Langa Hasegawa

**Langa Hasegawa** (馳河 (はせがわ)  ランガ, *Hasegawa Ranga*), known in "S" as **Snow** (スノー, *Sunō*), is a half-Japanese exchange student who has just returned from Canada to Okinawa, where his mother grew up. He gets caught up in "S", an underground skateboard race, along with Reki Kyan, and the two are quick to become close friends. Unlike Reki, Langa has no skateboarding experience, but his knowledge in snowboarding helped him get a head start.

## Description

### Appearance

Langa is a japanese-canadian guy with very attractive looks. He has medium length sky-blue hair (described as "snow-like") that grows past his ears and blue eyes. He is above the average height, and noticeably taller than Reki. Usually, he's shown in a high school uniform consisting of black pants, a yellow vest-jacket, and a white button-down shirt. When hanging out with Reki he wears baggy clothes consisting of dark pants, a blue coat, and a gray-colored shirt, and has also been shown in a white dress shirt and skinny jeans and a fully black school uniform, always accompanied by purple sneakers.

Langa's mom helps him choose his clothing when he goes out, such as when we wore the sleeveless shirt to Miyakojima.

### Personality

Langa generally wears a neutral or sometimes even stoic expression and when speaking, he tends to use as few words as necessary. As early as his introduction to his classmates, his teacher needs to urge Langa to tell the class more about himself other than just his name, to which Langa adds that he's from Canada, much to the class' amusement.

He is calm and laid back about most things, but when it comes to snowboarding and or learning to skateboard, he's greatly determined and frequently puts his life at risk. Ignoring self-preservation for the act of fun with Reki. He can be an air-headed and easily distracted. He is very self-assured when he is in his element and is a very quick learner. This can be seen when he easily masters riding a skateboard, using his skills from the fifteen years he spent snowboarding. He was able to make quick adjustments, such as quickly learning how to turn on a skateboard, which is different than turning on a snowboard due to the trucks and wheels on the skateboard.

Because he grew up in Canada, he is unfamiliar with many Japanese customs and its culture. For example, he was not used to sitting *seiza* style during his job interview with Cherry Blossom and so his legs fell asleep. Another example is when he and Reki asked Oka if Langa can work there part-time, Langa lifts his head from the bow too early in a way that would ordinarily be considered impolite.

He's also been endeavoring at getting a job to help out with bills ever since his father's passing. He is also very naturally stubborn and hard working. With the death of his father, Langa has taken the responsibility upon himself to find part-time work in order to help pay bills. Although the pay appears to be most important to him rather than what the job entails, Langa is open about his short-comings, such as when he declined help from Reki in writing his resume in case the job required reading and writing.
He has an apparent distaste for Japanese-styled toilets, preferring the comfort of Western-styled toilets instead. He even makes the Sign of the Cross before he enters the bathroom, a tradition usually associated with Western Christianity than the majority of religions in Asia.

Following his example in all things from habits, skating, and handshakes. He cares deeply for his friends and wants them to succeed as does he wish for himself to succeed. He is close friends with Reki and they spend lots of time together practicing skating.

Langa has a gluttonous appetite, demonstrated when he ate an entire platter of hamburgers when Reki, Miya, Hiromi, and himself went out prior to Reki's beef.

Over the course of the series, Reki and Langa have grown to be excellent friends who care about and support one another. Although he quickly advances from being a novice skater to a pro-skater who can hold his own against others who have been skating for years such as Hiromi, Joe and Miya. Although his skill in skateboarding developed quickly, Langa enjoys skateboarding with Reki, despite the gap in their skill.
After the death of his father, Langa stopped snowboarding. Through Reki's encouragement, Langa was able to step on a skateboard, despite his fear of falling off if his feet weren't attached. Reki taught Langa the basic skateboarding tricks and practiced diligently with him. The quick development of his skills earned him the name of "Snow" at S, in honor of his snowboarding background and the color of his hair. It's demonstrated multiple times that Langa gets a thrill out of dangerous, near-impossible situations like racing through the factory in the mines against the other S races.

However, "S" participants begin to call Reki "the redhead who hangs out with Snow," although Langa appears to be oblivious to this. While Reki spends an entire day trying to reach a high spot on a wall that Langa had reached with ease, Langa tries to finds Reki at his house and diligently waits for Reki's return in the rain. After Reki claims that he and Langa are no longer "a good match" for one another, Langa is visibly shaken from this.
It's at this point where Langa's enjoyment of skateboarding takes a steep dive. Against his race in the tournament with Joe, he all but stops trying all together until Reki calls out to him and encourages him to go on. For the first time since Reki said that they weren't a good match, Langa was able to feel the excitement of skateboarding again, cementing the fact that it isn't just the thrill he loves - it's skating with Reki that made skateboarding enjoyable in the first place.

## Etymology

* Langa's surname contains the kanji for "gallop, run" (馳, *hase*) and "river" (河, *gawa*).

## Trivia

* Langa had started snowboarding when he was 2 years old.
* He faints at the sight of blood, after he had fallen and got hurt while attempting an ollie in episode 2. However, in a later episode, Langa did not faint when he saw Reki’s blood after he had lost to Adam and fallen. This implies that Langa may struggle more so with his own blood rather than others blood.
* Langa is a "goofy" skater, meaning he prefers to skate with his right foot at the front of the board.
* He can fall asleep in 3 seconds flat, and doesn't care what clothes he falls asleep in.
* He's popular but is the type of person to get dumped when he dates someone.
* He would give a bad white day gift since he's not very considerate, and it would probably be something his mom gets for him. He would take a date to the park to skate.
* Langa would eat anything he finds tasty.
* As a young child he would have been blank-faced even back then, and was treated as a problem child because he was hard to communicate with.
* Reki is Langa's first true friend, since in Canada he had his dad to snowboard with and didn't have any other real friends.
* He would not like a surprise proposal. He would not like a grand reception. He would want "see ya" kisses everyday. He would want to go to his homeland in Canada for his honeymoon. He'd live an easygoing and slow life with his spouse, but he tends to get carried away sometimes so he'd need care. He would need time to open up to his spouse.
* Langa is 18 on Joe's rankings of the muscles of S. Joe's comment: I can hear them…… I can hear them…… I can hear the voices of all his core muscles that he forged through snowboarding!
* Langa is 100% on Adam’s Passionate Love Parameter, how much passion he has for each skater. Adam’s comment: You really are the only one who fills my heart to the fullest. Ahh! This is the moment your ice-like eyes were enveloped in flames! Lovely ♡♡
* Langa's daily schedule when there's no S:
	+ 8:00-8:30 - Wakes up, eats breakfast
	+ 8:30-16:00 - Skates to school, attend school
	+ 16:00-18:00 - Part time work
	+ 18:00-19:30 - Skatepark
	+ 19:30-20:30 - Makes and eats dinner
	+ 20:30-21:30 - Showers, does chores (Sometimes Reki calls and they talk about skating)
	+ 22:00 - Sleep (He probably falls asleep fast. He's a high schooler so he needs to eat a lot and sleep a lot to grow bigger)
* Langa would go to an aquarium for a summer date, since he doesn't like hot weather, but he's the type to follow and not initiate. If there was unexpected rain, he wouldn't realize and make the situation better, just stare blankly and wait for the rain to stop.
* Langa's preferred fashion sense is simple cool colors, and he doesn't have much that doesn't cover him all the way. He has a lot of turtle necks so that the snow doesn't get in his clothes when snowboarding, and he tends to choose things that have collars. He would have something to eat in his bag, like bread from a convenience store, and he would eat it even if it got smashed. For a date, Langa wouldn't think about his clothes at all. He would try to go out in normal clothes unless his mother stopped him and coordinated an outfit. Langa isn't the type to be attracted by looks or care about them, but instead probably values more who a person is on the inside. Langa's mother buys his clothes for him until he becomes friends with Reki, and then he goes clothes shopping together with Reki, who would probably end up choosing Langa's clothes for him too even if they don't suit Langa. For a shopping date, Langa's partner would be the one taking the initiative, he would be just tagging along. Rather than a shopping date, he would be happier if it was a food date. Langa's mom does his laundry. If someone snapped a picture of him on the street, Langa would have no reaction.
* If Langa was a sweet he would be Petit gâteau. He has a stylish appearance, but is surprisingly hot on the inside!
* Langa may not have cared to believe in Santa or not, but when he was young his father, Oliver, dressed up as Santa and Langa saw him and instantly realized it was him and said "Daddy!" So before he even believed in him he was raised to think his dad is Santa. Before loving skating, when he was little he probably asked for lots of snacks for Christmas. He doesn’t really want things so he’d probably want food. He’d get a lot but his mother would probably control how much he got and give him a bit at a time.
* If Langa was an animal, he'd be a yeti, since he has the image of snow and ice and he also has poor communication skills and an unworldly feeling.
* Langa wouldn't have a plan for his omotenashi and would realize his room doesn't have anything festive after inviting a guest over. He can cook an omelette, which is his mom's favorite and he's practiced cooking that for her. It's likely that he's not too good at cooking anything else. Langa is very clueless and it would make people want to take care of him, and because of his origin in Canada, he might not be familiar with Japanese omotenashi.
* Langa's tournament card is the Ace of Diamonds.
* Langa's name comes from the word 'valanga,' which in Italian which means avalanche.
* Langa cannot swim without using floaties.