Yuno

Yuno (ゆの) (a.k.a Yunocchi) is a student in Yamabuki High School's art department and the main character of the series. She lives in Hidamari Apartments Room 201 surrounded by her close friends and neighbors Miyako, Hiro, and Sae (later Nazuna, Nori, and Matsuri).

She is from Yamanashi Prefecture, where her parents live with her pet cat Nyanta.

Physical Attributes
Yuno is the shortest of the cast at 144 cm. Her hair is of a light-brown hue, rather stiff, and is close to shoulder-length. Her appearance is accompanied with a soft voice. Her overall qualities give Yuno a "childish" appearance, and this often draws light-hearted jokes ridiculing about her age and height.

Yuno has a pair of X-shaped hairpins worn at almost any given time, save for the bath scenes at the end of every episode of the anime. The hairpins themselves even represent Yuno whenever the anime shows character symbols.

Character Specialties
Yuno is gifted with her artistic qualities, yet she possesses self-esteem issues regarding the quality of her work. Her art is usually typical of gifted students, being generally neat and refined. She has won competitions within the school.

Yuno is also an adept cook, being able to create meals for herself and occasionally Miyako. She later teaches Nazuna how to cook as well, although some of her early attempts to make the best of Nazuna's misfires did not turn out well.

Yuno dreams of being a great artist someday, and her admission to Yamabuki High School is the culmination of a lifelong ambition. Although she is a skilled artist overall, she considers painting and drawing her specialties. Although apparently a good student, she tends to worry about tests (on which she does not always do well, even failing her English Grammar midterm her first year) and panic when an assignment is late.

Social Demeanor
Yuno is characterized as a sweet girl, albeit ingénue for her age. She is initially a shy character in the early timeline of the story, but grows out of her shyness due to her close friends. She strives to become more mature to the point of being a role model once Nori and Nazuna enter the story. However, her general social quarks usually deny her progress and is even a source of some jokes on Yuno.

Embarrassing situations are something Yuno does not take easily, as she would usually run away in embarrassment or cower her blushing head. Almost all of these instances are played for comedy.

A hard worker, Yuno puts great effort into every project she attempts, often to find that she's worked too hard. She has been known to fall asleep at her easel when putting in a late night on a project. Tests are a trial for her, especially in non-artistic subjects like English. In addition, she seems to have developed "Imposter Syndrome" as college entrance exams loom.

As the series continues, Yuno finds herself having a harder and harder time defining what she wants to do with her life. Her choice of elective classes was a serious problem for her, and as graduation for her friends approaches she starts to lament that she hasn't really found a career goal the way Hiro and Sae have.

Miyako was the first fellow tenant Yuno met at the Hidamari Apartments and the two rapidly became very close. They sit next to each other in Yoshinoya's homeroom class. She looks up to her "seniors" Hiro and Sae, and when Nori and Nazuna move in before her second year she resolves to be just as supportive of them as Hiro and Sae are of her. Her attempts to aid them meet with varying degrees of success.

Miscellaneous Information

 * A constant trait of Yuno throughout her years is her habit of dozing off whenever the time fits. These are usually not played for laughs, instead being portrayed as a sign of childishness.
 * Her birthday is on May 5th
 * Yuno is one of the only characters to have their parents actually seen (the other being Nazuna) and the parents do make reoccurring appearances.
 * She has a difficult time swimming.
 * Most episodes of the anime start with Yuno waking up and end with Yuno taking a bath.
 * Yuno undergoes an Out-of-Character experience whenever she consumes alcohol, as evident from Vol. 1, page 32 of the manga.
 * Yuno's eyes dull as a sign that she has consumed alcohol.
 * Traffic lights, goldfish, and watercolor paint grinds her gears...
 * It happens again in Chapter 119 when Yuno has Sake Lees Soup. Water is apparently colorless and not blue, according to Yuno.