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troperville

The "protagonist" of the series, an anthropomorphic squid-girl who comes ashore to invade the surface world in retaliation for constant human pollution of the seas, only to end up being forced to work as a waitress at the Lemon Beach House restaurant in order to pay for a damaged wall of the restaurant.

Alien Hair
Antivillain: Type IV
Applied Phlebotinum: In Season 2 episode 2.3 it turns out that Ika Musume can pick up heavy weights with her tentacles because she can manipulate her weight using her bracelets.
- Required Secondary Powers
Between My Legs: The shot used when she's introduced. She also gets this shot in several other episodes.
Brilliant, but Lazy: She's shown to be extremely good at math, has mastered several skills that have nothing to do with world domination, and of course there's her extremely powerful tentacles. She could at least be a serious threat, if she wasn't so lazy and easily distracted (and of course, if it weren't for Chizuru.)
Card-Carrying Villain
Cold Turkeys Are Everywhere: After she swears off shrimp. They pop up everywhere.
Combat Tentacles
Comically Missing the Point
Cry Cute: Every time Chizuru intimidates her into obeying her, or whenever a "comrade" of hers (e.g. Takeru in a squid paper-hat and an umbrella) "dies" (Takeru's hat blown away, the umbrella ran over by a truck).
Curtains Match the Window: And the tentacles.
Cute Clumsy Girl: Without the use of her tentacles she can barely kick a soccer ball.
Cute Squid Girl
Dark and Troubled Past: Occassionally hinted at. It seems life in the ocean wasn't all that great for her. When Eiko mentions how Ika isn't picky at eating, she responds by saying in the ocean you can't afford to be picky, just being able to eat at all is reason to be happy. She later tells Takeru she had never had the opportunity to play with others until she came to the surface. She seems oddly depressed when these subjects are brought up.
Even the Girls Want Her: Ika is, in an appropriate and friendly way, friends with many kids of either gender, specifically Takeru and Kiyomi's respective groups of friends. Sanae and Cindy, on the other hand...
- In season 2 episode 9.1, Ika is asked by Risa to join her play as her husband. Minutes later, Eiko, Sanae, and Kiyomi all join in. They have different roles but they share one similar thing: they LOVE Ika Musume. They even take their roles seriously and act as though they are genuinely in love with her.
Face Your Fears: In Season 2, Episode 11.3, she overcomes her fear of Chizuru, accidentally ticks her off again, and gets dragged by her to a room while showing NO signs of fear.
Ika: Oh? About what? (while being dragged by Chizuru to a room)
Genius Ditz/Small Name, Big Ego: At her best, she is the former. At her worst, she is the latter.
Genki Girl
Heel Face Turn: Not completely so, but it does happen as the series progresses.
Humans Are The Real Monsters: Her reason for invading the surface world. Her subsequent experiences, however, apparently start to impress to her that the situation is more like "Humans Are Flawed".
Hurricane of Puns: The dub version makes many puns related to undersea creatures.
I Call It Squid Unit 1, Hyperion and Eyjafjallaj�kull: Her umbrella.
- In a similar vein, Black Tiger, Black Tiger GT and Black Tiger Ticonderoga, for her bamboo boat.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain
Laser-Guided Amnesia: In Season 2, Episode 7.2.
Light 'em Up: Like certain types of squid, she can emit light from her body.
- Light Is Not Good: and there is the fact of Ika being a Villain Protagonist.
Modern Major General
Multi Armed Multitasking
Mundane Object Amazement: Given her little knowledge of the human world, this naturally comes in.
Mundane Utility: Her Prehensile Hair is frequently used like an extra set of hands for carrying food.
- In fact, this is why she's given the job at the restaurant. Her delicious ink also helps.
Never Bareheaded: And for a very good reason: it's mentioned that her "hat" is actually her life source. If it's removed, she dies. Luckily, removing it is pretty hard since it's fused to her scalp.
Nice Hat: It's more than just a Nice Hat, she needs it to live.
No Social Skills
Ika: "What's a military?"
Offhand Backhand: To Sanae, every time she tries to glomp her.
Parasol of Pain: In her imagination at least.
Prehensile Hair
Sick Episode: Ika falls ill to a Squid Girl disease. Symptoms include nausea, headaches, flushes in the face, fever, delirium, and death...ly cravings for shrimp.
- Again in Season 2 episode 8.3. Unlike in the first season, she appears to have a normal fever which she gets from Kiyomi.
Sitcom Archnemesis: Sometimes sees Goro as one.
Squid Girl in White
Squid Out of the Ocean
Take Over the World: Her ultimate goal. Too bad she has no idea as to the strength of all the world's military forces.
Tentacle Rope
Trademark Favorite Food: Shrimp
Tsundere
Unusually Uninteresting Sight: No one save Nagisa ever takes notice of her strange appearance and Prehensile Hair.
Unwanted Harem: Eiko and Isozaki come to realize this. Maybe not a true harem, but definitely unwanted.
Verbal Tic: -de geso. The English version of the anime translates this into frequent ocean life puns, apparently as an Ascended Meme from the fansubs.
Villain Protagonist
Why Did It Have To Be Chizuru, Orcas and Sharks?
- After the end of Season 2, Episode 11.3, it looks like Ika is not afraid of Chizuru anymore, even if she accidentally ticks her off again and gets dragged by her to a room.
Work Off the Debt: Her "Punishment" for blasting a hole in the Lemon Beach House's wall.
You Gotta Have Sky-Blue Tentacles

Eiko Aizawa

Voiced by: Ayumi Fujimura (Japanese) and Heather Pennington (English)

Middle of the Aizawa siblings and manager of the Lemon Beach House, as well as Ika Musume's principal "handler".

Bodyguard Babe: She's like this towards Ayumi when she sees some Casanova Wannabes try to flirt her. She almost breaks one of those guys' arms off. Here's a quote from the same guy:
"Pain in the ass bodyguard!"
Book Dumb: Studying isn't her forte, but she's also too proud to ask Ika for help.
Cool Big Sis: For Ika, some of the time.
Fiery Redhead
Gamer Chick: Keeps a Famicom lookalike inside her room (in the anime it's a Mega Drive lookalike). Oftentimes Ika is her playmate.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's not a jerk per se, but given Ika's behavior, can we really blame her for sometimes being abrasive towards her?
Only Sane Man: Narrative-wise. She's also the person Ika interacts with the most.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Chizuru's blue.
Sailor Fuku: Her high-school uniform.

Chizuru Aizawa

Voiced by: Rie Tanaka (Japanese) and Shelby Lindley (English)

Eldest of the Aizawa siblings.

A Day in the Limelight: Season 2, Episode 11.3 focuses on her and her quality time with Ika.
- This is the first and only episode that is focused on her for this season.
Badass Adorable
Berserk Button: Her store and her siblings.
- She has another one, as revealed in Season 2, Episode 11.3: DO NOT EVER IMPLY THAT SHE'S INHUMAN!!!
Beware the Nice Ones: Even Eiko is wary whenever she exudes an intimidating aura.
Cool Big Sis
Creepy Blue Eyes/Icy Blue Eyes
Curb-Stomp Battle: And she's always on the winning side.
The Dreaded
Eyes Always Shut: And when she opens them, expect a person or two cowering in fear.
- Though she actually looks pretty good when she opens them without malicious intent.◊
Flanderisation: In the early episodes she was extremely nice and rarely went berserk. By the end of the second season this behavior has almost gone to Once an Episode territory.
The Gadfly: sometimes she does things because it might be fun.
Mentor Archetype: Teaches Ayumi the art of self-defense while having Goro as her punching bag.
Nice Girl: Her default state. Annoy her and she'll make you regret it for the rest of your life.
Nightmare Face: At least to Ika's eyes.
Oblivious to Love: For Goro. Thoguh she may be aware of what he feels for her and uses it to her advantage.
Oh Crap: The reaction she elicits from anyone who chances upon her scarier side.
- The first time Ika Musume sees Chizuru's scarier side, you can hear some sort of liquid trickling in the background...
Physical God: Ika-chan's tentacles are supersonic and can punch through foot-thick concrete; Chizuru can chop said tentacles in mid-flight with her bare hands......
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Eiko's red.
Stepford Smiler: Type C. And how!
Weight Woe: Her only weakness. Ika may have a chance of actually beating her using only this weakness, if she's smart enough to notice it.
- She is also concerned with her muscles, as Eiko exploits it in an attempt to eat more meat.
You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Takeru Aizawa

Voiced by: Miki Ootani (Japanese) and Amanda C. Miller (English)

Youngest of the Aizawa siblings.

Anime Hair
Crossdressing Voice: If you look at his seiyuu's name above, then yes.
The Generic Guy: Lampshaded when Squid Girl tries to draw the Aizawas using her tentacles (which she explains goes by her mental images of them.) Chizuru gets drawn as an oni, Eiko as a killer robot, and Takeru...is a more photorealistic version of himself.
Made of Iron: His very first appearance has him getting thrown around and slammed into the ground by Squid Girl's tentacles, only to get right back up and proclaim "That was so cool!"
Not so Above It All: Despite treating Ika like a playmate most of the time, Eiko notices that he's slowly learning to subconsciously control Ika — which is easy enough, given her immense gullibility.
Out of Focus: In Season 2 Episode 10.1, Ika, Eiko, and Chizuru all forget about him while they try to eat as many cuts of meat as they can. Luckily, Chizuru has reserved some cuts (which she intends to eat herself) for him.

Goro Arashiyama

Voiced by: Yuuichi Nakamura (Japanese) and Jason Wishnov (English)

A lifeguard and Eiko's childhood friend, who has his sights for Chizuru.

Ambiguously Brown: His tan is justifiable with his career.
Bishōnen
Childhood Friends: With Eiko. It is also through this friendship that he met and fell in love with Chizuru.
Dogged Nice Guy: That includes getting his butt kicked by Chizuru.
Sitcom Archnemesis: Is sometimes seen as this by Ika.
Stalker with a Crush: Not exactly a stalker, but he keeps lots of pictures of Chizuru.
Walking Shirtless Scene: Given his job, this is to be expected.
Why Did It Have to be Ghosts?

Sanae Nagatsuki

Voiced by: Kanae Ito (Japanese) and Xanthe Huynh (English)

Eiko's neighborhood friend who has taken an obsessive liking to Ika.

Abhorrent Admirer: Well, she's actually cute, but this is how Ika sees her.
Berserk Button: She is not an alien. Do not forget that.
Camera Fiend
Clingy Jealous Girl: The mere sight of Ika having a friendly chitchat with Kiyomi and her friends made her exude a dark aura that made a chill run down Eiko's spine.
Cosplay Otaku Girl
The Ditz
Even Creepy Stalkers Have Standards: Despite Ika Musume's fears, Sanae won't take advantage of Ika when she's helpless from heatstroke.
Genki Girl
The Glomp: Subverted; she tries, only to get back-tentacled by Ika.
Hopeless Suitor
Love Makes You Crazy: Turned Up to Eleven in Season 1, Episode 10 part 2, when she tries to abstain from contact with Ika Musume. She begins to hallucinate Ika Musume is everywhere and everything; a little girl, a set of trash bags, even as the heads of lanterns.
No Sense of Personal Space: The main reason why Ika dislikes her.
Single-Target Sexuality: She's Camp Ikasexual.
Stalking Is Love
Too Kinky to Torture: Or at least willing to get beaten up by Ika.
Yandere: She looks like this whenever she sees Ika chatting with another girl.

Cindy Campbell

Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (Japanese) and Laura Post (English)

An American alien researcher who comes to Japan to investigate Ika.

Alliterative Name
Anime Accent Absence: In her introduction Eiko tried an "American" accent to her until she revealed she could speak fluent Japanese.
- She was so fluent in Japanese she eventually discovered, much to her horror, that even her native English tongue got a Japanese accent.
  - Probably she lived in Japan since she was a child and came to the US only for education and/or funds for her wild-alien chase?
Eagleland
Foreign Fanservice: A sexy blonde woman with a pony-tail, wearing a parka over a two-piece bikini or a tube-top and short shorts? Yes, please.
Hot Scientist
Mad Scientist
Phenotype Stereotype
Single-Target Sexuality: Her obsession with Ika sometimes goes beyond finding her "alien heritage."
Too Kinky to Torture
Walking Swimsuit Scene

Nagisa Saito

Voiced by: Azusa Kataoka (Japanese) and Cristina Valenzuela (English)

A surfer and part-time worker for Lemon Beach House, and perhaps the only person who sees Ika as a genuine threat to humanity.

Berserk Button: Don't take surfing lightly. Even if you're Ika Musume.
Bifauxnen: Just sweeping her hair back is enough to make her look like a Bishounen.
Demoted to Extra: She became a background character from Season 2 Episode 2 through to Episode 11, to the point of not appearing in a few episodes. Poor girl.
Even the Girls Want Her: Enough to make most, if not all, of the girls squee for her in Season 2, Episode 2.2.
Only Sane Man
Surfer Babe: And she takes it seriously.
Why Did It Have to be Ika Musume?!

Ayumi Tokita

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese) and Sarah Williams (English)

Daughter of the manager of Southern Winds, Lemon Beach House's rival restaurant from a neighboring town. She sometimes works part-time at the Lemon Beach House.

Antenna Hair
Beautiful All Along: Without those creepy "Fake Ika Musume" kigurumi masks her father has her wear.
Beware the Nice Ones: After episode 10.2, you better show some manners while talking to her, as her father finds out after she throws him down. Though that one is an accident.
- She learns self-defense from Chizuru. Yes, that CHIZURU!
Defrosting Ice Queen: Her father tells Eiko, Chizuru, and Ika that ever since she started working with them, her sociability has been improved. She's still afraid of men though.
Dude Magnet
The Faceless: Not exactly with her appearance (she's even actually quite the looker), but she's this personality-wise; as her father told Eiko, she cannot actively interact with people outside her masks.
Meido: In Chapter 162 (Season 2, Episode 2.2 in the anime), she is this while working at the store and while wearing bladed brass knuckles! Needless to say, male customers are petrified at the unusual sight.
Not Good with People: Chapter 210 reveals she can speak normally with Ika, because she doesn't consider her human.
- And again in chapter 212 to CHIZURU.
- Another in her list is Sanae in chapter 216.
The Quiet One
Shrinking Violet
Speaks Fluent Animal: Can understand animals like Alex, or at least claims she can. The others hope it's true.

Mr. Tokita

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese) and Tony Oliver (English)

Ayumi's father whose first name is unknown. He is the Southern Wind's owner. He is fond of making creepy kigurumi based on Ika.

Mad Scientist: His Ika kigurumi are both cute and creepy, but creepy most of the time. He even has built a toilet room out of them.
Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant
No Name Given
Villain Team Up: With Harris, Clark, and Martin. All of them are not really villainous; only to Ika.

Harris, Clark and Martin

Voiced by: Seiji Sasaki, Anri Katsu, and Tetsuo Goto (Japanese), and Phineas, Tony Oliver, Jonathan Meza (English)

A trio of American Mad Scientists and MIT graduates who, together with Cindy, investigate Ika.

Eagleland
Geek Physiques: Harris is a little skinny, Clark is very skinny, and Martin is fat.
- When Ika is gone in episode 12.1, they become depressed — Harris and Clark gain a ton of weight, while Martin loses quite a bit.
Gratuitous English: Humorously, a few of their Gratuitous English lines go unaltered in the English dub. "You're a god, man! We are god men!"
Mad Scientist
Reed Richards Is Useless: In their zeal to discover Ika's "alien" heritage, they conveniently overlook their other, far more important discoveries: a universal language translator and a cure for cancer. Being that we actually learn this from them, they appear to have some faint awareness of the fact that they're squandering their talents and discoveries
Villain Team Up: While they are not really villainous, the trio and Ayumi's father join forces in Season 2, Episode 11.2 to build a Mecha-Ika Musume. This Mecha-Ika has almost all of the original's powers as well as the ability to speak.

Kiyomi Sakura

Voiced by: Kokoro Kikuchi (Japanese) and Carrie Savage (English)

A middle-school student who Ika befriends after a prank gone wrong.

A-Cup Angst: She is so angsty about it that her original wish for Tanabata is to have a bigger bust. Kinda odd for a sweet girl such as herself.
Meganekko
Nice Girl: Clearly seen in Chapter 185 of the manga, for example.
The Rival: Sanae sees her as this. Of course, this has something to do with Ika.
Sailor Fuku
Sick Episode: At the end of Season 2 episode 7.3.

Tatsuo Isozaki

Voiced by: Shinzou Miyasaka

Goro's friend and fellow lifeguard who tries to flirt with Ayumi.

Ambiguously Brown: Like Goro, his tan is justifiable with his career.
Casanova Wannabe: Tries to flirt with Ayumi, much to the annoyance of Eiko.
Stalker with a Crush: To Ayumi.
Walking Shirtless Scene

Kozue Tanabe

Voiced by: Akemi Kanda (Japanese) and Erika Harlacher (English)

A gentle girl implied to be an anthropomorphic "tako musume" (octopus girl).

Cute Octopus Girl
Humans Are Flawed: Her basic philosophy, which she sometimes shares with Ika.
Last Episode New Character: More like the Last Episode Octo-Girl of the show. She has only appeared in the last episodes of Season 1 and 2.
Meaningful Name: Tanabe Kozue. "Tako" is Japanese for octopus.
Nice Girl
There Is Another