The following is a list of characters from the series, Special A.
The series focuses on Hikari Hanazono, a high school student who holds the second overall position at the elite Hakusen Academy, and her tireless efforts to challenge and hopefully defeat Kei Takishima, the first ranked student and Hikari's rival since childhood, while unaware that Kei is in love with her. Together, they form the Special A class, consisting of the seven top-ranked students of their school, along with their childhood friends Akira Toudou, Tadashi Karino, Megumi and Jun Yamamoto, and Ryuu Tsuji.
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Hikari is the protagonist of the story. She holds the 2nd position in school for having the best grades. Self-proclaimed as Kei Takishima's greatest competitor, she is determined to beat him in any kind of competition. Stubborn, proud and hot-headed, Hikari never backs down from a challenge, especially one from Kei, because she is constantly looking for an opportunity to surpass him, though has never done so. She is good at sports and academics, but she is very bad at teaching and cooking. Although she can handle her own in a fight (often against boys), Kei, nonetheless, gets irritated whenever she puts herself in danger. A kindhearted girl who always worries about others, Hikari sometimes lacks common sense and tends to be unaware towards how people regard her. Her optimistic personality, straightforwardness, and tendency to always see the good in people sometimes prevents her from realizing the more subtle aspects of relationships. Although Hikari is rather sensitive to others, she is quite dense when it comes to love. She is oblivious to the romantic feelings Kei has for her, though everyone else knows that Kei is in love with her. In volume four, Hikari begins to fall in love with Kei, though she does not realize it until volume 6. They eventually admit their feelings for one another and become a couple in chapter 53.They
Ranked first in school, Kei is the son of the CEO of Takishima Corporation. As Hikari's undefeated rival, he likes to refer to her as "Miss Rank Two", which never fails to provoke her. He has a photographic memory and the ability to do anything right on his first try. He usually prefers to do things on his own until Hikari shows him how much fun it can be to work together with others. Kei loves Hikari, a fact that he does not deny, and has loved her since they were children. However, he has not confessed his love to her because he knows that Hikari does not understand those feelings and would think that he is referring to a love between friends. Although he is stoic most of the time and always maintains a calm facade, things involving Hikari can bring intense anxiety out of him. It always bothers him whenever Hikari pushes herself too hard or causes trouble, but her strong will and determination are the reasons why he admires and respects her. He is always calm in solving problems, but when the problem is about Hikari, he gets really agitated. He makes several attempts to express his feelings to Hikari, though is usually thwarted by some sort of misunderstanding on Hikari's part. Kei eventually confesses to her openly in chapter 52 and Hikari reveals that she reciprocates his feelings; the two start dating and become a couple in the following chapter.
Jun is ranked 3rd in school and is Megumi's younger twin brother. The son of a music producer and a talented singer, Jun loves music more than anything else, but ironically has little talent for music. Usually quiet and kindhearted, Jun has a split personality which he has concealed from everyone except Megumi and Ryuu. Triggered whenever he is kissed by a girl or receives a lot of affection, he becomes irresistible to nearly all women and is able to charm them effortlessly. His split personality resulted from an hypnotism program that Jun watched as a child and first emerged when he was still in grade six. During a date with a girl, he changed and all the other girls around him became mesmerized by him; this led the girl Jun was dating to hate him and call him disgusting. After he begins dating Sakura, Jun's alternate personality emerges whenever he sees her; however, because Sakura accepts him regardless of his personalities, Jun is able to reciprocate her feelings for him. The only thing that can bring Jun back to his original self is by losing consciousness.
Megumi is ranked 4th in school and is Jun's older twin sister. She is the daughter of a famous vocalist and music producer and shares her brother's love of music. She is cute and nice girl with long curly blond hair, who rarely joins in disputes, Megumi is always quiet and refuses to speak because she wants to save her voice for singing. She usually writes on a sketchpad to communicate with others, but will speak when deeply upset (usually in the form of a shout), which can generally have devastating after-effects. She rarely speaks to people normally on a consistent basis with the exception of Yahiro, who encourages her to sing. Her singing usually causes all who listen to her to get knocked out, however Yahiro theorizes that she probably sings very well, but that it needs to be in an open area and at a great distance. She proves this theory correct when on a involuntary date with him, she sings to him from the top of the stairs. She initially asks Yahiro out because she was trying to prevent him from sabotaging Tadashi and Akira's relationship and sings to him partly out of pity and partly because of a 'game' they are playing. However, they soon begin to develop feelings for each other, much to Jun and Ryuu's horror. Like Jun, she is very close to Ryuu; she can be fiercely protective of them both, and thinks of Ryuu as much of her family as her brother. Megumi also happens to be bad at sports and dislikes athletic activities.
Innocent and carefree, Tadashi is ranked 5th in school. His mother, a fierce and intimidating woman, is the director of the school and the primary reason why he is in the SA; she told him he would be allowed to do whatever he wanted if he became a member of the SA. He suffers from wanderlust and frequently likes to vanish on some journey and return later for special school events. Often when he is frustrated, sad or angry he enjoys going to a lake he had discovered when he was a child, he has only shown the lake to a few people, among them is Hikari. Tadashi is smarter than he looks and acts, though is usually the character who is most often comically attacked (frequently by Akira and Kei) because of his careless comments or reckless behavior. He loves Akira, but often makes rude, weird, stupid or inappropriate comments that provoke her to beat him up. Tadashi also seems to enjoy playing with puppets, is fond of Akira's cooking, and appears to like provoking her.
Akira holds the 6th position in school and is the daughter of the owner of an airline company. She is very fond of Hikari and cute girls, but does not get along with Kei in particular, often comparing him to a wild beast. Akira is very enthusiastic about her afternoon tea, and has even constructed her own kitchen on campus. Akira apparently loves Tadashi, but never seems to hold back when hitting him for teasing her. In chapter 37 she finally confesses to him; though Tadashi does not explicitly reveal to her his own feelings, he indicates he does reciprocate.
Because of Akira's parents, she often played with Kei and Yahiro during her childhood days. She was surrounded by the most powerful people in kindergarten, so nobody dared to approach her, since the two are very protective. She used to envy all the other girls who were able to play freely. She was good friends with Yahiro as a child, but due to a misunderstanding resulting from Yahiro's protective and somewhat selfish behavior, she avoids him whenever possible. Her dislike of him stems from Yahiro causing her childhood friend Sayo to despise her when her family had to move away; since Yahiro never told her, that he had discovered Sayo had only befriended Akira because she was rich, in order to protect her, Akira continues to blame Yahiro for the loss of Sayo. She eventually accepts him as one of her friends again, though does not reciprocate Yahiro's feelings for her.
Ryuu holds the 7th position in school, although his test scores are a poor reflection of his intellectual prowess. He is in 7th place mainly because of the twins - Megumi tends to fall asleep and Jun becomes bored during the test, which results in Ryuu focusing the majority of his attention on them instead of his own exam. As a result, it is suggested that Ryuu could actually be on par with Hikari or Kei. He has been close to Megumi and Jun since they were very young; it is evident that he cares for the twins very much and that the three of them see each other as family. An even-tempered and kindhearted person, Ryuu loves animals, going as far as to construct an animal enclosure, which includes monkeys and elephants, in his own apartment and is good with children. He is also the first amongst the S.A to discover, by accident, Finn's true gender. After spending some time with her, it becomes evident that he is falling in love with Finn. He is the son of the CEO of a sports company and one of his family's clients is Yahiro's family.
Sui is Kei's younger brother and resembles a younger version of Kei. Initially, he dislikes Kei because he finds living with him disgusting and thinks of him as a robot wearing human skin. Because Sui feels very inferior to his brother, who is good at everything, he believes that he cannot reach Kei's level and he refuses to take his studies seriously. However, when he sees that even his "perfect" brother can become desperate and caring, Sui develops a huge brother complex. Sui likes to call Hikari "Stupid Girl", but approaches her frequently when he thinks that Kei needs help. He is in grade 6, class B at Hakusen Academy elementary school division.
Kei and Sui's dad, age 36, who always looks young and baby-faced. He is very energetic and outgoing. Though he is the CEO of the Takishima company, he likes to escape from work and lets Kei handle his job, usually because people at business meetings tend not to take him seriously as a result of his young appearance. To Kei's chagrin, his father also frequently tends to drag his son off to meetings, occasionally in foreign places. Satoru also possesses superb fighting skills and trained in his youth to be as strong as a pro-wrestler; he particularly enjoys Hikari's company because it means they can fight, which Kei usually prevents from happening. He is a good friend of Hikari's father, whom he met through their mutual love of pro-wrestling. Before marrying Midori and into the Takishima family, his surname was Utagawa (宇田川).
Midori, age 37, is Kei and Sui's mother who works overseas in Australia. Both of her sons inherited their looks from her, so they bear a strong resemblance to her. She is obsessed with shopping and longs for the day when Kei will ask her to buy something for him. In Chapter 57, she spends time with Hikari and Kei and goes shopping, but becomes discouraged that Kei still will not ask for anything in particular until Hikari tells her that he only asks for his "mommy". She and Kei's father met when they were in college; Satoru's attempts to be "cool" failed to impress her but when she saw his true self, she immediately decided she wanted to marry him. Her relationship with her father, President Takishima, is strained.
Kei's grandfather, Kaname Takishima, is the head of the Takishima group and is a powerful man in a business world. However, he is rarely seen by others, including his own family members. He makes his first appearance in chapter 25, when he makes a phone call to Kei's father. When Hikari speaks with him over the phone, he plants the idea in her head that Kei is burdened by her very presence. She meets him face to face in Chapter 59, when President Takishima tries to convince Hikari to transfer schools. He disapproves of Kei's relationship with Hikari and makes many attempts to separate them, such as sending Aoi, arranging marriage meetings for Hikari in London, and arranging a marriage between Kei and a girl named Alisa. The President expresses a strong dislike of Hikari and the mere sight of her sickens him. It is eventually revealed that he feels that he and Hikari share similarities that will make the people they love suffer; as a result, he fears that if Kei remains with Hikari, Kei will suffer much like the Izumi did.
The deceased grandmother of Kei and Sui and Midori's mother, Izumi appears to have been a gentle and understanding woman well loved by her family. She died from a serious illness when Midori was still a teenager and her death is the reason why Midori's relationship with her father is so strained. When Kaname left her to attend a meeting at her request, her condition took a turn for the worse and died by the time he returned. However, instead of asking for her husband in her final moments, Izumi asked for her steward, Kuze, and Kaname believed she hated him for leaving her. Midori blamed her father for her mother's death and continued to resent him for never visiting her mother's grave, unaware that her father had tried many times, but felt too ashamed to do so. Years later, Kei manages to convince his grandfather to visit Izumi's grave in Australia, where it is revealed that Izumi's final request had been for Kuze to plant the flowers that Kaname would give her whenever he apologized over her grave. Upon seeing this gesture, Kei's grandfather is able to accept Hikari.
A beautiful girl with unbelievable strength, Nagi is Kei's cousin and is a year younger than he is. She appears during a brief vacation the SA take at Akira's villa, where they intend to celebrate Kei's coming birthday. Extremely arrogant and full of pride, Nagi proclaims herself to be Kei's fiancée and loves him very much. However, she quickly becomes jealous of Kei and Hikari's closeness with one another and ends up acting unpleasantly towards the rest of the SA in order to get Kei's attention. Upset that Kei, the only person she feels comfortable around, cares more about Hikari, Nagi tries to get rid of Hikari, who comes to see that Nagi only wants to please someone she cares about. Afterward, the two reconcile and become friends.
Hikari's father is a carpenter and lives in the old shopping district of Tokyo. As a fan of pro-wrestling, he taught Hikari how to fight when she was a child. Through his interest in pro-wrestling, Jiro met Kei's father and they introduced their children to one another when Hikari and Kei were six years old. After Hikari was defeated by Kei, she begged her father to allow her to enroll in the same schools as Kei in order to obtain the opportunity to defeat him. Headstrong and hot-headed like his daughter, Jiro agreed and has since supported her endeavours to defeat her rival. He and Kei's father are friends.
Atsushi is Hikari's older brother, a calm individual who does not fail to give Hikari his honest opinion. He is currently a junior in high school and attends a normal high school. Unlike Hikari, he dislikes fighting and has refrained from any physical fights and yelling since he was little. This is because when they were very young, Hikari saw Atsushi beating up a boy who hit her and his facial expression was so scary to her that she fainted. However, when he feels his sister is in danger he breaks away from his peaceful nature and will not hesitate to beat someone up. Even now, Hikari still becomes terrified whenever he becomes truly angry.
Hikari's mother is a kind and good-natured person who seems to accept Hikari's activities, whether it is taking care of Kei overnight or suddenly travelling to London, without too much fuss. She frequently welcomes Hikari's friends to her house, usually without warning on Hikari's part. However, she does lament that Hikari is unusually strong for a girl (such that she finds it difficult to even see Hikari as a girl at times) and absolutely refuses to allow her daughter to enter the kitchen, well aware of Hikari's destructive inability to cook.
A carefree young man with a sinister side, Yahiro has known both Kei and Akira since they were children. He holds the distinction of having beaten Kei once during their childhood in a game of tag which Kei lost because Yahiro had locked the door to the roof to prevent Kei from winning. Yahiro attends Kokusen Academy, another high school, and is the heir to the Saiga Financial Group, a group that is even higher in status than the Takishima group. Because Yahiro's attitude towards others often upset them, he had very few friends as a child aside from Akira and Kei; his relationships with both of them eventually became strained and distant from his overprotective attitude toward Akira. As a result, Yahiro chose not to become friends with anyone until he met Sakura; at first, he had rejected her offer to become friends with her, but complied after they went through a lot of trouble to save the rabbit they were trying to bring back to its home in the mountains.
Yahiro has harboured a crush on Akira since childhood and is very protective of her, willing to use whatever means necessary to protect her, even if she hates him for it. It is this protective nature that made him drive away Akira's only friend, Sayo, after he overheard her saying how she never liked Akira and was only her friend because Akira was rich and she enjoyed all the privileges and status that came with the friendship. Akira had believed that Yahiro had been jealous of her relationship with the "poor" kid she was playing with and never forgave Yahiro for ending her friendship with Sayo. He never told Akira the truth and has no intention of telling her. His hatred of "poor" people comes largely from this incident, which made him believe the poor exploit the rich. He eventually gives up his feelings for Akira, telling Tadashi that if he ever makes Akira cry, he will never forgive him. Because he still cares for Akira, Yahiro comes to a difficult decisions in determining his feelings for Megumi, and as he figures this out he knows that he sees her as a somewhat important person to him and encourages her to sing.
Sakura is the daughter of the head of Ushikubo Medical Manufacturing Group and is Kei's first marriage meeting (or omiai) partner to appear in the series. While she does not consider Kei her type, describing him as a "dark lord" rather than a "prince", she considers him a possible marriage partner because his abilities would be advantageous to her family's business. Sakura hates dishonest people with a passion, and her family's motto is centered around honesty and punishing/loathing dishonest people. Hikari's straightforward and honest nature allows the girls to become friends. She attends the same school Yahiro does and sometimes plans stuff out with him (whether the plans be good or evil). Sakura falls in love with Jun at first sight, as he fit her ideal of someone who was a "prince", and accepts his split personality. She begins to date Jun soon after; however, because of her forceful personality, she is uncertain if Jun reciprocates her feelings until he admits to her that he does. Sakura first appears in volume 4.
Aoi Ogata is a junior secretary of President Takishima, Kei's grandfather, and often serves as the President's emissary. He is nineteen years old. Aoi has a cold and calm character, and has always been expressionless, not smiling even once, but is actually kindhearted and socially awkward in some respects. Like Kei, he has the ability to see something only once and memorize it, though his ability made him a victim of teasing as a child. He first met Kei when he was eight and Kei was five, and came to admire and deeply respect Kei, coming to see him as an almost kindred spirit. Aoi initially appears when he is sent to Japan from London, on orders to convince Kei to transfer to London, which had been planned by Kei's grandfather. When Aoi discovers what is causing Kei to hesitate, Aoi tries to eliminate the problem: Hikari. He tries to threaten her, and Kei tries to beat Aoi up for threatening Hikari, but fails; even though he knows he is not going to convince Kei. Aoi then tries to bribe her but ends up having a cheque ripped to pieces by Hikari. At sometime, Hikari confronts Aoi and they both make up the "After School Takishima Fan Club," in which Aoi is the president and Hikari gets pictures of and writes up reports about Kei and sends them to Aoi. Afterwards, he realizes that he should not pressure Kei into the situation that he is not ready for and also realizes that he is most at peace when he sees Hikari and Kei smiling. He first appears in chapter 28.
Finn is the prince of a small country whose true gender has been concealed from the public. She initially appears as a reluctant participant in a series of arranged marriage meetings Kei's grandfather sets up for Hikari. When Hikari flees from the meeting, Finn approves of her on the spot, since Hikari fits the exact description of Finn's ideal person: a woman with long dark hair possessing a sweet yet tough personality who wears a red dress. After helping Hikari escape, Finn follows her to Japan with the intention of proposing to her. The SA later discover that Finn's mother fits the description of the ideal person Finn wants; Hikari tells Finn that it's a wonderful thing to look up to her mother so much before adding that she and Finn can still be friends. Afterwards, Finn enrolls in Hakusenkan and tries using Ryuu to get closer to Hikari, but ends up becoming very good friends with him. However, her feminine behavior towards him confuses Ryuu until he learns her true gender. Finn's exact ranking in Hakusenkan has not been revealed, but it is known that she is in C class. She first appears in chapter 47.
Ryuu discovers not long after meeting Finn that the prince is actually a girl; in Finn's country, the law states that the country must be ruled by a male and if the heir is a female, she will be raised as a male. Upon explaining this to Ryuu, she asks that he keeps her secret as they will be severely punished if it is revealed. Shortly after Hikari discovers Finn's secret, Finn and Hikari attempt to convince Finn's father to allow Hikari to return to Japan rather than face life imprisonment in Finn's country. The issue is resolved when it is revealed that Finn's mother is pregnant and the baby will be a boy; Finn is revealed to be a girl to everyone else and her unborn brother will become the heir to the throne. She and Ryuu also become a couple, and she starts dressing up as a girl at the conclusion of the series.
Alisa is the fifteen year old granddaughter of Theo Appleton, the Takishima group's biggest stockholder. She likes to eat without limit. When Kei is trying to move the main branch of the Takishima group to Japan, one of the conditions to do so was to convince Alisa to study in Japan. To accomplish this, Kei intended to use Alisa's love of food by introducing her to Japanese food; while Alisa had been set on Mexico because she wanted to eat Mexican tacos, she realized how hard Kei had been trying and decided to study in Japan after all. Soon afterward, Kei's grandfather arranges for Kei and Alisa to be engaged, though the arrangement is called off when Aoi takes over as the new CEO of the company. Alisa, curious to see what the girl Kei loves is like, meets with Hikari in Japan and began to give her lessons on to be a good girlfriend. She eventually gives up when she finds that Hikari is unable to directly say that she loves Kei. What Alisa wants most is to know what it feels like for a man to say he loves her. She later develops feelings for Ryuu, and is heartbroken when she discovers he is in love with Finn, who reciprocates his feelings. At the conclusion of the series, she attends Kokusen, the same school as Yahiro and Sakura.
As of the beginning of Hikari's 2nd year of high school, she is tied 2nd place with Iori Tokiwa, the second son of the head of the Tokiwa Hospital. He has a sickly younger sister who has been receiving medical treatment outside the prefecture and has only recently returned to Tokyo. Upon his introduction, Iori's score on the most recent examination results in the rankings of everyone below Hikari to drop by one place. He also wants to get first place, so Hikari sees him as both a rival and a friend. He dreams of becoming a beautician, so he works part-time in order to earn money, even if it is against school rules to do so, and lives in one room apartment by himself. He develops feelings for Hikari and intends to compete with Kei for Hikari; after Hikari agrees to grant him a wish if he obtains first place, Iori ties with Kei on the midterm exams and tells Hikari to break up with Kei, though he later brushes it off as a joke. He eventually realizes that Hikari loves Kei and for his wish, he asks Hikari for them to always remain good friends. He first appears in chapter 76.
Tadashi's mother, age undisclosed, is the director of Private Hakusen Academy. Little is known about her and she never appears in front of the students. A woman whose actions speak for themselves, she is strict and intimidating. She is the primary reason why Tadashi entered the SA class and has threatened to punish him if he gets a lower rank than fifth place. In the past, she frequently punished Tadashi when he failed to please her and does not hesitate to do so in the present when he offends her, often extending the punishment to the rest of the SA if she deems fit. She and her husband were really popular in school when they were still students. As Tadashi stated, his parents always had a boyfriend and girlfriend.
Chitose is the younger brother of Yahiro and is about nine years old. He initially appears in (Chapter 13) Hawaii during the SA's summer vacation when Ryuu (and by extension, the rest of the SA) is forced to entertain Chitose because he is the son of a client for his family. He is close to Ryuu, much to the chagrin of the twins, and it is implied that he has known Kei for a long time. Like his older brother, he dislikes poor people, which leads him to treat Hikari differently from others at first. However, when Hikari shows genuine concern for his well-being despite how badly he treated her, Chitose quickly becomes attached to her.
When the S.A is punished by the director of the school as a result of Tadashi lying to her, they are forced to attend a regular high school where Akira meets Yui, a girl who resembles her childhood friend Sayo. Initially wary, Akira avoids contact with her, but eventually apologizes and befriends her. However, Akira's fear that Yahiro would break up her newfound friendship results in Akira using extreme measures to protect Yui, who begins to feel awkward around her friends. When Yahiro investigates her for Akira's sake, he discovers that Yui stole some of Akira's jewellery and threatens her so that she will stay away from Akira. Though Yui had done so reluctantly because her family had financial issues that were forcing them to move, she agrees to Yahiro's demand, but she feels that she needs to say goodbye to Akira and almost gets hit by a car in the process. Yahiro saves her and they end up in Yahiro's home, where Akira finds them. When Akira believes that Yahiro has hurt Yui, Yui clarifies that Yahiro saved her and apologizes to Akira for stealing her jewellery. Happy that they are still friends, Akira ends up helping Yui's family and they keep in touch.
First appearing in chapter five, Hajime Kakei is the Student President at Hakusenkan and holds first place in the class 2-A. He is frequently hospitalized for feeling weak and relies on using money to get what he wants. He begins to send various challenges to the SA when nobody appears at his talk show; since none of the SA members wanted to attend his show, nobody else in the student body wanted to either. Because of Hikari's open and kind nature, he seems to develop a crush on her, though is always scared off by Kei before he gets any chance to express his feelings. He is not very popular among his classmates, most of whom do not share his animosity towards the SA.
Midori Takishima's personal assistant, Kuze is a helpful gentleman who attends to various aspects of Midori's life, such as maintaining her home in Australia and arranging her social events, like her birthday party. He has been employed by the Takishima family for a long time; prior to working for Midori, he was the personal steward of Midori's mother, Izumi. As such, he is aware of details of concerning the Takishima family that others are not, from what kind of food Kei likes to the complete circumstances regarding Izumi's final wishes.
The mother of Megumi and Jun, age 40, Rin is well-known as a genius vocalist who frequently travels the world to perform concerts, having just returned from Germany to Japan. She is cheerful and energetic and, like Kei's father, looks much younger than she actually is. The twins have not seen her in two years and are notably surprised when she drops by to visit them when she happens to have a concert in Japan. Rin is apparently very protective of her children; in response to a letter Megumi had written to her mother when she believed that she had been jilted, Rin reveals a rather bloodthirsty streak and comically pulls out a gun to go and attack the boy who supposedly rejected her daughter. Rin first appears in chapter 85.
Shinobu, age 18, is Ryuu's older sister. She makes a brief cameo from behind at the beginning of chapter 65, but makes her only actual appearance in an extra comic in the S.A fanbook. Shinobu rarely appears before others, to the extent that Ryuu remarks that even he rarely sees her. An apparently kindhearted young woman, she loves her younger brother greatly to the extent that she has a room filled with photos of him and regularly writes about his daily activities in her diary. When she notes that the Yamamoto twins appear to be drifting apart from him, Shinobu also notices that Finn has been hanging around Ryuu more.