Umetarou Nozaki

The protagonist of the story. Normally, he is a straightforward high school boy, but he has another side as a popular shoujo manga artist under the pen name "Yumeno Sakiko." He is in class 2-B, stands 190 centimeters tall, and was born on June 6th with blood type A. He is known for his delicate psychological depictions in romance manga, but the stories he creates are based on observing those around him and expanding his imagination, as he has no personal experience in romance. He is somewhat naive and often comes up with nonsensical ideas during the name stage, which Chiyo Sakura and Miyamae frequently point out, but thanks to his editor Miyamae, the final product becomes a normal manga. Outside of manga, he has no hobbies and lacks delicacy or restraint in his words and actions. He tends to be a workaholic and often engages in eccentric behavior when searching for manga ideas. However, since those around him are also eccentric, he sometimes plays the role of the straight man, and he is serious about his manga and its creation process. Although he does not hide that he is a shoujo manga artist, due to his lack of delicacy, which contradicts his style of "delicate psychological depictions and glamorous visuals," people around him do not believe it. Only his friends and seniors who assist him know the truth at school. He noticed Chiyo Sakura's skill when he saw a poster she made with minimal overflow and considered hiring her as an assistant. In middle school, he was active in the basketball club, and Hirotaka Wakamatsu was his junior in the same club. Normally, he is expressionless and as straightforward as a picture, and he does not show any sign of noticing Chiyo Sakura's affection for him, but they have built a certain level of trust. In the TV anime version's backstory, it is interpreted that he is so focused on his work that he neglects emotional expression, but internally, he is a person rich in emotions. He serializes "Let's Fall in Love♡" in the shoujo manga magazine "Monthly Girls' Romance," and there are many characters modeled after people around him with reversed genders. Due to his naturally rough personality, he struggles with drawing backgrounds and shows no signs of improvement, and there are also flaws such as characters' positions and perspectives being inconsistent from panel to panel. To balance his studies and manga artist activities, he somehow convinced his father to let him move out of his family home and live alone in an apartment near the school. Having helped his mother, he is skilled in household chores and is good at cooking.