Mariko "Mari" Kumakura

Mariko Kumakura (熊倉 真理子 Kumakura Mariko), also known as "Mari"/"Mari-chan"/sometimes "Mari-Chin" and "Kumakura" (by most people), is a character from Girl Friends, one of the protagonists of the manga, as well as the love interest of Akiko "Akko" Oohashi. 
==Appearance==
Mari is 5'1" (154.94 cm) tall and weighs 106 pounds. She has straight silky black hair and largeChapter 12, p. 4 grey eyes. Her peers generally regard her as pretty or cute.
At the start of the story, Mari has long hair that hangs past her shoulders. Aside from having bangs, her hair is not styled or treated.Chapter 1, p. 7 After her salon visit, she has a chin-length layered bob that frames her face.Chapter 1, p. 17
Initially, Mari wears her school uniform without any alterations, so her uniform skirt falls to her knees. However, by Chapter 4, she has begun rolling her skirt up at the waist to make it look like she is wearing a mini-skirt.Chapter 4, p. 23 When wearing casual clothes, she typically chooses feminine outfits that are frilly or loose-fitting, and does not like wearing outfits that reveal excessive skin.
==Personality==
Mari is shy, studious, and typically gets good grades. She is generally caring, helpful, and supportive of others: for example, she often tutors her friends or allows them to copy her homework. An avid bookworm, she develops an interest in fashion after befriending Akko.
Due to her shyness, Mari has had few friends during her life. Though she was friends with Mayu-chan in elementary school, Mayu was frequently targeted by bullies, leading Mari to be targeted as well.Chapter 21, p. 6 The two lost touch upon beginning junior high school, where Mari generally didn't engage with her peers; she would typically read during lunch and go directly to cram school after the school day was over,Chapter 2, p. 14 a pattern that continued through her first term of high school.Chapter 20, p. 9 Though she became more social after becoming friends with Akko, Sugiyama, and Tamamin, she remained the most reserved of the group and is sometimes uncertain about the social norms surrounding friendships.
Mari fears rejection from those around her, particularly Akko, and will downplay or lie about her feelings if she thinks they will inconvenience someone or cost her her friendships. She often tries to avoid situations she is unfamiliar or uncomfortable with, such as by feigning illness to stay home from school or physically running away. However, she will also tackle some challenging situations directly: she has defended Mayu from bullies and chose to speak to Harada directly when their relationship was challenged.
==Relationships==
===Akiko "Akko" Oohashi===
Her relationship with Akko is by far her most important one. Akko began as her best friend, and later, Mari got strong feelings of love for her. Mari cares so much for Akko that she is willing to go to great lengths to spend as much time with her as possible, and does not want to ever be apart from her. An example is when Akko had chosen Beauty school and Mari, despite not wanting a career in beauty, nor having the skills, tried to go into the same school, but later decided that it was right for her to be a nutritionist and that it is okay they go to separate schools. Mari often accompanies Akko on her shopping trips and the two are often seen sitting together in class and lunch, talking. Mari always meets Akko at the train station in the morning to travel to school with her, and after both realize their feelings for each other and finally begin dating, the two meet on the train platform much earlier, so it is just the two of them for awhile. Mari also expresses great concern for Akko as she is worried about her health due to her not eating healthy at all, often buying various quick foods from the convenience store or eating at Mc'Donalds and Mr. Donut all the time So she decides to make Akko Bento lunches all the time, to give her a balanced and healthy diet, which Akko loves and is the reason Mari strives to become a nutritionist, as she wants to continue making meals for Akko. It is shown that Mari always carries a photo of her and Akko in the battery compartment of her phone, which further shows her love for Akko.
===Harada===
She and her friend gave him chocolates in elementary school and he never forgot her. Years later, the two would meet again on the train, where he would tell her which train to catch to get back home, as she had missed her stop. Later, they would meet again in the train station, where he confesses his feelings for her. They date briefly, though Mari is distant from him, as she doesn't feel the same for him, nor is she attracted to men. Mari later breaks up with him, but they part on good terms and remain good friends. While they dated briefly, they mostly studied together, which caused Harada's friends to note that his date seemed more like a study group than anything.
===Satoko "Sugi-san" Sugiyama===
Like everyone else, Mari shares a good relationship with Sugiyama, and often get's advice on things from her, but much less than the others. One instance is when Sugiyama suggested she talk things out with Harada rather than just simply cutting off all contact, which in the end helped the two part on good terms. Another instance is when she gave Mari dating advice with the help of Tamami "Tamanin" Sekine. Sugiyama is the only one that is aware of Mari's feelings for Akko, and later is the only one with knowledge on the two dating. She is supportive of the two, and during the last chapter, even tells the two that they should take a photo booth photo together alone, seeing that they wanted to take one with only the two of them.
===Tamami "Tamanin" Sekine===
She is on good terms with Tamamin, and besides Sugiyama, Mari is the person Tamamin speaks to most of the time. The two ate at Mc'Donalds together once, and spoke about how Akko first met her, and of how Sugiyama was doing in her new stream. Tamamin was also comfortable enough to tell Mari of her secret desire to have a plug in suit like the one from one of her manga, when they bumped into one another in the bathroom.
===Kuno Chiharu===
Of their new friends, Kuno is the one that interacts with Mari the most. When she began dating Harada, Kuno was very excited and tried to help Mari out in her own ways, giving her perfumes and a bit of dating advice, though coming from her, it was often not always the best advice. She also often exchanged stories to Mari about her boyfriend Ouji, and asks Mari about Harada in return.
===Naru===
Mari is one of Naru's best students, and Mari is comfortable enough around her to seek out advice from on her relationship with Akko, though Mari hides that she is referring to Akko from her. Mari is also the first of her students to know that she had married and had gotten pregnant, as she had told Mari the secret. It is thanks to the talk the two had that Mari went for the career she wanted all along and become a nutritionist rather than force herself into beauty school. 
== Trivia ==
* The name Mariko means "real, genuine" (真) (ma), "reason, logic" (理) (ri) and "child" (子) (ko). 
** She is often called by her nickname that Akiko "Akko" Oohashi gave her, Mari-Chan, or sometimes, Mari-Chin rather than her whole name, which initially causes her surprise. 
* Mariko's surname Kumakura means "bear" (熊) (kuma) and "warehouse" (倉) (kura). 
** Most people call her Kumakura. 
== Gallery ==
=== Hairstyles ===
Long hair mari.png|Mari with long hair (Previous)
Mari short hair.png|Mari with short hair (Current)
Mari end.png|Mari with her previous hairstyle, but a little bit shorter (Future)
=== Manga ===
==References==
Category:Characters
Category:Female Characters