Among the characters appearing in Oshi no Budou, the protagonist, Eripyo, shines with a strangeness that is even more striking than the idols themselves. Her mysterious appearance, actions, speech, and thought process... her constant, unpredictable behavior makes her nonchalantly willing to do anything far beyond common sense for the sake of her idol. Today, we'll introduce you to this [quite unconventional] Eripyo.
What's Eripyo's profile?
Eripyo's profile is barely mentioned in the series, but she's originally from Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, making her a true Okayama native. She's 20 years old! She's surprisingly young, even younger than Cham Jam's leader, Leo. At 162 cm, she's the tallest member, even taller than Maki, who is in charge of sexiness. While her character never makes her seem feminine, she's beautiful and has an impeccable figure. Her favorite foods and hobbies aren't mentioned, but based on the content, it's likely to be all about Maina (lol).
Eripyo's outfits are red jerseys and gym clothes!
Eripyo basically lives in jerseys. She always shows up to cham jam concerts wearing the same red jerseys and gym clothes (with shorts) that she probably wore in high school. You might think there's some special reason for this, but it's just that she's so obsessed with Maina that she's spent all her money on merchandise and CDs and can't afford to dress up. The only thing I can call fashionable is the merchandise T-shirt I wore to the Okayama Girls Festival! I don't wear it regularly because it doesn't have my favorite color. By the way, I wear the merchandise T-shirt and shorts at home.
Was Eripyo fashionable back then?
Before she became a cham jam fan, Eripyo was just an ordinary person. She dressed fashionably and wore jewelry like necklaces. Currently, Eripyo is completely obsessed with Maina, and is treated like a madman and shunned. However, when you look at Eripyo from this time, she's so beautiful it's hard to tell who is the idol. Incidentally, after Maina responds to Eripyo in this scene (by smiling and waving), Eripyo's life goes haywire, for better or worse (lol).
Eripyo's obsessive and intense support for Maina
The reason Eripyo is so highly regarded by fans is her obsessive support for Maina. Her love for Maina is simply extraordinary, sometimes lining up for nine hours in the scorching heat of midsummer just to take a polaroid photo, and on other occasions even going to the theater even with a broken leg. However, her obsessive support for Maina has intimidated fans, resulting in a lack of growth in Maina's fan base... As a result, Eripyo has come to be recognized by fans as the longest-standing and only Maina fan.
Eripyo, the sole supporter of Maina's popularity
Even with such a lack of fan growth, Maina still ranks last in popularity polls. Maina's regular spot in the back row for singing and dancing is always at the end of the row. However, Maina did manage to come in third place in the mid-term popularity poll results. Of course, this was the result of Eripyo buying up all the CDs and voting for them, so Eripyo essentially singlehandedly pushed Maina up from last place to third place. In the end, Eripyo was in a traffic accident and couldn't buy the CD, so Maina's ranking dropped to last place...but Eripyo's power (love) is truly amazing.
Eripyo's job is flipping bread
Eripyo's regular expenses for Cham Jam are all earned through part-time work. Her main job is the mysterious task of "flipping bread." It's a task she doesn't fully understand, but Eripyo seems quite confident in it. At one point, she considered becoming a full-time employee, but she quickly gave up on the idea after Kumasa advised her that it would "restrict her activities."
Eripyo also works a multitude of other part-time jobs
Her main job is flipping bread, but during the popularity poll, she also worked part-time at a convenience store and a construction site. By the way, she also boasts flipping bread at both convenience stores and construction sites (lol). Eripyo also works a variety of other jobs, including wearing a mascot character headgear, working in the kitchen, performing street performances, and modeling for part-time job listings. Her work as a shrine maiden and model shows her great potential.
Eripyo likes Maina, but can't take a Polaroid photo with her
Eripyo buys up all the CDs and routinely uses up around 30 handshake tickets. Each handshaking ticket lasts for five seconds, so 30 tickets means she can shake hands and talk with Maina for two and a half minutes. However, Maina is a precious and unapproachable presence to Eripyo. Their conversations always seem to drift apart and end up being a bit of a mess. Even worse is the Polaroid photo of the two of them together! It's a tradition for cham jam to take instax photos at events, but Eripyo never manages to get close to Maina, so the two end up standing quite far apart in the photo (lol). Incidentally, the instax photo in the image shows them making a heart...
For some reason, their conversations tend to revolve around internal organs...
It's always interesting to see what they talk about with their copious handshake tickets, but for some reason, the topics often revolve around internal organs. When Eripyo was injured and unable to work, they discussed selling their organs to buy a CD. Also, when she heard Maina's voice on her smartphone, she said, "I feel like Maina's inside me," which made Maina think she was talking about her organs... Maina often thinks Eripyo is talking about her organs.
Eripyo is harsh on costumes
Cham Jam has one fatal weakness: the costumes they sometimes wear at new song release events are incredibly ugly. When she appeared in her release event costume, the otakus were shocked by how uncool it was. Amidst all this, Eripyo...she also had a look of despair on her face (lol). However, she immediately began cheering with a smile, saying "It's okay as long as she looks cute wearing it." When she performed in Tokyo, she also wore a similarly uncool costume, but Eripyo desperately tried to convince those around her, saying "I usually wear much cuter costumes..."
Eripyo's Few Friends
While Eripyo has fellow otaku friends like Kumasa and Motoi, she also has one other regular friend who appears in the story. Her name is Miyu, and she's a colleague at the bakery where Eripyo works. When Cham Jam makes a TV appearance, Eripyo invites her over to her house, asking her to "watch her crush (Maina) with her," and there she discovers Eripyo's idol otaku side. At first, she's put off, but then she becomes obsessed with anime characters and is now in love with a 2D character.
Reina, who has the same favorite idol
As the story progresses, a long-awaited Maina fan appears. She's Motoi's younger sister, named Rena, and resembles Sorane. Seeing Maina smile at Rena with a smile she normally doesn't show to herself initially leaves Eripyo feeling uneasy, but she accepts that she needs a large number of fans to aim for the Budokan. Later, she and Rena make a promise to talk about Maina's cuteness as "friends with the same favorite idol."
The voice actress who plays Eripyo in the anime is Fairouz Ai!
Eripyo was voiced by Saori Hayami in the Monthly Comic Ryu commercial, but Fairouz Ai will be providing the voice for the anime! While she may not be as well-known as Saori Hayami, Fairouz Ai, a newcomer who only began voice acting in 2019, received rave reviews for her performance as the protagonist Hibiki Sakura in "How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?" I personally have high hopes for her future success, and I'm excited to see what kind of Eripyo she will become.
A Summary of the Unconventional Protagonist Eripyo
So far, we've introduced the main character, Eripyo. What did you think? Eripyo loves Maina and devotes her life to her. What kind of crazy adventures will she have in the anime? Be sure to check it out when the anime starts in January 2020!
