Also Known As:
Ricchan
Ritsu-senpai
President Ritsu
Prez
Tainaka-san
Ritsu-san
Private Ricchan
Age: 15-19 (22 real date)
Birthday: August 21, 1991
Gender: Female
Height: 154 cm
Weight: 48 kg
Hair: Light Brown
Eyes: Hazel
Blood Type: B
Ritsu has light brown hair that slightly touches the edge of her shirt's collar, her bangs pulled back with a yellow hairband. Two longer locks of hair fall at the ends of her hairband and touch her shoulders. She has hazel eyes, similar to her hair.
Without her hairband, Ritsu's bangs could reach her nose. Other than yellow, Ritsu wears other colored hairbands once in a while, such as white, black or red (especially when she was a child). At certain points in the anime, Ritsu uses other objects to hold her hair up, like goggles when the girls visited the beach or when she put it up in a ponytail that stuck up when she was about to sleep during a field trip.
Attires
Pants over skirts. She likes to wear polo shirts.
Like all Sakuragaoka High School students, Ritsu wears a school uniform. The Sakuragaoka uniform consists of a navy blue blazer, a solid white buttoned shirt (under the blazer), a colored ribbon (different colors for different student years, Ritsu's year is light blue), a light steel blue skirt, stockings or socks (Ritsu's are white), and maroon shoes. The summer uniform replaces the blazer with a beige waistcoat. Additionally, the subject physical education requires a tracksuit (sport jacket with long pants, colored again depending on the year group) with white striped brims, a white shirt with colored endings (again colored regarding the year group) for the summer semester and white sports shoes.
Ritsu is the source of fun and encouragement in her band, often making jokes, puns or pranks and being sarcastic most of the time. She has an ambiguous yet upbeat personality, but has often troubles remembering important club activities and announcements. Because of that, she constantly gets whacked by her childhood friend Mio Akiyama.
Despite her forgetfulness, she usually brainstorms for ideas to earn more money or for the club's success in general (like blackmailing Sawako Yamanaka to become the club's supervisor). Her attitude of collecting as much money as possible lets her sometimes appear greedy, something she greatly dislikes. Ritsu is always on the go and will stop at nothing for the success of the Light Music Club, even when everyone else gives up.
Ritsu is very barefaced, sometimes audacious or even impudent, yet she never has any ill minds and usually apologizes the moment after she went too far. On the other hand, she can't stop annoying everybody around her whenever the chance appears. Because of that, she has developed a certain endurance against Mio's hits.
From time to time, Ritsu has been a very lazy character as well. When it comes to practicing, she only thinks of having fun with her bandmates (such as having tea breaks that almost drove Azusa Nakano away).
During training camps, Ritsu usually votes to play first the moment they arrive and is often supported by Yui Hirasawa. She is usually too lazy to study and often needs Mio's help (because of that, she actually scores good marks).
In very few occasions, when the pressure is too high, she tends to give up and needs the help of her friends to continue. When she becomes determined however, she can get her work done in no time. Such determination can be seen on her goal towards Budōkan or attending her university of choice so she can study with the rest of her friends together. She also loves playing her drums despite being hardly willed to practice.
Ritsu has a liking for the band The Who and admires the drummer Keith Moon, although she dislikes his various past rampages. When it comes to music, Ritsu prefers rock. She also likes metal or punk, as long as it has a good beat, it's alright.
Ritsu is very athletic and has by far the best condition of all members of the Light Music Club. Physical Education is the only subject she is naturally good at.
Ritsu has a strong sense of confidence from an unknown source, although her confidence has often lead to the club's despair, such as when losing their way in the middle of Kyōto. A trademark of her is the habit of putting both arms at the back of her head. She is also very curious and therefore knowledgeable of many places to have fun at, a fact her friend Tsumugi Kotobuki admires. Tsumugi also described her as the type of person who walks the extra mile for her friends and who would be really popular among girls if she would be a boy (leading Ritsu to hit her out of embarrassment).
Ritsu has a tough front and would not cry easily. Her weak spot is seeing her friends cry and she would do anything to cheer them up, like denying the fact that she is crying too, despite it being obvious.
Ritsu is a surprisingly good cook and is also very creative, using a hexagonal pen in exams to use it to determine the answer she should choose, regarding the number she diced. In stressful situations however, she quickly looses her head and tries desperate attempts to save the situation.
Although she usually acts boyish and childish, she sometimes shows a girly and shy side, for example when she thought about Mio's lyrics to be a love letter for her or when she had to play the role of Juliet in her class' school act. She can also be very thoughtful, seen when she recalled her past.
When Ritsu gets in a bad mood, the atmosphere gets really intense since it is completely against her character. An example would be her envious side when she gets the feeling, Mio ignores her and spends instead more time with others like Nodoka Manabe. However, this out of character behavior was due to a fever she had at the time. Despite her mostly immature behavior, she has in fact common sense, especially when her unreliable teacher Sawako is around.
Mio and Ritsu are childhood friends, but the latter could not remember how they first met. In elementary school, Ritsu often picked on Mio due to Mio being very shy, as well as left-handed and having silky black hair, among other things. .Their first 'serious' interaction came when Mio won a prefectural award for an essay she wrote and she had to read it aloud in front of the school. Mio was depressed because of her shyness, so Ritsu encouraged Mio to imagine the audience as pineapples, which allowed Mio to get over her stage fright. Since then, the two have been best friends despite their very different personalities. Ritsu has loved to tease and scare Mio since they were kids, especially with horror stories and gross things like barnacles.
Ritsu also clings onto Mio like a lifeline when it comes to studies, and claims that Mio is the best tutor she has ever met. There have been times when Mio clings onto Ritsu instead; when Mio was being bullied by Sawako or other people, Mio would come running to Ritsu hoping she would save her from distress (although sometimes Ritsu joins in the bullying too). They both also have a similar interest in photography, as Ritsu always brings a digital camera with her, and Mio brings a film camera around. Ritsu was also the one who introduced music to Mio, and encouraged her to learn bass.
Ritsu and Mio understood each other so well that they could easily imitate each other, and at the same time act as Romeo and Juliet for their school's festival performance. Ritsu is able to recognise Mio by the sound of her footsteps.
There were times when Ritsu got jealous when Mio was spending more time hanging out with others than with her, resulting in a brief conflict between them. However, such tension between the two does not last long.
During Mio's Fan Club Tea Party presentation, their other band members questioned if the slide show was really about Mio, since most of the pictures were dominated by Ritsu. Ritsu said that the photos were from her collection, which she had with Mio since they were little, therefore Mio appeared in every single photo. The fact that there were so many photos of them them together showed how they grew up together as best friends.
Like all Sakuragaoka High School students, Ritsu wears a school uniform. The Sakuragaoka uniform consists of a navy blue blazer, a solid white buttoned shirt (under the blazer), a colored ribbon (different colors for different student years, Ritsu's year is light blue), a light steel blue skirt, stockings or socks (Ritsu's are white), and maroon shoes. The summer uniform replaces the blazer with a beige waistcoat. Additionally, the subject physical education requires a tracksuit (sport jacket with long pants, colored again depending on the year group) with white striped brims, a white shirt with colored endings (again colored regarding the year group) for the summer semester and white sports shoes.
