History Characters / KodomoNoOmocha

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Sana Kurata]]
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->'''Voiced by''': Creator/ChisaYokoyama (OVA), Shizue Oda (JP), Creator/LauraBailey (EN)

An exhuberant and cheerful girl who is a child star and who sees the world in such a positive light... until the moment her classmate, Akito Hayama, opens her eyes. At the start of the series she works in a TV Show called "Kodomo no Omocha" and after a while she starts accepting roles that will increase her career.

She is the adoptive daughter of famous writer, Misako Kurata, who found her in a park when she was just a baby (her biological mother, Keiko, abandoned her after giving birth). Misako told her that she was adopted when she was only 5 years old, but couldn't speak about it properly until she became famous and until she "grew up". Sana lives at the Kurata household with her mom, Rei Sagami (her manager), Shimura-san (their maid), and their many dogs.

[[spoiler: In ''Deep Clear'', a special crossover made for Miho Obana's 20th anniversary as a mangaka, Sana (now 26 years old) is still working as an actress. She is also married to Akito and is currently pregnant, but due to certain circumstances, her pregnancy was becoming troublesome for her marriage until Shuri Otokawa (an esper and detective, and the main character of Obana's ''Honey Bitter'') is hired to help her]].

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* AttentionWhore: Totally innocent, but she definitely likes being in the spotlight. She's an actress, after all.
* BettyAndVeronica:
** The Archie to Naozumi's Betty and Akito's Veronica.
** The Betty to Fuka's Veronica for Akito's Archie.
* BelligerentSexualTension: With Akito, especially since they start out as enemies. Even after they start to care for each other, their interactions aren't always peaceful.
* BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine: She's always the StraightMan of sorts to any stupidity that comes around, her WeaponOfChoice is her rubber hammer.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Just as kooky as she is talented. There's a reason why she's so famous and popular, despite her young age.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: She is a little odd and everyone knows it.
* {{Determinator}}: During the filming of "The Mansion of Water" she suffered a cracked leg courtsy of Naozumi's crazed fangirls trying to keep her away from him. Not only Sana decided to hide the extent of her injury and continue filming (partly out of sheer spite at her attackers, as she saw it as the perfect revenge), but it ended up ''improving the final scene'', as the pain slowed her down just that much she came out of the house on fire shortly before it collapsed, making the scene that much more awesome.
* TheDitz: On occasion, she can be extremely clueless.
* DudeMagnet: She has so many suitors wishing to have her heart.
%%* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Justified, as she is a popular child star.
* EverybodyHatesMathematics: As shown in the anime, she is not very good at math and even sings a song about how much she hates it.
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: With Akito. Many characters seem to notice the UnresolvedSexualTension between them, and even Akito seems to be aware of it (though he would never admit it) but Sana herself is a bit slow to understand her romantic feelings and for a long time she thinks her closeness to Akito is just a complicated friendship.
* FieryRedhead: Red hair, fiery temper, and extremely outgoing, enthusiastic, and passionate.
* GenkiGirl: She is super energetic and bubbly.
* GirlishPigtails: In the anime, she uses them as her daily-to-go hairstyle. In the manga, however, Sana ditches this hairstyle choice as she is growing up.
* GratuitousEnglish: She uses it quite a lot.
* HairTriggerTemper: She can be fiery and HotBlooded when the moment calls it.
* HappilyAdopted: Misako adopted Sana when she was barely a newborn baby. She told her about it when she was just five years old, as a way to make a promise to look for her real mother, once they become famous. But when the moment arrives, Sana declines the biological mother's offer because Misako is her one and only mother.
* TheHeart: She manages to inspire and help anyone in need, just ask her friends and her fans.
* HumanHummingbird: Provides the trope's page image. Mix her GenkiGirl personality and her MotorMouth, and she becomes the poster child of this in the anime, where she is almost unstoppable.
* IdiotHero: Rare female example. Sana is not exactly stupid but she does almost everything thoughtlessly and on impulse.
* IdolSinger: She temporarily becomes one in the anime alongside other two girls, once Zenjiro's show is cancelled.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Rei. She was nine years old when she found a homeless Rei, who was a dropped-out College student at the time.
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Sana is the one who encouraged Rei to reunite with his old girlfriend, Asako.
* LargeHam: As to be expected from an actress, she's very loud, hammy, and full of life.
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: She has a habit of forgetting unpleasant memories (and the people it involves) when she suffers from her HeroicBSOD.
* TheMaidenNameDebate: [[spoiler: ''Deep Clear'' revealed that she kept her last name upon marrying Akito due to being an actress, though their daughter took his name.]]
* {{Malaproper}}: Sana tends to massacre proverbs, until someone corrects her that they aren't supposed to be like that.
* ManicPixieDreamGirl: She makes Akito's life so much better and helps him be a more considerate person.
* MeaningfulName: Her mom named her after her birthday, March (San) 7 ([[SevenIsNana Na]]).
* MoodSwinger: ''So much''. She can go from excited to calm and serious to angry to excited again in a matter of seconds.
* MoralityChain: To Akito. Thanks to Sana, Akito shows more kindness.
* MotorMouth: Big Time. Sana's fast speech can only be compared to [[Anime/ExcelSaga Excel]], where the subtitles can come in ''paragraphs'' in a short amount of time.
* NiceGirl: Despite being slightly crazy, she's a goodhearted person who really means well and wants to help everyone.
* ObliviousToLove: Played with -- Sana doesn't completely understand where "love" and "friendship" ends, and she can't really identify what is "love" unless someone tells their feelings for her directly. However, she is still affected by it. She can't stop thinking about Akito (that also includes not realizing that he was in love with her even after ''three different timed kisses'') and she gets jealous and brokenhearted when he starts dating Fuuka. She simply cannot explain why she feels like that at those moments. [[spoiler: And when Sana finally realizes she's in love with Akito, it's a big deal for her]].
* OddFriendship: How she sees her relationship with Akito for a good part of the series, before she starts to realize [[UnresolvedSexualTension how she really feels about him.]]
* PluckyGirl: In spades. Her optimism and determination are a big part of her personality. The [[AlternativeForeignThemeSong Italian opening]] describes Sana as "a girl who never gives up".
* PrecociousCrush: Even though Rei being her "boyfriend" was only part of a game that went out of control in public, she believes that ''maybe'' he is her first love crush, since she didn't see him as a ''boy toy''.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: The GenkiGirl to Akito's stoic Savvy Guy. She also has this dynamic with Naozumi who is rather calm compared to her.
* SelectiveObliviousness: Sana becomes ''very'' brokenhearted when she hears that Akito is dating someone else. When someone explains the obvious, she tries to rationalize it away one last time.
* SugarWiki/SheReallyCanAct: In-universe. People knew that she could act, but only Rei and Misako knew ''how well''. Poor Naozumi is charmed to the point he can't speak when, during the shooting of their movie, he sees her in action...
* {{Tsundere}}: Type B. She's very nice and friendly, but don't make her angry. Just see her interactions with Akito.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Akito Hayama]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_1_92.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Creator/MegumiOgata (OVA), Tatsuya Nakazaki (JP), Creator/JerryJewell (EN)

A former troublemaker that caused chaos during 6th grade in Sana's class. He is very stoic but also very strong, if provoked. After Sana called him out of all of his "evil doing" at school, she becomes his love obsession.

His family has complicated matters. His mother died when she was giving birth to him, and as a result, this made his father, his sister and himself distanced from each other. Natsumi felt resentful towards him, and his dad was considered a {{workaholic}}. As a result, he eventually developed a bad and rebellious behavior around his classmates and also showed a severe disrespect on his teachers. It's thanks to Sana that he started to open his heart and also helped to fix his family ties.

[[spoiler: In ''Deep Clear'', Akito (now a 26-year-old adult) is married to Sana and practices alternative medicine in a local hospital. He is initially suspected of a love affair that is keeping him away from Sana, but actually he is very scared about her pregnancy. He is very afraid to lose her the same way his mother died. They eventually reconcile once their baby is born and after she is safe and healthy.]]

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* AcademicAthlete: He's very athletic and especially good at martial arts. Unusually for a TroubledButCute delinquent, he also gets very good grades, despite his apparent indifference about school.
* AffectionateNickname: Fuuka nicknamed him "Akki" when they were in kindergarten. [[spoiler: She often calls him as such when they start dating]].
* BelligerentSexualTension: With Sana, especially since they start out as enemies. Even after they start to care for each other, their interactions aren't always peaceful.
* BettyAndVeronica:
** The Veronica to Naozumi's Betty for Sana's Archie.
** The Archie to Sana's Betty and Fuka's Veronica.
* BerserkButton:
** Akito '''cannot''' stand being called a "demon", mostly because that's the way Natsumi referred to him after their mom died.
** Do ''not'' insult his friends, especially if you're calling them a MommasBoy.
* {{Bishonen}}: Once he gets into middle school, he starts gaining fangirls, who like his cool attitude and his looks... even though his personality is a whole different story. [[spoiler: As a grown up and certified doctor, he gets the attention of many of the women working with him... no wonder it was assumed initially that he had a love affair.]]
* BrutalHonesty: Akito tends to deliver hard and dry truths to anyone, even if they are meant to be ''cruel'', as he doesn't like sugarcoating them. Obviously, Sana is often annoyed with this.
* ChickMagnet: Between Sana and Fuuka, it's implied that he'd be literally surrounded by fangirls if his personality wasn't such a turn-off.
* TheComicallySerious: He can be funny in a dry way.
* CrazyJealousGuy: When Sana is with someone else. That's the catalyst for Tsuyoshi realizing that Sana only saw him as a friend, and that she found out that Rei was only "playing along" with her as her "boyfriend".
* DeadpanSnarker: A subtle example given his stoic personality, but some of his snide comments fall into this.
* DefrostingIceKing: He softens up once Sana changes his heart.
* {{Delinquents}}: He was the leader of a bunch of kids who looked up to him due to his rebellious nature. There wasn't a teacher that would lay their fingers on him, because he had his tactics to blackmail them.
* TheDreaded: At school, he's initially feared by everyone, including the teachers. The only exception is Sana.
* FirstNameBasis: Although many of Sana's friends do call her by her given name, Akito keeps [[LastNameBasis referring to her as "Kurata"]] until Middle School. When she returns from filming "The Mansion of Water", it unnerves her that Akito starts referring to her as "Sana" (since he picked it up from Fuuka) all of a sudden, as it was implying that they were much more closer than they were supposed to be.
* FreudianExcuse: Koharu, his mom, died when she was giving birth to him. Natsumi resented him ever since, frequently getting angry at Akito and calling him "devil". In addition, Akito had a distant relationship with his father, who works long hours. This is also something that is played in ''Deep Clear'', [[spoiler: since he is afraid that Sana would die in a similar manner as his mother, when giving birth to their child.]]
* GeniusBruiser: He's physically very strong, and a surprisingly good student.
* HiddenEyes: The only way he expresses sadness.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He pretends to be indifferent or annoyed, but deep inside he really cares about his friends, his family, and (especially) Sana. After all the trouble that Akito goes through his FreudianExcuse, he develops a heart of gold, even if he hasn't changed lots of his character on the outside.
* KidsLoveDinosaurs: There are three things that Akito likes: [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Sushi]], [[ShipTease Sana]], and dinosaurs. Note that "like" is his way of saying "love".
* OddFriendship: With Tsuyoshi and Sana (though the latter was obviously more than a friend to him).
* ParentalNeglect: Considering that his father was a widower who had to maintain his children, and that his older sister had to double her role as a mother figure when she got older (not forgetting that she also felt resentful to him), Akito rarely stayed at home and often ate fast-food in the streets.
* PerpetualFrowner: A common company to his [[TheStoic stoic]] traits. If he smiles or laughs, it's a big deal for anyone who is involved with him.
* TheQuietOne: In contrast to Sana and his other talkative friends, he's not a person of many words.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Savvy Guy to Sana's Energetic Girl.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: The tough and stoic Manly Man to Tsuyoshi's cheerful and innocent Sensitive Guy.
* SproutingEars: He occasionally sprouts a leopard's ears and tail when he's being particularly cool.
* SugarAndIcePersonality: Emphasis on the "ice" part, but he has a warmer side, mainly when he's around Sana.
* TheStoic: He doesn't like to show his emotions and feelings around other people.
* ThemeNaming: Each one of the Hayama family is named after the seasons, in this case "Aki" comes from "autumn". This is discussed in-series: Akito's mom chose her children's names [[EnforcedTrope precisely for that fact.]]
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Sushi.
* TroubledButCute: A handsome, antisocial, moody loner with HiddenHeartOfGold and DarkAndTroubledPast. All traits that make him quite popular with fangirls.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With most of his friends (when it comes to Sana, it's usually BelligerentSexualTension).
* VocalDissonance: English dub only. Akito is 11 yet his voice is the same as [[Manga/FruitsBasket Kyo Sohma]], with whom he shares a voice actor.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tsuyoshi Ohki]]
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->'''Voiced by''': Creator/MinamiTakayama (OVA), Mayumi Misawa (JP), Creator/GregAyres (EN)

Tsuyoshi is Akito's best friend. He is a soft-spoken and quite smart kid, who has a general gentle personality... until you make him angry. He has several [[BerserkButton berserk buttons]] and throws a whole rage tornado until Akito subdues him and makes him calm down.

He once stated that he was the "rival" to Akito's love for Sana, but after giving her up, he went to Aya, who had a crush on him. Due to certain circumstances that happened at home, his parents divorce, and he starts to cope with the responsability of being much more than an older brother mentor to his little sister, Aono.

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* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: He tends to fall in love with ''any'' girl who gives him a gift.
* BerserkButton: If you insult his mother or make him angry for any other sentimental topics of his, beware of his [[UnstoppableRage blind rage]]!
* BetaCouple: With Aya. In the anime, he brings up the example of his relationship with Aya to Akito, when he is trying to resolve the ambiguous situation of his relationship with Sana, before confessing his feelings to her.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Tsuyoshi is normally a very kind and innocent kid, unless he gets insulted (or his mom), and if Aya gets harmed.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Towards his little sister. There are moments where he even questions himself if he is doing a good job as a big brother.
* ButtMonkey: Sometimes, given how innocent he is.
* DisappearedDad: Tsuyoshi's father is estranged from the family, and it's implied that he physically abused Tsuyoshi; might be the case why he reacts so strongly to people insulting his mother.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Initially, towards Sana, especially because he didn't know it was just for a misunderstanding he had from her affections.
* EndearinglyDorky: A soft-spoken child with NerdGlasses who is quite clueless and awkward when it comes to girls and romance. Aya likes him anyway, and his kind personality (especially compared to the other guys in his class) is certainly one of the reasons.
* HotBlooded: Especially when people press his BerserkButton, despite being usually nice and soft-spoken.
* MommasBoy: He loves his mom very much, as Aya explained in front of their class. [[BerserkButton But if you tease him about it...]]
* NiceGuy: Who wouldn't want a friend like him?
* NotSoAboveItAll: He's usually the most normal of the characters, but has a few crazy antics himself. Also, he was among the kids who [[spoiler:bet Akito he couldn't kiss Fuuka]] when they were in kindergarten, and when Fuuka resurfaces he actually issues Akito with a ''death threat'' should he tell her what had happened
* OddFriendship: With Akito. Their personalities couldn't be more different.
* ThePollyanna: His family situation may be almost as bad as Akito's. But unlike Akito, he is usually friendly, up-beat, and optimistic... except when he gets angry.
* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Sensitive Guy to Akito's Manly Man.
* SerialRomeo: It becomes a plot point about how he easily falls for different girls, because [[BecauseYouWereNicetoMe they give him gifts]]. Early in the series, he's madly in love with Sana but after it's revealed Aya has a crush on him, he suddenly decides he loves her back and they start dating. With him and Aya being SickeninglySweethearts, his initial crush on Sana is more or less forgotten.
* SickeninglySweethearts: With Aya. They act all lovey-dovey as if they were newlyweds after they start dating.
* TokenGoodTeammate: Initially, when the other boys in Sana's class were Akito and his GangOfBullies.
* UnstoppableRage: When he gets angry. That is until someone (normally Akito) calms him down with a karate chop.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Akito.
* WhenHeSmiles: He's pretty low on the bishonen-ness scale, but his smile is enough to make Sana go "wow" for a moment. They don't even show it directly on the manga - and only for a split-second on the anime.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Aya Sugita]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_3_8198.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Akiko Kikuchi (JP), Creator/MonicaRial (EN)

Aya is one of Sana's closest friends at school. She is a very mild-mannered girl who is quiet and sweet, and with a good deal of common sense. She had a crush on Tsuyoshi whom she later confesses on, under the circumstances (little she knew he was one of those kids that fall in love at first "gift"). They start a relationship later without handling these matters, though.

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* BetaCouple: With Tsuyoshi. To a SickeninglySweethearts extent, when they don't stop talking about each other when they aren't together.
* BrainyBrunette: At least once it's mentioned that she gets good grades, something she has in common with her boyfriend, Tsuyoshi.
* GirlNextDoor: Not literally, but personality-wise, she is the typical down to earth and nice girl next door.
* NiceGirl: She is a sweet girl who is always a supportive friend to Sana.
* OnlySaneWoman: Amongst Sana's friends and classmates, she is the most normal of them. Except when she and Tsuyoshi are being SickeninglySweethearts.
* TheQuietOne: Compared to [[GenkiGirl Sana]], she is very meek and quiet.
* SatelliteCharacter: Mostly to Sana and later Tsuyoshi, after they start dating.
* SickeninglySweethearts: With Tsuyoshi. As soon as they start dating, they act like a newlywed lovey-dovey couple.
* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: She likes Tsuyoshi because he dearly loves his mother and sister.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fuuka Matsui]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_4_9801.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Creator/HarumiIkoma (JP)

Fuuka is the first friend Sana meets when she enters middle school. She previously lived in the Tokyo area before moving to Osaka, but then she moved back to start school. Although she shares a bit of the Osaka's stereotypes (the BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine and the KansaiRegionalAccent), she coupled with the class perfectly. She and Sana became best friends fast because they share some similar traits (physical and emotionally).

During the first days of school, she finds out that an old kindergarten classmate of hers was in the same grade and school as her -- Akito Hayama, who was her FirstKiss [[spoiler: (through a shameless bet)]]. As soon as she starts knowing him, she develops an special interest into him... Both of them start dating when Sana was absent filming "The Mansion of Water", which all started with an innocent DoubleDate with Fuuka's OldFlame. They later break up because [[spoiler: Akito's feelings for Sana never changed, and she was ready to let him go.]].

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* AcademicAthlete: She is a good gymnast and a quite good student, too.
* AccentAdaptation: Done badly in the Italian dub. In the original, she has a [[KansaiRegionalAccent Kansai accent]], while her Italian voice actress gives her a blatantly fake pseudo-English accent.
* TheAce: Athletic, smart, and popular, no one has to wonder why so many of her classmates look up to her. Even Sana gets a little jealous of that aspect on Fuuka.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: She starts showing some interest in Akito after she starts challenging him over her FirstKiss grudge.
* BettyAndVeronica: The Veronica to Sana's Betty for Akito's Archie.
* BrainyBrunette: Looks very similar to Sana, but her hair is darker (brown instead of red) and she's also less dense than Sana. She is one of the smartest and more thoughtful students of her class.
* ChekhovsGunman: She was first mentioned in passing after Akito first kissed Sana, when two guys who knew Akito since kindergarten said he had his FirstKiss then (also mentioning that [[spoiler:it was for a bet]]). Of course nobody expected her to actually show up...
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: With Akito, who went to kindergarten with her and was her FirstKiss. She was mildly interested in Akito, and after he showed her how a good friend he could be, that same interest grew up. They eventually start dating [[spoiler: after jumping on conclusions about the "Sana was dating Naozumi"'s rumors]]. Of course, it didn't last.
* ControlFreak: During her relationship with Akito, she often scolded him about how he was wearing their school's uniform.
* GenkiGirl: To a lesser extent than Sana.
* TheIdiotFromOsaka: Subverted. Fuuka lived in Osaka for a while, and she still has the KansaiRegionalAccent, and while she is obnoxiously hyper (though not any less than Sana, whose personality and accent say "generic Tokyo area native character"), she's quite clever, reliable, and more astute than Sana.
* PluckyGirl: Like Sana, she's usually optimistic.
* ReplacementGoldfish: When Akito believed that Sana and Naozumi were together, he dated Fuuka because, for a strange coincidence, she resembled Sana in both looks and personality. This is lampshaded by Fuuka herself in the manga when she talks to Sana about how similar they both were. And then it's something she highlights to Akito, when she wanted to understand him at the end.
* RomanticFalseLead: She gets in the way of the Akito[=/=]Sana WillTheyOrWontThey relationship, becoming Akito's girlfriend for a while.
* {{Tsundere}}: Though more subtle about it than Sana.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Naozumi Kamura]]
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->'''Voiced by''': Creator/OmiMinami (JP), Creator/ChrisPatton (EN)

Naozumi is a child actor whose popularity is as great as Sana's. He introduces himself as a person who "knows her secret" [[spoiler: it's actually the location of also "secret" moles]] and confesses to Sana that they share a bond and that he likes her. They first met when they were babies at a time they both coincided at Kamura Institution, the orphanage he took his last name from.

They both share a bond that initially took off from the moment he started looking up at her, and when he became inspired to follow her same steps into acting. But they weren't meant to be together. Sana, oblivious to his feelings, just sees him as a friend and as a brother of sorts.

[[spoiler:As an actor, he travels a lot, and it's not surprising he left the country to advance in his career... however, as proved in the follow-up to ''Deep Clear'', ''Misty Blue'', Shuri Ohkawa finds that the adult Naozumi is a very interesting person, who is still devoted to Sana after so many years, to the point of not falling in love with another girl again because of her]].

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* BetterAsFriends: How Sana feels about him.
* BettyAndVeronica: The Betty to Akito's Veronica for Sana's Archie.
* {{Bishonen}}: He is often referred in the series as a "pretty" and a "cute" boy due to his feminine features.
* ButNotTooForeign: His fans think he is a foreign prince, although his biological roots are still a mystery. The anime plays with this as a vital plot-point of the New York arc, [[spoiler: since it's discovered that he has a Japanese mother (a failed theater actress), and an American father (a famous Broadway producer).]]
* ChickMagnet: Naozumi clearly has fangirls around him (even though he only has eyes for Sana) because he is a child actor who is kind, and looks very cute and ''pretty''.
* DevotedToYou: [[spoiler:In the special "Misty Blue" one-shot, Shuri (the protagonist of ''Honey Bitter'') finds out that Naozumi is still ''too'' devoted to Sana (even after a decade since he confessed his love to her). His relationship with a man is the only way he could feel "happy" in a romantic relationship... because if he fell in love with another girl, he wouldn't stop remembering his feelings towards Sana.]]
* DoggedNiceGuy: He shares a bond with Sana, but not as he thought it was. He thinks he is more fit than Akito because they share the same career path and a similar past background; however, Sana only looks at him as a friend or as brother... not as a boyfriend.
* DudeLooksLikeALady: Naozumi has very feminine features that makes him look "pretty". There's a high chance that, if he wasn't famous, people would confuse him with a girl.
* InnocentBlueEyes: He has blue eyes that coincide with his naivety, and he often possesses a pure soul that cannot be shattered by any of his "evil" intentions. However, as Shuri points it out in "Misty Blue", [[spoiler: his eyes are also "painfully beautiful", and that there is a darkness that lay from time to time on his aura]].
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Naozumi eventually gives up his love pursuing for Sana, only to see her happy with the boy she truly loves.
* NiceGuy: He really cares about Sana. Quite a lot, actually.
* ParentalAbandonment: He was abandoned at the Kamura Institution orphanage when he was just a baby. However, when he grows up, he doesn't show any interest in looking for his biological parents. [[spoiler: And in the anime, he finds them out by accident in the New York arc; his real mother abandoned him to give more priority to her acting career in the U.S., and because he was her love child with Gary Hamilton, a famous Broadway producer.]]
* RomanticFalseLead: While Sana and Akito were always meant to be the OfficialCouple, he was clearly the most prominent out of Sana's other admirers and, at least for a while, an obstacle to Sana's RelationshipUpgrade with Akito. It doesn't help that he and Sana often end up playing on-screen couples due to their job.
* SavvyGuyEnergeticGirl: Savvy Guy to Sana's Energetic Girl.
* SpearCounterpart: To Sana. He's a popular male child actor and was raised in an orphanage like Sana (the same orphanage).
* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: He grew up in the same orphanage Sana was once in, although she was there for a very brief period of time, and they never met in the orphanage. The result of his confession and Sana's realization of her feelings for Akito varies in the manga (their friendship is broken briefly, and eventually gives her up) and the anime (they start dating after the story arc in New York but he breaks up with her a few episodes later, because he realizes that she didn't get over Akito), though.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: He has purple hair and is the only one of the major characters with an unnatural hair color.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Misako Kurata]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_7_1258.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Sakurako Kishiro (OVA), Hana Kino (JP), Creator/ColleenClinkenbeard (EN)

She's Sana's adoptive mother. Misako is a famous writer whose life took an interesting turn when she was in her late teens and earlier 20s, and she writes novels and essays based on those facts. Her most famous fiction novel is "The Pimp and I", which was based on her life with her gambler ex-husband.

She always wants to enjoy her life to the maximum (given her weird antics), after receiving the news that she couldn't conceive (it's also one of the reasons she got divorced from her leech ex-husband, too). One day, after taking a walk in a park, she finds a newborn baby in a bench, who she would later adopt and name her "Sana".

Maro-chan, her squirrel, lives in her hair. She also enjoys to make her editor miserable, since she doesn't like to obey due dates for her writings.

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* BrainyBrunette: Has brown hair and is an award winning writer.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Similar to Sana, except that her talent is writing instead of acting.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Even more than Sana!
* DrivesLikeCrazy: Misako drives a toycar inside their house, even without thinking in running over someone who crosses her path.
* GoodParents: She loves Sana and can also give her surprisingly good advice.
* HeadPet: Maro-chan, the squirrel who lives on her head.
* ObfuscatingStupidity: She's absolutely bonkers, but she's also probably both the wisest and the savviest character on the series.
* {{Troll}}: She really enjoys messing up with her editor, especially when a deadline is closer.
* {{Womanchild}}: Her weird antics, and the reason she often acts as a laid-back parent, is because soon as she realized she couldn't conceive, she decided to live her life to the maximum.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Rei Sagami]]
[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/download_6_6811.jpg]]
->'''Voiced by''': Creator/MasamiKikuchi (OVA), Creator/RyoNaitou (JP), Creator/JohnBurgmeier (EN)

Rei is Sana's manager (and former "boyfriend"). He is always cheering up Sana and taking his job seriously, since he only wants to see her succeed in her entertainment career.

However, there's more than [[{{Pun}} meets the eye]]. Years ago, just after a series of twists (being dumped by his girlfriend, getting dropped out of college, his parents dying in an accident and basically leaving him without a penny), he hits bottom and becomes a homeless person.

While begging on the streets, Misako Kurata and her daughter passed on, which brought Sana's attention. And one day, she brings him out to their house as if he was an abandoned puppy. Misako decides to keep him around, getting his first established home in a while, and has lived in there since then, working as Sana's manager. At the start, Sana looked at him as if he was her boyfriend (more exactly, a "pimp", after reading her mother's novel), but after being called out by Akito, Rei knew he couldn't keep the charade for a long time, either. Sana gets devastated... especially when Rei's ex-girlfriend appears in their lives and suddenly he realizes that his feelings for her haven't dissapeared either.

Even after the "heartbreak", Sana considers him as her first love crush, and they remain as friends.

----
* {{Bishonen}}: One of the reasons Sana "adopted" him was because he was a cute and good-looking guy. She even wanted to hide his smile and beautiful eyes... hence why he started using sunglasses.
* ButtMonkey: Especially, [[UptoEleven upped to the max]] in the anime. For example, when [[spoiler: Sana gets her first kiss with Akito]], Rei gets trapped in the middle of a traffic accident which was ''probably'' the result of [[spoiler: her afterwards reaction]].
* CrazyJealousGuy: When it comes to Asako, he gets insanely jealous, but he is afraid to face the situation publicly since they are dating in secret.
* DevotedToYou: Rei mentioned initially that Asako was the reason his life went down, and that she was a "bad woman" in his life. However, even some time after they first broke up, he couldn't get her out of his mind, and he even became a fan of her from the very start of her career. They later reconcile.
* DrivesLikeCrazy: This is only applied to the anime series. It's the consequence after Sana provokes him to drive faster because his normal driving pace is very slow.
* EvenTheGuysWantHim: It's implied that Sana's hairdresser Suji has a crush on him.
* IntergenerationalFriendship: With Sana, who is ten years younger than him.
* IOweYouMyLife: After the bad luck storm that Rei had after the breakup with Asako, Sana appeared in his life. She ''saved'' him from being a [[{{Hobos}} hobo]], and wanted to work for her own sake.
* LargeHam: Mostly in the anime series. He lacks an indoor voice, can be very HotBlooded, and tends to be more melodramatic than he has to be.
* NiceGuy: Behind those sunglasses, there's a very kind heart.
* PapaWolf: He is the first to act when there is something wrong around Sana, always coming to defend her when the moment needs it. He always does so with good intention, even if it could cost her job, as well.
* ParentalAbandonment: Rei's parents died in an accident not so much long after he broke up with Asako. He thought they were rich... but they also had lots of money debts, resulting him to go homeless for a while.
* ParentalSubstitute: After Sana stopped seeing Rei as her ''boyfriend'', he starts acting like a ''dad'' for her. To the extreme of being very [[PapaWolf overprotective to her.]]
* RecruitedFromTheGutter: Although Sana "adopted" him (and wanted him to be her "boy toy"), it was thanks to Misako that he has been living with them in their household ever since. He was literally begging on the streets when Sana brings him home, and then he starts working for Misako as Sana's manager, bodyguard, and nanny.
* SunglassesAtNight: Rei uses sunglasses wherever he goes to show his devotion to Sana and because she thinks he looks cool with them.
* UndyingLoyalty: To Sana and her family. It's shown in ''Deep Clear'', ten-odd years after the original manga's ending, that he is still working as her manager.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Babbit]]
->'''Voiced by''': Tomoko Hikita (JP), Chris Cason (EN)

A rare creature mixed from a rabbit and a bat (hence their name, "Babbit"), Babbit serves as both the [[FourthWallObserver narrator]] and StraightMan of the anime series. He also has an entire family and friends who appear in later episodes of the anime.

----
* CanonForeigner: Exists only in the anime.
* ContinuityCameo: Even though he doesn't exist in the manga continuity, Miho Obana has drawn him a few couple of times as cameo, more prominently in the last color cover of the series.
* DeadpanSnarker: He would't be the same narrator without his sarcastic one liners.
* GreekChorus: He provides commentary on some of the events of the episode.
* PluckyComicRelief: He's not really relevant to the story but he provides comic relief with his hilarious snarking.
* TalkingAnimal: A cross between a rabbit and a bat who serves as the narrator.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Natsumi Hayama]]
->'''Voiced by''': Creator/MichikoNeya (OVA), Creator/AkemiOkamura (JP), Creator/CaitlinGlass (English)

Akito's older sister. Ever since she was younger, she had a grudge over Akito, because he is the reason their mom was no longer with them. Soon after she watches Sana's acting in the TV drama film, she realizes that she was being awful to her own little brother that didn't deserve it in the very first place.

----
* BigSisterBully: Initially to Akito since she blames him for their mother's death, and she spends all the time insulting her brother, yelling at him, and being downright nasty and rude towards him. [[HeelFaceTurn She gets better.]]
* BrokenBird: She treated Akito like crap because of the deep emotional scars left by Koharu's death.
* CoolBigSis: Natsumi starts acting more as a caring older sister to Akito, after Sana helped them to overcome their family's issues. To a point where even Natsumi wants Akito to call her "sister".
* FreudianExcuse: When her mother died giving birth to Akito made her very resentful to her brother, calling him a "demon".
* HeelFaceTurn: After watching Sana's movie that resembled her life, Natsumi realizes her wrongdoings and redeems herself.
* MaternalDeathBlameTheChild: The reason why she treats Akito like crap, it wasn't until the mentioned HeelFaceTurn above when the two finally reconciled.
* MissingMom: Unlike Akito, she actually met and remembers her mother, and has brief memories of her... although TheReveal that she was a [[JapaneseDelinquents yanki]] didn't sit well with her.
* ThemeNaming: As with the rest of the Hayama family, her first name is related to "seasons". "Natsu" comes from "summer".
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fuyuki Hayama]]
->'''Voiced by''': Masayuki Omoro (OVA), Takashi Matsuyama (JP), Randy Tallman (EN)

Akito's {{workaholic}} dad, who initially guards some distance with his kids. Not long after Sana opens his eyes, he realizes he need to spend some quality time with his children, to fix everything that was broken ever since Koharu's death.

----
* AffectionateNickname: In Japanese, Sana affectionately calls him "Hayama-chichi" ("Daddy Hayama"), instead of using [[UsefulNotes/JapaneseHonorifics honorifics]].
* BumblingDad: A rare dramatic example. Akito's issues steam from Fuyuki's inability to raise him as a single parent without blaming him for the death of his wife Koharu.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: In the anime, he seems to be on the same frequency channel as [[BunnyEarsLawyer Misako's weird antics]]. He is more down to Earth in the manga.
* TheComicallySerious: He has a dry humor similar to Akito's.
* DotingParent: Once the family issues subside, it's evident that he's immensely proud of his children and even tries to pamper them a bit (one of the few things Akito likes is sushi, so Fuyuki brings takeaway every now and then).
* DullSurprise: Dull ''everything'' more like.
* GoodParents: When he finally realizes what his home situation is really like, he becomes one. In one episode where Akito is framed for shoplifting, his father gives a long speech about how he expects Akito to come forward with the truth on the situation. All Akito says is he didn't do it, and his father adamantly believes him just because he has that much faith in Akito.
* JapaneseDelinquents: During his youth, he used to be part of a gang with his wife, to everyone's surprise.
* OverprotectiveDad: After the family issues are solved.
* PapaWolf: A bit on the "passive" side, but sometimes surfaces.
* {{Salaryman}}: His daily job which is the initial cause of why he was so aloof from his children, especially after Koharu died. This took a turn for worse when he was [[{{Workaholic}} overdoing it]], and he went to the hospital.
* SharedFamilyQuirks: Both he and his son are serious, polite, silent, and kind-hearted, but with a violent streak when angry. Of course, the main difference is that Akito is angry all the time, while his father is (almost) never angry.
* ThemeNaming: As with the rest of the Hayama family's names, his first name is related to the seasons. "Fuyu" comes from "winter".
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Koharu Hayama]]
->'''Voiced by''': Creator/OmiMinami (JP), Amber Cotton (EN)

----
* JapaneseDelinquents: She and Fuyuki used to be delinquents during their youth. Even when Natsumi was a baby, she retained some of her old teenage habits, especially in the dialect she used to speak... shredding present-Natsumi's memories of her mom to the ground.
* MissingMom: To her family, since she has been absent from their life since [[DeathByChildbirth Akito was born]]. It was the catalyst for the whole Hayama family distancing from themselves ever since, because they got badly traumatized by the event.
* NiceGirl: She was a total sweetie, according to the flashbacks.
* PosthumousCharacter: We only meet her through flashbacks and memories about her. [[spoiler: She later appears as a ghost who interacts with a dying Akito, convincing him he still has lots to keep living for, instead of dying]].
* ThemeNaming: As with the rest of the Hayama family's names, her first name is related to the seasons. "Haru" comes from "spring".
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Asako Kurumi]]
-> '''Voiced by''': Creator/AkemiOkamura (OVA), Azusa Nakao (JP), Creator/LuciChristian (EN)

Rei's girlfriend. Asako is supposed to be the reason Rei went through a bad luck storm in his life after their breakup, which happened due to her wanting to pursue an acting career in high school. Now an established drama actress, and in the middle of a TV drama film recording, she not only meets Sana, but also reunites with Rei.

After their reconciliation, she is dating Rei in secret. Mostly because Rei doesn't want themselves to be involved in any scandal that would harm her or Sana in one way or another.

----
* CoolBigSis: Sana starts looking at Asako as such when they start filming "The Mansion of Water". Asako helps her realize her feelings towards Akito, after she gets sentimentally hurt about him [[spoiler:dating Fuuka]], because Sana ''loves'' him.
* DudeMagnet: As expected of a famous actress, she gets the attention of many men... be it her own cast mates (as Kawai, in the film set of "The Mansion of Water") or other celebrities (as shown in the anime, with [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Takuya Kimuchi]]).
* LongDistanceRelationship: Her relationship with Rei after they reconcile, since Asako is an actress (who has to move around a lot) and they are supposedly dating "in secret".
* OldFlame: Her breakup with Rei happened not so long after she expressed to him that she wanted to pursue an acting career seriously. Many years after this, and after many things that happened, they reunite to clear up some missunderstandings about their breakup, mostly because they still felt something for each other ever since.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Keiko Sakai]]
-> '''Voiced by''': Creator/AyakaSaitou (JP), Amy Rosenthal (EN)

Sana's biological mother, who gave birth and then gave her up when she was barely 13-14 years old. She later has another daughter, Mariko.

----

* ParentsAsPeople: She's not a bad person, but she couldn't raise Sana at all and at times she barely can handle Mariko.
* TeenPregnancy: As said above, she was barely a young teen when she had Sana.


[[/folder]]

* VocalDissonance: Dub only. Akito is 11 yet his voice is the same as Kyo Sohma, with whom he shares a voice actor.

[[folder:Sana Kurata]]

* {{Adorkable}}: He means well but he is still quite clueless when it comes to girls and romance. Aya likes him anyway, and his kind personality (especially compared to the other guys in his class) is certainly one of the reasons.

* ReplacementLoveInterest: When Akito believed that Sana and Naozumi were together, he dated Fuuka because, for a strange coincidence, she resembled Sana in both looks and personality. This is lampshaded by Fuuka herself in the manga when she talks to Sana about how similar they both were. And then it's something she highlights to Akito, when she wanted to understand him at the end.

* SpearCounterpart: To Sana. He's a popular male child actor and was raised in the same orphanage like Sana.

* JerkassFacade: He pretends to be indifferent or annoyed, but deep inside he really cares about his friends, his family, and (especially) Sana.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: After all the trouble that Akito goes through his FreudianExcuse, he develops a heart of gold, even if he hasn't changed lots of his character on the outside.

* SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan: Manly Man to Tsuyoshi's Sensitive Guy.

* EveryoneCanSeeIt: With Akito. Many characters seem to notice the UnresolvedSexualTension between them, and even Akito seems to be are of it (though he would never admit it) but Sana herself is a bit slow to understand her romantic feelings and for a long time she thinks her closeness to Akito is just a complicated friendship.

->'''Voiced by''': Harumi Ikoma (JP)

* SheReallyCanAct: In-universe. People knew that she could act, but only Rei and Misako knew ''how well''. Poor Naozumi is charmed to the point he can't speak when, during the shooting of their movie, he sees her in action...

* TheMaidenNameDebate: [[spoiler: ''Deep Clear'' revealed that she kept her last name upon marrying Akito due to being an actress.]]

* EvenTheGirlsWantHer: Justified, as she is a popular child star.
* EverybodyHatesMathematics: As shown in the anime, she is not very good at math.

* Cloudcuckoolander}}: She is a little odd and everyone knows it.

* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: She is a little odd and everyone knows it.
* TheDeterminator: During the filming of "The Mansion of Water" she suffered a cracked leg courtsy of Naozumi's crazed fangirls trying to keep her away from him. Not only Sana decided to hide the extent of her injury and continue filming (partly out of sheer spite at her attackers, as she saw it as the perfect revenge), but it ended up ''improving the final scene'', as the pain slowed her down just that much she came out of the house on fire shortly before it collapsed, making the scene that much more awesome.

* ParentsAsPeople: She's not a bad person, not at all, but she couldn't raise Sana at all and at times she barely can handle Mariko.

-> '''Voiced by''': Creator/AyakaSaito (JP), Amy Rosenthal (EN)

---

* ReplacementLoveInterest: When he believed that Sana and Naozumi were together, Akito dated Fuuka because, for a strange coincidence, she resembled Sana in both looks and personality. This is lampshaded by Fuuka herself in the manga when she talks to Sana about how similar they both were. And then it's something she highlights to Akito, when she wanted to understand him at the end.

* {{Expy}}: (In-universe) When he believed that Sana and Naozumi were together, Akito dated Fuuka because, for a strange coincidence, she resembled Sana in both looks and personality. This is lampshaded by Fuuka herself in the manga when she talks to Sana about how similar they both were. And then it's something she highlights to Akito, when she wanted to understand him at the end.