Orihara, Izaya

折原臨也

A young man who sells information for his own amusement. He claims to love the entire human race except for Shizuo Heiwajima, and demonstrates this affection by placing humans in often miserable conditions to observe their reactions.
He attended Raira Academy alongside Shizuo, Shinra, and Kadota. According to Shinra, Izaya and Shizuo hated each other with passion almost from the moment they met. In the novels, Izaya framed Shizuo for crimes on several occasions. In the anime, he puts Shizuo in constant trouble, such as having gangs attack him daily or framing him for crimes.
He is a master of parkour and quite skilled with his flickblade (the blade he uses must be slightly opened before the mechanics spring it 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 the man noticing. He is also fluent in Russian, which is shown in the final episode and episode 13 when he speaks with Simon.
Izaya has two younger sisters, Mairu and Kururi, who are twins and troublemakers. He claims to have grown up in a normal family whose only abnormal trait was their naming habits. He does not like his sisters and finds them unlovable, saying that if even he cannot like them, he expects no one else to ever be able to either.
His name comes from a combination of the biblical Isaiah and the Japanese for "the one who looks over the crowd."
In the novels, Shinra is the only person Izaya does not consider one of his "humans." Rather, Izaya considers Shinra his only friend (which is rather rare).

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