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.

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".



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.

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.

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:

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 primarly 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 show's little interest in drinking, or partaking in vulgar events, and instead, gains as much of a high and joy from watching his "toys" act soley 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 boredome. 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 mentallity. In the novel, he breifly 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 seemingly 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 posess incredble 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 antagonistic-like stance was just a part of his usual cruel attitude.

Voice Actors

 * Japanese: Hiroshi Kamiya
 * English: Johnny Yong Bosch