Durarara!!

Durarara!!
Cover of the first light novel
デュラララ!!
Genre	Action Suspense Urban fantasy
Light novel
Written by	Ryōgo Narita
Illustrated by	Suzuhito Yasuda
Published by	ASCII Media Works
English publisher	NA: Yen Press
Imprint	Dengeki Bunko
Original run	April 25, 2004 – January 10, 2014
Volumes	13 + side story
Further information Anime television series Directed by Takahiro Omori Produced by Akeko Yokoyama Atsushi Wada Hiro Maruyama Kozue Kaneniwa Yasuyo Ogisu Written by Noboru Takagi Music by Makoto Yoshimori Studio Brain's Base Licensed by AUS: Siren Visual NA: Aniplex of America UK: Anime Limited Original network MBS, TBS, CBC English network UK: Viceland US: Adult Swim Original run January 8, 2010 – June 25, 2010 Episodes 24 + 2 OVA Manga Durarara!! 3way standoff -alley- Written by Ryohgo Narita Illustrated by Izuko Fujiya Published by ASCII Media Works Magazine Sylph Original run July 22, 2013 – August 22, 2014 Volumes 2 Manga YZQ ✕ DRRR!! Written by Suzuhito Yasuda Published by Kodansha Imprint Sirius KC Published December 18, 2013 Light novel Durarara!! SH Written by Ryohgo Narita Illustrated by Suzuhito Yasuda Published by ASCII Media Works English publisher NA: Yen Press Imprint Dengeki Bunko Original run April 10, 2014 – present Volumes 4 Manga Durarara!! Relay Written by Ryohgo Narita Illustrated by Izuko Fujiya Published by ASCII Media Works Magazine Sylph Original run October 22, 2014 – November 21, 2015 Volumes 2 Anime television series Durarara!!×2 Directed by Takahiro Omori Written by Noboru Takagi Music by Makoto Yoshimori Studio Shuka Licensed by AUS: Siren Visual NA: Aniplex of America UK: Anime Limited Original network Tokyo MX, GTV, GYT, BS11, MBS, CBC English network SEA: Animax Original run January 10, 2015 – March 26, 2016 Episodes 36 + 3 OVA Light novel Orihara Izaya to, Yūyake o Written by Ryohgo Narita Illustrated by Suzuhito Yasuda Published by ASCII Media Works Imprint Dengeki Bunko Original run July 10, 2015 – October 8, 2016 Volumes 2 Light novel Durarara!! × Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens Written by Chiaki Kizaki Illustrated by Hako Ichiiro Published by ASCII Media Works Imprint Dengeki Bunko Published October 8, 2016 Related Manga adaptation (2009–present)

Durarara!! (デュラララ!!), shortened to DRRR!! in some official materials, is a Japanese light novel series written by Ryohgo Narita, with illustrations by Suzuhito Yasuda. 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. The series ran for thirteen volumes, published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. A sequel series, titled Durarara!! SH set two years after the events of the original series, started in 2014.

A manga adaptation of the same name, first illustrated by Akiyo Satorigi and later by Aogiri, has been serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga magazine Monthly GFantasy since July 2009. A 24-episode anime television series adaptation was broadcast from January to June 2010. It was followed by a 36-episode second season, titled Durarara!!×2, broadcast from January 2015 to March 2016.

Plot

Main article: List of Durarara!! characters

Mikado Ryūgamine, a young boy who longs for the exciting life of the big city, moves to Ikebukuro to attend Raira Academy with his childhood friend Masaomi Kida, whom he has not seen since he was young. After the two meet at the train station, they set out to explore the streets of Ikebukuro. Masaomi warns Mikado about people he does not want to cross in the city such as the violent and superhumanly strong man Shizuo Heiwajima, the information broker Izaya Orihara, and the mysterious gang known as "The Dollars". After running into some of the side characters, Mikado sees a local legend called the "Black Rider" who is rumored to have no head and rides around Ikebukuro on a black motorcycle that occasionally neighs like a horse. The "Black Rider"'s real name is Celty Sturluson; she is a creature from Irish folklore known as a dullahan who is in Ikebukuro looking for her stolen head while working as an underworld courier. The narrative follows all of the characters equally, showing how their lives intersect and create a greater plot line from each character's knowledge about a common incident.

The story is told from the perspective of approximately eleven of the main characters, with the perspective changing in every episode in the anime, sometimes even more often. One of the few constants given in every episode is that the narrator gives his own opinion on the current situation that he is in as well as talking about what things make them tick and keep them going in Ikebukuro: a city with a large underbelly that is the medium for the majority of both the plot's development and random violence throughout the series.

Production

Although it has commonly been claimed that the title "Durarara" is an onomatopoeia for the "revving of an engine", Narita states specifically in the first light novel volume that the name means absolutely nothing. He had been editing the finished draft of his book, when his editor called. When prompted for a title, Narita "...just randomly gave a name, 'Du...Durarara?'" Upon hearing this, his editor responded with a positive remark as he liked ambiguous titles."

Media

Light novel

The Durarara!! light novels are written by Ryohgo Narita and illustrated by Suzuhito Yasuda. The first novel was released in April 2004 under ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunko imprint and the thirteenth and final novel was released in January 2014. A sequel series, titled Durarara!! SH (デュラララ!! SH, Durarara!! SH), started in 2014. Four volumes of Durarara!! SH have been released, but the series has not continued, likely due to Narita's health conditions.

A Chinese-language release in Taiwan and Hong Kong was published by the Taiwan branch of Kadokawa Media under their Fantastic Novels imprint. Daewon C.I. licensed the Korean-language release of the series in South Korea and released the novels under their Newtype Novels imprint. As of January 2015, it was announced that Yen Press would be releasing the Durarara!! novels in English under their Yen On Imprint. In October 2020, Yen Press announced it had licensed the Durarara!! SH novels for release.

No.	Original release date	Original ISBN	English release date	English ISBN
1	April 25, 2004	978-4-8402-2646-2	July 21, 2015	978-0-316-30474-0
2	March 10, 2005	978-4-8402-3000-1	November 17, 2015	978-0-316-30476-4
3	August 10, 2006	978-4-8402-3516-7	March 22, 2016	978-0-316-30477-1
4	March 10, 2008	978-4-8402-4186-1	July 19, 2016	978-0-316-30478-8
5	March 10, 2009	978-4-04-867595-6	November 15, 2016	978-0-316-30479-5
6	July 10, 2009	978-4-04-867905-3	March 21, 2017	978-0-316-30481-8
7	January 10, 2010	978-4-04-868276-3	July 25, 2017	978-0-316-43968-8
8	June 10, 2010	978-4-04-868599-3	November 14, 2017	978-0-316-47429-0
9	February 10, 2011	978-4-04-870274-4	March 20, 2018	978-0-316-47431-3
10	August 10, 2011	978-4-04-870729-9	July 17, 2018	978-0-316-47434-4
11	May 10, 2012	978-4-04-886562-3	November 27, 2018	978-0-316-47436-8
12	June 7, 2013	978-4-04-891746-9	March 26, 2019	978-0-316-47438-2
13	January 10, 2014	978-4-04-866217-8	September 17, 2019	978-1-9753-5819-8
Side Stories?!	August 9, 2014	978-4-04-866830-9	May 21, 2024	978-1-9753-9118-8