Durarara!! episode 3 – making new friends
July 10, 2011
Gangs are a common sight in Ikebukuro
It has been a while since I last dropped in on Ikebukuro. Tonight I caught a broadcast of the Durarara!! dub on Adult Swim, and it turned out to be one of my absolute favorite episodes. I don’t want to go back and re-blog this series, but since I didn’t start blogging it until mid-way through, I thought I could indulge myself in a couple of comments on this occasion.
Izaya Orihara. When you see this arrangement, you know you are about to witness a classic fight.
The Dub
First a word on the dub. It is unfair for me to talk in depth about it because one episode isn’t enough to comment, with a cast this large, but I personally feel it didn’t match the original Japanese performances. And let’s face it, these are some of the greatest voice actors in Japan. In particular the roles of Shizuo Heiwajima and Izaya Orihara are voiced by the great Daisuke Ono and Hiroshi Kamiya. Both are just perfect for these roles.
A little action, Ikebukuro style.
This episode was great for many reasons. It was really funny, in a crazy way, not in a “that joke was funny” way. It introduced some wonderful characters, and started some things in motion, but above all it had this insane fight. At first things don’t look so good. Then they get really bad. Then things get implausibly insanely worse. Then it just keeps getting more insane. Truly a great episode, and it barely has any Celty in it.
Shizuo Heiwajima (Shizuo-chan to his mortal enemies).
Music
Man! I really need to get a copy of this soundtrack. There were several great tracks that I noticed, while watching this episode, including some of that avante-Jazz that sounds like a wild elephant has gone rogue and is crashing through the city. Well, given that this was the first episode we got to see Heiwajima and Orihara fight, that is pretty much what was happening. Check out this in-depth review of the OST by Yoshimori Makoto on Anime Instrumentality for some samples and fascinating insights.
Enjoy the show!
I hope anyone who is watching this show for the first time really enjoys it. I had a blast watching it the first time, and the second, and so on. This particular episode I had watched many times already, but watched again twice tonight (once on a streaming site so I could grab a couple of screen shots), and I keep on enjoying it. Durarara!! is perhaps the only series I believe truly deserves two exclamation points.
Abandoned Factory Anime Review 
July 10, 2011 at 11:38 am
Durarara is awesome. I just need to finish it. 11 episodes to go. Orz
July 10, 2011 at 4:37 pm
There were so many great characters in there. It was a very fun show, had excellent production values, and had a KILLER cast of VAs. A lot of people regularly call for a new season, and I think this is one of those cases where it is warranted.
July 10, 2011 at 3:36 pm
Durarara didn’t capture my attention until around episode 7. It really gets good when everything comes together.
July 10, 2011 at 5:18 pm
I was really intrigued from the start. The second episode was so mysterious and I liked the idea of going back and exploring events seen previously from a new perspective. Then this third episode happened and it blew me away. I loved the way that events kept spinning out of control. But, yeah, when all of the characters finally get involved, it gets really good.
July 10, 2011 at 11:53 pm
Currently watching it and loving it, its one of the many show I had to put on hold while working on Mecha Hell. The wait is being well rewarded.
July 11, 2011 at 12:34 am
I could see how that would happen. I watched Mecha Hell, BTW. I can’t imagine how much work went into that. I only recognized about a third of the shows! Very funny.
July 11, 2011 at 2:34 pm
Durarara!! Got so many of the writers at Metanorn into blogging like myself and Kyokai and a few of the others, it really is a great series to get into. Yes it is very very slow with the first eight or so episodes, because they have to build up all the characters backgrounds.
And damn there are tons of characters! Of course everyone has their own fan favorites like Shizuo or Izaya.
Now for the Dub I won’t lie I am a hardcore dub fan myself, I find dubs are the best way to get new fans into anime. I usually show my sister or try to get my dad to watch anime I tried with subbed stuff and it was a bit hard for them to keep up with, but with a dub they can sit back and enjoy it a bit more.
As for Durarara dub I think they did a decent job then again I always enjoy hearing the voices from Eureka7, Bleach, and a few others. I do have my favorites like Johnny young bosh as Izaya and Crispin Freeman as Shizuo those two are the most fun to listen to.
July 12, 2011 at 5:37 am
Crispin Freeman did a good job based on the one episode I watched. The Japanese cast was just *godly*, though.
I am not against American dubs; as you say, there are some folks that would be better served by the dubbed version. For me, personally, I have no problems with the subtitles. I watched a lot of subtitled foreign films when I was younger, so it seems quite natural to me.