Kaguya Shinomiya

Kaguya Shinomiya (四宮しのみや かぐや, Shinomiya Kaguya^?) is one of the protagonists and the titular character of the Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai series. She is a second-year high school student at Shuchi'in Academy, a member of the Archery Club, and the Vice President of the 67th and 68th Student Council.

Origin

Kaguya is based on Nayotake no Kaguya-hime (名夜竹の輝夜姫), the main character of The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Her cold personality is based on Aka Akasaka's interpretation of how Kaguya-hime charged her many suitors with impossible tasks.^[2]

Appearance

Kaguya is a young girl with long black hair, white skin, a slim build, red eyes, and always has her hair tied with a ribbon. In the past before, she entered the student council and has always worn her hair down without the iconic red ribbon. Later, when becoming closer to the Student Council and other pupils at her school she asks her maid Hayasaka to make her "cute". The ribbon is her attempt at making her hair less imposing. She is typically dressed in the Shuchi'in school uniform.

Personality

Kaguya was a very cold and rational individual but slowly changed after joining the student council. During her earlier days in council, she considered Miyuki Shirogane as one she would be fine to be in a relationship with if, and only if, he confesses first, thus she constantly plays mind games in trying to get him to confess. Later in the series, her actions imply that she is starting to accept her feelings of liking Miyuki, but won't openly admit it.  

She doesn't consider herself a good person and as such, has a longing for true kindness that borders on obsession which she found in Miyuki. She cares about the members of the student council and considers them as treasured friends. Kaguya has a bad habit of immediately turning to money to solve her problems.

In general, she tends to address people in a formal manner, and almost always uses their last names in a conversation.

Kaguya suffers from mood-swings as a result of her upbringing, with the various moods having their own distinct pseudo-personalities that occasionally act out mental court cases in her head, serving as a visual representation of her psyche. There is Ice Queen, taking form with a Kaguya's pre-council hairstyle and being the prosecutor of other representations. The Moron, appearing with a flower sprouting from her head and deformed to a chibi in later appearances. And finally, the Kaguya Child version takes the role of the judge.

It has been shown that when Kaguya becomes sick or otherwise incapacitated, her basic, human desires skyrocket as a result of her brain not being as functional as it usually is, thus making her ego fundamentally dormant while her id takes over. Chika describes this state as akin to a "baby" and Kaguya herself has no recollection of any events during this state.

Due to her lack of sexual knowledge, she developed a rather immature sense of humor, especially regarding words related to sex such as "wiener"^[3] and tends to laugh hysterically when such words are uttered.

History

A member of Shinomiya Zaibatsu and the daughter of the Shinomiya group. A multi-talented genius who can do anything if she sets her mind to it (except, beating Shirogane in exams).^[4] Because she has had the rules and expectations of the Shinomiya family drilled into her from a young age,  her logical side always looks for ways she can use people for her and the Shinomiya family's benefit. This causes her to be wary of all potential friends, putting them through "trust challenges" to determine whether she should befriend them. She has had a very protected childhood, where she has been kept from learning things that are deemed "inappropriate".

Other than Hayasaka who has served her since childhood, she has rarely interacted with other people before she joined the student council. She is a sheltered girl resulting in her lacking several pieces of what might be considered as common knowledge. Her mother died when she was young, and she is shown to have a negative relationship with the rest of her family.

Trivia

• She still doesn't understand love very well, however she wants her relationship with Shirogane to be as "normal" as possible.
• She likes dogs and shortcakes.^[5][6]
• She has a severe lack of knowledge about how to navigate the internet causing a lot of trouble for Hayasaka when she was setting up her Twitter account.^[7]
• She always wanted to have a little sister and now she wants to have Kei call her Big sister (Onee-chan - お姉ねえちゃん ({{{2}}}^?)^[8]
• She knows a lot about puzzles and riddles.^[9]
• On rare occasions, she has a fang.^[10]
• She can't handle Moeha Fujiwara's tendency to say scary stuff at times.^[11]
• She gave Miyuki a fan with the words "Masen Tekken" inscribed on it meaning "Unyielding Diligence" on his birthday.^[12]
• She likes the glare-y sleep-deprived sharp cool look in Miyuki's eyes compared to how it would be if he's healthy.^[13]
• She developed the glare fetish because she likes Miyuki.

• She's worn different patterned ribbons for the first 10 chapters.
• She is sensitive to strong stimuli such as loud noises.

References

1. ↑ Volume 16 Extras
2. ↑ Fanbook
3. ↑ Chapter 27
4. ↑ Chapter 1
5. ↑ Chapter 50
6. ↑ Chapter 37
7. ↑ Chapter 42
8. ↑ Chapter 39
9. ↑ Chapter 4
10. ↑ Chapter 15
11. ↑ Chapter 52
12. ↑ Chapter 53
13. ↑ Chapter 16

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