Yamai Ren

**Ren Yamai** (山 (やま) 井 (い) 恋 (れん) , *Yamai Ren*?) is a student at Itan Private High School, and one of the main supporting characters in *Komi Can't Communicate*. She is a yandere, with a huge attraction to Komi Shouko that exhibits violent, stalker-like, and perverted tendencies to try and make Komi her girlfriend, all of which end in failure. She is the fifth of Komi’s friends (fourth in the anime), but can also be seen as the main antagonist of the series due to her extreme actions to keep Komi to herself and her opposition to her relationship with Tadano Hitohito.

## Appearance

Yamai sports long auburn hair with flyaways at the end and bangs adorned with a black ribbon over her left ear. Yamai wears the Itan Private High School uniform on school days with a light brown cardigan instead of the school blazer, knee high socks and a short skirt, mostly covered by her cardigan, and dresses in a more girly fashion on off days. Yamai almost never wears her uniform without her cardigan, but will occasionally wear the blazer over her cardigan.

## Personality

At first glance, Yamai seems to be a typical high school mean girl. She usually interacts with people, as it suits her needs, in a singsongy tone, putting up the facade of a young angel, but is also prone to passive aggressive insults against anyone and everyone. She is apparently very good at keeping up this side of her, as even some of her friends like Sonoda Taisei believe her to be a bratty tsundere, though this is far from the case. Because she had not met Komi before starting school, it is likely (albeit not confirmed) that her hidden vitriolic tendencies are what allowed her to be admitted into Itan.

Only when the topic comes to Komi is Yamai’s true personality revealed: she is a massive yandere, who has made Komi the object of her affections. Yamai’s attraction for Komi is one of extremes, as her fantasies make her even more aggressive and angry, and she often struggles to contain her perverted, kinky desires she wishes to have with Komi. Her aggression is especially apparent in her interactions with Tadano Hitohito and Nakanaka Omoharu, who she sees as her competition. Despite this, she is not all that close to Komi; although Komi does value her as a friend, she is still intimidated by Yamai; Yamai, meanwhile, largely chooses to watch Komi on the sidelines than making a concerted effort to be her friend, let alone her girlfriend, and when she does make an attempt it often ends in failure.

Yamai is also vain. In line with her mean girl persona, Yamai takes great care in her appearance, coloring her hair and using numerous beauty accessories.

## History

### Background

Yamai comes from an opulent family, and from a young age was obsessed with beauty and popularity, presumably in part because of her parents’ influence. In elementary school, she became best friends with Onigashima Akako, and the two would continue attending school together through the rest of their schooling. Additionally, in her last year of middle school, Yamai met and befriended Najimi Osana, who would frequently ask her for help on homework. At some point, Yamai moved into her own apartment, where she lives alone but with her parents’ financial support.

### Year 1

Yamai is a leader of a girl's group in Class 1-1 that includes Onigashima and Kishi, and a member of Komi's entourage. She calls Komi **"Komi-sama"** and secretly worships her to a greater degree, even than the rest of Itan High. Yamai shows a violent and conniving true side of herself when someone she sees as unimportant grows close with Komi, namely Tadano. Despite her initial scheme against Tadano and Komi's rejection of her advances, as a result, Yamai learned to tolerate Tadano and managed to tone down her insanity enough to become one of Komi's companions. Still, throughout the story, she has attempted various tactics to catch a glimpse of Komi's underwear or take a panty shot, touch her boobs or otherwise feel her up, be touched by her, etc.

Starting from her second year, more of Yamai's life outside Komi are shown; in Chapter 154, she is shown to have made friends with Manbagi Rumiko's friends, the gyarus, in her class, and helped out with the *Pierro Rabioso* band in Chapter 235.

## Trivia

* The name **やまい れん (Yamai Ren)**, is written with the characters for *mountain* and *well* but can also be written as **病** to mean *illness*, which the word *yandere* came from. **れん (Ren)** is an alternate reading of **恋 (koi)** ,which means *love*.
* She claims that she doesn't get along with Nakanaka Omoharu (and vice versa), but the two have a notable rivalry for Shouko's attention that causes them to repeatedly be seen acting in sync. (Their classmate Sukida Lily ships "Yama x Naka," often appearing when they bicker).
	+ Yamai is technically a lesbian, although so far she has not shown obvious romantic interest in anyone other than Komi.
* Her idea for the Cultural Festival was the Haunted House, her ulterior motive being getting away with touching Komi's butt under the cover of a dark classroom.
* Shinobino, Chiarai and Sonoda once fantasized about what a romantic date with Yamai would be like, with Sonoda picturing Yamai as a tsundere. Tadano, upon hearing the three's conversation about girls, commented to himself "they don't know the real Yamai".
	+ Yamai later arguably behaved like one when teased by Chiarai.
* Yamai claims to have rather low grades, as she doesn't like to study, but in second and third years her grades rank high, always ending up tying with her rival Nakanaka (36th in second year and 28th in third year).
	+ Based on first year grades, Yamai is especially good at English and Sociology, but overall more balanced than Nakanaka.
* Yamai is shown to be skilled in many activities.
	+ Yamai won a prize at a violin contest, and can also play piano.
* Yamai is a rather materialistic person; she spends her breaks on luxurious vacations and likes designer clothes and accessories. This suggests that (like the archetypal popular girl) she comes from a wealthy background.
* The Komi Fanatics refer to her as a **priestess** (司 (し) 祭 (さい) , *shisai*?).
* Yamai is among many a very hateful third wheel in everything and does not care about others' opinions as in believing that her own opinion is the right one.
* Yamai is likely the most hated character among the fans of the series[citation needed].

## References

1. ↑ *Komi Can't Communicate* Manga: Chapter 259 (p. 15)
2. ↑ *Komi Can't Communicate* manga: Chapter 62 (p. 5)
3. ↑ *Komi Can't Communicate* manga: Chapter 75 (p. 7)
4. ↑ *Komi Can't Communicate* manga: Chapter 235 (p. 14)
5. ↑ *Komi Can't Communicate* manga: Chapter 376 (p. 2)
6. ↑ *Komi Can't Communicate* manga: Chapter 79 (extra)
7. ↑ *Komi Can't Communicate* manga: Chapter 235 (p. 8)
8. ↑ *Komi Can't Communicate* manga: Chapter 404 (p. 5)