anime: Durarara!
Jan. 11th, 2016 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meganbmooreAfter trying and failing several times over the last few years to get past the first episode of Durarara!, I finally succeeded and watched the entire first season over the last 4 days.
DRRR! is about Ikebukuro and street gangs and criminal masterminds and evil scientists and urban legends and internet chatrooms and almost normal people "WTF"-ing at everything a lot as a steadily increasing number of supernatural things start happening around them.
It is very problematic in many ways, but also very addicting once you get into it.
The best parts, in no particular order, are:
1. Celty Sturleson, a dullahan whose head was stolen 20 years prior to the start of the series. She is convinced that her head is somewhere in Ikebukuro, where she currently works as a transporter. She can be a bit of an airhead (no pun intended) and people tend to think she's a supervillian when in reality she spends half her time running around saving people and adopting stray teenagers. She is quite possibly the most normal and grounded person in this series.
2. Kyohei, Walker, Erika and Saburo. A quartet of otaku who are always riding around in their van, and derive an enormous amount of delight out of getting to charge to the rescue of whoever is currently in danger every few episodes. Sometimes they're a bit too late to be Big Damn Heroes (or get ordered to stay in the van) and it is The worst Day Of Their Lives.
3. Our trio of (kinda) central protagonists. Mikado, a shy but bored boy from the country who moves to Ikebukuro to attend school with his childhood friend, Kida, said childhood friend, who is extremely exuberant, and Anri, their mutual crush who is even shyer than Mikado, not to mention introverted and perpetually on te receiving end of bullying. They all have angsty pasts and Deep Dark Secrets. Ok, 2 of them have angsty pasts and Deep Dark Secrets. One of them has a secret that initially wouldn't have been all that huge if they'd just come out with it to their BFFs then it gets increasingly awkwards and balloons into the hottest of hot messes for the trio. Between them, they include a potential future criminal mastermind, one of the top 3 most physically dangerous people in the series despite an innocent appearance, and...well, I mean, the third one has the ability to summon huge crowds of people to stare hatefully at you and your henchmen until you are forced to shuffle away in humiliation, or to create impromptu chain rescue groups. But mostly they're cute kids who keep getting caught up in weird stuff and are involved in a permanent yet not annoying love triangle.
Incidentally, the final arc would have lasted about 2-3 episodes if they'd just sat down and talked about their secret identities and extracurricular activities instead of being all secretive and trying to secretly save each other. They have a lot of secrets.
4. The eternal war between Izaya, the professional troll and the guy behind most of the troubles in the series, and Shizuo, the ex-bartender whose entire life is an endless stream of over-the-top Parkour stunts. The latter is the most absurd character in a series full of absurd characters.
5. The fact that Celty manages to make a "OMG Shizuo no" face every time Shizuo loses his temper despite not actually having a face. Or just Celty and Shizuo being socially awkward dorks together.
6. Celty's occasional turns as Anri's Knight in Shining Armor. HEARTS IN MY EYES.
The bad:
1. Why so many stalkers and creepy childhood obsessions? Why so many romantic pairings involving stalking and/or creepy childhood obsessions? I say that actually liking a couple of said pairings, but really, there should be a limit to how many of those things one series can have.
2. A bunch of other problematic stuff I don't actually want to get into.
3. It frequently forgets that it isn't Baccano. That there would be similarities to Baccano is inevitable. Both series are based of light novels by the same author, are made by the same studio, and share a lot of the creative team, and both series feature a huge cast of characters who operate in separate but frequently overlapping spheres. But the pacing, tics and narrative approach are almost identical, and the handling of the fast paced build to minor and major climaxes is mostly the same as in Baccano. This does contribute to the general addictiveness of the series, but practically begging for constant comparisons can also work against it. It does get better about this, but part of why I failed multiple times to get into it was because the first episode was relying so heavily on being like Baccano that my not being as immediately interested in the plot or characters was harder to get past than it normally would have been. Without being forced to compare them in my head, I probably would have been interested enough to keep going the first time I tried to watch it. It does get better about this throughout the season. ("Not enough women" was also an issue for me with the pilot. It also gets better about this, but could still do better.)
The 3rd part of season 2 (or however they're breaking it down/whatever they're calling it) just started airing, and unless I burn out, I imagine I'll tear through what's available this week before returning to my regularly scheduled kdramas.
DRRR! is about Ikebukuro and street gangs and criminal masterminds and evil scientists and urban legends and internet chatrooms and almost normal people "WTF"-ing at everything a lot as a steadily increasing number of supernatural things start happening around them.
It is very problematic in many ways, but also very addicting once you get into it.
The best parts, in no particular order, are:
1. Celty Sturleson, a dullahan whose head was stolen 20 years prior to the start of the series. She is convinced that her head is somewhere in Ikebukuro, where she currently works as a transporter. She can be a bit of an airhead (no pun intended) and people tend to think she's a supervillian when in reality she spends half her time running around saving people and adopting stray teenagers. She is quite possibly the most normal and grounded person in this series.
2. Kyohei, Walker, Erika and Saburo. A quartet of otaku who are always riding around in their van, and derive an enormous amount of delight out of getting to charge to the rescue of whoever is currently in danger every few episodes. Sometimes they're a bit too late to be Big Damn Heroes (or get ordered to stay in the van) and it is The worst Day Of Their Lives.
3. Our trio of (kinda) central protagonists. Mikado, a shy but bored boy from the country who moves to Ikebukuro to attend school with his childhood friend, Kida, said childhood friend, who is extremely exuberant, and Anri, their mutual crush who is even shyer than Mikado, not to mention introverted and perpetually on te receiving end of bullying. They all have angsty pasts and Deep Dark Secrets. Ok, 2 of them have angsty pasts and Deep Dark Secrets. One of them has a secret that initially wouldn't have been all that huge if they'd just come out with it to their BFFs then it gets increasingly awkwards and balloons into the hottest of hot messes for the trio. Between them, they include a potential future criminal mastermind, one of the top 3 most physically dangerous people in the series despite an innocent appearance, and...well, I mean, the third one has the ability to summon huge crowds of people to stare hatefully at you and your henchmen until you are forced to shuffle away in humiliation, or to create impromptu chain rescue groups. But mostly they're cute kids who keep getting caught up in weird stuff and are involved in a permanent yet not annoying love triangle.
Incidentally, the final arc would have lasted about 2-3 episodes if they'd just sat down and talked about their secret identities and extracurricular activities instead of being all secretive and trying to secretly save each other. They have a lot of secrets.
4. The eternal war between Izaya, the professional troll and the guy behind most of the troubles in the series, and Shizuo, the ex-bartender whose entire life is an endless stream of over-the-top Parkour stunts. The latter is the most absurd character in a series full of absurd characters.
5. The fact that Celty manages to make a "OMG Shizuo no" face every time Shizuo loses his temper despite not actually having a face. Or just Celty and Shizuo being socially awkward dorks together.
6. Celty's occasional turns as Anri's Knight in Shining Armor. HEARTS IN MY EYES.
The bad:
1. Why so many stalkers and creepy childhood obsessions? Why so many romantic pairings involving stalking and/or creepy childhood obsessions? I say that actually liking a couple of said pairings, but really, there should be a limit to how many of those things one series can have.
2. A bunch of other problematic stuff I don't actually want to get into.
3. It frequently forgets that it isn't Baccano. That there would be similarities to Baccano is inevitable. Both series are based of light novels by the same author, are made by the same studio, and share a lot of the creative team, and both series feature a huge cast of characters who operate in separate but frequently overlapping spheres. But the pacing, tics and narrative approach are almost identical, and the handling of the fast paced build to minor and major climaxes is mostly the same as in Baccano. This does contribute to the general addictiveness of the series, but practically begging for constant comparisons can also work against it. It does get better about this, but part of why I failed multiple times to get into it was because the first episode was relying so heavily on being like Baccano that my not being as immediately interested in the plot or characters was harder to get past than it normally would have been. Without being forced to compare them in my head, I probably would have been interested enough to keep going the first time I tried to watch it. It does get better about this throughout the season. ("Not enough women" was also an issue for me with the pilot. It also gets better about this, but could still do better.)
The 3rd part of season 2 (or however they're breaking it down/whatever they're calling it) just started airing, and unless I burn out, I imagine I'll tear through what's available this week before returning to my regularly scheduled kdramas.