Ran Izumii

Ran Izumii''' (泉井蘭 Izumii Ran) is Aoba Kuronuma's older brother and former leader of the Blue Squares. He lost his position when he was thrown in juvenile jail for kidnapping Saki Mikajima and breaking both her legs.'''

Characteristics
Ran has a very imposing figure, being very tall with slicked back black hair. He also has a very large burn scar on the right side of his face which he received from Walker Yumasaki after he and his friends rebelled against the Blue Squares. His usual attire consists of a dark purple jacket, a blue scarf, dark greenish-grey pants, black boots and sunglasses. He's described as that he could be mistaken as a host using the 'tough guy' look as his appeal if not for his imposing aura, indicating that he's rather handsome despite his scars.

The first season also briefly shows him with bleached blond hair and purplish suit with a black undershirt, which is again shown in season two with a flashback in episode 10 of the second cour, but without the jacket.

Ran can be described as a street punk taken to it's worst extreme. He's violent, vulgar, sadistic, and misogynistic. He is also very prideful and doesn't take too kindly to being upstaged as shown by his bullying of Aoba for being favored by their parents. This pride also makes him easy to manipulate as he willingly and knowingly let Aoba use him as a figure head for the Blue Squares, planning to take the gang for his own only to get arrested by the police. Ran is also rather cowardly as he is not above using unfair tactics against his opponents, but is quick to shirk away if they prove to be too much for him. As such, he doesn't normally bite off more that he knows he can chew.

Ran is a rather skilled street fighter, though rarely acts alone. He is shown to have a lot of raw strength as he is able to swing a large sledgehammer around one-handed with ease. However, since he mostly relies on brute force, he can be easily outmaneuvered if someone else isn't calling the shots for him.

He tends to be very loud, usually screaming and shouting when in a match, and often sticks his face much too close to people in order to intimidate them.

Despite all his short comings, he can be very calm and polite, as seen with his interactions with Shu Aozaki.

Background
In the past, Ran was always jealous of his little brother due to the fact that Aoba always received more attention from his parents than he did. Ran would frequently abuse him to vent and he quickly fell into the wrong crowd at school, even taking up smoking. After Ran went a little too far with abusing Aoba, his brother set his room on fire, which his parents blamed on Ran's smoking, leading to his father punching him in the face and breaking his nose.

A few years later, after their parents divorced and Aoba went to live with their mother, Aoba called on Ran once again to ask for a favor.

Aoba told Ran about a gang he made, the Blue Squares, that was quickly getting too large to control since there were adults who started joining up. Ran knew Aoba was trying to use him as a figurehead but agreed to take over as leader since he thought he would be able to surpass Aoba somehow.

Not long after, Ran got into a fight with another gang called the Yellow Scarves and started to lose when Masaomi Kida started going to Izaya Orihara for help. Ran and his gang eventually decided to kidnap Saki, Masaomi's girlfriend, to lure him into a trap but were thwarted by Kyohei Kadota and his gang, who betrayed Ran and saved Saki. Ran and most of the Blue Squares were arrested after the incident.

Yellow Scarves Arc
Horada and other surviving member's of the Blue Squares that were loyal to Ran infiltrated the Yellow Scarves and slowly taking them over and destroying them from the inside. The plan almost succeed, but Kyohei intervened yet again.

Adabashi Arc
Ran is released from jail, and is called to join Izaya's gang of 'friends' who includes: Kisuke Adabashi (who is knocked out with a broken leg), members of Dragon Zombie, Haruna Niekawa, Mikage Sharaku, Sloan, Kine, Manami Mamiya, and Namie Yagiri. While there, Ran goes on a rant about why he's really there and lists off the people he plans on killing, including Izaya himself. Mikage, who was standing next to the raving man, tells him to shut up. Izaya invites them all to hot pot.

Dragon Zombie Arc


He participates in the rescue of Izaya after he gets kidnapped by Amphisbaena and Heaven's Slave. He calls the leaders of both groups, Earthworm and Hiroto Shijima, claiming to be the real Izaya. He tricks the two of them into thinking that the person they actually have tied up is really their shared boss, Nakura, who was going by different aliases for each group. This prompts Earthworm to check. However, Izaya's ties had been loosened previously by one of Earthworm's men who was under Haruna's Saika's control.

With their trick serving it's purpose, Ran, Mikage, and several members of Dragon Zombie, bust through the door and incapacitate Earthworm's and Shijima's subordinates. Earthworm attacks with two broken bottles but Ran easily defeats her.

When finished torturing her, Ran then makes a grab for her clothes, appearing as if he wanted to rape her, but is stopped by Mikage, who is against the violation of women. She'd be perfectly okay with him killing Earthworm, but if he wished to violated her, she wouldn't hesitate to kill him herself. Ran backs off the unconscious woman and threatens Mikage instead. Seeing that she wasn't having any of it, he grows annoyed then decides he wasn't needed anymore and leaves.

Kadota's Coma Arc


He ditches Izaya's group and is seen working as a freelance mercenary for the Awakusu-Kai kanbu, Aozaki. Ran is not an official member of Awakusu-kai and doesn't answer to anyone else but Aozaki.

Ran meets Aoba on the streets and has a talk with him. He lets his brother know he knows what going on, and that he should meet Mikado Ryuugamine since he was a member of the Dollars now. Aoba misunderstands him as wanting to hurt Mikado and quickly tells him he shouldn't meet him. Ran then flicks his nose, and tells him what he actually meant, saying it's only right to pay him respects since he's the boss.

Ran later does meets up with Mikado to give him a 'gift', revealed later to be a gun, under the direct orders from Aozaki. He is doing this secretly without letting anyone else in Awakusu-kai know, since Mizuki Akabayashi is the one in charge of handling any and all of Dollars business. This is because Aozaki believed that he can use the Dollars to make a profit.

Ran tells Aozaki that at first he thought Mikado was a weakling but he was more than he seemed and gave a higher opinion of him, which Aozaki responses that it was unusual for Ran to take a liking to anyone. He was amazed how Mikado seemed to think nothing of the gun, then proceeded to 'shoot the breeze' with him for a while. This sparked a vague interest in him, though he has yet to interact with the boy again.

Durarara!! SH
Ran is still working as a freelance mercenary for the Awakusu-Kai under Aozaki.

After Horada is attacked by someone going around hitting people with hammers, Ran visits him in the hospital. And hammers being Ran's specialty, the blame was quickly placed on him, and rumors started to spread. Not wanting the rumors to continue, he charges Horada with bring the culprit to him, and quickly. He doesn't want them ruining his image in front of his superiors; Aozaki and Akabayashi.

While there, Horada asks for Ran's permission to use the old gang. He asks why, then becomes cold and harsh when Horada mentions Aoba. He tells Horada that he doesn't care what he does with them, and would prefer if Horada crushed Aoba while he was at it.

Aoba Kuronuma
Main Article: Aoba Kuronuma

Ran's younger brother. To say their relationship is strained is a an understatement. They hate each others guts, and wish each other dead. While Aoba simply hopes Ran will one day get himself killed, Ran plans to actively kill him.

Mikado Ryuugamine
Main Article: Mikado Ryuugamine

Ran believes Mikado to be the ultimate asshole, yet still finds himself liking him. He gave him a gun under Aozaki's orders.

Horada
Main Article: Horada

Ran's upper class-man in high school, he dropped out of school and became a well-known delinquent. He became Ran's closest underling once Ran took over the Blue Squares. He tried taking revenge on the Yellow Scarves but ultimately failed. He's now terrified of Ran who had 'a little chat' with him in jail.

Kyohei Kadota
Main Article: Kyohei Kadota

Kyohei use to be in the Blue Squares. It's unknown why he joined, but while he was there, he openly spoke against Ran and his antics. Kidnapping Saki was the last straw.

Ran claims he'd bury him in the mountains after he killed him.

Walker Yumasaki
Main Article: Walker Yumasaki

Walker roasted Ran face and arm when he betrayed the Blue Squares under Kyohei's lead. Ran wants to kill him, but not without returning the favor first and making his face 'just like his'.

He thought Ran might had been the person to hit Kyohei, but realized that Ran would had finished the job if it had been him.

Masaomi Kida
Main Article: Masaomi Kida

Despite being one of the main reasons for his down fall, Ran feels he doesn't have a beef with him anymore. However, that doesn't stop him from attacking him on the roof 'on Miakdo's behalf'.

Izaya Orihara
Main Article: Izaya Orihara

Ran's temporary boss. He's on Ran's to kill list for 'ruining his life', but he's willing to work with him if it helps get to the others.

Mikage Sharaku
Main Article: Mikage Sharaku

She briefly works with Ran in Izaya's group. Even though she confronts him against Earthworm, her feelings towards him are neutral. They don't see each other again after Ran leaves Izaya's group.

Trivia

 * Like Shizuo, Ran’s given name does not match him. Ran means orchid. Orchids generally represent elegance, something Ran is very much not.
 * Horada's take over of the Yellow Scarves was likely in preparation of Ran's release from jail as Horada says multiple times, 'everything's gonna be alright once Izumii returns'.
 * In the novel, Adabashi's leg injury is mysterious, but in the anime it's very clearly caused by Ran.'
 * While speaking with Mikage, a scene that was removed in the anime, he is illustrated as messing with her shirt and touching her breast. This doesn't actually happen in the text and is an artistic liberty taken by the illustrator.
 * In the anime, episode 10 of Ten, they show his bedroom with fire, smoke and water damage in the flashback describing an incident that happened between the boys and their father. Among the clutter, it shows he has an interest in: Girls, skulls, surfing, motorcycles, license plates, and the band KISS. Also that he seems to like to snack and drink tea and sodas.
 * Ran mentions that when he went to Juvie, he had he head shaven. In the novel, he said he considered shaving his head again while the anime didn't.
 * Ran mentions he ran into Horada in jail and gave him a fright, and implies that’s where he learned about Mikado.
 * Ran doesn't respect many people, but he tells Aozaki's lackey that he does in fact respect: Aozaki, Shizuo Heiwajima, and Traugott Geissendorfer. It's heavily implied he also respects Akabayashi, but doesn't say it considering the company he's in.
 * After his fight with Chikage, Ran becomes injured. In the novel, he gets a fractured rib, and when he goes to meet Mikado, he's wearing a jacket that's open enough to see the bandages from the wound, which prompts Mikado to ask. Ran's discomfort from the pain of the injury is mentioned twice. In the anime however, he's shown to have gotten a broke arm, but the sling and cast is gone by the time he runs into Kyohei and the rest, making it appear to have been a fake injury. In this version, he hides the gun he gives to Mikado in the sling, while in the novel, he hid it in his jacket.
 * In both versions, he uses the excuse that he feel down some stairs. Mikado used this excuse previously himself.
 * In both versions, the fight between Ran and his gang verses the van gang was cut away from at the start of the fight. In the anime it's a cliffhanger that simply just to the van gang talking about the other events that have happened, and nothing else. In the novels though, it briefly explains that Ran and his entourage were entangled in Celty's shadows while the van gang where left untouched.
 * In the novel, Ran meets Mikado with Aoba and the other Blue Squares, openly mocks Aoba in front of them, then goes upstairs with Mikado to talk. In the anime, Ran doesn't meet Mikado until another member bring him upstairs, leaving Aoba behind.
 * It's vaguely implied that Aozaki wanted Ran to take over the Dollars after removing the control from Mikado. This way Aozaki could control them through Ran.
 * In the novel, when Ran is talking to Aozaki's lackey, the lackey mentions Ran kidnapping women. It's unknown if he's referring to what landed him in jail, or what Ran is currently doing in the Awakusu-Kai. If the latter, it is also known why he would be doing that. The third option is that it's what he's doing on the side when not taking orders from Aozaki. However, he hasn't been out of jail that long, and thus makes it very unlikely.
 * The van Ran was in when he got torched belonged to him, as revealed when speaking with Walker about the incident. He also seemed rather fond of it as he lost his shit when Walker mentioned it.
 * Walker thinks Ran is suited for 2D scripts.
 * He has mild PSTD which is triggered by fire alarms and large uncontrolled fires. This is referred to during his fight with Chikage and both fights with Walker.
 * Besides his burn scars, he has another scar on his mouth. It was never mentioned or shown in the novels, so it's unknown how he received it.
 * Ran almost didn't believe Aoba about the Blue Squares. While he did have a feeling he was telling the truth, he didn't know for sure until, Horada and Higa was mentioned since it was odd for Aoba to know known of them.