#tanaka tom
It is time for Shizuo to get shot! So let’s take a look at a couple of interactions.
Starting of with Tom being unable to correct the way Shizuo addresses him deal despite being a senior both in age and on the job, because Shizuo absolutely will go off on him if he makes a mistake in handling the dude. Yikes.
Also…. Car? The anime had me honestly convinced they did most collection on foot but I guess they actually cover a pretty large area! Ikebukurou isn’t that big though….
Shizuo and Tom know enough about the Yellow Scarves to know that having in creepy back alleys is not really their style. And for all that Tom is clearly scared of Shizuo, he does also deeply trust the man to keep him safe without question. That’s certainly something at least.
Considering that at this point, he wasn’t planning to actually use his gun, this guy clearly has a death wish… Or just genuinely doesn’t know about Shizuo- somehow.
What they do know is his actual job, and even his hours as well as what who and what he works for, which is certainly quite suspicious! Did Izaya tell them? It’s certainly possible that they bought this info from him, but their plan to attack Shizuo is their own. A misguided revenge mission based on the perceived superiority of possessing a gun. It could also be somebody else they got their information from. Shinichi (seemingly) appeared in the intro, and though Aoba has not made an appearance yet, he was revealed to have been active in the scene during middle school, and he’s currently in his final year. He also already has a connection with the blue squares- it could well be that he kept the ropes in hand in the background after his brother was jailed.
In the end Izaya is still the most likely suspect, but he usually refuses to sell information of Shizuo, so it would be at least a little out of character for him. It’s possible though that he is rushing things along to ride the accelerated tide that Masaomi set.
Shizuo is genuinely scary. It’s easy to forget when he’s such a laid back character in every other way… But just imagine being on the receiving end of this barrage. And the worst is, even in the middle of it, he has this really calm way of talking, which must be incredibly confusing for his opponents.
While kicking some poor fool in the crotch, Tom, one of the few people not outright afraid of Shizuo, and fairly close in terms of friendship, is actually convinced the brute might really kill somebody here. And remember, all this is after the confrontation with Saika where Shizuo supposedly learned to control himself… Yeah he didn’t.
Nobody can break a bad habit or learn to control themselves that fast or that easily. And Shizuo doesn’t even seem to be trying.
Maybe he wouldn’t end up with multiple bullets in his chest if he had. At least Tom is around to help him out, which I don’t remember being a thing in the anime.
