If you have already watched Baccano! you might be wondering whether you should watch Durarara!! and that will depend on what you enjoyed in Baccano! If you enjoyed the sheer violence(present only when necessary) that was there in Baccano! and the craziness of characters such as Rail Tracer and Ladd and the comedic relief provided by the couple Isaac and Miria then prepare yourself to be disappointed immensely. For me Durarara!! seemed to be a show made to cater to a much younger age group. Gone was the violence and the craziness replaced with high school kids who really did not develop much and also characters who remained static and comedic characters who just weren't funny. Even the romance present in Durarara!! seemed to be inferior and somewhat cliche to what was presented in Baccano!. So for me personally Baccano! was a much more superior anime than Durarara!! and I just had to make comparisons between the two since I know that many fans of Baccano! will look to watch Durarara!! just like I did.
The art was good enough for me and I found really nothing wrong with it.
The characters remained static and were dissapointing, it felt so repititive to see Shizuo do the same thing so many times, shouting Izaya all the time and throwing vending machines and what not at people so many many times and I can see how it might appeal to fangirls when you see one guy obsessed to such an extent with another but it did not appeal to me at all. Anri and Selty was also a dissapointment and they were the main female characters in the show. Selty's love for Shinra felt so clihce to me, gone was the exciting romance that was present in Baccano! replaced with romance that felt like it was taken out of a shoujo manga. Anri constantly drowned herself in a pool of misery and lack of self esteem, Mikado even with the secrets that were revealed about him seemed to be a typical shounen protagonist with self doubts and in love with a girl who he is too cowardly to confess to. It was so evident that Durrarara was made to cater to a younger age when you see these kinds of characters and circumstances. The only two characters that really seemed alright was Izaya and Kida. The romantic relationship between Yagiri and Mika was also refreshing as well.
I really did not enjoy this show that much but I believe that for people who have not watched baccano! this show might appeal to them much more but for me who has watched Baccano! this show was not enjoyable at all and quite disappointing.
