Mikado Ryuugamine

Mikado Ryūgamine (竜ヶ峰帝人, Ryūgamine Mikado) is a childhood friend of Masaomi Kida and the primary male protagonist of the series. He is later revealed to be the creator of the Dollars.

Characteristics
Mikado is a polite, soft spoken boy, who at times can be quite childish and naive. This is likely a result of his small town upbringing; as he moves to Ikebukuro he is amazed and overwhelmed by the sheer size and energy of the city, and thus himself feels small and insignificant. He was bored of the average life he previously led, and moved to Tokyo in search of adventure. To he himself, he feels that his name (which translates as "Emperor of the Dragon Peak") sounds odd and childish, but it seems that some people think it is special or just okay, like Walker and Erika.

Despite his personality, he is shown to have a pretty strong will, and he does have moments where he speaks his mind, which is one of the reasons Masaomi admires him.

As he often acts like a child, Masaomi feels he has to stay around Mikado and help him out, since he would not be able to manage on his own. While Mikado envied Masaomi for his exciting life (for most of the series he is unaware of Masaomi's affiliation with the Yellow Scarves), Masaomi ironically envies Mikado's innocence and his ability to lead a quiet, happy life.

As the series progresses, Mikado gradually becomes more and more assertive, and becomes able to accept the chaos that life throws at him without trying to run away.

As shown in the light novels (and to a lesser extent, in the manga as well) Mikado has a much darker side to his personality. While he doesn't show it fully until the end of Volume 6, this darker half of Mikado was hinted at in various events throughout the light novels. The first example being the confrontation with Namie where Mikado voices his utter disgust with Namie in his mind while still keeping his timid personality on the outside. He also states that, no matter what the situation or who is involved, Whatever action or decision MIkado makes must also benefit himself in some way (in other words, self preservation and self satisfaction trump all). This, by extension, means that almost every aspect about Mikado's life wether it be friends, family, or even the Dollars, are merely tools he uses to keep his life more interesting.

While in this Mindset, Mikado is much more ruthless and manipulative than he appears to be and is very capable at using intimidation to reach his goals. While it may initially seem like Mikado has a split personality, it is theorized by Aoba that the colder version of Mikado is his real personality while his timid side is the fake one.

Background
Mikado grew up in the small town of Saitama, and led an unexciting life that he grew bored with. People often commented that his name sounds like that of a manga character, and he wished that his life was more like a manga, with more unusual and exciting events. When he met his childhood friend, Masaomi Kida online, Masaomi would always tell him stories about the excitement of his life in the big city. Eventually, when Masaomi decided he would be going to Raira Academy in Ikebukuro and invited Mikado to go with him, Mikado happily accepted, hoping to find a more exciting life.



It is also known that he created the online group the Dollars as a middle schooler. He created the group with some of his friends as a joke, but shortly after they created the group, the group began to grow at an alarming rate, with people joining whom none of the creators had sent invitations to. This was the work of Izaya Orihara. The creators, unaware of this, were afraid of the group which was spiralling out of control, and all of the creators except Mikado left the group, leaving him as the only remaining creator and the sole leader.

Mikado then became class representive along with Anri Sonohara. He also learned about Mika Harima, Sonohara's missing friend.



Mikado regularly joined a chatroom with the handle "Taro Tanaka," where he chatted with "Kanra" and "Setton," who in real life were Izaya Orihara and Celty Sturluson, respectively. It was mostly from Kanra that he learned about the gangs and incidents in Ikebukuro, including about rumours of human experiments carried out by Yagiri pharmacy.

After meeting Mika personally and seeing the scars on her neck, he confirmed Anri's previous suspicion that Harima Mika's disappearance had something to do with the human experimentation rumours. After he was attacked by people who worked for Yagiri pharmacy, he revealed that he was the leader of the Dollars, calling a Dollars meeting and using their numbers to confront Yagiri Namie, the director of the pharmacy.

When the Yellow Scarves started hitting members of the Dollars on suspicion that they were in league with the Slasher, instead of fighting back Mikado decided to try and disband the Dollars in order to keep people from getting hurt. However, the Dollars, particularly Kyohei Kadota's group, showed him that the Dollars were more than just the online group he started as a joke a long time ago, adding that as they were already invisible, they could not "disappear" even if their leader asked them to. He eventually decided that it was okay for the Dollars to exist, and brought the group back.

Anime
Anime specific spoilers about this character per episode.

Episode 01: Mikado narrates this episode. He is in the Tokyo subway, where he meets Masaomi, who shows him around Ikebukuro. He meets Erika, Walker, Kyohei, Saburo, and Simon, then watches Shizuo throw a vending machine through the sky. Masaomi warns Mikado that there are worse things here than color gangs, and to stay away from Shizuo Heiwajima, Izaya Orihara, and the Dollars. Masaomi tells him he is very lucky to have seen so much in only his first day, then takes him to see an urban legend, the headless rider. Mikado remarks that in that moment, he knew everything was going to change.

Episode 02: He begins school at Raira Academy.

Episode 03: Mikado and Anri volunteer to be the Class Representatives. After class, he talks to Anri, but their conversation is interrupted when Anri sees a teacher coming toward them. Masaomi tells Mikado that those two are cute together, and then the friends leave school so Masaomi can try to pick up girls. He overhears girls talking about the Dollars and asks Kyohei's gang about them. They warn Mikado to stay away from the Dollars.

Mikado watches Anri being bullied, and Izaya pushes him in the way of the bullies. Masaomi then introduces Mikado and Izaya. A trash can hits Izaya, and Mikado looks on in wonder as the fight between Izaya, Shizuo, and the gangsters unfolds. When Simon arrives, Mikado grabs Anri's hand and the two run to a park.

Episode 05: Masaomi attacks him. Later Mikado finds Masaomi in a alley with the yellow scarves.

Epsiode 06: He, and Masaomi lie to Simon.

Episode 08: Mikado lost his tie, wallet and English textbook. Then he helps Anri find her shoes.

Episode 09: He and Mika run from Celty.

Episode 10: Although not directly, Mikado revealed to Izaya and Celty that he's the leader and creator of Dollars.

Episode 11: Through a flashback story, Mikado is revealed to be the Dollars' founder and leader.

Episode 12: Seiji tries killing Mikado.

Episode 12.5: He attends "A Summer festival" with Masaomi and Anri.

Episode 13: He is worried about Celty.

Episode 14: He thought Anri was sliced by the Slasher but she was not.

Episode 17: He meets Anri in the hostibul.

Episode 18: He is shown at school.

Episode 19: He walks with Anri.

Episode 20: He talks to Ryo. Then the next day Masaomi tells Mikado the Ryo was attacked by the Yellow scarves.

Episode 21: He talks to Kyohei.

Episode 22: Mikado shuts down the Dollars.

Episode 23: He comes in the Yellow Scarves meeting saving Masaomi from being shot in the head.

Episode 24: Mikado carries Masaomi out of the hideout. In the nd of the episode he brings back the Dollars.

Episode 25: Mikado and Anri go to the movies, and was called the Best couple in Ikeurbuto.

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

Volume 01: He moves to Ikebukuro.

Volume 02: He meets Anri, and becomes the Class Rep with her. Later he saw Shizuo and Izaya fighting. He was almost crushed by a pole, but Simon caught it. In the end of thje volume he runs away with the girl with a scar on her neck.

Volume 03: He pinned down by Yagiri Pharma worker then Izaya and celty scare them off. Later he meets with Namie.

Volume 04: He holds the dollars meeting.

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

Volume 01:

Volume 04: Mikado is watching the news just in time to see Celty being chased by Kinnosuke Kuzuhara on screen. He is slightly worried but knows that Celty should be able to handle it. He logs on to the chatroom and Kanra posts a link to a website. When Mikado clicks on it, he sees a wanted poster for Celty with a 10 million yen reward for her capture, the ones who put up the reward being Yadogiri Shinning Corporation. Mikado briefly wonders if he should mobilize the Dollars to help but decides that they probably wouldn't be able to do much in this situation and may actually even draw more attention to Celty than the wanted ad already did.

The next day, after the opening ceremony for the new year, Mikado and Anri are approached by a new student named Aoba Kuronuma. The two of them are quickly overwhelmed by Aoba's hyperactive personality and they are persuaded (forced) into giving Aoba a tour of Ikebukuro since he was new to the area. Mikado and Anri then meet up with Erika and Walker for advice on showing someone around since neither Mikado or Anri are very talkative. Erika and Walker agree and even offer to accompany them while they show Aoba around.

The next day, shortly after the trio gets together, Mikado is suddenly threatened by a small group of former yellow scarves members out for revenge. Before things get too serious, however, Kyohei and the gang ride in and pull Mikado, Anri, and Aoba into the van. Mikado notices the Orihara twins also in the van but has not time to question it as Togusa begins speeding away on the road. Mikado looks out the window and sees several members of a biker gang called Toromaru riding after them. Kyohei apologizes for dragging them into this. Several hours into the chase, Celty pulls in along side the van along with even more Toromaru members, explaining that they were after the ten million yen reward. After recieving some unexpected assisstance from Kinnosuke Kuzuhara, the group continue to get chased by Toromaru until they come to an overpass. Celty tells the others to run away while she holds the gang at bay. Kyohei and Togusa drop everyone off several blocks away before the two of them drive back to help Celty. Mikado and the others run back despite being told to get the police but find Igor and Ruri Hijiribe beating up the Toromaru members while Celty, Kyohei, and Togusa watch in awe. A few days later, after things have finally quieted down, Mikado and several others take part in the hotpot party being held at Celty and Shinra's apartment.

Volume 05: In the chatroom, Mikado is pulled into private chat with Kida. Mikado asks Kida what the problem was. Kida tells Mikado not to go out during golden week as well as to make sure no one finds out his connection to the Dollars or that he's even a member at all. Kida goes on to say that Dollars is in danger but isn't sure what the reason is. Mikado is confused but agrees to lay low, trusting Kida's judgement (in reality, this was Izaya trying to manipulate Mikado by posing as Masaomi).

The next day, after a student counsel meeting, Mikado and Anri are approached by Aoba who wanted to go on another tour of Ikebukuro since their last one was interrupted by Toromaru. Mikado, remembering Kida's warning, tries to turn Aoba down so that he could look up info on what was endangering the Dollars. Mikado states that he can't go with Aoba, saying he had some urgent business. Upon hearing this, Aoba began to (not so) subtly flirt with Anri about accompanying him. Anri is oblivious to Aoba's advances but Mikado panics and says that he will show him around but can't go at night, saying it gets too crowded during golden week. Aoba and Anri agree to meet the next day.

Later, at his apartment Mikado starts asking on the chatroom about anything that might have happened to the Dollars. Kururi and Mairu point him to another website which contains a news report. Mikado learns that several members of Toromaru were attacked in Saitama and beaten severely to the point where many of the were sent to the hospital. Along with several burned and destroyed motorbikes, Mikado notices the word DOLLARS spray-painted over Toromaru's logo on a wall in the background of a picture.

Mikado as the founder, feels responsible for the incident and wonders what he should do. Mikado then gets a call from Izaya. Having no one else to turn to at the moment, Mikado talks to Izaya for advice on the matter. Izaya mentions the captain of Toromaru, Rokujo Chikage, is in town looking for revenge and suggests that Mikado simply quits the Dollars but Mikado denies that option almost immediately. Izaya takes this as a sign that Mikado is more attached to Dollars than he initially expected and deduces that Mikado is worried that the Dollars are getting out of control. Izaya also states that even though Mikado wants to solve the issue, he is actually excited about the whole situation. Mikado doesn't entirely deny this and Izaya ends the conversation by offering his help should Mikado need it, hinting at ulterior motives in the process.

Mikado tries to think of a plan to resolve the incident but keeps drawing a blank. The feeling of excitement begins to swell up in Mikado at the recent turn of events but he pushes it out of his mind. Someone then knocks on Mikado's door and it is soon revealed to be Aoba. Before Mikado can ask what is happening, he notices several thuggish looking individuals wearing blue standing behind Aoba. Wearing the same cheerful yet eerie smile, Aoba tells Mikado to come with him.

Mikado, Aoba, and the rest of the delinquents arrived at an abandoned factory warehouse. Aoba asks Mikado if he was looking into the incident in Saitama. Mikado confirms that he was but is shocked when Aoba casually admits that "We did it." the thugs who accompanyed them began to chuckle when Aoba gave his confession. Aoba states that it was revenge for chasing everyone halfway across the city several months ago. He also goes on to say that although they attacked Toromaru in the name of the Dollars, Aoba and his group also go by the name Blue Squares. As Mikado abosrbed this information, his cell phone, along with everyone else, began to ring with a message that Rokujo Chikage was attacking Kyohei and his gang.

Ignoring the message, Aoba offers the role of leadership over to Mikado. Mikado is perplexed at the offer and suspects an ulterior motive. Aoba explains that he wouldn't be the leader of the Dollars but specifically of the Blue Squares who would act as a special unit that only answered to him. Mikado tries to turn him down, saying he wouldn't get involved in something like that. Aoba then asks why Mikado is smiling if he didn't want what was offered.



Volume 06: picking up where Volume 05 left off, Mikado tries to deny Aoba's statement but can't get over a strange sense of joy that emanated from the bottom of his heart. Mikado then realized that Aoba was correct but he didn't know why he smiled in the first place. As several thoughts swirl around in Mikado's head, Aoba draws attention to the countless messages left by other Dollars members. Mikado tries to stall for time but Aoba brings up the meeting with Anri they had set up the day before. Aoba makes subtle threats towards Anri which causes a sudden surge of "black emotions" to well up in Mikado which he pushes to the back of his mind. The two are interrupted by Celty's ringtone echoing through the warehouse. Having been spotted, Celty explains that she was watching to make sure nothing bad happened and told the others to continue as though she weren't there. Before Mikado or Aoba can question her further, several Toromaru members also rush in, recognizing Aoba and his gang as the ones who attacked them. Aoba calls Mikado "Captain" which causes the Toromaru members to turn their attention towards him. Celty takes Mikado onto the back of her motorbike while Aoba and the Blue Squares hold off Toromaru.

Celty explains the situation to Mikado as they meet up with Anri and Akane who are surrounded by members of the Awakusu. Before the can speak, even more Toromaru members arrive demanding they hand over "The Kid" (Mikado). The Awakusu take it as a threat against Akane and begin to fight the Toromaru members, telling Celty to take Akane to a safe place. Celty transforms her motorbike to a horse and carriage to accommodate the larger passenger count and the four of them ride away to a parking lot halfway across town.

Mikado takes a moment to sort out all that's happened and realizes that Aoba's goal is probably to take control of Dollars and use him as a figure head. As Mikado thinks of a solution, he gets another disturbing text message on his phone. "Nakura" posts a picture of one of Rokujo Chikage's girlfriends, Non, eating with Rio Kamichika and several others. He goes on to suggest that the Dollars kidnap them to try and threaten Toromaru into calling off their attacks on Dollars. Without Thinking, Mikado rushes off to the cafe where they were seen with Anri and Vorona chasing after him.

Mikado arrives just as Non, Rio, and their friends are about to be kidnapped. He tells the others to stop as a fellow member of the Dollars but gets insulted and kicked as a result. The men shove the girls into the back of the van and drive off, leaving a few of their friends (including Hiroshi), behind to finish Mikado off. As they beat down on him, Mikado doesn't feel fear but another surge of "black emotions" that he felt earlier as he falls unconscious. When Mikado comes to, he sees Anri dispatching the rogue Dollars members with Saika. Mikado is ashamed at his helplessness as Anri helps him up. Mikado gets another message, saying that the kidnappers are on their way to stop Kyohei and Chikage at Raira Academy. Mikado and Anri head off while Vorona tails them silently.

At Raira, they can see Kyohei and Chikage fighting off in the distance and the kidnappers and the girls approaching slowly in their van. As mikado turns around, he sees Vorona appear out of nowhere and attack Anri. Anri tells Mikado to run but is stunned by Vorona's flash bomb. Mikado is left on the ground while Anri and Vorona run off to continue their fight. Mikado is frustrated at being glossed over like that as he waits for his vision to return. When it does, he sees Shizuo standing over him with Vorona's motorbike on his shoulder. Shizuo looks Mikado in the eyes and declares that he's resigning from the Dollars, saying that he wasn't going to be part of a group that was low enough to resort to kidnapping high school students. The "Black emotions" returned, this time aimed at himself for being so useless at such a crucial time.

After the fighting has ended and the victims were rescued, Mikado sees Non and Chikage limping away on the sidewalk. Mikado runs up to them and apologizes as the leader of the Dollars. Chikage appreciates the gesture but can't believe that someone as ordinary as Mikado could possibly be the leader. Although it wasn't meant as an insult, for someone like Mikado who strives to live an un-ordinary life, it was the last push he needed to go over the edge. Mikado crumples down and cries at all that's happened.

The next day, Mikado calls Aoba and the Blue Squares back to the old Warehouse to settle their agreement. He explains that the direction Dollars is heading isn't right. He knows that he can't set rules for the Dollars since that goes against what the Dollars were made for. Mikado decides to opt for the next best thing: power. Mikado says that if Aoba and the Blue Squares offer him their strength, then they can use him however they want. Mikado pulls out a sheet of paper and a ballpoint pen to make the agreement official. Aoba is perplexed but walks over to sign the paper anyway. Just as Aoba sees that there is nothing on the paper at all, Mikado jabs the pen into Aoba's hand, piercing it all the way through, the blood splattering all over the paper. Aoba looks Mikado in the eyes and sees nothing but a cold, contemptuous glare staring back. Mikado states that regardless of what Aoba planned to do to him, he still put Anri in danger by drawing her into the conflict with the Dollars and Toromaru. As his first order, he demands that Aoba "Stomach the full wrath of his anger."

Before the other Blue Squares can react, Aoba tells them to back off. Aoba meekly agrees to Mikado's terms, realizing that Mikado isn't going to back down...or release his grasp, until he did so. As Aoba swears loyalty, Mikado does a complete 180 in his personality and reverts back to his usual cheerful self, yanking the pen out of Aoba's hand and proceeding to expertly bandage up the wound he left. Aoba whispers in his heart that both he and Izaya had underestimated Mikado and mentions that he has "Far from shown his true character."

Volume 08 : Mikado realizes that, while there are idealists like Kyohei and his group in the Dollars, there are several others (thugs, gangs, etc) that would exploit the name of the Dollars to further their own reputations like those who went rogue during the Toromaru incident. Mikado decides to perform a "Cleansing" where he chases down those specific groups that are dragging down the name of the Dollars and "expelling" them from the gang (i.e. beating them up and banning the from the website). He even starts an "invitation only" section of the website for people who he feels he can use for this purpose. After several members are banned, Mikado gets word of another rogue member by the name of Adabashi Kisuke who burned down Ruri Hijiribe's house under the orders of Yadogiri Jinnai.

Mikado, Aoba, and the Blue Squares look for information on him and they warn Celty and Shinra. They say that Shinra may be in danger because he was caught on camera several months ago leaving Kasuka's apartment just before Ruri and Kasuka were revealed as a couple and that Adabashi is targeting those who may be connected to Ruri. This information arrives too late as Celty and the others find a bloody and beaten Shinra on the floor of their apartment. Finally managing to corner Adabashi and his followers, Mikado and the Blue Squares confront them about what they've done. Adabashi attacks Mikado, injuring him severely but Masaomi arrives in time to save Mikado from getting killed. Before they can exchange greetings, Mikado pours gasoline on Adabashi as he tries to get up. Mikado then calmly lights adabashi on fire, causing the stalker to run out of the building they were in and into Tokyo bay. Masaomi is shocked at Mikado's cruelty and yells at him for it. Mikado simply brushes him off, telling Kida to "mind his own business."

Mikado shows his colder side much more in volume 08, going so far as to break the promise he made with Anri about not talking about their secret identities until Kida returned.

Volume 09: Masaomi and Anri get worried by Mikado's recent behaviour so Masaomi tries to private chat with Mikado but Mikado refuses. Then leaves the chatroom.

Trivia

 * His mother's name is Hiromi (ひろみ) while his father's name probably read as Ryūgamine Tatsuya (竜ヶ峰竜也) as read in usual way since there's no official romanization for his parents' name.
 * His given name's kanji usually read as Teijin instead of simply Mikado.
 * His hometown is in Saitama.
 * He ranked 1st in Raira Academy's entrance test, tying with Anri. Anri has developed a small admiration for Mikado because of this, although it is not noticed much.
 * He's born with 2982 gram weight.
 * His favorite subject is IT when his least favorite subject is P.E. as he states that he's weak at sports.
 * His favorite quote is "Supreme rule of life is to adapt without compromising," the words of a German Philosopher, Georg Simmel.
 * He has the same name of the European version of pocky.
 * Baccano!: A man simply known as the photographer who appears in the very first volume of Baccano appears to live in the apartment right next to Mikado's. The ending of the first volume takes place in present day ikebukuro as the photographer returns from his vacation in New York.
 * His password for his Dollars account is "baccano", as can be seen in the Anime
 * Fans believe that Mikado went crazy in the Light Novels.