Robby Yarge

Robby Yarge


Name
Kana	ロビー・ヤージ
Romaji	Robii Yaaji
Nicknames
Aliases
Alternate Translations
Characteristics
Hair Color	Orange and Dark Red
Eye Color	Blue
Height
Birthday
Horoscope
Blood Type
Family	Rouche Yarge (father) unnamed mother (briefly shown during a flashback) Yuma Yarge (grandfather)
Hobbies
Likes	Beautiful women, playing the saxophone
Dislikes
First Appearance
Anime Episode	RobiHachi Season One Episode One
Manga Chapter
Game Chapter
Anthology Chapter
Portrayed By
Japanese	Kazuya Nakai
English	Cris George
Stage Play

Robby Yarge (ロビー・ヤージ, Robii Yaaji) is a young man who lives in a spaceship, the Nagaya Voyager, parked on top of a building in Neo-Tokyo. He pilots the top of Hizakuriger.

Background[edit]

Robby comes from a family that suddenly got wealthy through means he originally didn't know. He didn't get along with his parents (and still doesn't), so he ran from home in his teens as has been living by since then, trying different jobs. The latest one was freelance reporting. His life seems to be full of misfortunes: he tried entering some seemingly lucrative businesses, only for them to go terribly wrong. Not long after investing in a wagyu beef ranch, his cattle had to be euthanized due to mad cow disease. The purchase of a nata de coco plant left him with debt and tons of unsold stock which he was eating daily. One day, he tripped down the stairs when running to the toilet and almost died; unfortunately, he was accused of staging the incident and couldn't claim any insurance money. His nurse at the hospital was a very pretty woman, but she turned out to be a girlfriend of a gang leader and as a result he was chased down by thugs. He was also involved in a gambling scam and click-fraud malware scam. Finally, when he was almost finishing his report submission, his editor called and said the webzine will not be published after all.

All of this landed him in a difficult financial situation, and caused him to have his debt consolidated with Yang and repeatedly borrow more money. When the payment day came, he still had no funds as his latest shrimp business went down within a day. That's when he met Hatchi Kita, who turned out to be a debt collector but fled into space with him in the end.

During the main course of the story, Robby is the one most determined to reach Isekandar to change his luck (with Hatchi enjoying the whole journey equally, and Ikku tagging along somewhat out of necessity). This does not mean he's not having fun on the way, but is definitely less enthusiastic when compared to Hatchi. This can be related to his older age or different life experiences, as he wasn't dressed as warmly as the other man likely was. Thanks to their differences, he is able to show some new things to Hatchi and teach him skills like fishing. In return, he often copies the younger man's enthusiasm which boosts his own enjoyment of the excursion. This is despite him and Hatchi often arguing, sometimes only as a friendly banter (frequently involving mutual jabs at each other's ages) and sometimes about completely ridiculous topics, only annoying Ikku in the process.

He never took any issue with piloting Hizakuriger, as he ended up steering its top and very quickly gets so accustomed to doing it that using the robot becomes his first idea for solving many problems. It's directly because of Robby that the group is chased by Yang and his subordinates, though for the longest time he thinks it's only because of money and even when he starts to suspect otherwise, he clearly tries to push it out of his mind.

After reaching Isekandar, Robby sincerely believes his luck will change and, after finding out Hatchi paid off his debt, solemnly promises to pay it back to him as soon as he can. At the very end of their journey, he accidentally saves the Earth with Hatchi and Ikku, and becomes famous for this. Thanks to the involvement of Hizakuriger, he is approached by licensors who want to produce new things for the franchise.

After the main story, Robby is enjoying the money he gets from various licenses for Galaxy Traveler Hizakuriger, spending it on luxuries and women. However, the bubble bursts rather quickly, and he is left penniless again. That's when he is found by Hatchi and Ikku, and together they decide to go on another adventure.

Appearance[edit]

Robby has short, orange hair with a dark red undercut, and blue eyes. He has a silver piercing in his left ear.

His casual outfit consists of a green, short sleeved shirt with a kimono-style collar, and a red jacket with a high collar, white stripes, and black fasteners. He has a red belt and a white belt, both with gold buckles. Robby has blue jeans with dark patches on the knees, and brown hiking boots. On his left wrist, he has a gold Smartbracelet.

Personality[edit]

Robby has an overall "we'll worry when it happens" attitude to life which can cause interesting situations, but also problems he then has to deal with. It should be said that he doesn't let anything get him down for long, even if something bad happens to him, he doesn't stay miserable for long and moves on fast, back to his general positive approach to everything. However, for the same reason, especially in the beginning Robby can appear really sloppy and lazy, wishing for a fortune without having to work for it.

He also seems somewhat averse to accepting responsibility for his actions, or lack of thereof. He blames his life situation on bad luck, not his own poor decisions, and criticizes Hatchi for not checking things beforehand when they run into a problem on Haccone. The same happens again before the final checkpoint at Isekandar, though here Hatchi actually learned his lesson and did some research, just missed a bit of information, while Robby didn't research in either situation.

Robby, on general basis, is not stupid, as even cynical Ikku admits, but his major problem is that as soon as a woman is in his vicinity, his brain is very prone to stopping functioning entirely. The moment a pretty woman pays attention to him, he stops thinking clearly, often starts drooling, and because of this falls victim to even most obvious scams. While he is capable of actually regaining clarity of thoughts, like seen when he went completely serious after hearing Miss Glamorous's story and was determined to help her without underlying indecent reasons, it's a recurring characteristic of his that he displays keen interest in spending time in female company, happy with a "date" of sorts but aiming for more intimate ways of spending time. For this, he's called a pervert. Hatchi points out Robby has numerous lewd items in his storage which he personally finds disgusting. Robby doesn't seem to be bothered by this name-calling at all, but he is dejected when a woman he approaches rejects him.

Despite all his flaws which are visible often, deep inside Robby is actually well-meaning and good at heart, and cares about other people too (sometimes even directly against his own general well-being). It could be said that in some cases he decided to help the aliens he met because they were female with a low-cut top exposing prominent cleavage, but when he agreed he really dedicated himself to the act. He also took pity on Unami, who was just a child, and agreed to meet Armeni's club just to humor them despite not really remembering much about his grandfather.

Through the whole story he repeatedly says that he intends to pay back his debt, he simply has no money at the moment, and it seems like he really means it. Despite initial intentions, he quickly changes his mind and lets Hatchi tag along for the adventure and gives him a place to sleep, along with pajamas and a candle to go with Hatchi's ritual of calming down before sleep (even though Robby very clearly doesn't see any point in the habit). He also instantly decides to do whatever he can to return to Earth together as soon as he sees this is something important to his friend.

Etymology[edit]

Robby is named directly after one of the main characters of the original Hizakurige, Yajirobei, with whom he shares some similarities.

Both of them are rather careless, easily fooled, don't abstain from drinking, and Yaji is described as "intimate with a fair number of [women] but he's not very popular among them." Through the story he displays keen interest in women wherever they stop for a rest. Both characters come from wealthy families, but while Robby ran from home, Yaji simply wasted away his money. This lands them both in the same position of having financial troubles. Finally, they both fled without paying their bills with a stowaway (Yajirobei with Kitahachi, Robby with Hatchi), thus beginning the adventure.

Some differences can be also noted. For starters, Yajirobei was married (different parts of the story provide different information, one that he divorced his wife, another that she died and that they had a child) while Robby seems unable to keep a girlfriend. Yaji is said to be "around 40" or even 49 to 50 (depending on which part of the story is considered, similarly to the case of his wife), while Robby is a decade or two younger. In addition, Yaji is the more rational one between him and Kita, often calming the other man down or apologizing for his behavior, whereas in RobiHachi, it's Hatchi who is better behaved.

Trivia[edit]

Robby can pilot a commuter, seems good at playing the crane arcade game, and definitely can play the saxophone well enough to perform in a bar. The last bit might be a nod to Yaji, who could play instruments himself. However, it seems Robby cannot sing, as the opening depicts him and Hatchi in a karaoke with Ikku, who is covering his ears. As Hatchi is shown to sing well on Akka Sakka, the bad singing probably comes from Robby (who is heard performing poorly on the same planet). Despite this, he often hums when showering.

He doesn't like things that are "panic tests," and gets motion sick easily. This is yet another similarity to Yajirobei, who mentioned he feels "nervous" when traveling by boat.

Robby says he treats all women equally, regardless of their species. This includes even animals.

Robby: I saw it, sure, but I wasn't even five at the time.

Armeni: The time when he was five years old would be 26 years ago in Earth time!

Depending on how it's counted, Robby is either 30 or 31 as of episode nine.

His annoying habits, as listed by Hatchi, are: leaving the bathroom doused in water after he showers and never cleaning up the water that drips off him onto the floor; turning the bidet attachment all the way up; not putting down the toilet seat; storing multiple questionable objects including adult magazines, an inflatable doll, and a weird toy; snoring loudly and stopping breathing at night;^[1] and drinking someone else's drinks.

When Robby input his data into the application which suggests to tourists which stage station planet they should visit based on their personality, he was recommended a planet suitable for sloth-like idlers, and carefree, sloppy people. Interestingly enough, he doesn't protest, which suggests he is at least somewhat aware of this side of his character.