Yuzu Aihara

Introduction

Relationships

Image Gallery

“	I may be idealistic, I immediately act without thinking and I'm probably a crybaby older sister, but...I vow that I will love you more than anyone in the entire world. So...please, marry me.	”
–Yuzu Aihara to Mei Aihara, in Chapter 41

Yuzu Aihara
Name
Japanese:	藍原(あいはら) 柚子(ゆず)
Romanized:	Aihara Yuzu
Aliases:	Yuzucchi (ゆずっち, Yuzucchi?) Yuzupon (ゆずポン, Yuzupon?)(By Suzuran) Yuzu Okogi (小此木(おこぎ) 柚子(ゆず), Okogi Yuzu?) (former)
Vital Statistics
Gender:	Female
Blood Type:	O
Age:	16 (until ch 17) 17 (until ch 36) 18(current)
Birthday:	August 8th
Physical Attributes
Height:	159 cm (5'2")
Weight:	49 kg[citation needed]
Hair Color:	Brown (natural) Blonde (current)
Eye Color:	Green
Status
Status:	Alive
Occupation:	High School Student
School:	Aihara Academy
Class:	1-A (former)2-A (former)3-A(current)
Relationships
Relatives:	Mei Aihara (stepsister/wife) Ume Aihara (mother) Father (deceased) Shō Aihara (stepfather) Mei's Grandfather (stepgrandfather)
Friends:	Harumi Taniguchi Matsuri Mizusawa Suzuran Shiraho Himeko Momokino Sara Tachibana Nina Tachibana Nene Nomura Kana Manami
Love Interest:	Mei Aihara
First Appearance
Anime:	Episode 1
Manga:	Chapter 1
Voiced by
Japanese:	Ayana Taketatsu
English:	Megan Shipman

Yuzu Aihara (藍原(あいはら) 柚子(ゆず), Aihara Yuzu^?), née Okogi (小此木(おこぎ), Okogi^?), is the main protagonist in the manga Citrus. She is the stepdaughter of Shō Aihara, the biological daughter of Ume Aihara and the older stepsister/wife of Mei Aihara.

Appearance

Yuzu with her wig.

Yuzu is a very pretty girl with dyed chestnut blonde hair that has bangs swept to the left side, emerald green eyes and she has two piercings in each ear.

She is very fashionable and keeps up with the latest trends. Her natural hair color is brown, and during the 17th and 18th chapters of the manga, she temporarily wore a jet black wig.

Personality

Yuzu is a daring, outspoken, often shameless and self-proclaimed gyaru who enjoys dressing up, wearing make up, and customizing her school uniform, which clashes with her school's rules, often leading to problems with the Student Council. She emphasizes what relationships have to be like in order to cover up her own inexperience with them. She attempts to be as girly as possible and detests the academy's no make-up policy. From the beginning of the manga she is portrayed as a "dumb blonde," yet slowly, as the manga progresses, her more domestic and caring attributes are manifested. She is a creative cook and will often cook for herself and Mei when their mother is busy working.

Despite her attitude, with hard work, she is shown to be able to get good grades on tests. Despite Yuzu acting like a child at times, she does her best to make the people she cares about happy. She is considerate, yet clumsy and brash who is incredibly bubbly and her optimistic side often manifests itself in her conquests for Mei. She cares not for school rules or upper-class views as she's more interested in what society as a whole thinks of her.

After finding real love she became considerably happy about it wanting to show her affection more. However, she found out the hard way that not everyone will approve of her relationship with Mei, leading her into a state of depression and resulting in failing her exams. It wasn't until she got encouragement from Mei that she snapped out of it.

After her proposal to Mei, she has matured a bit being less reckless and be more confident with herself being in relationship with Mei.

Anime & Manga Differences

Episode 1

• In the beginning of the anime, it shows Yuzu getting ready, and leaving for her first day of school. In the manga, she was already at the front gates of the school.
• She first meets Himeko shortly after meeting Kayo, while in the manga they first meet later on in love me do!.
• While she is being taken back to her class by Amamiya she is given a brief tour of the school.
• Yuzu introduces herself to her class by writing her name on drawing board of the class.
• Yuzu notices that Mei is in the same class as her.
• Her conversation with Harumi about Aihara Academy takes place outside of class.
• Her being reprimanded by Mineko Fuji is longer.
• When she got her phone back from Mineko she tries to hide it in her chest as Harumi did with hers, but fails.
• In the anime, she runs past Harumi after seeing Mei and Amemiya.
• Yuzu helps her mom unpack and goes grocery shopping with her when after she gets home, this doesn't happen in the manga.
• In the manga, her hearing about Mei's life before she moved in with them takes place at the mall, but in the anime it takes place at home.
• Yuzu was the one who gave Mei the stuffed bear keychain in manga, while in the anime Shō was the one who gave it to her.
• Her first kiss with Mei was more drawn out in the anime than the manga.

Episode 2

• In the manga, when Yuzu and Harumi discovered Amamiya's true intentions, they were hiding behind bushes, while in anime they were hiding behind cars in the school's parking lot.
• In the manga, Yuzu unconsciously followed Mei to her Grandfather's house, while in the anime she finds it by chance while trying to return Mei's bag.

Episode 3

• In the anime, when Yuzu wanted to confront chairman she went to his house first, while in the manga she went straight to his office.
• In the anime at home Yuzu saw the teddy bear keychain had a tear and was poorly sewn, so she decides to fix it, while in manga, this takes place at school and the stuffed bear keychain originally belonged to Yuzu. As she runs away from Himeko, she accidently drops Anthoniko, causing him to tear a bit. Mei finds him, picks him up, and tells Yuzu to wait. Distracted by this, Yuzu hits a wall and is sent to the infirmary for a bruised forehead. Mei tries to fix Anthoniko, but it is revealed that she is not very good at sewing; instead, Yuzu fixes him as Mei leaves. Yuzu says Anthoniko said "thank you." Being touched by the gesture, Yuzu decides to let Mei have him.
• In the anime there is a shower and dinner scene where Yuzu is heavily thinking about the double bed that was given. This is not shown in the manga and goes straight to bedtime.

Episode 4

Episode 5

Episode 6

Episode 7

Episode 8

Episode 9

Episode 10

Episode 11

Episode 12

Etymology

• The name Yuzu means "citron, citrus fruit/grapefruit, pomelo, shaddock" (柚子).
  • Yuzu is the name of a citric fruit, which is possibly the reason why the name of the manga is Citrus.
    • "柚子" can be also be read as "Yuzuko", as "柚" is read as "Yuzu" and 子 is read as "Ko". However, it was confirmed by Saburo Uta on her twitter that the correct reading of her name is indeed Yuzu. It is also confirmed in each volume/chapter's character list.
• Yuzu's surname Aihara means "indigo" (藍) (ai) and "field, plain" (原) (hara).
  • Her former surname Okogi means "small" (小) (o), "this, current, next, coming, last, past" (此) (ko) and "tree, wood" (木) (ki/gi), which can be interpreted to mean "this small tree".

Trivia

• Before Ume (Yuzu's biological mother) got married to Shō, Yuzu's former surname was Okogi.
• In the initial setup, Yuzu's height was set to be 156cm and her blood type was setup to be O.
• According to Suzuran, Yuzu is right-handed.
• Yuzu was the one who made The Great Operation to be Happy Love Love with Mei!! notebook.
• Yuzu reads Momoiro Shimai.
• Yuzu is bisexual.

Quotes

• (To Mei) "Haven't you got things mixed up? You say we're under the same conditions, but... I didn't know about the rules 'cause I've just moved here. The conditions aren't the same. Am I right, miss Student Council President?"
• (To her father's grave) "Dad, I want to introduce you to Mei, my little sister. She's taller than me, and also smarter than me, but she's also clumsy and violent, but gets lonely too. And so, I also have someone I can protect. That's what I came to report!"
• (To Mei) "If I want to do something, then I will!"

“	Relationships aren't Games! Don't think of them in such cheap concepts as winning and losing	”
–Yuzu lecturing Matsuri, in Chapter 12.

• (To herself) "Sara looks so happy... She's radiant.... In comparison, I... I'm lying to myself about my feelings. Searching constantly for Mei's figure. If I don't put my heart in my words... In my feelings for her!"
• (To herself about her feeling's for Mei) "What Mei desires, What Mei needs, I thought I had it all figured out, always thinking about her, but... after being told to doubt whether Mei really sees things the same way. I realize I may just have been forcing my own presumption on Mei. However that Christmas eve, wasn't she...!? No, what am I saying? I love Mei but still...did think was off about Mei that night there definitely wasn't the one who isn't accepting the other's feeling is me. so maybe...if we don't convey our feeling first, we can't accept each other? in that case...! I have got to tell Mei how I feel no matter what!!"

“	I, Yuzu Aihara, am not mistaken that, my romance level risen. Whenever Mei wants to express her true feelings, she will always draw back and bury them deep in her heart... That's why during rare mounts when she shows her true self, it's better if I go all out, and connect our feelings!	”
–Yuzu to herself about deepening her with relationship with Mei, in Chapter 31.

“	I may be idealistic, I immediately act without thinking and I'm probably a crybaby older sister, but...I vow that I will love you more than anyone in the entire world. So...please, marry me.	”
–Yuzu Aihara to Mei, in Chapter 41