Character list for Ya Boy Kongming!. Page is under construction and beware of unmarked spoilers.
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BB Lounge/Fourth Kingdom
Zhuge Liang, courtesy name Kongming
Voiced by: Ryōtarō Okiayu (JP), Joe Daniels (EN), Osamu Mukai (live-action)
The legendary tactician and statesman of Shu Han, Zhuge Liang / Kongming himself. Having reincarnated into peaceful modern-day Japan after a lifetime of waging war during the era of the Three Kingdoms, he now seeks to help a young singer, Eiko Tsukimi, achieve her dream of stardom.
- Awesome Anachronistic Apparel: Kongming is hardly ever seen outside of his trademark Three Kingdoms era blue robe, hat and fan, even in modern-day Japan, which is understandable since he came from that time period. Everyone else thinks he's just a really enthusiastic Cosplayer. That said, he's not averse to wearing more modern clothes, like an LED message visor at a party or a tracksuit while his robes are in the wash.
- Benevolent Boss: As he tells Shino Sakurai, who was only his secretary for one day and is being conned by a sleaze of a host:It may only have been one day, but you have served as my subordinate. The relationship of boss and subordinate is like that of a parent and child. Never could a parent remain silent as their child is disgraced.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Downplayed. Kongming is genuinely a nice guy to those around him, but he is also a master at appearing cluelessly benevolent when his strategies have pulled a fast one on his opponents. When the vocalist of Jet Jacket figures out Kongming did something to steal their crowd, likely faking the issues with his equipment to delay their start (which Kongming did, by the way), he plays the victim and points out their cruelty by accusing him of such a thing when they have been hard at work with this unpredictable circunstance and immediatelly graces them with a mixture that solves the vocalist's throat problems.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: What everyone else sees Kongming as. Sure, he's a brilliant manager/bartender/what-have-you, but he's really into his character of Zhuge Kongming, costume, accessories and all.
- The Charmer: Kongming gets along well with nearly everyone he meets, having a multitude of partygoing friends throughout Tokyo, including an English-speaking foreigner and a group of women in Roppongi's nightclubs. He also quickly placates an angered Jet Jacket with nothing but pure courtesy and frequently embarrasses Eiko with his praise of her voice and charm with simple, but effective straightforwardness.
- The Chessmaster: As befitting of his role as The Strategist, Kongming accounts for practically everything when planning for Eiko's success, whether it's the environment, the audience's mindset, or his rivals' thought processes, and more, all while liberally employing trickery and deception in his stratagems.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Downplayed. As the genuine article, Kongming finds himself about 1800 years in the future from his era, though he's able to adapt to modern times after several hours of research through Eiko's smartphone.
- Guile Hero: His main tools to solve any problem are his military acumen, his strategic cunning and his charming disposition, to lead his opposition around exactly where he wants them.
- Heroic BSoD: He undergoes a brief one when he reads about how Shu Han had ultimately fallen following his death, and despite China becoming unified under Jin, which was established by Sima Yi's grandson who overthrew Wei and conquered Wu, afterward, the nation soon became divided and fell into chaos again anyway, rendering everything he, his allies, his kingdom, and even his enemies had done to unite the country ultimately meaningless, and that he was now stranded in an unfamiliar world with nobody for him to recognize. Thankfully, Eiko snaps him out of it with a song that reminds him of his old comrades and spurs him to learn more about the new world around him.
- Historical Badass Upgrade: A rare example that is played both in and out-of-universe. In real life, Kongming's claim to fame was his excellent governing skills that helped Shu Han survive after Liu Bei died, solving many civil affairs problems during his tenure as prime minister. However, Kongming relied on many other generals for military strategy and tactics, and his own strategies were average at best. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Kongming's military achievements were played up to present him as a genius tactician and strategist, which is the interpretation that the series goes with. Kongming himself tells Kobayashi that his stories have been somewhat exaggerated when asked about the Stone Sentinel Maze.
- Historical Downgrade: Kabetaijin arguably gets off easy during his rap battle with Kongming at the BB Lounge, as in the Romance, Kongming has outright killed people just by roasting them hard enough, as was the case with Wang Lang. Though then again, Kongming's goal wasn't really to explicitly defeat him, much less kill him, and instead just convince him to return to rapping and join Eiko.
- Inexplicable Language Fluency:
- Kongming finds himself immediately fluent in Japanese despite having never learned the language, and the Japan of his era was still a dwarf country that mostly only sent envoys to Shu's rival kingdom of Wei. Eiko points out the absurdity of how an ancient Chinese figure can suddenly speak Japanese, and Kongming himself is at a loss of how he can do this.
- Kongming also demonstrates an ability to understand English, as he is able to tell that the English song Eiko sings to him is a love song, with enough comprehension to be moved by a vision of his old comrades due to the lyrics referencing being still alive and alone. Later, upon meeting Tsuyoshi Kondo after Eiko's performance at the Yoyogi Art Festival, Kongming easily translates his Gratuitous English for a confused Kobayashi, and he's even become friends with a foreigner in Roppongi, who speaks exclusively in English. He's capable of some Gratuitous English himself, to boot.
- Instant Expert: Kongming proves to be an extremely competent bartender on his very first day, and simply claims that it's easier than making tea when a stunned Eiko asks how he's so good. He also learns about modern technology quickly and cohesively enough to recreate his famous Stone Sentinel Maze in Eiko's concert, and has become well-adapted to modern times in general after just a short period of time following his reincarnation. His expertise in poetry even allows him to give Kabetaijin, a three-time champion rap battler, a run for his money during their rap battle against each other.
- Jerkass Realization: Kongming regretfully recalls an event where Cao Cao attacked, and Shu was forced to flee with civilians in tow. Because of his work, Kongming coldly turned down a request to share drinks with the soldiers before they went off to fight the next morning, and only after they perished in battle did Kongming realize it was likely their last drinks before they willingly laid down their lives for the sake of their people, and that he should have made merry with them while they were still alive to do so. Because of this, Kongming is much more open to having fun with others when he gets the chance, happily enjoying drinks with Kobayashi and the crowd at Eiko's performance in the Yoyogi Art Fes.
- Like a Duck Takes to Water: He adjusts to his new life incredibly quickly, learning the ways of musical culture, social media, modern technology, and all manner of other things in a matter of weeks. Part of the reason nobody believes he's the real Kongming is that he has the knowledge of someone who's lived in Japan their whole life.
- Manly Tears: Isn't afraid to shed some, especially when listing to his Lady Eiko sing from the heart.
- Mistaken for Afterlife: He humorously believes he's in Hell after he gets reincarnated due to walking out into a Halloween costume party in Shibuya, thinking that tequila was one of Hell's punishments since it burned his throat (distilled liquor didn't exist in China in his time; all alcohol he had in his past life all have the strength of sake or lower) and that Eiko was a "Songstress of Hell" on account of her Oni costume that night. It isn't until the following morning in a conversation with Eiko that he realizes he isn't actually dead or in Hell.
- My Greatest Second Chance: After spending a lifetime waging war and perishing without being able to accomplish his goals or those of his comrades and kingdom, Kongming seeks to make the most of his new life in a peaceful world and wishes to avoid the mistakes he made in his previous one. Most importantly, he wants to achieve the peace he and his allies were unable to in his old life by assisting Eiko and her goal of helping others through her singing.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Kongming still treasures the feather fan that his wife gifted to him eighteen centuries ago, claiming it was like a part of his own body. The opening scene of the show portrays him holding on to the fan until he literally breathes his last. Despite his marriage to Huang Yueying being set up by his future father-in-law, Kongming is still greatly devoted to his wife nearly two millennia later.
- Poor Communication Kills: As his discussion with Kobayashi reveals, Ma Su, one of his favored apprentices, was assigned by Kongming to hold Jieting, a strategic point, in an effort to cultivate his talents and create new officials for Shu Han, despite others being more qualified. Ma Su failed, and a sorrowful Kongming was forced to execute him in order to maintain troop discipline. However, Kongming theorizes that because Ma Su wanted him to attack Chang'an, he had lost on purpose to drive Kongming to do so. As a result of seeing Ma Su, as well as many other men, die on the battlefield before they could communicate their true thoughts and beliefs, Kongming now makes it a point to speak frankly and be honest with his sentiments while he still lives.
- Reincarnation: The story's whole premise rests on Kongming being reincarnated into the present to help Eiko.
- Sharp-Dressed Man: While working as a host at the Arabesque club.
- The Strategist: He's Kongming, one of the most famed tacticians in human history. He always has some kind of stratagem or tactic up his sleeve that he remembers from his previous life, although now he's content with using his keen intellect and strategic acumen to help Eiko become a famous singer rather than fight any wars.
- Tsurime Eyes: To accentuate his cunning.
- Your Costume Needs Work: There isn't a soul that meets Kongming who thinks he's the real deal, with everyone thinking he's just an eccentric that cosplays as Kongming at all times. In their defense, the idea of the genuine Zhuge Kongming reincarnating 1800 years in the future and serving as a young Japanese singer's manager flies against all common sense. Kongming himself isn't too bothered by whether or not people believe him, however.
Eiko Tsukimi
Voiced by: Kaede Hondo (Non-Singing Voice), 96neko (Singing voice) (JP), Juliet Simmons (EN), Moka Kamishiraishi (live-action)
An aspiring young singer in Tokyo, Japan. Despite feeling discouraged after constant setbacks in her budding music career, she dreams of making her voice heard across the world - and now with Kongming on her side, those dreams might become a reality.
- All-Loving Heroine: Her greatest desire is to help others and touch them through her music, as she herself had been saved by music when she felt suicidal in her youth.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: Her voice enraptures the newly-reincarnated Kongming, who mistakes her as a "songstress of Hell", and she later moves him to tears during his Heroic BSoD. After becoming more acquainted with her, Kongming decides to help her become a professional singer and achieve her goal of healing others with music. Later on, Kabe is similarly affected by her singing and can't stop himself from crying.
- Composite Character: Despite being from the modern-day, she notably has various combined traits of Liu Bei, Kongming's previous lord, and Huang Yueying, Kongming's historical wife.
- Besides the obvious similarity of Kongming serving her as he once served Liu Bei, she's also an All-Loving Heroine who has a sincere desire to touch the hearts of her audience and help them with her songs, much like how Liu Bei wanted to return peace to China and its people by uniting the nation under Shu Han.
- It took Liu Bei three visits to Kongming's rural hut in order to convince the reclusive scholar to come out of his hermitage to serve his new lord, as his sincerity deeply impressed Kongming. This famous story led to the term "three visits to the cottage" (三顧茅廬) becoming a classic Chinese proverb. Just like with Liu Bei, Kongming tells Eiko that after being serenaded three times by her music, he would respond to her ambitions and dreams and follow her until the end.
- In the anime, Kongming tells Eiko about the "water-fish fellowship", where a person has a friend or thing that is indispensable to them in the same way that water is indispensable to a fish, to which Eiko happily states that they have one such relationship, similar to how Liu Bei said the same of his own relationship with Kongming. The narration goes as far as to state that the deep trust between Eiko and Kongming is just like the original water-fish fellowship between the latter and Liu Bei.
- Thanks to their shared Bilingual Bonus concerning Japanese Kanji characters, Chinese and Japanese viewers quickly caught on that Tsukumi Eiko's name <<月見-英子>> has two of the same characters as Kongming's wife, who is popularly known as Huang Yueying <<黃月英>>.
- Eiko's golden locks reference how Huang Yueying was described to Kongming by his future father-in-law, Huang Chengyan, who Eiko's father is also named after, as having yellow hair. While Chengyan described his daughter as being ugly, this could easily be because yellow hair (and dark skin) did not fit with 2nd-3rd century China's standards of beauty. There are also many folklore tales of Huang Yueying wearing a veil and leveraging these rumors of her ugliness to screen suitors who would only be after her looks and not her intelligence.
- In one story when Kongming finally manages to lift Yueying's veil and see her face, he exclaims "Your father does not understand your beauty". Whether this means she was concealing her attractiveness or if Kongming truly found her intelligence and talent to be what is beautiful about her is up to interpretation.
- Dark and Troubled Past: In her childhood, her father suddenly abandoned their family, and despite her love for music, her mother became vehemently against her singing, causing her a great deal of internal strife. It ultimately came to a head when she attempted suicide on a class trip to Shibuya by throwing herself in front of a train, though this was, fortunately, stopped by Kobayashi.
- Disappeared Dad: Eiko recounts that she used to sing with her father during her childhood, but one day, he was suddenly gone.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Flashbacks show that she had these right before her attempted suicide.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's an All-Loving Heroine and through-and-through Nice Girl with blonde hair.
- Happily Failed Suicide: When she was younger, she attempted to commit suicide by throwing herself in front of a train, but Kobayashi, fortunately, stopped her and convinced her to come to a concert at his club. She was so moved by the performance that her love for music was reaffirmed, and she decided to become a singer and help others with music the same way it helped her.
- Heroic Self-Deprecation: As a result of her troubled childhood and repeated setbacks as a musician, she has little faith in her abilities and her singing. After Kongming comes along, she starts seeing some real success, but she still tends to downplay herself. Kongming's main motive for making her sing at the Yoyogi Art Festival was to build up her confidence, and he later chides her on her lack of self-worth, claiming that such a mindset limits her and imploring her to have more faith in herself.
- Hidden Buxom: Most of her normal clothing hides the fact that she's pretty well-endowed, as shown by her oni costume from her first appearance.
- Innocent Blue Eyes: Her pureness of heart and All-Loving Heroine qualities are accentuated with her blue eyes.
- Nice Girl:
- Eiko is kind to a fault, to the point where she saves an unconscious Kongming from the street despite knowing nothing about him besides being someone who complimented her singing the night before. She can't even tell when people write her off or plan on using her, as was the case with Jet Jacket and Mia respectively.
- After learning that Nanami is a member of Azalea and her reasons why she made a deal with Karasawa, Eiko understands what she has been going through. Because of the time they spent together, she still considers her a friend and wants to help her even though Nanami tells her that they're going to be rivals in the 100,000 Likes Challenge.
- Only Sane Woman: She regularly plays the straight man to Kongming as a result of his eccentric behavior, as well as when other characters suddenly go into Three-Kingdoms-fueled tangents.
Kobayashi
Voiced by: Jun Fukushima (JP), David Matranga (EN), Mirai Moriyama (live-action)
The owner of the BB Lounge, the nightclub where Eiko (and now Kongming) work. Despite his intimidating exterior, he's a gigantic Three Kingdoms nerd.
- Connected All Along: When he was in university, he was hosted by Maria Diezel's family (who was a high-schooler at the time) and even dated her sister.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He typically gets referred to as "Owner" by other characters since he owns the BB Lounge.
- Face of a Thug: He looks and dresses like a typical yakuza, but he's actually a pretty decent guy - as well as a complete nut about the Three Kingdoms.
- Fire-Breathing Diner: He really can't handle his spicy food. Eiko even got the inspiration for her song "Hot Chili Hot" by watching him suffer over a bowl of spicy ramen.
- Hidden Depths: Kobayashi turns out to be a pretty swell chef. In the manga, one look at the bamboo-centric dishes, and Steve Kido is demanding that he become his personal chef.
- Mr. Exposition: He's the one who usually makes various Three Kingdoms-related events more digestible for the audience through his thoughts or conversations with Kongming.
- Otaku: A huge one for the Three Kingdoms, to the point where he happily employs Kongming for having his "character" down pat despite having a ridiculous job application.
- Parental Substitute: Serves as one to Eiko as a result of her turbulent home life, looking out for her well-being as well as giving her a job at his club. He also makes it clear to Kongming that he'd be answering to him if he betrays her rarely-given trust.
DJ Satori
The BB Lounge's usual disc jockey.
- Support Party Member: Does all the background work of disc jockeying and playing the music during Eiko's performances.
- The Voiceless: Isn't shown speaking on screen.
Kabetaijin
Voiced by: Shoya Chiba (JP), Antonio Lasanta (EN), Ryubi Miyase (live-action)
A prolific, three-time champion rap battler who now refuses to rap anymore as a result of his anxiety and illness. Nonetheless, Kongming is determined to recruit him to work together with Eiko.
- Battle Rapping: A three-time champion at it.
- Beady-Eyed Loser: He has a gloomy and overall nondescript appearance.
- Dark and Troubled Past: As a high schooler, Kabe often had issues communicating and frequently found himself in awkward situations, and generally saw himself as an average guy with nothing remarkable going for him. After spotting Sasaki, a bullied classmate of his, having fun at a cypher, Kabe befriends him and is introduced to the world of rapping, and he quickly shoots to the top, becoming a three-time champion of the DRB rap battle contests. However, with every victory, he became more and more stressed from the pressure to win, ultimately resulting in him developing stomach ulcers that caused him to collapse on stage after a particularly poor reception from the crowd due to winning another contest. The trauma from the incident on top of his pre-existing stress resulted in him swearing off rapping altogether.
- Delicate and Sickly: The stress from the pressure of his rap battles resulted in him getting stomach ulcers, which makes him look pale and sickly. The table in his apartment has some digestive medicine for it. He becomes much healthier-looking after his rap battle against Kongming, both due to overcoming his anxiety and unwittingly drinking some of his medicine.
- The Generic Guy: A big part of his character is that he is an "average Joe" with nothing really special about him and that he still made a big name for himself as a rapper in spite of this. Numerous characters comment on the disconnect between his rapping skills and his unassuming appearance and behavior.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: He has noticeable bags under his eyes as a result of his illness. They go away after his rap battle with Kongming.
- Good Parents: Kabe has a good relationship with his mother, as he's happy to receive a package from her that has some food and a handwritten note telling him to stay healthy.
- His Name Really Is "Barkeep": His rapper handle of "Kabetaijin" seems to just be his first and last name put together, as he's shown being called Kabe-kun by his classmates and his mother calls him Taijin in her note.
- Open Mouth, Insert Foot: His issues with communication in his teenage years is made apparent when a couple of girls in his class asked him what he was listening to with his headphones, causing a flustered Kabe to barely stammer out that he was listening to sounds. His love for rap stemmed primarily from being able to properly convey his thoughts and feelings through song.
- Rhymes on a Dime: As a freestyle rapper, this is his whole MO. He even raps to himself about everyday things that pass by him on the street.
- Shout-Out: There are two references to Pang Tong during his rap battle with Kongming, another tactician who was under Liu Bei's employ, famously referred to as "the Fledgling Phoenix". Kongming calls Kabe a "baby phoenix" (and in the manga, "Fledgling Phoenix" outright) prior to their competition, and one of the background artworks during Kabetaijin's bars is of a vividly colored phoenix rising in the air. And during their tiebreaker rap, we are shown images of Zhao Yun and Jiang Wei's famous duel, with the two warriors clashing with spear and sword just as Kongming and Kabetaijin were dueling with words and rhythm.
- This link is strengthened further during Summer Sonia. Just like how Pang Tong pretended to defect to Cao Cao's side in order to get him to implement a strategy that Zhuge Liang used against him, Kabetaijin pretended to defect to Keiji Maezono's team (even going as far as to have a public falling-out with Kongming to sell it), in order to sabotage him from within. Afterward, Hajime outright asks if he can call Kabetaijin "Pang Tong".
- Shrinking Violet: He's an extremely withdrawn and self-effacing person in the present as a result of his trauma and anxiety.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Sekitoba and Kongming challenge him to let go of his hangups and take up rapping again.
- Zero-Approval Gambit: During the opening act of their showdown with Azalea in front of the Shibuya 109 store, he calls out much of the audience for only being there to chase the promise of money as well as Azalea themselves for lip-syncing and being fake, corporate puppets which gave Kongming the opening to sow the seeds of doubt in the crowd. However, in doing so he makes himself the target of a whole crowd of angry people, both dedicated Azalea fans and cash-seekers alike.
Hajime Shoji
A former producer at SSS Music, who helped the band Wagamono Gaori rise to stardom. He believes in helping artists create the truest form of their craft, no matter the cost.
- Blank White Eyes: Frequently sports these whenever the riskiness of Kongming’s schemes gets too much for him.
- Butt-Monkey: Gets the short end of respect from just about everyone, and even when working with Kongming, he finds the audacity of his laoshi's schemes a bit much to handle.
- Geek Physiques: Very much on the short and rotund side, and loves nothing more than managing artists at work and talking Three Kingdoms trivia in his down-time.
- Gratuitous Foreign Language: Uses the honorific "laoshi" for Kongming, which means "teacher" in Chinese.
- Take This Job and Shove It: Once Kongming tells him his idea of making his own music label, he instantly starts making plans to give notice to SSS Music.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: Believes in artists and making sure they can do everything to express their art to the fullest - to the point of losing sight of the complications. Many people have called him out for his naïveté and mistakes, such as when he almost voided Wagamono Gaori's contract because he gave too much leniency to the band's difficult keyboardist in an attempt to keep all four members together.
- This even extends to trying to shuffle artists around to other labels to give them better working environments, which has given him a bit of reputation as a talent poacher.
Shino Sakurai
A young lady whom Kongming wants to employ as Fourth Kingdom's secretary and office manager, but has a lingering connection to a handsome host that might be more than it appears.
- Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: She admits to Kongming that she hasn't had a dream or a goal in life, and tried to fill that void by helping Cosmo. After Kongming exposes his duplicity and helps her leave, he gives her a new purpose in life by becoming Fourth Kingdom's employee, just by bringing her to hear Eiko sing.
- Minored in Ass-Kicking: She has apparently learned quite a bit from her previous jobs, including how to ride horses, some intricacies in law, and how to leave a brawny man with a sledgehammer whimpering in pain on the floor.
- Office Lady: Is employed as a temporary secretary for Fourth Kingdom and in her first scene, proves she has the technical and organizational know-how to keep everything running smoothly.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Even after learning that Cosmo Yuki swindled her and watching him get humiliated by Kongming to get her out of his debt, she still asks if he is okay afterward and offers him water, and admits that his hard work playing his role was commendable at least.
East-South
A former rock band duo that tried to make it big, but then got hired as unacknowledged song ghostwriters by Keiji Maezono. After they decided to break their contract with him, Kongming hired them under the Fourth Kingdom label. Comprised of the bassist and singer Nanbo, and the guitarist Higashiyama.
- Fat and Skinny: Nanbo is heavyset while Higashiyama is lanky.
- The Hero's Idol: Their song "The Wind's Rock" was what inspired Nanami, Ichika and Futaba to form Azalea.
- He's Back!: After their ghostwriting is exposed by Kabetaijin and a pep talk from their loved ones, they decide to break their contract with Keiji, join Azalea, and revive East-South, singing their music their own way.
- Meaningful Name: Their names Nanbo and Higashiyama contain the words for "south" and "east" in Japanese respectively.
- Morality Pet: For Nanbo, it's his wife and children. For Higashiyama, it's his figure-skating little sister Mirei. It's Keiji constantly reminding them that their families and livelihoods depend on him that keeps them under his thumb - and it's also their urging that finally pushes them to quit.
- Sell-Out: Like Azalea, they floundered to develop more than a core fanbase, until Keiji brought them on with cushy jobs as his ghostwriters.
Key Time
Toshihiko Karasawa
Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono (JP), Blake Weir (EN)
A renowned producer from Key Time who puts out highly successful music acts, currently helping propel Azalea to stardom. He's a callous and coldhearted man who believes things like passion and talent are meaningless when it comes to making money.
- Berserk Button: Karasawa's is how his old band fell apart after one of their members betrayed them. One mention of that has him shoving his cane into the offender's throat.
- Control Freak: He forces Azalea to follow any and all his instructions regarding their costumes, songs, and choreography, erasing any semblance of their old identity as a band, to the point where he won't even let them sing on stage to instead focus on dancing. He also becomes aware that Nanami is doing side gigs on the streets as well as spending time with Eiko, and tells her to stop it and never meet with her again.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He works for Key Time, a talent agency notorious for its shadiness and underhanded business tactics.
- The Cynic: He believes — and told Nanami in the past — people can't make a living "doing what [they] like", that is, passion isn't going to put the food on the table. He speaks from personal experience, which is why he wholeheartedly believes success only exists by giving people what they want, not what you can do.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Kongming reveals that Karasawa used to be in a Visual Kei band that also tried to make it big in the industry until one of his bandmates betrayed him.
- Evil Counterpart: To Kongming, given their relationships with their up-and-coming musicians. Kongming acts as a motivator and source of support to develop Eiko's talents as a singer, in the belief her music will inspire people. Karasawa, meanwhile, uses music and musicians as props to generate money and popularity, and actively hampers Azalea's talents by reducing them to a glorified dance act.
- Evil Cripple: He walks around with a cane, and seems to have a limp while walking, which only serves to highlight his dispassionate profit-focused motives.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: He may fully believe in Key Time's mantra of doing anything to get ahead, but he also equally believes in Azalea's talent and wants them to shine (if for nothing else to be part of that victory), so that they don't fall apart like his old band did. He also gets really flustered when Azalea hears him say all that.
- Pet the Dog: When one of the roadies that's working for Karasawa jokingly asks why Azalea is bothering to tune their instruments when they're dancing and lip-syncing, Karasawa hits him with his cane, telling him to show some respect for the pride that Azalea still has as musicians.
- Record Producer: A dark example, as his micromanagement of Azalea basically wipes out any passion, talent, or band identity they had in the name of raking in cash with a heavily produced and manufactured image, with their post-performance conversations being less about their music and dancing and more about what they're buying with the money they're making.
- Sex Sells: A large factor in his plan to make Azalea popular is forcing them to wear revealing costumes and have racy dance routines, which pays off immensely.
- Villain Has a Point: Despite the callousness of his work, he raises fair points that musicians need more to succeed in the big city than just vague hopes and passion. Azalea was a case study, with repeated failed gigs putting them in a downwards spiral where they found themselves doing more part time jobs than actual music. However, given his management is strangling out the band's actual talent, he himself is putting the cart before the horse.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Despite his callousness, he does genuinely believe that Azalea has talent and wants them to succeed. His past experiences have just made him too jaded to believe that the public cares that they do, so he instead shifted Azalea to what he believed would fast-track them to popularity.
Azalea
A three-person Girl Group who are rising stars in the music industry, characterised by their masked idol stage personas. They are sponsored by the record label Key Time, who helped bring them to the big time. Comprised of the guitarist Ichika, the drummer Futaba, and the bassist and lead singer Nanami.
For tropes relating to their frontman, see Nanami's folder below.
- Boyish Short Hair: Ichika has short cropped hair.
- Everybody Knew Already: While a few express surprise seeing their faces when Azalea finally perform sans masks, others remark that it's easy to find the girls' pictures online from their small time band days.
- Rags to Riches: From just three high school friends wanting to live a life of music but languishing in obscurity and poverty, to rising stars who grabbed their big break with Key Time.
- Rock Trio: Ichika on guitar, Futaba on drums, and Nanami on bass.
- Sell-Out: They started out playing rock music, but their concerts didn't sell well. To keep on singing and performing, they took Key Time's offer as their big break, but had to sing songs and wear costumes mandated by Karasawa to appeal to the masses. Although they did indeed become popular, they lost control over their image, something which chafes at Nanami intensely.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Volume 8 shows their Reborn wardrobe, which replaces the skintight outfits and masks with fully-covering outfits and headdresses - and are just as elaborate. When Eiko wonders why they still have the costumes if that was a previous sticking point, Futaba admits that she was the one who designed them, and the other two can't deny her anything.
- Stripperiffic: As part of Key Time's aesthetic, they dress and dance in skintight outfits.
Nanami
Voiced by: Hibiku Yamamura (Non-Singing Voice, JP), Lezel (Singing voice), Teresa Zimmerman (EN), Rikako Yagi (live-action)
A young musician who Eiko runs into on the streets of Shibuya while trying to busk, with whom she becomes fast friends with over their shared love for music, particularly Maria Diesel's. However, there's more to Nanami than meets the eye.
- Affectionate Nickname: Eiko quickly takes to calling her "Nanamin" after they first meet.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When she sees her friends' dreams in danger of crashing because their low-selling performances can't get enough money to support them, she goes back to Karasawa at Key Time and apologizes, asking him to take them on and make them big.
- Being Evil Sucks: She utterly hates what she and her friends have become by becoming overproduced sellouts instead of a real band, but she's in too deep to betray the people supporting Azalea as well as their fans.
- Chance Meeting Between Antagonists: Eiko meets Nanami seemingly entirely by chance, using Kongming's street performance permit to save her from a run-in with the police and quickly befriending her. What she doesn't realize is that she's actually Nanami Kuon, the lead singer of the rising singer group Azalea and her biggest opponent in the the 100,000 Likes Challenge.
- Commonality Connection: Eiko notices Nanami solely because she hears her sing Maria Diesel's "I'm Still Alive Today", one of her idol's most renowned songs. The two quickly bond and become friends after performing it together while busking.
- Don't Look At Me: The instant she sees Eiko in the audience watching Azalea perform, Nanami's inner monologue turns panicked, pleading to Eiko that this isn't the real her and to not look at her, all the while dancing with a smile pasted on her face.
- Flipping the Bird: She angrily flipped off Karasawa in the past during their first meeting after he derided Azalea's ideas of passion.
- Forced into Evil: After trying to strike it out without his help, Azalea's inability to bring in much money and forcing the members to get more part-time jobs instead of practicing prompted Nanami to swallow her pride and request Karasawa's help to promote them and keep them afloat. Between him making them sell themselves out with racy costumes, hindering their passion and talent by making them dance and perform rather than sing, and causing her two friends to grow more concerned with the money than their music, it's clear she regrets this in the present, but is in too deep to simply quit.
- Foreshadowing: Besides her given name being a rather obvious giveaway to her true identity, Kongming's divination reveals the sign of "a worthy rival" during Eiko's chance meeting with her, meaning she'll become Eiko's opponent somewhere down the line. Sure enough, she turns out to be the vocalist of Azalea, Eiko's staunchest competition.
- Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight: While Nanami truly loves singing, she hates that she's become a Sell-Out under Karasawa's management of Azalea.
- Lead Bassist: She's the bassist, lead vocalist, and frontman of Azalea.
- The Mentor: She helps Eiko improve her singing after hearing her frustrations.
- Ms. Fanservice: Deliberately invoked with her and the rest of Azalea's raunchy costumes as part of Karasawa's plan to build their fanbase, as well as with their dance routines which features Nanami shaking her hips and causing her breasts to bounce. It works out, but it's just another part of Azalea losing its identity that she hates.
- Took a Level in Cynic: She and her friends want to enjoy singing, but after Karasawa took over the band, she begins to despise her job and becomes frustrated by what had become of her friends, who now only think of making money.
- Shout-Out:
- During Kongming's divination, the sign which revealed that she'd be "a worthy rival" to Eiko is specifically known as the "sign of sworn friends", or "Gao Shan Liu Shi" (高山流水)note , hinting that she and Eiko will oppose each other despite their friendship.
- With the reveal that she is in fact a part of Azalea and thus Eiko's direct competition, their relationship parallels that of Guan Yu and Zhang Liao, a general in Lu Bu's employ who the former was deeply impressed by, pleading for his life. The two would become dear friends, and Zhang Liao would later reciprocate by persuading him to surrender in a later conflict with Cao Cao, when he otherwise would have committed suicide, after which the two would continue to deepen their bond. Likewise, Eiko is similarly helped by Nanami to grow as a singer and the two become close friends, and despite the two learning they were actually adversaries, Eiko returns the favor by making her realize she truly didn't want to remain a sellout, and the two maintain their friendship.
- Stepford Smiler: Her friendly and outgoing attitude conceals a deep dissatisfaction with what she and her friends have become under Karasawa's management.
Avil Suzuki
Director of Key Time's music department and top executive of production, and Karasawa's boss. She has a reputation for ruthless business and is always looking for weakness in others.
- High-Powered Career Woman: The lady at the top of Key Time, who rocks business suits and swimsuits in equal measure, and is constantly looking for any weakness in her conversational partners. Jonouchi warns anyone that talks to her that the instant they show any weakness, she’ll swallow them whole.
- Power Hair: Has a short, cropped hairstyle to go along with her air of powerful, predatory confidence.
- Psychotic Smirk: She rarely has any other expression than a smirk of unwavering confidence. When she’s feeling particularly predatory, it becomes a full-on Slasher Smile.
- Sexy Surfacing Shot: Her Establishing Character Moment is Karasawa bringing Kongming and Hajime to their first meeting with her, where she is getting out of her elevated swimming pool and then proceeds to have the entire meeting with them in her swimsuit.
Oshikaru
A talented keyboardist and Vocaloid producer, with the eccentricities to match. Her full name is Rana Hakuba, and she was once the keyboardist for Wagamono Gaori when she still worked at SSS Music.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Is a talented pianist and Vocaloid producer worthy of being signed by major labels, but when she first appears on-panel, she is wearing strange shaman robes and a dog mask, carrying an antlered staff, and calls herself “Astral Oshirana”. Moreover, she is a bit of a Womanchild, pestering Shoji to play with her even when he's busy.
- Chuunibyou: Her shaman outfit, full head-covering masks, and invocations to the stars make her... eccentric, to say the least.
- Former Teen Rebel: One of her ex-bandmates from Wagamono that went to school with her mentions that she was very selfish, was truant a lot, and constantly fought with everyone when she was around, even the teachers.
SSS Music
Kisuku Jonouchi
Renowned producer at SSS Music, who helped bring Wagamono Gaori to the big stage. Brutally pragmatic, he has only one job to do: make music acts successful, no matter whose feelings he has to trample on or who he has to give the boot.
- Bald of Authority: One of the major producers in a major music label, and a complete chrome dome.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: He first shows up to Eiko as a handsome, charismatic producer all ready to give her her big break and he remains fairly affable for the most part. That is until he reveals his unfettered focus on getting artists to perform and a willingness to kick anyone making that process harder out of the way, from fussy musicians to naive producers.
- Card-Carrying Jerkass: He has no qualms about kicking difficult artists or naive producers to the curb to give his musicians the best platform, and when Kaori calls him a total jerk (twice), he thanks her for standing up for him.
- Coat Cape: Always wears his stylized suit jackets this way.
- Consummate Professional: He doesn’t have time for naïveté, the frivolities of bringing out an artist’s true sound or the connections one has with a producer. He’s here to get artists onstage and performing on schedule, no matter who he has to sideline to do it, and Kaori says there’s no one more dependable than him.
- Pragmatic Villainy: His pragmatic management style goes from kicking out a difficult artist that's threatening to void a band's contract to agreeing to continue collaborating with his biggest rivals even after being duped into it, as the media execs are willing to pay big money to use the music.
- Villain Has a Point: Like Karasawa, he represents a cold fact of the industry that idealism and creative freedom can only go so far. Hajime's insistence to keep Wagamono Gaori's difficult pianist happy almost voided the band's contract if Jonouchi didn't step in.
Wagamono Gaori
A band that started out performing on streets, and are now performing on major stages thanks to SSS Music. Comprised of the vocalist Kaori, the guitarist Yusuke Beniya, and the drummer Ao Tomoi, and used to include the keyboardist Rana Hakuba.
- Brutal Honesty: Kaori has no filter in saying exactly what she thinks of people, like calling Jonouchi a dependable Jerkass, or telling Shoji that he is both gross and the reason they made it that far.
- Bishie Sparkle: Beniya has these while Kongming and Shoji are talking to him.
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: Kaori the vocalist holds this opinion about her former producer Hajime Shoji. He spent so long trying to get the four members of the band to work together (despite the keyboardist Rana Hakuba being too fussy and difficult) that they were in danger of voiding their contract, until Jonouchi took over and cut Hakuba out of the band, whereupon Kaori could finally stand before her audience.
V-EX
Hirose-Shi
Head producer for all of V-EX.
- Cool Shades: Wears a pair of huge wraparound shades, which make the moments when he removes them to reveal his steely glare all the more intimidating.
- Face of a Thug: Despite his fearsome glare, he’s the most open to the collaboration of his label’s Satsuki Oka with other artists, even after Kongming’s deception is revealed, compared to his more reluctant contemporaries.
- Gold Tooth of Wealth: Wears a full-on golden grill on his teeth as part of his rapper aesthetic, and a signifier of his status in his music company.
Mia Iriomote
Voiced by: Yuu Kobayashi (JP), Rachael Messer (EN)
A popular singer in the Shibuya club scene, with over 100,000 Pinsta followers. She also possesses a commanding stage presence, a deep, husky voice, and a cold, manipulative streak. At Ladies' Ready Night, she's one of the first rivals that Eiko and Kongming have to overcome. She later reappears in the Kyoto arc, having improved her musicality and signed on with the V-EX label.
- Amazonian Beauty: She has an athletic figure that she loves showing off to her many followers on Pinstagram.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: She's incredibly prideful, sticking it to the manager of Club Z20 by intentionally messing with her BPM because he made her sing a cover of another song instead of one of her originals, as well as seeing the gig, in general, being beneath her. She also regularly blows off her manager's requests for her to do some vocal training, and gets physical with him when she takes one of his remarks to mean that her talent doesn't matter compared to things like promotion or communication with him.
- Bad Boss: Frequently insults and blows off her manager and isn't above getting physical with him.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She seems to extend Eiko an opportunity at Ladies' Ready Night out of goodwill, but it's quickly revealed she just wanted to use Eiko's obscurity to bolster her own audience, as their performances were at the same time.
- Shout-Out: In a similar vein to Lu Xun being defeated by Kongming's Stone Sentinel Maze while trying to pursue Liu Bei, Mia herself suffers a loss to Eiko when Kongming uses it again to trap concertgoers in Eiko's performance to net her a bigger crowd.
- Sore Loser: She takes her loss to Eiko rather poorly, taking it out on her hapless manager and claiming it was his fault for getting one-upped by Kongming rather than Eiko's performance being better than her own.
- Starter Villain Stays: Is Eiko's first adversary on her road to stardom, and later returns a few arcs later as a performer hired by the Kamogawa shopping district in Kyoto's entertainment competition.
Other Musicians
Maria Diesel
A singer from America who performed at BB Lounge the same day that Kobayashi saved Eiko from a suicide attempt. Her singing that day gave a Eiko a reason to live again and ignited her desire to become a professional singer.
- Ambiguously Brown: While she does have noticeably dark skin, her last name is of German heritage.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: While Kobayashi stopped Eiko's immediate suicide, it was Maria Diesel who gave Eiko a reason to live again. Her performance that day was powerful enough to shake Eiko to her core, and caused her to shift her musical goals from simply singing for enjoyment and staying connected to her estranged father to reaching and healing other people just like how Maria healed her.
- The Hero's Idol: As the person who gave a suicidal Eiko a new lease on life through her performance and drove her to become a professional singer herself, Eiko deeply admires her and her music, with it being the primary influence behind her own music.
- Lady Drunk: Her first real on-panel experience is her having dinner with Tsuyoshi Kondo and enjoying her glass of daiginjo sake. Moreover, when Eiko runs into her at Summer Sonia (incognito), she is running around looking for more sake, falls asleep so fast Eiko mistakes her for a drunk, and when Tsuyoshi enters her private viewing tent, his assistant grimaces at the smell of alcohol.
- Meaningful Name: Just like how diesel is a fuel, Maria Diesel and her singing acted as a fuel for Eiko to keep living and pursue a new dream of helping others with music.
- If her surname is read as "Diezel," (which is how the manga's English translation spells her last name) she shares her name with a German company
that makes guitar amps, which is a fitting name for a singer.
- If her surname is read as "Diezel," (which is how the manga's English translation spells her last name) she shares her name with a German company
- Messianic Archetype: Described by Steave Kido as having a powerful, breathy voice that sounds almost as if she was praying. While her songs are about everyday life, they take on a near-religious aspect with her delivery. Her role in saving Eiko further underlines the Christ-like role that she has in the story, even down to how she is only referred to obliquely as if a myth.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Despite her only appearing or being mentioned as a part of Eiko's past, and that too in just a single concert at the BB Lounge, her singing that day ended Eiko's suicidal thoughts, reignited her love for music, and made her dream of becoming a singer to help others with music the same way it helped her. Eiko's decision to keep singing, let alone keep living, is what resulted in her fateful meeting with Kongming years later, who vows to help her achieve her dreams after being deeply moved by her music.
Jet Jacket
A three-man indie band that recently started hitting it big after they started incorporating digitally enhanced music in their catalog. We see the most of Jet Jacket's lead singer, who is a high-strung, deliberate and serious young man. Jet Jacket is the second rival group that competes with Eiko and Kongming for audience members at the Yoyogi Art Fes.
- Achilles' Heel: Kongming learns that because their most popular song, "Mid Day", is hard on the throat, their lead vocalist can't sing it two days in a row since he needs time to recover. On top of this weakness, they also had a solo concert the next day where they would need to perform "Mid Day". Because of Eiko's anonymity as well as her faked equipment problems, they opt to take it easy at the Yoyogi Art Fes, which results in their loss when Eiko suddenly begins singing and they're left unable to use "Mid Day" to win back the audience's attention.
- Defensive Feint Trap: Despite having the massive advantages of their popularity and better stage over Eiko, Jet Jacket falls for this and lose to her at the Yoyogi Art Fes. Due to Kongming employing the "Create Something out of Nothing" stratagem, they are lulled into a false sense of security due to Eiko's obscurity on top of her supposed technical problems. When they stop singing to address the audience, Eiko suddenly catches the crowd's attention with a Metal Scream as well as flashing lights in a tree next to her stage, leaving the band unable to muster a proper response and reacquire their audience, especially due to their inability to do their most popular song, "Mid Day".
- No Sympathy: Despite starting out six years ago in the exact same spot that Eiko did, the lead singer seems to have little sympathy for her even after Kongming purposefully let him overhear that her stage was having equipment troubles.
- Shout-Out: Their complacency due to Eiko's "equipment issues" and subsequent defeat as a result of the "Create Something out of Nothing" strategem mirrors that of the Yellow Turbans' loss to the same tactic at Duchang, as they let their guard down upon seeing the future Wu general Taishi Ci repeatedly practice his archery before he suddenly moved to break out of their siege.
- Sore Loser: Played straight initially. After Eiko manages to steal the band's audience at the Yoyogi Art Fes, the lead singer immediately accuses Kongming of "playing dirty" by faking equipment troubles.
- He and the rest of his band eventually warm up to Kongming though, after he offers them a throat-soothing drink that opens up his throat, as well as humbly asking for their autographs and commenting on their music.
Sekitoba Kung Fu
Voiced by: Subaru Kimura (JP), Orlando Jones (EN), ELLY (live-action)
Before Kabe turned up, Sekitoba Kung Fu was the undisputed king of the rap scene and a champion rap battler. He's unhappy with Kabe for swearing off rapping, and repeatedly tries to make him come out of his shell.
- Battle Rapping: A prominent rap battler who's second only to Kabe.
- Face of a Thug: The guy looks even more intimidating than Kobayashi, but he's not really a bad person and he mainly just wants Kabe to regain his fire and take up rapping again.
- Hidden Depths: Despite looking like a crude thug, Sekitoba has a surprising amount of understanding regarding ancient Chinese history and literature, easily explaining the meaning behind an old Chinese poem Kongming uses in his rap battle against Kabetaijin. His name itself is a reference to Lu Bu's/Guan Yu's famous horse, Red Hare.
- Friendly Rivalry: Has one with Kabe regarding rapping, and a lot of his displeasure with Kabe in the present stems from the latter's refusal to rap anymore. The two have each others' phone numbers, too.
- Mr. Exposition: During the rap battle between Kabe and Kongming, he explains to Eiko and the viewers how the competition works.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Same as Kabe.
- Rhymes on a Dime: Like Kabe, he's a freestyle rapper, and a damn good one too.
- Otaku: Sekitoba is clearly a huge afficionado for classical Chinese literature. His stage name is the Japanese pronounciation of "Red Hare", Lu Bu and later Guan Yu's famous Ferghana horse. His letterman jacket has a picture of Guan Yu sewn onto the back, and when Kongming begins reciting from an ancient Chinese poem during his rap battle with Kabetaijin, he quickly interprets and elaborates on hidden meanings of the stanzas to a confused Eiko.
- Tattooed Crook: He has a noticeable skull-faced tattoo over his neck.
Steave Kido
Voiced by: Daichi Endo
An acclaimed composer, arranger, and DJ who Kongming employs to arrange a new song for Eiko to use in Summer Sonia's 100,000 Likes Challenge. He's highly talented, despite his laziness and odd preference for eating bamboo shoots.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite his Bizarre Taste in Food and rather lackadaisical approach to everything, he's an immensely gifted musician who has DJ'd all over the world and can arrange a hit song in less than two weeks. During Eiko's first meeting with him, he fully explains the ins and outs of Maria Diesel's music, correctly identifies that she's Eiko's primary musical influence, and accurately points out Eiko's strengths as well as her biggest weakness, which is that she isn't singing with "her own voice".
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: He's a pretty obvious reference to the famous DJ Steve Aoki, right down to sharing a given name and a penchant for throwing cakes into the audience during performances.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: He challenges Eiko to "find her own voice" and impress him with her singing before he'd arrange a song for her to use in the 100,000 Likes Challenge at no charge, with only two weeks left to spare before she had to post her video. On top of that, if she fails, she'd have to pay him an exorbitant 10 million yen for his emergency arrangement order as well as give up Kongming to become his personal tactician.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Bamboo shoots, which pick him right back up when eating it in the studio. Also doubles as a Bizarre Taste in Food, as Eiko is rather sickened by how he happily eats it with pudding.
Keiji Maezono
Scion of the Denposha advertising company and a charismatic superstar performer, whose fans love that he writes his own lyrics, composes his own music, and arranges his own dance performances. However, his fantastic image hides both a devious, arrogant personality and the ambition to do whatever it takes to get ahead.
- Arc Villain: Of the Summer Sonia arc.
- Bad Boss: When Nanbo tries to convince him to put East-South's name on his next piece of music, he orders one of his thugs to pull a Neck Lift on him and coldly says that his image is of an artist that does everything himself. He then reminds East-South of the 100 million yen severance fee in their contract.
- The Barnum: Was taught at a young age that the uneducated, weak masses are for the privileged winners like him to manipulate and lead as they like. Even after he is exposed at having ghostwriters, he still sees that some fans are sticking by him, and the first thing he does is call them stupid for believing that he was anything other than a dream-manufacturing showman.
- Feet of Clay: He publicly claims to write and compose all his own songs and arrange his own dance performances, while secretly hiring East-South as ghostwriters for his songs. Also, when his scripted rap battle with Kabetaijin goes off the rails with Kabetaijin announcing all his fake business, he is mentally left floundering for a response and has to be bailed out by the MC.
- Manipulative Bastard: He is probably the dirtiest artist that Eiko and Kongming have faced up till then, willing to pull any trick in the book, from sabotaging other people's performances and posting misleading images online, to poaching other people's performers and threatening artists and guests alike with his hired thugs, to get ahead.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Believes he can walk all over even the Summer Sonia organizer Tsuyoshi Kondo because his father is one of the main funders of the festival.
The Wakatsuki Family
Kozo Wakatsuki
Patriarch of the Wakatsuki family, and a former jazz musician.
- In Vino Veritas: Invoked; when Eiko prompts him to tell his children how he really feels about them, he says he'll do so after he has a few more drinks.
- Tough Love: He's so frustrated by his children quarrelling (especially after they cancelled a concert that he organized because they couldn't work together) that he issues an ultimatum: they'll perform another concert to replace the one they cancelled, and he'll give the family fortune and house to the one that performs the best and kick the others out. This really rubs Eiko the wrong way, even though he said he made the ultimatum in the hopes that they'd work together so that he could leave the estate to all of them.
Takumi Wakatsuki
Eldest son of the Wakatsuki siblings. He is an excellent percussionist and drummer, and a genius at composing and musical teaching.
- Aloof Big Brother: As the eldest and only son, he feels like it's his duty to be the responsible one and uphold the family name. This causes a lot of friction with Toka, and also causes him to brush off stuff with Michiru (like theme park trips) in favour of work.
- Dumb and Drummer: Inverted; while his instrument of choice is percussion and drumming, his intelligence is commented on in many places, from him giving lectures at the university to his ability to arrange music in a genre as complicated as electro-swing jazz.
- The Workaholic: Commonly brushes off spending time with his siblings to deal with work matters.
Toka Wakatsuki
Middle daughter of the Wakatsuki siblings. She is a talented pianist, who excels at matching and accompanying other performers.
- Middle Child Syndrome: Has some issues with her older brother for being a "genius", and gets annoyed with her younger sister for stealing her spotlight.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Her piano-playing is impressive and her skill at matching and accompanying other musicians is noteworthy, but it also leads to a fair bit of resentment at being best known for making others look good, despite her own talent. This also blends into her Middle Child Syndrome as it relates to Michiru, since her little sister's improvisation would get all the praise while she's stuck in the background.
Michiru Wakatsuki
Youngest daughter of the Wakatsuki siblings. Her specialty is the saxophone, and her ability to quickly learn songs and improvise performances is without peer, for better and worse.
- Big Little Sister: She looks taller than both of her siblings, although unlike her brother she's always wearing heels so it's hard to say who'd be the tallest in stocking feet.
- Didn't Think This Through: Has a bad habit of doing this; when she accepted Kongming's request to compose songs for Eiko in the hopes that it could get her siblings to finally cooperate, she didn't ask them first and led to both of them getting mad at her.
- Genki Girl: Excitable and individualistic to a fault; there's hardly a time when she's not being her smiley, cheery self. When she takes Eiko and Kongming to Harajuku, she's practically a Womanchild.
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: In particular, she picks up a couple at Harajuku because they remind her so much of her siblings. She later uses one to deliver the completed track of "Flower Crown" to Eiko right before she performs.
- The Glomp: When she's excited, she picks up Eiko like a child and spins her around, much to her dismay.
- Improv: Her individuality shining through all her performances makes her a natural at this, but it also means that many other performers struggle to keep up. Moreover, unlike her sister, she struggles at matching others.
- Innocently Insensitive: She may be a bubbly, friendly young lady with not a mean bone in her body, but Kobayashi comments that she's a natural at pissing people off, whether it's her siblings for accepting an offer without their input or Eiko for saying she can easily write a better song than "Dreamer".
- She also shows self-awareness of this; saying she knows her siblings get irritated at her for saying certain things, but she doesn't get why they get mad at her, and as such, she doesn't know what to change.
- The Klutz: Her first appearance shows her with a bruise on her forehead from bumping into a roof beam, and when she enters BB Lounge to get Kongming's help, she bumps her head on the door.
- Plucky Girl: Best exhibited in her jazz performance with Kongming and Eiko. When Kongming starts playing a sampling mashup of her siblings' earlier performances, Michiru picks up on what he's trying to do and starts trying to match her saxophone playing with the tracks. Despite the limited sound sample, despite her individuality making her lousy at synchronizing and playing along, despite Toka thinking that she couldn't ever recover the performance, she keeps trying, because she knows that the best music comes when all three siblings work together.
Eiko's family
Shoko Tsukimi
Eiko's mother; a cram school teacher and district council member who is vehemently against any idea of her daughter going into music as a career, on account of it being the reason her husband left.
- Brutal Honesty: Shoko's style of debating is flattening every argument against her with cold facts and logic, from stating that statistically no Japanese artist in Eiko's genre of music has made a worldwide splash, to saying that Kongming's support of her daughter falls flat since the man he's imitating ultimately failed in saving his state from collapse. Not even her own mother or daughter are exempt.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Stern and overbearing to a fault, but she softens over the course of the Kyoto arc as her daughter's singing finally gets through to her.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Gender Flipped example; she hates Eiko going into music like her husband did, on account of it being the reason he left, and constantly tries to pressure her into building a real career. This has resulted in a very large reduction in her daughter's self-esteem.
- Jerkass Has a Point: When Kongming presents his argument that Eiko is like Liu Bei as someone who could achieve their dreams through never giving up, Shoko gives a counterargument that not even Kongming can refute: that if they are alike, then both of them have tied their fortunes to a man that, despite his pedigree, still failed. Thus, how can she believe that Eiko will succeed in her endeavor when her manager imitates a man who ultimately failed in his goal?
- Parents as People: She might be vehemently against her daughter's career choice, but she still loves, cares for, and worries about her, given how much she talks to her own mother about it. It takes Eiko a while to realize this; one of her realizations is that the reason there are so many pictures of just her and her father is because her mother was always behind the camera, capturing the loving moments with her family.
- Stern Teacher: Is a cram school teacher by profession, and has a habit of brutalizing every argument against her with cold logic.
Ume Tsukimi
Eiko's grandmother and Shoko's mother; the keeper of the Tsukimi family temple in Kyoto and a leading member of the Kiyamachi shopping district community.
- The Heart: Of the Kiyamachi shopping district. While Old Man Tomozu is the most passionate, she is the one that keeps everyone working together. When she collapses out of exhaustion, there is a moment when the district board is demoralized and aimless, until Ume sends a message that puts Kongming in charge and everyone rallies behind him.
- Miko: The elderly head priest of the Tsuki no Mi temple in Kyoto (i.e. Eiko's family temple).
Tsuguhiko Tsukimi
Eiko's father and Shoko's ex-husband; an aspiring musician that instilled a love of music into his daughter, but had friction with his wife because he couldn't hold down a job.
- Disappeared Dad: When Eiko was in fifth grade, he and his wife divorced over him pursuing a music career in America and he left, never to be seen again.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Has a brief appearance in episode 12 of the anime, watching his daughter's streamed performance of "Dreamer".
Other Characters
Tsuyoshi Kondo
Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka
An eccentric but highly influential man who organizes and manages major music festivals both in and out of Japan. After Eiko's smashing success at the Yoyogi Art Festival in an historically small-time stage, he takes a keen interest in her developing career.
- Big Good: Despite his massive scope of influence, he becomes genuinely interested in Eiko and her future, and is greatly pleased to see her undertake the 100,000 Likes project, with the belief that she has what it takes to succeed. He even thinks of recommending her directly to Maria Diezel.
- This is downplayed in Summer Sonia, where the advertising company Denposha's status as one of the festival's big funders means that its scion Keiji Maezono can walk all over his authority. That said, he does still do what he can to help Kongming out, mostly so that he can handle Keiji himself.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite his eccentric behavior, he's still the organizer and manager of big-time music events across Japan and even outside of it, and is the one who Eiko has to prove herself to in order to score a spot at Summer Sonia.
- Characterization Marches On: In the Summer Sonia arc, while his secretary does do some of the talking and explaining, he is also seen talking directly to others, both to people he respects (or has to) like Maria Diezel and Keiji Maezono, and to Kongming and even Hajime at one point.
- Gratuitous English: He tends to pepper his speech with English at times.
- Mouth of Sauron: In his first appearance, his secretary regularly talked in his place while he remained silent, to the point where she was mimicking his accent and speech mannerisms.
- Secret Test of Character: He presents two options to Eiko when meeting her at the Yoyogi Art Fes: she could get a spot at another festival in Fukuoka with a similar audience size of 10,000, or she could go to Summer Sonia, one of the biggest music festivals in Japan with over 300,000 concertgoers, under the condition that she has to take part and succeed in the "100,000 Likes for the Right to Appear" project, an infamously difficult challenge that had only seen one victor in five years and caused many musicians to crash and burn trying to beat it. When Eiko chooses to take on the challenge, Kondo is absolutely thrilled, talking normally with his own voice and telling her he looks forward to seeing her at Summer Sonia.
- The Voiceless: Played With. Kondo will usually stay silent in "conversations" while his secretary speaks on his behalf, and only seems to talk personally if he's impressed with the other person.
Eiko's Fan
Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae
An unnamed, silent, but devoted fan of Eiko who Kongming enlists in working behind the scenes to further his plans for Eiko's road to success.
- Ascended Fanboy: A big fan of Eiko's that gets to help her achieve success, whether it's by editing footage of her or helping Kongming find information.
- Comically Small Demand: In exchange for editing a video of Eiko's Ladies' Ready Night performance, he agreed to the miniscule "payment" of a picture of Eiko.
- Disguised in Drag: He dressed up as a lady to snag the phone of Jonouchi’s assistant at a bar and change the stored number of Avil Suzuki with his own, so that Jonouchi won't be able to corroborate Kongming's story with the real Suzuki.
- Fun T-Shirt: His shirt has a heart with Eiko's name written in it, to make it more obvious that he's a big fan of her.
- Opaque Lenses: You never get to see his eyes behind his glasses.
- The Spymaster: His main job is to help Kongming collect info on whatever might be able to give Eiko a leg up, whether it's rivals or potential allies.
- The Voiceless: He's never shown speaking a word until in episode 11, where he informs Kongming that he completed the preparations for his strategies and lied to the crowd that the QR code is fake.
Kurama Togano
The manager of the Kamogawa shopping district. He wants to make his grandfather proud and win the shopping district entertainment competition for the 20th year in a row.
- I Am Not My Father: Unlike his father, who lost the competition and abandoned his hometown to expand the family business, he wants to do better than him by making his grandfather proud and his hometown successful.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Or in this case, grandson. His main motivation for winning the Shopping District Entertainment Competition is to make his grandfather proud, and maintain Kamogawa's winning streak.
- Worthy Opponent: After he lost the entertainment battle to Kongming and the Kiyamachi district, he admits that he enjoyed matching wits with Kongming.
Cosmo Yuki
The Number 2 host at the Arabesque Club. He claims to want to open a cafe with Shino's help, as long as she helps him earn enough money to quit his job... but this innocent dream hides a sinister, selfish motive.
- Card Sharp: The Dice variant; he has a loaded dice setup for his club’s drinking game that maximizes his opponent’s drinks and minimizes his own. Unfortunately, Kongming is just as willing to cheat as him in order to force him into a fair game.
- Con Man: Tells multiple girls that he wants to open up a cafe with them as soon as he earns enough, and gets them to give him loans to help him along, when in reality all he’s doing is fleecing them for all they’re worth.
- Handsome Lech: Flirts with and strings along multiple girls, promising each of them that he’ll open up a little cafe with them as soon as he earns enough.
- Hiding Behind Your Bangs: His hair covers his right eye, which makes him look innocent to his marks and devious to the audience. He only pushes his hair back when Kongming forces him to play fair.
