“ | Not all things inconvenient are limited to bad things. |
” |
—Kazuya Shibuya |
Kazuya Shibuya (Naru) is the owner of SPR (Shibuya Psychic Research). He is known to be moody, a narcissist, and very confident in what he does. He hires Mai Taniyama as his assistant after the events that occurred at the old schoolhouse next to her school. His reason behind hiring her (which he reveals to Mai in Vol. 12) is "empathy." The principal of Mai's school had told Naru that Mai was an orphan and has been in her situation at one point Naru decided to give her a job.
Very little about him is ever discussed or revealed until later in the manga, which reveals Naru's true identity is that of British researcher Oliver Davis, of the original SPR.
(NOTE: For more information about Naru's true identity and past, see Eugene Davis)
Appearance[]
Personality[]
Naru, in general, has a cold, narcissistic, analytical personality. He has little tolerance for weakness--his own or other people. However, he does show genuine respect for people's talents. He is shown as being very competitive, especially in Vol. 9 when he destroys Orikiri-sama but has no interest in pointless rivalry. In Vol. 6 and 7, he explicitly states that he only takes on the case to expose Miami Psychic Research's fraud because Madoka asked him to, even though it was his reputation they were damaging. Naru was always usually by himself and he has a fun side but he just doesn't show it as much as the other characters in the manga.
Background[]
Plot Overview[]
Volumes 1-6[]
- Oliver first approached Mai at her school, where she and her friends were telling ghost stories. Although her friends were instantly taken aback by his attractiveness, Mai did not trust him. Later, they met again when Mai accidentally injured his assistant Lin and broke his camera. Kazuya insisted that Mai repay him by becoming his assistant, and eventually hires her on full time at Shibuya Psychic Research.
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Volumes 7-12[]
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Other Media[]
Relationships[]
Naru's relationship with Mai is somewhat complicated. However, he is often derisive about her lack of intelligence in the psychic field, which she resents, and they often clash over Mai's heightened sense of compassion for others and his slightly brusque nature. That said, they often have a lighthearted teasing back and forth dynamic. Naru is generally very impatient, but this too has an exception with Mai, especially when she criticizes him. Throughout the series, they quickly develop a lighthearted teasing back and forth dynamic and he does show her some respect and affection in small ways, such as trusting her instincts and abilities in cases and cheering her up when they fell down a sewer.
It's been shown throughout the series that Naru has a closer relationship with her than any other member of their team - san Lin. It's implied that it partially might be due to how Mai is similar to his brother Eugene. It is also partially due to how Naru empathized with Mai's situation in which she was an orphan like he was and he wanted to help her out - hence why he hired her with the lie that she had to pay him back for the camera she broke even though it was insured.
That said, Masako questions the nature of Mai and Naru's relationship in which she is revealed to be very jealous of Mai as points out to Mai how Naru only ever calls Mai by her first name and that they always argue like a married couple. And while Naru doesn't outright confirm if he has romantic feelings for Mai when asked by Ayako in the novel, there are hints of his feelings being romantic in nature in which it's shown that Naru has only ever genuinely smiled in front of Mai and has affectionately touched her forehead despite the fact that he doesn't like to be touched as confirmed by others. Another notable one is where, in the anime, he makes a snarky remark toward Lin who was being hugged by possessed Mai - implying that he was jealous.
At the end, their relationship is further questioned when Mai confesses her feelings for him to which Naru's response is only to ask whether Mai likes him, or the "Naru" she dreams of--his brother, Gene.
Gene (Eugene Davis) is Naru's brother who died before the series takes place. The two were very close; not only were they identical twins, but they also had a strong psychic connection. When Naru discovered Gene's death through psychometry, he wasted no time in traveling to Japan in order to find his body. Gene affectionately calls his brother an "idiot scientist," when talking to Mai in the novels (although she is confused, as she did not realize at the time who Gene was).
“Naru’s parents first hired Lin as a teacher. Lin taught Naru to control his psychic energy by use of qigong, it is implied that they did not get along together at first because of Naru's ethnicity. In the novels, Gene originally said Mai’s line “You shouldn’t hate me because I’m Japanese or an orphan.” By the time the series takes place, they have great respect for one another. Naru often relies on Lin for information or his skill as an onmyouji. Lin is also seen as very protective of Naru; he scolds Naru for using qigong, as well as for not informing Lin of any dangerous circumstances.
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Abilities[]
Naru is a very adept researcher with a wide range of knowledge about psychic phenomena. In a book he wrote (as Oliver Davis), he discusses the fact that paranormal research is so difficult to study that it must be treated, first and foremost, as science in order to gain credibility. With cameras, microphones, and other analytic technology, Naru clearly puts this theory into practice.
It is revealed over the course of the series, however, that Naru is not only a researcher, but has psychic powers himself. He is a particularly strong psychometrist and possesses astounding PK. His PK abilities are so strong that it is physically very dangerous for him to use them; when his brother was alive, Naru would send energy to Gene, and Gene would then amplify the powers. They would continue this process until the power was strong enough to conduct whatever experiment they were doing. After Gene's death, Naru had to all but stop using his PK entirely. He did so only in emergencies and very special cases that he chose to take on. This resulted in a loss of consciousness and in extreme cases, heart failure.
Trivia[]
- According to the writer, Ono Fuyumi, in a pamphlet that she wrote, Naru and Mai do have mutual romantic feelings for each other and she was originally going to write a happy ending with them getting together as they are an inevitable couple, however, she decided to scrap the original idea. This is because series is built around Mai and Naru's relationship and their suspenseful dynamic so, if they had got together, the story would be over for her and she felt that wouldn't be able to write the sequel that she wanted to do much less make it as good and suspenseful. The other reason is that she doesn't do happy endings for couples and that the best she can do is keep Naru's and Mai's relationship as is in which they get jealous when the opposite sex tries to get the the others attention but then everything is resolved and they go back to how they were.[1]
- According to the author an in interview, she originally planned for there to be a love triangle between Naru, Mai, and Bou-son, however, it was quickly scrapped and she was glad that she had done so when looking back at it.[2]
- Despite having the alias, "Kazuya", this name isn't said again after Mai dubbed him as "Naru" since everyone else quickly picked up his nickname.
- His nickname “Naru,” according to Mai is based on Japanese pronunciation of Narcissist; However, at the same time, the word “Naru” is almost identical to “Noru” or “Noll” in Japanese pronunciation. "Noll" is Naru's nickname that derives from his real and english name "Oliver".
- The name "Shibuya" appears to be entirely derived from the location of his office (Shibuya is one of 23 city wards in Tokyo), and it the first hint that his name is a pseudonym.
- In the anime, his real name is mentioned in passing in the After School Hexer, mentioning that he was reportedly able to move a block weighing 110 lb using PK. In context, the conversation was about how the ability of PK to affect living things was fairly limited, and even he couldn't do it well.
- In the manga, it appears that whenever he is intimidated or annoyed, the air temperature in the room where the SPR members were would drop considerably or alternately send chills up the other team member's spines. In vol. 4, both Takigawa and Ayako froze when an agitated “Naru” asked them who would lead the group in the investigation.
- In the series, Mai was the only one who was not afraid to argue with him and challenge his authority in some cases; it is something he finds rather amusing. She also managed to provoke him during the Cursed House Case, which led him to use Qigong and ended up in the hospital.
- It is usually Naru who ends up coming to various SPR members rescue, especially Mai who is prone to accidents.
- During the case, the After School Hexer, in the manga when Naru and Mai fall into the well he uses his PK to move a pile of rubble, hence his falling ill and landing himself in the hospital.
- His favorite drink is Black Tea.