In fact, I’ve been recommended this series many times in a year or two, so I really intend on giving it a read, but it will be for 2019 if I can restrain myself until then. :))
I’m an avid reader and easily distracted, so I have to limit myself about starting new series until December, because of my studies. I’m not always successful (*cough* Golden Kamuy *cough*), but I have to really try because it’s only a few more months to go.
I promise I’ll let you guys know whenever I’m able to start it though!! Thanks again for sharing about something you think I may like. ^3^
Hi Anon! Well, the cast is huge, but sure, I do have characters I like more than others! It was hard to choose, but in no particular order (warning: spoilers everywhere)…
Ryuugamine Mikado
Because he started as a seemingly good and innocent kiddo…
before he lost his shit in a similar
manner
to Anakin Skywalker or Yagami Light (it’s the fallen angel trope: he went completely extreme to protect his ideals).
It used to be a subject of debate but in my opinion he lost it way more than Kida and, as Aoba once wondered, no this isn’t entirely due to Izaya or Aoba himself trying to mess with/use him. Rather it’s because he was bored of the ordinary way before the series had even started.
After all, that’s the main reason why he created the Dollars and why he moved to Ikebukuro, so his downfall isn’t that surprising after he met Celty and got to witness how powerful what he had created turned out to be (regarding the whole situation with Namie, Seiji and Mika).
That’s what makes a MC interesting though, so I’m not complaining. 🙂
Spoiler alert if you don’t read the novels Anon, but I also like how his arc and Anri’s end: it’s a shared conclusion that is expanded on in the SH novels. Mikado was bored of the ordinary, which was the basis of his character arc, but now he will never have the chance to go back to an entirely normal life anymore. I find that very fitting. ^^
Celty Sturluson
The other MC! And actually I wonder if there is anyone who dislikes her? Personally I found her incredible and that from the very moment of her introduction. It’s the only Dullahan I ever met in fiction so that makes her pretty unique, haha!
I also love the irony that she was more human & gentle than humans themselves and that she ended up falling in love with one of the most selfish humans ever. That being said, DRRR is literally “a story of twisted love” so I hope she gets to live long and happy years with Shinra. 🙂
Karisawa Erika
Because she’s an adorable Otaku and cosplay fan. I love how cheerful she always is, how she’s such a great friend and support to anyone who needs her.
I also love her VA (Tagaki Ayahi-san) and the fact that some other VAs of the series
(Mikado’s, Anri’s and Aoba’s iirc? or maybe Izaya’s and Shizuo’s?)
actually mentioned her character as a favorite for all the manga/anime references she’s constantly making. xDD
Finally she’s a great singer, many characters think so, and I don’t know why but I find this little trivia fact very enjoyable.
Orihara Mairu & Kururi
Count as 1 character even if there are two of them, just like it was explained in the novels. :))
I just… love how they’re very similar to Izaya in almost all of his good sides (that is: well informed, creative, cunning, dangerous, capable to protect themselves if they’re together) but they share none of why he’s a villain.
As such it’s amazing that they get along with Shizuo, Eijirou, Namie and Aoba, to name a few, when these characters absolutely can’t stand Izaya.
Also the irony that they’re big big fans of ‘Hanejima Yuuhei’ when Izaya and Shizuo hate each other? Pretty funny. 😀
Heiwajima Shizuo
So many feels for this character, because he is such a good guy yet he has a terrible view of himself because of his huge physical strength and anger issues, but also mostly because Izaya is constantly trying to pass him off as a monster.
It’s kinda why the Shizaya ship is a NOTP for me (despite really enjoying it when I was younger): Shizuo truly deserves the peace he wants as well as to learn to live with himself, instead of constantly being involved in schemes just because Izaya has a complex with him (I’m with Simon on this).
So anyway, he’s a great guy, he saved the situation so many times and he almost always sees through Izaya’s plans, so all the more reasons to love him.
Vorona
Amazing growth and character development + she is partially the reason Izaya vanished from the city (for now at least) while also making sure Shizuo wouldn’t become a murderer and, as much as I love Izaya’s character, that was fair and what needed to happen.
So I’m grateful to her and I hope she’ll eventually come back just like she wanted. :))
Akabayashi Mizuki
Someone once made a post about all the reasons Akabayashi is True Love My Yakuza and I’ll add just one: his VA, Yamaguchi Kappei-san (also L in Death Note) because damn, it’s a delight to listen to him speaking.
There is nothing to understand, he’s just incredible and I’m grateful to him for all that he did for both Anri and Mikado.
Kadota Kyohei
An old fashioned hero type of character, but isn’t that why we like him?
He saved the situation so many times, he’s got clear limits in what he will or won’t do, so he’s pretty amazing and I just love the whole ‘I’m no leader’ when he has the most loyal gang out of anyone in the series. xD
I’m also pretty happy about the fact that he’s a friend to Shizuo while not being a pawn to Izaya and someone who Celty and Shinra are happy to invite for hotpot, all at the same time. That just speaks of how great he is.
Rokujo Chikage
Warning: he’s my son. ❤
A ladies man (not a womanizer) but only in the most respectful way you can imagine: yes, he has something like 100 girlfriends because he’s constantly flirting with every girl he sees, but they’re all aware of this fact and okay about it (and about sharing dates with each other), so no judging.
Also he’s a student, has a part time job, is the leader of a bousouzouku gang called Toramaru in Saitama and yet he still finds the time to come to Ikebukuro to help characters he met just this one time. xDD
So he’s a pretty chivalrous guy, even towards guys (he takes his debts quite seriously), and that’s why he’s a fave!
Orihara Izaya
Well, DRRR wouldn’t be the series it is without Izaya so of course I love him, despite how joyful I am whenever he’s punched, stabbed or thrown around violently, because each time he deserves it. xD
In fact, he’s probably one of the most complex villains I ever read about and this is really emphasized by the way Kamiya Hiroshi-san voices him. Tbh I think DRRR in general stands out as a series, because
the main focus is the cast, not the plot, and all the VAs did their job quite amazingly (a big reason why, even tho’ the anime’s s2 didn’t cover the story as well as s1, I still enjoy it greatly).
But anyway: Izaya’s an ass. He knows that, everyone knows that and either hates him or rolls their eyes. When it comes to understanding him though, I think reading the novels or listening to what Shinra has to say on the subject is the most important.
Too many times Izaya was called a sociopath and I used to make this mistake too, but that’s just not who he is at all. That’s why I tend to think that the way Shinra described him and his love of humans to Manami in the last novel of the series is a direct consequence of his parents not really being around.
It’s actually hard to explain without quoting the discussion itself, so I’ll leave it at that for this post, but I do blame the absence of the Orihara parents regarding the way their 3 kids turned out to be.
I love them like that though and I love even more when Izaya himself shows a hint of weakness/annoyance about certain topics (Shinra, his complex with Shizuo, his sisters, his dislike of Saika, Tsukumoya, etc), so I wouldn’t even want their parents to try and make amends for not being around.
Anyway, I just don’t think it’s possible to enjoy DRRR as a series if you hold a real dislike for Izaya’s character, if just because it’s obvious that he’s going to be a pain in the back of most of the cast from very early on + we get to see his POV almost everytime something happens.
I find Narita-sensei is one of the best when it comes to writing complex and very unique characters, so Izaya is definitely enjoyable to read about!
Special mention: Kida, Anri, Simon, Akane, Shinra, Tom, Ruri, Kasuka, Saki, Yumasaki and Togusa. Oh and Shiki, idk why but I like him too. xD
As with every series, it’s actually way easier and quicker to list characters I don’t like, especially in DRRR because they’re all characters that aren’t really put under a good light by Narita-sensei himself, but I hope this answers your question.
As always sorry for rambling and have a nice weekend Anon!
don’t u love how
Alexis is here like ‘wtf is wrong with my wife’s family i don’t understand what’s happening anymore’
and the rest of the characters are just
blank-staring at him while he’s completely lost xDDD
Same for when Ciel realizes his dead brother is “Lord Sirius” and he is shooketh
hmm to be honest I wouldn’t be able to tell regular kimono from those worn in a traditional wedding. I feel like someone would have mentioned that if it were the case so I’d say no. But just in case, here are all the times Ishida has drawn Touka and Kaneki together in traditional clothing!
Hiyaaa there. I agree with you! Jean wasn’t inaccurate in saying that there were inconsistencies in Mikasa’s “Eren’s doing this for us,” claim. But he and Connie were not correct in their assessment of what happeend post-Sasha death either- Eren was laughing… but we readers saw his face which indicated it was out of horror/pain a la Hannes death. That tells me two things: 1) we’re probably being set up for further 104th disconnect and 2) that, like you said, the same Eren that jumped in a titans mouth to save Armin/told the 104th he cared about them is the same Eren that dragged them to battle. What we readers know about that moment is different than what Jean and Connie saw, which means there’s more to the story than Connie’s observation and what Jean was (as Jean does) so bluntly stating.
Right now my understanding of Eren still falls in line with what I wrote a couple months back which is basically: life of friends/family (but see below paragraph lol)> defeat titans/marley > feelings of friends/family. He prioritizes the injustices being forced onto them over everything except for the bare necessity of them being alive and without injury; emotion and hurt feelings falling outside of the bare necessity category. Hence why the moment Eren cracked wasn’t when Mikasa, Armin, Levi, or even Hange showed disappointment in him. It was when he learned that Sasha had died. In other words, their feelings over having to kill the enemy weren’t of concern to him. Nor were their opinions on whether or not he was reckless. But the loss of Sasha’s life is what struck him.
The addendum here is that while I think “life of friends/family > defeat titans/marley > feelings of friends/family” still applies, he’s going to be more likely to gamble the “life of friends/family” category if the risk for any one of them is particularly high (Historia.. maybe) or if the risk for all of them is particularly high (gotta go get Zeke RIGHT NOW for ~reasons beyond the normie comprehension~ other wise EvEryBoDy DiEs No TiMe FoR ThInKiNG.) In other words, I think Eren had one hell of a reason for doing what he did. His actions (i.e. forcing the SC to retrieve him) ended up getting Sasha killed. But I think he believed that not taking action would have sealed death for them all.
Like I said though, we need to pinpoint Eren’s exact reasoning for going over to Marley in the way that he did. Right now we don’t have anything in stone. My guess is that whatever the specifics, he was of the mind “desperate times call for desperate measures.” Eren certainly has the propensity to disobey orders. But putting lives on the line (particularly the ones he loves) is something he’s refused or been ashamed of in the past.
Hi! Ah, I’ve seen this idea going around ever since Monday but I think it’s because the translation is misleading. 🙂
So, no, I’d say Bravat is definitely human. What he meant was simply that…
even if he and the rest of the sect (”his kind”) indeed killed innocent people, they did it while “granting [them] sparkle, offering them happiness by way of food and entertainment”, unlike Scotland Yard who’s treating him quite roughly.
In other words “his kind did nothing wrong because they did it out of devotion for someone who’s better than all of them”.
Also, one more proof that Bravat is definitely human is this…
…because if he were supernatural, I doubt he’d have used to be “a failure of a fortune teller” until he was manipulated and drawn into the sect for real!Ciel’s/the BD project’s sake. So yep, he’s human, at least I personally think so.
I hope it answers your question, have a nice day Anon!
Hi! Ah I’m so happy you gave this series a try, I find that in Western fan communities it tends to be quite underrated, despite selling a lot in Japan. :))
About Shima, so I don’t know exactly how we’re supposed to get there, but eventually I think the point of his character arc is for him to stop running away from what he feels regarding his family, his friends and the Myo Dha sect, so that he’ll end going back to them out of his own desire.
The whole spy thing started literally as the opposite, after all:
So in my opinion, it’d make sense that Shima would end up betraying the sides he’s currently spying for (that is to say both Illuminati and, if there is a need to, the Order as well), because at some point the Myo Dha (his family, Suguro and Konekomaru) will be in danger and he’ll want to save them.
It’s kind of the same thing as him not killing Izumo’s familiars with Yamantaka, when she tried to run away from Gedoin during her own arc, no matter if you think that he was following Mephisto’s orders or not. We know he’s sweet on Izumo, so maybe he just wasn’t resolved enough to make her even sadder.
In any case, I truly think he means it when he says he’s enjoying his job, but in my opinion that’s mostly because this job is allowing him to escape something he currently can’t stand:
You only have to look at Juuzou’s wedding (ch90/91) to notice that he’s always trying to stay away from his family, most likely because he has issues with the fact he sees himself as some sort of replacement for Takezou, his elder brother who died (protecting him and Suguro) during the Blue Night:
Clearly, he hates that his elder brother died for his sake and is being revered for it, because now he’s the one who has to live with carrying his brother’s sacrifice:
And, again it’s just my opinion, but that could be why he’s barely motivated to train with Yamantaka. It’s not about him being lazy, it’s just that Yamantaka is yet another thing that he directly inherited from Takezou and, even if that’s allowing him to be a double spy, he still “doesn’t want that to control him”.
For me, Shima Renzou is a character that’s simply screaming “let me be who I want to be and not a copy of the elder brother who died for my sake” and honestly? I totally understand. I used to think his family was really pushing the comparison with Takezou on him, before it was revealed that everyone in his family knew and was against him becoming a spy.
Obviously, his family isn’t unrelated to why he’s feeling like that (all this speech about honor, becoming an exorcist for the Myo Dha, protecting Suguro, etc), so I think it’s important that he eventually confronts them about this (or even better, that they come to save him so that they can show him he matters as who he is), otherwise he’ll never change his mind about himself, them and the Myo Dha.
…I’m sorry I’m rambling, but crack theory, actually I am hoping that Shima leaving Illuminati will happen at the same time as a completely hypothetical confrontation between Mamushi and Todo. I mean…
I’m not sure Mamushi will stay put forever and it’d be nice for her to have the chance to face Todo about how he manipulated her for years. Because now Mamushi is happy, she stopped having doubts about the Myo Dha and she married into the Shima family, so her bringing back Renzou to them would be #best development for me, even though we’re clearly not there yet. xD
Anyway, the point is, from the moment Shima was clearly bothered by the way Lightning was using Suguro, it means he’ll never manage to fully leave the Myo Dha behind to be a spy.
That’s why I think eventually he’ll quit being a spy because he’ll want to save people who are important to him. Or they’ll be the ones saving him, because he’ll be the one in trouble. Either way, going back to the people who matter to him is how I see his character arc ending. 🙂
Sorry for all the rambling xD I didn’t realize I had that many things to say about Shima. Anyway, I hope it answers your question! Have a nice day Anon! 🙂
Hi Anon! At first I read “Dazai” and thought you were asking me about Bungou Stray Dogs which I hardly watched or read haha. Anyway.
Bansai was Otsuu’s producer despite being a member of the Kiheitai and a terrorist, as far as I remember, and that was possible because he did it all under a different name. It’s thanks to him that Otsuu became such a famous singer, but they’ve never seen each other.
Slight spoiler alert but so far we actually didn’t get to see Otsuu again ever since Bansai’s death (if I remember correctly), so it’s legit to wonder if she can still be as huge as she used to be with him now dead, but I’m not so worried.
First of all, it’s plot convenience, but if we’re assuming that Shinpachi didn’t mention anything currently in the manga, then Otsuu as an artist must be doing okay despite Bansai’s death. Secondly, the HDZ48 arc that we had a while ago in the manga, before all the serious arcs, showed that her mother also takes good care of her business as her manager + that Otsuu has plenty of devoted fans, whether she ends up in a band or not, so I think that she’ll find a way to be okay, even without Bansai.
If Bansai hadn’t died though, then I like to think they would have enjoyed working together some more. It’s obvious seeing his design that music was a very important part of his life and character (if just seeing how he even used his shamisen as a weapon) and, if he had survived the war, it would have been nice for him and Otsuu to meet for real and use this opportunity to go even bigger as artists.
I hope it answers your question, Anon and that you enjoy where the anime is going. 🙂 Have a nice day!
Hey, guess who can come and go through the World Tree once a month during the full moon and doesn’t get lost either?
Personally I still think this boy has a link to Griffith 2.0, as in that he’s possibly the ego of the Gutsca baby after his corporeal body ended up as Femto‘s vessel, post the tower of conviction arc.
We know he is powerful too, so if he borrows Femto’s powers (?) he might as well borrow his ability to travel along the World Tree without getting lost and in order to get to his parents during the full moon (the night magic forces are the strongest).
In other words, I don’t think this boy is Griffith/Femto because Schierke confirmed his OD didn’t make the brand react (so he’s not evil), but that doesn’t mean he can’t be linked to Griffith/Femto to some extent anyway (since Femto and the Gutsca baby share one body), which would explain why he too can travel just fine using the World Tree.
midnight-in-town 