Errinundra's Anime

What Durarara!! lacks is the crazy, unstoppable forward momentum of Baccano!. It falters in the slasher arc and, as the more eccentric characters - especially Celty - take backseat roles, the show must rely on the three central student characters, Mikado, Masaomi and Anri. While their story is compelling, they don't have the eccentricities of the others and, well, they're juveniles and, thus, no match for the best adult characters of the two series.

It’s well written and nicely paced (until the end), very pretty to look at, and the main female character – Hotaru – is sweetly observed. These qualities are spoiled by the emotive ending, not because it is emotive but because it is both predictable and rushed. Somehow it lacks the gravitas it should have.

The genius of the script is apparent on several levels: the beautifully constructed characters of Nanoka and Koshiro; the psychological insights into their behaviours; and the slow development of the affair that never strains credibility yet inexorably leads to its final outcome.

Its most amazing ability, however, is to make the viewer complicit in the transgression of the protagonists. Even though we readily condemn the perv Odagiri for lusting after underage girls, he never actually does what Koshiro does, and yet we are willing to forgive the latter. Similarly, when the wonderful Kaname (who really should be Koshiro’s partner) desperately tries to prevent him from taking a step too far, aren’t we secretly hoping she loses the argument? Finally, Nanoka so successfully wins our sympathy that, I for one, would rather she achieve her heart's desire than conform to society’s norms.

At times the art work and animation reveal the limitations of its budget but Koi Kaze more than makes up for it with an inspired use of music (except the awful end theme) and, importantly, silence. This is an anime made by people utterly in command of their art. (Prominent people in the making of this anime went on to make the completely different, but also beautifully scripted, Baccano!).

The designs and personalities of the spirits - particularly Natsume's bodyguard, irritant and friend Nyanko-san - are cute and jolly and consequently rarely threatening. This is both good and bad. They enhance the indomitable and optimistic spirit of the series but there is a general lack of tension. It makes up for this lack with humour and sentimentality, although the humour can be too often trite or slapstick. I didn't mind the sentimentality - the dilemmas of the spirits were quite moving at times.

Composer Makoto Yoshimori abandons the more upbeat numbers of Baccano! and Durarara!!, returning to the more plaintively melodic style of Koi Kaze. The music always suits and enhances the feel of the series. Yoshimori is a composer who is particurlarly sensitive to the work he is embellishing and doesn't impose his sound on a series in the way, say, composers like Kenji Kawai or Yuki Kajiura are apt to do.

A couple of episodes towards the end were weaker (11 and 13) so that the season kind of petered out for me. Perhaps I should see it as just part of a much longer series - a fourth season has been announced - rather than a stand alone series.