Durarara!!

Overview

Durarara!! (デュラララ!!, Dyurarara!!), often romanized as DRRR!! in Japan, is a Japanese light novel series written by Ryohgo Narita, with illustrations by Suzuhito Yasuda, that has also been adapted in to a Japanese anime series. As of February 2012, ten volumes have been published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation by Akiyo Satorigi started serialization in the shōnen manga magazine Monthly GFantasy on April 18, 2009. An anime adaptation began airing in Japan in January 2010. Durarara!! tells the story of a dullahan working as an underworld courier in Ikebukuro, an internet-based anonymous gang called The Dollars, and the chaos that unfolds around the most dangerous people in Ikebukuro. A game based on the series for the PlayStation Portable was released on September 22, 2010.

Plot

Ryugamine Mikado arrives in Ikebukuro after being accepted into Raira Academy, where his childhood friend Kida Masaomi will also be attending. As Mikado settles into his new life in the city, he becomes acquainted with some of Ikebukuro's most famous, and infamous, residents, such as the amnesiac Dullahan Celty Sturlson, a short-fused strongman named Shizuo Heiwajima, and an information broker, Izaya Orihara, among others.

Soon, Mikado becomes entangled in a messy conflict between corrupt corporate executives, serial murdering monsters, and a colorful assortment of violent gangs. Casting a shadow that engulfs all the players in this conflict is a mysterious, increasingly large group known as the Dollars. In the end, Mikado's life may depend on the answer to a single question: What are the Dollars?

The Characters

Mikado Ryugamine

Mikado Ryugamine is a high school student at Raira Academy, and moves to Ikebukuro at the start of the series. His closest companions are Kida Masaomi, his childhood friend, and Sonohara Anri, a classmate who he has an obvious crush on. While shy and soft-spoken, Mikado begins to show bravery and determination in his dealings with the eclectic cast of often dangerous individuals that populate Ikebukuro. He spends much of the series trying to understand the Dollars, but begins the series with more knowledge than viewers initially suspect.

Kida Masaomi

Kida Masaomi is a high school student at Raira Academy, and persuades Mikado Ryugamine to move to Ikebukuro at the start of the series. Confident and perpetually hitting on girls, Kida is something of a class clown, but hides a serious side, as well as many secrets. He has background knowledge of the variety of color gangs that once plagued Ikebukuro, and is acquainted with the enigmatic information broker, Izaya Orihara.

Sonohara Anri

Sonohara Anri is a high school student at Raira Academy, and becomes friends with Mikado Ryugamine and Kida Masaomi near the start of the series. Nearly as shy as Mikado, Anri is frequently bullied, and may have had a habit of depending overmuch on her missing friend, Mika Harima. She begins the series with little involvement in the various conflicts that spring up throughout Ikebukuro, but finds herself in a dangerous position after falling prey to the serial killer known as the Slasher.

Soundtrack

Cast and Voice actors

Characters	Voice actors
Kida, Masaomi	Miyano, Mamoru Papenbrook, Bryce
Ryugamine, Mikado	Toyonaga, Toshiyuki Guilbeau, Darrel
Sonohara, Anri	Ruff, Michelle Hanazawa, Kana
Orihara, Izaya	Bosch, Johnny Yong Kamiya, Hiroshi
Heiwajima, Shizuo	Freeman, Crispin Ono, Daisuke Ohara, Momoko
Mikajima, Saki	Fukuen, Misato Morris, Cassandra Lee
Sturlson, Celty	Sawashiro, Miyuki Wahlgren, Kari