Happy (belated) birthday, Eli Ayase!
Like the other defrosting student council presidents, it took some time for me to come around on your character. For a while, you were actually near the bottom rung regarding my ranking of μ’s characters. Now, I’ve come to find many things to love about you!
You were my first encounter with the school idol-loathing student council president archetype in the franchise. (You were the blueprint, after all). You actively dismissed Honoka’s idea to bring life back into the school through the song of school idols. I couldn’t, for the life of me, understand why you didn’t want to give her idea a chance to keep the school from going under.
Later on, it was revealed that when you were younger, you worked and worked your tail off to be a ballet dancer to follow in the footsteps of your mother and grandmother. Ballet was something that you were very passionate about, and you put in as much effort as you possibly could to excel in the dance world. However, your best efforts just weren’t good enough, and you were nowhere near as proficient as your peers. You gave up on your dreams because of the harsh reality of life not being malleable.
This is something that I could relate to, and it’s what made me appreciate your character more. I’ve been in situations where I’ve wanted things more than anything else in the world and put in the work to get them, but the things I wanted were unobtainable because I wasn’t good enough. It’s the worst feeling when you do something with all your heart, you try to make use of your passions by doing something notable, but your devotion doesn’t translate to finesse in the eyes of others. I could actually sympathize with you, and it made me feel less disdain toward you.
Once that main conflict was out of the way, you joined μ’s, and you started morphing into a different character – one that wasn’t cold and dismissive, but kindhearted and a bit more open to new ideas. To my surprise, I honestly found myself starting to miss your initial characterization once this happened. You went from being an overachieving ice queen to having being a bit too perfect for your own good and sweetness as your main character traits. However, your mellowing out did give us a closer look at your playful and friendly competitive sides, and they make for some funny stories within the games.
Your sweet side also has some payoff when it comes to character interactions. Seeing you keeping a watchful eye over Otonokizaka’s students and trying to be a role model for your younger sister Alisa’s sake is great. Your relationship with Nozomi and the story of how you two came to know each other, as I always enjoy seeing misfits forming unlikely friendships and overcoming hardships together. You’re always willing to help those in need, and you’re one of the most reliable members of μ’s.
Many people share their art on birthdays on here. I prefer to write, but since I created something relevant fairly recently, I’ll share my Rain Shower Eli art again since I actually like how it came out which is rare for my mediocre art haha and what it stands for.
Never stop being the hardworking dancing queen that you are! Harasho!
