Why is it that every time durarara gets criticized, baccano is mentioned?

So, this is something that I genuinely cannot stand. Recently, I read and watched a few durarara related reviews and stuff, mainly negative reviews because I wanted to understand some people’s criticisms and reasons why they might not like the series, to further understand durarara as a whole with its flaws.

But there is a very annoying recurring trend with these reviews, sometimes they will have solid and valid criticisms, but most of the time, they always have to mention baccano in some way. A lot of of the times it’s, « baccano did this better », « baccano is superior » , « durarara does not hold up when it comes to baccano» etc.

This is a very flawed criticism. You are just comparing 2 series by the same author who are inherently similar because they were written by the same author. You can use this to critique narita as a writer and there wouldn’t be anything particularly wrong with that, but none of these pea brained individuals are using the comparison with baccano to maybe evolve it to an actual criticism. It always boils down to, « baccano is just better and durarara disappointed me ».

I don’t particularly like baccano to be honest, it’s not a series that really interested me. It was good and fun don’t get me wrong, but it never really hooked me. I was never a fan of the timeframe this show takes place in, I’m not a big fan of series that don’t take place in the modern day. But baccano is a good series and it always drives me over the edge when they use it to criticize durarara.

Anyways, what are your criticisms of durarara?