Shinra Middle Manager

The Shinra Middle Manager, also known simply as Shinra Manager, is a minor character in Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII Remake. He works for the Shinra Electric Power Company in a management position.
==History==
===Original continuity===
In "No. 1 Reactor Bombing", the Shinra manager was aboard the train returning to the Sector 7 slums and complained about having to take the last train due to the kind of passengers it attracts, indirectly referring to Avalanche's presence. 
In "To the No. 5 Reactor", the Shinra manager was on the train again and annoyedly muttered about Barret's loudness, lamenting he had the worst luck. Barret heard him and approached him, which led to the manager timidly telling him off. He was concerned of Avalanche's bombing threats and refused to give into violence or give up his seat. Tifa intervened and Barret angrily told the manager that he was lucky. When Cloud's party's fake IDs were caught by a security check the manager expressed both fear and excitement.
In "The Stowaway Strategy", the Shinra manager was assigned to Junon on business, tasked with helping transport the city's mako cannon. Cloud's party encountered him at the bar in the Lower Junon Barracks. He was ashamed he wasn't staying in a "five star hotel" like his superiors promised and asked the party how they could sleep in such a place.
In "Dangerous Voyage", the Shinra manager traveled to Costa del Sol. Upon seeing Rufus and Heidegger at the helipad, he swore under his breath that he'd quit the company, referred to Heidegger as an "idiot", and believed Rufus acted "too big".
During the Weapon crisis, the manager was disappointment when he was told he wouldn't be returning to Midgar and questioned his loyalty to Shinra. He gleefully pondered if he'd become the president should the Weapons kill the upper management.
===Remake continuity===
In "Fateful Encounters", the Shinra middle manager was aboard the train headed for the Sector 7 slums in the aftermath of the Mako Reactor 1 bombing. He was gossiping with his co-worker about Avalanche, summoning Barret to angrily interject and disagree. Barret and the middle manager continued to verbally spar over Shinra's creed, the latter receiving an applause from his co-workers. Moments later, they exited the train car frightened. 
The middle manager exited the train in "Home Sweet Slum", lovingly greeted his family, and informed them of the recent events. The next day, he talked with his friend about his occupational dreams and later chatted with his co-worker about their living conditions, the company, all the good Shinra has done in the world, and how he'd give them raises should he receive a promotion. In "Mad Dash", he was at the Sector 7 station during the morning with his wife and daughter, ready to leave for work. 
The middle manager appeared again in "Dogged Pursuit" and sat beside Barret on the train to Sector 4. He asked if Barret still supported Avalanche's terrorism and broke into a speech, aggravating Barret. Before Barret could respond, Cloud intervened and prevented an altercation, and the manager moved a few seats down. Later, when Cloud, Barret, and Tifa had their fake IDs detected, Shinra drones attacked, and Tifa evacuated everyone on the train, including the manager. The middle manager was confused and asked why she was helping him, an enemy, to which she responded that she didn't care about his affiliation and asked for his cooperation; he agreed to look after the other passengers on board.
During "Wutai's Finest" in "Episode INTERmission", the middle manager tried to teach himself how to play the Fort Condor strategy game. His daughter showed him the game and he wanted to learn to play so they could play together. Yuffie challenged him to a round and he lost. The middle manager gladly accepted defeat, believing that if he could play well enough to make it seem like he was losing, his daughter would be happy to win and that's all that mattered.
In "The Town That Never Sleeps", the middle manager went to the Honeybee Inn with his friend, claiming to be on a secret mission to survey the undercity for Avalanche activity, though his friend noted the manager did not seem to be doing much investigating. He watched and enjoyed Andrea's show featuring Cloud.
==Characteristics==
===Appearance===
The Shinra manager is a young man with an average build. In the original game he has fair skin, short dark brown hair slicked back, and gray eyes. He wears a burgundy suit jacket over a white dress shirt, a dark purple tie, burgundy dress slacks, and black dress shoes. In Remake, he has brown eyes and wears a black suit jacket over a white dress shirt, a red tie with a diagonal pattern, black dress slacks, and polished black dress shoes.
===Personality===
The Shinra manager follows Shinra's company creed, believing they work to ensure Midgar's peace and prosperity and will ultimately help save the world. He opposes violence and intimidation, despising Avalanche for their bombing threats. He fearfully confronts Barret on the train and attempts to justify the company's actions, defending himself and his fellow employees' consciences. A few days later, he again questioned if Barret still supported Avalanche, reinforcing his previous words, but was annoyedly brushed off. As time passes he begins feeling distant from the company, fruitlessly hoping for a promotion, and wanting to quit because he's not fond of their lies and uncaring executives.
The Shinra manager is a caring man who believes he can change the world as a Shinra employee. He eases his wife and daughter's worries after the bombing of Mako Reactor 1, and encourages his co-workers to look beyond personal comfort, see all the good they are accomplishing, and promises them pay rises if he gets a promotion. However, he also tends to lie, assuring his family the utterly destroyed mako reactor would return online, claiming he stood up to Barret on the train, and asking is friend to not tell his wife that he visited the Honeybee Inn.
==Gameplay==
Shinra Middle Manager plays Fort Condor in "Episode INTERmission", and when Yuffie Kisaragi comes to Sector 7, she has a chance of challenging him. The middle manager is a Rank 1 player, who wants to learn the game so he can teach his daughter, who had expressed interest in the tabletop tower-defense game.
Shinra Middle Manager is in the northeast end of the Residential Area, on the way to the train station. He favors ranged units, meaning a loadout of primarily vanguard units is deal. He has a single defense and vanguard unit. His board has a better ATB-recharge rate than previous opponents.
In hard mode, the Manager is a Rank 5 player with a faster board and towers with better stats. Using Sorcerer Board II with a fast Guard Dog unit in the loadout works against him as well as it did against Johnny and Kyrie, though there are many viable strategies. Unleashing all spells on the HQ does not quite destroy it, but does deplete its HP ~5/6ths. The Manager deploys his troops and they head to the player's territory, but it is best to wait without deploying anything until "the coast to be clear", and then send a unit from the middle line that will push the territory line all the way up to the Manager's towers. When the Middle Manager deploys a unit to defend his towers, the player can send out a unit that counters his, but focus on attacking the HQ.
Board 	Units 	Reward(s)
Assassin Board I6 ATBFireHaste	Guard Dog (Vanguard)Grenadier (Ranged)Elite Grenadier (Ranged)Slug-Ray (Ranged)Sentry Ray (Ranged)Riot Trooper (Defense)	Easy/Normal:Elite Grenadier (Ranged) Condor Coin x2Assassin Board IHard:Secrets of the Ninja Vol.IISecrets of the Staff Vol.IICondor Coin x2
==Behind the scenes==
The Shinra Manager was created by planner Motomu Toriyama.
The Shinra Manager appears in a dummied scene at the deleted Honey Bee Inn lobby, where he was queuing up waiting to enter.Dummied Honey Bee Inn scene with Shinra Manager. He appears outside the location in Final Fantasy VII Remake. The Shinra manager fumbled his words as he refused to give his name, and subsequently whispered it to the receptionist. An unnamed customer fainted in response to a blown kiss from a Honey Bee, who shut herself back into the dressing room in dismay after the unconscious man was dragged away. Palmer descended a stairwell to leave, which made it the manager's turn, but Palmer noticed him and shouted at him, calling him simply "Manager". The manager tried to weasel out by claiming he was turning his day off into a business trip for on-site marketing research, but a Honey Bee exclaimed she was happy that he came. Having been exposed as a regular, the manager cowered and begged Palmer not to transfer him or make him write an apology letter, then crawled between Palmer and Cloud and ran away. Palmer gave chase, and so did the Honey Bee. This made it Cloud's turn to go up the stairwell and into a room, but the field is unfinished, thus ending the scene. In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the manager appears outside the venue, bragging that he is there on a covert Shinra mission, though he seems to be doing no investigating.
In the Japanese version of the original game, Shinra manager's speaker line changes with his two comments in Junon. When speaking of the Sister Ray he is referred to as the Madokiwa Shinra Manager , which refers to the concept of , where long-serving employees who are no longer useful or have become a burden, instead of being made redundant, are given fewer and less or unimportant responsibilities to idle their way until retirement. When speaking of Weapon killing upper management he is referred to as the Moetsuki Shinra Manager , which alludes to the concept of —the idea of .
In Final Fantasy VII Remake, the Japanese version voice in the Visual Entertainment Floor of the Shinra Building is by the same voice actor as the Shinra Middle Manager, Eiji Hanawa. Nothing official states it's the Middle Manager voicing the video, but scenario writer Motomu Toriyama finds it fun to consider it that way. Toriyama stated that in the original version he had the middle manager appear in areas he was working on as a kind of trademark. He noted that for the remake we get to see snippets of his struggle between balancing family life and his career as a middle manager and that his character has developed over the years.Final Fantasy VII Remake Material Ultimania, p. 104
==Gallery==
Shinra Middle Manager boasting from FFVII Remake.jpg|Final Fantasy VII Remake
Shinra Middle Manager final scene from FFVII Remake.jpg|Shinra Middle Manager talks to Tifa.
Shinra Middle Manager outside the Honeybee Inn from FFVII Remake.png|Shinra Middle Manager at the Honeybee Inn.
==References==
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy VII
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy VII Remake
Category:Characters in Final Fantasy VII Rebirth