OP: The song was never to my taste, never. However, considering this is the opening and the first episode at that, I tried to change my perspective slightly and see if I could justify my opinion.
It wasn’t exactly catchy, and I think that’s because the singer was not the perfect fit either if they were going for the ‘catchy part.’ Due credits to the singer though, the way he sang it did get me going to the last bit of the song. Fifty-ish part of the song somehow changed to a lighten mood, props to that. However, after listening to it over and over again, I could only label it as an “opening song” and not just as a song I like.
Oh, and to that animation, damn that was good! Maybe that was the reason I got hooked and pumped up for a while. The sudden introduction to the characters, the indication their fates were all intertwined in one city – I have to say, there is a lot to expect from this show in being different from just by the opening.
Over the course of the series, we are given different perspective of things in distinct ways in first- and third-person views. For the first episode, we have four.
First, we have this innocent relationship of childhood friends, Ryuugamine Mikado and Kida Masaomi. Before I want to go over them, the credits have to go to Miyano Mamoru’s fantastic voicing! From his previous works (Death Note) in a serious-toned show, this is like seeing a different side and uptake from the usual. A high-strung, carefree, friendly and what could be said “Ikebukuro-veteran”, he sure has portrayed it perfectly. The others were no joke either; they did their work good, or perhaps better than average, so they’re no one to sell short either.
Moving on, Mikado makes a foreign viewer seem like his view is twisted in some ways. The foreboding “Welcome to Ikebukuro,” the uncoloured but animated passers-by – they were formula for omniscient and importance of the people involved in the underworld. There was nothing to find amazing there, but I guess that’s for the ignorant of big cities or “introverts” who are looking for adventure, like Mikado who immerses in the uncompelling possibility he actually stands in a really big city.
The entire episodes’ mixture of interesting dialogue (as both involvement of story and decent, fleshed fictional reality) and character development were decently on its place. Mikado met Masaomi’s friends – Karisawa Erika, Yumasaki Walker, Kadota Kyouhei, Togusa Saburou, and Simon – and even a well-known troublemakers – Heiwajima Shizuo.
The second, separate scene was a unique way of saying “this is a small world” in Ikebukuro. As Mikado and Masaomi continue their conversation, they pass this girl, who left home and deceived by a group of three people. Izaya later made a short appearance after the kidnapping.
The third was the first character seen in the series and introduced in the opening theme song – Sturluson Celty. He was riding in a black motor, making a horse’s snicker.
The second and third were initially separate and converged into the scene where these kidnappers were busted. This was more of a way paved for Celty’s development – smashing the pink-hooded kidnapper to a wall with her motor, withstanding electric shock, and catching up to a van from which she later crashed at the sudden brake.
We have seen this reality as close to the reality we live in, though it was timed well that at three-fourths of the episode to reveal this girl was a seemingly immortal, headless rider in black, one that summons a grim reaper’s scythe and cuts through someone (though there was no physical damage indicated; internal damage, perhaps). These two scenes were rather grim to end, though it might as well be that to better note this was no series that puts mercy in possible twisted psychopaths involvement (ehem, Izaya, ehem).
The fourth scene are actually short scenes of chat conversations. They were actually inserted almost everywhere in the show, but obviously placed in time to correspond with the development of the story. They are hidden figures, who must certainly play a good role in the later part. Nothing much to be said, except for the hype of the only one thing left out in their conversation room, “Who is Dotachin?”
Back to the first scene, they continue their introduction of “listing the people not to get involved” – the Dollars and Orihara Izaya – before bumping into a girl with a neck scar, creepy enough that it makes you think her head isn’t her body. She suddenly screams with the duo having no shred of idea behind this mystery, only to play a larger role in the latter part of the story.
To wrap the first episode, Mikado sees the headless rider as her motor screams a horse’s scorn, later with the chat conversation of these unknown people.
Looking at this as a whole, the entire first episode wasn’t strong. The expectations stood well by the expectations, and perhaps the only way for it to be stronger is as it continues. This thing shows off everything but without the usual cliché and action. You see the story, the dialogue, the character development, and a little bit of laughs (but not as a pass to comedy either).
Plot-wise, this has a huge potential, and after all that talking, it makes you think you were only holding sand’s grain in information because the mysteriousness of these characters & the story in itself. Let’s not forget how Mikado’s perspective of these “little things” may actually play a better role later on.
ED: An R&B song, good. Something I could probably commit to, but somehow too poppy. Nice choice on the animation, though. Not that it is original, but at least it’s different from the usual. The very least, even the ED is attempting to be different.
Preview:
So that’s school life for Mikado and Masaomi with a new girl and boy involved, someone rides in the back of the headless rider (woah), involvement between Izaya and Shizuo, and wait, headless rider lives with a professor? Cool with me.
Random tidbits:
- They used the same foreboding effect when the girl was about to get kidnapped (yes, talk about foreboding that happened a minute later). This was to a lesser extent, though a nice touch for clarifying what I meant by “foreboding” in “Welcome to Ikebukuro” part.
- The animation keeps the characters alive well-enough for this studio I have no high expectations. Brains Base did Baccano!, the show with the same director, music director, and original author. It’s like in response to Baccano!’s action-packed animation, they did Durarara!! with the same budget, but of course, this will pay up with the great story they took.
- The soundtrack was more diverse than I thought. No one word could describe them common in theme. They weren’t all in serious tones, neither as a light-hearted feel either. They had some mystery soundtracks up, some reggae-like feel, and well, what they can only have in common is that they are different.
Adrift Culture 