Raku-chan

> "***Nya- Nya- Nya-Nya- Nya!! what should I say?! Nya~ Nya desu! Nya~***"
> -Raku-chan, Episode 1
>
>

**Raku-chan** (Japanese: 楽ちゃん) is the protagonist of Nyan~ Neko Sugar Girls. She is a cheerful, outgoing catgirl who loves to spend time with her friends Koneko-chan and Hitoshi-san. She often uses Japanese phrases such as “kawaii”, “sugoi”, “nya”, and “desu” every time she speaks.

## Appearance

Raku-chan is a petite, fair-skinned catgirl with chin-length green hair and violet eyes. Raku-chan possesses cat ears and a cat tail. Both her ears and tail are a delicate shade of light gray, with the tail's tip subtly darkened.

She normally wears a short-sleeved light teal T shirt, a short light pink pleated skirt, and a pair of brown shoes that resemble loafers.

Due to being a catgirl, she has cat ears and a cat tail, both of which are light gray. The end of her tail is colored slightly darker. In her cat form, her fur remains the same gray color, and she has a small pair of white angel wings that protrude from her back.

## Personality

Raku-chan can be described as childish, carefree, innocent, and a bit of a ditz. She is constantly whiny, but her intentions seem to be good until she decides to take advantage of the attention she gets, when Hitoshi and Koneko try to calm her from her rabies in Episode 4. Her immature behavior may imply that she is the youngest out of the trio.

## Name Etymology

“Raku” (楽) means “easy”, most likely referring to Raku's easygoing personality. It could also be a pun on the word "rack", a word that is sometimes used as slang for large breasts.

## Background

In Episode 1, Raku made her first appearance with Koneko at Mochi Central. Both of them quickly finished their meal and left the place. While the duo were walking back home, they were greeted by Hitoshi-san. Raku fell in love as soon as she first saw him, was overwhelmed by Hitoshi's good looks and her own feelings, and subsequently got a nosebleed. Koneko and Hitoshi just laughed it off as Raku stutteringly greeted Hitoshi. The trio hit it off and quickly became friends. As Raku went to sleep that night, she couldn't stop thinking about Hitoshi.

In Episode 2, Raku and Koneko were shopping at Kawaii underwear chan store. While leaving the place, they heard Hitoshi's cry for help coming from a mysterious blue van. The duo chased the van, and soon after, they arrived at the kidnapper's secret lair. They broke through the window in Episode 3 to save Hitoshi, and Raku freed him while Koneko tied up the kidnapper. Hitoshi thanked them for saving him and went home.

The next morning, in Episode 4, Raku-chan woke up and went outside; she saw a squirrel on the grass and decided to take a closer look. She cuddled the squirrel till it seemingly was starting to suffocate in her chest. As a result, the squirrel bit her arm, which left Raku crying and bleeding very badly. Hitoshi checked on her after hearing her cries and decided to put her in bed, hoping that she would recover soon. To make her feel better, Hitoshi and Koneko brought dancing sushi for her.

Another day passed. In Episode 5, Raku woke up to her phone ringing and picked it up. The caller was Koneko, who suggested that they go to the vet to treat her illness. As they arrived at the clinic, they were acquainted with Vet-sama, who ran a couple of tests on her to see the cause of Raku's illness. It was revealed that she had developed rabies from the squirrel bite. Raku was saddened to hear the news, so Hitoshi and Koneko tried cheering her up with mochi ice cream and green tea.

Despite that, Raku didn't get better, and soon passed out shortly after leaving her home in Episode 6.

She was later woken up by Hitoshi-san and Koneko-chan. Koneko told her that she would give her green tea, but after she finished preparing the tea, she noticed that Raku was missing. She called Hitoshi and informed him about the situation and the two went on the search to find Raku.

Raku, overcome with guilt as she believed she was a burden to her friends, ran away from home. She soon realized she was lost and began to cry. Suddenly, Raku saw a bright light in front of her and went towards it. The light, which Raku called "Kami-sama" (神様, God), told her to release her inner beast. Raku did so and turned into a gray cat.

Meanwhile, in Episode 7, Koneko and Hitoshi were still searching for Raku-chan. They noticed a gray cat with angel wings being cornered by a group of dogs. Koneko drove the dogs away. To their astonishment, the cat that was being attacked was actually Raku. Hitoshi-san picked her up and they took her back to his home.

In Episode 8, the duo wanted to spend as much time with Raku-chan as possible before the rabies fully took hold, so they tried to think of ideas. They decided to go to the amusement park, taking Raku in her cat form in a bag with them. As they went on their first ride, which was the roller coaster, Raku suddenly turned back into a human. After riding on more rides and spending time on the miniature beach, they went back home.

The next day, in Episode 9, Koneko-chan woke up to find that Raku turned back into a cat, so she went to the clinic again along with Hitoshi-san. After Vet-sama finished her full checkup, she told Koneko and Hitoshi that Raku was suffering from demonic possession, specifically a bakeneko. However, Vet-sama revealed that she was also a shrine maiden and was able to temporarily heal Raku with a ritual.

At the start of the series finale, Raku-chan is shown to be back to her normal human self, but as she slept, she had strange nightmares of her friends and past events. Eventually she woke up in the middle of the night. She felt thirsty and decided to get some water, but passed out on the way to the sink. Koneko-chan heard the thud and decided to check on her. Upon finding Raku on the floor, Koneko saw the "tsubasas" (翼, wings) reappearing, despite Raku being back in her human form.

Koneko brought Raku to the clinic in a hurry, but the door was locked so Hitoshi kicked it down. To Koneko's disappointment, the clinic was empty due to it being 3 a.m. at night. They decided to wait until Vet-sama returned. Raku-chan woke up briefly, and went back to sleep sitting between her friends.

The next morning, Raku woke up to see Vet-sama, and to her embarrassment, realized that she had been sleeping on Hitoshi's shoulder. Hitoshi apologized to Vet-sama for breaking her door, but Vet-sama shrugged it off as she had door insurance. Koneko told Vet-sama about Raku's situation, and Vet-sama cast a spell on her that would contain the bakeneko for at least a day. However, this solution was only temporary, with Vet-sama warning them that this day could be the last day of Raku's life.

So the trio had fun, going shopping and attending a night festival in their kimonos. As it started to get late, Hitoshi parted ways with them and everyone went home. Someone knocked on Raku's door and it turned out to be her friends from college: Nya-sempai, Pollita-sempai, Arsenal-sempai, and Betty-sempai. They all heard on Facebook that Raku was sick, and wished for her to get well soon. They had a little chat in Raku's house before going home. After they left, Koneko served some food to Raku, which she was grateful for. Raku soon became tired and decided to sleep early.

When they woke up, Koneko was worried for Raku-chan as she had slept for over 24 hours, but fortunately Raku was fine. She seemed to have fully recovered from the bakeneko's possession. Raku decided to finally tell Hitoshi how she really felt about him. With Koneko's support, they both went to meet Hitoshi. Raku was very happy to see him and asked Koneko to leave them alone for a bit of privacy.

Raku told Hitoshi "aishiteru" (愛してる, a very serious form of "I love you") and hugged him tightly. Before Hitoshi could respond, their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the kidnapper. Hitoshi told to Raku that he was dating the kidnapper, whose name was revealed to be Bokutachi-san. Raku, devastated by the news, began to cry and exclaimed that her "Kokoro" (心, heart) was hurting. As she fell to her knees, Koneko rushed to her side.

Despite Raku's heartbreak, she told Hitoshi that she hoped he and his boyfriend would be happy together. She then collapsed, and Koneko and Hitoshi knelt by her in her last moments. With her dying breath, she told them she was glad to spend her last day with them, and bid her friends farewell.

Vet-sama later confirmed Raku-chan's cause of death to be from a broken heart.

## Relationships

### Koneko-chan

Raku and Koneko are best friends, and are almost always seen together throughout the series. They care deeply about each other.

Koneko-chan is portrayed as somewhat of a motherly figure to Raku, and probably knows a lot about her. Whenever Raku falls ill, she nurses her by making her some green tea and tries her best to make Raku feel better by taking her to places she enjoys.

### Hitoshi-san

Hitoshi-san is Raku's love interest.

Raku first met him after finishing her lunch at Mochi Central; he passed by and greeted the two catgirls, and Raku instantly fell in love with him. The two got to know each other and soon became good friends. They are often seen hanging out together along with Koneko-chan.

Raku couldn't stop thinking about him ever since their first interaction, and she showed some obvious signs of her having a crush on him. However, Hitoshi seems oblivious to her crush and most likely only sees her as a friend, making it a one-sided love on Raku-chan's part.

In Episode 10, Raku finally gained the courage to confess to him, but Hitoshi didn't feel the same way, as he was already dating Bokutachi-san. This causes Raku's heart to break, eventually leading to her death.

### Vet-sama

Due to being a catgirl, Raku visits Vet-sama instead of a regular human doctor. They do not have any interactions outside of health checkups.

## Trivia

* In Episode 1.5, Raku states that her mother is a human while her father is a cat.
* It has been heavily speculated that she was voiced by SoapOpera46 herself, although this was never confirmed due to the creator's reclusiveness.
* She appears to be the shortest character in the show.
* Raku-chan might have been rather popular back in college, as during her get-well party, she was visited by many friends.
* SoapOpera46 lists her as her favorite cartoon character.
* She has a compromised immune system, as revealed in the COVID-19 PSA.