Arashi Aota

Character Introduction

“	I want to trust people because we're in a world like this.	”
—Arashi Aota

Arashi Aota (青田嵐 Aota Arashi) is a deuteragonist of Team Summer B's arc in the 7SEEDS series. He is the boyfriend of Hana Sugurono from Team Spring.

Appearance[]

An attractive young man who originally sports a trim and tidy, short hairstyle (most likely due to being on the swim team), he later grows it out until he has to use a bandana to tie it back. He is relatively tall and athletically built, something noted by Ango and Ryou while sizing up Team Summer B for the first time.

Personality & Characteristics[]

Arashi's mother died during his high school years, which is why he often ate at Hana's house. Though little is mentioned, Arashi appears to have a sour relationship with his father, having little respect for him and usually exchanging very few words with him.

He acts as Natsu's protector and is generally depicted as a compassionate and considerate person, so as long as nobody threatens Hana.

Due to travelling as a party of three for such a long time, Arashi is particularly close to Semimaru and Natsu. Whenever he gets into trouble, he thinks of them (and Hana) first.

He was on the school swim team with Hana, so Arashi's body is very strong and athletic. However, despite coming across as strong, responsible and leader-like, Arashi has a deathly fear of insects.

Arashi is extremely talented at swimming and at one point was said to be aiming towards entering the Olympics. As a result of his talent, Arashi often goes diving in the shoals (the submerged areas of Japan) to search for relics of the past that may serve some use for his team.

According to Hotaru, Arashi was a very arrogant child, and would often be the "leader of the pack" amongst his peers. However, after meeting Hana, his best friend and girlfriend, he became the much gentler, humbler person the readers are accustomed to.

Arashi is a charismatic young man with a strong sense of justice. Early on he acts as Natsu's guardian against Semimaru's sexual advances and bullying, at times coming across too strongly with his self-righteous attitude. Despite their early antagonism, Arashi and Semimaru become best of friends along with Natsu.

At one point, Arashi loses his way and contemplates suicide, but with the encouragement of his friends, he overcomes that hurdle and becomes determined to live and meet as many people as he can. Out of all the characters, Arashi appears to be the most concerned with meeting new people; this is likely due to the hope of one day reuniting with Hana (whom he cares very deeply about), but also due to being a person who cannot live on his own.

Unlike his girlfriend, Arashi gets along with people very easily, and is depicted as a friendly, honest, older-brother type character. He is also a very serious, diligent and responsible person, who likes to set goals as a form of discipline and training for himself.

One of the hidden dark sides of Arashi is his explosive anger when pushed over the edge. Another downfall of his personality is his overly trusting nature, something he developed as a result of guilt over the way he cruelly treated Aramaki during his suicidal days.

He once said, "When you use a weapon to threat someone, it means you are prepared for the consequence, right?" which indicates how he dislikes weapons as something that might always turn against yourself.

Past[]

Arashi was protective of Hana, going as far as even murder to save her. Once, Hana was nearly raped by a group of boys whose illegal activities were reported to the police by her. In a fit of rage, Arashi beat them up, nearly killing some of them.

Development throughout the story[]

Arashi's first appearance was in the initial chapter of the series, "Slow Awakening." He protected Natsu from drowning and being bullied by Semimaru and later on travelled towards Bungo Fuji and then Kumamoto Castle, there realizing that Botan's story probably was the truth.

He then hiked towards Tokyo with Natsu and Semimaru. Arrived at the destroyed town, Arashi fell into despair because he thought Hana to be dead and contemplated suicide by drowning, but got saved by Aramaki's dogs.

Semimaru and Natsu managed to give him back his courage, and Arashi decided to return to Bungo Fuji together with the others. After rescuing the rest of their team members, they continued sailing around Japan but ran aground at a beach where they came across Ango and Ryou who helped them getting the ship off the rocks.

In the ghost ship Fuji, Arashi gave it his best to stop the countdown in order to protect the country, Hana and all the other people scattered across Japan from being annihilated.

Etymology[]

The name Arashi means "storm, tempest" (嵐).
Arashi's surname Aota means "blue, green" (青) (ao) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta), which literally means "green paddy" altogether.

Trivia[]

In Season 1 Episode 3, the book that Arashi carries is Robinson Crusoe.