Character	Manabe Akiharu
Appearance	Hakuji
Media	Japanese Manga
Type	Yandere (Minor)
Love Interest	Ichijou Seika

A genius painter that had been kept away from society for the fear of tainting his purity and artwork. He grew up without ever attending high school. His world only revolves around painting.

SPOILERS AND PERSONAL OPINION

Akiharu met Seika by chance and was immediately entranced by her countenance and white skin. Soon, he started thinking about her so much that he could not progress with his painting. With the help of his friend Koushi, they got introduced to each other, and Seika agreed to be his model.

Along the way, both of them developed feelings for each other, but Akiharu was conflicted about his feelings. Having only known painting his entire life, with minimal interaction with the outside world, Akiharu does not know how to manage such emotions.

On one hand, he wants to pour his love into her, but he fears such acts will only taint Seika’s beauty and purity. To control himself, he translates all his desires into paintings, subduing his feelings in this way.

Eventually, Seika managed to coax him out his shell, and the two learn to accept each other and grow together. However, tragedy soon struck Seika, as she suffered a sudden lost of sight due to a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. This is the part where Akiharu became more unstable.

As he grieves over Seika’s condition, he also felt a sense of happiness that Seika would be more reliant and closer to him now more than ever. When Seika expressed her desire to return to a normal school life, and seek treatment for her eyesight, Akiharu also felt dismayed, as it would mean that Seika would not depend on him anymore.

Fortunately, despite his frequent twisted thoughts, he did not really act out on them, and instead sought to accept Seika’s wishes for recovery. Despite his impulses and occasionally erratic behavior, Seika was extremely understanding towards him. In the end, they worked towards a healthy relationship, where they could grow together in each other’s company.

I find Akiharu to be a milder type of yandere, although the traits are definitely there. His desire to monopolize Seika is extremely strong, but he tries his best to curb it. Sometimes, he fails and he lashes out, which ended up hurting both his and Seika’s feelings. But in the end, they managed to work around it, and he definitely got better and would likely have a healthy relationship with Seika.

This is one of the rare yandere story that the yandere can actually redeem themselves in a way that make sense, probably because Akiharu still have yet to do anything drastic. So when Seika showed hurt and sadness due to Akiharu’s behavior, and Akiharu reflected and corrected himself later, I found it natural and acceptable. Akiharu is a very gentle and fragile character. It’s a breath of fresh air after so many aggressive and violent yanderes, so do check him out.