Durarara!! - Overall Series Impressions & Total Series Rating

[White Manju Bun]

This thread is to be used for discussing the entire 24 episodes of Durarara!! ... your thoughts about the show, overall impressions, expectations and hopes about the DVD only footage etc.

A few subjects you might want to ramble on about:

• General impression of the series.
• Opinions on the overall story, writing & plot devices.
• Thoughts about the animation quality.
• Characters/Character Design
• Voice Acting
  
  
• Which kind of footage (DVD only) you feel you'd really like to see.
• What the show meant to you.
• What could the creators/animators/writers have done better.

And so on.

The poll represents your total series rating. In other words, how you would rate all the episodes combined (1-10)? If you'd rather rate the whole series by technical/artistic merits, you can do so. An example:

Animation Quality: 1-10
Voice Actors: 1-10
Script: 1-10
Soundtrack: 1-10
Editing: 1-10
Enjoyment: 1-10
Emotional Involvement: 1-10

Average = Total Series Rating

Or a combination of the two. Or your general gut feeling.

Feel free to discuss and more importantly, have fun

[Iron Maw]

Animation Quality: 9
Very consistent for a 24 ep series. A few bumps here and there, but nothing really terrible or, distracting. Art and background is very stylish and the attention to detail is excellent making Ikebukuro a thriving city with many mysteries, as well as making it much a "character" as anyone this series.

Voice Actors: 10
Don't have any complaints here. VA is quite outstanding as nobody feels out of place.

Script: 9.5ish
One better written shows to come out in years, which is a good thing since this show has a large empathises on character interaction between such an oddball cast from such diverse backgrounds. Dialogue is smart and funny without coming off overdone or, cliched, and cast acts in well believable (or, in some cases unbelievable ) manner while still feeling natural. This is definitely the shows strength here.


Soundtrack: 8
There are some really standout tracks, and music works very well for series and is pretty varied. It's not as strong when listening to the songs on their own though IMO.

Both OP's are great and stylish while the ED's aren't as good in terms of music still hold up pretty well.

Editing: 9
Direction, transitions and pacing for the most part are well done. Nothing feels awkward or, really jarring. Comedy, drama and suspense are done expertly. Both the first and second half have there slow moments, but nothing particularly feels wasted because each episode is constantly provide new info and furthering the plot.

Enjoyment: 9
Overall, I really found DRRR!! to be a pretty fun and refreshing both in terms of storytelling and visuals. It's rare to find a show the mixes together so many genre elements so without falling flat on it face or, has such interesting plot twists and large cast who all seem to be more than what they are at first glance.

Emotional Involvement: 9
This probably what looked forward to most during Winter/Spring, so I well be quite sad to see it go, I hope BB considers a second season, noting it's popularity both in Japan and overseas.


Average = Total Series Rating: 9

[Jarmel]

Honestly I'm not sure how I should rank it as not all the plot threads were closed or even fully used but it was solid writing and that is rare nowadays. The animation studio did a very solid job producing and while didn't do an outstanding job, it was very consistent and rarely faltered. Characters were all very interesting except Anri and definitely added to the show. My only complaint is that there were a little too many setup episodes and the pace in many episodes also leaned towards the slow side which might have worked better in novel form but not necessarily in half hour blocks. Overall though it was an excellent job and I'm having trouble deciding between 8.5 or 9 for the overall series.

[serenade_beta]

Not really that much to say, except that it was... a really good anime.
For one thing, it was two cour. I think it has been a while since I have finished a 2-cour anime, simply because they seem to be so rare these days.

The story itself was also pretty stable, though it had a few slip-ups. But it is usually pretty good, so completely forgivable.

Characters... are... really colorful. But pretty much all of them are out of their minds, so I can't really say I liked any of them much. Stalker girl was kind of cute, though.
Also, overuse of cheat Shizuo to end everything.
Also, the existence of Shizuo's brother and the gas mask father was very... throw-away. They appear a couple of times, and you never see them again. They even appear in the ED, so I expected them to at least appear in the last episode, but no. Also, the police also felt like meaningless characters.

Nothing too good or too bad in the music department and animation department. Satisfactory, though.
The thing that left the most impact was the hilarious horror BGM that went CoffeeCoffeeCoffee.

So, 9/10. A few problems, but a great anime in general.

[LeaD36]

8

I guess i'll just list the cons which i had to substract from the max score.

As far as adaptions go, and not having read the original source, i think it's really well done, but, it's short. We'd need like 3-4 more seasons worth of 24 eps each.
And the other part is the ending of what seems to me as season 1. Izaya announcing that there's a reason he can go 1n1 with Shizu-chan, so what's the reason? Why are there still so many mysteries? And no this is not an open ending in the modern sense, it's just utter void and failure to round up at the end.

[Xacual]

Originally Posted by LeaD36

Izaya announcing that there's a reason he can go 1n1 with Shizu-chan, so what's the reason?

I don't think there was a specific reason, he was just saying to Anri that her expectation that she could easily cut him was pretty dumb because he has never been beaten by Shizuo despite his best attempts and Shizuo is way stronger than she is.

I thought the series was good but I thought there were some parts that the pace started to fail so that's the main reason I gave it an 8. Thankfully the characters were outlandish and awesome just like the author's previous series Baccano! which made everything so much better.

[kamehameha]

meh the only thing that made the whole anime interesting was celty shizu and izhaya, of the raira kids it'd be kida..mikado and anri were painful to watch, if mikado ever left his room maybe he would've realized by episode 20 that kida was the leader of the yellow scarves. Mikado and anri make a great couple, both boring characters who are both longing for emotional sympathy from the viewer

[Forsaken_Infinity]

8/10. Very good, but nothing exceptional. Which kinda sucks because the characters and the basic premise as a whole are fucking awesome.

[CuXe]

Let me start by saying that I really liked all the references in this series.

1. Ubuntu is the OS of choice YAY!!! Go my Penguin Box Go!
2. Horo cardboard cutouts? + References to other anime heroines = Pure win!!
3. Isaac and Miria (from Baccano) finding themselves in the middle if the action = EPIC!

OK without further ado here are my ratings:

Animation Quality: 10 Really stylish stuff, they stepped up their game since Baccano!

Voice Actors: Simply 10, nothing else to add here they were all good

Script: I would say it was a solid 9 because there was no clear closure to this series, I'd give it a 10 if they decide to come through with S2 cause even tho the story was really REALLY good, there is still stuff to resolve such as:

"the deal with Celty's head" ...
"the deal with Celty's flirtatious body oh my!"
"the deal with Anri and Izaya, will she take him on from now on? who knows!" ...and...
"the deal with Anri not knowing whether she was in love with Kida....which is what she told Mikado in a nonchalant way"

Apparently they didn't end up together cause Mikado is too much of a woose. He couldn't bring himself to tell Anri that he liked her. Unlike Kida who eloped with Saki and I should point out, this guy has the potential to own most of the women in that town with his colorful personality.

Soundtrack: A solid 8, all the songs were adequate to their respective scenes and the OP/ED were for the most part really good.

Editing: 10 ... these people knew what they were doing, transitions and scene changes were superb.

Enjoyment: 9 .. it wasn't a 10 just because Mikado killed the Vibe. I mean this is the type of anime where having one indecisive character is enough (Ero Anri) and even tho Mikado had potential he never really did come through.

The rest of the characters were incredible, especially Celty at the end of EP 24 with that super ero change of clothing.

I tell ya that chick didn't even need a head to totally own the Spotlight! GRRRRRR (Yeah, I totally fell for that headless chick!)

Emotional Involvement: I give it a 7.5. Even tho Celty and Shinra were exquisitely flirtatious there wasn't enough time to further develop their funny romance. These two were a total WIN!

Most of the couples in this series were really good but Mikado n Anri really screwed things up for me. Anri thought she might have been in love with Kida (the wrong guy in this case) and Mikado didn't even flinch when she said that. Screw you Mikado! Grow a PAIR and teach that chick what love is trully all about!

Or maybe I should root for Anri who seems to be the one who would be wearing the pants in that relationship. Go Anri, drop that knife (I mean katana) and show Mikado how to be a man!

Overall Series Rating: 9

[TsundereCake]

Originally Posted by CuXe

Script: I would say it was a solid 9 because there was no clear closure to this series, I'd give it a 10 if they decide to come through with S2 cause even tho the story was really REALLY good, there is still stuff to resolve such as:

"the deal with Celty's flirtatious body oh my!"
"

I'm going to sound like Emiya Shirou but....

...you lost me.

Seriously, what do you mean?

[CuXe]

Originally Posted by TsundereCake

I'm going to sound like Emiya Shirou but....

...you lost me.

Seriously, what do you mean?

U mean people die if you kill them? LOL kidding

By "the deal with Celty's flirtatious body oh my!" I meant to say that we have yet to discover whats going to happen with Celty's sexy body which happens to have a mind of its own.

- Will her body ever find her head?
- Will her body really die if someone destroyed her head?
- Will she disappear to Valhalla once her head and body come together?
- Will her body marry Shinra and have sexy time?

So many questions... so much to deal with!

This is why I really hope they do S2!.... (that and because I want to see the Russian or Shizuo or Anri owning Izaya in battle)

[zebra]

8 of 10

I thouroughly enjoyed this show.

The setting was interesting and the characters awesome. Shizuo (!!! *FANGIRL*) and Celty were my favorites - hands down. The animation was pretty and I really liked the music, because it really fit the moods to a T; and felt unique and recognizable.
But I gotta say ... the second part was a let down. The opening wasn't as cool and the story is built up and built up but doesn't come crashing down really. I dunno, I didn't enjoy it as much as the first arc.

Still, it's a favorite already and although it didn't meet all my expectations I had a lot of fun watching. I cross my fingers for a continuation someday.

Gotta find more animes with Shizuo's voice actor <3

[TsundereCake]

Originally Posted by zebra

Gotta find more animes with Shizuo's voice actor <3

Would you like some suggestions?

Working!!, AIR, Kuroshitsuji, Haruhi Suzumiya, Higurashi, Umineko.

[Never Knows Best]

I really fell in love with this anime.

I just liked everything about it. I especially LOVED the second OP and how they would show re-caps of the episodes, and then cut back to the OP.

I know they did it since episode 2, but the pace of the song, and the clips being shown usually gave me goosebumps everytime, especially when

Spoiler:

one of the yellow scarves was describing Anri, and Kida says he "doesn't believe it," and the preview ends with Anri turning around, while the music picks back up.

Phenomenal.

[zebra]

Originally Posted by TsundereCake

Would you like some suggestions?

Working!!, AIR, Kuroshitsuji, Haruhi Suzumiya, Higurashi, Umineko.

Ah ty
... didn't notice him in Working and Haruhi
The others are on my plan to watch list already

[Fukutsuki_kaze]

This anime storyline and the ending was alright, the animation itself was superb.

What bothered me was that i felt at the end of the series, there was nothing definite about the relationship between Anri and Mikado, i mean at most their friendship has gotten closer, unlike Masaomi and Saki.

I know that the anime wasnt purely about relationships but it still would've been nice to see an definite relationship around Mikado happening.

Celty is Pawnage!

[Hunter6VI6]

I loved this show.

Shizuo is awesome.

[Archon_Wing]

Ah, every time I go "zomg anime sucks now" I come across stuff like this. I'm not sure what I was doing when it was airing, but should have definitely watched it sooner =p

Visuals : 9/10
I wouldn't really say anything knocked me off my feet, but the shots of the city and its roads sure are pretty. I'm not particularly picky in this area unless it's distracting me enough for the show. The show was just nice to look at.

Audio: 10/10

Spoiler for details for audio:

The voice acting was really good; especially with Hiroshi Kamiya's performance as Izaya. You could simply just feel all that evil playfulness and enthusiasm just from listening to his voice. Mamoru Miyano also gets props as Kida, for well, just for being a good voice actor in general. Miyuki Sawashiro plays the cool Celty appropriately, and also manages to capture the character's hopes and fears; particularly during episodes 11-12. For the most part, the voices suited the characters and made them come alive.

But the strongest part about Durarara is probaly the music. The pairs of OPs and EDs were magnificent enough for me to watch every single episode. Of course, "Complication" easily wins the best OP award for me. "Trust Me" is also strangely amusing and for some reason gives me some trollish vibes, since well trusting people isn't always a smart act around these parts.

The BGM is also very strong; it does its job, not too loud or soft. They aren't the best individual pieces of music, but the most important job of a BGM is to create the atmosphere for the situation at hand.

While I could nitpick, I'd say Durarara easily has the some of the best use of its audio aspects that I've ever seen.

Plot: 8/10

Spoiler:

The concept of Drrr!! is pretty strong. We're trapped in a mystery occurring in a city of adventure where anything can happen. At every turn, you have to question everything you've been handed. Everyone's being dishonest to each other, the audience, and sometimes themselves. But within all these layers of lies is the truth. And of course, the people with superpowers and the fact that every character has something up their sleeve makes me coming back for more.

It's also fairly well paced. The episodes always seem to end at the right times, making you want to tune in for more. It would have probably been better for me to watch it week by week though.

Now, the actual execution isn't without flaws, of course. We do seem to have a lot dialogue at odd moments, particularly near the end. Also, the characters near the end, especially Mikado seemed to have dropped a few IQ points. (Really, you couldn't have used your own gang to get more info than trusting THAT guy?) which provides a stark contrast to Mikado in episode 11-12 who basically forced checkmate on his enemy.

The ending itself is .... well underwhelming. The closure was fairly adequate for the current thread, but it is very annoying to see some major plot points (such as the head) just being dropped. Sure, it's nothing a second season couldn't fix, but they could have closed off the season better. Yes, yes, source---> anime issues again, but that excuse can only go so far.

While not the deepest work around, Durarara does succeed at one thing trying to be smart; it explains stuff! Too many times, you get writers trying to be clever and "leaving it up to interpretation" but offering nothing of substance for the audience besides random speculation and ultimately resulting in bullshit (I won't name names ) Durarara actually feeds the audience something solid by explaining crap, and that is MUCH appreciated.

Characters: 9/10

Spoiler:

Well there's no doubt here; the main draw of the show is its colorful characters. Who couldn't be amused by "Hulk" Shizuo, or Simon, who somehow has managed to be a combination of a number of offensive stereotypes yet manages to defy them all? The asshole Izaya's antics don't really need me to go praising them more, nor should I have to reinstate how ridiculously cool Celty is.

Even the regular "boring" trio have their moments and figure in to the plot in an interesting way with their own thoughts and interpretations. Well, except the romance involving them... that was just extremely tacked on as I really don't see any of this "love" thing going on between any of them.

Each character has more than one layer beneath them, and the twisted love and deceit that seems to go around allows us to see a very entertaining bunch of interactions that help prop the story up.

Enjoyment 10/10: No lie, I enjoyed the series. I don't really have much of a criterion for the area; just drag me into a world, get me acquainted with the characters and events, and make me care. Did I care? Quite a bit, for the most part, though the second half I suppose wasn't as captivating at times.

Overall: 9/10
Well I haven't been amused this much for quite a while. In general, a good show tends to allow one to overlook its flaws and a bad show doesn't. While I am quite hesitant to call this show a masterpiece due to where it left off, it pretty much offered everything I wanted and more. But hopefully, there will be another season to wrap up its loose ends. In any case, I won't call it "the best anime evar!!1" but it sure was a damned good show.

[Roxxas]

the first half of this show, episodes 1-12, deserves an A grade. all that mystery and intrigue surrounding the dulahans/izaya's plan was fantastic. the revelations of the whereabouts of shelty's head and the true leader of the dollars was thrilling to watch.

the second half was so dissapointing! it completely shafted izaya's mastermind scheme and shelty's quest for her head in order to focus on a very dull gang war. the plot went no where and failed to build upon the first 12 episodes. episodes 13- 24 deserves no better than a C-

overall:
audio - 9
animation - 10
story/script/plot - 5 (first half was awsome though!)
characters - 9

this was a disappointing anime. all those interesting characters and premises wasted due to a crap-tastic second half.

[roriconfan]

Durarara, aka “Let’s milk the Bacanno fans.”

When Baccano! (henceforth B!) aired in 2007, it was received as a refreshing take on action/adventure/fantasy. Its story was told in non-linear fashion by the various individual characters, each adding something to the story, in a span of centuries. The pacing was fast, the characters were lively and there was satisfying closure in only 12 episodes.

So 3 years later, the same guys make Durarara!! (henceforth D!!) a story with a similar feeling. Most expected a series that would be equally good or better than B! Why? Well, it would be a newer series; that’s supposed to mean better visuals and more mature storytelling, as the scriptwriter is supposed to learn and improve as years go by. Plus, the series was now 24 episodes instead of 12; which most assumed would be double as complicating.

STORY SECTION
But in the end it was none of the above. Let’s start with the story for example.
-The main scenario is already less exiting than B! A creature looking for its head and street gangs feel far less interesting that alchemists trying to cheat death in a span of centuries.
-The pacing was far looser and was getting slower and slower as it went on. The second half is as fast as a snail. The double duration turned boomerang against the series, as there was nothing left to fill it with.
-The ending is not really an ending. It resolved only a small portion of all the issues involved in it. So it failed to wrap things up even if it was given more duration.
-Even the setting itself felt less interesting. B! was set in Europe and America of the 20th century, a time and place quite uncommon in anime. D!! on the other hand was… Modern Japan. How typical is that?
-I could even nag about all the fan catering. B! had a few hints with perky and good looking characters but D!! goes overboard. You are being bombarded with otaku culture, like images and quotes from other anime. One of the main characters is the “indecisive lead” archetype which I loath as it has been used to death over the past decades. No more! Some may find that easier to relate too than that of B! as there is a high chance they are actually living like that, but no thanks. We already have anime specifically for that. D!! was supposed to be about the characters and not about otaku culture.

CHARACTER SECTION
Also, one of the things I hated the most in B! was that couple of young kids running around with their super positive mannerism, doing silly things and acting as if the world is a fairy tale. Stupid brats; they ruined all the serious moments! And just when I thought D!! would lack such characters… It brought them back! ARGH! I wanted to smash my screen when the suddenly appeared. What is this crap? Why did this series turn to Gintama? And by the way, I DON’T FIND GINTAMA TO BE FUNNY! I find it to be a stupid Shounen Jump advertisement.

So, anyways, I leave those two aside and pretend they didn’t exist. The rest of the original characters in the series must be better than this… ARGH! Celty! An otaku’s wet dream! The dreadful Dulahan of Irish mythology turned to a chick that either runs around naked or rides a bike in tight leather while wearing a helmet with… CAT EARS?!?!? For the love of God, the characters of this series are so damn made to fan-please, it becomes retarded.

Relax, deep breath, it can’t be that bad. Looks aside, they must at least be well developed and relevant to the plot… ARGH! Not even half of them are! Since the story was left incomplete, most are there for no reason… other than stupid FAN PLEASING! So retarded!

And by the way, very few are support characters to be excused not developing. Most clearly have their own side stories and not being given their own arc is nothing else but a sign of “We run out of time and ideas” trope. In fact, you easily see how the scriptwriter is wasting time towards the end as means to end the series without doing anything with them because he knew there wouldn’t be enough time for more arcs yet refused to end the series in less than 24 episodes. Retarded cubed!

ANIMATION & SOUND SECTIONS
Oh well, at least the external looks of the series are nice; that is something I guess. The backgrounds are artistic, using real photos with filters to make them look distorted and dirty. And characters are drawn with almost no shading or many details, while having a big liveliness in motion and facial expressions. The dialogues are smart and the music is very pleasing, although I didn’t find anything remarkable in all that to excuse a 10. As artistic as it looks, having photographs and shadeless characters does strike as cheap for some, while the songs are not memorable. 8 for both.

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTIONS
Bottom line, this is far inferior to B! and even if not compared to it, it has a laggy and incomplete story, plus characters that are mostly style than substance. I give both a 6 for “trying” to be more than average. Hm, might as well give Value and Enjoyment that too; since this series is defined by those sections too. After all, only half the duration of the series is worth its money. They should have remained to the 12 episode format.
Average: 6.5
p.s. And in case you wonder about my B! scoring, it gets 8 in all sections.