Shizuo Heiwajima

Shizuo Heiwajima (平和島 静雄, Heiwajima Shizuo) is the man renowned as the strongest man in Ikebukuro. He currently works as Tom Tanaka's bodyguard, and he is shown to be familiar with some of the major characters in the series, including Izaya Orihara and Celty Sturluson. He was a member of the Dollars group. Shizuo is voiced by Daisuke Ono in the original Japanese anime, and then by Crispin Freeman in the English dub.

Characteristics
Shizuo is a often seen wearing his trademark bartender suit and blue sunglasses. As a child he had brown hair, but dyes his hair blond later on. He is introduced to the viewers in the first few episodes as a violent, no-nonsense tough guy, on equal footing with dangerous characters such as Izaya. However, it is implied that most of the time, he is quiet and nondescript, simply following Tom around as his bodyguard. Shizuo apparently doesn't really like violence and has misgivings about his own strength; unfortunately, he has a very short temper and when angered, his body "acts on its own" and he fights with incredible strength. Masaomi warns Mikado to stay away from him, along with Izaya and the Dollars, telling him to 'not hesitate to run from him' in the manga.

Shizuo's great strength is explained this way: Normally, the brain restricts one's power, shutting down muscles in response to pain in order to prevent serious injury; unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), Shizuo doesn't have this limitation, and is capable of using his full strength. His power is described in the novels as the naturally unlimited form of human strength, and Shinra likens it to the incredible "adrenaline power" that people rarely display in times of emergency. Although he was chronically injuring himself as a child, over time his body quickly strengthened itself and caught up. Now, as an adult, he is able to use his power without destroying his own body.

Despite the fact that Shizuo used his power very often, he was (and to some extent remains) worried about it. This is probably the result of events in his childhood where his strength caused others to fear him, alienated him from others at school, and even at times inadvertently hurting people he cares for. It wasn't until his run-in with the Saika Army that he was able to accept himself the way he was, since they claimed to "love" him because of his strength, giving him a reason to stop holding back. Outsiders believe that the "Slasher" incidents ended when he went after Shizuo (it was actually when Anri defeated Haruna Niekawa, but Shizuo still beat up many of Saika's daughter blades and only stopped fighting when they did).

Shizuo is also capable of often superhuman parkour moves gained from years of chasing Izaya, who is very good at running away from him. They share an intense mutual animosity, and Shizuo simply seeing Izaya on the street usually results in Shizuo hurling a trash can, vending machine or other dangerous projectile at him, followed by Izaya fleeing and Shizuo giving chase while angrily yelling "I-za-ya!" after him.

Background
Shizuo stated that he grew up within a perfectly normal family and suffered no significant traumas during his childhood. His superhuman strength first surfaced when he got mad at Kasuka for eating the last cup of pudding. He managed to pick up the fridge but the strain was too much for him and he ended up in the hospital. As the years passed, Shizuo's body, after years of abuse, managed to build up enough strength to withstand Shizuo's outbursts and effecively give him unlimited strength with no negative consequences to his wellbeing.

Once Shizuo entered middle school, he quickly became friends with Tom Tanaka after saving him from some bullies. Tom gave Shizuo a lot of helpful advice on how to keep others from starting trouble with him such as bleaching his hair blonde so that he would be easy to recognize and earn a reputation. It manages to work until Shizuo entered highschool and encountered Izaya Orihara for the first time. Shizuo and Izaya hated each other almost instantly and have developed a fierce rivalry. Their battles would frequently cause thousands of dollars in collateral damage requiring the frequent intervention of the police, as well as fellow classmate Hajime Shishizaki who was one of the only ones capable of standing up to Shizuo's immense strength.

After graduating, Shizuo drifted from job to job constantly getting fired from each one due to his temper or because of Izaya's plotting. Eventually, Shizuo found a job working for Tom's debt collectors agency as a bodyguard. However, Shizuo usually went overboard when shaking down a client which would usually end with the company having to pay for any collateral damage.

Anime
Anime specific spoilers about this character per episode.

Episode 01: He is stated as the "person you don't want as an enemy" by Kida to Mikado.

Episode 03: He throws a trash can at Izaya Orihara when he was talking to Masaomi, Mikado, and Anri. Shizuo wants to beat up Izaya (since he hates him) when the men that confronted Masaomi and his friends earlier appear and attack. A man hit Shizuo on the head with his bat and Shizuo punched him hard enough that the guy's clothes came off leaving him in his underwear. The other men started to fight against Shizuo while Izaya made his quiet escaped. Shizuo is last seen fighting Simon (and presumably won considering Simon was shown with several bruises on his face at the end).

Episode 07: Shizuo narrated this episode. Shizuo revealed that his superhuman strength first surfaced when he was a child. Shizuo revealed that he, Izaya, Shinra, and Kadota all went to the same high school, Raira Academy and how he and Izaya met for the first time and became rivals.

Episode 25 (Bonus Episode): Shizuo saves his brother from a man with a knife. He later learns that Izaya was the one who set up the attack and attacks him. Their battle rages across the entire city which attracts the attention of several of Shizuo's past enemies. Eventually Izaya tricks Shizuo into getting hit by a truck in a similar way he did in high school but Shizuo survives. After he gets up, Shizuo continues to chase Izaya across the city.

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

Volume 04 : Shizuo and Tom were walking through a park to go to a bank to cash in some checks they had retrieved from their "clients" for the company they work for. Out of nowhere, Igor and Ruri (dressed as Hollywood) jump out and start fighting each other, catching Shizuo in the middle. Igor grabs the metal briefcase carrying the checks out of Shizuo's hands to use it as a weapon but ends up smashing it and it's contents into pieces. In a rage, Shizuo picks up a park bench and smashes Igor into a tree. Shizuo turns his attention to Ruri and smacks her so hard, she flies across the city only to land in front of Kasuka Heiwajima's car, Shizuo unknowingly (and violently) playing the role of cupid for the two of them.

Shizuo isn't seen again until the very end of the novel where a few members of Toromaru who escaped the battle against Igor and Ruri at the underpass are riding away. Feeling humiliated, they attack Shizuo in order to make themselves feel better only to scratch the sleeves of his shirt. In a rage, Shizuo sends the Toromaru members flying.

Later, he and Tom attend the hotpot party at Celty and Shinra's place along with most of the main cast (minus Izaya).

Volume 05 : At the start of the novel, Shizuo and Tom are having lunch at a cafe. They talk about the recent incident with Toromau and Celty and mentions how Rokujo Chikage, their leader, is out for revenge. Shizuo remembers Chikage from the previous night, having been challenged by him personally. Tom asks how the fight went and Shizuo explains that, while he won (as expected), it took four punches from Shizuo for Chikage to finally go down. Shizuo took Chikage to Shinra since he didn't want to just abandon Chikage in the street like that.



Tom also suggests that it's about time Shizuo got a girlfriend but Shizuo claims that there aren't any girls who would be interested in him. As if to spite him, Shizuo looked out the window to see a young girl with black hair staring at him with her face pressed against the glass. Shizuo goes out to see why the girl is staring at him only to get a stun gun to the stomach. After a few seconds Shizuo knocks the stun gun out of her hand, accidentally knocking the girl down in the process. Seeing that the situation is turning to their favor, Tom and Shizuo were forced to flee the scene to avoid getting the police involved. Much to Shizuo's dismay, the little girl is clinging to Shizuo's belt yelling for him to die. Not wanting to get their manager or Kasuka involved, Shizuo and Tom go to the only person they know who didn't matter if the cops showed up.



At Shinra's apartment, Shinra is appalled that Shizuo would knowingly kidnap a little girl, who says that her name is Akane. After Akane collapses due to a fever, Shizuo and Tom listen to Shinra's ramblings for several minutes about Celty before the girl finally wakes up. As Shinra questions her, Akane mentions Izaya and his address which causes a storm of rage to erupt within Shizuo. Much to everyone's surprise, however, Shizuo smiles and laughs light-heartedly at the whole thing. He tells Akane that he and Izaya are friends and that Izaya was probably using her for another one of his pranks. Tom commends Shizuo's acting after they leave the apartment. Shizuo asks that if he gets arrested for murder tomorrow, Tom tell their boss to act like Shizuo was fired yesterday. Shizuo storms off to Izaya's apartment/office. Once he arrives, he sees a crudely written note saying that Izaya had moved with directions written on the back. Shizuo gets even angrier and runs off to the new building. When he opens the door, Shizuo notices something wrong. Within the dimly lit room, he sees three individuals in suits murdered in various ways. Their corpses seemed to suggest they were killed with bare hands much like how Shizuo would've done. Before Shizuo can leave, one of the members of the Awakusu sees him standing over the bodies and proceeds to run away and call his boss. Shizuo leaves the building immediately before he can come back.

Volume 06 : Shizuo is confronted by several members of the Awakusu over the deaths of their colleagues but, instead of fighting them, he runs away by climbing up the side of a building, displaying excellent skill at Parkour accumulated over years of chasing after Izaya. After Shizuo loses the Awakusu, he receives several messages from the Dollars website. He skims through them while thinking about how to clear his name when he sees several posts about Kyohei and Chikage fighting near Raira Academy. Shizuo reads through with more attention and notices a post by "Nakura" suggesting they kidnap Chikage's girlfriend to make him stop. Shizuo decides that he should try to rescue the girls who were being targeted and goes to Raira to intercept the kidnappers. When he arrives at Raira, he sees a motorbike parked up front and picks it up, intending to use it on the rogue dollars members. He also spots Mikado on the side of the road, recognizing him from the Hotpot party several months ago. He also remembered that Mikado was part of the dollars and tells him that he is quitting as of today. Shizuo states that it's because he didn't want to be a part of a group that was low enough to kidnap students.

Shizuo then moves on to deal with the kidnappers. By this time, the fight has escalated into a battle between the rogue Dollars members against Kyohei and his gang (plus Chikage). When Shizuo arrives, Anri and Vorona have also gotten caught in the crossfire. Shizuo asks whose motorbike he's carrying and Vorona answers that it's hers. Shizuo puts the bike down now that he knows who the owner is and proceeds to beat up the remaining kidnappers who haven't been incapacitated yet, sending each of them flying. Unable to contain herself any longer, Vorona throws her knife into Shizuo's chest which causes Shizuo to have a flashback to one of his and Izaya's chases. Shizuo then proceeds to chase Vorona all across Raira until Vorona gets in the back of her getaway truck. Shizuo catches up with her and spots Akane tied up in the very back of the cargo compartment. Before Shizuo can reach for her, Vorona attempts to shoot Shizuo with her rifle which forces him to retreat. As Shizuo watches Slon and Vorona drive away with Akane, he looks around for something he can use and spots an abandoned car off to the side. Shizuo kicks the car around like a soccer ball and knocks it towards Vorona who blows it away with her rifle. Shizuo uses the distraction to climb on top of a fence which he uses to leap on the the side of a nearby apartment building. Shizuo runs along the side of the building until he catches up with Vorona and Slon and jumps, bashing through the roof of the truck and landing between Akane and Vorona. Vorona, with regret, attempts to shoot Shizuo in the head but is stopped by Celty. A sudden jerk by Slon causes a crate full of combat knives to fall and Shizuo shields Akane with his body.

Once he made sure she was unhurt, Shizuo slams his fist into the floor of the truck, effectively breaking the cargo compartment in half. Shizuo takes Akane and leaps off the still moving truck while Celty's shadow moves to cushion their fall. Slon and Vorona retreat for the time being and Celty goes to make sure Shizuo is alright. Akane asks why Shizuo saved her despite the fact that she's trying to kill him. Shizuo simply replies that he's glad that she's safe and smiles. Akane smiles back at Shizuo warmly.

Volume 07 : After Vorona joins up with Shizuo and Tom's debt collection agency, she is assigned as Tom's second bodyguard. While they take a break in the hallway, Shizuo asks Vorona if he's seen her before (she was wearing a biker's helmet when they fought). Vorona asks that she refrain from answering until a later date as she doesn't know how Shizuo will react if he finds out she's the one who he fought with several weeks ago. Shizuo responds by pouring Vorona a cup of coffee and saying he's glad that he finally has someone who will call him sempai for a change.

Volume 08 : Kasuka arrives at Shizuo's apartment asking for his help. Shizuo is a bit surprised by the sudden visit and assumes it's because he and Ruri are getting married. Kasuka denies that and says that it's about Ruri's stalker. He tells Shizuo that he needs someone to take care of his cat and leaves it in Shizuo's care.

Later, Masaomi Kida returns to Ikebukuro and approaches Shizuo. Masaomi apologizes to Shizuo about him getting shot by the yellow scarves over a year ago saying that even though he didn't order it, he still has to take responsibility. Shizuo accepts Kida's apology but pokes him in the head (which is about as strong as a punch) for not addressing him with respect, knocking Kida out.

Volume 09 : Shizuo is asked about his relationship to Izaya by several delinquents who want to get back at Izaya for scamming their boss. Shizuo offers a bit of insight into his and Izaya's life in high school saying that he was never able to lay a finger on him. The only person who could ever catch up with Izaya was someone he referred to as "Shishizaki-sempai ." He also states that when he finally does kill Izaya, he'll make sure not to involve Tom, Vorona, or anyone else if he gets arrested for it.

Volume 10 : Shizuo is arrested under false charges according to Izaya's plan (as it turns out Izaya is not the only one who wants Shizuo out of the way for the upcoming event). Shizuo willingly leaves with the police since he believes the charge is a misunderstanding and it would eventually clear up. He is interrogated by two police officers and finds it odd that they are not interested in investigating the charges at all; instead, they spend the whole time purposedly trying to make him angry (even going as far as threatening to plant illegal drugs in Kasuka's house and arrest Kasuka). Shizuo is alarmed when he notices the officers have red eyes. The officers admit they are Saika's children ("a different mother though") and their mission is to create an excuse (ex. getting Shizuo to assault a police officer) so they can remove Shizuo from the streets of Ikebukuro. Upon realizing that he is dealing with Saika instead of regular human beings, Shizuo is ready to let his anger take over and just beat them up when Kinnosuke Kuzuhara kicks open the door. Kuzuhara was outside of the room and heard the officers threatening Shizuo. He warns the officers to better not try anything funny because Kuzuhara has "connections" within the police force and he will report their misconducts. After Kuzuhara leaves, Shizuo calms down and notes that his opponent this time is not Saika's children but his own temper. He resolves to control his anger and waits for his boss to bail him out the next day.

As of the end of Volume 10, Shizuo is still held in the police station.

Volume 11 : Shizuo only appears in the very end of the volume. The guy in the cell next to Shizuo's was under Saika's influence. He asks Shizuo to make a scene so that he can take Celty’s head from the police department (since it was brought there for an examination). While Shizuo was considering the offer, the police come and releases him from the jail. While he walks out of the station, there's an explosion next to the police car. Someone by the car leaves with a box. Shizuo isn’t sure what happened but he suspects it’s Vorona and that the box contains Celty’s head. He also thinks that Izaya is behind all this somehow and that there's a reason if he was released from prison so suddenly. At this point he's pretty pissed off.

Baccano!: At some point during the series, Shizuo came into contact with Nile, who was one of the original immortals in the Baccano series. The two of them got into a fight which ended in Shizuo's favor.

Kasuka Heiwajima
Main Article: Kasuka Heiwajima

As children, Shizuo was very close to Kasuka due to the fact that Kasuka was one of the few people that wasn't terrified of Shizuo's monstrous strength. Even after Kasuka went into showbiz, Kasuka still took the time to help his brother find a job he could keep. He gave Shizuo several bartender uniforms after Shizuo found a job that didn't constantly send him over the edge. Shizuo promised to keep the job he had but that was quickly ended when Izaya framed Shizuo for an as of yet unidentified crime. This event caused the two to grow rather distant. As shown in Volume 09, Shizuo seems to consider himself inferior to his brother as when Mairu called him a nice guy like Kasuka, Shizuo told her not to insult his brother by comparing him to Shizuo.

Likewise, Kasuka claims that his expressionless personality is primarily influenced by Shizuo. Due to the fact that Shizuo always lashed out the second he became even a little bit angry, Kasuka tried to balance it out by being the level headed one of the two. Kasuka even takes partial responsibility to Shizuo's rampages such as with Ruri Hijiribe when he found out that it was his brother who knocked her halfway across the city (not that he was surprised).

Izaya Orihara
Main Article: Izaya Orihara

Since the second they met, Izaya and Shizuo have been locked in a never ending conflict with one another. Izaya would constantly manipulate events around Ikebukuro to put Shizuo in danger or to get him killed seemingly with no reason whatsoever. Likewise, Shizuo would constantly throw everything he had (and everything he could grab) at Izaya in the hopes of killing him once and for all. Shizuo constantly refers to Izaya as a flea and Izaya doesn't even consider Shizuo a human by his standards and is baffled whenever Shizuo actually shows a sign of maturity or intelligence such as when Shizuo decided not to fight the Awakusu since that would only solidify his guilt in their eyes.

It is worth noting that, although Shizuo frequently expresses a desire to kill Izaya, All of the fights they were in were started by Izaya provoking him. The only time Shizuo was the one to throw the first punch was when he suspected Izaya was responsible for hurting someone he cared about such as with the slasher attacking Celty or how Akane was tricked into attacking him. In volume 09, Shizuo also states that even though he wants to kill Izaya, he would be perfectly fine if Izaya simply stayed out of his life instead. This statement is further backed up by the fact that Shizuo knows exactly where Izaya's office is and the only reason he hasn't gone there himself is that it would cause problems for Shizuo's company if one of their employees was convicted for murder (Izaya would probably see it coming anyway). This also shows that Shizuo values the safety of his friends and family over his rivalry with Izaya.

Mairu and Kururi Orihara
Main Article: Mairu Orihara 

Main Article: Kururi Orihara

Unlike their older brother, Shizuo is actually on friendly terms with the Orihara twins. This is most likely due to the mutual indifference they share towards Izaya. The twins even frequently cheer Shizuo on whenever they witness one of their trademark chase sequences.

Tom Tanaka
Main Article: Tom Tanaka

Shizuo and Tom have been friends since middle school. Ever since Tom witnessed Shizuo in action, he tried to get on his good side to avoid getting killed. It was Tom who suggested that Shizuo bleach his hair blonde so as to build up a reputation to keep the gangs away. After Shizuo got fired from his bartending job, Tom gave him a new one in the form of his bodyguard and the two have been partners ever since. Tom is also one of the few people that can calm Shizuo down after one of his rampages.

Vorona
Main Article: Vorona 

For the most part, Shizuo and Vorona share a very positive relationship as shown in the series thus far. Shizuo sees Vorona as a pupil and treats her as such. He does his best to show her the ropes and tries to be a good mentor figure for her even though it is clear she doesn't need one at least as far as being a bodyguard is concerned.

Although he is completely oblivious to this, Vorona views Shizuo as the ultimate opponent. During thier fight on the Raira school grounds, she was filled with a mixture of curiosity, excitement and fear just by the sight of him. Her interest only grew once Shizuo started to show the full force of his inhuman strength. She even shows remorse when she is forced to shoot shizuo in the head in volume 05 (to prevent him from screwing up thier mission to kidnap akane) as she didn't want to kill one of the few people who could finally give her a decent challenge. When she starts working under Shizuo, she expresses a desire to learn everything she possibly can about him before challenging him to a rematch.

Akane Awakusu
Main Article: Akane Awakusu

Due to Izaya, Akane wanted to kill Shizuo at first since she believed him to be an assassin after her father and grandfather. Shizuo was initially annoyed at Akane but the two grew closer after Shizuo saved her from Vorona and Slon. Because of this, Akane's feelings toward Shizuo are mixed. While she believes that Shizuo isn't after her family anymore, she still thinks he's an assassin and is too dangerous to be left unchecked (No one has told her otherwise or even knew she thought that in the first place.) With this in mind, Akane decides that the easiest solution is to become stronger than Shizuo is. She starts training at the same dojo as Mairu and Kururi.

Celty Sturluson
Main Article: Celty Sturluson

Shizuo and Celty have remained on friendly terms for several years. They would often talk to each other about the problems they have and the events that surround them. Shizuo even went so far as to swear vengeance on the Slasher when Celty informed him of her attack.

Shinra Kishitani
Main Article: Shinra Kishitani

In volume 05, Shizuo states that Shinra is a "Bad acquaintance that stuck." Shinra considers Shizuo a friend but the feeling isn't entirely mutual. Still, the two remain on mostly good terms with one another although Shizuo is sometimes annoyed at Shinra's ramblings.

Kyohei Kadota
Main Article: 'Kyohei Kadota' 

In volume 10, when Shizuo learns that Kyohei has been injured in a hit-and-run, he angrily yells that he won't forgive the bastard that hurt his old acquainance. Shinra describes Shizuo and Kyohei as two of the most influential members in Dollars, even after Shizuo has left Dollars. Be it an external threat or an internal conflict, Shizuo serves as a deterrent in terms of physical force (anyone who wants to start a fight in Ikebukuro will be neutralized by Shizuo) while Kyohei serves as a deterrent in terms of leadership (members tend to unite and follow Kyohei since he is a decisive and reliable leader).

Trivia
Foods he likes: Milk, all dairy products, desserts/sweet things in general Foods he dislikes: Anything that's bitter, beer (his preferences are like a kid's as far as taste's concerned) Favorite quote: "I hate violence"
 * His name is ironic. Heiwa (平和) means "Peace/Harmony" while Jima (島) means "Island", leading his last name to translate to "Peaceful Island". Shizu (静) means "Quiet" and "o" (雄) means "Hero/Masculine/Leader", leading his first name to translate to "Quiet Hero".
 * His hobby is basking in the sun.
 * Despite his quiet nature in his normal daily life, Shizuo can turn into a very loud type while fighting Izaya due to his hot blood.
 * According to Tom, the reasons Shizuo has never been arrested for all the destruction he caused during his rampages are: 1. the people he beat up are usually the ones who can't or won't go to the police (ex. gangsters), 2. his boss has been paying for the damages, and 3. the destruction he caused is too ridiculous and humanly impossible (in other words, a judge probably will have a hard time believing that a young man has ripped a light pole up from the ground and bent it in half with his bare hands).