Durarara!!x2 (デュラララ!!×2) is a 2015-2016 television anime series based on the light novel of the same name written by Ryohgo Narita. It was adapted by studio Shuka and directed by Takahiro Omori. Aniplex published the series and was first broadcast in Japan on January 2015 as part of the Winter season.
The series was split into three seasons; Durarara!!x2 Shou (デュラララ!!×2 承) first broadcast in January 2015, Durarara!!x2 Ten (デュラララ!!×2 転) first broadcast in July 2015 and Durarara!!x2 Ketsu (デュラララ!!×2 結) first broadcast in January 2016.
Background:
“Half a year after the turmoil that rocked the entire city of Ikebukuro – peace has once again returned to the city and people are living each day normally. The high school students enjoy their days of youth as the strongest and most dangerous man of Ikebukuro works diligently. The informant plots a new scheme and the headless rider is pursued by the cops as she rides through the night. But soon this ordinary life will be cut short by extraordinariness. Slowly but surely, the unknown will seize the city and face an all new storm.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, May 2016
Years ago there were two shows that I remember being really popular and well-loved among anime fans throughout the world; Baccano! and Durarara!!, both of which were written by the same author. However, these two shows do not end the story as there were tons more content from the light novels that could have been adapted. Between the two, only Durarara!! managed to get another anime season.
Durarara!!x2 is essentially an anime adaptation of the remainder of the light novel, though the story does continue with Durarara!! SH and seems to be on-hiatus at this point. The first anime series aired in 2010 and adapted the first three volumes, while Durarara!!x2 adapts volumes 4 to 13.
While I watched Durarara!! via other means at the time, I did manage to watch Durarara!!x2 during its broadcast and enjoyed it a lot. That being said, it does surprise me that it manages to cram 9 volumes of content into 36 episodes and 3 OVAs which can be alarming considering the first season in comparison was 3 volumes of content into 24 episodes and 2 OVAs.
Aniplex of America acquired the English-speaking rights for the series and is probably the harshest treatment for the other distributors. The series was released across two volumes per season and was pretty expensive in general. Anime Limited fortunately was able to acquire the United Kingdom and Ireland rights for the series, though it does have some sacrifices.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Anime Limited’s collector’s editions for Durarara!!x2 is a combination of Aniplex’s designs with Anime Limited’s own spin to the mix. While the North American release was released as six volumes, the UK release was released as three volumes.
Each season comes with a rigid box with digipack packaging to house the Blu-ray discs and a couple of physical items to go with the set. Durarara!!x2 Shou includes a 36-page booklet, 6 postcards and a set of stickers, Durarara!!x2 Ten includes a 36-page booklet and 6 postcards and Durarara!!x2 Ketsu includes a 20-page booklet and 6 postcards.
Outside of the spine which has Anime Limited’s logo and collector’s edition border note, the rest of the artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-rays for each season had 1000 units printed for an SRP of £69.99 for the first season followed by £59.99 for the other two seasons. As of the time this post these sets are almost out of print, so there may be some copies available but expect it to be much harder to find from here on. No standard edition Blu-rays are allowed at the moment due to Aniplex’s restrictions.
I should note that I requested this series from Anime Limited’s 12 Days of Christmas sale as part of my Christmas 2020 haul. That being said it was available for £12.99 each during its sale.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with digipack packaging with some info on the artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- x2 Shou:
- 36-page Booklet
- 6 Postcards
- Stickers
- x2 Ten:
- 36-page Booklet
- 6 Postcards
- x2 Ketsu:
- 20-page Booklet
- 6 Postcards
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 30th May 2016 (x2 Shou), 27th November 2017 (x2 Ten), 19th March 2018 (x2 Ketsu)
As mentioned earlier, there are three seasons for Durarara!!x2 but the releases done by Anime Limited had some adjustments during its releases. For starters, the collector’s edition release for Durarara!!x2 Shou was encoded and authored by Justin Sevakis and Anime Limited. The set features episodes 1 to 12 across two Blu-ray discs; with the episode count split between 8 and 4.
Then the collector’s edition releases for Durarara!!x2 Ten and Durarara!!x2 Ketsu were instead using the encoding and authoring done by Australian distributor Siren Visual, who also handled Anime Limited’s collector’s edition Blu-ray discs for Durarara!! which pretty much failed quality control tests to sum it it. Durarara!!x2 Ten contains episodes 13 to 24 across two Blu-ray discs; with the episodes split evenly, while Durarara!!x2 Ketsu contains episodes 25 to 36 across covers two Blu-ray discs; with the episodes also split evenly. The audio options available for the series include Japanese with English subtitles and the Bang Zoom! English dub commissioned by Aniplex of America.
Now here’s the bad news. Because of Aniplex, the OVAs (episodes 4.5, 13.5 and 31.5) were not allowed to be included in any of the English releases so Anime Limited and Siren Visual were not able to secure them. It’s disappointing but I would argue it is not impossible to acquire them for a standalone release much later.
The other bad news is that while Anime Limited got Sevakis to author Durarara!!x2 Shou which is perfectly fine in itself. Siren Visual once again messes up the franchise for their Blu-ray releases. The audio for Durarara!!x2 Ten and Durarara!!x2 Ketsu both used a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 instead of Linear PCM. To clarify, both Anime Limited and Aniplex generally use Linear PCM for their Blu-ray authoring if other audio options aren’t viable. Even worse, apparently the lossy audio is reportedly worse than the DVD audio. Considering Siren Visual messed up the first season, the fact that Anime Limited used their masters for the rest of the series is rather baffling.
Other than that, the white subtitles across all three seasons are unlockable during playback, and the regions are locked to B for Blu-ray.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | Durarara!!x2 Shou: English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 Durarara!!x2 Ten & Durarara!!x2 Ketsu: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | Durarara!!x2 Shou: 2 (1 BD-50, 1 BD-25) Durarara!!x2 Ten: 2 BD-50s Durarara!!x2 Ketsu: 2 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Durarara!!x2 Shou Disc 2:
- Clean Opening “Headhunt”
- Clean Closing “Never Say Never”
Durarara!!x2 Ten Disc 2:
- Clean Opening “Day You Laugh”
- Clean Closing “Exit”
Durarara!!x2 Ketsu Disc 2:
- Clean Opening “Steppin’ Out”
- Clean Closing “Joker ni Yoroshiku”
Unboxing Photos:
Durarara!!x2 Shou:
Durarara!!x2 Ten:
Durarara!!x2 Ketsu:
Final Notes:
Durarara!!x2 is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. As mentioned earlier, the collector’s edition Blu-rays are close to being out of print but some units may still be available – Shou, Ten, and Ketsu – through Amazon UK.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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