Main characters
Sana Kurata (倉田 紗南, Kurata Sana)
Voiced by: Chisa Yokoyama (OVA), Shizue Oda (TV series) (Japanese); Laura Bailey (English)
At the start of the series, Sana is an exuberant child actress who has been having a hard time at school due to the antics of troublemaker Akito Hayama. Sana sets out to stop him and bring peace to her world; however, she soon learns that there is more to Akito than it seems. While she is energetic and always has a smile on her face, she also has a short temper and fierce determination. She never backs down from a fight, especially against Akito.
Sana was adopted by her mother Misako as an infant after Misako found her abandoned on a park bench. At her mother's behest, she began her acting career at the Komawari Theater Troupe when she was five years old, and now stars in a popular variety program called Child's Toy, as well as several commercials. During the course of the series, her career flourishes. She stars in multiple TV dramas and a feature film. Sana also deals with many ups-and-downs of show business, such as competitive co-stars, rabid fans, zealous paparazzi, false rumors in tabloids, ruthless talent managers who try to poach her, and in the anime, even an imposter.
From the beginning of the series, she developed a strong rivalry with Akito and gradually falls in love with him, although she doesn't realize it until after he starts dating Fuka.
In a 2009 one-shot called Deep Clear, Sana asks for help from a detective. In Deep Clear, Sana is separated from Akito because Akito told her to divorce him if she chooses to have the baby, but she longed to raise the baby with him. They reconcile when their daughter is born. Although they are married, Sana and Akito still argue.
Akito Hayama (羽山 秋人, Hayama Akito)
Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (OVA), Tatsuya Nakazaki (TV series) (Japanese); Jerry Jewell (English)
Akito is the troublemaker who is causing chaos in Sana's sixth grade class. A sullen boy of few words, he is physically strong, and has a powerful karate chop. At the beginning of the series, it is shown that Akito has acrophobia. Akito's mother died when giving birth to him, which leads to his older sister Natsumi resenting him, frequently becoming angry with Akito and calling him "devil boy." In addition, Akito has a distant relationship with his father, who works long hours. As a result, Akito is not home often and usually eats junk food for dinner. Akito is disrespectful towards most adults in general, but upon meeting Sana's formidable mother, he speaks to her with deference. Akito gets good grades despite being a troublemaker.
After he butts heads with Sana several times, Sana succeeds in subduing Akito after blackmailing him, the same way he was blackmailing their teacher. Once the initial blackmailing passes, Akito ends up regretting what he did, and his friendship with Sana continues to open his heart. Sana also helps him have a better relationship with his family, after which they become even closer. Although he has his moments, he has had to grow up fast due to his tough home life. Smiling rarely, and laughing almost never, several characters note that Akito's eyes are not that of a child. Akito has his own code of honor: Akito will never lie, and he refuses to pretend to be nice to anyone he doesn't like or respect. Akito's most effusive expression of love is "I don't hate it", which he reserves for sushi, dinosaurs, skiing, and Sana. As the story progresses Akito's love for Sana grows, but Sana is oblivious to this until much later.
Inspired in part by Sana's devotion to her acting career, Akito begins to take karate classes. In the manga, towards the end of the story, Akito is injured and unable to move his hand. He moves to America due to his father's job, and the resulting shock triggers Sana's illness. When he returns to Japan two years later in the final issue, Akito has become a champion child karate fighter, as well as being able to speak flawless English.
In a 2009 one-shot called Deep Clear, Sana asks for help from a detective. In Deep Clear, it is revealed that Akito is living separately from Sana as Sana's manager, Rei, asked a detective to investigate him to see if he cheated on Sana. From Sana's memories, it was shown that he threatened to leave her if she went through with the pregnancy. Later on, with the admission of Sana and the detective's own powers, she came to understand that Akito is scared about the risks of a premature birth due to his past and doesn't want to lose Sana. They are reunited when Sana goes into labor.
Rei Sagami (相模 玲, Sagami Rei)
Voiced by: Masami Kikuchi (OVA), Ryō Naitō (TV series) (Japanese); John Burgmeier (English)
Rei is Sana's manager. After being dumped by his girlfriend, dropping out of college, and his parents' death, he hits rock bottom and becomes a homeless person. While begging on the streets, Sana finds him and brings him home much like she does with stray dogs. Misako decided to keep him around the house, and he has lived there ever since, working as Sana's manager. Sana declares him as her "pimp" after reading a book which included the word, although she does not understand what it really means. In addition, Sana thinks of Rei as her boyfriend. Later, Akito tells Sana that Rei is playing with her, and sees her simply as a little girl wanting to play. Misako also tells Sana that Rei cannot be her boyfriend. This leaves Sana devastated. But after she gets over her heartbreak, Rei remains her manager and her friend. Throughout the series, Sana looks up to Rei as a surrogate father as Rei looks up to her as his own child.
Tsuyoshi Ohki (大木 剛, Ōki Tsuyoshi)
Voiced by: Minami Takayama (OVA), Mayumi Misawa (TV series) (Japanese); Greg Ayres (English)
Tsuyoshi Ohki (大木剛, Ōki Tsuyoshi) is Akito's soft-spoken and smart best friend, they've known each other since kindergarten. Although usually gentle, when Tsuyoshi gets extremely angry, he flies into a rage and begins to attack everything - and usually only Akito can calm him. Tsuyoshi plays a very background role in the manga, but at the beginning he is Akito's rival for Sana's love. Later, his parents divorce, and as Tsuyoshi Sasaki (佐々木剛, Sasaki Tsuyoshi), he has to cope with being a father figure as well as a big brother to his little sister.
Aya Sugita (杉田 亜矢, Sugita Aya)
Voiced by: Akiko Kikuchi (Japanese); Monica Rial (English)
Aya is one of Sana's friends, and later Tsuyoshi's girlfriend. She is a quiet and sweet girl, with a good deal of common sense, but when angry or jealous she can become very dangerous. Aya and Tsuyoshi become a sickeningly sweet "love-love" couple.
Fuka Matsui (松井 風花, Matsui Fūka)
Voiced by: Harumi Ikoma
Fuka is introduced as a classmate when Sana and her classmates begin junior high school. Fuka just moved back to Tokyo after living in Osaka, and she and Sana become best friends. They start to meet at the bathroom, where Fuka complains about cutting her hair too short. Fuka explains that some people thinks she looks like Sana. It is revealed that Akito went to kindergarten with Fuka, and kissed her when they were five years old. Although Fuka initially hates Akito for stealing her first kiss, after getting to know him better, she is impressed by his blunt honesty and logical point-of-view. Fuka's personality is very similar to Sana's, which is why Tsuyoshi probably thinks that she is Akito's type. Fuka dates Akito when Sana goes to shoot a movie. Eventually, Fuka realizes that Akito really loves Sana, so she breaks up with him. Asides from the fact that they dated, Fuka was also the other girl besides Sana to whom Akito has said "I don't hate you" to. Although their relationship did not work out, Akito and Fuka genuinely appreciated and respected each other. She was in love boy named Yuta Takaishi, but they broke up because Akito kissed Fuka. When they meet again after while she said that she won't want to start relationship with him, but later Sana and Akito found out Takaishi's phone number and called him and get his phone number and address up and gave it to Fuka. First she was angry and embarrassed, then when she was home she thinks that she could call him someday and wonders what was that fuzzy and warm feeling that she felt, and also that she would thank Sana for this someday.
Naozumi Kamura (加村 直澄, Kamura Naozumi)
Voiced by: Omi Minami (Japanese); Chris Patton (English)
Naozumi is also a child actor, and another competitor for Sana's love. Naozumi has a history with Sana: when they were babies, they both spent time together at the Kamura orphanage. In the manga, when Sana's illness was triggered at a young age, Naozumi is the one who helped her recover (although Sana thought Naozumi was a girl due to his long hair). At the end of the series, Naozumi makes the painful decision to give up his love for Sana, but remains her loyal friend. In the final book of the manga, Naozumi leaves the country to film another movie and advance his career.
In the TV series, Naozumi is central to a major story arc in which he and Sana travel to New York City to be featured in a Broadway musical. During this trip, Naozumi unexpectedly encounters both of his birth parents. The trauma of these events bring him and Sana closer, and when they come back to Japan they start dating.
Asako Kurumi (来海 麻子, Kurumi Asako)
Voiced by: Akemi Okamura (OVA), Azusa Nakao (TV series) (Japanese); Luci Christian (English)
Asako is a popular actress. She was also Rei's girlfriend who dumped him to concentrate on her acting career, which partly triggered his downward spiral to homeless bum. She did not know that Rei would end up homeless. When she finds Rei again, she wants to get back together, but Rei says that he belongs to Sana now, and can't be with Asako until Sana grows up. When Sana realizes that Rei is not her "pimp" nor her boyfriend, Asako and Rei reunite.
Babbit (ばびっと, Babitto)
Voiced by: Tomoko Hikita (Japanese); Chris Cason (English)
A mascot character that is a cross between a bat and a rabbit. Appearing mainly in the anime television series, it provides commentary on some of the events of the episode.
