Story 10
At first this anime was pretty slow with not much happening during the first couple of episodes, but I guess they were for the sake of introducing characters, but one thing that i did like what they did was that they did an episode on each MC perspective of that day/even and have them narrate their own feelings at that time, not something you see in a lot of animes, to be honest first time i had ever seen it. Shortly after that the story picked up, it started focusing more on the urban legends that lead to characters developing their relationship's with each other, tensions between the 3 factions (Dollars, Yellow scarves, Slashers) that puts 3 best friends relationship to the test by some guy (Izaya) who is constantly trolling everyone 24/7 in the background, which was actually pretty amazing to witness the way he trolled everyone without anyone noticing, it was like watching Lelouche from code geass all over again =P. The anime ended pretty well, it was a nice and simple way to end everything that occurred throughout although I personally think it could have been better, or at least have Mikado and Anri confess to each other >.>
Art 8
The art was pretty well done, it had that old classic feel, plus i quite liked how they made all the characters that didn't speak grey, it made the ones that did speak stand out more creating a nice little effect in my opinion. Most of the character design was quite well down, Izaya's character design gave off that same feeling as L from death note, that feeling off "Shit this guy probably knows everything". Kida with his delinquent look was quite good as well, it gave viewers an idea about what his past what could have been and why he change his look. the art around Celty was pretty good, as in her shadow techniques, like her weapons and ways to scare off people, they weren't overly detailed and was quite simple. They were often some quite epic poses/moves with her scythe as well.
Sound 8
The OST was pretty good in this, it really set the mood in certain scenes, especially the horror ones or the ones when something amazing will happen, but i liked the fight scene OST the best it made the fight seemed more epic and exciting even though it was just a normal fist fight... The 2 openings was pretty catchy to listen to, and i especially liked how they had a little recap section during the song i thought that was pretty cool, it actually made me listen to the whole opening every time which is quite rare!
Character 9
Kida, Anri and Mikado character was pretty well done, their personality meant that they needed to rely on each other, which created quite a special atmosphere when the 3 started falling apart, plus Kida's personality always led to some funny moments come up from time to time. Celty's character was quite unexpected, when we think of monster or supernatural monsters in anime we think "probably something strong, and not easily scared" while Celty is strong, she gets scared pretty easily to the point where she's scared of traffic cops... Who knew Dullahan was scared of traffic cops. Shizou was a pretty interesting character, a short tempered guy who hates violence, yet despite his hatred for violence his actions tend to always contradict him. But my favourite character is probably Izaya, man that guy literally trolls everyone 24/7 no wonder Shizou hates him so much, although I loved it when he messes around with people.
Enjoyment 10
This was a very enjoyable anime for me, there was countless scenes that made me sat their stunned thinking "WHATTTTTTTTT?!!". It was pretty interesting watching how Izaya play around with everyone thinking that their pawns, man that guy literally thinks he's god i swear. While there were many epic scenes especially the Dollars first meet up, this anime does have a few comical scenes such as Shizou and Izaya's fight, or Simon and his sushi comments, they were pretty amusing to watch. Oh and i loved it when they made references to other animes, especially the Shakugan no Shana model =P.
Overall 10
There is hardly any bad points in this anime, and if i had to give one i would say the ending could have been better, it wasn't anywhere as epic compare to the rest of series. But other than that I enjoyed this anime quite a lot, it had that same epic feeling you always get when watching Code geass. For viewers that like an anime where there is a guy in control of everything in the background, and likes a bit of horror and comedy, Durarara is something you should definitely watch, and if your done and want some more, go check out the dollars website online and be prepared to be amazed at how similar it is to the anime one!
