Durarara!!

Plot

Mikado Ryūgamine, a young boy who longs for the exciting life of the big city, moves to Ikebukuro to attend Raira Academy with his childhood friend Masaomi Kida, whom he has not seen since he was young. After the two meet at the train station, they set out to explore the streets of Ikebukuro. Masaomi warns Mikado about people he doesn't want to cross in the city, such as the violent and superhumanly strong man Shizuo Heiwajima; the information broker Izaya Orihara; and the mysterious gang known as "The Dollars." After running into some of the side characters, Mikado sees a local legend called the "Black Rider" who rides around Ikebukuro on a black bike that occasionally neighs like a horse and who is rumored to have no head under her helmet. The "Black Rider's" real name is Celty Sturluson; she is an Irish dullahan who is in Ikebukuro looking for her stolen head. The narrative follows all of the characters equally, showing how their lives intersect and create a greater plot line from each character's knowledge about a common incident.

The story is told from the perspective of eleven, or so, of the main characters and changes every episode in the anime. However, the narrator is not always the episode's one-and-only character perspective given. One of the few constants given in every episode is that the narrator gives his/her own opinion on the current situation that they are in as well as certain things that make them tick and keep them going in Ikebukuro: a city with a large underbelly that is the medium for the majority of both the plot's development and random violence throughout the series.

Light novel

The Durarara!! light novels are written by Ryohgo Narita and illustrated by Suzuhito Yasuda. The first novel was released in April 2004 under ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint and the thirteenth and final novel was released in January 2014. A sequel series, titled Durarara!! SH is under production. A Chinese-language release in Taiwan and Hong Kong is published by the Taiwan branch of Kadokawa Media under their Fantastic Novels imprint. Daewon C.I. licensed the Korean-language release of the series in South Korea and releases the novels under their Newtype Novels imprint. As of January 2015, it was announced that Yen Press would be releasing the Durarara!! Novels in English under their Yen On Imprint.

Manga

A manga adaptation written by Narita and illustrated by Akiyo Satorigi first appeared in the May issue of Square Enix's Monthly GFantasy in April 2009 and became a regular series starting with the magazine's July issue released June 2009. As of June 27, 2011, four tankōbon have been released. The manga is licensed in North America by Yen Press and released the first volume in January 2012. There are sequels like Durarara!! Saika Arc that are out in Japan and America by the same author of the original manga. A manga adaptation of the Durarara!! 3way standoff -alley- video game began serializing in the September issue of ASCII Media Works' Monthly Sylph magazine on July 22, 2013. A crossover manga with Yozakura Quartet, titled YZQ ✕ DRRR!!, was released with the limited edition Blu-Ray of Yozakura Quartet ~Hana no Uta~.

Anime

An anime adaption of the light novels was announced in the wraparound sleeve of the sixth volume of the light novel. The anime is produced by Brain's Base and started airing on January 8, 2010 on MBS, TBS, and CBC. Crunchyroll simulcasted the anime at 480p and 720p within 24 hours of its Japanese premiere. Other users were able see the same episode in standard definition for free one week later. The anime adapted the first three novels, and it was licensed by Beez Entertainment for European release; while at Anime Expo 2010, Aniplex of America confirmed that they have the license to Durarara!!, later producing an English dub for a January 2011 release. The English dub was produced at Bang Zoom! Entertainment. The music for the first season was composed by Makoto Yoshimori, who also wrote the music for Baccano!.

Aniplex of America released Durarara!! in three digipak, two-disc sets. Part one was released on January 25, 2011, part two was released on March 29, 2011, and part three was released on May 31, 2011. They were exclusively sold at RightStuf.com and at Bandai Entertainment's The Store. As of March 29, 2011, Durarara!! (Eps. 1–9, dubbed) have been added to the U.S. PlayStation Network Video Store. The show began its U.S. broadcast with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block on June 26, 2011 and aired its last episode on December 17, 2011.

On March 15, 2014, a new TV anime series was announced, titled Durarara!! x2 (デュラララ!! x2). The main staff from the first series returned, though it was produced at studio Shuka instead of Brain's Base. It aired in three different cours, or quarters of a year. The cours are subtitled Shō (承, lit. "understanding"), Ten (転, lit. "motion"), and Ketsu (結, lit. "conclusion") respectively. The first cour began in January 2015, the second cour began in July 2015 and the third cour began in January 2016. Crunchyroll simulcasts the series in North America, Central America, South America, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Aniplex of America licensed the series and is streaming an English dub via Crunchyroll, Funimation and Hulu.

Radio

An internet radio show called Durarara!!Radio: Duraradi for Short!! (デュラララ!!ラジオ 略して デュララジ!!, Durarara!!Rajio Ryakushite Duraraji!!) was aired on February 26, 2010 and ended as of March 25, 2011. The hosts were Toshiyuki Toyonaga and Kana Hanazawa, the voices for Mikado Ryūgamine and Anri Sonohara respectively.

Games

Two games based on the series were released only in Japan, both visual novels for PlayStation Portable. The first one titled Durarara!! 3way standoff (デュラララ!! 3way standoff) was released on September 22, 2010. The second one titled Durarara!! 3way standoff -alley- (デュラララ!! 3way standoff -alley-) was released on August 25, 2011. As part of the Durarara 10th anniversary project, a new game titled Durarara!! 3way standoff -alley- V (デュラララ!! 3way standoff -alley- V) was announced; and was released on June 19, 2014 for PlayStation Vita. Another PlayStation Vita game titled Durarara!! Relay was released in January 2015.

Development

Although it has commonly been claimed that the title "Durarara" is an onomatopoeia for the "revving of an engine," Narita states specifically in the first light novel volume that the name means absolutely nothing. He had been editing the finished draft of his book, when his editor called. When prompted for a title, Narita "...just randomly gave a name, 'Du...Durarara?'" Upon hearing this, his editor responded with a positive remark as he liked ambiguous titles."

Reception

According to Oricon, the ninth volume of Durarara!! was the first to sell the most over a week in its bunkobon for February 7–13; previously, the highest-ranked DRRR!! volume had been the eighth, which ranked second.