Durarara!! / First Impressions / Series Introduction

OP Sequence

OP: 「HEADHUNT」 by OKAMOTO’S

「百聞は一見に如かず」 (Hyakubun wa Ikken ni Shika Zu)
“A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words”

Durarara!! is back, and even though it’s listed under a different animation studio it still mostly looks the same, sounds the same, and feels the same. It’s almost like we haven’t been gone for a full five years. Much of this first episode of x2 Shou is intended to call back to the first season of Durarara!! and basically say, ‘Hey, remember us? We’re still cool!’ (which is basically the main reason any story starts with a car chase). Not only are all the familiar faces brought around, but the OP and the ED are more or less just updates of the original ones. And that’s a fine thing. Everything good about the original Durarara!! is still good today, and we can just do it all again.

So this is less of an introductory episode and more of a ‘re-introductory’ episode. Even that is a tall task though, because Durarara!!‘s cast is unreasonably large. There is a lot of jumping around just to accommodate appearances for the established cast, not to mention the new faces. Therefore, if you’re new to Durarara!! I recommend that you start with the original series. You’ll need time to take in all the players and quirks in this setting, or else you’ll spend too much time in x2 Shou wondering why there is so much shameless advertising to follow the plot.

For now, it’s good that the plot is still burning relatively slowly, because it allows us to adjust. Yes, the episode is still the non-linear, madcap experience that many Durarara episodes often are, but nothing has really happened yet. A storm is brewing (as it always is in Ikebukuro), but the rain has yet to fall. As is common with Durarara, building up a new plot also involves building up a bunch of new characters, to throw more ingredients into the pot, so to speak. The most prominent new feature, Celty’s hopeful mother-in-law  (Tanezaki Azumi), is no less crazy than any of our old hands. Frankly, anyone who would marry into the Kishitani family, and be so comfortable snuggling a headless body oozing unidentified dark matter, cannot have it all together in the top drawer. She’s even nuttier than the twins (Kitamura Eri, Kanemoto Hisako), who keep to snuggling each other. It’s like we have an enforced sanity deflation in Durarara!!, where each new character must be weirder than the last. Considering that they’re bound to introduce even more characters, I wonder how Ikebukuro is going to survive as a functional piece of civilisation.

Looking a-head ~ stupid puns

It’s good to see Durarara!! chugging along without missing a step, and I’m looking forward to see what more its planning to do in crazy-alternate-Ikebukuro. It’s setting up a lot of subplots right now—like the the strange masked murders, continued experimentation on Celty, new kid in town, and all things Hanejima Yuuhei—and there’s going to be a lot of plates to keep spinning. One of Durarara!!‘s traditional strengths, though, has been in ultimately tying everything together, so I’m not all to worried about how it’ll turn out for now.

One thing that has me pondering, though, is the feeling that the mystique of Durarara!!‘s Ikebukuro is being peeled away this season. With Celty’s horse being captured  on camera, the headless horsewoman is not really an urban legend anymore. It’s like actually finding a dinosaur in Loch Ness; the game changes. I don’t think Ikebukuro can remain an undiscovered paradise of weirdness with this much publicity. I do think that the moon was a lot more interesting before we landed a man on it. So I expect them to find a way to bury it all again before this story arc is over.

Even if they don’t, I’m sure they’ll keep Durarara!! fun. As Mikado says, everything has changed, but nothing has changed. Even five years on, the entertainment formula of Durarara!! is sustained, and I expect it to remain so into the future.

 

Full-length images: 23, 30.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「NEVER SAY NEVER」 by THREE LIGHTS DOWN KINGS

Preview

45 Comments

  1. Welcome back to Ikebukuro, where color gangs hang out, a headless hot rider roams the streets, Russians manage a sushi restaurant, and vending machines fly through the air. Durarara is back! I miss all the songs from the first season though.

    Zhinvu
    Reply

  3. https://randomc.net/image/Durarara!!/Durarara!!x2%20Shou%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2015.jpg
    These two live the lives we all want. I love the shameless references to other awesome series. Also, Dotachin has great taste in LN. I don’t hear much love for the ToAruIndex series anymore. Anyone reading New Testament arcs?

    https://randomc.net/image/Durarara!!/Durarara!!x2%20Shou%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2029.jpg
    Anyone jealous and flabbergasted how Shingen managed to land this hottie?

    Ptolemaios00
    Reply

  6. My most anticipated anime of the season has arrived, and it with it comes the crazy and strange characters of Durarara I’ve come to love from the past season. I have no knowledge of the source material of the new season, so I’m ready for a fresh new ride 😀 I agree that some of the mystique that shrouded the first season isn’t as prevalent in this, but given that this was the re-introduction, I suppose it’s fine. I’m confident they’ll make something interesting out of this.

    Man, and I did not recall remembering Celty having such a nice body~

    chromenova
    Reply

  9. The lesbian sisters kinda ruined my experience in the OVA.
    I hope we don’t get more moe-yuricest in DRR!!x2 (I can’t even understand why Narita would write something like that, this is totally not his style).

    But overall, I have high expectations for this season xD

    Also, I just loved all those Light Novel references during the episode haha

    Mr. Raindrop
    Reply

    1. Oh it is his style, and moe has little do with it. It’s just an aspect of their personalities which further plays on themes of twisted and unusual love as with everything in this series.

      Iron Maw
      Reply

      1. Never saw any 14 years old twin sisters kissing passionately in the middle of the street (in an unconfortable position, to say at least), in any other of his works besides “Durarara!!”.
        If you did, please show me and prove your point.

        Is easy to say that his style involves twisted and unusual love just like the other elements of the story, but what about the context of those? This was my point, he normally would not use this kind of element involving characters with those characteristics.

        Mr. Raindrop
        Reply

      1. Nothing wrong with girl on girl, or even with man on man (you are misinterpretating my discourse, fellow) o.O
        I actually do have a problem with incest (one of the things I hate the most in anime nowdays), but I don’t even care that much if is not clearly done for the sake of fanservice/*insert weird otaku fetish here* (which was the case in the episode). See if I care about some scenes with those two “Game of Thrones”‘ characters for exemple.

        Mr. Raindrop
        Reply

  12. I want to know more about blonde biker babe D:

    Anyway, it’s awesome to have Durarara back. Ikebukuro sure has been bustling even in the show’s absence. Also, is it just me, or has Celty gotten even cuter? I love how proud she was when she got her payment… and lol at Shingen getting himself a wife to help him run his experiments on Celty!

    Beedle
    Reply

  16. Though the opening was sadly nothing special compared to the first one by Theatre Brooks (which doesn’t mean it’s bad in any case), I really liked how the final shot was Shinra kissing Celty’s hand, as if their romance is the emblem of the series.
    Also, aside from the usual LN references courtesy of Kadota’s gang (which actually felt a little annoying after, say, the eighth title they referenced), I loved the Lupin the Third reference by Kinnosuke (the motorcycle cop).
    Overall, it’s a pretty average premiere, but it’s definitely a treat for those (like me) who have been waiting five years for a sequel.

    lorenzo
    Reply

  20. Well, I’d say that the mystery will be preserved this season. Celty volunteered to show her horse’s true form on the possibility that people would just assume it’s CGI animated and call it a hoax. The first season kept me wondering about the mysteries even when a lot of them were revealed because new questions kept popping up.

    starss
    Reply

  23. Good episode:
    Show Spoiler ▼

    JiCi
    Reply

  24. even though it’s listed under a different animation studio it still mostly looks the same

    I can’t believe this is a different animation studios, everything is exactly as I remember it. This stands out a lot if we compare it to what studio DEEN did with Log Horizon … even if it’s a bit unfair as they work with a low budget.

    Voyager
    Reply

  26. It’s been way too long, but there’s no way I could ever forget Durarara!!, not when this episode’s as crazy fun as the first season! Looking forward to the next several episodes ^^

    Harua
    Reply

  28. It IS the same, because exact the same people are doing this. The 1st season staff has made a new studio, and this 2nd season is made by them. The same director, the same key animators, the same everything.

    Saburau
    Reply

  31. There’s not much to really be said about this episode other than that it was a really enjoyable reintroduction to such a great series. It’s great to be back in Ikebukuro!

    LaughingMan
    Reply

  32. https://randomc.net/image/Durarara!!/Durarara!!x2%20Shou%20-%2001%20-%2011.jpg “I didn’t get to step on any stuck up girls cellphones, wtf man :(”

    I’ve missed Durarara, not more than Baccano, but more is always good. Was looking forward to stepping on girls cellphones, but at least Shizzy was throwing stuff lol.

    More Celty is always a great thing too ;p

    magoiichi
    Reply

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