Shizuo Heiwajima

Shizuo Heiwajima is one of the main characters from the Durarara!! anime and light novels.

Shizuo is renowned as the strongest man in Ikebukuro. He currently works as Tom Tanaka's bodyguard, and he is shown to be familiar with some of the major characters in the series, such as Izaya Orihara and Celty Sturluson. Despite quitting the Dollars, he is still seen as one of its most important members.

Appearance
Shizuo is a tall young man often seen wearing his trademark bartender suit and blue sunglasses. As a child he had brown hair, though he later dyes his hair blond as suggested by Tom Tanaka in middle school. He is noted by several characters to be a good-looking guy who resembles the actor Yuuhei Hanejima, who is actually his little brother Kasuka Heiwajima.

Personality
Shizuo is introduced to the viewers in the first few episodes as a violent, no-nonsense tough guy, on equal footing with dangerous characters, such as Izaya Orihara and Simon Brezhnev. However, it is implied that most of the time, he is quiet and nondescript, simply following Tom around as his bodyguard. Shizuo apparently does not really like violence and has misgivings about his own strength; unfortunately, he has a very short temper and when angered, his body "acts on its own" and he fights with incredible strength. This restive nature is why Masaomi Kida warns Mikado Ryuugamine to stay away from him, along with Izaya and the Dollars, telling him to 'not hesitate to run from him' in the manga.

Despite the fact that Shizuo used his power very often, he was (and to some extent remains) worried about it. This is probably the result of events in his childhood where his strength caused others to fear him, alienated him from others at school, and even at times inadvertently hurt people he cared for. It is noted in the light novels that Shizuo seems to loathe both his strength and, by proxy, himself, despising both his short temper and inability to change his violent ways. As a boy growing up, it is mentioned that he simply endured the "eternal hell" that came with his power's toll upon his body as he felt it was simply a materialization of his own anger, and thus what he deserved. As noted in the light novels, Shizuo is extremely lonely, partially due to his own fear of hurting those he cares for accidentally and partially due to his strength pushing everyone away from him. It is revealed he had fallen for a woman in the past, but was unable to control his strength and ended up injuring her severely despite only trying to save her. His strength also gradually alienated everyone around him, leaving him isolated and fully aware of the fact that he could never be seen as a normal person and not something to be feared again. As he matured, Shizuo came to the realization that all he truly wanted was to be loved by someone, but because of his condition could not love anyone. He believed he may have been able to forgive himself had his power existed to protect something, but also knew fully well that no matter what he fought for the world would always label his efforts as "violence". Thus, when Shizuo states he hates violence, it is implied that what he truly means is that he hates himself, as due to his very nature he is the definition of violence.

It is not until his run-in with the Saika Army that he is able to accept himself the way he is, since they claim to "love" him because of his strength, the first time anyone has told them they love him at all. He was able to use his strength to its fullest without holding back and still be loved and praised for it, and this gave him the motivation to begin to accept his violent ways, even assisting with his self-control to a degree and allowing him to stop a punch he had already thrown at the last second. Outsiders believe that the "slasher" incidents ended when he went after Shizuo, while it is actually when Anri Sonohara defeats Haruna Niekawa, but Shizuo still beat up many of Saika's daughter blades and only stopped fighting when they did.

Despite his violent temper, and fierce attitude, Shizuo is shown to be kindhearted with a deep rooted sense of honor and cares deeply for those who are close to him, including Celty, Tom, Vorona, and Kasuka; he is also shown to be protective of children, as with Akane Awakusu.

Abilities
Shizuo's great strength is explained this way: Normally, the brain restricts one's power, shutting down muscles in response to pain in order to prevent serious injury; Shizuo doesn't have this limitation, and is capable of using his full strength. His power is described in the novels as the naturally unlimited form of human strength, and Shinra Kishitani likens it to the incredible "adrenaline power" that people rarely display in times of emergency. Although he was chronically injuring himself as a child, over time his body quickly strengthened itself and caught up. Now, as an adult, he is able to use his power without destroying his body.

Shizuo is also capable of often superhuman parkour moves gained from years of chasing Izaya Orihara, who is very good at running away from him. They share an intense mutual animosity, and Shizuo simply seeing Izaya on the street usually results in Shizuo hurling a trash can, vending machine, or other dangerous projectile at him, followed by Izaya fleeing and Shizuo giving chase while angrily yelling "Iiii-zaaa-yaaa!" after him.

Trivia

 * His name is ironic. Heiwa means "Peace/Harmony" while Jima means "Island," leading his last name to translate to "Peaceful Island." Shizu means "Quiet" and "O" means "Hero/Masculine/Leader," leading his first name to translate to "Quiet Hero."
 * His hobby is basking in the sun.
 * Shizuo likes all dairy products and sweet things, but dislikes beer and anything bitter.
 * While he may not be a decent cook, Shizuo can at least make curry for himself. Although, Ryohgo Naritaclaims that he generally makes cup noodles.
 * One of his favorite and oft-repeated quotes is "I hate violence."
 * He hates switchblades because Izaya uses them.
 * Shizuo mentioned that he wanted to be a detective when he was a kid.
 * He smokes Blue American Spirit cigarettes.
 * According to Tom, the reasons Shizuo has never been arrested for all the destruction he causes during his rampages are: 1.) the people he beats up are usually the ones who can't or won't go to the police (ex. gangsters); 2.) his boss has been paying for the damages; and 3.) the destruction he causes is too ridiculous and humanly impossible (in other words, a judge probably will have a hard time believing that a young man has ripped a light pole up from the ground and bent it in half with his bare hands).
 * In the second light novel, Celty claims that Shizuo has yet to kill anyone.
 * Also in the second light novel, Shinra explains how it is possible for Shizuo to have the strength he possess without having huge muscles.
 * Originally, Shizuo was the one approached by a talent scout, not Kasuka. Shizuo, annoyed by the scout, nearly beat him to death. Kasuka rescued him, and the talent scout decided that Kasuka was just as good and scouted him instead.
 * He sang Tsugaru Kaikyou ・Fuyu Geshiki in the rapping CD.
 * Shizuo's birthday is January 28 while his voice actor Ono Daisuke's birthday is May 4. However, Izaya Orihara's birthday is on May 4 while his voice actor Hiroshi Kamiya's birthday is on January 28.
 * The two voice actors, Kamiya and Daisuke, are best friends in real life.
 * In the original script, Shizuo was not going to be in the story. However, Narita didn't want Izaya to be "this unstandable, unbeatable overpowered antagonist," so he came up with someone who would be his counter to stop him, and thus, Shizuo was created.
 * Shizuo Heiwajima, Celty Sturluson, and Izaya Orihara appear as DLC demons for Devil Survivor 2: Break Record.
 * Shizuo is a playable character in Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax. In his in-game story, he is dragged into the alternate world's story by an entity named Denshin, who wishes for Shizuo's help to defeat the malevolent being Zetsumu (who has absorbed the universes of all of the other characters, giving him godlike power). Shizuo faces Zetsumu in a long battle and defeats the villain, destroying its physical existence and bringing peace once more. Denshin then sends Shizuo back to his own universe after all of the others are restored.
 * Shizuo​ ​plays​ ​with​ ​the​ ​Hakata​ ​Tonkotsu​ ​Ramens​ ​grass-lot​ ​baseball team,​ ​filling​ ​in​ ​for​ ​one​ ​of​ ​their​ ​teammates.​ ​He​ ​hit​s ​home​-​runs​ ​out​ ​of​ ​the baseball​ ​field​ ​and eventually​ ​breaks​ ​someone’s​ ​car​ ​windshield with one of these home-runs.