my aqours ranking
Before the Sunshine!! anime started, I made a post with a ranking of the characters and my thoughts on each of them. Now that the first season is over, I’m going to make an updated list with a new ranking of favorite to least favorite! To see how it’s changed, but also as a chance to talk about all these characters I’ve thought a lot about. I’m going to include a lot of thoughts and analysis of the characters so it’ll be super long. Ranking below the cut--
1. Dia When the characters were first announced, I thought that Dia was going to be my least favorite of the group. I’m not usually a fan of characters defined by seriousness (Umi being the exception), and she seemed like kind of a rude killjoy, and the info they released made it sound like she was mean to Ruby. I still can’t believe how much she proved me wrong. Dia is SO funny and so admirable. She has pride in herself and her group and she thinks so highly of what they can accomplish. She IS serious, but serious and literal-minded to the point where it becomes a joke half the time. Like she’s just a huge weird dork who thinks she’s doing a very good job of keeping that under wraps. “BUU BUU DESU WA.”
I also am really impressed by the hidden depths of her character. In the 3rd year arc, especially the Mijuku Dreamer episode, it becomes really clear that Dia was actually very passive in the conflict between Kanan and Mari. In fact, it seems like she’s been defaulting to Kanan’s authority for a while. I really love the idea that Dia, deep down, was just as hesitant and timid as Ruby. Her admiration of Eli and her desire to become student council president didn’t manifest because she was a natural leader. She WANTED to be a leader, and she hadn’t been, so she made it happen. And when Ruby finally made it clear that she wanted to be a school idol, Dia wasn’t just happy that Ruby was standing up to her. Dia was happy that Ruby had the courage she never expressed, the courage to make it clear what she really wanted, even if it were inconvenient to someone she cared about. Dia is wonderful and I love her voice and her design and everything.
2. Kanan Kanan is also, in many respects, not the type of character I usually go for. In terms of role and personality, she’s probably closest to Eli in u’s, who was my least favorite character. She also got a lot less personality development in the anime than I would have liked. But god, there’s something about Kanan. My favorite moments from her have actually come from the mobile game, for the most part. You can see that she’s someone who lives a simple life of simple ideals and pleasures, but when she starts talking, she has so many deep and moving thoughts. She’s someone who takes life at a leisurely pace, but is dedicated to staying on track with her goals and doing what’s best for her loved ones.
I love that she gets so much pleasure from running and from diving. I’m not the most physical person, but I understand that impulse, to keep moving and to find peace in a state of isolation, moving steadily through the world around you. Kanan is wise and she has such an inner strength. Even though I think she was at fault in the whole 3rd years drama, I think it’s understandable, and really incredible that she did something selfless to try to make sure that Mari had a good life, while clearly holding some guilt over the fact that she roped Mari into being a school idol in the first place. She’s also one of the more butch characters in Aqours, which I really appreciate. I love her hoodie tank tops. She’s actually... exactly what I would describe as futch? Hell yea
3. Hanamaru Hanamaru was my very first standout favorite in the group, and she’s pretty much what I expected. The slightly isolated bookish girl, with a dreamy expression and a sweet smile, and a healthy dose of weirdness. Basically... the character type I ALWAYS relate to. I have less to say about Maru overall because, as with all of the first years, her personality is kept pretty simple. I hope they can all get more development in season two, but for now, I really appreciate her vibe. I relate a lot to the impulse to lose yourself in fictional worlds, and I really admire the places in the anime and the radio dramas where she’s stood up for herself and what she feels. What a sweetie pie.
4. Riko AZALEA girls dominate my top faves but Riko comes in a VERY CLOSE fourth place. I was hesitant about her before the anime started. I thought she seemed cute and admirable, but I worried she wouldn’t be very interesting. But she proved me wrong! She’s interesting in a way that doesn’t undermine her cuteness or her mature personality. Her silly moments with Shiitake were some of the most effective moments of comic relief in the whole season, and her Yuri Dilemma had my absolutely DYING. It helps that she’s one of the most explicitly gay as hell characters Love Live! has had. I really relate to her love for her art and her feeling of directionlessness. I was so, so happy for her when she became passionate about the piano again. Riko’s the kinda girl you wanna get on a keychain and carry around for strength. I love her, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she moved further up my list as time passed.
5. You Oh, You.... She was another early favorite of mine. She lost my interest a little in the anime but nonetheless felt cool and satisfying. I like You the most when we’re reminded that she’s a really passionate girl with a really funny hotblooded streak--like a 16-year-old girl who clearly has a 40-year-old male sailor’s spirit in her somewhere. I can really relate to that. And oh my god, her fashion is my favorite. Her whole Best Friend thing isn’t as interesting to me, but I don’t dislike it either. I guess I can also relate to the feeling of being a third wheel with someone really important to you, but I wish they’d pushed that a little further with You, and taken the opportunity to show another side of her. But! I still like her a lot, and I’m excited to collect her cards in the game!
6. Ruby I like Ruby a lot more than I was expecting to! I was scared she’d be The Loli, or the Generic Shy One Who’s More Annoying And Less Funny Than Hanayo. Both slightly true, but forgiven, because they made her SUPER charming and sweet. Ganbaruby is the most charming catchphrase I’ve ever heard in my life, and I’m a sucker for hardworking timid girls. I admire the strength that she has, and the relationship she has with her sister. I dunno! She’s fuckin cute!
7. Chika I like Chika more than Honoka, which in some ways I think is the highest praise anyone can have for Chika. (And to be clear, I did like Honoka a lot.) I think she holds up way better as a main character, because she’s someone who you can watch episode after episode of without getting super annoyed. The humor of Honoka’s character largely came from her being lazy and whiny and jumping into situations without thinking. Chika is just a ditz, and she’s really unsure of herself. I like those flaws a lot! Her monologue after the Tokyo episode, about wanting to move forward just to see what would happen, resonated a WHOLE lot with me. It’s how I think about the things I care about in life. And the way she cares for Riko makes me legitimately emotional. Chika also has my favorite singing voice of the group so far! I know it’s pretty underappreciated, but she has such a beautiful and cute voice, and she pulls off strong emotion in the most subtle, effortless ways. Augh. Chika’s great.
8. Mari I don’t dislike Mari at all, but I have to admit that she charmed me less than the rest of the cast. Her kind of humor is really popular, and I also found it pretty funny, but I guess that kind of comedy doesn’t make me like her any more as a character. One thing I really like about Mari is how she treats everything like a competition, or like a big game she’s orchestrating. The whole Fill This Auditorium ultimatum she gave to the second years was really cool, and the way she approached the Kanan dilemma by trying so hard to keep on a brave face and convince her to join.... It wasn’t, like, admirable, but it was relateable and a really interesting quality for her to have as a character. I have to admit that her voice and her boob grabbing grate on me at points. I also find a lot of her SIF cards so far really boring. I’m surprised she’s not higher up on my list as the certified New Nozomi, but what can I say!
9. Yoshiko Yoshiko is still... the only one I don’t really care for. Her intro episode was such a ray of hope for me. After months of thinking Yoshiko was way too one-note, the anime introduced this interesting thread to her character, where she’s actually self-conscious about her chuunibyou thing, and cares a lot about what people think of her. I don’t mind the conclusion to that arc, where they tell her it’s okay to be herself and have her weird interests, but the result is just... Yoshiko is in Yohane mode literally almost every single time she’s on screen. Tone getting too tense? Cut to Yoshiko saying something predictable about demons. Need a comic beat before a scene change? Cut to Yoshiko saying something predictable about demons.
Maru and Ruby have these very simple sides to them, too, but the show does enough work to give a sense of what kind of characters they are in more than one situation. What kind of student is Yoshiko? I can imagine she slacks off, but is she the Brilliant But Lazy type or is she just no good at school? How does Yoshiko respond to challenges and roadblocks? Does she give up easily? What does Yoshiko like about Uranohoshi? How hard does Yoshiko practice as a part of Aqours? Is she the type of be observant of other people’s problems, or is she too caught in her own world? These are all questions that I could reasonably answer for almost every character in Aqours, even when we’re not told outright, but not Yoshiko. Because the only thing I really know about Yoshiko is that she likes to play this Yohane character, and she’s kind of self-conscious, and she’s easily annoyed or embarrassed, and I guess she really likes her friends deep down. That’s all stuff I could learn about a character in three minutes. And she’s not funny!! Saying something grim about demons and then getting ignored does not count as comic relief the tenth time it happens!!!
Anyway those are my Aqours thoughts. I really like the group overall, and DiaMaru is still my OTP. I’m really excited to finally have them in SIF EN! I think I’m going to save up until Kanan’s yukata UR!
