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Main Characters
Umi "Meru" Matsuzaki
Voiced by: Masami Nagasawa (Japanese), Aoi Watanabe (Japanese, young) | Sarah Bolger (English)
The main protagonist of the movie, a high schooler who deals with the chores at her grandmother's boarding house.
- Daddy's Girl: Was very close with her father before his untimely death.
- Establishing Character Moment: During her debut, Umi wakes up from her bed the earliest, heads downstairs to prepare breakfast for her family, and raises her signal flags up the garden flagpole. This establishes Umi as a responsible girl who cares about her family.
- Girlish Pigtails: She puts her hair up into twin tails every morning. If the flashbacks are anything to go by, Umi has had the same hairstyle since she was six.
- In-Series Nickname: Her friends frequently address her by the nickname "Meru", after la mer ("sea" in French), since her real name also means "sea" in Japanese.
- Nice Girl: No matter what the situation is, Umi is always happy to lend a hand to her friends and family, even towards the students in the Quartier Latin.
- Pink Means Feminine: Her casual clothes come in various shades of pink.
- Promotion to Parent: Her father is dead and her mother is away for work, so she takes up the role of caretaker to her younger siblings.
- Team Chef: She cooks the most in the family, and is even the only one who does the grocery shopping.
Shun Kazama
Voiced by: Junichi Okada (Japanese) | Anton Yelchin (English)
The Deuteragonist, and one of the leaders in the fight to maintain the Quartier Latin.
- Adoption Angst: Somewhat. He loves his parents and they have never lied to him about who they think his real father was. The angst comes in when Shun thinks he's accidentally fallen for his half-sister.
- Chick Magnet: Umi isn't the only girl who likes him. Sora also becomes smitten with him and considers starting a fan club for him with other girls before moving onto Mizunuma. Even after that all the girls who came to lean up the Quartier Latin all gush over him doing something as simple as changing a chandelier light bulb.
- Happily Adopted: By Mr and Mrs Kazama, who had recently lost a child when Sawamura brought them the newborn Shun.
- Like Parent, Like Spouse: Shares some characteristics with Umi's father, such as the good-hearted yet impulsive personality, and rides a boat with his father (Umi's dad was a ship captain and even taught her how to do flag signals), and on a meta example, share a Japanese voice actor. In fact, they were so similar that Shun initially thought that they shared the same father.
- Surprise Incest: Invoked with Umi, and then subverted once it turns out they don't have the same father after all.
Coquelicot Manor
In General
- Multigenerational Household: The Matsuzaki family consists of a mother, her daughter, and three grandchildren.
- Town Girls: The boarders, Saori (femme), Miki (butch) and Sachiko (neither).
Sora Matsuzaki
Voiced by: Haruka Shiraishi (Japanese) | Isabelle Fuhrman (English)
Umi's younger sister.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: A downplayed example, in that Sora isn't so much foolish as Umi is overtly responsible.
- Smitten Teenage Girl: Towards Shun, at first. She then develops a deeper attraction towards Mizunuma.
Riku Matsuzaki
Voiced by: Tsubasa Kobayashi (Japanese) | Alex Wolff (English), Raymond Ochoa (English, young)
Umi's little brother.
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Riku never says please, and won't make the smallest effort to give Umi a hand once in a while.
- Big Eater: He’s shown to have a big appetite.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Downplayed, but Riku's only lines of dialogue involve him being either whiny or demanding.
- Out of Focus: He's pretty much irrelevant to the story.
- The One Guy: Due to his father’s death, he’s the only male member in his immediate family and the only male resident of the Coquelicot Manor.
Ryōko Matsuzaki
Voiced by: Jun Fubuki (Japanese) | Jamie Lee Curtis (English)
Umi's mother, a medical professor.
- Elopement: The story goes that a younger Ryoko defied her parents' objections and ran away with Yuichirou.
- Good Parents: Loves her children dearly, and while she isn't around for most of the movie they love her back just as much.
- Strong Family Resemblance: A younger Ryoko looks exactly like her daughter Umi, but with shorter hair. Her present hairstyle also brings her younger daughter Sora to mind.
Hana Matsuzaki
Voiced by: Keiko Takeshita (Japanese) | Edie Mirman (English)
Umi's grandmother, and the owner of the boarding house.
- Kimono Is Traditional: Is always seen wearing a pink tomesode ensemble.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Neither she nor Ryoko's father approved of Yuichiro at all, causing her daughter to elope.
- Strong Family Resemblance: Her daughter Ryoko clearly takes after her, and so in turn does her oldest granddaughter Umi. If anything the three look like the same person at different stages.
Sachiko Hirokōji
Voiced by: Rumi Hiragi (Japanese) | Aubrey Plaza (English)
One of the boarders at the house, an art student.
- Big Eater: Happily enjoys beef jerky and can be seen stuffing her face along with Riku during Miki's farewell party.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Sachiko seems somewhat out of it most of the time: She's indolent, has a habit of walking right in on conversations and missing the context, and some figures of speech go right over head. She even asks at one point wether beef jerky is made from pork.
- Eccentric Artist: She's a painter, and a bit of an oddball.
- Sleepyhead: Sachiko rarely ever seems fully awake and can be seen dozing off even while chopping up potatoes, most likely due to pulling all nighters working on her painting.
- Those Two Guys: Forms a funny little duo with Riku of all people.
Miki Hokuto
Voiced by: Yuriko Ishida (Japanese) | Gillian Anderson (English)
One of the boarders at the house, a trainee doctor.
- Tomboyish Ponytail: She's a bit of a lad-ette who keeps her hair in a low ponytail.
- Shipper on Deck: Is very keen on Umi inviting Shun to her going-away party.
Saori Makimura
Voiced by: Eiko Kanazawa (Japanese) | Christina Hendricks (English)
Another boarder at the house.- '60s Hair: Her hair is done up in a very fashionable beehive.
- Big Beautiful Woman: Saori is if anything pleasantly plump, and seems to be considered attractive in-universe, given Miki's assurance that Saori will likely get married before she does.
- Flat Character: Saori is easily the boarder with the least characterization, as while Miki is explicitely stated to be in medical training and Sachiko is an art student, no word is ever said on what her occupation may be.
Quartier Latin
In General
- Men Can't Keep House: None of these boys think anything of leaving their clubhouse in utter squalor, though they're all too happy to help when the girls get involved.
- Scenery Gorn: The Quartier Latin is incredibly dirty and is never washed by the boys at all. Including the boys before them.
- School Clubs Are Serious Business: The Quartier Latin is like a more intellectual version of a fraternity house for high schoolers, since it mostly consists of clubs such as chemistry, philosophy, poetry, astronomy, broadcasting and the school newspaper.
Shirou Mizunuma
Voiced by: Shunsuke Kazama (Japanese) | Charlie Saxton (English)
The Student Council President and Shun's best friend.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The cool and composed Blue to Shun's sanguine Red.
- Shipper on Deck: He quickly notices the mutual attraction between Umi and Shun and tries to give them as much alone time as possible.
- Student Council President: And a very competent one, to boot.
- Supporting Leader: As the Student Council President and leader of the effort to save the Quartier Latin
- Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Sora certainly isn't immune to his charms.
The Philosophy Student
Voiced by: N/A (Japanese) | Ron Howard (English)
A tall student who runs the philosophy booth in the Quartier Latin.
- The Big Guy: You'd never think this guy was a high schooler.
- Butt-Monkey: Nobody seems interested with his learnings and to make matters worse, during the Quartier Latin's renovation, his booth was destroyed, his messiness is exposed, and he has a hard time applying plaster on the wall.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: He is the only one who is interested in Philosophies and nobody else shares his passion.
- Establishing Character Moment: During his debut, he greeted Umi and Sora together, and asked if they are interested in hearing his studies only for the science students to insult him for his studies to be worthless.
- Gentle Giant: He's the biggest student at school but he seems to get along with everyone just fine.
- Large Ham: AND HOW!!
- Manly Tears: Played for Laughs. He bursts out crying after his booth was taken down, and after the Quartier Latin was saved.
- Ship Tease: A mild one with Umi's friend Nobuko.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: He has a lot of rivalry going on with the science students, who founds his philosophy to be incredibly boring.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: He earns his recognition when the chairman decides to hear his philosophy at the end of the movie.
The Science Students
Members of the Chemistry club.
- Mad Scientist: All of them.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Their clubroom happens to be right above the Philosophy booth, and their frequent explosive experiments tend to get them an earful from its sole occupant.
- Stuff Blowing Up: They constantly seem to be running away from some explosion of their own making.
Other Characters
Yūichirō Sawamura
Voiced by: Junichi Okada (Japanese) | Robert Clotworthy (English)
Umi's late father, a captain whose ship sunk during the Korean war.
- Disappeared Dad: To Umi, Sora and Riku
- Mistaken for Cheating: On his wife by both Shun and Umi, since both Shun and Mr Kazama think that Yuichiro was Shun's real father. When Umi asks her mother about it, Ryoko admits that the thought never even crossed her mind.
- Like Parent, Like Spouse: Shares some characteristics with Umi's Love Interest Shun, such as the good-hearted yet impulsive personality, and rides a boat with his father (Umi's dad was a ship captain and even taught her how to do flag signals), and on a meta example, share a Japanese voice actor. In fact, they were so similar that Shun initially thought that they shared the same father.
- Nice Guy: So loyal to his friends that he was ready and willing to take in Tachibana's orphaned son.
- Posthumous Character: When the story begins, Yuichiro has already been dead for ten years. This doesn't prevent him from having a lot of impact on the story.
Hiroshi Tachibana
Voiced by: Shunsuke Kazama (Japanese) | N/A (English)
Shun's biological father.
- Disappeared Dad: To Shun.
- Walking Spoiler: You can't mention this guy without spoiling the ending.
Yoshio Onodera
Voiced by: Takashi Naito (Japanese) | Bruce Dern (English)
The third man in the photograph.
- Manly Tears: Sheds these as he thanks Umi and Shun for agreeing to meet him.
- True Companions: Onodera, Sawamura and Tachibana were inseparable in their youth. Onodera lost both of his old friends to the war, and many years later jumped at the opportunity to meet Tachibana's son and Sawamura's daughter.
