腹黒[haraguro]
If he is so amicable and always smiles that everybody else likes him, be careful. He must be hiding the real him under his gorgeous mask. And the real him is so mean, cruel, and clever. But if you happen to find the real him, don’t blame him. Because everybody else trusts him, they wouldn’t listen to you, and to much worse, you end up being blamed by everybody else. And he kindly tries to help you, so people get to like him more and more…Have you seen this type of guy? Yes, he is 腹黒[haraguro].
I thought the closet English was a dark horse, but I was wrong. A dark horse means someone who is not well known and who surprises everyone by winning a competition(Huh, so does Fuji-sempai in Prince of Tennis count?). At any rate, anyone(mostly men) who has such a dark thought should be labelled as a 腹黒, or simply 黒い[kuroi, "dark"]. Speaking of 腹黒 characters, I can think of Koizumi(the Melancholy of Suzumita Haruhi), Kaoru-kun(Evangelion), Azuma Yunoki(Kin-iro no Corda), Arima-kun(His and her circumstance), Yagami Light(Death Note), Lelouch(Code Geass), Shuurei’s father(Saiunkoku monogatari), Musashiboubenkei(Harukanaru toki no naka de 3) and so on. OMG, how many 腹黒 guys could exist in the anime world?
This is kind of similar to ヒール系, but I think 腹黒 is more common than ヒール系, and ヒール系 guys are merely evil such as Atobe-sama though he doesn’t have such a dark thought as far as I know. 腹黒 characters mostly use people for their own. Even if those whom he uses die, he never cares…Besides in BL circles, if this type of guy is 攻め[seme], he should be labelled as a 腹黒攻め[haraguro-seme]. I’ve got to add this on here! Well, the most popular 腹黒攻め is Koizumi when he and Kyon pair up with…
bi said,
November 6, 2007 at 9:31 am
Ooh, this was very interesting!
(I would be scared at a haraguro-seme, though…. XD)
I thought the 腹黒 characters you mention could be defined ヒール系, but now I know there is a difference!
I have to say I like kuroi characters very much! I think they give good twists to the plot and reaise the tension a lot
bangin said,
November 7, 2007 at 3:43 am
Yes, there is always a story behind the kuroi character. Somewhere deep inside him, he has a secret nobody knows..we always see what it is. And of course, it gives a good twist to the plot. How did Arima-kun become a haraguro? Yeah, that is a very deep secret…
Neohybrid_kai said,
November 7, 2007 at 4:09 am
Um, I still don’t get the different. Yagami and Lelouch is quite evil too.
Does this mean that every hiiru-kei is a haraguro but not every haraguro is a hiiru-kei?
Personally I love a character with a dark intention or mind behind their smiling face, lol
Arima is my most favorite male chara from shoujo manga ^_^
bangin said,
November 8, 2007 at 3:49 am
Well, basically these two are almost the same, but I daresay we could tell hiiru-kei character are evil by looking or by the way they are (i.e. Atobe-sama). But haraguro-characters usually smile so that we don’t know the real them until the right time comes.
So, I think Lelouch and Yagami Light could be both, but Koizumi and Arima-kun could be labelled as a haraguro, rather than hiiru-kei.
I like Arima, too. He has a lot of inner secrets…