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Soichiro Arima (有馬 総一郎 Arima Sōichirō) is the deuteragonist of the Kare Kano (manga) and anime series.

He's considered as a very handsome and popular student that excels at kendo, who later becomes a national champion, and serves as Yukino Miyazawa's rival at Hokuei High School.

Personality[]

After a lifetime of striving to be "perfect", Soichiro's dark side begins to manifest itself by vengeful feelings against those that hurt him in his family. He realizes that he has the ability to be cold and cruel. One aspect of this "dark side" is his possessiveness of Yukino Miyazawa, hating anyone being close with her, with the exception of himself. Hideaki Asaba told Takefumi Tonami that the only reason Hideaki was allowed to be friends with Yukino was because Soichiro knew that Hideaki would never fall in love with Yukino and vice versa.

Appearance[]

Soichiro is a very handsome young man who's practically the spitting image of his father, Reiji Arima. He has short, kempt black hair with bangs loosely framing his face and dark grey colored eyes.

He's usually seen with a calm and collected expression, followed by a smile.

History[]

Soichiro was born as the son of Reiji Arima and a woman named Ryoko. However, Ryoko was a gold digger (a person who only marries people for their money) as she only wanted Reiji for his money (due to him being an Arima family member). When she found out he was an illegitimate child and would therefore get no inheritance from his family, she became highly disappointed and very angry, taking it out on Soichiro throughout his childhood. 

For the first three years of his life, Ryoko severely abused her son and blamed him for not giving her what she wanted. She beat him until he bled, bruised him beyond recognition and labeled him as a monster to other children. She also had starved him until he was incredibly malnourished and only gave him stale bread to eat.  

By the time Reiji had found Soichiro, he was completely bruised, ill, and on the verge of dying. Because of that, he was put in the care of Shouji Arima (Socihiro's uncle) and Shizune Arima (Soichiro's aunt) to get him away from Ryoko. Due to being the son of the Arima family's illegitimate child (Reiji), Soichiro was outcasted by most of the family who regarded his parents as a disgrace.  

Relationships[]

Yukino Miyazawa[]

Soichiro was smitten by Yukino in the beginning, unaware that she secretly hated and envied him. After unwittingly discovering that Yukino is not the model student everyone thinks she is, Soichiro blackmails her into doing his schoolwork so he can spend more time with her. After resolving the issue and becoming each other's first true friend, they eventually fall in love. Yukino learns that Soichiro, like her, is making an effort to "be perfect" for a reason. While Yukino is motivated by praise and vanity, Soichiro is trying to cover his "real" self, a person damaged by childhood trauma that he fears may be destructive. Yukino and Soichiro were able to find an emotional sanctuary in each other. As with Yukino, he feels more in touch with his true self as he falls in love. But along with love, he is apprehensive of his other emerging emotions, such as becoming increasingly jealous of Yukino's friends, her activities, her life outside of that with him.

When Yukino unknowingly damages Soichiro's bond with her, he finds himself becoming jealous and afraid. He therefore begins to wear another facade that he hopes will fool her and protect her from his "ugly" self. When the charade reaches a critical point that threatens his relationship with Yukino, she steps up to save him by opening him to a true and complete love. After a number of violent outbursts (one of which has him making love to her in the school library rather suddenly, which later has him thinking she wasn't willing, and almost drives him mad) Soichiro finally understands that to love, he must be willing to trust and be trusted, even enduring the suffering that comes out of love. Yukino is able to convince Soichiro that she truly loves him for who he is, and that she is willing to support and suffer for him. From that point on, Soichiro truly and completely opens up to Yukino, his friends, and his adopted parents.

Soichiro's union with Yukino has come to be a full circle, as both are finally free from the oppression of the conflict within themselves. Even though Soichiro cannot forget the past, he no longer allows it to control and hurt himself or anyone else. After high school, Soichiro marries Yukino (which now makes her Yukino Arima) and the have three children; Their oldest child is a daughter named Sakura, a beautiful girl who resembles Soichiro in looks and talent. Although his original ambition was to follow his family's profession and become a doctor, he follows his childhood dream and becomes a policeman. He eventually becomes highly decorated police inspector and is preparing to sit for the exams of a commissioner's promotion (at the insistence of his superiors) at the young age of 30.

Reiji Arima[]

Soichiro was reunited with his father, who is a famous jazz pianist who lives in New York and returned to Japan for a concert. After spending 10 days together, both father and son grew fond of each other and reestablished their bond. Reconnecting with his father helped Soichiro deal with his problems and heal the wounds from his childhood.

Trivia[]

  • Soichiro's surname Arima means "exist" (有) (ari) and "horse" (馬) (ma).
  • Soichiro's birthday is on April 29, which makes him a Taurus.
  • As a child, Soichiro was quick in learning how to read and speak faster than other children his age.
  • Soichiro received many confessions during his middle school and elementary school years.
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