Line #159 Characters/ButterflySoup


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2
3	!Main Characters
4
5	[[folder:In General]]
6	A group of Asian American high school friends.
7	----
8	* AbusiveParents: All of the girls have strained relationships with their parents one way or another.
9	** Diya's mother is xenophobic and sexist, and her expectations of her resulted in her developing social anxiety and keeping secrets from her.
10	** Noelle's parents constantly push her to be a straight A student, which puts a strain on her mental and physical health.
11	** Akarsha's parents aren't overly emotionally abusive but the fact that they tend to hold her sister and brother in higher regard made Akarsha a SadClown.
12	** Min's father is loud and easily prone to outbursts, even throwing things when he's furious.
13	* FiveTokenBand: Downplayed as they're all Asian American, but their ethnicities diverge from there.
14	** Diya is Indian.
15	** Noelle is Taiwanese.
16	** Akarsha is Indian.
17	** Min-seo is Korean.
18	** While not part of the main friend group, Chryssa is black, Liz is trans, Sayeeda is Pakistani, Grace is Filipino, and Ester is half-black half-Chinese.
19
20
21	[[/folder]]
22
23	[[folder:Diya]]
24	[[quoteright:336:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/diya_bs.png]]
25	A very athletic girl with social anxiety. She is the first central protagonist that the story starts with.
26	----
27	* TheAce: Sports-wise, she is leagues above everyone else, even with an actual official team around her age.
28	* BigEater: Justified, given how athletic she is and how she's a growing teenage girl. She often gets leftovers that Noelle doesn't want.
29	* TheBigGuy: She's the friend everyone goes to when they need someone strong to open a bottle, carry something heavy or kill a wasp.
30	* ChildhoodFriends: With Noelle and Min.
31	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: With Min.
32	* ClosetGay: Diya's mother is homophobic, so she has to hide her relationship with Min-seo. It weighs on her quite heavily.
33	* DatingWhatDaddyHates: Her mother does not approve of Min being her friend because of how unladylike she is, and Diya's confident she would not approve of her dating her either, since she's Korean and not a male.
34	* DeadpanSnarker: Even Diya can throw some retorts towards Akarsha due to the latter's shenanigans.
35	-->'''Akarsha:''' What's wrong with calling you Madrasi when you're from Madras?
36	-->'''Diya:''' [[InsultBackfire What's wrong with calling you an idiot when you are one?]]
37	* FriendToAllLivingThings: Diya has a soft spot toward animals (especially dogs) and any she encounters equally like her back.
38	* GentleGiant: In spite of her incredible physical strength and how she vastly outshines everyone in sheer athletic activity, Diya is very reserved, quiet, gentle, and shy. Contrast [[TheNapoleon the short, violent, and anger-prone Min.]]
39	* TheHeart: Its made clear that Diya is the central reasons the main characters are friends or (initially) even bother trying to stand each other.
40	* HeroesLoveDogs: Diya loves dogs and wants at least four or five when she grows up.
41	* LovableJock: Due to being incredibly strong, good at sports and fond of running, Akarsha calls Diya a jock and jokes that it feels weird that she doesn't pick on her nerdy friends.
42	* OneHeadTaller: WordOfGod states that Diya is 5'10'' (177-178 cm.), making her the tallest member of the main cast.
43	* OppositesAttract: With Min.
44	* TheQuietOne: Diya doesn't really speak unless she has to, and her answers are often short or incomplete sentences.
45	* ShrinkingViolet: It's pretty obvious that Diya has some form of Social Anxiety, given her reluctance to interact with strangers and overthinking how she should approach casual social interactions. When she's presenting in front of the class, she talks very quietly.
46	* {{Socially Awkward Hero}}ine: Has a hard time speaking to new people and doesn't take to meeting strangers well.
47	* StatuesqueStunner: She's 5'10'' and a high school freshman, and WordOfGod states that she might grow even taller when she gets older.
48	* UnkemptBeauty: WordOfGod is that Diya is the kind of person who somehow looks good no matter what they wear. She's intentionally drawn with messy hair, casual/scruffy clothes and visible body hair on her arms, and considered attractive by multiple characters in-game even so. Akarsha describes Diya as being pretty without trying (which she, perhaps jokingly, attributes to "good genes")
49	[[/folder]]
50
51	[[folder:Noelle]]
52	[[quoteright:239:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/noelle_bs.png]]
53	Diya's childhood friend. She's your typical smart ace of the class at first glance. She's the second central protagonist that the story focuses on.
54	----
55	* AbusiveParents: Her parents are extremely strict, only care about her success in school, and yell back at her if she dares to call them out for their ignorance.
56	* AffectionateNickname: Somewhat. Akarsha seems very keen on calling her "Frenchman" because of her French name.
57	* AloofDarkHairedGirl: Noelle evokes this, donning a long french braid, polite yet serious, and being the second tallest of the cast behind Diya. Diya herself even states Noelle is aloof "like a cat."
58	* AsianAndNerdy: Obviously ''most'' of the cast are Asian-American and most of them have some nerdy traits, but Noelle is the one who best fits the trope. Min even calls her a stereotype for it at one point.
59	* BetaCouple: After Diya and Min got together in the first game, Noelle hooks up with Akarsha in the sequel.
60	* BrokenAce: She may be a straight A student, but really it comes from her parents strictness and it can jeopardize her health at times.
61	* DeadpanSnarker: All the protagonists have their moments, but Noelle in particular always has a comment or retort ready.
62	* DefrostingIceQueen: Due to her upbringing, Noelle does her best to hide her emotions and appear cool and collected at all times, believing that emotions make her weak. Over time, she allows herself to express her affection to her friends and do something that isn't related to academics, though it takes a bit of nudging from all the characters. Towards the end of the game, she finally admits that she enjoys Akarsha's company at all, but it's obvious she still has a long way to go.
63	* DelicateAndSickly: Was originally conceived of as this, according to WordOfGod. There are hints of it - she's physically weak, LooksLikeCesare, and owns a protective surgical mask.
64	* {{Facepalm}}: Her default reaction to Akarsha's antics, which is very often. In fact, Noelle is the only character to have a sprite of this.
65	* GeekPhysique: Noelle is noted to be scrawny with zero upper body strength, because her parents push her to spend all of her time studying instead of exercising.
66	* ImpossiblePickleJar: Noelle has no upper body strength to speak of, so she often needs Diya to open a bottle of water.
67	* LooksLikeCesare: Pale skin, dark hair, prominent dark circles under the eyes.
68	* NoSenseOfHumor: Her responses to Akarsha's jokes is by angrily retorting about how she lacks intelligence, then hiding her smile/laughter, implying that she does find Akarsha funny but just can't let anyone know. This is why her and Akarsha's spats are endless.
69	* PickyEater: Implied. Noelle often gives Diya food she doesn't like or can't finish.
70	* RedOniBlueOni: The serious and grounded blue to hyper and jokester Akarsha's red.
71	* RulesLawyer: While she's not physically any good at ''playing'' baseball, she turns out to be very good at using loopholes and trickery to even the playing field.
72	* SkilledButNaive: She has the best grades of anyone in school, but she's the last person to pick up on [[EveryoneCanSeeIt what's going on]] between Diya and Min - at one point even saying it's impossible because they're both girls (which is wrong ''twice'' - not only are they a lesbian couple, but it's also heavily implied that Min isn't comfortable identifying strictly as a girl).
73	* TheSmartGuy: Has excellent grades and is overall very intellectual. Her capabilities are actually on-par with Akarsha, but the latter doesn't like to flaunt them as much due to personal issues.
74	* StraightManAndWiseGuy: Noelle and Akarsha, respectively.
75	* UnknownRival: To Min, who seems to view Noelle as competition for dating Diya. Noelle has no idea that this is the case and is confused as to why Min hates her so much.
76	* VitriolicBestBuds: With Akarsha, and eventually Min to an extent.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder:Akarsha]]
80	[[quoteright:266:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/akarsha_bs.png]]
81	A friend of Diya and Noelle at the start of high school. She loves to joke around. She is the third central protagonist that the story focuses on.
82	----
83	* BetaCouple: After Diya and Min got together in the first game, Noelle hooks up with Akarsha in the sequel.
84	* CombatPragmatist: When Akarsha's attacked by Min-seo, what does she do? [[{{Squick}} Why, smear her period blood all over Min's face of course]]!
85	* DeathSeeker: Not exactly, but [[spoiler: she does at one point admit to being depressed enough that she's unsure whether she'd bother to jump out of the way if she was being run over. Min promises that if the situation ever comes up, she'll solve it by [[CarFu hitting the car with another, tougher car]].]]
86	* TheGadfly: Trolls her friends--especially Noelle--just because she thinks it's [[ItAmusedMe hilarious]].
87	* GirlOnGirlIsHot: This is Akarsha's reaction after Min pins her against a wall in their first interaction.
88	-->'''Akarsha:''' Not gonna lie, if you were taller this would be pretty hot.
89	* ObfuscatingStupidity: Noelle regards her as "the other smart girl in class", and her grades reflect it, but she deliberately acts like an idiot to get laughs and annoy Noelle.
90	* {{Otaku}}: Really loves anime, her avatar on the chatting app is [[Anime/LuckyStar Konata]], shouts out GratuitousJapanese lines, and her reaction when she first met "Yuki" and "Sakura" was an immediate "I FOUND MY PEOPLE!"
91	* PaperThinDisguise: Her "disguise" when she and Noelle are being Diya and Min's matchmakers? Large green shades and a mustache.
92	* RedOniBlueOni: The hyper and jokester red to Noelle's serious and grounded blue.
93	* RefugeInAudacity: Most of her excuses for whenever she messes up are comically absurd.
94	-->'''Akarsha [after accidentally hitting Noelle]:''' That was... ghost.
95	* SadClown: Her route reveals that [[spoiler: Akarsha actually experiences a lot of expectations at home regarding her future plans and feels like she won't be able to live up to to them because of her successful older brother and thinking that her friends have their stuff more together than her.]]
96	* StepfordSmiler: [[spoiler: Because of her low self-esteem, Akarsha likes to dispense random meme humor since she's afraid to express her innermost emotions and fears.]]
97	* StraightManAndWiseGuy: Noelle and Akarsha, respectively.
98	* TerriblePickUpLines: Constantly hits on her friends using these. It's unclear whether they are terrible ''on purpose'' or not.
99	* YaoiFangirl: Her username on the chatting app is "YAOI SEME" and even suggests to make the baseball team "{{seme}}s", much to Noelle's chagrin.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Min-seo]]
103	[[quoteright:306:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/min_seo.png]]
104	Diya's childhood friend. She had to move to Florida with her family at the beginning of the story. Min may be a violent hot-headed delinquent but she will always be loyal to Diya. She is the fourth and last central protagonist of the story.
105	----
106	* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler:Her father is violent and tends to throw things at her when he's upset. When Min confronts her parents about not wanting to be feminine, she is deemed as "retarded".]]
107	* {{Angrish}}: A variation. When angry, Min will tell someone to shut up with her words mixed up (i.e. "Shut the hell your mouth", "shut your fuck up", etc.).
108	* BatterUp: As a child, her preferred method of navigating a crowd was to hit everyone with a bat until they stepped aside. When playing baseball as a teenager, she shows an affinity for the biggest, heaviest bats, even though she's too small for them.
109	* BladeEnthusiast: She is a fan of butterfly knives. When she is asked to hand over the rest of her knives, she takes her jacket off and several knives fall to the floor.
110	* BookDumb: Noelle is absolutely ''stunned'' by the fact that yes, Min ''is'' that deficient in intelligence, rather than faking it like Akarsha does.
111	* BootsOfToughness: Min is the most aggressive of the main characters and owns black combat boots with a zipper on the back. WordOfGod says they're partially unzipped because she thinks it looks cool.
112	* BoyishShortHair: She's had it ever since cutting off her long hair at age 8.
113	* EnfantTerrible: At the age of 8, she brings knives to school and swears frequently, and at the very beginning [[GroinAttack she hits a man on the crotch with a baseball bat]] to get free popcorn.
114	* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: The foolish to Jun-seo's responsible, Min's violent and often gets in shout-fests with her dad while Jun tries to stay quiet and let it go.
115	* GreenEyedMonster: Is jealous of Diya and Noelle's friendship, viewing Noelle as a threat to dating Diya.
116	* HairTriggerTemper: A lot of things will anger her, let's begin with that...
117	* HotBlooded: And '''how'''. When Akarsha describes how to avoid getting hit by a car, Min's solution is to '''punch it out of the way,''' completely, absolutely seriously.
118	* InnocentBigot: Min-seo tells Ester (whose father is Black) that she didn't know Black parents cared about grades. Ester understandably doesn't take kindly to this, and Min-seo's defensive attitude only makes it worse from there.
119	* InsaneTrollLogic: Prone to this even into her teen years. Child!Min describes an imaginary gun that fires another gun, which then fires a knife, [[MadeOfExplodium which then explodes.]] When asked why the second gun was even necessary, she replies that she needs it to fire the knife.
120	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite her abrasive, often violent personality, Min would do just about anything for those she cares about. She tells Akarsha that she'd save her from being hit by a car by smashing it out of the way with her own car. She spends time with Noelle to keep their 'tutoring' arrangement. She'd do pretty much ''anything'' for Diya. Even as a kid she was determined to get her and Jun away from their abusive father.
121	* [[LikeFatherLikeSon Like Father, Like Child]]: Min has a very volatile temper and is prone to using violence to resolve her issues, much like her old man.
122	* TheNapoleon: Min is the shortest of the cast (5'1), and also the most violent, aggressive, and anger prone. [[GentleGiant Contrast the much larger, physically stronger, but much gentler Diya.]]
123	* OppositesAttract: With Diya.
124	* PsychoKnifeNut: She's the most abrasive of the main cast, carries a butterfly knife with her all the time, and is implied to have a collection of other knives--one scene has her dumping a dozen or so of them onto the floor from all over her body. As a child, even drew a sharpie tattoo of a knife on her arm.
125	* RedOniBlueOni: The HotBlooded red to Jun's quiet blue. She's also the red to Diya and Noelle's blue.
126	* SiblingYinYang: With her twin, Jun. They may look alike but their personalities beg to differ.
127	* SingleTargetSexuality: Even as a child, the only person right for Min was always Diya.
128	* SirSwearsALot: Min, by far, has the filthiest mouth out of all the four protagonists.
129	* SmokingIsCool: Seems to think this, given how she lights a cigarette in the middle of the game (and contributing to a fire because of it).
130	* TransTribulations: Min identifies as non-binary (though still uses she/her pronouns). She is uncomfortable with gendered bathrooms and has traditionally masculine hobbies and interests such as baseball and video games. This is a huge source of friction with her parents who forced her when she was younger to wear dresses and have long hair.
131	* TroublingUnchildlikeBehaviour: Her swearing and aggression may count as this already, but she definitely exhibits it when we learn [[spoiler:she at least once declared and intent to slit her abusive father's throat in his sleep.]]
132	* VitriolicBestBuds: She and Noelle end up as this after sharing grievances over their [[AbusiveParents parents]].
133	* WhichRestroomDilemma: She specifically goes to the single family bathroom on campus because it's the only one not designated for male or female users.
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	!Side Characters
137	[[folder:Jun-seo]]
138	Min-seo's twin brother.
139	----
140	* ExtremeDoormat: Growing up with a person like [[AbusiveDad his father]] causes Jun-seo to be more passive and letting things that bother him go by to not cause any trouble to escalate. His sister on the other hand... grew up to be just as violent and hot-headed.
141	* NaturalizedName: Downplayed, in elementary school, a teacher had difficulty pronouncing his name so she asked if she can refer to him as "John". Jun-seo decides to just go with it but Min wasn't having it and insists she gets it right.
142	* RedOniBlueOni: The calmer and reserved blue to Min-seo's brash and foul-mouthed red.
143	* SiblingYinYang: With his twin, Min. They may look alike but their personalities beg to differ.
144	[[/folder]]
145
146	[[folder:Hayden]]
147	Diya and Min's friend from elementary school.
148	----
149	* TokenWhite: One of the few white characters of the visual novel. The other one being Liz.
150	[[/folder]]
151
152	[[folder:Chryssa]]
153	A senior who starts up the baseball club.
154	----
155	* TheComicallySerious: She keeps her cool most of the time, but when she cracks a joke, it always strikes everyone.
156	* CoolBigSis: She's a senior, and the responsible head of the baseball club along with Liz.
157	* PungeonMaster: Chryssa loves to crack pun humor, to her team's chagrin, especially Noelle's.
158	* PunnyName: With Liz. Chryssa and Liz, as in "chrysalis," the pupal state of a butterfly.
159	* ThoseTwoGirls: With Liz, it's very hard to find scenes of them where they're not together.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Liz]]
163	A senior who starts up the baseball club along with Chryssa.
164	----
165	* ForgottenFirstMeeting: When Diya meets her outside the school and ends up signing up for the baseball team, Liz acts as if she recognises her, but Diya doesn't remember her. [[spoiler: Probably because she was presenting as a boy the last time they met.]]
166	* GeniusBonus: It's revealed at one point she can lick her elbow. An old piece of Irish folklore holds that a baby who does so will change gender.
167	* PunnyName: With Chryssa. Chryssa and Liz, as in "chrysalis," the pupal state of a butterfly.
168	* ThoseTwoGirls: With Chryssa, it's very hard to find scenes of them where they're not together.
169	* TokenWhite: Literally the only white person on the baseball team, and the only white character other than Hayden.
170	* TransTribulations: Apparently quit playing baseball for some time because she felt like it was too boyish (until she met Chryssa). WordOfGod is also that she didn't explain to Diya that she actually played games with her (only saying that she saw Diya's games) because she didn't want to out herself to the team.
171	[[/folder]]
172
173	[[folder:Sayeeda ("Sakura")]]
174	A tenth-grader who also joins the baseball club. First introduced as Sakura but her name is actually Sayeeda.
175	----
176	* CosplayOtakuGirl: She owns an arsenal of cosplay for the group to use for a school project.
177	* {{Fauxreigner}}: Introduces herself in Japanese, gives a fake Japanese name, and occasionally speaks with a Japanese accent. The joke is that she's [[PaperThinDisguise very obviously]] ethnically Pakistani.
178	* GratuitousJapanese: In her introduction.
179	--> '''Sayeeda''' Watashi wa am in tenth grade.
180	* KnownOnlyByTheirNickname: Since Liz finds it funny to humour them, no-one ever does find out her or "Yuki's" real name. In the sequel, she reveals it to be Sayeeda.
181	* NeverBareHeaded: Always depicted with a headscarf, including one that matches the team colours. Apparently, though, she used to charge other girls $20 to see her hair.
182	* OccidentalOtaku: Downplayed in that she isn't white, but she's certainly not Japanese and openly admits to being a "weeb".
183	* ThoseTwoGirls: With Grace.
184	* TokenReligiousTeammate: Is probably Muslim, since she wears a hijab-style headscarf even when in baseball uniform, making her one of two named characters with any indication of religion (the other being Diya, who is Hindu).
185	[[/folder]]
186
187	[[folder:Grace ("Yuki")]]
188	Another tenth-grader who also joins the baseball club. First introduced as Yuki but her name is actually Grace.
189	----
190	* {{Fauxreigner}}: Not to the same extent as Sayeeda, but she also gives a fake Japanese name and imitates Sayeeda GratuitousJapanese. According to WordOfGod, she's actually ethnically Filipino.
191	* KnownOnlyByTheirNickname: Like "Sakura". Her actual name, Grace, is revealed in the second game.
192	* OccidentalOtaku: Another Asian-but-not-Japanese American weeb.
193	* RaceFetish: In the sequel, she gets into K-Pop and is fascinated by Korean men, in which she even asked Min-seo if she could date her brother.
194	* SailorFuku: Her default costume - presumably as an anime reference.
195	* ThoseTwoGirls: With Sayeeda.
196	[[/folder]]
197
198	[[folder:Ester]]
199	The final member of the baseball club. She has both black and Chinese heritage.
200	----
201	* ClosetGeek: She initially tries to hide the fact that she's a huge anime fan.
202	* HalfBreedDiscrimination: Due to her mixed heritage, she's subject to prejudice for being both Asian and Black. In particular, she notes that some of the prejudice comes from her Asian peers, making her feel like an outsider even there.
203	* OffscreenInertia: A major theme of her webcomic.
204	* TheQuietOne: Seems to be the most introverted person on the team after Diya, and has the least dialogue of any character in the first game.

Context Characters / ButterflySoup