Obi

Obi is one of the main characters of the Snow White with the Red Hair anime and manga series.
He is voiced by Nobuhiko Okamoto in the Japanese version and Austin Tindle in the English version.
==Appearance==
He has short, spiky black hair and yellow cat-like eyes, with a scar on his forehead above his left eye. He also has such thin eyebrows that they're barely visible, which often makes him appear like he doesn't have any. Clothing-wise, he usually wears the same clothes that he first appeared in, and even when wearing other clothes, he prefers darker colors since they allow him to sneak around at night better. He also often wears a neck wrap of some sort that's similar to the one he's usually seen wearing. Since becoming Zen's official messenger, his alternate choices of clothing have become more formal, but this is mostly when he's on official business, and he'll often switch back to his usual casual choice of clothing when either doing other oddjobs or lounging around the castle. 
==Personality==
Generally, Obi comes off as fairly sociable, friendly and lighthearted. However, due to previously working as an assassin for hire, he's also accustomed to not forming any true relationships or friendships in order to not be tied down, so he's also initially pretty aloof and keeps everyone at an emotional distance. However, since pledging his allegiance to Zen and becoming his attendant, he has gradually become more and more attached to those around him, especially Shirayuki and Zen, likely due to their kind, honest and selfless personalities, something he likely didn't see much of before due to mostly being in the company of other assassins. Therefore, being with those who genuinely trust, rely on and care about him has likely made him realize how much he desired true companionship and setting down in one place, to the extent that when he runs into a former acquaintance, he informs her that he's lost any desire to go back to his previous line of work. 
Since Zen made him his official messenger as a convenient means to act as Shirayuki's bodyguard, he has become fiercely protective of her, to the extent that if she's in danger or threatened, he'll quickly change from his usual lighthearted and easygoing disposition to acting much more serious and ruthless, as exemplified by how quietly intense and angry he was when he confronted Itoya after he and Kazuki kidnapped Shirayuki from Raj's castle in Tanbarun, as well as when he assists in the battle against Umihebi and the Claws of the Sea. He is even strongly implied to have developed a crush on her, but due to his strong respect for and loyalty towards Zen, whom she's already in a healthy relationship with, he never acts on it and continually supports the two of them with what they already have. 
Due to his lighthearted and easygoing nature, whenever the situation isn't serious, Obi is often teasing his friends and occasionally making deadpan or sarcastic remarks, all to either poke fun at them or lighten the mood. In sharp contrast to keeping his feelings for Shirayuki tight-lipped. he occasionally openly flirts wth Zen, and to a lesser extent, Mitsuhide, so he likely doesn't actually mean it and just enjoys getting a reaction out of them. He also has a pretty friendly relationship with Ryuu and often treats him like a younger brother. 
==History==
Not much is known about Obi's past other than that he used to be an assassin for hire. He is first introduced early in the story when he's hired by Marquis Haruka, an advisor of Zen Wistaria, to intimidate Shirayuki into leaving the castle due to incorrectly assuming she's likely taking advantage of Zen's trust to increase her own social status. At one point, he fires an arrow at Shirayuki while she's walking up some stairs that deliberately just misses her, but to his surprise, she just presses on and investigates who's trying to get her to leave, which impresses him. When Shirayuki figures out what's going on and that Haruka was behind it, he congratulates her on doing so and even tries to take all the blame for it and absolve Haruka of responsibility, which Haruka refuses to allow by admitting to it. When Zen joins the conversation and reveals he heard everything, he subsequently pledges his allegiance to him, and although Zen is both hesistant to trust him and assigns Mitsuhide and Kiki to keep a close eye on him, he soon hires him as another personal aide along with them.
At first, Zen mostly has him do reconnaissance types of work due to his particular skill set, such as finding the bandits who were responsible for poisoning the soldiers at Fort Laxdo, but after a little while, Obi manages to earn his trust, especially when he returns to him after a job that required being away from the castle for a while, despite easily being able to abandon his employ and not return if he wanted to, as well as when he takes cares of Shirayuki during an incident where she accidently got drunk. After this, Zen gives him his own official identification and makes him his private messenger, with this really just being a convenient means to be able to assign him to Shirayuki as a personal bodyguard without anyone being suspicious of it. Therefore, from this point onwards, he mostly accompanies Shirayuki for protection. During this time, he gets more and more attached to her, to the extent that when she's summoned back to Tanbarun to attend a ball being held by Prince Raj Shenazard, he insists that Zen send him to accompany her there instead of Mitsuhide, and after proving his fighting skills to him in a practice fight, Zen is convinced enough to grant his request. During the time he's there with Shirayuki, he witnessed her and Raj get along surprisingly well despite their previous bad history, and is in turn, relatively impressed with Raj's attempts to be a better prince despite some of the things he had heard about him. 
However, after a peaceful few days, things take a turn for the worse when Shirayuki is kidnapped by Kazuki and Itoya right before the ball. Due to being present when it happened, but unable to prevent it, he feels like he let both her and Zen down, and as a result, is both very guilt-stricken and determined to make up for it by rescuing her. He then pursues the two and eventually catches up to and confronts Itoya, only to find out Shirayuki and Kazuki were kidnapped by a third party, a band of pirates called the Claw of the Sea lead by a ruthless woman named Umihebi, so he accompanies him and Mukaze, the leader of the Lionsof the Mountain, the group that Itoya is a part of, to rescue them. Shortly after that, they run into Zen, who had just arrived in Tanbarun out of concern for Shirayuki's safety, with Mitsuhide, Kiki and Mihaya accompanying him. Zen then manages to clear up the misunderstanding regarding why the Lions of the Mountain kidnapped Shirayuki by questioning them on their motives and subsequently makes an alliance with Mukaze, after which they team up with Raj and his followers to come up with a plan to take down the Claw of the Sea. Thanks to their combined efforts, they're able to intercept the pirates, force them to retreat to their hideout, cut off their escape and ambush them there, then subsequently defeat and apprehend them in a battle that breaks out, rescuing Shirayuki and Kazuki. In the aftermath, Obi apologizes to Shirayuki for not being able to protect her, but Shirayuki assures him that she doesn't blame him at all for it, relieving him of his guilt. 
Afterwards, he accompanies her, Zen and the others to the village where the Lions of the Mountain reside for their celebration of their victory and does a bunch of drinking to unwind. After Shirayuki makes a stop in Tanbarun on the way back for a makeup ball that Raj holds specially for her, he accompanies the rest of the core group on their journey back to Clarines. On the way back, they stop at an inn to get out of the rain, during which he runs into an old acquaintance from his previous line of work named Torou, and agrees to help her with a small job. During this whole experience, he reflects a lot on how his life has changed since his days as an assassin, especially with regards to having genuine companions who rely on and even worry about him now if he suddenly takes off without telling them.
==Trivia==
* Obi notes he's gone by many names before his current alias; much like Lavi.
* His Japanese voice actor, Nobuhiko Okamoto, also voices Rin Okumura from Blue Exorcist, Accelerator from A Certain Magical Index,and Katsuki Bakugo from My Hero Academia.
* His English voice actor, Austin Tindle, also voiced Ken Kaneki in Tokyo Ghoul, Neito Monoma in My Hero Academia, Seiji Aino in Love Tyrant, Accelerator in A Certain Magical Index, Shu Ouma in Guilty Crown, Yu Ishigami in Kaguya-sama: Love Is War, Vali Lucifer in High School DXD, Ayumu Aikawa in Is This a Zombie?, Kenji Kazama in D-Frag, Goro in Darling in the Franxx, Albert Frazer in Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records, Ruth in The Ancient Magus' Bride, Sour in Dragon Ball Super, Joseph in Maria the Virgin Witch, Iceburg (young) in One Piece, Shinsuke Takasugi in Gintama second movie, Louis L. Bridget in Freezing, Raspberry in Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Lunarre in Tales of Zestiria, and Ichirohiko in The Boy and the Beast.
==Gallery==
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