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Characters / Kanon

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Here are the main and secondary characters who appear in the Kanon Anime and Visual Novel.

Beware of SPOILERS.

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Main Characters

    Yūichi Aizawa 

Yūichi Aizawa

Voiced by: Atsushi Kisaichi (JP - Toei anime), Tomokazu Sugita (JP - KyoAni anime), Miwa Yasuda (JP - child), Chris Patton (EN - teenager), Shannon Emerick (EN - child)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aizawa_yuuichi_2006_anime.png
"They're called miracles because they do happen, even when things seem hopeless."

The protagonist. At the beginning of the story, he has just returned to the town where he used to spend his vacations as a kid for the first time in seven years in order to stay with his aunt, Akiko, while his parents are out of the country. However, he has practically no memory of the time he spent there all those years ago. As time goes by, he gradually learns why that is, but little does he know that he has a long, painful journey ahead of him...

    Ayu Tsukimiya 

Ayu Tsukimiya

Voiced by: Yui Horie (JP - both anime), Brittney Karbowski (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tsukimiya_ayu_2006_anime.png
"...it's a promise."

A cheerful girl well-known both within and outside the story for her Verbal Tic and for her bordering-on-unreasonable love of taiyaki, Yūichi meets her early on after she collides with him head first. They quickly become good friends, and her collisions with him soon become a running joke (though it's later toned down to her simply glomping him). She is very short and behaves rather childishly, in spite of being the same age as Yūichi. She is looking for something important to her, but she can't remember what it is. She is the most prominent of the girls in the story and Yūichi's kanon (pardon the bad pun) love interest.

  • A-Cup Angst: In the Visual Novel and the 2002 anime, she apologizes for not being as well-endowed as Nayuki.
  • All-Loving Heroine: She's kind and loving towards everyone and tries to help them as much as possible.
  • Astral Projection: Ayu is actually in a coma because of a serious accident she suffered seven years ago. The version of her wandering the town is a projection of her soul.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: With Yūichi. They became friends when they were children during one of his visits to the town, but didn't see each other for years due to Ayu's accident leaving her in a coma. When they meet again as teenagers, they fall in love.
  • Clap Your Hands If You Believe: In the anime, she believes in the power of the last wish she made over the angel doll so much that it comes true, helping everyone else recover from whatever bad things have happened to them over the course of the story. In both anime and Visual Novel she also believes so much in her and Yūichi's childhood promises to each other that her comatose body is able to create a solid Astral Projection of herself into the outside world.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Ayu has an odd behavior and way of thinking.
  • Convenient Coma: She spent the last seven years in a coma after an accident in which she fell off a tree.
  • Crash-Into Hello: Ayu often meets Yūichi by colliding with him head-on. It becomes an obviously invoked trope when Ayu keeps doing it on purpose.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Light brown hair and light brown eyes.
  • Cute Clumsy Girl: Her first scene involves crashing into Yuichi and it's a bit of a Running Gag.
  • Dead All Along: Subverted. The reveal of her accident and her generally ghostly behavior imply she really died years ago, but she turns out to be An Astral Projection, Not a Ghost. She does wake up from her coma at the end.
  • The Ditz: Ayu can be a bit of an airhead.
  • Expy: Ayu is mostly an Expy from a game the Key team made under a different name, before they formed Key they were Tactics, a branch of Nexton. The game is ONE: To the Radiant Season. Look at the character featured on the cover art, it's a grown-up look-a-like of Ayu.
  • Feather Motif: She has an angel motif, what with the wings on her backpack as well as an early image in both the Visual Novel and 2006 opening depicting her with angel-like wings.
  • Forgotten First Meeting: It turns out Yūichi knows her from seven years ago, and they were very close back then. It takes a while for her and Yūichi to recognize each other.
  • From Roommates to Romance: Since her family is away, Ayu ends up living in the Minase household, which allows her to become even closer to Yūichi as he also lives there. Ayu and Yūichi become a couple near the end of the anime.
  • Genki Girl: Not much seems to get her down. At least, not until the revelation of her true nature, anyways.
  • Ghost Amnesia: Played With. Ayu is an Astral Projection instead of a ghost, but she doesn't remember that she had an accident many years ago and has been in a coma ever since.
  • The Glomp: There's a Running Gag where she keeps trying to tackle hug Yūichi. 'Trying' because he is prone to dodging.
  • Heroic BSoD: After finding out that the "school in the woods" doesn't exist, she begins to freak out as she realizes that her entire existence isn't exactly real. After frantically trying one last time to find her lost item, she disappears.
  • Hidden Buxom: When she takes her cloak off, her chest is around the size as the other female characters. She actually has a very slightly bigger breast size (80) than Shiori (79).
  • Iconic Outfit: The duffel coat and winged backpack are quite well known to be hers.
  • Important Haircut: In an epilogue, Ayu gets her hair cut after coming out of her coma. However, she ends up regretting it because her hair is now too short and she ends up looking like a boy.
  • I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: When Yūichi tells her right before she disappears the second time to make her third wish on the angel doll, she wishes that Yūichi would just forget about her, because that way he won't be distraught over what's happened to her- he rejects that wish, and tells her to wish for something else. So in the anime she wishes for something else instead, and this wish heals everyone else, implying that she simply wished for him to be happy.
  • Kiddie Kid: She's the same age as Yūichi, but she acts like a little girl in more than one sense. This can be justified since it's revealed that she's been in a coma for seven years, and thus it would be unlikely that she'd mature much.
  • Leitmotif: A Sunny Town, an upbeat and catchy tune that gives off a lot of positivity.
  • Lethal Chef: Whenever she tries to make breakfast, she burns all the food.
  • Memento MacGuffin: She's looking for something, and she knows it's important, but she can't for the life of her remember what it is. It's the angel doll Yūichi gave her.
  • Not Quite Dead: When Yūichi remembers Ayu falling from a tree, he assumes the Ayu that has been with him until now was her ghost. However, turns out Ayu is still alive, but in a coma.
  • Official Couple: Ayu becomes Yūichi's girlfriend towards the end of the anime series.
  • Older Than She Looks: She is Yūichi's age, but she looks to be not much older than twelve. Yūichi lampshades this mercilessly and Ayu is not amused. This is mostly thanks to her height and baggy coat, though.
  • Once Done, Never Forgotten: Yūichi tends to remind her of her unintentionally Dining and Dashing a few times.
  • Out of Focus:
    • Ayu is completely absent during Makoto's story arc in the anime. Lampshaded in the first episode since the arc, as she mentions to Yūichi that she has not seen him in ages.
    • Ayu appears far less in routes that aren't her own in the visual novel. Towards the end of the other girls' routes, she apparently finds what she was looking for and comes to tell Yūichi goodbye. This becomes a lot more tragic once you actually play Ayu's route and realize that she was saying goodbye to him before she disappeared permanently.
  • Outdoorsy Gal: She liked to climb trees when she was a child.
  • Parental Abandonment: Her parents are nowhere to be seen. Not too surprising, considering her mom's dead, and she's been in a coma for seven years. Her father is mentioned to visit her during the weekends.
  • Pinky Swear: She seems to be fond of pinky swear promises.
  • The Pollyanna: It's rare to not see her in an optimistic mood.
  • Pretty Freeloader: Ayu gets invited by Akiko to stay at her house until her own family returns home. While Ayu does try to help out around the house, her attempts at cooking always fail.
  • Running Gag:
    • Her repeatedly colliding head-first with Yūichi, and later, her repeated glomping of him.
    • Also, her stealing taiyaki by accident, for the first little while, at least.
  • Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Ayu is easily excitable and energetic while Yūichi is calm and laid-back.
  • Symbolic Wings: She has a winged backpack.
  • Token Houseguest: Halfway through the anime series, Ayu is welcomed to stay as a guest at the Minase household, since Ayu's family is away from home.
  • Token Mini-Moe: The shortest and most childish member of the cast.
  • Tomato Surprise: Two in rapid succession. The first being her accident (and thus, the fact that the Ayu we've seen all along is an Astral Projection) and the second being the fact that no, she's not dead, just in a coma.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Taiyaki is her absolute favorite food, so much so that she accidentally steals it twice.
  • Unexplained Recovery: She seemingly is well on her way to a full recovery by the end of the story, once she awakens from her coma. You can call it a miracle, which, it turns out, is exactly what it is, of course.
  • Verbal Tic: "Uguu-!", which is probably one of the most famous Verbal Tics in fiction. Yūichi constantly teases her about it.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Despite her problems, she has a good view on the world and attempts to share them with others.

    Nayuki Minase 

Nayuki Minase

Voiced by: Mariko Kouda (JP - both anime), Jessica Boone (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minase_nayuki_2006_anime.png
"Do you remember my name?"

Yūichi's cousin who sleeps under the same roof as him (as Yūichi is staying with his aunt and Nayuki's mother, Akiko). He remembers her vaguely from seven years ago. She has a fairly obvious crush on him, which he doesn't return. She also has a serious problem getting up in the morning, and is prone to falling asleep again repeatedly throughout the day. Loves anything with strawberries, especially strawberry sundaes, and can easily be bribed with them (which is useful for Yūichi). She is hardworking, upbeat and very athletic, being the captain of the school's track team because to her running ability, gained from years of having to run to school to be on time due to her sleep habits.

  • All-Loving Heroine: In a similar vein to Ayu, she's a very loving and caring person.
  • Catchphrase: "Faito da yo" ("I'm not worried about it" or various similar things in the dub) and "Usotsuki" (which means "liar", but is usually "You're (such) a liar" in the dub).
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Downplayed; it gradually becomes apparent that she's more than a little weird in some ways (like her fixation on cats), though she's quite normal in others, and she might be the least screwed up of the main girls.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Blue hair and eyes.
  • Cuteness Proximity: Any time she sees a cat (even a wild one), she'll go temporarily loopy and try to pet it, despite the fact that she's allergic to them.
  • Deuteragonist: If Ayu could be considered the "main girl" of Kanon, Nayuki could be considered the "second main girl". She's an integral part of the story who helps Yūichi settle into the setting and serves as a driving force for him to reclaim his memories. Even official material such as the covers of the Dreamcast, PS2 and PC Standard Edition have her accompany Ayu as a representative of Kanon.
  • Disappeared Dad: So disappeared that she's never even seen the guy. He's only mentioned once.
  • From Roommates to Romance: Yūichi moves into Nayuki's house due to his family circumstances. Having had a crush on him since she was a child, Nayuki is happy to live with Yūichi.
  • Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She's generally feminine, having long hair and loving cute animals (especially cats), but she's also athletic enough to be the captain of the girl's track team at school.
  • Hair Intakes: The two "cat ears" that are part of her hairdo.
  • Heavy Sleeper: She owns at least a dozen alarm clocks and they still don't succeed in waking her up. Her running ability was developed in part to allow her to still be at school on time.
  • Heroic BSoD: Becomes very distraught when Akiko is hit by a car, refusing to leave her room or talk to anyone. Yūichi and Kaori are able to talk her out of it and recovers. Really shows how close she is to her mother.
  • Hidden Disdain Reveal: Accuses Yūichi of this towards her during her aforementioned Heroic BSoD, given that he hadn't returned any of her letters and had pretty much forgotten about her.
  • Hopeless with Tech: She says she's not good with machines. The wake up message Yūichi hears from the alarm clock. Took her forever to record the message to the point where she needed Akiko's help.
  • Ironic Echo: She says the wake up message on the aforementioned alarm clock, word for word when she tries to get Yūichi out from bed.
  • It's All My Fault: Blames herself for Akiko's accident because Akiko was out of the house for her sake, even though it was no one's fault.
  • Kindhearted Cat Lover: Despite being allergic to them, she tries to pet a cat every chance she gets. She even wears cat slippers and wears cat paw print pajamas. She even named the the cat heads printed on her robe.
  • Kissing Cousins: She is in love with her cousin Yūichi.
  • Late for School: Avoiding being this due to her odd sleep habits was why she got so good at running in the first place.
  • Leitmotif: The Girl of Snow, a winter-like piece that is nonetheless upbeat.
  • Long Hair Is Feminine: She has long hair and is very much feminine.
  • Meaningful Name: Her name contains the kanji for "snow". Snow is a very common reoccuring motif in the story, and while not as heavily marketed as Ayu she's still an integral part of the story itself.
  • Nice Girl: A cheerful and upbeat young woman.
  • Not a Morning Person: She mostly just mumbles, drools and sleepwalks her way through her mornings. She once almost drowned while brushing her teeth.
  • Passionate Sports Girl: She's the captain of the girls' track team due to her strong running ability. She managed to become such a strong runner after years of running to avoid being late for school, thanks to her being a Sleepyhead.
  • Patient Childhood Love Interest: She's been carrying a torch for Yūichi since they were little kids, but he doesn't even notice except in her route and he forgot that she already confessed to him and he rejected her years ago- mainly because she did so at the worst possible time and he likely didn't even hear her.
  • Shared Family Quirks: Nayuki acts very similarly to her mother. They even tell the same jokes.
  • Sleepyhead: She has a habit of randomly falling asleep throughout the day, sometimes while standing up or walking.
  • Stepford Smiler: Despite her cheerful attitude, it turns out she keeps to herself unhappy memories of Yūichi basically rejecting her confession of love to him years ago.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: She looks nearly identical to her mother, Akiko.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: She loves strawberries and anything strawberry-flavored, such as strawberry jam and especially strawberry sundaes. Yūichi bribes her with sundaes in particular.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Debatable, but she does seem pretty upbeat and positive most of the time. Only after Akiko's accident does she really seem unhappy.

    Shiori Misaka 

Shiori Misaka

Voiced by: Hiroko Konishi (JP - visual novel), Akemi Satou (JP - both anime), Maggie Flecknoe (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/misaka_shiori_2006_anime.png
"They're called miracles because they don't happen."

A sickly girl that Yūichi and Ayu run into early on, and who is frequently seen hanging around outside the school during classes, apparently waiting for "someone important to her". She's quiet, peaceful and pretty pleasant and normal (though she does have a somewhat odd sense of humor and an odd fondness for eating ice cream in below-freezing weather, not to mention her almost complete terribleness at arcade games), other than being terminally ill, of course. She also has some troubles at home that are vaguely alluded to.

  • Bungled Suicide: On the day she met Ayu and Yūichi she was preparing to slit her wrist. Her chance encounter with them encouraged her to go on after she miraculously survived.
  • Catchphrase: "I don't like people who say things like that" and variations thereof.
  • Cloud Cuckoo Lander: To an extent, what with her odd habit of eating ice cream outside in the middle of winter, her desire to build a thirty meter snowman and several other oddities. Still, not as extreme an example as Nayuki or Ayu, arguably.
  • Dangerous 16th Birthday: The doctors say she won't make it much past hers.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The only main girl to make much effort to counter Yūichi's snark, and the one he's the least condescending to as a result.
  • Definitely Just a Cold: She insists that whatever she's sick with is just a cold. Obviously, it's not.
  • Delicate and Sickly: She has suffered from disease all her life and is almost always absent from school because of her weak condition.
  • Fainting: She apparently fainted on her first day of school, and, until late in the series, has been absent ever since.
  • Family Theme Naming: Shiori is actually Kaori's younger sister, with their similar names being a hint to their relation.
  • Giftedly Bad:
    • As Yūichi points out, it takes real skill to get zero at Whack-a-Mole. She doesn't like that statement too much.
    • She's equally as terrible at her art hobby. Her "best work" was incredibly unimpressive to Yūichi.
  • Leitmotif: Beyond the Smile, a peaceful yet somewhat wistful theme.
  • Perfect Health: She initially dismisses her skipping classes and lack of energy as "a cold." While this excuse rapidly wears thin, the heartbreaking revelation is somewhat spoiled by the audience being well aware it could only be a fatal condition.
  • The Reveal: Turns out she is Kaori's sister, and that the two were very close until Kaori began distancing herself from her sister to avoid the pain of losing her. She attended school for exactly one day before she fainted in class and was sent home to recover, and does not return until late in the story. During this time, she hangs out with Yūichi and has a birthday party thrown for her, during which she and her sister begin to repair their relationships to one another.
  • Snowball Fight: She gets into one with Yūichi. She has good aim for someone whose eyes were averted for most of the fight...
  • Soap Opera Disease: She has suffered from an unspecified illness since birth. While she tries to minimize the severity of her illness, it is later revealed to be terminal and she probably has little more than a year left to live.
  • Stepford Smiler: Big time. She soldiers all of the trauma that her illness causes her with a smile on her face. She only briefly drops it around the people she cares about.
  • Stepford Snarker: Her snark hides a lot of personal issues.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: She's sometimes seen eating vanilla ice cream.
  • Unexplained Recovery: She recovers completely from her illness at the tail end of the story thanks to Ayu's miracle.
  • Victorian Novel Disease: Even though she has been sick from birth from a terminal illness, Shiori looks perfectly cute and shows no real symptoms of a disease other than getting tired easily and mentions that she's prone to fainting.
  • Your Days Are Numbered: She may not live long enough to see her past her 17th birthday.

    Makoto Sawatari 

Makoto Sawatari

Voiced by: Mayumi Iizuka (JP - both anime), Tiffany Terrell (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sawatari_makoto_2006_anime.png
"Spring will come... I wish it was always spring."

Makoto is a mischievous, red-haired Tsundere who accosts Yūichi in the market the day after he arrives and claims to be holding a grudge against him. However, she doesn't remember why, and, in fact, she doesn't remember very much at all, not even her own name. She accepts Akiko's offer to live at her house until she remembers, becoming a Pretty Freeloader in the process. She also develops a fondness for pork buns and romance manga. All the while, she attempts to remember who she is, but it turns out she may have been better off not knowing.

  • Asian Fox Spirit: Makoto is actually a fox that took the form of a girl to meet Yūichi, the boy who took care of her years ago.
  • Back from the Dead: In the 2002 Toei anime, she comes back to life at the end.
  • Cute Little Fangs: She has small but still noticeable fangs, highlighting her fiery and mischievous nature. They also serve as a hint about her true nature as a shapeshifted fox.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: Originally she has a grudge against Yūichi but still kinda likes him anyways, but gradually she abandons the grudge and just fawns on him when he abandons the escalating trick war between them.
  • Fiery Redhead: She has reddish-orange hair and a bit of a temper to match. Since she's actually a fox, which has natural red fur, this only makes sense.
  • "Flowers for Algernon" Syndrome: Leads to a Downer Ending. When she was still a fox, she made a wish to be able to meet with Yūichi again, which was granted by turning her into a human and giving her human intelligence. The price was losing all her memories and then slowly losing all her intelligence and motor controls until she eventually dies with only about as much intelligence as a fox possesses. Yūichi is left all alone and unsure of whether he loved her or not, though it is implied he did not.
  • Forgotten First Meeting: She turns out to have been a young fox that Yūichi rescued seven years ago when she was injured, and that she wants revenge on him because he abandoned her after she had recovered when he had to leave town to return home.
  • From Roommates to Romance: As a result of having amnesia and no other place to go, Makoto ends up living with Yūichi at his aunt's house. Even though she initially thought she hated him, Makoto falls in love with Yuichi.
  • Girlish Pigtails: Her hair is tied up into twintails, which helps identify her as a Tsundere.
  • Identity Amnesia: She doesn't remember who she is at all, just that she has an inexplicable grudge against Yūichi. As is revealed later, this is because she's not actually human, and, as a fox, doesn't exactly have an identity in the human sense. Also, the act of becoming human erased her previous memories. She took the name Makoto Sawatari from one of the few things that she did manage to remember, which was Yūichi telling her (while she was still a fox) about an older girl by that name he had a crush on.
  • Innocently Insensitive: She drops Piro from an overpass (thankfully, onto a truck) because she doesn't understand the difference between wild and domesticated animals. As a Pet Baby Wild Animal who was unknowingly abandoned by Yuichi, this makes sense.
  • Last Request: As she loses her intelligence, she tells Yūichi she wants to marry him someday. They hold a little wedding ceremony before she disappears.
  • Leitmotif: The Fox and the Grapes, a slightly mischievous piece befitting of Makoto.
  • Name Amnesia: Due to her Identity Amnesia, it takes her some time to even remember her own name and it's not even hers, but the name of a woman that Yūichi mentioned to her back when she was a fox. In fact, she never had a name to begin with, since she was a fox prior to losing her memory.
  • No Body Left Behind: Right after she and Yūichi have been "married", she disappears in front of Yūichi.
  • Non-Human Lover Reveal: She's actually a fox that Yūichi looked after when he was young.
  • One-Steve Limit: Turns out she's not the real Makoto Sawatari at all; it was the name of an older girl Yūichi told her had a crush on at the time, and she took that name for herself since it was one of the few things she could remember. The real one makes an appearance in the 2006 KyoAni adaptation, and naturally there are theories about connections between the two...
  • The Prankster: She often pulls pranks on Yūichi, due to her mischievous nature. She has nothing on Yūichi though, since he easily wins every battle of their "prank war", and she eventually stops doing this once she falls for him.
  • Pretty Freeloader: Since she doesn't have memories or any place to stay at, Akiko welcomes Makoto into her house where she lets her eat and sleep for free. Although, Makoto does get a job later, thus subverting the trope.
  • Token Houseguest: She gets taken in as a guest at the Minase household and gets treated as part of the family even though she isn't related by blood to Akiko and Nayuki like Yūichi is.
  • Tomboyish Name: Makoto is called out on having a "boy's name". In Japan "Makoto" is essentially a unisex name, but it's given to boys more often than girls.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: She loves pork buns.
  • Tsundere: Harsh type. Makoto is more mischievous than violent, but she acts hostile towards Yūichi because she thinks she hates him even though it becomes increasingly obvious that's not the case.
  • Verbal Tic: She says "Auuu-!" whenever she gets annoyed, depressed or chastised. Once she begins to lose her humanity and forget, it becomes all she can say.

    Mai Kawasumi 

Mai Kawasumi

Voiced by: Yukari Tamura (JP - both anime), Melissa Davis (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kawasumi_mai_anime_2006.png
"...I am a demon hunter."

Mai is a calm, seemingly Emotionless Girl who comes to the school at night to fight demons. Because she has been seen there at night and because windows have been inexplicably broken, she is perceived as being responsible, and has been branded a delinquent by most of the students and the staff at the school. She is excellent with a sword, and she seems to know things about the strange goings-on around the town, giving Yūichi cryptic advice on several occasions. Her best friend (and possibly more) is Sayuri Kurata, and she aspires to be a veterinarian.

  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: Sharp enough to slash demons and break a brick, but apparently not sharp enough to cut a banana.
  • Action Girl: She's an experienced demon hunter and excellent with a sword.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: She's an outcast at school due to her reputation as a delinquent, with her only friend being Sayuri. Also, when she was a child, the people around her condemned her as a freak because of her powers and drove her out of town.
  • Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Mai is the tallest of the girls in series, displays a rather cold, aloof and mysterious attitude, and has dark blue hair.
  • Animal-Eared Headband: Yūichi gave her a bunny-eared headband when they were kids.
  • Badass Adorable: She is able to fight and is rather cute.
  • Broken Bird: She wasn't always so stoic and aloof. She became like that after her powers got her driven out of her town and she thought her only friend Yūichi abandoned her.
  • Bungled Suicide: After the true nature of the demons is revealed, she thanks Yūichi and stabs herself. She gets better thanks to acceptance of her powers.
  • Childhood Friend Romance: Mai is one of Yūichi's romantic options and although he doesn't remember at first, he was friends with Mai when they were children.
  • The Comically Serious: She doesn't show a lot of emotion, at least early on, but definitely has some humour. Most of her comedic scenes come from her lack of reaction to Yūichi's sarcastic comments and jokes.
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: She seems cold at first, but shows more emotion as time goes on.
  • Demon Slaying: She comes to the school at night to fight demons. They are actually a result of the repression of her powers.
  • Emotionless Girl: Of the variant where they just don't know how to express themselves. She doesn't react much, but it's clear that she's feeling something.
  • Forgotten First Meeting: Yūichi knew Mai when they were younger, when he visited the town during summer break. They used to play in the wheat fields where the school is now, and he became her Only Friend (she was new in town, due to being driven out of the previous town with her mother because of her powers). When he eventually had to leave to return home, Mai believed he abandoned her.
  • Heroic BSoD: After Sayuri get attacked by demons. Yūichi snaps her out of it.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: She definitely has feelings for Yūichi, but the person closest to her is her best friend Sayuri. Mai clearly cares about Sayuri just as much as she does for Yūichi.
  • High-Class Gloves: Part of her formal outfit at the dance festival is a pair of opera gloves, adding to her elegance.
  • Interrupted Suicide: After Sayuri is attacked by a demon while bringing her a birthday present one night. After Sayuri's brought to the hospital, Mai goes on another rampage and trashes everything that happens to be nearby before she tries to stab herself. Yūichi stops her this time and convinces her to defeat the remaining demons that night, which she agrees to.
  • Kindly Vet: Her dream to become a vet is one of the biggest signs of the warm heart she hides beneath her cold exterior.
  • Leitmotif: Girls' Prison, a tranquilly moody piece reflective of the demon hunter.
  • Magic Skirt: Whether she fights in a dress or a skirt, she doesn’t have any Panty Shot scenes.
  • Martyr Without a Cause: In addition to being a demon-killing badass, she's also incredibly selfless. Hell, she was willing to let a dog try and eat her hand after it was attacking people because she had nothing to feed the thing.
  • Master Swordswoman: When she hunts demons, she wields a sword and is very skilled with it.
  • Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: She has been branded a delinquent by most of the students and the staff at the school due to her quiet attitude and being perceived as responsible for damage of the school property at night. Once Yūichi gets to know her, though, he finds out she's completely different from what everyone else thinks.
  • No Social Skills: She seems to lack both the ability to act friendly or sociable. Goes with the territory of being an Emotionless Girl. However, Sayuri seems to put up with it.
  • Not So Stoic: She is very much The Stoic at first, and seems pretty much emotionless up until the middle of her story arc. Sayuri gets attacked when Mai is not around, and Mai's reaction to this is absolutely heart-wrenching. She first collapses in shock at the sight of the wounded Sayuri. Once Sayuri is admitted to the hospital, Mai then tries to kill herself, feeling guilty for not having been able to protect her friend. When her suicide attempt is foiled by Yūichi, she breaks down into tears.
  • Odd Friendship: She and Sayuri couldn't be more different, yet they're inseparable and close like sisters.
  • Oracular Urchin: She's very mysterious and knows more about the weird supernatural stuff that's been going on around town than anyone else, though she only ever offers very vague hints or cryptic advice about anything.
  • The Quiet One: She doesn't speak unless she has to.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: When she wears a dress at the dance festival, she looks radiant, very much like a lady instead of the violent delinquent others think she is.
  • The Stoic: Given her calm, uncommunicative behavior, she doesn't show strong emotions and is very stone-faced at first.
  • Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She's extremely calm and stoic, coming across as emotionless. Deep down, though, she's a very nice girl who cares very much for those close to her and wants to be a Kindly Vet.
  • Swiss-Army Tears: Played for heavy drama. Her tears have healing powers, but when she used them to save her mother's life when she was little, after making her briefly famous and revered, she was persecuted and driven out of town for it, causing her and her mother to move to the town where the series is set. The repression of her powers created the demons, and it's only by embracing her powers that she is saved and the demons disappear.
  • Throw the Book at Them: Yūichi is disbelieving when he learns Mai wants to become a vet, so she whacks him with the veterinary book she's reading.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Sayuri's Girly Girl. Mai is the stoic and tough demon hunter, while Sayuri is the sweet and delicate Ojou.
  • Tomboyish Ponytail: She wears a ponytail and is a capable fighter.
  • Tomboy with a Girly Streak: She's a demon hunter with an aloof personality, but she dreams of becoming a vet and enjoys dressing up when Yūichi takes her to the dance festival.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: She loves beef bowls.
  • Tsurime Eyes: Other than Kaori, she's the only one drawn with 'em, the rest have all Tareme Eyes.
  • When She Smiles: When she's happy, her smile really shows it.
  • Your Mind Makes It Real: Years ago, she tried to make Yūichi stay by claiming demons were attacking the field in which they used to play (which was being demolished to make way for the school), but it didn't work. Because of feeling abandoned and repressing her powers, Mai subconsciously made the "demons" become real.

Secondary Characters

    Akiko Minase 

Akiko Minase

Voiced by: Yuko Minaguchi (JP - both anime), Joanne Bonasso (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/minase_akiko_2006_anime.png

Akiko Minase is Nayuki's (nearly identical) mother and Yūichi's aunt, whom he is staying with while he's in town. She lets Makoto and, later, Ayu, stay there as long as they like and pretty much gives them free reign of the house. She also seems to have a pretty good idea what's going on even when Yūichi does not. She is a very kind and caring person, and is very maternal.

  • Cool Aunt: She's Yūichi's maternal aunt and his guardian for the series, so she has to be this. And it's clear he loves her a lot.
  • Cordon Bleugh Chef: Her cooking is mostly excellent, but when it comes to making jam, she gets a little too creative.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Blue hair and blue eyes, just like her daughter.
  • Friend to All Children: Unconditionally kind to any and all children, and will unhesitantly adopt any homeless child seeking love and shelter.
  • Good Parents: Loves her daughter and nephew equally and looks after them as well as their friends.
  • Hair Intakes: Her hair has two "cat ears" just like her daughter.
  • Harem Nanny: She takes in some of Yūichi's haremettes and looks after them as if they were part of her family.
  • It Seemed Trivial: She knew about Ayu's condition from the beginning, but refrained from saying anything, assuming that she had recovered from her coma.
  • Look Both Ways: She is hit by a car near the end of the series, and this causes Nayuki to have a complete breakdown. Though she survives, and it wasn't really her fault (blame the driver or the condition of the roads due to the weather).
  • Motherly Side Plait: Wears her hair in a braid over her shoulder, fitting with her role as Nayuki's mother and her generally motherly nature.
  • Mum Looks Like a Sister: Akiko doesn't look that much older than her daughter.
  • Nice Girl: She's very maternal, and is usually calm and gentle. Actually, she's always calm and gentle, even when it would be justified for her not to be. Another thing her daughter seems to have inherited from her.
  • Open-Minded Parent: She has no problem with taking in "strays", and seems unusually accepting of the idea of girls she barely knows staying at her house. She also takes Yūichi's word for it when he explains the truth about Makoto. And there was that time when, after Makoto's firework prank backfired on her, she came to investigate the noise and, rather than get angry, she asked if Makoto wanted to play with fireworks.
  • Parental Substitute: Let's just say that if you're homeless girl who needs a roof over her head and 3 square meals a day, just ask and you'll have an instant family of your own, no background check of your shady past needed. She goes as far as to say "Come play with Mommy" to Makoto as the latter begins to lose her memories.
  • Secret Secret-Keeper: She knew about the fox Yūichi cared for as a child, even though he thought he hid it well.
  • Unexplained Recovery: She recovers from her car accident surprisingly quickly, due to Ayu's wish.
  • Unflappable Guardian: She approves the presence of any haremettes in her home, much to Yūichi's initial disbelief. However, there are several things that she knows or is capable to notice.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: She's a Japanese mother who is always calm and gentle, and though assertive, she never raises her voice in anger.

    Sayuri Kurata 

Sayuri Kurata

Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (JP - both anime), Asami Sanada (JP - Kaginado), Natalie Arneson (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kurata_sayuri_2006_anime.png

Mai's best friend (with whom she has a fair amount of Les Yay), Sayuri is a seemingly cheerful girl with an odd habit of referring to herself in the third person. Her family is rather wealthy. She is also referred to as being almost like Mai's older sister.

  • Aloof Big Sister: In her backstory, she was cold and strict towards her little brother because she wanted him to grow up to be a man of high social standing. After his early death, she felt terribly guilty about how she treated him.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Sayuri looks after Mai much like a kindly older sister would.
  • Broken Bird: Behind her Stepford Smiler front, Sayuri has her own sorrows due to her issues with the death of her little brother.
  • Bungled Suicide: In the past, she attempted to commit suicide due to the death of her brother. The game mentions it in more detail, but the anime just shows a scar on her wrist from the failed suicide attempt.
  • Cloudcuckoolander: She's weird in a cheerful way, and comes across as kinda clueless a lot of the time.
  • Commonality Connection: Sayuri gets along with Mai so well because both have a painful past.
  • Cool Big Sis: Even though they're the same age, Sayuri behaves like a doting and caring older sister figure to Mai. Makes sense since Sayuri regrets not being kinder towards her actual younger brother before he died.
  • Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: She looks quite frightening when the shine disappears from her eyes.
  • Feminine Women Can Cook: She's very traditionally feminine, such as being a good cook.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Mai. They're best friends and are rarely seen without each other at school, except when Mai is hunting demons.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Mai and Yūichi keep her in the dark about the Demon Slaying. This unfortunately gets her seriously harmed as she's blissfully unaware to the presence of the demons when trying to surprise Mai on her birthday.
  • Magic Wand: She fights with a shape-changing wand in Eternal Fighter Zero.
  • Nice Girl: Sayuri is very kind, friendly and gentle, being able to easily get along with just about anyone given enough time.
  • Odd Friendship: She and Mai have seemingly diametrically opposed personalities, which causes Yūichi to remark that "they sure do make an odd couple of girls". They're still the best of friends and are as close as sisters.
  • Ojou: She's the daughter of a wealthy family.
  • Only Friend: Sayuri is Mai's only friend, since the latter's reputation as a delinquent isolates her at school.
  • Scars Are Forever: She has a scar on her wrist is (briefly) visible in episode 14 of the KyoAni adaptation.
  • Signature Laugh: Whenever she laughs, she clearly voices "Ahaha!".
  • Silk Hiding Steel: She's a Nice Girl who uses formal honorfics with her friends. The steel is her loyalty to Mai.
  • Stepford Smiler: While she is genuinely a Nice Girl, she hides a lot of personal issues that stemmed from her childhood.
  • Third-Person Person: Following her brother's death, Sayuri started addressing herself in the third person.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Mai's Tomboy. Sayuri is the sweet and delicate Ojou, while Mai is the stoic and tough demon hunter.
  • Took a Level in Kindness: Before the series, she was an Aloof Big Sister. After her brother's death, she warmed up gradually.
  • Unwitting Muggle Friend: Despite being her Only Friend, Mai hasn't told Sayuri anything about the demons at school and the fact that she goes to hunt them at night, as she doesn't want to get Sayuri involved in anything dangerous.
  • Verbal Tic: She exclaims "Hoe!" when surprised.

    Kaori Misaka 

Kaori Misaka

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (JP - both anime), Caitlin Glass (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/misaka_kaori_2006_anime.png

Kaori Misaka is Nayuki's best friend and the object of Kitagawa's unrequited romantic interest (she mostly laughs at him, ignores him or makes him do heavy lifting for her). She seems to be fairly well-adjusted (if somewhat snarky and maybe a bit no-nonsense), but she has some fairly serious family issues that eventually come up. She's also the rep for Nayuki and Yūichi's class at school. She is sometimes seen staring wistfully out the window of the school.

  • Aloof Big Sister: She is Shiori's sister, but she refuses to acknowledge her existence to avoid the pain of her loss. Not that it works. She acknowledges her sister's existence again by the end, though.
  • Class Representative: Of Yūichi and Nayuki's class.
  • Deadpan Snarker: The only girl other than her sister who occasionally replies to Yūichi's snarking with some of her own.
    • Example:
    Yūichi: As I turned around, Misaka Kaori was standing there.
    Kaori: What are you giving a narration for?
  • Defrosting Ice Queen: With regards to her sister, arguably. Possibly regarding Kitagawa, as well, since they do get together in the Toei version, and it's always possible in the KyoAni version and the VN as well, though it'd have to be after the fact. They do bond somewhat near the end of the 2006 version as well during Nayuki's arc, when Nayuki is still suffering from her Heroic BSoD due to Akiko's accident and they both show up to try and comfort her.
  • Family Theme Naming: Kaori and her younger sister Shiori have similar names.
  • Hair Intakes: Like Nayuki, her hair resemblances cat ears.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's aloof and stubborn, but still a good person underneath it all.
  • Mistress and Servant Boy: Her relationship with Kitagawa.
  • Quit Your Whining: She's the one to talk Nayuki out of her Heroic BSoD, even though that whining wasn't Wangst exactly, as it was justified by the fact that she'd just had her mother get in an accident.
  • Stepford Snarker: Just like her sister, she’s using her snark to hide her feelings.
  • Tsundere: Towards Kitagawa in the Toei version.

    Jun Kitagawa 

Jun Kitagawa

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP - both anime), Greg Ayres (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kitagawa_jun_2006_anime.png

The resident Butt-Monkey and chew toy at Yūichi's school, and a friend (of sorts) of Yūichi's. Also has an (unrequited) interest in Kaori, who mostly takes advantage of it to make him do things for her. Is a bit of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, has a fondness for ridiculous clothes, as seen at the ball, and thinks he's a ladies man as well (he isn't).

  • Absurdly Powerful Student Council: He's a member, oddly enough.
  • Ascended Extra: In the visual novel, he isn't romantically interested in Kaori at all, and really only plays into Mai's storyline.
  • Butt-Monkey: Oh, dear lord. No one takes him seriously.
  • Casanova Wannabe: He spends most of the series chasing Kaori around (and being taken advantage of by being forced to do her heavy lifting), but he still manages to hit on Sayuri. Kaori comments on it, and he denies it, but still...
  • The Chew Toy: Easily the biggest of the series.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: He pursues Kaori like with the tenacity of a bloodhound. She views him with amused indifference and sometimes contempt. Significantly different in the 2002 version, where he's less dogged and more restrained in his advances. Works out better for him, to say the least.
  • Human Pack Mule: To Kaori. He helps her out with shopping.
  • Idiot Hair: He has a notorious cowlick and isn't exactly the smartest cookie.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Seems like a bit of an ass, but he does get Mai out of trouble with the student council (which he's apparently on), finds Ayu's lost item, and shows up to check on Nayuki and Yūichi when he heard about Akiko's accident. He didnt hesitate to call Kaori over too when he needed help snapping Nayuki out of her Heroic BSoD.
  • Mistress and Servant Boy: He tends to act as Kaori's servant.
  • Rummage Sale Reject: His weird disco outfit that he wears to the dance (and apparently carries around with him all the time). Kaori summed it up well when she said it was like a train wreck.
  • Standard Hero Reward: Very mild, not completely romantic, partial example. Here's the context: Kuze, the Student Council president, is trying to get Mai expelled because he thinks Mai deliberately caused trouble at the dance by swinging her sword around. Kitagawa, who is on the council, lies to Kuze and tells him that swinging the sword around was Kitagawa's idea, since it made such a great "exhibition." This lie saves Mai from expulsion. Kitagawa's reward for helping Yūichi save Mai and not liking to see beautiful faces like Sayuri's sad: Sayuri lets him hold her hands for a few seconds to thank him, causing him to blush at the contact.

    Mishio Amano 

Mishio Amano

Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (JP - both anime), Colleen Clinkenbeard (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/amano_mishio_2006_anime.png

An antisocial girl sometimes seen around the school. She provides Yūichi with exposition and comfort at the end of the Makoto arc.

  • Defrosting Ice Queen: When she is first introduced she is antisocial and distant. By the end of Makoto's arc, however, she starts to act more natural around both Makoto and Yūichi.
  • Last Episode, New Character: In the Toei Version, she doesn't appear until the end of the series.
  • Loner-Turned-Friend: Starts off as antisocial, but eventually befriends Makoto and Yūichi. She is later seen hanging around with some girls, suggesting that she gets over her isolation and unhappiness and now makes friends.
  • Ms. Exposition: With regards to the nature of Makoto, anyways. She had a friend who was in the same situation as Makoto.

    Kuze 

Kuze

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (JP - Toei anime), Kenji Nojima (JP - KyoAni anime), Jay Hickman (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kuze_1.jpg

The Student Council President, who is apparently intent on expelling Mai (and possibly Sayuri as well, if she continues to associate herself with Mai) from the school.

  • Disproportionate Retribution: Trying to get Mai expelled after the ball is pretty extreme, considering the demons did the damage, not her- she didn't start waving her sword around until after the windows all broke and tables started flying. Yet he still tries to get her blamed for that, too.
  • Jerkass: Kuze is every bit petty as he is an asshole.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: Sort of. The shocking revelation later on is that the demons Mai's been fighting have all come from Mai herself, due to Mai's inability to accept her healing powers. So Mai technically was responsible for the demons causing trouble at school and for the windows and glass breaking! No excuse for Kuze jumping to conclusions and trying to get Mai expelled, though, since there's no way Kuze could possibly have known about the demons and what little evidence he had to reach his conclusions didn't conclusively point to Mai as the cause. And he didn't assume Mai somehow "caused" the damage, he concluded that Mai was a delinquent who just went around breaking things for fun, when Mai had repeatedly demonstrated a desire to help others rather than hurt them, such as her behavior towards the wild dog for example.
  • No Full Name Given: He's only ever referred to by his surname.
  • Student Council President: He's the president of the student council.

Minor Characters

    Spoiler Character (Unmarked Spoilers Within) 

Makoto Sawatari (The Real One)

Voiced by: Mayumi Iizuka (JP), Tiffany Terrell (EN)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/makoto_sawatari_real.jpg

Makoto is a young woman who befriended Yūichi when he previously stayed in the City of Snow. Yūichi once had a crush on her as he told a baby fox he was nursing back to health.

  • Ascended Extra: While she is seen briefly in flashbacks, she makes a more prominent appearance in the KyoAni anime.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Rescues Yūichi from freezing to death.
  • Color Motif: Flashbacks depict her wearing a white sundress with a matching hat. Even in present day she still wears white, and just about everything in her condo is white.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Can be seen walking pass the cafe Yūichi and Ayu are inside in Episode 6.
  • Gender-Blender Name: As mentioned before, Makoto is a unisex name but more commonly given to boys.
  • Identical Stranger: In the 2006 anime, she's basically an older version of the Makoto we're familar with.
  • Long Hair Is Feminine: Still has the long, orange hair. Though she is without the Girlish Pigtails.
  • Small Role, Big Impact: Her role in the story is merely the girl Yūichi once had a crush on, but her very existence has a huge impact on Makoto's storyline. A connection between the two Makotos is strongly implied in the 2006 anime.
  • Walking Spoiler: She's a huge spoiler for Makoto's route, since it's revealed that Makoto's human identity is actually based on someone else's. Not many were expecting her to actually appear in the 2006 anime, either.

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