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The Durarara anime may seem difficult for viewers to wrap their heads around at first. The series has a massive cast, a diverse and winding plot, and a fast pace that some viewers just might not be able to grasp on first viewing. So here’s the plot broken down.
As mentioned, Durarara is a show that focuses on many characters, but the main protagonist is Celty Sturluson, a mythical dullahan from Ireland. She’s come to Japan to look for her head and has ended up in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo, working for a gang called ‘the Dollars.’ But Celty is just one of the ensemble cast of the Durarara anime and far from the only colorful one.
Durarara anime plot breakdown
The plot of the Durarara anime is established by Celty, but she’s ultimately just one of many colorful characters. A trio of high schoolers are instead used as audience surrogates: the shy Mikado, the playboy Kida, and the reclusive Anri. Each seems uninvolved in this world of criminals and gangs, but this is far from the truth.
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Mikado is set up as a shy boy, new to Ikebukuro, but turns out to have founded the Dollars gang in the first place. Kida’s lover-boy nature is actually a cover for his guilt over controlling a different gang in the past, which ended with his girlfriend getting kidnapped. Anri possesses a demonic blade known as ‘Saika.’
These are all things that become far more important as the plot ramps up for the Durarara anime, with each arc having a slightly bigger focus on one of these secrets than the others. The first involves Mikado and his control over the Dollars gang of Ikebukuro, but this takes a moment to be revealed.
The plot really begins with who holds Celty’s head—this would be Namie Yagiri, a pharmaceutical company executive who has been kidnapping people to experiment on them. But the dullahan’s head is stolen by her brother Seiji, who is obsessed with it. To placate Seiji, Namie captures his stalker Mika and gets her plastic surgery to resemble Celty’s disembodied head, but Mika flees from Namie.
Namie is later confronted by Mikado, who calls her out on her awful nature. He calls the Dollars to his aid when she attempts to capture him as well, and he escapes thanks to the Dollars. Celty attempts to catch Namie in regards to her head, but fails. Namie escapes with the head and hands it over to Izaya, an info broker who thinks Celty’s head is the key to ascending to Valhalla.
The Slasher Arc
The Durarara anime enters a new plot with a focus on a number of slashings being done by a mysterious killer. The slasher known as ‘Saika’ soon becomes obsessed with Shizuo, a quick to anger and extremely strong bodyguard, seemingly interested in ‘loving’ him.
‘Saika’ is actually the name of a demonic sword. The original owner had broken it into two and reforged it into two separate blades. One of which is owned by the actual slasher, Haruna, the other ended up in Anri’s hands. While Haruna is driven mad by the sword, Anri is able to control Saika’s ‘love,’ as she cannot love anyone herself.
The demonic sword can actually infect people with its spirit by getting cut by it, causing Haruna to have a small army to cause chaos with. Anri is confronted by Haruna while her ‘children’ attack Shizuo. But in a final confrontation, Anri defeats Haruna and takes control of all those infected by Saika’s spirit.
The Yellow Scarves arc (and where Izaya works in all this)
As the final arc of the Durarara anime starts, Kida begins getting distant from the trio. Anri discovers this because he’s taken up a position in the Yellow Scarves again and has to be saved by Celty after eavesdropping on a meeting. Later, another group of the Scarves confronts Anri, led by someone named Horada. She escapes again, thanks to Shizuo.
The reason for Kida rejoining the Scarves is because they think that the Slasher and the Dollars are associated with one another, and after Celty helps Anri, they begin to think it is likely. Shizuo is shot at Horada’s behest, and Anri begins to become concerned for Kida.
Mikado, tired of the gang wars, disbands the Dollars. Celty informs him of Anri and Kida's secrets, much to his shock. The three reunite, now attempting to stop the Yellow Scarves under Horada's control. Soon victorious over them, the gang wars conclude with the dissolution of the Scarves. Kida leaves Ikebukuro to recover from his injuries and reconcile his past; his friends awaiting his return.
In the end, the main antagonist for this part of the Durarara anime is revealed to be the information broker Izaya, who has a fascination with humans and does unexpected things. He set things into play merely to see how they unfold and is eager to see what unexpected directions things go next.
While this is a basic summary of the Durarara anime's plot, it isn’t really about the gang wars and slashers. It's more about the development of these various characters in their situations, as it shifts from episode to episode. But the summary may help make more sense for people who haven't quite grasped that'real' plot in comparison to the narrative plot depicted.
