Durarara!! Is Confusing as Hell… Until It Isn’t

Durarara!! doesn’t ease you in, it just throws you into the middle of madness and expects you to keep up.

I went into this series thinking I was getting a normal slice-of-life anime. Three episodes in, and I was juggling a dozen characters, multiple storylines, and supernatural beings. I have no problem with a slow burn, but this felt more like I showed up halfway through a story that I was supposed to already understand.

The only reason I even watched it was because I saw a clip of Shizuo beating the hell out of people in a CJDaChamp video about disrespectful moments in anime, and it looked insane. Shizuo is absolutely ridiculous, but we’ll get to him in a minute.

This isn’t a straightforward slice-of-life series. It’s more like a supernatural slice-of-life with a bunch of overlapping story threads running at the same time. You’ve got street gangs, online chatrooms, random civilians just living their lives, and then right in the middle of it all there’s a goddamn Dullahan cruising around Tokyo on a horse motorcycle like it’s completely normal. The show doesn’t really treat any of this like it’s unusual either, which makes the whole thing feel even crazier.

The first season takes its time setting everything up, and “takes its time” might be putting it nicely. Early on, you’re mostly just trying to figure out who everyone is and why they matter. It can feel like a chore, because the show keeps introducing new pieces before you’ve had time to understand the ones already on the board. I can see why someone would drop this series. I know I almost did.

I’m glad I didn’t though, because once it starts connecting, everything changes.

As you continue watching, you begin to see how the characters overlap, how small actions ripple out and affect other storylines, and how what looked random at first is actually pretty tightly constructed. It doesn’t become simpler, but it becomes clearer. Eventually the confusion starts turning into curiosity, and that’s when the show actually becomes fun to watch.

The second season handles this a lot better. Since you already know most of the characters, it doesn’t have to spend as much time setting the stage. Even though they do introduce a bunch of new characters, the pacing still feels tighter, the story moves a little more, and you’re not constantly playing catch-up trying to remember who’s who. Splitting it into three cours also definitely helps keep it from dragging.

Where the show really brings its A-game, though, is its rather unique assortment of characters.

Izaya is a complete scumbag, and I mean that in the best way possible. This devious son of a bitch exists purely to start shit and watch people react, and he enjoys every second of it. He’s not just a villain, he’s the kind of character who makes situations worse simply because he can. Honestly, he reminds me a lot of Nishi from Gantz. Aside from how similar they look, they’re both cocky assholes who treat people like toys, push situations to the breaking point just to see what happens, and don’t lose a second of sleep over it. That type of character can be annoying, but in Durarara!! it works because the entire show thrives on people like him making things spiral out of control.

Then we have Shizuo, who’s basically a natural disaster on two legs. Normally the human brain limits how much of our strength we can use. But not Shizuo. Shizuo doesn’t have this limit, and is essentially endowed with superhuman strength and a hair-trigger temper. The man treats vending machines like they’re baseballs and solves most of his problems by throwing whatever’s nearby at someone’s head. Every time he shows up, you know something (or someone) is about to get wrecked. Honestly, he’s probably my favorite character.

A lot of people really like Celty, the Dullahan who rides around town doing transporter jobs while searching for her missing head. It’s not that I don’t like her. She’s a solid character, and I think she’s an interesting take on classic Irish folklore (having her horse turn into a motorcycle is cool). I just think that the show focuses on her a little too much sometimes.

I will say though that I actually like her dynamic with Shinra. The show could have dragged their relationship out and kept it in a perpetual state of “will they/won’t they”, but it doesn’t. It lets them actually be together instead of teasing it endlessly, which makes their dynamic feel more natural and less like filler.

Simon is one of the most underrated and underutilized characters on this show, and he doesn’t seem to get talked about enough. He’s a black Russian, former Spetsnaz, and the only person who can go toe to toe with Shizuo. Despite this, he’s always acting like a peacekeeper, trying to calm people down in broken Japanese, while offering them sushi from his father’s restaurant (appropriately named “Russia Sushi”).

I have one complaint, and it might seem petty and weird, but it really irked me. The intro structure is annoying. I’m not talking about the songs, they’re fine. My issue is how the intro cuts out halfway through to show a quick flashback before coming back to finish. This seems like a minor annoyance at best, but if you’re watching on something like Plex and try to skip the intro, you land right in the middle of that flashback anyway. It’s a small thing, but it gets old fast.

Durarara!! is kind of messy, and I don’t think it’s a series for everyone. But if you can stick with it, your perseverance will pay off. What looks disorganized at first is actually a bunch of moving parts slowly locking into place. It’s not a traditional action series, it’s not a pure slice-of-life, and it’s definitely not simple. It sits in this weird middle ground where everything overlaps, and somehow still manages to work if you just give it enough time to prove itself.

AJ’s rating: 7/10

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Yozuki Drive on May 9, 2026.

Angry_Jerk

Adam “The Angry Jerk” Baker is the CEO of The AJnet Organization and Editor-in-Chief of AJnet Magazine. A grizzled internet veteran of over 20 years, he writes about politics, culture, and whatever else manages to annoy him that day.

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