So there's something so goddamn compelling about Rinne being indigenous ainu and his storyline it keeps driving me goddamn crazy.
Rinne is intelligent he is curious he wants to know about the world and what he finds is that his people are ostracized, they are seen as inferior, but there is a nuance to it that is so powerful compared to the usual straight up "I love all my culture and people" indigenous characters we usually see.
Rinne also resents his upbringing, he does not like how they hate embracing change, how they hate embracing technology, or the wonders of the world. He hates how conservative they are, he thinks they should move on despite it all, so his own community resents him for that, and when he goes to the city, the city resents him for who he is.
And he goes:
Fuck that I am a monarch, I am smart and gorgeous I am going to take over the world!
And he decides to become the most powerful entity in the world who are beloved by everyone, because he was never loved for who he truly was in the past. He becomes an idol.And he is amazing at it.
And he does not lose his integrity, he absolutely says fuck the system at every turn, cause chaos.
The thing compared to other characters is that because of his status, because of how he is, Rinne has nothing to lose in this gamble against the institution.
No matter if he bends down or not, he will always be inferior. He cannot take a break from it. I do headcanon that since HE did not want to give he and Hiiro a darker skintone that the bright blue eyes and red hair are so striking they are a given to their origin instead.
No matter where Rinne go he will always be stepped down and there are two choices to that either you wallow in misery or you stand up and fight and he will do the latter until he dies.
His first motivation is that he knows he deserves better than every other privileged person who can ignore those issues, but to say he did not care about the movement is false too, even if he has himself first.
Because Rinne has Hiiro.
He wants his brother who he loves so much and want to protect to not live in a world where he is ostracized, where he has to come to those awful realities.
That is why Eichi brought Hiiro to ES. To cripple Rinne.
Eichi knows that Rinne has a soft spot for his brother. Unlike Eichi, Rinne cannot bring himself to actually exploit people for his goals because he knows how it is to be exploited, he has been his entire life.
Rinne is so so scared about Hiiro being hurt the same way he has been. The same way their people have been. Despite Rinne disliking their home village, Hiiro thrived in it. He was safe. And seeing Hiiro being exposed to everything makes him so scared.
It is not that Rinne does not think Hiiro cannot handle things like friends squabbles or going to a more numerous school. Rinne is afraid that Hiiro will be faced with the traumatic wounds of systemic persecution which he has no control over.
Rinne drinks. He gambles. Everyday his struggle facing colonization and not being able to escape from it is infinitely heavy. And he does not want this weight on his brother.
The entire purpose of the main story arc was Rinne seeing that Hiiro was ok, that he was surrounded by a precious support group, and to let him spread his wings despite very, very real fears.
The writing does not explicitly say it but I totally see it, it is as coded as they are.
And that is the thing, from where he comes from, a place with next to no privilege at all, Rinne cannot bring himself to exploit people. This is what makes him an antihero and not a villain.
When doing the smear camping of the other units, he never did release anything too personal to hurt the people behind the units, he used things which hurt the brand of the units, something impersonal when I'm sure he's had plenty of more hurtful things.
For example Rei it is way too easy to smear UNDEAD through Rei's past and yet Rinne did not, he attacked UNDEAD as a whole, for being temporarily an enemy, Rinne did not, unlike literally every enemy in Rei's life, put a target on the weak spot. And what is this? This is the sign of a good leader. A leader who is ruthless but has a heart to not be cruel.
And the headband. The headband. God I love it.
Rinne loves the city life. He loves the modern life. Way way more than he loves the way of living in his home village.
But it is still a part of him that he is proud of despite what he says. It is a nuance.
And him wearing the headband everyday is proof of that. It's his crown as chieftain. It's part of him. And I love that for him.
And there is another weight to him having to take it off every time he goes on stage as an idol. He has no stage outfit where the headband is present and I'm like AAAAA RInneeeeee.
And during their time as a duo I think that Rinne definitely opened up about his difficulties to Niki.
And Niki is extremely supportive.
Them eloping together… my heart.
Niki does not have to be 100% aware of every intricacy but he sees how much Rinne care and actually trusts him and believe him.
Trust is something Rinne was never given when showing all his colors and Niki is the first and even currently the only one who does that.
That's so powerful.
Niki is the reason Rinne can keep on going because despite his ambitions and his energy, at the end of the day Rinne is human. He needs a home. He needs someone to be present and just love him. And Niki is that for him.
I said it before but with Endless Vide... if Niki was gone, Rinne would break.
With Kohaku, Rinne sees part of himself. Kohaku is from an isolated traditional family and Rinne is happy to be here while he is discovering the world. Part of him wants to protect him, but also know Kohaku is strong enough to take care of himself. Rinne does not react as emotionally to Kohaku as he does with Hiiro.
With HiMERU, Rinne understands what it is to want to protect your family at all cost, no matter how destructive it is. He is more well adjusted when it comes to Hiiro, but seeing HiMERU, he understands. It is a path he could see himself having taken and he respects it. But he also knows how heavy the weight of that burden is. And he is supportive of HiMERU's choice but also gives him a safe space to let go.
Rinne does not have a "I will make Crazy:B my found family" mindset, but because he is such a kind and good leader, he naturally has people attracted to him. Despite the chaos, despite his burdens. People even without realizing feel the qualities he has and he amass people around him who would go through everything with him. And that is so poetic and beautiful.
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