Characters / Umihara Kawase

From left to right: Kawase (child), Kawase (adult), Emiko and Noko

Here's a list of characters who appear in the Umihara Kawase series.

Tropes for the characters as a whole:

• Action Girl: They're more than capable of handling all the wandering fish that come their way, moreso in their appearances in Blade Strangers.
• Awesome Backpack: Each one carries a backpack (presumably filled with fishing gear) on their person.
• Rod And Reel Repurposed: Their main weapon, they can use it to stun and reel in fish as well as a grappling hook.

Umihara Kawase

Kawase as she appears in Sayonara

^{Click here to see her as she appeared in the original game} 

^{Click here to see her as she appeared in Shun} 

Gender: Female

Age: 19 (Original and Shun), 20 (Sayonara)

Personality: Calm

Person She Looks Up To: None

Special Skill: Can swallow pills without drinking water (Don't Try This at Home)

Doesn't Like: Poisonous Mushrooms (then again, who doesn't?)

The main protagonist of the series, Kawase is a young girl with a passion for fishing and also a penchant for going to weird places to test her athleticism and creativity. According to the English localization, she's also a travelling sushi chef who gathers up ingredients to make sushi.

• Adaptation Dye-Job: As mentioned below, the manga changed her hair to blue.
• Chef of Iron: At least according to the American localization. Then again, when your ingredients happen to be sentient fish walking about on legs, chances are you'll need some serious skills to take them down.
• Curtains Match the Window: Brown eyes to go with her brown hair.
• Dub Name Change: Is renamed to "Yumi" in the American release of Sayonara. Averted with the Steam version, which keeps her old name.
• Growling Gut: Her stomach growls in the teaser for Fresh, complete with gratuitous midriff shot.
• Iconic Item: Her trusty backpack. It even serves as the basis of her 1-Ups.
• Idiot Hair: Has one on her head, although whether she's an idiot or not is anyone's guess.
• Older Than They Look: If you were to look at her SFC sprite, chances are you would've mistaken her for a child. She's actually nineteen. This might have been the inspiration for her child self being playable. Later games would make her look more her age.

Yokoyama Noko

Noko as she appears in Sayonara

Gender: Female

Age: 18

Occupation: Undercover Time-Travelling Policewoman

Hobby: Survival

Relationship: Umihara Kawase's descendant from the future

Note: Prefers to be called by her last name

Debuting in Sayonara Umihara Kawase, Noko is a distant descendant of Kawase and a time-travelling police officer who shows up in Kawase's time for reasons unknown.

• Curtains Match the Window: She's got blue eyes to go with her blue hair.
• Kid from the Future: She's a descendant of Kawase from the future.
• Last-Name Basis: Prefers to be addressed by her surname, Yokoyama.
• Time Police: What she's a member of.

Emiko

Emiko as she appears in Sayonara

Gender: Female

Age: 9

Nationality: Norwegian/Japanese

Relationship: Childhood friend of Umihara Kawase

Doesn't Like: Sushi

Dream: Norsk Skogkatt

Also debuting in Sayonara Umihara Kawase, Emiko is a young girl who's close friends with Kawase.

• But Not Too Foreign: She's of mixed nationality (specifically Norwegian/Japanese).
• Childhood Friends: With Kawase.
• Does Not Like Spam: Can't stand sushi, which is unfortunate for her as the majority of the enemies she and the others have to face are fish.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: She owns a cat (specifically a Norwegian Forest cat aka. Norsk skogkatt) named Shakemaru, who we don't get to see outside of one piece of artwork.
  • Shakemaru does eventually show up in Blade Strangers where we finally get to see it in action. And boy howdy is it huge.
  • She also has a cat-themed badge on her backpack.
• Only One Name: Doesn't seem to have a surname like the others.
• Token Mini-Moe: Of the playable cast (well, if one were to not include Child Kawase what with her being the same person as the original...).

Child Kawase

Young Kawase as she appears in Sayonara

Gender: Female

Age: 9

Kawase as she appears in her childhood, she debuted in Sayonara Umihara Kawase.

• Alternate Self: A past version of the main character.
• Friendless Background: Her bio mentions that due to her family constantly moving house, she doesn't have any memories of playing with friends of her age. Well, perhaps other than Emiko, but who can say?
• Idiot Hair: Has one just like her future self.
• My Future Self and Me: Bound to happen if she's shown with her adult self.