I haven't been doing character centric posts since the initial episodes (because of lack of time). But since this is the last episode and there's already a lot to tell about my favorite character alone. He is none other than the most gorgeous jerkass in this series: Izaya Orihara! Bwahahahahahaha xD
Izaya's screentimes in the last episode had been quite enough to make me enumerate some of the reasons on why we could love him, bias ones or not =P:
Izaya's screentimes in the last episode had been quite enough to make me enumerate some of the reasons on why we could love him, bias ones or not =P:
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE DOES GIRLY AND CHILDISH WALKING ]
It's seriously difficult to imagine this dude to have a lot of fangurls worshipping him (he has fans in the show itself, not only in RL) if heis even girlier than them does such gestures.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE GOES KYAA ]
(If I remember correctly, HiroC is actually capable of voicing females O_O he's so good at that that you wouldn't be able to tell that the seiyuu's actually a dude)
He's totally doing a wonderful acting job on pretending to be female online. So perfect. You really couldn't imagine him being a guy, who is not really gay.
Crap, I could no longer count how many times I replayed the part of him sayign KYAA! xD Bwahahahahahhahaha
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE SAYS HE'S BEAUTIFUL ]
Even if you put aside the fact that he's pretending to be a female when he said that line, he likes being complimented and praised about his looks. Apparently he knows how gorgeous he is.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: YOU CAN MAKE FUN OF HIM ]
You can laugh at him and tease him. Even insult him. He may act butthurt but he has no hard feelings on you. Many of the cast have done that already. In this episode, Namie and Masaomi did. I really loved it when Namie laughed at his face, haha! And how direct and cruel Masaomi had been to him.... I love it! =D
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: YOU CAN ABUSE HIM ]
You may actually hurt him physically as well. The ones who have displayed this possibility in the anime so far are Shizuo and Simon.
Even though I'm an Izaya fan, I enjoyed the moment when he got hit with a trash can back in episode 3. What more of the time he got punched in this episode? Haha! Thank you Simon for being so awesome!
Did he hit back? Did he think of revenge? From what I see, it's more like he thinks he deserved it.
And don't worry, he's not exactly a narcissist who'd be upset for hitting his beautiful face. He has tons of money for plastic surgery if he needs to anywayz. Haha!
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: YOU CAN BETRAY HIM ]
One of his devoted fangurls in the show betrayed him. It appears that he didn't expect it, and it also looks like he doesn't give a damn anymore about it either. He's just surprised, and just learned that he lost a pawn. That's all. No hard feelings.
The other traitor is even his right-hand woman.... and he actually expected it. Since he expected it and let it happen.... and didn't fire her for it.... it looks like he doesn't mind at all. Or maybe, he actually wanted someone to betray him. Perhaps in a way, he wants someone to stop him from the bad things he's plotting because he can't.
Ah well, it's not like he actually fully trusts anyone in the first place. I kinda doubt that someone who is untrutworthy is capable of trusting someone. But I think we can assume that he does trust people he shares secrets with.... provided that he's certain that sharing that piece of information to that particular person would be beneficial to him in some way.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: YOU CAN'T UNDERESTIMATE HIS BRAIN ]
The fact that it turned out that the one who is doing some tasks for Izaya is one of Anri's children supposedly had given us the impression that Izaya was outsmarted. But no, it turns out that he actually expected it, and planned their meeting all along. How much he knows, how well he can tell a person's emotions, and how accurate he could be when it comes to his assumptions and predictions..... he's really incredible!
Not to mention he could understand and speak Russian! I doubt he's limited to two languages.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE'S CAPABLE OF BATTLE ]
He's not only a genius but capable of fights and self-defense as well. He says so himself that there's a reason why he can go one-on-one against the strongest dude in town. He enjoys the thinking, analyzing, and manipulating stuff more.... yet he could go kickass if he wants to. Who cares if his blade is chibi!!! It's incredible enough that he could battle against various weapons and stuff (because what Shizuo uses aren't exactly weapons ^^;)
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE CAN MESS WITH THE SUPERNATURAL ]
Izaya may be incredible in so many ways, yet he's someone realistic. He doesn't exactly have a supernatural ability, yet he is capable of tormenting the likes of Celty and Anri.... and gets away with it safely. He's already extraordinary.... and being able to do such made him even more extraordinary!
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE DOESN'T WANT COMPETITION IN HUMAN LOVING ]
I find it amusing that he considers a blade as his rival in love. It's also funny that he wants to be the only one who loves humanity (except for his favorite).
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE HAS SHIZU-CHAN COMPLEX ]
Simon said so!!!! And Izaya DID NOT DENY xD Bwahahahahahahahahaha!
Perhaps Simon's right. He just doesn't want to lose to Shizuo, and his "hate" could've had some connection to it.
He could also be just jealous of Shizuo, and doesn't like the competition. There are so many things he could be jealous of Shizuo of.
I think Shizaya fans would consider it as his "twisted love for Shizuo" though, hahaha! "The more you hate the more you love" is still a very popular saying. Haha!
And hhhmmm, if one of the main reasons of him hating Shizuo is because the dude's too unpredictable for him.... then how come he doesn't feel the same for Simon? He has mentioned that Simon is one of those he couldn't tell.... I don't think the fact of Simon not having killing intentions against him has anything to do with it. It's so.... suspicious LOLz.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE'S A PAHETIC ASS AND HE KNOWS IT ]
(aside from blank and pink, looks like he looks good on purple too. LOLz)
He's evil, and he knows it. He's a coward, and he knows it.
And he actually likes that quality of his????
It looks like this is a dude who embraces his bad sides and weaknesses.
He's unfortunately too despicable that others didn't bother to help and correct him, but just judge him instead. Apparently, it's not helping. He's still the way he is... or gettng worse.
I think he's asking for help.... he wants to improve.... but doesn't know how. For some reason, geniuses could suck in very simple things. There's something wrong with them mentally, and apparently Izaya's one of them.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE NEEDS LOVE ]
(there's gotta be a meaning of why he landed up on such a sign xD)
I think Izaya's broken. I doubt a tragic past had caused that though, since he says himself that his parents are normal. Or maybe because they're too busy at work that they didn't have much time for him? He got used to playing alone... and playing his own games. He doesn't know how to make friends so he spent his time observing and studying people. Whether my assumptions of his past are close to what really happened to him or not, I think it's still safe to conclude that he's lonely.
He lacks attention.... so he wants everyone's attention. He wants to love everyone.... but he doesn't know how to do it, thus making him express that love in a strange way. He has this idea that loving is claiming.... so he thinks that humanity is his and he can do anything with them since he owns them. And it appears that he likes the idea of reciprocal love.... and for some reason he's idiotic enough to think that the cruel things he did would make people love him. He could've been blinded by his worshippers, for they had loved him behind his lies. He could have thought that doing bad things like that could make people love him.
Unfortunately, we don't know if a character who would be capable of helping and understanding him will ever debut in the series. He/she doesn't have to be a love interest (I'm already satisfied with Izaya x Namie, hehe), but it would be nice if Izaya would be able to redeem himself.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: IN A WAY HE CARES ]
Anyway, though Izaya may be oh-so-evil, I don't think he's evil to the core. Izaya invited Masaomi to the chatroom. Whether he has personal reasons for it or not, it doesn't seem like Izaya could use Masaomi like before anymore. And besides, the ones who have benefitted on that the most are none other than Mikado and Anri. Especially Mikado! Just look how happy he had been upon confirming that he could still communicate with his best friend! No matter how I look at it, Izaya had done Mikado a huge favor. There's a possibility that he just did that to know Masaomi's whereabouts (he wants to know everything after all), but he could still have used other resources/methods. I say he's also concerned about Masaomi's wellbeing.... he's one of the few people that Izaya personally knows after all.
It's seriously difficult to imagine this dude to have a lot of fangurls worshipping him (he has fans in the show itself, not only in RL) if he
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE GOES KYAA ]
(If I remember correctly, HiroC is actually capable of voicing females O_O he's so good at that that you wouldn't be able to tell that the seiyuu's actually a dude)
He's totally doing a wonderful acting job on pretending to be female online. So perfect. You really couldn't imagine him being a guy, who is not really gay.
Crap, I could no longer count how many times I replayed the part of him sayign KYAA! xD Bwahahahahahhahaha
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE SAYS HE'S BEAUTIFUL ]
Even if you put aside the fact that he's pretending to be a female when he said that line, he likes being complimented and praised about his looks. Apparently he knows how gorgeous he is.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: YOU CAN MAKE FUN OF HIM ]
You can laugh at him and tease him. Even insult him. He may act butthurt but he has no hard feelings on you. Many of the cast have done that already. In this episode, Namie and Masaomi did. I really loved it when Namie laughed at his face, haha! And how direct and cruel Masaomi had been to him.... I love it! =D
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: YOU CAN ABUSE HIM ]
You may actually hurt him physically as well. The ones who have displayed this possibility in the anime so far are Shizuo and Simon.
Even though I'm an Izaya fan, I enjoyed the moment when he got hit with a trash can back in episode 3. What more of the time he got punched in this episode? Haha! Thank you Simon for being so awesome!
Did he hit back? Did he think of revenge? From what I see, it's more like he thinks he deserved it.
And don't worry, he's not exactly a narcissist who'd be upset for hitting his beautiful face. He has tons of money for plastic surgery if he needs to anywayz. Haha!
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: YOU CAN BETRAY HIM ]
One of his devoted fangurls in the show betrayed him. It appears that he didn't expect it, and it also looks like he doesn't give a damn anymore about it either. He's just surprised, and just learned that he lost a pawn. That's all. No hard feelings.
The other traitor is even his right-hand woman.... and he actually expected it. Since he expected it and let it happen.... and didn't fire her for it.... it looks like he doesn't mind at all. Or maybe, he actually wanted someone to betray him. Perhaps in a way, he wants someone to stop him from the bad things he's plotting because he can't.
Ah well, it's not like he actually fully trusts anyone in the first place. I kinda doubt that someone who is untrutworthy is capable of trusting someone. But I think we can assume that he does trust people he shares secrets with.... provided that he's certain that sharing that piece of information to that particular person would be beneficial to him in some way.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: YOU CAN'T UNDERESTIMATE HIS BRAIN ]
The fact that it turned out that the one who is doing some tasks for Izaya is one of Anri's children supposedly had given us the impression that Izaya was outsmarted. But no, it turns out that he actually expected it, and planned their meeting all along. How much he knows, how well he can tell a person's emotions, and how accurate he could be when it comes to his assumptions and predictions..... he's really incredible!
Not to mention he could understand and speak Russian! I doubt he's limited to two languages.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE'S CAPABLE OF BATTLE ]
He's not only a genius but capable of fights and self-defense as well. He says so himself that there's a reason why he can go one-on-one against the strongest dude in town. He enjoys the thinking, analyzing, and manipulating stuff more.... yet he could go kickass if he wants to. Who cares if his blade is chibi!!! It's incredible enough that he could battle against various weapons and stuff (because what Shizuo uses aren't exactly weapons ^^;)
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE CAN MESS WITH THE SUPERNATURAL ]
Izaya may be incredible in so many ways, yet he's someone realistic. He doesn't exactly have a supernatural ability, yet he is capable of tormenting the likes of Celty and Anri.... and gets away with it safely. He's already extraordinary.... and being able to do such made him even more extraordinary!
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE DOESN'T WANT COMPETITION IN HUMAN LOVING ]
I find it amusing that he considers a blade as his rival in love. It's also funny that he wants to be the only one who loves humanity (except for his favorite).
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE HAS SHIZU-CHAN COMPLEX ]
Simon said so!!!! And Izaya DID NOT DENY xD Bwahahahahahahahahaha!
Perhaps Simon's right. He just doesn't want to lose to Shizuo, and his "hate" could've had some connection to it.
He could also be just jealous of Shizuo, and doesn't like the competition. There are so many things he could be jealous of Shizuo of.
I think Shizaya fans would consider it as his "twisted love for Shizuo" though, hahaha! "The more you hate the more you love" is still a very popular saying. Haha!
And hhhmmm, if one of the main reasons of him hating Shizuo is because the dude's too unpredictable for him.... then how come he doesn't feel the same for Simon? He has mentioned that Simon is one of those he couldn't tell.... I don't think the fact of Simon not having killing intentions against him has anything to do with it. It's so.... suspicious LOLz.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE'S A PAHETIC ASS AND HE KNOWS IT ]
(aside from blank and pink, looks like he looks good on purple too. LOLz)
He's evil, and he knows it. He's a coward, and he knows it.
And he actually likes that quality of his????
It looks like this is a dude who embraces his bad sides and weaknesses.
He's unfortunately too despicable that others didn't bother to help and correct him, but just judge him instead. Apparently, it's not helping. He's still the way he is... or gettng worse.
I think he's asking for help.... he wants to improve.... but doesn't know how. For some reason, geniuses could suck in very simple things. There's something wrong with them mentally, and apparently Izaya's one of them.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: HE NEEDS LOVE ]
(there's gotta be a meaning of why he landed up on such a sign xD)
I think Izaya's broken. I doubt a tragic past had caused that though, since he says himself that his parents are normal. Or maybe because they're too busy at work that they didn't have much time for him? He got used to playing alone... and playing his own games. He doesn't know how to make friends so he spent his time observing and studying people. Whether my assumptions of his past are close to what really happened to him or not, I think it's still safe to conclude that he's lonely.
He lacks attention.... so he wants everyone's attention. He wants to love everyone.... but he doesn't know how to do it, thus making him express that love in a strange way. He has this idea that loving is claiming.... so he thinks that humanity is his and he can do anything with them since he owns them. And it appears that he likes the idea of reciprocal love.... and for some reason he's idiotic enough to think that the cruel things he did would make people love him. He could've been blinded by his worshippers, for they had loved him behind his lies. He could have thought that doing bad things like that could make people love him.
Unfortunately, we don't know if a character who would be capable of helping and understanding him will ever debut in the series. He/she doesn't have to be a love interest (I'm already satisfied with Izaya x Namie, hehe), but it would be nice if Izaya would be able to redeem himself.
[ GOTTA LOVE HIM 'COZ: IN A WAY HE CARES ]
Anyway, though Izaya may be oh-so-evil, I don't think he's evil to the core. Izaya invited Masaomi to the chatroom. Whether he has personal reasons for it or not, it doesn't seem like Izaya could use Masaomi like before anymore. And besides, the ones who have benefitted on that the most are none other than Mikado and Anri. Especially Mikado! Just look how happy he had been upon confirming that he could still communicate with his best friend! No matter how I look at it, Izaya had done Mikado a huge favor. There's a possibility that he just did that to know Masaomi's whereabouts (he wants to know everything after all), but he could still have used other resources/methods. I say he's also concerned about Masaomi's wellbeing.... he's one of the few people that Izaya personally knows after all.
Izaya's supposedly one of the most despicable character in the series. Not only is he playing the villain role, but he has been cruel to others so much that he's already that worthy to die. If he's a person in the real world, life imprisonment is honestly not enough for a punishment for this type of person.
But he's a fictional character so let's see him as one. In my opinion, even if you put his good looks and skills aside, he's still awesome and lovable! He's no way your typical villain. Heck, do you often encounter villains that rarely gets angry (Heck, I don't remember him being seriously angry in any of the episodes)? And though he's playing the bad guy, he's not 100% bad. He may be terrific but he also has a lot of flaws.
*sniff* I'm crying from so much happiness. Thank you Narita-sensei for creating such an interesting and fantastic character! *worships*
But he's a fictional character so let's see him as one. In my opinion, even if you put his good looks and skills aside, he's still awesome and lovable! He's no way your typical villain. Heck, do you often encounter villains that rarely gets angry (Heck, I don't remember him being seriously angry in any of the episodes)? And though he's playing the bad guy, he's not 100% bad. He may be terrific but he also has a lot of flaws.
*sniff* I'm crying from so much happiness. Thank you Narita-sensei for creating such an interesting and fantastic character! *worships*
I'll do the general episode impressions post and the overall anime review..... another time (or maybe later because I still couldn't sleep).... I'm too busy laughing at Izaya at the moment. Haha!
8 comments:
Awesome explanation of Izaya finer points.
:hats off:
Haha, I like your explanation of Izaya :3! He's just so amazing XDD! But, what I like the more of your explanation is the way you saw him as a human. I think that's the best point of him. He's just so complex, yet terribly human-like. He's always looking from above, but can't help to get involved - even better, he keeps getting involved. He keeps trying to be a "god", to be someone that manipulates everyone's mind, someone who knows everything, yet the more he tries to be a "god" the more human he becomes. And, for some reason, I just can't belive him when he says he loves humans, in fact, I believe it's quite the opposite. I think he hates them because they all die at some point. He hates to be a human himself, thus hates humans. They are just pawns that let him do whatever he wants - which, as you have said, is maybe what he DOESN'T want. After all, he said it in ep24, his job was so suitable for him, that it sickened him. And, you have said it yourself, Izaya is a villain with a loooooot of flaws, because, he's just a human.
BTW, he obviously has a child trauma XD! He spent his young years with Kururi and Mairu after all LMAO.
@ abandonedfactory
Thank you. And as you've said in your post, yes, it's love ^^ Hahahaha!
@ xxgunxx
I'm happy to hear that, thanks ^^
I don't see Izaya thinking himself as a god though, but more of a puppeteer(controls puppets movements) or storyteller(power over the characters in the story) or the like.
About him hating humans behind that love.... you have interesting thought on it. I haven't thought of it that way. Cool.
Awesome that we agree on many things about him xD
Ah, Izaya may have a childhood trauma but I don't think it would be something extreme.... and nor would it have anything to do with his sisters (their behavior is HIS fault after all xD Haha)
OMG i love your blog!(esp this post) We fangirl
over the same characters lol so keep up with the good work :)
@ Anonymous
Happy to hear that =D Cool that we like the same things. Thanks~
Izaya... he may be messed up.. but he's still sexy.
You really picked up some good points regarding Izaya's "adorableness". Personally, I felt some hostility toward Izaya after finish watching Durarara, but after reading your post, I somehow can relate more to him as well as his finer qualities. I hope I could know more about Izaya's past though; what really pushed him to act like he does...I also want to know how he would behave in the future. I mean, seems like he will "continue to act as he does" as brieftly stated in the ending, but are his sins forgivable? Is Mikado in good terms with Izaya? After all, Mikado still doesnt' know Izaya's identity online...Anyway, would help if you could answer few of my curiosities. And yes, overall, your blog is nicely written, and I totally agree with your post content.
@ Latest Anonymous 1
Totally~
@ Latest Anonymous 2
Thank you ^^ Haha, I'm happy people didn't mind the typos I'm lazy to correct, haha!
I'm happy that this post had helped in making people see that Izaya's not really as despicable as he seems~
I wish to learn more of Izaya's past too~ I think Mikado's still in good terms with him, but I doubt he'll be trusting that guy as much as he used to anymore. And actually, Mikado knows about Izaya's online identity. Izaya revealed about it to Mikado himself. Not explicitly though, but Mikado got his message, hehe.
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