I find this anime somewhat difficult to review on its own simply because of its origins. Narita is a rather prolific light novel writer who is also well-known for the anime adaptation of his very first light novel series, Baccano!, and I find myself almost constantly comparing Durarara!! to Baccano!, not just because Baccano! is the first series that I ever gave a perfect 10, and not just because they're so similar in writing style, but because they also have practically the exact same anime staff: same director, same writer, same animation studio, and ever the same soundtrack composer. In staff alone, Durarara!! is essentially a Baccano!-style story set in present-day Japan rather than Prohibition-era New York, and this idea comes with both astounding potential and unavoidable flaws.
With that in mind, I found the overall story to be incredibly exhilarating. Once a certain story line got going, it had this ability to continuously pick up speed and intensity and eventually became a whirlwind sprint towards a massive and exciting conclusion. Like Baccano! (hopefully I won't exhaust this phrase too much during this review), we see tons of details interwoven into different scenes that feed into an overarching plot that grows in complexity as the story progresses, though unlike its predecessor, Durarara!! is told in chronological order for the most part, rather than skipping around the timeline like Baccano! did. However, because Durarara!! contains more than one story arc, it does have a tendency to lose a lot of its steam during the transition between arcs, especially after the halfway point, but fortunately it does still manage to get the ball rolling again and build up the same intensity that it had before.
Like Baccano!, Durarara!! touches on a lot of philosophical themes and motifs, though the ones in this series seem much more grounded in human psychology and life itself. Themes like perspective of reality end up pushing the plot forward a lot more than one would expect, and the series also dabbles in usage of modern technology like the Internet, chat rooms, and media sensationalism in a way that seems like the writers have a fundamental understanding of how these things really affect communication rather than including them because "that's what the kids are into these days." I was also a huge fan of how the chat room specifically was used as a framing device for the story's narrative, as different people from around Ikebukuro discussed the current events of the city. Also like Baccano!, this series uses a large amount of supernatural elements to keep certain sections of its plot going, though rather than have the entire story be based on these supernatural elements, they exist more to introduce new ideas and new possibilities into the story.
Again like Baccano!, this anime has an absolutely massive character cast, with practically every character getting more than enough screen time for us to fall in love with them. Mikado starts off as the standard "blank-slate good guy" protagonist who's trying to get used to the city and make new friends, but the ways that he becomes involved in the events of Ikebukuro, either by his own doing or because of someone else, cause him to grow in ways that let us get more attached to him as the default "main character." His best friend, Masaomi, comes off as a lovable goofball playboy who knows the ins and outs of everything about Ikebukuro, but we also get hints about his mysterious past with the city that grow more intense and powerful as the story progresses, especially in the second half of the series. Rounding off our main character trio is Anri, a rather shy girl at Raira Academy that Mikado and Masaomi grow very close to, and she provides not only an interesting character to ponder over, but also a somewhat different take on romantic relationships. Speaking of romance, Durarara!! relies quite heavily on romantic relationships between characters, and each relationship seems somehow off-kilter and odd in some way that breaks away from a lot of the standard anime relationships that we're used, both for better and for worse.
The rest of the character cast also manages to be incredibly lively and fascinating as well. From Kyōhei's group of friends who provide tons of comic relief, to the superhuman bouts of rage courtesy of Shizuo Heiwajima, the cast of this series brings Ikebukuro to life in ways that almost make the city itself feel like its own character. We even get a supernatural character in the form of Celty aka the Black Rider, a headless figure that strike fear into the hearts of evildoers in Ikebukuro, and her arc in the first half of the series was incredibly compelling. However, the one character that stands out the most by far is the info broker Izaya Orihara, whose fascination with human interactions and his almost horrifying grip on the entire city makes him one of my favorite antiheroes of all time. Unfortunately, I will say that this series doesn't really have as strong a cast of antagonists as Baccano! did. There aren't really any Slizard Quates or Ladd Russo kinds of antagonists (though Shizuo does feel like Ladd in some regards), and street gangs just don't have the same prestige and power that mafia thugs have, so it ends up being more of a flaw with the setting rather than the writing.
The animation was produced by Brain's Base, and we get yet another fantastic treat for the eyes as this studio brings its A-game once again. The character designs are incredibly unique and appealing, the cityscape is drawn beautifully and almost feels like it comes to life sometimes, and the action is visceral and exhilarating, with each punch having tremendous impact that can almost be felt through the screen. The production crew also inserted a ton of Easter eggs from different anime throughout the series, from superstar shows like Toradora! to underground artsy works like Le Portrait de Petit Cossette. We even get a few cameos of our favorite dynamic duo from Baccano!, as well as a plethora of other references to the series. I also found it rather interesting how they drew certain background characters. Many times, background characters in anime are often drawn as simple gray silhouettes, and while this often comes across as lazy in other works, Durarara!! actually manages to stylize this in a way that provides visual accents to the series, from highlighting a single person in a sea of faceless people, to making the different color gangs of the city more distinguishable.
On the topics of dubs, this might be one of the best dubs that Bang Zoom! has ever produced, which should throw up a few flags for my regular readers, as I am usually very quick to rip this company's throat out for shoddy dub work. Michelle Ruff gives a stellar performance as Anri, and Bryce Papenbrook, a voice actor that I have not tried to hide my disdain for, gives his best performance yet as our playboy Masaomi. Admittedly, Darrel Guilbeau as Mikado is definitely the weakest member of the cast, which is rather unfortunate because his forced acting comes up so often. However, any dub that has Steve Blum (Kyōhei), Johnny Yong Bosch (Izaya), and Crispin Freeman (Shizuo) in the same anime and at such a high level of captivating performances should not be missed even by the most avid dub haters.
The soundtrack was composed by Makoto Yoshimori, and he brings the same jazz-infused cacophony that he gave to the Baccano! soundtrack. Almost every track adds weight to the scenes that they are assigned to, be they spastic jazz trumpet solos or heartwarming piano melodies. The openings themes "Uragiri no Yuuyake" by Theatre Brook and "Complication" by ROOKiEZ is PUNK'D provide adrenaline-pumping rushes to play us into each episode, while the ending themes "Trust Me" by Yuya Matsushita and "Butterfly" by ON/OFF play us out with some chill pop numbers.
While it is unfair to constantly compare this series to Baccano!, practically every problem that I had with Durarara!! was something that its predecessor did excessively well. Nevertheless, Durarara!! is still an exhilarating ride that I highly recommend seeing as soon as you can.
