A sort of review: Durarara!!

I spent the last couple of weeks watching all sorts of anime, one of which is Durarara!! Categorized as shounen, action, and supernatural, Durarara!! is based on a Japanese light novel series by Narita Ryougo and follows a bunch of characters living in modern day Ikebukuro. I honestly did not know what to expect from this anime, as I didn't read any reviews, although I may have checked out the plot summary, just to see whether or not it would interest me. And it did, so I watched it.

As I've mentioned above, the story follows several people in Ikebukuro: a dullahan named Celty Sturluson, high school students Mikado Ryuugamine, Kida Masaomi, and Sonohara Anri, a shady information dealer named Orihara Izaya, his arch nemesis with superhuman strength, Heiwajima Shizuo, and Kishitani Shinra, an underground doctor who lives with Celty. Alongside these are a number of supporting characters including various members of Ikebukuro gangs Dollars and Yellow Scarves, students who go to the same school as Mikado, Kida, and Anri, Shizuo's brother, a woman who is in love with his brother... It's an insane cast of characters, really. Quite entertaining, though. 

I haven't watched anime in a long time. I think the last one was Ao no Exorcist, which I saw last year. I watched episodes of Slam Dunk from time to time, but that was all. A couple of weeks ago, though, convinced that I need as many distractions as possible, I started searching for new anime to watch, starting with a shoujo anime called Kamisama Hajimemashita and another one titled Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun. Both are really good, but are still ongoing, which means I can only watch one episode a week, so I decided to download completed anime.

One of the things I find most important in an anime, aside from the story, is, of course, the art. I love bishounen so much that I can stand watching a boring anime so long as there's plenty of eye candy in it. Anyway, there aren't any bishounen in Durarara!! and the art isn't really that pretty either. It's more on the simple side, if you get what I mean. It ain't fancy, but it's not bad either. It's okay. But the story more than makes up for that. It's so good that I went "Ooooooh." after almost every episode and couldn't help moving on to the next. I didn't watch it in one sitting though.

I'd like to think of Durarara!! as one of those stories where the characters are the plot. It's not too heavy on plot, and focuses more on the lives of the characters, how they act upon the things that happen to them and to the people around them, as well as the consequences of these actions. What I find most appealing about it though is how these characters turn out to be connected to one another, how these connections gradually unfold as the story progresses, and how complex the characters are in terms of their feelings and motivations. I am drawn to their humanity, to their darkness, even (I guess a part of me will always be attracted to certain dark things, although, to be honest, I find most frightening). The possibility of real people having such dark tendencies strikes fear into me. For some reason, though, it wasn't very disturbing. Probably because there's some humor in it too.

The dynamics of certain character relationships also sparked my interest, particularly that of Shizuo and Izaya (okay fine, this is just my fujoshi side talking). I seriously cannot help myself from imagining those two having violent, angry sex (just to be clear, this isn't a fetish of mine or anything; I'm a complete fluffball). Ships aside, I like how relationships are explored in the anime and how the characters developed overtime. This didn't apply to every character, of course, there's too many of them, after all, and even some of the main characters didn't undergo any real changes. Still, I find them human enough to relate to. Am I making sense?

I'm trying not to talk about anything specific to avoid spoilers, but in turn this review is becoming rather useless. Haha. Ultimately, Durarara!!, for me, is all about how complex human emotions and relationships can be and how they are the driving force behind our actions. I also like how the lives of these characters are connected, and at some point, intertwined in ways I didn't really imagine. And maybe that's one of its major appeals: it wasn't predictable. I consider Durarara!! one of the best anime I've ever seen and am therefore giving it a rating or four stars out of five.

Yes, just four. I'm stingy with my stars, so shut up.