Obi, the former thief / former hired thug / now the prince's messenger charged with guarding the beautiful red-haired herbalist, at times seems out of his game when gazing at the damsel.
It is hinted in the anime that he is in love with Shirayuki. I was wondering if more solid evidence is available from the printed story.
Is Obi in love with / does he have a crush on the Snow White with the red hair?
Obi has told Zen in the manga that he "likes" Shirayuki. Combine this with all the moments they have together and all the hints we've been getting over the anime and manga (they end up living with just one another and other herbalists for like 2+ years straight), and it's pretty clear that he's in love with her.
Obi is the Lancelot to Shirayuki & Zen's Guinevere & Arthur. In the manga and the second-half of the anime, Obi is shown to value his loyalty & friendship with both of them more than his romantic feelings.
The manga includes two scenes (one in the anime, and a later manga-only one) where Obi asks Zen to trust him to be Shirayuki's bodyguard & companion when she will be far away. The second time, Obi explicitly states that he's doing it "for himself, rather than for Zen, or out of duty." That seemed like a pretty clear admission to me.
It is hinted multiple times throughout both the anime and the Manga that he likes her. There are two parts in the Manga that he said that he likes her. The first time was when Zen asked him if he likes Shirayuki or not and his answer was yes. The second time was when he was having a conversation with Kiki and he told her that his feeling lay with Shirayuki.
Obi liked her as a friend and never let his emotions go beyond that. Not only out of respect for his friends, but to keep himself safe as well. This very fact is explained not only in the Manga, but also in the Anime where he even ‘tested’ his very feelings and said, ‘nothing is there’. The writers basically denounced Obi as a love interest. Either way, he couldn’t compete with Zen - that boy only need to look at Shirayuki and the flood gates would open (if you know what I mean lol). For Zen and Shirayuki it was love at first sight.
