Durarara!! X2 The Second Arc - Reviews

Haiiii~ (~◠▽◠)~♥

Here's me again, with the second Durarara!!x2 review, as I said! 

I wouldn't recommend reading this review if you didn't watch both DRRR!! and DRRR!!x2 Shou which I previously reviewed.

Second chapter of Durarara!!x2 had a perfect way to start judging from that cliffhanger on the end of the first chapter. Let's see if this chapter is even better!

STORY

We're back in Ikebukuro once again, and lots of things are starting to happen right off the bat. The way they present the story is so well done, because there are so many things happening in this anime and at first they seem not related at all, but in the end all pieces come together and create a very, very well told story.

There is LOTS and I mean LOTS of story progression in each and every episode. Characters take turns, everyone has something going on and some of the individual stories are heavily related. There are also some backstories (such as teen Izaya pictured below) which I liked.

Now, despite of how well they deliver the story and everything that is happening is presented well, I will admit that I had a problem. I feel like there was a lot of ''stacking up'' when it comes to the story. Just more, more and more things happening and building up in a short amount of time. Because of this, sometimes it was difficult to follow what's going on.

So yeah in conclusion, lots of new events (some are super shocking!), lots of development with the story and especially characters. It was fun to watch, but a bit difficult time after time, so I'll give it a 8/10.

ANIMATION

Just like the previous series. Outstanding and realistic environment, colorful characters and polished art. As I said in my last DRRR!!x2 review, Durarara!! has a specific type of animation and I love it so much. There's something different about it and it's so good!

I really like that the animation is consistent, which would mean that you will get the same animation quality on ep1 and ep5, or 6, 4, 2... And some shows don't have this! I think anime fans know to take this for granted.

Extremely well done animation, love how polished and consistent it is. Nothing negative to say. 10/10

SOUND

Amazing quality. Love the music, love the voice acting and sound in general. Nothing to point out, it's just well done!

I like the style of the OP/CL and the OP song is amazing (even thought I think the last one was better)

Sound is really well done, I just think that the previous chapter had better music in general, so it's not a perfect score, 9/10

CHARACTERS

I think the main thing Durarara!! has to offer are amazing characters!

Can we all take a moment and realize this anime has at least 15 major characters that are ALL very relevant to the story. I would give the characters a nice and subtle 38/10.

No but seriously, every single character that they introduce (and they just keep coming) is really well developed and has an important role in the story. And that's why I REALLY like this anime. As much it has an elaborate story, it still focuses on characters so much, even though there are so many!

And talk about development! Some characters grew on me (which literally NEVER happens, if I hate a character, I will hate passionately 'till the bitter end).

So there is SO MUCH going on with characters and it can sometimes get hard to follow. Also, I really don't like the direction some characters took but I feel like that made the story more interesting.

Even though the characters are responsible for why I had a problem with the story, I can't deny a 10/10 score because I've NEVER seen a show that has this many well developed characters.

OVERALL

This anime is great. I have to admit I did expect better since last season made me puke happiness. Buuut I'm still very very pleased with second season and CAN'T WAIT to wrap it up with the third one in 2016.

Durarara!! is one of my favorite anime series EVER, and I will give it a 9/10 rating, which is very good. I love everything about this anime!

That's it! Thanks for reading my review! I'd recommend this anime to all Durarara! fans, and everyone who's ready for a great anime! (make sure to watch S1 and x2 Shou first)

Rate if you found this review helpful, funny, or just like it. I have more anime reviews so check them out if you want!

Thanks and have a nice day ^^

Even after twenty four episodes, this season seems to still not have any clue on where it wants to go or what the point of making a second season was, well besides a money grab. 

Story - 4/10

The story picks up right as the last section left off, but unfortunately they decide not to do much when it came to building the drama and mystery, as we’re quickly given answers and resolutions that make the previous ending feel worthless and disrespectful to the viewer.

On the main storyline front, of Mikado working with the blue squares, there’s pretty much more of the same, with the gang going to beat people up under the guise of cleaning up the Dollars, while Mikado stays inside and watches. They did bring Masaomi back, as he’s started to worry about his friend, and after finding out what’s going on he reforms the Yellow Scarves with the idea he’ll save Mikado by stopping him. 

The story of the Yakuza enforcer, Mizuki, ends up being the only real interesting bit over this entire season so far. Through him we learn a lot of important backstory on characters and we get a plot that doesn’t seem forced, or is there just to introduce someone. His thread still has him interacting with some pretty insignificant people, but overall he’s starting to become the only person you actually want to learn about or see on screen.

Once again the show tries to end on a shocking event, to keep you wanting more episodes for answers, but if they treat this like they did the Izaya story, well then it will really show how these writers didn’t care much for the audience. 

Too much of this portion of the show is spent on giving episodes and back story to characters that really don’t need it. We get more episodes, that really only contain a few brief moments of storyline, to explore the creepy incestuous desires of Namie Yagira towards her brother Seiji. Another plot revolved around Shizuo’s day collecting money with his new partner Vorona, which felt like a was to give Shizuo some screen time, as he lacks it during most of the rest of the series. Lastly was the addition in the last dozen episodes of Ruri, who they waste a ton of time on with very little importance info being added around her.

There are bits and pieces of important information here and there, but they are hidden under mounds of useless junk, meant to entertain the lowest common denominator of fans.

Animation - 6/10

Nothing is different from the first portion of the show. There are a few costume changes here and there, and characters we know, but at different ages, adds a bit to the artistic side of the show, but that’s not really much. 

Sound - 6/10

The opening for this second grouping of episodes was an interesting choice, but one I think worked well. It’s a funky song and reminds me of a song that could have also worked as a good GTO opening. On the other hand the ending is an awful sounding version of bad Japanese emo punk music. 

One song that did become prominent in this dozen episodes and caught my ear, because it is just a little riff that sounds like the intro to “I Wanna Be Your Dog” by The Stooges.

Besides that everything was similar to the first section, so it was overall a mild improvement. 

Characters - 5/10

Mikado again is one of the more interesting characters in the show, but for these twelve episodes he has minimal screen time, with only a few key moments. I like how they really keep us questioning what is going on in his mind, and I really hope they don’t skimp on the conclusion to his story, as it has really great potential. 

His new buddy Aoba also doesn’t have too much of a story, really just scheming, while making it seem as if he’s doing Mikado’s bidding. Like many of the lead characters in the show, his backstory is almost non-existent, with that time being spent instead on some worthless person that has no barring on anything.

Season one’s co-star, Masaomi, makes a big return during this section, and it could lead for an interesting showdown as the story starts to wrap up. Like Mikado he becomes a character with many more layers than you’d first expect, and I again hope they don’t screw up where they’re going with his arc. 

An addition, and back story that actually was well done and built up a good character, was that of Mizuki Akabayashi. For the first time in this second season it felt like someone had a reason to be in the show, and that their storyline could actually prove to be entertaining. His ties also don’t feel forced, and his actions and direction all seem to have meaning to them, instead of just being random nonsense. 

Cellty is doing much of the same as she has been; running errands for Izaya, watching out for Mikado, and dealing with Shinra. During their story we do get to learn the origins of the connection between Shinra, Izaya, and Shizuo, as well as the fact Izaya has had a twisted way of thinking for years.

The late focus on the story of Jinnai Yodogiri and his handler, Kasane Kujiragi is another that could either play out in an entertaining way, or just be another plot where they force an ending without actually providing any development, and since they wasted so much time on others they are quickly running out of episodes to do so.

As mentioned in the story section, too many characters were in the show, and given loads of screen time, that just didn’t do anything for the plot. More wasted time on Shizuo’z brother, Kasuka, and his fellow super star Ruri Hijribe, just don’t have any value yet, and they are leading up to some severe disappointment for fans if they don’t connect Ruri, and possibly a few others in the series, to a huge Baccano! plot line.  Similarly there was no reason to have an exact replay of the Namie/Mika/Seiji triangle of creepiness, where any needed plot points could have been done in a more cohesive and interesting way. 

So many others really just feel left out of this section. Shizuo is around, but nothing he does really plays an important role, he just seems there because he’s liked by fans. Even someone who is so important to the series, like Izaya, just feels like he’s in the shadows giving orders and popping up here and there. They start to give a bit of focus on the van gang, but almost more in passing, as they’ll pop in and make it seem like they’re going to have an important role, but then nothing seems to culminate. 

The characters in Durarara were what made the show great, but this season they’ve completely forgot about all of the ones that actually play in to the story.

Overall - 5/10

While we certainly start to move on to “the bigger picture,” this section of the show yet again just seemed like adding more and more backstory to characters that may play in to the final arc, but don’t necessarily need so much time dedicated to them.  By spending so much time on dozens of different threads, you can never really pinpoint which are important, but then again that might be the writer’s plans, as the important ones also seem very flimsy, not thought out well, and pretty much have no reason for being.

I think the worse part about all of this is that unlike season one, they have yet to make you actually care about anyone in the story. Even people we knew and enjoyed are just becoming uninteresting, and a waste of time. You can’t lack a good story and having poorly developed characters, while just trying to run on a wacky randomness, and that’s what we’re seeing so far. 

Positive Reasons for Score:

 * Mikado and Masaomi are becoming more and more interesting and layered characters. 

 * The addition of Miizuki adds a promising plot line.

 * Touching on some of Izaya’s youth was interesting, but left much to be desired. 

Negative Reasons for Score:

 * They spend complete episodes on throw away characters. 

 * A number of stories appear to just be rehashes of what we saw in the previous season.

 * They’re relying on being erratic, and jumping all over the place, way too much. 

Ways to make the show better:

 * Tidy things up, focus on who is important and stop jumping all over the place.

 * Don’t substitute confusing the viewer, for writing good and complex mysteries. 

 * Build the back story of those we still don’t know, but who are important, like Mikado and Masaomi. 

Once again, one of the many reasons why I liked Durarara so much was because each episode jumped around to different character perspectives, and the viewer get a wide range of opinions and personalities. Even though this series was enjoyable (to some extent), this arc didn't live up to my expectations. It lacked that something something that made the original Durarara!! phenomenal. Overall all, it's a one and done type of season for me. I wouldn't exactly take the time to rewatch it like I have done with other shows even though it is worth watching if you want to catch up with all your old favorite characters.

The series starts out very slow again and it sens halfway through a story arch.

Mikado is trying to figure out a way to fix his past mistakes with the gang he originally created, Masaomi comes back to lead his old gang to help out his good friend, Anri is walking around a lot more clueless without her two friends and the rest of the cast is still on this crazy rollercoaster ride. We already had a crazy large cast but it only keeps getting bigger and bigger, it's funny because you can tell that some of the characters like Celty and Shizuo are starting to forget who is who.

We do get to see a lot more from the Yakuza this season, specially Mizuki Akabayashi.

And it's cool to see Shizuo show an interest in other characters besides Celty and his brother. Not that he was ever a bad boy but he's starting to show a bit more of a softer side.

Izaya is still messing around, stirring up problems for everybody that lives in Ikebukuro and even tries to start his own 'gang' of troublemakers.

Also I have to give props for creating a couple that's been in denial this long into a show while everybody else has already accepted their relationship. One of the most fearless blade users and one of the most devious gang leaders and they struggle to express to each other how they feel has been quite a cool development.

"Durarara!! X2 The Second Arc," also known as "Durarara!! x2 Ten," continues the intricate, multifaceted narrative that the series is celebrated for, further delving into the lives of Ikebukuro's diverse cast. This arc intensifies the series' blend of supernatural elements, urban legends, and gang conflicts, weaving them into the complex social fabric of the city. It signifies a strong reception from the audience, appreciating its ability to maintain momentum, develop characters, and present a compelling, intertwined narrative that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats.

Elevated Dynamics

• Complex Storytelling: "Durarara!! x2 Ten" excels in advancing the series' complex narrative web, introducing new plot twists and challenges that keep the story fresh and engaging. The arc skillfully balances multiple storylines, ensuring that each character's journey contributes to the overarching plot while retaining individual significance.
• Character Development: This arc shines a spotlight on deeper character exploration, providing backstories and motivations that enrich the viewer's understanding and connection to the ensemble. The development of both main and side characters is a key strength, enhancing the emotional and psychological depth of the narrative.

Challenges Encountered

• Navigating Complexity: The very complexity that makes "Durarara!! x2 Ten" intriguing can also pose a challenge for viewers, particularly in keeping track of the numerous characters and their intertwining stories. While this intricacy is part of the series' charm, it demands attentive viewing to fully appreciate the narrative nuances.
• Pacing Variations: The pacing in "Durarara!! x2 Ten" occasionally faces criticism for unevenness, with some episodes or segments feeling either too rushed or too slow. This can affect the flow of the story, although it often serves to build tension or provide necessary exposition.

Continuing Intrigue

• Thematic Depth: The arc continues to explore rich themes such as identity, power, and the impact of urban legends on collective consciousness. These themes are woven into the narrative in ways that provoke thought and discussion, adding layers of meaning to the unfolding drama.
• Visual and Auditory Presentation: The animation and soundtrack of "Durarara!! x2 Ten" remain consistent with the series' high standards, contributing significantly to the atmosphere and storytelling. The visual style captures Ikebukuro's chaotic beauty, while the music underscores the tension and emotion of the narrative.

Conclusion "Durarara!! X2 The Second Arc" solidifies the series' status as a standout in the anime landscape, celebrated for its ambitious storytelling, rich character development, and thematic complexity. Despite challenges in navigating its intricate narrative and pacing, the arc succeeds in captivating its audience, offering a compelling continuation of Ikebukuro's story. As it weaves together the supernatural with the everyday, "Durarara!! x2 Ten" remains a testament to the series' unique ability to blend disparate elements into a coherent, engaging whole, earning its place as a beloved chapter in the "Durarara!!" saga.