Durarara!! The Characters

This post is focused on the characters of Durarara!! the anime. As much as I want to put them in a single post, I can't, due to the fact that they got too many characters, and it is impossible to talk on the story without knowing who's who, so~

The Characters.

Durarara!!

It's been awhile (a rather long while to be frank) since I wrote a post of recommendation here and since I'm so so so in love with this series (and just finished watching the whole 24-episode last night -when I'm typing this-) and in need of rambling (insert fangirl alert here) so here I am! The series in question (like, obviously) is Durarara!!



Originally a light novel series (which I'm now interested to read) written by Ryohgo Narita (of Baccano! fame, which I never get to read nor watch the anime, yet, but will do, maybe) and illustrations by Suzuhito Yasuda, Durarara!! (デュラララ!!, Dyurarara!!) is about a Dullahan working as an underworld courier in Ikebukuro, an internet-based anonymous gang called Dollars, and the chaos that unfolds around the most dangerous people in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. (Wikipedia)

A number of unusual people gather in Ikebukuro, Tokyo--- a youth who yearns for an un-mundane life, a hoodlum, a stalker denpa-girl, a young man who deals in information ‘for fun’, a black-market doctor, a high-schooler obsessed with magic, as well as a ‘headless rider’ riding a bike painted black. These unusual people begin a series of abnormal stories that never fail to create headaches. But, although their personalities are all twisted— they still talk about love. (Onemanga.com) -I did edit a little bit though, and have to admit this descriptions is my fav on Durarara!!-

Ryuugamine Mikado is a boy who longs for the exciting life of the big city. At the invitation of his childhood friend Masaomi, he transfers to a school in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Masaomi has warned him about people he doesn’t want to cross in the city: a champion fighter, an informant, and a mysterious gang called “Darazu.” (or simply, Dollars) Nervous from Masaomi’s stories, Mikado witnesses an urban legend on his first day in the city, the Headless Rider astride a black motorcycle. From then on, the existence of supernatural cases and a gang called the Yellow Turbans will rise to the surface, and Ikebukuro will pushed to the breaking point. (thatanimeblog.com)

Okay, end of boring formal introductions, let's get the dice rolling. Before that though, bear in mind that all the info's and whatnot below are simply the result of me fangirling over the series and MY complete opinion on it. Also, beware of bias alert, if you follow this blog enough I'm sure you understand what I mean~ XD

Oh! Did I mention that this anime is no doubt the BEST anime ever aired on 2010 (so far)? See? Told you I'm bias like that.

They also got the manga for this along with the anime but as the said manga is too slow on update I'm going to focus this post on the anime instead. Not like they got huge difference whatsoever. (I even take the description from the manga there, haven't I? lol.)

Info's mostly from Wikipedia (all-time-fav-info-website) and tvtropes.org (damn-awesome-site-with-cool-stuffs-and-tropes-I'm-stealing) and my take on the series mashed-up together to my liking. Pics are from snapshot of my own (finally know how to do it /facepalm), tvtropes.org, and Google. XD


The Story.

It's hard to be specific on what the story is all about (like for example Naruto-ninja, Bleach-shinigami etc.) because it got from supernatural characters (the Dullahan a.k.a headless fairy a.k.a the headless rider and a somewhat cursed living sword who loves, uh, human) to a crazy strong guy who goes around throwing the vendor machine as replacement of hello (you read that right, definitely not a typo on my part) to normal high school students (yup, definitely normal looking) to an underground doctor (no license, definitely) to a crazy information broker who loves the humanity and manipulate them (...what) to a stalker with a crush (omg) to a twisted siblings (they totally love the wrong things) to a crazy traffic police who might be a former gang biker (no kidding here) to a Russian selling sushi (yes, he even speaks Russian sometimes in the anime, don't ask me, I don't know Russian to save my life) to a gang with otakus (yes, again, no typo) to a lot more.

Tell me, what can I say then? =_=;

If you ask me to sum it all, then, is that all these people, they live in Ikebukuro. In one city. It's not about one main character's journey or whatsoever, it's about everyone. Each character have a role and as twisted as their life may be, they all connected and may give impact to other people's life, directly or vice-versa.

It's all over the place, basically. And the anime consists of 24 episodes, with 2 arc stories.

And they got one hell of a number of characters, mind you.


The Characters

As much as I want to put them in a single post, I can't, due to the fact that they got too many characters, and it is impossible to talk on the story without knowing who's who, so I put them in a separate post. Just click the link above. Sorry on that =_=;


The Art/Setting

The animation is produced by Brain Base, which I later found out also responsible on making Natsume Yujinchou, one of my favorite anime ever. The animation is beautiful, if not detailed. The buildings and everything really depicts the city. Heck, apparently it is based on real buildings in Ikebukuro! It is like I'm really walking down the streets of the city, seriously. Watch the videos below and be surprised!






The Music

Despite the fact that I'm quite open in music and can listen to mostly anything, I'm quite picky when it comes to anime songs, mostly because it will determine whether I'm going to skip them or just listen to them for the goddamn 1-2 minutes. Sometimes, the song is good but the sequences is not attractive enough, even if I freaking love the show. See, I'm that picky. So, when I say I LOVE LOVE LOVE all the 4 songs use for the OP and ED, it basically tells that the songs and the title sequences are simply BEYOND AWESOME. Heck, I even downloaded ALL the single for the anime and the Pv for the respected songs. You can't say I'm bias this time around, ok~

Not to mention the OP and ED sequences are simply awesome to boot. The scenes are connected to the next one as they introduce the loads of characters are really cool!! Too bad video streaming sites blocked the videos from YouTube (I do found but the quality is not that good and the words are mirrored, making the whole Hiragana and kanji look weird on my eyes xD Still can check them out though) or else I already post them here.

The first OP, Uragiri no Yuuyake (裏切りの夕焼, lit. "Sunset of Betrayal") by Theatre Brook can best be described by one word; IT ROCKED. The crazy fast beat really gives excitement and suits the show damn well. I don't know the band and it's hard to search infos on them but I even love the couple song in the single (I spazz about it on the last post maybe?) so definitely going to watch out their works in the future~ "Asahi wo noboru~ YEAH!!!"

The first ED, Trust Me by Matsushita Yuya a.k.a my new bias for J-artist is simply cool to the max. The tune is addicting, the vocal is soothing, and the R&B beat is GUH. I have it as my ringtone now. xD On the singer, well, I downloaded all his single and album and pv. Yeah~ that explains it. "Trust me trust me trust me YEAH!!"

The second OP, Complication (コンプリケイション) by Rookiez is Punk'd is kinda slower in beat compare to Uragiri no Yuuyake, but still damn addictive! It starts kind of slow and go rocking on chorus and makes you sing along (well, I did anyway). The band is also another unknown to me before and haven't quite listen to their other songs, but if it's like this one then I'm a fan, 'nuff said. "Whooooooaaa Oh Oh OH!!"

The last song, a.k.a the second ED, Butterfly by On/Off took the formula like Complication. It's kinda slow and go beating hard on chorus. Totally cool enough! The harmony of the duo compliments the song and gives a soothing feel~ People might recognize the group as the one singing the OP for the anime Vampire Knight before, and have to say while I'm not really fond of their song in that anime (I haven't even watch it duh) Butterfly really got me hooked. "Bokura wa jiyuu da~"

Just realize they don't have slow song as either OP or ED. But then I can't imagine having a ballad on a show full of badass characters anyway~ xD

EDIT: The Trailer

I found a video of the trailer of the anime in sub...thought I'll put it here~




Final Thoughts

This anime is not one that you can review after watching the first 3 episode or something (which might put it in the 'love it or hate it' kind of show to some). Watch at least 7-8 to get the idea of things, and I promise it'll be worth it. The many characters might gives you hell at first but their characters (in terms of physical attributes, that is) are really distinctive to one another so it should be no problem! All in all, this is a MUST watch, and I'll give it a full 10 for the fun and joyous ride. ^^

Let's hope they make a second season of this! At least there's news on DVD special episodes coming~ \o/

~The-accomplished-like-finally-Heiji

Articulating Irony Forgotten

I am happy, like seriously happy. Why? because the one-shot that I mentioned on last post is already FINISHED!! \o/ *cheers* I had a hard time finishing it (despite the muse hanging about, and heck, when I finished it and ready to celebrate -sort of- the door opened by itself, along with the sound effect and whatnot...how is that?!) and end up spamming my fb wall lately. =_=|| Even so, now, I can proudly say, that I wrote something this holiday! Yay~~~

To commemorate with that (of course), I decided to update the blogs! I posted up Part 7 of Chapter 1 (I really have to get Chapter 2 moving...T_T) and a one-shot;

Articulating Irony Forgotten

This one-shot is actually a somewhat (long) epilogue to The Incessant Restriction of Catharsis, and might be a bit confusing (=_=) so it's best if you read the first installment before you read this~ ^^

About the recently finished one-shot...I'll post that one later~ *gets bricked*

Now, since the muse is still around, what should I write next...? Do give any prompt, idea, heck even plot if you like! It'll be great to hear what do you like for me to try! ^^

Oh, no romantic story please. Angst is the ultimate forte here~ LOL. :P

Do let me know what do you think on it! ^^

Music of the Day: Theatre Brook -Mirai wo Ima

P/S: A couple song in the Durarara!! OP single 'Uragiri no Yuuyake' by Theatre Brook, which I love love love the song (and the anime, but that's a whole different story altogether) very much due to the catchy crazy beat!

In contrast to that, 'Mirai wo Ima' is slower and the beat is a tad simpler compare to 'Uragiri no Yuuyake' and this gives a balance to the whole single. The vocal compliments the song and the long song (It's 6 min!) gives the chance to enjoy the instrumental aspect of the song, which is great! You can hear the many sounds of guitar, and the drum beat comes in at the right time, and GUH, it's awesome. Do check it out! ^^

On a side note, my P/S section tends to get longer than the original post and that, is BAD. I'll try to reduce the amount of fangirling...-_-;

~The-accomplished-and-satisfied-and-happy-Heiji.

A Butterfly, A Louvre, and (Not) A Freer -Part 3-III- [The life we had won't be ours again]

As promised, I updated my blog (hahaha) and of course, along with my Livejournal as well. Just now, I post up Chapter 1 Part 6 and as the title says, another part of THE 3-shot

A Butterfly, A Louvre, and (Not) A Freer -Part 3-III- [The life we had won't be ours again]

...or rather the FINAL part of THE 3-shot.

Yes! It's the END (like finally)!! And as much as I'm happy about it there's still a tad melancholy feeling~ I mean, it's been a long time! The long journey, is, over. Still, this means a new journey of writing is set, no? ^^ Special thanks to Nazo, Saise/Kimmy Ai, Didy and my imouto Ainin for the enormous support and not giving up on this lazy writer and bugging me till I finish this xD

On the story, this is the first time I'm writing a 3-shot, usually I just end it quickly as one-shot I'm lazy like that or end up writing too much like Literally, but that's a different story, of course. What makes this more special is, I, at one point, always plan out the ending, regardless of how the story is, the ending is usually fixed thus the cliffhanger and whatnot but somehow, I can't seem to able to do same with this one. I have to admit even I am surprised with how it turns out to be, and I'm super satisfied with it, especially when I can include a lot of song lyrics in certain parts. Heck, I have a special playlist just for this! xD

I actually plan on posting other one-shot, but after a few contemplating with one another, I decided to go with this one. Besides, I don't think I can handle the wrath of people if I keep on delaying this, right? xD

Also, *drum-rolls* the REAL reason I'm posting this is to commemorate with my success in killing off the writer's block demon! Hahaha~ *evil laugh* I manage to write 767 words (I deliberately check this *gets bricked*) last night (which is A LOT for somebody who can hardly write 1 sentence before) and if my plan goes well and muse stays around this time, I might finish a one-shot before holiday ends! Yay~! I have high anticipation on this piece, maybe because I play around with styles, again so yeah~

On the side note, this will put Chapter 2 on hold so just kill me, my muse for that one had gone off for vacation in Tokyo, I think, darn it!

Back to the story, for this is what this post a meant to after all, thanks a lot for following this till the end with me, your support and encouragement, I'll held them dear forever! I'm really, really glad with this but then this is worthless if there's nobody reading it, so finally, thanks a lot to YOU who reads this! I'll try my best in my next stories so do continue take care of me. Thanks! *bows*

Do tell what is your feeling and take on this. It'll be great to hear from you! ^^

Music of the Day: Anzenchitai -Aoi Bara

P/S: I flail over this song to my friends on fb and am glad that they like it, so think it'll be great to say about it here, too! Though it's kind of ironic when the post above is damn happy and this is a sad song...(^^);

I first saw the pv on Channel V (in which Astro had remove from their program in favor to some FOX channel, to my uber disappointment. I mean, that's one of my fav channel, why do you have to take it off, WHY?!) and my first thought is "I HAVE TO DOWNLOAD THIS". Well, that pretty much sums things up, no?

The song is awesome, what with the guitar and all, and the pv is damn cool. The blue black scenes (Oh how I LOVE that) and some inserts of blue rose (Aoi Bara means Blue Rose, Aoi=Blue and Bara=Rose) compliments the atmosphere perfectly. Also, the lyrics. I don't know what is it really mean, I can make up it's a sad song from the words 'kanashii' and 'sabishii' along with 'nanimo' which typically screams sadness but even if you don't understand it, you can hear the sadness seeps in the flow of the song and the vocal. It's freaking awesome.

The band, which is the first time I heard about it, debuted almost 30 years ago (!!) and the members were all born on 50's. They reach the peak of their popularity on 80's-90's (I don't even born yet) and been on hiatus till they make a comeback with this single. Heck, the single debut on Top 10 Oricon weekly Chart straight away! (Wikipedia does wonders).

If you're looking for a song with pure music, amazing guitar riffs and all, this is perfect. You'll love it, damn sure. Speaking by experience here, after all~ :)

Going to download the pv later. xD

~The-Pumped-up-Heiji.

One.

It's June, a.k.a the second month of holiday. But I don't update my blog that much, huh? *gets bricked* Somehow I'm too lazy to do so...heck, I don't even write anything! *gasp* There's one that is under construction and I'm determined enough to complete it! The bad thing is it'll put Chapter 2 on hold. Kill me now, people~ *stab*

Either way, I've posted a new one-shot on Livejournal just now. The title is, like the one above obviously,

One

I wrote this when my laptop was sent to repair before and I play around with the style, which is numbering instead of the usual. Have to say I'm glad with how it turn out to be! ^^ Also, now that I think about it, I tend to change my style A LOT these days, numbering, days, parts, etc. The one I'm currently working also got different style (not telling~). I guess it appeals to me much? xD

I guess it give me some sort of versatile in writing, which I'm glad.

Contrary to the usual 3-posts-in-one-go format I commonly use when it comes to Livejournal, I just posted once, which is kind of weird to me. Ironically the title is One LOL. I'll posting more after this, no worries, it's just me being kind of lazy (when are you not? Duh) today and maybe I'm just not in the mood? Hmm~

Either way, I WILL post more before the end of June and the semester opens (No~~~) so do expect it! ^^

Have a good day, people~

Music of the Day: Matsushita Yuya -Mr. Broken Heart

P/S: The couple song to his first single 'Foolish Foolish', Mr. Broken Heart is currently on a constant repeat in my player. It's awesome!! The soothing voice of Yuya-san and the fast piano along with the beat of the melody compliments each other well! I don't have it on my playlist (I have the urge to take it off, somehow, it troubles me a lot these days, to my annoyance) as it's hard to find the song on YouTube. I wonder why?

This song is also the OST for a film 'Kanashii Boyfriend', in which Yuya-san himself acts in as the younger version of the main character. You can hear a snippet of it on the film trailer! I've been dying to get my hands on the film, thus developing my Google-ing skills and discovers the wonders which is torrent at the same time. Now I can find almost anything I want easily than before, except for this film, of course, talk about irony. Anybody know where to find this, please help! T_T

On the singer, people might recognize Yuya-san from the song 'Trust Me', which is the first ending song for the best, awesome anime 2010 Durarara!! (I'm bias ignore me xD) Yuya-san just release his first album recently (which is safe downloaded in my disk LOL) and have to say I'm impressed a whole lot by his talent. Can't wait to see what he may bring to us next! ^^

~The-somehow-got-a-mixed-feeling-or-just-being-blur-atm-Heiji

Duh.