List of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War characters

The Kaguya-sama: Love Is War manga series features an extensive cast of characters created by Aka Akasaka. The story takes place in senior high of Shuchiin Academy, and follows the student council president Miyuki Shirogane and vice-president Kaguya Shinomiya as they come with many schemes to make the other confess their love due to both of them being too proud to do so. Other significant characters include the student council secretary Chika Fujiwara, student council treasurer Yu Ishigami, as well as many others.

Main characters[]

Kaguya Shinomiya[]

Voiced by: Aoi Koga^[1] (Japanese); Alexis Tipton^[2] (English)

Portrayed by Kanna Hashimoto^[3]

The titular character of the series, Kaguya Shinomiya (四宮 かぐや, Shinomiya Kaguya) is the vice president of Shuchiin Academy's student council. She is known for her beauty, intelligence and wealth, her family owning one of the largest business conglomerates in Japan.^{Ch. 1} Due to being born into a high-class family, the manner Kaguya was raised caused her to be prideful, cold and calculating; but underneath her personality traits, she is really an innocent, kind and fair-minded teenage girl at heart. Her social status and upbringing also causes her emotional suffering due to loneliness and isolation. In spite of her intelligence and resources, she is surprisingly inept at utilizing social media and digital technology (although she excels at older, analog methods of input such as typewriter). She is also quite naïve when it comes to romance and sexuality, and had to be taught how to utilize fashion and femininity to her advantage. To make Miyuki confess his love directly or indirectly, she usually plans ahead to tilt the circumstances in her favour. Apart from engaging in student council work, she is in the Archery club.^{Ch. 28}

Akasaka said that he modeled Kaguya to be like Kaguya-hime in that both are princesses at the start, but have something deeper about their character later. He made both Kaguya and Miyuki to have similar personalities at first, both proud and intellectual but later revealing to be more like "goofy idiots" on the inside. He would later have the two diverge in tendencies, with Kaguya being more like a "bad girl". Akasaka also said that while Kaguya has a dark side to her, he didn't want people to hate her so he tries to keep the positive and negative emotions balanced.^[4]

Miyuki Shirogane[]

Voiced by: Makoto Furukawa^[1] (Japanese); Aaron Dismuke^[2] (English)

Portrayed by Sho Hirano^[3]

Miyuki Shirogane (白銀 御行, Shirogane Miyuki) is the student council president of Shuchiin Academy.^{Ch. 1} He is famed for being the top student of the school who has also placed second overall in national mock exams, attributed to his studying all the time, hence his messy hair, dark circles around his eyes, and glaring look.^{Ch. 4} Like Kaguya, he is inexperienced with romance and relationships. Miyuki struggles with physical sports involving skills and has a paralyzing fear of bugs, especially cockroaches.^{Ch. 7, 15} Because his father, formerly a factory owner, ^{Ch. 83} is unemployed and his mother – who left the family when he was a child – does not support them, he and his younger sister Kei often take part-time jobs. A running gag in the series is how he always imagines Kaguya looking down on him and saying "How cute." (お可愛いこと, Okawaii koto), and refrains to confess his feelings for her in fear of being rejected in such way.

Akasaka said that he initially thought about naming him Mikado, after the Emperor in the Kaguya-hime story, but found that he liked Otomo no Miyuki better. He developed Miyuki to begin like a twin in personality and character to Kaguya, and would later diverge to a "good boy". He likes that he can portray him as calm and composed on the outside, but his mind would be racing on the inside.^[4]

Chika Fujiwara[]

Voiced by: Konomi Kohara^[5] (Japanese); Jad Saxton^[2] (English)

Portrayed by Nana Asakawa^[6]

Chika Fujiwara (藤原 千花, Fujiwara Chika) is the student council secretary of Shuchiin Academy.^[7] Chika is a fair-skinned young girl with shoulder-length silver hair (light pink in the anime) that has a black bow in the middle of her square bangs, blue eyes and she has a large chest size. She has been friends with Kaguya Shinomiya since middle school, however, their closeness isn't obvious to others because of Kaguya's personality.

Yu Ishigami[]

Voiced by: Ryōta Suzuki^[5] (Japanese); Austin Tindle^[2] (English)

Portrayed by Hayato Sano^[8]

Yu Ishigami (石上 優, Ishigami Yū) is Shuchiin Academy's student council treasurer and an underclassman to the other members.^{Ch. 24} He is a dark-haired boy with an emo-looking haircut with bangs covering one of his eyes. The second son of a small toy manufacturer, he only attended school because his father forced him to, and was a truant until Miyuki recruited him to be treasurer. He usually keeps to himself and wears headphones while playing video games out of his portable game console, however, he is a keen observer of people, noticing things that other do not wish to reveal, but occasionally getting in trouble for pointing out those things.^{Ch. 28, profile} He is afraid Kaguya might kill him because Kaguya tends to give him threatening glares and comments.^{Vol. 3} Chika will also occasionally beat him up for making inappropriate comments.^{Vol. 3}

As the story goes on, Yu becomes more open with the council, particularly with Kaguya who begins to enjoy his presence as a junior, as he's shown to be very honest and sincere of others to the point where he will damage his own reputation in order to save others from being hurt. A background story reveals that in junior high, he tried to protect a classmate from her potentially abusive boyfriend, but got suspended and was then shunned by her and his classmates. Miyuki and the student council discover and support him. Yu eventually overcomes his trauma, and is able to move on.^{Ch. 85-90} He starts to like Tsubame, his senpai and the vice-captain of the cheer squad that he had randomly joined. During the school festival, he casually gives Tsubame a heart-shaped gift, but is unaware that it symbolized that he was confessing to her. Although he is rejected, he resolves to better himself so that she can come to like him.^{Ch. 155–156}

Akasaka said that he designed Yu's character as to not interfere with the relationship among Kaguya, Miyuki and Chika. He describes Yu as taciturn and has little presence, and can come and go at any time, which has become useful as a recurring gag.^[4] When asked whether he resembles any of his characters, he said that he is also like Yu in that he has some negative thoughts, and that in high school he also had a crush on a senior girl.^[9]

Miko Iino[]

Voiced by: Miyu Tomita^[10]

Portrayed by Yūka Kageyama^[11]

Miko Iino (伊井野 ミコ, Iino Miko) is a first-year student and a classmate of Yu. A member of the discipline committee, she first appears at the end of Miyuki's first student council term, where she runs as a competing candidate for the next student council president. She wishes to impose more orderly and proper behavior on the students, with rules such as making guys have crew cuts, having girls wear long skirts, and forbidding relationships. Despite being outspoken and strongly opinionated, she is very shy and fearful of public speaking. She is only able to speak her mind at the candidate speeches when Miyuki changes the situation into a one-on-one conversation and debate. Although she loses the election, she gets a sizable number of votes; her peers, who had made fun of her previous pathetic turnouts, begin to respect and admire her. She then joins the student council as an financial auditor.^{Vol. 7}

Miko comes from a family of skilled attorneys. Academically she is at the top of her class. She admires Chika for her music skills as a pianist, but loathes Yu for being lazy and not taking schoolwork seriously. She occasionally thinks of Miyuki and Kaguya to be a massive playboy or sadistically evil respectively, as she has often caught them in inappropriate romantic situations.^{Vol. 7} She listens to messages that boost her self-esteem.^{Ch. 95} She supports Yu in his pursuit of Tsubame as a girlfriend, but realizes she has harbored feelings for him.^{Ch. 190}

Akasaka designed Miko to have a contrasting personality as well where she first appears as a serious Discipline Committee member, but is inwardly lewd; or a serious honor student but who lets her guard down too easily when a boy is nice to her. Miko was also useful as a punch line to close off a chapter where she would run into the student council room and remark on the embarrassing situation.^[4]

Ai Hayasaka[]

Voiced by: Yumiri Hanamori^[5] (Japanese); Amanda Lee^[2] (English)

Portrayed by Mayu Hotta^[6]

Ai Hayasaka (早坂 愛, Hayasaka Ai) is Kaguya's personal assistant and childhood friend; her father is Kaguya's godfather, and her mother was Kaguya's wet-nurse. The two girls were raised together until the age of two, when Kaguya was moved to the Shinomiya main house; on their reunion aged seven, their official master/servant relationship was established.^{Vol. 2, Ch. 29 profile} Her family has been serving the Shinomiyas for generations; once prominent and rivaling the Shinomiyas, they were subsequently absorbed into the Shinomiya family in recognition of their fine bloodline.^{Ch. 19} She has short strawberry blond hair and is one-quarter Irish.^{Ch. 29 profile} At school, she acts like a popular fashionable girl who wears her skirt short, a loose collar, fancy nails, and accessories, all of which push the dress code.^{Ch. 25, 29} She keeps her association with Kaguya a secret from Miyuki and Chika. When Miyuki visits, she dresses as a maid named Smirka A. Haski (スミシー・A・ハーサカ, Sumishī A Hāsaka, anime: Smithee A. Herthaka),^{Ch. 35,Ep. 9} who attends an all-girls school and who flirts with Miyuki.^{Ch. 58} When Chika visits, she dresses as a male butler. Ai is more socially aware than Kaguya, and can be calculative at times, but is also very sensitive as she too longs for a normal high school life and a boyfriend, which results in her teasing Kaguya frequently.^{Ch. 42} She eventually tells Miyuki who she really is and becomes his friend, while teasing Kaguya that friendship is the first step to a relationship.^{Ch. 108} She later resigns from her position as assistant, revealing that she had been working for Kaguya's brother all these years to keep tabs on Kaguya. When Kaguya forgives her, she returns to the school and they can now interact as equals.^{Ch. 179–187}

Akasaka said that he designed Ai's character with the intent of having her become friends with Miyuki from the beginning. He said that she is mysterious and that he might bring out her "true personality" later.^[a] She was not intended to be a heroine, although some of the readers think of her as such.^[4]

Supporting characters[]

Nagisa Kashiwagi[]

Voiced by: Momo Asakura^[12] (Japanese); Bryn Apprill^[2] (English)

Portrayed by Natsumi Ikema^[6]

Nagisa Kashiwagi (柏木 渚, Kashiwagi Nagisa) is a classmate who occasionally asks Kaguya about what to do in her relationships.^{Ch. 16, 48} She has short dark hair and wears a double-banded hairpin on one side. Early in the series, she is confessed to by a classmate, and ends up accepting.^{Ch. 6} The daughter in a wealthy shipbuilding family,^[13] she academically ranks in the top ten of the class.^{Ch. 30} She later observes that perhaps Kaguya and Miyuki do like each other.^{Ch. 52} Nagisa exhibits many girlfriend behaviors such as talking a lot, being moody, or even jealousy to the point where she hires a private detective to spy on her boyfriend to see if he is having an affair, later making up with him by being very physically bold and passionate, and later sexually active.^{Ch. 76, 96} She is one of the few people that Kaguya confides in when she faces romantic issues, and vice versa.

Kashiwagi's boyfriend (Tsubasa Tanuma) []

Voiced by: Taku Yashiro^[12] (Japanese); Brandon McInnis^[2] (English)

Portrayed by Yūtarō^[6]

Tsubasa Tanuma (田沼 翼, Tsubasa Tanuma)^{Ch. 180} initially known merely as Kashiwagi's boyfriend (柏木の彼氏, Kashiwagi no kareshi),^[12] is a classmate who regularly asks Miyuki for love advice near the beginning of the series. When Miyuki recommends he boldly confess to Kashiwagi, he does so, and they become a couple. He is the son of a hospital director. His cluelessness about sharing details about his successful relationship annoys the council members.^{Ch. 48}

Maki Shijo[]

Voiced by: Kana Ichinose^[14] (Japanese); Hope Endrenyi^[15] (English)

Maki Shijo (四条 眞妃, Shijō Maki) is a classmate and bestfriend of Nagisa. She has short hair styled in short pigtails. She is friends with Nagisa and is secretly jealous of Nagisa's relationship with her boyfriend, as she too liked Kashiwagi's boyfriend, but could not confess before. She first appears early in the series^{Ch. 6} but until later on ^Ch.61 only appears in the background, seemingly stalking Kashiwagi and Tsubasa with a distraught look on her face. As a branch member of the Shinomiya clan, she is Kaguya's second cousin twice removed so she sometimes refers to Kaguya as "Auntie," much to Kaguya's displeasure. Their coldness towards each other is suggested to be due to tensions between the main family and branch families.^{Ch. 98} Miyuki and Yu observe she acts very tsundere (cold on the outside but wanting to be affectionate), and similar to Kaguya in personality.^{Ch. 98} She declares Yu and Miyuki as her friends, due to their support in helping her process her failed romance, much to Kaguya's horror (since it would mean that Miyuki has another female friend). ^{Ch. 109} However, over time, Kaguya and Maki relationship is shown to improve slightly.

Kei Shirogane[]

Voiced by: Sayumi Suzushiro^[12] (Japanese); Heather Walker^[15] (English)

Kei Shirogane (白銀 圭, Shirogane Kei) is Miyuki's younger sister who is the student council treasurer in the junior high of Shuchiin. Kaguya admires her because she is much like her brother as she is fairly serious; that being with her is like being with Miyuki.^{Ch. 39, 52} She is rebellious when it comes to interacting with her brother, finding him to be annoying and not fashionable, but still cares for him and ensures that he presents a good image when he is in front of her classmates. She is good friends with the Fujiwaras both her classmate Moeha, and Chika. Despite not interacting with Kaguya much, Kei tries to get to know Kaguya better and is happy when she makes little breakthroughs.^{Ch. 52}

Papa Shirogane []

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu^[16] (Japanese); Tyson Rineheart^[15] (English)

Portrayed by Masahiro Takashima^[6]

Papa Shirogane (白銀 父, Shirogane Chichi) is Miyuki and Kei's father. He tends to tease and make fun of people while keeping on a straight face.^{[volume & issue needed]} A former factory owner, he spends most of the time unemployed and doing random activities such as fortune-telling and giving advice.^{Ch. 83} He later parlays that into a successful livestreamer, to the shock of both his children.^{Ch. 191} He is currently separated from Kei and Miyuki's mother, who left the family several years ago after his factory shut down, but refused to sign the divorce papers.^{Ch. 83}

Moeha Fujiwara[]

Voiced by: Ari Ozawa^[17] (Japanese); Kara Edwards^[15] (English)

Moeha Fujiwara (藤原 萌葉, Fujiwara Moeha) is Chika's little sister who is the student council vice-president in junior high of Shuchiin and a classmate of Kei.^{Ch. 39, 52} She admires Miyuki as well and hopes to confess someday. She has a habit of voicing dark ideas, which unnerve Kaguya a great deal.^{Ch. 52}

Kobachi Osaragi[]

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka^[10]

Kobachi Osaragi (大仏 こばち, Osaragi Kobachi) is Miko's classmate with the glasses and a member of the disciplinary committee.^{Ch. 85} She has been looking after Miko for over ten years, in a very literal sense due to Miko's gullible nature.^{Ch. 103} She later starts to date the Captain of the Cheer Club, but eventually separates from them.^{Ch. 122} Her parents were television celebrities, and she was on her way to becoming a child star until scandal hit her family, and thus she has kept a low profile since middle school.^{Ch. 192} In later chapters, she reveals to Kaguya that she has been suppressing her own romantic feelings towards Ishigami in order to support Miko but lets it slip that she might only be nominal friends with her.^{Ch. 231-232}

Tsubame Koyasu[]

Voiced by: Haruka Fukuhara^[18] (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)

Tsubame Koyasu (子安 つばめ, Koyasu Tsubame) is a third-year student who is vice-captain of the cheer squad and a rhythmic gymnast. She is very popular. She encourages Yu in the cheering activities. Later on Yu inadvertently confesses to her, much to her and everyone else's shock. While she initially intends to reject him gently, Kaguya convinces her to think on it, and learn more about Yu before deciding. She decides to respond to his confession later, without realizing that he does not even know he has confessed; and eventually turns him down. Yu in turn vows to improve himself so he might be worthy of her affection, which she supports.^{Ch. 156} She is the daughter of a restaurateur and bartender.^{Ch. 154} Eventually, at the time of her graduation, she turns down Yu's confession but wants to remain friends, after having orchestrated a rumor through the entire school to dispel the false accusations on him and restore his reputation.^{Ch. 201-204}

Akasaka has shared that he liked a senior girl when he was in high school as well.^[9] That she was graduating would also make for an interesting storyline for Yu.^[4]

Karen Kino and Erika Kose[]

Voiced by: Madoka Asahina^[14] (Karen) and Ayaka Asai^[14] (Erika) (Japanese); Lindsey Seidel^[15] (Karen) and Kristen McGuire^[15] (Erika) (English)

Karen Kino (紀 かれん, Kino Karen) and Erika Kose (巨瀬 エリカ, Kose Erika) are Kaguya's schoolmates in the mass media club who are the subject of the spinoff series Kaguya-sama o Kataritai. They idolize the student council but have no real clue what they do. Karen has light brown straight hair and is the daughter of the CEO of a major publishing company; She spends a great deal of time fantasizing about Miyuki and Kaguya along with writing fan-manga about them, which she has only shown to a few select people.^{Ch. 12} Erika has black hair styled in a ponytail and the daughter of a family that makes miso.^{Ch. 15} Erika's obsession is completely focused on Kaguya.

Notes[]

• ^ "Ch." and "Vol." are shortened forms for chapter and volume of the Kaguya-sama: Love Is War manga
• ^ "Ep." is shortened form for episode and refers to an episode number of the Kaguya-sama anime television series

References[]