara!!, be prepared to be left with a "WTF did I just read?!" feeling.