Kanji: 白銀
Race: Shin
Age: No age
Sex: Male
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 130 lbs
Birthday: N/A
CV: Junichi Suwabe
Who is Shirogane? A brief synopsis of his source material for a better understanding: Although the manga and anime diverge into different directions after the introductions are out of the way, the premise is that a shift in balance between the human world and shadow world causes kokuchi, or shadow monsters, to threaten humanity. Akira Nikaido, the main protagonist who had been living a normal life, is turned into a shin, a being of the shadow world, in order to fight off kokichi and help restore the balance. The person behind Akira's transformation is Shirogane, a mysterious figure from the shadow world who knows more than he's letting on...
In both the anime and manga, Shirogane almost always wears his hat, trenchcoat, and gloves, and he even has cute earrings that are obscured by his long hair. He often carries a cane that is used as a weapon with spiritual energy to fight off kokuchi and seal them away from the human world. Though his appearance and way of speaking make him seem friendly, there's something hidden behind that smile... ...And that's about where the similarities between Anime Shirogane and Manga Shirogane end! But that tangent can be found in a later section.
How I discovered him I was immediately interested in Shirogane when I first saw his design back in 2022-2023. I can't remember if I had seen an image of him on an obscure-ish blog (where I discovered other animanga) or if I found Monochrome Factor on AniList through the BL tag, but either way, I kept the anime in my backlog. I honestly can't remember why I chose this to be the first anime that I watched in 2025... If only I knew what that would spiral into... I'm kind of picky about flamboyant characters and "bishies", but I was immediately charmed by him in the first episode. I originally continued the anime because it made me feel nostalgic— not just because of Shirogane having the qualities of a childhood crush, similar to the Undertaker from Black Butler (whose voice actor also plays Shirogane!), but Monochrome Factor feels like a slop show that you would come across after only first discovering anime, so its flaws don't stand out because you don't have many other series to compare it with.
Why I love him Shirogane is just about everything I could ever want in a character: fictional guy with long hair, beautiful face (the lipstick is a bonus), somewhat effeminate, tragic backstory, a little strange in his ways, etc. etc..., but I honestly believe that I initially came to love him out of pure stubborness considering how God-awful the anime adaptation was in hindsight. It's a miracle that I ended up loving him as much as I did because he was my only motivator for finishing every episode, and even then, a lot of his scenes weren't as great as they could have been because of the consistently-bad style/animation quality and butchered plot structure. This was also before I was aware of the character assassination that happened with this adaptation.
For whatever reason, the anime adaptation added a lot of fanservice, and most of that involves Shirogane. There are some "shonen-ai" elements (fujobait) that weren't in the manga (important to note), and most of that just comes from Shirogane being overly flirty or unabashedly open about his own feelings. This new personality trait and the additional scenes were supposed to make people invest in the "pairing" (and in extension, the series) but all of my care went solely towards him instead.
My love for him increased tenfold once I got around to reading the manga... Not only does it have a decently structured plot instead of pointless "Monster Of The Week" episodes, Shirogane is a much more complicated character who is quite selfish, cold, and even a little unsettling. Over the course of the story, his "^.^" facade slips, and what's hidden behind it is someone who is desperate, resentful, and on the verge of losing whatever restraint he has left. He only "tolerates" Akira, and he couldn't care less about anyone else. A complete 180° from Anime Shirogane, but I honestly prefer this version a lot more. Despite all of his flaws, that's what makes him so compelling to me, and my heart breaks for him. Knowing what he went through and what he's put up with, I can understand his motives and why he shuts everyone off.
My images
Gifts for me!
.jpg "By my friend, Frej!")
.jpg "Valentine's edit by my friend, Frej!")
.jpg "By my friend, Parsley!")
Clips collection
!!! SEXUAL INNUENDO CONTAINMENT CENTER !!!
Avoid watching if you don't want to get secondhand embarrassment.
Do you get it? The joke is that it looks and sounds like Shirogane is bottoming? The DVD set (that I own) with the uncensored version (that I can't find online) had Akira shirtless for this scene (which I didn't know during my rewatch), so this was originally even less subtle. It's just crazy to me that they chose this moment for the lore dump. With that being said, I'm thankful for the animators, Junichi Suwabe, and whoever greenlit this.
Manga panels
Screencaps & illustrations
I decided to write about manga Shirogane and anime Shirogane since they're almost entirely different characters. Some of these differences aren't that interesting, but some of them change the plot of the story entirely.
