A character sheet for Kaoru, Aoi, and the other inhabitants of the Sakuraba house in Ai Yori Aoshi. (Characters listed are sorted roughly in order of appearance)
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Kaoru Hanabishi
Voiced by: Soichiro Hoshi (JP), Dave Wittenberg (EN)
Kaoru is a college student and exile from the Hanabishi house. Having endured years of physical and emotional abuse from his grandfather, he made the choice to break free and move out on his own.
- Accidental Pervert: Subverted; while Kaoru often finds himself in these kinds of situations, the girls always give him time to explain and realize it wasn't his fault, at times even realizing as such without an explanation. It's played straight once at the beginning of the series; when Miyabi finds Aoi in Kaoru's house with a naked Kaoru on top of her (Kaoru was trying to stop Aoi from coming into the bathroom while he was bathing), she beats the crap out of him before Aoi calms her down.
- Achey Scars: The ones he got from his grandpa tend to hurt quite a bit when he's stressed.
- Bedmate Reveal: Number one recipient of this trope.
- Big Damn Heroes: Towards the end of the series, he and Miyabi decide to foil his half-brother's plans to marry Aoi.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: The sweet Aoi helps to heal his emotional scars from the physical and emotional abuse he suffered from his grandfather.
- Cant Hold Their Liquor: If that Gargle Blaster Tina brought back wasn't a unique case.
- Chick Magnet: Since he's the protagonist of a harem anime, this is basically a given.
- Childhood Friend Romance: With Aoi. They were engaged as children, but the engagement was cancelled. After being separated for years, they reunite and fall in love as adults.
- Dark and Troubled Past: After his father's death, the Hanabishi family forced Kaoru's mother to give Kaoru up to them for the sole purpose of raising him to be their next heir. Kaoru suffered years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his paternal grandfather, which culminated in said grandfather burning all of his mother's possessions and photos; when Kaoru tried to stop him, his grandfather savagely beat him with a wooden cane, leaving his back Covered with Scars. Sometime after this incident, Kaoru ran away from the Hanabishis and severed all ties with them for good.
- Deceased Parents Are the Best: He has many fond memories of his late mother.
- The Exile: He went into self-imposed exile from the Hanabishis.
- Heroic Bastard: His parents never married.
- Nice Guy: His dominant trait is his kindness and will to help others.
- Nom de Mom: In the manga's Distant Finale, he's taken his mother's surname.
- Parental Abandonment: Both his parents died on different dates, before the start of the story. However, his mother's fate was given more emphasis.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Kaoru and Aoi love each other deeply in addition to being arranged to marry. Unfortunately, the arrangement was broken when Kaoru left the Hanabishi family, which is the primary cause for the drama in the story.
- Scars Are Forever: Some pretty nasty ones on his back as previously mentioned in Abusive Parents above. By the end of the story, they've finally started to fade.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After enduring enough his grandfather's abuse, he left the Hanabishis behind.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He looks just like his mother.
- Unwanted Harem: All of the girls in the house except for Miyabi fall for him at one point- unfortunately for him, as he is in a Secret Relationship with Aoi and is very faithful to her. Though as time goes on, they all become True Companions.
- You Can't Go Home Again: After severing ties with the Hanabishis, he can't return home.
Aoi Sakuraba
Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (JP), Michelle Ruff (EN)
Aoi is one of the living heirs to the Sakuraba dry goodsnote fortune. She had kept a Childhood Marriage Promise to Kaoru, even though her own parents were against the idea after he ran away from the Hanabishis. A chance encounter on a train has reunited them, and she has vowed to uphold her promise to stay with Kaoru for the rest of her life.
- All-Loving Heroine: Aoi loves everyone, and everyone loves Aoi. Pretty much every female member of the cast aspires to be like Aoi. Ironically, however, Aoi seems a bit oblivious to the depths of the devotion of her own mentor, Miyabi.
- Apologises a Lot: She sometimes says dozens of apologises in just one episode.
- Beautiful Dreamer: In episode 3, Kaoru remarks that she's cute when she's asleep.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Has some of this dynamic with Kaoru. Kaoru isn't exactly brooding, but he has serious emotional traumas from the abuse he suffered from his grandfather and the death of his mother. Aoi's kind and loving personality helps heal Kaoru's mental and emotional damage.
- Cant Hold Their Liquor: Once got completely plastered after only three beers.
- Cherry Blossom Girl: Her family name is Sakuraba and not only is she associated with cherry blossoms, she's the poster girl for Yamato Nadeshiko and a love interest.
- Childhood Friend Romance: She has been in love with Kaoru since childhood.
- Curtains Match the Window: Blue hair and eyes.
- Devoted to You: Aoi has been devotedly in love with Kaoru since they were children. Even after he left Hanabishis and their engagement was broken, she never stopped loving him and kept working hard to become the perfect wife for him. She ran away from home on her own to go and find him and since he wouldn't go back to the Hanabishi household, she decided she would leave the Sakuraba household to marry him.
- Forgotten First Meeting: She meets Kaoru again after 18 years when she's on her way to meeting him, but they don't recognize each other. It's only after she realizes the address she had was wrong and that she shows Kaoru a picture of them when they were children that they realize they are childhood friends.
- Formal Characters Use Keigo: She speaks in a polite and sophisticated manner because she's the daughter of a very traditional family that raised her to be a Yamato Nadeshiko.
- Kimono Is Traditional: She hardly ever wears anything but a kimono, which contributes to her traditional Yamato Nadeshiko image. Her family's business specializes in dry goods, which includes kimono, so this also serves to show her devotion to her family.
- Nice Girl: She's very kind and polite.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Kaoru and Aoi love each other deeply in addition to being arranged to marry. Unfortunately, the arrangement was broken when Kaoru left the Hanabishi family, which is the primary cause for the drama in the story.
- Shrinking Violet: Due to her sheltered upbringing, Aoi can shy around strangers.
- Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Aoi has blue hair, and is once again, shy and demure.
- Significant Birth Date: She was born on the day of Tanabata.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Nice people are not weak. It takes the strength of character to be this faithful, loving and kind. And help Kaoru heal from his mental and emotional damage.
- Single-Target Sexuality: She has loved Kaoru since she was a child and she can't think of herself being with any man other than him.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She loves Kaoru for his kindness.
- Town Girls: The Neither to Mayu's Femme and Tina's Butch.
- Third-Person Person: She tends to refer to herself in the third person, reflecting her humble personality.
- True Blue Femininity: Her name means "blue", her hair and eyes are blue, often wears indigo blue kimonos, and is an example of the ideal Japanese woman.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: She's the page image for this trope for a reason. If the kimono doesn't give it away her gentle-yet-assertive demeanor will.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Towards the end of the series, she flat out decides to leave her home and never return.
Miyabi Kagurazaki
Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu (JP), Lia Sargent (EN)
Miyabi is Aoi's guardian. She is very strict about upholding the Sakuraba house's honor, and makes it a point to tell Kaoru and Aoi to hide their relationship from the public.
- Big Damn Heroes: Towards the end of the series, she helps Kaoru stop his half-brother's evil plan to marry Aoi.
- The Caretaker: To Aoi.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: A good chunk of her Character Development is warming up to Kaoru and accepting his and Aoi's relationship.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: She's perfectly capable of bodily throwing Kaoru across the room, but if she sees a bug, she'll absolutely freak out. Unfortunately for her, Uzume has a habit of bringing her dead bugs.
- Happily Adopted: By the Sakurabas. Officially, in the ending of the manga.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Though she can be a jerk to Kaoru and his friends at times, she deeply cares about them and Aoi.
- Mama Bear: She's extremely protective of Aoi.
- Not So Above It All: In the Christmas Episode, she's on the phone claiming she isn't slacking off while hanging out at an amusement park and eating ice cream.
- Parental Abandonment: Her parents, who worked for the Sakurabas, were killed in a car accident.
- Parental Substitute: To Aoi.
- Stern Teacher: Sometimes was one to Aoi when training her.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Initially only affectionate toward Aoi, but as Kaoru earns her respect, she warms up to him.
Tina Foster
Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (JP), Wendee Lee (EN)
Tina is an American-born college student who has lived in the Kyushu region for most of her life (so much so, that she's almost completely forgotten how to speak English).
- Accent Adaptation: The English dub gives her a thick southern accent to accentuate her American upbringing.
- All of the Other Reindeer: She was born in America and is culturally Japanese, and as such, cannot easily fit into either country.
- Ambiguously Bi: She's undeniably attracted to Kaoru, but tends to greet other girls with a Skinship Grope.
- But Not Too Foreign: She's ethnically American, but culturally Japanese, due to living in Hakata for most of her life. This has caused her a lot of grief over which culture she truly belongs to, as she was unable to make friends in Hakata due to being considered "too American" but couldn't make friends in America either due to being considered "too Japanese".
- Child of Two Worlds: America and Japan. And, unfortunately, not really at home in either one.
- Cute Little Fangs: She shows one sometimes when she smiles.
- Funny Foreigner: Tina's the main source of comic relief in the series.
- Lethal Chef: Subverted; while her cooking looks bad, it actually tastes fine.
- Phenotype Stereotype: Although she's usually 'American'-like in promotionals and merchandise due to her appearance, she lived in Japan and simply travels a lot, which at least provides an excuse for her horrible English.
- Playful Cat Smile: She does this from time to time whenever she's feeling playful or being frisky around Kaoru.
- Skinship Grope: Her preferred method of greeting other girls is
fondling their breasts. - Stepford Smiler: The Depressed type; she's not quite as happy as she outwardly seems, as her being an American who was raised in Japan has prevented her from truly fitting in or making friends in either culture.
- Town Girls: The Butch to Aoi's Neither and Mayu's Femme.
Taeko Minazuki
Voiced by: Kaori Mizuhashi (JP), Philece Sampler (EN)
Taeko is a close friend of Tina and belongs to the same photography club where Tina and Kaoru are members. She seems to have a very unlucky streak (mostly involving tripping over things), and has been unable to hold down any kind of permanent job because of this, until pleas from Aoi and friends convince Miyabi to allow her to work as a maid.
- Bespectacled Cutie: She is an innocent, adorable and attractive red-headed meganekko. She also plays the maid and sidekick within the series, she frequently has awkward and clumsy moments that gets her into trouble with Mrs Miyabi a lot plus being Tina's more responsible and modest opposite.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Taeko is capable of producing decent meals, but she has a tendency to mix her normal meals with chocolate.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: As the housekeeper, she was so clumsy that Aoi had to convince Miyabi to hire her, as she had a tendency to break a lot of valuable objects, but she tries to do her best.
- D-Cup Distress: She's not happy about her bust size. Best exemplified in a Beach Episode where she laments she can't wear one-piece swimsuits, which she prefers, and has to resort to bikinis.
- Meido: She moves into the Sakuraba summer house as the housekeeper after being relieved of her previous housekeeping job.
Uzume
A ferret that Tina buys for the house, though he becomes far more attached to Miyabi.
- All Animals Are Dogs: Behaves much like a house cat, brushing up against people's legs, hissing, and often bringing Miyabi dead bugs (much to Miyabi's dismay).
- Animal Reaction Shot: When Tina reveals the cage she bought for him, which she decorated with gaudy ribbons and baubles, Uzume actually hisses at the sight of it.
- Team Pet: Serves as one to the Sakuraba household.
- What Happened To The Ferret: Team Pet Uzume doesn't show up after volume 9.
Mayu Miyuki
Voiced by: Sayaka Narita (JP), Karen Strassman (EN)
Mayu, like Aoi, is the daughter of a prestigious businessman. And also like Aoi, she has been in love with Kaoru ever since she was little. She spends a lot of time bickering with Tina.
- Accent Adaptation: Whenever she's speaking in English in the dub, she develops a British accent.
- Alliterative Name: Mayu Miyuki.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: She loves Kaoru because of this trope. More exactly, he cheered her up when her parents didn't come to her own birthday party, and Mayu never forgot this.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Thanks to her parents spending more time on doing their jobs then giving her any attention.
- Ojou: The Ice Queen type
- Third-Person Person: She has the habit of referring to herself in the third person when speaking.
- Town Girls: The Femme to Aoi's Neither and Tina's Butch.
- Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: In the manga's final chapter, it's stated that Mayu hasn't given up on Kaoru despite his marriage to Aoi and visits their home at least once a month.
Chika Minazuki
Voiced by: Haruko Momoi (JP), Kari Wahlgren (EN)
Taeko's cousin, who lives by the beach.
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: as the smallest and youngest, she tends to receive this from time to time. And when she doesn't receive one, she may choose to solicit it.
- Bedmate Reveal: Tends to inflict this on Kaoru.
- Children Are Innocent: When she asks the other girls if they love Kaoru, they all freak out because what they mean by love and what Chika means are two different things (maybe).
- Girlish Pigtails: Wears her hair like this.
- Reluctant Fanservice Girl: A Running Gag in the story has various accidents and mishaps leave Chika standing completely naked in front of Kaoru. On one particular occasion, she not only drags her friends into it, she finds herself on the ground with her legs spread wide.
- Tan Lines: Due to coming from the beach.
- Token Mini-Moe: Both the smallest and youngest of the group.
