Durarara!!

4/28/10

I have never seen such an interesting manga before. Lives of all different people are tied together, gang wars, mysterious black rider with no head, awesomeness......

Only one answer: Durarara!!

For it is too awesome!! Especially Izaya. He's a very interesting fellow. Not to mention homicidal and hot.

Summary:

Author	Narita Ryohgo
Artist	Satorigi Akiyo

"Ryuugamine Mikado is a boy who seeks for the exciting life of the big city--who yearns for an unmundane life; a hoodlum, a stalker denpa-girl, an informant, a champion fighter, a black-market doctor, and the Headless Rider astride a black motorcycle.

But depite how different they are, all of these stories are interconnected by mysterious incidents going on in Ikebukuro: mysterious kidnappings, a pharmaceutical group supposedly performing human experiments, and the mysterious "colorless" gang known as the "Dollars."

From then on, the existence of supernatural cases and a gang called the Yellow Turbans will rise to the surface, and Ikebukuro will pushed to the breaking point."

~Taken from MangaFox

Characters-

Celty Sturluson~ 

The heroine of the series. Also known as "The Black Rider" or "The Headless Rider", she is a Dullahan from Ireland who came to Japan looking for her stolen head. Her motorcycle is actually a horse in disguise. She has no heart and perceives via unknown sensors that are not located on the head. The physical strength she possesses is above human, though not quite on par with Shizuo Heiwajima. She is also capable of manipulating a shadow-like, durable substance to form objects ranging from gloves to chariots at her will.

Celty lives with Shinra Kishitani and works as an underground courier. She wears a helmet when she goes out and communicates via a PDA. She enjoys online chatting, television and DVDs. She is one of the minority who knows the creator of the Dollars. She seems to have feelings for Shinra, but she herself is unsure if it is really love, oddly enough she has the habit of punching Shinra in the stomach when he talks about his love towards her. She tends to get mad when Shinra says she does not need her head. She is afraid of extraterrestrials and traffic officers as she thinks of both as monsters. She is a member of Dollars.

Her online chat screenname is "Setton".

Mikado Ryugamine~ 

high school boy who moved to Ikebukuro with the encouragement of his best friend Masaomi in order to search for unusual beings and adventure. Mikado tries hard to change his image but so far he has not had any luck. Mikado has had moments where he speaks his mind, which makes a reason why Masaomi admires him. He is the only remaining creator of the infamous Dollars. He has a crush on Anri Sonohara, but has never found a chance to tell her, and when close to doing so, she leaves.

His online chat screenname is "Tanaka Taro".

Masaomi Kida~

A resident of Ikebukuro and Mikado Ryūgamine's best friend from childhood. He encouraged Mikado to come to Ikebukuro. He is enthusiastic about picking up girls but often fails at it. Masaomi has commented on not letting Mikado "go to the dark side" and that he has already gone through it. Masaomi was depressed until Mikado arrived. He was the leader of the Yellow Scarves Gang 3 years ago, however, he was forced to join back again due to an event. He is also an inactive Dollars member. He leaves Ikebukuro with his ex-girlfriend, Saki Mikajima, during the conflict between the 3 main forces in Ikebukuro.

His online chat screenname is "Bakyura"

Anri Sonohara~

A bespectacled girl who attends the same school as Mikado and Masaomi. She is rather quiet and timid, but seems very close towards Kida and Mikado, but sometimes she tends to enclose herself. Though she knows Mikado's feelings for her, she considers him no more than a "good friend". She is very busty and cute, which makes her somehow popular, even though she feels uneasy about it. She feels as if she needs to rely on somebody to move on.

Her online chat screenname is "Saika".

Izaya Orihara~

A young man who sells information for his own enjoyment. He claims to love the entire human race except for Shizuo Heiwajima, and exhibits said love by putting humans in often miserable conditions and observing their reactions.

He 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 puts Shizuo in constant problems, such as gangs attacking him daily up to framing him of crimes.

He is a master of parkour, and also quite skilled with his flickblade (the blade he uses must be slightly opened before the mechanics of it springs opens the blade - 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 him noticing it. Izaya has two younger sisters, Mairu and Kururi, who are twins and troublemakers. It seems that from the beginning Izaya had a hunch about Mikado being the creator of Dollars, and he was proven to be correct. He is a member of Dollars and the one who began recruiting people after Mikado stopped sending invitations to Dollars.

His name comes from a combination of the biblical Isaiah and Japanese for "the one who looks over the crowd".

He is usually seen pretending to be female online and talks in a feminine manner in the chatroom. His screenname is "Kanra".

Shizuo Heiwajima~

A man who is always seen to wear sunglasses and a bartender's suit. Although quiet and nondescript while not angered, he has a very short fuse and fights with incredible strength. Despite his simple and unrefined fighting skills, he is often considered the strongest fighter in the series. In the novels his power is described as the naturally unlimited form of human strength and likened to "adrenaline power" that can give people superhuman strength in times of emergency. In addition, Shizuo is capable of often superhuman parkour moves, a skill he obtained naturally from years of hunting down Izaya Orihara. He is also a member of Dollars.

He works as a bodyguard for a debt collector in Ikebukuro and carries intense animosity towards Izaya. He has a younger brother, Kasuka, who is a top idol under the showbiz name of Yuuhei Hanejima. He is also a long-time acquaintance of Celty. Although he and Izaya Orihara are on bad terms, Shizuo is actually well-acquainted with Izaya's younger sisters, Mairu and Kururi.

His first and last name translates literally into "serene man" and "peaceful island" respectively.

Shinra Kishitani~

A young underground doctor who lives with Celty and is also her lover. He stays mostly indoors and wears a white coat even when not working as a doctor. He went to the same primary school as Shizuo, and has since then been interested in his unlimited strength in times of anger, in fact he rather enjoys when Shizuo makes use of his strength. His father was a doctor and since childhood, has participated in surgeries with his father, the most notable a vivisection on Celty. He went to the same middle school as Izaya and has been friends with him since then. He as well enjoys to some point the constant fights between Shizuo and Izaya. As a doctor he is rather interested in what he finds is an interesting phenomena, such as Shizuo's power and Celty's body functions.

Shinra seems to have the "capacity" to tell what Celty is feeling, much to her surprise since she doesn't have a head to show her emotions. 

 This is the homepage sign for the 'colorless' Dollars gang:

That's about the main of the main cast. There are others but I'm lazy and decided to not focus on them for now.

~Aoi ^o^