Ichigo

Ichigo and Goro control the Delphinium mech. She plays the role of a pestle.

## Appearance

Ichigo has soft green eyes and a petite build, and is the shortest of the Parasites in Division 13. She wears her straight and short blue hair cut to a razor cut where her hair is longer on the right side of her face. She has loose bangs that mostly cover her right eye and one long strand of hair on the left side of her face. She also wears a white hair clip holding her bangs on the left side, which was a gift from Hiro.

## Personality

As a child, Ichigo was insecure and self-conscious about her personality, as she would cry when other children showed no emotion, and was frightened that she did not share these characteristics with them. It wasn't until she met Hiro, and he gave her the name "Ichigo" to cheer her up and explain the meaning of his own name, that gave her self-confidence. Even while she was in the Garden, Ichigo was awarded a code number as a teenager due to her high scores in the area of ability, earning her recognition as an honors student and a natural leader. Due to her high ability, she was chosen as the leader of the 13th Division. Although she is usually a very considerate and level-headed person, her crush on Hiro impairs her judgment, especially regarding his possible partnership with Zero Two. Initially, she hated the possibility of a stranger like Zero Two becoming Hiro's partner. One of her motivations for agreeing to be Hiro's partner in the practice match was that she believes she should be the one to unlock his full potential. When that didn't happen, Ichigo, without blaming Hiro for their failure, was unable to hide her anger even when he tried to apologize.

As a leader, Ichigo is reliable, responsible, and serious. Despite her serious personality, Ichigo is capable of making some particularly harsh remarks, as seen in her interactions with Alpha Nine. She is also very attentive and cares about her friends. She tries to see everything in a good light, even if she herself does not want it. She can also cheer on her teammates and insist that teamwork is important to the survival of all of them. However, she is very emotional and has always been impulsive and guided by her feelings. She is forced to choose between her leadership role and her own feelings, such as knowingly putting Hiro's life at risk while accepting that he is needed, this pressure of command weighs heavily on her. At first, she allowed her personal feelings to take over during an important mission, but only thought about it when she found herself in a dangerous situation. She thought about her poor leadership skills and blamed herself for putting her friends in danger. She even goes so far as to state that Hiro would be a better choice as a leader, but he dismisses this and praises her positive qualities. She also expresses her anxiety more within her Franx than outside of it, and is seen to break down, but is supported by her partner, Franxx, Goro. She has a close relationship with Ikuno, whom she never hesitates to cheer up in times of trouble and even comforted her after Ikuno confessed her feelings for Ichigo.

She has admired Hiro and has been fiercely protective of him since childhood, and supports him in any way she can. She is not afraid to speak her mind and make people follow her orders as a leader. Zero Two considered her "powerful" on several occasions. Despite this, Ichigo sometimes doesn't say what she really wants to say, and is able to put her feelings aside for the sake of others if she wants to. This is shown when she lied to Hiro, saying that she always saw him as a brother or sister, for his own sake and for the fact that he could only pilot the FRANXX from Zero Two, when in fact she didn't want him to do so from for the risks that it carries. She is a straight forward person and she always adheres to the rules in good faith based on what she believes is in the best interests of APE and Plantation 13. She had a deep respect for her dad and adults. However, she appears to have a form of social awkwardness as she spoke louder than usual when the Mayor praised her during an award ceremony.

Due to her secluded upbringing, Ichigo had no concept of love and she was completely confused by her feelings for Hiro as well as her jealousy of Zero Two. Ichigo initially tries to hide his feelings for Hiro in order for him to fulfill his duties as a parasite with Zero Two, and she prefers to see him happy with Zero Two if he can't be with her. She even goes so far as to ignore the Zero Two rumors after Hiro survives his third trip. However, after learning that Hiro's frying process is intensified by piloting Zero Two and she can suck the life out of him, Ichigo reacts with intense jealousy and disdain for Zero Two, going as far as forbidding her from seeing Hiro and forcing the rest of the team follow her. She even tries to kick Zero Two from the team and forces herself on Hiro and kisses him and begs him to prefer her to Zero Two. Despite this, Ichigo could not bring herself to hate Zero Two, as she worried that Zero Two was constantly in stampede during the siege of Gran Cravasse. She also reluctantly agreed to help Hiro save Zero Two, and she was disappointed to see that all of his thoughts were on Zero Two.

## Story

Ichigo grew up in a garden where she was taught to transform into Buttercup. Due to her high parasitic potential, she was codenamed "015" and received special treatment because her number was two digits as a teenager.

One day, Hiro saw Ichigo crying, and she wondered if she was weird since the other kids stopped showing emotions. She continued to cry, saying she wanted to be like everyone else and asking if she should have more injections. Although Hiro tried to console her by saying that they were special from the start since their codes were teenagers, Ichigo stated that being different is scary. To cheer her up, Hiro said that he called himself "Hiro" and asked Ichigo if she would like to have a name too. Hiro gave her the name "Ichigo" as that's how her code name reads, and he told Ichigo that having a name can make someone feel it's okay to feel different since it's a unique name given only to oneself. Ichigo was very happy that she got the name, and she asked Hiro to name the other children in the Garden, to which he agreed. Since then, Ichigo has admired Hiro.

After that, everyone followed in Hiro's footsteps and started calling each other. Ichigo oversaw Code: 196 when he was called "Ikuro" and was bullied for it. She didn't seem to like the name much either. Ichigo goes to her and calls her "Ikuno" instead, which she likes.

When Ichigo saw Goro fighting with the other kids in the garden, she asked why he was fighting when he was so weak. Although he told her to stay away from it, he was defeated by the other kids. Ichigo lends a helping hand to Goro and they defeat the kids, to which Ichigo tells Goro that even if they can't win alone, they can together.

After that, Ichigo, Hiro, and Goro became very close friends and were often seen next to each other, growing up in the garden together. Hiro once commented that Ichigo's bangs had gotten longer and would be difficult to see, so when they received their annual gifts from their dad, Ichigo received a hairpin from Hiro and has worn it ever since.

When Ichigo was discharged from the Garden at the age of 14, she was accepted into the Plantation 13 team, where she was Goro's partner. Although she passed, she was present as Naomi and Hiro failed to make contact, which devastated her.