Richard Arata (リチャード アラタ, Richādo Arata) is a body-double of the real Richard Arata.
Appearance[]
Arata presents himself as an eccentric, allowing his hair to grow to enormous length. He also wears a pair of circular frame tinted glasses to conceal his eyes. He is for the most part very cold looking, but is later shown to be highly emotive as Protoporos island is thrown into chaos.
History[]
The puppet Arata entered the island around half a year prior to the Protoporos Arc. As an outlaw, he amassed a large stack of Huger banknotes.
Plot[]
Protoporos Arc[]
Duel for the Antidote[]
Arata first becomes plot relevant in the present in chapter 379, in which he meets with Kyara as leader of the concealers to discuss control of the outlaws. He monologues to Kyara about how he is a "simple lover of games" and how developers are always amazed by "the unexpected things that players do". This is because he sees Madarame Baku's intent to use the outlaws akin to using a "cheat" in a game.
Protoporos Nightmare[]
After Vincent Lalo becomes the Kaiser and the festival begins, he dons his player jacket and is revealed to be level 100. He then claims that the island is "a puzzle that ended up distorted far from the one I imagined" and that he will lead it to the "real Protoporos". He then joins the reallocation, as do two of his servants, and begins to kill developers as they are now unnecessary to him. He is later confronted by Lalo during his rampage, and states that Lalo's game has been "stuck", as there are "no pieces left" for him. Lalo then proceeds to kill Arata, as Arata was in possession of Lalo's box of diamonds. Lalo throws Arata into the sea. In his last moments, Arata goes on a rant about how "god is watching." Vincent dismisses this, unaware that the current Arata is a fake and the real one is indeed watching
Relationships[]
- Fujitsubo: Fujitsubo is tricked into believing he is the real Arata. He does whatever the puppet tells him to do. He is shocked when hearing that Arata has died, but realizes he is not the real one when looking at the corpse.
- Fukurou: While on the island, Fukurou hid with the outlaws and became the fake Arata's "right-hand man. Arata trusted him enough to send him to the HQ to retrieve the data, not realizing that he was being tricked.
- Daiba Hiromi: The puppet Arata does not think highly of Daiba. His plan involved making Daiba out to be a traitor to the developers.
- Raoh:
- Richard Arata: The puppet thinks of the real Arata as "god."
Notes & Trivia[]
- In the Japanese version of Chapter 417, the fake Arata is described as a "yorishiro."
- This is also true for the Developers in Chapter 471.
- It is implied that the only noticeable difference between the real and fake Arata's appearances is their eyes.
- Fujitsubo realizes that the Arata he had been obeying was a fake after getting a close look at his eyes.
- On the boat, the real Arata takes off his sunglasses, in order to prove to the rest of the Developers that he is the genuine article.