Durarara!!

Durarara Season One

(Tried to make spoiler free but will just say Spoiler Warning)

Farily new to this but will give a go none the less.

Story
The storyline in Durarara is borderline perfect. There did seem to me to be a few pacing issues, however they are few and far between and any questions that I found myself asking myself at the end of the season are answered in Shou and Ten. This is (from what I've seen so far as still going through the Part 3 of the Second Arc) to be the best season of the show. The Celtic Folklore really adds an element to it and when all the main and side arcs come together at the end it is simply impossible to stop watching. The introduction of all the factions really does add a sense of urgency to the mix.

Art
The art is spectacular with, the simplistic yet charming drawings of the main characters. All background drawings are done in a grey which really draws your attention to the main cast. It's bright, colourful and I absolutely loved it. The simplistic style never felt like it was an attempt to be lazy, and more a way of complementing the story. The animation is smooth yet rustik, fantastic.

Characters
Best part about the whole package. Apart from maybe Simon (whose backstory is later fleshed out in Shou) are well written and insanely likeable. The character arc of Shizuo, Kida and Anri are the best of the bunch and really draw you in as a watcher. That's not to say it all aren't well written, I find simply no faults with any of them. On top of that you see the cast grow culminating in a fantastic ending, which if you chose not to watch the rest (even though I highly recommend you do) would leave you satisfied. The characters are the driving force of a show like this, and they got it spot on.

Music
Music is sublime. The opening's and outro's are great and the OST is gourgeous. The simple procussion really makes you feel intrigued in story line with intense pieces for action moments and eary moments are played once the slasher arrives. It's one of the best parts about the show.

Conclusion
Do yourself a favour and watch it. It seems to get lower that what I am going to give it a lot of the time and I simply can't understand why. I haven't watched many shows but this felt like a breath of fresh air whilst absorbing the destruction of Attack on Titan. Never felt too convuluted for the sake of trying to be confusing, yet complex enough to keep you interested, with great characters and writing. I will say that the first few episodes can be a bit hard to push yourself through, as it all seems a bit weird, but after around episode 2 or 3 it all starts to click and from there on it just goes from strength to strength. It was one of the first shows I've seen which may lead to a slight bias on the score but I felt it was truly sensational.