Shiroe

"If we give up when facing problems of this level, we should not have expected anything from the start."

- Shiroe, Volume 2 Annex

Shiroe (シロエ) is the main protagonist of the series Log Horizon. A veteran player of the online game Elder Tale, he was formerly the strategist of the 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 (城鐘恵).

Appearance
Shiroe is several centimeters taller in Elder Tale than he is in real life, and his figure is slightly slimmer. When he first regains consciousness in the game, he notices that his hands are more slender but also seemingly more skillful.



Shiroe wears glasses and is described by Naotsugu as 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. He has a habit of pushing up his glasses when he's thinking or is about to take action, a trait that was noticed by Michitaka and adopted by Krusty and Henrietta.

During the beta you notice that he's a kid, which he explains by saying he was lucky enough to start the game as a beta tester. Shiroe in real life has brown hair and a slender build. Not much else can be seen of his face. Currently he's one of the few characters seen outside of the game.

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.

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 - for example for the twins 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 sometimes views himself as acting out of pride or arrogance and can 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 perceives he is acting for the greater good, he will use all means possible to achieve his goals. This has caused others to sometimes misunderstand his motives and has earned him the nickname Hara-guro Megane (腹ぐろ眼鏡), which is sometimes translated as "Black Heart Glasses." Typically, in Japanese manga, a character described as "haraguro" is one who appears to be nice but is in fact a schemer or a scoundrel. "Hara" is metaphorically one's true intentions, and "kuro" means black. (In the anime, he is referred to as the "villain in glasses").

Even as a child, he disliked playing outdoors and from middle school onward 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.

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 collectively known as the Debauchery Tea Party and was its unofficial strategist and negotiator. He became a well-known strategist due to his effort in researching and mastering his skill called Full Control Encounter which can be described in a short sentence 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.

In-Game Character
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 (without heals, since it's not one of the three Healer jobs) that shines only when supporting the party with its buffs, de-buffs and binds. Shiroe, however, 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 tenancy toward independence and self-reliance.

Due to having an 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 Ri Gan, he is confident that if conditions are met, it can be used to create new in-game magics and laws. For example, he created a contract between Log Horizon and Rundelhouse 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.

He also has a female Summoner alt character, Roe2, who was located on Mare Tranquilitatis. It is unknown whether he is aware of Roe2's current state.

Prior to the Catastrophe
At around 15 years old, Shiroe began playing Elder Tale. Four years prior to the main storyline, he became a member of the Debauchery Tea Party until its disbandment two years later.

Shiroe never joined a guild because of his inferiority complex and his belief that the system was too easily corrupted, and found himself once being used as a tool by a guild. Although joining the Debauchery Tea Party helped him with play with others, he still found himself distrustful of guilds, preferring to act as a mercenary during raids. Several times after the disbandment of the Debauchery Tea Party, he helped the Black Sword Knights, gaining the favor of Isaac despite rejecting a request to join the guild.

The Catastrophe
At the moment when the Homesteading the Noosphere expansion pack was deployed, Shiroe had been exploring a beginners' area with Minori and Tohya using the game's Teacher System to help them practice playing. When the pack was released, his screen filled with jet black darkness, and when he regained consciousness, he was no longer at his desk but rather appeared to be inside the in-game city of Akiba.

At first, he was unsure whether he was inside of Elder Tale or merely in an unrelated world that happened to resemble the game, but after accidentally triggering the appearance of the in-game menus by raising a hand to touch his chin, he is convinced that he has somehow been transported into the game.

Saving Serara arc
While discussing the increasingly-deteriorating situation in Akiba, Maryelle requests Shiroe and his group to take care of their guild while they are away, revealing to them that they have to head out to Susukino to save a member of their guild, Serara, who had gone there for a quest prior to the Catastrophe and was now stuck there with a malicious guild. She had nearly been forced to become a slave by Brigandia's guild master Demikas, but was saved by a kind Werecat after escaping from Demikas.

Realizing fully well that Maryelle's guild, which had low experience in fighting, would not stand a chance, Shiroe is pushed by Naotsugu and Akatsuki to take the initiative, and offers to go in Crescent Moon's stead. While journeying up to Susukino, he reveals that his offer is more out of his growing spite for Akiba's situation and a desire to get away rather than pure goodwill.

Return of the Goblin King arc
He developed a new form of spell that did not exist before in the original Elder Tales game. He creates a magical contract with Lander Rundelhouse Code to save his life. Despite trying to keep it under wraps, both Ri Gan and Nureha end up finding out about it.

Fallen Guardian arc
Shiroe and Naotsugu leave Akiba under secrecy, with Akatsuki and Nyanta helping to maintain an alibi for them. After Akatsuki falls against the murderer, the two reunite at the beach on the Moon, where they talk to each other before respawning at the Cathedral. He is there because of an unexpected occurrence, but does not specify what it was to Akatsuki.

Trivia

 * 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 (城 = "shiro") and his first name (恵 = 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 (白), which mean "white" or sometimes "innocent."