History Characters / TomoChanIsAGirl

* AdaptedOut: Her TeenPregnancy background is absent in the anime, it being the main reason why she's so protective of Carol in the manga.

* OlderThanTheyLook: She doesn't look a day older than Carol despite being 28 years old. She can pass off as Carol's older sister.

* ShedTheFamilyName: Played with. Her maiden name has yet to be revealed in the manga, as she adopted her husband's.

Eddie only appears in a flashback extra for Volume 3 of the manga and is never shown in the present time. He does not appear in the anime adaptation either.

* AdaptedOut: He doesn't appear at all in the anime adaptation.

Eddie only appears in a flashback extra for Volume 3 of the manga and is never shown in the present time. He does not appear in the anime adaptation either

Tomo is a high school student and the only daughter of her family, who run the Aizawa Martial Arts Dojo. [[{{Tomboy}} Tomboyish]], athletic and earnest to a fault, Tomo strives to make her childhood friend and classmate Jun to start seeing her like the girl she is.

* AllAmazonsWantHercules: Tomo is one of the strongest girls in the manga, and a good deal stronger than many of the boys. But the one she wants is Jun, the only person who she can fight on almost even terms with and whos naturally stronger than her due to training and due to being a boy. Ironically, [[InsecureLoveInterest Jun thinks he's completely out of her league in that regard anyway]].

* {{Bokukko}}: As a child she apparently used the very masculine pronoun "ore," which was part of Jun's confusion. In the present day she uses the more feminine pronoun "atashi", though aside from that her speech patterns are still rather masculine.
* BoobsOfSteel: Tomo is a strong martial artist, the strongest girl in school, and one of the most endowed girls in the comic (Carol being her only peer that is on par with her). In fact, usually the first things people notice about her is that she is rather stacked (that and/or her height).

** Realizing this plays for a major epiphany on Jun’s part at the climax. Gorou didn’t challenge Jun to fight him out of some misguided overprotectiveness, but because Gorou wants to be certain that Jun would have Tomo’s back in all circumstances, just as Gorou did for Akemi. Because Tomo absolutely ''would'' charge into danger to help others, and Gorou is a father who wants to ensure his girl has the best backup.
* CluelessChickMagnet: For all her [[SingleTargetSexuality dyed-in-the-wool Jun-sexuality]], Tomo has an impressive knack for making female peers question their orientation without even noticing (let alone any sort of conscious effort). In middle-school she was nicknamed 'The Air-Headed Lady Killer'.

** When Jun finally scampers some courage and talks to her after a year of ignoring her, they make up and she notices how much Jun has grown and how manly he's become during the time they didn't interact. It was right then and there when she noticed that she has a crush on him... [[NiceJobBreakingItHero and immediately screws up by telling him that they'll be together forever]], ''[[JustFriends as friends]]''.

* GoodOldFisticuffs: She and Jun have very little inconvenience, and as a matter of fact, it takes very little incentive, for them to start beating the crap out of each other. Due to her father's influence, Tomo initially thinks that conflict can only be resolved through a good knuckle sandwich bonanza, until Misuzu corrects her otherwise. [[spoiler:After Jun confesses to her, he admits to her that he won't fight seriously with her anymore; she tells Misuzu that she's at odds with this, and implies that she is not aware that he began holding back on her quite a while ago]].

* HiddenDepths: Tomo is a ''profoundly'' doting friend and a person that is nothing short of excellent. One of the graces that makes her this way is her lack of awareness of it and the effortless way she can convey it.

* TheIngenue: Invoked. She is a person who is honest to a fault, and thus has the disadvantage of expecting the same standards from the people around her, especially Misuzu. [[spoiler:The latter doesn't miss the irony and her own hypocrisy of this, and thus starts feeling bad about her own advice towards Tomo, and how it has only served for her to amuse herself, rather than to help Tomo]].
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: A combination of good genes (both her parents are ''very'' well built) and regular, vigorous exercise have given Tomo a body that most women would kill for. Tomo herself wonders why Misaki and Jun act weird when she goes around in her sports bra, and assumes her display was embarrassing because she thinks she's been less fit since entering high school.

** Even after [[spoiler:they start dating, she still acts this way. She thinks Jun won't make a move on her because she's unattractive, when he's really desperately holding himself back.]]

* LadyLooksLikeADude: Played for laughs. She ''looks'' like one at first glance, to the point that the girls that first meet her think that she's a '''strikingly''' handsome boy... until they realize that this dude is rocking a healthy, plentiful bust and a sculptural body. She's so handsome that [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer some of said girls do no let go of that crush]].
* LegFocus: Played for laughs. Due to the fact that she's a dedicated athlete, Tomo sports a remarkable set of gams. However, she wears spats when wearing a skirt, which hides this. Misuzu exploits this by making her not wear the spats, and sends her to Jun, who almost has an aneurysm when he sees her showing leg.
* LethalChef: She has some weird ideas about food and only Jun is capable of actually stomaching them, albeit reluctantly. One of the reasons Akemi thinks that Jun is perfect for his daughter is because he is willing to indulge her on this aspect.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: [[spoiler:Just like her own dad, it turns out that Tomo is cripplingly embarrassed of loving affection and manifestations of love. This almost bites her in the ass when Jun finally confesses to her, as she snaps at him and runs away.]]

* MoralityPet: Towards Misuzu, Mifune and Ogawa, all who find themselves questioning their own underhanded methods of dealing with things whenever they interact with her.
* NiceGirl: Tomo is a sweetheart and a bundle of joy, so much that other characters consider her presence and friendship a true privilege.

* ObliviouslyBeautiful: Tomo is unaware of how beautiful she is and how to make use of her feminine wiles. Cue Carol and Misuzu, who are as girly as they come, both who try to teach her the ways of the lady.

* OneOfTheBoys: Because of her boyish personality and her strength, she's often put on the boys' teams in school out of fairness. She also didn't have very many girl friends besides Misuzu because of this. Her relationship with Jun also involves so much physical fighting, one could be mistakenly think they were rival boys.

* RapidHairGrowth: Used for a gag earlier in the manga. She lets her hair grow to her shoulders because Jun tells her that he likes girls with long hair, so she spends an unspecified amount of time letting it grow[[note]]At an average rate of ~1 to 1¼ cm/month for humans, it would have taken her 1½ to 2 years to grow it, which was ''definitely not the case'', as she is a 1st year student for the duration of the manga[[/note]] ; thing is, she's not familiar with hair care, so it looks fried and wild when she sports it and Jun just thought it was cool how she [[BarbarianLongHair looked like a wandering warrior]].

* SheCleansUpNicely: Definitely a way to get Jun to act like she's actually female. The first time, Jun interacts and ''talks'' with her after getting primped up, and then completely refuses to believe his niggling suspicions that this lady could ever be Tomo since any sort of beautification is something Tomo would never do.

* SingleTargetSexuality: She has eyes for Jun only, but this makes her painfully naive when it comes to other guys that are interested in her. She mostly reacts to it with by asking this guy exactly how she's attractive for research purposes.

** As an sincere and selfless person, Tomo has a habit of reminding her friends that if they're preoccupied about something related to her, they're probably overthinking it.

* TenderTears: During junior-high, Jun spent a whole year avoiding her when he found out that she's a girl. When he finally musters the courage to talk to her again, she understandably beats the crap out of him, and in tears, admonishes him for ignoring her. However, when he brings out that she's crying, she beats him again.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: A mistake many boys make when it comes to her. Just because she's a girl doesn't mean that she's not capable of tenderizing you to complete submission. That is, if Jun doesn't catch you first trying to pick a fight with her.

* WardrobeMalfunction: They had to bind her BoobsOfSteel for her role as The Prince in the school play. Apparently it wasn't enough as they [[JustForPun busted]] out of said bindings.

** Only relative to Jun; Jun even states that in a regulation fight Tomo would easily beat him because she is faster with better technique. Both admit he only really beats her in raw power.

Junichirou, or Jun for short, is Tomo's neighbor, childhood friend, fellow dojo pupil and high school classmate. A complete muscle-head who is painfully unassuming, Jun is [[ObliviousToLove blissfully unaware that Tomo holds affections towards him]], as he has always treated her as OneOfTheBoys.

* AccidentalPervert: His inability to see Tomo as girl leads to Jun doing some fairly perverted things to her in blissful ignorance, such as casually slapping her ass in a friendly manner, grabbing her by the shirt to expose some cleavage when trying to be threatening, sniffing her, and just generally having NoSenseOfPersonalSpace. [[PervertRevengeMode Her usual response is a no brainer.]]

* BestFriend: To Tomo, though this is not what Tomo wants. Most of his plight in the manga consists of him trying to shield himself from anything that would threaten his friendship with her, as she is dear to him. However, he is unaware of both the boundaries he's not supposed to cross, and the ones that he ''should''. All in all, Tomo is the best person Jun has ever met, and a person he just can't live without regardless of any romantic development.

** Do not even try to touch one of his girl friends in front of him.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Jun had never considered holding romantic affections towards Tomo while he though she was a boy, but he was always oddly attracted to his best friend. On a couple of occasions, he has expressed his fondness towards visiting Tomo's home and meeting Akemi, Tomo's mom, and had earlier described his type of girl as someone that fits Tomo's description to the point. Thing is, [[spoiler:Akemi fits the description too and later in the story, it's shown that Jun had a PrecociousCrush on Akemi when he was younger and still holds her very close to his heart as his first crush, further adding more points to the list of reasons he likes Tomo by proxy]].

** Jun, much like Misuzu, laments the fact that [[spoiler:their mutual relationship didn't work out, and he wanted it to have at least ended in a better note than how it did. It's later revealed that he never pursued Tomo out of respect for Misuzu as he's her friend and also considering that she's Tomo's best friend.]]
* HollywoodHealing: PlayedForLaughs, when Misuzu noticed just how quick Jun would recuperate from beatdown injuries from him and Tomo's frequent fights.

* IJustWantToBeYou: Invoked and played for laughs. Interacting with Tomo, Misuzu and Carol is second-nature to him, so he's not quite aware that he's the subject of envy from his male (and some female) classmates, as the three girls are about the prettiest girls in class, and at school altogether. As a matter of fact, this is the reason why girl schoolmates Mifune and Ogawa don't like him, as he's closer to Tomo than they are.

* InSeriesNickname: Usually called Jun. When he was younger, he used to be called "Game Boy" by Tomo, which he [[EmbarrassingNickname doesn't remember fondly]] since it was for teasing him about how he was far less strongheaded and physically able.

%%** He has loved Tomo, and has admired her and treasured her ever since they were kids, even after he realized that she's a girl. Thing is, he wasn't counting on the fact that ''romantic'' love became a possibility with the revelation. Even when he is one of the most [[TestosteronePoisoning macho]] characters in the story, he later admits to Misuzu that he's been attracted to Tomo ever since they met for the first time, long before he became aware that ''Tomo isn't a boy''.
%%**Despite all their bickering and vitriol together, Jun [[spoiler:unwittingly reveals to Misuzu that he indeed loved her for the short time they were together.]]

** Finding out that there's a defining aspect of one's best friend that was overlooked, an aspect that can completely redefine one's friendship, can leave anyone with confused feelings and treading on eggshells. There's also the fact that Tomo was manlier than Jun when they first met, and didn't get any girlier until much, much later.

* LateArrivalSpoiler: Used in-universe. Jun hadn't even began to realize that Tomo was a girl until they went to middle school and he saw her in uniform. Keep in mind, there was numerous, ''numerous'' hints which should have been apparent to him, but it downed on him like a truck. Both him and Misuzu reminisce of how stupid he's been for years on end.
* LikeASonToMe: Gorou and Akemi are practically Jun's mom and dad, since he's the star student of their dojo. Gorou actually molded Jun into his own likeness. To them, [[ShipperOnDeck it's a given that Tomo and Jun are an item]].

* {{Manchild}}: For a person as rugged as he is, Jun is surprisingly immature at many aspects. For instance, he's always jovial and jumpy when Tomo tells him she wants to spend some time together, and is utterly unable to respond seriously when Misuzu taunts him, resorting to retaliating physically in harmless ways instead. Also, in broad terms, a playmate and a girlfriend are still the same thing for him.
* MenUseViolenceWomenUseCommunication: Invoked, subverted and played for laughs. Jun would never raise a hand against a girl (except Tomo, because she'll hit him back even harder, or she'd start it in the first place), but if either Carol or Misuzu get on his nerves, he always finds a way of reciprocating by being as non-violent as possible, like putting their hair accessories out of reach, or pushing Misuzu away from the cover of rain.

* NotDistractedByTheSexy: He tries his very hardest not to be. Whenever a girl like Tomo or Carol have their breasts out, he snaps his head at unnatural angles just to not look.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: There have been more than a few hints that Jun is not nearly as dense to Tomo being a girl as he acts, and that his treating her as a guy is something he does on ''purpose''. It is also implied Misuzu knows this and part of her reason for messing with him is to see how long he can keep it up.
* ObliviousToLove: He has no idea that Tomo has a crush on him - the very first chapter consists of Tomo telling him she loves him, and him responding back "Pffff, of course I love you too bro!" like it was a PlatonicDeclarationOfLove. He's also seemingly unaware of his ''own'' romantic affection for Tomo, since he's constantly battling with himself to see her as only a friend but still subconsciously falls into "boyfriend" behavior. However, he's aware of the changes that the revelation of Tomo's gender brought, and he is shown to be making a conscious effort to sort out his feelings. [[spoiler:Even when he puts all the pieces together and realizes her confession to him was romantic, he still misses an important part...mainly that she was trying to be more girly for him. Naturally this earns him a punch to the face from an embarrassed and angry Tomo.]]

** During the course of the story, it's shown that Jun is making a conscious effort not to be swayed, and that the more time passes, the more he fails at it. This makes him the target of Misuzu's prodding, who finds it rather amusing how obviously Jun is trying not to be pulled down.

* SingleTargetSexuality: He doesn't have much interest in women, or men, who aren't Tomo. He regularly seems to regard girl talk from his classmates as uninteresting and expresses a distaste for women wanting to being scantily-clad. Various flashbacks have shown that Jun had a bit of a crush on Tomo [[SweetOnPollyOliver even when he legitimately thought she was a guy.]]

* WillfullyWeak: After he's forced to realize Tomo's femininity, he comes to the conclusion that he can't spar with her for real anymore. During a sparring match with Misaki, he just doesn't seem to believe his words about fighting with everything you've got to get the acknowledgement of the strong, because he's forced to do the exact opposite. He even acknowledges the strength difference between them in chapters previous to the spar, showing he's intentionally doing it so he won't hurt her. He finally admits this to Tomo after they hook up.
* WouldntHitAGirl: Though he won't hit them, when Misuzu and/or Carol get on his nerves, he's not above stealing their hair accessories, shoving them into the rain, or flicking them on the forehead (though when he flicked Misuzu's forehead it had enough force to make her recoil like she'd been punched). Tomo is, naturally, a special case; after one arc where he finally starts noticing her as a woman, he thinks to himself that he'll never be able to hit her seriously again.

Misuzu is Tomo's best friend and classmate alongside Jun, being their childhood friend. Beautiful, territorial, manipulative and standoffish, Misuzu is Jun's bane.

* ACupAngst: She laments that watching Tomo change clothes over the years has given her much more time to accept that Tomo is at least quite physically feminine. Most evident when she gave Tomo permission to hug her like normal girls would, she squished against Tomo's large chest and noted how 'unpleasant' the entire experience was due to this. When the main cast go to the beach, she observes Jun getting flustered at Tomo and Carol's exposed figures, but guesses that he can remain calm around her because of her relatively modest chest, and demands a chance to punch him.

* AloofDarkHairedGirl: She has long, dark hair and almost as many male admirers at school as [[SchoolIdol Carol]] does, but she's also very aloof, haughty and sarcastic. Unlike most examples, however, she's not particularly tall or mature-looking, being the shortest of the three main girls and also rather flat-chested ([[ACupAngst much to her displeasure]]).

* AmbiguouslyBi: There have been a few hints that her feelings for Tomo are not entirely platonic. That said there have also been small hints that she may have feelings [[spoiler: for Jun, despite having dated him which quickly had both realizing it could never work out]]. In the chapter titled "The Place I Can Never Be" has Tomo and Jun hugging while Misuzu watches and it's not clear what or for whom she has a melancholy reaction to. [[spoiler:The flashback shows that she ''did'' like Jun, so it's likely that she wanted to be close to both of them. Later in the manga, Jun offhandedly admits that he loved her too, however brief their relationship was.]]

* BerserkButton: Don't point out how 'small and cute' she is, or you will definitely feel tension rising.
* CantCatchUp: Misuzu fears that she's going to be left behind in her friendship with Tomo because of their differing interests and her lack of stamina/sportyness. [[spoiler:The whole reason she attempted to date Jun was because she thought he could help her overcome the stamina barrier, but he ended up being too much to handle.]]

* TheCutie: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]]. Those who first meet Misuzu find her small, dainty and delicately beautiful, but those who ''know'' her find her more frightening than adorable.

* FirstLove: Invoked, subverted and played for laughs. [[spoiler:Misuzu asks Jun whether she was the one for him, but Jun actually considers Akemi his first one. Funnily enough, by admitting so, he unwittingly surrenders the fact that he did love Misuzu when they dated, as short as their relationship was, which is a fact that Misuzu uses to immediately tease him]].

* HatesBeingAlone: She won't say it out loud, but the only reason she's even helping Tomo win over Jun is because she doesn't want her best friend to start drifting apart after she has her romance fulfilled. At the school festival, she thinks about how Tomo and Carol don't even need to see her since they've both got partners they want to hang around more.

* HeroicBSOD: PlayedForLaughs. When [[spoiler: Jun broke up with her]], she did not take it well, since [[spoiler: she was planning to initiate the break-up.]] [[SitcomArchNemesis She's hated him for it ever since]].

* IJustWantToBeLoved: Overlapping with IJustWantToHaveFriends, Misuzu's efforts in the manga mainly serve to prevent herself from becoming a ThirdWheel, and even worse, from [[PleaseDontLeaveMe being left behind]] altogether by Tomo and Jun should they engage in a romantic relationship. And while she often disparages Tomo and Carol about their love lives, it's heavily hinted that she is terrified of actually admitting she too has someone she loves, something that, while her friends are bad at getting across, they are all to willing to do.
%% {{Irony}}: For all the fuss that she makes, and all the supposed bad blood between them, [[spoiler:Jun]] is the only person that she has ever dated.

* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: The aloof and brooding dark to Carol's light. They're even color coded! But as seen in Carol's entry below, this trope isn't played perfectly straight.

* MoneyFetish: If there is one thing almost guaranteed to catch her interest and even have her behave openly friendly its the prospect of attaining a good amount of money. Downplayed in that in addition to making money she shows similar interest in attaining material things without having to pay her own money. It's to the point that Jun remarks to Tatsumi that the only advice he can give him regarding getting Misuzu to fall in love with him is to get rich.

** [[spoiler:She blames herself when Tomo rejects Jun's confession, and breaks down crying in front of Carol and Tomo. It's poignant because she thinks that the two people she loves the most in the world are going to be hurt on her account. Fortunately, this serves for Tomo to finally scamper up and try to approach Jun again, and this time, with her own defenses down]].

* OddFriendship: This is the basis of her insecurities regarding her relationship with Tomo. They have ''nothing'' in common, so she thinks that if Tomo is able to gain Jun's affections, she'll be left behind, as Jun has an awful lot more in common with Tomo. She further seems to struggle with the suspicion that Tomo is only her friend out of kindness.

** Tomo early in the series mentioning that she had been groped on the train is notably the first time Misuzu is shown getting genuinely upset over something, showing how much she does value Tomo's wellbeing despite how much she messes with her for amusement.

* RavenHairIvorySkin: Stark black hair, fair skin and beautiful to boot, with a gaze to penetrate through concrete.
* {{Schadenfreude}}: She states that she "likes" Jun because she finds his discomfort and squirming regarding Tomo as extremely amusing for herself.
* SheCleansUpNicely: She's considered an item at class, but she looks dazzling when dressed as Cinderella; so much in fact, that Tanabe starts crying at the sight.

* SilkHidingSteel: She's drop-dead beautiful, refined and pensive, looking delicate like a rose... a thorny, ''thorny'' rose.
* SitcomArchNemesis: She and Jun do ''not'' get along. In-fact she didn't like him from the moment they met as kids. It's later revealed that it's due to the fact that she's very territorial when it comes to Tomo, and not because of any flaws regarding Jun. Jun once implied he never cared for how she always left the other two to get into trouble themselves with their parents while they were kids. On the other hand, Misuzu readily admits she does "like" him in the sense that she finds him very fun to mess with.

** She has told Tanabe that in order to approach her, he has to talk to her with respect, as a person and not as an object of desire. Tanabe, however, is at a loss about how to do this in the first place, as he doesn't know how to approach a girl in any other way.

* SoProudOfYou: As stated in StatingTheSimpleSolution, Jun tells her that [[spoiler:he knows that she was always rooting for him to pursue Tomo, and that it was her that put him where he is emotionally. His praises hit her straight in the feels.]]

* SugarAndIcePersonality: Played with. She's mostly "ice", but her "sugar" parts are very sweet. She deeply cares about Tomo, Carol and Jun, but her actions towards them speak more about her than her words, which are often dismissive and cold. It's also shown that she does crave physical affection from Tomo and Carol, but they tend to go overboard, which she doesn't like.

* ThirdWheel: Eventually, late game revelations show that she fears becoming this to some extent. She wants to have Tomo and Jun get together, but she wants to have a spot for herself in Tomo's life as her friend, and that can't happen if Tomo and Jun are constantly straddling the line between buddies and coupling. This reason was ultimately why she decided to date Jun in the first place; she wanted someone who could bridge the gap in between her relationship with Tomo, and by doing girly activities Misuzu hoped they could become closer again.

** She tends to makes assumptions about Tomo and their mutual friendship, being under the impression that it's more fragile than it actually is. Tomo, however, is not one for subtleties, so she's not shy in reassuring Misuzu that their friendship is ironclad.
** She has trouble admitting that Carol is her friend, and that she enjoys her company more than she cares to admit. For a time she starts referring to Carol as "that squishy bitch" once Carol starts taking a more active role in giving Jun and Tomo's potential relationship a push. Misuzu realizes she's selfish in trying to keep Tomo and Jun all to herself, but doesn't want Carol to potentially finish what she started outside of her own terms.
** It's heavily implied that her attitude towards Jun is her own twisted way of showing him affection, and that [[spoiler:he's just as important to her as Tomo is.]] It's not until later that Jun [[spoiler:tells her that he knows this is the case.]]

** She keeps thinking that somehow Tomo will leave her behind if she gets together with Jun, as if Tomo were the sort of person to do that to her. As such, with her advice she convinced Tomo that she is not girly enough for Jun, but Misuzu realized her crass mistake way too late into the game. [[spoiler:As such, as soon as Jun confessed back to Tomo at the after-party of the school festival, Tomo ran away from him and has avoided the topic with everyone ever since.]]
** Even though they've been at each other's throats ever since they met, it's apparent that [[spoiler:Jun]] has a well deserved place in her heart too, just as Tomo does.

Carol is a classmate and friend of Tomo, Jun and Misuzu. A beautiful, doll-faced student of British origin with no filter between her brain and her mouth, Carol serves as a foil to Misuzu. The daughter of a British international business tycoon, she is also a distant relative of Misaki (and is his fiancee).

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Played with. She often gets some well-deserved cheek pinching from both Misuzu and Tomo, but her face appears to be pliable enough for it to never leave a mark. [[spoiler:On the other hand, there was the time when Misuzu told her that Misaki didn't love her as a girl, which plunged Carol into InelegantBlubbering, and she still has visible marks under her eyes from all the crying the following day]].

* BlushSticker: She always has big pink circles on her cheeks to indicate blush.
* BoobBasedGag: Her breasts are on par with Tomo's in size, and her overall smaller body size means they stand out even more. In turn they get used on a regular basis for laughs. Compared to Tomo's they get used for visual comedy in a more direct way, namely via their JigglePhysics kicking in when needed for a joke. Indeed the first thing the viewer sees upon her introduction (after her legs) is the sight of her breasts bouncing about in a quite exaggerated way (played up in the anime especially) despite her just walking normally. When Jun tries to train her and it turns out the only exercise she's apparently capable of is jump rope, he resorts to looking straight up to avoid looking at just what jumping rope does to her chest and claims he is doing a neck exercise.In another instance, Misaki lightly brushing crumbs off her chest causes them to somehow bounce with each touch.
* BrutalHonesty: Carol has absolutely no problems stating exactly what's on her mind at any time. This tends to gets her into trouble with bullies and occasionally her own friends.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: She has an unusual thinking process. When first introduced she tried to "bully" Tomo by walking up to her, saying "dummy" with a smile and then walking away (she did this three times), leaving Tomo more confused than insulted. Carol later remarks that she doesn't think Tomo would want to be her friend after she did such "terrible" things to her. She also introduces herself to Misuzu and Jun in odd ways, sitting on her desk and appearing in his locker respectively.
* CovertPervert: She wants to take the next step with Misaki, and have him take the initiative in skinship. When she flirtatiously requests they do something couples do and he asks if he could touch something soft of hers she assumes he wants to fondle her chest and quickly psyches herself up for it. However, when he aims for her cheeks instead of her breasts (the latter hadn't occured to him, while he had wondered how her cheeks felt ever since they were kids) she was left sorely disappointed. She goes to a window afterward and, with her usual smile, shouts her frustration.

* CuddleBug: Really wants to hug Misuzu, although she often gets shoved away. At one time she's impressed that Misuzu doesn't mind her hug, only for Tomo to reveal that Misuzu doesn't like the cold weather, and doesn't mind the extra warmth. It's a RunningGag in the manga as well as her penchant for going for kisses, which Misuzu denies her too. She just loves to hug people she cares about in general too, as evidenced by how she starts hugging Tomo multiple times a day after she hears Tomo is interested in skinship, and its indicated she and her mother hug each other tight any time they reunite after being apart for even a few hours. Should she be sleeping near a friend there is a good chance she will cuddle up with them if she is able to.

* EasilyForgiven: Tomo is surprised at the fact that Carol admits to have pounced on Jun, but realizes that it had something to do with Carol's attempts to rouse Misaki out of the friendzone. As Carol has attained Misaki's affections at the time Tomo hears it from her, Tomo tells her with a smile not to take her friends so lightly.

* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Albeit she was initially confrontational towards Tomo, she quicky befriends both her and Misuzu, and is shown to be tremendously affectionate towards them.

* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: The sweet and naive light to Misuzu's dark. They're even color coded! But as you can see from [[HiddenDepths some]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity of her]] [[StepfordSmiler other tropes]], this one isn't played perfectly straight.

* OhCrap: [[spoiler:Misuzu is about to confess her fault in Tomo's rejection of Jun's confession, so Carol takes this as a cue to leave. Misuzu immediately grabs Carol's hand to stop her, prompting Carol to make a face spelling "oh, damn! This is serious! If I don't stay, Misuzu's gonna crumble!". This is especially poignant due to the fact that it signifies that Misuzu finally sees Carol as an intimate friend, and someone she's going to need if things go south]].
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: When her [[PerpetualSmiler Perpetual Smile]] vanishes, everyone takes notice. Sometimes this is PlayedForLaughs; in the beach arc she gives a "blank stare of disdain" when Tomo wants to wear a boyish swimsuit to the beach, which even surprises Misuzu. Other times it's PlayedForDrama, as when [[spoiler:Misuzu breaks her heart by claiming that Misaki doesn't love her romantically; she breaks down into InelegantBlubbering, which completely shocks everyone who knows her.]]

** She's a cluster of bombs of uncertainty and non-sequiturs, so much that Misuzu cannot get a read on her and it makes her feel uneasy. It's shown that Carol is aware of this aspect of herself, as when the time came to play the titular role on the class' Cinderella play, she questioned her classmates' choice of her, implying that it might not be wise to leave something so important in ''her'' hands.
** She has a reputation at class of being notoriously unpredictable. Yes, she's admired for her beauty... but that doesn't make her any less weird to them.

The main cast's upperclassman, a third-year student and friend of Tomo from the Karate club at school. He is Carol's distant relative and fiancee.

* CannotSpitItOut: [[spoiler:He was in love with Carol the whole time, but he didn't tell her because he didn't know how she would take it, if she even showed a reaction to it at all. This possibility frightened him into inaction]].

* DudeLooksLikeALady: He has an effeminate look and sometimes gets mistaken for a girl. Akemi Aizawa, who nevers fails to fall under CutenessProximity with little cute individuals, glomps him immediately.

* HeIsAllGrownUp: Misaki's main childhood bully Kuniki has this reaction when she runs into him again in high school. Her reaction is justified, since he used to look like a dorky schoolboy with a bowlcut.

* NiceGuy: A sweet, kind and selfless dude, Misaki is always one to lend an ear to his friends' troubles and provide sage advise. The guy is all around great, which is why he's Tomo's personal friend, and why Carol is so protective of him.
* ObliviousToLove: Appears at first to be this. He claims he sees Carol as a little sister and is completely oblivious to her feelings for him. After Carol's arc, Misuzu muses that the problem probably doesn't lie with him-- rather, ''Carol'' isn't showing how serious she is about her love, which makes him mistaken. Eventually its revealed he was aware that Carol claimed such affection for him, and he loved her back, but her lack of reaction regardless of how he behaved left him fearful that if he confessed to her she wouldn't take it seriously at all.

* AdvertisedExtra: The anime's official art and publicity features him as being one of the main characters, when in reality his role is ancillary to the four main characters. The manga itself features a gag referencing the fact that he doesn't show up that much. For context, he shows up less than Misaki.
* AlliterativeName: "T.T", once we learn his first name.

* HopelessSuitor: For the most part Misuzu doesn't really pay any attention to him and when she does, she is usually either mean to him, manipulating him or trolling him. She has even made a point of telling him how to approach her, but Tanabe is stubborn in his ways. They have a few more amiable interactions late in the series, including exchanging contact information after Tatsumi cushions her from a fall down a flight of stairs.
* IJustWantToHaveFriends: He's absolutely delighted at having Tomo, Misuzu and Carol working at her father's restaurant, as he's always wanted to get close to them, and not just for the eye candy.

** Of the three main male characters, Tanabe was, for the longest time, the only one that openly and often expressed romantic interest for his girl. However, his love is the only one where the feelings weren't shown to end up mutual, and in taking the initiative is the only one who drives his girl away rather than closer. By comparison, Misaki and Jun [[spoiler:knew about their girls' feelings the whole time]] and were passive up until they couldn't avoid it anymore. Both are successful in the end.

* LoveMakesYouDumb: In practical terms, he'd be ''perfect'' for Misuzu, as he is dumb, malleable and easily influenced; "perfect" of course, as a ''perfect peon''. The whole birthday arc could only happen because he wants to help Misuzu first and foremost, even if said help also included her blackmailing his dad.
* LovableSexManiac: Much of his screentime is him talking about how attractive certain girls are, usually Tomo or Misuzu. He doesn't do it when he returns in volume 7 though.

* PerpetualSmiler: His volume 7 appearance has him with a smile plastered on his face nearly every panel he's on.

* SingleTargetSexuality: Played with. Albeit he's confessed to multiple girls dozens of times, it's shown that he wants to be serious when it comes to Misuzu, but is at a loss at how to approach her properly.

* YouKeepTellingYourselfThat: Even though he acts almost exclusively on romantic terms, it's shown that when his dad employed Misuzu, Tomo and Carol, he is happy with the mere act of having them around. As Misuzu has told him before, being friends should be his first step, regardless of his intentions.

* {{Gonk}}: People say he's like a gorrila. They aren't just talking about his size and strength - Misuzu's attempt to be more restrained than that instead has her ask aloud if he's even actually human at the first sight of him.

* OnlySaneMan: Out of the competitive trio of him, Tomo and Jun, he's the only one who has a shred of common sense.
* WorthyOpponent: Jun and Tomo have great respect towards him, even though he provokes them during the dodge-ball match.

* AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Gorou can spend a little too much time at the dojo and neglect Akemi, but it is clear he does loves her.

* BruiserWithASoftCenter: Gorou is a huge dojo sensei as well as loud and forceful whenever he's speaking with Jun or Tomo - clearly, just as HotBlooded as them. He also [[ComicalOverreacting can't handle how embarrassed he gets while around his wife]] that he practically avoids her to spare himself the ineptitude. His wife also mentioned that he has a strong sense of justice that he won't fail to act on, shown by him defending an old woman by holding a fellow by his shirt while even ''she'' insisted it wasn't that bad.

** Akemi is so nervous that she's grasping for straws when Tomo catches a cold during the school marathon. It's basically the first time that anyone on her household ever got sick.

* CuddleBug: Akemi, just as much as Tomo, especially when it comes to her daughter's girl friends.

* CutenessProximity: Akemi, as seen by her reactions to seeing Carol and Misaki for the first times. According to her she only ever sees ugly guys all day so she goes ga-ga over cute girls. Her own daughter doesn't take this statement kindly.
* DomesticAbuse: Downplayed, of the emotional neglect variety. Akemi once noted that with Gorou spending most of his time in the family dojo, it's as if they were divorced. However, the instant an earthquake hit (and not even a particularly big one), [[AwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther Gorou came running in a panic and asked if Akemi is all right. Akemi knowing he was about to walk in also shows this is not an unusual occurence.]]
* DramaPreservingHandicap: It's made fairly clear that [[spoiler:despite all his training and strength Jun has no real chance of genuinely defeating Gorou at his best in their fight at the end of the series, Tomo remarking that realistically it would take a few more years for him to reach that point. However, both Jun and Tomo notice that Gorou has handicapped himself. While his strikes are no less powerful, he intentionally swings widely, leaving himself open to counterattacks. Jun eventually realizes that Gorou ''wants'' him to win, and that the point of the match is for Jun to demonstrate his resolve to face danger for Tomo's sake.]]

* HenpeckedHusband: Downplayed, but it is clear that Akemi raising her voice is something that intimidates Gorou more than... pretty much anything. Gorou's initial interactions with Jun sees Jun inadvertently terrified by him through his sheer size and presence...and then he's hiding behind Jun, a child under half his height (''far'' less in width), when his wife appears irate and (rightly) assuming that her two morons are causing Jun trouble.

* HotBlooded: Gorou is pretty clearly the person where Tomo and Jun got this from.
* ImTakingHerHomeWithMe: When she's first introduced to Carol, Akemi {{glomp}}s her tight and declares that she's going to adopt the girl as her new daughter. Tomo is annoyed, but Carol looks pretty happy with the arrangement. Played with when Akemi admits she does this sort of thing in part due to how Tomo's jealousy makes her more amicable for a time to the cuddling that Tomo normally doesn't accept from her.
* ImproperlyParanoid: Gorou's dojo paints the world as much, much, ''much'' more dangerous than it is in reality, teaching his students that when they're exhausted their "enemies" will gang up on them with wooden planks and pipes to take advantage of the weakness, as if they are at war in a ''peaceful Japan''. Gouma remarks to himself after sparring with Jun that Gorou's training is more geared for actual combat rather than martial arts as a sport. As a matter of fact, it's due to him that Jun and Tomo are as gung-ho as they are.

* LikeFatherLikeSon: Tomo is pretty much a perfect blend of her parents. She's absolutely clueless about romance and dorky and hotheaded like Gorou, while she's a tomboy like Akemi who crossplayed in the school play (Tomo was Cinderella's prince, Akemi was [[Manga/TheRoseOfVersailles André]]). As a matter of fact, Tomo looks so much like her mother that [[spoiler:Jun had a childhood crush on Akemi, as she too is his type of girl.]]

* DubPersonalityChange: Less airy and more posh in Morgan Garrett's rendition of her.

** It's implied that Ferris is well aware of the fact that what happened to her (TeenPregnancy) was fundamentally wrong, and that she was very fortunate that Eddie was wealthy, unusually responsible, and genuinely in love with her. She thus goes through great lengths to prevent Carol from going down the same path as her.

* IWillWaitForYou: Ferris had to wait for 3 years in order to marry Eddie, a whole year more than what he had originally intended, because at age 13, she was ''way'' too young to get married (the legal minimum age in England is 16, with parental authorization). Still, she stated that even back then, she would accept his proposal and spend the rest of her life with him.

* MyBelovedSmother: Invoked. Even though she is cheery and a CuddleBug, Ferris is tremendously protective of Carol, taking special considerations into preventing her daughter from drifting into TeenPregnancy like she did, as she considers Carol particularly susceptible.

* TeenPregnancy: She was pregnant with Carol at ''thirteen'' with Eddie, her sixteen year-old partner.

* YoungerThanTheyLook: In the flashback, she was absurdly well-developed for a girl who had just turned into a teenager. It's lampshaded, as Carol's father Eddie initially thought she was at least as old as he was, if not a little older, not helped by the fact that he met her while she was working as a waitress, so he assumed she was an adult with a job (in reality, it was her family's restaurant that she was helping out at).

* DistractedByTheSexy: The biggest culprit in the story, he saw a beautiful, buxom waitress at his favorite café and immediately engaged in a relationship with her. Thing is, he overlooked some important stuff.

* FromBadToWorse: Ferris dropped two gigantic bombs on him when he proposed to her. First, that she was 13, and when the dust had settled on that, that she was pregnant with his child.

* TeenPregnancy: The other side of the coin. He was a dad at 16 with a 13 year-old partner.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Although they barely antagonize each other and they get along very well, it's implied that Misaki always has the way to put Misuzu in her place. She's not Misuzu's mom for nothing!

Tatsumi's father. A restauranteur who owns and runs the "God Ramen Tatsumi" shop, he becomes Tomo, Carol and Misuzu's boss when he hires them as waitresses during summer vacation.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: He is delighted at having the three girls working at his ramen shop, but he ends up getting extorted by Misuzu and apparently gave leeway to them working however they wanted due whatever dirt she uncovered on him.
* BenevolentBoss: He is one for Tomo, Carol and Misuzu, as the three girls make his business thrive.
* DealWithTheDevil: What his employment of Tomo, Misuzu and Carol ended up being, as Misuzu uncovered dirt on him that she uses to extort him.

* LikeFatherLikeSon: Tatsumi and Tatsurou were on the same wavelength when they're praising the former acquiring maid outfits for future female workers.
* NiceGuy: He's a good dude and a great boss... who ends up in Misuzu's leash.

* ButtMonkey: As she finds her students intimidating, and being nice to a fault, has led her to have little to no authority over her students.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: She's the person responsible of making sure Tomo and Jun don't just mow their classmates down.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: To her brother Tatsumi. She is not shy in disparaging him, as she doubts that Tomo, Carol and Misuzu are his "friends", and that they're in the restaurant just because they're taking advantage of him. However, this is only partially true, as the restaurant is indeed reaping great benefits from their presence.

* PrecociousCrush: She has one on Jun, as we learn in the extras. Though she's not terribly innocent in her methods...

* ButNotTooForeign: Carol is 100% British, but she was raised in Japan and thus is culturally Japanese. When hearing how good Carol is at singing in English during a karaoke session, Misuzu remarks that she almost forgot Carol wasn't Japanese.

* ButNotTooForeign: Carol is 100% British, but she was raised in Japan and thus is culturally Japanese.

** Jun warns Tanabe that Misuzu is ''literally the devil''. despite this epithet, Jun and Misuzu are on more cordial terms than at the time he stated it.

** despite her attitude towards it, Misuzu [[spoiler:was just as excited as Jun was towards being an item, as they were both each other's first boyfriend and girlfriend respectively. Albeit Jun unwittingly admits that he loved her, her own efforts towards making him and Tomo happy indicates that she indeed loves him too as a friend.]]

** despite constantly butting heads, Misuzu and Jun care a great deal about each other. [[spoiler:Jun eventually realizes how much she has done for him and Tomo, and thanks her in kind]].

** despite her apparent dislike of Carol's affectionate gestures, it's shown that Misuzu's dad is very much like Carol towards both her and her mom.

** Jun warns Tanabe that Misuzu is ''literally the devil''. In spite of this epithet, Jun and Misuzu are on more cordial terms than at the time he stated it.

** In spite of her attitude towards it, Misuzu [[spoiler:was just as excited as Jun was towards being an item, as they were both each other's first boyfriend and girlfriend respectively. Albeit Jun unwittingly admits that he loved her, her own efforts towards making him and Tomo happy indicates that she indeed loves him too as a friend.]]

** In spite of constantly butting heads, Misuzu and Jun care a great deal about each other. [[spoiler:Jun eventually realizes how much she has done for him and Tomo, and thanks her in kind]].

** In spite of her apparent dislike of Carol's affectionate gestures, it's shown that Misuzu's dad is very much like Carol towards both her and her mom.

* NiceGirl: The reason she endears herself to Tomo and Misuzu in spite of her ambivalent behavior: Carol is a tremendously sweet person who is not shy in manifesting her appreciation towards them for being her friends.

** She is deeply distrustful of people outside her home in spite of her cheery attitude.

* OlderThanTheyLook: She doesn't look a day older than Carol in spite of being 28 years old. She can pass off as Carol's older sister.

* HotAmazon: Tomo has a physique that could convincingly play ComicBook/WonderWoman and the physical strength to go with it. Both boys ''and'' girls notice and are [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer attracted]].

* ObliviousToLove: He has no idea that Tomo has a crush on him - the very first chapter consists of Tomo telling him she loves him, and him responding back "Pffff, of course I love you too bro!" like it was a PlatonicDeclarationOfLove. He's also seemingly unaware of his ''own'' romantic affection for Tomo, since he's constantly battling with himself to see her as only a friend but still subconsciously falls into "boyfriend" behavior. However, he's aware of the changes that the revelation of Tomo's gender brought, and he is shown to be making a conscious effort to sort out his feelings. [[spoiler: Even when he gets all the pieces and realizes she confessed to him, he still missed an important part...mainly that she was trying to be more girly for him. Naturally this earns him a punch to the face from an embarrassed and angry Tomo.]]

* NonUniformUniform: She wears ModestyShorts under her skirt, and she also wears a hoodie under her blazer during the winter.

* NonUniformUniform: She wears a pink sweater with her school uniform instead of the standard green blazer.

* AloofDarkHairedGirl: She has long, dark hair and almost as many male admirers at school as [[SchoolIdol Carol]] does, but she's also very aloof, haughty and sarcastic. Unlike most examples, however, she's not particularly tall or mature-looking, being the shortest of the three main girls and also rather flat-chested ([[ACutAngst much to her displeasure]]).

* TheCutie: Those who first meet Misuzu find her small, dainty and delicately beautiful. Those who ''know'' her find her more frightening than adorable.

* TheCutie: Misuzu is small, dainty and delicately beautiful.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Played with. She often gets some well-deserved cheek pinching from both Misuzu and Tomo. [[spoiler:And then there was the time when Misuzu told her that Misaki didn't love her as a girl, which plunged Carol into InelegantBlubbering]].

* ACupAngst: Most evident when she gave Tomo permission to hug her like normal girls would, she squished against Tomo's large chest and noted how 'unpleasant' the entire experience was due to this. Also pointing out her height / body size is her BerserkButton.

* TheBeautifulElite: Alongside Carol and Tomo, they're collectively the most attractive girls at class, and at school at large.

* TokenRichStudent: She's the daughter of a wealthy British business tycoon and lives in a huge mansion, but she goes to the same high school as her middle-class friends. Kousuke lampshades this being unusual, noting that usually a family as prestigious as hers wouldn't allow her to go to the same school as him, and it motivates him further to protect her.

* {{Irony}}:
** He has loved Tomo, and has admired her and treasured her ever since they were kids, even after he realized that she's a girl. Thing is, he wasn't counting on the fact that ''romantic'' love became a possibility with the revelation. Even when he is one of the most [[TestosteronePoisoning macho]] characters in the story, he later admits to Misuzu that he's been attracted to Tomo ever since they met for the first time, long before he became aware that ''Tomo isn't a boy''.
** Despite all their bickering and vitriol together, Jun [[spoiler:unwittingly reveals to Misuzu that he indeed loved her for the short time they were together.]]

* OneHeadTaller: Tomo is impressively tall compared to other girls and even several boys, but she still falls short of Jun. When Tomo was given a girly makeover complete with high-heels, part of what keeps Jun iffy about recognizing her face is that she should be a bit shorter.

Akiko doesn't appear in the anime adaptation.