Durarara!!- First Impressions

I've been watching a new anime series as of late. Durarara!!, based on a series of light novels by Ryohgo Narita, the same writer as Baccano!. I'm guessing his next series will be called Manamana!!!. Nah, I kid. 

Anyway, Baccano! was sort of the Pulp Fiction of anime. It revolved around a diverse group of characters, gangsters, thieves, alchemists and others, who were all searching for something, or who just get caught up in the craziness around them. The name was appropriate considering that it's Italian for "ruckus" or "noise." I'm not sure what Durarara!! is so far. It seems to sort of be about urban legends. One narrative device that is used is internet chat rooms that are used to spread rumors. Though, there is some truth to the strange things happening in Ikebukuro.

One thing that I can say that Narita excels at it creating a large cast of well developed characters. This is shown greatly in Durarara!!. From the headless motorcycle phantom, the psychotic super strong bartender to the giant black russian sushi shop owner, all of the characters are diverse and interesting. I still have about another 20 episodes to watch before I give my final conclusion on this series, but I'll let you know.

Oh, one other thing it has in common with Baccano!, they both have awesome theme songs.

The Five Killers

Adding another thing to the pile of, "Could have been awesome" is The Five Killers.



This series began production sometime in the 2000's, with Studio Gonzo(Afro Samurai, Samurai 7) in charge of the animation. But nothing has been released about it since '07. The website is still up, for some reason. Take a look.

I can't find the Wikipedia page anymore, though. It seems to have been deactivated, along with producer Eric Calderon's page. Huh.

Anyway, the best of what I could glean from this series, I got from the website, which I will quote here:
"The story begins on a rainy afternoon in Boston, when four of the estranged killers gather for an unexpected funeral. Knife is dead, and no one knows who murdered him. Since they've all been out of the game for a long while, Knife's death comes as a shocking surprise--but one they all know to be possible given their line of work.

The funeral doesn't go smoothly. Immediately, uncomfortable glances, sudden arguments, and old accusations begin to fly as the remaining four confront one another with the bitterness and jealousies that originally drove them apart--

--until a fifth mourner arrives. Dressed in white and announcing himself as "The Droid," he cheerfully takes credit for Knife's assassination--and declares the other four to be his next targets. On the run, forced together in self-defense, the four race around the world trying to find who--or what--is behind this mysterious "Droid" and why they're marked for death.

With an explosive ending, life death, immortality, and love all converge in an emotional and shocking final conclusion."

Though I am suspicious of anything that touts the power of its own ending, I did want to see this get made. It kind of reminded me of Killer 7. In a good way. Plus, I wanted to hear the Droid's cold, echoing, metallic voice gloating about Knife's death. Plus, damn it if I weren't intrigued by the premise: "Three die, two survive, one lives...forever." That's the kind of tagline that sticks with me.

Sadly though, it looks like we'll never get to see The Five Killers.