TL;DR: at the bottom.
So, let's first start with the story. When I first heard about this anime, I thought it was heavily focused on supernatural and mystery themes, and how they're dealt with modern society, because a headless "Black Rider"? Sign me up! But as the story went on, it turned more into dealing with gangs- a surprise, but I don't really mind it. I don't think I've watched an anime before that dealt with gangs so openly. But, it still felt a bit off. There were some good plot twists here and there, but the story was kind of all over the place, and then finished up some storylines just like that. Things make sense after you've watched all of the episodes, but it's very anticlimactic and feels very half-assed.
Now, the art. It's okay- Durarara!! is a 2010 anime, and I'm used to the animation style of 2015 and 2019, so. At first I was really put-off by the "strangers are all just grey people", but as the story unfolded, it made a bit more sense.
Music in this anime is good, almost great even. The openings and endings are great, I rarely skipped them.
Characters of this anime are.... "eh". Some of them are good, but majority of them are just... bland, and kind of stupid. The only characters I actually like are Shizuo, Kadota and Semyon. Others seem like way too pretentious, especially Izaya. He's just so annoying. I get the kind of character he's supposed to be like, but his pretentiousness is just way too high, and the fact that he basically comes up top all the time, really ruins the "intelligent mastermind" character he is. Also the way he always over-explains everything is annoying and really makes the story seem bland, but this happens with many of the other characters when they just reveal the plot and all the little meanings that the viewers were supposed to already know. They also introduce so many characters at once and then expect us to remember that one guy that showed up on like episode 1 and was only mentioned on the last episodes, is just too much. I actually remember most of the characters' names, but only because they've been on the screen so much.
Side note; the way some of the characters acted just really grinds my gears. I'm all about duality in characters, but some of the things that the characters accept and are okay with just blows my mind. I don't wanna give spoilers so I have to leave it this vague, but just... Do none of them have common sense?
So, overall, I did enjoy, at least a little bit, watching Durarara!! It's concept is extremely interesting, but they just half-assed everything which really sucks because if they'd just improved with the story and the pacing of the story, it could be a lot better. This has so much potential, and I hope that they will do a better job with the second season, which I'm going to watch.
TL;DR: an okay show with lots of potential, but half-assed so much.
