Honan Stride Team in general
- Character Title: Technically, since whoever ends up with Nana falls under this. With Joe Sakurai known as "King of stride", which makes Nana "Princess of stride", therefore her love interest would be considered "Prince of stride".
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Honan Academy's designated color is blue. For the members, Nana is pink, Riku is red when Takeru is blue, Heath and Ayumu are green (although with different shades), Hozumi is yellow, and Kuga is black.
- Freudian Trio: The current Honan first years trio, as well Honan Golden Trio in the past.
- Honan current first years trio:
- Superego: Takeru, that is calm and only think on how to improve for the sport.
- Id : Riku, hot-blooded and cheerful, and is very prone to mental game.
- Ego: Nana, connects both and when she is very nice, she is also pretty tactical by herself. There is a reason why she's the relationer, you know.
- Honan Golden Trio:
- Superego: Tomoe. Albeit is more prone to feels upset than Kuga, his actions is more based on logic with less consideration on moral, for example Pushing Riku to his limits and belittling him to develop his talent.
- Id: Heath. The most ambitious and emotional of the three.
- Ego: Kuga. Although initially it's pretty hard to see who is the superego and ego between him and Tomoe because both are very calm, collected and stoic, he is the ego, because he connects both Heath and Tomoe. By the time he's out form the club, Heath and Tomoe lost contact with each other, but both still contacts him sometimes.
- Honan current first years trio:
Sakurai Nana
Position: Manager, relationer
Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese), Natalie Hoover (English)
- Affectionate Nickname: "Dosanko-chan" by Reiji and "Nana-pei" by Bantaro.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Riku to Nana, in the visual novel. Also, Nana to Reiji.
- Cherry Blossom Girl: One of the meanings behind her surname is cherry blossom.
- Childhood Friends: Nana, Riku, and Takeru met at one of the annual EOS Pre-Parties while accompanying their parents, ran a race for kids, and won
◊. They promised each other to meet again in highschool to do stride again. Unfortunately, only Takeru remembers the promise, and the other two don't even recognize him because he got a lot thinner. Unsurprisingly he's not pleased about this, and flips out◊ after Ayumu's injury because Nana was considering giving up. - Dude Magnet: Even if you don't pursue their respective routes, it's pretty clear that Riku, Takeru, and Reiji are interested in Nana. You also have Hozumi, Heath, and Kyosuke for consideration.
- Friend to All Living Things: Yamato and Leica, Takeru's and Reiji's dogs respectively, take an immediate liking to her, which is unusual for the former's dog.
- Girlish Pigtails: Styles her hair like this.
- Hair Color Dissonance: Her hair is either a very dark shade of blonde or a very light shade of brown.
- Like Father Like Daughter: Joe Sakurai, Nana's father, is the coordinator for most stride competitions and is considered the "king" of the sport". Nana, likewise, participated on stride competitions since she was little and in the Kakyoin match she's called the "princess".
- Oblivious to Love: She's unaware of her own feelings towards her love interest until someone else (usually Riko) has to point it out to her.
- Parental Neglect: Nana's mom passed away when she was little. Her father left for the US due to his work being coordinating stride competitions: Nana was left in her grandparents' care and later moved with other relatives when she transferred to Tokyo.
- Passionate Sports Girl: Despite not actively competing in races, she takes great pride in being the relationer and manager, alongside taking both roles seriously.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: The princess motifs are present considering her dad's title. She is often associated with the color pink.
- Psychic Link: Nana's mother passed down her ability to her daughter, presumably. Both of them are so powerful that they can trigger a scenario known as Overflow, where the Psychic Link extends to the audience as well. Everyone can hear each other's thoughts. Nana's mother did it once in their team's race, and Nana does it herself during the final match against Kakyoin regardless of the route chosen.
- Raised by Grandparents
- Satellite Character: Despite Nana being the one that starts the plot, later in the series she doesn't do much other than being the relationer and giving the cast some kind of female presence. The boys don't even pay her too much attention outside of Riku blushing when looking at her a couple of times on episode 1, and in episode 2 they don't react when she's put on a cheerleader outfit. Most of the plot is developed through all the other male characters.
- Subverted in the visual novel, where she is the main character. The entire story is told from her perspective, and we get great insight into her thoughts. She pulls the team together and helps each of the boys solve their backstory problems in their routes.
- The Smurfette Principle: Nana is the sole girl to be part of a stride team in all the series.
Yagami Riku
Position: Runner
Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese), Austin Tindle (English)
- Always Someone Better: Riku feels terribly overshadowed by his brother Tomoe, who he considers as a genius and thinks no matter how hard he works, he'll never reach his level.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Riku to Nana, in the visual novel.
- Childhood Friends: Nana, Riku, and Takeru met at one of the annual EOS Pre-Parties while accompanying their parents, ran a race for kids, and won◊. They promised each other to meet again in highschool to do stride again. Unfortunately, only Takeru remembers the promise, and the other two don't even recognize him because he got a lot thinner. Unsurprisingly he's not pleased about this, and flips out◊ after Ayumu's injury because Nana was considering giving up.
- Hidden Depths: Riku has his complex out of being shadowed by Tomoe, as well as not understanding Tomoe's fervent dedication to training. It's the reason why he's so determined to get the hell out of doing anything related to Stride, only Nana manages to convince him.
- Keet
- Love at First Sight: In the visual novel, Riku falls for Nana literally on the first day of school. There are traces of this in the anime as well.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Riku is the red, Takeru is the blue.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Riku is blonde, light-hearted and energetic. Tomoe, however, is black haired, aloof and gloomy. Their only similarity is their eye color.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Yakisoba bread. Because it is his family bakery's specialty, it is often sold out and he don't have the chance to bring it to school, but he eats it often enough to be called his trademark favorite food.
Fujiwara Takeru
Position: Runner
Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto (Japanese), Ricco Fajardo (English)
- Adaptational Sexuality: Takeru is a bachelor in the original game. In the anime he has no romantic interest in Nana and instead is implied to have a crush on Riku.
- Big "YES!": Does this when he beats his old senpai, Kazuki, in the quarter finals.
- Canine Companion: Takeru and his dog train together, with his dog running alongside him whenever he goes out jogging. Before he entered Honan and met Nana, it was his only friend.
- Childhood Friends: Nana, Riku, and Takeru met at one of the annual EOS Pre-Parties while accompanying their parents, ran a race for kids, and won◊. They promised each other to meet again in highschool to do stride again. Unfortunately, only Takeru remembers the promise, and the other two don't even recognize him because he got a lot thinner. Unsurprisingly he's not pleased about this, and flips out◊ after Ayumu's injury because Nana was considering giving up.
- Deuteragonist: Shares this role with Riku as those two get the most focus out of the characters after Nana.
- Expy: The anime doesn’t even try to pretend that Takeru isn’t Nanase Haruka with glasses. He even has a Running Gag of doing something inappropriate related to his sport (groping people’s legs and stripping respectively) in public. When he takes off his shirt and glasses in episode 7, the transformation is complete.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Once his dad finds out that the team lost against Ichijyokan, he wants Takeru to quit the team altogether, study English, go abroad, and learn to become a humanitarian like him.
- Hidden Depths: Takeru has his own personal dreams conflict with that of his father's expectations. He left his home to study in Honan to pursue his own dreams, so he is a boarding student. His loner tendencies are out of a lack of social communication proficiency, which led to conflicts time and again with his father. Nana teaches him how to take better care of himself.
- Meaningful Name: His given name, Takeru, means revered, valuable, precious, noble, and exalted. This is very fitting since he's considered The Ace.
- Minor Living Alone: Similar to Nana's situation, he used to live in Hyogo, a different prefecture in Japan, before moving to Tokyo to attend Honan so could pursue stride. Unlike Nana though, he doesn't have any family there, so he falls under this trope.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Riku is the red, Takeru is the blue.
- Super Drowning Skills: Takeru may be able to run on land just fine, but can't swim to save his life.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Protein spread. He is often spreads that to whatever he is eating.
- Wall Pin of Love: Subverted. He does this to Nana, not to confess his love, but to confess his unease with the team's future when they have trouble finding a replacement member for Ayumu.
- When He Smiles: Takeru doesn't smile that much, but when he does...
Kohinata Hozumi
Position: Runner
Voiced by: Kensho Ono (Japanese), Clifford Chapin (English)
- Dragged into Drag: Hozumi is forced to wear a dress when the team is modeling for Heath's sister brand.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady
- Girlish Pigtails
- Hidden Depths: Hozumi is from a broken family and tries his hardest to care for his siblings. He holds great resentment for his father whom he thought ditched his mother and him, but the truth was that his father's business was crumbling and he didn't want them to get involved. In an even more cruel twist, Hozumi only finds out after his father dies.
- Older Than They Look: Hozumi looks like a middle school student, but is a second year, one year older than Riku, Takeru and Nana.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Hozumi is the sweetest guy on the team, so it's quite damning when Heath has to hold him back from attacking the relationer from Ichijyokan when he admitted to instructing his teammate to tackle Ayumu which led to his Game-Breaking Injury.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ayumu is the red, Hozumi is the blue.
- Token Mini-Moe
Hasekura Heath
Position: Runner
Voiced by: Daisuke Ono (Japanese), Jason Liebrecht (English)
- But Not Too Foreign: Heath and his sisters are half-British.
- Hidden Depths: Heath has to deal with the aftermath of the Golden Trio disbanding, as well as the fact that he is the weakest out of the three of them. As a result, he doesn't really have much hope for the team until Nana came onto the scene. Compared to Hozumi and Takeru, his family dynamics are a lot more positive.
- Informed Attractiveness: Heath is considered the most handsome of the bachelors in the team, and he has been modeling since he was a kid.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Heath is the red, Kyosuke is the blue.
Kuga Kyousuke
Position: Runner
Voiced by: Jun'ichi Suwabe (Japanese), Ivan Jasso (English)
- Affectionate Nickname: Bantaro calls him "K".
- Cool Bike: Kuga rides a motorbike to school. It makes him look even more like a delinquent.
- Hidden Depths: Kyosuke being at first unwilling to clear his name and only becomes motivated to do it with the help of Kaede and Kaede's father. Despite school rumours, he is a very kind and gentle person, having being resigned to his slandered name before the start of the game.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy
- Mystical White Hair: Kuga has a long mane of white hair and he's easily the most mysterious and "magical" out of the main cast, always analyzing how the wind goes and so on.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Heath is the red, Kyosuke is the blue.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Played with Kuga. Kuga was rumored as this thanks to his delinquent-like appearance (goes to school with a bike, a chain dangling from his pocket, etc), and then there is Heath's incident. Bonus that his hair is not only white, but also long. Also, his character color is black. Emphasis on rumored, that it's not the truth. In fact, he actually is an aversion of this trope. He invoked this trope in people's eyes by taking all the blame for the sake of maintaining the club. Also when you go for his route, you will think of him as "the nicest person you'll ever met"
Kadowaki Ayumu
Position: Runner
Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Micah Solusod (English)
- Affectionate Nickname: Bantaro calls him "Wakki".
- Curtains Match the Window: This foreshadows his odd one out characteristic. Specifically, Ayumu is the only member of Honan team that you can't romance.
- Game-Breaking Injury: In episode 4, Ayumu injures himself during the race against Mihashi when he jumps into a tree. He's unable to join in any stride races since then.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Ayumu is the red, Hozumi is the blue.
Dan Yuujirou
Position: Coach, advisor
Voiced by: Ryōtarō Okiayu (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum (English)
- All Love Is Unrequited: He was in love with Nana's mom, Akino, back when they were in university. Obviously, his feelings were not reciprocated.
- Passing the Torch: From the parental generation to the children's generation. Nana's parents were part of a stride team during their university days, with Nana's mother being the relationer and Nana's father, Yujiro and Sakura-chan being runners. Presumably this is why Yujiro is the supervising teacher for the Honan team. Throughout the game, Sakura-chan and Yujiro give Nana advice, and Nana's father also trying to get her under his wing.
