Manga Review: Durarara!!, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

I've finished "Durarara! Vol. 1" by Ryohgo Narita.

Product Description

Welcome to Ikebukuro, where Tokyo's wildest characters gather!! Meet an ordinary boy who daydreams about the extraordinary. A naive stalker girl. The strongest man in Ikebukuro. A shut-in doctor with questionable credentials. A hedonistic informant...and the "headless rider" astride a pitch-black motorcycle!?

As their paths cross, this eccentric cast weaves a twisted, cracked love story.

Product Details
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Yen Press; Import edition (January 24, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0316204900
ISBN-13: 978-0316204903


My Review:

The storyline is the same as the anime though it goes into more indepth of how psychotic Izaya is.

The manga opens with Mikado Ryūgamine, a young boy who longs for the exciting life of the big city, moves to Ikebukuro at the invitation of his childhood friend Masaomi Kida, who he hasn't seen since he was young, to attend Raira Academy with him. After meeting Masaomi at the train station, they both set out at night to the streets of Ikebukuro. Masaomi warns him about people he doesn't want to cross in the city: like a violent and superhumanly strong man, Shizuo Heiwajima, an information broker, Izaya Orihara, and a mysterious gang known as "The Dollars." After running into some of the side characters, Mikado witnesses a local legend called the "Black Rider", who rides around Ikebukuro on a black bike that occasionally brays like a horse, and who is also rumored to have no head under its helmet.

3.5/5

Thanks Hachette Book Group Canada and Yen Press for sending me this manga to review, greatly appreciated!