Renge Miyauchi
Born on December 3rd, Renge is a six year old girl who just started first grade at the Asahigaoka branch school. Renge, or Ren-chon, likes to greet people with Nyanpasu, a cute catchphrase with no literal meaning which is usually accompanied with her raising her right hand. She also puts the sound n, nan and 'non' at the end of her sentences. Her pet name for Natsumi is Nattsun, Hotaru is Hotarun, and Komari is Koma-chan. She is the younger sister to Kazuho and Hikage, and her dream is to become a teacher like her older sister.
Renge has light colored purple hair that is tied up in two pigtails with yellow ribbons, and red colored eyes. Kaede was the one who first tied up Renge’s hair in two pigtails with orange colored ribbons that were hand-me-downs from Hikage. Renge copies the way Natsumi and Hikage call Kaede Dagashiya which means candy store. Renge formed a close bond with Kaede when she was being babysat while her parents were busy working in the fields. Renge looks up to the slightly grumpy Kaede and seems to have a mellowing effect on her. The cute and innocent first grader has a slightly different way of seeing things from the people around her. She is perplexed as to whether their home is the countryside or not. Natsumi tries to convince her that where they live is not the countryside, even though there are cows and deer nearby. Her thoughts are that there are monkeys in Tokyo, and since there is no inconvenience to their lifestyle, that this cannot be the countryside. Renge is responsible for taking care of the rabbits at school. She loves animals and even has a pet raccoon named Guu that she calls by using a silent whistle. She can also play the recorder and frequently practices while walking to the bus stop on her way to school.
Renge has a surprisingly insightful perspective of people around her, and a straightforward way of always speaking her mind. Sweet but unspoiled, even though she is only in the first grade, she spends most of her time hanging out and playing with Hotaru, Komari and Natsumi. She also has a talent for drawing and is encouraged by Hotaru and Komari to enter her pieces in an art contest, but Renge doesn't see the meaning of this and refuses. She prefers her art to be unique, and doesn't like it when her work is normal or resembles the object or person she is drawing. In episode nine, when they have the school culture festival, Renge dresses up like a giraffe. But instead of choosing something simple so that people can tell right away what kind of animal she is, Renge chooses giraffe horns which make it very hard for people to tell what she is trying to be. She takes things that she is told very seriously and is slightly gullible, which makes her a perfect target for grown ups and the older kids to tease her by telling her made up things which she believes without a doubt. Although Renge is slightly different from normal six-year-old girls and her personality stands out, this makes her character all the more lovable, and her slightly off balance sense of humor brings laughter to this slow paced anime.
Hotaru Ichijou
Born on May 28th, Hotaru moved from Tokyo because of her father’s work. Originally she has relatives who live around the area of Asahigaoka. The story starts when she transfers to Asahigaoka branch school, a small school that only has five students including her. They are all in the same class, and class usually consists of them studying on their own. She sits in front of Renge at school.
Hotaru is very mature for her age, both physically and mentally. She is 164 cm tall, has shoulder length straight black hair and brown eyes. For some reason she always speaks formally, even to Renge who is much younger than her. She has a crush on Komari, and calls her Koma-senpai. She is the only one who calls Komari senpai, which is a respectful way of calling someone who is your senior. As an only child, Hotaru is very calm and she always tries to be polite and thoughtful to those around her. She is especially thoughtful around Komari, and takes great care not to offend or hurt Komari’s feelings. A good example of this is in episode twelve, where she doesn't want to hurt Komari's feelings so she eats her homemade bento even though it is burnt black and doesn't taste good. The polite way she tries to keep Komari in the dark about how her food really tastes like, and the way Komari unwittingly pushes Hotaru to eat more and more is quite comical. She tells Komari that she likes black food such as nori and black beans, and mistakes the yakisoba noodles for squid ink pasta. Hotaru always has a positive attitude and never gets angry or upset. Her hobby is to make Koma-senpai dolls and she is good at arts and crafts. She likes classical music especially Vivaldi's "Spring from Four Seasons". Influenced by her father, she also listens to jazz and the blues. She is able to drink black coffee, something which makes Komari think that she is grown up, and makes her respect her.
Although Hotaru is a very well balanced, rounded out character, there are also surprising sides to her as well. For one, she is very strong and even beats Natsumi at arm wrestling even though it is her first time and Natsumi boasted how she never lost to anyone before. She also occasionally gets fired up about things like making an igloo and topics such as her favorite anime which are Pretty Cute and Twinkle Sisters. Hotaru is probably the most normal like character in this anime. She is interested in fashion, able to cook, and cries when she takes her corgi Pechi for a walk and gets lost in the forest. Even though Asahigaoka is very different from her former life in Tokyo, Hotaru seems to have transitioned well, and says that she loves living there. When comparing the two places, she says that there are so many new things to enjoy such as picking edible plants in the mountains, and jumping into the river, something she never had the chance to do before.
Natsumi Koshigaya
The younger sister of Suguru and Komari, Natsumi is a tomboy and frequently plays pranks and teases her older sister. Born on January 24th, she is 155 cm tall and has shoulder length red hair and blue eyes. Full of self confidence and afraid of nothing, Natsumi is full of curiosity and mischief. She is usually the one who comes up with the idea to try new things. Unfortunately, her schemes usually wind up a disaster, and are the main reason she and her sister get into trouble. Natsumi is often scolded for not thinking things through. A good example is when she tries to remove the tablecloth off of a table without spilling anything, but since she has never done it before, she ends up making a mess of things. Another time is when she teaches everyone how to ski even though she herself has never gone skiing before. She is the leader of their somewhat odd group of friends. Other than her sister, she usually hangs out with Renge. Although she is the younger sister, her hand-me-downs go to her older sister Komari.
Natsumi doesn't like to study and is frequently scolded by her mother in several episodes because of her poor grades and unfinished homework. Even though she is constantly nagged by her mother to study more, her mother's words go in one ear and out the other without having any effect. She also devised a secret way of communicating with her sister Komari so that her sister can hide her test papers while she is being scolded by her mother. Even after being scolded, she admits that she still has no intention of studying or finishing her homework. She is bad at math, science, Japanese, English... basically everything. She prefers the outdoors and is very knowledgeable about things that have nothing to do with studying or school work. Unlike her older sister, Natsumi is very coordinated and dynamic. For example, when she and her friends are fishing, she catches a gigantic carp from the lake. However, even with the help of Kaede and Kazuho, they are unable to reel it in so Natsumi jumps into the lake and catches the huge fish with her bare hands.
Irresponsible and lacking the patience to think things through, she takes on the role of leader of the school's culture festival, and organizes how they will create an animal cafe. However, things inevitably wind up a disaster. For some reason, things rarely turn out the way they're supposed to when Natsumi is involved. She is very stubborn and once she has got an idea in her head, nothing will stop her from carrying it out. She hardly ever listens to the advice of others, is very competitive, and is a super sore loser. However, despite all of that she has a good heart and has a kind and caring side as well. Unlike her older sister who is as immature as she looks, and Hotaru who is usually calm and collected, but frequently breaks out in tears when things go wrong, Natsumi is someone the other girls can depend on in times of trouble. She also frequently looks out for Renge, and acts as an older sister to her.
Komari Koshigaya
Born on September 14th, Komari has long reddish brown hair with slightly curly bangs and large green eyes. She is just under 140 cm, or at least that is what she tells everyone. Her real height is around 130 cm, and learns from Kazumi that that was the average height of women in the Meiji period. She has an inferiority complex because of her height, and is frequently mistaken for a child even though she is fourteen years old and in her second year of junior high school. In one episode where they go to the beach, she is taken to the lost children's center even though she insists that she is not lost. She can't reach the top row of the vending machine, but is too proud to ask for help. When they go to the beach she is unable to go in the water because she is afraid, and also because the only swimsuit that she has is the school one that she used to use when she was in the fifth grade. Her mother wouldn’t buy her a new one because her old one still fit.
She is afraid of ghosts and often teased by her sister for being a fraidy cat. She is also a very bad cook. She forgets to add water when cooking rice, and frequently burns her bento. Komari also has very "special" taste buds. She likes to add chocolate sauce to her hamburgers, and makes pancakes using okonomiyaki powder. Unlike her younger sister Natsumi, she is clumsy and uncoordinated and not very good at any sports. Since she is much shorter than her younger sister, it is hard to tell which one's older. However, she does her duty as an older sister by helping Natsumi with her homework and accompanying her when she runs away from home after being yelled at by their mother. On one or more occasions, she'd even give her a piggyback ride home after her little sister had eaten too much grass and gotten sick. Another time she was able to act like an older sister was when she and Hotaru went star gazing and the batteries from their flashlight died out and they get lost. Since Hotaru was quite distraught and started to cry, Komari ignored her fears and helped reassure her little sister that everything would be fine. But this only lasts until they make it to a place that is familiar to them. After that, Komari's knees give out and Hotaru ends up having to carry her the rest of the way. She was extremely happy when Hotaru joined their school, because finally there was someone to call her Koma senpai. Neither Renge nor Natsumi call her senpai. She thinks that she is fashionable and very grown up, but when Konomi and Hotaru start talking about the latest fashion trends and falling in love, Komari is unable to keep up. She is confused when they use English words to describe certain objects and fashions. Although her dream is to become a grown up, she is easily upset by how others always treat her as a child, and frequently throws fits.
