Ran Izumii

Ran Izumii (泉井蘭 Izumii Ran) 'is a character in Durarara!!''. He is Aoba Kuronuma's older brother and was the leader of the Blue Squares, until he was thrown in jail for both kidnapping Saki and breaking 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 after he and his friends rebelled against the Blue Squares. His usual attire consists of a dark purple jacket, a light blue scarf, dark grey pants, black boots and sunglasses. 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, minus the jacket.

Ran can be described as a street punk taken to it's worst extreme. He's violent, vulgar, sadistic, blatantly misogynistic and is all but confirmed to be a rapist. He has likely to have taken advantage of some unknown women off screen, as he has been mentioned to kidnap women. Ran 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 advantages against his opponents but is quick to shirk away if they prove to be too much for him.

Ran is a rather skilled street fighter but does best when in a group. He is shown to have a lot of raw strength as he is able to swing a large sledgehammer around 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.

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. 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 Mikajima, Masaomi's girlfriend, to lure him into a trap but were thwarted by Kadota and his gang, who betrayed Ran and saved Saki. Ran and most of the Blue Squares were arrested after the incident.

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 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. This prompts Earthworm to check. However, Izaya's ties had been loosened previously by one of Earthworm's men who was under Saika's control. With their trick serving it's purpose, Ran, along with Mikage Sharaku and several members of the gang, 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. Ran then threatened to rape her but is stopped by Mikage, who is against the violation of women. Ran backs off but threatens Mikage as he leaves.

Kadota's Coma Arc


After being released from prison, Ran joins hands with Izaya but also starts 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 is also the one who meets up with Mikado to give him a 'gift', a gun, under the direct orders from Aozaki, who is doing this secretly without letting anyone else in Awakusu-kai know, since 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 is notable since Ran believes everyone around him are 'trash' but he believed Mikado was different. This peculiar answer is explained further by the mysterious and sad smile Mikado has as he holds the gun in his hand with a sense of strong determination that most boys his age won't show.

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