Love Live! (μ's) | Love Live! Sunshine!! (Aqours) (Yohane the Parhelion -SUNSHINE in the MIRROR-) | Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club (NijiGaku) | Love Live! Superstar!! (Liella!) | Link! Like! Love Live! | Love Live! School idol festival
This is the character sheet for Love Live!.
Beware of spoilers.
NOTE: Additional supporting characters pretty much in progress!!! Also, their other characteristics from the Manga and the Novels' (except for the Anthologies) are allowed to be mentioned here.
open/close all folders
µ's ("Muse")
A-RISE
In General
An idol group from UTX High School. Consisting of three members, they are presented as µ's main rival throughout the series. However, they only get to officially meet µ's during episode 3 of Season 2. It was seeing them perform that inspired Honoka to become a school idol and ultimately form µ's. A-RISE, on the other hand, saw µ's as their biggest competition and kept their eye on their progress.
As an already popular group prior to the start of the story, they are the favorites when it comes to winning the Love Live! competition in both seasons.
- Ascended Extra: They only had a handful of lines in the first season and were more of an untouchable rival to µ's. But in the second season, they openly challenge µ's and have more lines, though Tsubasa gets more focus than Erena or Anju.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: While the individual girls don't seem to have their own colors, the main color of the entire group seems to be yellow, with their main costumes and their ratings bar in the Love Live! being yellow.
- Electronic Dance Music: "Private Wars" and "Shocking Party".
- Famed In-Story: A-RISE has been a popular idol group even before the start of the anime as they already had a nationwide fanbase, which gave them a major advantage over the other school idols during the Love Live competition. µ's challenge in season 2 is how to match A-RISE's massive popularity.
- Foil: They are one to the second years of µ's: An energetic leader, the serious one who works on the music, and the reserve one who makes the costumes (the movie and the game both confirm Anju is A-RISE's costume maker).
- Friendly Rival: They provide some pointers for µ's and even allow them to perform on the same stage for round 1 of the Love Live preliminaries because Honoka's group didn't have any other place to perform.
- Graceful Loser: They lose the final round of the Love Live preliminaries to µ's. According to Tsubasa during her conversion with Honoka, they have taken it well, even stating that they knew they had lost after seeing µ's performance.
- Hero of Another Story: They were just as dedicated to their school idol group as Honoka and the other girls were to µ's. No doubt the trio have their own interesting lives which they could be the main characters in were they not direct rivals to the latter's group in the Love Live contest.
- Legendary in the Sequel: As of Sunshine they are considered a legendary school idol group alongside µ's.
- Older Than They Look: It's easy to miss due to their comparison to the µ's second years (see Foil above) but official profiles list all of them as third years.
- Privileged Rival: Subverted. While UTX is an affluent school with facilities that are not found in Otonokizaka Academy, this does not give A-RISE a real advantage over µ's. They became one of the country's most popular idol groups simply by being dedicated to what they do.
- The Rival: To µ's, even specifically stating that they are the group that they have been keeping an eye on the most.
Tsubasa Kira
- Voiced by: Megu Sakuragawa (Japanese), Cassandra Lee Morris (English)
The leader and center of A-RISE.
- Character Tics: Possibly. During A-RISE's performance in season 2 episode 3 she winks in practically every close-up shot of her. However this doesn't seem to happen much anywhere else.
- Enemy Mine: Seems to have this attitude towards µ's and Honoka (in a friendly way). Especially after µ's beats A-RISE in the preliminaries.
- Foil: Seems to be shaping up to be one to Honoka, as a fellow leader and direct rival, but much calmer and knowledgable about being an idol.
- Genki Girl: Played with in contrast with Honoka. She's somewhat excitable (grabbing Honoka and dragging her off without an explanation when they first meet, being very enthusiastic about being an idol), but is more rational about it and seems to keep her excitement under control.
- Graceful Loser: Fully admits her loss in the preliminaries, even mentioning that she knew A-RISE had lost during µ's' performance.
- Heroic BSoD: During her conversation with Honoka in episode 10, she states that while A-RISE has taken their loss in the preliminaries well, she herself cannot fully understand why they lost to µ's'. She says like µ's', A-RISE has put their best effort in their performance and they also have the team chemistry and audience appeal that µ's' has, so why they lost was not a question of effort or talent. She seemed to have found a satisfactory answer to her question after seeing µ's' slogan at the end of the episode.
- Hypocritical Humor: Almost definitely unintentional, but it's a little amusing how Tsubasa tells Nico that every group needs a little imp when she's noticeably shorter than Erena and Anju herself. In the Japanese version, however, she calls Nico a "小悪魔 (Koakuma)" meaning "little devil" and referring to her devilishly cute, alluring charm.
- The Leader: Of A-RISE.
- Leg Focus: In this gif
◊ she wears an outfit that shows off her legs and the camera is zoomed in on her hips/thighs. - The Smart Girl: Seems to be pretty calculating, if not the most Genre Savvy of her group, as well as incredibly charismatic.
- Two First Names: "Tsubasa" and "Kira" are usually used as first names.
- Tsurime Eyes: Which highlight her very competitive nature.
- Villainy-Free Villain: Heavily downplayed as she's not even unlikable. Although she and A-RISE are the main rivals for µ's, she holds no malice towards them and comes to see Honoka in particular as a Worthy Opponent. At worst she's extremely competitive and a bit arrogant, traits which don't stop her from cheering for µ's after A-RISE is eliminated from LoveLive.
Erena Toudou
- Voiced by: Maho Matsunaga (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)
The tallest and more mature-looking member of the group.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She's rather cool and composed, and somewhat distant compared to her friends.
- The Stoic: She certainly gives off that vibe, even more so compared to Tsubasa and Anju.
- Tsurime Eyes: The most noticeable of the anime as a whole, they highlight her competitiveness, like with Tsubasa.
Anju Yuuki
- Voiced by: Ayuru Ohashi (Japanese), Corina Boettger (English)
The costume designer of the group.
- Character Tics: She fiddles with her hair frequently. The majority of the scenes she's in she does this. Its always on the same side too.
- Hime Cut: Albeit sort of wavy.
- The Ojou: Is described as being "princess-like" and is more soft-spoken than her other two group members.
- Tareme Eyes: The only member of the group with them; they highlight her soft-spoken nature.
Others/Supporting Characters
Akiba Reporter
- Voiced by: Natsumi Takamori (Japanese), Kristen McGuire (English)
A reporter who usually hosts school idol events.
- Inexplicably Identical Individuals: Her voice actress hints that Akiba Reporter and Shibuya Reporter are not the same individual, which follows this trope.
- Large Ham: She's very upbeat, very loud and very dramatic since she's there to hype the event she's covering/hosting.
- Recurring Extra: She appears in Love Live!, Love Live! Sunshine!! and Love Live! Superstar!! (as Shibuya Reporter).
Hideko, Fumiko and Mika
Left to right: Fumiko, Mika, Hideko
- Voiced by: Marie Miyake (Hideko), Nozomi Yamamoto (Fumiko), Sayuri Hara (Mika) (Japanese), Mela Lee (Hideko), Natalie Hoover (Fumiko), Ryan Bartley (Mika) (English)
Three of Honoka's classmates who appear throughout the anime to help µ's in any way they can.
- Big Damn Heroes: They call out the entire student body to shovel a path in the snow for Honoka, Umi and Kotori to get to the final Love Live preliminaries on time.
- Crazy-Prepared: They were carrying the costumes for "Bokura wa Ima no Naka de" in case µ's needed to do an encore at Love Live.
- 11th-Hour Ranger: After showing no interest in actually joining in for the entire series, they take part in the school idol dance at the end of the movie.
- Numerical Theme Naming: Their names contain the alternate Japanese readings for 1(Hideko)-2(Fumiko)-3(Mika).
- Those Two Girls: The trio are in the background, helping out with everything from the camera work in µ's' first performance to student council work to more pressing concerns, and also look after Honoka when she's feeling depressed. However, they always appear together and their names are barely even mentioned.
Director Minami
- Voiced by: Noriko Hidaka (Japanese), Karen Strassman (English)
The mother of Kotori and director of the Otonokizaka Academy.
- Good Parents: She's an understanding mother to Kotori through and through, giving her daughter time to think about her study-abroad opportunity instead of just forcing her to do it. She doesn't even seem to express any issue with Kotori deciding to stay in Japan with her friends at the last minute.
- Hime Cut: Her bangs.
- Mum Looks Like a Sister: She looks like she's in her mid-late 20's, or very early 30's, and could probably be mistaken for Kotori's older sister.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: By far the biggest one in the franchise. She lets µ's perform on the stage and have her own idol group despite Eli's attempts, lets them perform on the opening campus as long as they pass their final exams, and is pretty calm when she discovers the girls of µ's dress up like rockers, despite the scandal they cause.
Honoka's Mother
- Voiced by: Masumi Asano (Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)
Honoka's mom, who works in a wagashi shop which is also her home.
- Genki Girl: Just like her daughter. Downplayed, however, as she's only this when she goes to her daughter's concerts.
Honoka's Father
- Depending on the Writer: In the anime, he isn't shown to be opposed to his daughter's actions as a School Idol. In the novels, he is shown to be angered to Honoka's decision.
- The Faceless: His face is always offscreen or hidden.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Downplayed. In School Idol Diary, Honoka reveals that her father was pissed off to Honoka's actions on being a School Idol. He doesn't necessarily go out of his way to prevent her from further pursuing her dream, though.
- Manly Tears: Lets out a few during his daughter's performance at the Akiba dome in the second-to-last episode.
- The Voiceless: In the anime, he doesn't speak much. But in School Idol Diary, he does speak, albeit mentioned by Honoka.
Yukiho Kōsaka
- Voiced by: Nao Tōyama (Japanese), Christine Marie Cabanos (English)
Honoka's younger sister.
- A-Cup Angst: When Hanayo accidentally visits Honoka's home and her family's sweet shop, Hanayo sees her in her bathing towel ranting in the mirror to have bigger boobs.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Zig-zagged. Honoka finds her bossy and snarky attitude annoying, but Honoka also tends to annoy her with her thoughts and antics. This dynamic mostly fades by season 2, however, and the two sisters do love each other at the end of the day.
- Deadpan Snarker: To Honoka, at times. Not so much as the anime progresses, though.
- Family Theme Naming: Shares the "穂" (ho) character with her sister, notable in that the sweet shop her family manages is called "Homura", phonetically mirroring this.
- Fangirl: Of A-RISE. She later starts taking a liking to µ's after their hard work, though.
- Irony: Started out as a fangirl of A-RISE. Come season 2 episode 11, she and Alisa want to join μ's.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As insufferable as she can sometimes be, she does love her sister Honoka dearly. The pinnacle of this is when Honoka's Heroic RRoD kicks in in episode 11 — an anguished Yukiho cries out to Honoka after she passes out. Additionally, come season 2, Yukiho starts to support Honoka more in her endeavors.
- Thicker Than Water: In a way, Double Subverted. Yukiho is a fangirl of A-RISE even after μ's proves themselves, something that bugs Honoka quite a bit. She concedes to μ's popularity and success later though, and by season 2, she has done a full 180°.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Arisa's Girly Girl. She is rough and direct, while Arisa is soft-spoken and dainty.
Alisa Ayase
- Voiced by: Ayane Sakura (Japanese), Brianna Knickerbocker (English)
Eli's younger sister.
- Ascended Fangirl: A huge fan of µ's (especially Umi), who aims to join as soon as she gets into high school. Later subverted though, since she and Yukiho decide that it would better for them to form their own group, rather than to join µ's.
- But Not Too Foreign: She's 1/4 Russian, like her sister.
- Fangirl: She loves µ's. Eli wasn't too happy about this at first.
- Fish out of Water: She grew up in Russia, so she has all kinds of wrong ideas about Japanese food and drinks.
- Inconsistent Spelling: Official subs use Arisa, School Idol Festival uses Alisa.
- Nice Girl: Compared to her sister (at first), she's a sweet and cheerful girl who loves µ's.
- Phenotype Stereotype: Blond with light blue eyes, just like her older sister.
- Retcon: Eli had two younger brothers in earlier source materials. In the anime, she fills in for them.
- Strong Family Resemblance: As detailed above, she resembles her older sister — blue eyes, blonde hair, and said hair is straight (which can be seen when Eli lets her hair down).
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Yukiho's Tomboy. She's soft-spoken and dainty, while Yukiho is rough and direct.
Cocoro, Cocoa, and Cotaro Yazawa
Left to right: Cotaro, Cocoro and Cocoa in the anime.
- Voiced by: Sora Tokui (all) (Japanese), Stephanie Sheh (Cocoro), Janice Kawaye (credited as Janice Roman Roku) (Cocoa), Julie Ann Taylor (Cotaro) (English)
Nico's siblings. Cocoro and Cocoa originally debuted in Nico's School Idol Diary novel as a pair of twins. In the anime adaption, however, Nico also has a younger brother, Cotaro.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Cocoa originally had dark hair just like her siblings in the novel, but it was lightened a bit in the anime.
- Alliterative Family: They all share the "Ko/Co" at the beginning of their names. Nico is the only one to break this theme, but instead has it at the end of her name.
- Alternate Continuity: Cororo and Cocoa are originally twins and only about 5 years old in the novel.
- Big Sister Worship: All three firmly believe that their older sister Nico is a "super idol".
- Call-Back: In the novel, Cocoa's twintails are more similar to Nico's twintails in her earlier design.
- Canon Foreigner: From all of the Yazawa siblings, Cotaro is the only brother seen in the Anime.
- Children Are Innocent: Nico essentially lied to her siblings about being a "super idol", as the other girls find out in episode 4 of season 2. However, after Hanayo shares a "Not So Different" Remark due to her also dreaming of becoming an idol, the girls realize Nico was just trying to hide her bitterness and frustrations from her siblings. So they come up with a plan to help her gracefully step down without having to reveal the actual truth to them so as to avoid causing strife and disillusionment in her household.
- Girlish Pigtails: Cocoa has low twintails in the novel, but in the anime, both Cocoro and Cocoa have one side ponytail on opposite sides of their heads.
- Identical Twin ID Tag: In the novel, Cocoa has twintails just like Nico while Cocoro has one ponytail.
- Idiot Hair: Cotaro has one.
- My Nayme Is:
- Cocoro, not Kokoro. Cotaro, not Kotaro. Cocoa, not Kokoa. This is according to official subs.
- However, if we go by Theme Naming, Kokoro means 'heart', while Kokoa means 'love heart' which also fit with Nico's character theme. While Kotaro literally just means "first son."
- The One Guy: Cotaro is the only (human) male character in the series shown on-screen. And he's only in the anime on top of being a Token Mini-Moe. Although Eli has two younger brothers instead of a sister in earlier versions.
- Practically Different Generations: Nico is around 17-18 years old due to being a third year while Cocoro is in elementary school while Cocoa and Cotaro aren't attending school yet.
- Strong Family Resemblance: They all look a lot like Nico. Hanayo even mistakes Cocoro (a grade schooler) for her older sister at first. Even more so in the novel where both are twins and represented both early and current design of their big sisters.
- Token Mini-Moe: They're small compared to already-small Nico.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Cocoa and Cocoro respectively in anime.
- Verbal Tic:
- In the novel, the twins will sometimes end their sentence with "Nico!". Their sister has taught them well.
- Cotaro has a tendency to drag out his words with a long, dopey unemotional drawl, such as "Gakooouuuu" ("Schooooll"), "Deeekiiitaaa" ("Fiiiniissshed") and of course the ever infamously hilarious "Aaah... Baaack Daaanceeer."
Nico's Mother
- Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese), Carrie Keranen (English)
Nico's mother, who appears in the last episode.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Her imitation of her daughter's "Nico Nico nii!" causes Nico to fluster quite a bit.
- Good Parents: Has supported her daughter since the moment Nico first wanted to be a school idol.
- Missing Mom: She doesn't appear until the very final episode of the anime. Justified given she is a single mother who works to sustain her family.
- Prim and Proper Bun: She styles her hair in this (likely because she's an adult), unlike her daughter's Girlish Pigtails.
- Struggling Single Mother: Implied to be one in the anime as she made no mention about her husband, but played straight in the School Idol Diary novels.
- Statuesque Stunner: Much taller than any of the girls of µ's, and arguably the tallest mother in the series. Ironic, given Nico's height.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Has her daughter's red, Tareme Eyes and black hair, though she does style her hair in a bun. She also imitates her daughter's "Nico Nico nii!".
Nico's Father
Nico's father, which appears in the School Idol Diary novels.
- Depending on the Writer: His fate varies in all three continuities. See Disappeared Dad for more info:
- Disappeared Dad:
- Played with in the anime (and the manga), as neither his daughter nor his wife mentioned about him.
- Played straight in the novels as he eventually died.
- Posthumous Character: The novels reveal that Nico's father passed away.
Alpacas
- Voiced by: Anna Mugiho (Japanese)
A pair of alpacas kept at Otonokizaka High School.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: The alpaca with fluffy white fur is actually male.
- Joke Character: In School Idol Festival, you could get them on April Fools' Day 2015 as cards, though they can't actually be put in teams. Their only purpose is to be used to boost other members' EXP in Practice. On April 1st, 2016 the chimes used when tapping a note was replaced by alpaca sounds.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: The alpaca with rough brown fur is actually female, as confirmed when it's revealed to be pregnant in season 2.
- More Deadly Than the Male: The male alpaca is very amicable, but gods help you if you anger the female one, as Eli and a few other girls have learned the hard way.
- Nice Guy: The male alpaca is very easy to get along with.
- Perpetual Smiler: The male alpaca is always smiling.
Maki's Mother
- Voiced by: Kikuko Inoue (Japanese), ??? (English)
Maki's mother.
- Eyeless Face: Along with her husband in the original manga adaptation of School Idol Project. The anime reveals her true appearance, though.
- Strong Family Resemblance: She resembles her daughter in terms of appearance, though her hair is a darker shade of red.
Maki's Father
click here to see his appearance in the School Idol Project manga
Maki's father, who is also a doctor on the Nishikino Infirmary.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: In the original School Idol Project manga, he possesses a darker hair color. In the manga adaptation of School Idol Diary, he possesses a lighter hair color.
- Berserk Button: As mentioned by Maki in her chapter in the School Idol Diary novels, her father went angry when he found out that her daughter became a school idol. Even Maki witnessed his outraged expression being similar with a demon trembling with rage.
- Eyeless Face: Along with his wife in the original manga adaptation of School Idol Project.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Played straight unlike Honoka's father in the School Idol Diary novel. Like Honoka's dad, Maki's father is pretty much against Maki for becoming a school idol. However, in his case, he only wants Maki to focus on her studies and to get higher exam scores.
- The Medic: Given that he's the head of the infirmary.
- Opaque Nerd Glasses: Usually seen in his physical appearance in the School Idol Diary manga, but close-ups of him sees his eye.
Rin's Mother
Hanayo's Mother
Hanayo's mother, who made a physical appearance in The School Idol Movie.
- Motherly Side Plait: Her hairstyle.
- The Cameo: In the movie.
- Quitting to Get Married: In School Idol Diary, Hanayo's mother used to be an idol before she started a family life.
Momoka
- Canon Foreigner: She only appears in the manga.
Female Singer
- Voiced by: Minami Takayama (Japanese), Amanda C Miller (English)
The Female Singer which Honoka encounters in the streets of New York.
- Ambiguously Human: She was able to perform in front of the bypasser's eyes, but as she stops to where Honoka's friends are, they were unable to see her.
- Street Performer: She sings at the streets of New York.
