Akiho Senomiya

"Gunvarrel Ankh STRIKER!"
Akiho Senomiya (瀬乃宮 あき穂, Senomiya Akiho) is the main female protagonist of the series. She is the President of the Robotics Research Club and Kaito Yashio’s childhood best friend. Akiho is a dedicated fan of the in-series anime, Mobile Battler Gunvarrel, and her dream is to complete the GunBuild-1 giant robot following the design of the Gunvarrel robot, which was started by Misaki Senomiya. 
==Character Overview ==
===Personality===
Hot-blooded and headstrong, Akiho is quick to act and rarely considers the practicality of her decisions. This is shown when she requested an absurd sum of money from the vice principal, Kaoruko Usui (which she had done several times before), even though the school couldn’t afford it, though Usui ultimately agreed if Aki and Kaito won the Robo-One tournament. She is extremely energetic and enthusiastic, being determined to finish GunBuild-1 before she graduates despite the odds being very much not in her favor. Her determination manifested at a young age, when she swore to her sister Misaki to finish what she started. However, Misaki coldly told her that she would never be more than mediocre at robot building, and it has been Aki’s goal to prove her sister wrong ever since.
Aki is generally a very kind and friendly girl who gets along well with most people she meets. She's also compassionate, which is shown when she helps Junna overcome her fear of robots and reconcile with her grandfather. However, her naivety and overconfidence causes Aki to often get into disagreements with the other club members, particularly Kai and Subaru, with her being consistently frustrated by their lack of motivation and willingness to give up so easily. She can also get rather jealous when Kai spends time with other girls, particularly when she sees Frau put her arms around him after she returns to school. However, she denies this whenever it's pointed out to her, claiming she doesn't care if he dates other girls. However, she ultimately does confess her feelings to Kai right before the final battle, which he reciprocates.
Aki is a proud fan of action mecha anime, particularly Mobile Battler Gunvarrel, which GunBuild-1 is based off. She has a habit of quoting or making references to various mecha anime, such as quoting Char Aznable from Mobile Suit Gundam and even giving Frau Koujiro the nickname “Frau Bow” as a reference to Fraw Bow from Mobile Suit Gundam. When the Robotics Research Club is brought to JAXA’s Tanegashima Space Center for the first time, Aki initially believes it to be a setup similar to the anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, even pulling a pose frequently done by Gendo Ikari, which Subaru recognizes as the “Gendo Pose”. Aki often puts on glasses whenever she’s about to make a reference.
Despite her usually upbeat and cheerful nature, Aki has been shown on several occasions to be more affected by her sister’s last words to her than she lets on most of the time; deep down, she believes that her engineering skills pale in comparison to those of her sister’s, and that her only saving grace is her “ridiculous optimism”. She is also deeply worried by the fact that her sister hasn't contacted her ever since she left her, and even wonders if Misaki even cares about Aki finishing what she started anymore.
Aki is shown to often let her emotions and personal feelings get the better of her; initially, she turns down JAXA’s offer of cooperation, as to work with them would mean to cease work on GunBuild-1 and start on a new robot from scratch, something she doesn’t want to do. As a result, she ends up learning the hard way that what would have been a masterpiece nine years ago isn’t so impressive anymore, with everyone considering the finished GunBuild-1 a piece of junk. Initially, she is reluctant to let GunBuild-1 go, due to all the work she and other club members had put into it, but after talking it over with Kai, Aki accepts JAXA’s offer to work on GunBuild-2, having realized that she was just being sentimental and that building a new robot won't change her original dream.
After GunBuild-2 is destroyed by the brainwashed Misa, Aki ends up admitting to Kaito that much of her “ridiculous optimism” was just a facade, and that she never truly believed that she had a chance of matching her sister. She even goes so far as to say that the past several years of her life were nothing but a waste of time, and that she never should have clung to her dream in the first place. However, Kaito later snaps her out of it, saying she shouldn’t let her sister push her around any longer, something Aki takes to heart. After learning that Misaki has been brainwashed by Kou Kimijima, she vows that she will stop him no matter what and free her sister from his control, a vow she and Kai ultimately live up to.
===Appearance===
Akiho is a young girl in her late teens. She is of average height and has matching brown hair and eyes. Her slightly wavy hair is usually tied in a ponytail, and when untied it reaches past her shoulders. She is usually seen in her school uniform, even while working on her robots, though she does change outfits on occasion. Akiho also carries around a pair of armless glasses that she likes to equip when making anime references.
==Background==
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Akiho grew up on the island of Tanegashima under the mentorship and guidance of her older sister, Misaki. Due to her father Kenichiro being the President of the local branch of JAXA, engineering and robotics have always been a part of Senomiya family. Since a young age, her close friend, Kaito, has been by her side and the two would witness JAXA’s launch of the H2 Rocket together.
Four months later, when she was 9, Akiho and Kaito were onboard the MF Anemone for a school field trip when a mysterious incident occurred. Along with countless other passengers, Akiho and Kaito were suddenly left unconscious onboard the ship. After recovering, the two were diagnosed with a bizarre chronic disorder termed “Elephant Mouse Syndrome”. 
Soon afterwards, Akiho would witness a strange change taking place for her once-loving sister. Misaki became grimmer, less exuberant and by the time she graduated, Misaki told a young Akiho that she would never be special. Wanting to keep her past image of her sister alive and taking every previous lesson she was taught to heart, Akiho became determined to one day complete the GunBuild-1 robot, hoping that doing so would win back her sister's love.
==Plot ==
==Skills & Abilities==
Like Kaito, Akiho suffers from the mysterious “Elephant Mouse Syndrome” which causes her to experience a few seconds over the course of several minutes, leaving her in a comatose-like state throughout. The syndrome occurs when she experiences extreme physical stress or is otherwise overexerted.
As the only member with serious engineering ability, Akiho is largely credited with the construction of the Robotics Research Club’s projects. Her love of robots has helped drive and motivate her to complete impressive constructions in a remarkably short time.
==Relationships==
===Family===
*Misaki Senomiya: Misaki is Akiho’s older sister and object of worship. Growing up, Misaki served as a role model to Akiho and many of her traits rubbed off on Akiho, such as her love of Gunvarrel and peppy determination. Recently however, Misaki has become noticeably cold and indifferent to her younger sister, and Akiho strives to complete the GunBuild-1 Gunvarrel robot to regain her sister's love.
*Kenichiro Senomiya: Kenichiro Senomiya is Akiho and Misaki’s father, and the President of the Tanegashima Space Center, a high-level position within JAXA. It is his influence that first got his daughters Misaki and then Akiho interested in engineering and robotics.
===Love Interest===
*Kaito Yashio: Kaito, or “Kai” as she nicknames him, seems to be Akiho’s longest known and most familiar friend. The two have been together since childhood and share a bond as close as most siblings. Of all her friends, it is Kaito who steadfastly remains by her side no matter what rash decisions she may make and she treasures him for his loyalty. However, Akiho is often frustrated by his chronic laziness and blunt demeanor, but their bickering never strays far from friendly banter. It is later revealed that Akiho harbors romantic feelings for Kaito, which he reciprocates.
===Friends===
*Kona Furugoori: Akiho is generally bewildered by Kona’s eccentricities and tends to become frustrated by her initial hesitancy to join the club in person. Though Akiho respects Kona’s programming skills, she has expressed slight jealousy of the close relationship she shares with Kaito.
*Subaru Hidaka: As an underclassman to Akiho, Subaru presents himself with an awkward balance of both grudging respect and outright rudeness. Subaru is often frustrated by Akiho’s naivete and does not hesitate to shed harsh realism onto her ambitions when necessary. Although he is extremely blunt with his opinions, Subaru nonetheless gives Akiho some very sound advice.
*Junna Daitoku: Due to her shyness and fear of robots, Junna was hesitant to join the Robotics Club, but Akiho’s determined attitude has served as a motivation for Junna to break out of her timid shell. Despite being almost complete opposites of each other, the two are shown to be good friends.
*Mitsuhiko Nagafukada: The Robot Research Club’s advisor. Mitsuhiko is often tasked with keeping Akiho in line when she gets carried away with her ambitions, much to the latter’s frustration. Akiho even states at one point that she has come not to expect very much from him. The two almost constantly butt heads, but Mitsuhiko is shown to care for Akiho and genuinely wishes to support her however he can.
*Nae Tennouji: Akiho and Nae are shown to have a very good relationship, likely due to their very similar personalities.
==Etymology==
*The name Akiho is written in kanji/hiragana (あき穂), which has no special meaning except the kanji "穂" means "grain". However, when part of the name Aki is written in kanji (晶, 明, 秋, 亜希, 亜樹 or 亜紀), it could possibly mean:
**晶 - "clear, crystal".
**明 - "bright, light, clear".
**秋 - "autumn".
**亜希 - "second, Asia" (亜) (a) and "hope" (希) (ki).
**亜樹 - "second, Asia" (亜) (a) and "tree" (樹) (ki).
**亜紀 - "second, Asia" (亜) (a) and "chronicle" (紀) (ki).
*Akiho’s surname Senomiya means "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (se), "from" (乃) (no) and "temple, shrine, palace" (宮) (miya).
==Gallery==
Birthday 2023-04-13 Senomiya Akiho.jpg|Graphic from Akiho's official birthday post in 2023.@kagakuadv: Akiho's birthday's tweet on Twitter (2023)
==References==
==Navigation==
Category:Robotics Research Club
Category:Female Characters