Celty and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.
Creative Staff
Story: Ryohgo Narita
Art: Suzuhito Yasuda
Translation/Adaptation: Stephen Paul
What They Say
“Do you enjoy being the Black Rider who’s been spotted all over Ikebukuro over the past few years now? Why is it that you’re riding such a dangerous bike all over the place? Are you aware that you’re violating the law?!” Ikebukuro, Tokyo. A place full of fires waiting to be lit and plenty of people ready to light a match: Twins who are the perfect opposite of each other. An idol who’s nothing like her older brother. A girl with a crush on her senior in the Dollars. And a headless rider with a bounty on her…uh, head. Keeping the peace is probably not gonna happen.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
It was only a matter of time before someone put a bounty on The Black Rider’s head. However, it’s not the police who set the reward, but a talent agency president. From that moment on Celty is a wanted woman, and she has one terminator bike cop and a legion of out-of-towner biker gangs hot on her heals. This comes after one of the largest paydays Celty has the privilege of earning, only to see that money disappear in an instant during her flight.
Intermingled with that centerpiece of action are a multitude of side plots. Some involve characters we already know and the rest are bombastic introductions for future players. This is a pause between acts which contains almost as much progression as the previous novels. While Izaya is away, all of Ikebukuro plays.
The kids we’ve been following up until now are no longer the focus of the story, which means it’s time to bring in more cast members. The majority of the new faces are people mentioned in passing, and the rest are entirely new recruits to the story that is Narita’s Ikebukuro.
Two of the very unusual new students we meet are twins with a skewed outlook on personality. Mairu and Kururi are the oversexed sisters of the extremely dangerous Izaya. They storm into school like a typhoon and make a swift negative impression on most of the student body. Underclassman Aoba finds the twins interesting enough to put a stop to the bullying their experiencing, and they all find themselves acquainted with Mikado and Anri, and the rest.
Aoba is our new Mikado stand-in, and the kid instantly set off warnings in my head as being more than he first appeared. He was just far too normal to be sucked into events so otherworldly.
Then there is Shizou’s brother, who goes by the stage name of Yuuhei. He too is a unique case of ‘there’s something not quite right with that boy.’ He is, as the novel describes him, practically the most gifted actor of a generation. He is emotionless around others as his brother’s violent mood swings made him close himself off emotionally so to not trigger Shizou. The end result is a kid who’s a perfect actor but has trouble expressing himself outside of acting. His run in with an idol with her own secrets sets the stage for even further shenanigans.
Did I mention the paid killer and the serial killer who are also on the loose?
With each new character introduced the supernatural elements seem to ramp up. The serial killer and professional killer almost feel unnecessary, even though they play an important role in the story. It’s very overstuffed. Narita has a tendency to make even the most hideous criminal a fascinating case study. Many of these characters shouldn’t be likable, but they are.
While previous volumes played around with the timeline a little, this volume is told completely non-linear. It starts off grounding its setting in a specific time and place, about two weeks after the events of the last volume. Everything that happens after occurs in about the same 48-hour time block, but often out of order. Reminiscent of the Tarantino-vibe the novels constantly try to evoke with its violence and absurdity, Narita throws everything at the reader and it somehow works. I never felt lost reading these events, as each flashback and aside connects with the events surrounding it in a way that doesn’t feel like non-sequitur jump cuts in the action. Props to the translator for keeping everything flowing in its intended fashion. However, it does come off as overly clever and perhaps unnecessary. Other readers might not be able to follow the action as easily as I could.
In Summary
This volume of Durarara does feel like a bridge to something else, something potentially more life threatening. It’s the most filmic of the Durarara novels yet, bringing to mind the works of Tarantino and Ritchie. Action packed and frantically paced, it jumps back and forth in its timeline setting up absurdity after absurdity as the situation snowballs out of control. It proves that everyone can get into just enough trouble of their own without Izaya’s machinations. It’s an introduction for the strange siblings of some of our notorious characters, and their unique perspectives on the world. There are no normal, average people here, only ciphers and puppet-masters vying for control of Ikebukuro. Celty might just be the most normal of the entire group, despite her supernatural abilities.
Content Grade: B +
Art Grade: B
Packaging Grade: B +
Text/Translation Grade: A –
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: July 19th, 2016
MSRP: $14.00
