#i really needed to let my thoughts out
Okay, so if you’ve looked at my blog long enough, you’ve noticed that throughout my time here I’ve made several posts regardingthesubtle yet obvious similarities between Shizuo Heiwajima and Anri Sonohara. This post will go into the specifics about their characters and the possible relationship they could’ve had had the author Ryohgo Narita actually took in the time to delve into their similarities and build a bond out of it—instead of leaving that bond in the dust.
Because I have a feeling Narita knew these two had plenty in common, it’s just that he’d rather focus on them bonding with other characters and keep them at a distance—for rather flimsy reasons. (Had a Shizuo-Anri relationship happen, Narita would’ve probably made it platonic, but maybe with some romantic undertones? It’s just a guess.)
To start off, let’s talk about their canon relationship.
Technically, Shizuo and Anri met at the very beginning of the story, aka the famous flying trashcan scene.
As every general fan knows, Izaya is epically decked by a trashcan, Shizuo makes his magnificently fearsome entrance, and everyone else surrounding them is either in state of shock, awe, terror, or all of the above. Including Anri.
Out of context, she just witnessed a violently strong bartender causing chaos, so of course she would cower in fear because of it.
However, when we learn later on that she possesses Saika, akathe blade that loves humanity and mind-controls everyone to slash Shizuo due to his strength, her terror takes on a whole new meaning. Saika most likely erupted after seeing Shizuo in brutal action, distressing Anri not only because of her fear of the bartender, but because she might lose control of the sword and slash him with disastrous consequences. It makes much sense afterwards to keep her distance from him, both in order to protect him from Saika and not having to face his wrath.
The next time they meet again is during the Saika arc, when Shizuo and Celty kicked the ass of a Saika-possessed slasher attempting to kill Anri, and this is where Anri starts to see the seemingly violent bartender in a different light. At the very end of the arc, where Mikado asks a hospitalized Anri who she “admires” (read: crush on to Mikado), the girl gives a dual response—while she focuses her deep admiration on Celty, she also expresses admiration for Shizuo as well, and even thinks about him in the 2nd LN.
It’s quite a change from her initial reaction to him, from being scared and terrified to even thinking of him as a cool guy (but still wary of his violent temper). She also seems to be less concerned about Saika ever controlling Shizuo, either because she somehow finds out that he fought off the Slasher army, or she would know if he’s possessed by summoning her control over him. I also want to quote from Volume 2:
“But I think [Shizuo Heiwajima]’s like me… Someone who can’t actually love other people, Anri thought to herself.”
Keep in mind that at this point, Anri NEVER talked to Shizuo, NEVER had thoughtful conversations with him, unlike of how Shizuo talks to Celty, yet she can ALREADY SENSE that Shizuo has trouble loving people, just like her. Even Celty, who acts as some sort of bridge between the two, can already tell that they have very much in common:
“They were both awkward people who had trouble loving others. But for some reason, these two people, flawed at being human, struck Celty as incredibly human because of that.”
And why wouldn’t she? Shizuo and Anri are human beings gifted with supernatural powers—yet they consider them curses. Both see themselves as monsters trying to live ordinary lives, yet are thwarted by the inner turmoil they face every day: Shizuo trying to control his temper, and Anri trying to repress her positive emotions to keep control over a demonic blade. By the end of their character arcs, they decide to further rein control of their powers to help the people, not to harm them any further. And I think that’s something they could understand each other so well on. (Well, only if Anri has to awkwardly explain to Shizuo about her identity, because she probably knows he doesn’t think fondly of Saika, heh heh ^___^;)
The Saika arc is also my personal favorite part of the series, not only because of Shizuo and Anri being the core characters, but because of their situation—Shizuo is the one desired by the Saika-possessed slashers, whose ultimate “mother” is Anri. (Personally, I find it to be a kind of indirect ship-tease, but that’s just my inner fangirl rambling.)
From then on afterwards, their interactions become as limited as bread crumbs on a plate. In the mostly anime-only S1EP22, Shizuo unintentionally saves Anri from Yellow Scarves gangsters, only to bluntly ask her who she is after she thanks him for doing so.
No “You’re welcome,” not even a confused “You’re welcome…?”, nothing. Granted, Shizuo’s pretty terrible at social skills, so not remembering people’s names is okay for the first time—but this happens again the very next episode, where he repeats himself after she expresses concern over his gunshot wounds from the same gangsters earlier.
(Thank you Shinra for at least remedying this absolutely cringeworthy moment.)
Afterwards, he basically ignores her as he focuses his conversation with Shinra, essentially turning his potential connection with the girl into a slight running gag. *Sigh*
From then on, Shizuo and Anri’s “interactions” are limited to being in each other’s space whenever they’re part of a group event. There’s the hotpot party in Volume 4/ShoEP4/OVA.
There’s them residing in Celty and Shinra’s apartment after being attacked by Akane and Vorona in Volume 5/ShoEP8.
There’s Shizuo interrupting Chikage’s interruption of the Anri and Vorona fight in Volume 6/ShoEP12.
(By the way, in the light novel, Shizuo mistakes Chikage’s intervening the two women as a love triangle gone wrong. Kinda funny, because later on he gets involved in similar triangle with Vorona—but not with Anri, but a little girl who looks like she can pass off as Anri’s younger sister. WHICH has been commented on by other characters, btw.)
The very last time they interact is in Volume 8/TenEP6, where they sit while the cat named Dokusonmaru jumps off of Shizuo’s head and climbs onto Anri’s chest. And that’s it.
From what I can tell based off these scenes, it seems that despite the potential for a friendship, neither Shizuo nor Anri seem interested in trying to talk to each other, to get to know each other better. Shizuo probably knows that Anri is a good friend of Celty, and knows that she isn’t the type who could pester him to the point of snapping a cigarette & stomping it on the ground before catapulting a vending machine; Anri also knows that Shizuo isn’t as violent as he appears, and senses that he has issues with loving people just like her. So, despite the non-obstacles to a relationship, nothing happens. Why is that?
There’s no given answer, unfortunately. I wish I could ask Narita on Twitter why he never makes them interact, but I don’t know Japanese well, nor do I believe he’s fluent in English.
But the reasons that I sense from Narita seem to be incredibly flimsy: “He can’t remember her name!” or “Saika makes it impossible for her to talk to him!” And that irks me to no end. I want to go over both points.
1) Shizuo not remembering Anri’s name.
I get it, both of them aren’t great with social skills; Shizuo arguably has it worse though. I don’t blame him for essentially having a lonely childhood and forming a circle of a few friends and a brother. However, as the novels progress, the more he bonds with other characters (sans Anri), the more sociable he becomes. He gets along fine-and-dandy with Mairu and Kururi despite them being Izaya’s sisters. He treats Vorona with utmost respect as his junior and holds no grudges when he finds out her true identity. He develops a protective attitude towards little Akane (who, I repeat, looks like a younger Anri) even when she initially tries to kill him with a taser. What solidifies his relationships with them is how he’s able to remember their names. But if Anri’s involved, he only asks, “Who are you, again?” Nothing more, everything less.
I’m sorry, it’s just… *sigh*… how difficult is it to remember “Anri” anyways?! “Sonohara” might make some sense if we go by a last-name basis, but “Anri” shouldn’t be hard to pronounce! It’s just as short as “Celty” or “Tom”! Her name only has four letters for crying out loud! (Two if we go by kanji.) Plus it’s of Japanese origin, he didn’t have trouble remembering the obviously foreign name of “Vorona”!
I would’ve find it hilarious if he has trouble remembering the name of the van driver from Kadota’s gang (Togusa), but Anri? Come on. That’s like being neglectful of an adorable bunny. She deserves far better treatment than that.
(As if Narita wants to make me salty even further, there was a moment in SH where Anri calls Togusa by his name, and he gets overwhelmed because nobody outside of the Van Gang really bothers to remember him besides being “the driver.” They never talked to each other beforehand. Just look at this post.)
But,but—maybe it’s just me—I think there’s a subtle reason to this. Remember the milklady from Shizuo’s past in S1EP7?
If you observe this picture just long enough, you can already tell that she bears some physical resemblance to Anri. The round glasses, the short black hair, the kind demeanor… just look at the comparison.
As a bonus, the milklady owned a bakery. Anri’s family also owns an antique store, so to find out that they have a connection to a (legal) business only strengthens my theory. But that’s not the main point.
Shizuo was never able to remember the milklady’s name, because he was too stricken with grief for hurting her while trying to save her from thugs. He thought that she probably saw him as a monster, and from then on he was too guilty to ever show his face around her.
I think that, subconsciously, Shizuo associates Anri with the milklady, and does his damnedest to suppress that memory, because all it does is bring him anguish and misery. So that’s a possible reason why he acts so distant to the girl, why he always struggles to remember her name.
2) Saika preventing Anri form talking to Shizuo due to its excitement.
This is true to some extent. It’s been stated in the novels that whenever Shizuo is in Anri’s presence, Saika reacts so wildly that Anri begins to form obsessive thoughts and physical sensations, so she has to concentrate on pushing them down. That makes sense and all, but we have to remember that Shizuo is practically immune to Saika, thanks to his superhuman pain tolerance. So if Anri goes crazy one day and slashes him with all her might, he’ll probably be unfazed and try to restrain her without hurting her much.
The same can’t be said for Mikado, Anri’s closest friend. In later volumes, Saika begins to act in a similar manner whenever he’s around, due to Anri developing feelings for Mikado; this distresses her greatly, but that doesn’t stop her from trying to reach out to him when he gets progressively more unhinged, nor does it prevent them from *SPOILERS*becoming a couple in SH, or having Mikado stabbed by a Saika-possessed Nasujima beforehand in Volume 13. So as of SH, Mikado is officially part of the Saika army, something that Anri greatly feared from the start. Nice. Real fucking nice. A+ planning, Narita.
(Sometimes I think the only reason why Anri is together with Mikado is because she feels guilty for him getting infected with Saika.)
I’ve addressed these two points, they are basically bullshit reasons, but I also want to add another one:
3) Almost every other character has some sort of relationship with Shizuo and Anri in some form.
This is absolutely true. Saika, Celty, Shinra, Akane, Vorona, Kida, Chikage. Ruri, the Van Gang, Kasane, hell, even Professor Nasujima have interacted with them in some shape or form! In a series where a diverse cast of characters is split into “assigned” groups - Raira Trio, Celty & Shinra, Van Gang, etc. - plenty of overlap occurs when characters interact with others who are outside their normal zone, which fits the “everyone is connected” atmosphere the series has. All the folks that I’ve listed above are bridges for potential interaction, but neither Shizuo nor Anri seem to be willing to cross it. And that’s a damn shame.
So, Narita, the next time you come back to SH… can you just write a scene where Shizuo apologizes to Anri after 2+ years of not remembering her name? And they become friends? Please? Is that too much to ask for?
