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I love humans!
~ Izaya Orihara

Izaya Orihara is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Kasane Kujiragi) of the light novel and anime series Durarara!!.

He is an infamous information broker who claims to love humanity and greatly enjoys messing with the lives of the people in Ikebukuro. He is also the archenemy of Shizuo Heiwajima.

He was voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya in Japanese and Johnny Yong Bosch in English.

Biography[]

Manga Izaya

Izaya in the manga.

An information broker and a twisted man who screws with others for his own enjoyment. Lacking powers, Izaya makes up for it with his mind, as he can accurately predict the actions others will make. Izaya has made enemies with almost every character on the show, but sits back and does all his evil from the shadows. His deeds range from trolling the show's heroes online, to refusing to answer Masaomi Kida's calls after tricking Masaomi's girlfriend into getting kidnapped, and even convinced a teenage girl to try to kill herself (which she attempted, but failed because Celty rescued her and the girl lived and moved on). In the manga and light novels, Izaya finds two women online looking to commit suicide and invites them to kill themselves with him. However, he reveals he has no intention of dying and mocks them for their views on death before drugging them and having Celty Sturluson drop them on park benches. Izaya's rival is Shizuo Heiwajima a man with superhuman strength. Shizuo may be strong, but Izaya's mind equals Shizuo's brute strength.

As a child, Izaya was highly uninterested in people. This allegedly worried his parents over how he would develop. Apparently his father wanted him to love all humans, though if this had anything to do with Izaya's infatuation is unknown. Up until middle school he was a model student who won many awards and got good grades. However, he went through life in a withdrawn state and despite being on good terms with his peers spent most of his time alone in the library. He preferred to be 'neither too close nor too far' from everyone around him and simply liked observing people from a distance.

Things changed after Izaya became acquainted with Shinra. The latter invited him to start a biology club in order to appease Celty but was immediately rejected. However, it soon became apparent that Izaya had developed a certain curiosity with Shinra. He went around asking about him and soon came to the conclusion that the two were exact opposites, sparking his interest. People did not matter at all to Shinra, who was entirely indifferent to them, which appeared to be a sort of ideal for Izaya. After this, Izaya finally agreed to start the club. However, both were only using it for a front. Shinra merely wanted to make Celty happy and Izaya used it to start a baseball gambling ring which Shinra objected to. Soon after, Nakura, a fellow student, threatened Izaya with a knife, demanding his money back after placing a bet. He was denied and when he went in to stab Izaya, Shinra jumped in front and took the hit. To Shinra's surprise, Izaya asked if he could say that he was the attacker and then spend his life tormenting Nakura. Shinra told him 'yes' and he was then arrested and had the incident placed on his permanent record. This was what began Izaya's manipulative nature.

Both boys went to Raijin for high school, along with Shizuo. Being his only friends, Shinra decided to introduce Izaya to Shizuo, with literally disastrous results. Only a few seconds after meeting, the former provoked the latter into throwing a punch at him, decimating the bleachers Izaya was sitting on. However, he was able to dodge and used his knife to slash Shizuoka across the chest, thereby starting their intense mutual hatred. Raijin was in chaos during Izaya and Shizuo's attendance, even being forced to change the name to Raira afterwards. Needless to say, Izaya was responsible for tons of damage, including tricking the upperclassmen into being beaten by Shizuo during 'Bloody White Day'. He was also involved in an incident that forced Mikage- then one of his followers- into dropping out of school.

Izaya supposedly attended university and either studied psychology or anthropology according to the series' author. He was fairly quiet for a time while he began dealing with the Awakusu and starting his info broker business. He also moved to Shinjuku.

He amassed a great deal of 'followers' many of whom were young women and girls with bad home lives or abusive lovers. Izaya stated that the women had developed a sort of worship for their abusers that he merely shifted onto himself. He also explained that if he were to tell them to die, even if they had doubts in the end his followers would comply. One of said followers was Saki Mikajima, a girl whom he told to fall in love with Masaomi Kida, the leader of the Yellow Scarves. He also did the same with a girl named Nozomi Kotonami with Masaomi's friend, Koji Yatabe.

Saki repeatedly told Masaomi to go to Izaya when he was faced with a problem, and despite Izaya always being able to solve it with ease, Masaomi remained wary. However, when the Blue Squares began to pose a serious threat and started a gang war, Masaomi was forced to rely on the info broker. Izaya proved reliable and the Yellow Scarves gained the upper hand until Masaomi suddenly received a call from Ran Izumii, the leader of the Blue Squares, telling him he had kidnapped Saki. Desperate, Masaomi called Izaya for help, only to be ignored. In reality, Izaya had arranged for the entire kidnapping, giving Saki instructions up until her capture. Masaomi went after Saki, but was too afraid to save her. Luckily, Kyohei, Erika, Walker and Saburo intervened and saved Saki. Afterwards, the Blue Squared fell apart due to Saki's testimony allowing for Ran to be sent to juvie. Masaomi was guilt-ridden after being unable to protect Saki and was approached by Izaya, who mocked him. Masaomi ended up contacting Mikado and persuading him to come to Ikebukuro.

Unfortunately for Masaomi, Izaya had already had a hand in influencing Mikado. After the boy started the Dollars online, Izaya got a hold of the password and spread it until the gang became exceedingly large and began committing criminal acts.

Later, Izaya began meeting suicidal women online and inviting them to die with him, only for him to mock them and after drugging them, having Celty dump them on random park benches. One of these women, Manami Mamiya held a particular grudge against him for this.

As Kanra, he was the admin of the chatroom used by Setton (Celty) and TarouTanaka (Mikado). This may have been how he found out about Mikado moving to Ikebukuro, though it is unclear. He ended up mentioning the name 'Dotachin' online prompting confusion from Mikado. He decided to approach Mikado when the boy attempted (unsuccessfully) to save Anri Sonohara from several bullies. Izaya smashed the cellphone of one of the girls before quickly shaving the head of her boyfriend, causing them to run off. He then acquainted himself with Mikado before suddenly being attacked by Shizuo. Fortunately for him, Shizuo was then himself attacked by several delinquents and Izaya ran off during the ensuing chaos. He mentions in secret that he had been watching Mikado for quite some time.

In the anime, Namie approaches Izaya for information on Seiji and Mika's whereabouts, and Izaya mocks her before finding it out. He discovers Seiji is currently with the police.

He finds Mikado being rescued from bullies by Celty, who she kicks down. Izaya enters by gleefully jumping on them and scaring away the last bully. Both he and Celty decide to follow Mikado home, though while walking, Izaya makes motorcycle noises for no particular reason. They follow the boy to his house and Mikado tells them to wait outside while he speaks to the girl he's been housing. However, after noticing Mikado had been gone too long as well as a suspicious cleaning van, Izaya and Celty go in to find Mikado being attacked by Yagiri Pharmaceuticals' thugs, and the girl long gone. Mikado decides to do something and decides to reveal he is the leader of the Dollars, to Izaya's delight. Mikado also asks Izaya for Namie's phone number. Izaya is later seen at the Dollars meeting, excited over the turnout. As it ends, he tells Mikado that someone like him isn't meant for those activities and Mikado would need to constantly evolve in order to stay interested. He makes his exit after Shizuo finds him. Izaya then outs himself as Kanra by calling Mikado Tarou Tanaka.

He's later seen in his apartment with Namie, in the light novels it being their first meeting. He provides Namie with the job of being his secretary and taunts her for letting her selfish and twisted love get the better of her. However, in exchange for protection, Namie was forced to hand over Celty's head. Izaya takes it and begins talking about his fear of death, and theorizes that dullahans are actually Nordic valkyries fallen to earth. He tells Namie he wants to use the head to avoid his own, inevitable end.

He is interviewed by Shuuji Niekawa, however, as he didn't want to speak about Shizuo, Izaya referred him to Celty. Shizuo came to his apartment, accusing Izaya of being behind the slasher attacks, which Izaya denied. Izaya expressed annoyance at Shizuo's ability to reason when Celty came to get him. He revealed to Namie he had baited Takashi with money in an attempt to blackmail Haruna, as well as sent Takashi to Anri's apartment. He was unable to use Haruna due to Anri's intervention which he did not expect.

During the Yellow Scarves arc, Izaya had Namie send the Awakusu a message telling them that their last missing gun had not been found. He also comes home to discover Shingen holding Namie at gunpoint and trying to steal information from Izaya. However, the informant calmly asks him what he's doing with a toy gun, humiliating Namie for being fooled. Shingen asks him for information and Izaya takes away the files. Shingen then demands Celty's head, to which Izaya simply says no. Shingen reveals he had bugged Izaya's and that he knows about Izaya's plan to start a gang war using Celty's head. Izaya later talks to Masaomi and manipulates him into believing he is using Anri as redo for his failure to save Saki and tells him Mikado is the leader of the Dollars. He also shuffles information back and forth through the different groups to cause chaos. He has Higa hand over the last gun which Horada had had. Higa asks him if the point of that was to get Shizuo shot, which Izaya confirms. Anri appears and Higa's eyes turn red due to being a Saika child. Anri dismisses him and tells Izaya she will cut him. Izaya taunts her, saying she is foolish to have Saika love people for her and chastises her for 'leading Masaomi and Mikado on'. Anri tries several times to cut him, but fails. Izaya the tells her he reloaded the gun and is prepared to shoot people just to mess with her before running off. Saika expresses disgust at a human being for the first time ever. Izaya is found by Simon, who punches him and calls him out on his actions. Izaya returns home with a black eye and realizes with glee Namie was the one who told Horada about Mikado, and invites Masaomi onto the chatroom.

Izaya tells Celty to stay away from his office due to the bounty on her head. He talks to Namie about his sisters and remarks that he feels bad for anyone who tries to bully them and later discovers, much to his annoyance, Mahiru and Kururi were invited onto the chat room. He tells everyone about the bounty on the Black Rider. He is greatly upset when he has to rely on Shinichi Tsukumoya for info on the events surrounding Hollywood. He is also excluded from the cast's hotpot party.

Out of sheer pettiness for being left out of the Hollywood incident, he finds Akane Awakusu online and takes advantage of her naivety and conflicted feelings to coerce her into running away. He has Namie pose as Nakura and Nakura pose as himself to meet with Akane and tell her Shizuo Heiwajima was going to kill her family. He has Nakura also supply her with a modified stun gun and sends her after Shizuo. When Shizuo finds out Izaya was behind it, he goes to Izaya's office and discovers a note saying he has changed locations and follows the instructions only to be lead to an Awakusu office strewn with corpses. He is immediately suspected and sent on the run. Izaya, However is unhappy that Shizuo realizes being violent would only add to the suspicion.

He sends Masaomi and Saki to get info on Yodogiri, and while Masaomi is away, hacks his account to manipulate Mikado.

Izaya leaves the city for a while on his birthday in order to evade the Awakusu whom he believes may come after him. He checks out the ruins of Ruri's old home. He pursues Yodogiri until suddenly receives a threatening phone call with the caller telling Izaya he has screwed with his plans and mocks him further. Suddenly, Izaya hears the voice next to him and is stabbed in the middle of street. He falls unconscious before he is able to contact Namie for help.

He wakes up in the hospital and learns that the incident was reported on the news, including details such as his name, age and place of recovery. Namie sees the news but thinks nothing of it. He spends the rest of the day fantasizing about people killing Shizuo and wondering who will come to kill him while he's in the hospital. He is interrogated by the police, though lies to them about what he knows. Izaya suspects they have found his knife and decides he will sneak out later. Bored and disillusioned, he calls Shinra, however his friend is on a date with Celty and brushes him off. Angered, Izaya loudly spouts highly suspicious information within earshot of the police, prompting them to call Shinra. Izaya once again calls Shinra to annoy him and is responded to with hostility. That night, he stays up and watches as someone comes into his room. To his dismay, it is a woman he does not remember. However, she reveals she is Manami Mamiya, a girl who had been involved with his fake suicide invites. She had been waiting for a year to kill him. She attacks him with a knife, but Izaya overpowers her and pins her to the floor ranting excitedly. He then gets up and proceeds to continue his rant, shouting and raving about human behavior and finally remembering his drive. Izaya afterwards escapes the hospital.

Izaya creates a second account for himself on the chat room under the handle Chrome. He talks to himself with his two accounts, causing Namie to make fun of him for being so lonely. He denies this and introduces his alliance, which he refers to as his 'friends'- Haruna Niekawa, Ran Izumii, Mikage Sharaku, Kine, Manami Mamiya, Sloan and Dragon Zombie. His first act is invite them to have hotpot with him.

Izaya is hired by the Awakusu to get information on Amphisbaena, an illegal casino; and Heaven's Slave, a gang creating illegal drugs. Izaya gives Celty a laptop with the odd instructions to move it around every now and then. He himself is kidnapped by Amphisbaena's leader, Earthworm, who keeps his head in a bag and tries to force information out of him, revealing she has learned from another source Izaya's personal info. She also lets it slip she has a boss. However, despite her efforts, Izaya remains silent. Earthworm begins threatening those close to Izaya, including Mikage and his sisters, saying she will kidnap Mairu and Kururi and force them to drink water until they die. She drops lamp oil into the bag, and when Izaya has no response, wonder if lamp oil can knock someone unconscious.

Meanwhile, Shijima, the leader of the drug-dealing gang, Heaven's Slave, tells his group their boss, Mr. Kumoi, has ordered they make an alliance with Amphisbaena in order to grow in power. He reveals Kumoi has scarred him in order to intimidate him. Shijima sends his underlings to steal the laptop containing info on the location of Amphisbaena from Celty. They are successful and invade Earthworm's hideout. As the leaders speak, they suddenly get a phone call from a person using a voice-modifier, telling them he is Izaya. They taunt the leaders, and begin alluding to the idea that their captive is in fact, Amphisbaena's boss. They also reference the fact that Shijima does not have a boss and is only harming himself to keep his people in line. The caller then goes to state that both bosses have moles under their eyes, prompting panic from both leaders as the info gets more and more specific. Shijima, afraid of being found out, tries to stab the captive under the pretense of removing the bag. However, the captive, whose arms are somehow unbound, grabs the knife and cuts the bag off himself, revealing Izaya was indeed captured. Immediately after, his own group busts in. Earthworm tries to order her underlings to fight, but they seem to be in a trance and ignore her. She tries to kill Izaya, only for Ran, who had been the one on the phone, to subdue her instead. Izaya sits back and taunts Earthworm, saying he was the info broker she had gotten her information on Izaya from, he also insults her torture technique as she had never actually harmed him. After leaving, it is revealed Haruna had possessed the Amphisbaena members and she asks Izaya to take her to Takashi before attacking him with her knife and failing. Izaya tells her as long as she helps him, he will.

Izaya calls Nakura, who he had started Amphisbaena with in high school as a larger version of their baseball gambling ring in middle school. He and Nakura had also started a legal experimental drug club in university which later became Heaven's Slave long after the two had left. Izaya tells him the Awakusu were about to be after him, and says he prevented it, forever keeping Nakura under his thumb. He then goes to see Celty, who he had hired to get the laptop stolen and protect his sisters. After she leaves, he opens the bag he had had her head in to see if it had changed, though found there was none. He also speaks to Namie, who tells him he is being cruel. Izaya then says he had only had Celty go after his sisters to prevent her from meeting Haruna. As he goes to meet his sisters, Izaya thinks about how if her head had awakened, he would have been betraying Shinra, who would probably hate him for taking Celty away. This drives Izaya to punch a telephone pole in a sudden burst of emotion, though returns to his usual, cheery demeanor by the time his sisters arrive. The twins express happiness at having the Black Rider save them. Later, he is hired by Akabayashi to gain intel on Mikado.

Vorona attacks Izaya after recognizing him as one of Shizuo's enemies. She is stopped by Sloan who remarks she has gone soft before leaving. Vorona agrees Izaya is a flea.

Izaya's Kanra account is hacked by Kasane Kujiragi who repeatedly ends her sentences with 'meow'. Later, Izaya figures out that Yodogiri is not a real person and has been merely played by many different men after his passing, with Kujiragi acting as his secretary and pulling all the strings. Izaya calls her and has her men killed off one by one in order to harm her. Unfortunately, she demonstrates she is a Saika wielder with her own sword by having a possessed Sloan capture Izaya. She expresses gratitude that Izaya has given her back her freedom.

Izaya rescued by Kine and Mikage, and Kine forces him to go to the hospital after they wait at one of Kujiragi's hideouts in vain. Izaya goes to get a CT scan to check for brain damage and to his relief there is none. He decides to see Kyohei and finds Anri and Erika. He taunts Anri with the fact that he is plotting to manipulate Masaomi and Mikado, nearly causing her to lose control and cut him. He also reaffirms her belief that she is no longer human before Erika intervenes, threatening to solder our his eyeballs. Izaya leaves and later gets a call from Mikado, causing Izaya to become elated at his unpredictable behavior he also tells Mikado he had given away his information to Akabayashi. Mikado deduces Izaya wants to do the same to the Dollars that he did to the Yellow Scarves and invites Izaya to join him. Izaya declines and Mikado asks him if he had seen the news, mentioning Izaya May find it interesting. Annoyed, Izaya checks it and discovers Manami had convinced Haruna to hand over the head and then threw into the street. Izaya laughs at the events unfolding.

Izaya finally enacts a plan to destroy Shizuo after spending much of the night waiting around and playing with cards. He takes Mikage along with him to prevent interruptions. He goes to a building under construction and lures Shizuo up by dropping construction equipment onto him and Vorona. He calls Shizuo, only for the latter to answer with a simple goodbye. Shizuo continues up and beats the rest of the traps until reaching the top. He begins to suffocate due to oxygen deprivation as Izaya had tampered with the sprinkler system to flood the building with gas. Shizuo becomes almost unable to move and Izaya drops a match down from the scaffolding to cause an explosion. It works briefly, only for Celty who had newly been reunited with her head to stop the explosion. Shizuo punches his way through the floor to save himself and then grabs the scaffolding to throw Izaya off. As Izaya falls, Shizuo hits him with a metal beam into another building.

Izaya gets up, alive but badly injured and coughing up blood. Knowing Shizuo will come after him, he makes his escape, running down the street as Shizuo launches vending machines at him. He finally reaches a large crowd and proceeds to face Shizuo head-on. Chikage asks why Izaya is still fighting while he knows it's futile and Aoba explains that no matter what, Izaya wins as if he beats Shizuo; his enemy is dead, and if Shizuo kills him in front of everyone; he will be rejected as a monster. Izaya slashes at Shizuo with his knife and succeeds in dodging Shizuo's blows until the flashes from the flash bang grenades nearby distract him and he is forced to block Shizuo's fist, breaking both arms in the process. He then stands up, goading Shizuo to kill him. However, Vorona appears and stabs him with a ballistic knife before taking out a gun. She tells Shizuo to let her do the deed as she has killed before and is therefore a 'beast'. Izaya laughs as he succumbs to his wounds. Simon throws a flash bang grenade at them, allowing Izaya to get away in the confusion.

Izaya wakes up in a car being driven by Kine. Both his arms are in splints and he finds out he only survived thanks to Celty using her shadows to stop the bleeding and Manami taking him to the car. Kine tells him there's a low chance he'll live and that they're going to see an underground doctor. Izaya says it's fine as long as they aren't in the city, as he wants to be nowhere near Shizuo if he dies.

Around two years later, Izaya was hired by a man whose business partner and best friend had begun to kick him out of the company. He had Izaya dig up information on his friend, leading the man to kill his partner. However, immediately after, Izaya told him he had been pushed away due to his friend having illegal dealings he didn't want the man mixed up in, causing the murderer to kill himself out of shame. The wife of the murdered man went insane and kidnapped her child as well as the other man's child and nearly killed the other wife, sending her to an asylum and the other woman to the hospital. The children, Himari and Haruto, left parentless, were taken in by Izaya. However, aware of his machinations, Himari loathed Izaya while Haruto admired him. Around the same time, Izaya aided Daisuke Sozoro, an elderly man known for his combat prowess. Sozoro had been falsely imprisoned for ten years and his family was beginning to face trouble. Izaya proved his innocence, allowing Sozoro to help his family. Izaya then made a contract with him, as Sozoro went by a strict code of honor. The deal was that for ten years, he would act as Izaya's bodyguard. Though, Sozoro went along, despite repeatedly stating he would kill Izaya the moment the contract let up.

While Izaya was presumed dead following his final encounter with Shizuo, a hacker called Nec, who specialized in handling the accounts of the deceased, attempted to get into Izaya's computer system. She was intercepted by Shinichi Tsukumoya, who destroyed her computer and self-esteem. Not long after, Izaya approached her for her abilities and hired her.

Personality[]

Izaya, without a doubt, is an extremely crafty individual. He claims that he loves the whole human race because he finds them very interesting and unpredictable. He enjoys messing with them by manipulating situations in order to observe their reactions for his own pleasure. However, he dislikes Shizuo with a passion and enjoys playing with and has antagonized him since they met in high school.

His hatred of Shizuo stems from Izaya seeing him as something 'inhuman' or 'monstrous'. Shizuo is also immune to Izaya's mind games and often disrupts the latter's plots and is highly unpredictable. It is also stated in the anime that Izaya is envious that Shizuo is capable of forming relationships with others and Izaya is not.

He has a very jolly and mocking personality, and is sometimes childish. He can easily read body language very well and he can tell what others are thinking without asking.

Izaya is known to lie very often, though states that he will not lie to paying customers since that would disregard everything he stands for (despite blatantly lying to Shiki about Nakura's identity). He apparently also loves to abuse loopholes, since he told Mikado he would not sell his information to anyone, but gave it to Masaomi for free.

Even if his beloved humans treat him as dirt and with contempt, he claims he will still 'love' them. considers himself an Atheist. He does not believe in the existence of God nor in the afterlife (though he does hope it exists).

The only real friend he has ever had is Shinra. Izaya has been known to go to great lengths to get revenge on anyone who harms Shinra such as destroying Nakura's life for stabbing him, and it is implied he sent Izumii to capture Kisuke after the latter beat Shinra. A notable example in the light novels of Izaya's care for Shinra is that the former punches a lamppost in anger at the thought of Shinra hating him for being betrayed.

He has two sisters, Mairu and Kururi, who he practically raised himself, he claims unlike the rest of humanity he cannot understand them, though he does show some reluctant affection towards them. He is, in part responsible for their odd personalities.

Overall, Izaya is fairly aloof and cannot and will not make any real connections to people. Most of the cast will either disregard him as unreliable and unstable, or threaten him with violence. The number of people who genuinely like him can be counted on one hand.

One very important part of his personality, is that he does not directly control anyone. He is described as being emotionally fragile, and that if his heart were to be filled with human love or hate, it would shatter. As such, he can accept anything humanity does, and no matter what will look at a situation and smile as though he predicted the entire outcome. Shinra explains that Izaya isn't very assertive as a person and therefore doesn't like meddling with the entirety of people's lives. Izaya himself says he more gives people a 'push' and whatever happens is up to them. For those that do not know him, it can appear that he has total mastery of any situation. Kuon Kotonami attempted to recreate Izaya's 'control', but due to his dislike for humans, was unable to do so.

He greatly enjoys pushing people to their limits and watching what happens. He does not care if people become unstable due to his influence and appears to like it even more as he loves unpredictable behavior. When he was attacked by Manami, instead of being afraid, he became excited having not expected it. Izaya was elated after viewing how unhinged Mikado had become, so much so that he began yelling into his phone while having a conversation with Mikado. He is also known to visit and check up on those he has previously antagonized to see what they will do, as he did with Masaomi. Izaya does not appear to enjoy doing this to Shizuo, but not out of compassion. He messes with Shizuo out of spite and hatred without particularly caring for the response since he considers Shizuo a monster.

It has been stated by multiple characters that despite his awful deeds, Izaya is neither good nor evil and will either help or harm people on a whim.

In his spin-off, Izaya has grown slightly. He states that as he only watched from a distance what he did to humans, his love was 'impure'. He vows that, though he will continue to manipulate people, he will confront them face-to-face. He also implies that he does at least somewhat consider Shizuo a human.

Since his fight with Shizuo, he has admitted to having PTSD. This causes him to panic or freeze when faced with something that reminds him of Shizuo. Examples include, while having previously been indifferent to hearing about a man taller the Simon with super strength, he became very distressed upon learning the man could lift a vending machine, but calmed down after finding out said person couldn't throw it. He also suddenly froze when he saw Iroha Mayuzumi dressed in a bartender outfit and it took a few minutes for him to return to normal. It is implied that this is the reason he refuses to take therapy to walk again, as his injuries are mainly psychosomatic and he would be able to move as he used to, however walking or standing causes him 'pain'. He also crosses his legs while sitting which has also been stated to be painful. Izaya has not returned to Ikebukuro since he left, possibly out of fear.

Appearance[]

Izaya is a tall and lean built man. He is very charming in appearance. He has short, glossy black hair in a somewhat spiky style. He has auburn eyes- occasionally colored as red or brown- that are described as remarkably sharp. He wears a black, V-neck shirt with long sleeves and black pants and shoes. In the manga, his hair has long bangs that frame his face. He wears a short black jacket with thick brown fur trimming in the hood. Occasionally, he would wear an ankle length black jacket with buttons and brown, fur trimming in the hood, cuffs, and hem. He wears a silver colored ring on both index fingers.

In the anime, he's almost always seen wearing his favorite dark brown jacket that goes down to his hips with brown, fur trimming in the hood, cuffs and hem. He always wears plain rings around his index finger on both hands.

In the Izaya Orihara spin-off light novels, his appearances changes. He instead wears a dark cape with a furred hood, and a buckle he keeps undone and dons a light grey version of his shirt. He is currently restricted to using a wheelchair due to injuries sustained from his final fight with Shizuo.

Powers and Abilities[]

Young Izaya and Shizuo

Izaya vs Shizuo as teenagers.

Izaya is a master of parkour. Ever since he was younger, he battles with Shizuo in the streets every day, and over the years, his parkour skills were achieved naturally.

Izaya vs Shizuo

Izaya vs Shizuo as adults.

Izaya uses a switchblade as a weapon to defend himself from other blade attacks. He uses it as an offensive weapon to threaten his opponents or victims. He also uses numerous flickblades for long range attacks. He can swiftly and easily dodge objects that are thrown in his direction, especially objects such as trash cans, soda machines, and streetlights that Shizuo hurls at him during their battles.

List of Izaya's Minions[]

  • Namie Yagiri (former secretary)
  • Saki Mikajima (former follower)
  • Nozomi Kotonami (former follower)
  • Masaomi Kida (formerly)
  • Ran Izumii (formerly)
  • Kine
  • Manami Mamiya
  • Haruna Niekawa (formerly)
  • Higa (formerly)
  • Dragon Zombie (formerly)
  • Inari 'Nec' Hisae (hacker)
  • Daisuke Sozoro (bodyguard)
  • Haruto (ward)
  • Himari (ward)
  • Mikage Sharaku
  • Lisa (???)
  • Sloan (formerly)

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • His last name "Orihara" in Japanese may mean "ori" (fold) and "hara" (field) which translates "folding field" which can refer to the folding field knife, his signature weapon.
  • His name comes from a combination of the biblical Isaiah and Japanese for "the one who looks over the crowd".
  • Izaya shares his birthday with Daisuke Ono, who is the Japanese voice actor of Izaya's rival Shizuo Heiwajima. Coincidentally, Shizuo shares a birthday with Hiroshi Kamiya.
  • He can speak Russian fluently with Simon, usually proverbs, along with English.
  • He prefers foods that taste bitter, and dislikes sweets and conserved food. Although unshown yet, his fervor of humanity observation is stated to be reflected in attempt of analyzing people through their prefers and preparation of food.
  • His favourite food is fatty tuna.
  • He is a light sleeper.
  • Izaya is known to be one of the strongest men in Ikebukuro, although the title of strongest man belongs to Shizuo Heiwajima.
  • Izaya's nickname for Shizuo, "Shizu-Chan", wasn't actually made by Izaya himself. He heard about Shizuo from a girl who used to be in Shizuo's elementary school who referred to him as "Shizuo-Chan". Izaya initially suspected Shizuo to be a girl until someone explained who he was.
  • Izaya shows little interest in drinking or partaking in vulgar events.
  • He has a life insurance policy.
  • In the novel, from Mikado's perspective, it is stated that he found Izaya's appearance rather odd for a man of his age, regarding style. And that he seemed different from the rest, since Izaya didn't seem to find an interest in appealing to the culture's fashion.
  • It has been stated that Izaya views Namie as a housewife, not a friend and holds no romantic interest in her, calling her an awful person.
  • He is an atheist, stating that there is no proof that God exists. Regardless, due to following events and his plans, he takes a primarily agnostic view of afterlife later.
  • Izaya's hair style is similar to that of Mikado's.
  • In the anime, Izaya always wear his trademark jacket, whereas in the manga and novels, sometimes he wears a long trench jacket. In the anime's special episode 12.5, he wears a normal, casual t-shirt and jacket.
  • His eyes are stated as reddish-brown, however, sometimes in the anime, his eye color is just brown as seen as in episode 3. In some artwork, his eyes are coloured bright red.
  • In one of the Baccano! light novels, Boss Bride mentions exchanging information with "Orihara of Shinjuku" who is obviously Izaya.
  • Izaya is known as a troll, the series taking a strong hold of realism when it comes to societal behavior. Fans of the series comically call him Trollzaya. The Japanese fandom called him Uzaya, coming from "uzai", which means annoying.
  • In the Durarara!! fanbase, it is common to hear Izaya called a sociopath. This is evidenced in the way he behaves, with rare exceptions primarily refusing to establish sympathy in purpose to preventing prejudice and sees people, loving humanity only because he takes an obsessive interest on them, as if they were subjects to his game, only to end him of his boredom. He usually thinks along the line that he is their God, watching over them, and they are his playthings.
  • He has a habit of controlling his weight immediately after his daily bath.
  • His favorite fruits are red apples.
  • In one of the novel volumes, it is stated that Izaya is "ticklish".
  • He and Shizuo both have shared an undeniable hate for one another ever since their school years.
  • Izaya has stated in the novels that he does not hold an attraction for any individual, dubbing himself Asexual, which means that he doesn't hold an interest for a male or female. Though, it is hinted in the novel that he may or may not have had something with Mikage in high school.
  • In high school, Izaya created a video game with sole purpose of testing one's patience, which was enough to have Celty seething with rage after only a few minutes. This game is ho he met Shinichi Tsukumoya, who is the only person to have beet the game.
  • His reasons for moving to Shinjuku were that too may people knew him in Ikebukuro and since Shinjuku is Tokyo's financial district and mostly populated by older adults, he is not seen as a threat.
  • Izaya shares the same dub voice actor, Johnny Yong Bosch, with Tohru Adachi from Persona 4. Many of his lines and characteristics are similar as well.
    • Both have a tendency to act childishly.
    • Adachi refers to giving people a little 'push', which is also the same wording Izaya uses to describe his manipulation.
    • During the showdown with Adachi, he speaks at length about what 'humanity' wants. Izaya very often talks about humans in this manner.
    • Neither of the two really have motives to justify their immoral actions. When asked, their only reasoning was that their acts were for entertainment purposes.
    • Izaya prefers to watch events unfold from a distance after putting people in certain positions, Adachi similarly sets up Kubo and Namatame to commit murders and watches.
    • Both have relatively good relations with their respective series' protagonists.
    • As a detective, Adachi has access to much more info than the rest of the cast does. Izaya himself is an info broker.
    • Both are behind a good portion of the strife in their series, either directly or indirectly.
    • Izaya eventually relinquishes the roll of main antagonist to Kasane Kujiragi and Adachi is soon overshadowed by Izanami.
    • Izaya and Adachi both have symptoms of psychopathy or sociopathy.
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