Character Profile: Izumi Lio

Izumi Rio is a shinigami. He was originally partnered with Meroko Yui, who loved him very much, but due to Izumi's betrayal, she was partnered up with Takuto. Izumi soon realized that he actually really loved Meroko, and goes to win her back.

In the anime, he does not get her back, but in the manga, Izumi and Meroko become partners again, and also a couple. Izumi has the saddest past out of all characters, but he is also the most sly character.

Izumi Lio can be a pretty tricky guy to figure out. In the anime he would seem like he would refuse to help Meroko and Mitsuki save Takuto from becoming a ghost but then he turns right around and tells them one way he could save him. He can be quite cold but given what his life was like who could blame him. In the Manga it tells more about the sly Shinigami. While he was alive he got the impression that his own mother hated him.

Izumi's father died when Izumi was very young and since his death his mother went nuts and would beat Izumi for turning out like his father. To make his mother happy for once, he ran off while they were out shopping and stood in front of an oncoming train. He saw his mother smile as he was hit. Later on, his mother died and Izumi went to take her soul, telling his mother that he had became a Shinigami.

Because of Mitsuki, Izumi realizes that what he wanted was for his mother to call out to him while he was on the tracks waiting for death. He tricks Mitsuki, assisting Sheldon. Sheldon tells Mitsuki, "Every time he touches your pure heart, he realizes how stained he is, and it hurts him." He has only one memory left, but is afraid to see it, because if it will not offer him salvation, nothing will.

However, somehow he recalls that day on the railroad tracks and sees that his mother is smiling through tears of guilt and relief, watching him die and thinking he must escape from her. She also reveals that she had to tell herself not to call out, and that she was sorry for not being able to love him. In the end, Izumi resolves to protect Mitsuki.

This entire bit about Izumi does not come up in the anime at all.