Profile

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English) Online Alias: "Kanra" (甘楽?) and "Nakura" Izaya is a young man who sells information for his own satisfaction and is behind the most relevant events in the series making him the principal antagonist of the series but later turns out to be Yodogiri Jinnai. He claims to love the entire human race, except for his arch-rival Shizuo Heiwajima, and exhibits said love by putting humans in often miserable conditions and observing their reactions. He is a master of parkour, and is also quite skilled with his flick-blade, 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 the man noticing it. At the beginning of the series, Izaya suspects that Mikado is the creator of Dollars, which is proven correct later, and knows the identities of the leaders of the three main forces in Ikebukuro. Izaya, himself, is a member of Dollars and is responsible for recruiting members after Mikado stopped sending out invitations. Online, he pretends to be female, and talks in a feminine manner in the chatroom. His motives are not entirely clear, though one of his main goals is to create a gang war in Ikebukuro that will "wake up" Celty's sleeping head. In the past, Izaya attended Raira Academy with Shizuo, Shinra and Kadota. According to Shinra, Izaya and Shizuo hated each other with a passion almost from the point they met. In the novels, Izaya framed Shizuo for crimes on several occasions. In the anime he gives Shizuo constant problems, ranging from daily attacks by gangs to framing him for crimes. Izaya also has two younger sisters, Mairu and Kururi, who are twins and troublemakers. His name comes from a combination of the biblical Isaiah and Japanese for "the one who looks over the crowd".