So this is the blurb of book 3, and I just wanted to note how Narita (or the translator) refers to the characters here;
Masaomi: a boss
Mikado: a boy
Horada: a man
Izaya: a boy
That’s rather unusual. I wonder if it’s intentional or a mistranslation. I could understand refering to Masaomi as a boss but so is Mikado and he’s called a boy. Not to mention calling a 21 year old a boy. I’ve known 16 year olds who insist they’re men and not boys
It could be a mistranslation of course, but personally, I think it’s about their mentality, or their perception of self.
Masaomi, although he acknowledges that he’s still young and has much to learn, considers himself the yellow scarves’ boss first off all, and the other characters agree; he’s been making the kind of choices normally reserved for adults for years now. The book is also mostly about the trouble brewing with yellow scarves, so ‘boss’ is his most prominent role in this particular instalment.
Mikado, although he’s the founder of the dollars, is not technically a boss, since he’s not really leading anyone at this point. And besides, he’s still very naive and quite short sighted, almost willfully unaware of what his friends are up to.
Horada is lacks any kind of naivety and is obvious scum so no doubt man fits him better then boy, even though I think he’s a little younger than Izaya?
And that leaves Izaya himself. Naive would certainly be a mismatch for his character, but he does have an extremely juvenile mindset, to the point where multiple characters refer to him as a kid in later books. He’s the kid who’s poking the beehive after all, right? Personally I wouldn’t refer to him as a man either… I think he’s best identified as a disaster
Izaya: “I have a hundred tasks I could be doing but I’m bored, and my hobby isn’t doing it’s thing.”
What a massive mood.
Izaya’s ‘fair enough’ attitude to his own employee promising to punch him says way too much about what he considers 'normal’ treatment towards himself… Also notorious crossword puzzles, these will make another appearance.
I’ve vaguely mentioned Izaya being neurodivergent before, and this right here is my proof. But it’s probably not the proof you were thinking of; because there’s many forms of neurodivergence, and this one is often forgotten. More over it’s not just Izaya, but Namie too.
High intellect. Extremely high intelligence is an often forgotten form of neurodivergence. But by definition it’s a brain that works significantly different from the norm, and therefore it causes some of the same problems as other forms do. Communication between a highly intelligent individual and a regular person is fraud with misunderstandings and mismatched perspectives. More over the jumps they make in logic and connected topics, and the insights they have in others will be completely foreign to your average joe.
Both Namie and Izaya also have an extremely sharp memory, which would help them internalize any experiences that have very quick and very solidly. Wether that’s helpful or not unfortunately depends completely on the actual experience… And I don’t think either of these people have many good ones (〒﹏〒)
Izaya won’t even appreciate his intellect! He compliments Namies openly, but when she returns it he just reflects and shoves the entire accomplishment on her. (Even though I can’t imagine envelopes with documents for various people being located on a bunch of random shelves being either neatly organized, nor Namie’s work)
Overall though, you really see how these two are growing comfortable working and existing in the same space. And even though Namie still finds Izaya rather unnerving in certain aspects, she is clearly developing a level of respect and trust in him, and the same goes for Izaya, who seems to express himself more openly and truthfully towards her. At least that’s what I think; the lack of sudden 'face changes’ and over exaggerated expressions implies a higher degree of comfort.
And a final note; Izaya has never been raided by the police before but apparently expects it to happen sooner or later, and after almost a year passed Namie is still very wary of her old company chasing her down.
Izaya’s predictions are far from perfect; he was a whole day off in when he expected Masaomi even though they just spoke.
Also he sees Masaomi as a sort of little brother, which strongly implies Izaya actually holds a fair amount of care for him, though as discussed before, he also holds Masaomi responsible for his mistakes. Personally I see this as a sign of respect. Izaya doesn’t see these teenagers as mere kids, he sees them as individual people who are each have their capabilities and can make their own choices. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
Too bad Masaomi doesn’t hold the same type of respect; to him Izaya is merely a monster, something evil that lurks in the dark and pounces at any chance it gets. And this sort of opinion constantly taints the narrative, making Izaya, who only fans the flames that are already there, responsible for all the bad things.
Glaring is rude, Don’t you know that, Masaomi? Anyway, the fact that Masaomi thinks Izaya could be the dollars boss says a lot about how much he misunderstands the dollars, and Izaya’s motivations.
And this guest room. It’s one major difference from the anime. There Izaya’s receiving space is immaculate, minimalistic and cold, but here this place is described as dark, crowded and claustrophobic. It’s unwelcoming in exactly the opposite way.
Combined with the previous pages this also leads me to believe that Izaya is naturally more of a force of chaos than an organized genius, even in his own home. I wouldn’t be surprised if before hiring Namie he was spending a significant portion work time trying to make sense of his own chaos, though with that memory of his he could probably find this anyway.
Now I won’t say that Izaya’s words can’t be dangerous; but it’s purely left to their receiver to make them so! All he’s really doing is laying out theories, often based on what he’s seen or experienced, and sometimes simply a perspective he finds interesting. It’s up to the receiver wether they turn those words into truth, or not.
Oh but Namie knows. It all means nothing… Unless of course, it’s actually an insights into deeper motivations you have even realized yet… Or you know, it could just be bullshit. Izaya won’t mind either way, he just wants to see what you do with it.
Two can play at a game like this. But Izaya doesn’t care about winning, so Masaomi choosing to play is more than enough for him.
And here we see Izaya jumping through hoops trying to get what he wants without breaking his promise to Mikado. He didn’t quite succeed since Masaomi makes him say it anyway, but he sure made an effort!
This right here is the real cruelty of Izaya. Exposing the lies and hidden corners that kept you safe in your mind. But that jab at their friendship was truly unnecessary, this is exactly what gets you punched in the face, Izaya!
And confirmation that Izaya really did break his promise, because apparently Masaomi paid him… Somehow. Sorry Mikado.
It’s interesting how Kyohei is just casually hanging out with another gang member from the blue squares, and initially seems to get along just fine. His values aren’t all that straight forward; he’s fine with the general idea of attacking Masaomi, even if he himself considers this fight below him. His only real concern is being caught by the police when it comes to a straight forward fight. Though Masaomi is a kid, the fandom often forgets he’s also the leader of an active gang, which, although they didn’t particularly start any fights or wars, is still highly violent in it’s defense. The characters in the books on the other hand definitely do aknowledge this fact and therefore treat him much more like an adult.
Of course… When it comes to kidnapping, mutilating and raping a little girl… Hmn yeah that clearly goes too far. I think we can all agree with Kyohei on that one, but it actually isn’t surprising that this behavior is cheered on in gang culture, is it? Certainly leaves a bad taste in my mouth to remember how relatively normal this kind of thing likely is in that sort of underworld.
So of to the rescue they go—
Evidence for Ran Izumii being among the biggest shit holes in this generally highly questionable series… Right there. Even the blue squares closely in league don’t seem entirely comfortable with the absolute disregard for Saki as a person he’s speaking with here.
Enter Walker, who’s good mood was immediately doused upon seeing her.
Walker’s 2D fantasies are as unrealistic and entertaining as always. I personally don’t think he actually believes it though, despite Kyouhei’s earlier comments about the two Otaku’s not being able to tell reality and fiction apart. I think if anything, it just serves as a perfect distraction. I absolutely would believe that Walker has a hero complex though!
Don’t play with fire people, you’ll get burned. Even Walker did, and we all know it wasn’t his first time. He just had different priorities in the moment. We’ll have to admit though, it was very effective, even stopping them from being able to give chase right away.
In the short ride away from the scene, we know;
1. Everyone saw Masaomi, and nobody blamed him from being unable to manage on his own. He is, after all, just a boy.
2. The police shows up suspiciously fast after Khouhei and crew escape the scene.
3. The remains of the blue squares got in trouble with the Awakusu,of all people, right after.
4. And picked a fight with Shizuo,
5. Which Izaya then conveniently made use of to ‘frame’ Shizuo.
6. Izaya moved to Shinjuku right after this incident.
This smells of a typical Izaya style revenge scheme to me. I don’t believe for a moment that he was okay with what was done to Saki, or that he intended for it to happen because this is exactly how Izaya reacts in other times where people he cares about are hurt by somebody else.
Izaya obviously has a lot of issues with expressing affection, but I’m pretty sure this is it, these over-the-top revenge actions, since it’s pretty damn consistent who he does it for.
I actually think that Izaya’s mocking attitude towards Masaomi later in the hospital, and his disregard for him in the 'current’ time also have to do with being disappointed and angry at the boy, for being a coward and betraying Saki. It’s hardly an excuse- he’s just a kid after all, but it explains.
And finally I’m suspecting, since it’s put this way, Shizuo was probably at leat party responsible for the thing he got arrested for? It was probably Izaya’s fault he ended up in whatever the actual situation was in the first place, but seeing how shizuo was at this point in time, he probably did some non-excusable violence on his own accord.
Also this means that the remark about their 'rivelry being set in stone’ in the first book, refers to this point, only two years ago. So their fight before that were actually of a friendlier, less serious nature??
A little while later, once Saki already has recovered a bit, Kyouhei’s crew runs into Masaomi at the hospital.
The interaction is quite telling for how everyone believes Masaomi should be treated. Yes, he’s young. But he’s not a elementary school child. He’s a teenager, and he made the concious choice to get into fights, and to keep his gang once he realized he had one. He even chose to keep his gang after realizing he could protect his friends by breaking it up. Masaomi can and should be expected to take responsibility, HE made these choices, nobody else did.
And still Kyohei gave him a way out, telling Saki a lie for him, letting Masaomi bury the past and move on with somebody he’s supposedly in love with, should he chose to.
He does make a choice in the end. But he still courses to run- just with a little bit more closure than simple avoidance, as he ends up breaking up with Saki.
Kyohei really was being cool, and he definitely has an impact on Masaomi! I’m not sure if it was a 100% positive one in this case, but he did the best he could’ve. It’s not Kyouhei’s fault that Masaomi is an idiot.
Leave it to Erika and Walker to totally ruin it though. Though I have to say, reading under the bedsheets? Training your ears to hear your parents approach? Relatable.
