Kare Kano Characters

I Characters


Yukino Miyazawa (宮沢 雪野, Miyazawa Yukino?)


Smart, attractive, athletic and talented, Yukino Miyazawa is supposedly the model student. Both her male and female peers express their adoration and admiration for her, often asking her for help and commenting about her model features and characteristics. However, her "perfect" exterior hides the fact that everything she does is done solely to receive praise from others. It has always been this way since she was a little girl - a self-professed "queen of vanity," Yukino once practiced playing her recorder until she vomited blood. With all this praise, however, she never realized that she never had a real friend aside from her family and was considered by her peers as a kind of semi-approachable "guest." This all changes when she meets with Soichiro Arima on secretly hostile terms, but due to his orchestration of events to secretly get to know her better, she falls in love with him during her freshman year in high school. She resolves to abandon her fake ways and become true to herself, though initially, Arima often scolds her for slightly clinging to some of her old facade. Eventually, she is able to reveal her true self and finally earns real friends beyond Arima and Asaba.
As Arima and his "dark" side realized, it is Miyazawa who is truly changing for the better in their relationship, and it is Arima who depends on Yukino for support. Although she sometimes feels inadequate for Arima, he actually notes and envies her persistent individual strength to persevere and go on. Before and during the school play, Arima is so deeply affected by Yukino's ability to stand alone during her performance to the point he doesn't stay for the second act. Yukino, who wanted to be more like Arima, wanted to join other extracurricular activities which left her busy and preoccupied with her friends while inadvertently leaving Arima out, with the latter growing more and more dependent on the former. After the conclusion of the play performed by Yukino and her friends, Arima lies about seeing the concluding section when Yukino finds and asks where he had been. Yukino unconsciously ignores Arima's subtle S.O.S. message for her by stating that, so long as she was able to fully experience life as herself, any top ten position was fine by her. By the last year of high school, Yukino realizes that because her attention was taken away by the new world before her, she unwittingly isolated Arima by saying she would leave first place to him. It would be at this point that Arima put on another facade to protect Yukino from his emerging "dark" side so that he could still be with her.
For some time, until Arima essentially snapped in the last year of high school, Yukino felt something peculiar with Arima, but didn't think it was significant due to the effort he placed into his facade. When she finally recognizes that he has put on an act for some time, their relationship suffers their worst trial yet as Arima is now afraid that Yukino discovered his lack of confidence in her. Arima had begun ignoring and avoiding Miyazawa as his dark side begins to manifest itself by taking vengeance against those that hurt him in his family. Yukino grew more distressed and fearful and went out of her way to rescue Arima. Asaba reveals to her that only she could reconcile his heart, and by sacrificing herself to the brink of their relationship's termination, Arima finally understands that to love, he must be willing to trust and be trusted, even enduring the suffering that comes out of love. Yukino is able to convince Arima that she truly loves him for what he is, and that she is willing to support and suffer for him. From that point on, Arima truly and completely opened up to Yukino, his friends, and most especially his beloved adopted parents.
During her senior year in high school, Yukino becomes pregnant. She marries Soichiro after graduation, marrying at a young age like her parents did. Although her goal in high school was to become a politician or a lawyer, she realizes that she has always wanted to be a doctor. She eventually becomes a doctor at a hospital run by the Arima family, specializing in reconstructive surgery. Sixteen years later, she is the mother of three children: a daughter and a pair of male fraternal twins. When pregnant with her first child, Hideaki Asaba said with conviction that the child would be a girl. (He was right.)
According to Enoki Films USA's website, she would have been named "Yuki" in an Enoki Films dub.
Seiyu: Enomoto Atsuko; English Voice Actor: Veronica Taylor


Soichiro Arima (有馬 総一郎, Arima Sōichirō?)

Smart, attractive, athletic, and talented like Yukino, Soichiro Arima becomes Yukino's competitor at school. Very handsome and popular, Soichiro excels at kendo and becomes a national champion. He is at first smitten by Yukino by her model aspects, although she first secretly hated Soichiro and tried to compete and overthrow his number one status. However, her plot did not go as planned, since she wanted to humiliate Soichiro who in turn merely congratulated Yukino for overpassing him. However, when Yukino accidentally let her guard down, Soichiro blackmailed her into doing his share of school, not because he was disgusted by her act, but because he wanted to get to know her better. After resolving the issue and become each other's first true friend, they eventually fall in love. After getting to know each other, Yukino learns that Soichiro, like her, is making an effort to "be perfect" for a reason. While Yukino is motivated by praise vanity, she learns that Soichiro is trying to cover his "real" self, a self caused by his childhood trauma that he fears may be destructive. Both mutually sought a relationship as they realized their worlds were much larger than they thought, and both were able to unlock each other's facades into their inner selves.
While Soichiro comes from a distinguished family of doctors, he was abandoned by his parents, who were the family's disgrace, and raised by his uncle and aunt. Fearing that he may turn "bad" like his parents, he is always trying to hide behind a mask and is constantly fighting his own demons. As with Yukino, he feels more in touch with his true self as he falls in love. But along with love, he is apprehensive of his other emerging emotions, such as becoming increasingly jealous of Yukino's friends, her activities, her life without him. When Yukino unknowingly damages Arima's bond to her, he begins to wear another facade that he hopes will fool her and protect her from his "ugly" self. However, when the charade reaches a critical point that threatened their relationship and each other, Yukino steps up to save himself by opening him to true and complete love. Arima's union with Yukino has come full circle, as both are finally free from the oppression of the war within themselves. Even though Arima cannot forget the past, he no longer allows it to control and hurt himself or anyone else.
After high school, Soichiro marries Yukino and they have three children. Their oldest child is a daughter named Sakura, a beautiful girl who resembles him in looks and talent. Although his original ambition was to follow his family's profession and become a doctor, he becomes a policeman, thus realising his childhood dream. He eventually becomes a highly decorated police inspector.
Soichiro was also reunited with his father, Reiji Arima, a famous jazz pianist who lives in New York but returned to Japan for a concert. After spending 10 days together, both father and son grew fond of each other and reestablished their bond. Reconnecting with his father helps Soichiro deal with his demons and heal the wounds of his childhood.
During the second chapter of the manga (where by this time Arima already discovered Miyazawa's secret of vanity by the end of the first chapter) he playfully sings to himself that he likes Lemon Tree by Fool's Garden as he casually passes by Yukino. This direct reference intended by the author foreshadows Arima's feelings and events to come in the story, based on the lyrics. Interestingly, the song Lemon Tree was a massive hit in Asia for Fool's Garden in 1995, very uncharacteristic of a "rich kid" to listen to, which is in itself another hint at Arima's character.
Seiyu: Suzuki Chihiro; English Voice Actor: Christopher Nicholas



Hideaki Asaba (浅葉 秀明, Asaba Hideaki?)


Yukino and Soichiro's lazy and girl-crazy friend. Although bright enough to be accepted to the selective Hokuei High School, Hideaki is a terrible student, and spends most of his time surfing, or chasing girls. He is handsome and popular. Hideaki and Soichiro are considered the two most handsome boys in school, and while Soichiro is largely indifferent to the attention, Hideaki makes the most of it. During their school's annual culture-fest, Hideaki's class mounts a "Hideaki Asaba dinner show" which is a big hit with all the girls, but gives Yukino and Soichiro the creeps.
He initially tries to become friends with Soichiro, so Soichiro can be his "wingman" as they chase girls together. To this end, he tries to break up Soichiro and Yukino, because Yukino is in the way of Hideaki's dream of "Mary-land" (a land full of girls). When Soichiro finds out about this, he becomes very angry at Hideaki. Hideaki also has a series of hilarious battles with Yukino, since Yukino is not one to back down from a challenge. Although things started out badly, the three of them eventually become good friends. (Yukino calls him "Asa-pin.")
While an outrageous flirt (he dares to hit on Yukino's mother ... in front of Yukino's father!) and goofball, he has his own dark past - he is estranged from his parents. He is also one of the few people who understands Soichiro's dark side.
Later on, Hideaki becomes a famous painter, earning the title of "Takehisa Yumeji of the Heisei Era." (Yumeji is a famous Japanese painter during the Meiji era. Also of note is that his mentor is Soichiro's maternal grandfather.) True to his woman-loving nature, he specialises in drawing female portraits, and makes the subject of the portrait five times prettier. Maho realizes that this is because Hideaki truly sees women to be five times prettier than they actually are - which explains why he's so in love with all of them. (However, it is interesting that Yukino is the only woman who looks the same, and not extra-beautified, in Hideaki's portraits.)
16 years later, Hideaki also lives next to the Arimas. Being a policeman, Soichiro is seldom at home, and Hideaki becomes a surrogate father of sorts to the three Arima children. Soichiro expresses (somewhat) playful jealousy at the situation. Despite loving women in general, Hideaki has never settled down or married; he feels empty inside and continues to feel as if he's missing something.
Arima's oldest daughter, Sakura, confesses her love to Hideaki when she is 16. Hideaki in turn realizes that Sakura is the woman he's been looking for all his life.
Hideaki's given name is the same as that of the director's Hideaki Anno - a coincidence.
Seiyu: Kisaichi Atsushi; English Voice Actor: Liam O'Brien

Tsubaki Sakura (佐倉 椿, Sakura Tsubaki?)


A friend of Yukino's. Tsubaki is a phenomenal athlete. Her tomboyish attitude and appearance eventually catch up to her when a person from her past, Tonami Takefumi, appears later on in the series. Initially, she could not recognise Takefumi, who underwent a complete transformation during the three years he was away. Takefumi used this as leverage in his quest to get revenge on Tsubaki.
But as time went by, Tsubaki's never-say-die attitude and Takefumi's realisation that he is in love with Tsubaki calmed things down. After graduating from high school, the two leave Japan to travel the world together. Tsubaki studies at an Egyptian university and eventually becomes a professor of archaeology at an American university. With her instincts and capabilities, she managed to discover many archaeological sites.
While not actually a lesbian, Tsubaki neverthless has a thing for pretty girls, the same way that both Hideaki and Takefumi are smitten with Arima. (Same-sex attraction/admiration is a common element in Japanese culture, and does not always indicate homosexuality.) When in kindergarten, she approached pretty but anti-social Tsubasa, at which point, Tsubasa latched onto Tsubaki with a death-grip. The two have been friends ever since. While the two bicker and fight a lot, Tsubaki is one of the only people who understood Tsubasa's loneliness.
Seiyu: Chiba Saeko

Tsubasa Shibahime (芝姫 つばさ, Shibahime Tsubasa?)


A petite, beautiful girl who loved Soichiro Arima since they attended middle school together. (She inherited her light hair, jade eyes, and cute looks from her father.) Although she studied hard so she could attend Hokuei High School with Soichiro, a bad skateboarding accident prevents her from starting school with everyone else. In the past, Tsubasa tried to confess her love to Soichiro several times, but Soichiro was completely oblivious. So she settled for being treated as Soichiro's younger sister as long as he did not have his affections occupied by another girlfriend. But upon learning that Soichiro has a girlfriend, she becomes insanely jealous and increasingly resentful of Yukino. After fighting it out with Yukino, they become good friends at same time is the baby of the gruop which Yukino cannot simply resist. Often wanting to dress her up due to her cuteness.
Tsubasa's mother died while she was giving birth to her, so she was raised by her indulgent father, and it was her loneliness that she had in common with Soichiro. In an episode that causes some of the fandom to miss the point by mislabeling her as a spoiled brat, Tsubasa is very possessive of her father and throws a fit when she learns that her father plans to remarry - to her nurse at the hospital where she was treated for her skateboarding accident. However, this is due to the nature of her childhood (like almost every other character), as her only affection and attention as a child in the family were given and focused to her loving father. But after "losing" her love to her dad and Arima by her stepmom and Arima respectively, by meeting - and spending some time with - the woman's son, Kazuma, who has too longed for a [step] sibling, Tsubasa eventually warms to the idea of extending their family. In fact, in the original manga, fans had expressed their feelings and sympathies toward Tsubasa, as revealed by the author in one of her extra space inserts.
Tsubasa is a sucker for Totoro, as was the case in the anime, or giant cats, like in the manga.
Out of all the strangers and people she knows who have tried to embrace her, especially during her bad moods, she has clearly refrained from ever scratching Rika.
The "hime" part of the family name means "princess". Although she appears to be overly pampered and seeingly talentless, she is actually a very established and experienced homemaker to help her father and when he remarried, extended her confections to Kazuma. Later in the manga The sibling closeness she had with Kazuma was slowly growing into love, however even though Tsubasa was the type that yearns for affection, and even with Kazuma already slowly showing his feelings towards her, she can tend to close herself up. This feared Kazuma, not wanting to hurt Tsubasa left Kazuma to follow his path as an artist that totally made Tsubasa depressed. She would not even listen to his songs when he became a fast risng band. It was during one of his concerts later on that Kazuma "saw" her in a different light not anymore as a child but as a woman, and same time Tsubasa decided to open her heart to him. In the end things worked out for the both of them and Kazuma prososed to Tsubasa in front of their parents.
In the manga, she later marries Kazuma and becomes a homemaker. She also models for the album covers of Kazuma's band, Yin & Yang.
Seiyu: Shintani Mayumi; English Voice Actor: Lisa Ortiz


Rika Sena (瀬奈 りか, Sena Rika?)

Sweet and gentle Rika is a gifted seamstress and craftswoman. She considers her life as average, and among her friends, the least distinguished, but she is happy to be behind the scenes. She works on costumes for school plays and events. She was best friends with Aya since childhood, and she and Aya have a strange dynamic where Aya will do something selfish towards Rika, but Rika's sheer goodness will shame Aya ... and the cycle continues.
At some point before the cultural festival, Yukino asked Rika if she had a special someone in mind like almost everyone else, which the latter responded to with a denial and blush. Yukino eventually realizes that Rika has a thing for Aya's older brother Kyo when she again blushed while talking to him. However, Aya has been aware of her friend's and brother's mutual infatuation for some time, and after the cultural festival was over, she supposed stayed behind to do some work so that the "dinner for three" with Aya, her brother, and Rika would proceed without the former.
During Rika's own special chapter, there are a few things revealed about her. Her family is very much Yukino's, as Rika has a kid brother and sister. They love their older sister very much, but in an attempt to repay her for always cooking for them, they accidentally spill the cake batter over Rika. Of course, both Yukino and Rika adore their cute little siblings. Also, she is very observant as a friend, noting that until Miyazawa came into Arima's life, he always seemed a little sad. Interestly, she is the only person that Tsubasa has never scratched during her moody times. Kyo, who is also infatuated with Rika, has been watching over Aya and Rika since they were very young. Although Rika is law-abiding, indecisive and seemingly boring, she was very confrontational when she found out Kyo was getting picked on. As a kindergartener, she wielded a bat to save Kyo from the high school bully. Aya noted, because of that incident, that Rika was much scarier than herself, as she even had blood splashed on her face. However, both Kyo and Rika are very shy, and it is difficult for the two to outright articulate their feelings.
With her sewing skills, Rika eventually becomes the designated seamstress of Tsubasa's father, a famous fashion designer, who she is actually a big fan of.
Seiyu: Fukui Yukari


Aya Sawada (沢田 亜弥, Sawada Aya?)
A published writer at a very young age, Aya is obsessive compulsive when it comes to her writing. She writes a play for the newly formed school drama club, and chases down Maho and Yukino to play lead parts. Although both Maho and Yukino run away at first, Yukino changes her mind after reading the play. Yukino's sister Kano is a big fan of Aya's books.
Aya occasionally smokes despite her age, which Rika and Yukino disapprove of. Unlike Rika, Yukino takes action against Aya smoking as shown in anime episode 11 (Volume 5, Act 17 of the manga).
Later, she continues her career as a writer. But like in her younger days, she rushes like mad to meet publishing deadlines due to her forgetfulness. Her capable editor is Kano Miyazawa, Yukino's younger sister.
Seiyu: Hontani Yukiko


Maho Izawa (井沢 真秀, Izawa Maho?)
An attractive and intelligent student, she falls out of the limelight when she arrives in high school because of Yukino. Her jealousy becomes hatred and she turns the entire class against Yukino. Eventually, however, it backfires on her and the class turns on Maho. Yukino takes the high road and makes the first efforts to turn Maho into a friend. Maho soon becomes part of Yukino's circle of friends, and although she maintains her aloof attitude, she also eventually learns to cherish the friendships.
During her last year as a middle school student, she falls in love with a 27-year-old dentist named Takashi, but finally becomes his girlfriend during high school. She was aware of the "headaches" he had when he rejected her was because Takashi was worrying about Maho and her well-being. She never gave up on him, and when he brought up these "headaches" again, Maho repeated her intended profession - neurology. From that point on, they were together. Takashi is a bit teasing of Maho, but she is aware that the things he does as her boyfriend are to her benefit and of his love. She later marries him.
Later, she studies medicine and becomes a doctor. She is Yukino's colleague in the same hospital, as a neurologist.
Seiyu: Noda Junko


Kazuma Ikeda (池田 一馬, Ikeda Kazuma?)
Son of the woman who Tsubasa's father is dating. He's a member of a rock band (called "Yin & Yang") and has bleached hair, so he is initially looked upon with suspicion by Tsubasa. Because he wants his mother to be happy, and is eager to have a little sister, he has no objections to their marriage. However, he makes the mistake of assuming that Tsubasa is an elementary school student due to her short stature, causing Tsubasa to have a spectacular meltdown. (Tsubasa is in fact, one month older than Kazuma.)
Although their first meeting goes badly, after running into Tsubasa a few days later (in which Kazuma saves her from a "dirty old man with money," which in turn has someone call in the police who immediately judged Kazuma as the culprit from his looks, which finally leads to Tsubasa saving him with the truth), they realize that they are similar in their loneliness, and immediately bond like a real brother and sister. After their parents marry and move in together, Tsubasa and Kazuma become inseparable. Notably, his big brother like qualities are what naturally brought himself and Arima together as friends, with the latter very much impressed with Kazuma's music. There is also a hint of jealousy from Asaba and Tonami, as Arima and Kazuma easily and fluidly relate to each other without any traces of friction.
In the manga, Kazuma falls in love with Tsubasa (though much earlier some onlookers were unware they were step-siblings and believed the two were going out) but becomes tortured by the fact that he loves his step-sister. So he leaves home, but writes many love songs about Tsubasa, which become huge hits for his band. He eventually returns home, and immediately asks Tsubasa to marry him (to their parents' shock). They marry soon after Tsubasa's high school graduation.
Kazuma and the others meet Soichiro's father Reiji when he travels to America for a concert. Reiji recognized Kazuma's talent and wrote for him beautiful but hard-to-perform songs, which Kazuma pulls off with skill and ease. They continue their musical collaboration to great success.
Seiyu: Ishida Akira


Takefumi Tonami (十波 健史, Tōnami Takefumi?)
As a fat, sickly, and spoiled child, Takefumi was constantly picked on in elementary school. He was somewhat protected by the tomboy Tsubaki, who, while protecting him from other bullies, would bully Takefumi herself. When he asked Tsubaki why she paid attention to him, she told him that a teacher had asked her to look after him. After hearing this, Takefumi is humiliated as he had never been in his life; he is humilated because he had believed that he was somehow special to Tsubaki, but he realized that she didn't care about him at all, and was just obeying a teacher's request.
He transferred to a school in another city, but returns years later to attend Hokuei High School with the other characters. When he returns to Tokyo, he had lost weight, become healthy, tall, handsome, and completely unrecognizable. Although he butts heads with Yukino at first, she recognizes that his efforts to transform himself are similar to her own obsession with her image, and they share a mutual, albeit begrudging, admiration.
When it comes to Soichiro, Takefumi, like Hideaki, is smitten with him. While in elementary school, like Tsubaki, Soichiro was someone who constantly defended Takefumi. (However, unlike Tsubaki, Soichiro doesn't bully him in return.) Because of this, Takefumi respected and admired Soichiro. His makeover was partly because of his goal to be like Soichiro; he also initially disliked Yukino because he felt she was not good enough for Soichiro. In the manga, whenever Soichiro seemed to need help, Takefumi and Hideaki were always the first to volunteer.
Initially, he plans revenge against Tsubaki, but he later realizes that his feelings for her are of love, and that the source of his hatred for her was because he felt rejected by her. After he realizes this, he finds out that Tsubaki likes him, too, and they become a couple. However, he is tortured by the fact that he loves her free nature but inherently, she cannot be conventionally tied down in a relationship. However, the two are able to resolve the problem and stay together. Immediately after their high school graduation ceremony, they fly together to Egypt from Narita Airport.
Later, he travels around the world with Tsubaki, investigating archaeological remains. Along the way, he learns eight languages. With his linguistic talent, he becomes an expert in deciphering ancient characters.
Seiyu: Sasaki Nozomu

Kano Miyazawa (宮沢 花野, Miyazawa Kano?) and Tsukino Miyazawa (宮沢 月野, Miyazawa Tsukino?)


The youngest of the three Miyazawa daughters, Kano is known for her Shōjo manga and novel obsessions. She uses the knowledge from her love stories to help out Yukino when she's in a psychological pinch. Later, she becomes an editor of her favorite author, Aya Sawada, one of Yukino's high school friends.
Interestingly, the psychology Kano uses early on in the story to help Yukino resolve her feelings are very similar, if not the same, as the points made about humans in Evangelion. Just as Pero-Pero was a nod to Pen-Pen, Kano's explanation of Yukino wanting to intimately trust and love Arima while also being fearful of his rejection in order to protect herself is a reference to AT-Fields.
Seiyu: Yamamoto Maria
The middle daughter of the Miyazawa family, Tsukino seems to be goofier and more laid back than her sisters. Tsukino tends to tease Kano, the youngest daughter.
Neither Tsukino nor Kano understands Yukino's quest for perfection. But they love her very much and are constantly begging her to play with them. (But Yukino usually can't because she has to study!)
In the manga, Tsukino became a talented tennis player. However, she had to retire from professional tennis due to injury, after which she became a reputable coach.
Seiyu: Watanabe Yuki

Hiroyuki Miyazawa (宮沢 洋之, Miyazawa Hiroyuki?), Miyako Miyazawa (宮沢 都香(みやこ), Miyazawa Miyako?)

Yukino, Tsukino and Kano's parents, with Miyako being two years younger than her husband. They met as children and married just out of high school, a continuous source of consternation for Miyako's father. When Hiroyuki asked to marry Miyako, her father reportedly beat him black-and-blue. Hiroyuki still bickers with his father-in-law, grumbling that the old fool couldn't let go of his daughter. Accordingly, his father-in-law was a policeman, and he encountered the old man under unfavorable conditions while Hiroyuki and his friends were forcibly riding on Miyako's new bike.
The two met while they were youngsters, with Hiyoruki being six years old. Although he was very affectionate and loving toward his grandfather, he was known as a little devil of sorts to the neighbors, as he would always do dangerous and meaningless things like destroy property, brawl, and even steal and ride on a St. Bernard. Incidentally, he would meet his wife and invited her and her friends to play as hostages. Although he honestly believed he was being nice and friendly to Miyako and her friends, some of the things he did were not very nice. He took care of them and wanted to make them happy, but he would never allow any of the nearby grownups see. During his last year of middle school, his attitude and feelings toward Miyako changed, as the incoming freshman accidentally bumped into Hiroyuki. He noted that she was the first cute girl that made himself stare at her. Although the two never admitted it clearly during middle and high school, they were clearly infatuated with each other, though it was difficult and awkward to articulate. Miyako's friends asked if the person she liked was "Miyazawa-senpai," which she responded to with a blush and an inability to see anything definitively. Incidentally, Hiroyuki was nearby and overheard everything and walked through the girls with a blush on his face as well. He invited Miyako to Kawahoku High School if she wasn't planning to go to any other school, which she affirmatively responded to with an agreement. When she arrived as a high school freshman, Hiroyuki was still having difficulty with his recent change of feelings toward Miyako and acted with the same childish attitude to mask his affections. Their feelings for each other were made clear during a critical time in Hiroyuki's life, when his grandfather passed away. Against his urging, Miyako did not leave after the funeral and stayed at the front gate, waiting for Hiroyuki. She gave the comfort he was seeking and said that she had always loved him, from the first time she saw him. The "little devil" replied in kind by saying he wouldn't be crying if he wasn't with the girl he loved.
Hiroyuki was an orphan who was raised by his grandfather, and values family very highly, a feeling that Miyako shares with him. Miyako said Hiro was the same as her, as similar to him, she had lost her mother early on. He loves his three daughters very much, and is frequently wearing a t-shirt that says "Daughter Love." (His daughters, on the other hand, frequently tease him or treat him a little rudely, e.g., "Shut up, Dad!" after which he sulks comically.)
Perhaps due to their relative youth (Yukino was born very soon after they married), Hiroyuki and Miyako are easygoing and silly parents. At first, when Soichiro was brought over to the Miyazawa house by Yukino, the family (and especially the father) were shocked and were quick to greet (and possibly ward off) the suspected boyfriend. However, as soon as the entire family saw how "radiant" Soichiro was, they were quick to say "please take care of our daughter," to Yukino's embarrassment. When Yukino gets into trouble at school for slumping grades due to dating Soichiro, instead of becoming upset with Yukino, Hiroyuki and Miyako are eager to go to school and tell the teachers off and "fight for love." And rather than pressuring Yukino to excel in school like other parents would, they have complete faith in her ability to make her own decisions in life. Both parents also agreed upon bringing weapons should the dire situation arise, which incited Yukino's fear of her parents' unpredictability.
Hiroyuki has always liked Soichiro, and feels a bond with Soichiro because he was an orphan himself. He even encourages Soichiro to find in Yukino the comfort Soichiro needs to ease his loneliness. But ironically, just like his father-in-law, Hiroyuki was initially upset when he knew that Yukino was pregnant with Soichiro's child and that they were planning to marry so young. Of course, he eventually accepts their marriage, and knows that they are truly in love.
Seiyu: Kusao Takeshi


Pero Pero (ペロペロ, Pero Pero? a.k.a. Pero²)
The Miyazawa family dog. He adores the family, Soichiro, and Asaba, and in return adore him. If he is not being held by someone, or lying on top of their heads, he is usually seen lying around or eating with an apparently mindless look to his intentionally simple design. Although as a puppy he's just a tiny little blob of a dog, he eventually grows into a beautiful hound with luxurious hair and fathers several puppies.


Shouji Arima (有馬 総司, Arima Shouji?)
Soichiro's adoptive father (in reality, his uncle). As an heir of the esteemed Arima family, Shouji was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. But as he grew older, he noted the coldness and lack of concern his father showed to the family. Though respectful to Eiko (his elder sister), Shouji does not hesistate to defend Soichiro whenever the older woman says something insulting about him (which is always).
He was willing to give up his share of the Arima estate. But when he learnt that his father had a mistress, and fathered his step-brother Reiji, Shouji decided to hold on to his inheritance knowing very well that Eiko will not leave anything to Reiji if she could help it. Although Reiji is an illegitimate child, and shunned by many members of the Arima family, Shouji was always kind to his step-brother.
Shouji is happily married, but they are unable to have children as his wife becomes ill and barren. After Soichiro is abandoned by his parents, both Shouji and his wife raise and love the child as their own.


Eiko Arima (有馬 詠子, Arima Eiko?)
Soichiro's aunt, and Shouji's elder sister. As the eldest child of the Arima family, Eiko had always tried hard to please her father by doing well in school. However, when she told her father that she wanted to follow her family's profession and become a doctor, her father's curt reply that girls shouldn't become doctors hurt her deeply. From then on, she became cold and distant to others, though Shouji still respected her, knowing very well what caused the change in his sister.
When Eiko learned about her father's mistress and the birth of Reiji, she was incensed; not only did her father dote on Reiji (something Eiko herself never experienced), Reiji also resembled their father in terms of looks and personality. Later on, when Soichiro was adopted by Shouji, Eiko extended her hatred of Reiji to Soichiro.
However, her dislike of Soichiro apparently did not extend to Yukino. On their first meeting, when Eiko learnt of Yukino's plan to study medicine after her marriage, she merely nodded her approval and reached for a cup of tea. Shouji recognized that Eiko appreciates Yukino's ambition as similar to her own when she was young.


Reiji Arima (有馬 怜司, Arima Reiji?)
Soichiro Arima's estranged father. Reiji was the illegitimate, but favored son of the Arima patriarch. His mother couldn't withstand the shame and loneliness of being a mistress, and tries to commit murder-suicide with Reiji when he was a child. While drowning with his mother, Reiji kicks her in the face to save himself, a horrific memory that haunts him for the rest of his life. Although a talented musician, he grows to lead a life of a delinquent, and fathers Soichiro as a teenager when he is seduced by a beautiful gold-digger named Ryoko. Although Reiji does not participate in raising the baby, he names it "Soichiro (総一郎)," which has a meaningful connection to his father's name.
Ryoko is disppointed to learn that she will not receive any money from the Arima family because Reiji is an illegitimate son. She is a terrible mother who neglects and abuses Soichiro, and finally abandons him. Reiji discovers the injured and abandoned Soichiro and gives him to his older brother, Shouji. Shouji, who does not have any children, raises and loves Soichiro as his own.
Reiji has been living in New York City as a jazz pianist until his return to Japan in vol. 17 of the manga. His first meeting with Soichiro was outside of his home. The second was to hold Soichiro at gunpoint in front of Yukino and demand he come with him. They then proceeded to spend the next 10 days together. At around the same time, Ryoko appears in Soichiro's life again, and tries to take advantage of him. (Both parents hear of Soichiro in the news due to his kendo championship.) One of Reiji's aims in returning to Japan was to kill Ryoko. Fortunately, with Soichiro's intervention, Ryoko managed to escape, with Reiji yelling at her to leave Soichiro alone once and for all.
When returning to New York, Reiji plays a joke on his son, saying that he will never return to Japan. When Soichiro cries, Reiji admits that it's only a joke, and that he will return to visit Soichiro in the future. On a lighthearted note, he leaves his gun to Yukino.
Reiji's personality can best be described as tough on the outside, but gentle on the inside. Though he can be rude to just about anyone, (Upon seeing Shouji's wife for the first time in 14 years, his first comment was, "You've grown old.") he greatly respects Shouji as an elder brother and a father he never had. (There is a 20-year age difference between them.) Although his older sister Eiko despises Reiji, Shouji has also treated Reiji with kindness.


Kawashima Sensei (川島先生, Kawashima Sensei?)
The Yearmaster for Soichiro's and Yukino's cohort. Strict, but just, Kawashima sensei seldom have to breathe down the necks of the 2 students. Hideaki, however, is another matter altogether. One of the few times Soichiro and Yukino got into trouble with him was when they started dating, causing their grades to slip. After meeting them (and trying to dissuade the two from dating on the grounds that their school work is affected), Kawashima decided to invite their parents for a chat as well. But, after seeing that the parents of both teens are supportive of the relationship, and consider their happiness as their blessing, Kawashima decided to let the matter rest, as it was a pleasant rarity to have students with true backbones. He felt that he had been losing touch with the students and that people like Yukino and Arima make his job more interesting and happy to fulfill. He looks after the students' educational future but is also attentive towards their well-being while at school, as was evident when he offered his support to Yukino while her whole class shunned her. However, along with his admiration and respect for students who could truly think on their own, he has expressed some disappointment in not being needed as a teacher whenever his honest offer for help is declined.
He was also the teacher Yukino sought out when the group needed a teacher-in-charge for their play during the school cultural festival. (Yukino reasoned that with the Yearmaster as their teacher-in charge, things would proceed more smoothly.) In fact, throughout their high school career, Kawashima has seemed to take a liking, even a bias, towards the two honor students. When Arima punched a guy who shoved and called Yukino ugly, Kawashima quickly changed face and talked to Arima afterwards, where otherwise he would've quickly scolded any other student. Overall, he is an understanding, respectable teacher who is willing to help out the deserving.
Seiyu: Motomu Kiyokawa