Kouji Aiba

Kouji Aiba, in his Ryvius work uniform - a screenshot from the anime

Kouji Aiba is a fictional character in the anime Infinite Ryvius.

From Earth, 16-year-old Kouji is brother to Yuki, childhood friend to Aoi, good friends with fellow piloting student and roommate Ikumi and an honest and good person. The main character, Kouji along with Yuki was raised by their mother after their parents divorced, and unconsciously acts as a patronizing guardian to his brother. He is an average student, ranking 26th on the piloting exams (compared to Yuki and Ikumi, who ranked first and second place respectively). Seemingly weak and spineless, Kouji is in fact very diplomatic and good at dealing with people. Yet for some reason Kouji cannot seem to get along with his own brother, Yuki, as fights, both verbal and physical seem to be inevitable whenever the brothers meet face-to-face. Outside of these domestic disputes, Kouji conducts his life with as little interaction with his brother as possible. Kouji also has an obvious attraction to Uranian aristocrat Fina S. Shinozaki, though how this relationship will proceed, and indeed if Kouji's feelings are even reciprocated, remains to be seen.

With the Ryvius in turmoil, Kouji is the one who tries his best to keep the peace in a non-violent fashion, and possibly one of the very few who still retains vestiges of civilization in him. When he realized his own "cowardice"â€"his wanting to satisfy everyone, which made him neglect his own feelingsâ€"he finally brings his friend and the castaways back to civilization.(SeiyÅ«: Tetsu Shiratori; VA: Brad Swaile)

Trivia

*Shiratori Tetsu (Kouji's seiyuu) would later go on to voice Sai Argyle, a character in Gundam Seed, alongside Kuwashima Houko (Aoi's seiyu, who voices Flay Allster, Sai's fiancee) and Hoshi Soichiro (Yuki's seiyu, who voices Kira Yamato, Flay's later love interest). Hence, the love triangle between Kira, Flay and Sai may be an insider joke. Also, in Scryed, Soichiro and Tetsu voiced enemies (Kazuma and Kyouji Mujo). Both animes are by Sunrise, a further pun.