#namie yagiri

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.