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From the moment Citron joins the A3! cast, he ropes everyone -in-universe and players alike- into a game of guessing and, although it may sound redundant for a game about actors, acting. Izumi allows for our first impression of Citron to be a playful interaction with wordplay and “mistakes” the character makes, but from that point we can see the start of a game that goes deeper: reading the message in what’s not being said, as well and in the “mistakes” on how things are said.
As we advance in the story we get to learn that Citron’s story is one of hiding, both literally and metaphorically. His journey is kickstarted from his need to hide from his family members and what his birth implies -both as the eldest son and as the son of a commoner-. He keeps on hiding through his metaphorical journey with the Mankai Company: he hides his identity from Mankai, telling Izumi and the rest of the company that he’s an exchange student; he hides behind his happy-go-lucky moodmaker persona as a way not to burden his troupemates with his troubles, troubles that seem so much bigger than himself; and he hides behind outlandish stories he tells about himself and his home country, as a way to create distance between Mankai Company’s Citron and Zafra’s Citron, as well as between the Real Citron and Mankai Company. So it’s no surprise that his typical “mistakes” when speaking Japanese are a part of this mask he hides behind, since it distracts people from what he’s meant to say while also keeping up his “funny foreigner” gimmick. Because of this, to get to know Citron -the Real Citron-, one has to look at what’s being left unsaid, instead of what is -purposefully- being mispronounced.
One of the first things we learn about Citron is that he is a foreigner, even if he lies about what first brought him to Japan. However, that’s the extent of what we know for almost all of the first two years in the main story. Even after learning more about his origin and the secrets he had kept hidden, A3! doesn’t shy away from showing Citron as an outsider through his roles, namely his role as Geppaku in Ying Yang Midnight and his role in TWILIGHT GUNMAN. This is not to say that he’s been typecast into this kind of role, as Citron has had a great repertoire thus far, or as he put it he has “traveled to a great many worlds on the stage and from the audience.” Mankai has given him the chance to take on many different roles, all of them while also allowing him to be true to himself. If one were to compare this to what his original plan was before joining the company: traveling all over the world, one could say that his original plan, while allowing him to experience many different things, would leave him stuck in the role of a foreigner while the ephemeral nature of his stay in each place would allow Citron not to put his own identity on the line. By contrast, in Mankai he’s had the chance to explore many roles, but most importantly: himself. From King Arthur to Enis, to Ritsu, Citron can grow into himself through exploring these different characters; and in that growth is included characters who do acknowledge his foreignness, just like Geppaku.
Citron is a foreigner and he makes it explicit from the very first moment we meet him, this is not something he ever seems to wish to be separate from. His identity as a foreigner is shown through his use of language. The first thing to note about his constant mistakes is that they’re representative of him being an outsider to Japan: Citron loves Japan and Japanese things, he has been studying about them since he was young, but despite this, he actively refuses to assimilate to the country completely, and he shows it through playing it with language and expressions, choosing to shape Japanese as he likes, instead of adapting to it. Citron is a foreigner, an outsider, but by the end of ‘The Greatest Journey’ he acts as a bridge between Zafra and Japan as the Minister of Arts and Culture. He is Zafran, and his job is to share this Zafran culture with Japan; he has to talk and interact in Japanese for the most part, but what he shares is, at its core, Zafran. The way he plays with language can be seen in a similar manner: Citron uses Japanese as his tool to do so, but he is still true to himself and shares this very ‘Citron’ game with everyone around him.
Understanding Citron comes with learning about Zafra, so it is only adequate that we try to know more about the country. Zafra is, as the game states, a West Asian nation, though the cultural influences shown, especially in things like clothing, seem to imply it may be South Asian just as much as West. The kingdom makes its culture immediately obvious the moment you see it, with close to no western influence. Most people continue to wear traditional clothing rather than western, architecture maintains the traditional Zafran aesthetic, and the country still has a ruling monarchy. Therefore, it is safe to assume that Zafra exists as a nation that has never been colonised by a western nation, and is therefore able to be proud of its culture. This may also tie up with the reason why Citron does not try to fully assimilate into Japan and its culture, and is happy to take up the role of Minister of Arts and Culture. Though he wants no part of being king himself, he is proud of his culture and wants to share it however he can. We see from the very beginning that he prefers wearing Zafran clothing and does so almost all the time at first, even though Guy, who spent a large part of his life living in Zafra, starts wearing more western-appearing clothing as soon as he arrives in Japan. Furthermore, while Japan is known for being more reserved as a nation, West and South Asian people are much more open and friendly, helping out even strangers as though they were friends, and this shows in Citron's own nature. Within his first few months at Veludo Way, he managed to befriend everyone in the shopping district, becoming familiar and well-liked enough with everyone that they give him little gifts whenever he passes by, and he spends most if not all of his free time in the area, talking to everyone and helping them with whatever tasks they need it in; as well as cheering them on as they face the struggles he cannot help with. Learning about where he comes from, as well as his position as crown prince, adds another layer to understand Citron. He isn’t only the mood maker of the Spring Troupe, at some point, the future of a nation rests on his shoulders. He is a good leader, someone who can take things seriously when needed to and who would make a great king, should he choose to. This is made explicit both when Guy is explaining his backstory to the Spring and Winter troupes, as well as in other moments such as Citron’s conversation with Banri in his chess SSR backstage and his reaction to hearing he would play the King of Hearts in Boy Alice in Wonderland. In these moments, and whenever he speaks in Zafran in general, Citron shows a more serious aspect of himself, it shines just how reliable he is. It’s through embracing his native language that he reveals these new aspects of himself.
Despite him being proud of his country, though, Citron still hides most things about it and his culture throughout the first two years. This is because being honest and open about it implies facing the issues he’s been running away from, and dragging Mankai, his new family, into the messes he found himself in back there. His preferred strategy for doing this is by talking about it, making up outlandish stories about how things work “where he’s from”, as he doesn’t even dare to mention the name of his nation for a considerable amount of time. He makes up stories that play with people’s expectations of whatever ‘exotic’ land he comes from, using the idea of the exoticism that is sometimes tied with countries like his, to play to his advantage and make people question whether he’s telling the truth or not. By refusing to name his country outright, he also denies anyone the ability to verify the truth in his stories, and can continue making up more as he pleases. These stories work to keep people at a distance; they allow Citron to not tell the complete truth about his country and his upbringing, while also discouraging others from asking more about it, since they come to expect to be told a fantastic tale as an answer. This was much more prevalent when Citron first joined Mankai: at that point, he took every opportunity to spin a story, even unprompted. When he and the rest of Spring Troupe first find Itaru gaming in his room, he lets out that he's familiar with the game, but covers it up by immediately saying that it's taught in schools in his country. Though he retracts the statement almost immediately after, it sets an example, and the others quickly learn not to expect any true stories about his country from him.
One thing to rescue about these stories he tells, though, is Sakuya’s line about how Citron tells him a story about his home country every night. Sakuya, naive as he is, believes Citron’s stories no matter how outlandish they may seem, or how many lies are woven into them. This allows Citron to form a bond with Sakuya, out of everyone in the company. Sakuya trusts him, he listens to him and cares about what he has to say. Citron can see the genuine interest that Sakuya has in his stories, and that no matter what, Sakuya doesn’t treat him any differently. As such, Citron can start slipping in some truths about himself in these stories, and trusting Sakuya to know bits and pieces of the Real Citron without any risk. In contrast, there’s Muku: he believes Citron’s stories as much as Sakuya, but his treatment of Citron hinges on one of his tales, one that contains a bit of truth. Muku treated Citron as a prince since the first year, he trusted Citron’s story wholeheartedly, and he looked up to him because of this. While this differs from how Sakuya treats him, Citron doesn’t object to this treatment at all, even with the notorious distaste he has for royalty during the first year —as can be seen in his Alex in Wonderland N backstage–. It can be assumed that Citron doesn’t object to this because he has been craving a relationship like that, similar to the one he thought he lost with his younger brother: one where he is looked up to, while also seen as a human being.
Citron, just like any other human being, seeks for a connection with others. He is friendly and extroverted, which should make this task easier for him. However, the connections he makes with everyone in the shopping district are shallow, not just because of the walls he had up during the first year of the game, but because there’s only so much he can communicate and express through the code he uses with them. In contrast, he can form deeper connections with people in Mankai, given how everyone there is not only used to the ways he plays with language, but also how they interact and play with him. There are three characters who stand out in these interactions: Tsuzuru, Itaru, Homare, and to some extent, Izumi. In Tsuzuru’s case, he has come to create a pretty well-established dynamic as a manzai duo, even when they aren’t performing as such. This allows Citron to relax and joke around while knowing that someone is paying attention to him enough to correct him and be his “straight man”, which only motivates him more to play with Tsuzuru’s reactions, feeding each other off. In Itaru’s case, the two formed a mutual understanding due to their shared interest in games right from the moment it’s revealed that Itaru likes games. Itaru understands Citron, and knows that Citron is playing around when he makes mistakes, as shown in Episode eight ‘The Greatest Journey’, chapter 24, when he comments how the time isn’t appropriate for that. However, as opposed to correcting him, like Tsuzuru does, he “translates” for others to get a better understanding of what Citron is saying. Correcting him is not necessary because, as he shows with his translations, he understands Citron perfectly, the two of them are in sync. Lastly, in Homare’s case, Homare is someone who plays with language just as much as Citron does, even if his game relies more in the way he strings words together, as opposed to choosing this or that word. The fact that Homare understands that language is a game allows him and Citron to understand each other in a way where others would probably dismiss the nuances of their respective games. Homare has celebrated Citron’s way of talking, and can jump off from whatever he says, mixing up their games together and motivating Citron to play more, while communicating things that sometimes can’t be said through words. Citron’s relationship with Izumi falls into a different category of play, but it’s still a game of understanding what Citron is and isn’t saying. From the moment they met Izumi could tell that Citron’s “gimmick”, as she calls it in the A3! English localisation, is an act he’s putting up, despite her recognising him as a good actor, she can tell right away that the “funny foreigner who is bad at Japanese” is, at least partly, a role Citron’s determined to play. This recognition, which is acknowledged in different points of year one, allows Citron to be more genuine with her. While it is mostly shown through fan-service moments, Citron allows his mask to drop a little when he’s around Izumi, acting more princely and speaking in better Japanese multiple times.
Citron has shown time and time again that he is incredibly skilled with languages, be it through random bursts of complex vocabulary or his carefully-planned blunders. The game implies Japanese is at the very least his third language, and states that he is entirely self-taught. Though at first glance, it appears his "mistakes" are genuine, as though he weren't too far into his studies, it later becomes clear that they are all deliberate, and Izumi notices this as early as her first meeting with him. When he becomes serious about a topic, too, he makes a lot less mistakes in speaking, since he's less focused on where to mess up. These facts further solidify just how experienced he is - to intentionally say the wrong word at just the right time takes a considerable amount of familiarity with any language, especially when his mistakes are largely actual words and not random syllables mashed together. To think of what words to slip up on at the pace of regular conversation, and choosing to do it to bring up the mood in a room when things get too tense, both also serve to show how dedicated he is to hiding behind the mask of the "funny foreigner." In the same way, he consistently utilizes some repeated quirks, like using "da yo" at the end of his sentences, despite knowing it can sound unnatural at times, and using "wakiwaki" instead of "wakuwaku" to express excitement despite having been corrected, in another attempt to use language as a mask to hide behind. By continuing to sound like a foreigner, he ensures most people continue to see him as such, and thus the mask remains on.
Keeping up his role as a foreigner doesn’t end in the way Citron uses language, though. Just as he does with his role as Minister of Arts and Culture, Citron honors both Zafra’s traditional behavior towards others and the things he had been taught to serve as a king by continuously keeping others' best interests at heart more than his own. In combination with his aversion to truly being known, though, it can end up being seen as selfishness. With his fantastical stories and mistakes in speaking, he refused to let Mankai Company know him the way they wanted to, or how everyone let him know themselves. Rather than solely a selfish desire to keep himself hidden, though, keeping them at a distance was his way of protecting them, in his eyes. He knew he would have to leave them eventually, so by shutting them out, he tried to ensure it wouldn't be too painful for either party when the time came. At the same time, it also protected them from all the trouble they would get in if it got out that the company was hiding a runaway prince. Before that, running away from Zafra and his duties as the future king was to stop his brothers from fighting among themselves and let one of them be king like they so wanted. Even by the time of "The Greatest Journey", we see Citron acting in what at first seems like a cold, selfish way, suddenly leaving Mankai Company without saying goodbye, and leaving Guy, his loyal attendant, stranded in Japan while framing him as a wanted criminal. However, we come to learn that this, too, was for Guy's sake and not his own, as it was leaving him in the hands of Mankai Company that allowed him to learn about his past and humanity.
Citron is an incredibly smart character, and it shows through how carefully planned his words and actions are. While it may be hard to miss at first sight, his character is extremely layered in the ways he acts and presents himself. Because of this, it’s only through seeing all his layers: the funny foreigner, the friendly man at the marketplace, the kind and princely man he is to Izumi, the serious heir, and the caring and devoted man, that one can begin to grasp who the Real Citron is.