Kōzaburō Arase

—**Arase** to Tsubaki Iwanome, *DMDP* Volume 3, Chapter 21.

## Kōzaburō Arase

* Manga
* Anime

### Occupation

Detective
Yakuza (formerly)

### Relations

Tsubaki Iwanome, Saki Aikawa, Danjō Tozawa, Ranmaru Yatsu, Fumiyo Yamada (colleagues)
Takumi Kuruya (past history)

## Media

### Debut

Chapter 5
Episode 01

### French VA

Arthur Dubois

**Kōzaburō Arase** (荒瀬 耿三郎 *Arase Kōzaburō*) is a former yakuza who works as a detective for the third Materials Compiling Group of the Shinjuku Police's community safety division.

## Appearance

Arase has short black hair, brown skin, and a lean, athletic build. He is usually seen wearing a black shirt tucked into nice trousers and occasionally a grey jacket. A large yakuza tattoo covers most of his back, featuring a tiger superimposed over flowers and flowing water.

## Personality

Arase has been compared to a 'wild animal' and a 'carnivore' by those who have seen him fight and, as such, for what he is: a brave, skilled, and *dangerous* man for whom violence comes naturally. He acts the bad cop to Iwanome's good cop by choice, though not obviously so at first glance. He usually stays quiet while Iwanome talks with interviewees rather than act as a threatening aggressor, and rather than contrast Iwanome's bright smiles with an intimidating glower, he often wears a slight, polite smile of his own.

It is because Arase is Iwanome's stolid shadow that he can be so effective and frightening as a 'bad cop': when he has to intervene on Iwanome's behalf physically, it is with sudden, firm strength that is striking all on its own; when he warns a teenager to stay away from 'lowlifes' lest the teen becomes one too, he does so with an intensity that turns his smile into more of a warning than a kindness; he can exude danger with a glance. Arase is at his most alive when fighting or giving chase to someone else, wild and bright-eyed in a way that contrasts his relaxed demeanor most of all.

Despite or because Arase was once a yakuza, he has a low opinion of lowlifes and appears to dislike the idea of 'working with' troublemakers; he furthermore calls himself a 'scumbag' in reference to his reliance on violence and killing.

## Chronology

### Background

Originally with the yakuza, Arase, for reasons unknown, leaves the underworld and joins the police—using his underworld ties to conduct multiple illegal cover operations that have never been made public. He is later punished for these operations and "chewed out" for them by Danjo Tozawa. Either when or after he joins the police, he joins Materials Compiling Group No.3 as a detective.

Before the start of the series, Arase attacks the gang Sons of the Styx and beats eight of its members within an inch of their lives. The incident leaves a deep impression on the gang's informant Takumi Kuruya and Kuon Higuro, the gang's leader, whom Arase will remember in turn as a lowlife and as dangerous, respectively, and leads to the gang's dissolution.

## Etymology

* The name **Kōzaburō** means "light" (耿) (**kō**), "three" (三) (**sabu**/**zabu**) and "son" (郎) (**rō**).
* Kōzaburō's surname **Arase** means "laid waste, rough, rude, wild" (荒) (**ara**) and "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (**se**).

## References

1. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 2, Chapter 9.
2. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 4, Chapter 31.
3. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Volume 1, Chapter 7.
4. ↑ *Dead Mount Death Play* (Manga): Chapter 40.