Characters / Shinmai Shimai no Futari Gohan

Page for the characters of Shinmai Shimai No Futari Gohan

Main Characters

Ayari

Ayari

A shy high school girl with a huge passion for cooking. She's been a loner for most of her life due to her mother's work and having grown up with no friends.

Portrayed by Karen Otomo:

"I... I just look scary when I get nervous! There's no way I would ever hate you, Nee-san..."

How she looks in the live-drama adaptation

• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She's often mistaken for one thanks to the scary vibes she unintentionally gives off whenever she gets nervous. Subverted in that she's just very shy. She opens up more as the story progresses.
• Apologises a Lot: She's prone to apologizing to people.
• Big Little Sister: It's easy to confuse her for Sachi's older sister. Downplayed in that the girls are the same age - Sachi is just the older one by a couple of months.
• Broken Ace: She's tall, beautiful and very talented at cooking, but she suffers from crippling social anxiety.
• Character Tic: She always ties her hair into a bun or ponytail before she starts cooking.
• Crazy-Prepared: Ayari likes to collect all kinds of cooking utensils, and she has a storage room full of every kind she's collected so far. She's also always on the lookout for new additions to her collection.
• Companion Cube: The hair tie that Sachi gave her.
• Death Glare: Her default look when she's with people she doesn't know, which unfortunately causes them to assume that she's a scary or perpetually angry person. She's anything but. Because of her social anxiety, she just defaults to that look out of nervousness.
• Disappeared Dad: Chapter 30 reveals that her dad died when she was little, though the cause has not been revealed yet.
• Endearingly Dorky: Any time cooking and cooking appliances are mentioned. She goes from shy and stoic to happily showing off her cooking skills, listing ingredients and their uses and nutritional value and absolutely sparkling at the sight of new kitchen appliances.
• Face of a Thug: Her face locks into a scowl whenever she's nervous. This has always led to people getting the wrong impression of her and scared them off.
• Friendless Background: Due to her social anxiety and unintentional scowl, she's always alienated and scared off her peers, leaving her unable to befriend anybody.
• Friend to All Children: She tries to be one, but she, unfortunately, tends to scare children off with her unintentional Death Glare. She does eventually manage to get through to Eri's little sister Rina.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Few people can tell just how nice she is. Her Face of a Thug and No Social Skills tend to scare people off, so they don't bother trying to actually get to know her.
• Hime Cut
• Huge Schoolgirl: She and Eri are both the tallest of the main girls.
• I Just Want to Have Friends: Part of her character arc. She's always alienated her peers due to her awkwardness and unintentional Death Glare that she gains when she's nervous.
• Minor Living Alone: Ayari spent most of her childhood on her own due to her mother being busy with work.
• Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: The root of a lot of Ayari's problems when it comes to making friends is the Death Glare she unconsciously adopts whenever she tenses up. Combined with her lack of social skills, she comes across as unapproachable to others, and they therefore never get to see just how sweet she actually is. Thankfully, she finally gets to show her true colors to her classmates in chapter 48, when the class decides to run a café for their School Festival.
• Nice Girl: One of the nicest in the series.
• Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Sachi mistakes her◊ for◊ one◊ early on.
• No Social Skills: Cripplingly shy and seemingly unaware of what expression her face is making. Her awkwardness has alienated people from her ever since she was small.
• Obsessed with Food: Since she was a child, she's always been cooking by herself in her spare time. Food, cooking techniques and utensils are always at the forefront of her mind.
• School Uniforms are the New Black: Her school requires its students to wear the uniform on days off, so she wears hers when going out with Sachi.
• Shrinking Violet: A very shy girl, especially around strangers. Unfortunately, her nervousness causes her to unintentionally glare at people, making them think that she's scary or believing that she's angry at them.
• Shrouded in Myth: Her seemingly cold, angry, unapproachable demeanor lead to people at her school spreading rumors about her, one of those rumors being that she's a Yakuza Princess.
• Strong Family Resemblance: To her dad.
• Supreme Chef: By far the most skilled chef in the series, having honed her skills since childhood.
• The Protagonist: Along with Sachi.
• The Quiet One: Around people she doesn't know all that well, she tends to not speak much due to her shyness. Subverted when it comes to cooking and food - When the subject comes up, she becomes quite the blabbermouth.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Nao's Tomboy.
• Tsurime Eyes
• When She Smiles: Her natural smile is noted by Sachi to be quite lovely, and she looks the happiest when she's cooking or talking about food. Sachi's Dad even comments on it when Sachi sends him a picture of Ayari making homemade udon:
  Tooru: Oh. That's a nice picture.

Sachi

Sachi

A bubbly and extroverted girl who loves to eat.

Portrayed by Anna Yamada:

"It's really delicious, isn't it, Ayari-san? Can we make this again some time?"

How she looks in the live-drama adaptation

• Adaptation Dye-Job: Brown in the manga, black in the drama.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Thanks to Ayari teaching her how to look for good-quality ingredients for summer rolls, Sachi later applies those same techniques to other ingredients, as well. Ayari is impressed.
• Best Friend: With Eri.
• Big Eater: Perpetually hungry and almost always eating something. In the first chapter, she goes through a sandwich, two rice balls and a melon bread in one single conversation with Eri.
  • Another good demonstration of just how gluttonous she is can be found in chapter 37; she's skipping home from school, singing about dinner... while she's already eating quite a large sandwich.
• Childhood Friends: With Eri.
• Childish Older Sibling: Her biggest complex. She feels like her short stature and childishness begets the fact that she's supposed to be Ayari's big sister - Instead, Ayari feels like the older one, with her height and mature nature. When Sachi tries to look and act more mature in chapter 3, Ayari just ends up thinking she looks cute instead.
• Genki Girl: She's the most bright and energetic of the main girls. Anything that promises delicious food in particular fires her up.
• Hidden Depths: As noted below, she actually gets better grades than her sister despite seeming quite flighty. Sachi is also quite artistic, making a grated daikon penguin for a hot pot and painting a very close replica of an antique plate Ayari was eying.
• Lethal Chef: Was one in the beginning - She couldn't even fry an egg without almost burning down the sisters' apartment. Thanks to Ayari, her cooking skills improve as the story keeps going.
• Minor Living Alone: Because her dad's occupation leaves him travelling a lot, Sachi spent most of her childhood on her own.
• Missing Mom: The status of Sachi's mom has yet to be revealed.
• Never Gets Fat: Considering that she's always snacking on something and doesn't appear to have a regular exercise routine, one has to wonder where all those calories go.
  • A prime example and possible Lampshade Hanging can be found in the two bonus panels of chapter 24. Ayari and Eri spent the chapter making Jansson's Temptation, a casserole dish that's very heavy on the butter, cream and parmesan cheese, and is therefore pretty high in calories. The two are discussing ways to reduce the caloric content... Cue Sachi finishing a large portion of it and asking for seconds after she just came home from stuffing herself at a cake buffet. Eri's face says it all: Truly, the girl's stomach is a bottomless pit.
  • Another lampshade is hung in chapter 51 when Eri is on a diet and depressed over her hitting a Weight Loss Plateau, meaning that she's not losing as much weight as she'd hoped. Sachi asks what's wrong... while stuffing herself with a high-calorie snack and even offering it to Eri under the belief that she's not had breakfast yet. Eri simply glances away and grumbles that Sachi wouldn't get it.
• Nice Girl: Sachi is a total sweetheart and becomes especially doting towards Ayari.
• Obsessed with Food: And how! Food and eating are always on Sachi's mind, and not a chapter passes by when she's not seen snacking on something. Eri lampshades it in chapter 2 when it's revealed that Sachi has so far only talked about Ayari's food and knows nothing else about her, much to her own shock. A later mini chapter focusing on Eri has Sachi tell her about the sisters' first time watching a movie (in a Call-Back to chapter 3) and that Ayari, who'd never been to a movie theatre before, was blown away by the fact that eating there was allowed. Eri has to remind her friend that she hasn't said anything about the movie they saw.
• Older Than They Look: It's easy to forget that she's older than Ayari.
• Smarter Than You Look: Her childish personality and looks betray her skill at learning. Ayari is quite surprised to find out that Sachi has better grades than her.
• Strong Family Resemblance: To her dad.
• The Protagonist: Along with Ayari, though moreso in the drama.
• What Is This Feeling?: At the end of chapter 26, the sight of Ayari beaming over being friends with Nao causes Sachi's chest to sting a little bit. She's left confused as to what she felt just then, not recognizing it at the moment as jealousy and worry about Nao taking Ayari away from her. Fortunately, the feeling is short-lived once she actually meets Nao, and they become fast friends.

Eri

Eri

Sachi's best friend and a sort of motherly figure for both her and Ayari. Like Ayari, she's a skilled cook.

Portrayed by Mei Tanaka:

"Once you start living together, I'm sure you'll understand her. Do your best, big sister!"

• Best Friend: With Sachi.
• Childhood Friends: With Sachi.
• Deadpan Snarker: Downplayed, but she can dish out some quite barbed quips towards Sachi every once in a while.
• First Friend: To Ayari. The latter even uses the words "first friend" when telling her this.
• Living Emotional Crutch: To Sachi, since she's always been there for her since childhood.
• Nice Girl: The nicest one, and in a manga where this is the norm, that's saying something. She's patient and chatty with Ayari from the very beginning, managing to bond with her through their mutual love for cooking. So far, she's also the only character who realized from the start that Ayari's just shy and not angry.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: Averted. She wanted to say this when the sisters were offered to move abroad with their parents, but she couldn't bring herself to tell them this. Fortunately, the sisters never planned to leave Japan anyway, so Eri doesn't have to say goodbye to them after all.
• Supreme Chef: Ayari has total trust in Eri's abilities and treats her as her equal when it comes to cooking.
• Sweet Baker: A skilled baker and very kind girl.
• Sweet Tooth: According to Sachi, Eri loves sweets in particular. So much so that when a new bakery opens or she hears a rumor about a place being well-known for a certain type of pastry, she has to head there to try them even if it's quite some distance away.
• The Reliable One: To everyone.
• Team Chef: Along Ayari.
• Team Mom

Nao

Nao

Ayari's friend. She loves animals and ends up with a deep admiration for Sachi.

Portrayed by Haruka Imou:

"You just have to know [the animals] well enough. Let's go to the pens after school!"

• Big Sister Worship: She has a deep admiration for both Sachi and Eri. Especially Sachi, who she refers to with the very formal honorific "Onee-sama". Clearly, Sachi's "big sister" act worked a bit too well.
• Boyish Short Hair: The shortest hair of the main girls.
• First Friend: She's the first friend Ayari manages to make entirely on her own.
• Friend to All Living Things: She loves animals and is in charge of the animals at her school alongside Ayari.
• Lazy Bum: To a degree.
• Meganekko: She wears glasses in the drama adaptation.
• Nice Girl: Especially nice to animals.
• Ordinary High-School Student: The most normal one of the main girls.
• Tareme Eyes: Her eyes are particularly droopy.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Ayari's Girly Girl.

Other Characters

Minori

Minori

Ayari's aunt. A skilled game hunter working for the government.

Portrayed by :

"[Sachi] is a bit like Nee-san, isn't she?"

• Action Girl: She works as a hunter for the government, who calls her in to exterminate vermin.
• Boyish Short Hair
• Friendly Sniper: To the point where it's hard to believe she is one.
• Mystery Meat: As a hunter, she's used to eating game that would be otherwise unusual and likes to share them with her nieces, to their delight.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: She is overly protective of her sister, so she dislikes Sachi's dad for "stealing [her] sister". None of these feelings are held against Sachi herself though as she quickly warms up to her when they first meet.
• Sniper Rifle: Her weapon of choice.
• Stealth Expert: Comes with the job.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Tomboy to Ayari's mom's Girly Girl.

Mrs. Tsukishiro (Ayari's Mom)

Mrs. Tsukishiro (Ayari's Mom)

Ayari's mother. She's never had much of a presence in her daughter's life due to her work.

"I'm just trying to follow what Ayari does, but it's not that easy, is it?"

---

• Lethal Chef: By far the worst cook in the series. Her attempt at an omelet sandwich left both her and Tooru grimacing at the spice level, with the additional implication one reason for this status is because of her willingness to add things that really shouldn't be added to a recipe. When she tries to offer assistance cooking dinner, both her husband and little sister insist she stay put knowing this.
• Married to the Job: She was a constantly absent parent to Ayari during the latter's childhood who was always busy with work.
• No Name Given: We've yet to be informed what her first name is. Which is odd, considering that Sachi's dad has been named.
• Obliquely Obfuscated Occupation: While the story has established that her job always leaves her busy, it's yet to be revealed what her occupation is.
• Parents as People: While she's left Ayari by herself for most of her childhood, she still seems to love her daughter and isn't neglecting her because she wants to.
• Struggling Single Mother: After Ayari's father passes away
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The Girly Girl to Minori's Tomboy.
• When You Coming Home, Mom?: She's always been so busy with work that she's not had much time to spend with her daughter. Ayari even admits that she's used to her mother not being around.

Tooru (Sachi's Dad)

Tooru (Sachi's Dad)

Sachi's father. He's a famous photographer whose work has required him to constantly travel around, leading to him being an absent parent to Sachi.

"Hey, Sachi. Did you take these photos?"

---

• Always a Child to Parent: How Sachi feels about him. He's introduced picking her up and spinning her around above his head as if she was a toddler and not a 17-year-old girl.
• Married to the Job: His work as a photographer has required him to constantly travel all around the world, leaving Sachi by herself for most of her childhood.
• Only One Name: While we only know Mrs. Tsukishiro's last name, we only know Tooru's first name. The name he publishes his photos under, Shirasaki, is just a Pen Name.
• Parents as People: Much like Ayari's mom, Tooru doesn't neglect Sachi because he doesn't love her. It's just that his work as a photographer always has him on his way somewhere.
• Pen Name: He posts his photo collections under the pseudonym "Shirasaki".
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: His job has left him so busy that he's never had much of a presence in Sachi's life. He's been so absent that he's never even celebrated her birthday with her in person, though Sachi mentions that he has sent her gifts.

Mr. Tsukishiro (Ayari's Dad)

Mr Tsukishiro (Ayari's Dad)

Ayari's father. He was a cooking researcher and got Ayari to love cooking as much as he did. He passed away when she was young, but the cause has yet to be revealed.

• Like Parent, Like Child: As a cooking researcher, he's the one who instilled a love of cooking in his daughter Ayari.
• No Name Given: His name has yet to be revealed.
• Posthumous Character: He died when Ayari was young from as-of-yet unknown causes.
• Walking Spoiler

Sachi's Mom

Sachi's Mom

• Ambiguously Absent Parent: She's the only parental figure yet to make an appearance. Why she's absent has never been explained either, and she's only been mentioned once.
• Missing Mom: Even Sachi doesn't seem to know about her whereabouts.
• No Name Given: She's been mentioned a grand total of once so far, and her name hasn't been revealed.