Note: To better demonstrate this series' Punny Names, all names are arranged surname-first.
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Main characters
Hitori Bocchi
Voiced by: Chisaki Morishita
A girl with extreme social anxiety. She was tasked by her only friend, Kai Yawara, to befriend her entire middle-school class before graduation. Despite her anxiety she's a very cheerful and hardworking girl.- All-Loving Hero: in a story with no villains, Bocchi's benevolence isn't fully tested, but she certainly qualifies. Bocchi loves people, doesn't have any ill will towards anyone, esteem people like Aru regardless of their defects, and is willing to befriend all of her classmates.
- Even if on her first day at school Bocchi was insulted and treated harshly by Nako she still tries to please and befriend her. Later, Bocchi want to reconcile with her, thinking Nako broke up their friendship and letting her with zero friends again, while Nako was simply upset with her.
- Kako has a self-made policy of not making any friends, which clashed with Bocchi's goals, and as a result she gets constantly a harsh treatment. Despite that, Bocchi still likes her and wants to befriend her for over half of the series.
- Despite the extremely cold shoulders Kai-chan gives to her on the few, brief encounters they have during middle school, Bocchi still loves her and tries to befriend her class in order to reconcile and be friend with her again.
- Miss Teruyo makes her cry by declaring that she will never be her friend, excusing herself that she has to maintain her role as a teacher. Even so, Bocchi immediately gets a good impression of her.
- Better with Non-Human Company: Bocchi is a "shy" type of this trope. While she is shy and gets nervous in front of strangers, she is more fond to animals, particularly dogs.
- Brainy Brunette: Bocchi has brown hair and, eccentricities aside, appears to be very intelligent, as she gets excellent grades. As such, it's explicitly stated that the only reason she couldn't get into Kai's middle school was due to being unable to go to the interview.
- Character Development: Bocchi gradually comes out of her shell over the course of the series. At the very start, she tried to think of ways to fulfill her promise to Kai without actually befriending anyone, but then reluctantly decided to try to make friends. As time goes on, she becomes a bit more socially open, including gradually becoming able to make the initiative to talk to others.
- Cloudcuckoolander: A Running Gag involves Bocchi making bizarre leaps of logic inside her head, then blurting out some non-sequitur that confuses whoever's listening to her. For example, after Nako explains the concept of groups of friends to Bocchi, Bocchi gets it mixed up with bands, and thinks she'll have to make a CD debut to stay close with her friends.
- The Cutie: She's a really adorable and shy young girl.
- The Eeyore: Zigzagged. She often criticizes herself and overthinks some situations so much she ends up cramping her legs or throwing up (or both), and cries regularly when things don't go her way. However, her friends help her out of her depression.
- Embarrassing Nickname: "Barf" courtesy of Nako.
- Fainting: Often prone to this, either out of shock of by happiness, specially after making new friends.
- Friendless Background: Starts the show as this. She did have one friend, Kai. But they end up going to different middle schools, so Kai breaks up their friendship until Bocchi can befriend everyone in her class. This changes as she starts befriending other classmates.
- Genki Girl: Despite her crippling social phobia she's actually very upbeat and is always joyful whenever she makes progress in making a friend.
- The Heart: Bocchi's earnest desire to befriend everyone has her become this to the entire class, as she goes out of her way to understand and care for everyone. She also becomes their emotional core, and many interactions and friendships between her classmates would never have happened if not for her.
- Human Hummingbird: As exercise when she's about to have a cramped leg
- Human Notepad: She writes a script for conversations on her body. Unfortunately, she's left at a loss for words when someone says something she didn't expect (for example, she didn't think that Nako played games on her phone).
- The Ingenue: Bocchi is very trusting, incredibly innocent and naive, to the point where her classmates often feel protective toward her.
- Innocently Insensitive: Due to her pureness of heart, she often misses the fact that some of the stuff she says can be charged with barbs towards both Nako and Aru, and other classmates as a whole. What's curious is that she doesn't have enough malice to have a sharp tongue like that, so her unawareness of it only adds insult to injury.
- Invisible Parents: Her parents, or at least her mother, are present in her life, even if they're never shown on-screen.
- Literal-Minded: She falls victim to this on numerous occasions. In the Pool Episode, she innocently asks Nako what her previous life was like in response to Nako's fear of water.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is derived from hitoribocchi (独りぼっち, meaning "all alone").
- Mistaken for Badass: Twice, by two people for different reasons. First there's Sotoka, who mistakes her for a ninja while Bocchi was just trying to avoid and hide from other people in the streets, and that continues even after Bocchi tried to deny it. Then there's Miss Teruyo, who after seeing Bocchi interacting normally with Nako (who she is afraid of), and then leaning about the supposed master-disciple relationship that she has with a foreigner (Sotoka), she concludes that Bocchi must be a "gang leader" that wants to have lots of underlings, which she calls "friends".
- Nice Girl: Bocchi is tremendously sweet and doting.
- No Social Skills: Not only is she terrified to talk to strangers and bad at holding a conversation, but she also often misses social cues and takes jokes literally. This is probably caused by both her unusual thought process as well as being inexperienced in socializing generally.
- Oblivious to Her Own Description: In the second episode, Nako says that a weird person has been following her around since the first day of school, trying to become friends with her. Bocchi asks who that person is.
- Older Than She Looks: At first glance, given her childlike appearance it's hard to believe that Bocchi is actually a middle schooler, let alone being in the same range as her classmates, all of whom dwarf her (except Yanai which is just as short). Her appearance is never brought up during the series, however.
- Prone to Tears: Bocchi tends to cry a lot, whether when she feels like she did something wrong or feels stressed out due to anxiety.
- Shrinking Violet: Bocchi is an extreme example of social anxiety, to the point where the prospect of interacting with strangers gives her nausea and/or leg cramps. Kai making Bocchi get over this in order to be friends again forms the basis of the plot.
- Silly Walk: Jumping the hurdles.
- The Smart Girl: She struggles a bit with the social part of school, but not the learning part. She doesn't seem to spend much time studying, but still got a 98% on the same test Nako flunked. And while she's extremely nervous about reading her haiku in front of the class, she got it written in three minutes and it was apparently good enough to earn a compliment from the teacher.
- Smarter Than You Look: While she may be grievously gullible, she is shown to perform well on tests and had written her well-received haiku in a few minutes when compared to Nako who took a few hours to come up with something.
- Socially Awkward Hero: Bocchi is this in spades.
- Stress Vomit: Is prone to this whenever she becomes extremely anxious. She had initially earned the nickname "Barf" from Nako for this reason.
- Super Gullible: She's really easy to fool because she's Literal-Minded and tends to take everyone's words as true. When Aru accidentally put on her elementary school uniform while going to school, she claimed to be her own younger sister, Mieru Honshou, and Bocchi believed Aru.
- Talking in Your Sleep: She's prone to doing this, occasionally in Urdu.
- There Are No Therapists: She could obviously use some counseling by a mental health professional (or even a neuropsychologist and/or behavioral therapist), but neither her parents nor her teachers seem to find this necessary.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Rice with natto in it.
Sunao Nako
Voiced by: Minami Tanaka
A laid-back girl and one of Bocchi's classmates. Although she looks tough and sometimes speaks rudely, she's very kindhearted and is very supportive of Bocchi.- Affectionate Nickname: Combined with Insult of Endearment, Aru often refers to her as "Nakosuke".
- Animal Motifs: Cats. She has the laid-back, snarky personality of one, and her hairstyle also evokes cat ears. She even occasionally sprouts cat ears and gains slitted pupils in later chapters.
- Big Eater: In chapter 49, she decides to eat some cake with Bocchi just moments after eating pudding.
- Book Dumb: Studying isn't her strong suit. With help from Bocchi after failing a test she manages to get a decent score on a re-test.
- Cool Big Sis: Played with. The nature of her friendship with Bocchi has overtones of this, in spite of being the same age.
- Delicate and Sickly: Played for Laughs. The just retribution for her teasing personality: her friends (especially Bocchi) are under the impression that she's physically feeble and cannot do anything without ending up gasping for air. This comes up so often that it's a Running Gag.
- Does Not Like Spam: She doesn't like spicy food.
- The Dreaded: Unwittingly finds herself accused of being a delinquent mostly due to her appearance, with the homeroom teacher being especially terrified of her.
- Face of a Thug: Downplayed, but she looks a bit intimidating and has a rough manner of speaking. This actually terrifies her teacher, Teruyo. Despite this, she's actually very warm and is the first new friend that Bocchi makes.
- Friendless Background: Chapter 75 reveals Nako changes schools often due to her dad switching jobs, which meant she couldn't form lasting friendships at school and chose to be alone as a result. She would've chosen to not make any friends in this school either, but Bocchi's perseverance moved her and she decided to help her make friends before she inevitably has to change schools again.
- The Gadfly: She enjoys gently teasing Bocchi sometimes. She's also usually the one who calls out Aru on being a loser.
- Hey, You!: She often refers to Aru as omae, a rude way of saying "you." She continues doing so even after learning Aru's name, much to Aru's annoyance.
- Hidden Depths: Underneath her snarky behavior, Nako is very proud to be Bocchi's very first friend at class.
- Huge Schoolgirl: one of the tallest girls on Bocchi's class, along with Sotoka.
- Informed Deformity: She has a mole under her left eye that she's not fond of and tends to cover it when taking photos, but her character bio at the start of Volume 2 lists it as her charm point.
- Irony: In spite of looking like a delinquent, Nako is the most even-headed and least eccentric out of Bocchi's friends.
- Japanese Delinquents: Invoked and subverted. She looks like one; she's absolutely not one.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Downplayed, she has her abrasive moments but isn't really a jerk.
- While she first comes off as abrasive and insults Bocchi at their first encounter, she is actually a good person who does value her as a friend.
- She also encourages Aru to be herself, telling her that she prefers her "unfortunate" side.
- Jerkass to One: She's a friendly person to most of her classmates, and is respectful of their teacher, but tends to butt heads with Aru.
- Lazy Bum: Often alluded to. In episode 9, she decides to "supervise" the others while they prepare the seafood curry by luxuriously sitting down on a bench and later calling for a break despite not doing much manual work.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Nako is Bocchi's main emotional support in class, and the person who most often takes her out of her funk.
- Loving Bully: Towards Aru. She makes fun of Aru, not because she actually thinks that Aru is a loser, but because Aru resents being called a loser, and even if Aru may lean towards being an actual one, it doesn't detract on the quality of person she is regardless.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is derived from sunao na ko (honest child).
- My Friends... and Zoidberg: Bocchi introduces her this way to Kako. While she gives elaborate and sometimes a bit too much information on Aru and Sotoka, she introduces Nako as the person who sits in front of her. Bocchi later says Nako was her first friend, but Nako by that point is a bit annoyed that Bocchi introduced her so nonchalantly.
- Nice Girl:
- She's the most laid-back and trollish of Bocchi's friends, and albeit most of the stuff she does is for her own amusement, it's also shown that she's very loving and caring.
- She also is one of the only students who shows their teacher the respect she is owed, calling her "Sensei" and even referring to her classmates formally when speaking with the teacher.
- Only Sane Man: Often her role compared to the rest of the main cast.
- Phoneaholic Teenager: She is often seen playing with her phone.
- Super Drowning Skills: In episode 7, Nako reveals that she is terrified of water and does not know how to swim. She jokes afterwards that she must have drowned at some point in her previous life.
- Sweet Tooth: She likes eating sweet things in general, and she is often seen with a lolipop.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Cakes. They are the sole reason she even has a grasp on geometry, after a long day of hardworks want nothing but to eat some cake, plus, her profile picture on social media is a slice of cake as well.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Aru.
- When She Smiles: She also has a pretty smile when not acting abrasive.
Honshou Aru
Voiced by: Akari Kitou
A proud girl who serves as the vice class representative in Bocchi's class. She wants to be respected by everyone, but she's actually a bit of a loser.- A-Cup Angst: Episode 7 reveals Aru as having this plight; when she is demonstrating exercises before going into the pool, she stares at Sotoka's chest and asks her not to stand close to her.
- All for Nothing: Her angst about being seen as "unfortunate"/"a loser" does not detract at all from her quality as a person, and in that respect she's essentially peerless. Sure, she does some things wrong, but her classmates, she's the best class president and friend they could ever have.
- Berserk Button: Absolutely hates to be called "unfortunate" (or "loser" depending on the translation). If you do, you should expect being on the receiving end of one of her headbutts.
- Boisterous Weakling: She has a tendency to headbutt Nako randomly for calling her unfortunate. Nako doesn't seem to be fazed by her random headbutts.
- Breakout Character: Due to her stalwart nature, Aru is one of the most popular characters in the manga and anime in the eyes of fans, as much as Bocchi, if not more.
- Butt-Monkey: She's plagued by bad luck and her own forgetfulness. The story where she and Bocchi become friends features her having accidentally left her hanger in her uniform and wearing her mother's underwear by mistake.
- The Cameo: She makes an appearance in chapter 66 of Mitsuboshi Colors, confirming that the two are set in the same universe.
- Catchphrase: "Do your best, Aru. Shine brightly, Aru." It's apparently her theme song.
- "Don't call me unfortunate and use my name!" or alternatively "I have a name!"
- Class Representative: She volunteered herself as class representative to escape her reputation as a loser... and ended up as vice class representative.
- Comically Missing the Point: She berates Nako for reminding her of her "loser" status, but Nako keeps bringing it up precisely because Aru focuses so much on it.
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Might as well be the poster girl for the trope. Realizing mid-way to the road to school that she's wearing her elementary school uniform? Check. Trying to hide this by pretending she's her own "little sister"? Check. Wearing her blazer with the hanger still on? Check. She's the cutest mess you'll ever find.
- Early-Bird Cameo: She doesn't appear onscreen on the first episode, but on the extra chapter (which comes chronologically before chapter 1), she appears greeting someone offscreen while Bocchi tries to process the long list of classmates she just saw and whom she has to befriend. Later, as she enters the classroom for the first time, she makes some remarks about Bocchis poster trying to keep off her classmates, along with Hanako. Later, on chapter 1, she is seen outside the girl's bathroom along with Hanako, possibly escorting Bocchi, both shocked as they heard the later's barfs mixed with sobbing after her failed self introduction.
- Embarrassingly Painful Sunburn: she has this after her the second year summer break.
- Fake Twin Gambit: a non-twin sibling example, as Aru pretends to be her made-up younger sister Mieru.
- Foil: To Nako. She's the optimist to Nako's pessimist, serving as mutual counterparts in arguments. She's hardworking whereas Nako is lazy. She has a shining reputation that she has spent time and effort building, while Nako has a more dire reputation that she's letting build up by not addressing it.
- Genki Girl: A relentlessly positive person, Aru is a remarkable source of morale for Bocchi, for her friends, and for the class as a whole.
- Image Song: "Don't Lose, Aru!"
- Informed Ability: Despite the running gag of her unfortunate nature, the most one can say is that she tends to be a bit inattentive to detail and is prone to overestimating her abilities. It's nothing all that egregious though.
- Irony: Aru is every bit the reliable person she tries so hard to convey, but she doesn't quite realize this. The fact that she doesn't know makes her try even harder, which makes her even more endearing to her friends and classmates. She's a self-beating optimist to the core.
- Her Own Worst Enemy: Part of the reason why Aru behaves like a loser occasionally is out of her drive to not be seen as one, which fail egregiously. She's not a loser by any means... that is, as long as she doesn't try to show off.
- Magnetic Hero: Everyone in class goes through Aru in one way or another, so most of the friends that Bocchi makes are due to her direct intervention.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is derived from honshou aru (having a hidden nature).
- Nice Girl: Even factoring in her inflated ego, Aru is perhaps the kindest and most helpful person in Bocchi's class, always willing to lend a hand where it's needed. Chapter 66 reveals that the entire class respects her as a result, even in spite of her occasional bungling.
- The Pollyanna: Played with. In spite of her boundless positivity, Aru is very self-conscious of her bad luck and greatly dislikes being reminded of it. Nako observes that Aru's smile seems fake.
- The Reliable One: Out of Bocchi's friends, Aru is the most stalwart as a person. She's Bocchi's most important friend in terms of making other friends.
- Running Gag: Her headbutting Nako whenever she calls her a loser.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: She starts liking her friends so much that she starts missing her tennis club time to spend it with them. Nako is more than happy to remind her every time.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: Towards Nako, due to her constantly calling her unfortunate.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Calls herself "Vice Class President of the World" despite only being the vice class president of Class One.
- Tsundere: When Nako tells her that she likes her "unfortunate" side, Aru blushes and says that it's not like she's happy to hear that or anything.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Nako. They don't particularly get along, but willing to put aside their differences with Bocchi around.
Rakita Sotoka
Voiced by: Yuuko Kurose
A classmate of Bocchi's who was born in a different country. She wants to be a ninja and considers Bocchi her ninjutsu master.- The Ace: Attractive, good at sports and smart enough to master Japanese on her own.
- Bishie Sparkle: A bishoujo version of this, but she literally sparkles in many scenes to accentuate her beauty.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Came to Japan to see a real ninja and spends a great duration of the anime and manga believing Bocchi to be a real one.
- Establishing Character Moment: She meets Bocchi on the street one day while walking to school, and immediately assumes that she's a ninja, due to Bocchi's tendency to disappear at will. She loses her sparkle when Bocchi claims to not be a ninja, but later recovers it when she believes Bocchi was merely stating that as a cover story. She ends up becoming her "apprentice" in ninjutsu.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: She changes her hairstyle to twintails when she starts calling herself Bocchi's friend, and not just her "student".
- First-Name Basis: Apart from calling Bocchi "Master," Sotoka often uses her friends' first names. Her classmates often respond in kind, with even acquaintances calling her "Sotoka-san"; Kako is the only one who regularly calls her "Rakita-san."
- Genki Girl: Is always an eager and excited girl, particularly when it comes to anything ninja-related.
- Huge Schoolgirl: Sotoka is one of the tallest girls in class, along with Nako.
- Kirk Summation: Delivers one to Kako in Chapter 72.
- "I kind of think having a rival means you didn't become strong on your own."
- McNinja: Her reason for coming to Japan is to learn about Ninjas
- Meaningful Name: Her name is derived from soto kara kita (came from afar).
- Minor Living Alone: Sotoka rents an apartment alone and it's so bare-bones that it merely qualifies as her sleeping place. She doesn't turn on the Genki Girl until she leaves the apartment and meets her friends.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Can lift and carry Bocchi on her back and underarm with little effort.
- Ninja: She loves ninjas, and she introduces herself to Bocchi after mistaking her avoiding people on the way to school for ninjutsu.
- Nice Girl: By far the most outwardly friendly and positive of Bocchi's close friends. Unlike Nako, Aru, or Kako, who can have snarky or angry tendencies, Sotoka is genuinely nice and kind all the time.
- Occidental Otaku: She moved to Japan because she wants to become a ninja, even though she knows very little about them. After she becomes convinced that Bocchi is a secret ninja, the latter has to play along by teaching her goofy ninja techniques from a book.
- Phenotype Stereotype: A foreigner with blue eyes and blonde hair.
- Secretly Wealthy: Whilst she lives in a cheap apartment, it's more because she wanted to experience how an ordinary Japanese person would live; her family is rich enough to buy the whole building. According to Katsuwo, the Rakita family may be even richer than Mayo's family.
- Significant Haircut: Not a haircut exactly, but she radically changes her hairstyle when she starts calling herself Bocchi's friend, and not just her "student". Which matches the usual meaning of this trope.
- Spell My Name With An S: According to the manga volumes, the correct spelling of her name is Sotca Luckythar, which has a Norse affect to it.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Nako receives a failing score of 29, and Bocchi is distraught that Nako didn't get a score of 75.note Sotoka learns of Nako's score later and shares Bocchi's sentiment.
- When Bocchi and friends were preparing to go to the teather, both Sotoka and Bocchi tried at to go with Bocchi's "serious outfit".
- When Bocchi and friend were going to make a slumber party in Sotoka's house she was worried about not going with a futon. Later, Sotoka points out that there were not enough futons, confirming Bocchi's worries.
Kurai Kako
Voiced by: Kana Ichinose
One of Bocchi's classmates who serves as the school's public morals officer. She strives to be "strong", which for her means not having any friends.- Ascended Extra: At first just another classmate Bocchi seeks to befriend. However, her own past and resiliency against making friends gives her extra focus compared to other classmates outside of Bocchi's main circle of friends. She ends up being part of said inner circle as a sort of Sixth Ranger, before eventually becoming Bocchi's friend for real and officially joining.
- Establishing Character Moment: Her debut episode sees her angrily berating Bocchi for not wearing her bow tie that day. Somewhat later on, she admits that she was only that harsh because Bocchi always followed the dress code (in fact, Bocchi had taken off her bow tie in a bid to get Kako's attention), and then denies praising Bocchi. This moment, especially in hindsight, establishes her as a stickler for the rules who has a soft spot to Bocchi, even if she won't admit it.
- First-Name Basis: She eventually decides to let Bocchi call her "Kako-chan" rather than "Kurai-san." She later tries calling Bocchi by her first name, but ends up being so flustered that she immediately switches back to "Hitori-san." In Chapter 86, however, she starts calling Bocchi and her friends by their first names.
- Foil:
- To Bocchi. Bocchi spends the entire show trying to make friends, but Kako herself is someone that thinks having friends makes someone weaker.
- Also one to Aru. Much like Aru, Kako strives to be the best she can be, but unlike Aru, she is not willing to make friends as she feels it would impede her goals of being self-dependent.
- To Sotoka. Both Kako and Sotoka want to become stronger, Kako through her duties and Sotoka through ninjutsu. However, whilst Kako is stern and stone-faced, Sotoka is cheerful and carefree. Furthermore, they have opposite opinions of Bocchi; Kako thinks Bocchi isn't strong enough, whilst Sotoka sees Bocchi as the strongest.
- Hidden Depths:
- Kako is actually a very sweet girl, and not at all invulnerable to the influence of her classmates.
- Despite her insistence on not having friends, it eventually turns out that she did have a friend in the past, and slips away from the class trip to go see that friend.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Her first interaction with Bocchi is to harshly critique her for not wearing her bowtie. However, she gradually warms up to and clearly enjoys Bocchi's company, even if she tries to deny it. By chapter 72, when she officially becomes Bocchi's friend, the jerk tendencies are all but gone.
- Last-Name Basis: Unlike most of Bocchi's friends, she and Bocchi continue to use each other's surnames for some time after becoming acquainted. She does eventually allow Bocchi to call her by her first name, but still insists on using Bocchi's surname.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Since she meets Bocchi later than Nako, Aru, and Sotoka, and officially befriends her even later, she is the only one of the group to have never met Kai until they graduate middle school.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is derived from kurai kako (dark past).
- Not So Above It All: She takes her curry seriously. In episode 9, she even sulks when Sotoka suggests that they make seafood doria.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: She's smiling and willing to engage in small talk in episode 12, weirding out Bocchi and the others. It turns out she's actually running a high fever.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: While she can be aggressive and insensitive, it's made clear that Kako takes her duties seriously.
- Serious Business: Curry is hers, as she researched during a week how to prepare the curry with seafood.
- For the field trip to the zoo, she makes sure her team visits every animals there.
- For Aru's birthday party, she makes and elaborated plan with Bocchi and friends in order to surprise Aru. It fails misserably.
- For to school field trip to kyoto, she request Bocchi to organize all sort of activities and places to go.
- In general, any sort of special events with her pairs are hers.
- Shadow Archetype: She's one to Nako. Both of them have their reasons for not making friends, Kako due to being abandoned by her friend in primary school and Nako due to changing schools often. However, whilst Nako's outlook is a resigned acceptance of her inevitable departure, Kako willingly distanced herself from the class despite not needing to do so. Nako herself is aware of this, and cites it in Episode 8 as the reason why she believes Bocchi has a chance of befriending Kako.Nako: Because it's lonely being all by yourself, without any friends.
- The Social Darwinist: Believes that having friends makes one weak, so she desires to be as perfect as she possibly can.
- Sixth Ranger: She meets Bocchi in chapter 15, slightly later than Nako, Aru, and Sotoka, but unlike other classmates, actually becomes part of their inner circle, being in the same group as them for class events and field trips, albeit under the guise of being The Rival to Bocchi. By chapter 72, she officially becomes Bocchi's friend instead, and cements her status as one of Bocchi's closest friends alongside the other three.
- Sour Outside, Sad Inside: She adopted her current persona after her friend in primary school abandoned her for an unspecified reason, so that she will Never Be Hurt Again.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Claims she meant to keep the DVD she was going to give to Bocchi, because she didn't really want to lend it to her, and definitely not because she forgot to put it back in its case.
- Took a Level in Kindness: After officially befriending Bocchi and joining her circle of close friends, Kako becomes a much kinder person. Although her rule-stickler attitude is still present, her harsher tendencies and Social Darwinist attitude are all but gone.
- Trademark Favorite Food: She really loves her curry. So much so, in fact, she takes it upon herself to make a guidebook on how to make seafood curry in Episode 9.
- Tsundere: She clearly enjoys talking to Bocchi, but refuses to admit it to herself and declares herself as Bocchi's rival instead.
- When She Smiles: Especially when it manifests from eating curry.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Chapter 55 reveals she has an intense fear of dogs.
- You Keep Telling Yourself That: Even though she states that she doesn't want to make friends, Kako is shown to be more than flattered at Bocchi's interest towards becoming friends with her.
Yawara Kai
Voiced by: Konomi Kohara
Bocchi's childhood friend, and her only friend until they were accepted to different middle schools. She breaks off her friendship with Bocchi, telling her that they can only become friends again if Bocchi befriends her entire class.- Cloudcuckoolander: Once made Bocchi promise that she would allow her to live with her when she became a landlord.
- Could Say It, But...: A variation. In the webcomic edition, as Bocchi's walking away, Kai "talks to herself" while Bocchi is in earshot to explain why she wanted Bocchi to befriend her entire class without breaking the terms of her self-imposed isolation from Bocchi.
- Cruel to Be Kind: She breaks up her friendship with Bocchi unless she can befriend all her classmates before they graduate from middle school. Bocchi doesn't take it well at first, but Kai also knew how shy she was, and didn't want Bocchi being completely alone and depressed at her new school. Later Bocchi has a chance encounter with her again at a karaoke bar, and Kai forces herself to act cold towards her. Afterwards she ends up crying outside, happy to see Bocchi making progress on her friendship quest.
- Didn't Think This Through: Episode 7 implies that she didn't completely think it through when she broke up with Bocchi, and fears that Bocchi has come to hate her.
- Hidden Purpose Test: She breaks off with Bocchi because they're going to different middle schools, so she forces Bocchi to make friends with an ultimatum because she knows that she would not make an effort otherwise.
- Idiot Hair: Has one, and seems to be at the same level of thinking Bocchi is. While at karaoke, Bocchi notices the ahoge above the door to their room, and immediately recognizes Kai.
- Chapter 60 reveals she can use it to receive transmissions from Bocchi.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- As cruel and arguably unfair as her ultimatum to Bocchi is, it's also justified, since Bocchi needs to stop taking her Only Friend for granted and learn how to make new friends. Bocchi seems to get the point, as after spending part of the first episode trying to exploit loopholes in the promise, she ultimately makes an honest effort to make new friends.
- Kai is further vindicated in Chapter 85, when Bocchi learns that she has the opportunity to do a referral application to her high school of choice, which has a greater chance of being accepted but places more emphasis on the interview. This is a problem for Bocchi, since despite her excellent grades, she was too scared to do the interview for Kai's middle school, which was the only reason she couldn't get in (and thus why Kai made her befriend her entire class). Nako, who remembers hearing about Bocchi's middle school interview, says that Bocchi needs to be able to rise to the occasion. Bocchi agrees, then prepares for the interview.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is derived from yawarakai (soft). This makes the title of Episode 7 a Double-Meaning Title- "Yawarakai Namida" either means "Gentle Tears" or "Kai Yawara's Tears."
- Only Friend: She was Bocchi's until middle school, and she very much wants to change that. This is what prompts her to sever ties with Bocchi and challenge her to make friends with her classmates.
- Sailor Fuku: She wears one for her school.
- Stress Vomit: Is prone to this, much like Bocchi.
- Tender Tears: When she runs into Bocchi at the karaoke bar, she's so glad that Bocchi made friends that upon returning to the reserved room, she breaks down in tears.
Sakura Dai Ni's Class 1-1
Oshie Teruyo
Voiced by: Minami Takahashi
The homeroom teacher of Bocchi's class. She gets nervous easily, and is afraid of Nako.- Character Development: She slowly becomes more assertive over the course of the manga, even having the courage to tell Nako that she thinks the latter doesn't have a good chance of succeeding in the entrance exam in Chapter 75.
- Don't Call Me "Sir": She's so frightened of Nako that she insists Nako can just call her by her last name without honorifics, even though Nako points out that it would be rude to address a teacher that way.
- Meaningful Name: Her name is derived from oshieteru yo (I'm teaching).
- Motherly Side Plait: she wears one.
- Out of Focus: She barely features between episode 6 and episode 12 of the anime, only returning for the final scene at the start of the second years.
- Sensei-chan: Most of the students call her Teru-chan. Nako is the only one who doesn't, which makes Teruyo even more afraid of her. It's deconstructed during a fire drill, when Teruyo's students don't take her seriously (despite the fact that they're supposed to treat a drill like the real thing), and take the longest time to get out, resulting in one of Teruyo's colleagues scolding her.
- They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: She weakly insists that her students call her "Sensei" when they call her "Teru-chan."
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: While Bocchi practiced during the interview practice, trying to overcome her shyness during the entirety of the series, Teruyo tells her that it is fine to be nervous, since that would show how sincere she really is.
Classmates befriended during First Year.
Ojōsa Mayo
Voiced by: Saki Miyashita
A rich girl who decides to help Bocchi when she realized the school was going to have a class shuffling next semester.
- Friend to All Living Things: Invoked, when she sings with Bocchi and Yanai.
- Literal-Minded: Initially thought that she could literally take a printer when the girls take her to an arcade to take a picture of them.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Her parents work abroad and she decides to keep the school not having class shuffles a secret so she could be further useful to the girls.
- Meaningful Name: Derived from ojō-sama yo (is a rich young lady).
- Ojou Ringlets: As befitting a wealthy young lady.
- Prone to Tears: She cries often.
- Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Has very little sense of what things actually cost, believing that she could legitimately buy the school for 500 yen (roughly $5 US). The school store proprietor laughs and says that the school is more likely to be worth 10 billion yen ($100 million US).
- Shrinking Violet: She has the urge to feel needed by other people.
- Spoiled Sweet: She's had a sheltered and privileged upbringing, and is one of the nicest members of the cast.
- Stocking Filler: She wears garters as part of her Non-Uniform Uniform, which highlights her upbringing.
- Token Rich Student: While most of the cast seems at least moderately well-off, she's the only extremely wealthy student.
Kurie Ito
Voiced by: Honoka Kuroki
One of Bocchi's classmates, who is shy just like her.
- Bookworm: Her family runs a bookstore, and ever since she was little, she spent her time reading books.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Ito is a bit more self-consious than Bocchi. She mentions later that when Bocchi asked to her and Peko to be her friends, Ito thought Bocchi was just talking to Peko, only included her because she was next to her.
- Informed Attribute: In more than one occasion Ito mentions that she is shy to other classmates, while this is not given too much emphasis how much her shyness affects her.
- Last-Name Basis: Curiously enough, after getting to know Bocchi during the cooking class, she starts calling her "Hitori-chan," rather than "Bocchi-chan."
- Meaningful Name: Pronounced identically to the Japanese pronunciation of the word "create".
- Shrinking Violet: She is shy and gets nervous when speaking to other people, while not being the nervous trainwreck that is Bocchi.
- Those Two Girls: Often seen with Peko.
Onaka Peko
- Big Eater: She is often seen either eating or desiring to eat chips or sweets.
- Last-Name Basis: Curiously enough, after getting to know Bocchi during the cooking class, she starts calling her "Hitori-chan," rather than "Bocchi-chan."
- Meaningful Name: "Onaka peko" means "hungry" in Japanese.
- Satellite Character: She doesn't have her own focus chapter unlike all the other female classmates, and is only seen hanging out with Ito and occasionally other classmates.
- Sweet Tooth: She especially loved the pancakes with whipped cream that they made in cooking class with Bocchi.
- Those Two Girls: Often seen with Ito.
- Weight Woe: She express some worries about gaining weight.
Classmates befriended during Second Year.
Futago Nosaki and Futago Notsugi
Futago Nosaki (right) and Futago Notsugi (left).
Voiced by: Takako Tanaka (Nosaki) and Hiyori Kouno (Notsugi).
They are two twin sister that assits Bocchi's classroom, Nosaki been the first twin, and Notsugi being the second twin. Bocchi first met Nosaki along with Peko and Ito in the cooking class, while meeting Notsugi later in the story.- Expository Hairstyle Change: A temporary case. After their fight, Notsugi temporally changes her hairstyle to look like Nosaki's, showing her how much she loves and appreciates her.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Nosaki is the responsible sibling, while Botsugi is the foolish one.
- Genki Girl: Notsugi is described as the more energetic among the sisters.
- Hime Cut: both siblings have it.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: they can be distinguished by their hairstyle and clothes. Nosaki wears a Motherly Side Plait, a bang on her right side with a flower clip, while Notsugi has a girlish side ponytail with a bang on her left side with a star clip. While Nosaki is properly dressed and wearing her ribbon, Notsugi wears her jacket unbuttoned and doesn't wear her ribbon.
- Innocently Insensitive: Notsugi is this, as shown by her bluntly pointing out Mari's Improbable Hairstyle isn't quite as popular as she thinks it is.
- Meaningful Name: "Futago no saki" means "older twin" in Japanese, while "Futago no tsugi" means "younger twin".
- Sibling Seniority Squabble: one of the reasons why Nosaki and Notsugi argue with each other often.
- Twin Switch: They played each other in Chapter 74 during lunch time, but Hanako figured it out quickly.
- Twin Test: Downplayed. Bocchi does this as a form of self-imposed challenge, driven by it by Nako teasing her. Nonetheless, Bocchi succeeds thanks to their voices and the way they talk.
Minagawa Rau
Voiced by: Live Mukai
She is the most popular girl in Bocchi's classroom.- Dreadful Musician: she really likes to sing, but she is tone-deaf, as well as really loud, much to the dismay of her classmates. She is aware of this, yet she still loves to sing.
- Friendless Background: Downplayed. She didn't have any friends in elementary school apart from Kou, but that's because of her spending most of her time sleeping.
- Goggles Do Nothing: She always wears her eyepads over her head, even when she is not sleeping.
- Hidden Depths: Her goal is to make the classroom a fun place in hopes for her friend Kou returns to school.
- Sleepyhead: While she may be happy and cheerful when awake, she is prone to fall asleep, which is why she wears eyepads constantly. She stops wearing them in Chapter 74 after Kou comes back to school.
- Stepford Smiler: She act happy and cheerful, while seriously dealing with her best friend not going to school out of fear, but it's downplayed as her cheerfulness appears to be a genuine part of her personality.
Inakana Mari
- Embarrassment Plot: She dresses as a gyaru in order to appear more popular, has a facade on social networks were she pretends to have fulfilling social life, and is embarrassed by her own rural accent.
- Everybody Knew Already: Nako tells her thay everyone knew about her accent, sice everyone has been together for a year.
- Country Mouse: She tries to adjust to the city by trying to dress like a gyaru.
- Gyaru Girl: She dresses like a gyaru.
- Improbable Hairstyle: She has an exaggerated hairstyle based on her own ideas of popular hairstyles in the city, to which Notsugi points out that she's a little off in that regard.
- Meaningful Name: Her name come from "Inaka namari" which means "rural dialect".
- Shrinking Violet: As a result of her embarrasment for her accent.
Futō Kō
- Big Friendly Dog: Owns one, named Poseidon. He becomes a key factor to Bocchi befriending her.
- Does Not Like Spam: Rau mentions she doesn't like tomatoes. Becoming friends with Bocchi gives her the courage to finally overcome it in Chapter 74.
- The Ghost: She's never seen in the anime as a result of the anime not adapting her arc.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: Her hair covers her right eye, to highlight her shyness.
- Hikikomori: She is this as a result of a traumatic event at elementary school. See Noodle Incident.
- Noodle Incident: The reason she doesn't go to school anymore is because before entering junior highschool she forced herself to eat some tomatoes, vomiting as a result.
- Only Friend: She was this for Rau while in elementary school.
- Shrinking Violet: She is as shy and nervous as Bocchi, if not, even more.
Kawai Ino
Voiced by: Nana Harumura
The Representative of Bocchi's classroom.- Class Representative: This is her role in the class, though Aru always tries to compete with her for this position.
- Determinator: She is willing to win and be the best at everything she does.
- The Rival: To Aru, whenever the class representative elections are being held.
Himeji Yanai
Voiced by: Misaki Watada
- Chuunibyou: she has shades of this, as she admires fairy tale princesses and wants to embody her idea of one.
- Cool Crown: She wears a tiara.
- Crowd Song: Bocchi starts one to help her feel more like a princess.
- Friend to All Living Things: deliverately Invoked and Subverted, as she tries it by singing next to an open window in the classroom in order to attract birds just like a princess does, but it doesn't work.
- I Just Want to Be Special: She wants to be a princess, despite her name being a pun on "not a princess" note in Japanese.
- Shrinking Violet: She is shy just like Ito and Bocchi, which she mentions to Ito when they were entering the classroom for the very first time. However, she averts this once she starts singing.
Omoi Kakeru
- Emotionless Girl: Has a perpetual blank look on her face, which adds to her mysterious nature.
- Gratuitous English: Speaks in English for her transmissions, as she believes English is easier for the aliens to understand.
- In the Hood: Wears a grey hoodie; she pulls up the hood whenever she starts a transmission.
- Talking to the Dead: The reason why she wants to talk to aliens is that she believes they can talk to her deceased mother.
Classmates befriended during Third Year
Yamada Hanako
Voiced by: Rika Nagae
She is a friend of Aru that participates in the tennis club.- The Ditz: Easily believes Aru when the latter, accidentally wearing a primary school uniform, claims she's her own younger sister.
- Final Boss: She's the final classmate Bocchi has to befriend, with the narration even using the term to describe her.
- Living Prop: Despite being introduced early in the story, she mostly appears as a background characters, in order to show how much progress Bocchi has yet to achieve in order to interact normally with strangers.
- I Just Want My Beloved to Be Happy: A non-romantic example. When Bocchi finally decided to chat with her after three whole years, Hanako entrust her to take care of Aru during High School, as she know the later can be, in her own words, "pretty absent-minded".
- Meaningful Name: Double Subverted, as she is the only one of Bocchi's classmates with a normal name, but it's a ridiculously average name that emphasises how normal she is.
- Mr. Smith: Her name is the Japanese equivalent of Jane Doe.
- Ordinary High-School Student: Aru describes her as the most normal girl you can ever find around.
Souda Genki
- Early-Bird Cameo: Souda Genki can be seen on chapter 13.5 as Bocchi tries to see her assigned classroom and its list of classmates.
- Genki Girl: Though she quickly deflates whenever she gets yelled at.
Ikena Iko
- Mad Scientist: Wants to extract Genki's blood and transfuse it to everyone, so that everyone can become energetic too.
- Labcoat of Science and Medicine: Always seen wearing one.
- Troll: Steals Kinshi Sugiya's glasses in their joint birthday celebration post on Katsuwo's Twitter.
Otokoga Raku
- One of the Boys: She's friends with all the boys in the class and introduces them to Bocchi, effectively allowing her to befriend them in one go.
Male Classmates
- Blind Without 'Em: Kinshi Sugiya is severely nearsighted. When Iko steals his glasses in their birthday celebration post on Twitter, he's shown to not be able to recognize Bocchi even though she's standing right in front of him.
- Big Man on Campus: Tokui Banto, being officially 175 cm tall, is easily the tallest classmate on Bocchi's class.
- Cannot Talk to Women: Kyou Fujiyoshi is visibly nervous every time he talks to girls, such as when he greets Bocchi.
- Early-Bird Cameo:
- Houmu Ran is the male classmate Aru runs into when she runs away from Bocchi and Nako in Episode 2 (Chapter 5 of the manga).
- Kinshi Sugiya can be seen on chapter 13.5 as Bocchi tries to see her assigned classroom and its list of classmates.
- Eyes Always Shut: Ooichi Shiki's eyes are always shut, and he's a Perpetual Smiler.
- Living Prop: With the exception of Suto Reito, who has a romantic subplot with Raku in the latter's introductory chapter, none of them have anything more than a face and a Punny Name.
- Love Confession: Suto Reito is introduced giving one to Raku.
- Non-Standard Character Design: Tamato Ruhito has a square jaw, tanned skin, big belly, wide frame and an overall well developed male physique.
- Younger Than He Looks: Tamato Ruhito take this to the extreme. He looks quite big and old for his age, to the point audience members might find hard to believe he is even part of Bocchi's class, if it weren't for the fact that his name is on the list and been seen occupying one of the class seats. The fact that he is not wearing a jacket from his male school uniform doesn't help.
Tsuyoshi Nozomu
- Boyish Short Hair: The narration notes that she has a boyish personality, which is emphasised by her short hair.
- Living Prop: We don't get to learn a lot about her other than her admiration for strong people.
Nega Majime
- Huge Schoolgirl: Rather tall and looks very mature for her age.
- Gyaru Girl: Her hair's dyed blonde and she wears hoop earrings. Her personality averts this, however.
- Punny Name: Her name means "diligent on the inside."
- Younger than She Looks: Her appearance resembles that of an adult woman more closely compared to the rest of her female classmates. She looks closer to her age in the anime (she's the one on the left)◊, suggesting she hit a growth spurt during the second year.
Other Characters
Nakanai Karane
Voiced by: Madoka Tomishiro
A graduating third-year who gets a corsage from Bocchi at the end of the latter's first year of middle school.
- Face of a Thug: Bocchi initially sees her as a scary person, but she returns Bocchi's nervous attempts at greeting her despite not needing to and acts pleasant towards her.
- Inelegant Blubbering: Her name is a pun on "I won't cry!" in Japanese, but a bonus panel in the manga shows she does exactly that when she's called to the stage.
- Last Episode, New Character: She's introduced in the last episode of the anime.
- Last-Name Basis: Bocchi calls her "Nakanai-sempai," while one of Karane's classmates just calls her "Nakanai." She also uses Bocchi's surname, since they only meet once.
- Nice Girl: From what we see of her, she's pleasant to Bocchi, reassuring her that she'll enjoy her second year of middle school. Bocchi seems at least mildly relieved that she didn't get paired with someone scary.
Tatakudo Ramu and Hikibe Esu
Voiced by: Ryoko Maekawa (Ramu), Amane Makino (Esu)
Two of Kai's new friends and schoolmates.
- Nice Girl: The two of them, especially Ramu, were concerned about Kai hating herself for what she did to Bocchi, and continually reached out to her.
- Sailor Fuku: They wear this uniform, which is distinct from Bocchi's blazer-style uniform.
- Those Two Guys: They're frequently seen together, and almost always in Kai's company.
Nakanai Mirai
A first-year who gives Bocchi a corsage for her graduation.
- Ambiguously Related: She shares a surname with Karane, but the manga doesn't divulge what the relationship between the two is.
- Last Episode, New Character: She's introduced in the penultimate chapter of the manga.
- Punny Name: Her name means "a future without tears" in Japanese.
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Her interaction with Bocchi mirrors the latter's sole interaction with Karane, but with Mirai filling Bocchi's role.
