Durarara!! - Volume SS01 - Chapter Aft

AFTERWORD

Hi, it’s been awhile. I’m Ryohgo Narita. I doubt that very many of you will be reading Durarara!! for the very first time in this collection of side stories, but if that happens to be you—welcome! I recommend saving this afterword until you’ve finished reading the entire book, because I will touch on some spoilers!

Yes, it’s a side story (or several)! It’s a festival! The Durarara!! series ended with the thirteenth volume and continues in the Durarara!! SH series with the same setting and a mostly new cast, but since this year, 2014, is the tenth anniversary of Durarara!!, we decided to gather some of the shorter pieces I’ve done over the years into their own collection!

Many of these are from the Dengeki Bunko Official Bootleg series, which are primarily parodies, so they feature more satirical and meta content than the usual Durarara!! Since this is a bit of a “festival” book to celebrate the tenth anniversary, I hope you’ll enjoy them for what they are.

SIDE STORY 1: HOT LIKE THE POT OF MY SOUL

This story ran in Dengeki Bunko Magazine. I decided to take the hot pot party that appeared briefly in the main series and expand on it. Various details from the characters’ pasts are revealed here. It’s even got some details I probably should have written into the main series, such as Shizuo and Tom’s first meeting, and Mika and Anri’s. After checking out Mikado and Masaomi’s start, you might find that a re-read of Volume 13 brings you a different flavor.

SIDE STORY 2: DUFUFUFU!!

A short story with an “impostor” theme from the Official Bootleg series.

I didn’t actually think that the premise of a fake Shizuo would fill out an entire short story. Just goes to show what can happen if you give it a shot. The voice actor references from Yumasaki and Karisawa were a little too pointed originally, so I pared them down a bit for this release. It’s the kind of reference that someone who doesn’t watch anime would never get anyway.

Of course, if this inspires you to check out the animation or games that these wonderful actors voice, that would be best of all! Yes…we have the second season of the anime going, and they recorded extra lines for the Durarara!! 3way standoff -alley-V port on the PS Vita, so check it out! (#shill)

SIDE STORY 3: BESPECTACLED BEAUS: THE DOUBLE SHOTGUN

A brief piece around Karisawa’s daily life, from the Official Bootleg series. I’m glad I was able to demonstrate that Karisawa does have friends outside of the van gang. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to shine the spotlight on her friends at some point in the future.

SIDE STORY 4: DURARARA!! TRUE STORIES: THEY GET ALONG

SIDE STORY 5: DURARARA!! TRUE STORIES: THEY GET ALONG 2

On the shelves for Dengeki Bunko releases at the bookstore, you may have seen the plastic dividers that stick out between certain authors or series so they’re easier to find. As a matter of fact, these stories were written specifically to be printed on the Durarara!! series dividers if you pull them out. But some people order their books online, or their local store doesn’t have dividers, so I always hoped I’d be able to run them in a short story collection at some point. I’m glad that moment has arrived.

SIDE STORY 6: DURARARA!! X√20 THE COMING-OF-AGE COMES AT ONCE

Another Official Bootleg story, this time themed around “what if they were twenty years old…?” I think the idea was that it would be about young teens or child characters as they turn into adults, but I failed to pick up on that, and I wrote about my adult characters reminiscing on their coming-of-age ceremony instead.

SIDE STORY 7: NICOCOCO!! (NICONICO NOVEL SHORT-TERM SERIAL)

This was an online story serialized in the Official Dengeki Bunko Blog-Magazine on the Niconico website over four weeks, collected into one piece. There are some references to the way that Niconico works, and as I wrote it, I was marveling over how much the Internet has changed in the last ten years. If Niconico and Twitter had existed when I was writing the first volume of Durarara!!, it might have turned into a completely different story.

SIDE STORY 8: DURAMP!! AVOIDING LOVE IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD

This story was from a much older Official Bootleg issue. As I wrote in the intro to the story, this one features a number of references to my other series, Vamp! As a matter of fact, I also have another Official Bootleg crossover written from the perspective of the Vamp! series, which I hope I’ll be able to show you one day.

Well, I’m out of time, so here are the usual acknowledgments.

Because many of these little stories are parody-centric Official Bootleg material, there are many more of Yumasaki and Karisawa’s references than usual. I would like to apologize to, and thank, the authors of the various works that were obliquely mentioned for allowing me to indulge!

To my editor, Mr. Papio Wada, and everyone else involved in the production of this book.

To Suzuhito Yasuda, who brought our tenth anniversary to life with beautiful illustrations.

And most of all, to all you readers who came along for the past ten years and this year’s festival.

Thank you all so much!

Ryohgo Narita, July 2014