Shinohara

Shinohara (シノハラ, Shinohara) is the Warrior leader and creator of the well-known Orion clan. He is one of the most important volunteer soldiers and was the one keeping the corps together after the fall of Alterna. He also later acted as their representative to Jin Mogis.

However, Shinohara's true, loyalty is to Ainrand Leslie, one of the five princes and the one behind the volunteer soldier amnesia.

After Jin Mogis is crowned as the King of the Frontier and successfully allies himself with the Goblins of Damuro, Shinohara and Orion decide to leave the Volunteer Soldier Corps to become members of the frontier army. Probably as a way to monitor and influence the King, as shown by him making a report to Leslie not long after being accepted in the army.

Personality
He possesses a calm composure and is well-mannered. He is trustworthy and reliable as he's helped Haruhiro's team in understanding Merry's initial well-being. Though he firmly believes that people should learn on their own even for newcomers, he is willing to give advice on important things in life.

However, that outward reliable and polite personality is but a facade, and far from a perfect one. Shinohara's true personality is apathetic, he doesn't seem like he cares much for anyone around him be they the one he manipulates or the one he works for.

His apathy comes from the fact that Shinohara feels almost no emotions, but also from the fact that he feels disconnected from the world and regularly doubts whether anything (him included) really exists. A side of his personality that seems to, at least in part, stems from his knowledge of who fickle memories are and how quickly most things fade away.

Appearance
Shinohara's look seems to match his personality (at least the one he displays) Haruhiro saying that he has a gentle dignified face, overall he tends to give people a good impression, something he shares with the rest of his clan who look more serious and dignified than most volunteer Soldier.

Most of the time he is seen in full armor with a white cloak sporting Orion's crest seven starts in the shape of an X, with a sword at his hips. Overall he almost always wears white or whitish clothes.

The color of his eyes is unknown (brown in the anime), but Haruhiro notes that his irises are slightly pale.

His height is also unknown but likely average as he was never mentioned to be particularly tall or short.

Before Level . 1

 * Shinohara's age is unknown, neither do we know when he arrived in Grimgar or with who, but he is at least old enough to have known Barbara when she was still an active-duty volunteer soldier as he was in the same party as her for a short time.
 * It's unclear if Shinohara was invited by Leslie to become one of his servants from the beginning or if it happened later but either way, he does seem to have been working for him for a long time.
 * At some point in time, he formed his own clan: Orion, which would go on to become one of the biggest clans while Shinohara himself would rise to become one of the most important volunteer soldiers.
 * Finally, when Merry and Hayashi's party was decimated, he was the one to help them inviting them to be part of Orion. While both did accept the offer, Merry left not long after.

Level. 1 Whisper, Chant, Prayer, Awaken
Shinohara was one of the first Volunteer Soldier Haruhiro encountered. They first cross while Haruhiro is trying to gather information in Alterna, just after becoming a volunteer soldier trainee. However, when Haruhiro tries to ask him for advice, Shinohara doesn't answer, stating that he should struggle and find his way by himself now otherwise he will never succeed later. Despite that refusal to help him, Shinohara does however tells Haruhiro his name, the name of his clan, and more importantly, tells him about Sherry's Tavern, where he can find him if anything happens.

Which is where Team Haruhiro encounters him, sometime after Manato's death, speaking with Merry. Intrigued, Haruhiro goes to talk to him the next day, Shinohara rapidly offering his condolences for their recent loss, explaining that he too knows the pain of losing comrades but that they shouldn't let that weight them down and should instead treasure the time they have with the people still alive. Going back to his initial goal, Haruhiro then asks him for any information he could have about Merry, prompting Shinohara to introduce him to Hayashi, her old team-mate.

Level. 3 You Have to Accept That Things Won't Always Go Your Way
Shinohara is only mentioned in passing in volume 3 but we know from later volumes that he was part of Operation Two-Headed Snake as part of Red Snake Force, the force which carried the attack on Riverside Iron Fortress. However, according to him, their victory there was mostly due to Soma's party and the Day Breakers.

Level. 4 The Leaders and the Led
Sometime after operation two-headed snake, Orion decides to head to Mount Grief for some unnamed businesses, as such they first make their way to the Loneson Field Outpost which is where Team Haruhiro meet them in on their way to the Wonder Hole.

During that meeting, Shinohara shows how knowledgeable he is by being aware of Kuzaku's situation despite meeting him for the first time. But, while he manages to stay in character for most of the discussion: reassuring Merry who was doubting herself after the operation and explaining that the victory of the Red snake force was mostly due to the Day Breakers. Shinohara ends up making a mistake, Haruhiro noting that for an instant a cynical smile crossed his face when he explained that Operation Two-Headed Snaked was a perfect victory thanks to Blue Snake work. Still, at that time Haruhiro decides to dismiss it as just his imagination since it seems so unlike Shinohara.

It seems like sometime after that meeting Orion does head to Mount Grief as they don't appear for the period of time cover by the rest of Level. 4 and the entirety of Level. 5.

Level. 6 Towards a Glory Not Worth Taking
After the existence of the Dusk Realm and its passage were made public, Shinohara and Orion were among the Volunteer Soldiers who started to explore it. Shinohara playing a major role in that exploration as he is mentioned to be the one who discovered that a valuable metal called rainbow pyroxene could be found inside the corpse of white giants of the Dusk Realm. He is also the one who put in place the coordinate system in that world, deciding that the direction from the initial hill to a gigantic pilar visible in the distance would be north, making navigation and orientation in the realm much easier.

However, Orion decides to stop exploring the Dusk Realm after Iron Knuckles massacre a Cultist base leading to the apparition of the Giant God. Since they consider that the situation is getting out of hand Orion decided to withdraw from the Realm only leaving one team behind while the rest of them go make money elsewhere. Finally, they decided to stay when the Tokkis launch the plan to take down the Giant God, alongside all the big clan currently in the Dusk Realm.

When the Volunteer Soldier outpost was finally the one attacked by the cultist army alongside Hydras and the Giant God, Orion was one of the clans leading the defense, Shinohara himself rushing to help in places where the defense was starting to fail.

Before Level. 16
Since he doesn't have any contact with Team Haruhiro after what happened in the Dusk Realm, nothing is known about Shinohara's actions until the Southern Expedition attack on Alterna. After that, he seems to have become something of a leader for the Volunteer Soldiers, despite the lack of hierarchy.

Level. 16 Without Even Knowing the Reason for Our Good-bye
Following Jin Mogis retaking Alterna, Shinohara meets him as a representative of the volunteer soldiers in hope that the 2 humans armies can cooperate. That visit, however, is partially a cover for Shinohara's 2 other goals: First, as a volunteer soldier, he is trying to establish contact with volunteer soldiers in Alterna (ie Team Haruhiro and Eliza) and have them inform him of the situation and potentially work as spies. Secondly, as Leslie's servant, he is trying to determine Jin's worth and inform Leslie of the situation with the volunteer soldiers.

Three mission that he accomplishes almost flawlessly as he is able to establish a non-hostile relationship with Jin despite the General's callous personality, manages to meet up with Elza and get information from her, arranges a meeting with Team Haruhiro where he successfully makes them his spies, and is able to inform Leslie on the situation on both Jin and the volunteer soldiers. Moreover, he learns that Merry was able to keep her memories and that the Team journeyed through an other world after entering the Leslie Camp, 2 pieces of information, which from his reactions upon hearing that, seems to be of great importance to him. His only mistake is that he slips during the meeting with Team Haruhiro, hinting at the fact that he knows more about Hiyomu and the forbidden tower, leading Harhurio to start to distrust him.

After Jin Mogis declares himself the king of the frontier and while he is away finalizing his alliance with the goblins, Shinohara and Orion arrive in Alterna announcing that they want to work under the new King and that the Volunteer Soldier Corps will need to work with the new frontier army to take Mount Grief.

Finally, he has another reunion with Leslie to inform him that he and Orion successfully were integrated into the Frontier army and report on Jin Mogis's state of mind. During that reunion, he also comes across Alice who are now working as a servant for Leslie, and Shihoru who also became a servant and is for some reason now much more skilled at using Dark.

Abilities
While, so far we've never seen Shinohara fight, from every account he is a powerful warrior, on par with Max from Iron knuckles, Ducky from the Berserkers, and Kajiko from the Wild angels. During the cultists' offensive on the Volunteer Soldier settlement in Dusk Realm, he was one of the reasons the volunteer soldier was able to hold off as he would rush to help in places where it was starting to falter.

However, he seems to be no match for Soma and likely Akira. Something he admits to Leslie, saying that while he can somewhat control the volunteer soldiers, he has no sway on those 2 and their parties.

From the fact that he wears full metal armor and uses a shield, it seems like Shinohara acts mostly as a tank.

Beheader
A smallish longsword used by Shinohara. From the way it's described it seems like its appearance is rather bland, however, that sword is a relic sharp and sturdy enough to cut a tombstone. Considering who he is working for, it's very likely that that sword was offered to him by Leslie, as he seems to do with those working under him. Moreover, has a relic, it likely has more powers than just being a sturdy sword with a good edge.

Soft power
While Shinohara is a great warrior, that doesn't seem to be his biggest strength, intelligence gathering and manipulation being where he truly shines. Shinohara shows time and time again that nothing happening around Alterna really escape him and that he seemingly knows the situation of almost all volunteer soldiers even the less famous ones like Kuzaku in volume 4. Moreover, we later learn that he was in contact with the margrave of Alterna, showing that his intelligence network likely wasn't limited to the volunteer soldier corps. He is also a master manipulator, able to constantly play the role of the well-mannered clan leader, only rarely showing a glimpse of his true nature.

Finally, he is also a great leader, his clan being known as one of the most powerful, yet serious and respectful, something which can't really be said of most other powerful clans. The fact that he was able to control the remnant of the famously unruly volunteer army after the fall of Alterna, only reinforcing how talented he is at leading and manipulating other.

Orion
Shinohara's clan, it's described by some as a reflection of his character as most members act elegantly and calmly. Based on their reactions it seems like most of them hold him in very high esteem and would follow him anywhere.

However, it doesn't seem reciprocated as Shinohara probably hides his true nature and master from most of them since they were surprised to learn of Jin Mogis' Relic.

Kimura
Kimura is a close friend of Shinohara and Orion second in command.

Kimura care deeply for Shinohara, to the point that he was willing to sacrifice himself to protect him, and it does seem like Shinohara reciprocate that sentiment as his death sent the usually mild-mannered and calculated Shinohara into a fit of rage.

Hayashi
As Shinohara was the one to offer him and Merry a place to be after most of their team died, it seems that, like Merry, Hayashi has a lot of respect for Shinohara, in fact probably more than her as he chose to stay a member of Orion. However, despite being in the same clan it seems that Hayashi, like most of Orion, is unaware of his leader's true personality and allegiance.

Shinohara, opinion of Hayashi is unknown but likely similar to the one he has on Merry: he is just one volunteer soldier among many.

Merry
When using his usual persona, Shinohara acts as a caring ally to Merry, helping her and Hayashi after the rest of their team dies and continuing to offer her his support even after she decided to leave Orion. As such, it seems like Merry has a lot of respect for Shinohara, and like most people, is completely obvious to his true personality or allegiance. For his part, Shinohara doesn't care much for Merry, seeing her as one among many volunteer soldiers, a view which extends to the rest of Team Haruhiro when she joins them.

However, that change when he discovers that for some reason Merry was unaffected by Leslie's drug and remember that they pass through the Leslie Camp and another world before exiting the forbidden tower, making her an unaccounted for and probably dangerous element in Leslie's plan.

Haruhiro
From Level. 1 to Level. 15: Shinohara was one of the first people Haruhiro met in Grimgar and while they were never really close Haruhiro had a great deal of respect for him, mainly for his capacity as a leader and the help he gave them multiple time. On his part, however, it seems like Shinohara saw him and the rest of his team as just one party among many and didn't think much of them.

From Level. 14 to now: As Haruhiro lost all his memory he also lost the respect he had for Shinohara. That respect was what had previously prevented Haruhiro from catching on to Shinohara's true nature base on his odd actions at times, no that it was gone Haruhiro rapidly became suspicious of Shinohara even if it wasn't vocal on it at first. His action at the end of Level. 16, when Shinohara and Orion decide to become part of the Frontier Army, definitely solidifying that opinion. Moreover, because of a slip-up during their meeting after Shinohara's first audience with Jin Mogis, Haruhiro now suspects him to be linked to Leslie.

Ainrand Leslie
He acts as Leslie mole within the volunteer soldier corps, reporting on their status and manipulating them to some extent.

Leslie apparently saved Shinohara some time ago and he has been working for him since then. However, Shinohara doesn't trust him and thinking of him as "the monster". On the other side, Leslie does seems to trust Shinohara to some extent as he insisted on getting his advice.

It's possible that Shinohara's sword, "Beheader", was given to him by Leslie similarly to Hiyomu's "Paw of Terror"

Hiyomu
As both are servants of Leslie, they're technically on allies but it doesn't seem to be enough to deter Hiyomu from annoying Shinohara to which she doesn't show a once of respect. Similarly, Shinohara doesn't trust Hiyomu, to the point of asking Leslie if he is really sure that he wants to employ Hiyumo.

Quotes

 * "They [memories] were like bubbles. Beautiful bubbles, with a rainbow sheen. They burst when touched, so it was best not to."

Trivia

 * The fact that Shinohara's clan is named Orion and its crest looks like the constellation of the same name could be an indication that Shinohara has memories of Earth since we know that Grimgar sky is different from Earth's.