Keiichi Katakura

* Manga
* Anime

**Keiichi Katakura** (片倉 恵一 , *Katakura Keiichi*?), nicknamed **Kei-chan** (けいちゃん?), is one of the four male protagonists of the Nijiiro Days series. He is the younger brother of Yuji Katakura, a teacher at Seiryou High School. On the surface, Keiichi is seen to be a cheerful, kind and outgoing young man, but he is actually a sadist who enjoys whipping people.

## Appearance

Keiichi is a tall young man of average build with a lithe frame. He is considered very attractive and is bubbly-looking in nature. He has short, slightly messy, dark-brown hair which is neck-length. He sports his bangs in a middle part. His eyes resemble the color of a chestnut. He always carries a whip on him, ready to pop it out at any given moment.

Keiichi is often depicted in his school uniform, and casual clothing outside of school.

## Personality

Keiichi is a really good person; he is athletic, cheerful and kind, but also loyal and caring towards his friends. However, he is actually a sadist as he always carries around a whip and he also likes to whip people, but he is always straightforward about it from the beginning. He can be a bit insecure about his friends and his romantic life but always manages to snap out it since he knows his friends care for him. Most girls who confesses to him often mistake him to be a wholehearted being with a kind personality but beneath the amiable attitude, he is actually a sadist. He usually smiles and talks about his kinks in a natural and nonchalant manner, which causes his admirers to take back their confessions.

He always has a smile and hides his sadistic side from his friends because he doesn't want to trouble them, but he is comfortable to show his friends his sadistic side sometimes. He sometimes shows his sadistic side to other people, often to girls confessing to him (since they don't about know his real personality), including Nozomi Matsunaga. However, Nozomi's case was a little different as she is also probably into some BDSM.

## Background

It is unknown how Keiichi got his sadistic side, but it is possible he was born with it. However, it can also be possible that he got influenced by his older brother Yuji Katakura, who is also a sadist.

He prefers older woman since they are more mature and can tolerate his sadistic side more. He has only dated older women in the past, but they eventually broke up.

## Relationships

### Nozomi Matsunaga

Keiichi once helped Nozomi at the beach when she had injured her foot. After this, Nozomi took a interest in him and when she realized that Tomoya Matsunaga and Keiichi were friends she wanted to thank and talk to him immediately. However, Keiichi didn't remember the girl he helped until Mattsun said that is was Nozomi. So Nozomi joins the group, and develops a deep crush on Keiichi, which she doesn't even try to hide. However, Keiichi wasn't interested in Nozomi at all, only viewing her as a friend. However, after showing that he has a split personality, she wasn't driven away which quite interested Keiichi. She instead said that she wants to see all of his "faces", and when she confessed that she is serious about being in love with him (even though Keiichi prefers older woman), Keiichi accepted her love and told Nozomi to "catch" him if she can. (Even though he doesn't like when girls chase after him like that, but this shows he was interested in Nozomi).

However, he is still isn't sure if he can be together with her because of the hobby he's into so when they meet later, Keiichi coldly "rejects" her, saying that nothing will happen between them, even though he says that she is very beautiful and strongheaded in order to make her more headstrong. However, Nozomi didn't feel sad nor shed a single tear, she just fell even more in love with him. When they meet again after this event, Keiichi saw Nozomi with another boy, but she explained that they were only friends (although that boy confessed to Nozomi) and that Keiichi will be the only one for her. He then tells her that she has to reject him "properly" or else he will "punish" her. However, since he stated that she did her best, she will get a reward instead.

This shows that Keiichi might have more interest in Nozomi than before. He even told Mattsun to "expect a lot of begging". It has also been hinted that Nozomi has an "M" side, most likely brought out by Keiichi.

In Chapter 39, during the sports festival, Nozomi was about to give a towel with Keiichi's name on it (she stitched the name herself) to Keiichi, but then finds out that another girl had already given him a towel. She drops her towel that Keiichi and Tsuyoshi Naoe notices her. Keiichi was about to explain, but Nozomi keeps on interrupting his words. Keiichi was about to ask that could it be she was going to give her one too, but Nozomi takes the towel and runs away. While running, she thinks of how she failed to look at all the possibilities and that her towel was rather plain compared to the one Keiichi already received. Just then, Keiichi was seen calling Nozomi and dashing real fast towards her. Nozomi tries to run away, but Keiichi catches up and blocks her way. He explains that the towel was just forced on him and that he was planning to give it back to the girl. He then takes Nozomi's towel and says he'll use it instead. In this chapter, it was also shown that Keiichi unconsciously remembers Nozomi when a girl gives him a towel. While thinking that the girl should've just directly said her feelings, Nozomi comes into his mind.

In Chapter 40, Keiichi was shown to be confused with his own feelings, questioning the uneasy feeling he has been getting. He broods on this the whole day. Later on, he visits the gym to look for the basketball team but instead he sees Nozomi, focused in her volleyball training. He watches with an astounded look. Kaori Chiba and the others arrive and see Keiichi, she tells him of how the kouhais (including Nozomi) works hard in training. He then turns his look back to Nozomi and notices that the uneasy feeling is back again. He tells Chiba to give the water bottle to Nozomi then leaves, still contemplating the uneasy feeling.

Later on, he haves a talk with Tsuyopon and at some point in their conversation, he agrees to Tsuyopon's statement that he haves fun too when Yukiko Asai is having fun, thinking back to when he saw Nozomi training. He was about to leave when Tsuyopon tells him that worrying is not a bad thing. Later, he was seen lying down on a bench on the courtyard. He continues to brood over his feelings, wondering if there was something wrong about him. Just then, Nozomi appears in front of him and immediately sits up, surprised. Nozomi asks him if he has a problem and pats his head to comfort him despite Keiichi denying that he was down. His eyes widen in surprise but tells her to continue because he is weak in those kinds of things. He thinks to himself that just by Nozomi finding him there, he cheers up a little. He also realizes that she starts thinking about his "troubles" when he's near Nozomi. He then thanks her and says he'll give her a reward, asking what she wants. Nozomi answers that she wants to know if her feelings have come across more than before. He thinks about what to answer but thinks that it's tough because he can't help teasing her more, telling her "What do you think?" He jokingly says "Time's up!" as if it were a quiz game. Nozomi tells him of how he was unfair, then Keiichi looks back to her and says "What if I said I was jealous?" This makes Nozomi confused and tries to ask more about it to no avail. In the background, Mari Tsutsui and Anna Kobayakawa watch them and say that they look like they're having fun.

At the end of Chapter 56, there was a scene where Nozomi hugs Keiichi from the back saying that she's glad that Keiichi's back to his usual self. Obviously, Mattsun scolds them. Then Keiichi, still embraced by Nozomi and says "Ahh, I've been caught." Nozomi was confused at first but then remembered that Keiichi once told her "Try to capture my heart." She blushes deeply at these while Keiichi turns around at her with a big happy smile.

​​​​​​​In the last chapter, it was shown that the 3rd years are already graduating and there was a scene where Keiichi notices Nozomi from the crowd of girls taking pictures of the guys (Keiichi and Taizo Sanada's group) doing funny poses. He asks her why she was there and Nozomi says that she was also there to take pictures but the real reason is that she wants to have Keiichi's necktie. She requests this shyly, but Keiichi instantly answers "Sure!" and hands her his neck tie. Nozomi also asks for his blazer's buttons to which he willingly gives to her. He then asks her if she's busy during the summer and invites her to hang out with just the two of them. Along the corridor, Taizou was seen to secretly take a picture of the two and says that he'll send it to Keiichi later because Keiichi won't take a photo with just Nozomi. The two were shown to have a lot of fun in the picture, smiling and laughing with each other.

### Natsuki Hashiba

Keiichi considers Natsuki as a close friend and also calls him **Nacchan**. Keiichi is a very grateful towards him because Natsuki was the one who brought Keiichi, him, Tomoya Matsunaga and Tsuyoshi Naoe together when Mattsun and Keiichi were fighting in the past. They also tend to play sports a lot together. While Keiichi is very friendly with him, he likes to use new tricks on him with his whip, which horrifies Natsuki. However despite this, Natsuki doesn't mind his sadistic personality and want him to stay the way he is.

### Tomoya Matsunaga

Tomoya, or **Mattsun** as they call him, is on good terms with Keiichi and Keiichi also considers Mattsun as a good friend. However, after finding out that Nozomi Matsunaga is in love with Keiichi, Mattsun is seen scolding Keiichi very often and getting irritated with him when he is alone with Nozomi which Keiichi understands although he gets annoyed by this at times. Despite this, they are good friends.

### Tsuyoshi Naoe

Tsuyoshi and Keiichi are good friends, but not much interaction has shown between the two except that Tsuyoshi doesn't mind his sadistic side and Keiichi sometimes copies Tsuyoshi's homework. Tsuyoshi has also given advice on what to do about Keiichi's situations that involve Nozomi Matsunaga.

### Yukiko Asai

Although Yukirin doesn't interact much with Keiichi due to being in different schools, there were a few episodes where they have like:

* In Episode 3, during tutor sessions at Tsuyoshi Naoe's house, Yukirin becomes excited when she holds Keiichi's whip for the first time.
* In Episode 11, while Natsuki Hashiba is at a "committee" (according to Tsuyoshi), Yukirin was seen hanging out with Keiichi, Tomoya Matsunaga and Tsuyoshi at the river where she brought "Dosanko Cranky" snacks for them and invites them to the "amusement park" and "a hot springs resort?" when she won some tickets.

## Etymology

* The name **Keiichi** means "favor, benefit" (恵) (**kei**) and "one" (一) (**ichi**).
* Keiichi's surname **Katakura** means "single, piece" (片) (**kata**) and "warehouse, storehouse, barn, treasury, granary, cellar, magazine, godown, depository, elevator, storage place, repository, supply shed, grain elevator, stockpile, arsenal" (倉) (**kura**).

## Trivia

* Keiichi's favorite food is hamburgers while his least favorite food is Milt (Soft roe).
* Like Anna Kobayakawa, Keiichi is the only male protagonist that wasn't given a nickname by Yukiko Asai who calls people by their first/last name in an unusual way such as:
	+ Mari Tsutsui - **Mari**ppe
	+ Natsuki Hashiba - **Natsuki**ng (Episode 11)
	+ Nozomi Matsunaga - **No**nnon
	+ Tomoya Matsunaga - **Mattsu**ntsukutsun (Episode 11)
	+ Tsuyoshi Naoe - **Tsuyo**ponnu (Episode 3)
		- Although Yukirin usually calls Tsuyoshi "Tsuyoponnu", she calls him "Tsuyopon" in Episode 13.
* After graduating from high school, Keiichi attends the same university as Natsuki, Tomoya and Anna.

### Miscellaneous

* Nobunaga Shimazaki (Keiichi's voice actor) has voiced many characters from each of the same anime series along with Minami Tsuda (Anna Kobayakawa's voice actress), Shizuka Ishigami (Yukiko Asai's voice actress), Koki Uchiyama (Tsuyoshi Naoe's voice actor) and Takuya Eguchi (Tomoya Matsunaga's voice actor):
	+ **Female Voice Actresses**
		- Nobuanaga, Minami and Shizuka:
			* Black Clover
				+ Nobunaga voices Yuno Grinberryall.
				+ Minami voices Sally.
			* Fruits Basket (2019 TV series)
				+ Nobunaga voices Yuki Sohma.
				+ Minami voices Kana Sohma.
				+ Shizuka voices Minami Kinoshita.
	+ **Male Voice Actors**
		- Nobunaga and Koki voices two characters from each of the same anime series:
			* Heroines Run the Show
				+ Nobunaga voices Aizo Shibasaki.
				+ Koki voices Yujiro Someya.
			* Jujutsu Kaisen
				+ Nobunaga voices Mahito.
				+ Koki voices Toge Inumaki.
			* Haikyu!!
				+ Nobunaga voices Rintarō Suna.
				+ Koki voices Kei Tsukishima.
		- Nobunaga and Takuya voices two characters from each of the same anime series:
			* Fruits Basket (2019 TV series)
				+ Nobunaga voices Yuki Sohma.
				+ Takuya voices Kakeru Manabe.
			* Haikyu!!
				+ Nobunaga voices Rintarō Suna.
				+ Takuya voices Yūji Terushima.