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Main Characters
Kozue Ayuhara
Voiced by: Kurumi Kobato
The main protagonist who wants to become a volleyball champion.
- Academic Athlete: The "athlete" part is obvious, but Kozue is also academically smart, even though she doesn't make a big deal out of it. In Junior High, she was actually the best student in the school, and later in high school she was ranked 7th in the first exam.
- The Ace: Kozue getting the No. 1 jersey is the official acknowledgement that she's the school's star volleyball player
- Always Second Best: Not always, but she comes second a few times in tournaments. Especially compared to her Russian rival Shellenina, who has defeated Kozue's team in the final twice. She finally manages to beat Shellenina at the end of the anime.
- Break the Cutie: Several events make her suffer throughout the story. It's Played for Drama. She often breaks down but eventually manages to pick herself up.
- Broken Ace: For all her athletic achievements that make her the School Idol, she also has a very hard life, to the point of Trauma Conga Line.
- Bully Magnet: A rare case where The Ace is this trope. Kozue has been bullied, threatened, or antagonized by several different people, to show how overcompetitive the sports world is. She eventually makes peace with all of them, though (yes, even the girl who has tried to stab her).
- Class Princess: Her status as the school's star athlete makes her very popular with the other students. Over the course of the series, she is shown to be generally kind, humble, and reasonable but also assertive when she needs to be.
- Despair Event Horizon: She often loses hope and confidence when something bad happens to her. Thankfully, these moments are temporary.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Mostly in the anime. After all her self-sacrifice and suffering, in the last episode her team wins the World Championship and Kozue herself wins a prize as the best player in the competition.
- Her Heart Will Go On: Her Love Interest Tsutomu dies in the middle of the series. And she's never able to say goodbye to him because of a volleyball match. When she arrives at the hospital, it's a bit too late.
- The Leader: Of the volleyball team, generally being a serious and levelheaded leader to the other girls.
- Magnetic Hero: She manages to gain the friendship and respect of many people who initially hated her and/or antagonized her.
- New Transfer Student: Initially. She moved away from Tokyo to a rural junior high school.
- Passionate Sports Girl: A Trope Codifier in anime and manga. Kozue tries her hardest to become the best volleyball player in the school, Japan, and the world.
- Plucky Girl: She is ready to make any sacrifice to realize her dream as a volleyball player. Despite her many Break the Cutie moments, she still manages to pull herself together.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Especially in Junior High, at the beginning. She can come off as blunt and aloof several times, but she is also generally polite.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: In the anime, she always wears her ponytail, even when she is sleeping. In the manga, she alternates this with Girlish Pigtails.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: A tough, stoic, sports-obsessed girl who always wears a Tomboyish Ponytail. But deep down she is also emotionally fragile and Prone to Tears, and she has also expressed the desire to fall in love and get married like a normal girl.
Midori Hayakawa
Voiced by: Sumie Sakai, Eiko Masuyama (fouth movie only)
A girl who joins the volleyball team in junior high and later becomes Kozue's best friend.
- Best Friend: The character who constantly hangs out with Kozue in both the best and the worst moments.
- Character Development: Originally a manipulative girl who wanted to steal Kozue's position as the captain of the volleyball team. After a few arguments with her, she becomes Kozue's most supportive friend.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: A bit of a Rich Bitch in the beginning, but softens up thanks to her friendship with Kozue
- Deuteragonist: Kozue's closest friend and usually her Number Two in the volleyball team. Besides Kozue, she is the character who appears the most.
- The Lancer: To Kozue. The second best player in the team and she is often coordinated with her for a special attack.
- Ojou: She starts out as a queenly if not a bit snobbish rich girl on the volleyball team, but progresses into a better sort of ojou who's more on the "graceful and gracious" end.
- Ship Tease: With soccer player Mitamura. When they interact, they seem to like each other.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Goes from a mean girl who is jealous of Kozue to a nice friend who always supports her.
Tsutomu Ichinose
Voiced by: Katsuji Mori
Kozue's old friend, second cousin, and Love Interest.- Broken Ace: Originally the smart and popular Class Representative. Later he leaves school to work as a fruit seller and support his family, and eventually dies in a tragic accident.
- Cannot Spit It Out: He and Kozue end up developing feelings for each other, but later Kozue finds out that he has been in love with her for a long time, while reading his diary.
- Cool Big Bro: To Toko, a little girl who sees him as an older brother.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: In the manga, he is run over by a train. In the anime, he falls with his van to his death in the mountains. In the drama series, he is run over by a car.
- Living Emotional Crutch: He gives Kozue strength and emotional support. After his death, she's so devastated that she wants to give up volleyball. After reading his diary and finding out that he wanted her to become the best attacker in the world, she starts to play again.
- The Lost Lenore: To Kozue, who is strongly affected by his tragic death.
- Opposites Attract: He is one of the few characters in the series who is not an athlete. Naturally, he is love with Kozue, whose entire life revolves around sports.
- Strong Girl, Smart Guy: The Smart Guy to Kozue's Strong Girl. She is a Passionate Sports Girl, he often gives her reasonable advice.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: He is a well-intentioned, hard-working guy who undeservingly dies in a horrible way.
- Tough Love: Despite his good intentions, he can be quite harsh to Kozue at times, even slapping her at least once.
Coach Shunsuke Hongō
Voiced by: Shūsei Nakamura
Kozue's main volleyball coach at school.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: As a coach, he can use brutal methods towards the girls.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He appears to be a hardass, but deep down he deeply cares about the players.
- Team Dad: Evolves into this for his volleyball players who don't want to disappoint him.
- Took a Level in Kindness: He is far less harsh in the later parts of the story.
- Tough Love: He genuinely thinks his strict training methods are the best thing to make the girls learn and improve.
- Would Hit a Girl: At least, he would violently hit girls with a ball many times, even when they are too exhausted to receive it.
Supporting Characters
Fujimi High School
Miyuki Ōnuma
Voiced by: Yōko Kuri
The captain of the volleyball club at Fujimi High School.
- Girlish Pigtails: She has brown pigtails.
- The Leader: At first, she is the bossy leader of the Fujimi volleyball team. Later, she keeps her role as the captain, but is not bossy anymore.
- Put on a Bus: After she goes to university, she leaves the team so Kozue becomes the new captain.
- Reformed Bully: As the captain, she's initially an Alpha Bitch who likes to boss around Kozue and Midori. She later becomes a reasonable captain.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Thanks to Kozue's help, she goes from Alpha Bitch in her first appearances to a Nice Girl in the rest of the series.
Kyoko Makimura
Voiced by: Eiko Masuyama
A New Transfer Student at Fujimi High School who will later join the volleyball team.
- Academic Alpha Bitch: She is introduced as the school's best student who looks down on Kozue for being a Passionate Sports Girl and caring more about "useless sports" than academics, even though Kozue is a good student too.
- Academic Athlete: Initially, she is only an academic bookworm and claims to hate sports. It's later revealed that she only acts like this to please her mother, and Kyoko actually has very good athletic skills.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: She is very dismissive of Kozue initially, but they become good friends after Kozue tries to help her and understand her.
- Freudian Excuse: She used to love tennis, but her mother doesn't allow her to play any sport anymore to make her focus on her studies. That's why she is Academic Alpha Bitch in the beginning, until she solves her issues with her mother.
- Girlish Pigtails: She has long braided pigtails.
- Took a Level in Kindness: After she joins the volleyball team and finally befriends Kozue.
Matsue "Ishimatsu" Ishida
Voiced by: Mie Azuma
A member of the volleyball team at Fujimi High School.- Ascended Extra: She starts to get more focus in later episodes of the anime.
- Fearless Fool: She is willing to face Maya and her gang by herself, even when she gets beaten up.
- Hot-Blooded: One of the most temperamental and loud-mouthed of the team, and sometimes Kozue has to hold her back.
"Naka" Nakazawa
Voiced by: Hiroko Suzuki, Eiko Masuyama
An initial member of the delinquents group, she is part of the volleyball team in both junior high and high school.- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: An aggressive delinquent girl in junior high, but deep down has a good heart.
- Put on a Bus: In the manga, she stops appearing in high school after joining the basketball team. In the anime, however, she stays in the volleyball team with Kozue.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In high school, she is no longer a delinquent.
Rivals
Michiru Sanjō
Voiced by: Reiko Mutō
One of the Japan Best Twelve. She doesn't like Kozue at first.
- Big Brother Worship: She used to adore her older brother, who was her only family member alive, until he abandons her as a result of a volleyball accident.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Hostile and standoffish initially, but she eventually makes peace with Kozue.
- Freudian Excuse: She has a very sad backstory, with dead parents and not being able to see her beloved brother anymore.
- The Resenter: Since volleyball is the thing that keeps her away from her brother, Michiru hates the sport and also hates Kozue for loving it. She plays this sport angrily as a personal revenge, at least initially.
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside: She acts very harsh, especially to Kozue, but deep down she is broken because of her Dark and Troubled Past.
- Took a Level in Kindness: After making peace with Kozue, she stops being angry and hateful.
Shellenina
Voiced by: Hiroko Suzuki, Eiko Masuyama
Kozue's rival from Soviet Union.- Always Someone Better: She has defeated Kozue's team twice. In the anime version, Kozue eventually defeats Shellenina in the World Championship Final.
- The Rival: One of Kozue's strongest rivals.
- Worthy Opponent: Despite their rivalry, she and Kozue respect each other.
Kaori Yagisawa
Voiced by: Keiko Yamamoto
The oldest of the Yagisawa sisters.- Girlish Pigtails: She has black pigtails.
- Promotion to Parent: After the death of their mother, she becomes a parental figure to her youngers sisters.
- The Rival: As the leader of the Yagisawa sisters, three of Kozue's strongest rivals.
Shizuka Yagisawa
Voiced by: Minori Matsushima
The middle of the Yagisawa sisters.- Knight Templar Big Sister: She gets very angry at Kozue after the latter accidentally hurts Shizuka's younger sister Katsura in a volleyball match.
Katsura Yagisawa
Voiced by: Michiko Nomura
The youngest of the Yagisawa sisters.- Broken Bird: Being the youngest sister, she is the most upset by their mother's death.
- Turn the Other Cheek: She doesn't have any resentment towards Kozue, who accidentally caused Katsura to get seriously injured.
Other Characters
Coach Inokuma Daigo
Voiced by: Masao Nakasone, Masahiko Murase
A coach of Kozue and Midori during the first world tournament.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Anime!Inokuma isn't able to use one of his arms because he trained way too hard in college. But in the manga, both arms are fine.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: The nastiest in the series. The girls were genuinely scared of him, even comparing him to a devil.
- Handicapped Badass: He is a very tough coach, despite his injured wrist.
- Long-Lost Relative: It's later revealed that he is Michiru's disappeared brother.
- Pet the Dog: He admires Kozue for her good qualities as a player and makes her captain. He later has his nice moments with his sister.
- Promotion to Parent: He was this to his younger sister Michiru in their backstory after the death of their parents.
- Sinister Shades: The dark glasses he always wears (along with his beard) are the reason why Hongo and Michiru initially don't recognize him.
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside: He becomes obsessed with volleyball after the death of his father, along with economic problems. His obession also leads him to permanently injury his wrist.
- We Used to Be Friends: An old friend of Hongo during university before losing touch with each other.
Mitamura
Voiced by: Makio Inoue
The captain of the soccer team at Kozue's school.
- Fire-Forged Friends: He and Tsutomu go from enemies to friends. They even go to watch Kozue's games together at times.
- Lovable Jock: Downplayed. He starts out as a violent Jerk Jock to Tsutomu at first, but he has always been very supportive of Kozue, and later becomes a good friend to Tsutomu too.
- Ship Tease: With Midori. When they interact, they seem to like each other.
Jiro Yushima
Voiced by: Katsuji Mori
A volleyball player who befriends Kozue later on.
- Friendly Rivalry: He's a coach to a rival team, but still respects Kozue.
- Living Emotional Crutch: He becomes Kozue's confidant in later episodes, giving her advice and supports when she feels down.
- Ship Tease: A more one-sided example. Kozue falls in love with him, but he prefers to be only a friend to her, because she reminds him of his late sister.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Tsutomu. He is introduced after Tsutomu's death and has become the main guy who gives emotional support to Kozue. He even looks similar to him and has the same voice actor.
Shigemi Kiyama
Voiced by: Kuriko Komamura
Kozue's antagonistic teammate in the national team.
- The Bully: Very much to Kozue, both physically and verbally, hoping that all that torment would convince her to go away.
- Heel–Face Turn: She eventually makes up with Kozue, and doesn't bully her anymore.
- Jerkass to One: She is not nice in general, but her cruelty is mostly directed at Kozue, because she has been selected for the National team instead of Kiyama's best friend.
- Token Evil Teammate: She is the only cruel girl in the national team, until she makes peace with Kozue.
