Durarara!!

Durarara!!

Durarara!! is a Japanese animation base on a manga and is set in present day Ikebukuro, a suburb on the south western side of Tokyo, Japan. It revolves around the lives of some of the inhabitants of the area and the fate that befalls them.
There are 25 episodes in the first season and rumors about a seconds season have appeared although it looks like the writers and production house are trying to gauge the response before first committing to anything.
This review is of the Japanese dialogue version with English subtitles.

WARNING: Although I've tried my best to avoid them, there may be some spoilers below, so if you would prefer not to know before watching, please stop reading this post now.

Ryugamine Mikado travels to Ikebukuro looking to escape his mundane rural hometown life. He meets up with his old childhood friend, Masaomi Kida who shows him around and lets him know about all the important figures living in Ikebukuro. He points out Simon, a black Russian who works at a Sushi restaurant and can be found most of the time out the front handing out flyers for the restaurant, and they meet up with Kida's friends Yumasaki, Karisawa, Togusa, and Kadota, who are local otaku (geeks) that drive around together in a van checking out the various curio and manga/anime in the local stores.
Kida warns Mikado about Izaya (whom they meet with), and Heiwajima. Two people whom not to get involved in, and also about The Dollars, a recent underground gang supposedly with no identifying traits, and no known hierarchy system.
As the story unfolds, Mikado soon meets various other important people, the most bizarre of which is Celty, a motorbike rider dressed in black with a yellow helmet with little cat ears coming out the top. Her bike is fully black and seems to make horse noises when moving. Rumor has it that Celty has no head beneath her helmet.
There are also other rumors flying around the place, and there have been incidents where people have been atacked and cut by the mysterious 'Slasher', who never kills the victim but just cuts them.
Mikado also attends the local high school and becomes a class rep, and meets fellow classmate Anri as part of the job.

At the start of the series we see everything from a third person's perspective as apparently random events take place. As the series progresses though, we get to see more and more details that link the initial events and characters together, and get to see those events from the perspective of the various involved people.

It soon becomes apparent that a lot of what was previously seen and taken for granted actually has a significant impact on the bigger picture. Characters in the series are anything but one dimensional and often aren't what they appear to be at first.

The story line is complex and the vast array of characters make the show hard to wrap your head around sometimes, but the rewards at the end are well worth it.

It should also be noted that there are a few supernatural elements to the series, some of which form the crux of various plot elements.

The Good:
- Animation. The animation is really good. No the best I've seen, but still very good.

- Voice acting. The voice acting is also very good and I would say all the voices suited their chararters.

- Plot. The plot is quite simple in structure, but the fact we get pieces at a time, and the general execution means the show is highly addictive, sucking you into it's story. I ran with it and some of the twists in the show are mind boggling.

- Characters. The characters in this anime are characters in the true sense of the word. All have their own backstory and all have their secrets.

- Humour. There is a lot about this show that is funny. Some people might not think so though.

The Bad:
- Addictive. Near the end of each episode, the show always reveals something new about someone and almost every episode ends in a cliffhanger. I found myself wanting for more.

- Complexity. Some people may find that there are so many characters in the show that it's too hard to follow. Also, there are many plot elements that are just unbelievable, however, this is pure fantasy it doesn't detract. The characters are what makes this show.

- Slow start. The start of this show takes a long time and some characters aren't shown at all until after midway through the episode list.

Conclusion: As far as anime goes, this was one of favourites.

Score: 10/10