Durarara can be described in one word; Disappointing. Why? With Durarara having been constantly compared to it's predecessor, and what I believe to be the superior, turned out to be disappointing and a cheap shot by Brains Base. With this in mind, I hope to address the merits and flaws of this show through compare and contrast with Baccano.
Story- 3
Why have I given this a 3? The story was neither 'Dreadful', or 'Pathetic', but is undeserving to be rated as Decent or anything better, because It could be summed up as a cheap and literal translation from Novel to Anime, with 0 creativity put in, which was a slap in the face for those who expected Brains Base to present us Durarara in the same or similar format on how they handled Baccano; Having small parts of different story arcs placed in an episode for us to piece together as the story progressed. The same can't be said about Durarara, which was a stark contrast to Baccano, being painful and slow, especially those who expected this to be as dynamic as it's predecessor. Furthermore, the only interesting 'part' of the series was perhaps its 2nd arc, which was short-lived and ignored by the finall arc, which was supposed to sum this whole series together.
Art- 9
Not much can really be 'debated' in this area, as modern anime goes, the animation was smooth, the characters were consistent, and I had no quells with the design adaptations of the novel characters to anime, but it certainlhy isn't outstanding, which is why I believed 'Great' did justice in this criteria.
Sound- 8
The same is said in regards to Sound, as there really is no 'debate' over one's preference to their likes and dislikes regarding the sound of an anime; The Openings and Endings were decent, the cast of Seiyus were accepable, and the BGM did not ruin the viewer's enjoyment of the show.
Character- 2
Why 2? Brains Base, was well... dreadful. I was not attached to a single of the characters in the whole series. Not one of what, 20+ characters? Not one of them appealed to me, and that to be honest is a shock. Their personalities ranged from the typical 1-dimensional pussy to the complete asshole. Really, 20+ characters were available to be molded and not one gave me any sort of attachment, and that is a shock. I watched the show hoping the pussy or the asshole would have even a marginal evolution in terms of their personality only to be mind-raped at the last episode, with the stark reality of life hammered into me that shit just doesn't change. And unlike Baccano, where comic relief is entertaining, the so called comic relief presented in this show is either horrifying or incredibly narcissistic. One of the only few moments that I enjoyed was having one asshole be an asshole to another asshole, if that should have been redeeming.
Enjoyment- 3
I expected this serie to give me the same dynamic pace that Baccano gave me, not the direct opposite. It was in general agonizing to go through Durarara only to realize that it's going to cop you out of all the hype you felt over this show. I expected the same, fast-pace story telling that Baccano had as an appeal only to bve shattered by the abysmal mess of Durarara. At first this was a show that me and my friends would be able to be look forward to, to watch together only to be shoved to a side as we realized that this was an absolute abomination. Durarara kills the element of sleuthing that Baccano gave us as we question what would happen next by having the explanation given the episode after the 'story'. I have this a 'poor' for the little moments I enjoyed this as a sort of moment of gathering, which failed miserably after around the 12th episode.
Overal- 3l
sure, some would say it's got great visuals and sound, but it fails to deliver the touch that I had expected from Baccano, turning this show into a slow, agonizing chore that I lived with in spite of far better shows at the time, and a waste of what could have been critically acclaimed like Baccano was. There will always be conflicting ideas from other (re)viewers as their tastes are unique, and their points are most probably valid in their own rights, but in honesty I cannot reccommend this show genuinely to those that hoped for show that would be on-par with Baccano or maybe better than Baccano, as this is, to be blunt, a piece of shit in comparison.
Regards.
