DURARARA!! DVD Review

(Quite possibly worth losing your head over)

Lately I've been pummeled by some really good anime series, and here is another one that is definitely worthy of getting better known out there.

"Durarara!!" follows several high-school students having adventures in Tokyo concerning gang warfare. It also features the sexiest headless woman ever, kicking ass left and right with her motorcycle (which happens to have the shadow of a horse...).

Huh?
Welcome to the wonderful world of "Durarara!!".
Siren Visual recently released the last of three boxsets concluding this series, so here is my review.

In short: it's good. Very good. For a longer version, read on!


The Story:

Mikado, Anri and Masaomi are three youngsters at a school in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo who become friends. Although they seem happy and normal enough, each of them harbors a big secret unknown to the others. They are also more powerful than they seem albeit in different ways.

And they are not the only forces walking the streets of Ikebukuro. There is also an Irish headless motorcyclist looking for her head, a mysterious serial slasher, a new gang called "The Dollars", a bartender with Herculean strength whose nemesis is a sinister information broker... and there is something else which makes people disappear.

When an unknown influence intentionally starts disrupting the peace, can Mikado, Anri and Masaomi prevent Ikebukuro from turning into a warzone?


The Series:

In the synopsis above I mentioned the Tokyo district Ikebukuro no less than three times by name. This is for a reason: the scenery in "Durarara!!" is as much a character in the story as any of the main players, with all of the action taking place there and only there. You'll get to know the shopping streets, the student's quarter, the edge of the park, the park, the freeway, the back alleys... The cityscape is as important as it was in, say, "Tekkon Kinkreet" and it is what connects everyone in this series. I've never been to the place (or Tokyo, or Japan for that matter) so I cannot tell if they got the atmosphere correct but it remarkably starts to feel like a real place after a few episodes. And I say remarkably because many of the series' plots and sub-plots are quite outlandish.

I'd love to go into details and explain just how far-fetched things get, but that would be spoiling things. All I will say is that the headless motorcyclist (her helmet is filled with nothing but black smoke) should give you an indication just how far the creators at Studio Brainbase are willing to test your suspension of disbelief.

But this is where the series gets pretty brilliant: despite the supernatural stuff it never feels as though there is something too weird going on. Instead of focusing on the occult the series treats all of its characters in a matter-of-fact way, and apart from an eerie moment of two "Durarara!!" never turns into (yet another) teen horror series. Instead, it takes the path of the convoluted thriller with some slice-of-life soap mixed in for good measure. Everyone here is affected by the mundane worries of daily life, and the use of modern social media is far more important in this story than any superpowers or ancient hocus-pocus.

Mikado is our initial guide through the maze that is Ikebukuro. A newcomer himself, the series starts with him getting a tour of the district and the first few tastes of the people who live there. His innocent naivety and curiosity quickly unveil which factions are in power, both openly and hidden, but after a while "Durarara!!" spins off into the backgrounds of several people Mikado has met, providing us with a lot more information than he has. This is used later to set up some very effective cliffhangers. "Durarara!!" may not have the fastest-moving script, but it never fails to be gripping.

And that is basically it. My wife is generally no fan of anime but she loved this, and we burned through the series at a rate of three-four episodes each evening. You get two twelve-episode story arcs, each capped with a thirteenth episode which is a funny epilogue. If there is one gripe that I have it's that some of the plot strands resolve satisfactorily, while others are left completely open. This is probably just the creators staying faithful to the manga on which the anime is based (the books continue far beyond the events in this series) but both my wife and I both felt like "Awwwwwww..." when we had no episodes left. Being hungry for more is a good sign though, and we did not feel short-changed.


Conclusion:

"Durarara!!" is a strangely addictive series which is fun, gripping stuff. It takes its time to present its large cast of characters but never forgets to be entertaining, nor does it lose sight of the central storyline which is medium-epic. Very highly recommended!


About the DVDs:

The version of "Durarara!!" I saw was the Australian release by Siren Visual. Yes, them again. "Durarara!!" comes in three two-disc boxsets which are basically barebones (all you get are some trailers for other series on each second disc), and coded PAL region 4 so make sure your gear can handle that.

The video on these discs is very good. A lot of "Durarara!!" takes place at night with muted colors, but this is never a problem. Soundwise you have the choice between a Japanese dub and an English dub (both stereo), but the discs default to the Japanese dub with English subtitles. A note on these subtitles: a separate set is included which only translates notes, adverts and posters in the background, those sorts of things. Very neat. During half of one episode the timing of the subs was slightly off, but thankfully that only happened once.

All in all a good if bare release. The series itself shines though, and is done full justice in the visual department.



Check out Siren Visual's anime catalogue here (link).