Shiroe (Log Horizon)

Shiroe is the main protagonist from the Log Horizon anime and light novels.

Shiroe is a Half-Alv Enchanter-Scribe and a veteran player of the MMORPG Elder Tale, he was formerly the strategist of the legendary Debauchery Tea Party, and is the current Guild Master of Log Horizon.

In the real world, he is a 23-year old engineering graduate student named Kei Shirogane. He was a member of the Abyssal Shaft Raid Party and later leads the Shibuya Raid Team.

His Overskill is Contract Art Ceremony, which allows him to create contracts that can change even the laws of the world; for example, his first contract allowed him to change a Lander's subclass into Adventurer, granting them the privileges that Adventurers had, including revival.

Appearance
Compared to his real-life body, Shiroe is several centimeters taller in Elder Tale and his figure became slightly slimmer. When he first regains consciousness in the game, he notices that his hands are more slender but also seemingly more dexterous. Shiroe in real life has black hair and a slender build, and also wears glasses. Currently, he's one of the few characters seen outside of the game.

Shiroe wears round glasses and is described by Naotsuguas having eyes that are "sanpaku," a term that means that the iris is small and doesn't completely cover the vertical axis of the eye. Although this is also the result of his Half-Alv race, he notes that he is insecure about it since he was called the same thing in real-life.

In Shiroe's original outfit, he wore a brown turtleneck sweater with a harness-like thing over it. He wore green pants that go from a lighter green on the top to a darker green right above the knees. Dazaneg's Magic Bag almost always rests on his left side, held in place by a belt. His boots follow a similar color scheme as his pants. A bracer always sits on his forearm, although whether it provides any sort of purpose is unknown. This outfit is topped off by his signature cloak, which has a collar large enough to comically serve as a basin for water.

Personality
Shiroe was a graduate student majoring in engineering when he was trapped in the game Elder Tale. Naturally a cautious and thoughtful introvert, he has played the game since middle school and is a veteran with a near-encyclopaedic knowledge of the game, which is known for its depth and complexity. Even as a child, he disliked playing outdoors and from middle school-on preferred to stay indoors, where he used computers to explore virtual reality. Shiroe remained somewhat of a hikikomori through college, and he notes upon regaining consciousness in Akiba that it's been awhile since he was last outside.

Although Shiroe is socially awkward and tends to be asocial, he does not actually dislike other people. Instead, he is fiercely independent and wary of others who approach him with ulterior motives. He is not above helping people who are really in need, and he appears to have a soft spot for beginners, such as Tohya and Minori. In addition, he can be quite protective of people he cares for, a trait that Nyanta used to tease him about.

Shiroe is overly humble, seeing himself as prideful and arrogant and leading him to be self-conscious about enforcing his principles or beliefs on others. However, even if he knows that others might not appreciate his actions or thank him afterward, if he sees it as the greater good, he will use any means possible to achieve his goals. This has caused others to sometimes misunderstand his motives and has earned him the nickname Black-Heart Glasses (hara-guro megane, alternatively translated as "the villain in glasses"). (In Japanese media, most characters described as "haraguro" appear to be nice but are, in fact, schemers or scoundrels. "Hara" is metaphorically one's true intentions, and "guro" means black. Yen On calls him the "Machiavelli in glasses," which associates him with Macchiavellianism.

Shiroe is generally a loner and has reservations about guilds, due to unpleasant experiences with people who sought him out only to exploit his expertise in the game. He was, however, a member of the informal group of players known as the Debauchery Tea Party and was its unofficial strategist. He became a well-known strategist due to his effort in researching and mastering his skill called Full Control Encounter, which he describes as using 1% as a unit, forecast 30 seconds ahead; in other words, he can grasp his allies' remaining MP with 1% margin of error, know all remaining resources of both allies and enemies, and forecast battles 30 seconds ahead.

Shiroe's main class, the Enchanter, is an unpopular class in Elder Tale. Lacking the firepower most would associate with a magic-user class, the Enchanter is a pure-support class that shines only when supporting the party with its buffs, de-buffs and binds. As a result, he loves this class for its potential, its complexity, and because the idea of "a class that can't do anything on its own" offered an experience totally opposite from his tendency toward independence and self-reliance.

Due to his expertise in CAD drawing as an engineering student, he chose Scribe as his subclass. After the discovery of cooking without the in-game menu allows a player to produce out-of-the-game products, he started experimenting with his Scribe subclass. After learning about Spirit Theory from Li Gan, he was confident that if the conditions are met, it could be used to create new magic and laws. For example, he created a contract between Log Horizon and Rundelhous Code to keep him alive by converting him into an Adventurer and a member of Log Horizon, allowing him to be reborn at the Cathedral.

Abilities
Shiroe specializes in two builds: Enchanter, and Mana Controller. Typically, he prioritizes casting attack support magic on his allies first (like Keen Edge), then adding offensive magic debuffs on enemies (such as Thorn Bind Hostage). He is a valuable asset in Raids due to his proficiency in the Mana Controller build, which focuses on MP restoration and redistribution. It is through this build that his "Full Control Encounter" is at its strongest, and his extensive research on this build is likely one of the reasons why he was able to figure out a way to revive Rudy.

Equipment

 * Staff of the Wise Horned Owl: A staff infused with the divine protection of the Horned Owl, messenger of the Goddess of Wisdom. Its wisdom illuminates the darkness and is said to aid its bearer's thoughts. Boosts spell force and increases chanting speed.
 * Sacred Robe of the Stars: Made of cloth woven from the tracks of falling stars. Worn only by magic users. An ultra-rare crafted item that requires Phantasmal-class materials. Receives power from the locations of the stars and enhances the force of Astral attack spells.
 * The Kah of the Millenial Bird: A legendary talisman carved from a fragment that burst from the Sacred Tree Vendelia when a sacred bird was born from it. It has dominion over indestructible life and reduces the effect of Movement Inhibition status effects.


 * Unnamed Boots: Short, soft, comfortable boots made of Thunder Elk leather.


 * Parka Jacket: A parka jacket made of cotton fabric. The parka resembles Shiroe's regular everyday wear in the real world. Its somewhat large size gives off a slovenly feel.
 * Rainbow Glass Ink Bottle: A Production-class item, the color of ink within the bottle can be changed. A limited production rare item by the Painter guild "Atelier Armadillo" in Akiba. The small guild exists due to Shiroe's assistance.
 * Long Kotatsu: A furniture-type item with the magical power to attract indoor gatherings. This large six-seater is made-to-order. Recently, it seems to be used regularly by the Landers.
 * White Staff of the Wings of Ruin: This is a very strong Phantasmal-class item from Raids, but it is very hard to get, since it is one of the few remaining ones. It is a long cane that expands the effective range of support magic cast by the owner. Although it looks like a staff made of an ordinary old tree, when it is activated, a wing-like force field forms from the tip.
 * Sage's Coat: This is a Phantasmal-class protective gear that gives defense with divine protection in accordance with the owner's wisdom. It is the reward for clearing the Raid quest "Wise Beastmen Who Lies in the Desert" in the overseas server. It boasts high tolerance to bad status effects against the mind.
 * Laurel Blossom Talisman: This is a Phantasmal-class talisman that imitates the legend of the flower that blooms with the moon's cycle. This item blesses the soul, such that when its wearer dies, the wearer's experience loss is reduced, and the wearer's respawn time is shortened. It contains the ability to strengthen attack magic and defense magic of the mind-attribute.

Trivia

 * In the Let's Go to Summer Camp! manga short written and illustrated by Hara Kazuhiro, Shiroe states that he cannot swim. Whether this is true, or whether he said that to avoid having to wear the swimsuit sent to him by the Roderick Firm (the one Rudy later wears), is yet unknown.
 * Shiroe's name is written in kana (not kanji), so the meaning of the name is intentionally ambiguous. Phonetically, it's a combination of the first character of his real last name ("shiro") and his first name (kei, can be read as "e"). Put together, they make "Shiro-e," which would mean something like a "fortress of wisdom." However "shiro" is also a homophone with, which mean "white" or sometimes "innocent." Henrietta often pokes fun of Shiroe by calling him Kuroe ("Kuro" = Black), playing on the alternate, more common meaning of the word "shiro".
 * In the Taiwanese translation, Shiroe's official name was changed to (Chéng Huì, transliterates to "City Benefactor"), instead of transliterating Shiroe's Japanese name. The Taiwanese version's translator, Haniwa, chose to use a localized name that held meaning to Chinese readers, although he said he wished there was a way to place the white/black symbolism in the Chinese name.
 * Yen On's translation calls Shiroe the "Machiavelli in Glasses" instead of the "Villain in Glasses," in reference to both Niccolò Machiavelli and Machiavellianism. Ironically, although Machiavellianism is often regarded as being predominantly in favor of self-interest and personal gain, most if not all of Shiroe's schemes are for the greater good, and he rarely takes self-interest into account unless he believes that it is for the better. For that reason, the name "Black-Heart Glasses" is also rather ironic; he appears to be a ruthless schemer on the outside, but he is actually kind-hearted on the inside.
 * Shiroe placed second in the first official popularity poll, with 852 votes. He fell to third place in the second poll with 1,802 votes, losing out to Nyanta.
 * Yen On held their own version of the popularity poll online, where Shiroe placed first with 122 votes.
 * Takuma Terashima voices both Shiroe and Merchant Youngster from Mamare's previous work, Maoyu. Both start of being introverted and shy, but become more self-confident and outspoken after being (sometimes forcefully) put into positions of power.