Jonathan Ariga

Jonathan "Jonny" Ariga
Sex	Male
Age	32
Hair	Black
Eyes	Brown
Height	182cm
Blood Type	B
Occupation	Used car restorer/dealer
Location	Main booth
Time At Bar	Day 2: 20:30 - 22:10 Day 3: 20:30 - 22:30 Day 4: 20:15 - end Day 5: 20:30 - 22:25 Day 6: 20:00 - 22:40 Day 7: Cutscene only Day 8: 20:46 - end
JPN VA	Takehito Koyasu
ENG VA	Travis Willingham

"...You're gonna do the right thing, right?"

— Jonny to Vincent

Jonathan "Jonny" Ariga (ジョニー・アリガ Jonī), also nicknamed Chief and known in the nightmares as Smoking Sheep, is an idealistic man searching for his soulmate. Jonny is old friends with Vincent Brooks, Orlando Haddick and Erica Anderson. He too is a regular of the Stray Sheep and he works at his father's used car dealership, which he hopes to inherit. He maintains an outwardly subdued demeanor, but he has an optimistic view of the value of true love and holds fast to the idea of waiting for his "one true love" before getting married.

Jonny is a playable character in the DLC of Catherine: Full Body.

Personality

Jonny is best described as a quiet guy who rarely shares his own issues or problems with others. Even though he has a girlfriend, he's made it clear to her that he has no intention of marrying her as they are only together for the temporary company. He is a believer in true love and doesn't want to lead anyone on that he isn't positive he wants to spend his life with. Even in high school, Jonny would only date girls that he was fully committed to.

He is also implied to excel at his job, putting all of his effort into it. Tobias Nebbins, an employee alongside him, remarks how perfect Jonny is at what he does, and is surprised that his personal life isn't the same.

Catherine

Jonny is only seen in the Stray Sheep at night, encouraging Vincent to come clean and do the right thing about ending the affair. He is unusually protective of Katherine McBride. He speaks on and off about his girlfriend, but never in much detail, which leads the rest of the group to wonder about her.

He wrestles with anger at himself for feelings he can't control; Namely, the fact that he's secretly in love with Katherine. Though he never makes any move to sabotage her relationship with Vincent, he is the first to put forth the idea of both of them splitting, when Vincent suspects her of infidelity.

Catherine visits Jonny at the aquarium.

In Catherine: The Novel, it is revealed Jonny visited an aquarium. There, Catherine appeared as a Katherine-looking woman to Jonny. He refused to go with her, but even so, his attraction to Catherine as Katherine was enough to throw him into the Nightmares, as his heart was for Katherine and this encounter made him realize this. Before Catherine left, she warned Jonny that he would probably "fall into the Nightmare".

In the Nightmare Stage 6-3 (the Clock Tower's third landing), Jonny makes his first appearance under the name, "Smoking Sheep". He has no idea why he's there, as he doesn't cheat or party, but suspects it is his punishment for betraying his best friend. He admits to Vincent (without knowing the sheep is him) that he doesn't want to steal "her" from "him," but he loves "her" and can't do anything about it. In reality, Jonny is having nightmares due to keeping his girlfriend in a relationship with no hope of advancing it because of his love for Katherine.

Jonny shows up in every ending to some degree except the Catherine Good Ending and Catherine True Ending. In the Katherine True Ending, he decides to give up on his love for Katherine and try to search for his own soulmate. In the Catherine Bad Ending, he appears alongside Toby and Orlando after Vincent's talk with Catherine, questioning Vincent's health. In both Freedom endings after Katherine breaks up with Vincent, Jonny tells the group he asked her out on a date. He denies it was premeditated and insists it was pure coincidence, though that seems unlikely given his long-time feelings for her. Though initially agitated, Vincent seems to come to terms with it. Based on Jonny's statement, "I guess I'm not good enough," Katherine turned him down. He was also going to suggest that Katherine still might have harbored feelings for Vincent before being cut off by the latter.

Catherine: Full Body

Jonny punches Vincent.

At some point, Jonny punches Vincent Brooks to the floor, which shocks everyone in the bar.[1]

On Day 6, Jonny, Orlando and Toby meet up with Vincent at the Stray Sheep, who recounted to them the truth of Rin's real gender and how he ran away due to Vincent's reaction at the time. Once Erica lead Toby away from the group to give space between the three men, Orlando consoles Vincent and advised him to take this loss and move on. Vincent retorted that it is not a loss, and Jonny asked if he is actually interested in Rin.

Unsure of his feelings, Vincent remarked how Rin accepted him for who he is, helped him see things in a new perspective he never thought of himself and how he saved their lives (subconsciously referring to the nightmares), which Orlando corrected that they saved him (when Rin was given a job in the Stray Sheep and a place to live). Jonny comments how it is a nice change of pace for Vincent and no one would fault him for those feelings, but then questioned if he is actually in love with Rin.

Depending on the player's choices, Vincent can say he is close to Rin but is not "The One" for him. Jonathan then thanks Vincent for saying that before anyone notices him unclenching his right hand on the table. Vincent then sighs about what has happened between him and Rin, which both Orlando and Jonny agree he brought it on himself.

Should the player make the correct choices leading to Vincent falling in love with Rin, Jonathan would immediately punch Vincent after hearing him admit his feelings, shocking Orlando and everyone else present in the bar. Apologizing, Jonny commented how he was angry to hear that since while Vincent is his friend, so is Katherine. Vincent does not blame him for his anger since he knows he is in love with Rin despite Katherine being pregnant with his child, and openly agrees to take full responsibility for the consequences. Orlando remarked how this is a new crazy turn for them, but both he and Jonny immediately accepted his newfound feelings and willing to maintain their friendship. Orlando then realized if they should be talking about this in public, to which Jonny smiled and replied, 'probably not'.

After the events of Vincent's battle in rescuing Rin from Boss, the couple returned to the Stray Sheep where Jonny and the rest of the gang are happy with their reunion and seeing the newfound love between the two. When Erica asked if Rin will continue to play the piano for the bar, Boss became hesitant at the idea of allowing an angel to play the piano in the bar. Vincent thought 'angel' is a nice way of describing Rin, but Rin then confirms that he is an angel on a mission to end the nightmares for his brothers so that he can become human (confusing Jonny and the rest who heard him). The entire bar then begins to shake, where Jonny and the group witness the brief appearance of Rin's Big Brother before the angel took Vincent and Rin into another dimension.

Soon after Vincent accepted Big Brother's nightmare challenge and return to reality to prepare himself, Jonny commented whether he drank too much after seeing what happened. When Vincent said it was not the alcohol, Jonny remarked that he is not surprised at this point and decided to seek his soulmate after being inspired by Vincent's actions. Jonny also mentioned of a commotion outside where people are talking about "Miracles" and "God's Messenger".

After Vincent became victorious against Rin's brother, Jonny and the rest of the gang were shown to be asleep, likely having put into that state since the start of Vincent's latest nightmare.

In Rin True Ending, Jonny eventually found his soulmate as he is seen chatting with a female alien at Rin's concert and then married her around the same time as Vincent and Rin.

Quotes

• "Whoa, man! You're like that creepy guy in horror movies who tries too hard to be noticed." (to Toby)
• "Hey, I'm just a stray sheep in the field of life too, y'know."

The Trivia for Tonight.....

• In unused dialogue, Orlando Haddick mentions that the company Jonny works for (his father's company) is rumored to be going through a merger, and speculates that's why Jonny has been drinking more.
• In unused dialogue, Jonny mentions that his place was invaded by ants, and he can't get rid of them. He mentions he can't sleep at all because he knows they're there.[citation needed]
• Catherine: The Novel claims Jonny is of Asian descent.[2]
• Jonny's drink of choice is sake.
• Jonny's surname Ariga could be written out as 有賀 in Kanji, the characters themselves read, "becoming; existence," and, "congratulation". Another interesting thing to note is that Ariga appears similar to word, "arigaku," [蟻学] which translates into, "myrmecology," or, "the study of ants".
• Although Vincent Brooks meets Jonny as a sheep while in the Nightmare, he never reveals what boss he faces at the end of each night while he is in the Nightmare.
• Both Jonny and Vincent are the only two members of the group who smoke; neither are seen for very long without a cigarette.

Jonny's abs.

• In Nero Vision, it is shown that Jonny has a bit of a faint six pack.
• Jonny and Catherine's English voice actors are married.
  • In an interview, Laura Bailey said, "It was weird though because Troy Baker (Vincent) is like my brother and he's like Travis' friend so some of the recording between Vincent and Catherine is a little strange and awkward."[3]
• Yusuke Kitagawa of Persona 5 can dress as Jonny.

Gallery

Art

Jonny's full body

Jonny's face up close

Jonny's scans from Venus Mode Art Book.

Jonny's scans from Venus Mode Art Book.

Jonny's wallpaper from the Official Web Site.

Catherine

Jonny in a cutscene

"Then I'll never get married. So what?"

Vincent Brooks and Jonny with Boss

Jonny in the Freedom Good Ending.

Jonny in the Katherine Good ending

Jonny at Vincent and Katherine's wedding.

Jonny at Vincent and Katherine's wedding.

Catherine: Full Body

Jonny with Orlando Haddick and Vincent Brooks in high school.

Jonny with his friends in high school.

Jonny meeting his potential soulmate.

Jonny and the alien as a couple.

Catherine novels

Jonny and Orlando Haddick

Jonny and the group exploring Stella Simmons' house with Freddie McGoohan