Izaya Orihara

Izaya Orihara (折原 臨也, Orihara Izaya) is a powerful and skilled underground informant. He usually gives information for his own enjoyment, and claims to love the entire human race except for Shizuo Heiwaijima. Izaya likes to start wars with him, just like in Episode 25, and then let him chase him around. At the end of the episode, Shizuo falls for the same trick as he did in Raira, and gets hit by a truck.

Characteristics
Izaya has the appearance and expression of one who is extremely crafty and confident, an appearance which he lives up to. Like his younger twin sisters, he enjoys causing trouble; he claims to love humanity, and greatly enjoys putting people in miserable or chaotic situations in order to observe their reactions. He also has a thorough understanding of human behavior and tendencies and is able to determine people's thoughts and predict their reactions with high accuracy. Izaya is cunning and charming, but he is not very interested in women and women are not interested in him.

He has a very jolly (although this it can also be seen as mocking) personality, speaking informally with most people as if they are close friends and often using nicknames (such as "Shizu-chan" for Shizuo and "Dotachin" for Kadota Kyohei), and he even talks like a girl on occassion, especially online where he actually does pretend to be female.

He likes to play twisted versions of chess (usually using a combination of Chess, Othello, and Shogi pieces) with himself in his room, often using the chessboard as a representation of the battles in Ikebukuro, giving him the fitting appearance of one who watches over the world and controls their actions. The rules he plays by are also beyond normal people, which seems to be a metaphor for the way he lives his life. He does not take his chess games to be a serious representation of the world however, as he usually prefers to observe people acting as they see fit instead of controlling them, and he even once set fire to his chess set in his excitement.

Although Izaya enjoys conflict, often showing up wherever there is potential for one, he usually stays out of it, preferring to observe the fight instead of directly taking part in it. However, when provoked, he quickly puts his opponent in his place, simply proving his superiority without actually beating the other person. Therefore he is usually seen as the one starting fights, but hiding in the shadows instead of directly taking part. He uses a flickblade and is skilled in parkour.

Izaya is also known to be one of the strongest men in Ikebukuro, although the title of strongest man belongs to Shizuo Heiwajima. When Mikado Ryuugamine first came to Ikebukuro, Izaya was one of the people Kida Masaomi warned him to stay away from, simply describing Izaya as "dangerous."

Background
He attended Raira Academy with Shizuo, Shinra and Kadota. He shares a passionate dislike with Shizuo, and the two apparently tried to kill each other the moment they met. Shizuo tries to kill him every time they meet on the street, meaning Izaya often finds random vending machines, trash cans, and other large objects flying straight at him. Shizuo finds him untrustworthy, saying whenever there is trouble, "99% of the time you're (Izaya) behind it." Izaya often remarks about how "the best thing that could happen for me is if Shizu-chan were to drop dead." In the past, Izaya has often framed Shizuo for crimes he didn't commit, causing him no end of trouble. He is a master of parkour, and also quite skilled with his flickblade (the blade he uses must be slightly opened before the mechanics of it springs the blade open - a switchblade will open on its own after the user presses a switch) as he is implied to be the only one capable of leaving numerous cuts in Shizuo's bartender suit after a fight in the novels. In the anime, he shaves a gang member's head bald without him noticing it. He has two twin sisters who are troublemakers. The older one is Orihara Kururi, a shy girl who always wears gymnastic suit. The youngest is Orihara Mairu, a talkative girl who wears glasses. In the novel, Izaya confessed to Namie that he himself couldn't handle his sisters, and his sisters' characters were because of his influences; since Izaya said that he came from a perfectly normal family.

It is revealed in episode 12 that Celty Sturluson's head is actually in Izaya's possession, and not on Harima Mika's body. It turns out that the head is Izaya's main motivation for starting the gang wars; he wanted to "awaken" the sleeping Dullahan's head by throwing the world around her into turmoil. He believes that she is a Valkyrie, a norse angel of death who choose the warriors who will die in battle in order to take them to the warrior heaven of Valhalla. In awakening Celty's head, Izaya hopes to himself be taken to Valhalla. He is also a member of the Dollars. Although Mikado Ryuugamine is the leader of the gang, Izaya is the one who anonymously recruited most of their members, sending out invitations saying the Dollars have no rules except that you have to say you are one of them.

Izaya is usually seen talking about the latest rumours of gangs, urban myths, and otherwise stirring up trouble in online chatrooms while at the same time pretending to be a girl. His screennames "Kanra" and "Nakura".

It is revealed at the end of episode 24 that Izaya and Anri are to be enemies for he clearly sates, "That humans are mine. And I don't like to share," after Anri tries to cut him with Saika and make him one of her 'children.' He is then cornered by Simon and punched in the left eye, after he leaves Anri. And, ironically, they start talking about love right after Izaya crashed into the giant 'Love' sculpture. It ends in Simon telling him a story and then leaving him there.

Shizuo Heiwajima
Main Article: Shizuo Heiwajima

Shizuo told to be nothing but "violence itself" from Simon, though he still believes him to be a good guy. He went to Raira Academy with Izaya, Shinra and Kadota. According to Shinra, Izaya and Shizuo hated each other with a passion almost from the point they met, which was during their high school years at Raira Academy. They met via Shinra, and Shizuo felt a strong surge of resentment towards Izaya (for no logical reason), and he aimed a punch at him. Izaya returns the favor with slashing his shirt with his knife, and a murderous relationship began.

Shinra Kishitani
Main Article: Shinra Kishitani

Shinra has gone to the same school with Izaya and has been his friend since then. He finds Izaya and Shizuo's fights amusing. In volume 09 of the light novels, It goes a bit deeper into their relationship. When Izaya first met Shinra, he felt an extreme sense of jealousy at how detached Shinra is from the world. Shinra was able to view humans on a different plain as if he was above them which is what Izaya wanted but was (at the time) unable to accomplish. After the incident where Shinra got stabbed, Izaya still felt a bitter jealousy towards Shinra but he also still considered him a friend. In fact, to Izaya, Shinra is the only person he actually considers a friend by normal standards and not just another "human."

Mikado Ryuugamine
Main Article: Mikado Ryuugamine

Izaya and Mikado met on the internet. However, Mikado does not know who 'Kanra' is in real life at first. Mikado met Izaya face to face on Mikado's second day in Ikebukuro. Izaya knows that Mikado is the leader of the Dollars, but promises not the sell the information to anyone, although he doesn't keep this promise and tells Kida Masaomi. In the manga Izaya tells Mikado that it wasn't a coincidence that he met him - he was looking for him.

Mairu & Kururi Orihara
Main Article: Kururi Orihara, Mairu Orihara

Kururi and Mairu are Izaya's younger twin sisters. They grew up in the same house as Izaya, where all three siblings are said to have had "fairly normal parents." Izaya believes that their eccentricities are because of his influence on them, but does not appear to like them. Izaya states that aside from Shizuo, they are the only humans that he doesn't know how to deal with, which may explain why he's annoyed by them. While Mairu and Kururi are inseparable, and act as if they are one human, they rarely are shown interacting with Izaya, and in fact, seem to not care about him as their older sibling. Izaya is annoyed by the twins, but hasn't shown any hostility towards them. Mairu and Kururi's feelings on Izaya are not as clear, although they have said that they wouldn't mind him being thrown in the garbage to meet their idol.

Anime
Anime specific spoilers about this character per episode.


 * Episode 01: He is stated as "dangerous" by Kida when Mikado first came to Ikebukuro.


 * Episode 02: He planned a kidnapping and a rescue plan because he wanted to see the reaction he would get from the victim.


 * Episode 12: It is revealed that Izaya is the one who sends the invitation after Mikado decides to stop leaking the password and also the one who keeps Celty's head.


 * Episode 24: Izaya gets punched by Simon and then told off.


 * Episode 25: Izaya announces to Shizuo that he's leaving Ikebukuro.

Manga
Manga specific spoilers about this character per volume/chapter.


 * Volume 01:



Light Novel
Light Novel specific spoilers about this character per volume/chapter.


 * Volume 01: For the most part, Izaya's role in volumes 1-3 are the same as in the anime.


 * Volume 04 : Izaya takes a back seat to the events that happen in volume 04. The only prominent appearance he makes is telling Namie about his Sisters. He also tells the others in the chatroom about a 10 million yen reward that was put out for Celty by Yadogiri Jinnai. By the end of the novel, Izaya is upset by the fact that so much happened without him getting involved. As if to add insult to injury, Shinra and Celty invited almost the entire main cast over to their apartment for a hotpot party (including his Sisters and Shizuo) but neglected to invite him. He asks Namie if she wanted to have a hotpot party with him but she only brushes him off.


 * Volume 05 & 06 : Making a comeback from volume 04, Izaya is one of the main driving forces behind the events of volumes 5 and 6. He first manipulates Akane Awakusu into attacking Shizuo knowing full well that Akane would mention his name. When Shizuo storms off to Izaya's office, Izaya simply leaves a crudely written note that he switched to a different building. Shizuo rushes off to Izaya's new "office" only to find several dead bodies strewn across the floor. The room is revealed to be one of the many offices of the Awakusu and one of it's members sees Shizuo standing over the bodies of his colleagues. This prompts the Awakusu to hunt Shizuo down mercilessly while Izaya watched the fireworks. To his surprise, Shizuo doesn't fight back when the Awakusu confront him and simply runs away. Izaya expected Shizuo to fight back in full force and is a little annoyed at how Shizuo was able to anticipate that a violent reaction would only make him look even more guilty than he already was.

Izaya also sends Kida Masaomi and Saki Mikajima to look up information on Yadogiri Jinnai. While Kida is out of the city (and away from the chatroom) he hacks into Kida's account and impersonates him on the chatroom to manipulate Mikado similar to how he manipulated Kida during the yellow scarves incident.

After Akane is saved and the attacks on Dollars have stopped, Izaya suspects that the Awakusu will probably start looking for him if Akane tells them his name. He leaves Ikebukuro for a while to follow another lead on Yadogiri but gets a phone call from a private number. His caller passively aggressively taunts him, calling Izaya a horrible information broker due to how obvious it is to spot him in a crowd. Just as Izaya realized that the voice is coming from behind him and not just his phone, he feels a knife being thrust deep into his chest by none other than Yadogiri Jinnai himself. Yadogiri states that this is punishment for interfering with his plans. He also states that Izaya should learn his place saying that while he is a god in Ikebukuro and Shinjuku, he is little more than an ant on the grand scale of things. Yadogiri leaves Izaya bleeding on the sidewalk as he walks away. Izaya tries to call Namie but passes out before he can reach his phone.


 * Volume 07: Throughout volume 07, Izaya is recovering in his hospital bed. He pesters Shinra by calling him due to boredom but gets brushed off each time. As the days go by, he goes into a state of disillusionment and begins to wonder who will come to finish him off. He suspects either Shizuo or the Awakusu to come busting in to strangle him but instead finds a girl who he doesn't recognize. The girl with a knife in her hand states that Izaya tricked her into "dying" with him several months ago (much like how he did with Rio Kamichika) but left her unconscious in a park somewhere. She wanted to see what a man like him was like when faced with death and found him after she saw a report about his stabbing on the news. Izaya is initially perplexed but is soon starts laughing hysterically. Izaya, finally recovered from his state of disillusionment, thanks the girl repeatedly for "exceeding his expectations." He is amazed at how someone so insignificant would harbor such an intense hatred of him that it would last for over a year and prompt her to look for him. His love for humans revitalized, Izaya disappears from the hospital room along with the girl to proceed to his next plan.


 * Volume 08: Izaya isn't really seen much in volume 08 other than near the end. In his apartment, he holds a gathering of several individuals who have a grudge against the dollars or someone in the dollars (many of them were former dollars members themselves). These people include:

Namie Yagiri (for obvious reasons)

Izumii Ran: the former leader of the blue squares. He states that he is only there to kill Kyohei and his gang along with Aoba and Izaya himself. However, he states that he'll work with Izaya for now to get to the others on his list.

Sharaku Mikage: An acquaintance of Izaya's from highschool. She was one of several girls who worshipped him (such as Saki) but her exact feelings towards him now are uncertain. However, Izaya said she probably hates him because of a matter he involved her in high school after which she was forced to quit studies. She is also the martial arts teacher for Izaya's sisters, Mairu and Kururi.

Haruna Niekawa: She wants revenge on Anri as well as the location of Takashi Nasujima. Izaya has promised her both.

Adabashi Kisuke: A stalker of Ruri Hijiribe who was formerly working under Yadogiri Jinnai. He wants to get payback from Mikado for lighting him on fire and also want to kill anyone close to Ruri.

Slon: Vorona's former partner. He isn't there by choice but was ordered to keep tabs on Izaya for the Awakusu.

Dragon Zombie: A semi-large gang that have remained under the radar until recently. They operate as body guards for Izaya in case Yadogiri decides he wants to finish Izaya off. They're basically henchmen.


 * Volume 09: Volume 9 deals mostly with Izaya's past and how he came to be what he is along with his history with Shinra. At the start of the novel, Izaya is tasked by the Awakusu to gather information on two groups. The first group is "Amphisbaena" which is running some kind of illegal gambling parlor in Awakusu's territory. The second is an unnamed group which is distributing a dangerous drug called "Heaven's Slave" also in Awakusu's territory. Izaya accepts the job and meets with Celty to ask her for a favor. Izaya asks the courier to protect his sisters for the next couple of days. He also gives Celty a laptop which she is supposed to keep safe until tomorrow. Celty is visibly shocked at how Izaya is actually showing concern for his family but quickly accepts. Izaya continues his job but is quickly captured by "Amphisbaena." For most of the novel, Izaya is repeatedly grilled for information about himself as well as who hired him to go investigating them by a woman who calls herself "Earthworm." Throughout the interrogation, Izaya has several flashbacks to when he and Shinra were in middle school as well as the incident which ended with him stabbing Shinra.

Izaya and Shinra first met in middle school where, with Shinra's constant prodding, they started a biology club together. After summer break, there was supposed to be a school festival showing what the clubs were capable of. Shinra left Izaya in charge of the presentation. Instead, Izaya along with an aquantance of his named Nakura started a small gambling ring where people would bet on the outcome of baseball games (kind of like how people bet on horse races). Shinra found out and attempted to put a stop to it but Izaya kept ignoring him. One day, Nakura, who lost a lot of money on the gambling, came into the club room with a knife, threatening Izaya to give the money he lost back. Izaya denies Nakura which prompts him to rush at Izaya with the knife. Shinra jumps between them at the last minute and gets stabbed by Nakura in the process. Nakura runs out in a panic while Izaya bandages Shinra's wound with Duct tape and calls an ambulance. Before he makes the call, Izaya asks Shinra to tell everyone that he was the one who stabbed him. Shinra agrees but questions why. Izaya simply replies that in return, he'll make Nakura suffer for as long as he can. He takes the heat for the stabbing and uses that to blackmail Nakura into working for him. This is also where Izaya got Nakura as his screen name.

Back in the present, Earthworm is interrupted by the arrival of Izaya's other target, the leader of the group that was selling "Heaven's Slave." The man identifies himself as Shijima and states that he's there to kill Izaya once and for all. When questioned about how he found them, he stated that he and his men stolen a laptop from the headless rider that contained Izaya's research into Amphisbaena and the whereabouts to this gambling parlor. Both of them are interrupted by a phone call to earthworm. The man on the other end of the phone claims to be the real Izaya which throws Earthworm and Shijima into a state of confusion. The "Izaya" on the phone implies that the man tied up on the chair is not Izaya but really the boss of "Amphisbaena." Earthworm hastily removes the bag to reveal...Izaya, smiling maniacally. Before Shijima and Earthworm can say anything, the door to the parlor is busted down and the room is invaded by several individuals in leather jackets. Izaya shakes the ropes loose and joins the Dragon Zombie members standing next to the door. Afterwards, Izumii with a cell phone in his hand and Sharaku Mikage enter the room as well. Shijima orders his men to attack but they are all easily dispatched by Mikage's fists. Earthworm also orders her subordinates to attack but they simply do nothing but stand there and stare with glowing red eyes.

Earthworm attempts to kill Izaya with two broken bottles but Izumii easily incapacitates her. Afterwards, Izaya persuades Shijima to join forces with him. In return for providing the dollars information network, Shijima would provide financial backing as well. Outside the gambling parlor, Izaya meets up with Haruna Niekawa and compliments her on getting control of Earthworm's subordinates. He then orders her to take control of Earthworm as well promising to let her see Mr. Nasujima if she does.

Izaya separates from the rest of the group to head back home on his own. He reflects on Celty's comment about his showing concern for his family but quickly disregards it. He knew Celty would get suspicious about the laptop so he asked her to keep an eye on his sisters as a way to keep Celty busy. He also reflects on his relationship towards Shinra remarking that Shinra may be the only person Izaya actually considers a friend and not just another one of his "humans". He also realizes that, due to his plans to involve Celty in an all out war, Shinra might end up cutting all ties to Izaya completely. At the prospect of losing the only person Izaya calls a friend, Izaya begins to laugh hysterically only to suddenly stop and punch a nearby lamp post, bruising his hand in the process. Before he can elaborate more on his feelings, Izaya's sisters spot him and call out to him. Izaya puts on his usual smile as his sisters thank him for asking Celty to protect them. Izaya simply shrugs as the three of them walk back to his apartment.

Trivia

 * His name comes from a combination of the biblical Isaiah and Japanese for "the one who looks over the crowd".
 * Although at the beginning he looks normal, later in the end of the anime it is revealed that he is the true antagonist.
 * He can speak Russian with Simon, usually proverbs, but mostly fluently, along with English. However Japanese is his first language.
 * He is an informant who seems to primarily work for the Yakuza
 * He prefers foods that taste bitter, and dislikes sweets
 * His trademarks are solely based on his gray trimmed faux-furred black waist length jacket/hoodie, his all black yet elegant attire, his twin silver rings, his flickblade, and his signature smirk.
 * Though one would think that under his job he'd be interested in the hobbies and pleasures of the criminal underworld, Izaya shows little interest in drinking, or partaking in vulgar events, and instead, gains as much of a high and joy from watching his "toys" act solely based on his predictions.
 * Essentially, Izaya is a sociopath. This is evident in the way he behaves, and see's 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.
 * Though in the Novel, and Manga, Izaya states that he is Atheist, in the Anime, and further beliefs in his 'goals' outcome, suggest that he is along the lines of Agnostic, speaking of wanting a warriors death to go to Valhalla, once he starts a war in Ikebukuro, and Celty's head wakes.
 * 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 Trollizaya, or Izaya Trollihara.
 * 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 crowd, as in, dyeing his hair, or blending in with the cultures odd fashion.
 * He lives out his daily life to his job, sometimes working endlessly. But he dedicates most of his free time to his board game, with a variety of traditional Japanese game pieces, each representing a different person and group, predicting the moves of those he observes. The board and the pieces represents the game in which he plays with society, and he, controlling their movements, represents the hand of their 'God'.
 * Izaya has a knack of loving humanity, but as stated in the novel, he has no interest in loving an individual, thus, making him rather confusing and odd, being another evident piece of his sociopathic mentality. In the novel, he briefly narrates in the beginning of a chapter, stating that he loves humanity, but that if an individual were to love him, he would not be able to return their concentrated love, but would much rather love the individuals enemies and rivals, in an sense of dawning interest. But finishes with a short and subtle plea representing suicide (not his of course), and that he wishes for them to stay and not stop loving him, because he can't bare losing the only person who returns his love. But again, not romantically, since, Izaya is rather despised, and, as its been showed in the series, he is alone.
 * 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.
 * Shizuo Heiwajima is the only person Izaya hates.
 * Izaya is not an only child, having younger twin sisters, who he states, are unpredictable, and more dangerous than Shizuo. The pair are briefly shown in episode 25 that aired February 2011. But are mostly known from the novel.
 * Izaya's hair style is similar to that of Mikado's.
 * In the anime, Izaya always wear his trademark jacket, whereas in the manga, sometimes he wears a long trench jacket, although rarely, as seen as in Chapter 8. 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.
 * His jacket in anime is different from the one in the manga.
 * Although he is not as physically strong as Shizuo he is quite a bit faster which proves a challenge as Shizuo can rarely lay a hit on him. This may tie in with what some characters have hinted at, Shizuo doesn't possess incredible fighting skills, he is just physically superior.
 * Although Izaya seems to play the part of an antagonist around the series' halfway point he doesn't seem to really care about it. When his plans are foiled he doesn't show the smallest ounce of care, it is possible that his antagonist-like stance was just a part of his usual cruel attitude.
 * Izaya's seiyuu, Hiroshi Kamiya, also did the voice acting of Hiroomi Souma from the anime Working!!, mostly known for his ability to find people's secrets and makes them to do his job by threathening them using the secret, similar to Izaya's ability to gather informations and his ability to make people do as he planned, respectively. Also, Hiroomi likes to observe people ever since he was a kid, similar to how Izaya really likes human observation.

Voice Actors

 * Japanese: Hiroshi Kamiya
 * English: Johnny Yong Bosch