Yukino Miyazawa

Smart, attractive, athletic and talented, Yukino Miyazawa had made herself to appear to be the model student. Both her male and female peers express their admiration for her, often asking her for help and commenting about her model features and characteristics. Her "perfect" exterior is a façade to hide the fact that everything she does is done solely to receive praise from others, and that she acts slovenly at home. She is a self-professed "queen of vanity", having been that way ever since childhood when her parents would praise her for the slightest actions. Yukino once practiced playing her en:recorder and almost vomiting blood from staying up all night practicing. She is described as the "anti-Girl Next Door" in an article by en:Newtype USANewtype USA Vol 2 - Issue 1 Jan 2003 "Women in Anime: A Guide for the Perplexed" because of her perfection and deceitfulness. With so much praise, however, she never realized that she never had any real friends aside from her family, and was considered by her peers as a semi-approachable "guest". This all changes when Yukino meets Soichiro Arima, another model student who beats her high school entrance exam score, and is even more popular and athletic than Yukino.

Yukino is envious of her rival Soichiro, and works hard to top his grades. When Soichiro confesses that he has a crush on her, she rejects him and laughs about it afterwards. But her observant sister Kano points out that Yukino's rivalry with him is borne of admiration. This revelation is useless, however, as Yukino accidentally lets her guard down and Soichiro discovers her real self. Soichiro uses this to blackmail her, just to spend more time with her.

After discovering that Soichiro is also maintaining a model-student facade for his own reasons, they become very good friends. Yukino resolves to abandon her fake ways and become true to herself, though she initially has some trouble letting go of her lifelong habit of pretend-perfection. Eventually, she is able to open her true self to others and finally earns real friends beyond Soichiro.

As Soichiro himself observes, it is Yukino who is truly growing as a person in their relationship, and it is Soichiro who ultimately depends on Yukino for emotional support. Yukino sometimes feels inadequate compared to Soichiro, but in truth, he envies her individual strength and uniqueness and feels that he is a dull, unoriginal person in comparison. Through their relationship, Yukino is successfully able to assert her individuality, while Soichiro cannot completely abandon his facade.

A pivotal moment comes when Yukino at first reluctantly, then enthusiastically agrees to act in Aya's play for their school's cultural festival. Her participation in the play helps her realize that she enjoys en:extracurricular activities and decides to give up obsessing about ranking number one, and resolves to be satisfied with maintaining a respectable top-10 ranking. While watching Yukino perform, Soichiro is so deeply affected by Yukino's ability to stand alone that he can not bear to stay for the second act. Yukino fails to realize that Soichiro is growing more and more dependent on her, and that he feels excluded by her newfound independence and interests.

During her senior year in high school, Yukino becomes pregnant. She marries Soichiro after graduation, marrying at a young age as her parents did. Although her goal in high school was to become a politician or a lawyer, she realizes that she has always wanted to be a doctor. She eventually becomes a doctor at a hospital run by the Arima family, specializing in en:reconstructive surgery. Sixteen years later, she is the mother of three children: a daughter and a pair of male en:fraternal twins.

According to Enoki Films USA's website, she would have been named "Yuki" in an Enoki Films dub.