Review: DURARARA!!

[WARNING: May contain spoilers!]
[WARNING Ver.2: Content may be harsh!!]

[disclaimer: image does not belong to me]

Summary for Durarara!! or in short DRRR!! is about an urban legend that circulates around Ikebukuro that a Headless Rider randomly roam the streets... doing dunno what. The main protagonist, a normal looking from the countryside called Ryugamine Mikado was warned by his childhood friend Masaomi Kida to be careful of several weird guys; like the man in bartender suit, a parkour loving informant and especially a gang called Dollars and Yellow Scarves. But Ryugamine eventually got caught up into the mess and at the same time enduring his typical teenage life at school (such as having a crush on a girl).

Towards the end you’d see that the normal characters are actually masterminds of something while the not so normal characters just wanted to lead a normal life. OMG I seriously just realized this! And I was about to say that the first half was intriguing but the second half makes you wonder where it is going...?

Celty Sturluson, the headless rider

First there was this modern dullahan who cruises the city like minah rempit (term "biker gang girl" in Malaysia) with yellow cat-eared helmet. At first I thought Celty Sturluson was a total enigma, but turns out she’s not obliged to show her headless body to those she’s acquainted with. And she can be friends with just about anyone and is most of the time in the neutral zone. I like her as a mysterious esper, but when she decided to become more human (by developing a romantic relationship with an illegal doctor) it’s not cool anymore.

And I thought DRRR! is all about her. But we also get the chance to get to know a vending machine thrower named Shizuo Heiwajima... aka Shizzy-chan. Not only vending machines, he has the capability of bending metals with his bare hands. His super strength is a mystery. He can punch a thousand enemies in one go just like in hack and slash games. Yet in contrast with his behaviour, he admits that he hates violence. Although he is dere to his brother it wasn’t enough to make me like him because he experiences PMS... ALL THE TIME.

mutual loveerrrrrssss! don't deny it!!!

Now here comes the yummy part; He’s particular interested in Izaya Orihara in an obsessive way. Once he sees Izaya-kun in the street, he would alwaaaaays take the opportunity to play tag with him. Izaya is the hard-to-get partner!! I don’t believe it when they say they instantly hated each since their first meeting pffff. Both are just being tsun to one another. COME ON GUYS, the FANARTS are very CONVINCING!!! Cos even if you hate someone so much doesn’t mean you have to chase him all over the place. Anyway Izaya-kun is the sly double/triple/quadruple agent of the city. Gee I didn’t know that you can make a living by ruining other people’s lives.

Yellow Scarves are the dominant gangster group whose members are not ashamed to hide the fact that they’re yellow fetish. They were dormant until much later when they hear about Dollar’s activities. Dollars are colourless, and they’re not really a group of delinquents but just some random cyberbuddies. Guess who their leaders are?!?! One of those normal guys....

I'm running out of ideas to rant on the other random people. A lovesick dude, a persistent stalker, Russian sushi promoter, a gang of Otaku, and a slasher who believes slashing is one way to love one another.

Soooooo...

Is the anime as supernatural as I thought it was...?

Nay. The occult part comes now and then, but there are also those realistic shit. There are times where I got confused whether this story sci-fi or what. DRRR! is deep, but not something you can dub as “exciting” or leaving any huge impact. I still like it nonetheless. Recommended for those who’d love to see some serious mysterious randomness for a change. Oh yea... I think the hidden theme in this anime is ROMANCE. In a simple yet.... peculiar way. Surprising for me as well.

2 OPs and 2 EDs for the whole season are great, so are the sequences.
Let’s not forget the cast, as they were the main factor that seduced me to watch DRRR!! It was nice to see the violent side of Daisuke Ono as Shizzy-chan, who voice acted as the gentlemanly butler in Kuroshitsuji before this. And also Hiroshi Kamiya who voice acted as the kuudere Tieria of Gundam 00 this time as a psychopath. However, my top faves Jun Fukuyama and Mamoru Miyano were a bit disappointing (cos i prefer them being... OH SO FABULOUS~~~~)

I heard the manga has more Guro. I'd like to read it to know what's the real plot...