Jun 18, 2010
This review is meant for the viewer who has already watched Baccano!, and who is contemplating watching Durarara!!. In the event that you’ve not watched Baccano!, I suggest you watch it first. After all, the two anime boast the same director, and (either consequently or not) are generally similar in the way the story unfolds, and to lesser extent, how the characters are developed and how the plot reaches full circle, AND the point is that Durarara!! is, in my opinion, a much inferior work (perhaps as a result, or not, of) being really meant for the younger at heart.
So, fellow Baccano fan, let me
...
just say that I have never seen so many self-absorbed main characters in all my years of watching anime. And that sort of sums up this anime. Durarara!! ("DRRR") is basically a "self-absorbed" anime.
Shall I explain? Well, we are given lots on our viewer's plate, in the form of self-absorbed musings in this show: the multitude of one-dimensional side characters, the obligatory side-stories to explain the seemingly random existence of the side characters, the self-absorbed and trivial thoughts of the three main teenage characters, etc. The director obviously expects viewers to dig everything about the anime without a thought of whether each above-mentioned element is as good as the aggregate of them. But let's get something straight, Mr Director. Baccano! had some of these elements, yes, but it was fantastically done, as the whole work was simply built upon its excellent parts. DRRR, however, is not a Baccano.
Now perhaps the fact that the main characters in DRRR are teenagers has something to do with it. My thoughts are that DRRR might be perfect for you if you're around the age of 15-16, for the musings of the main teenage characters (and sad to say, for some of the adults as well) are of a maturity barely above that age. Some five minutes can go by with you, the viewer, subject to the vacuous rambling of the lead characters. If you're well over 20 yrs old like me, chances are, you would do well to give this anime a miss. Or else, when you reach say, episodes 20-22, you'll have all the angst, confusion and sheer immaturity that will send you stark raving mad.
But that is not to say that this anime is mediocre or a utter waste of time. Granted, DRRR is not a Baccano, even if there are throwaway references to the latter throughout the former. But still, Baccano fans can expect a fairly interesting plot at times, and one or two memorable characters (Celty is one of them). However, the magic of Baccano in its plot twists, developments and final resolution are sorely missed in DRRR. As I said, I have the feeling that DRRR is catered to a younger age group than Baccano was.
I found myself not easily attracted to the myriad of characters in DRRR, and I blame it on their character development. All the characters are simply too one-sided. After you're introduced to each character, and you see them in subsequent episodes, you unfortunately realize that that's exactly how they're like and will act throughout the show. And that is something a good anime normally tries to avoid. The fact is that, in DRRR, knowing exactly how a character will act spoils quite a lot of the enjoyment factor, especially when the character has his on-screen "emo" or self-absorbed times, and when this mental state of his or her spans more than a few episodes. When will the dragging about end? It's a real wet blanket for the viewer.
I'm not going to go on about the other critiques or the few thumbs-up that I have (god knows I'm willing), simply because that's not my intention, though. I just wanted to put out a humble warning to anyone who might view DRRR's high rating on MAL or the various praises sung of it as an indication of its suitability to everyone.
So that said, if you're interested in going behind the minds of the three main characters in this anime, all of whom are plainly immature, fairly ignorant and subject to teenage angst and hormonal changes, by all means give DRRR a try.
If you're not interested in the above, and you want to maintain your good impression of Baccano's director, give DRRR a miss.
Cheers.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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