Kikuri Hiroi

Spoiler warning!This page may contain potential spoilers. Please proceed with caution.

## Seiyū

### Japanese VA

Sayaka Senbongi

**Kikuri Hiroi** (廣(ひろ)井(い) きくり, *Hiroi Kikuri*) is a supporting character of the manga and anime series, *Bocchi the Rock!*, and the protagonist of the spinoff manga *Bocchi the Rock! Gaiden: Hiroi Kikuri no Fukazake Nikki*. She is the bassist and the vocalist of the band, SICK HACK.

## Appearance

Kikuri has long dark pink hair worn in a side braid tied with a dark brown ribbon and magenta-purple eyes. In the manga, she wears a hanafuda card earring depicting a lotus in both ears.

She wears a simple green dress with a black and white jacket over it and a pair of geta exposing her feet. In the manga, the lower half of her dress has numerous lycoris radiata/spider lily flower patterns.

She also wears black nail polish on both her fingernails and toenails and is often shown with sharp teeth. In the manga, she has a tribal circle-looking tattoo on the back of her right hand.

## Personality

As a kōhai in the college days of Seika Ijichi, Kikuri is drunk in most of the scenes during the series. For that reason, she is often fined for causing trouble such as breaking the equipment during concerts, and because of that, she drinks more liquor, so although she earns income at her concerts, she is always short of money.

Once when she was drunk in front of the station, she happened to meet Bocchi who was trying to sell tickets. Despite Bocchi's initial resistance due to her altered state, they eventually bonded and Kikuri made her perform an improvised session live on the spot where she noticed Bocchi's talents. It was then that a more empathic and mature side of her was first shown. At that time, after visiting the performance of Kessoku Band with a ticket purchased from Bocchi, she frequently appeared in STARRY. However, she still proves herself to be an annoying guest due to her frequent drunkenness.

Unlike today, where she behaves freely, Hiroi had a reclusive, gloomy personality until high school. The reason she started drinking was to suppress the tension of concert performances. She sees a lot of qualities that overlap with her former self in Bocchi and occasionally gives advice as a senpai bandsman. Even so, when she does not consume any alcohol for a long period, her gloomy personality gradually returns depending on her alcohol level.

## Relationship

### Seika Ijichi

Seika was her senior in her college years and still a close friend until now to the point she always head to Seika's home and STARRY for shower. Despite her reluctance and annoyance due to her behaviour, Seika always let her be and even taken good care of her wellbeing.

Kikuri got into bands because of Seika and her band which she admired, but the band broke up after Kikuri joined the universities light music club.

### Shima Iwashita

Shima was her collegemate (and also used to study in the same high school, but Kikuri isn't very close to her until college), and together they founded SICK HACK. She always be the one that apologises on Kikuri's behalf when Kikuri done lot's of bad things that damages the band's image to the point giving anyone involved gifts or letters of gratitude. While she is uneasy of her drunken lifestyle and always warned her about it (although Kikuri always ignored them), she remains loyal on Kikuri's side.

### Eliza Shimizu

Eliza Shimizu is considerably younger than both of Kikuri and Shima, but is pretty casual with all her band member. She does not treat her too harsh unlike Shima, but she do care about her alcoholic behavior. But once it interfere with her otaku schedules, she barely gave any mercy to her.

## Etymology

* While her given name **Kikuri** is entirely written in hiragana in Japan, it is written in the hanzi form "菊里" in mainland China and Taiwan. The hanzi/kanji notation means "chrysanthemum" (菊, *kiku*) and "village" (里, *ri*).
* Kikuri's surname **Hiroi** means "broad, wide, spacious" (廣, *hiro*, an older variant of "広") and "well" (井, *i*, not in the sense of "good" but "a hole dug on the ground").

## Trivia

* Her surname is derived from Margaret Hiroi, a current member of 88Kasyo Junrei.
* Her bass is a YAMAHA TRB1004J Natural.
	+ She calls it "Super Ultra Shuten-dōji EX" (スーパーウルトラ酒呑童子EX). Shuten-dōji (酒呑童子), which literally means "sake-drinking boy", is the name of an oni demon from an ancient legend.
* In the manga, Hiroi just keeps the excess strings at her bass. It was either dangling or coiled.
* She has always closed her eyes while she is drunk, but she can open her eyes instantly or twice.
* Originally, Kikuri's surname was **Hirose** (廣(ひろ)瀬(せ)) in the magazine format, but later was changed to **Hiroi** in the tankōbon format.
* She uses a pick that resembles bachi (picks for shamisen and biwa).
	+ It is based on a custom-made pick the manga author Aki Hamazi owns.
* Onikoro (おにころ), the sake she always drinks, is a parody of the sake brand Oni-koroshi (鬼ころし, lit. "oni demon killer"). This brand name is used by multiple brewers for multiple kinds of sake, from cheaper ones to top-notch ones. The one she drinks is based on Nihonsakari's Oni-koroshi, which is one of the cheapest sakes the brewer makes.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 *"Bocchi the Rock!" TV Animation Official Guidebook -COMPLEX-*
2. ↑ *Bocchi the Rock!* manga - Volume 1, chapter 12, page 105
3. ↑ *Bocchi the Rock!* manga - Volume 1, chapter 10
4. ↑ *Bocchi the Rock!* manga - Volume 1, chapter 13, page 111
5. ↑ *Bocchi the Rock! Gaiden: Hiroi Kikuri no Fukazake Nikki*, chapter 4
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 *Bocchi the Rock!* manga - Volume 1, chapter 10, page 88
7. ↑ はまじあき🎸 [@hamazi\_\_] (2019, May 11). "余談ですが廣井の使ってるピックは以前GTI工房に見学に行ったときに目の前で作っていただいた三味線のバチ型ピックが元ですね！サムピングのアタック感が硬くなったような音がしてすごく面白いです！" [Tweet]. Twitter.
Rough translation: By the way, the pick Hiroi uses is based on a bachi-like pick that I ordered when I visited GTI Factory. They made it under my eyes! It makes very interesting sounds like thumping with a harder attack feeling!