Durarara!! - Volume 9 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

Hello, it’s nice to see you folks again for the first time in a while—if it has been. I’m Ryohgo Narita.

This was the ninth volume of the Durarara!! series. We’re almost to two digits, and it’s only thanks to your support that we’ve come this far. Thank you so much, all my readers!

I often get questions from people who only read the Durarara!! series saying, “Why can’t you write faster?” Well, the fact of the matter is that I’m currently penning five different series for the Dengeki Bunko line at the same time, and in between each Durarara!! volume is a number of other books…so if you’re interested in what else I have to offer, maybe check out Baccano!, Vamp!, Etsusa Bridge, or Hariyama-san at the Center of the World…

At any rate, it’s been over a year since the airing of the Durarara!! anime, and so much has happened in that time. While much of that has been wonderful, it’s also meant a huge uptick in workload that has knocked me on the ropes. It’s been a strange year in which I’ve somehow slipped into a dimension where I have more work than when I used to put out seven novels a year, but I was able to make it through thanks to the glory of the Durarara!! anime, manga, and related merchandise and the support of everyone still reading!

This month also marks the release of the final DVD of the series!

I’m overcome with emotion, but it’s a mixture of both happiness and sadness. The year full of excitement over the Durarara!! anime is over, and now I’m grappling with hope and worry for what comes next.

The last volume will include Episode 25 as an OVA—but like Episode 12.5, it has my original idea and character dialogue reformatted to work as a script. I came up with a huge amount of dialogue, thinking, There’s no way they can cut this down to thirty minutes, but the work the director and scriptwriter did to distill the best parts is simply breathtaking…

Not only does it feature essentially every character, it even includes some like Max who hadn’t appeared in the anime, so it should be quite lively. Please do enjoy it, along with the final televised episode!

I wish to express my incredible gratitude to Director Omori, Mr. Takagi the head writer and his staff, and all the people at Brain’s Base studio for their fantastic work. But as it happens, another series that Omori, Takagi, and Brain’s Base worked on, Baccano!, is getting a Blu-ray box set!

As of this writing, I haven’t yet seen the increased quality and fidelity of the Baccano! Blu-ray, but I can tell you it was a tremendous adaptation of my novels, so whether you have or have not seen it already, please do check it out along with the Durarara!! anime!

Another very exciting development: Suzuhito Yasuda is putting out an art book based around his work on Durarara!! and other series! It’ll be coming out alongside an art book for his manga Yozakura Quartet, serialized in the monthly Shonen Sirius magazine. I’m really happy that Durarara!! gets to be involved in such a major release!

I’m sure there will be more details and advertisements as it gets closer to release, so please check out the Yasuda world for its involvement with the Durarara!! and Etsusa Bridge series!

…Hmm, I feel like all I’ve done is plug related products, so let’s discuss Durarara!!, Volume 9 and my recent circumstances.

This was a story about Izaya. So far I’ve had Izaya suffering some horrible fate at the end of every third volume. Whether or not he broke that jinx this time around will be up to your personal opinion.

As for me…I’ve been using my PSP to Hunt some Monsters and Ronpa some Dangan.

…Sorry.

Now that I’ve finished this book, I’ve been fully enjoying Monster Hunter Portable 3rd at last. But just when I thought I’d be dedicating all my attention to MH, along came the shocking Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. It’s totally driven an ice pick into my brain…

It’s kind of like a high-speed, white-knuckle psychedelic murder mystery combining action and puzzle solving and packed with totally out-of-this-world characters. It completely knocked me on my ass!

You should definitely look up Danganronpa if you haven’t heard of it and see if its twisted sense of style suits your taste!

Wait…am I just plugging unrelated products now?!

* 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. I’m so sorry for pushing the schedule harder than it’s ever been pushed before!

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 tremendous manga adaptation that just released its third volume at the end of the year.

To Suzuhito Yasuda, who took time out of his busy schedule with his art book and manga serial to provide his wonderful interior illustrations. I’m sorry that I turned the text over to you so late in the process…

And to all the readers who checked out this book.

To all of the above, the greatest of appreciation!

January 2011—“Getting His Mind Invaded by Squid Girl”

Ryohgo Narita