Ai Yori Aoshi/Characters

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Left to right: Taeko, Tina, Mayu, Aoi, Chika, Karou, and Miyabi

A character sheet for Kaoru, Aoi, and the other inhabitants of the Sakuraba house in Ai Yori Aoshi. (Characters listed are sorted roughly in order of appearance)

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Kaoru Hanabishi

Voiced by: Soichiro Hoshi (Japanese), Dave Wittenberg (English), Toni Mora (Spanish), Hernán Fernández (Catalan)

Kaoru is a college student and exile from the Hanabishi house. Having endured years of physical and emotional abuse from his grandfather, he made the choice to break free and move out on his own.

Tropes exhibited by Kaoru include:

• Abusive Grandparent: Kaoru has the caning scars to show it.
• Bedmate Reveal: Number one recipient of this trope. He doesn't mind too much when the bedmate is Aoi, but occasionally it's Chika...
• Dogged Nice Guy
• Heroic Bastard
• Missing Mom
• Nice Guy: To the point of being a Flat Character
• Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Kaoru and Aoi love each other deeply in addition to being arranged to marry. Unfortunately, the arrangement was broken when Kaoru left the Hanabishi family, which is the primary cause for the drama in the story.
• Scars Are Forever
• Sempai-Kohai: In the photography club, Karou is kohai to Tina and sempai to Taeko.

Aoi Sakuraba

Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese), Michelle Ruff (English), Ana María Camps (Spanish), Isabel Valls (Catalan)

Aoi is one of the living heirs to the Sakuraba dry goods fortune. She had kept a Childhood Marriage Promise to Kaoru, even though her own parents were against the idea after he ran away from the Hanabishis. A chance encounter on a train has reunited them, and she has vowed to uphold her promise to stay with Kaoru for the rest of her life.

Tropes exhibited by Aoi include:

• Apologises a Lot
• Curtains Match the Window
• First Girl Wins: It's only because Aoi and Karou have to hide their relationship at first that there's ever any doubt about this... and none of that doubt is held by Aoi or Karou.
• Kimono Fanservice
• Shrinking Violet
• Shy Blue-Haired Girl
• Sleep Cute: And hugging Kaoru in her sleep, on more than one occasion.
• Victorious Childhood Friend
• Yamato Nadeshiko: To the point of (almost) always dressing in kimono.

Miyabi Kagurazaki

Later, Miyabi Sakuraba

Voiced by: Akiko Hiramatsu (Japanese), Lia Sargent (English), Marta Estrada (Spanish), Anna Orra (Catalan)

Miyabi is Aoi's guardian. She is very strict about upholding the Sakuraba house's honor, and makes it a point to tell Kaoru and Aoi to hide their relationship from the public.

Tropes exhibited by Miyabi include:

• The Caregiver: To Aoi.
• Cross-Popping Veins
• Defrosting Ice Queen
• Happily Adopted: By the Sakurabas. Officially, in the ending of the manga.
• Harem Nanny
• Parental Abandonment: Her parents, who worked for the Sakurabas, were killed in a car accident.
• Parental Substitute: Has one in Aoi's mother.
• Stern Teacher: Sometimes was one to Aoi when training her.
• Sugar and Ice Personality: Initially only affectionate toward Aoi, but as Kaoru earns her respect, she warms up to him.
• Team Mom

Taeko Minazuki

Voiced by: Kaori Mizuhashi (Japanese), Philece Sampler (English), Rosa Moyano (Spanish)

Taeko is a close friend of Tina and belongs to the same photography club as Tina and Kaoru. She seems to have a very unlucky streak (mostly involving tripping over things), and has been unable to hold down any kind of permanent job because of this, until pleas from Aoi and friends convince Miyabi to allow her to work as a maid.

Tropes exhibited by Taeko include:

• Cordon Bleugh Chef: Taeko is capable of producing decent meals, but she has a tendency to mix her normal meals with chocolate.
• Cute Clumsy Girl
• Gag Boobs
• Meganekko: With obvious, thick-rimmed glasses, no less.
• Meido: Her career goal is to be a housekeeper.
• Miko: Not officially, but her hobby of Paranormal Investigation means she has the knowledge and the wardrobe for the job.
• Sempai-Kohai: In the photography club, Taeko is kohai to Tina, Suzuki, Sato, and Karou.
• Sexy Whatever Outfit: Wears a few at the insistence of her sempai in the photography club (and at home if you count her Meido and Miko outfits); she doesn't seem to mind.

Suzuki and Sato

The other members of Merisu University's photography club. They're Flat Characters - everything we know about them is summed up in these tropes, plus the fact that they take photos.

Tropes exhibited by Suzuki and Sato include:

• Male Gaze: Sato, who thinks Buxom Is Better.
• Rail Enthusiast: Suzuki would rather take photos of rolling stock than of pretty co-eds.
• Sempai-Kohai: In the photography club, they're both sempai to Karou and Taeko. Sato takes advantage of this to get Taeko to cosplay for him, claiming that modelling Sexy Whatever Outfits is the first step to becoming a photographer.
• Those Two Guys

Tina Foster

Voiced by: Satsuki Yukino (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English), Assumpta Navascues (Spanish), Elisabet Bargalló (Catalan)

Tina is an American-born college student who has lived in the Kyushu region for most of her life (so much so, that she's almost completely forgotten how to speak English, and speaks English with a Kansai Regional Accent when she does speak it).

Tropes exhibited by Tina include:

• All of the Other Reindeer: She was born in America and is culturally Japanese, and as such, cannot easily fit into either country.
• But Not Too Foreign: One of the most sympathetic examples.
• Cat Smile
• Cute Little Fangs: She shows one sometimes when she smiles.
• Funny Foreigner
• Groper Girl: She has a tendency toward practicing "skinship" that involves her own hands and the chests of the other female characters listed on this page. Yes, even the first-year high-school girls.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy
• Sempai-Kohai: In the photography club, Tina is sempai to both Karou and Taeko.
• Stepford Smiler: Not quite as happy as she outwardly seems.

Mayu Miyuki

Voiced by: Sayaka Narita (Japanese), Karen Strassman (English), Noemi Bayarri (Spanish)

Mayu, like Aoi, is the daughter of a prestigious businessman. And also like Aoi, she has been in love with Kaoru ever since she met him. She spends a lot of time bickering with Tina.

Tropes exhibited by Mayu include:

• Alliterative Name
• Lonely Rich Kid
• Ojou
• Third-Person Person
• Unlucky Childhood Friend

Chika Minazuki

Chika in her natural element - the swimming pool. Chizuru (wearing the swim cap) and Natsuki are in the background.

Voiced by: Haruko Momoi (Japanese), Kari Wahlgren (English), Carmen Ambrós (Spanish)

Taeko's cousin, who lives by the beach. First appears in volume 7 (anime episode 16). In Enishi, she has moved in with the other characters in order to attend high school on the mainland. Chika helps out around the family's beach house during the summer season, and is a good enough cook and merchant to be able to run the family's yakisoba stall during the local festival. She's also the best swimmer in the entire cast.

Like the other female characters in Ai Yori Aoshi, she loves Karou... but it's obvious that her love is a schoolgirl crush.

Tropes exhibited by Chika include:

• Bedmate Reveal: Tends to inflict this on Kaoru.
• Genki Girl
• Tan Lines: Due to coming from the beach and spending so much time in the water.

Natsuki Komiya and Chizuru Aizawa

The other members of the swim team that Chika belongs to in high school - or, at least, the only ones we ever see. They serve as Those Two Girls for Chika during the Enishi season, and they get more character development in their first appearance than Suzuki and Sato get in the entire anime.

Tropes exhibited by Natsuki and Chizuru include:

• Cute Clumsy Girl: Chizuru
• Extreme Doormat: Chizuru
• Genki Girl: Natsuki
• Older Than They Look: Natsuki
• Shrinking Violet: Chizuru
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Natsuki is the tomboy; Chizuru is the girly girl.

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