Mio Minato

**Mio Minato** (湊(みなと)みお *Minato Mio*) is, alongside Aine Yūki, the protagonist of Aikatsu Friends!. Mio is a cool type idol whose preferred brand is MATERIAL COLOR. She's a second year student in Star Harmony Academy's idol division.

### Appearance

Mio has chest-length electric blue hair with an
amethyst-colored ombre. Her bangs are thick and slightly curled, with most
swept to the left apart from a thin strand that hangs down to just above her
eyes. She also wears her hair in braids from either side of her head that meet
in the middle and has long side strands that hang down to her shoulders. She also wears a blue and white headband with a royal blue pinwheel bow on the
left. Mio’s eyes are a vibrant raspberry red with a slight pink hue, and
cherry-blossom flecks.

### Personality

Mio is described to be very cool and has a professionalistic approach on things.

### Background

Mio has been trained to be an idol since her childhood. She currently is a second year in the idol division of Star Harmony Academy, pursuing her idol career successfully. She is popular and is said to be "the top idol Mio-chan" by Aine. Mio is also the brand muse of MATERIAL COLOR, and is the cover model for the magazine Aikatsu! Style Times. Mio's goal is to become Diamond Friends.

Mio apparently met Aine at Penguin Cafe, after which they became close friends.

### Relationships

* Aine Yūki

Mio met Aine in the Penguin Cafe where they became friends. They paired up and formed a Friends! unit named Pure Palette.

## Etymology

* **Minato** (湊) - **Minato** is a fairly uncommon Japanese surname that can be also used as a first name. When in its original kanji, it translates to 'harbour', while it also carries a pun on *mi(n)na to*(み(ん)なと), which means 'with everyone'.
* **Mio** (みお) - Due to **Mio** being written using kana, the name doesn't have one particular meaning. The most common kanji used are 澪 ('waterway'), 愛音 ('sound of love'), and 未央 ('now in the center')
	+ Mio is also a word in Italian and Spanish meaning "Mine"

### Trivia

* Mio shares her surname with Yukina Minato from the BanG Dream! series.
* Mio is the eleventh character in the entire franchise to have dual-colored hair, following Sora Kazesawa, Mikuru Natsuki, Rin Kurosawa and Nina Dōjima from the original Aikatsu! series, as well Tsubasa Kisaragi, Yozora Kasumi, Lily Shirogane, Elza Forte and Kirara Hanazono from Aikatsu Stars!, as well as Aine Yūki.
	+ Following Sora, Nina, Yume, Yozora, Lily and Aine, she's the seventh character in the franchise with gradient hair.
* She shares her name with Mio Honda from iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls. However, while Honda's name is written using kanji 未央, Minato's is written using hiragana みお.
* Mio shares a close resemblance to Haruka☆Ruka from Aikatsu Stars!:
	+ Both of them have the same electric blue hair, however Mio has ombre tips
	+ Both of them have the same eye color
	+ The golden star accessory found on Mio's hair in her school dress is the same accessory on Haruka's hair
* Following Mikuru, Yozora, Asahi, Mahiru, Aria and Aine, she's the seventh character in the franchise whose surname can also be used as a first name, followed by Maika, Ema and Mirai.
* She shares appearance-wise features with PriPara's Cosmo, specifically hair color and eye color.
* Both Mio's and Aine's names can be alternately written using kanji 愛音.
* She shares her voice actress with Kana Yabuki from iDOLM@STER Million Live! and Asami Himuro (member of duo unit SpLasH!) and Kurumi Mori of the original Aikatsu! series.
* Mio's full name has the exact same number of syllables as Ema's full name
* Mio is the only main character in a friends unit known to not adorn an accessory that is in the theme color of her friends partner.