Issei Kuga

* Original
* Anime
* Manga
* Stage

### Signature

**Issei Kuga** (久我 壱星 *Kuga Issei*) is an idol under TSUKINO TALENT PRODUCTION. He is a member of the unit QUELL and the older twin of Ichiru Kuga.

## Appearance

Issei is a young man of average height, with black hair with long bangs framing his face and dark blue-purple eyes. He is distinguished from his twin, Ichiru, by the fact his bangs are swept to the right and he is typically seen with a more neutral expression.

 Personality

> *"The glow of the evening's first star in the faraway sky is lonely but beautiful. The half of serenity."* -TSUKINO PARADISE profile
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Issei is quite shy, especially when compared to his twin Ichiru, having been described as soft-spoken and introverted. He can come off as anti-social sometimes due to his shyness, but he does his best to come across as polite to others, especially if Ichiru is being a troublemaker.

Issei is more intellectually oriented, as opposed to Ichiru who is more physically inclined; he's exceptionally smart and has proven to be capable of learning just about anything through observation, and as a result, is extremely observant. Eichi was surprised to learn how inquisitive Issei is, saying that he is always asking questions.

He seems to doubt himself somewhat, as he currently is unsure if he's cut out to be an idol. Additionally, due to his introverted nature, he has great difficulty dealing with crowds, and due to his frail body, they can sometimes make him feel physically ill.

## History

Ichiru and Issei come from an orphanage in Hokkaido. As a result of growing up in an orphanage, the twins never went to high school, instead, they worked at a production factory.

## Plot

### 2016

In late March/early April in 2016, Issei and Ichiru encountered Shu Izumi while he was on a press tour in Sapporo, after learning of their difficult circumstances he offered to take them back to Tokyo with him. He then introduced the twins to the president of TSUKINO PRODUCTIONs who eventually agreed for them to debut as idols.

While leaving the meeting the trio ran into Eichi, an assistant director Shu had befriended while filming one of his TV shows, who was promptly invited out to dinner with them by Shu. Over the course of dinner, Shu proposed that Eichi should become their unit manager causing interesting reactions in the others. Eichi instantly panicked at the suggestion meanwhile the twins were confused about being in a unit; Shu failed to communicate his intentions clearly.

Eventually, Eichi decided to take Shu up on his offer and soon quit his AD job to become QUELL's manager. Thanks to his skills from his previous job combined with his friendly personality Eichi proved to be a competent manager and enjoys fussing over everyone, especially the twins.

One day the twins suggested that Eichi should become an idol too, due to his good looks and impressive dancing skills, rather than be their manager. Eichi once again panics at the suggestion, but Shu agreed that it would be a good idea; leading to the full formation of QUELL.

## Relationships

### QUELL

**Shu Izumi** - Despite having only just met Issei and Ichiru, when Shu first met the twins he was so moved by their unfortunate circumstances that he wanted to bring them back to Tokyo with him, and hopefully give them a better life. The twins later revealed that at first they found Shu to be so kind that they thought it was almost suspicious, but Issei simply found Shu to be a mysterious, but genuine, person.

Since then, Shu has become over-protective of the twins, especially Issei due to his weaker disposition and more introverted personality. Issei and Shu also bond over their mutual love of reading, Shu often recommends books to the twins but Issei is the only one who actually reads them.

**Eichi Horimiya** - While Eichi hasn't known the twins as long as Shu he quickly came to care for them and upon joining QUELL as their manager he immediately started fussing over them and taking care of them. Like the other members of QUELL, Eichi has a tendency to be over-protective of Issei due to his more introverted nature and frail body. Eichi and the twins spend a lot of bonding time in the kitchen together due to their proficiency with cooking, and usually, they're the three in charge of cooking dinner.

**Ichiru Kuga** - Despite Issei being the older twin, Ichiru is the one who is overprotective out of the two, just like the rest of QUELL. This is because Ichiru recognises how introverted Issei is, and how much difficulty he has around crowds and new people. Ichiru easily gets mad on Issei's behalf, because he knows Issei won't say anything otherwise, and while growing up he used to get into fights so often as a result that he would carry bandaids with him.

Due to growing up with no other family the twins are extremely close and do pretty much everything together, despite their differences in personalities and interests. To this day, the twins still often fall asleep together in the same bed, often while holding hands; Shu and Eichi find this cute and often take photos of them.

### SolidS

Issei has said that he finds SolidS to be kind and down to earth, despite their popularity and experience with being idols. He finds them inspiring.

**Shiki Takamura** - When discussing who was different from their first impressions within the two SQ units, Issei said he was surprised to learn that Shiki was an interesting/funny person.

**Tsubasa Okui** - Despite Tsubasa and Ichiru not getting along based on their initial meeting, Issei says he thinks the two actually have a lot of similarities.

## Etymology

* When the sei (星) and ru (流) kanji from the twins names are combined it can be read as 'shooting star'.
* Sei, the kanji from Issei's name, means 'star' (usually read as hoshi).
* Both twins have the kanji (壱) in their names, though it is read slightly different in their respective names it always means 'one'.
* Issei's fanclub name, PIUS, is the latin word for "holy".

## Trivia

* His catch phrase for 2021 is "Failure teaches success."
* Issei is the older twin.
* He and Ichiru share the first kanji in their given names (壱).
	+ The twins were given their names by the people at their orphanage, not their parents.
* Issei has an interest in photography but currently isn't very good. He tried to photograph fish at the aquarium recently and all the photos came out blurry.
* The twins were given White Day chocolate by the staff at TSUKINO PRODUCTIONs.
* Issei was also given chocolate on Valentine's Day by Shu.
* He likes to star-gaze.
	+ This is probably an allusion to the kanji in his name.
* Issei spends a lot of his free time at the library. He says he likes the quiet atmosphere and finds the smell of the paper calming. He likes to read and will read any book that is recommended to him: Shu recommends the twins a lot of books.
* In addition to libraries, Issei also likes aquariums. He says their dark and peaceful atmosphere suits him and he enjoys watching the fish.
* The twins are capable of cooking simple dishes, though they probably have started to learn more since they started helping Eichi cook their daily meals.
* Neither of the twins owned a smartphone until they joined QUELL.
* Issei's favourite desserts are crepes and cream puffs.
* He's the type who can't sleep unless he has something to hug.
* Issei has a high tolerance for scary things like horror movies and haunted houses, as opposed to Ichiru who is particularly weak to them.
* The twins favourite food is gratin, Ichiru is ok with pretty much all kinds of food but Issei can't handle greasy things like yakiniku (fried meat).
* Issei has his lizz-kun (PIUS) on his bag.
* He has a lot of difficulties waking up in the morning and usually has to be woken up by either Ichiru or Eichi. He also usually sleeps face down, because it's nice and dark.
* It's possible Issei is left-handed due to how he uses cutlery in the kitchen.
* He and Ichiru share their birthday with Shunsuke Takeuchi, Shu's seiyuu, as well as Tsubasa Sasa, Naosuke Oyama's seiyuu.
* For the twins eighteenth birthday, they received cream puffs from Rikka, coffee jelly from Shiki, and a pair of matching necklaces containing fragments from the same meteorite from Eichi. Shu wanted to give them a star but the paperwork was going to take longer then he thought.
* Issei decided to get his high school diploma so that he could pass the entrance requirements for applying to university.
	+ He revealed at his and Ichiru's birthday celebrations with Shu & Eichi this year that he was accepted into university and will be juggling his study with his work. This is the first time he and Ichiru have been doing different things with their lives, as Ichiru has decided not to study.
* Although the salary is transferred to Issei's account, Shu and Eichi still spend 20,000 yen each month for the twins and can only withdraw when consulting with them. The goal is to teach Issei and Ichiru how to spend money in a healthy manner.
* He knows sign language, having learned it when he and Ichiru were still in the orphanage.
* In Gekkan TSUKIPROINFO Tokubetsu Gou 2018 Profile, Issei likes and good at: Ichiru, sky, starry sky, gratin, dairy products, bread, music, general academics, camera. While his dislikes and bad at are: crowd, heat, money topics, touching, greasy things, shiitake mushroom, nameko mushroom, natto, tororo (sticky food made from grating a yam).

## References

1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Originally from TSUKINO PARADISE, English translation provided by Quell-tea-salon on Tumblr.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Originally from S.Q.P. -SQ PARTY 2017 SUMMER-, English translation provided by Quell-tea-salon on Tumblr.
3. ↑ English translation provided by Quell-tea-salon on Tumblr.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 Originally from SQ Twitter, English translation provided by Quell-tea-salon on Tumblr.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 TSUKIPRO THE ANIMATION.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Gekkan TSUKIPROINFO Tokubetsu Gou 2018 (translated by Shero on Twitter)
7. ↑ Originally from SQ Twitter, English translation provided by ameagarinoUFO on Twitter.
8. ↑ Gekkan TSUKIPROINFO Tokubetsu Gou 2017
9. ↑ ROMEO - in the darkness -