Kazuichi Arai

Name
Japanese	荒井 一市
Rōmaji	Arai Kazuichi
English	Kazuichi Arai
Alias	Pin
Personal Information
Birthday	July 25
Sign	Leo
Age	24-27
Gender	Male
Height	193 cm (6'4)
Weight	88 kg (194 lbs)
Blood Type	B
Motto	"I'm the best!"
Professional Status
Occupation	Teacher
Affiliation	Kitahoro High School
First Appearance
Manga	Volume 1 Chapter 2
Anime	Episode 3 After School
Voiced by
Japanese	Yūki Ono
English	Keith Silverstein
French	Michaël Maïnö (Black Box), Jean-Rémi Tichit (Netflix)
Latin-American Spanish	Cuauhtemoc Miranda
Portrayed by
Movie	Arata Iura
TV series	Shohei Miura

"It’s good to listen to me, because I pay attention to you kids. I can’t help it."

- Pin to Sawako Kuronuma

Kazuichi Arai (荒井 一市, Arai Kazuichi), commonly called Pin (ピン), is a character in the series Kimi ni Todoke. He works as a gym teacher and baseball coach in Kitahoro High School. When the original homeroom teacher for Sawako Kuronuma's class, Zen, becomes sick during the summer holidays, Pin debuts as their temporary homeroom teacher. Eventually he takes over as their permanent homeroom teacher when Zen decides to retire and take over his new wife's sake business.

An avid baseball player, Pin attended Kitahoro High School around 10 years ago. He also used to be on Shouta Kazehaya's father's baseball league team and has been a long-time frequenter at the ramen shop owned by Ryu Sanada's family, so he has known him, Ryu and Chizuru Yoshida since when they were young. He is an old high school friend of Toru Sanada.

Although regarded by most to be an arrogant, childish man who only wants to get a paycheck and a kick out of bullying his students. his motivation behind choosing the teaching profession are later revealed to be much more than that. Despite his frequent antics, throughout the series, Pin takes on the role of a mysteriously insightful mentor that is always looking after his students, especially Sawako and her friends.

Appearance

Pin has auburn spiky hair, angular eyes, tanned skin, thickly arched eyebrows, and a blinding smile. He has a stocky build, broad back, and large, clumsy hands. With a whopping height of 6'4'' (193 cm), and his hair adding a couple inches, Pin is taller than the average Japanese male (often standing out in crowds), and the tallest character in the series.

When at Kitahoro High School, he is usually seen wearing a bright orange sweater, training pants, white socks, brown slippers, a necklace carrying a whistle, and at times carrying a clipboard. He is also seen wearing a red T-shirt, sometimes with the kanji 唯我独尊 (ゆいがどくそん/Self-conceitedness) on it. During entrance and exiting ceremonies, he is also seen wearing a formal suit, dress pants, and tie. Usually when out during cold weather, he wears a dark red striped jacket with a golden eagle and the word "Japan" embroidered on the back.

According to Pin's own opinion, he is very handsome, even having the gall to state that he would fall for himself if born a woman. Most people think the opposite. However, Toru Sanada has explained that much of his appearance is ruined only due to his ostentatious spiky hair, and that he is in fact very handsome when he lets it down. Ayane Yano also notices this in her third year, and suddenly aware that he could easily get a girlfriend if he let it down, asks him to leave it up.

Personality

Outwardly, Pin exudes the air of a loud, eccentric man prone to believing the silliest superstitions. A running gag through the series is that despite being a teacher, he comically tends towards actions that are more suited to a teenager, such as eagerly running to the bathroom when he hears about a fight. With a life philosophy of "I'm the best", Pin is very arrogant, egotistical, and self-indulging, seen many times praising and singing about himself.

Never taking his students seriously in the beginning of the series, especially Shouta Kazehaya, whom he often trolls as a pastime, at first glance Pin seems to hate them and only care about himself. But strangely, whenever his students are in dire need, he becomes the assistant to the early mental developments in each, giving advice that causes them to suddenly question the circumstances thoroughly before doing an action. Though comically, he would ruin their impressions with more self-indulgent praise.

Despite his teasing (which Toru asserted as "affection"), underneath it all Pin is actually a very insightful teacher who fiercely cares for his students. He has been watching "Kuronuma's group" especially ever since he first became their temporary homeroom teacher, and considers them an interesting highlight of his career.

Around 10 years ago, Pin himself was implied to be a high school student at Kitahoro High School and was very popular among his classmates. Toru deemed him as the "reckless hero of their generation". The best baseball player in high school as well as on Kazehaya's father's baseball league team, Pin was often scouted by universities and even professionals. Aiming to get into a first-class university and fulfill his childhood dreams of becoming a professional baseball player, he was the second person to be nominated for a spot.

However, at a turn of events, Pin made a decision that would forever crush his dreams: to turn down the invitation and become a teacher. It was not an easy decision, and for a long time, he was quite troubled over it. However, he had his reasons: though he could have walked a different path, he loved high school baseball even more, and he wanted to relive it again as Kitahoro's baseball coach. His love for teaching is later expanded to include his class when he becomes their homeroom teacher, finding how his students change and grow into their identities throughout their 3 years of high school interesting.

Pin has extreme confidence in his own abilities, especially when it came to his career choice. Self-confidence is arguably the the biggest quality that he sincerely advocates for, believing it essential for an individual to reach their full potential. He believes in taking responsibility for one's actions, and focusing on bettering oneself before bettering others. Also shown to be extremely observant, he is easily able to understand his students, even about things that they do not completely understand themselves.

He especially takes the stage when the main cast enter their final year of high school. Having his students' best interests at heart when the time arrives for them to decide their futures, he encourages them to take risks, push past their limits, and put in their best efforts to accomplish their dreams.

Pin is a flirtatious guy, but is always rejected while "girl-hunting" due to his personality and hairstyle. Though around 24 years old at the start and 27 by the end of the series, he remains single the entire time. His own romantic standards, however, are quite high. All he wishes to meet is the right girl, who must be within strict age limits.

Relationships

Ayane Yano

Main article: Ayane_Yano#Kazuichi_Arai

Sawako Kuronuma

On his debut as a homeroom teacher, Pin dispels the rumor that "bad things happen if one stares at Sadako for more than three seconds", although he later reports weird things happening to him afterwards. Despite this, he so happens to take Sawako's advice seriously on two occasions afterwards, though the second occasion left him bed-ridden.

During the lead-up to the second-year cultural festival, both Sawako and Shouta separately inform Pin of having been rejected by their crushes. Pin's only advice in response is to tell them to give up on each other. However, after day one of the cultural festival, Sawako admits to performance anxiety due to the events that happened earlier. Pin pays no heed, instead telling Sawako about his plan to win the parade segment of the festival on the next day, though this does eventually get Pin's class disqualified from that segment. That night, however, it becomes clear to Pin that Sawako and Shouta did confess to each other, and so Pin deliberately causes a misunderstanding on Sawako's part, daring Shouta to clear it up. Later, during their Christmas party, when Pin was about to crash the karaoke bar, he instead encounters Sawako outside and sits her down for an honest discussion about her relationship. Then, during the final term of the second year, as well as into the third year, Pin holds careers meetings with Sawako, and seems impressed with the career choice that Sawako made, although he boasts that no-one could be a better teacher than him.

Shouta Kazehaya

Pin knows Shouta since he was little because he was in the league team coached by Shouta's father. He habitually makes Shouta his slave by threatening him to do work or face the wrath of Pin revealing his ultimately embarrassing past.

Sometimes, he too, makes Shouta his chatting friend by making him sit in the teachers' lounge listening to his never-ending stories of nonsensical things. Despite his threats, Pin acts as somehow a responsible guardian for Shouta, giving him advice when he felt troubled after various misunderstandings between him and Sawako. Though his method of advising hurts him, it makes him think about things more thoroughly to make a rational decision.

Toru Sanada

He and Toru are Kitahoro High alumni and former baseball team-mates that have known each other for a long time. Unlike Pin, Toru is good at flirting, which Pin also envies him for and is disappointed, that Toru could not go "girl-hunting" with him, because of him being engaged.

Quotes

"I'm sorry. I have no interest in children! I mean, I empathize with you. If I were a girl, I would have feelings for me too. You're ten years too young for me! You know what I'm saying? You should go out with a brat your own age!" - Pin "rejects" Kurumi, chapter 15 (episode 13)

"I see. You haven't even told her yet. Just tell her about your love! Under the sun! Tell her your love! Have tiny, tiny insectlike courage and tell her about your love on top of the jungle gym!" - Pin taunts Shouta over Sawako, chapter 33 (season 2 episode 4)

"Anyway, you know something? It's good to listen to me, because I pay attention to you kids. I can't help it. And if I know something about Shouta, it's this. He's stubborn! Do you wanna know how stubborn he is? He's more stubborn than a crotchety old geezer with kids playing on his lawn! He can't stand it when things don't go his way. I bet he got that from his father. And Ryu, he's a sore loser and he's tough. Tough as beef jerky! Watch out for him. And Yoshida, she's more serious than you think. She actually studies for exams. She makes sure that she spends the whole night studying! Unfortunately, she's not smart enough to get by just cramming the night before. It's sad. She overestimates herself. And then there's Miura. That guy has a big heart. I'd like to see him when he gets mad." - Pin reveals what he knows about his class, to Sawako, chapter 70

"Don't look down on me. Do you think anyone lives without any regrets? I'm surrounded by students who practice and fight as hard as they can. They train to win, and even after practising so much, they still don't know if they'll win or not. They practice so they won't regret anything, but they all have regrets in the end anyway. Everyone works hard, and they regret stuff even more because of it. Don't think you're like them. You made one mistake, so what? Make sure you regret a lot more. Remember that!" - Pin's advice to Ayane after her breakup, chapter 93

"Congratulations. You did well! You're a nice girl. You can feel angry and sad and happy for other people. You gave me a snack, when I didn't get one at the school festival. That made me happy. You're very kind. So be proud of yourself. You pushed your limits this whole year. I'm not talking about studying, I mean emotionally. Listen, you will be all right. Even if you fail at something, I believe in you! Don't worry! You'll be all right! Congratulations, Yano." - Pin's last words after rejecting Ayane, chapter 117

Etymology

• The name Kazuichi means "city, market, town, municipality, fair" (市) (kazu) and "one" (一) (ichi).
• Kazuichi's surname Arai means "laid waste, rough, rude, wild" (荒) (ara) and "well, mine shaft, pit" (井) (i).