What Are The Characters Of Ao Ashi? : Appearance And Personality Explained

Ao Ashi Characters. Ao Ashi is a manga written and drawn by Yûgo Kobayashi, pre-published since January 2015 within the Big Comic Spirits and compiled in volumes by Shogakukan. The French version has been published by Mangetsu since May 26, 2021.

An adaptation into an animated television series produced by Production I.G. has been broadcast since April 9, 2022.

Synopsis

Ao Ashi tells the story of young Ashito Aoi in his third year of middle school in the city of Ehime and his meeting with soccer coach Tatsuya Fukuda. Ashito, though gifted, is a difficult boy, but Fukuda believes in him and invites him to join his own team.

This boy may well change the face of Japanese soccer.

Presentation of the Characters

Aoi Ashito

Ashito Aoi is the main protagonist of Ao Ashi. He is currently a first-year high school student and a member of Tokyo City Esperion FC.

Look & Personality

Ashito is a fit teenage boy of fairly average height. He has curly, brown hair and brown eyes and is normally seen in his Esperion uniform when on the pitch, or in his school uniform or an Esperion jacket when off it.

Initially, Ashito is a brash and naive kid from a distant prefecture called Ehime. As an aspiring player who has dreams of becoming the world’s best forward, his personality is considered self-centered and scoring-focused, which can be defined by his playstyle when first joining Esperion. However, that is shattered quickly when not only is his position changed, Ashito realizes exactly how much he lacks in technique and soccer knowledge compared to the rest of his peers. But instead of falling into despair, he acknowledges his setbacks and asks anyone to help him move forward, showing his eagerness to learn and drive to better himself. This quality is admired by others, especially by fellow 1st-year teammate Tachibana.

Ashito is stubborn, headstrong and refuses to go down without a struggle, as shown when he gets into altercations with the promoted players Asari and Kuroda on the first day of school. As someone who loves soccer, he can get dangerously obsessed if not kept in check, as noted by others. This is especially prevalent in the Funabashi match when he tries to throw away his support system in order to reach a new peak in soccer, discarding all notions of other people’s concern for him. But as stated by his mother, Ashito is someone who also understands and needs people, in order for him to constantly outdo himself every time he is playing on the pitch. He has a high emotional intelligence as he strives to understand his teammates both in and out of soccer.

Despite being a hard-headed and outwardly strong player, Ashito’s character will crack when facing off against other players his age who are already world-class, presumably displaying a slight case of inferiority complex. However, as with all things related to soccer, he is not downed by adversity and is only thrilled to seek further challenges to drive ever-steady improvement.

Eisaku Ôtomo

Eisaku Otomo is a supporting character in Ao Ashi. He is a first-year student and midfielder playing for Tokyo City Esperion FC’s Youth Team.

Look & Personality

Eisaku is a fair-skinned teenage boy of short height with dark green hair that is shaved to the side but long on top.

Though he initially looks like a coward, according to Soichiro Tachibana, once the game begins, he is the one with the greatest mental fortitude among the first-years. Eisaku also has a fairly infantile personality, easily being tempered and hot-headed when irritated by other teammates, especially Jun.

Sôichirô Tachibana

Soichiro Tachibana is a first-year student playing as forward for Tokyo City Esperion FC.

Look & Personality

He is in the same selection group as Ashito and Otomo. He was a member of the powerful Yokoyama Musashino Kekkodan Junior Youth, but felt that he had stopped growing through the years and decided to join Esperion Youth in order to stop himself from becoming an ineffective player. He is a serious person with a strong sense of responsibility. His position is forward.

Tatsuya Fukuda

Tatsuya Fukuda is a supporting character in Ao Ashi. He is the coach of Tokyo City Esperion FC’s Youth Soccer Team and the man who recruited Ashito.

Look & Personality

Tatsuya is a tall man of average slim build, in his early 30s. In the present his hair is dark and unkempt, reaching to just past his ears. He has facial hair, notably a mustache and goatee beard and is often seen sporting tracksuit joggers or slacks (original with a belt) and a shirt (normally white although he has been shown to wear black ones). While coaching he is seen in his Coach kit, consisting of a black shirt, lined with white along the sleeves and knee-length shorts. Sometimes he is depicted with amber eyes, other times he has been shown to have green ones. Tatsuya is often seen with an all-knowing sly smile on his face and a calculative calm aura.

When he was younger, Tatsuya has been shown to have lighter hair, cut short around the sides yet left longer on top. He does not have any facial hair and is of a smaller frame and build.

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Keiji Togashi

Keiji Togashi is a supporting character in Ao Ashi.

Look & Personality

Togashi is a tall, lean but fit, teenage boy with dark black hair repeatedly styled in a traditional biker-yankee pompadour.

He is a hot-headed and passionate kid who came to Esperion after leaving his bike gang behind. To begin with, he is very combative on account of his issues with Kuroda and Takeshima. Nevertheless, as the story goes on, he mellows out while still holding his rough edges. Togashi can also be cocky, always believing in his abilities, and is often a little self-centered. He can tend to lose sight of his surroundings and be oblivious of his true feelings, as seen with how he looked down on Ashito unconsciously. Nevertheless, he accepts his mistakes and does whatever he can to improve as a player. He also is a good friend and has a golden heart, as shown with Ashito and his other associates.

Kanpei Kuroda

Kanpei Kuroda is a supporting character in Ao Ashi.

Look & Personality

Promoted from Esperion Junior Youth. He is a midfielder with a calm and collected style of play. He is a realist who prioritizes becoming a professional player. He and Takeshima have a feud with Togashi, who has a different way of thinking about soccer.

Jun Marchs Asari

Jun Marchs Asari is a supporting character in Ao Ashi.

Look & Personality

Promoted from Esperion Junior Youth. He is a cool, blond, beautiful boy with an English father and Japanese mother. He is a side back who is good at attacking. He is very proud and is not happy with the fact that Ashito, who has inferior skills, belongs to the youth team. Subsequently, he often talks down to Ashito.

Yûma Motoki

Yuma Motoki is a supporting character in Ao Ashi.

Look & Personality

Promoted from Esperion Junior Youth. He talks a lot both in and out of the game, and his trademark is his double tooth. He plays the forward position, and though he is a first-year student, he has the ability to be a first-team regular. He has known Anri, the daughter of the president of Kaido Denki, Esperion’s primary sponsor, since childhood, but it seems that she hates him.

Ryûichi Takeshima

Ryuichi Takeshima is a supporting character in Ao Ashi.

Look & Personality

Promoted from Esperion Junior Youth. He is a defender who focuses on protection, which is uncommon in Esperion’s super-attacking soccer style. Otomo has a one-sided grudge against him because he brings him to the ground. A close friend of Yuuma. He and Kuroda have a feud with Togashi, who has a different way of thinking about soccer.

Hana Ichijô

Hana Ichijo is a supporting character in Ao Ashi. She is a first-year high school student attending Tokyo City Esperion’s school division and an aspiring doctor who repeatedly makes meal plans for the team players.

She is also the younger step-sister of Tatsuya Fukuda.

Look & Personality

Hana is a long blonde-haired, green-eyed teenage girl of average height for her age. She is Fukuda’s step-sister who professes to be Ashito’s ‘first fan in the world’. She’s a natural and blunt talker and often comes across as easily irritated, especially with Ashito. But despite that, she takes excellent care of him and the rest of the Esperion players. Hana has a deep knowledge of nutrition as she aspires to become a sports surgeon. Because of this, she normally makes meal plans for the players, notably Ashito and Kuribayashi.

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Nozomi Date

Nozomi Date is a supporting character in Ao Ashi. He is the head coach at Esperion Youth.

Look & Personality

Head coach of Esperion Youth. He is responsible for the second team where Ashito and his teammates are. He has been a close friend of the coach, Fukuda, since their days as players. He is a calm and collected coach who is known as “Iron Masks,” but he is a leader who puts the growth of his players first and is highly trusted by them. As a professional player, he was a member of Esperion and played in the midfield.

Anri Kaidô

Anri Kaido is a supporting character in Ao Ashi. She is the daughter of one of Tokyo City Esperion’s sponsors’ CEO, Denji Kaido and an aspiring soccer coach.

Look & Personality

Anri is a teenage girl of a slightly short height with long black hair and short bangs. She is normally seen in her school uniform, although when not she adopts a rather modest style of blouses and knee-length skirts.

She has a very aloof personality and is normally quiet, however her passion for soccer always shines through in her explanations. At times she can be a little insensitive and blunt but has a big heart underneath. It is suggested she also has self-esteem issues.

Taira Nakamura

Taira Nakamura is a supporting character in Ao Ashi.

Look & Personality

Taira is a teenage boy with a lean, muscular body of average height. He has unruly raven black hair, which he styles with a thin hair band.

A midfielder in the second team, he is one year older than Ashito and has been promoted from the junior youth team. He has a caring personality and sometimes gives advice to Ashito, who has inferior skills, as a senior player in the youth team. He is well-liked by his teammates.

Yôichi Kiriki

Yoichi Kiriki is a supporting character in Ao Ashi.

Look & Personality

He is one year older than Ashito and has been promoted from the junior youth team. He is a midfielder with excellent technique. He has been chosen for Japan’s national team for his age group, but he does not feel good about the fact that he has always been seen as second best to Kuribayashi in Esperion since his junior youth days.

Eita Takasugi

Eita Takasugi is a supporting character in Ao Ashi.

Look & Personality

He is one grade above Ashito and is promoted from the junior youth team. He is a forward/midfielder. He was chosen for the Japan national team for his age group, and has the leadership capacity to inspire his teammates.

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Kenta Yoshitsune

Kenta Yoshitsune is a supporting character in Ao Ashi.

Look & Personality

He is a junior at Esperion Youth and is the captain of the first team. Kenta Yoshitsune is a forward and last year’s top scorer in the Premier League. His soccer skills are overwhelming, but he has an elusive personality, speaking in a peculiar tone of voice and dropping the end of words. He possesses the appearance of Ronaldo Nazario, the dribbling of Lionel Messi, and the shot power of Cristiano Ronaldo. He likes Aoi and sees much potential in him; he also envies Kurabayashi.