Kokonotsu Shikada

* Anime
* Manga

**Kokonotsu Shikada** (鹿田 ココノツ *Shikada Kokonotsu*) is the main protagonist of the Dagashi Kashi series. His dream is to become a Shoujo manga artist one day.

## Appearance

Kokonotsu's Official Art in Season 1Kokonotsu's designs for Season 2Kokonotsu has black hair that has long fringes, dark "dead fish eyes" and he usually has bags under his eyes from staying up late at night.

His typical appearance is a baggy gray sweater, trousers and sandals.

## Personality

Kokonotsu is a relatively plain boy with a reactive personality, usually playing the straight man to Hotaru Shidare and Yō Shikada's (Kokonotsu's father) strange activities. Unlike the rest of the characters, his personality barely stands out. Aware of this, he (along with Tō Endō) strives to become popular. Although he is very ambitious about becoming a manga artist, he is sensitive about his image being associated with 'otakus'. On the outside, he is generally indifferent towards dagashi but actually likes them a lot, most likely a result of growing up in a candy store with his dagashi-fanatic father. Subsequently, he is easily dragged along with the flow of Hotaru and his fathers discussions and games.

## Background

Kokonotsu is the son of Yō Shikada and the next in line to inherit the Shikada Dagashi Shop as its 9th Head. He is also knowledgeable of dagashi. However, he doesn't want to take over the shop, instead desiring to become a successful shoujo mangaka.

He finds himself working the cashier job for the shop, but that doesn't stop him from drawing manga during his shift.

## Plot

### The Sweets Shop

Kokonotsu did not want to inherit the shop in the first place which made Yō Shikada cry since the family business is just a small sweets shop. When Yō asked him on what he will be in the future, he became nervous about it since he wanted to be a mangaka and when Yō found his work, he was embarrassed.

At the moment when Kokonotsu started to tell him the correct way to manage the shop including the dagashi itself, Yō sees that he's a genius when it comes to dagashi and the business as well.

     When he and Yō are about to fight, Hotaru Shidare came in the shop and Kokonotsu was mesmerized by her at first sight. Kokonotsu then tells Yō that there's a customer although his father left him.

After Hotaru's introduction to Kokonotsu, he changed his impression towards her being a weird person and accepted her challenge to become her rival. At the shrine, Hotaru was startled at Kokonotsu's decision of not taking over the shop. It makes her find ways to convince him to take over and give Yō his job at the company.

### Eating Too Much Dagashi

Kokonotsu saw Hotaru Shidare having problems eating Kinako-bou and told her to eat it and have her left hand under it to get the dust but she ignored his point. Kokonotsu was thinking that his own father neglected his work to deprive his own freedom and Hotaru talked the responsibilities about adults. When she wanted to become one with him, he was already nervous until she gave him Namaiki Beer and it embarrasses him.

He then went to Café Endō to tell Tō Endō and Saya Endō about a pretty girl with a weird love of dagashi which makes Saya anxious. At the moment when he requested for another cup, Saya taunted him that her coffee is bad and she is willing to listen more of his story; he then drank the entire cup and he wanted to have more coffee as long as it's made by herself.

## Relationships

### **Saya Endō**

Kokonotsu and Saya has been friends ever since they were kids. He's completely oblivious about Saya's crush on him and just sees her as a close friend. Kokonotsu has always been kind to Saya since childhood; shown when he was determined to catch a goldfish for her.

### **Hotaru Shidare**

Kokonotsu often gets flustered by Hotaru's appearance while she is unaware of her appeal. They both hang out a lot, to the point where Kokonotsu gets suspicious when she didn't show up at the candy shop for a few days. He gets annoyed at her schemes sometimes, but is too afraid to say anything about it. At one point, he thought that he was restricting her freedom by refusing to inherit the shop (which was the reason she stayed) and he started to show concern for her in which she was thankful for. Throughout the course of the series, it becomes clear that Kokonotsu has developed romantic feelings for Hotaru.

In chapter 170, Coconuts finally muster up his courage to confess his desire to remain with her forever. She asks him to tell her this again if he chooses to join her business as they ride off at the end of the chapter.

### **Yō Shikada**

At the start, Kokonotsu used to hide his true goal of becoming a mangaka from him since he will make fun out of it. When Yō found his son's manga, he gave detailed comments about it and Kokonotsu was embarrassed because he didn't ask permission from him. As time goes on, they understand each other more when Yō accepted his decision of being a mangaka and he told him that there's still time to stick together until Kokonotsu's sure of what's best for him.

### **Tō Endō**

Kokonotsu and Tō are childhood friends and classmates. When they're together, they usually talk about girls and popularity. Tō is the only person who can tell what Kokonotsu is thinking which causes Kokonotsu to be in denial. Tō's perverted behavior can make Kokonotsu uncomfortable at times.

## Etymology

* Kokonotsu's surname **Shikada** means "deer, venison" (鹿) (**shika**) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (**ta**/**da**).

## Trivia

* Kokonotsu's nickname is **Coconut**.
* Atsushi Abe (Kokonotsu's Japanese voice actor) voiced Moritaka Mashiro of Bakuman who became an actual mangaka and he had his own anime by the end of the series run. Coincidentally Mashiro's main rival, Eiji Niizuma used to live in the countryside before he moved to Tokyo to continue his job as a mangaka. Both of them started to draw manga with Mashiro at 14 years old while Niizuma being 15 years old.
	+ This can be seen as an irony to Kokonotsu that he never becomes an actual mangaka and does not even move to Tokyo.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 1 - Manga: Volume 1
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Episode 1 - *Anime: Season 1*
3. ↑ Chapter 2 - Manga: Volume 1
4. ↑ Chapter 3 - Manga: Volume 1
5. ↑ Chapter 4 - Manga: Volume 1
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Episode 2 - *Anime: Season 1*
7. ↑ Chapter 5 - Manga: Volume 1
8. ↑ Chapter 7 - Manga: Volume 1