Mikado Ryuugamine
Kanji : 竜ヶ峰帝人 (Ryuugamine Mikado)
Age : 15 (Debut), 16 (Current)
Birthday : 21 March
Height : 165 cm
Weight : 50 kg
Blood Type : O
Hobby : Net Surfing
Status : Class Representative, Dollar’s Initiator, Blue Square’s Leader
Handle Name : Tanaka Taro
Voice : Japanese: by Toyonaga Toshiyuki
English : by Darrel Guilbeau
Age : 15 (Debut), 16 (Current)
Birthday : 21 March
Height : 165 cm
Weight : 50 kg
Blood Type : O
Hobby : Net Surfing
Status : Class Representative, Dollar’s Initiator, Blue Square’s Leader
Handle Name : Tanaka Taro
Voice : Japanese: by Toyonaga Toshiyuki
English : by Darrel Guilbeau
Mikado Ryuugamine (竜ヶ峰帝人 Ryuugamine Mikado) is a childhood friend of Kida Masaomi and the primary male protagonist of the series. He is later revealed to also be the creator of the Dollars.
In the anime he is voiced by Toyonaga Toshiyuki (Japanese) and Darrel Guilbeau for the English Dub.
In the anime he is voiced by Toyonaga Toshiyuki (Japanese) and Darrel Guilbeau for the English Dub.
Characteristics
Mikado is a polite, soft spoken boy, who at times can be quite childish and naive. This is likely a result of his small town upbringing; as he moves to Ikebukuro he is amazed and overwhelmed by the sheer size and energy of the city, and thus himself feels small and insignificant. He was bored of the average life he previously led, and moved to Tokyo in search of adventure.
Despite his personality, he is shown to have a pretty strong will, and he does have moments where he speaks his mind, which is one of the reasons Masaomi admires him.
As he often acts like a child, Masaomi feels he has to stay around Mikado and help him out, since he would not be able to manage on his own. While Mikado envied Masaomi for his exciting life (for most of the series he is unaware of Masaomi's affiliation with the Yellow Scarves), Masaomi ironically envies Mikado's innocence and his ability to lead a quiet, happy life.
As the series progresses, Mikado gradually becomes more and more assertive, and becomes able to accept the chaos that life throws at him without trying to run away.
Despite his personality, he is shown to have a pretty strong will, and he does have moments where he speaks his mind, which is one of the reasons Masaomi admires him.
As he often acts like a child, Masaomi feels he has to stay around Mikado and help him out, since he would not be able to manage on his own. While Mikado envied Masaomi for his exciting life (for most of the series he is unaware of Masaomi's affiliation with the Yellow Scarves), Masaomi ironically envies Mikado's innocence and his ability to lead a quiet, happy life.
As the series progresses, Mikado gradually becomes more and more assertive, and becomes able to accept the chaos that life throws at him without trying to run away.
Background
Mikado grew up in the small town of Saitama, and led an unexciting life that he grew bored with. People often commented that his name sounds like that of a manga character, and he wished that his life was more like a manga, with more unusual and exciting events. When he met his childhood friend, Kida Masaomi online, Masaomi would always tell him stories about the excitement of his life in the big city. Eventually, when Masaomi decided he would be going to Raira Academy in Ikebukuro and invited Mikado to go with him, Mikado happily accepted, hoping to find a more exciting life.
It is also known that he created the online group the Dollars as a middle schooler. He created the group with some of his friends as a joke, but shortly after they created the group, the group began to grow at an alarming rate, with people joining whom none of the creators had sent invitations to. This was the work of Orihara Izaya. The creators, unaware of this, were afraid of the group which was spiralling out of control, and all of the creators except Mikado left the group, leaving him as the only remaining creator and the sole leader.
Mikado then became class representive along with Sonohara Anri, whom he developed a crush on. He also learned about Harima Mika, Sonohara's missing friend.
Mikado regularly joined a chatroom with the handle "Tanaka Taro," where he chatted with "Kanra" and "Setton," who in real life were Orihara Izaya and Celty Sturluson, respectively. It was mostly from Kanra that he learned about the gangs and incidents in Ikebukuro, including about rumours of human experiments carried out by Yagiri pharmacy.
After meeting Harima Mika personally and seeing the scars on her neck, he confirmed Sonohara's previous suspicion that Harima Mika's disappearance had something to do with the human experimentation rumours. After he was attacked by people who worked for Yagiri pharmacy, he revealed that he was the leader of the Dollars, calling a Dollars meeting and using their numbers to confront Yagiri Namie, the director of the pharmacy.
When the Yellow Scarves started hitting members of the Dollars on suspicion that they were in league with the Slasher, instead of fighting back Mikado decided to try and disband the Dollars in order to keep people from getting hurt. However, the Dollars, particularly Kadota Kyohei's group, showed him that the Dollars were more than just the online group he started as a joke a long time ago, adding that as they were already invisible, they could not "disappear" even if their leader asked them to. He eventually decided that it was okay for the Dollars to exist, and brought the group back.
Kida Masaomi
Masaomi Kida (紀田 正臣, Kida Masaomi) is a resident of Ikebukuro and Mikado Ryuugamine's best friend from childhood. He is a sort of companion to Mikado, and is the one who convinced him to come to Ikebukuro. Later in the series, he is revealed to be the founder and former "general" of the Yellow Scarves.
He is voiced by Miyano Mamoru in the anime and Bryce Papenbrook in the dub.
Personality
Masaomi has a very friendly, enthusiastic, and outgoing personality, and is almost always seen fooling around, smiling, making bad jokes, teasing friends, and hitting on girls. He is shown to care deeply for his friends, having to act as a sort of big brother for Mikado as he adjusts to life in the big city and going to great lengths to protect those who are close to him. When Mikado first saw Masaomi in Ikebukuro, after years of separation, Masaomi's bubbly personality and bad jokes were what convinced him that the man greeting him was indeed Masaomi Kida.
As the series progresses, it is revealed that Masaomi's enthusiastic, happy-go-lucky demeanor is actually a mask of his true, much less secure self. He appears to agonize over major choices much more than any other character in the series, although he falls short of being paralyzed by his fears, still being able to make important decisions when neccesary. He also demonstrates a feeling of responsibility for those close to him, taking attacks on his friends very personally. Despite appearing carefree, his experience as leader of the Yellow Scarves makes him painfully aware of the realities of life, and his greatest fear appears to be allowing himself or his friends to "cross over to the dark side," preferring that they stay completely away from the color gangs even to the point of being ignorant of them.
Background
Masaomi founded the Yellow Scarves when he was in middle school, intending it to be a playful sort of team. As the Yellow Scarves grew, they became one of the notorious 'color gangs' that went around the city, occasionally fighting each other. However, as the gangs grew older, one of their rival gangs, Blue Square, began to get serious, stretching the boundaries of a typical gang of middle schoolers and becoming quite violent. The Yellow Scarves niavely expected a fair battle, but Blue Square allegedly played dirty and only picked fights that they could win, devastating the Yellow Scarves.
It was during the Yellow Scarves/Blue Square war that Masaomi met Saki Mikajima, a girl who recommended him to an informant, Izaya Orihara to help him fight his wars. Masaomi was, quite reasonably, put off Izaya's personality and found it difficult to trust him, but Izaya's advice was sound, giving the Yellow Scarves intel on Blue Square hangouts and teaching them how to fight. The success Izaya brought to the Yellow Scarves led Masaomi to unintentionally become dependant on him for help, and Izaya continued to provide information until Blue Square was cornered and about to be finished off.
Thanks to Izaya, Masaomi and Saki saw each other and talked a lot, eventually deciding that they were, in fact, dating. Unfortunately, Saki was kidnapped and tortured by Blue Square in an attempt to lure out Masaomi, and end the Yellow Scarves. Masaomi sought Izaya for help, Izaya would not answer his phone, and Masaomi was left helpless and unable to save her. Fortunately, Kyohei Kadota and a group of Blue Squares who were disgruntled by the gang's lack of honour betrayed their gang and saved Saki, although she had to be hospitalized for years.
Masaomi left the Yellow Scarves after the war, and vowed never to go to "the dark side" again. However according to Izaya, the incident made Saki his "god," with her becoming the embodiment of his dark past that he could never escape from.
It was through chats with him that Mikado Ryuugamine decided to come to Ikebukuro, lured in by the sense of excitement and fun that his friend Masaomi led (Masaomi left out the harsher details of his life in the big city, including his gang experience, as he believed it better that Mikado never find out about them). Hearing about how bored he was with his small town life, Masaomi encouraged Mikado to join him and enroll in Raira Academy.
Protecting and teasing Mikado for his naiveness became a hobby for Masaomi, and helped him become a little less depressed about his life. On the first day of school, Mikado followed Anri Sonohara in volunteering to be class rep; Masaomi, and many other guys, were amazed at his apparent boldness (Anri is considered by many to be quite attractive, and the implication was that Mikado was going after her. Mikado however insists that he had other reasons). They all became friends after that, and started the trio if protagonists of the series, which Masaomi playfully describes as a love triangle.
It wasn't until much later in the series, when the Slasher incidents began, that Masaomi had another run in with the underworld. When Anri was attacked by the Slasher (it was actually one of Saika's "children" who attacked her; Anri is the original Saika and she had nothing to do with the Slasher incidents, although all of this is unknown to Masaomi), Masaomi was enraged at the attack on his friend and felt the need to use the Yellow Scarves power to hunt him down. The Yellow Scarves were quick to welcome back their old leader, although Masaomi found the gang to have changed drastically.
As rumours went around that the Slasher was part of the mysterious "Dollars" gang, Yellow Scarves started hunting down Dollars members, although this proved difficult due to their characteristic "invisibility." Tensions rose sharply when the feared Black Rider was seen helping someone with a Japanese sword escape a group of Yellow Scarves; the Black Rider was a known member of the Dollars, and this was seen as solid proof that they were in league with the Slasher. After this, the Yellow Scarves, still strong after years of laying low and gaining strength off of the resentment the city felt towards the Slasher, fully mobilized, hunting down everyone who was suspected of being with the Dollars and beating them up.
Of course it was unknown to Masaomi that the Dollars were actually 'led' by Mikado, and that Anri was now the Slasher (and fully in control of herself). He still disagreed with the unneccesary violence against innocents, but his gang was out of control, and ignored his orders to stop, continuing to assault the Dollars while the Dollars did nothing in response. Masaomi grew fed up with the clear insubordination of his gang, and began sensing their mutinous intentions; his suspicions were confirmed one day as he walked into the Yellow Scarves base to find Horada in his 'throne,' blatantly taking control of the gang. It turned out that as the Yellow Scarves started letting anyone join them (this was to allow those who opposed the Slasher to fight him/her), Blue Square had actually infiltrated the gang. The fact that Anri was using Saika's children within the Yellow Scarves to try and stop attacks against Dollars members helped create a sort of chaos within the gang where members started fighting each other; Blue Square took this as an opportunity to 'remove' those still loyal to Masaomi and place those still loyal to Blue Square within the gang. Horada put out an execution order for Masaomi to be carried out by his own gang; fortunately Celty Sturluson (the Black Rider) found out, and brought Mikado and Anri with her to save Masaomi. Masaomi proved able to hold his own in battle, taking on several Yellow Scarves at once, and was able to survive long enough for his friends to come to his aid. It also turned out that Kyohei Kadota and his group, now with the Dollars, had also infiltrated the Yellow Scarves, and joined Masaomi's side in the battle. It was after this battle that all three friends (Mikado, Masaomi, and Anri) learned of each other's parts in the whole war and came to terms with it.
Although Masaomi survived the battle, the execution order against him still held, and the Yellow Scarves were still strong, so it became impossible for him to freely show himself around the city. He had been avoiding Saki because of the guilt he felt for her injuries, but his scrape with death led him to visit her to try and repent; Saki surprisingly didn't mind his absence OR his habit of flirting with other girls, as she believed that he would always find he loved her more. She also revealed that she allowed herself to be kidnapped by Blue Square on Izaya's orders, and as usual she followed his orders unquestioningly. It turned out at some point, she actually realized that Izaya was simply playing destructive games with people for his own amusement (Masaomi becoming dependent on him, Saki being kidnapped, and him suddenly ignoring Masaomi's calls for help are an example. The Slasher/Dollars/Yellow Scarves war is another, although he had other reasons for spurring that one). Towards the end of the war, she overcame her idolization of Izaya and sold him out to Simon Brezhnev; this editor can't help but break wiki conventions just to point out how awesome the results were. Although surprised, Masaomi revealed that he also knew that Saki was faking her inability to walk. Eventually they both forgave each other for their actions, and Masaomi overcame the paralyzing guilt that forced him to stay away from Saki, and the two disappeared from Ikebukkuro together.
After the main story, a mysterious user named "Bakyura" became a member of Mikado's private chatroom (at this point the chat included Mikado, Anri, Celty, and Izaya, although not all the users were aware of the identities of some of the others). The way he spoke, his general demeanor, and the timing with which he joined led Mikado to suspect that this user was actually Masaomi; although Bakyura ignored Mikado's inquiring PMs, he repeated jokes Masaomi liked to make with Mikado (at Kanra/Izaya's expense). Although Masaomi and Saki's whereabouts are unknown, Mikado states confidence that Bakyura is Masaomi's way of staying in contact, and that the friends will meet again in the future.
Anri Sonohara
Kanji : 園原 杏里, (Sonohara Anri)
Age : 15 (Debut), 16 (Current)
Birthday : 31 October
Height : 152 cm
Weight : Unknown
Blood type : O
Hobby : Picture Appreciation
Status ; Class respresentative, Saika’s Mother
Handle Name : Saika
Voice : Kana Hanazawa
Anri Sonohara (園原 杏里, Sonohara Anri)
Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa
A bespectacled girl who attends the same school as Mikado and Masaomi. She is rather quiet and timid, but seems very close towards Kida and Mikado. Sometimes she tends to enclose herself. She is very busty and cute, which makes her somehow popular, even though she feels uneasy about it.
Her online chat screenname is "Saika".
One of the thoughts that occasionally crosses Anri's mind is the fact that she has lost a "purpose" and motive in society.
It is stated that once Mika Harima gave her a reason to seek people and social interaction. It becomes apparent that after both Anri and Mika both used each other to better themselves; when Mika disappears-Anri becomes lost of her path.
She sees herself burdened by the fact that she has to rely on Mika Harima, Mikado Ryugamine, and Masaomi Kida for companionship. It is later learned that she harbored deep feelings for her ex-best friend Mika, but she cannot classify it as mutual friendship or love since she can't tell the difference.
She is Saika, the demon blade's 'parasite'. After episode 17 she gained control over hundreds over Saika's children created by Niekawa, effectively making her the leader of the cursed blade army. Later on, she discovers that her friend Masaomi Kida is the leader of the Yellow Scarves. When the Yellow Scarves and the Dollars clashed in episodes 20 and 21, she uses Saika's "children" to stop the Yellow Scarves from hurting the Dollars members.
Her voice actor is Kana Hanazawa.
Izaya Orihara
Age : 23 (Claims to be 21 forever)
Job : Informant
Family : Mairu and Kururi (younger sisters)
Online Name : Kanra
Gang : Dollars
Goal : To create a war in Ikebukuro that will “wake up” Celty’s sleeping head
Birthday : 4 May
Dislikes : Heiwajima Shizuo, eyes of dead fish
Hair : Black
Eyes : Reddish-brown
Izaya Orihara (折原 臨也, Orihara Izaya) is a powerful and skilled underground informant. He usually gives information for his own enjoyment, and claims to love the entire human race except for Shizou Heiwaijima.
Characteristics
Izaya has the appearance and expression of one who is extremely crafty and confident, an appearance which he surely lives up to. Like his younger twin sisters, he enjoys causing trouble; he claims to love humanity, and greatly enjoys putting people in miserable or chaotic situations in order to observe their reactions. He also has a thorough understanding of human behavior and tendencies and is able to determine people's thoughts and predict their reactions with high accuracy. Izaya is cunning, he's a very charming man but he's not that interested in women and women are not interested in him.
He has a very jolly personality, speaking informally with most people as if they are close friends and often using nicknames (such as "Shizu-chan" for Shizuo and "Dotachin" for Kadota Kyohei), and he even talks like a girl on occassion, especially online where he actually does pretend to be female.
He likes to play twisted versions of chess (usually using a combination of Chess, Othello, and Shogi pieces) with himself in his room, often using the chessboard as a representation of the battles in Ikebukuro, giving him the fitting appearance of one who watches over the world and controls their actions. The rules he plays by are also beyond normal people, which seems to be a metaphor for the way he lives his life. He does not take his chess games to be a serious representation of the world however, as he usually prefers to observe people acting as they see fit instead of controlling them, and he even once set fire to his chess set in his excitement.
Although Izaya enjoys conflict, often showing up wherever there is potential for one, he usually stays out of it, preferring to observe the fight instead of directly taking part in it. However, when provoked, he quickly puts his opponent in his place, simply proving his superiority without actually beating the other person. Therefore he is usually seen as the one starting fights, but hiding in the shadows instead of directly taking part.
Izaya is also known to be one of the strongest men in Ikebukuro, although the title of strongest man belongs to Shizou Heiwajima. When Mikado Ryuugamine first came to Ikebukuro, Izaya was one of the people Kida Masaomi warned him to stay away from, simply describing Izaya as "dangerous."
Background
He attended Raira Academy with Shizuo, Shinra and Kadota. He shares a passionate dislike with Shizou, and the two apparently tried to kill each other the moment they met. Shizuo tries to kill him every time they meet on the street, meaning Izaya often finds random vending machines, trash cans, and other large objects flying straight at him. Shizuo finds him untrustworthy, saying whenever there is trouble, "99% of the time you're (Izaya) behind it." Izaya often remarks about how "the best thing that could happen for me is if Shizu-chan were to drop dead." In the past, Izaya has often framed Shizuo for crimes he didn't commit, causing him no end of trouble.
He is a master of parkour, and also quite skilled with his flickblade (the blade he uses must be slightly opened before the mechanics of it springs the blade open - a switchblade will open on its own after the user presses a switch) as he is implied to be the only one capable of leaving numerous cuts in Shizuo's bartender suit after a fight in the novels. In the anime, he shaves a gang member's head bald without him noticing it. He has two twin sisters who are troublemakers. The older one is Orihara Kururi, a shy girl who always wears gymnastic suit. The youngest is Orihara Mairu, a talkative girl who wears glasses. In the novel, Izaya confessed to Namie that he himself couldn't handle his sisters, and his sisters' characters were because of his influences; since Izaya said that he came from a perfectly normal family.
It is revealed in episode 12 that Celty Sturluson's head is actually in Izaya's possession, and not on Harima Mika's body. It turns out that the head is Izaya's main motivation for starting the gang wars; he wanted to "awaken" the sleeping Dullahan's head by throwing the world around her into turmoil. He believes that she is a Valkyrie, a norse angel of death who choose the warriors who will die in battle in order to take them to the warrior heaven of Valhalla. In awakening Celty's head, Izaya hopes to himself be taken to Valhalla. He is also a member of the Dollars. Although Mikaod Ryuugamine is the leader of the gang, Izaya is the one who anonymously recruited most of their members, sending out invitations saying the Dollars have no rules except that you have to say you are one of them.
Izaya is usually seen talking about the latest rumours of gangs, urban myths, and otherwise stirring up trouble in online chatrooms while at the same time pretending to be a girl. His screennames "Kanra" and "Nakura".
Relationships
Shizuo Heiwajima (Main Article: Shizuo Heiwajima)
Shizuo told to be nothing but "violence itself" from Simon. He went to Raira Academy with Izaya, Shinra and Kadota. According to Shinra, Izaya and Shizuo hated each other with a passion almost from the point they met, which was during their high school years at Raira Academy. They met via Shinra, and Shizuo felt a strong surge of resentment towards Izaya (for no logical reason), and he aimed a punch at him. Izaya returns the favor with slashing his shirt with his knife, and a murderous relationship began.
Mikado Ryuugamine (Main Article: Mikado Ryuugamine)
Izaya and Mikado met on the internet. However, Mikado does not know who 'Kanra' is in real life at first. Mikado met Izaya face to face on Mikado's second day in Ikebukuro. Izaya knows that Mikado is the leader of the Dollars, but promises not the sell the information to anyone. In the manga Izaya tells Mikado that it wasn't a coincidence that he met him - he was looking for him.
Mairu & Kururi Orihara (Main Article: Kururi Orihara, Mairu Orihara)
Kururi and Mairu are Izaya's younger twin sisters. They grew up in the same house as Izaya, where all three siblings are said to have had "fairly normal parents." Izaya believes that their eccentricities are because of his influence on them, but does not appear to like them. Izaya states that aside from Shizuo, they are the only humans that he does not know how to deal with, which may explain why he is annoyed by them. While Mairu and Kururi are inseparable, and act as if they are one human, they rarely are shown in interact with Izaya, and in fact, seem to not care about him as their older sibling. Izaya is annoyed by the twins, but has not shown any hostility towards them. Mairu and Kururi's feelings on Izaya are not as clear, although they have said that they wouldn't mind him being thrown in front of a truck in order to meet their idol.
Shizuo Heiwajima
Characteristics
Shizuo is usually seen wearing his trademark bartender suit and blue sunglasses. Most of the time his personality is rather simple; he is normally quiet and nondescript, and usually simply follows Tanaka Tom around as his bodyguard. However, Shizuo has a very short fuse, and when angered, his body "acts on its own," and he fights with incredible strength. Despite his destructive tendencies, he apparently doesn't like violence. He is, along with Orihara Izaya and the Dollars, one of the people Kida Masaomi warned Mikado to stay away from, telling him to 'not hesitate to run from him' in the manga.
Normally, the brain restricts one's power, shutting down muscles in response to pain in order to prevent serious injury; unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Shizuo doesn't have this ability, and is capable of using his full strength at will. His power is described in the novels as the naturally unlimited form of human strength, and Kishitani Shinra likens it to the incredible "adrenaline power" that people get in times of emergency. Although he was always injured as a child, the fact that he could always fully exert himself meant that his body quickly strengthened itself and caught up. Now, as an adult, he is able to use his power without destroying his own body.
Despite the fact that Shizuo uses his power very often, he doesn't like violence, and apparently hates the fact that he is so strong. This is probably the result of events in his childhood where his strength caused others to fear him, alienating him from others at school, and even at times inadvertently hurting people he cares for. It wasn't until his run-in with the Saika Army that he was able to accept himself the way he was, since they claimed to "love" him because of his strength. Shizuo then let himself loose; outsiders believe that the "Slasher" incidents ended when he went after Shizuo (it was actually when Sonohara Anri defeated Niekawa Haruna, but Shizuo still beat up many of Saika's daughter blades and only stopped fighting when they did).
Shizuo is also capable of often superhuman parkour moves, most likely a result of his own strength and from years of hunting down Orihara Izaya, who is very good at running away from him. Shizuo and Orihara share an intense animosity, and simply seeing Izaya on the street usually results in Shizuo hurling a trash can/vending machine at him while he flees.
Background
He stated that he grew up in a perfectly normal family, and the first apparent display of his immense strength was when he tried to throw a refrigerator at his brother, Heiwajima Kasuka, for eating his pudding. The strain was too much for his body, and he ended up in the hospital with broken bones. This was the beginning of many more fits of anger, and of course, more injuries - not only to him, but also to those around him. During his elementary school years, Shizuo met a young woman working at a bakery while walking home with Kasuka. She noted that she always saw him with injuries, and told him to drink milk. She was one of the few people who were kind to Shizuo, and he began to care for her deeply. But one day, when he was walking home with his brother, he saw the woman in the bakery being assaulted by several men. He lost his temper and nearly destroyed the bakery, even hurting the woman who was so kind to him. Horrified, Shizuo never talked to her again.
After this incident, Shizuo decided to stop holding back. Since he wouldn't be able to anyway, why try at all? His muscles and bones became stronger each time he used his power, up until the point that he no longer hurt himself when he fought. Known as one of the most dangerous people in Ikebukuro, Shizuo defeated anybody who tried to challenge him, making sure that they wouldn't be able to get up anytime soon. He was fired from many jobs, including fast food, car cleaning, children's plays, because of his explosive temper. However, when he was working as a bartender his brother Kasuka, at this point a famous idol, arrived commenting that he shouldn't change jobs so often. As a sign of his desire, Kasuka brought him enough changes of his trademark bartender clothes that he "could work [as a bartender] forever". Strongly affected by his beloved brother's words, Shizuo strove to keep his job, and it is implied that he held it for a significant period of time.
This, of course, couldn't last. Izaya Orihara framed him for a crime that remains unclear. He was found innocent, but he was still fired. (In the light novels, it is not being framed but beating up his manager that gets him fired). At this time, Tom Tanaka, one of his old classmates, asked him to work with him as a debt collector. Basically, he's Tom's bodyguard. He beats up people who try to attack him, or won't pay up.
Still, he doesn't like violence.
It is also known that he created the online group the Dollars as a middle schooler. He created the group with some of his friends as a joke, but shortly after they created the group, the group began to grow at an alarming rate, with people joining whom none of the creators had sent invitations to. This was the work of Orihara Izaya. The creators, unaware of this, were afraid of the group which was spiralling out of control, and all of the creators except Mikado left the group, leaving him as the only remaining creator and the sole leader.
Mikado then became class representive along with Sonohara Anri, whom he developed a crush on. He also learned about Harima Mika, Sonohara's missing friend.
Mikado regularly joined a chatroom with the handle "Tanaka Taro," where he chatted with "Kanra" and "Setton," who in real life were Orihara Izaya and Celty Sturluson, respectively. It was mostly from Kanra that he learned about the gangs and incidents in Ikebukuro, including about rumours of human experiments carried out by Yagiri pharmacy.
After meeting Harima Mika personally and seeing the scars on her neck, he confirmed Sonohara's previous suspicion that Harima Mika's disappearance had something to do with the human experimentation rumours. After he was attacked by people who worked for Yagiri pharmacy, he revealed that he was the leader of the Dollars, calling a Dollars meeting and using their numbers to confront Yagiri Namie, the director of the pharmacy.
When the Yellow Scarves started hitting members of the Dollars on suspicion that they were in league with the Slasher, instead of fighting back Mikado decided to try and disband the Dollars in order to keep people from getting hurt. However, the Dollars, particularly Kadota Kyohei's group, showed him that the Dollars were more than just the online group he started as a joke a long time ago, adding that as they were already invisible, they could not "disappear" even if their leader asked them to. He eventually decided that it was okay for the Dollars to exist, and brought the group back.
Kida Masaomi
Kanji : 紀田 正臣, (Kida Masaomi)
Age : 15 (Debut), 16 (Current)
Birthday : 19 June
Height : 170 cm
Weight : 60 kg
Blood Type : A
Hobby : Picking up girls
Status : Yellow Scarves’ Leader
Online Name : Bakyura (バキュラ)
Voice : Mamoru Miyano(宮野真守)
Masaomi Kida (紀田 正臣, Kida Masaomi) is a resident of Ikebukuro and Mikado Ryuugamine's best friend from childhood. He is a sort of companion to Mikado, and is the one who convinced him to come to Ikebukuro. Later in the series, he is revealed to be the founder and former "general" of the Yellow Scarves.
He is voiced by Miyano Mamoru in the anime and Bryce Papenbrook in the dub.
Personality
Masaomi has a very friendly, enthusiastic, and outgoing personality, and is almost always seen fooling around, smiling, making bad jokes, teasing friends, and hitting on girls. He is shown to care deeply for his friends, having to act as a sort of big brother for Mikado as he adjusts to life in the big city and going to great lengths to protect those who are close to him. When Mikado first saw Masaomi in Ikebukuro, after years of separation, Masaomi's bubbly personality and bad jokes were what convinced him that the man greeting him was indeed Masaomi Kida.
As the series progresses, it is revealed that Masaomi's enthusiastic, happy-go-lucky demeanor is actually a mask of his true, much less secure self. He appears to agonize over major choices much more than any other character in the series, although he falls short of being paralyzed by his fears, still being able to make important decisions when neccesary. He also demonstrates a feeling of responsibility for those close to him, taking attacks on his friends very personally. Despite appearing carefree, his experience as leader of the Yellow Scarves makes him painfully aware of the realities of life, and his greatest fear appears to be allowing himself or his friends to "cross over to the dark side," preferring that they stay completely away from the color gangs even to the point of being ignorant of them.
Background
Masaomi founded the Yellow Scarves when he was in middle school, intending it to be a playful sort of team. As the Yellow Scarves grew, they became one of the notorious 'color gangs' that went around the city, occasionally fighting each other. However, as the gangs grew older, one of their rival gangs, Blue Square, began to get serious, stretching the boundaries of a typical gang of middle schoolers and becoming quite violent. The Yellow Scarves niavely expected a fair battle, but Blue Square allegedly played dirty and only picked fights that they could win, devastating the Yellow Scarves.
It was during the Yellow Scarves/Blue Square war that Masaomi met Saki Mikajima, a girl who recommended him to an informant, Izaya Orihara to help him fight his wars. Masaomi was, quite reasonably, put off Izaya's personality and found it difficult to trust him, but Izaya's advice was sound, giving the Yellow Scarves intel on Blue Square hangouts and teaching them how to fight. The success Izaya brought to the Yellow Scarves led Masaomi to unintentionally become dependant on him for help, and Izaya continued to provide information until Blue Square was cornered and about to be finished off.
Thanks to Izaya, Masaomi and Saki saw each other and talked a lot, eventually deciding that they were, in fact, dating. Unfortunately, Saki was kidnapped and tortured by Blue Square in an attempt to lure out Masaomi, and end the Yellow Scarves. Masaomi sought Izaya for help, Izaya would not answer his phone, and Masaomi was left helpless and unable to save her. Fortunately, Kyohei Kadota and a group of Blue Squares who were disgruntled by the gang's lack of honour betrayed their gang and saved Saki, although she had to be hospitalized for years.
Masaomi left the Yellow Scarves after the war, and vowed never to go to "the dark side" again. However according to Izaya, the incident made Saki his "god," with her becoming the embodiment of his dark past that he could never escape from.
It was through chats with him that Mikado Ryuugamine decided to come to Ikebukuro, lured in by the sense of excitement and fun that his friend Masaomi led (Masaomi left out the harsher details of his life in the big city, including his gang experience, as he believed it better that Mikado never find out about them). Hearing about how bored he was with his small town life, Masaomi encouraged Mikado to join him and enroll in Raira Academy.
Protecting and teasing Mikado for his naiveness became a hobby for Masaomi, and helped him become a little less depressed about his life. On the first day of school, Mikado followed Anri Sonohara in volunteering to be class rep; Masaomi, and many other guys, were amazed at his apparent boldness (Anri is considered by many to be quite attractive, and the implication was that Mikado was going after her. Mikado however insists that he had other reasons). They all became friends after that, and started the trio if protagonists of the series, which Masaomi playfully describes as a love triangle.
It wasn't until much later in the series, when the Slasher incidents began, that Masaomi had another run in with the underworld. When Anri was attacked by the Slasher (it was actually one of Saika's "children" who attacked her; Anri is the original Saika and she had nothing to do with the Slasher incidents, although all of this is unknown to Masaomi), Masaomi was enraged at the attack on his friend and felt the need to use the Yellow Scarves power to hunt him down. The Yellow Scarves were quick to welcome back their old leader, although Masaomi found the gang to have changed drastically.
As rumours went around that the Slasher was part of the mysterious "Dollars" gang, Yellow Scarves started hunting down Dollars members, although this proved difficult due to their characteristic "invisibility." Tensions rose sharply when the feared Black Rider was seen helping someone with a Japanese sword escape a group of Yellow Scarves; the Black Rider was a known member of the Dollars, and this was seen as solid proof that they were in league with the Slasher. After this, the Yellow Scarves, still strong after years of laying low and gaining strength off of the resentment the city felt towards the Slasher, fully mobilized, hunting down everyone who was suspected of being with the Dollars and beating them up.
Of course it was unknown to Masaomi that the Dollars were actually 'led' by Mikado, and that Anri was now the Slasher (and fully in control of herself). He still disagreed with the unneccesary violence against innocents, but his gang was out of control, and ignored his orders to stop, continuing to assault the Dollars while the Dollars did nothing in response. Masaomi grew fed up with the clear insubordination of his gang, and began sensing their mutinous intentions; his suspicions were confirmed one day as he walked into the Yellow Scarves base to find Horada in his 'throne,' blatantly taking control of the gang. It turned out that as the Yellow Scarves started letting anyone join them (this was to allow those who opposed the Slasher to fight him/her), Blue Square had actually infiltrated the gang. The fact that Anri was using Saika's children within the Yellow Scarves to try and stop attacks against Dollars members helped create a sort of chaos within the gang where members started fighting each other; Blue Square took this as an opportunity to 'remove' those still loyal to Masaomi and place those still loyal to Blue Square within the gang. Horada put out an execution order for Masaomi to be carried out by his own gang; fortunately Celty Sturluson (the Black Rider) found out, and brought Mikado and Anri with her to save Masaomi. Masaomi proved able to hold his own in battle, taking on several Yellow Scarves at once, and was able to survive long enough for his friends to come to his aid. It also turned out that Kyohei Kadota and his group, now with the Dollars, had also infiltrated the Yellow Scarves, and joined Masaomi's side in the battle. It was after this battle that all three friends (Mikado, Masaomi, and Anri) learned of each other's parts in the whole war and came to terms with it.
Although Masaomi survived the battle, the execution order against him still held, and the Yellow Scarves were still strong, so it became impossible for him to freely show himself around the city. He had been avoiding Saki because of the guilt he felt for her injuries, but his scrape with death led him to visit her to try and repent; Saki surprisingly didn't mind his absence OR his habit of flirting with other girls, as she believed that he would always find he loved her more. She also revealed that she allowed herself to be kidnapped by Blue Square on Izaya's orders, and as usual she followed his orders unquestioningly. It turned out at some point, she actually realized that Izaya was simply playing destructive games with people for his own amusement (Masaomi becoming dependent on him, Saki being kidnapped, and him suddenly ignoring Masaomi's calls for help are an example. The Slasher/Dollars/Yellow Scarves war is another, although he had other reasons for spurring that one). Towards the end of the war, she overcame her idolization of Izaya and sold him out to Simon Brezhnev; this editor can't help but break wiki conventions just to point out how awesome the results were. Although surprised, Masaomi revealed that he also knew that Saki was faking her inability to walk. Eventually they both forgave each other for their actions, and Masaomi overcame the paralyzing guilt that forced him to stay away from Saki, and the two disappeared from Ikebukkuro together.
After the main story, a mysterious user named "Bakyura" became a member of Mikado's private chatroom (at this point the chat included Mikado, Anri, Celty, and Izaya, although not all the users were aware of the identities of some of the others). The way he spoke, his general demeanor, and the timing with which he joined led Mikado to suspect that this user was actually Masaomi; although Bakyura ignored Mikado's inquiring PMs, he repeated jokes Masaomi liked to make with Mikado (at Kanra/Izaya's expense). Although Masaomi and Saki's whereabouts are unknown, Mikado states confidence that Bakyura is Masaomi's way of staying in contact, and that the friends will meet again in the future.
Anri Sonohara
Kanji : 園原 杏里, (Sonohara Anri)
Age : 15 (Debut), 16 (Current)
Birthday : 31 October
Height : 152 cm
Weight : Unknown
Blood type : O
Hobby : Picture Appreciation
Status ; Class respresentative, Saika’s Mother
Handle Name : Saika
Voice : Kana Hanazawa
Anri Sonohara (園原 杏里, Sonohara Anri)
Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa
A bespectacled girl who attends the same school as Mikado and Masaomi. She is rather quiet and timid, but seems very close towards Kida and Mikado. Sometimes she tends to enclose herself. She is very busty and cute, which makes her somehow popular, even though she feels uneasy about it.
Her online chat screenname is "Saika".
One of the thoughts that occasionally crosses Anri's mind is the fact that she has lost a "purpose" and motive in society.
It is stated that once Mika Harima gave her a reason to seek people and social interaction. It becomes apparent that after both Anri and Mika both used each other to better themselves; when Mika disappears-Anri becomes lost of her path.
She sees herself burdened by the fact that she has to rely on Mika Harima, Mikado Ryugamine, and Masaomi Kida for companionship. It is later learned that she harbored deep feelings for her ex-best friend Mika, but she cannot classify it as mutual friendship or love since she can't tell the difference.
She is Saika, the demon blade's 'parasite'. After episode 17 she gained control over hundreds over Saika's children created by Niekawa, effectively making her the leader of the cursed blade army. Later on, she discovers that her friend Masaomi Kida is the leader of the Yellow Scarves. When the Yellow Scarves and the Dollars clashed in episodes 20 and 21, she uses Saika's "children" to stop the Yellow Scarves from hurting the Dollars members.
Her voice actor is Kana Hanazawa.
Izaya Orihara
Age : 23 (Claims to be 21 forever)
Job : Informant
Family : Mairu and Kururi (younger sisters)
Online Name : Kanra
Gang : Dollars
Goal : To create a war in Ikebukuro that will “wake up” Celty’s sleeping head
Birthday : 4 May
Dislikes : Heiwajima Shizuo, eyes of dead fish
Hair : Black
Eyes : Reddish-brown
Izaya Orihara (折原 臨也, Orihara Izaya) is a powerful and skilled underground informant. He usually gives information for his own enjoyment, and claims to love the entire human race except for Shizou Heiwaijima.
Characteristics
Izaya has the appearance and expression of one who is extremely crafty and confident, an appearance which he surely lives up to. Like his younger twin sisters, he enjoys causing trouble; he claims to love humanity, and greatly enjoys putting people in miserable or chaotic situations in order to observe their reactions. He also has a thorough understanding of human behavior and tendencies and is able to determine people's thoughts and predict their reactions with high accuracy. Izaya is cunning, he's a very charming man but he's not that interested in women and women are not interested in him.
He has a very jolly personality, speaking informally with most people as if they are close friends and often using nicknames (such as "Shizu-chan" for Shizuo and "Dotachin" for Kadota Kyohei), and he even talks like a girl on occassion, especially online where he actually does pretend to be female.
He likes to play twisted versions of chess (usually using a combination of Chess, Othello, and Shogi pieces) with himself in his room, often using the chessboard as a representation of the battles in Ikebukuro, giving him the fitting appearance of one who watches over the world and controls their actions. The rules he plays by are also beyond normal people, which seems to be a metaphor for the way he lives his life. He does not take his chess games to be a serious representation of the world however, as he usually prefers to observe people acting as they see fit instead of controlling them, and he even once set fire to his chess set in his excitement.
Although Izaya enjoys conflict, often showing up wherever there is potential for one, he usually stays out of it, preferring to observe the fight instead of directly taking part in it. However, when provoked, he quickly puts his opponent in his place, simply proving his superiority without actually beating the other person. Therefore he is usually seen as the one starting fights, but hiding in the shadows instead of directly taking part.
Izaya is also known to be one of the strongest men in Ikebukuro, although the title of strongest man belongs to Shizou Heiwajima. When Mikado Ryuugamine first came to Ikebukuro, Izaya was one of the people Kida Masaomi warned him to stay away from, simply describing Izaya as "dangerous."
Background
He attended Raira Academy with Shizuo, Shinra and Kadota. He shares a passionate dislike with Shizou, and the two apparently tried to kill each other the moment they met. Shizuo tries to kill him every time they meet on the street, meaning Izaya often finds random vending machines, trash cans, and other large objects flying straight at him. Shizuo finds him untrustworthy, saying whenever there is trouble, "99% of the time you're (Izaya) behind it." Izaya often remarks about how "the best thing that could happen for me is if Shizu-chan were to drop dead." In the past, Izaya has often framed Shizuo for crimes he didn't commit, causing him no end of trouble.
He is a master of parkour, and also quite skilled with his flickblade (the blade he uses must be slightly opened before the mechanics of it springs the blade open - a switchblade will open on its own after the user presses a switch) as he is implied to be the only one capable of leaving numerous cuts in Shizuo's bartender suit after a fight in the novels. In the anime, he shaves a gang member's head bald without him noticing it. He has two twin sisters who are troublemakers. The older one is Orihara Kururi, a shy girl who always wears gymnastic suit. The youngest is Orihara Mairu, a talkative girl who wears glasses. In the novel, Izaya confessed to Namie that he himself couldn't handle his sisters, and his sisters' characters were because of his influences; since Izaya said that he came from a perfectly normal family.
It is revealed in episode 12 that Celty Sturluson's head is actually in Izaya's possession, and not on Harima Mika's body. It turns out that the head is Izaya's main motivation for starting the gang wars; he wanted to "awaken" the sleeping Dullahan's head by throwing the world around her into turmoil. He believes that she is a Valkyrie, a norse angel of death who choose the warriors who will die in battle in order to take them to the warrior heaven of Valhalla. In awakening Celty's head, Izaya hopes to himself be taken to Valhalla. He is also a member of the Dollars. Although Mikaod Ryuugamine is the leader of the gang, Izaya is the one who anonymously recruited most of their members, sending out invitations saying the Dollars have no rules except that you have to say you are one of them.
Izaya is usually seen talking about the latest rumours of gangs, urban myths, and otherwise stirring up trouble in online chatrooms while at the same time pretending to be a girl. His screennames "Kanra" and "Nakura".
Relationships
Shizuo Heiwajima (Main Article: Shizuo Heiwajima)
Shizuo told to be nothing but "violence itself" from Simon. He went to Raira Academy with Izaya, Shinra and Kadota. According to Shinra, Izaya and Shizuo hated each other with a passion almost from the point they met, which was during their high school years at Raira Academy. They met via Shinra, and Shizuo felt a strong surge of resentment towards Izaya (for no logical reason), and he aimed a punch at him. Izaya returns the favor with slashing his shirt with his knife, and a murderous relationship began.
Mikado Ryuugamine (Main Article: Mikado Ryuugamine)
Izaya and Mikado met on the internet. However, Mikado does not know who 'Kanra' is in real life at first. Mikado met Izaya face to face on Mikado's second day in Ikebukuro. Izaya knows that Mikado is the leader of the Dollars, but promises not the sell the information to anyone. In the manga Izaya tells Mikado that it wasn't a coincidence that he met him - he was looking for him.
Mairu & Kururi Orihara (Main Article: Kururi Orihara, Mairu Orihara)
Kururi and Mairu are Izaya's younger twin sisters. They grew up in the same house as Izaya, where all three siblings are said to have had "fairly normal parents." Izaya believes that their eccentricities are because of his influence on them, but does not appear to like them. Izaya states that aside from Shizuo, they are the only humans that he does not know how to deal with, which may explain why he is annoyed by them. While Mairu and Kururi are inseparable, and act as if they are one human, they rarely are shown in interact with Izaya, and in fact, seem to not care about him as their older sibling. Izaya is annoyed by the twins, but has not shown any hostility towards them. Mairu and Kururi's feelings on Izaya are not as clear, although they have said that they wouldn't mind him being thrown in front of a truck in order to meet their idol.
Shizuo Heiwajima
Kanji : 平和島 静雄, (Heiwajima Shizuo)
Age : 24
Birthday : January 28
Height : 185 cm
Weight : 70 kg
Blood Type : O
Occupation : Bodyguard
Likes : Running brooks, watching martial artists fight
Dislikes : Orihara Izaya, Violence, gambling
Voice : Ono Daisuke, Oohara Momoko, Crispin Freeman
Shizuo Heiwajima (平和島 静雄, Heiwajima Shizuo) is the man renowned as the strongest man in
Ikebukuro. He currently works as Tanaka Tom's bodyguard, and he is shown to be familiar with some of the major characters in the series, including Orihara Izaya and Celty Sturluson.
Ikebukuro. He currently works as Tanaka Tom's bodyguard, and he is shown to be familiar with some of the major characters in the series, including Orihara Izaya and Celty Sturluson.
Characteristics
Shizuo is usually seen wearing his trademark bartender suit and blue sunglasses. Most of the time his personality is rather simple; he is normally quiet and nondescript, and usually simply follows Tanaka Tom around as his bodyguard. However, Shizuo has a very short fuse, and when angered, his body "acts on its own," and he fights with incredible strength. Despite his destructive tendencies, he apparently doesn't like violence. He is, along with Orihara Izaya and the Dollars, one of the people Kida Masaomi warned Mikado to stay away from, telling him to 'not hesitate to run from him' in the manga.
Normally, the brain restricts one's power, shutting down muscles in response to pain in order to prevent serious injury; unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Shizuo doesn't have this ability, and is capable of using his full strength at will. His power is described in the novels as the naturally unlimited form of human strength, and Kishitani Shinra likens it to the incredible "adrenaline power" that people get in times of emergency. Although he was always injured as a child, the fact that he could always fully exert himself meant that his body quickly strengthened itself and caught up. Now, as an adult, he is able to use his power without destroying his own body.
Despite the fact that Shizuo uses his power very often, he doesn't like violence, and apparently hates the fact that he is so strong. This is probably the result of events in his childhood where his strength caused others to fear him, alienating him from others at school, and even at times inadvertently hurting people he cares for. It wasn't until his run-in with the Saika Army that he was able to accept himself the way he was, since they claimed to "love" him because of his strength. Shizuo then let himself loose; outsiders believe that the "Slasher" incidents ended when he went after Shizuo (it was actually when Sonohara Anri defeated Niekawa Haruna, but Shizuo still beat up many of Saika's daughter blades and only stopped fighting when they did).
Shizuo is also capable of often superhuman parkour moves, most likely a result of his own strength and from years of hunting down Orihara Izaya, who is very good at running away from him. Shizuo and Orihara share an intense animosity, and simply seeing Izaya on the street usually results in Shizuo hurling a trash can/vending machine at him while he flees.
Background
He stated that he grew up in a perfectly normal family, and the first apparent display of his immense strength was when he tried to throw a refrigerator at his brother, Heiwajima Kasuka, for eating his pudding. The strain was too much for his body, and he ended up in the hospital with broken bones. This was the beginning of many more fits of anger, and of course, more injuries - not only to him, but also to those around him. During his elementary school years, Shizuo met a young woman working at a bakery while walking home with Kasuka. She noted that she always saw him with injuries, and told him to drink milk. She was one of the few people who were kind to Shizuo, and he began to care for her deeply. But one day, when he was walking home with his brother, he saw the woman in the bakery being assaulted by several men. He lost his temper and nearly destroyed the bakery, even hurting the woman who was so kind to him. Horrified, Shizuo never talked to her again.
After this incident, Shizuo decided to stop holding back. Since he wouldn't be able to anyway, why try at all? His muscles and bones became stronger each time he used his power, up until the point that he no longer hurt himself when he fought. Known as one of the most dangerous people in Ikebukuro, Shizuo defeated anybody who tried to challenge him, making sure that they wouldn't be able to get up anytime soon. He was fired from many jobs, including fast food, car cleaning, children's plays, because of his explosive temper. However, when he was working as a bartender his brother Kasuka, at this point a famous idol, arrived commenting that he shouldn't change jobs so often. As a sign of his desire, Kasuka brought him enough changes of his trademark bartender clothes that he "could work [as a bartender] forever". Strongly affected by his beloved brother's words, Shizuo strove to keep his job, and it is implied that he held it for a significant period of time.
This, of course, couldn't last. Izaya Orihara framed him for a crime that remains unclear. He was found innocent, but he was still fired. (In the light novels, it is not being framed but beating up his manager that gets him fired). At this time, Tom Tanaka, one of his old classmates, asked him to work with him as a debt collector. Basically, he's Tom's bodyguard. He beats up people who try to attack him, or won't pay up.
Still, he doesn't like violence.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar