Manga Review – Durarara!! Volume 2

This week I’m continuing with a manga I started earlier, with Durarara!!, Volume 2.

Title: Durarara!! – Volume 2
Story by Ryohgo Narita
Art by Akiyo Satorigi
Character Designs by Suzuhito Yasuda
Translation by Stephen Paul

Available from Amazon.com & RightStuf

The Premise

We meet Dotachin and his merry band of psychopaths (self-identifying psychopaths, I should add), along with Naime Yagiri and her brother Seiji, and Seiji’s stalker, Mika Harima. We also learn something of the history of Mikado’s classmate Anri Sonohara. Also, it turns out that Izaya Orihara and Shizuo Heiwajiima have some history.

High Points

We get an excellent glimpse of Izaya’s true nature here.

Low Points

The character development in this volume is spread kind of thin, with all the characters getting development, but not enough to be satisfying.

Scores

Originality: This is an adaptation, and while I haven’t read the book, I have seen the anime adaptation of the book, I have seen the anime adaptation of the book, and the two are very similar. 3/6

Artwork: Incredibly good. 5/6

Story: This volume is focused almost entirely on backstory and characterization, and its generally executed well, but… 4/6

Characterization: …The characterization is spread amongst too many characters with too little space. 4/6

Emotional Response: The humor works really well, though some of it is pretty dark. 4/6

Flow: 6/6

Overall: A good continuation of the story, but outside of the reveal where Celty’s head is, there aren’t that many twists. 4/6

In total, Durarara!! Volume 2 gets 30/42.