| Ayase Aragaki | |
| Name in Japanese | 新垣 あやせ |
| Romaji Translation | Aragaki Ayase |
| Debut (Anime) | Episode 02 |
| Debut (Light Novel) | Volume 02 (Chapter 01) |
| Debut (Manga) | Volume 02 (chapter 04) |
| Appears in | Light Novel, Manga, Anime |
| Voice Actor (Japanese) | Saori Hayami |
| Personal Info | |
| Gender | Female |
| Age | 14-15 |
| Birthday | July 26th[1] |
| Zodiac | Leo |
| Blood Type | A |
| Height | 166 cm |
| Weight | 44 kg |
| Measurements | 80/56/83 |
| Occupation | Student Part-time fashion model |
Ayase Aragaki (新垣 あやせ, Aragaki Ayase?) is part of the supporting cast of Oreimo. She is Kirino's best friend, classmate and is also a fellow model like her.
She is voiced by Saori Hayami.
Appearance
Ayase is a young girl with long dark hair and violet eyes. A lock of hair hangs from each side of her face and her fringes are separated in the middle, except for a small fringe that hangs from the middle.
Her choice of clothing is somewhat similar to Kirino's, though Ayase prefers a more conservative look.
Her weight is 44 kg, she is 166 cm tall and her vital statistics are 80/56/83 cm.
Personality
Ayase in her yandere mood.
Ayase is a nice person to her classmates and to Kirino, whom she adores most as her best friend. She is usually soft-spoken and refined, but can also show a more aggressive side, especially when people lie to her, which she hates the most. Her reserved aggressive side often gained her a 'yandere' mark from her peers. Ultimately, however, she is a refined person who retains a sweet and kind personality towards those she cares for.
She also appears to show a different kind of affection towards Kirino, showing a certain interest in seeing Kirino shine in whatever she is good at, to the point that Ayase displayed disbelief upon discovering Kirino's hobby. Ayase has always believed that the Kirino who excels in everything is the "true Kirino", only for her belief to be shattered by Kirino herself upon her revelation of how she loved anime, manga and gaming.
Ayase is also shown to be very protective of Kirino and shows an extremely aggressive and scary side when Kirino is threatened. When Ayase learns the "truth" about Kyousuke's and Kirino's relationship, she immediately threatens Kyousuke to leave Kirino alone and says that she will protect her from him. Later, Ayase texts Kyousuke saying that if he were ever to harass Kirino, she would beat him to death.
Plot
The First Encounter
Ayase has been friends with Kirino for some time, sharing a healthy relationship as fellow fashion models. However, she only met Kyousuke face-to-face for the first time after being invited to the Kousaka Residence by Kirino. During the visit, because of an incident involving mature otaku merchandise sent by Kirino's friend Saori, Kyousuke ended up in a situation that may have undermined his reputation towards Kirino's friends. However, instead of branding Kyousuke as a pervert, Ayase understood the circumstances (i.e., she mistook the box of doujinshi as a present for Kirino) and exchanged numbers with him as a friendly gesture.
The first-time meeting has affected Kyousuke such that he indirectly caused the simple Manami to try to consider changing her hairstyle after an off-handed comment that mentions Ayase.
Shadows Over Summer Comiket
By the start of summer, Ayase has started doing photoshoots while Kirino drags Kyousuke to the Summer Comiket. Rainy weather forces the shoot to a halt, and in a chance meeting, stumbles upon Kirino, Kyousuke and their friends as they head back home from the event. Ayase becomes confrontational as Kirino refuses to divulge anything about the Summer Comiket. Nonetheless, Ayase finds out about Kirino's hobby and disassociates herself from Kirino for the time being.
Kirino was unable to deal with her problem with Ayase as soon as she spent the rest of summer vacation in a track-and-field camp. Worse, both Kirino and Ayase refuse to back down on their own stands on the situation. In order to resolve the problem between the two friends, Kyousuke steps in to find holes in Ayase's negative arguments regarding otaku and forces a reconciliation by acting like a siscon pervert to Kirino in front of Ayase. The strategy worked, with Ayase choosing to make ends meet in favor of protecting Kirino from her brother and threatening to kill him if ever something bad happens to Kirino.
Relationships
Kirino Kousaka
Kirino and Ayase are best friends since the start of the series, and they also share the part-time job of being models for fashion magazines. However, their friendship is tested when Ayase discovers that Kirino likes anime and manga. Ayase's disapproval of anime and manga caused her and Kirino to become distant with each other for some time, as she called Kirino's hobby disgusting. At one time, she demanded Kirino to choose between her best friend and her hobby, at which Kirino refuses.
With Kyousuke's intervention, Kirino and Ayase eventually make up.
Unknowingly, Ayase may be romantically attracted to Kirino; getting quite excited when Ayase misunderstands that Kirino wanted them to be a couple when Kyousuke was trying to state that Kirino only wanted for them to make up. Though this may not always be the case considering that Ayase really sees Kirino as her idol and a very close friend.
Ayase also showed Kirino some support towards her feelings for Kyousuke, even though she herself loved Kyousuke and told Kirino that she would keep Kirino's friendship and date Kyousuke.
Kanako Kurusu
Kanako is Ayase's friend and classmate. As such, even though Kanako seems to somewhat fear Ayase, they are very close to each other and get along well.
Kanako constantly seems to enjoy teasing Ayase even though she knows that she will receive a scolding from the latter. Despite this, Ayase still considers Kanako a close friend and reliable companion and is willing to do whatever it takes to take care of her, including stopping her from smoking and helping her become an idol.
While Ayase shows that she isn't above using Kanako to get what she wants, especially if it involves Kirino, she will also go out of her way and swallow her pride to help out Kanako as well. She asked for Kyousuke to become Kanako's manager many times at Kanako's request, despite many of those moments being when she herself wasn't getting along with him.
Kyousuke Kousaka
The first time they actually met is when Kirino invited her and fellow classmate Kanako Kurusu into their house, and after an embarrassing event, Ayase appears to have a sort of interest in Kyousuke.
During later events, Ayase has seen him as a threat to Kirino after discovering her best friend's hobby and having Kyousuke expose his "perverse" relationship with Kirino. Despite Ayase knowing that Kyousuke's admission is a lie, she still warns him against being too close to Kirino.
The relationship between the two is best described as normal; contrasting the "incestous" vibe that the Kousakas have with each other. Ayase harbored an instant crush on Kyousuke during their first encounter with each other, standing up for him contrary to the other girls' depressing assumption of Kyousuke. Her feelings soon diminished after she found out the "truth" about his relationship with Kirino. After she discovers the true motive behind Kyousuke's actions and accepting Kyousuke's kind nature, she regains her crush on him to the point that she confessed in tears. But when Kyousuke politely declined Ayase's feelings for him, Ayase reacted harshly and even threatened to kill Kyousuke if he didn't choose her. Nonetheless, she understands Kyousuke's decision and ultimately kisses him on the cheek as thanks for all that he's done for her.
Manami Tamura
After their first encounter, Ayase would usually first consult Manami for advice whenever she had an issue or rather when Kyousuke seemed hopeless. The two share a strong bond, as Ayase more or less sees Manami as a dependable big sister.
Knowing Manami and Kirino's strained relationship, Ayase was considerate enough to formulate a plan for the two to make up, which Kirino is even grateful for.
Ruri Gokou
Ayase and Ruri weren't on good terms to begin with. During their first meeting, Ayase was shocked when Ruri claimed that she owns Kyousuke; despite having broken up with him, she still remains a true friend to Kirino, which Ayase deemed incomprehensible. To make matters worse, Ruri inferred that she is not opposed to Kyousuke having intercourse with his own sister much to the shock of Ayase and Kyousuke himself, but ultimately quelled Ayase in the end. As their debate grew more and more unreasonable, the animosity between them grew also.
However, at some point after Ayase started looking after Kyousuke, the girls had a talk and reconciled. Because of Kuroneko, Ayase was able to come to terms with Kirino's feelings for her brother.
Saori Makishima
Ayase was shocked after seeing Saori in her ojou-sama form, wondering if she was a model. She was further shocked after hearing Saori's strange way of talking, but is later comfortable enough to hang out together with her.
Trivia
- Ayase's father is a senator in Japan and her mother is the President of the PTA.
- Ayase's blood type is A.
- Her favorite color is red.
- In the 60th chapter of Maken-Ki, Ayase makes a cameo appearance for a doushinji.
- While Ayase's personality could be considered a tsundere, when angered, she looks more like a yandere.
- In the psp game and it's sequel, she could become a yandere if you get the bad route.
- ↑ Episode 1