Eru Aharen

**Eru Aharen** (阿波連 える, *Aharen Eru*) is a supporting character in  Aharen-san wa Hakarenai. She is the younger sister of Reina Aharen and older sister to Ren Aharen.

## Description

> 阿波連さんの妹。顔は阿波連さんにそっくりだが背が高い。姉のことが大好きな反面、かなりのツンデレ。姉の見えないところで尽くしまくり。
> Translation: Reina's younger sister. Though her face looks very similar to Reina, she has a taller statue. She loves her sister so much but she is a very tsundere girl. She does everything she can for Reina when Reina is not there.
>
> TV Anime "Aharen-san wa Hakarenai" Japanese Official Site

## Appearance

Eru is a tall girl in her preteens. She is the tallest of the Aharen siblings and appears older than her sister Reina despite being younger than her. Eru has silver hair styled similarly to her sister and deep blue eyes, which are most often seen in a scowl. She is most often seen in her middle school uniform;a white sailor uniform with navy blue skirt, white short socks, and black penny loafers.

## Personality

Eru has an outwardly cold and sometimes confrontational personality, as seen during her first encounter with Raidō. However, this is often a shield for her actual feelings. Eru is very caring towards her family and would go to great lengths for them. Eru feels responsible to them and often considers herself to be the only person they can rely on. She often feels the need to be more mature than her age demands which translates to her serious personality. Eru also feels the need to live up to what she perceives as others' expectation of her, as shown when Atsushi and his friends mistook her for Reina and wanted her to teach them skateboarding. Instead of dismissing the boys, she instead tried hard to learn skateboarding to live up to their expectations.

## Trivia

* She attends the same junior high school as Raidō's little sister. They later become friends in the manga (bonus chapter of volume 11 and chapter 122 in volume 13).
* Eru is one of the tallest among the three siblings of Reina.

## Etymology

* **Aharen** (阿波連) is a surname that is originated in Okinawa. It might be derived from the hamlet of Aharen (Google Maps), Tokashiki Island, Okinawa Prefecture. Many other characters from the Aharen-san manga and anime also have Okinawan surnames, e.g. Ōshiro (大城), Tōbaru (桃原), Miyahira (宮平), Tamanaha (玉那覇), and Henzan (平安山). It may be because Okinawa is the home of Asato Mizu, the author of the manga.
	+ "阿" (a) means "ridge of roofs" or "to flatter". It is also used as a prefix expressing familiarity or just to express the "a" sound.
	+ "波" (ha) means "wave".
	+ "連" (ren) means "to link/join". It is also used as a suffix that means "group/party/company".
	+ This kanji form (especially "阿波" part), however, might be an ateji, in which kanji are used just to express the sound.

## Notes

1. ↑ While she meets Raidō for the first time when he is in the first grade in high school in the anime, this episode takes place when Raidō is a second grader in the manga (ch. 83 in vol. 9). In that chapter of the manga, Raidō says that she is in the second grade in junior high school. That is, she is thought to be a first grader in junior high school (12 or 13 years old) in the anime.

## References

1. ↑ Aharen-san wa Hakarenai (TV) - Anime News Network
2. ↑ Character - TV Anime "Aharen-san wa Hakarenai" Japanese Official Site
3. ↑ 阿波連 - Japanese Wikipedia
4. ↑ 阿波連 - 沖縄姓名
5. ↑ 阿 - Wiktionary
6. ↑ 波 - Wiktionary
7. ↑ 連 - Wiktionary