Erika Karisawa

Erika Karisawa (狩沢 絵理華, Karisawa Erika) is a manga reader and a "fujoshi" (a yaoi fan). She has brown eyes and brown hair that is pulled back into a braid at the back of her head, with two pieces of her hair hanging freely infront of her ears. Erika is in the Dollars Gang, and can usually be found driving around the city with her friends Walker, Saburo and Kadota. She and Walker are both Otakus (people obsessed with anime and manga.)

Appearance
She normally wears a black hat and a matching dress with a long skirt, with dark brown eyes and hair with two bangs on either side of her head, reaching to her chin. However, when her hat is off, it is shown that her hair is much longer, being in a braid and tied to the back of her head. It is also shown that she often carries a book bag slung over her shoulder, possibly filled with manga novels of many kinds.

Past
It is implied that she's got a dark past, just like Walker, and that Kyohei saved her, which is why she's so loyal to him.

Hobbies
She and Walker are usually together. She is equally enthusiastic about manga or novel inspired torture. Her personality can come off as hyperactive and strange, but she proves in Episode 20 that she is calm and can reason with people, although she goes right back to being her normal otaku self immediately when she's done talking. In the later episodes she and Walker were asked to remain in the van during the invasion of the Yellow Scarves, because they "stand out too much". She can be seen with Walker in the hospital beside Masaomi, with her head resting on his shoulder. In the manga, Kida explains to Mikado that she and Walker are a bit peculiar, but good people. Like Izaya, she calls Kadota "Dotachin". She is a member of the anonymous online gang Dollars and is also a member of Kadota's gang. In some episodes it seems she is a big Yaoi fan when she sees Izaya and Shizuo fighting. Erika is convinced that Shizuo and Izaya are lovers, despite (or because of) their constant fighting.

Although it might not be right to consider it a hobby, Erika and Walker have both been shown to be skilled in both mental and physical torture which shows itself whenever they two of them need to extract information from someone. When interrogating someone, the torture they conduct is usually based on themes from a manga or anime series of the victim's choosing and is usually very violent as evidenced by Saburo telling them not to use gasoline in the car in episode 06. In the light novels, one person chose the series Kuroshitsujias the theme and the two of them tried to tattoo an upside down pentagram into the man's eye that is similar to the ones found on both of the maincharacters.

Anime
Anime specific spoilers about this character per episode.

Episode 01: Masaomi introduces Erika to Mikado.

Episode 02:

Episode 20: At Simon's restaurant, Masaomi confronts Kyohei, Walker, Erika, and Saburo, looking into matters concerning the Dollars gang. Since the four are former members of the Blue Squares gang, he tries to get an answer from them. She and Walker both narrates this episode.

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:

Volume 04 : Mikado and Anri turn to Erika and Walker for help in regards to giving someone a tour of ikebukuro since neither of them are very good at showing people around. Erika and Walker try to give them some good tops and even make a list of some of the more interesting (to them) sites around the city but decide that it would be simpler to just come with them. After singing some Karaoke, the four of them part. The next day, Erika, Walker and Kyohei save Mairu and Kururi from some Toromaru members and call in Saburo to pick them up. Eventually, they start getting chased by Toromaru and the six of them eventually pick up Mikado, Anri, and Aoba as well. After meeting with Celty along the way, Saburo drops Erika and the others off but she and Walker go back to help them deal with Toromaru. They watch as Ruri and Igor beat up the Toromaru members that were chasing them. Afterwards, Erika along with Celty, Emilia, Anri, and Mika assisst in the cooking for the hotpot party at the end. The color illustrations rate the girl's cooking skills with Erika scoring an even 70.

Volume 05 & 06 : Erika and the others are hanging out but Kyohei notices Chikage following them. Erika's prescence in the group is the only thing keeping Chikage from acting (due to his "no harming women" policy) and Kyohei tells her and the others to seperate. Near the end of Kyohe's and Chikage's fight, Erika, Walker, Saburo and several other Dollars members show up to give them a helping hand with her and Walker in charge of getting the girls to safety. After Anri and Vorona enter the fray, they witness Anri's prowess with a Katana and immediately think of the Anime "Shakugan no Shana". After the fighting dies down, Erika starts asking Anri about Saika and even begins trying to search Anri's person for where she keeps Saika hidden. Kyohei manages to pull her off of Anri who decides to go look for Mikado. Later, Erika starts giggling about something and Kyohei asks her why. She states that she senses a strong "comraderie" that has formed between him and Chikage and expresses a new pairing in mind about Kyohei and Chikage getting together (much to everyone's disdain).

Volume 09 : While she is hanging out with her cosplay team, Erika sees Anri near a bookstore and calls out to her. Erika introduces Anri to one of her friends named Azusa Tsutsugawa who occasionally hangs out with her and the van crew as well. She mentions how Anri should take up cosplay but Anri is less than enthusiastic.

Volume 10 : Erika makes Anri try on different outfits for her cosplay team when she is informed about the attack on Kyohei. She, Anri, Walker, and Saburo arrive at the hospital and find that Kyohei is alive but in critical condition. Walker and Saburo go to investigate who attacked Kyohei while Erika stays behind at the hospital. Anri stays with her and tries to comfort Erika as they wait for Kyohei to recover. Near the end of the novel, Erika smiles as she swears that she'll kill the person who did this to Kyohei.

Walker Yumasaki
Main Article: Walker Yumasaki 

Erika's most prominent relationship in the series is with fellow Otaku and closest friend, Walker Yumasaki. They share very similar mannerisms and world views and agree on almost anything save for Erika's love of Yaoi. The two of them are almost always seen together on screen usually talking about various topics relating almost exclusively to anime and manga. It is unknown exactly how long they have been friends, but it is implied in the light novels to be much longer thant they have been with Kyohei and Saburo. It is heavily implied in the Light Novels that they are romantically involved. Walker becomes extremely depressed when Erika isn't around since there isn't anyone to talk about manga and anime with.

Kyohei Kadota
Main Article: Kyohei Kadota 

Erika and Walker have both been with Kyohei and his group for several years and are extremely loyal to him. While in the blue squares, they immediately defected from the gang with Kyohei without question despite the possibility of revenge from other members. When Kyohei was beaten into a coma in Volume 10, she immediately dropped everything to see him in the hospital. During her stay, she swears vengeance while smiling maliciously. In the Durarara!! side stories it is implied that she has feelings for Kyohei but these are never elaborated on or addressed in the main series. He is sometimes annoyed when Erika and Walker get out of hand in their conversations but he still cares about them all the same.

Saburo Togusa
Main Article: Saburo Togusa

Erika has been friends with Saburo and Kyohei for several years and, although he doesn't share their same enthusiasm for anime and manga, he still considers them to be some of his closest friends.

Anri Sonohara
Main Article: Anri Sonohara

After the incident with Toromaru and after witnessing Anri use Saika to fight Vorona, Erika and Walker started asking Anri all kinds of questions about Saika, most of which she wouldn't give a straight answer to. Erika and Anri spent more time together after everything quieted down and became good friends afterwards. Erika tries to get Anri to take up cosplaying and even convinces her to try on a few outfits but has very little success. When she learned that Kadota was attacked she rushed to the hospital with Anri, who stayed with her the whole time. Erika then stood up to defend Anri against Izaya, by saying she was Anri's friend when Izaya mentally broke her with what he intended to do to Masaomi and Mikado.

Voice Actresses

 * Japanese: Ayahi Takagaki
 * English: Mela Lee