Durarara!! - Volume 7 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

Hello, I’m Ryohgo Narita. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Or if you’re new, welcome. I hope you stick around!

Anyway, as those of you who bought this book around its release date probably already know…

THE DURARARA!! TV ANIME SERIES HAS BEGUN AIRING!

As of this writing, I’ve seen a few episodes already—and I can barely contain my excitement at their quality. In fact, I’m so excited I’ve got a fever of 101 degrees. Okay, that was a lie. I’m just sick. But I’m also so happy that I could get up and dance to express my delight!

But enough about me being silly. I’d like to provide a little afterword to each of the stories in this book.

RENDEZVOUS BOLERO

Namie and Mika are both top-class “broken” characters among the female cast of Durarara!!, but I feel like their relative lack of profile in the story allowed them to be passed off as normal for too long. Actually, I was considering a backstory where Namie took on a girl who was approaching her brother and seduced her to pull her away from Seiji…but it would have pushed the page limit, and I had moral concerns, so I didn’t write it in. If you’re a fan of the yuri women-who-love-women romances, please employ your imagination.

OUTCAST CONCERTO

This is a story of Akabayashi, my personal favorite. But as a matter of fact, I named most of the Awakusu-kai figures after editors at the Dengeki Bunko office, so my personal editor often says things like “I have a hard time imagining this guy being the hero of the story, because I always see Takabayashi’s face on him.” It’s not fair! Anyway, there’s also the mother of a character whom I won’t reveal for fear of spoilers. It’s a bit different from the usual Durarara!!

COLLECTION RHAPSODY

On the other hand, this one was very appropriate, in my opinion. Shizuo thinks of his ideal woman as an older lady, but in order to find out more about that, you’ll have to wait for an original anime story in the near future (major announcement!). After this, I think Akane and Vorona will remain as regular cast members orbiting around Shizuo. The cast tends not to grow much in Durarara!!, so the introduction of new members is a valuable occurrence.

LOVEY-DOVEY CHAKA-POKO

In this story, the sound chaka-poko is used to represent the clopping of horse hooves, but I got the term itself from the famous novel Dogra Magra. That aside, I really wanted to put Celty into a school uniform. I considered adding a cheerleader outfit and elaborate kimono, but I doubted that anyone really cared that much aside from me and Shinra.

HOSPITALIZATION POLKA

At first, I planned for Izaya to have an extremely boring Golden Week with no visitors. But a certain character in the manga edition (I won’t say whom) was drawn so incredibly cute that I had to put her back into the story… That led to quite an interesting development with Izaya. I wonder what will happen? Even the author doesn’t know.

Speaking of the manga, the comic edition of Durarara!!, drawn by Akiyo Satorigi, is running monthly and just had its first volume released!

I’m very much enjoying Durarara!! in these new forms, drawn and animated from different points of view. I really hope that all of you out there enjoy this multimedia blitz as much as I do, if not more!

By the way, the first DVD of the anime series is already slated for release in February. Not only will I be writing a short story for it, but there will be other bonus goodies as well, so if you’ve got some money burning a hole in your pocket, I highly suggest checking it out!

On top of that, the Baccano! artbook by Katsumi Enami will also be coming out, so give that a peep, too! My days are overflowing with excitement and pride knowing that so many things are coming out related to my works. Thank you for all your support!

*The following is the usual list of acknowledgments.

To my editor, who has to put up with my constant nonsense at all times, Mr. Papio. To managing editor Suzuki 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 designers involved with the production of the book. To all the people at Media Works involved in marketing, publishing, and sales.

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

To Director Omori and the rest of the anime staff, and Akiyo Satorigi and Editor Kuma for the manga adaptation.

To the anime writers, starting with the series writer Mr. Takagi, Ms. Ohta and her idea for Kaztano’s background, Mr. Nemoto who depicted a part of Shizuo’s backstory, and Mr. Murai and Ms. Yoshinaga whose ideas served to influence even my writing process.

To Suzuhito Yasuda, who took time out of his busy schedule to provide the thrilling and enticing front cover and interior illustrations, as well as some design work for the anime.

And to all the readers who checked out this book.

To all the above, the greatest of appreciation!

“Celebrating his temperature sinking under one hundred during the writing of this afterword”

Ryohgo Narita