Ruckus and Nonsense

Good news there's something that bothers me enough to blog: Durarara!! and all it's failings in comparison to its predecessor, Bacanno!
First some brief details on Bacanno! (which I'm surprised I haven't blog about before).
It's set in the prohabition era of America and follows three plot lines (set in 1930, 1931 and 1932) simultaneously, with a large roster of interconnected characters, many whom are gangsters, immortals and/or dangerous psychos. In 1930 we watch as a couple bottles of immortality elixir swap hands while the owners try to track them down; in 1931 several gangs try to take the same train hostage with messy results; in 1932 nothing happens in a way that can be interestingly summarised.
Baccano! is an enjoyable experience of over the top action, eccentric characters and gratuitous violence, and I recommend it to anyone who might be interested.

All this makes Durarara!!'s flaws all the more annoying. You see both series were originally light novels by the same author, both are animated by the same studio, and it seems that both somehow inhabit the same universe.

Durarara!! once again follows a diverse cast but this time is set in modern Japan. There is a supernatural element, a headless rider, as well as a 'normal' character who none the less performs superhuman feats. I can't really sum up the plot because despite having more episodes than Baccano! Durarara!! manages to have less happen, which brings me to my first compliant:

• Nothing Fucking Happens: okay that's a slight exaggeration, there are story arcs, but in the time it takes to complete the first one, Baccano! has almost completed its three arcs at once. 'But Durarara!! is a different show with a different tone,' a hypothetical fan might say which suspiciously leads into my next point;

• The Tone Is Shit: discarding the ruckus of its predecessor Durarara!! adopts a slower, more philosophical tone. Who needs gun fights and fun when you can have teenagers angsting and stuff. Now I like me some philosophy and can sink my literary teeth into a weighty and ponderous sci fi novel if it's done well but as you can probably guess I don't think that's the case with this show. After all I didn't even realise it was supposed to be slower and more thoughtful at first, what with the scythe wielding rider and the Anonymous-style gang. I just assumed it was action or maybe a thriller, and if your audience doesn't know what it is supposed to be then you are doing it wrong;
  

• Terrible Narration: sometimes I dream of a world where 'show, not tell' is enforced as law, if nothing else it'd put a stop to lazy storytelling like narration. While Baccano! had some narration, it took place within the story as one character explained things to another. But Durarara!! just has several omniscient disembodied voices directly talking to the audience. And even there is some justification coming later (I haven't finished the the last arc yet) it doesn't excuse the quality. The narration is that awful kind that tells us all the things that it shouldn't be used for eg what the characters are thinking or feeling, or worse, things the audience can work out for themselves;

• Weak Characters: despite having alot more time dedicated to explaining their backstory, many of the characters are noticably flatter than Baccano!'s, feeling more like devices than people. The audience surrogate is bland even for the standards of audience surrogate characters but the biggest offender is the closest thing the series has to antagonist is worse. He's supposed to be this cunning information broker who trolls people and manipulates events just to cause chaos for the sake of it and yet I don't buy it. He's this way because that's his personality, it's just because that's what the plot requires;

• Undeserved Popularity: yeah I know this is subjective, but it's also what I feel strongest about (and actually is the cause for this entire post). Durarara!! was better received than Baccano! and that just makes me mad. You know how people talk about stuff being dumbed down to the masses, well here it is. The simultaneous plots have been removed cause people don't want to have to keep up, the violence is removed cause people are squeamish (okay fair enough on that point, not everyone likes faces grinded or fingers bitten off) , and the setting has moved to teenagers in modern Japan because people can't relate to things that are slightly different.

I'm never sure how to finish so I'll just make this bitter generalisation: the masses don't deserve good entertainment. Now I'm going go find something better to watch.