open/close all folders
General Tropes
Applying to all the main characters:
- Alphabetical Theme Naming: On his appearance on the show's online radio, Maruto Fumiaki revealed that each characters' name actually started with a letter from the English alphabet that was then converted to Kanji and then the kanji become the first, except in one special case the only, kanji of their name (with the exception of letter F and J since he couldn't find the matching kanji [and he forgot to mention the specific alphabet letter for the protag, Tomoya]. They did entertain the idea of introducing foreign character whose names will cover those two letters but nothing concrete has surface since).
- A : Ei : 英 : 英梨々 (Eriri)
- B : Bi : 美 : 美智留 (Michiru)
- C : Shi : 詩 : 詩羽 (Utaha)
- D : Di : 出 : 出海 (Izumi)
- E : I : 伊 : 伊織 (Iori)
- F : Skipped
- G : Ji : 時 : 時乃 (Tokino-Michiru's bandmate)
- H : Echi : 叡 : 叡智佳 (Echika-Michiru's bandmate)
- I : Ai : 藍 : 藍子 (Ranko-Michiru's bandmate)
- J : Skipped
- K : Kei : 恵 : 恵 : (Megumi)
- Cast Speciation: Every creator in the circle has their own creative ability which is used to create the galgame. Eriri has illustrating, Utaha has writing scenario and Michiru plays music. Tomoya picks up a book on computer coding so he can make the game itself. Megumi also does coding, but her primary role is to be the model for the game's main heroine, and she is also more sedate than the other members, especially Tomoya.
Tomoya Aki
Tomoya Aki
- Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka
- Big Brother Instinct: The way he encourages Izumi's doujin hobby and helps promote her at Comiket is very much like a supportive elder brother.
- Character Development:
- Goes from an overenthusiastic otaku who impulsively runs into making a visual novel, to a leader who gradually better understands what it takes to be a creator.
- He also studies computer coding so he can contribute something to the creative process beyond his "producer opinion".
- Childhood Friends: He's known Eriri and Michiru since they were very young. Eriri is the reason he is an otaku by her lending him a game. Izumi is a long time friend as well.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Tomoya gets rather upset when he sees Megumi walk into the restaurant he was working part time at in episode 4 with her male cousin. He even asks her to go on the shopping date instead of her cousin.
- The Determinator: Tomoya refuses to give up his idea of making a visual novel even after Eriri and Utaha both repeatedly state that his proposal for one isn't very good. When they subsequently note that his plan will require capital to realize, he proceeds to take multiple jobs in order to raise a minimum of 1,000,000 yen (About $9,000.). Michiru later points this trope out as to why Tomoya tends to be reliable even if he tends to slack off a lot.
- Famed In-Story:
- While not quite famous, he's unknowingly considered "one of the top three celebrities" at his school, with Megumi noting that his name is well known, partly due to him holding anime film screenings during the school festival, as well as having browbeaten the library administration into stocking light novels on the shelves.
- Outside of school, his Review Blog is so influential as to save a light novel series from commercial failure.
- Foil: To Akane. Tomoya is shown to be a Benevolent Boss who doesn't have a mean bone in his body to push his team past their limits and doesn't have any experience as a director or a producer, and in his first project, his team carried him to success. Akane, on the other hand, has years of experience, is one of the top producers in the business and knows how to press the right buttons to motivate people, but has absolutely no qualms about holding back her opinion and stating what she wants, whether it's giving the harshest criticism about their work, making them feel like shit and/or even saying exactly why they're not as good as they like to be, as long as it can produce better work for her.
- Hidden Depths: He initially appears to be an overly cheerful and oblivious otaku, but it turns out that his estrangement with Eriri affected him quite a bit. He also comes up with a successful elaborate plan to trick his otaku-hating cousin into performing an anime cover song while dressed as a cat maid (she was unknowingly already in a band of otaku).
- In-Series Nickname: He's called "Mr. Ethical" by Utaha, mostly because he acts Above the Influence, which annoys her since he's also Oblivious to Love. But it's also because he refused to be the first to read the final draft of her latest novel, shown in a Flash Back in episode 6. He states that he doesn't want to influence her work, and wants to see how she planned the story. She later vents at him because of this refusal, as it caused her a lot of headaches trying to write and rewrite in the hopes that he would like it.
- Occasionally, Utaha will switch it up with "Mr.Producer" when she wants to acknowledge him as the head of their circle, or "Mr. Protagonist".
- King Maker: While his own creator abilities are definitely iffy at best, he is very good at assisting other creators to achieve success. It was his blog that pushed Utaha's novels to the level of success they currently enjoy and it was also his intervention that enabled Izumi sell out all one hundred copies of her doujin at the summer Comiket. Quickly after becoming the manager for Icy Tail, he secured them their first live performance.
- Large Ham: Tomoya tends to get really excited and found of gesturing whenever he talks about anything otaku related, especially regarding his game.
- Nice Guy: Quirky as he is, he ultimately tries to be considerate of the people in his circle. This eventually becomes a problem, as his consideration for Eriri causes him to fail to motivate her.
- Oh, Crap!: He realizes how badly he hurt Megumi when he notices how much love she poured into their game and the tremendous amount of nuance she brought into the characters by adding expressions that changed with every single piece of dialogue. The sheer shame of the realization actually brings him to tears for not taking her feelings into consideration and failing to notice how much of herself she put into the game. She gave her all and Tomoya didn't even look her way for help...
- Oblivious to Love: Played with. Tomoya claims he's only interested in 2D girls. He rejected Utaha's open sexual interest and openly calls Eriri a Tsundere. In episode 12 he says he's not against 3D girls, but he still prefers 2D ones. This may have something to do with the fact that the first 3D girl he had feelings for publicly rejected and humiliated him.
- Opaque Nerd Glasses: Shows up often, especially when he's going on about otaku-related topics.
- Ordinary High-School Student: This is an aversion, as he is one of his school's "three stars" along with Eriri and Utaha for his work in getting the school library to carry light novels and for his anime film festivals. In the first episode, one of the students calls him a "big name blogger". The other two stars just shine a lot brighter than him.
- Otaku: Tomoya is a big one, and isn't ashamed of it either. He gets rather excited talking to Megumi about games, even though he claims he's not romantically interested in any girl aside from ones in video games. And it was his blog that caused Utaha's novel to become a hit with her publisher, allowing her to continue making a living from writing.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Compared to Utaha's writing talents, Eriri's drawing skill or Michiru's music, Tomoya is mostly just an ambitious otaku. This occasionally causes people to question his skills as a producer and leads to other rivals vying for their talents.
- Sacred First Kiss: Tomoya's first kiss is taken by Utaha.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: Tomoya does this from time to time, especially when he really gets into his otaku-related speeches.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Tomoya goes to take a shower and encounters Michiru, who is undressed after taking her shower. After Michiru leaves the bathroom, Tomoya does this. He also has a hilarious scream after Utaha sends him a picture of her taking a picture next to him in bed while he's sleeping to suggest they had sex, even though nothing actually happened at the end of episode 6 in season 1.
- Supporting Protagonist: Par for the course as a harem protagonist, most of the development is focused on the girls and their respective arcs. Although his desire to make a visual novel is the main plot of the series, much of the actual character development could be said to be focused on the heroines, specially Eriri and Megumi.
- This Loser Is You: He starts the series without many useful abilities and fully willing to pile on requests to his more talented circle members. He gradually grows into someone who respects their abilities and the actual stresses of being a creator, as well as picking up more abilities of his own
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Anytime Utaha calls him by his actual name, you can guess something has gone wrong.
Megumi Kato
Megumi Kato
- Voiced by: Kiyono Yasuno
- Audience Surrogate: Megumi would probably be the character closest to a real person, lacking the talents or enthusiasm of the rest of the circle. Essentially, she's a normal person dragged into the world of otaku and creators. She's not explicitly based upon any archetypes which frustrates Tomoya initially as she doesn't exhibit any heroine traits.
- Captain Obvious: Has a tendency to point out the obvious, often to highlight Tomoya's bizarre thought processes.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: In time, Megumi becomes the person in the circle who defuses Eriri and Utaha's tirades and seeks to keep their conversations civil.
- Deadpan Snarker: She pulls off the snark pretty well, thanks to her mostly straight-faced speaking.Tomoya: Maybe I'm being unreasonable. Maybe I'm being obnoxious. Maybe you're thinking, "What kind of idiot is this guy?"
Megumi: Um, I'm sorry. Leave off the "maybe". - Deuteragonist: The title character, the main heroine and the most prominent character after Tomoya. Her development into Tomoya's "main heroine" is the central arc in the series as well as her increasing contribution and loyalty to the circle.
- Emotionless Girl: Megumi seems to be this way, which frustrates Tomoya and especially Eriri who needs emotions for visual references. It's not that she never displays any emotions; it's just that she's not as expressive as the other girls.
- Extreme Doormat: She goes along with many of Tomoya's more outrageous demands without so much as an objection. However, this causes issues in episode 6 of season 2, when he does a variety of things on his own instead of asking for help.
- Fish out of Water: She has no experience in otaku culture, so she often ends up asking lots of questions when Tomoya shows her that stuff.
- Forgettable Character: Other characters will often forget about her presence.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Begins to hold some feelings of resentment toward Eriri, mostly due to her way of leaving the circle, but also due to the special treatment Tomoya gives her.
- Image Song: Called M♭ aka Megumi Flat, reflecting Megumi's boring personality. It's sung by Kiyono Yasuno, Megumi's voice actress. It plays on the third episode after Tomoya gave up on his dream and Megumi appears to cheer him up, while recreating the scene of their first meeting.. Season 2 give her two more songs, Eternal♭ and Glistering♭, both of them also performed by Yasuno.
- Important Hair Cut: Played for Laughs since her hair style changes are noted by Tomoya to be unnecessary changes to her character. Played straight at the end of part one where she cuts her long hair because "it makes her into a vindictive woman".
- The Heart: Megumi fills this role, holding the group together especially towards the end of the season. She later comments to Eriri that she's starting to respect Utaha's writing as a result of them working together on Tomoya's game.
- The Lancer: Eventually evolves into Tomoya's second by contrasting his exuberance and enthusiasm with a relatively down-to-earth approach. She initially doesn't have an explicit role in the circle other than being the model for the main heroine but grows to be more helpful as the series goes in. Around halfway through the series, she ends up being the only one of the initial three heroines who remains in the circle.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Because the main heroine of the game her circle is producing is basically her, the boundary between "heroine of the light novel" and "heroine of the game" can be blurry. She can invoke this when she needs to make a point that Tomoya-the-2D-Girl-Lover will definitely hear such as scolding him for getting jealous at her cousin, when his own is far more affectionate.
- Love Confession: Gets one from a random boy in episode 5 of season 2. Though they're too far away to be heard, Tomoya, Utaha, and Eriri are all watching from a distance, and it's obvious she turns him down when the boy dejectedly walks away. She finally gets one from Tomoya on Volume 12, as well as in the movie.
- Nice Girl: Despite her generic appearance and expressionless look, Megumi is a kind girl at heart who wants the best from her friends. This trope effectively makes her The Heart of the group.
- The Not-Love Interest: As Tomoya's inspiration for game-creating, the development of the relationship is one of the cores of the series despite not being explicitly romantic. This changes during the course of the story as her and Tomoya grew closer. Girls Side 3 reveals that Megumi had feelings for Tomoya since the first volume so she has been a love interest all the time.
- Not So Stoic: Completely opens up once Tomoya corners her, and spills out of her pent up frustrations.
- Plain Jane: How Megumi is viewed in-universe. Tomoya even says she's an ordinary girl that doesn't have any standout characteristics. Yet despite that, she inadvertently gives him his "Eureka!" Moment when he sees a white hat fly off her head after a gust of wind hits her on top of the hill while he was at the bottom.
- Ridiculously Average Guy: As mentioned by herself and the others. She doesn't have an outstanding personality, doesn't have a remarkable figure, doesn't have excellent grades, doesn't participate in any other after-school activities, and doesn't have many other friends.
- This is emphasized throughout the anime by shots that put her out-of-focus, to the point where even the background receives more attention.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: To a large degree. Megumi can go somewhere else or be present in a room for long periods of time before someone else notices. It usually gets to the point where the others tell her to dial down the stealth settings.
- Tender Tears: She actually cries when realizing that, for all her perceived normality, she has become used to her friends' idiosyncrasies and nuances that she can no longer function without them.
Eriri Spencer Sawamura
Eriri Spencer Sawamura
- Voiced by: Saori Onishi
- A-Cup Angst: She's pretty conscious about her chest, especially when she looks at others'. Utaha pokes fun at her a few times as a result, such as when she says Izumi, a middle schooler, has larger breasts.
- But Not Too Foreign: Eriri is half-British, and according to one of Tomoya's friends this is a trait of a "moe heroine".
- Character Tic: She usually yells Utaha's full name whenever Utaha really angers her.
- Childhood Friends: She's known Tomoya since they were very young, and have a shared otaku interest. It's because of this that she's absolutely enamored with the concept — her manga always pairs the main character and childhood friend together, and when playing visual novels, she always picks the childhood friend option.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: She gets pretty angry when someone else is getting intimate with Tomoya, especially Utaha.
- Closet Otaku: Because of an embarrassing incident when she was younger, she hides her otaku nature from the public.
- Covert Pervert: Eriri draws erotic images for her artist job, and tries to keep it secret from her regular school life.
- Cute Little Fang: Appears when she shows her true self. It adds to the cute front she puts up.
- Decoy Protagonist: She is the cover girl on the first volume and her name is right after Tomoya in the anime credits, giving the impression that she is the female lead and main heroine. She isn't, that role belongs to Megumi.
- Even though she never reaches the main heroine status, the trope gets subverted as the story progress and how her character is handled and developed. Eriri is the main driving force for the most of the plot key moments and the main source of conflict in the whole story. Girls Side 3 goes even further on revealing that Eriri is also the title character along with Megumi, and the main heroine in Utaha's eyes in a similar way how Megumi is to Tomoya.
"For Utaha, the person called Eriri Spencer Sawamura was… The greatest boring heroine… Nope, protagonist." - Delicate and Sickly: She often got sick when she was younger, hence why she was usually indoors reading manga, watching anime, or playing games with Tomoya.
- Freudian Excuse: Eriri's tendencies to favor the childhood friend romance option in games or anime stem from her being one towards Tomoya.
- Girlish Pigtails: It fits her tsundere personality well, especially given her fondness for "whipping" Tomoya with them.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Subverted. She looks and acts like a sweet, refined girl, but she's irritable and short-tempered on the inside.
- Image Song: Called Blooming Lily in reference of Eriri's creative circle Egoistic Lily. It's sung by Saori Onishi, Eriri's voice actress. It plays at the end of the ninth episode after the angsty discussion between Tomoya and Eriri, specially when Eriri herself decides that she will become Tomoya's "number one". Season 2 gives her another song shared with Utaha, DOUBLE RAINBOW DREAMS performed by both heroine's voice actresses.
- Jerkass Realization: Played for Drama. Season 2 reveals she still feels guilty for abandoning Tomoya back when they were children and now, she is abandoning him again to join Akane Kousaka's development group. Utaha comforts her a little saying that this time, she can at least share the guilt with her.
- Mixed Ancestry Is Attractive: She's half-Japanese and half-British, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and is considered one of the school's beauties.
- Never My Fault: She uses this a few times:
- She blames getting hit by a branch in episode 0 on Utaha. The latter states she did it to herself due to her attempt at a flashy entrance. Eriri counters that by stealing away Tomoya, Utaha caused the conditions for her to then hit her head.
- She says this to Tomoya in episode 9, during his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to her. He had good reason to be upset, but she still claims it wasn't her fault for throwing him under the bus like she did, and claims not being able to spend any more time with him hurt her as wellSubtext and she wanted to become a manga artist to get back at the people who separated them. Not that Tomoya cares, due to the stigma he earned from this incident, the years it took him to be able to talk to others again were her fault.
- Non-Uniform Uniform: During the winter months in school, Eriri always wears just a vest in place of the usual uniform jacket.
- Patient Childhood Love Interest: Eriri towards Tomoya, as they've known each other for at least ten years. Unfortunately she Cannot Spit It Out, and he's Oblivious to Love. Episode 9 also reveals he's quite upset at her for ignoring him after some classmates teased them about being in a relationship a few years back, further complicating any chance of a romance.They forgive each other later on.
- Proper Lady: She has a posh home life and so she presents in public as a sweet and refined girl, but both Tomoya and Utaha know the real her isn't like that at all. In episode 3 of season 1, Tomoya makes a contrast between that elegant image and what she is right now, a barefoot, track-suit-wearing rude girl drawing age rating 18+ illustrations.
- Tritagonist: The third most prominent character in the plot and the secondary heroine. Eriri is Tomoya's childhood friend and has had the longest and the deepest bond with him, specially in terms of otaku interests. Their relationship and their past conflicts are very important to the point of affecting them in the present and shaping each other's personalities. She is the driving force of most key elements shaping the plot, and the main source of conflict during the whole story. The anime covers her character arcs more widely than Utaha and Megumi, most noticeably in the first season. Surprisingly enough, Eriri is the character present in the cover of the first volume, which is an exclusive trait for the main heroine in Japanese media, part of the reason is that Eriri shares the title with Megumi.
- Respected by the Respected: Eriri and Utaha develop a great deal of respect for one another, being close to becoming Vitriolic Best Friends by virtue of their excellence at their respective crafts. They still have the tendency to throw barbs at each other, though.
- Tsundere: A classic harsh type. In episode 1, she gets frustrated at him and slaps him with her twintails after he talks about the erotic art she draws. She later goes to the AV room to meet up with him, but gives off a cold attitude when she enters, only to find Utaha in there instead of Tomoya. Utaha tend to mock her because of that, and even Tomoya calls her a "textbook Tsundere" as early as episode 3.
- Writer's Block: Suffers through this during the second half of season 2. She manages to create some great artwork, but gets sick in the process due to overexerting herself. Then suddenly she's unhappy with anything she draws, and drags her feet on getting something for Tomoya, who says she can take her time. She's broken out of this after Akane insults her and calls her work trash that anybody could do.
Utaha Kasumigaoka
Utaha Kasumigaoka
- Voiced by: Ai Kayano
- The Ace: She's the top student of her class and a successful author. Tomoya says she must have some superhuman ability.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Her eyes are brown in the light novel, and their color was changed to scarlet red in the anime adaptation.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Utaha has long black hair, is the oldest member of the cast, and acts cold and aloof most of the time.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Utaha was always the one who kept telling Tomoya that he could never succeed as a producer because he was too soft and wouldn't push anyone. This was one of the reasons that she went to Akane, who could provide her with that kind of motivation. Her editor then warns her that if she was going to work with Akane, then she must have a strong mental fortitude to deal with the latter's Brutal Honesty. Come Vol. 10 during the beach trip, she wasn't prepared, and Akane utterly destroys her with her brutal criticism, to the point that Utaha broke down crying and the beach trip had to end early.
- Big-Breast Pride: She's a believer in Buxom Beauty Standard and is proud of her own buxom figure, and often mocks and teases Eriri for being flat.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Did this in episode 2 and 9 of the anime, commenting on events that had transpired in the preceding episode.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: She has a large bust, which gets a lot of Male Gaze shots and even Tomoya seems to stare at her breasts at times, like when she used them as a Victoria's Secret Compartment, and Eriri is very envious of her buxom figure.
- Brainy Brunette: A brunette with long dark hair, she's known to be one of the smartest students in school.
- Brutal Honesty: She's brutally blunt and isn't afraid to show, both professionally (when she doesn't sugarcoat her criticism of Tomoya's proposals) and personally by her habit of pointing out people's flaws and shortcomings.
- Character Tic: She taps her foot when she's especially irritated.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Utaha is usually aloof, but gets pretty annoyed when someone else gets too close to Tomoya, especially Eriri.
- Closet Otaku: She doesn't mention her otaku nature to others.
- Cool Big Sis: One of her defining archetypes. She is the oldest member of the cast and tends to act as something of a mentor figure for Tomoya although she has her own quirks.
- Covert Pervert: In episode 9, right before Tomoya leaves his house to head out to Comiket, Utaha is seen sniffing his blanket and then cuddling it in his bedroom. To her classmates, she's just an Ice Queen and a top student, but she's secretly a successful romantic light novel writer and openly lusts after Tomoya.
- Deadpan Snarker: Utaha tends to do this when in Clingy Jealous Girl mode, such as when commenting on Michiru while she was on top of Tomoya and yelling at him.
- Decoy Protagonist: Similar to Eriri, Utaha was presented as one of the two main heroines, only to reveal that Megumi was the sole main heroine of the series.
- Demoted to Extra: Her prominence and relevance are noticeable reduced during the second half of the series, and she ends up being a support for both, Eriri and Megumi character development.
- First Kiss: Steals Tomoya's in the anime.
- The Gadfly: Utaha often says or does things to get a rise out of others. A spectacular instance is one on Tomoya at the end of episode 6. Shortly after she leaves the hotel room, she texts him a picture. Said picture is of the two of them seemingly naked in bed together, strongly suggesting that they had sex, even though they didn't. She then does it again in episode 4 of season 2, when she falls asleep on his bed, while only wearing an unbuttoned t-shirt, which she made sure was opened up when she laid down so he'd be exposed to seeing a lot of skin.
- He Is Not My Boyfriend: When Sonoko teases her about her growing feelings about Tomoya, Utaha vehemently denies having any.
- Master of the Mixed Message: She's often switching from either sincerely flirting with Tomoya or just acting like The Tease.
- Ms. Fanservice: She's often seen in states of undress, acts like The Tease, and gets a fair amount of Male Gaze shots.
- Not So Stoic: She's known to be aloof, cold and mild-mannered and most people find her an unapproachable person. But she's actually a Closet Otaku: who gets rather passionate about writting, and can become fairly emotional when she's jealous.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: Utaha tends to wear tights with her outfits, is the top student of her class, and doesn't get into trouble outside of Tomoya's circle.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Utaha doesn't seem to care about being lightly clothed around Tomoya.
- Signature Headgear: She has a white hairband that she's almost always wearing.
- Yandere: She is one mostly due to Tomoya's attitude towards her, as he refuses her advances because he thinks that she shouldn't compromise her artistry just for him. His unbending response makes her dub him "Mr. Ethical", all while she starts to act like The Tease just to titillate him.
- When she writes for the Yandere characters, she gets way too into it and even accidentally slips in "Mr. Ethical" when writing it. There are a few other glimpses of this as well, mostly Played for Laughs.
- Played up even more in the manga spinoff Koisuru Metronome where she tortures Tomoya for "associating with an older woman"(really the anime producer of her potential anime project).
Michiru Hyodo
Michiru Hyodo
- Voiced by: Sayuri Yahagi
- Clingy Jealous Girl: In episode 3 of season 2, she puts Tomoya in a headlock when she sees him nodding off at the foot of his bed, with Megumi sleeping in his bed after they pulled an all-nighter to implement Utaha's latest revisions. Though the two didn't do anything remotely romantic, Megumi in her half-asleep state gives some misleading replies when Michiru asks how long they've been this intimate with each other.
- Childhood Friends: She and Tomoya were born on the same day in the same hospital, and she's quite friendly to him. Utaha likes to tease Eriri over this, saying that Eriri's childhood friend status is a fraud because of it.
- Demoted to Extra: She only has 1 episode dedicated to her in season 2. The finale takes a crack a this, much to her displeasure.
- Fleeting Passionate Hobbies: Suffers from this. Tomoya points out in episode 10 that she joined various school clubs, but quit a short while after joining them. He also comments that she would have made it to regional competitions had she of stuck with any of them. This makes her commitment to her band exceptional because she has stuck with it for a full year.
- Jerkass She has a definite contrariness to her, like she is compelled to act against Tomoya's wishes. He doesn't want to look at her when she wears skimpy clothes? Leglock his neck. He tells her not to touch anything in his room? She throws all his stuff out the next day. He warns her against using her guitar's amp because it would bother the neighbors? She plugs it in while he's in the shower.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Outside her teasing and contrariness, she shows some virtues. These include thanking and apologizing to Tomoya after he sets up her band's first live gig and forgiving her bandmates about deceiving her on their otaku sides and the nature of the songs they played.
- Kissing Cousins: Though Tomoya has no romantic interest in Michiru, it's obvious that she likes him and wants a Relationship Upgrade.
- Lack of Empathy: After she redecorates Tomoya's room and tosses his stuff into a garage bag she has no idea why he is so upset. She also has trouble seeing eye-to-eye with her father, which is why she ranaway in episode 10.
- No Sense of Personal Space: Michiru seems to get awfully clingy to Tomoya at times, such as when she wraps her legs around his neck while on his bed, and orders him to look at her while he's trying his hardest not to be Distracted by the Sexy due to her skimpy outfit.
- The Runaway: Her proper introduction to the show is appearing in Tomoya's room and saying she's run away from home due to a fight with her father.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Michiru has no reservation about wearing little around Tomoya. She also has No Sense of Personal Space, often grabbing hold of Tomoya when she gets the opportunity.
- Shipper on Deck: Michiru offers to hook Tomoya up with one of the girls at her school in episode 10. He declines.
- The Tease: Her first scene had her goading Tomoya to appreciate her skimpy casual outfit, which showed off a lot, and that is just the first scene.. Whether she actually has feelings for him is kept somewhat ambiguous.
- Wrestler in All of Us:
- Michiru suplexes Tomoya into the lake in episode 0 after he walks towards her when she splashed water on him.
- In episode 12, Michiru again looks like she's about to give a Love Confession to him after her performance, then starts kneeling. However, she ends up putting him in a submission hold as payback for him not revealing all the details about her live gig, such as performing it while wearing a cat maid outfit.
- She puts Tomoya in a headlock in episode 3 of season 2 when she finds Megumi sleeping in his bed, with him nodding off at the foot of it, assuming that the two did kinky things together.
- You Are What You Hate: Has a deep dislike for otakus, but in episode 12 she finds out that her band sings exclusively anime cover songs.
Izumi Hashima
Izumi Hashima
- Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Utaha invokes this trope towards Eriri using Izumi as an example. And Izumi certainly presses her chest against Tomoya rather hard when hugging him.
- Cannot Spit It Out: In the second season, she shows more obvious signs that she likes Tomoya. But for various reasons, she doesn't tell him, though it doesn't help that Eriri is usually around them, poking at Tomoya any time he praises Izumi.
- Children Are Innocent: Utaha wonders if Tomoya "tainted" her by exposing her to dating sim games, and turned her into an Otaku as a result.
- Girlish Pigtails: Izumi has this hairstyle, which is fitting for one who's younger than the rest of the cast.
- Instant Expert: Izumi learned to draw and script doujinshi rather well after only doing it for about a year or so. Contrast that with Eriri, whose works are technically superior, but she's been at it for several years, and Tomoya still doesn't think her work is as good as Izumi's overall.
- Little Sister Heroine: Just as Tomoya is explaining this archetype to Megumi, she appears as if to illustrate it. Indeed, she is a young female character, who is cute and innocent, and idolizes a boy older than her and thus forms an idealized sibling relationship.
- Nice Girl: She's a sincerely cheerful and grateful person.
- Put on a Bus: In the first season, though she shows up in the opening and closing credits, she isn't part of Tomoya's game circle like the other girls. However, she reappears in season 2, and challenges Eriri, and consequently Tomoya's circle, to a drawing contest to see which game has the better reception.
- Unknown Rival: Eriri is competing with her, but Izumi is barely aware of it. Until season 2 anyway, when she openly challenges Eriri to a drawing contest.
