Tokyo Revengers: Are Shinichiro and Izana Brothers? Relationship Explained!
And while Tokyo Revengers might initially look like a typical yanki series, the whole concept is popular for one good reason: the story has a lot of depth. It can be difficult to follow occasionally, but it is worth it. One of the aspects that makes the series so great is the interpersonal relationships between the characters, and in this article, we will discuss one such relationship. The relationship in question will be the one between Izana Kurokawa, the villain of the Tenjiku Arc, and Shinichiro Sano, an important character in Izana’s life. In this article, we are going to explain the true nature of their relationship to you.
Shinichiro and Izana were half-brothers… sort of
Now, the story of Izana and Shinichiro is a very interesting one and a complex one as well. Izana was born into the Kurokawa family, but the identities of his parents are unknown, as the author never revealed them. On the other hand, we know that Karen Kurokawa adopted Izana and that through her, he became related to the Sano family. Namely, Karen was the mother of Emma Sano and the ex-wife of Makoto Sano, who was Emma’s father, but also Shinichiro’s and Mikey’s father, although Karen Kurokawa was not their mother. He was Emma’s adoptive brother, and through her relationship with Makoto, he became “related” to Shinichiro.
But, this was not a real blood relation. Izana and Shinichiro did not share a common relative, as Karen adopted Izana, and Karen was not directly related to Shinichiro since Shinichiro had a different mother than Emma. Still, Izana considered Shinichiro to be his older brother, and Shinichiro did consider Izana to be his younger brother, so while the two of them were not directly related, they did have a sibling-like relationship, as they both cared for each other deeply.
This is how Shinichiro and Izana can be considered brothers, but we have explained the true state of things to you so we can move on!
Is Shinichiro older than Izana?
Another frequently asked question in relation to Shinichiro and Izana is their age difference, which is a pretty legitimate question if you look at the relationship between these two characters. It is obvious that Shinichiro was older than Izana, and they had an older/younger brother-type of relationship, but how much older? Is it known? Well, it is!
Namely, as was officially confirmed in the series, Shinichiro Sano was born on August 1, 1980, which makes him one of the older non-adult characters in the series. On the other hand, Izana Kurokawa was born on August 30, 1987, and is older only than Mikey, but he is seven years younger than Shinichiro. This was nicely depicted in the series, as well as realistically, as they really did have a relationship that is befitting of such an age difference. And that is one of the reasons why Tokyo Revengers is so good.
This covers the section related to Shinichiro’s relationship with Izana. Before we end this article, we are just quickly going to go over the relationship that Izana had with Mikey.
Are Mikey and Izana brothers? Here is how they are, and aren’t at the same time!
As for the question of whether Mikey and Izana are related – everything we’ve said about Izana’s relationship with Shinichiro – i.e., about the nature of their relationship – we can repeat when Mikey is concerned. This makes sense – Shinichiro and Mikey are actual brothers, so Izana’s “sibling” relationship with Shinichiro is the same as with Mikey, since Shinichiro and Mikey are brothers. The only difference is that Izana was older than Mikey, as Mikey was born on August 20, 1990, which means that Izana was 10 years older than him.
But, unlike Shinichiro, whom he adored and looked up to, Izana did not like Mikey that much. In fact, he did not like him at all. In fact, Izana was so envious of Mikey that he wanted to kill him; this was the result of a situation that happened when they were children that really defined him.
As we know, Izana and Shinichiro, in particular, were great together and were like actual brothers when they were children. Izana regarded Shinichiro like an older brother, and Shinichiro reciprocated these sentiments. At one point, he gave Izana leadership of the Black Dragon as a gift, installing him as the gang’s eighth president—but only if he would later give it over to Shinichiro’s younger brother, Manjiro. As a result of his envy, he began to feel a great degree of hatred towards Mikey, as he felt that he had replaced him and stolen his brother.
This is how their relationship developed and why the two of them clashed so intensively during the Tenjiku Arc. Izana was, of course, a different person when he clashed with Mikey, someone much more disturbed and darker than he was, but even in this madness, he knew what Mikey did and how much he hated him. This was yet another element that was nicely written in the series, which added another layer to the story’s generally great character development, which is great!
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