< Durarara!! < Characters

Durarara!!/Characters/Main Characters


This is the main character page for the many characters of Durarara!!:

Warning!! The examples below may include spoilers for the light novels, as well as the anime.

If you're only following the latter[1], proceed at your own risk!

Celty Sturluson

"You are not a space alien...right?"

Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (JP), Kari Wahlgren (EN)

"The world isn't as cruel as you take it to be."

The main character and resident Dullahan of Ikebukuro. She used to roam the roads of Ireland, spilling blood on humans and riding down the hills with her headless horse. You know, typical stuff. One day, she awakened to find her head snatched and most of her memories gone. She managed to follow the perpetrator to Ikebukuro where she's still searching for her head to this day.

She lives with Shinra and makes a living by being a "transporter." She communicates with people by her cellphone and is seen riding a black motorcycle, wearing a helmet with kitty ears. She also has the cutest pink pajamas, loves chatting on the internet, and is afraid of space aliens.

Affliated/allied with the Dollars.

  • Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male/Bastard Girlfriend: She tends to beat on Shinra or wrap him up in her shadows when she's having her tsun-tsun moments, but both are subverted in that Shinra actually enjoys the abuse and tends to goad her on.
  • Achilles' Heel: One of the reasons Celty is so intent on recovering her missing head is that she is certain that destroying it is the means of killing her. Naturally, it's not something you want in the hands of someone you don't know, or a Yandere stalker who's had plastic surgery so her face looks like Celty's.
  • Agent Mulder: Apart from her fear of The Greys (which she's also convinced killed the dinosaurs), she also believes in various 2012 doomsday prophesies, the photon belt, evil tesseracts [2], and an impending robot apocalypse.
    • Perhaps it comes with being a living urban legend, herself. If she is true, then who knows what else might be!
  • Badass
  • Bad Liar: Somehow manages this even without the ability to speak.
  • Biker Babe
  • Butter Face: In a manner of speaking -- She is rather self-conscious about the whole having no head thing.
  • Casting a Shadow: Her main power.
  • Cool Big Sis: Becomes one for Anri after the two bond over their mutual supernaturality. She is also one for Shizuo and later Mikado
  • Cool Bike: It has no headlights, whinnies, and can jump over obstacles! Mind you, it is possessed by the spirit of an undead horse.
  • Cool Helmet: And it has cat ears.
  • Cordon Bleugh Chef: Let's start with the fact that her head and by extension, her mouth, is missing...
  • Cross Player: Celty prefers to keep her gender ambiguous on the internet. However, she's not terribly good at it, and both Kanra and Tanaka Taro caught on long ago (which Celty discovers, to her distress, when they both react rather strongly to a comment that she has a male roommate).
  • Cute Clumsy Girl: Claimed to be a Dojikko by Shingen, and not without reason, surprisingly. She does tend to get clumsy when she's excited (which usually happens around Shinra).
  • Cute Monster Girl: Don't get us wrong, she is a Badass, but Celty is also incredibly friendly, and is afraid of space aliens. Adorable.
    • Her missing head also turns out to be quite cute, especially considering that Dullahans are supposed to have heads with horrible, twisted grins and skin like moldy cheese.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: In Celtic mythology, Dullahans act as Psychopomps who douse anyone who gets in their way with blood, marking them as the next one to be yanked to the afterlife by that particular Dullahan. Here, we've got one going around saving kidnap victims.
  • Easy Amnesia: Due to losing her head.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: There are few things more embarrassing than being felt up by your boyfriend's stepmother. Also, Anri says she has a vague attraction to Celty, which persists even after learning about Celty's true gender.
  • The Fair Folk: Well, we've got a Dullahan.
  • Famous-Named Foreigner: Shares a last name with Icelandic poet and politicial Snorri Sturluson. A Celtic faerie running around with an Icelandic last name might seem weird until you consider Izaya's hypothesis that Dullahans have a connection with the Nordic Valkyries.
    • However, that brings up more questions, as Sturluson means "Son of Sturl". Assuming she was born in Iceland during those times, and that she was female, her last name would be Sturlusdottir ("Daughter of Sturl").
  • Freaky Is Cool: Ends up fangirling Shizuo during his fight against Saika's 'children', much like how Shinra did when he and Shizuo were in highschool

Celty: He's so strong... No, he's terrifying... No, he's awesome!

  • Green Eyes
  • Green Lantern Ring: Celty's shadow constructs can take on a variety of forms and uses, including a scythe, a helmet, and gloves. Supposedly, her black suit is made out of these shadows too.
  • Hammerspace: Apparently one of her abilities; she's pulled a cell phone, a shopping list, a kitchen knife, and a scythe from some kind of smoky darkness she can access.
  • Headless Horseman: A more modernized version... that rides a Cool Bike!
  • Healing Factor
  • Hello, Nurse!: Celty's head and face are so beautiful that it inspires fanatical devotion in at least two men and beguiled awe in the heart of an artist. This is on top of the attention her body gets.
  • Heroic BSOD: Celty all but snaps when she finally confronts her "head" (grafted onto the body of Mika Harima) during the Dollars meetup and confirms her greatest fear -- that she's never gonna get it back. She only calms down after both the reveal that it isn't actually her head and a big argument with Shinra over where her real head is
  • The Heroine
  • Impossibly Cool Weapon: Celty's scythe.
  • Innocent Cohabitation: With Shinra. At first.
  • Losing Your Head: It wasn't connected to begin with, but she still wants to hold it; however it has gone missing.
  • Mayfly-December Romance: With Shinra.
  • Memento MacGuffin: Celty's PDA was a White Day gift from Shinra. She reacts rather strongly to having it knocked out of her hands.
    • It also has practical significance, as her PDA allows her to communicate with others and to store information. [3] In other words, the PDA is in some ways a symbolic replacement for her missing head.
  • Motorcycle Fu
  • Mundane Utility: Turns out that control over darkness and shadow is surprisingly versatile -- though Shinra put his foot down at letting her use it for cooking.
  • My Horse Is a Motorbike: Shooter can shift back and forth between horse and motorcycle as it pleases (chariot optional).
  • My Suit Is Also Super: Her clothes are made using her ability to manipulate shadows.
  • The Not-Secret: Both Tanaka Taro and Kanra caught on to her not-so-ambiguously-gendered chatroom persona pretty early on.
  • Quest for Identity: Her primary motivation. This eventually starts to change when she begins coming to terms with the fact that she's built up enough of an identity over the last twenty years that she doesn't really need her old memories anymore.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: Celty isn't quite sure how old she is, thanks to the amnesia, but the few fuzzy memories she does retain go back over a hundred years.
  • Red Headed Heroine: Well, she is Celtic.
  • Samus Is a Girl: People tend not to immediately recognize that Celty is female. Shinra thinks they're blind.

Shinra: ...Eh, Tom-san, What's with that face? Celty? Yeah, that's her name. She's the Black Rider..."So it's a she?" Shizuo, you didn't tell him that part?...Ehhh? You didn't know Celty was a woman either until recently!? But Shizuo, I can't believe it!

    • In fairness to him, she DOES have breasts. One would think someone would notice.
  • Security Cling: She runs to hug Shinra after her first scary encounter with the motor cops.
  • Shy Finger-Twiddling: When Shingen asks her if she's in love with Shinra.
  • Sinister Scythe: Pulls one out of her neck.
  • The Speechless: Justified since she doesn't have a head; she can still "talk" by typing out words on a cellphone. It seems that from the fourth episode on, she will be voiced as a matter of convenience; she's still not actually speaking and is simply typing out whatever she's "saying".
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Certy/Celty/Selty/Selti/Serti/Ceruti/Ceruty... this still happens after folks have seen the second OP, given that every major character's name is displayed in English text on-screen. It doesn't help that one of the earlier episodes shows a private chatroom with her name spelt as "Selty" despite the fact that Crunchyroll subs it as "Celty."
  • Spy Catsuit: Her jumpsuit presents the same effect.
  • Strapped to An Operating Table: Celty agrees to be vivisected by Shinra's father, Shingen, in return for a place to stay. Turns out human anaesthetics don't work on Dullahans.
  • Talking with Signs: Via her PDA. This serves as her primary means of communication. When this isn't possible, she relies on a Hand Signals.
  • Telepathy: She can communicate this way, but without her head she doesn't know how to do it consciously.
  • Throw It In: Celty's kitty-ear helmet was originally just a joke by Narita, but the character designer liked it too much to not keep it.
  • Tsundere: Walker then gets into a big argument with Erika over whether Celty is a "true" Tsundere. Celty is not amused. Walker feels that Celty is too even-tempered, and that Shinra mostly deserves the ass-kickings he gets. He concludes that they're both in a mild "Type M" relationship; though it's not abusive. Both of them enjoy messing with each other.[4]
  • Valkyries: Maybe. Izaya has a theory that the legend of Dullahans and the legend of Norse Valkyries are based on the same thing; and one can somehow "trigger" Valkyrie Mode and Ragnarok.
  • Victoria's Secret Compartment: Uses it to store a wad of money from Izaya in episode 4.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: She's started to fall into this after volume 8 of the novel. Shinra getting attacked just happened to have her become very protective of him.
  • Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Her fear of aliens and motorcycle cops.
  • Woman in Black: Subverted.
  • Workaholic: Shizuo implies her to be this in episode 3.


Mikado Ryugamine

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Toyonaga (JP), Darrel Guilbeau (EN)

"But at that moment... I felt my body tremble as I sensed that a new world was opening up to me."

A timid newcomer to Ikebukuro, where he attends Raira Academy with his best friend Masaomi and his crush Anri. Mikado decided to come to Ikebukuro on his own to seek something new from his boring life in the country. Initially, he isn't a very courageous fellow, but as the story progresses, he learns to become more determined and strong, and as of late he's also become more crazy and power hungry .

The leader of the Dollars.

Aoba: Orihara Izaya, have you realized this? You and I, we've probably both underestimated Mikado-sempai. Even with what you and I already know about him... it could turn out that sempai... had far from shown us his true character.

Namie: You're a much quieter kid than I imagined. Or maybe kids like you are much more dangerous nowadays.


Masaomi Kida

Voiced by: Mamoru Miyano (JP), Bryce Papenbrook (EN)

"I also... swore to myself I wouldn't go over to that side again."

Mikado's best friend and the one who suggested for Mikado to come to Ikebukuro. Masaomi is an extremely hyper fellow who loves sprinkling English in his sentences and hitting on older girls. He claims there is a love triangle between Mikado, Anri, and himself, and he's not above flirting with Anri, much to Mikado's chagrin.

Leader and founder of the Yellow Scarves
  • A Father to His Men: More like "shogun."
  • Anti-Hero: Type III
  • Authority Equals Asskicking
  • Badass: Hell. Yes. There's a reason he became the leader of the Yellow Scarves, after all.
  • Bishounen
  • Break the Cutie: One name. Izaya. The results weren't pretty. See the main page for details.
  • Bromantic Foil: To Mikado.subverted in the novel where Kida is pretending to be Mikado's foil.
  • Cannot Tell a Joke: Not that it stops him from trying.
  • Casanova Wannabe
  • Curtains Match the Window
    • But his hair is dyed...
  • Death Seeker: Thankfully, he snaps out of this just in time. Anime only, since in the novels he never contemplates it.
  • Delinquent Hair: Mikado almost didn't recognize him because of this.
  • Distress Ball: A mild example and Justified. He was going through a Heroic BSOD when he found out that Mikado was the leader of Dollars and when he decided to kill Horada, he was ready to die. However, he didn't think about being outnumbered 1 to 100+ members of Yellow Scarves despite the fact that he is a One-Man Army and then there was the fact that Horoda had a gun that he didn't know about.
  • Eyes of Gold
  • Fatal Flaw: Kida is very bad with handling shame and guilt. Part of the reason he drops out of school and disappears from Mikado's life is because he can't bear to face him after the whole fiasco with the Yellow Scarves. Izaya is fully aware of this and sometimes rubs salt in the wound by deliberately making plans that Kida could easily foil if he could only own up to his past failings and spit it out.
  • Flashback to Catchphrase: Although he doesn't say it often enough for it to be a catchphrase, at one point he says "What's your answer? Three-two-one time's up! I win, you lose!" About twenty episodes later, we see that he learned it from Izumi, the leader of the Blue Squares, when he was torturing Saki. The question was "What bone did we just break?"
  • Gratuitous English
  • Hands-Off Parenting/Parental Neglect: His parents have an extremely laissez-faire parenting style and don't mind that their son has involved himself with a gang of delinquents or dropped out of high school. Mikado seems very aware of how his parents are, since even as a child, he was wondering how lenient they could be to let Masaomi wander around outside by himself at two a.m. in the night.
  • He's Got Legs: Definitely. Just look at his character single album pictures and you'll agree.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With Mikado.
  • Hidden Depths: Comes off as an idiot at first, but the truth is a lot deeper.
  • Keet
  • Large Ham: Sometimes becomes this when explaining the ways of Ikebukuro to Mikado.
  • Likes Older Women: Masaomi isn't picky when it comes to age. The Gaiden short story that came with the third DVD shows that he's perfectly happy to flirt with grandmothers.
  • My Greatest Failure: Masaomi deeply regrets his forming the Yellow Scarves, especially after his girlfriend Saki was severely injured in a Mob War crossfire.
    • Because of this, when Masaomi hears that Anri was attacked by the Slasher, he returns to the Yellow Scarves in order to exact revenge on the Dollars and the Slasher, believing that they are connected. According to Izaya, Masaomi isn't sure if he truly loved Saki because he was too scared to save her -- and if you really loved a girl, you'd risk your life to protect her -- and now Anri's his chance to find out. But then again, this is Izaya we're talking about. Played straight in the novel where he really did think this.
  • Meaningful Name: His name Righteous Vassal works a pair with Mikado's name.
  • Minored in Asskicking: Masaomi usually does his Obfuscating Stupidity to glaze situations, with a hint of Magnificent Bastard. However... beware the Jimmy Bar.
  • Nonuniform Uniform: Wears a hoodie under his school jacket, rather than the required dress shirt and tie.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: In regards to Mikado and sometimes Anri.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Apart from formerly leading the Yellow Scarves, he can also deal some serious amounts of damage with a Jimmy Bar. How good is he? He singlehandedly took out several rival gangs during his time in the Yellow Scarves.
  • Official Couple: With Saki.
  • One-Man Army
  • Put on a Bus: Sort of. If there's a second season, odds are he'll still stay communicative with the rest of the group via the chatroom. That said, he probably won't be back in person for most of the next season.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: In the special 12.5 episode, he's wearing a pink shirt instead of his usual uniform.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Sort of. While the spelling of his name is more or less unequivocal, it's mostly that fans mess up the organization and think that his first name is Kida - probably because it's shorter than Masaomi and sounds more like a first name. His first name is definitely Masaomi, though.
  • Stepford Smiler: Masaomi is not naturally that chipper -- it's a front he puts up for Mikado's sake.
  • Three Amigos: He, Mikado, and Anri quickly establish this dynamic.
  • Tranquil Fury: When he confronts Horada, he does it while acting like his cheerful self, even when talking about intending to kill him. This is in part because Kida sees the moment as a way to make-up for his failure to save Saki, and because he's something of a Death Seeker at the time. That situation as well as the speech he made about the was anime-only, in the novels Kida had not known about Horada trying to take over the Yellow Scarves until he returned to the hideout.
  • Tsundere: Subverted. Izaya claims that he's this (Type B) when in the chatroom. Masomi answers though that he's tsun-tsun-tsun-tsun-dere-tsun-dere-tsun as he continues to spam him. You might interpret this as something else but if you had to work under Izaya you would act this way too.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: With Mikado and Anri.
  • Walking the Earth: Leaves Ikebukuro due to the trouble with the Yellow Scarves, taking Saki with him.


Anri Sonohara

Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (JP), Michelle Ruff (EN)

"Because it's so much easier to live while depending on someone. And I thought that was the only way for me to live."

A shy girl who goes to Raira Academy with Mikado and Masaomi and eventually befriends them. She is looking for her friend Mika Harima, who disappeared shortly before the first day of school. In spite of her gradual friendship with Mikado and Masaomi, Anri is very reluctant to let anyone get close to her.

  • Abusive Parents: Her father.
  • Apologizes a Lot
  • Armor-Piercing Slap: Delivers one to Masaomi, of all people.
  • Asexual
  • Badass
    • Badass Adorable: She's a skilled swordswoman that can technically hypnotize whoever she wants.
      • Volume 5 has her fending off a garden scissors-wielding Vorona with her katana.
  • Bad Powers, Good People: Becomes this after Celty convinces that her it's possible.
  • Beware the Nice Ones
  • Big Breasts, Big Deal: Type I.
  • Blood-Splattered Innocents: Poor thing.
  • Buxom Is Better: It's no secret that Anri's many, many admirers are attracted by her bust size. It actually backfires on her though, since "The schoolgirl with glasses and a nice rack" was enough of a description for the Yellow Scarves to find her.
  • Cursed with Awesome: Saika acts as this for Anri, since the sword lets her control people en masse, bestows amazing fighting prowess and Super Reflexes, plus she is unaffected by its mind control because of her inability to love. As the sword's host, Saika can't exactly cut her either, so it has to exclude her from the humans it "loves" and protect her from anything that is threatening to physically harm her.
  • Broken Bird: Her father's abuse and the witnessing of her mother murdering her father and killing herself left her without the ability to love.
  • Brown Eyes
  • The Chick
  • Cordon Bleugh Chef: She gets a worse score on her cooking than Celty, who lacks a sense of taste. The only one who got worse than her was Emilia, who seemed to think she was supposed to make a bomb (she got a -20).
  • Dangerously-Short Skirt: Very much a Badass, in spite of everything else, and hers is ridiculously micro-level.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Her father tried to kill her which resulted in her being possessed by Saika.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: The powers granted to her by Saika certainly give her a ghostly, supernatural appearance, what with the red eyes and all, but on the whole she's a shy, gentle person who just wants what's best for others.
  • Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: She never quite gets the hang of the private chat function in online messaging.
  • Damsel in Distress: At first. But she's later revealed to be a Badass Damsel.
  • Dude Magnet: See Unwanted Harem below.
  • Escapism: When she imagines an idealized version of her family in supposed flashback memories to block out the painful reality of her abusive childhood. She might be using dissociation as well, since she apparently views the world through a distant picture frame, and the reason why Saika's whispers have not overwhelmed her is because they are part of a picture that is positioned far away from her inside the frame.
  • Enemy Within: Her relationship with Saika sometimes becomes this.
  • Extreme Doormat: To the extent that she considers herself a parasite feeding off the friendships she fosters with others, and to Saika as well.
  • Foil: To Mika. Their entire friendship is based off this contrast.
  • Friendless Background: Prior to befriending Mika, who was only using Anri to make herself look better. She forms genuine friendships with Mikado and Masaomi before he left, though.
  • Gag Boobs: There's a running gag of various characters referring to and identifying Anri primarily by the size of her breasts.
  • Girl with Psycho Weapon: A literal example, since her weapon is the one that's batshit insane, not her. One could say she's a Girl With Saika Weapon.
  • Harmful to Minors: Watching your mother kill your father (who's busy trying to kill you) and subsequently slit her own throat with a smile on her face can not be good for the psyche.
    • What's even more disturbing is that it doesn't seem to affect her much at all at the time, though she was probably mostly desensitized to it by then, owing to the constant beatings from her father.
  • The Heart
  • Heel Face Mind Screw: One of the powers she has using Saika is essentially this- cutting people to make them loyal, and then commanding them to do good- she tries it on Izaya in episode 24, but he manages to evade her.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Considers herself to be a parasite because she depends so much on others.
  • Heterosexual Life Partners: With Mika, though Anri admits that both of them were just using each other as foils. That is, until Mika went missing and got together with Seiji.
  • Hidden Weapon: She hides Saika inside her body and only pulls it out when she needs to or if her life is endangered. The sword can protect her body this way, too.
  • Hive Queen: One of the few benevolent ones. More of a Vampire Monarch given the infectious attack and the hub and spoke nature of her children who don't telepath with each other.
  • Hot Chick with a Sword
  • I Am a Monster: Considers herself this because of Saika.
  • I Just Want to Be Normal

Anri: Nothing ever happens. Nothing ever changes. This was her daily life.

Shinra: Anri-chan ran out of the apartment after she saw some message on her cell phone......I'm running after her right now......I think she's heading for the abandoned factory. I don't think I can stop her......breathe, I need to breathe.....she's fast! So fast! Anri-chan is so ridiculously fast!

  • The Power of Love: Subverted. Saika's love for humanity is what makes it so dangerous while Anri's inability to feel love is what keeps Saika from taking control of her.
  • The Quiet One
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: When using her powers as Saika, combined with Glowing Eyes of Doom.
  • Shrinking Violet
  • Shut UP, Hannibal: Effectively does this to one of Saika's "children" when she reveals that she has the original cursed sword.
    • She tries to give one to Izaya, and while it's the first time Izaya gets pissed, it still barely phases him.
  • Three Amigos: Mikado, Masaomi, and Anri quickly establish this dynamic.
  • Two Guys and a Girl: Mikado, Masaomi, and Anri.
  • Unwanted Harem: Is uncomfortable with the attention she recieves, whether it is from Mikado, Masaomi, or that perverted teacher Nasujima-sensei. It's suggested that the only reason it isn't bigger is that almost everyone just assumes she and Mikado are dating -- Aoba's made mention of a waiting list.
  • What Is This Thing You Call Love?: Has a difficulty with understanding this concept, and therefore she cannot tell apart the feelings she feels for Mikado, Masaomi, and Mika.
    • Apparently, her inability to feel love is a good thing. Mainly because she possesses Saika rather than the other way around like most wielders happen to be. Although Saika was trying to take control of Anri by putting false memories of her parents loving her so she can feel love, Anri wasn't fooled by those memories because she damn well knows that her father was very abusive and was never given the feeling of love from her parents. Not to mention that she is fully aware of the possessive power of the sword. Let's hope it stays that way.
      • Unfortunately, it might not. Recently Saika has become more and more noisy, especially when she's around Mikado, or when someone mentions him. Anri still doesn't fully understand the situation, but it's becoming more clear that there is a possibility of Saika overcoming her.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: She has a passive, soft-spoken and gentle personality, although she won't let others push her around all the time. To seal the deal, she wears yukata on occasion.


Izaya Orihara

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (JP), Johnny Yong Bosch (EN)

"Izaya Orihara, the informant, isn't that bad of a guy. But I'm also not kind enough to stop someone who wants to die."

Ikebukuro's mysterious Knowledge Broker and greatestTroll. Claims to love all humanity (except Shizuo) -- love which he expresses by fucking with people at every opportunity he gets. He loves playing mind games and seems to be one step ahead of everybody else at times.

Officially a Wild Card to all sides of the various factions in universe.

Izaya: My parents are completely ordinary people. Except for when it comes to the taste in children's names, that is.

  • Badass
    • Badass Bookworm
    • Badass Longcoat: Izaya seems to be in the habit of wearing a sort of fur-trimmed trench coat in the manga. In the anime, he sticks to a normal parka, although the hood still has a fur fringe.
    • Badass Normal: A normal human in terms of physical capabilities, but he is one of the few people who can pick a fight with Shizuo and live to see another day (or at least avoid getting hospitalized). He is also implied to have Super Reflexes judging from his battle with Anri, despite her skillful use of Iaidō to mess with his depth perception.
  • Bad Boss: He has Saki, Masaomi, and Namie working for him. Needless to say, he doesn't treat them very well.
    • Actually in Namie's case he is almost a Benevolent Boss. He pays her a very high salary, keeps her from possible dangers and tolerates her constant insults and snarking.
    • It's also worth noting that Namie is the only person he's employed (and one of the very few in the novels) that he has yet to screw with. He's also revealed some "secrets" to her, and he outright states that he wants to keep his leading lady close, so he seems to avoid doing anything that will seriously upset her in the future.
  • Batman Gambit: Pulls citywide strings by knowing his pawns well enough to predict their actions and responses. Many, many of them at once. He also arguably invokes this trope, since he deliberately makes his plans easy to defeat if the key players would just face their flaws. They don't, his plans go through, and he laughs his ass off.
  • Big Bad: The closest thing the series has to the main villain.
  • Big Brother Bully: Izaya's quick to admit that Mairu and Kururi's... more unusual quirks probably came about from growing up with him as an older brother
  • Bishounen
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He can appear to be a genuinely nice guy, until you realise he's just screwing with you for kicks.
    • Even Celty knows there's something not quite right about him in Episode 4:

Izaya: Kudos to you as the deliverer, again. I can get by because you're here, and vice versa.
Celty: I don't want to agree with the vice versa.
Izaya: Come on, don't say that. I'll be counting on you again from now on. I want to get along with you. Forever...
Celty: Is it my imagination that I feel a certain eeriness from you?
Izaya: Whoa! It's definitely your imagination.

    • And again, in Episode 12:

Celty: And my daily life came back, too. [sees Izaya] Running into people I'd rather not see, like always...

  • Bookie: In the novel, he was the bookie for his middle school's baseball betting pool.
  • Break Them by Talking: This is how he screws with people. His Establishing Character Moment is in the second episode where he goads a girl into comitting suicide. Celty saved her and later asked him why. He just said it was for fun He does it to Masaomi in the third arc. Also to Anri, in episode 24, as part of stopping her from making him one of Saika's "children".
    • Also to the two suicidal girls in the novel/manga, and to Earthworm, and Nakura.
  • Broken Ace: Intelligent, handsome, agile and also mad as a mad hatter.
  • Calvin Ball: Izaya plays chess-shogi-reversi-go-cards-alcohol-matches against himself when he's bored. When Namie asks him how to play it he changes the subject.
  • The Chessmaster: Izaya is thoroughly amused that you think you're playing chess with him.
  • Consummate Liar: If you didn't pay for it, there's a good chance that whatever Izaya tells you is something he just made up. The same probably goes some of the information you did pay for, for that matter. Even he acknowledges this truth.

Izaya: It's kinda scary how much people trust me.

  • Deadly Dodging: When he's not running from Shizuo, this is usually how he fights him. Also happens in the first OP when Shizuo chucks a mailbox at him and Izaya dodges in time, causing the water pipe behind him to burst open when the mailbox hits it instead and slam Shizuo into the vending machine behind him from the emerging blast of water.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Shows shades of being one in middle school, especially towards Shinra. Occasionally lapses back into this around Shinra and sometimes, Namie.
  • Diabolical Mastermind: Manipulates people and supernatural beings just because he can.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: The reason for becoming an information broker seems to have started with his past in middle school when a student named Nakura stabbed Shinra who took the knife wound for him. As revenge for the incident, Izaya swears to make Nakura's life miserable for the rest of his life.
  • Dissonant Serenity
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Subverted. Izaya plans to betray Shinra who is his ONLY friend. All he has to do is bring Celty's head and be next to Celty without showing it and then see if anything will happen. However, knowing that his goal to cause Ragnarok might destroy Shinra's happiness, he has second thoughts and laughs at himself before slamming his fist into a telephone. No one sees his expression and his sisters come around when he's able to put his mask back up but just knowing he has second thoughts and the hint of guilt though...
  • Evil Gloating: He hired Namie to serve as his secretary for two reasons: To rub her face in her defeat (he makes her use a punch clock, for crying out loud), and so that he has someone to listen to his genius plans.
  • Evil Laugh
  • Fan Nickname: Trollzaya. The Japanese fandom nicknames him Uzaya, which is a pun on the word "annoying."
  • Faux Affably Evil: He didn't get the name "Trollzaya" for nothing.
  • Foe Yay: Shizuo x Izaya -- the more they seem to hate each other, the more popular it becomes.
    • He also has moments like this with the girls he almost convinces to commit suicide. After one of them breaks into his hospital room and tries to kill him, he hugs her tightly while thanking her and telling her how much he loves her. Of course, it's plain creepy in context.
    • We can also add Earthworm to the list.
    • Let's just say he gets this with nearly everyone and leave it at that.
  • For (Social) Science: Izaya is what happens when a Mad Scientist discovers that his true calling isn't chemistry or biology, but social psychology.
  • For the Evulz: Semi-subverted in the anime only, where Simon implies that this is purely an excuse and Izaya is jealous of Shizuo's influential status.
  • Fur and Loathing
  • GIRL: Disguises himself as such on chatrooms as "Kanra", before he uses a different handle as "Chrome" and drops the GIRL act.
  • A God Am I: Shows shades of this occasionally. Especially noticeable when he sets his chess board on fire.

Izaya: When I look at it like this, I can't help but feel that I'm just a little bit God-like. And you know what? It feels good! Three way struggles are fun, 'specially when all three leaders are so closely connected. And God attacks!! {{[[[Laughing Mad]] insane giggling}}]. [...] Ahahahahah! Look! The pawns burn like garbage!! [begins to toss cards into the fire, each representing a character in the series].
{{[[[The Stoic]] Namie}} looks on, with a completely blank expression on her face.]

Girl: You are the worst kind of human being in this world.
Izaya: And isn't that just splendid?

  • Irony: The Jerkass Manipulative Bastard who will make a Suicide Pact For the Lulz... is afraid of death.
    • It's not that he's afraid of death. What he's afraid of is that there would be nothing else after death, he even states he'd rather go to hell or to Ragnarok if he ever died rather than doing nothing.
    • He's also on the cover of the Trust Me EP release...yeah, okay.
  • It Amused Me: Izaya screws with people -- both human and supernatural -- For the Lulz.
  • Jerkass
    • Jerkass Dissonance: Naturally, he's the most popular character of the series despite pretty much being /b/ in human form.
  • Johnny MOTHERFUCKING Yong Bosch
  • Kick the Dog: His antics are funny until episode 18 where he deliberately put Kida through hell. Double points when you realize that Saki was faking her injuries.
    • Also, in middle school, he apparently stabbed Shinra when the latter was trying to befriend him. While Shinra has brushed this event off, it's to be noted that Shinra uses this event to shut him up.
      • This becomes subverted later as of volume 9 it reveals that Izaya didn't stab him. Shinra took a knife wound for him instead.
  • Kick Them While They Are Down: Or, better yet, use them as an impromptu trampoline!
  • Kill It with Fire: What he does to his game board in one of his...less stable moments.
  • Knife Nut: A switch-blade to be precise.
  • Knowledge Broker
  • Lack of Empathy: The way he speaks about his "love of humans" seems to imply that he places himself on a different level than them.
    • Subverted in volume 9. The closest he's gotten to showing human emotions is when Shinra got stabbed. He is shown panicking and trying to hide his worry and covers it up with something else.
    • Also, the closest thing to a breakdown was him slamming his hand against a telephone pole at the thought of betraying Shinra.
  • Le Parkour: He teaches it to himself to outrun Shizuo. Naturally, Shizuo teaches it to himself to chase Izaya.
  • Lonely at the Top: Unsurprisingly, being a gigantic, manipulative asshole tends not to win over a lot of friends. Which is why his only friend is Shinra.

Namie: Would you please refrain from using me to comfort your ego just because everybody in the chatroom but you has friends to eat hotpot with?

    • Though it's worth noting that, unlike most examples, he doesn't just sit around and Angst about it. He knows that this is the life he's chosen for himself, and if he ever even mentions his loneliness it's simply a passing comment. It might get him down at times (mainly due to jealousy), but it doesn't really bother him that much.
    • While he doesn't angst about it openly, there are hints that his loneliness actually bothers him a lot. After all, he couldn't get over not being invited to hotpot party for 4 volumes and eventually started his own. Not to mention going Yandere for his Only Friend Shinra or hiring Namie ,even though earlier he did just fine without having a secretary.
  • Loners Are Freaks: Subverted and played straight. In middle school, everyone avoided him because he gave the impression to everyone that he was this type of person. However, the way Izaya puts it, he does seem lonely and grateful that Shinra would talk to him. Of course, he would deny it saying that he only talked to him to "observe" him.
  • Love Is a Weakness: He clearly states in volume 9 that he doesn't want to get attached to anyone whether it's friendship or romantic. However, just becoming friends with Shinra though becomes a problem for obvious reasons which the main one is that with someone that makes so many enemies, it would only be natural to get back at him with the only person he cares about.
  • Love Makes You Crazy: His grandiose love for the entire human race hasn't exactly made him the most sane of people, but also his feelings towards Shinra. He was the vice president of his elementary school's student council, and in middle school, he was a "model student" who excelled in sports, joined clubs and won awards for his writing and research, but all that changed when Shinra took a knife wound for Izaya. It's pretty much heavily implied that the reason Izaya turned out the way he did was mainly due to that incident.
  • Love You and Everybody (Except Shizuo):

Izaya: I love humans! They're so appealing and interesting, I just can't help myself... Don't get me wrong though -- I don't actually like you.

    • The irony of this is that his opinion of Shinra is completely different from everyone else, and it started out with him being the only annoying human being. In his own words, Shinra is someone that is not on the same scale as his precious humans.
  • Mad Scientist: An interesting variation, in that he's not a chemist or biologist, but a Social Psychologist.
  • Made of Iron: He gets hit with a freaking trash can and stands up moments later no worse for wear.
  • Manipulative Bastard
  • Man Behind the Man: Guess who passed the Dollars website password around Ikebukuro.
  • Meaningful Name: Based on the biblical prophet Isaiah. Can also mean "one who watches over the crowd".
  • Mysterious Past: Besides claiming he's from a normal family and having two younger sisters, Izaya's backstory remains a mystery. This is not helped by the fact that Izaya is a lying liar who lies, and has been known to just make up personal details for the hell of it

Namie: You said you graduated six or seven years ago...but didn't you also say you were 21 years old?
Izaya: I've been telling people I was 21 for ages - or were you under the impression that I would just feed them my real personal information for free?

    • Subverted with volume nine, which is an entire volume on Izaya's past.
  • The Nicknamer: Izaya's known for these (he's responsible for both Shizu-chan and Dotachin) -- the recipients tend not to like them.
    • The former, at least, is subverted. It seems he heard the nickname 'Shizu-chan' before meeting Shizuo or even knowing what his real name was (he even thought he was a girl)
  • Noodle Incident: Apparently, the feud between Izaya and Shizuo stems from Izaya falsely accusing Shizuo of some sort of crime.
    • Also in middle school. His apparent stabbing Shinra incident. If Shinra brings this up, he freezes instantly. However, you find out that the reason he freezes is that he doesn't want people to know that Shinra protected him and is trying to make it up to him by getting back at the person who stabbed him.
  • No Sense of Personal Space: Particularly to Mikado. And suicidal girls, of course.
  • Pet the Dog: No matter what he says, he generally does care about Shinra. It's evident that the event that Shinra mentioned in middle school weighs on him because just mentioning it shuts him up. There's also the fact that he encouraged Shinra to buy valentine's chocolate for Celty. Of course, the chocolate was sold out so whether or not he was generally caring for Shinra at the moment or if he knew that the chocolate was already gone is up to interpretation.
    • And to add to the top he does feel bad about Shinra taking a knife wound for him. It was to the point where he would rather have everyone think that he stabbed Shinra rather than have people think that Shinra would take a knife wound for someone like him. And then he promises Shinra that the man who stabbed him, Nakura will suffer for the rest of his life.
    • Finally He considers to label Shinra as a friend by the definition of his humans and then he almost has a breakdown at the idea of betraying his ONLY friend.
  • Poisonous Friend: Towards Shinra. If you even think of hurting him, be prepared to face the consequences. Of course, Ruri's stalker is no exception and ened with two of his legs broken, even though Izaya was still sore about Shinra being uncaring for him to be stabbed not too long ago.
  • Psycho Psychologist
  • Psychopathic Manchild: One of the rare Manipulative Bastard versions. It becomes quite obvious as the series progresses that he sees everyone and everything around him as little more than toys to be played with until they break.
  • Psychotic Smirk: It speaks volumes about Izaya that he only gets truly frightening when he isn't wearing his trademark rape face.
  • The Nothing After Death: This frightens him. This is why he's setting up Ragnarok. Even if he goes to Hel's realm instead of Valhalla for being a non-warrior, it's still existence.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: In many fan drawings and in the novel, he has red eyes.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Shinra's blue - especially in middle school. Additionally, blue to Shizuo's red.
  • Shipper on Deck: Zigzags around this trope. He seems to support Shinra/Celty but around Celty, he tends to mock Shinra to no end to the point where she wraps a shadow around his neck and tells him to stop mocking Shinra. However, it becomes obvious that he does support the two together on Shinra's side at least. He encourages Shinra during a valentine's chapter to go by chocolate because it's the thought that counts. And this is after Shinra goes to Shizuo to complain about Valentine's Day and he shooed him away. His support might have to do with said middle school incident.
  • Silent Scapegoat: For Shinra. Despite Shinra taking a knife wound for him, he would rather have people think that he stabbed him instead of Shinra defending someone like him.
  • Slasher Smile: And it's not at all terrifying.
  • Smart People Play Chess: And smart, crazy people play Chess-Shogi-Reversi-Go-Cards that's on fire.
  • Snark-to-Snark Combat: Most of his conversations with Namie tend to lapse into this.
  • Smug Smiler
  • The Sociopath: Fits the trope description (as well as the DSM, for the most part) to a T. Though it becomes Subverted hard when we delve into his backstory a little. See Lack of Empathy above.
    • Also, it should be noted that Izaya's never said he was unable to love, just that he more or less has no interest in forming personal relationships.
  • Of Medium Height, Dark and Snarky and Handsome
  • Technically a Smile: Izaya's constant grin is frequently described as 'mask-like,' or 'a smile that doesn't reach his eyes.' As written in the ninth novel:

It was not even a smile of pleasure - but rather a smile that could be called either eerie or bland, a smile that made the observer think that it only served to conceal his emotions.

  • Those Two Bad Guys: With Namie. Particularly evident in the Akane arc.
    • Subverted in the 9 novel. It turns out that Izaya didn't deal with Akane personally and just made Nakura pretend to be him.
  • Troll: Both in real life and on the internet (where he earns extra points by pulling the GIRL routine on a regular basis).
  • War for Fun and Profit: Mostly for fun.
  • Wicked Cultured: Has a snazzy apartment, is well-read, and speaks fluent Russian [5]
  • Wimpification: Almost always when paired with Shizuo in fanon...and even by Narita himself in an April fools story (though they did, um..."switch" roles). Though he tends to avoid this when paired with anybody else. This isn't helped by the anime's portrayal of him, which gives him some random "feminine" qualities.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Izaya isn't above manipulating elementary school girls and endangering their lives in the process.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Played straight, but ("I don't like hitting girls... Which is why I instead make it a hobby to stomp on their cellphones!")
    • However, he is not above letting others do the beating for him.
  • Yandere: For Shinra but not in the romantic sense. He will make sure that the person that hurt Shinra will suffer for the rest of his life. How serious is he? Well, for one thing, ever since that incident, he's been stalking said stabber and setting him up for two huge crimes against criminal organizations that he worked for and then telling him over the phone that these people will come for him. It's to be noted that when something bad happens, Izaya never tells said person that it was his doing but this incident proves that he indeed holds a huge grudge.

Shinra Kishitani

He only looks normal.

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama & Aoi Yuuki (JP), Yuri Lowenthal (EN)

The young Back-Alley Doctor of Ikebukuro who lives with Celty. Shinra is... odd. He has a huge love for supernatural events and loves to run his mouth, especially when Celty is involved. He went to high school with Izaya and Shizuo and knows the two very well.

By proxy of Celty, he is affiliated with the Dollars.

  • Above Good and Evil: As Izaya describes it, Shinra's in his own little world as long as it concerns Celty and hurting her will make him come back down to earth. Naturally, Izaya is jealous on how Shinra can create his own world.
  • Adorkable: Up to Eleven whenever Celty is in the immediate area.
  • Back-Alley Doctor
  • Bishonen: A nerdy one.
  • Brains and Bondage: Shinra thinks that Celty's powers would be great for BDSM.
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: Shinra is a pretty good surgeon (especially considering his age), but he's also pretty weird. For example, he's probably the only Back-Alley Doctor to talk your ear off about White Day while extracting a bullet from your arm.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Not as evident in the current timeline but during middle school student, Izaya thinks he's one. Naturally, this puts him above humanity in Izaya's book.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Twenty years, he's been trying to get with Celty. Twenty years.
  • Dressed to Heal: Shinra almost never takes off the labcoat.
  • Freaky Is Cool: Shinra makes it known that he thinks Celty is beautiful without a head. Yeah, he's kinda weird.
    • He also spent most of gradeschool and high school fanboying Shizuo's crazy rage fits. Shingen did not raise that boy right.
  • Friendless Background: Both because most people generally regard him as a freak and because he's largely uninterested in forming friendships with normal people. This has not seemed to have changed in adulthood.

Shiki: I called your friend. The one who isn't Shizuo.
Shinra: You make it sound as if I have no friends besides those two
Shiki: Do you?
Shinra: No.

  • Friend to All Children: Shinra turns out to be inexplicably good with small children, much to everyone's horror.
  • Good Eyes: He is perhaps the only adult male in the series who doesn't have narrow eyes.
  • Harmful to Minors/Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Much of Shinra's weirdness can be attributed to Shingen's less than stellar parenting techniques. These included such wonderful ideas as bringing Shinra into the operating room and encouraging him to vivisect a struggling, naked, headless woman at the age of four.
  • Horny Scientist: And, unlike most examples, Celty has to live with him. At least he's pretty.
  • Hospital Hottie
  • Hyper Awareness: He catches onto things very easily. A major example during middle school is when he tried to talk to Izaya for the first time. The main reason he asked him to join the two person Biology club only is because Izaya loved humans and he was right on the mark to Izaya's surprise.
  • I Just Want to Be Special
  • Improbable Age: Shinra started practicing medicine straight out of high school. It's justified in that he's not practicing legally.
    • And he started operating (well, vivisecting) at four. Shingen is called Mad Doctor for a reason.
  • Innocent Cohabitation: With Celty. Although it wouldn't be so innocent if he had his wish. Which he does.
  • Intelligence Equals Isolation: Played with. While everyone around him considered Shinra a freak, he didn't bother making friends with people who were considered "normal". As a result, he only befriends Shizuo and Izaya and goes as far as taking a knife wound for Izaya.
  • Iron Butt Monkey: Thanks to his tendency to annoy Celty and Shizuo on a regular basis, Shinra usually finds himself at the end of a Super Strength-backed punch quite often. These do nothing to stop him from getting back up and annoying them again.
  • Japanese Pronouns: Shinra's pronoun use is weird in that he'll switch between watashi, boku, and ore completely at random, for no other reason than because he likes to. Celty thinks it's annoying.
    • His explanation of this is as follows:

Eh? You want me to "stop switching back and forth between 'boku', 'watashi' and 'ore', pick just one and stick with it"? But I don't want to, Celty. A leopard doesn't want its spots changed. Even if you ask me to change the personality I'm born with, I can't. First-person pronouns are meant to be varied with different conversation partners anyway. The world is filled with all kinds of people. That's why you need to use different pronouns in front of different people......but to me, Celty equals the entire human race, or the entire world. That's right. I have to show every single facet of me in front of you, be it my preferred facade in front of other people or my real self! ......Hmm, where were we?

  • Jerkass: In the novels since anime made him much nicer. Shinra isn't nearly half as bad as Izaya but he still has his moments. For example, he openly complains about Shizuo visiting him to treat his injuries or bringing wounded people. Not to mention his treatment of Izaya after the latter got stabbed. And mind you, he considers those two to be his friends.
  • Just the Way You Are: Shinra's opinion on the whole deal with Celty's missing head. The truth is that he's worried that, with her head and memories, she won't be the same Celty he knows and loves -- if she doesn't disappear altogether, that is.
  • Keet: A milder version, but mostly in his childhood.
  • Kid with the Leash: If not for Celty and his father, he is with Izaya of all people.
  • Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Never, ever takes it off. Even other characters notice.
  • Limited Wardrobe: Shizuo finally asks him what the deal with wearing labcoats 24-7 is in Volume 5. Apparently he likes to be the Man in White to Celty's Woman in Black.
  • Loners Are Freaks: In middle school, a lot of people kept their distance from him and labeled him as one.
  • Love Makes You Crazy: He's willing to do so many things in middle school. He even took a knife wound for Izaya because he thinks that it was heroic and that Celty would notice him more.
  • Love Makes You Evil: Has explicitly stated that there is absolutely no line he wouldn't be willing to cross for Celty's sake.

I feel like we hear the phrase "love and justice" a lot, but no one seems to ever mention "love and evil". An evil guys whose love is deeper than the ocean. If the object of affection is narrowed down to Celty, then I am one.

  • Made of Iron: Naturally he qualifies if he's able to survive getting punched across the room by Celty and Shizuo. This might have saved him from getting brutally attacked by Ruri's stalker.
  • Mad Doctor's Handsome Son: Although he didn't escape being raised by Shingen without a loose screw or two

Celty: I expected Shinra would never grow up to be a decent human being raised by such a parent...And I was right.

Shizuo: I've destroyed my body countless times, but I just kept getting stronger. Shinra says it's because...You know what, who gives a crap?

  • Morality Pet: He generally falls into the roll for many character particularly Celty, his father and Izaya.
    • Special mention for the last one. Izaya will go to huge lengths to make sure that person (Nakura) who stabbed him would regret it for the rest of his life.
  • Nightmare Fetishist: Perhaps a little more literally than others

Celty: They called me a monster.
Shinra: How rude! I would have used the term "Naughty Lady" myself...

Shinra: But it's not like you to act so faint-hearted! I only really like it when you're frail in be--[WHACK!]

    • And from the last episode: "I'm going to have to take a shower and change the sheets!" Really, Shinra?
      • To be fair though, the Japanese see it as generally "proper" to shower and wash your sheets before before having sex. Coming from Shinra though, it's hilarious either way.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Shizuo are friends for most of their lives, but being a resident Motor Mouth of the series, he tends to prance on Shizuo's many Berserk Buttons as a jolly pony. Which never really bothers either of them.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Celty gets pissed when she discovers that Shinra knew exactly where her head was, but deliberately withheld the information. Even after he explains his actions to her and they get something of a resolution to the argument, Celty punches him into a wall before she lets herself forgive him.
  • Wife Husbandry: Shinra's really hoping a gender-reversed example with Celty.

Shinra: Shizuo, Celty here is my roommate. Or should I say future wi-AAIIGH!

Shinra (Lowenthal): How are you even able to stand?

Shizuo (Crispin Freeman): Because you're Yuri Lowenthal.

Fangirls: Squee


Shizuo Heiwajima

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono (JP), Crispin Freeman (EN)

"I hate violence... I'm not lying."

The most fearsome man in Ikebukuro and rage in human form. Shizuo has a hair trigger temper and a tendency to react to anything that sets him off with uncontrollable violence, which is only made worse by the fact that he also has Super Strength. Expect to see flying vending machines. Word of God states that Shizuo is the strongest character in the entire Durarara!! series.

When he's not raging uncontrollably he's... actually, he's a pretty normal - if quiet and socially inexperienced - young man who only wishes to be able to keep control of himself so he can stop hurting everyone around him. Except for Izaya. He will hurt Izaya if he can.

Affiliated with the Dollars.

  • Adorkable: When not in rage mode. Too bad it doesn't happen too often.
  • Adult Child
  • Always Wanted to Say That: Not the slightest bit threatened by Seiji's You Shall Not Pass behavior, nevertheless decided to roll with it. "Leave him to me and go on ahead! Heh heh."
  • Ambiguous Disorder
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV
  • Ax Crazy: You do not want to piss off Shizuo. Simon even describes him as being violence incarnate during a narration.
  • Badass: The biggest one in the series. The anime episode which features him is even titled "Badass dude"
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: How did Tom get on Shizuo's good side? By showing him some basic human decency.
  • Berserk Button: Shizuo has about a million of them, but Izaya's continued existence rises above them all. Others include people making excuses, people being nosy in regards to his brother, and delusions of "true love" (it's not that Shizuo is so cynical, it's that it was one guy thinking an escort girl loved him and Seiji seriously believing his Puppy Love was going to stay afloat).
  • The Berserker
  • Beyond the Impossible: First of all he's super strong in a show that (some elements aside) is pretty realistic. More impossible, he's broken so many bones its amazing he can even walk. His buddy Shinra, a doctor, stopped trying to figure out how he does it.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Develops this for Akane in the novels. He also gets very protective Celty in the anime, even wanting to beat the crap out of the Slasher on her behalf.
  • Biggus Dickus: In most of Shizaya fanfiction. Also Narita's Bacon Lettuce April Fool strongly implies this.
  • Blessed with Suck: Turns out that Super Strength isn't all that fun to grow up with, especially when you don't start off with the relative invulnerability that's assumed to go with it.
  • Bishounen: The scout who ended up scouting his little brother Kasuka originally wanted to scout Shizuo.
  • Bow Ties Are Cool
  • Broken Ace: On the surface, he's a legendary badass who could probably kick the ass of everyone in Ikebukuro if he wanted to. However, in truth, he actually hates his own reputation for badassery, is disturbed by his predilection for ultraviolence, is depressed by the problems that haunt him because of the first two items aforementioned, and his fondest wish for his life reeks of I Just Want to Be Normal.
  • Brown Eyes
  • Bruiser with a Soft Center
  • Bullying a Dragon: People at Shizuo's high school were not very smart...
    • Well, they were more or less being manipulated into doing so by Izaya...
  • Came Back Strong: Though he doesn't have to die for it to activate, this is basically his power.

Shizuo: I come back stronger every time. Shinra says...you know what? Screw what he says! I COME BACK STRONGER EVERY TIME!

  • Character Tics: Shizuo usually snaps a small, thin object (like a pencil or cigarette) in half, drops it on the ground, and crushes it underfoot when he's about to go into an Unstoppable Rage.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: No unconscious limiters + a lifetime of compulsively throwing heavy things at people = Super Strength
  • Clothing Damage: Shizuo can inflict the whole-body version with one punch.
  • Cool Shades
  • Curtains Match the Window: Before he dyed his hair to Hair of Gold.
    • Both fan and colored light novel illustrations like giving him Eyes of Gold, thus reasserting the trope.
  • Defector From Decadence: Quits being a Dollars member after several of them try to kidnap someone, being disgusted that the group would stoop so low (unbeknownst to him the entire event was orchestrated by none other than Izaya).
  • Delinquent Hair: Starting from middle school, he started dying his hair blond as a warning for others not to take him lightly.
  • Description Cut: "I hate violence... I'm not lying."
  • Destructive Savior: Starts leaning in this direction (as opposed to a mostly directionless Person of Mass Destruction) after encountering Saika.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: His first violent episode involved him picking up a fridge (at age 7) to try and flatten his brother with it because he ate his pudding cup; he admits in retrospect that he went overboard and isn't even sure how he was able to pick the fridge up in the first place.
  • Distinguishing Mark: Shizuo dyed his hair in middle school in order to invoke this. Tom suggested that other kids would be less likely to pick fights with him if they knew who to not piss off. It worked up until Izaya got involved.
  • Does Not Know His Own Strength: Shizuo once lightly tapped Shinra on the forehead for calling him stupid. It gave him a concussion.

Shinra: Shizuo, you realize a flick of your finger in my forehead does as much damage as a knee kick from any other person, don't you? Then try to be more careful, please? What, concussion? How long have I been unconscious?

  • The Dreaded: Shizuo terrifies about half of Ikebukuro's population simply with his mere presence. The other half typically fails to connect him with his reputation until it's too late (after which they join the first half).

Shizuo: You know, people can die from being gazed at. There has to be at least a 0.0000000000000675% chance.
Luckless thug: How many zeroes was that, you punk? Huh, Mr. Bartender? [[[Beat]]] B-Bartender? No way...!

Shizuo: That said, you can't really complain if you die from being beat up, can you?!

  • Dumb Muscle: Not outright stupid, but he's definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed.
  • Dynamic Entry: Flying vending machines are Shizuo's special way of saying hello.
  • Expecting Someone Taller: When reporter Shuji manages to secure an interview with the most terrifying man in Ikebukuro, he's a little shocked that Shizuo meets almost none of his physical expectations (except, perhaps ironically, in height) and insists that he hates violence. Then Shuji gets the brilliant idea of trying to provoke him into action and namedrops Izaya. His plan works entirely too well. In the anime this scene is altered somewhat with said reporter asking too many questions about Shizuo's brother, the end result is the same.

Shuji: I'm... flying...

  • Eyes of Gold: In the light novel and in fanworks.
  • Fan Nickname: The GARtender.
  • Fatal Flaw: His severe anger issues, which even he acknowledges.
  • Feel No Pain: Implied, given his response to grievous bodily harm.
  • Finger-Poke of Doom: After Shizuo starts learning to reign in his temper a little, he responds to mildly annoying people by lightly flicking or poking them in the forehead. To the victims, this feels like somebody smacked them in the face with a baseball bat.
    • Poor Masaomi gets a taste of one, here.
  • Foe Yay: Shizuo x Izaya. This fact is explicitly noted and lampshaded several times in the anime.
    • Mainly only by Erika, who appears to have her fangirl glasses on 24/7. The amount of Foe Yay they get, particularly in the novels, is rather minimal compared to other examples in this show.
    • Not necessarily. In the novel it is quite obvious that those two are unhealthily obsessed with each other. While Izaya is much more outspoken about their Foe Yay, Shizuo isn’t entirely devoid of it either. Some fragments of the novel are rather suggestive about it.

Shizuo's thoughts: Only one Orihara Izaya approached him - but often only with the intention of using him. Of course, Izaya was male, so it could never have anything to do with affection or love to begin with.

  • Freudian Excuse: Subverted. Shizuo notes that, his own rage issues aside, his home life and upbringing was positively idyllic. There was no abuse or trauma, his parents were caring, his little brother was probably one of the best you can have -- heck, he didn't even watch any violent TV... And yet it just makes his problems more troubling for him because it's convinced him that he only has himself to blame.
  • Friendless Background: Shizuo's social circle during his adolescence (excepting one year in junior high where Tom befriended him) was pretty much restricted to Shinra.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Pretty much anything can set Shizuo off. "Getting stabbed with pens" is an exception, oddly enough (though that's because he found the entire situation very amusing).
  • Healing Factor: Shinra has made an offhand comment in volume 4 that Shizuo heals almost unnaturally fast. Whether or not this is how he survived Horada shooting him is unknown.
  • Heroic RROD: Shizuo doesn't have the mental blocks that prevent you from ripping muscle off bone or breaking bones from overexertion, so he naturally grew up (successfully) recovering from catastrophic injury. At least he's gotten strong enough to not hurt himself so easily, and he's grown a preposterously high pain threshold.
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Shizuo's issues with anger and being unable to control himself have pretty much shot his self-esteem to hell. It's bad enough that when Saika declares its love for him, he responds mostly with confusion -- because he can't imagine why someone could love him.
  • Heroic Willpower: Saika and her children enter a victim's mind through their pain and fear. Thus, since Shizuo feels no pain and is afraid of nothing besides his own power, he's immune.
  • Hero Insurance: As it turns out, Shizuo has something akin to literal hero insurance: the company he works for pays for the property damage he causes and docks it from his pay in turn.
    • Also, the cops have apparently given up on arresting him.
  • Hero with an F In Good: Though if he could improve on this, he would be receptive to it.
  • Hey, You: Shizuo's generally very bad at using honorifics.
  • High-Pressure Emotion: Sort of. While his expression doesn't seem to change, he's too red to get away with a Luminescent Blush. Just compare it to the color of his hand.
  • Hollywood Healing: Just take a look at his childhood X-rays and marvel at the fact that this man can even walk.
  • Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Shizuo eventually develops a Big Brother Instinct/Intergenerational Friendship with a ten-year-old Yakuza Princess named Akane. Given that Shizuo already towers over most people, the size difference between the two is rather large.
  • Hypocrisy Nod: Shizuo hates violence. Yes, really. And loathes the fact that he has violent unstoppable rages.
  • I Am a Monster
  • I Am Not Pretty: Shizuo is rather unaware of his own attractiveness.

Tom: You'll find a cute girlfriend sooner or later. You've got a face like your top idol brother's after all.
Shizuo: Do I really?

  • I Can Still Fight/Implacable Man: Bullets, extensive surgery, and heavy sedatives will not prevent Shizuo from getting right back up and hunting your ass down

Shinra: You had two bullets in your body, and considerable muscle damage in your legs and abdomen... so why are you walking around like nothing's happened?
Shizuo: Why? 'Cause I can.

  • I Just Want to Be Normal: He'd rather not be super strong and violent.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Even though he's used everything including the kitchen sink as a weapon/projectile, Shizuo seems to have a preference for street signs and vending machines, depending on how far away Izaya the object of his ire is.
  • Improvised Weapon: Street signs, chairs, desks, a fridge, a flagpole, soccer goalposts, guardrails, mailboxes, trash cans, vending machines, playground slides, motorcycles, the side door from Togusa's van, a crash barrier, a freeway sign...
  • Incoming Ham: IIIIIII-ZAAAAAA-YAAAAA-KUUUUUUUN
  • Informed Loner: A mild example but Shizuo likes to complain about his supposed loneliness and even compares himself to Izaya in that matter. But in reality he has three friends that care about him (Celty, Tom and Shinra), is on good terms with his brother and possesses a number of acquaintances (Simon, Kadota and his gang and also Orihara twins). While his social life might not be particularly rich, a loner he is not.
  • Insane Troll Logic: Shizuo tends to get very irrational when he's angry (ie. insisting that beating the crap out of someone for looking at you funny is justifiable self defense because there's a 0.0000000000000000000675% chance that you can kill someone with a glare).
    • Ironically, most uninformed people in universe would accuse of him of using this given how he swears Izaya is behind everything. Even more ironically, he's absolutely correct.
  • I Was Just Passing Through: inverted; he literally was...

Shizuo: [stamps his foot on the ground, bellowing loudly at his phone] DAMMIT! THERE'S TOO MANY MESSAGES!!! IT WON'T STOP BEEPING AND IT'S PISSING ME OFF!! I CAN'T READ THEM FAST ENOUGH! [sees Horada leering at Anri, a nose bleed present on his face] RRRAAGHGHH [screenshot of Horada airborne]

  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Shizuo has a soft spot for Celty and his brother Kasuka. And pretty much anybody who isn't Izaya. Just don't piss him off.
  • Just a Flesh Wound: Silly Horada, bullets can't kill Shizuo.
  • Knight Templar Big Brother: Shizuo is nothing if not enthusiastic in protecting his little brother. And it's generally a good idea for strangers NOT to ask him about his younger brother...
  • Lazy Bum: Kind of. His official character profile lists his only hobby as "basking in the sun", he tells Celty that she "works too hard and needs to relax more", and in his "Special Voice" on the character CD he tells her that his favorite types of days are ones where there's "just nothing to do".
  • Limited Wardrobe: Justified -- he literally does have a closet full of bartender suits. They were a gift from his brother.
  • Madness Mantra/Survival Mantra: "Kill'em kill'em kill'em kill'em..." This is actually an active attempt on Shizuo's part to not go into an Unstoppable Rage. In his words:

Shizuo: You know something, Celty? There's power in words. So what I'm doing now is holding myself back with words so I don't start destroying just about everything.

  • Major Injury Underreaction - Not phased at all at a ballpoint pen piercing straight through the palm of his hand. "Hmm... if I pull it out, it'll bleed. Should I get a bandage? Or maybe superglue?"
    • Shizuo was shot twice, one bullet in his leg and one in his stomach, during a scuffle with some Yellow Scarves. He completely failed to realize he was shot at all until he started slipping in his own blood. Before noticing the blood, he thought he was on the ground because he tripped on something. His response? "... Ah, I was shot."
  • Meaningful Name: Double subverted. The meaning of his name ("Quiet man, peaceful island") is just about as far from fitting as one can get. It's also exactly what he wants to be.
  • Memento MacGuffin: Shizuo's bartender suits were a present from his brother, which is why he continues to wear them despite being fired from the aforementioned job quite awhile ago. Damaging them, just like everything else, is one of his Berserk Buttons.
  • Muscles Are Meaningless: It's been noted that Shizuo's pretty skinny for a guy known to uproot vending machines and overturn cars on a regular basis. His muscle is probably just denser than granite.
    • Keep in mind: most people, including the musclebound, are limited to using only a third of their true strength (and if they do; it can injure them severely). Shizuo lacks this limit.
  • My Greatest Failure: Seriously injuring the very woman he was attempting to save. The novels note that this was not even close to an isolated incident.
  • My Name Is Not Shizu-chan
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Just about any of his fights that don't involve Izaya or Simon.
  • Noodle Incident: Shizuo's has a number of these with Izaya, ranging from an off-hand comment about being framed by him to something called the "Real Flesh In The Art Room" incident.
  • No Social Skills: A lot of Shizuo's general rudeness (such as forgoing honorifics, not remembering people's names, etc.) isn't because he's a jerk, but because he's never really talked to people enough to learn basic social etiquette

Shizuo: How many are here? ...let's just go with a lot. Yeah...this should be enough. With this, I finally think I can go all-out.

  • OOC Is Serious Business: After getting out of jail, he completely ignores Izaya's presence so that he can keep Vorona from fighting him.
  • Le Parkour: Shizuo teaches it to himself to chase Izaya.
  • Punched Across the Room: Shizuo punches a thug so hard the thug's clothes fly off.
  • Perpetual Frowner: Shizuo is almost never seen without his trademark scowl.
  • Perpetual Poverty: Thanks to the arrangement mentioned above in Hero Insurance, Shizuo doesn't usually get a lot of extra funds. He doesn't really mind though - in fact, he's surprised he still gets paid at all.
  • Precocious Crush: Shizuo had his own Precocious Crush on a Yamato Nadeshiko-ish shopkeeper when he was around ten or so. Then he walked by her store one day, only to see a group of thugs assaulting her. She was seriously injured in his resulting violent episode, and Shizuo was too ashamed to see her ever again.
  • Red Baron: Ikebukuro's God of Destruction (occasionally with the added subtitle of "in a Bartender's Suit").
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red, to Izaya's blue.
  • Reluctant Warrior: Hair-Trigger Temper aside, Shizuo doesn't like fighting.
  • Required Secondary Powers: Subverted when it turned out that Shizuo didn't build up the requisite physical resistance needed to handle his Super Strength until around high school. Cue the montage of the many fractures he suffered from as a result.
  • Running Gag: IIIIIII-ZAAAAAA-YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
    • Also, his inability to remember who Anri is.

Anri: [sees Shizuo bleeding copiously] "Heiwajima-san... what happened to you?"
Shizuo: "Huh? Who're you again?"

  • Say My Name: See above.
  • Ship Tease: With Vorona.
    • And Narita's Bacon Lettuce April Fool.
  • Shooting Superman: As Seiji found out, blood aside.
    • The fact that Seiji managed to damage him at all is pretty impressive. Vorona couldn't penetrate his chest more than half a centimeter with a ballistic knife, and Shinra's destroyed some of his best scalpels operating on him. According to Narita, the pens Seiji used are advertised to hold up against a tank.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: With Kasuka.
  • Slasher Smile: Shizuo is fond of sporting one of these right before he's about to hurt someone.
  • Smoking Is Cool: And considering how his power works, it might make him stronger.
  • Spanner in the Works: To Izaya. Just how much of one becomes apparent in volumes 5 and 6: Most of Izaya's trolling and screwing over of Shizuo is an effort to keep him out of his real plans. One of these backfires spectacularly when Shizuo demonstrates just a smidgen more self-restraint than he did in a similar past setup and sets of a chain of events that brings Awakusu-kai down on Izaya's head.
  • Super Strength: You can tell Shizuo is out and about by the flying vending machines.
  • Super Toughness: Technically, you can injure Shizuo -- You'll just find it damn near impossible to make a wound any deeper than half a centimeter, and he probably won't feel a thing.
  • Sweet Tooth
  • Too Dumb to Fool: Shizuo is far too simple to be manipulated by Izaya. This is the very reason why Izaya detests Shizuo so much.

Izaya: One second he's dumb as an ox and the next he's sharp as a whip...that's why I hate him so much.

  • Trademark Favorite Food: Shizuo apparently really likes milk, as Tom found out when he once agreed to buy him dinner.
  • Tranquil Fury: After finding out that Izaya told a little girl that Shizuo was going to kill her family.

Shizuo: Don't worry, Izaya and I are friends. What he told you is a misunderstanding. In fact, I'm going to sort out this misunderstanding right now. (To Tom) If I get convicted for murder tomorrow, tell everyone that I quit yesterday.

Shinra: I'm sorry, Celty, but it may turn out that I have to die before you. Here. Now.

    • Keep in mind -- this is the angriest Shizuo has ever been. This is right after Izaya told a little girl that Shizuo was going to kill her family. He's giving this face because he doesn't want to frighten the little girl.
  • Unskilled but Strong
  • Unstoppable Rage
  • Waistcoat of Style: Comes with the job of being a(n ex-)bartender.
  • Why Do You Keep Changing Jobs?: Shizuo's spent much of his post-high school life in and out of jobs thanks to his temper. He finally caught a break when Tom (who already knew how to deal with Shizuo for the most part) offered him a job as his bodyguard/debt collector.
  • World's Strongest Man: Canon and Word of God contained in Narita Saikyou Q&A confirms that Shizuo Heiwajima is the strongest character in his home series, and in the top five in The Verse. The other four being Claire Stanfield and Ronnie rivaling him, then comes abominations above their league such as Hawking from Vamp! who essentially is a black hole fond of leaping through the universe, and the strongest is No.37564 "Mob Combatant" the Mook who went From Nobody to Nightmare, who tops all of them, for the simple reason Narita made No.37564's whole basis for a character in Hariyama-san, Center of the World is him being exactly the strongest man in the history of time, not much else going for him.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Previous romantic developments have gone horribly, horribly wrong for just about everyone involved thanks to his temper (see Heartbroken Badass and Precocious Crush). As a result, Shizuo is generally disgusted enough at the thought of violence against women that it's actually quite difficult to provoke him into it.
  • Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Shizuo has it deeply ingrained into his head that Children Are Innocent. Thus when a small child does something like try to murder him with a heavily modified taser, the event simply doesn't register.
  • You Will Be Spared: Found Seiji attacking him amusing enough that he let him off lightly... by headbutting him (though this was after he threw him into the side of a truck).

Shizuo: I like you a lot more than Izaya, which is why I'm going to let you off the hook with just this.


Kyohei Kadota

Voiced by: Yuuichi Nakamura (JP), Steve Blum (EN)

"If you guys do decide that we're your enemy... if you want a fight, you'll get one."

Leader of a pretty small-time gang consisting of himself, Erika, Walker, and Saburo. Also works as a tile layer.

Formerly affiliated with the defunct Blue Squares, now affiliated with the Dollars.

Kadota: "When you wake up, tell the boss that I quit!" [punches mook in the face]


Erika Karisawa and Walker Yumasaki

Erika is voiced by: Ayahi Takagaki (JP), Mela Lee (EN)
Walker is voiced by: Yuuki Kaji (JP), Brian Beacock (EN)

Erika: "A great man once said that the world is a myth. I think he said it, anyway. Even if he didn't, I'm sure someone else said something similar."
Walker: "A great man once said that the world is symbolic. I think he said it, anyway. Even if he didn't, I'm sure someone else said something similar."

A pair of hardcore otakus who hang around with Kyohei and Saburo. There is more to them than meets the eye.

Both affiliates of the Dollars, by proxy of Kadota.

  • Beware the Nice Ones/Tranquil Fury: Don't make Walker angry. You may get yourself stabbed in the hand with a pair of chopsticks.
    • Or set on fire.
  • Bishonen: Walker when he opens his eyes.
  • But Not Too Foreign: It's regularly implied in the Light Novels that Walker is biracial, probably with American or European ancestry.
  • Cloudcuckoolanders: They both launch into a rather extensive conversation in episode 20 where they characterize Chief Chef of Russian Sushi as a character in a cooking manga, and invent a backstory involving him serving with the Red Army and fighting the The Mafiya. Which, of course, is distressingly on the mark.
  • Crack Pairing: Not one themselves, but they're certainly not adverse to shipping them in-universe.

Erika: Which one is better -- Fans/Trolls or Trolls/Fans?
Walker: Are we assuming that's yaoi or yuri? That's important. Very important!

Walker: I'd glare at you, but they're closed!

  • Eye Scream: They were going to brand the eyeballs of one of the thugs they caught that work for Yagiri pharmacy.
  • Gratuitous English: Walker's name, though the books regularly imply that he's probably biracial.
  • Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Both Walker and Erika have very few qualms about doing anything with their characteristic cheerful nonchalance. They've just figured that being nice is more fun and less trouble.
  • Hypocritical Humor: Walker may rag on Erika for her excessive Yaoi Fangirl tendencies (particularly her tendency to write her friends into elaborate slash fantasies) but, slash aside, he's just as bad (he once wrote a Kadota/Erika BDSM fic).

Walker: Wait, Karisawa-san, please stop! Why are you fantasizing about Kadota-san and me in a Boys Love relationship!? I've said over and over that people like Karisawa-san are the reason the society has a negative impression of otaku culture in general! I say Kadota-san and I should become heroes in Galgames who win over the hearts of loads and loads of heroines! Actually, we can even do without Kadota-san! I'll be happy as long as I have this bondaged right hand blessed with the power of ancient moe-moe peoples so that every girl who sees my right hand would go 'Woo ~'...

"The hot fluid flowed into the depths of his throat. While its distinctive smell lingered on Izaya's olfactory nerves, Shizuo's sordid desire was provoked further..."

Erika: Speaking of which, seems like Dotachin and that Chikage guy are nurturing some kind of friendship after fighting each other!

Kadota: Stop talking in that way, it makes people twitch when you do.

Erika: Then I'll just say it! From my point of view, it was totally a "Thanks for the yaoibait, it was delicious" kind of moment!

  • Undying Loyalty: To Kadota, and both have made it clear they would do anything he asked without question.
  • Unholy Matrimony: Crazy as hell, but the happiest couple in the series so far.
  • Torture Technician: They enjoy torturing people for information using methods from manga and novels. Case in point: that guy they wanted to interrogate at the end of episode 6, they were going to brand his eyeballs with solder, and can be seen explaining/acting out how the "procedure" will go right in front of him in graphic detail.
  • Yaoi Fangirl: Erika, and she ships Shizuo/Izaya and Walker/Kadota.


Saika

"I love you. I love you. I love you."

A cursed katana with a consciousness that is driven by its desire to love as many humans as possible. Unfortunately, the only way it can show its love for them is through cutting them. Its current wielder is Anri Sonohara.

  1. ↑ which covers up to volume 3
  2. ↑ A tesseract is a four-dimensional hypercube, formed by placing two cubes in the same three dimensional coordinates and connecting corresponding vertices in the fourth dimension to form a four-dimensional polytope with eight cubic cells and 16 vertices.
  3. ↑ It's what a PDA is designed for - "Personal Data Assistant." The notepad function does see more use than anything else, but it isn't the only part that's ever used.
  4. ↑ She would count as a Type B Tsundere, for those curious
  5. ↑ not very well, but that's probably more to do with the seiyuu than the character. However, his Russian is near perfect in the English dub.
  6. ↑ And Izaya, but most people hate Izaya.
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