Kuroneko

Ruri Gokō (五更 瑠璃, Gokō Ruri) is one of the supporting characters of the Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai light novel series and the female protagonist of the Ore no Kouhai ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai manga series. She is an avid fan of Maschera, and hates anime that focus on moe and cuteness to sell (e.g. Kirino's favorite anime series Stardust Witch Meruru). Ruri is a member of the otaku group Otaku Girls Unite and is known as her handle name Kuroneko (黒猫, lit. "black cat").
She is voiced by Kana Hanazawa.
== Appearance ==
Kuroneko is 160 cm tall and weighs 43 kg. Her measurements are B77/W53/H80. She has long straight black hair neatly cut at the forehead in a hime-style, white skin, sleepy gray/blue eyes (Uses red-ish colored contacts to change her eye color when cosplaying.), and a birthmark under her left eye. She was described by Kyousuke as a ghost-like Japanese style beauty.
Ruri's choice of fashion is predominantly of a gothic lolita-esque aesthetic, and she is always dressed in a white frilly top with a black bolero worn over it. She also wears a black skirt with a cross-shaped design and black Mary Janes with gray stockings. To finish off her look, she wears a headband adorned with an artificial rose on each side and red contacts. This outfit is a cosplay of Queen of Nightmare, a character from her favorite anime series Maschera: Lament of a Fallen Beast.
She has also been seen wearing a white dress and straw hat outfit based off an eroge picked for her by Kirino (Kyousuke called her "Shironeko" or white cat when she wore this) and a full sleeveless dress with the front of her skirt opened, revealing legs, a small pair of angel wings on her back (though she originally had a bigger pair planned), and an incomplete mask (She dubbed herself "Kamineko"; the outfit is similar to her regular black outfit).
When she was Kyousuke's underclassman, she wore the school uniform of Chiba Benten High School, with a white shirt, grey blazer, with a yellow string-like bow-tie and a blue-gray skirt. She eventually replaces that with a black sailor uniform after she transfers school's which Kyousuke stated it makes her seem more mature.
== Personality ==
Ruri often acts according to the character she poses as (i.e., Queen of Nightmare): snobbish and overly confident of her own aptitude. However, she is in fact socially insecure, and is usually uncomfortable in talking to other people, particularly strangers. Fortunately, she eventually learns to make friends when she enrolls in high school once again.
Aside from her otaku persona, she is also a caring sister to her younger siblings Hinata and Tamaki, whom she constantly tends to while at home. At home, she is a dependable older sister, capable of cooking and doing other important chores at home while tending to her younger siblings. She has also shown a skill in sewing and handiwork, as shown in her costumes, and in one occasion, a pair of angel wings.
== Background ==
Ruri came from a financially-challenged family, and with her parents often away, she is left to take care of her younger sisters, temporarily leaving behind her studies. Her costume, as proof of her skills in sewing, is completely done by hand, and she also occasionally uses her expertise in sewing to fix her sister's stuffed toys.
At one time, Ruri joins the online community Otaku Girls Unite! under the handle name Kuroneko, and eventually attends one of its offline meetings, although not expecting to make friends at the said event.
== Plot ==
=== The Black Cat Cometh ===
In an offline meeting of Otaku Girls Unite! in Akihabara, Ruri as Kuroneko attends as one of its participants. Like Kirino, a fellow participant, Ruri was not able to mingle with the other members of the group, although Ruri appears to be more uninterested to do so compared to Kirino, who had difficulty in engaging in prolonged conversations with the other members.
After the event, Saori Bajeena, who acts as the moderator of Otaku Girls Unite!, soon takes Kuroneko and Kirino (with her brother Kyousuke) to a nearby fastfood chain in order to allow them to introduce themselves properly. The "after party" Saori organized soon becomes heated as Ruri and Kirino showed mutual animosity to each other, which continued as they went on a short trip across Akihabara, remaining as a mediator between the two. Despite Ruri's constant exchange of harsh words to Kirino, Saori considers this as a legitimate sign of a blooming friendship between the two girls. A few days later, Ruri is already receiving calls from Kirino, who constantly nags her about watching the Stardust Witch Meruru series.
Kuroneko also has her own blog.
=== Memories of Summer Comiket ===
Ruri joins Saori in the Summer Comiket and invites Kirino and Kyousuke to join them during the second day of the event. The sweltering heat and the bustling crowds made Kirino impatient, so Ruri spends most of the time in the event arguing with Kirino. However, she herself had some personal grievances with being unable to participate in the event at a doujin circle due to financial difficulties. Eventually, as Kirino's mood improved later during the day, Ruri's interactions with Kirino became less tense, with Kirino even lending a helping hand in removing her cumbersome clothing. Later, Ruri participates on one of the events involving the game Siscalypse and wins the prize, a limited-edition CD, for Kirino.
The day of the Summer Comiket ends with a bad note as Kirino meets her close friend Ayase Aragaki on their way back home. In order to avoid contributing to Kirino's grim situation, Ruri and Saori went ahead of the siblings, leaving both concerned about the events that unfolded.
== Relationships ==
=== Kyousuke Kousaka ===
Even though she started off as haughty even towards Kyousuke and, despite the fact that Kyousuke at first seems to dislike her, eventually, they seem to get along. They share the same rationality, and seem to be equally appalled over some of Kirino's childish acts and likes.
Later in the manga, they appear to be calling each other on the phone without a particular reason. Kyousuke invites her and her alone to go out on a Maschera convention, despite him not being interested in the anime.
Even later in the manga, she parodies and denounces in one of her manga the fetishism Kirino seems to have towards her brother, showing her literally smelling his underpants with an ecstatic expression. Kyousuke noted that she made a mistake because Kirino never called him "Onii-chan"; she reacts by acting shocked and saying she felt sorry for him. She then starts to call him Nii-san and makes showy advances to Kyousuke, parodying the kind of eroge Kirino plays, literally making sexual advances toward him, making Kirino jealous.
Near the end, while she gives a call to Kirino, she keeps referring to Kyousuke as Nii-san. Kirino reproaches it to her, complaining that Kyousuke goes "all dere" (meaning to become "lovey dovey") when she calls him like that. Kuroneko then replies by saying that she'll soon enough call him in another way. This is shown when Kuroneko attends Kyousuke's school at the start of her high school years, and sure enough, she refers to him as Senpai (a respectful way of addressing a senior).
It is shown that before he left for America to drag Kirino back with him that she has heightened feelings for Kyousuke disregarding friendship. Later on in the light novel, the two become "lovers" and start dating. Ruri really has a lot of love towards Kyousuke, and this is proven during their courtship for a period of time. However, the fact that it was also her plan to get Kirino to vent her true feelings towards both Kyousuke and Ruri and that her love was also just a tool to help may have been very stressful on her personality. As shown in the light novel, she was so shy (as befits what is defined in her personality) that the whole experience caused her to faint out of stress. However, after the commotion died down, it was implied in the end of Volume 8 that despite their breakup, Kuroneko still loves Kyousuke.
=== Kirino Kousaka ===
Kuroneko and Kirino seem to disagree on almost anything. She is highly critical on Kirino's favorite anime, Stardust Witch Meruru which according to her is inferior to her favorite anime Maschera due to depending too much on cuteness to garner audiences. The two, despite this, know exactly how to imitate each other during a regression or an act of mocking. They know exactly how to get on each other's nerves.
Despite Ruri's seemingly hostile relations with Kirino, Ruri considers Kirino as her friend. She won a video game for Kirino in the comiket and acknowledges their friendship to Sena during Kirino's absence.
Kuroneko was only willing to date Kyousuke after gaining permission from Kirino and when she noticed that their relationship with each other was getting awkward because of it, she chose to end the relationship with Kyousuke to have their friendship go back to normal and one day realize her dream, which was to happily be together with both Kyousuke and Kirino.
She was one of the few people to openly support Kirino and Kyousuke's incestuous feelings even before the confession and claimed that she was willing to accept them. She also helped them actually get together as a couple and, after the events of the series, she became Kirino's confident about matters of her relationship with her brother.
=== Saori Makishima ===
After their first meeting, Saori is more or less the only person who Ruri doesn't argue with or badmouths within their circle. Though not really shown, Ruri deeply cares for and respects Saori, seemingly considering her as a close friend and sometimes gets worries about the latter, worrying that she may return to her lonesome state, hence she is always present whenever their circle goes to an outing together.
Saori also acts as a peacemaker whenever Ruri and Kirino bicker.
=== Sena Akagi ===
From the time they become classmates and fellow club-mates, Ruri, at first, doesn't think highly about Sena, and was rather annoyed by her personality; but the same goes for the latter. But after they agreed on helping one another in fixing the game that they were supposed to present in a game competition, their relationship greatly improved.
From that point on, Ruri began to consider Sena as a friend and as an important member of their club.
=== Ayase Aragaki ===
When she and Kyousuke broke up, and upon meeting Ayase, Ruri instantly clashed with her. Ayase points out to Ruri that she no longer has the right to be a friend to Kirino, which eventually was followed by a misunderstanding, adding the look of hostility of Ruri towards Ayase. But at some point later, they reconcile.
== Trivia ==
* According to her enrollment records, Ruri's address before moving out in Season 2 was "Chiba City, Higashi-Amanumacho 2-47-15" (千葉市東天沼町2-47-15).
== Appearances in Other Media ==
=== Ore no Kouhai ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai ===
In the spin-off manga series, Ruri and Kyousuke have an alternate ending where they get married after a time skip, with two daughters and at least one more child on the way. Kirino is still close to them and often visits their house to see her nieces and her big sister-in-law.
=== Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai ===
Ruri can also be seen in the eleventh episode with Kirino, Saori and Kyousuke walking around the Summer Comiket. Though they are only shown from the back.
* Ruri's voice actress, Kana Hanazawa, also voices Kobato Hasegawa in Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, who also dresses in gothic lolita fashion.
=== Eromanga-Sensei ===
Ruri appears in two different episodes of the series:
* In the eighth episode, she can be seen in a TV news street interview. She is dressed in a kimono and is accompanied by her little sisters.
* In the eleventh episode, she, along with Kirino, Kyousuke and Saori, walk past Masamune Izumi and talk about his newest light novel, The Cutest Little Sister in the World.
=== Saekano: How To Raise a Boring Girlfriend ===
A promotional poster featuring Kyousuke, Kirino and Kuroneko for season 2 of Oreimo can be in seen Tomoya Aki's bedroom wall in various episodes.
Category:Females
Category:Characters
Category:Heroines
Category:Dengeki Bunko