Durarara!!

Again, I haven't had much time for watching anime, so I'll fall back on posting about an older series I watched some time ago.

Durarara!! is quite a unique series.  On the surface it's the story of a boy named Ryuugamine who comes to Tokyo and goes to school.  It follows his interactions with his best friend Kida, who has been in Tokyo for awhile, and the girl Ryuugamine likes, Anri.  So ostensibly, the plot is about the three friends shown in this picture.  The subplots in the series are myriad though, and it did take me awhile to figure out what was going on beyond the friend story.  Which of course is one of the things I like in a series.

Besides the three friends, one of the main characters is the series is a headless horsewoman named Celty.  Celty is a durahan, a type of supernatural, Irish fairy-type creature who has lost her head and rides around on her horse searching for it.   In the modern era, Celty's horse takes the form of a big black motorcycle, and she wears a motorcycle helmet with cat ears so she doesn't look headless.  Celty is loved by and lives with a very wacko doctor named Shinra.  Celty is shown in the background of the first picture and Celty and Shinra are in the picture below.

Two other characters of note in the series are Shizuo and Izaya.  These two guys hate each other and attempt to kill each other whenever they come into proximity.  Izaya is an underworld plotter with his fingers in everything, and Shizuo is an immensely strong bouncer, who is generally good-natured but when he loses his temper, his destructive abilities are impressive.

So those are the main characters.  As it turns out, each of the three friends is the leader of a gang, unbeknownst to each other.  Ryuugamine leads a group known as the Dollars, Kida leads a group known as the Yellow Scarves, and Anri can pull a sword from her own body and commands a group of red-eyed followers who are under her control.  Under the machinations of Izaya, a gang war gets started, which each of the three tries to stop or control in their own way.  Celty helps them variously with this effort.  Shizuo wanders into and out of the battles, mostly just by virtue of being in the wrong place at the right time.

The story delves somewhat into the background of the main characters and develops them as the plot goes along.  The story ends up being incredibly satisfying, although I did find myself wishing Shizuo would take Izaya out.  Besides a good story line the series has great random moments that make you laugh and keep you interested.  Several of these are related to an otaku girl's comments about other anime series.  On top of that nobody dies - a definite plus.  The series is overall well put together and fun to watch.  I highly recommend it.