Durarara!! - Volume 11 - Chapter Aft

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AFTERWORD

Hello, I’m Ryohgo Narita.

Well, Durarara!! has passed the ten-volume mark and reached number eleven safely. You might find a few scattered references throughout this book that will make you grin if you’ve read Volumes 4–5 of my Vamp! series of novels… (Blatant cross-marketing.)

I pushed the story forward quite a bit in the latter half of this book and ended it with a number of lit fuses all over the place. I’m expecting that the next book will start with a number of consecutive explosions, so please whittle away the time as you wait, imagining that you’re just staring at those fuses…

So, as I had announced before, I was planning to cap the story in a way at Volume 12…but considering what it would take to wrap up some of the stories of the Awakusu-kai characters who didn’t appear in this book at all, I’m currently stuck between extending it to a thirteenth volume or making the next one very, very long. I’m still not sure what my final decision will be at this point, but I’m hoping to deliver the news through the usual marketing avenues.

My hope is that once I’m done with this story movement, I’ll move it to a fresh series set a year or two later, focusing more on new characters, Aoba and Kuru-Mai and the adults.

Now, if I were to rebrand the title like Mr. Kamachi’s A Certain Magical Index: New Testament, I could go with…New Durarara!! Or…True Durarara!! Or…Durararara!! Or…Durarara!!! New World Arc, or…Durarara!! Turbo Edition, or…Durarara: Sunshine City at Dawn, or…Durarara: The Gunman of Ikebukuro, or…Durarara Ultimate Battle, Darkness Demon Izaya vs. Ultra-Mecha Shizuo… The possibilities are just beginning! And now they have ended.

But whatever form it takes, I think that this story set in Ikebukuro will continue for some time longer. I hope you look forward to more!

And now some announcements.

Just as I was praying that there would be more things I could tell you about Durarara!!, they have arrived. First of all, the Durarara!! Blu-ray box set comes out on the twenty-third of this month!

In addition to all twenty-six episodes of the series, you’ll get the Dengeki Bunko Akifuyu no Jin de Durarara Lovers in Nakano special event footage. Not only does it include three original audio drama CDs, you get the deluxe box art drawn by Suzuhito Yasuda himself, so if you’re interested in that or the Durarara Rapping!! character song collection CD that comes out on the same day, I highly recommend looking into buying them!

As for items that are available already for purchase, there’s the new edition of the PSP game called Durarara!! 3way Standoff—Alley—, which you can check out with its own original opening theme by the band ROOKiEZ is PUNK’D!

On top of that, Ms. Satorigi’s manga adaptation is heading into the Saika arc with a volume out already! I’m betting that the combination of the manga format and her fantastic artwork and arrangement will make this even more enjoyable than the original novel!

And now, though it pains me to advertise for a different company than the one printing this book for me…

I have been given the opportunity to write a novel for Tite Kubo’s manga series Bleach, which is running in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. If all goes to plan, it should be hitting stores within a month or two of the book you hold in your hands!

When I saw my name in the pages of Shonen Jump (even if just for publicity purposes), which I’ve been reading since I was a boy, I got unstoppable chills of joy.

I’m turning that excitement into energy, trying to synergize both fan bases so that readers of Durarara!! might find an interest in Bleach, and vice versa. I’m doing my best to make everyone happy, so I hope you will check that out!

I’ve also had more chances to do work in various other fields and places this year, such as participating in the Red Dragon role-playing-game fiction series from Seikaisha, and there are others that have yet to be announced coming up.

Of course, the reason I’ve had all of these opportunities at all is because of the Dengeki Bunko series of Baccano! and Durarara!!, and the incredible bedrock of support that you readers give me. I will continue to give my all to the series that got me here, to ensure that your support doesn’t go to waste!

*The following is the usual list of acknowledgments.

To my editor, Mr. Papio, and the rest of the editorial office. To the proofreaders, whom I give a hard time by being so late with submissions. To all the folks at ASCII Media Works.

To my family, who do so much for me in so many ways, my friends, fellow authors, and illustrators.

To Director Omori, Akiyo Satorigi, and everyone else involved in the various media projects, including anime, manga, and video games.

To Suzuhito Yasuda, who took time out of his busy schedule with Yozakura Quartet and his video game character designs to provide his wonderful illustrations and even some live streams of the process.