how has no one asked you ariga for the character meme
they were waiting for you, of course
fuck, arugula tho
Under a read more because I talk about Hagane a lot sorry for spoilers!!
Do I like them?: Nah. I just cry about him like every three days, nbd
5 good qualities: Oh my gosh oh no oh nooo I don’t know if I can pinpoint five separate points but I’m just going to cry and hope there’s multiple things in here
Okay so this may be shocking but Ariga is a remarkably good person. He’s done a lot of bad things and killed a lot of people, but considering he basically started his life of killing from the ripe age of like, idk, nine or so?? he’s still got an amazingly clear view of right and wrong. He knows what he’s been doing is wrong on a moral level, but even though he’s been doing it for years, it hasn’t warped him into a mindless killing machine. I don’t think it sits well with him at all, though, but he’s been trained to shut off the connection between emotions and his job so they don’t really mix. He’s just very efficient. But when he’s not being an assassin or a spy, he comes across as almost gentle. Kind of scary in a quiet and reserved way, but he doesn’t confront others or antagonize them. He rarely even does that shit if he’s confronted first in a non-mission setting. I really can’t see Ariga as the kind of person who likes hurting other people, even in revenge, even though that’s all he knows how to do.
SPOILERS FOR HAGANE IN HERE TOO but going along with this, he doesn’t even draw his gun on mamiya in the climax until their second to last confrontation. And mamiya did awful things and betrayed not only Ariga but the Church as well and Ariga would have every right to be upset and want to beat mamiya down, but he doesn’t do that. Ariga basically just wants to save mamiya and the entire climax is him trying to bring him back because he wants to save what he has probably already fucked up. He just wants that one last chance to make things right.
Ariga doesn’t even lash out when he’s suspected twice in the messiah story of being less than loyal to the Church AND when he’s tortured. He’s innocent all those times but he doesn’t panic and he doesn’t try to take others down with him on some crazy plot to escape or prove his innocence. He’s patient and he waits that shit out until the truth inevitably surfaces. HOW THE FUCK CAN HE BE THAT PATIENT THAT IS ADmIRABLE
He’s resilient as fuck, he’s calm and level-headed on missions, he’s almost like the perfect messiah candidate. I mean except he’s very much not, but on paper he looks so good.
3 bad qualities: HAAAAAHAHAKJSA;KSGJ yeah okay so
He seems so ideal because he’s basically got himself so well-trained when it comes to basically being a soldier. Just not a real soldier, but it’s pretty similar. Physically he’s a beast. (You can’t convince me Ariga’s not ripped under them v-neck shirts.) Even mentally he’s able to function well considering everything. But it’s his emotions that trip him up. Or rather the fact that he sucks at figuring out his emotions and showing them. Ariga is very withdrawn into himself. He chokes back emotions the second it seems like any of them will rise to the surface. Why does he do this? Probably because emotions show weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and people can use that against you. But because Ariga is so well-trained to not fuck up, he’s really good at bringing up those internal walls the second it seems like anything might get through. And that is so detrimental when it comes to connecting to other people. This is probably the biggest reason, on Ariga’s end, anyway, that things went so far south with mamiya.
He’s just really bad at people. Emotions are hard and it’s really hard when you’ve basically been a loner for most of your life. If Ariga has specialized in being a sniper like it’s implied and not just a jack of all trades assassin, then he probably has spent a large portion of his life by himself. So he is used to relying on himself and letting things get sorted out in his head all by himself. He hasn’t needed people in the past so it’s hard to suddenly rely on others who aren’t even up to his nearly perfect standards. It’s just really hard to be a team player, okay. Again, in Hagane, when mamiya is wondering whether or not he can kill people, Ariga just says, hey, that’s fine, if you can’t do it, then I can, and I’ll do it on my own and I’ll know it’ll get done, because this is how I roll anyway.
That’s basically his bad shit in a nutshell because thank goodness he’s slowly getting better with Itsuki, but I still think it’ll take time.
Also he uses so much hair gel like I can’t imagine that’s good for his hair after a while.
Favorite episode/etc: UGH THIS IS HARD he has such interesting growth in everything, or at least moments where we see some new facet of his characters. Can I do like an arcing answer of Hagane to Shinku because just Hagane on its own, while really great for showing us the most range in Ariga’s character, ends so sadly and I want happiness for Ariga. He softens up in Shinku a little bit which is so badly needed for his character after he learned that distancing oneself WILL ACTUALLY FUCK THINGS UP ROYALLY. I just. Growth. It good.
We’re not mentioning all the times he’s tied up or straddled or anything in either production nope
OTP: Ariga/Happiness
Please.
I do still have a spot for Ariga and mamiya despite everything. If things had gone differently it would have been nice to have seen them get on the right track and work things out, however slowly. I’m fine it didn’t go well, too, though, because I’m awful and I like pain, though.
Ariga and Itsuki is climbing up here, though. I can’t really ship them romantically (I feel like Itsuki is really young, even compared to Ariga, so that’s weird to me, but I love their relationship and where it’s going).
Brotp: Ariga and mamoru tbh. Former messiah and present partners in spy crime I dig that shit. Ariga and Itsuki fit here too because I like the idea of them just doing best friend shit.
OT3: Uhhhhhhh probably Ariga and mamoru and Kaito. Before Itsuki really gets shoved into the picture, so however long we had between Hagane and Shinku. The kouhai were all pretty close between Eisei and the beginning of Hagane (sort of) so suddenly losing one member, no matter the reasons, had to have been rough and mamoru for sure has to do his protection thing and mother hen his former messiah and I just...really like the idea of the three remaining taking care of each other. Or just mostly taking care of Ariga in however strange way they could accomplish that. Please take care of the sad baby.
Notp: Ariga/Sadness
...Ariga and Haku and/or Eiri? idk Ariga would probably combust if Eiri were involved in any way. I don’t want Ariga combusting.
Best quote: I DON’T KNOW ANY QUOTES but I saw on a gifset something like “Your music saved me, I felt human again” re: mamiya and it hurts me but I think of it a lot. I don’t know if it’s actually from Hagane but you could fool me. Or more sadness, but the moment when he’s literally in the middle of telling mamiya that he was glad he was his messiah. It’s just like. They came close...but not close at all...and it’s so sad.
Head canon: His guilty pleasure is reading poetry. He also gels his hair back because when he was still an assassin he kept it pretty loose and so he needed a change when he left that life behind.
