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Main Characters
Kyoko Hori
Kyoko Hori
Played by: Asami Seto (OVA), Haruka Tomatsu (JP, TV anime), Marisa Duran (EN), Mari Haruno (BR), Sayu Kubota (TV drama & film)
The female lead character. A popular girl with a tomboyish, violent streak, that at home, takes care of the house due to her parent's demanding job.
- Aborted Declaration of Love: Hori almost confesses to Miyamura that she likes him when they're casually comparing hand sizes. She ends up bailing out by telling him that she likes his hands.
- A-Cup Angst: Hori is conscious about being flat-chested and is jealous of her female friends for having busts larger than hers, particularly when Miyamura accidentally elbows her in the chest and thought he hit her ribs instead.
- Aggressive Submissive: Hori clearly wears the pants in the relationship, but she gets excited at the idea of Miyamura yelling at or hitting her. It's usually Played for Laughs.
- The Atoner: Downplayed. She helps out with student council duties despite not actually being a member to make up for all the times she bullied Sengoku when they were younger, though it doesn't keep her from messing with him from time to time.
- The Bully: Towards Sengoku. She's been giving him a hard time ever since they were kids.
- Calling Parents by Their Name: She always calls her father Kyosuke because she has absolutely zero respect for him.
- Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: The first time Miyamura shows Hori his tattoos, Hori didn't think much of it apart from being shocked at the tattoos themselves, but after Hori's feelings for him grow she starts to get embarrassed by the memory of it. Hori also has zero problems changing clothes in front of Sengoku, who she sees as little more than a wimpy younger brother. But when asked if she'd be okay stripping like that in front of Miyamura, Hori completely flips out, even though by this point in the story, she and Miyamura have already slept together.
- Casual Kink: Some time after they start having a sexual relationship Hori discovers that Miyamura acting like an abusive boyfriend turns her on. Though it's less about her being a masochist and more about the usually passive Miyamura being aggressive, with her noting if it's not specifically Miyamura treating her badly there's no point. note Hori also seems particularly insistent that when Miyamura treats her in such a way, they are doing it in public.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Oddly enough, while she does get jealous if she sees or just hears about Izumi being with another girl, she also doesn't like him getting too close to guys either, fearing that he might be Mistaken for Gay.
- Does Not Like Spam: Hori absolutely hates stew, but she makes it anyway because she knows Miyamura loves it.
- The Dreaded: Although she is popular, her friends - especially Sengoku - fear her for her temper and violent nature. Miyamura's former bullies also fear her after they tried bullying him in front of her.
- Dye Hard: In-Universe: Yoshikawa mentions in chapter 44 that Hori's hair is dyed.
- Dude Magnet: Over the course of the series, she's had no less than four boys in love with her — Miyamura, Tooru, Mizouchi, and maybe Tanihara. It helps that she's one of the popular girls in school.
- Flanderization: Hori's Clingy Jealous Girl tendencies gets heightened as the series goes along to the point where she gets hostile at Miyamura getting too close to his male friends as well.
- Informed Attractiveness: She's supposedly one of the hottest girls in her year, but cannot be recognized without makeup on and her usual hairstyle. She really doesn't look that much different in her on-off modes.
- Insane Troll Logic: After finding out that Izumi is getting along rather well with many of the male characters, including some who used to mistreat him in middle school, she starts freaking out and tells him if he falls for anyone besides her, it had better be a girl.
- House Wife: Called one and mistaken for one since she is the one that takes care of the house.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can be rude and condescending, but she can be a good friend.
- Like Brother and Sister: Hori and Sengoku have known each other since they were toddlers and their relationship is much like that of a younger brother with a bullying older sister (although they are the same age). They took baths together well into childhood, and Hori remains comfortable around Sengoku to the point she'll still change in front of him without a second thought.
- Like Parent, Like Child: Hori got her iron-like slaps from her mother. Her relationship with Sengoku also matches that of their fathers.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: To a degree with Miyamura. Hori is quite feminine, but has the more strong-willed personality compared to the mostly passive and meek Miyamura. She is also portrayed as being somewhat stronger and more prone to violence.
- Modesty Shorts: Hori wears red gym shorts underneath her school uniform.
- Nightmare Fetishist: Hori enjoys watching horror movies, much to Miyamura's reluctance.
- No Hero to His Valet: Hori doesn't understand why so many girls have the hots for the cool and refined Sengoku because she's known him since they were toddlers and can't see him as anything other than the Extreme Doormat cry-baby he used to be.
- No Listening Skills: Hori isn't a very attentive listener, something that brings trouble on numerous occasions.
- When she learns from Souta that Miyamura walked with a girl named Chika, she confronts him about it but doesn't listen to him explaining that he was simply carrying Chika because she twisted her leg and that she is Shindo's girlfriend. Instead, she throws books at him every time he opens his mouth and lefts in a huff.
- During their Fetishized Abuser charade, whenever she received harsh treatment from Miyamura, she is too atonished over it to listen to his complains that it leaves a bad impression of them on other people.
- Parental Abandonment: Downplayed. Hori and Souta's parents are in their lives and keep in contact, but they both work so much that they're rarely home and it falls on Hori to be the adult. Hori even notes that it's forcing Souta to grow up faster. Hori is shown to hold insecurities from being left alone so often while she was a child, resulting in her deliriously begging Miyamura not to leave her alone when she gets sick.
- Promotion to Parent: Also downplayed. Because her mother and father spend all their time working, Hori often has to take care of her younger brother.
- Relationship Upgrade: Has one with Izumi after several False Start attempts.
- Secret-Keeper: Hori keeps Miyamura's true self a secret from the others at school, that is, until after Miyamura gets an Important Haircut and starts to open up around everyone else. With that said, she is still the only one at school besides Ishikawa to know about his tattoos.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Hori is a House Wife in training that cooks and cleans, though she is sporty, loves horror movies, and is the Masculine Girl to Miyamura's Feminine Boy.
- Tsundere: A classic "sweet" type. Hori is normally quite nice, but she has a downright violent temper that can easily be provoked (especially if it's something involving Miyamura).
- Violently Protective Girlfriend: When some of Miyamura's middle school classmates meet him and put him down right in front of her, Hori looks ready to shiv them. She beats them up for it.
- Weight Woe: Hori and Miyamura are the same weight, which makes her incredibly self-conscious. One chapter was a Diet Episode where she tried too fast to lose weight, until Miyamura threatens to never bring her cake again.
Izumi Miyamura
Izumi Miyamura
Played by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (OVA), Kōki Uchiyama (JP, TV anime), Alejandro Saab (EN), Thiago Córdova (BR), Oji Suzuka (TV drama & film)
Click here to see him after chapter 25 (manga) / episode 5 (anime) / episode 4 (OVA)
The male lead of the manga. A lonely, gloomy boy with hidden tattoos and piercings.
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: It is noted by Hori that he pronounced Ishikawa as Ishikaa.
- Ambiguously Bi: Played for laughs early on in Miyamura's case. When he tries to help Ishikawa have a chance at getting together with Hori by praising him, Hori wonders why he won't date Tooru already. Miyamura is more bothered by the fact that Tooru and him don't have a lot in common rather than that they're both male.
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Inverted. Miyamura's confession is done ludicrously casually, in the middle of listing off to Hori various reminders before he leaves her house. Hori is left wondering for a moment if she heard him right.
- Apologizes a Lot: Miyamura worries a lot about offending or upsetting people around him and frequently bursts into apologies when he feels like he's done something wrong or otherwise ruined the mood.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He is the nicest guy in the cast aside from Yanagi, to the extent that changing his speaking habits to be a tad ruder reduces him to tears. When pushed, however, he is capable of attacking other guys in retaliation, as Toru and Sengoku can attest (Toru needled him too much, Sengoku unfairly laid blame on Hori for student council documents that went missing). This gets Played for Laughs when his middle school bullies see him act out Hori's Fetishized Abuser fantasies in public and they conclude that he is the more dangerous of the pair.
- Big Brother Instinct:
- Miyamura has this towards Sawada, standing up to bullies for her and scaring off guys who were harassing her.
- He more or less becomes accepted as Souta's surrogate big brother early on.
- Book Dumb: Miyamura is good at physical education and... nothing else. His grades are abysmal otherwise.
- Didn't Think This Through: Miyamura impulsively got a very conspicuous tattoo that runs down the side of his torso and part of his arm without thinking about how it could get him into trouble if the school found out. As a result he's forced to wear his winter uniforms all through summer to avoid it being found out.
- Death Glare: He's very intimidating when he wants to be, mostly towards people harassing his friends. Played for Laughs when he uses it as part of satisfying Hori's kink.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Used to sport these as a child, due to his isolation and loneliness.
- Dumber Than They Look: Hori is under the impression that Miyamura was smart because of his glasses, but it turns out that all of his grades (barring Phys Ed and Health class) are, to put it mildly, pitiful. And when his grades start improving, he switches over to contacts.
- Dynamic Entry: Gives a running slap to Shindou upon seeing him with Hori.
- Embarrassing Nickname: His childhood nickname of I-kun. Hori trolls him by having their friends call him it, and it is one of the few times he is enraged.
- Embarrassing Tattoo: He does like them, but he goes to great lengths to hide them to avoid any issue with the school or attention, due to Japanese stigma against tattoos, where they are associated with organized crime.
- Emo Teen: Basically went through a phase of this, and is still on the tail end of it at the beginning of the story. He endured being ostracized by his classmates who called him 'weird' and 'gloomy', and his long hair, self-inflicted piercings, and tattoos all were part of his coping strategy.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Miyamura is described to have a beautiful, feminine face. One of his male classmates, Watabe, acts like a Stalker with a Crush around him.
- Fetishized Abuser: Invoked. Hori wants Miyamura to rough her up from time-to-time and gets excited when he hits or insults her, though he is generally uncomfortable about it.
- Freaky Fashion, Mild Mind: With his piercings and tattoos, in casual clothes he has a rather punkish, though still pretty appearance: Despite that, he is a Sweet Baker and all around Nice Guy.
- Gender-Blender Name: Hori notes that Izumi is a feminine sounding name. Izumi is, in fact, a unisex name.
- The Glasses Gotta Go: Miyamura cuts his hair and stops wearing his glasses from Chapter 26 onwards. Afterwards, he's gotten a lot of female attention.
- Good Is Dumb: Miyamura is very kind, but he's also airheaded. In chapter 115, Sengoku admits he wants to be as dumb as Miyamura just so he could get along with Yanagi, who he feels is attracted to dumb people.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: Miyamura gets a haircut shortly after his relationship with Hori goes public, doing it in hopes that she and their friends won't be teased for being around him (as his long, unkept hair that hung in his face was one of the reasons people thought he was 'weird'). As a result, he becomes more popular and gets attention from both girls and boys, much to Hori's (brief) annoyance.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: Miyamura has very low self-esteem stemming from a lonely, bullied childhood. At school he often acts like he views himself as a waste of space or that he's inconveniencing those around him. Even after he started hanging out with Hori's friends he wasn't sure if he was actually part of their group and was surprised when he realized they really were naturally hanging around him.
- Insecure Love Interest: Coupled with above, Miyamura couldn't believe that someone like Hori would ever be interested him, and for awhile, immediately would shoot the notion down when asked. He had trouble even accepting that she liked him as a friend. He eventually outgrows this once he's able to muster a confession and he and Hori start dating.
- Innocent Fanservice Guy: Subverted. Miyamura is very conscious of the fact he might get in trouble if people at school see his tattoos so he goes to great lengths to hide them, including wearing his winter uniforms in the summer. However, for people who know about the tattoos, he will readily strip down without a second thought if they ask to see them. Hori finds his nonchalance around this slightly unnerving.
- Jerkass to One: He's generally a Nice Guy and even manages to befriend people he initially didn't get along with, but he's extremely vitriolic towards his Shindou, his friend from middle school.
- Loners Are Freaks: In the beginning, Miyamura had no friends and was always alone, with Hori's friends constantly pointing out how creepy he seemed. After he and Hori become friends, he slowly becomes part of her friend group.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Miyamura has long hair that hides his beautiful face.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: While he's not particularly feminine, he's a better cook, and more image-conscious, mild-mannered, and gentle than his iron-willed girlfriend. He also can't stand horror films while Hori loves them.
- Mistaken for Pedophile: In chapter 62, Miyamura and Ishikawa visit Sengoku's house, where they look through his embarrassing childhood photos. When Miyamura comes across a photo of Hori as a naked toddler, he immediately shuts the album. Ishikawa and Sengoku call him out for being a lolicon after checking which photo he looked at.
- Rage Breaking Point: Miyamura is usually very mild-mannered and polite, almost to a fault. When he gets angry though, it's like flipping a switch and he can become scary and violent.
- Secret-Keeper: He keeps Hori's home life a secret from her friends at school.
- Self-Harm: He got his numerous piercings by doing them himself, using it as a form of alleviating stress and frustration from his lonely childhood. When depicting his getting the piercings in the first OVA, special emphasis is put on how his skin bruised and bled right after a flashback of kid Miyamura feeling left out in school. This is repeated in the tv anime adaptation. There's mild implication he got his tattoos for the same reason. It's rather telling when some of his piercings start to close up due to him forgetting to maintain them, after his life has become occupied with a relatively wide circle of good relationships.
- Shrinking Violet: Miyamura is very awkward and self-conscious at school, seemingly trying to make himself as invisible as possible and avoid confrontation. Even outside of school, he's very polite and yeilding to most people around him. There are exceptions though, as he can become pretty explosive when genuinely pissed off (or if you're his middle school friend, Shindou). He outgrows this somewhat as he becomes more comfortable among Hori's established friend circle.
- Stronger Than They Look: Despite his rather frail appearance, Miyamura is noted as being more physically capable than he would let on. Chapter 12 even hilariously have him and Toru get into a fight off screen, and when the two appear Miyamura has a single bruise on his cheek while Toru's entire face got roughed up.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: The straight man to Shindou's wise guy routine.
- Sweet Baker: Miyamura is the son of a baker, and noted to be rather good at it himself, which gives Hori a bit of a complex that she can't compete with him in that area.
- Tranquil Fury: He goes into this when he confronts the student council for accusing Hori of screwing up when he knows that Remi is the one whom screwed up.
- Trauma Button: Group projects or being called weird triggers flashbacks to his younger school years when he was left out of group projects or bullied in the past.
- Tsundere: Miyamura's normally meek-but-friendly personality completely 180s and becomes a type-B when he's around his middle-school friend Shindou, whom he directs a raging "tsun-tsun" towards. This includes behaviors such as name-calling, threat-giving, hitting and kicking, and sometimes pretending he doesn't exist. In spite of that, Miyamura does seem to (begrudgingly) appreciate their relationship. Hori notes that Shindou is the only person Miyamura lets loose around to such a degree, which she feels jealous of.
Classmates
Toru Ishikawa
Toru Ishikawa
Played by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (OVA), Seiichirō Yamashita (JP, TV anime), Zeno Robinson (EN), Victor Moreno (BR), Jin Suzuki (TV drama & film)
A classmate of Hori and Miyamura. Although he started out with a crush on Hori, and by extension a rivalry with Miyamura, he quickly grows to become their friend, especially to Miyamura to whom he becomes a close confidant.
- A Day in the Limelight: Ishikawa stars in the bonus comics, where he has wild dreams of his friends as age-shifting catpeople (and in Yuki's case, mousegirls).
- Ambiguously Bi: Played for laughs. Ishikawa's in love with Hori at the start of the series, but Ishikawa quickly becomes buddy-buddy with Miyamura once the latter opens up to him and some of Toru's comments get misinterpreted. He thinks Miyamura has an attractive face, and claims that he thinks Pretty Boy Yanagi is attractive enough that he 'wouldn't be able to turn him down if he asked'.
- Broken Pedestal: Played for laughs. After getting over his feelings for Hori and her starts dating Miyamura, Ishikawa is somewhat disturbed at Hori’s excitement in having Miyamura yell at or hit her.
- Childhood Friends: With Iura, his best friend, who has been with him since elementary.
- Cuteness Proximity: Also counts as Ship Tease given the context: in one of Ishikawa's dreams, Yoshikawa (as a mouse) keeps chewing on furniture as well as (cat) Miyamura and Sengoku's tails. Ishikawa scolds her, and she ends up sulking. This causes Ishikawa to immediately forgive her and tell her that she can chew on all the tails she wants.
- Deadpan Snarker: Ishikawa is quick to point out the absurdities around him.
- Dogged Nice Guy: A Downplayed Trope, Ishikawa has the traditional trappings of one being a close male friend of Hori's who has been pining for her since before the start of the story. But then he actually does confess to her early on and gets shot down. The subsequent chapters see him getting over his hurt feelings and jealousy towards Miyamura, and he develops past this relatively quick.
- First-Name Basis: Aside from Miyamura, who found it embarrassing, all his friends call him Toru.
- Hollywood Homely: This gets invoked in Yanagi's introduction chapter, as Yuki pleads for Ishikawa to be her pretend boyfriend so she can turn down Yanagi easier. When the group meets Yanagi, everyone, including Ishikawa himself cannot believe that Yuki would turn down a hottie like Yanagi in favor of someone "plain-looking" like Ishikawa. This sentiment seems largely limited to just this specific chapter, however, as Sakura has a crush on him and a future Valentine's Day chapter has Honoka speculating that her classmate may also have a crush on him because she reasons Ishikawa seems like the type who would be popular with the younger girls in her grade.
- Hunk: In contrast to Miyamura's slender, pretty boy looks, Ishikawa is noted for being tall and well-built.
- In-Series Nickname: Miyamura calls Ishikawa "Ishikaa-kun".
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Ishikawa eventually gives up on Hori after finding out she likes Miyamura.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: In the original webcomic, there's one chapter where Ishikawa dreams of choking Miyamura to death out of jealousy. This chapter was not adapted to Horimiya.
- Only Sane Man: Whenever Ishikawa hangs out with the group, he's usually the most level-headed and often calls out Miyamura's antics.
- Second Love: In the beginning, Ishikawa had a crush on Hori. In the later parts of the series, he seems to have lost romantic interest in her entirely after finding out her feelings for Miyamura and her rather sadistic personality. By then, he seems to have developed an interest in Yuki, though he has yet to admit it to her.
- Secret-Keeper: Ishikawa's the only person besides Hori to know that Miyamura has tattoos on his body, which leads him often having to create excuses to convince others to let Miyamura wear long sleeves. In later chapters, he deliberately trolls Miyamura by making up something incredibly outlandish (a common one being that Miyamura is menstruating), which Iura and Sengoku immediately believe.
- Secretly Wealthy: Ishikawa's family is pretty well off, which Yoshikawa discovers when she visits his house for the first time.
- Team Dad: Whenever the boys are messing around, Ishikawa's the one to bring them back to reality. He also acts in the "dad" role during the Meowmura extra comics, where he takes care of cat depictions of Miyamura, Sengoku, and Hori in his dreams. He uses those experiences in real life, notably stopping an argument between the latter two by bopping them on the head.
Yuki Yoshikawa
Yuki Yoshikawa
Played by: Kana Ueda (OVA), Yurie Kozakai (JP, TV anime), Anairis Quiñones (EN), Luana Stteger (BR), Rion Okamoto (TV drama & film)
Hori's best friend. A friendly, happy girl.
- Alliterative Name: Yuki Yoshikawa.
- Cannot Spit It Out: From childhood, Yoshikawa is unable to say what she wants until it is too late, especially regarding her crush on Ishikawa. It's something her sister calls her out on.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Can act this was towards Toru. Even when she learns that he stood in front of a girl on the train so that she could fix her skirt without anyone creeping on her, her first reaction was to pout and act suspicious.
- Genki Girl: Her behavior is bubbly and ditzy, though she does hide behind Stepford Smiler behavior when she is upset.
- Good Is Dumb: Yuki is a bright Genki Girl, but she is also a little ditzy. In one chapter, Sengoku suspects that Yanagi is attracted to her because he likes her airheaded personality.
- Loves My Alter Ego: Yuki initially develops a crush on Miyamura when she sees him outside of his glasses and school uniform. To protect his and Hori's secret, Miyamura pretends that he is Konoha, Hori's cousin. Yuki eventually gets over her crush when she discovers Konoha is Miyamura after Miyamura gets his hair cut.
- Promoted to Love Interest: Inverted. Her crush on "Konoha" goes completely unmentioned in the anime.
- Stepford Smiler: Hori picks up that she hides her sadness behind her smile and gets even peppier the sadder she is, especially when she has her heart broken. She also appears to have an inferiority complex, thinking of herself as pathetic and commenting how Toru is even nice to someone like her.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Remi calls her out for pretending that she and Toru were dating so Sakura would give up on him, as at the time the latter girl was preparing to properly confess.
Kakeru Sengoku
Kakeru Sengoku
Played by: Nobunaga Shimazaki (OVA), Nobuhiko Okamoto (JP, TV anime), Belsheber Rusape (EN), Bruno Marçal (BR), Akira Onodera (TV drama & film)
The student council president. Despite being looked up on, he is actually quite cowardly and weak, but tries to be stronger. He is a childhood friend and former bullying victim of Hori.
- Bookworm: Sengoku enjoys reading books, and it's because of this that led to his relationship with Remi.
- Brutal Honesty: Sengoku addresses his opinions honestly without shame. Sometimes his unfiltered thoughts can help his friends reconsider their actions, while other times, people like Sakura call him out for lacking tact.
- Butt-Monkey: Whenever the boys run into trouble, Sengoku is often the one who becomes the butt of the joke.
- Childhood Friends: With Hori since they were infants. Their fathers know each other and they've gone to the same schools their whole lives. Sengoku is generally treated as a like a bullied younger brother by Hori. Sengoku attempted to distance himself from her in high school but ultimately they're still quite close.
- Like Brother and Sister: As mentioned above, Sengoku and Hori grew up together and their relationship is very sibling-like, with Hori being like Sengoku's bullying older sister (though they are the same age). They took baths together and Hori remains comfortable enough to change clothes in his presence without batting an eye.
- Lethal Chef: Sengoku cannot cook to save his life and nearly ruins his group's assignment during home economics.
- Like Father, Like Son: Like his father Takeru, he ends up as the Student Council President and at the mercy of a Hori. His daughter partially breaks the cycle, as she's the first Sengoku child to have a friendly relationship with a Hori-blood child from the start.
- Lovable Coward: Remi acknowledges that Sengoku is easily scared and weak, but she appreciates the fact that he values their relationship enough to brave through things he hates.
- The Nicknamer: Sengoku gives Affectionate Nicknames to animals, such as calling dogs "Mr. Doggy."
- Not So Above It All: Despite Sengoku's straight-laced personality, he joins in on the boys' antics, especially when Ishikawa competes with him on which of them Yanagi (chapter 87) and Sawada (chapter 103) prefers.
- Outgrowing the Childish Name: Sengoku is Childhood Friends with Hori, though she bullied him for the majority of their years together. By the time they reach high school, Sengoku distanced himself from her and ordered her not to call him by his first name. However, when they inadvertently become involved again, it's noted that he still calls her by her Affectionate Nickname, "Kyo-chan."
- Secret Relationship: Sengoku keeps his relationship with Remi a secret from his straight-laced father, only because his father had bragged about how he was too busy focusing on his studies to have a girlfriend and missed the right time to bring it up to him.
- Tsundere: Around Hori's group, Sengoku is much more abrasive, especially when he competes with Ishikawa. However, he's quite gentle around Remi, Sakura, and animals.
- Weight Woe: Sengoku is described as being incredibly thin, and because of this, he is considerably conscious about his weight. For this reason, he refuses to participate in swimming activities in PE and also wears four layers of clothing to look bulkier.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He is terrified of bugs. So naturally, he's dating an entomophile.
Remi Ayasaki
Remi Ayasaki
Played by: Akiko Hasegawa (OVA), Mao Ichimichi (JP, TV anime), Jalitza Delgado (EN), Michelle Zampieri (BR), Aya Marsh (TV drama & film)
A cute and ditzy member of the student council, as well as Sengoku's girlfriend.
- Bookworm: Remi is really into books and it's what brought her and Sengoku together.
- The Cutie: Remi is described by her male classmates as being cute, and Iura also has a crush on her.
- Friend to Bugs: Much to Sengoku's displeasure, Remi loves insects and her room is full of preserved beetles. It's implied that she picked this up from her father.
- Girlish Pigtails: Remi keeps her hair up in two twintails.
- Lethal Chef: Remi is terrible at cooking and practically messes up the class assignment during home economics.
- The Nicknamer: She calls Hori "Kyon-Kyon" and Yanagi "Yanagin."
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: Played with. Remi appears to be one at first, but then she's revealed to be a bit bratty. Over the course of the story, she shows that she's incredibly loyal to her friends and in general a kind person.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She loves Sengoku because he didn't badmouth her and Sakura, he lends her books and because he's brave when he needs to be for her.
- Third-Person Person: To add onto Remi's cute image, she refers to herself in third person.
Sakura Kono
Sakura Kono
Played by: Yui Nomura (OVA), Reina Kondo (JP, TV anime), Celeste Perez (EN), Bruna Martins (BR), Sakura (TV drama & film)
One of the student council members, a level-headed and cool girl who acts as the most reliable among the friend group.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Has the largest chest out of the main cast, something Hori is incredibly jealous of.
- Generic Cuteness: A few characters comment on how Sakura supposedly isn't pretty. As described below, this is a view Sakura herself holds. The way she's drawn, however, she doesn't come across as any less attractive than the other female characters.
- I Am Not Pretty: Sakura has a complex of not being considered "cute" like Remi and her other female friends. A couple of onlookers have even gossiped about the weirdness over how someone as "plain-looking" as Sakura managed to surround herself with so many popular people. None of her friends actually view her this way however. Hori in particular is jealous of her figure.
- I Just Want to Be Beautiful: Yanagi calls Sakura "cool" for being the Team Mom of the group, but she'd rather be called "cute."
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: After Yuki claims she's dating Toru, Sakura gives him a Love Confession anyway, largely so she could let her feelings for him go.
- Love Hurts: Sakura develops a crush on Ishikawa and becomes upset when he rejects her. She seems to initially get over him, but when she sees him walking with Yuki below the student council office, she falls to her knees and breaks down in tears after Kakeru accidentally delays her from being able to leave quickly enough.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: Sakura is the most conservatively dressed in the group and wears tights underneath her skirt.
- The Reliable One: For the student council, she is the most hardworking and reliable of the student council.
- Team Mom:
- Sakura often keeps the group in line whenever they get into a fight.
- This causes a hilarious misunderstanding from onlookers as Sakura's mothering of the guys in the friend group makes her come off as an Otome protagonist with her own harem.
- Sweet Baker: Sakura is a good chef and baker - though not quite at Miyamura's level - baking cookies for Ishikawa in her attempts to woo him. She even helps Hori make Valentine's Chocolate for Miyamura.
Shu Iura
Shu Iura
Played by: Hiro Shimono (OVA), Daiki Yamashita (JP, TV anime), Y. Chang (EN), Carloz Magno (BR), Ryosuke Sota (TV drama & film)
An extremelly peppy and outgoing friend of Ishikawa.
- Advertised Extra: A victim of this with the anime adaptation. Thanks to the Adaptation Distillation nature of the anime, much of Iura's scenes in the first half got the axe. This is despite that he is still featured prominently in the key art with the rest of the cast.
- Aloof Older Brother: Believe it or not, his attitude with Motoko is way different. He only texts her when he needs to know where she is and otherwise only leaves short messages, and when he's at home he's quiet with her. It's to the point where Motoko isn't even sure he likes her.
- Big Brother Instinct: While he may be a pain in the butt to friends and family alike, Shu cannot stand it when his sister suffers. He wanted to raise hell when he heard that Motoko's choice of school was rejected, and immediately had her start tutoring with Hori so she could get the help she needed to raise her grades.
- Childhood Friends: With Ishikawa, as the pair have been friends since elementary school.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Most of the group finds Iura loud and annoying, especially Ishikawa and Sengoku.
- Good Is Dumb: Ishikawa and Sengoku consider Iura to be very simple-minded.
- Keet: Iura is very energetic and loud...except at home, where he acts much more subdued, even cold towards his sister.
- My Sister Is Off-Limits: Iura gets incredibly defensive when he finds out his younger sister, Motoko, has a crush on her classmate, Kitahara.
- No Indoor Voice: His constant yelling puts Sawada on edge, leading her to generally avoid him.
- Out of Focus: While he's considered one of the focus friends, he doesn't have that many stories attached to him in the main series. In fact, Iura had minimal appearances in the manga until around volume 10 or so.
- Strong Family Resemblance: He and his younger sister Motoko look very much alike. They apparently both take after their mother.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Despite the fact that nobody respects him or sees him as a viable romantic option, Iura eventually gets one admirer of the opposite sex—a classmate of Sawada's, who gives him his only chocolate for Valentine's Day. Kitahara at the very least finds him cool, too.
Honoka Sawada
Honoka Sawada
Played by: Kei Imoto (OVA), Momo Asakura (JP, TV anime), Apphia Yu (EN), Letícia Ida (BR)
A second year student and Miyamura's neighbor with a crush on Hori. Sawada gets into conflict with Miyamura often though she ends up joining his friend group.
- Big Brother Worship: Flashbacks show that Sawada was attached to her older brother and misses him after he dies.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Sawada adores Hori a lot and often competes with Miyamura for her attention.
- Death Glare: Gives Miyamura a pretty impressive one before she's properly introduced.
- Does Not Like Men: She suffers from androphobia, though she was quite close to her older brother when he was alive (and later with Miyamura, who she comes to see as a Replacement Goldfish).
- Early-Bird Cameo: She is briefly seen in episode 6 when news of Miyuamura and Hori dating starts spreading through student body, before she's properly introduced later in the episode.
- Hidden Depths: Related to her seeing Miyamura like a surrogate big brother, despite the fact that the two always bicker, when she talks about the hierarchy of guys she can actually get along with, she ranks Miyamura at the top.
- Incompatible Orientation: She has a huge crush on Hori, who is heterosexual and dating Miyamura.
- Like Brother and Sister: Sawada's relationship with Miyamura slowly evolves into this type of dynamic. Miyamura ends up reminding her a lot of her late brother. To the point where even Hori, who is usually notoriously a Clingy Jealous Girl, was not bothered at all when she learned that the two spent the night together once.
Akane Yanagi
Akane Yanagi
Played by: Jun Fukuyama (JP, TV anime), Rihito Itagaki (TV drama & film), Johnny Yong Bosch (EN), José Leonardo (BR)
A third year from class 6 with good looks but very poor eyesight. He has a crush on Yuki, but is turned down by her for being too cool for her.
- Affectionate Nickname: Remi calls him "Yanagin".
- Birds of a Feather: Later in the series, Yanagi ends up developing a close friendship with Sakura due to their shared interest in manga. They even wind up being featured on a volume cover of the manga, which gave some fans the impression that a relationship between the two might develop. They ultimately are just platonic friends.
- Blind Without 'Em: Yanagi has extremely poor eyesight. He also keeps breaking his glasses or losing his contact lenses by accident.
- Even the Guys Want Him: All the boys in the group consider Yanagi to be incredibly handsome and want to be friends with him. Ishikawa basically admits he wouldn't be able to turn Yanagi down if he asked him out.
- First-Name Basis: Hori, Miyamura, Ishikawa, and Sengoku want to be friends with him and be on first name basis.
- Informed Attractiveness: In a Cast Full of Pretty Boys, Yanagi frequently gets pointed out as being the most attractive of all the males.
- Loved by All: Even for a story where everyone is more or less friends and gets along, Yanagi is someone everyone really wants to become closer with and go the extra mile to try to be considered a friend by him.
- Not a Morning Person: Yanagi finds it difficult to wake up in the morning because he often shuts off his alarm clock when it rings and goes right back to bed.
- Obliviously Beautiful: While he's considered the most attractive guy of the cast, he thinks Ishikawa (who is considered relatively plain-looking in comparison by most of the cast, including Ishikawa himself) is more cool and attractive than him.
- He also believes that glasses don't suit him, while Sakura thinks he looks good in every single pair he tries on.
- One of the Girls: Yanagi is considered this in the main friend group. The girls more or less see him as "not a man" in comparison to the rest of the boys they hang out with, in the sense that he's more innocent than they are.
- Settle for Sibling: Implied in the original webcomic and the manga. Yanagi ends up spending more time with Yuki's older sister (on her insistence, admittedly), to the point where even Yuki thinks there's something going on between them. In the manga, he can be seen going on a Christmas date with her.
- What Does He See in Her?: Everyone has a hard time believing that he is the one who confessed to Yuki, and she is the one who turned him down.
Friends and Family
Hori Family
Souta Hori
- Voiced by: Yumiko Kobayashi (OVA), Yuka Terasaki (JP, TV Anime), Emily Fajardo (EN), Nicolas Mattos (BR)
Click here to see him as a teen
Kyoko's little brother.
- Berserk Button: He may have his own minor grievances with Yuna, but other people badmouthing her puts him into a fighting mood.
- Big Brother Worship: Souta absolutely adores Miyamura and a big contributing factor of Miyamura starting to spend more time with Hori at their house is because Souta wants to play with him. Gets invoked when the Hori family sees the report wrote for a class project about one of his family members, and Souta decides to only write about Miyamura.
- Cheerful Child: A cute and cheerful first grader.
- Patient Childhood Love Interest: His relationship with Yuna takes this turn after puberty hits. While it's obvious to everyone that he's got a crush on her, he says very little about it until it can't be avoided anymore.
- Token Mini-Moe: For the longest time, Souta was the only little kid in the series, up until Yuna was introduced. He still holds primary duty of being the cute, impressionable child, and in the anime is the only child due to Yuna's absence.
Kyousuke Hori
- Voiced by: Daisuke Ono (JP, TV anime), Bill Butts (EN), Nestor Chiesse (BR)
Kyoko's father.
- Bumbling Dad: A mess that acts less mature than his teenage daughter, though he is busy working a lot too. His children offer him no respect at all.
- Butt-Monkey: He is often purposely ignored by his own family, such as claiming they don't have a spot for him at the dinner table, or enough food, or enough utensils for him. By contrast, they always have a spot for Izumi.
- First-Name Basis: His own daughter calls him by his first name.
- Henpecked Husband: He has zero power as a husband and as a father in the Hori household. Even his own wife treats him as an afterthought.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: Hori's father looks like a bum with his baggy clothes and his bangs. But when he puts his hair up and wears proper clothes, he looks like a regular head-turner.
- I Always Wanted to Say That: He always wanted to say his daughter was off limits at least once in his life, but he actually doesn't mind Kyoko and Izumi together.
- In Love with Your Carnage: A G-rated verson. Seeing Yuriko stand up for herself by slapping her bully right after she told Kyousuke to stand down was what made him decide that she was "the one."
- Ladykiller in Love: He was known for being a serial dater in high school, but after he spent time with Yuriko he quickly decided she was "the one" for him.
Yuriko Hori (née Koyonaga)
- Voiced by: Ai Kayano (JP, TV anime), Marissa Lenti (EN), Maíra Góes (BR)
Kyoko's mother.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Although she is generally a nice person, she is more than capable to stand up for herself, like when she slaps a younger female student for harassing her.
- Exact Words: During their high school years, she told Kyousuke that a man must never raise his hand against a woman...moments before she gives a Bitch Slap to the female student who was harassing her because, as a woman, it is alright for her to do so.
- Eyes Always Closed: She does does open her eyes in her introduction chapter and whenever she's shocked or acting motherly, but otherwise they're kept shut.
- One-Note Cook: Yuriko only ever cooks curry, much to her daughter's chagrin.
- Silk Hiding Steel: Normally one of the friendliest and sweetest people you can ever meet, but she won't hesitate to slap your cheek if you go too far, all while retaining her smile. This trait of hers is also what caused Kyousuke to pursue her in the first place.Kyousuke: "Even though she's as gentle as a flower... And a "lily" at that... She's got thorns."
Koichi Shindou
- Voiced by: Takashi Kondo (OVA), Taku Yashiro (JP, TV anime), Christopher Llewyn Ramirez (EN), Lipe Volpato (BR)
Miyamura's middle school friend.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: The original comics, the OVAs, and the Horimiya manga give Shindou orange edging towards gold hair. The Horimiya anime changes it to bright orange hair.
- Good Smoking, Evil Smoking: In the original webcomic, Shindou's a smoker. This gets excised in the manga remake.
- Held Back in School: He doesn't have a good track record in school, repeating his third high school year multiple times. The situation doesn't seem to get any better, given that he mentions that he'll have to repeat again at Christmas. It's suggested that his poor academic performance is part of the reason why Chika's parents despise him.
- Idiot Hair: Has a prominent cowlick, and Miyamura certainly thinks he's an idiot.
- Keet: Big time. His energetic, impulsive, and overtly friendly behavior is part of what Miyamura finds so annoying about him.
- Nice Guy: He's a pretty nice guy, is the first person to befriend Miyamura and stands up for him against Tanihara.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Neither of Chika's parents are on his side. They think he's a hoodlum, not helped by his smoking and repeating his last year of school, so they set up strict rules when Chika goes out with him.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Miyamura. Most of the time spent with him is them making fun of each other and Miyamura beating the everloving crap out of him, just as much as it's about them actually supporting each other.
Yuna Okuyama
Played by: Aoi Koga (JP, TV anime), Dani Chambers (EN)
Click here to see here as a teen
Souta's classmate and friend.
- Adaptational Late Appearance: She first shows up in chapter 2 of the manga, while in the anime she isn't seen until near the end of the series.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Eventually falls in love with Souta after hitting puberty. They begin going out in high school.
- Demoted to Extra: Outside of a few mentions by Souta, Yuna does not appear at all in the anime until Episode 12.
- Forehead of Doom: Her forehead is large, and it upsets her. She continues to have this insecurity even as a teenager.
Motoko Iura
- Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto (JP, TV anime), Emi Lo (EN), Nina Carvalho (BR)
Shu's sister.
- Affectionate Nickname: She gets the nickname "Moto" from Shu, and later Hori.
- Book Dumb: She's not doing well in school, but not for lack of trying. While she studies hard, it appears that she can't absorb the material correctly, leading to her poor performance and being practically laughed out after the teachers hear her choice of high school.
- Boyish Short Hair: She keeps her hair short because she doesn't like her curls.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: She studies so much that her textbooks are ragged, but her grades continue to be below average.
- Strong Family Resemblance: She and her older brother Shu look very much alike. They apparently both take after their mother.
Kitahara
Motoko's friend and secret crush. Admires Shu.
Miki Yoshikawa
- Voiced by: Atsumi Tanezaki (JP, TV anime), Alle Mims (EN)
Yuki's older sister.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: To Yuki when she's stayed home from school for several days because of her guilt, as well as her lifelong inability to be honest with what she wants.
- Settle for Sibling: Implied between her and Yanagi in the original webcomic and the manga. Yanagi ends up spending more time with Yuki's older sister (on her insistence, admittedly), to the point where even Yuki thinks there's something going on between them. In the manga, he can be seen going on a Christmas date with her.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Played for Laughs when she learns that Yuki turned Yanagi down.
The Next Generation
Kyouhei Miyamura
Kyoko and Izumi's son.Shizuru Sengoku
Kakeru and Remi's daughter.Other
Shin Yasuda
Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (JP, TV anime), Gabe Kunda (EN), Renato Soares (BR)
Class 3-1's handsome but highly perverted English teacher.
- Dirty Old Man: Downplayed in the sense that he isn't an elderly man and doesn't physically hit on his students, but otherwise Yasuda shows enough lust for the female populace of Katagiri to gain a reputation as a bit of a creep. A majority of his scenes either comprise of making excuses for Hori or another girl to take their clothes off or being tragically disrespected by his own class due to his reputation. In Chapter 40 of the manga, Miyamura and Sengoku openly question how he became a teacher in the first place and why he hasn't been caught.
- Shipper on Deck: Low-key for Hori and Miyamura, in spite of his lust for the former. At one point when Miyamura voiced his regret for going to Katagiri High (their swimming module would require him to reveal his tattoos, a big no-go), Yasuda is quick to remind him that he wouldn't have met Hori other otherwise.
Makio Tanihara
- Voiced by: Shoya Chiba (JP, TV anime), Kiba Walker (EN), Wirley Contaifer (BR)
One of Miyamura's former childhood bullies.
- The Atoner: Eventually he does feel bad about how he treated Miyamura and wants to make amends somehow, but he both doesn't know how to go about it and isn't sure if he should be forgiven.
- Karma Houdini: He never actually apologizes to Miyamura or makes any real effort to atone for the hell he put Miyamura through in middle school. He also never faced any comeuppance for letting the rabbits starve to death. The only punishment he gets is Hori beating him up for making fun of Miyamura when she's around.
- Jerkass: He's introduced insulting Miyamura behind his back in flashbacks, he let Miyamura be blamed for the rabbits starving to death (because he didn't feed them) and bullied him to the point that seeing him in the present causes Miyamura to shut down. He's not much better when they meet again in high school.
Mizouchi
- Voiced by: Haruki Ishiya (JP, TV anime), Mark Allen Jr (EN), Alex Minei (BR)
A guy who has a crush on Hori.
- Hopeless Suitor: Miyamura and Hori were dating well before he came along, so he had no chance. Miyamura confirms they wouldn't have worked out because Mizouchi wouldn't have been able to indulge Hori's Fetishized Abuser kink.
- Pet the Dog: He helps Miyamura find his phone, even though he hates him for being Hori's boyfriend.
