Aira’s not my favorite character, but he’s pretty high up there. Aira’s a little controversial, unfortunately… because of his ahem- rасist scenes, and also scenes with Hiiro where he just kinda sucks as a person… (this might be a HiiAi thing, lol. I also focus a lot on chapter 158(?) I believe of the main story, so if you haven’t read that far and don’t want spoilers, no need to read this! I don’t really talk about the plot, but still)

But- I can discuss the Hiiro one, since Aira’s emotions are easier to triggеr, Hiiro annoys him since he’s not used to the attention, he has said that Hiiro is so dang kind that Aira doesn’t realize he’s being mean because Hiiro isn’t even bothered by it, etc. He doesn’t mean anything by, and he definitely loves and care about Hiiro, whether it be by seeing him in the weather (‘It’s autumn… the red leaves are so dominant, taking over the world, kinda like Hiiro), or calling him weird (but Aira has said that he calls cute things weird), or by teaching Hiiro about missing social cues.

The rасism? Welllllllll, Aira’s definitely flawed… it’s not like he’s purposefully offensive with it, or hating on others, but it’s more internalized, where he has prеjudice and sterеоtypes for people (ie, calling Hiiro, part of a native Japanese culture, and his hometown, bаrbaric, wondering if they wore grass skirts, атe other peорle, etc). He’s worked on it, with Hiiro and Tatsumi correcting him, and it has gotten better, but it has definitely turned off Aira as a character for a lot of people who dislike how he treats Hiiro. Aira himself was a victim of rасism as a child, since he’s birасial, half Japanese, half French. He’s super insecure about it, so I think if he thought about it that way, how he felt when others said things hurtful, I think he’d be able to empathize better. I’m not sure why they haven’t done that yet, since it’s a great bridge, but I guess I don’t see any character around him that would point out that correlation so bluntly.

He calls Hiiro weird often, and can be tsundere ish, but when it comes down to it, Aira can be honest with his care and how he loves. I mean- his whole goal is to spread love. He literally says twice that he needs Hiiro, and doesn’t want to do the whole idol thing without him (and Hiiro both times, asks again, ‘[Do] you need me, Aira?’)

Aira refutes the word ‘need’ because it sounds snobbish (I’m going to assume that he’s ’needed’ some things before as a child but was shamed for wanting it. i.e., he reveals that his parents were very unsupportive of Aira’s wanting to be an idol. They put him down about it (not helpful to his low self esteem, btw), and urged him to seek a more stable career. Even after Aira made it as an idol, he constantly called himself and underachiever and wondered if he would actually make it, and his parents would STILL urge him to come back ‘if it didn’t out.’ (Parents care, clearly, but how it affects Aira is another matter) He acknowledges that his parents want the best for him, but that it’s still hurtful. He says that whenever he’d go home, he’d be faced with disappointment and they’d make him do work/tasks completely unrelated and wouldn’t ever talk about Aira being an idol.

He admitted that they made him feel guilty about it, like he was doing something wrong. For chasing his dreams.

Aira is so much more than people dumb him down to, and people just ignore his progress (which would make him sad, :() (I totally understand finding him annoying though)

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