(no subject)
I have been meaning to write up Durarara!! for ages, now that it's complete, and I keep stumbling over the fact that I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it! I didn't love it the way I loved Baccano!, and it's kind of problematic in several ways, and, I mean, how many stalkers does one show need, seriously. But on the other hand it is also totally hilarious in places and there are some moments of absolute awesome that includes some of the best evil laughter I've ever seen.
As with Baccano! it is kind of hard to describe the plot of Durarara!! except in terms of the characters so here, have another mini-picspam!
This is Celty Sturlusson. She is an Irish death fairy who has come to Japan (disguising her magic death horse as a black motorcycle) in search of her missing head.
When not speeding around Tokyo hunting for her head and rescuing passersby from various perils, Celty enjoys hanging out in online chatrooms and playing video games with her roommate. She's afraid of aliens; also, traffic cops. Celty is an understandably iconic character and for a long time was my favorite thing about the show.
These three Ordinary High School Students - Kida, Mikado and Anri - are sort of kind of the protagonists. Shy, polite Mikado just moved from his quiet boring life in the country to go to school in Tokyo with his super-duper-outgoing BFF Kida, and they quickly bond with even shyer, perenially victimized Anri and spend their time boggling at the weirder antics of the various residents of the neighborhood. And all is well!
Except for the fact that each of the kids has a DARK SECRET that puts them into power play with some of the major players in the city. Also one of them can kill you, one of them can beat you to a pulp, and one of them can summon a whole bunch of people at a moment's notice to stare at you really hard until you get embarrassed and shuffle off.
That guy getting hit by a vending machine in the last image, by the way, was Izaya, who has basically just dedicated his life to being the BIGGEST TROLL IMAGINABLE. Whether he's following around Celty's silent magical motorcycle making "VROOM VROOM" noises, creating sockpuppets on the internet, or gleefully chessmastering gang riots for the lulz and the body count, there is never a dull moment!
Fortunately for the world, Izaya has a nemesis! Unfortunately, Izaya's nemesis, while strong, is . . . not all that bright.
Shizuo is one of the strongest people in the district, but for a guy who's prone to flying into violent rages, picking up the nearest vending machine, and throwing it at whoever has triggered his ire, he's bizarrely lovable and ended up becoming one of my favorites. He and Celty are adorably socially incompetent BFFs. Fandom inevitably ships Izaya/Shizuo; that's okay, so does Erika.
From right to left: Kadota, Erika, Walker, and . . . some other guy whose name I can never remember. Resident geeks and general persons of mystery, they bop through the show in their battered van wielding cardboard cutouts of their favorite characters, mocking Walker's terrible juvenile fanfiction, and providing genre-savvy advice. They zoom dramatically to the rescue more often than you would expect, and every time it is awesome, mostly because of the sheer delight that they take in being Big Damn Heroes.
Kadota deserves a special mention, because he does in fact appear to be the only sane person in the series.
Simon, the Russian guy who hawks for Russia Sushi (don't ask) is another generally-bemused bystander and source of good advice, and the only person in the district who is on a par for Shizuo with strength. Shizuo and Simon are buddies except when Simon has to stop Shizuo from attacking a crowd of people.
.jpg)
Shinra is Celty's mad-scientist roommate, a cheerfully creepy underground doctor who has a thing for headless ladies. Or maybe just for Celty, whom he's been in love with since he was five. His dad doesn't approve, but it's not like his dad has any room to talk.
Shinra's dad, judging his son's lifestyle choices. I judge his right back.
These two are such a cute couple! Um. You remember what I said above about multitudes of stalkers, right? Pretty much everything I could say about them would be spoilery, but suffice it to say that they almost deserve each other. THEY HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON.
There are more characters! But these are the major/most interesting ones and that is already a lot, so I will stop here.
The reason I am able to write about this show now, by the way, is because futuresoon has made a vid that kind of sums up my final impression of the show: it is extremely bizarre, weirdly compelling and chock-full of individually awesome moments and characters, and in the end I gave up on trying to digest it in any serious way and just rolled with it. As she says, there are some vids that carefully analyze and thoughtfully explore the meaning of their source material, and there are some vids that have a lady riding a motorcycle down the side of a building set to incomprehensible rock music.
(I am pretty sure the vid doesn't actually spoil anything for the show except that Anri is secretly totally hardcore, which to be honest is kind of something I think it is okay to spoil for.)
As with Baccano! it is kind of hard to describe the plot of Durarara!! except in terms of the characters so here, have another mini-picspam!
This is Celty Sturlusson. She is an Irish death fairy who has come to Japan (disguising her magic death horse as a black motorcycle) in search of her missing head.
When not speeding around Tokyo hunting for her head and rescuing passersby from various perils, Celty enjoys hanging out in online chatrooms and playing video games with her roommate. She's afraid of aliens; also, traffic cops. Celty is an understandably iconic character and for a long time was my favorite thing about the show.
These three Ordinary High School Students - Kida, Mikado and Anri - are sort of kind of the protagonists. Shy, polite Mikado just moved from his quiet boring life in the country to go to school in Tokyo with his super-duper-outgoing BFF Kida, and they quickly bond with even shyer, perenially victimized Anri and spend their time boggling at the weirder antics of the various residents of the neighborhood. And all is well!
Except for the fact that each of the kids has a DARK SECRET that puts them into power play with some of the major players in the city. Also one of them can kill you, one of them can beat you to a pulp, and one of them can summon a whole bunch of people at a moment's notice to stare at you really hard until you get embarrassed and shuffle off.
That guy getting hit by a vending machine in the last image, by the way, was Izaya, who has basically just dedicated his life to being the BIGGEST TROLL IMAGINABLE. Whether he's following around Celty's silent magical motorcycle making "VROOM VROOM" noises, creating sockpuppets on the internet, or gleefully chessmastering gang riots for the lulz and the body count, there is never a dull moment!
Fortunately for the world, Izaya has a nemesis! Unfortunately, Izaya's nemesis, while strong, is . . . not all that bright.
Shizuo is one of the strongest people in the district, but for a guy who's prone to flying into violent rages, picking up the nearest vending machine, and throwing it at whoever has triggered his ire, he's bizarrely lovable and ended up becoming one of my favorites. He and Celty are adorably socially incompetent BFFs. Fandom inevitably ships Izaya/Shizuo; that's okay, so does Erika.
From right to left: Kadota, Erika, Walker, and . . . some other guy whose name I can never remember. Resident geeks and general persons of mystery, they bop through the show in their battered van wielding cardboard cutouts of their favorite characters, mocking Walker's terrible juvenile fanfiction, and providing genre-savvy advice. They zoom dramatically to the rescue more often than you would expect, and every time it is awesome, mostly because of the sheer delight that they take in being Big Damn Heroes.
Kadota deserves a special mention, because he does in fact appear to be the only sane person in the series.
Simon, the Russian guy who hawks for Russia Sushi (don't ask) is another generally-bemused bystander and source of good advice, and the only person in the district who is on a par for Shizuo with strength. Shizuo and Simon are buddies except when Simon has to stop Shizuo from attacking a crowd of people.
Shinra is Celty's mad-scientist roommate, a cheerfully creepy underground doctor who has a thing for headless ladies. Or maybe just for Celty, whom he's been in love with since he was five. His dad doesn't approve, but it's not like his dad has any room to talk.
Shinra's dad, judging his son's lifestyle choices. I judge his right back.
These two are such a cute couple! Um. You remember what I said above about multitudes of stalkers, right? Pretty much everything I could say about them would be spoilery, but suffice it to say that they almost deserve each other. THEY HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON.
There are more characters! But these are the major/most interesting ones and that is already a lot, so I will stop here.
The reason I am able to write about this show now, by the way, is because futuresoon has made a vid that kind of sums up my final impression of the show: it is extremely bizarre, weirdly compelling and chock-full of individually awesome moments and characters, and in the end I gave up on trying to digest it in any serious way and just rolled with it. As she says, there are some vids that carefully analyze and thoughtfully explore the meaning of their source material, and there are some vids that have a lady riding a motorcycle down the side of a building set to incomprehensible rock music.
(I am pretty sure the vid doesn't actually spoil anything for the show except that Anri is secretly totally hardcore, which to be honest is kind of something I think it is okay to spoil for.)