Overview

Personality

At the start of the series, Wakana was a withdrawn person in high school, having no friends and a secret love and admiration for hina dolls. This stems from his past where a girl angrily told him that boys shouldn’t like dolls and called him a freak, something that clearly affected him very deeply to the point where he closed himself off from everyone and lived his high school life as a recluse. Wakana notes Marin Kitagawa and how she has her own interests in anime and the like, but unlike him, is free to be completely open with them and has many friends. His solitary attitude makes him rather submissive with others, claiming that he doesn’t mind his classmates leaving him to do after class clean up, although Marin correctly pointed out that they were taking advantage of him.

Wakana's main goal in life is to become a hina doll craftsman (a kashira-shi - 頭師) like his grandfather. He is very knowledgeable and loving towards the dolls his grandfather’s store makes and sells. He also has his own and cherishes it greatly, to the point where he keeps it on his desk by his bedside and even talks to it. When the doll slipped from his hands, he leaped in order to catch it and frantically asked it if it was hurt. Wakana was completely mesmerized the first time he saw a hina doll, and this memory has remained with him throughout his entire life, to the point where he takes his love for them seriously and doesn’t call anything beautiful unless he means it from the heart. Due to growing up with his grandfather, Wakana has a great knowledge pertaining to outfits and sewing, having pointed out all the blatant flaws in Marin’s prototype cosplay outfit, although he profusely apologized when he saw that his harsh criticism hurt her feelings. When Marin neither labels him as a freak nor gets mad at him for criticizing her outfit, he agrees on her request to make her a cosplay outfit for the character Shizuku Kuroe.

Wakana is rather shy and modest, not doing well with embarrassing or lewd topics. He was surprised to find out that Shizuku was from an eroge (adult video game) and was reluctant to take Marin’s measurements for the outfit. Whenever flustered, he tends to freak out or freeze up, which has led to Marin gaining a joy in teasing him. After having a certain dream involving Marin, Wakana was completely ashamed to the point where it was difficult for him to look or talk to her. While he does have a natural interest in girls (evident by the dream), he isn’t at all perverted and is very self-conscious, usually apologizing in embarrassing scenarios. This being said, Wakana’s shyness doesn’t completely dictate him. He was able to play Slippery Girls 1 and 2 to gain a better understanding of Shizuku’s outfit, remaining fully observant to the details throughout and later chatted with Marin casually about it while they were out together (to the unease of some bystanders). When excited about something or helping Marin with her cosplay outfits, his shyness can be put on standstill while he’s focused.

Wakana cares a lot about others, agreeing to run his grandfather’s shop after the latter had hurt his back. Furthermore, even when he was completely exhausted from all his responsibilities (studying for his midterm exams, running his grandfather’s shop and his other daily duties), he still pulled himself together and worked throughout the night to finish the Shizuku outfit. As further proof of him being a good person, when Marin revealed there was no set time that the outfit had to be done by, Wakana collapsed, but instead of getting upset or angry at her, he was instead relieved that there was more time to finish the outfit.

Wakana doesn’t appear to have much of a life outside of his grandfather’s store and helping Marin, as he always wears his work attire outside of his school uniform, and often spends his time either studying or sewing. Furthermore, he was upset when he thought that his time and friendship with Marin had reached its end upon the completion of her Shizuku outfit, only to be happy when she decided to continue cosplaying and requested his help with it.

Relationships

Marin Kitagawa

Classmates that never spoke, Marin Kitagawa accidentally runs into Wakana one day sewing at school when his home sewing machine was broken. Realizing that he could help her with her love for cosplay, she asks him to make costumes for her, which he accepts. Initially, Wakana is nervous about his ability to create cosplay clothes for Marin because of his lack of experience, as he's only made hina dolls. After the success of the first costume, his confidence in making the outfits grows and so does his love for creating them. Wakana becomes more open with Marin as the series progresses and her words of confidence can be the driving force for why cosplays turn out successful, as well as what initially drives him to improve himself. He thinks Marin is very pretty (something he doesn't say without meaning it) with a positive outlook on life, and admires her confidence. He gets flustered whenever Marin wears revealing clothing, which occurs often. He takes care of her when she's sick, helps her with cooking, supports her in her decisions, and teaches her the things she needs to know in school if she falls behind, showing he cares a lot about her outside of cosplaying. Though his feelings for her can arguably seem to remain platonic for most of the series, it is heavily hinted in chapter 62 that Wakana is understanding he sees Marin the same as he once did for hina dolls, indicating that he is realizing he loves her.

Sajuna Inui

A second-year at Sakuranomiya All-Girls High School, she is a famous cosplayer and someone Marin looks up to. Wakana has seen her nude by accident, creating an awkward first meeting; though they are friends. She is the second person he creates clothes for. She greatly admires Wakana's work on her cosplay outfit, as well as how he helps her sister on her first one. It is hinted that the older Inui sister has developed feelings for him.

Shinju Inui

Wakana was surprised to find out that Sajuna's younger sister, in fact, appeared far older and more mature than her. The two soon get along, and after learning of Shinju's desire to cosplay as the older brother Soma from Flower Princess Blaze!!, Wakana decides to help her with it.

Miori

She is his elder cousin. They are on friendly terms.

Akira

By the indication of Suzuka, Gojo hired Akira to help him with the costumes decoration. On Chapter 78, she wents to Gojo's House to prepare the new costumes with him, and when showed her abilities and happiness to do the costumes, that impressed him very much, and he asked her why she got so happy while doing that, and then she decided to reveal her story to him. Gojo got really surprised with her story, and said that he understands how she felt, because he went through a very similar situation. This gives a hint that she maybe developed feelings for him.

Kaoru Gojo

Wakana's grandfather whom he lives with. Kaoru teaches him about creating doll heads and deeply cares for him. Wakana is shown to care for his grandfather as well, as he took to manning his shop while he was recovering from a back injury.