hiichan, hiichan, hiichan…! the ace of spades, amagi hiiro! just like the ace of spades itself, he is unimaginably capable. from his visuals, to personality, to thought process, he becomes an even brighter star with each piece of content that he receives. watching him grow, even in such a little time, has been a pleasure. personally, i watched the november ninth tsukisuta in real time, so the first time i saw hiichan was the first time he was ever shown off. and what a joy that was! the first shot of kiss of life is the shot of him holding his right hand to his heart while scowling, and i somehow managed to become hooked just from that. regrettably (u could say), the other designs of alkaloid didn't interest me at first glance, so i spent the whole time looking for that little redhead. i couldn't pay much attention to the song itself, although now ive listened to the song and have seen the mv countless times. i was sort of worried about his personality just from this, since despite being obsessed with his design, i don't really prefer constantly glaring and angry characters that much, which is what his consistent attitude in kiss of life suggested. then, we were presented with his name and character sprite in the manner of a video which all the other units had received prior. while i was happy to see his smile, i was also drawn to his name: 天城一彩...

... i was also drawn to his name: 天城一彩. specifically, i saw the 天 with the specific reading あま, and thought something along the lines of "is this fate…?" as my favorite singer, amachan(天月-あまつき-)'s name starts with the same kanji which reads the same. and if amachan hadn't existed, i would've called hiichan amachan instead for sure, but such a conundrum resonated with me as part of that fate, so i gave him a new nickname, hiichan. however, although i call him by a nickname, i like his own name as well. 天城, which could roughly be read as heaven castle, refers to the town far away where hiichan is destined to serve his older brother, the ruler, completely. 一彩, at first glance, is an allusion to his hair color, as the word "hiiro" with different kanji can mean scarlet, or color of flames (it's fun to note that while hiichan's initial 5☆ uses cool tones in it's unbloomed form, his brother's makes use of warm colors and the presence of fire). with the individual kanji, 一 means one. as the ace is the first card in the deck and the only card that can "kill" the king, it suits him as the "leader of cards", which is coincidentally the name of the previously mentioned 5☆. 彩 means color, along the lines of embellishment and decoration. just like what amagi says, "hiiro" sounds like a very self-righteous name to have. it's ironic, considering his personality which is kind and naive. ive been producing him since he came out, so i watched not only how he has grown, but also how other producers perceived him. the most notable thing about his being in the beginning was his consistent glare, screaming lyrics about overcoming obstacles larger than himself. coupled with his eye raising "i will destroy idols" phrase and the existence of his energetic older brother, this cast a certain image onto him and to many characterized him as an angry sort of fellow. i'll talk about his seiyuu later, but let's just compare the situation to other roles gakkun played. while i read his bio and listened to his lines and thought he would be like asta from black clover (absolutely amazing character), people thought he would be kind of like allen from paradox live. this greatly interested me, and i would've been happy no matter how he came out as long as his personality didn't stray beyond his description (and he didn't disappoint, this version of him is the cutest ♡). doesn't he sound excited in his voice clip? taking into account other's ideas, i thought there was a chance the brightness in his personality could be a stage personality with him being stoic while in school. the 彩 in his name is color/embellishment, which could be interpreted as embellishing his personality for the stage. however, he turned out to be bright and cheerful, causing this idea to go dead. as i stated earlier, this is why his name is ironic, in the sense that it suggests a "self-righteous personality" with the meaning of "one color".

despite his name seeming to click in place for me, the obvious thing that made me like him so much was his design. alkakurei are the first new characters from ansuta in a while, and as a result, their designs are seemingly more unique, in terms of face shape and other things. for hiichan in particular, his hair is very modern compared to, say, akehoshi or chiakun. akehoshi's hair is more sharp and pointy than sharp, and his bangs have a clear separation into three parts; all of this is tied together with that protagonist orange color. hiichan, on the other hand, has a red color, which is more seen in ansuta's less genki characters (kiryuu, kasa kun, natsume, etc.) he also has a much more curly and fluffy hair style, and his bangs are less defined as having multiple, curly strands rather than one block of hair straight down the middle. the fluffiness is so cute though; before we got any cg of him without the cap, his hair looked more pointy, since his hair was being pushed down. but without the cap, its shape is bigger and suggests his hair as being soft.

his eyes also stand quite a lot compared to the genki characters i've shown. both chiakun and akehoshi's slope down, while hiichan's slope up, and his inner eye flows inward like a cat's. this look gives both hiichan and amagi a cool vibe (this could also help explain the aloofness he was believed to have). his eyes also have the color of a radiant blue, and look very elegant! but my favorite part of his face is actually is his eyebrows; they have a distinct shape with the way the widen on the inner edge, and they're almost always facing down (www). his expressions, especially in kiss of life, give off the impression of a cool and aloof character despite him being very friendly, so he's a prime example of a gap more. he comes off as cool from lives→actually very upbeat and outgoing→is cool and strong, and personality can be cold and distant. that's a two layer gap moe?! however, the frown he dons during kiss of life isn't a reflection of how's he feeling, per say, but rather a sign of how hard he's concentrating. he's a new idol, and although he's naturally talented at dancing and singing to an extent, it takes all of his concentration to make sure he's not making any mistakes. hiichan said it himself that he couldn't focus on fansa things like smiling and such, and wants to improve on them. even if he does smile in mvs that aren't his, though, he still doesn't look happy at all usually. there's nothing it can be blamed on other than pure rbf