* Warning: This next part contains spoilers.
This story might be classified as a wild card among the Dengeki Bunko stable. First of all, there’s the protagonist who doesn’t have a head. I have to thank the editorial staff and my illustrator Mr. Yasuda for putting up with my crazy ideas.
Not only that, but I tried putting in lots of little in-jokes and parodies, some of which are probably way over the top, so I’m expecting to get bashed for it… But all of them are ideas that I found funny, so I’d appreciate it if you oblige me.
All around the world, the headless being trying to find its head is a common trope. There’s the story of Sleepy Hollow, which was recently turned into a movie. I think the image of someone without a head has the kind of impact that makes it effective in a horror context. The only thing is, while the knight from that folktale is considered a dullahan by some, it’s actually something entirely different.
The topic of a dullahan itself is a very minor one. If you look into more details than what is presented in this book, you’ll find that the two-wheeled carriage is made from the bones of the dead and that the root of the dullahan was the Celtic goddess Badb Catha, and so on—but I completely removed any of that mythology. Within Durarara!!, Celty is Celty, and any other dullahans are other dullahans.
If the Durarara!! series gets to continue, I’d like to take it into even weirder directions. I could have “Dullahan Versus Yellow Scarves Color Gang” or “Dullahan Versus Headhunter”… Then again, I got yelled at just for pitching those ideas.
* Back to my usual procession of appreciation.
To editor-in-chief Suzuki, who always puts up with my nonsense. To my editor Mr. Wada, who is now my double editor.
To the proofreaders who have to deal with my terrible lateness every single time. To the designers who put together the look of the book. To the marketing, publishing, and business arms of Media Works.
To the family, friends, and acquaintances who support me in a variety of ways, especially the people of S. City.
To all the other writers and illustrators in the Dengeki line. Particularly to the people who agreed to lend their likeness to my in-jokes—Mamizu Arisawa, Takafumi Imada, Masaki Okayu, Erika Nakamura—and of course, to Gakuto Coda, who gave me permission to use the in-joke that was furthest out of line.
To Suzuhito Yasuda, who took on the bizarre idea of a headless heroine, came to Tokyo for research, and helped come up with nutty ideas with the editor-in-chief.
And to everyone who decided to read this weird little book, the start of my third series.
To all of the above, with my greatest appreciation—thank you.
From home, February 2004
While watching the trailer for Zebraman (directed by Takashi Miike, Sho Aikawa’s hundredth leading role) on repeat.
Ryohgo Narita
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Copyright
DURARARA!!, Volume 1
RYOHGO NARITA,
ILLUSTRATION BY SUZUHITO YASUDA
Cover art by Suzuhito Yasuda
Translation by Stephen Paul
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
DURARARA!!
© RYOHGO NARITA 2004
All rights reserved.
Edited by ASCII MEDIA WORKS
First published in 2004 by KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo.
English translation rights arranged with KADOKAWA CORPORATION, Tokyo, through Tuttle-Mori Agency, Inc., Tokyo.
English translation © 2015 Hachette Book Group, Inc.
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First Yen On ebook edition: July 2015
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ISBN 978-0-316-30482-5
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Durarara!!, Vol. 1 (novel) Page 19