New Genshin Impact character Arataki Itto’s physical splendor enchants players; explodes in popularity

Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-10-12 15:35 (JST)
Translated by. Braden Noyes

On October 11, 2021, the official Genshin Impact Twitter account announced a new upcoming character named Arataki Itto. Unsurprisingly, the popular game’s community immediately took to social media to express their excitement at the news. According to sites such as Kotaku, however, Itto seems to be receiving a somewhat different welcome than characters in the past.

Since its release in September 2020, Genshin Impact has received regular updates, giving players new locations, stories, and characters to enjoy. Recently, these updates have all been centered around the area of Inazuma, an island nation which was heavily modeled after Japan and its culture. Itto is the latest character to be announced, and he too hails from the region of Inazuma.

Itto has been hinted at a few times within the game up until now. With this tweet, however, players finally have confirmation that he will be a playable character and get a first glimpse of what he actually looks like. According to the announcement, Itto holds a Geo vision and has Oni blood running through his veins.

Itto’s official announcement tweet has received quite a bit of attention, with both the Japanese and English versions having over 30,000 retweets at the time this article was written. It’s understandable the fans would be excited about a new character, but in Itto’s case, the attention seems to be focused on something slightly different than usual.

The first thing fans are pointing out is Itto’s bold appearance. His powerful physique and beautifully sculpted muscles are clearly befitting of his Oni lineage. The design of his outfit also leaves his entire abdomen fully exposed. On top of that, the only thing covering up his chest area are a couple thin straps. This makes Itto one of Genshin Impact’s most revealing characters to date.

Male characters who exude rugged masculinity are actually a rare sight in Genshin Impact. Although there are a few well-muscled NPCs such as Smiley Yanxiao, the majority of playable male characters have slender builds. This holds true even for Kaeya and the pectoral muscles just barely peeking through his low-cut shirt as well as Xiao and his lean, toned form. This lack of exposed muscle makes Itto’s design stand out even more by comparison.

The combination of a well-sculpted figure in revealing clothing has some fans very excited. At the time this article was written, the above Reddit thread about Itto’s announcement had received over 21,000 upvotes. One commenter asks, “Now the real question: will he have abs in-game?” This prompted many replies such as, “I wonder too, because this [game’s art is] sometimes slightly different than the actual model in body proportions,” and, “…pls have abs Itto.”

The appearance of this new, charming male character seems to have captured the hearts of many, with a number of posts naming Itto as new “husbando” material. Fanart capturing his muscular charm from players around the world has been trending both on Twitter and Reddit’s /r/Genshin_Impact.

Itto’s physique isn’t the only thing fans are talking about, however. Many are speculating that his personality is that of an authoritative, egotistical type not seen very often in the game up until now. Along with his Geo vision, many fans predict he’s going to be a main DPS-style character, making more than a few players hopeful that he will come with some powerful abilities.

The combination of his muscular appearance and visually striking design, mixed with the fans’ desire for a new top-tier character, is most likely what led to his popularity exploding so quickly after being announced.

Itto seems to be quite popular among Japanese fans as well, with players taking to Twitter to make guesses as to how useful he will be in-game as well as express their interest in who will be voicing his character. Japanese social media isn’t devoid of comments praising his muscular appearance, either. While references to his body are generally more modest than those of English-speaking fans, Itto’s attractive physique certainly hasn’t gone unnoticed among Japanese fans.

The official Genshin Impact Twitter account announced another upcoming playable character as well. Gorou, who has already made an appearance in the game’s story, is another highly anticipated character, with many fans excited about his cute appearance.

Furthermore, Genshin Impact creator miHoYo has recently been cracking down more heavily on information leaks, leading many leakers and data miners to either stop releasing information or shut down altogether (DualShockers). The fact that Itto’s announcement came as such a surprise seems to be proof that their attempts to curb leaks are working.

Personally, I look forward to learning more about Itto’s and Gorou’s abilities and seeing what part these two characters will play in the story moving forward.