Ibraha (イブラハ Iburaha) was an operations commander in Hezbollah alongside Masahiro Takenaka, a fellow staff member.
Appearance[]
Ibraha was an adult Lebanese man with short black hair, tan skin, a thin mustache, and a thick pointed goatee. He wore a green military uniform and carried a Tokarev TT-33 pistol for a weapon. In the manga, he also wore a white headscarf around his head.
History[]
In 1987, Ibraha's child was killed by Israeli troops at a Red Cross camp in Beirut.[1] As a result, he despised Israel even more and developed a deep-seeded hatred for Israel's primary ally and funder, the United States. This hatred also caused him to be impatient, reckless, and very short-sighted, as he appeared willing to sacrifice the lives of his own comrades in order to achieve his goals and did not think of how his actions would result in any unwanted effects. Subsequently, he left the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to join Hezbollah.[2]
Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll[]
For two years, he and Hezbollah were prepared to execute a terrorist attack in New York, but two years later the details of the plans of the attack came into the possession of Chang and the Hong Kong Triad. When Chang refused to give the documents back to Hezbollah since they rejected Chang's price, Hezbollah agents bombed Chang's office in Roanapur in retaliation, but he survived and went to the Lagoon Company's office for help. There, the Triad boss formulated a plan in which five teams with five identical cases were to make for the military base at Basilan Island in the Philippines to give the documents to the CIA, with four of the cases being fakes and the Lagoon Company carrying the actual plans.
After the Hezbollah soldiers failed to initially take the documents in their raid on the office, Ibraha received the call about it and talked to his comrade Masahiro Takenaka about pursuing the five groups that Chang sent out. He added that one of their squads was ready to cut off one of the five groups heading through Ban Kantang. Takenaka volunteered to take on the sea route to intercept the documents, but Ibraha warned him to tread discreetly since open action would cause the U.S. FBI to increase surveillance.[3] Ibraha then decided to plan a meeting to speak with the NPULF leadership for future collaboration after the NPULF agreed to help them corner the Lagoon Company's PT boat.[4] After Takenaka arrived at the Abu Sayyaf training camp on Basilan Island, he called Ibraha to confirm that the Lagoon Company had the real documents via the sea route, but Ibraha was angry with him for visiting the camp. Takenaka denied that he was fooling around, causing Ibraha to angrily hang up the phone.[5]
Soon, he arrived at the training camp and saw the captured Rock, finding out that the documents were not in the briefcase.[6] Takenaka tried to interrogate Rock by calmly relating to their shared past in Japan, but Ibraha was impatient and wanted to violently torture Rock instead. Takenaka dissuaded him by saying that Rock was not a soldier and they could wait until morning, so at night the group rested. Nonetheless, Ibraha still worried about the documents and questioned his comrade's methods. At night, Revy and Shenhua attacked the camp to save Rock. Immediately, Ibraha ordered everyone to chase after the enemies as they fled the camp, and Takenaka got into a truck with him. The Japanese man warned Ibraha that the pursuit numbers seemed to be overkill, but the latter furiously rebuffed him. Even after Shenhua killed several drivers, Ibraha still wanted to pursue them. When Takenaka saw that Ibraha would not give up despite being outmatched, he purposefully drove the car off the road to avoid having their vehicle be shot by Revy.
On the side of the road, Ibraha angrily demanded that Takenaka stop interfering with his plan. When Takenaka responded that his son would never come back despite what he endeavored, Ibraha retorted that he was adamant to show Israel and the United States what the attacked Red Cross camp was like in 1987. Takenaka in turn claimed that he was blinded by their group's ideals, causing Ibraha to chastise him for hesitating on his similar convictions that made him flee to Beqaa Valley years ago. He continued to refuse to order their comrades to retreat, and in his argument with his comrade, Takenaka shot him dead during their argument. As he ordered the fighters to retreat, Takenaka admitted that Ibraha was a good friend and later expressed regret for the argument.[7]
Trivia[]
- Although his name is clearly derived from the Arabic name Ibrahim, his name is spelled and pronounced Ibraha.
- In a top 10 worst characters contest, Ibraha ranked 9th (tying with Chief Watsap) with an unspecified number of votes. Additionally, among readers in their 20s and female readers, he ranked 7th.[8]
- In a popularity contest during the 10th manga collection release, Ibraha ranked 61st (tying with several characters) with 1 vote.[9]
- In a popularity contest during the 12th manga collection release, Ibraha ranked 64th (tying with Verrocchio and Saensak) with 2 votes.[10]
References[]
- ↑ Chapter 21: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 6
- ↑ Chapter 20: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 5
- ↑ Chapter 16: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 1
- ↑ Chapter 17: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 2
- ↑ Chapter 18: Goat, Jihad, Rock'N Roll Part 3
- ↑ Episode 11: Lock'n Load Revolution
- ↑ Episode 12: Guerrillas in the Jungle
- ↑ https://sundaygx.com/blacklagoon/contest/
- ↑ http://sundaygx.info/blacklagoon_contest/
- ↑ http://sundaygx.info/blacklagoon_contest_12/