Simon Brezhnev

**Simon Brezhnev** is one of two owners of the restaurant, Russia Sushi, with his friend Dennis in the light novel series, *Durarara*, and the *Wonderland* series. He is known as one of the strongest men in Ikebukuro; according to Izaya Orihara, if it was just a fist fight, Simon would be the strongest, although Shizuo Heiwajima is the strongest if "anything goes."

## Appearance and Personality

### Appearance

Simon is a large black man born and raised in Russia to American parents. His most notable features are his size, towering over all the people who pass him in the street, and his bizarre accent, which seems to be exaggerated. He is most often seen standing outside Russia Sushi handing out pamphlets and trying to attract customers, although his appearance and manner of speaking usually scares people away.

### Personality

Simon is a pacifist and has a gentle, friendly manner. He often tries to stop fights, or convince people to abandon their conflicts, often appearing before distraught characters and telling them to eat sushi to satisfy their hunger and calm themselves down. This is most likely due to his past in the Soviet Union; he came from a cruel world, into the relative peace of Ikebukuro, and he believes that young people in Japan should not have to fight and die like they do in Russia. Despite appearing simple in his normal, day-to-day life, Simon is shown to have a lot more to his character that rarely shows. When talking to Izaya Orihara about his antics in the city, he usually speaks in Russian to avoid others hearing what he is talking about and being frightened.

Simon is extremely strong, often showing up to stop Shizuo Heiwajima when he goes on destructive rampages. He once jumped off the top of a tall building to catch a vending machine that Shizuo hurled at a fleeing Izaya Orihara; although he has been shown to hold his own when Shizuo takes his anger out on him, he is usually seen with bruises and swellings afterward.

## Back Story

Simon and Dennis, the current owners of Russia Sushi, used to work together in the Soviet special forces, until the Soviet Union collapsed, leaving them out of a job. Dennis later migrated to Ikebukuro and opened up Russia Sushi; Simon later followed to help him out. His real name is Semyon but everyone calls him by the English name "Simon".

Despite the fact that he usually scares customers away, Simon is known to be a great sushi chef who makes good sushi, and Russia Sushi is known as a good place to go to resolve conflict; Masaomi Kida and Kyohei Kadota went to Russia Sushi to discuss the upcoming Yellow Scarves vs. Dollars war and whether or not the Slasher was part of the Dollars, and Saki Mikajima called Russia Sushi to tell them about what Izaya Orihara was up to, since "she didn't know who else to go to."

Simon and Dennis also often try to break up fights, either physically, as is usually the case when Shizuo is involved, or by stopping them before they start, threw a knife into the wall of his shop, barely missing his customers, to break up the conversation about gang violence between Masaomi and Kyohei's group.

Simon is a member of the Dollars and is a good friend of Shizuo's, despite their occasional fight.

## Storyline History

### Distorted Wonderland

Simon stays in the kitchen when two high school boys destroy a doll in Russia Sushi, which causes strange memories returned to the patrons in the restaurant.

### Happy Wonderland

Simon unwittingly places a small container of Mnemosyne on Mikado and his friends' table at Russia Sushi and lights it, causing them to remember memories from the past cycles of Tandeki's game.

### Deep Blue Wonderland

Simon and Dennis watch as Yui and Yuzuru are waiting at the counter in Russia Sushi. Suspicious, he goes over and asks why they haven't ordered yet. The women say they are waiting for a friend. When Hecate shows up to open the second gate, Yui talks to Simon as a distraction.

### Caged Wonderland

Simon asks Tom and Vorona where Shizuo is. Tom lies and says that his bodyguard is sick. Simon comments that Shizuo needs to eat more sushi and how it's good for him.

### Tadpole Diaries II

Simon serves Anzu Oshima, Sota Iseya, and Maiko Ishida dinner at Russia Sushi.

## Relationships

### Dennis

*Main Article: Dennis*

Dennis and Simon work together Russia Sushi. They used to work together in the Soviet special forces, until the Soviet Union collapsed. Years later, they opened Russia Sushi together.

## Trivia

* Simon is Russian, and despite what the subtitles show, he can understand Japanese just fine, but is rough when he speaks it, with rather broken and poorly constructed sentences, sometimes just repeating a phrase. His most famous of phrases include "Eat Sushi," "Eat Russian Sushi," and "Sushi good for you."
* On Simon's DVD card his hobby is listed as river fishing.
* He, along with his friend Dennis, run a Russian sushi shop that does not attract many customers, which is the reason they overfeed the few who come, yet they don't charge much. The reason for this can be seen in the types of sushi they serve, rather odd, and not what one would regularly expect in a Japanese restaurant.
* Because of his height and appearance, many people fear him. And because of his individuality, he is another notorious figure in Ikebukuro, along the lines of Shizuo Heiwajima, Celty Sturluson, Izaya Orihara, and the slasher.
* He is said to be one of the only few in the world who can match Shizuo's strength. The word 'few' came in, when in the novel, a character who was briefly shown in the anime also had inhuman strength due to their bloodline. And perhaps also Izaya, who is capable or fleeing, and causing harm to Shizuo without trying much.
* The anime and story indicates that Simon fled from Russia and went to Japan to live as an immigrant in an attempt to run from his old and violent life, in which involved war and mass murder. When he moved to Japan, or what event he refers to depressingly, are unclear.
* From the way he describes his past life in Russia, it seems that he came from a very poor upbringing.
* He was an operative in the Soviet special forces (Spetsnaz).
* Supposedly, Simon came to meet most of the concentrated characters in the series through an array of events, including the fights he had to stop Shizuo from continuing with a variety of people, primarily Izaya, and then dragging them into his restaurant for a meal. He gained his name due to his interference, and was later known for who he generally was - the black sushi chef at the street corner handing out flyers to his shop.
* Simon is one of the preferred people to avoid, or not to piss off (along with Shizuo and Izaya), as Masaomi states when informing Mikado about Ikebukuro.
* While the first light novel states that his Russian name is "Semyon" and he is called by "the English version of that, Simon," the English version of "Semyon" is actually the name "Simeon."

## Source

* Basic Information: http://durarara.wikia.com/wiki/Simon\_Brezhnev