Anime Review: "Durarara!!"

Plenty of friends, anime fans, and cosplayers recommended Durarara!! to me based on my love for Baccano! so I took a press screening opportunity from Aniplex USA to do so. But by the time I wrote this review of this preview, the release date for Durarara!! moved ahead of my publication date, so I figured it was too late to turn my preview into something new. But now Cartoon Network's Adult Swim is planning to air Durarara!! on cable television and now the series is suddenly relevant again.

Yeh, let's go with that.

After five episodes, I can safely conclude that Durarara!! is not directly related to Baccano! True, both shows feature an ensemble cast of eclectic characters each with his/her point of view of things, a series of seemingly unrelated events that connects each character to each other, conflicts that rise between characters during said events, and a stylish opening sequence that makes it a point of highlighting these features. For one thing, Durarara!! has TWO exclamation points.

The ensemble cast of Durarara!! consists of a typical high school student, his friend, his friend's friends, his obligatory cute classmate love interest with large breasts, and a few other folks in need of some serious screen time. Then the show adds a few formidable characters like a bartender who seems better suited as a one man moving company, a black Russian (not the drink), a street gang known as the Dollars, and an information broker who might as well wear a sandwich board that reads, "I AM THE BAD GUY." And top it off with a supernatural element courtesy of a headless motorcycle rider who zips through the streets of Ikebukuro. How all of these characters fit together is explored as they interact with each other amid a series of happenings.

The characters of DeeDeeDee!! are a wild and varied bunch. Some are easy to relate to like friends within your social circle, some are simply bad-ass, and at least one of them needs a firm drop kick off a steep cliff. In any case, they act and feel like human beings. The competent English dub is provided thanks to the Bang Zoom! Entertainment voice actors often seen during Anime Expo. When at least two parties interact, the resulting conversations and interactions create some pretty intriguing alchemy as they acknowledge themselves as part of something bigger than they know. But some characters have a tendency to narrate their thoughts throughout episodes like they were reading a book aloud, which kind of defeats the use of a visual medium like anime. Given all the work that goes into art and animation, a little more show with a little less tell would be nice. But that is one of the lesser problems of DerkaDerk's!! storytelling.

Storytelling is important to tie the events and characters together. And storytelling is DingDongDitch's!! weak point. There is plenty to see like thrown vending machines, suicide contemplation, blossoming high school love triangles, a possible gang turf war, and the search for a missing head. Cool as they are, these scenes currently have little relation to each other. Internet chat room messages often seen are used less for exposition or tying events together and more for saving on the animation budget. All in all, it feels like watching something akin toThe Twilight Zone where the city is the main character controlling its inhabitants like puppets. Granted, The Twilight Zone was great at creating individual vignettes of the strange or supernatural. But DoobieDoobieDoo!! is marketed as an ensemble piece and therefore needs at some point to tietogetherits many loose threads. And after five long episodes of exposition, this ensemble piece still has some assembly required.

Somebody once said, "If you're going to make something incredibly good that it becomes frighteningly popular, make sure it is the last thing you ever make in your entire life." I was initially going to shrug off DreidelDreidelDreidel!! as a sloppy knock off of the brilliantly executed Baccano!, which did a good job to juggle its ensemble cast and story. Then I learned that it was the creative team behind Baccano! that took on DoWopBopAlooBop!! Now it is hard to tell whether this new venture was a spark of non-creativity for quick cash, an attempt to make ensemble anime lightning strike twice, or an inadvertent New Coke resulting from experimenting on an already perfected formula.

Nevertheless, there is a certain allure drawing me into further episodes. I just can't tell whether it is a latent interest in the characters and story and how it may cometogetheror masochistic and futile hope that the next episode will make sense of the previous episode.

Bottom Line: The beginning episodes of Durarara!! are several pieces of a giant puzzle consisting of bizarre events and fascinating characters. How and whether these pieces actually fit together is yet to be seen.

Recommendation: Durarara!! is at least worth checking out to see if potential can trump patience. Also recommended if you feel that Baccano! was before your time.