Yes, um. Durarara. It’s difficult to imagine a series that triggered more pre-hype than it. Everybody was like, ‘hey, Durarara is going to be cool! It will be like Baccano, it will be great!’ Thanks to all these assumptions flying straight midair, my attitude towards the anime became negative even before it premiered. And at first I was right. But at last I was wrong. And I’m happy about it. Why?
The core of my issue is that simple yet pretty important thing: pathos. Durarara begun and moved on with a whole lot of that stuff. It was soaked in pathos. Just look at the OP, presenting all these characters like if they’re all super-mega-cool-and-important! The pre-hype probably added onto that, I just couldn’t help but think: Why so pretentious? It honestly annoyed me.
But the animation quality was good, there were a couple of characters I liked (the one who stayed unshown in the first episode, yet still won over all my sympathy — the one kicking the vending machine 20 meters high, for example) and so I gave it a second chance with the second episode.
The first half made me think my hopes had no reasons to continue their existence.
And then the motorbike drive scene happened. Music, colours, sound, text — everything was so damn right I felt like I was slapped for a moment. This was one of the most beautiful sequences I’ve seen in anime, right it was said “It felt like a dream” — it did. On from that moment, Durarara held the level. And the pathos, which of course stayed (where would it go by free will?), became justified. Durarara is good.
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4 Comments
I think Durarara!! has had some interesting points/moments, but overall, I’m still not impressed with the series.
Episode 2 focused on a character that I was bored by to begin with, and while it was a good way to introduce Izaya, I just didn’t like learning about Miss Magenta.
I’m still hoping for a little more with the next episode (and the next, and the next…), because I do want to like this show for whatever reason.
Most overhyped lameness I’ve seen in a while. =D
mefloraine´s last blog post: Oto x Maho / おと×まほ
Ah the glory of a hyped show reaching it’s high expectations. It’s a far better feeling than an underhyped show surprising everyone. It’s why I loved Eden of the East so much
Can’t delve too much into the series after 2 episodes, but I’m thoroughly pumped thus far.
Thinking about Baccano!, I think there is a similar approach going on here (yea~), which has to do with the mix: 50% characters, 40% presentation, and 10% left to occurrences, coincidences, chance, fate, and complexities. Great stuff.
It’s hard not to get hype aversion, especially since winter season is always lacking good shows so everyone just gets desperate on one very promising show
this is the time you usually avoid twitter and the like.But I’m glad it finally came around for you. If Ryogho Narita knew what he was doing for Baccano!, then DRRR!! should have some of the same elements to make the unimpressed change their minds in one way or another.